This is from Graham...except for the part in parentheses, which was my revision for his term "haze like".
Morrison uses a (stream of consciousness) point of view when Nel is depicting the scene where she see witnesses Sula and Jude. What makes this point of view seem dreamlike and why does Morrison choose this style?
Here is a definition for stream of consciousness:
Stream of consciousness is a form of interior monologue which claims as its goal the representation of a lead consciousness in a narrative (typically fiction). This representation of consciousness can include perceptions or impressions, thoughts incited by outside sensory stimuli, and fragments of random, disconnected thoughts. Stream of consciousness writing often lacks "correct" punctuation or syntax, favoring a looser, more incomplete style.
Haley Holmes
ReplyDeleteWhen considering this portion of the reading, I think that the fact that the sentences are long and to the point make it dreamlike. It is as though one is describing everything in the moment, or as though the memory of it is fleeting or ethereal, and will fade in a matter of moments if not told. Given that information, this style was used by Morrison to convey a sense of rushed urgency that comes with shock. Nel witnessing Jude and Sula having sex in "her" bed was a total shock to her as a friend and wife. The dreamlike style shows how Nel was attempting to make sense of the situation and how everything was flooding her emotions so quickly that she couldn't sort it all out until later in the chapter.
The scene where Nel catches Sula and Jude seems dreamlike because of the order of Nel's stream of consciousness. Morrison starts off the scene with one simple sentence, "He left his tie"(104). This puts the reader at a loss because of the statement's "in medias res type of feel". From then on Nel reveals the relevance of each piece of the story to another. This fragmented way of recounting this event mimics an instance where a person is recalling a dream they had. Dreams, if they can be remembered, come bit by bit, and are never one vivid memory because the dreamer knows that it is not reality. I think that Morrison aptly used this style to evoke an atmosphere of heartbreak and disbelief. Nel was in so much shock she could not reconcile the fact that what she witnessing was reality, she, " just stood there seeing it and smiling, because maybe there was some explanation, something important that she did not know about it that would have made it alright" (105). She is so discombobulated she doesn't know how to feel about a situation so blatantly wrong, and the only way her true feelings are revealed is when the narrator explains, " it was Sula who had taken the life from them (her thighs) and Jude who smashed her heart and the both of them who left her with no thighs and no heart just her brain raveling away"(111). The juxtaposition between Nel's stream of consciousness and the narrator emphasizes the gravity of Nel's situation, the fact that the man and woman she always gives her all to have betrayed her. This could be a foreshadowing to further mishaps.
ReplyDeleteIan Glazman
ReplyDeleteMorrison is able to make this passage seem dream-like because of her constant breaks in her sentences, and her reliance on very few nouns or adjectives. In our reality, dreams are dreamlike because they allow us to access unbelievable fantasies, many of which disregard common laws of reality. Of course an apple varies in size when you grab it! How else would it work? And the you wake up. And your dream becomes a quickly fleeting memory, leaving only the feeling of the dream, and very limited images. Morrison does this perfectly. I noticed that, while reflecting upon the passage, I was able to only recall the emotions of the passage, coupled with three or four distinctive scenes.
Further interesting, but unrelated, is the remark Jude makes about Sula's birthmark. He says it looks like a Copper-back rattle-snake, while everyone up to this point has called it a rose. Copper-Back was a derogatory name given to Northern democrats in the Civil War who were thought of as Confederate sympathetic and dangerous to the Union cause.
I agree with all of the above in that Morrison's syntax seems to be long and with constant breaks to suggest the constant flow of recollections that occur during Nel's discovery. In addition to this is the multitude of apostrophe present on page 105. While Nel stumbles onto the scene of her childhood friend and her husband engaged in coitus, Morrison writes "But then they did look up. Or you did. You did, Jude" (105)in a way that reveals that Nel is recalling this scene. Hence, I believe Morrison chose this style in order to accentuate Nel's pure shock and the fact that she doesn't dwell on the fact that her friend betrayed her, but the fact that her husband forgot his tie was repeated four times.
ReplyDeleteThe dreamlike sense of this passage is reinforced through how Morrison describes Nel’s actions and how they seemingly blend in naturally to the text. As Nel is describing the scene, little details that stand out, if it were in a real world scenario, seem a mere normality. This is shown through how Nel is unable to control her body by not being able to “fix” her eyes or “move” her feet. Here actions here demonstrate how sometimes the dream controls the dreamer and not the other way around, she is just a passenger on this rollercoaster of emotion and turmoil that can’t do anything but watch the world around her crumble and fall to pieces. Also strange odd details such as when Sula didn’t appear naked to Nel only Jude, this doesn’t seem realistic and would lean towards the dreamlike perspective as her mind would only be focusing on what Jude has just done and thus fill in the blanks of what her mind thinks he would look like, while not putting as much attention on Sula’s appearance. Morrison would describe this scene in such a way as to possibly put the reader into the perspective of how Nel would feel. A feeling of disarray and chaos yet with a subtle serenity as she sees her lover and her best friend together. This description gives insight to the mentality of Nel and how she processes information. Also it demonstrates how the situation played out to Nel, in a gloomy cloud trying to piece information together, then to short and concise reality of what has become of her and her husband.
ReplyDeleteThe stream of consciousness writing that Morrison utilizes gives the sense that the reader is in the scene watching things as they happen. The dream like feeling comes from all of the little details being emphasized during the description of events. “I had gotten dust out from under the bed because I was ashamed of it in that small room” (Morrison 106), this detail may seem insignificant but it describes a specific part of the scene that would not usually be described. The inclusion of random facts like that add to the affect that Nel is experiencing all of this at one moment and can't process everything. Morrison uses this unique type of narrating to emphasize certain points in time like when Jude and Sula are together. It also allows readers to learn new things about characters that are only revealed in these split second interactions where there is no time to sensor ones self but only to state what they are truly thinking.
ReplyDelete-Dante