The Love Song

T. S. Elliot’s poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” begins with a short passage in Italian from Dante’s “Inferno”. The passage tells the tale of a damned man telling Dante his story in confidence, because he knows that it cannot be retold since all are trapped in eternal hell. Since the audience knows that this poem is in fact a love song, the introductory passage presents the idea that the love song is only told because its author believes that it will never be heard. This knowledge in combination with his odd name, begin to shape the personality the audience creates for Alfred Prufrock. The rest of the poem can be divided into seven distinct sections. Each section expresses the lamentation he feels because he did not act on his love. The poem begins romantically, with the evening “spread out against the sky,” but suddenly we find ourselves being led through “half-deserted streets.” Alfred continues to describe the filthy, polluted streets of a city we can infer is London (since T.S. Elliott lived in England). We can feel that at this point in the poem, Alfred is young. He constantly mentions having time ahead of him. He says that there is “time yet for a hundred indecisions.” He does not seem to be concerned about the future. He also appears to be avoiding some “overwhelming question,” leading us through the filthy streets of London rather than addressing the question. As we progress to sections three and four, Alfred is aging. He has a “bald spot” and his “arms and legs are thin!”. He has “measured out” life with “coffee spoons.” This metaphor is included to show he feels he has wasted his life away. The question he was trying to avoid at the beginning of the poem remains, and Alfred is growing more concerned. He tries to convince himself that “there is time” to go back, yet he is not capable to. The poem grows increasingly desperate. Alfred believes that he “should have been a pair of ragged claws, scuttling across the floors of silent seas.” In other words, he believes himself to be scavenger, who stays isolated and survives on others’ scraps. He now knows there is no more time. He laments all of the things that he should have done, but did not because he was “afraid.” The final section of the poem is where the audience fully faces Alfred’s low self-esteem and remorse. He hears mermaids on the beach, but does not believe that they will sing to him. He is insecure about his appearance, and still he grows older. Alfred regrets “having lingered in the chambers of the sea,” but by the time he woke up, he drowned. His whole life Alfred was “afraid” of a “thousand indecisions,” but by the time he was ready to face his “overwhelming question” it is too late. The time has passed, and all he has left is regret. I believe that this poem is more a confession than a love song. Alfred seems to be sharing his story as a way to relieve frustration he had trapped within himself his whole life.

The Great Gatsby

I recently watched The Great Gatsby, some months after reading the book. While on its own the movie was good, I was struck by the differences between the novel and the movie. Many changes were made in the plot, which somewhat changed the emotions associated with it. The changes are evident from the very beginning of the movie. In the film, Nick has checked himself into a mental sanitarium for “morbid alcoholism.” While in the novel, Nick claims that he has been drunk “just twice” in his life, the movie shows him indulging in alcoholism far more than twice. Furthermore, while the novel discreetly implies hat Nick wrote The Great Gatsby (when Nick states that “Gatsby is the man who gave name to this book”), the movie goes further and shows Nick writing the story while at the Sanitarium, which takes away some of the original mystery of the novel.

The entire affair between Nick and Jordan that happens in the novel was cut out of the film. The beginning of the movie suggests that Nick and Jordan will start a relationship, but the matter is dropped and does not resurface for the rest of the film, leaving a loose end. In addition, Jordan is seen leaving on of Gatsby’s parties with another man, something that was not in the novel. Finally, in the movie, upon first meeting Jordan, Nick expresses that he finds Jordan frightening, a term never used in the novel.

Later, at Tom’s party, Nick waits in the living room while Tom and Myrtle loudly have sex in the bedroom. While this scene is implied in the novel, it is not nearly as explicit and central to that scene. When the party begins, Myrtle’s sister gives Nick a pill that she got from a doctor. This incident is never mentioned in the novel either. Finally, Nick wakes up home with no idea how he got there. In the novel however, Nick wakes up in on of he guests’ apartment and takes a train home.

Two characters were also completely omitted from the movie. In the novel, Nick has a maid, a Finnish woman who muttered to herself and made his bed. This decision was perhaps to emphasize how poor Nick is compared to his wealthy neighbors. While that is the same in the novel, the movie portrays Nick far more cash-strapped than is implied in the novel.  The second missing character is Ella Kaye; she is the woman who (in the novel) cheated Gatsby of Dan Cody’s fortune.

The final part of the plot, Gatsby’s death and funeral, were perhaps the most altered events. Gatsby’s death in the novel is not explicitly described; the audience only knows that Gatsby takes a pneumatic mattress into the pool and the chauffeur then hears the gunshots. In the movie, we see Wilson shoot Gatsby with a single shot to the back while he climbs out of the pool. Furthermore, the movie depicts Gatsby climbing out of the pool for a phone call, which he believes is from Daisy, while in fact it is Nick calling. This entire scene is not in the book and was added for drama in the movie. The funeral was also significantly “darkened.”  The attendance of Gatsby’s father and “Owl eyes” are also omitted from the film.

While most of these changes were minor, I found them particularly noticeable. While the altered “death scene” gives the audience comfort, knowing that Gatsby died thinking that Daisy chose him, it takes away from the colder feelings in the novel.

