Response 9: "Sorties..."

 “…all these pairs of oppositions are couples. Does that mean something?” (654)

I had two different reactions to this particular reading. One the one hand, I found myself comparing passages supporting some of the claims, and on the other, I found myself recalling situations where the opposite happened.

“Night to his day—that has forever been the fantasy. Black to his white. Shut out his system’s space, she is the repressed that ensures the system’s functioning” (657).  

It reminds me of Elizabeth I and how her court advisers tried to get her to marry so that he could rule the throne and country, while she would be on the sidelines and the bearer of his children. From their point of view, by not marrying she was risking “the system’s functioning”. From a deconstruction perspective, in her case, the presence of an unmarried queen and the lack of a husband didn't indicate weakness, but rather showcased her qualities of independence, strategy, and the ability to be a better ruler than her father. Would the presence of a husband have meant that she would have been considered just a shadow, would her ideas have never come into fruition? Would that have led to England never having a Golden Age? Possibly. 

Kind of similar to that is another quote: “Beautiful, but passive; hence desirable; all mystery emanates from them. It is men who like to play dolls…Just enough life—and not too much. Then he will kiss her. So that when she opens her eyes she will see only him; him in the place of everything, all him” (656). 

It reminded me of The Doll’s House and how the author of this reading was talking about how philosophy kind of inserts itself into literature (for example, regarding how women are viewed). In the beginning of the play, Nora is seen as this light, pretty thing that plays with her children without a care in the world and seems to be all in for her husband. However, when Torvald finds out that she’s illegally borrowed money, he doesn’t acknowledge the fact that she did it for him, or that she’s been strategically thrifty and saving money without his knowledge to pay the money back, he seems to care more about the fact that it’s going to reflect badly on him and says Nora can’t raise their children anymore. However once he finds out that Nora is forgiven by Krogstad, he attempts to take back his words and return her to the lively plaything she was. The play is a reflection of the quote from the reading, it’s exactly how Torvald sees his wife.

In both these situations, Elizabeth I and Nora were both judged and placed under sociocultural expectations as women first. Their cunning, their strategy, their ability to not only survive but thrive in difficult situations took a far second role. This also reminded me of the deconstruction analysis I did about Red in Orange is the New Black. As the author of this reading aptly put it: “isn’t the worst thing that, really, woman is not castrated” (658).

One woman that was able to thrive and came to mind was Fiona from Shrek. “And suppose he kissed me? How can I will this kiss? Am I willing?” (657). It reminded me of the scene where Fiona first sees Shrek (assuming he’s her knight in shining armor) and tries to look pretty and will the kiss so that the spell will be broken. It’s pretty funny and different from the other “once upon a time” princesses (such as Snow White and Sleeping Beauty etcetera).  

All screenshots obtained from "Shrek Meets Fiona (1st Time)." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.