To answer the question at the end of your blog post (“The
Color Red”), Matt, when I read the short story, I did not see any type of
sexual relationship between Sarah and Abby. I read the story for face value
(bad English major, I know) and never even had a thought on whether or not the
two women were involved with each other in any way other than very good
friends. After our class discussion, I thought that maybe I just am not
catching on with the undertones that Freeman is possibly writing into her
stories. When we read the story, “A New England Nun” for Wednesday, I saw a
parallel between Louisa and Caesar, but I did not read into it as a sexual
parallel with what we said in class about the chains and “taking out the dog”
(362). Does anyone think that we may be reading too much into these stories or
am I just not catching what the authors are throwing?
I am one hundred percent in your boat as far being a terrible English minor because I too read the story at face value and did not see anything sexual about it. To me, it reminded me of living with my roommate to an extent. I also didn't catch the sexual parallel with Louisa and her dog; I saw the differences in characteristics but never anything sexual. I would have to say some people read into the stories better than I do but I think it's because I read into them differently (maybe because I'm just an English minor with my major being Political Science) and I read things very analytically and straight forward..? Who knows, maybe I just don’t get what the author is trying to say but I think interpretation has a lot to do with how some read into things better than others do.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, Molly, I think you're right. I think that we may be reading too much into the story. I honestly do not think that Abby and Sarah were in a committed physical relationship. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, we as modern readers are so familiar with the issue of homosexuality that we tend to apply it to almost anything that bares a resemblance to it. While it's easy to see the two as lovers, I honestly believe that they were just two friends who grew up together, and became as close as sisters.
ReplyDeleteI have certainly held the same frustration with having interpretations stretched with other works (the works of William Carlos Williams in particular), and I understand that sometimes it can be difficult to extract meaning from works to come up with fodder for reading responses and blog posts. However, in this particular case, I was struck with the impression that Abby and Sarah were enduring a complex sexual relationship during my first and only reading of the work. It just seems to me that the author went to a great deal of trouble inserting the imagery (in particular the color red) into a work that seems somewhat starved for details. Colors don't usually strike me in any specific way when I read a work, but the three colors associated with the two main character are so accentuated (black, white and red are rather clashing) that it is absurd to overlook their presence. I do agree that there is an overfamiliarity with the "queer theory" critical lens, but that does not mean we can ignore strongly explicit forms of evidence!
ReplyDeleteAs an English teacher (and someone who considers myself a perpetual student), I recoil a bit from the idea that there we shouldn't "read too much into things." As Matt has pointed out, we can't just ignore evidence. Similarly, just because Freeman might not have meant for us to read a text in a certain way doesn't mean that we cannot. Language/literature and meaning don't belong exclusively to the author (or the audience/reader).
ReplyDeleteBeyond that, we shouldn't get too hung up on the "are they or aren't they?" stuff, but instead, we should discuss the issues that surround these kinds of questions. Maybe you don't think, for instance, that the dog is supposed to represent repressed sexuality, but it clearly DOES represent something. What? In other words, rather than reading for any conclusive evidence, it is more productive to read for ways to continue/enrich a conversation.