A Delicious, Grotesque, Impossible Dream

"As she swam she seemed to be reaching out for
the unlimited in which to lose herself" (28).

Points for Reflection

D. G. Rossetti's "Jenny" (1848, 1870)

1. what tone does the narrator's opening alliteration establish, and what do Jenny's two fondnesses signal about her (ll.1-2)?
2. in what pastime did the narrator and Jenny occupy themselves prior to sitting down?
3. what about Jenny makes her appear innocent?
4. what type of "grace" does the narrator discover in "Poor shameful Jenny" (l.18)?
5. the narrator assumes Jenny's mind is revolving around what?
6. what can we determine about the narrator's own character and situation?
7. the narrator observes that, until recently, his current environment seemed familiar and comfortable (ll.37-42). What has altered his perspective?
8. what does the narrator imagine Jenny has temporarily escaped as she rests in his lap?
9. does the narrator let Jenny continue resting--instead of sitting up to drink with him--out of kindness?
10. why might the narrator invoke Matthew 6:25-29 in lines ll.100-110?
11. is the narrator considering Jenny's body when he ponders the state of her lilies, roses, leaves, and "naked stem of thorns," or something more intangible (ll.111-20)?
12. the narrator presumes that--excepting the occasional memory of an innocent, rural past--nothing wrings a tear out of Jenny except "passion" (ll.121-34). Why would "passion" cause her to cry?
13. what does "bale" (l.133) mean in this context?
14. how many times does the narrator attempt to interrupt his morbid musings about Jenny's life trajectory?
15. according to the narrator, how would Jenny respond if he spoke aloud what he's thinking?
16. why is the narrator appalled by the thought that Jenny sleeps like any other woman (ll.177-84)?
17. what possible fate does the narrator envision befalling Jenny (l.228)?
18. does this narrator agree with Browning's "Fra Lippo Lippi" who, in RB's poem, declares that a painter who captures beauty in art can "take the Prior's pulpit-place, / Interpret God to all of you!" (ll.310-11)?
19. does the narrator find it easy to envision a restful heaven that compensates for the "lifelong hell" experienced by Jenny?
20. to whose erring heart does the narrator refer in line 251?
21. does the narrator think it likely that proper women and women like Jenny can understand and show compassion for one another?
22. why compare lust to an insolvable riddle, akin to a toad trapped within a stone (ll.276-97)?
23. why allude to Jesus's Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) in ll.315-16?
24. is the fact that the rose pinned to Jenny's dress has not yet entirely wilted provide us with a hopeful symbol of renewal (ll.323-25)?
25. how is it that the narrator can see Jenny's face when her head lies sideways on his knee, facing away from him?
26. what kind of pet does Jenny have in her room?
27. to what does "grim web" refer?
28. what does the narrator imagine filling Jenny's dreams?
29. why would it be important to "hide Priapus to the waist" in order for this fertility god, one of Aphrodite's sons, to be considered "an eligible deity" (ll.370-72)?
30. is the description of Jenny later awaking on her own to shake gold out of her hair a beautiful, poignant image with which to close the poem?
31. the narrator seems caught between mocking Jenny for counterfeiting love and censuring himself for his own shameful, lustful thoughts and actions (ll.381-87). Does he see a way forward and out of his predicament?

K. Chopin's The Awakening (1899), chps. 1-12

1. do the Pontellier boys take more after their father or mother?
2. does Chopin want the reader to dismiss the parrot’s occasional critique, or are we to sympathize with the sentiment conveyed by the words “Go away! Go away! For heaven’s sake!”?
3. what implicit posture towards matrimony does this novella adopt?  Does it provide various models of marriage to balance one another?
4. how did Edna and Léonce end up marrying?
5. how and why does Edna’s and Léonce’s marriage dynamic change in the novella’s first third?
6. what makes Mrs. Pontellier fascinating to watch, according to the narrator (3)?
7. does Edna’s sensitivity to visual beauty extend to both sexes?
8. towards what particular artform does Edna gravitate?
9. does Edna show any signs of enjoying good literature?
10. why does Mademoiselle Reisz declare Edna “the only one worthy playing for” (26)?
11. do Madame Adèle Ratignolle and Mrs. Edna Pontellier mirror each other in any important ways, or do they function simply as feminine foils for one another?
12. why might a feminist author like Chopin introduce both Mrs. Edna Pontellier and Madame Adèle Ratignolle by first describing their physical features instead of their personalities (3)?
13. does Edna love being a mother?
14. what qualities make Adèle a feminine ideal?
15. is Edna self-aware?
16. Edna Pntellier able to describe to others or herself her own thoughts, feelings, and motivations?
17. is Edna Pontellier able to describe to others or herself her own thoughts, feelings, and motivations?
18. why might Edna weep the first night after we meet her, when she has not let similar circumstances weigh her down in the past (6)?  Has anything changed, or precipitated this emotional release?
19. what signs does Chopin provide of Edna’s “awakening,” and to what is she awakening?
20. how should we characterize Edna’s and Robert’s friendship thus far.  Is Adèle right to be concerned?
21. what role does the ocean serve in this tale?  What about it so enthralls Edna Pontellier?
22. does this novel mount a case for or against religion?  Consider not only its direct, obvious comments, but its more oblique engagements as well.
23. why does the unnamed “lady in black” follow the two lovers regularly, and what does she represent in a symbolic sense?
24. what is this “candor” which so powerfully draws Edna Pontellier towards itself?
25. what kind of freedom does Edna instinctively seek?
    
    

The Blue Veil (1898)
Edmund Tarbell

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu