Wednesday, May 25, 2011
forgiving self and others
One theme that appears in several of these posts so far is the idea that the level of self-forgiveness affects how someone treats other people. What does the novel suggest about this relationship--beyond what previous posts have noted so far? Try to give a specific example or two in your response.
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I think the relationship that best exemplifies this idea is the one between Helen and Francis--particularly the way he treats her. This results from Franci's internal issues and self hate. In chapter 5, we learn that "Francis was willfully cuckolding himself, willfully debasing her, and withal, separating them both from what still survived of their mutual love and esteem"
ReplyDeletei think that Francis' treatment of the characters he comes across in the novel are a direct result of his relationship with himself. He has not forgiven himself for killing Gerald, nor has he forgiven himself for running out on his family afterwards so he is hard boring all sorts of negative feelings towards himself. he does not allow himself to flourish in society because of his guilt and he refuses to forgive himself thus deeming himself a homeless alcoholic- someone that the rest of society looks down upon. Because Francis is constantly put down by society, he feels the need to put down the only people who stick by him proving that he has some worth and that he is not just a drunk bum. Helen for example keeps coming back to Francis even after he hits her and calls her insulting names. Francis also refers to Rudy as 'Bum' as opposed to calling him by his name in an effort to instate his higher social standing over him.
ReplyDeleteI believe the saying "you have to love yourself before you can love other people" applies in the story. In one point of the story Francis is mentioning how he thinks about Gerald all the time. The thought and regret of killing Gerald stays with him and it’s hard to get his mind off of it. I believe a lot of the time he is preoccupied with those thoughts and it really affects his mood and the way he treats others. Referring to Sebastian and Bobby’s comment about when their money was stolen, I think he was more angered by the situation than with her. A lot of times anger about a particular situation or person can accidentally wind up being expressed towards other people even though it’s not their fault.
ReplyDeleteOften times, the way that one views him or herself is plays a key role in the way they interact with other people. Francis's lack of self-forgiveness is the basis of his relationships. While this is apparent in the relationships between Francis and other people, it is also apparent within his relationship with himself. In chapter five we see Francis self loathing: "I ain't no good to anybody else... Never amounted to nothin' and never will" (129).
ReplyDeleteI also believe the relationship that Francis and Helen have is a good example of how the level of self-forgiveness affects how someone treats other people. It is clear to us as the readers that Francis' past haunts him and causes him much anger and despair. It is not literally connected in the story that the reason Francis treats Helen the way he does is because of this, but we are given enough evidence to make the assumption that his past contributes to it. Francis is constantly reminded of his failure and releases the anger on Helen.
ReplyDeleteI think that in this story the reason for Francis' aggressive personality simply comes from his tragic accident with Gerald twenty-two years ago. As I have said in class before, I think that Francis tends to put the people around him on a "short fuse". With Helen he is angered easily and does not like to put up with her. However he knows she is dependent on him and therefore he is at liberty to treat her however he pleases. His relationship with Rudy is different, because on several occasions Francis appears to be joking with the way he treats Rudy. Francis does appear to show his dominance and wants to be seen as better than Rudy and have a higher social status (as Erin said).
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