hi everyone! Basically, this is a "reading response" homework assignment in which i had to read two short stories and then write about my reaction to one or both of them. I know that its hard to judge it without reading the stories first, but i appreciate any help possible. thanks! :D
While reading Her Story, it saddened me that what appeared to me as a story of a love lost was presented in a victim-and-culprit manner. The editor presents the antagonist in the story as the "recreation of Yone Willoughby" which I think is a grossly inaccurate comparison. Yone Willoughby, the main character of The Amber Gods, was an unskilled, self-centered woman with very little insight to offer. She manipulated her way into winning the affections of her cousin's lover, and caused harm purposefully. The unnamed antagonist from Her Story, on the other hand, was a very young girl who fell in love with a minister and used her charm instead of manipulation to win him over; linking her to Yone is nothing short of insulting.
"She was the being of infinite variety- to-day glad, to-morrow sad, freakish and always exciting... sitting at night embossing on web-like muslin designs...which she had learned at her convent...taking out from the little wallet...scraps she had preserved from the servant of some Italian father of the church...As for me, the only thing I knew was my poor music" was how the antagonist was described by the bitter narrator. The antagonist was also a talented artist, could spot out ailments in the town folk, and can find "the secret and vulnerable spot of every friend we had". Undoubtedly, the narrator's self-pity and jealousy cast a very negative light to the practically innocent antagonist. Throughout her downward spiral of insanity, the narrator never confronted the problem head on, and consciously turned the other cheek and permitted her husband to spend more private time with the young girl while she just wasted time on long walks. When her husband fell into a deep depression, the antagonist reached out to him; "she had followed him on solitary strolls, had sought him in his study...and soon he was himself again." Meanwhile, the narrator focused on her other duties instead of helping her husband.
"She had set the wedge that was to sever our union- the little seed in a mere idle cleft that grows and grows and splits the rock asunder" is how the narrator views the affair. It is so cliché to blame the "other woman" for the ending of a marriage; "the little seed" wouldn't grow if there wasn't a crack already present in the union. When the narrator and her husband met, she sang out loud in church and he fell in love with her voice of purity. Their love for music was practically their only common ground, and the antagonist triumphed it; "oh so rich a voice! My own was white and thin, I felt, besides it." Not only was the antagonist worldlier in the matters of the church, but she also more talented musically and artistically. She knew how to compliment and stroke the ego of the narrator's husband, even to the point to single-handedly help him out of a severe depression. To be fair, the narrator was truly in love with her husband, but she merely shadowed him; lost her own identity in his. She even went as far as to state "I have no faith but Spencer's faith; if he had been a heathen, I would have been the same".
The antagonist could make shadow puppets with such intensity that they made Spencer shiver and blush, and her voice could bring a sparkle to his eye. Is it reasonable to blame the antagonist for that? The narrator claims that the antagonist whispered atrocious things to her (such as "when you are gone to a madhouse, don't think they'll (the children) have many such kisses") but by that point she was already hearing voices and experiencing illusions; her record of events is quite questionable. Resisting with little avail, Spencer fell madly in love with a fascinating, brilliant young woman who shared his interests and knew how to relate to him. His subservient wife who couldn't find her voice was soon forgotten, and drifted off into madness. Unlike Yone, who won her man through trickery, the antagonist in this story won through simple compatibility.
While reading Her Story, it saddened me that what appeared to me as a story of a love lost was presented in a victim-and-culprit manner. The editor presents the antagonist in the story as the "recreation of Yone Willoughby" which I think is a grossly inaccurate comparison. Yone Willoughby, the main character of The Amber Gods, was an unskilled, self-centered woman with very little insight to offer. She manipulated her way into winning the affections of her cousin's lover, and caused harm purposefully. The unnamed antagonist from Her Story, on the other hand, was a very young girl who fell in love with a minister and used her charm instead of manipulation to win him over; linking her to Yone is nothing short of insulting.
"She was the being of infinite variety- to-day glad, to-morrow sad, freakish and always exciting... sitting at night embossing on web-like muslin designs...which she had learned at her convent...taking out from the little wallet...scraps she had preserved from the servant of some Italian father of the church...As for me, the only thing I knew was my poor music" was how the antagonist was described by the bitter narrator. The antagonist was also a talented artist, could spot out ailments in the town folk, and can find "the secret and vulnerable spot of every friend we had". Undoubtedly, the narrator's self-pity and jealousy cast a very negative light to the practically innocent antagonist. Throughout her downward spiral of insanity, the narrator never confronted the problem head on, and consciously turned the other cheek and permitted her husband to spend more private time with the young girl while she just wasted time on long walks. When her husband fell into a deep depression, the antagonist reached out to him; "she had followed him on solitary strolls, had sought him in his study...and soon he was himself again." Meanwhile, the narrator focused on her other duties instead of helping her husband.
"She had set the wedge that was to sever our union- the little seed in a mere idle cleft that grows and grows and splits the rock asunder" is how the narrator views the affair. It is so cliché to blame the "other woman" for the ending of a marriage; "the little seed" wouldn't grow if there wasn't a crack already present in the union. When the narrator and her husband met, she sang out loud in church and he fell in love with her voice of purity. Their love for music was practically their only common ground, and the antagonist triumphed it; "oh so rich a voice! My own was white and thin, I felt, besides it." Not only was the antagonist worldlier in the matters of the church, but she also more talented musically and artistically. She knew how to compliment and stroke the ego of the narrator's husband, even to the point to single-handedly help him out of a severe depression. To be fair, the narrator was truly in love with her husband, but she merely shadowed him; lost her own identity in his. She even went as far as to state "I have no faith but Spencer's faith; if he had been a heathen, I would have been the same".
The antagonist could make shadow puppets with such intensity that they made Spencer shiver and blush, and her voice could bring a sparkle to his eye. Is it reasonable to blame the antagonist for that? The narrator claims that the antagonist whispered atrocious things to her (such as "when you are gone to a madhouse, don't think they'll (the children) have many such kisses") but by that point she was already hearing voices and experiencing illusions; her record of events is quite questionable. Resisting with little avail, Spencer fell madly in love with a fascinating, brilliant young woman who shared his interests and knew how to relate to him. His subservient wife who couldn't find her voice was soon forgotten, and drifted off into madness. Unlike Yone, who won her man through trickery, the antagonist in this story won through simple compatibility.