I am only about halfway through this essay, but i wanted some imput because i have to do something and leave it for a while. Please leave your comments and specifically, do you like how i almost quoted myself in those last sentences (in reference to my thesis)?
T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land relates to his audience the concept that anything that cannot or will not produce is a wasteland. A prominent example of this in the piece is sex and the way the world abuses it. He offers us an image of the many ways in which sex is abused or misused and points out that these unholy representations of sex are indicative of the wasteland. Even in the opening lines of his poem he indicates that something meant to be beautiful and dynamic has become "dead land"-a wasteland (Eliot, 2). Humans have been "mixing memory and desire...stirring dull roots with spring rain" by confusing the spiritual and emotional roles of sex with the physical, carnal roles of sex. Eliot invites us to watch humanity tragically transform the beautiful, sacred, distinguishing, creative ceremony of love-making into a clattering, mindless, loveless machine, churning out loss of innocence, exploitation, and murder.
Sex is out of place when mutual love and respect between a man and a woman are not involved. Loveless sex is sex abused. There is no intention of reproduction; there is no purpose other than the satisfaction of animal desires. What we need is sex that produces life; that rejuvenates and restores, that is not sterile. In the second part of the piece, A Game of Chess, Lil is trapped in a marriage in which her husband does not really love her. This is the distinction we as humans often fail to make in our encounters with people we "love". We often fail to see the difference between the physical and emotional aspects of sex. Lil's husband desires sex only to satisfy his body, not his heart and mind. Lil's friend warns her that she'd better fix her teeth, because if she fails to do so, her husband will no longer have any desire for her, because he equates the physical with sex and sex with love. So, essentially, love is physical for him. Not only is sex dependent upon physical appearances, but love and fidelity are dependent upon sex. Further, Lil's friend advises her that if she "don't give it him, there's others will". She has said that any woman will do, and that any woman, including herself, would be willing to take her place. When Lil mentions her recent abortion her friend inquires of her, "What you get married for if you don't want children?" (164). This may be the only reasonable thing her friend says in this exchange, but she does have a point. Why engage in a sacred act meant for reproduction and a demonstration of love when reproduction is not the goal and love is absent? Loveless, lifeless, murderous sex, "bats with baby faces" (380). The Waste Land.
The typist readies her house for a young male guest in the third part of The Waste Land, The Fire Sermon. There is clearly no love involved in this encounter, as once the "young man carbuncular" leaves, the young girl is "hardly aware of her departed lover"(, 249). This scene also demonstrates the use of sex as a means for obtaining power. Obviously this girl is not interested in this young man, as she is "glad it's over" when the chore is done (252). So what could possibly be her motive in participating in this liaison? This young man, though unattractive, arrogant, and aggressive, has been successful, or at least, he appears to have been successful. The typist is likely only sleeping with him for status, money, or power. Whether or not he is aware of this, he "assaults at once" in his pursuit of sexual pleasure, and she does not refuse his advances (239). He desires only what she can offer him sexually, and she desires only what rewards he can offer her. Neither loves the other. They are only a clattering, mindless, loveless machine, churning out exploitation.
Cleopatra, if we assume that the woman represented is referring to Cleopatra, in A Game of Chess demonstrates several abuses of sex. We can almost consider her forced seduction a rape, especially when Eliot inserts Philomel's tragic story as a hint. Cleopatra has paintings of Cupidons surrounding her bed where this fornication takes place, a grotesque mixture of voyeurism and loss of childhood innocence. The enticing riches and the sickening yet tantalizing smell of exotic perfumes lure in her prey. Philomel seems an influential character for Cleopatra, as her rape and transformation are displayed above the mantel.
Whether or not the following conversation is between Cleopatra and Antony or another unnamed couple, we can tell that there is no love in this relationship either. The man's inaudible answer to his lover's whining suggests that he is bored with their relationship and that they are in the wasteland: "We are in rats' alley where the dead men lost their bones" (115, 116). Their relationship is no longer fruitful and invigorating, it does not produce anything, there is sex without love, and the hint that children often interrupt: "Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door" (138).
This poem is Eliot's cry out to European society to step back and take a look at what they have done to the things in life that are supposed to be beautiful and productive. Quoting the Upanishads, Eliot implores us to give: "Datta". We must give even at "the awful daring of a moment's surrender which an age of prudence can never retract" (405, 406). When the whole world is misusing the sanctity of human sexuality, give them the example; give them a chance to see the beauty of such a ceremony. "Dayadhvam": He asks us to have compassion on those who cannot see the spirituality and love that should accompany sex. They are the ones suffering for their ignorance. "Damyata": He challenges us to control ourselves and not to let the "arid lands behind" us drag us back to our unrefined state. The journey through the wasteland is only worth it if we come out the other side stronger, wiser, and searching, "fishing" (425).
I would change this so that the first sentence expresses the idea of the paragraph:
The typist readies her house for a young male guest in the third part of The Waste Land, The Fire Sermon, and there is clearly no love involved in this encounter. Once the "young man carbuncular" leaves, the young girl...--- do you see how this makes it so that the first sentence expresses the idea of the paragraph?
They are only a clattering, mindless, loveless machine, churning out exploitation.--- Yep, I do like it! All except for the last word. They do not churn out exploitation. Exploitation is taking place, and in the process they churn out... what?
:-)
Cleopatra, if we assume that the woman represented is referring to Cleopatra, demonstrates several abuses of sex in A Game of Chess.
(sounds nicer)
If you don't get an A on this I will be surprised!!! :-)
