Will you stop at Nothing!?

            Ever since we had the chance to read Jonathon Swift’s “The Lady’s Dressing Room” I haven’t been able to get it off my mind. Perhaps taking the chance to get to talk about it more will help me not be too tempted to be quoting this lovely poem when girls around me are taking too long to get ready or doing odd and painful things in the name of beauty.

            Of course, being in true Swift fashion, “The Lady’s Dressing Room” is completely composed of playful couplets. That happens to be one of my guilty pleasures of Swift; with his syntax, style, and couplet form, I find his works to be very sing-songy and easily memorized… and repeated at wonderful opportunities that present themselves.

            After getting your giggles and your gasps of disgust and disgrace (and then some more giggles) in about this poem one major question arises; who is this poem really satirizing? At first glance the answer is clearly women. The things they do are disgusting! All the different bottles and powders, dirty clothes and cloths behind closed doors, clumps of hair and dirt. However, when you really do your close reading you realize that that is not the satire. That is purely the candy coating on the peanut butter M&M.

            The chocolate layer right under that is the satire of the men. In the beginning of the poem Stephon had no qualms with “The Goddess from her Chamber issues,/ Array’d in Lace, Brocades and Tissues.” In Swift’s satire of the men, we see that men love a lady with hair done perfectly, rosy cheeks, red lips, and soft pale skin. However, most men are never really prepared for the reality of what their girls go through to look like that. Even nowadays, the ‘natural’ look so many guys say they love includes cover-up, blush, lip gloss, and either a curling iron or a blow dryer and maybe even a straightener. Not all girls are like that mind you (I don’t even own hairspray or a blow dryer, and I’m usually the one poking at makeup asking what they heck it is and what it does), but that is common. The guys are horrified to see the things girls go through to look like that! The beauty products and dirty clothes alone are horrifying enough for Stephon, but then to top it off, she spits and “Oh! Celia, Celia, Celia shits!”? That’s just too much. Girls are… girls! Beautiful things that never have to try for it, right?

            Last but not least is the peanut butter center which would be the satire of the women. Honestly girls, is there nothing you won’t do for beauty? Hours spent prepping for a date. Head to toe primping and fluffing. It can be time consuming, expensive, and even down right painful. But they don’t care. They have guys to impress and will go to extensive lengths to do it. This has created a ridiculous revolving door of expectations. Women expect this is what she should look like and what he’s expecting, while he is expecting her to be impressing him or at least expecting him to be expecting something.

Attack of the Sheeple!

Though I know that Ross already wrote about the role of the critic in the literary world on his last blog entry, I will be a very sad little ginger girl if I do not get to put my two cents in on the evil critics as well. Now, in all fairness, critics are not completely evil, wretched, conniving people who have nothing better to do with their time than bad mouth and put down other people’s works. Sometimes a critic’s words can really help.

Even still in the year 2012, you can see how a critic’s words can actually help. As one of my favorite examples, who would honestly pick up 50 Shades of Grey just for fun? Honestly, even if they purely wanted it as smut, they could find cheaper things online or on their kindle or smart phone or whatever other awesome technological toy they have that I could never afford. I am sure they could find things that are better written as well. But I digress. The point is that you can see on one hand how the words of a critic can fluff up a literary work to be better than it really is, making the book one of the best sellers and translated into 50 different languages.

Of course, on another side, (which I believe is our favorite side in class) we can see how harsh critiquing can really kill a work before it even has a fair chance. To quote Ross, “Critics had (and often still have) the power of life and death over literary works”. If a critic gives the thumbs up that it is ‘wonderful and anyone with any ability to read should have already read it and own several copies’, what do you think all the sheeple do? What do you think all the sheeple have been doing for hundreds of years?

The sad part though is the amount of faith, trust, and pixie dust that people place in critics. A lot of people tend to throw their own opinions and the ability to make their own opinions to the wind when it comes to literature, but now even movies, video games, music, and even restaurants. I’ve even seen professional critics for vacation spots! “No one should ever go to Venice, it’s so filthy! Try Rome instead.” Even hardcore gamers have been found to listen to critic’s words over their own wants and desires. Borderlands 2 just came out on the 18^th (if you’re not a gamer, then just know it is one of the highest hyped games this year) and some people waited to get it until they knew what rating it received. Some people ordered the game out of loyalty to the first game, much like getting the second book in a series when it comes out. Some people waited until the rating came out before they even attempted to look at the game. And last, but not least, there are those select few who actually rented the game before they decided to love or loathe it. 

When you go to look for a book, new music, a movie, or a game, before you place too much faith in whatever critic tickles your fancy, just remember to take it with a grain of salt. Try new things; make your own opinions. Slowly but surely shed your sheeple skin!

What's in a name?

One thing that truly caught my attention with Moll Flanders so far is the names that are given to the brothers she grows up with, and later gets entangled with some way or another. Though we know the younger brother as Robin or Robert, we are never given a name for the elder brother. He is purely known as the elder brother and nothing more. ‘Betty’ ends up losing her virginity to the eldest brother and holds to the naïve thought that the next patriarch in this family tree will be able to marry this girl that is no more than a lady’s companion. The entire time, Robin is in the background and truly loves this girl. He even finds happiness in the fact that he is not the eldest, because with some persuasion, his family consents to his proposal of marrying Betty because it is rather inconsequential for the family. Where he goes with his life and who he marries does matter to the family a little since they find keeping up appearances so important, but they are much more lax expectations than those placed on his older brother.

I believe that, though Robin is the less consequential of the brothers when it comes the family, he is actually named for several reasons. One reason could be because of his sincerity in his intentions with our main character. The elder brother knows that he would never Betty. He likes her well enough, but he knows that she is not the ‘wife’ type for his family and the appearances they need to keep up. She is simply his flavor of the week. She is fun for now, but he knows it will not be forever, despite what she thinks.

           Another reason could be the fact that his title in the family is the most important part about him. He is the eldest son. He will be the one to take his father’s place when the time comes. His brother’s title is rather unimportant. He will go out in the world and make his own way for the most part (still in need of his family’s approval though). Seeing as how his future is less set in stone than his older brother’s, this could be another reason that Robin is actually referred to by his name.

            

       Names seem to play an important role in this novel, whether a person notices it or not. Moll alone goes through several different name changes. Others are never named, such as the eldest brother, the nurse who takes care of her for most of her younger years, the draper who becomes her second husband, even her mother goes nameless. For those that do not have names it seems that their role in society is set. Those who are named are still trying to figure it out it seems. The right name, such as a title, and money are the things you need most in this world.