Bastard out of Carolina

This novel by Dorothy Allison definately was interesting enough to keep my interest, as i anticipated what would happen turning each page, but that may also be because of how grossly distrurbing the novel is. Every time I flipped the page I was unsatisfied with any of the situations because I just wanted to reach out and help Bone. This is another example of a female author raising eyebrows with the topic of masculinity in the old South. These men all seem to be lazy, alcoholic, stupid, sex crazy men who cannot keep a job. These details may be exaggerated slightly but they set up the story line on many popular stories of the time. One part of the story that boggles my mind is why Daddy Glen resorted to sexual abuse with Bone. Wasn't degrading her emotionally, mentally, and physically enough? I can only assume it is because he had no strong male figure to show him how to treat women, or maybe it is to show his power over Bone the way his brothers seemed to show their power over him because of their higher status in life. This may also add to why he chose to sexually abuses her, because coming from a family of successful men, Glen couldn't make enough money to feed his family, and rarely kept a job. He cared entirely too much about what other people thought of him, and was always trying to impress others. In a way his weakness reminds me of Stanley. They are both male figures with much control over the people they love, who are feared by their friends and others in town, and who resort to raping helpless women to still make them feel more powerful. I think a major part of his relationship with Anney is their sex life, as it seems to be the last thing holding them together. Even after Anney sees what he has done to Bone, Bone later wakes up to find them fighting and then having sex to make up. That should have been the last of her concerns, or at least behind the safety of her children. It seems as though Glen is jealous that much of Anneys attention is on her children rather than on him. This lead him to act out against the children, a very immature thing for a grown male to do, more something a toddler would do in search of attention whether good or bad. In this story Anney reminds me of Stella, she is struggling between her abusive husband who is hurting her children, or her children, who she gave birth to and is responsible for indefinately. With having her mother pretend that nothing is wrong Bone is left with no one to turn to. She doesnt know her birth father, and is constantly bounced around between relatives. It seems like her aunts are the ones who teach her more than her own mother. This leads her to become isolated, especially after the sexual abuse. After that kind of childhood who could blame her. At this point I cannot wait to finish the book and find out what happens in the whole situation. Will Anney realize what harm she is inflicting on her children? Or will Daddy Glen win?

Movie comparison

In some cases it is better to watch a movie to get a sense of the character rather than trying to imagine in your head what this person would be like. The "A Streetcar Named Desire" play was not one of these situations. Last week my blog focused on Blanche because she interested me, but in the case of the movie I would much rather stick to how I had imagined her. In the movie she was just over the top crazy from the beginning and it was rather annoying. Her drastic moments speaking to Stella in the beginning when she freaked out were just over the top, as were most of her actions throughout the entire play. I mean I know she was supposed to be crazy but in the story it all built up until she completely went nuts, throughout the movie she was just obnoxiously crazy at all moments. Stanley is another character I guess I was kind of annoyed with. In a way I think that the director was mocking males through Stanley, which is kind of weird because at that time there are not many pieces mocking men because they were still "superior" riiiight. He seemed more of a look-at-me-I'm-the-boss-and-wear-small-shirts. The way that he treated both of the girls just disgusted me and seeing it made it that much worse. I think that the director was trying to show that there can be 2 different ways that men act. There is Stanley when he is in power and happy and then Stanley when he is stripped of his power and is more sensitive. His power is lost basically as he loses his self control. When Stanley resorts to hitting his wife, fighting with his poker friends, and even raping his wife's sister yet after all of these people leave Stanley is alone and crying. Well that is until he goes on to screaming in the street for Stella to come back, and when she returns he returns to power. I think his biggest thing is he likes to have Stella there as his wife but more so a sexual object and a weaker person to boss around. The situation of having two different personalities is also evident in women in this movie, basically so in Blanche. While she is always crazy, there is the Blanche who looks for pity and attention, then the next minute she is trying to seduce a young boy to prove to herself that someone wants to look at her. It is funny how much more you can see about a character by watching their actions rather than reading them on paper. I think this story tells much about desire and wanting. The people in this story all want someone to rely on, or someone who they feel can help save them from themselves. I guess sometimes everyone needs to be saved from themselves, but in this situation Stanley and Blanche both appear to need too much saving.