Anderson's Grotesques

Sherwood Anderson’s Winseburg, Ohio revolves much around the grotesque. The Oxford Dictionary defines the noun grotesque as “a very ugly or distorted figure, creature, or image.” Anderson seems to use the term to describe characters that are crippled emotionally and spiritually. In the novel, many characters can be considered grotesques due to their apparent lack of ability to discern the difference between appearance and dark realities. We are first introduced to the concept of the grotesque in the first chapter of the novel, “The Book of the Grotesque.” Through the old man in the story, Anderson divulges the idea that truth turns people into grotesques. “It was his notion that the moment one of the people took one of the truths to himself, called it his truth, and tried to life is life by it, he became a grotesque, and the truth he embraced became a falsehood.” (Anderson 5). Most of the stories that ensue present the audience with an array of characters that can be considered grotesques, the first of which is Wing Biddlebaum.

Wing can be considered a grotesque because of the way he feels about his hands. The hands are his distinguishing feature and “the source of his fame,” yet he does his best to keep them hidden, “forever striving to conceal themselves in his pockets or behind his back.” (Anderson 9). The source of the shame and dislike of his own hands dates back to his days as a schoolteacher, when he was accused of inappropriately touching his pupils and was chased from Pennsylvania. The “touching” was only, in fact, Wing’s approach at sharing his truth with his students. He wanted them to dream, rather than live their lives in conformity. The incident left Wing a grotesque, living in Winesburg, unable to reconnect with society.

The grotesque is also paramount in “The Strength of God.” Curtis Hartman, the grotesque in the story, is a local reverend/preacher. Priests are commonly accepted to be prime examples of morally upright human beings. Reverend Curtis can be considered a grotesque because he finds pleasure in viewing the bare skin of Kate Swift, distorting the image usually associated with religious men.  The reverend discovers that his “truth” is the suppressed lust he has kept within him.

What these characters have in common is that they both centered their life on a truth—a truth of their own. By doing this, both characters became grotesques, distorted figures of the image they were before. Through this, change, they went from ideal images to real characters. They lost an innocence that was central to their identity. Wing was a teacher, an image associated with parenting and upbringing. Curtis is a priest, an image associated with a perfect example of moral righteousness. Yet because of their truths, each became a grotesque, a distorted figure of the perfect image associated with their roles in society. Through this change, however, they also became more real—more human. We can therefore infer that reality is what makes people grotesques.

"Tintern Abbey" in Frankenstein

Throughout Frankenstein, Mary Shelley included several textual references to help convey the mood of the story to the audience. One of these textual references is an excerpt from the poem “Tintern Abbey,” written by William Wordsworth. Through her father, William Goldwin, Shelley was exposed to Wordsworth’s work and was acquainted with him during her life. Shelley’s purpose in including this passage from “Tintern Abbey” is to highlight the contrasting personalities of Henry and Victor, and to tie in the theme of Man/Science versus Nature. The excerpt, placed on page 139-140 in chapter eighteen as Victor and Clerval embark on their journey to England, is as follows:

“The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
And appetite; a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, nor any interest
Unborrow’d from the eye.” – Wordsworth.

 At its core, “Tintern Abbey” is a recollection of Wordsworth’s connection with nature, and, on a greater scale, man’s connection with nature; however, it is also a recollection of his change in attitude towards nature.  The excerpt used by Shelley is surrounded with Victor’s description of Henry, and more particularly, how close he is with nature. “The scenery of external nature, which others regard only with admiration, he loved with ardour.” (Shelley, 135) Much like Wordsworth’s younger self (as exhibited in the first section of his poem), Henry loves nature for what it is. He embraces the “external” beauty of nature, but has “no need for a remoter charm.” Victor, on the other hand, is more representative of Wordsworth’s later self, seeking solitude, refuge, and meditation in nature. Victor can therefore be considered a foil of Henry through his connection with nature. Similarly, Wordsworth’s present self serves as a foil to his past visit to the grassy slopes of Tintern Abbey. One could assume that in addition of simply being foils, Henry could also symbolize Victor’s younger self, at a time when he admired nature and the Alps simply for their beauty, and not the solitude and refuge they provide. Solitude is an important theme in both “Tintern Abbey” and Frankenstein. The last line in the first stanza of “Tintern Abbey” draws a clear connection to solitude in Frankenstein, found both in the creature and Victor. “Or of some Hermit's cave, where by his fire the Hermit sits alone.” Wordsworth.  This line is particularly representative of the scene in Frankenstein in which the creature has wandered into the woods alone, and first discovers fire. Like a hermit, the creature is secluded from the human world, and discovers the natural world alone and unperturbed. In retrospect, it is evident that Mary Shelley chose to include a portion of “Tintern Abbey” in Frankenstein due to the clear similarities found between the narrator of the poem and diverse characters in the novel. I would recommend anyone who has read Frankenstein to research and read “Tintern Abbey” because the poem provides greater insight into what Mary Shelley aimed to portray through her characters.