Noreen's 20th Century Novel Blog

          Meursault’s prison cell becomes the only place he feels safe in during the trial. At first, the cell being a place he looks forward to spending time in surprised me, but then I remembered his uneasiness around others and in external environments. Being around many people at once is something Meursault feels uncomfortable with before the trial, but his feelings are highlighted in the courtroom. For example, he thinks, “But all the long speeches, all the interminable days and hours that people had spent talking about my soul, had left me with the impression of a colorless swirling river that was making me dizzy (Camus 104). Being around many people makes Meursault feel sick, sweaty, and dizzy. He is never truly at peace around others and thoughts concerning sensory aspects of his environment occupy his mind. Meursault’s appreciation for his cell is signified when he thinks, “The utter pointlessness of whatever I was doing there seized me by the thro...

          I did not consider the significance of the second epigraph by Ecclesiastes until reflecting on Jake’s view of life and love for Brett. The start of the epigraph reads, “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever” (Ecclesiastes). This statement suggests that life goes on even after great loss and that everything is replaceable, as even a full generation will eventually be replaced by a new one. Hemingway incorporates this ideology into Jake’s perspective of life. Jake doesn’t take many aspects of his life seriously. He takes risks by drinking often and pursuing spontaneous traveling adventures with his friends. He knows that life will go on even after taking risks while struggling with his career. However, he does not acknowledge that life will also go on if he does not end up with Brett until the last scene. Their relationship is the one aspect of his life he takes seriously and cannot imagine existin...

     While most of us initially did not favor Clarissa’s marriage with Richard, I believe she made the right choice between him and Peter. Peter and Clarissa understand each other deeply and share a special connection, but that does not mean she would live a healthy life married to him. We have seen Clarissa’s discomfort around Peter multiple times. Her insecurity in his presence is especially clear when he shows up to the party. Woolf narrates, “She could see Peter out of the tail of her eye, criticizing her, there, in that corner. Why after all, did she do these things?” (Woolf 163). Clarissa being uncomfortable in the person she became around Peter makes me think she would live a tumultuous life married to him. Sure, he may just mean to teasingly criticize her, and Clarissa might pretend it does not affect her, but we know that his critique makes her self-conscious of her identity.      One might argue that Peter and Clarissa’s tension is a result of the...

  One of my favorite passages of The Mezzanine is the footnote on page ninety-five, as it conveys Howie’s unease regarding change. The note starts on page ninety four when Howie mentions unnoticed developments in the history of the straw, ending with “An unpretentious technical invention—the straw, the sugar packet, the pencil, the windshield wiper—has been ornamented by a mute folklore of behavioral inventions, unregistered, unpatented, adopted and fine-tuned without comment or thought” (Baker 95). I connected this note with aspects of life changing gradually without recognition. I first thought of something as simple as hair growing. The length of my hair is something I do not notice growing daily or weekly, but only after a couple of months. This idea of unrecognized change can also apply to the larger l ife event of coming of age. I believe people sometimes doubt the passing of their childhood until they are near the end of it. It seems as though only when they are at the end t...