Best of the Week: Onions

I thought the best of the week was the symbolism Mr. Allen brought to our attention in Cathedral. Specifically, the scene where our narrator brought out the brown paper bag with onion skins on the bottom. I would have never analyzied it in any significant way until Mr.Allen mentioned it, which is why I particularily liked it. It not only fit the story and brought more understanding of the narrator's change to myself, but it reminded me of the importance of active reading for all stories. As I read Stone Boy, I was more attentive for this similar epiphany.

The figurative analysis on the onion peels were representative of the many layers our narrator has. He sheds some of the outer, harsher predispositions when he makes a connection on drawing and recreating the cathedral with the blind man. Its the turning point in the short story, as this moment when he gets the brown bag, is when he begins to understand.

What If: I couldn't describe you

What if there were no words, no descriptors or modifiers, that captured how I felt. What if I met you, and you were like nothing else in this world?

In "I was trying to describe you to someone," by Richard Brautigan, the speaker met someone of no other persona. For every other stranger he located a twin or duplicate, but this one woman was unique beyond words. His resulting attempt to describe her was recreating the feeling he felt when he watched a movie about farmers receiving electricity. What if I got that feeling? Such strong emotion that words were'nt adequate; nothing short of recreating a feeling was. Would I have the courage to maintain a conversation lasting over 5minutes? If such a person existed, I would be scared. I would not want to anger or bother them, that I would avoid talking to them in the first place. My feelings would be captulated in one mess of confusion, never knowing what I thought or felt. I would have to run back to my college friend and enlist her help. Why, I can't quite describe him... he just reminds me of when... She would listen as I rambled in circles. Always talkative, surely I would find some coherent phrases that would describe him? But what if...

If I was speechless, at a loss for words, I would find an alternative. I would name every scene associated with the feeling I felt. And hopefully, I would be getting a call later.

Connection: Heart of Darkness and Dreams

"I perceived she was one of those creatures that are not the playthings of Time. For her he had died only yesterday. And by Jove, the impression was so powerful that for me too he seemed to have died only yesterday - nay, this very minute." -Heart of Darkness, p 74.

Fragmentary time. Post modernism. The power of life and when it's gone. In a sense, Heart of Darkness and postmodernism reminded me of a dream, or more specifically dreaming. Time is more of a concept than a structure as it is in 'real life.' In dreams you can be any age, and events can happen at any sequence. Most importantly, you can experience things from a year ago for the very first time, in the same way you do with death. Something so untangable, so unthinkable and powerful, can distort and fragment time. Death can make life a dream because of one's state of disbelief. Consequentially, a death of a love one is reocurring in dreams for some.
Dreams are also powerful in that people are captivated within them during their existence. You don't know a dream is 'fake' until you wake up. Death can trick the mind in the same way. What is real, what is actually happening? Have you ever been to a funeral and couldn't fathom how life could do this?

The above quote illustrated the power of death and life. Within in those few lines, it captured all I felt when I lost a love one. I want to keep it at that. It keeps the most complicated components and twists in life simple. Comparing it to a dream, means I can wake up and control whats inside...