Creative Project

For the final project assigned I have decided to do a fictional writing. My plan is to take the character of Claudia from Interview with a Vampire and write a journal that is to be written by her. In this novel we get to see the story from Louis and his first person account of what happened and the feelings of the other characters is not known except for what he tells us. Claudia's situation is very unique and that is why I thought it would be fun to try to write the story through her eyes. I want to start the journal on the day she was "reborn" as a vampire and end it on or near the day of her death. In the novel Louis often describes Claudia as "having a far off look in her eyes" and I always wondered what she was thinking in these moments. I think it would be fun to try to imagine what is going on in that little brain of hers when she is thinking to herself.

Of course, with all novels, the character is just a character and I think that will be the most challenging part. No one can really know Claudia's true feelings and emotions because we are not told, so there could be a hundred takes on it, I suppose that it the creative portion though. Another uncertainty I have is the format to turn it in on. I was considering actually writing by hand in a journal, but then I don't know if that would be difficult to read. That is one portion I would like some input on. It would take a little extra work, but it might give it a more realistic feeling. Along with the journal I would have the 3-5 page paper in which I could give a more detailed account of my writing, which I can't really know because I haven't delved too deep into the project yet.

So, overall, that is my idea. There are still a few kinks to be worked out, but overall I think it will be challenging but fun to explore this character more deeply. I find her to be an interesting subject and already I have a lot of ideas of what she must have been going through.

The Sins of the Father

Recently, in class, we have had a lot of discussion about the role of the mother in "Wuthering Heights". I do agree with the fact that the women in the story keep dieing and that spurs the breakdown of almost every character in the story. One point that seems to want more discussing is how nobody learns from the mistakes of the generation before them. There is tragedy in every life, and you can either choose to learn from it and be strengthened, or completely shut down.

This is what made me think of the saying "the sins of the father" because that is ultimately what everyone is learning their ways from. It all begins with the elder Earnshaw and his irresponsible ways of parenting. He brings an orphan home and instead of making him part of his family, he sets him apart from the other children, playing favorites and making the relationship between all of the children very strained. He was the origin of the animosity, "Nay, Cathy, I cannot love thee; thou'rt worse than thy brother. Go say thy prayers,child, and ask God's pardon. I doubt thy mother and I must rue that we ever reared thee!" It cannot be a mystery as to the reason that there was outward hatred, especially between Heathcliff and Hindley.

Years later, that relationship only gets worse, and with the death of his wife, Hindley pretty much loses his mind. He becomes a violent alcoholic, bent on revenge. The household becomes tumultuous and no one seems to be learning anything from their situation. Instead, they all just sink deeper into their own sufferings and don't learn a thing from what they are going through.

With the next generation you see the same thing. Hareton becomes a fowl child, mimicking his father and Heathcliff instead of seeing how horrible their lives are and trying to distance himself. Its just a cycle from generation to generation. The younger ones always paying for the mistakes of their elders by thinking that that is the only way to live. Forgive and forget is not an option for these people.

I feel that this can sometimes still be seen in modern day society, where the mistakes of the parents negatively affect how the children grow and develop. This is ultimately, I feel, a main cause for the perversion of all of the characters of the story.

The character of Frankenstein.

This far into Frankenstein I have found the most interesting thing to be the relationship between Frankenstein and his creation. I don't have too much insight into it thus far, its more of an intrigue. Frankenstein spent a long time, pouring over this project of his, to the point of obsession. He seemed to become so consumed by this aspect of natural sciences that his normal thought process was put aside. He never seemed to consider the down side of what he was doing, he just continued blindly. The second that his creation was completed, instead of feeling relief or pride, he became instantly terrified. He had been staring at this project for months and yet, the second that life was brought to it, he ran and hid. Over the next couple of years he had occurrences with the "monster" eventually leading up to the murder of his younger brother. Finally, he has a face-to-face with the creature and we get the full story. Personally, after hearing the accounts of the creation, I myself half forgave him for the murder of the innocent little boy. What would anyone else have done in his situation? He started life as innocent as a new born, and through the prejudice of humans, learned that it didn't matter how innocent he was, he was never going to be accepted. The terror and rage he felt led him to his evil deeds, and it seemed natural and almost deserved that he would take out revenge on his creator with a serious vengeance.
This whole account makes me doubt the character of Frankenstein. Although his creature was unnatural and terrifying to look at, he had created him. He gave up months of his life in solitude, all dedicated to this one craft. It seems natural that he should feel some responsibility towards the monster, to be almost a father figure to him. How can you knowingly bring something to life and then just release it into the world without looking back? Even after hearing the heart-breaking story of his creation, he was still appalled by him, and felt no remorse on his account. Frankenstein comes off as heartless, and selfish; a naive youth with no realization of how his actions are always going to create an outcome. He feels no responsibility towards the thing that he brought into the world. I am thus far on the side of the monster. I pity his situation and cannot fully blame him for the crimes he has committed. He has never experienced love, acceptance, or real happiness; only witnessed it. His is a heartbreaking story, and Frankenstein is callous to it when it is all really his own doing.

The Church's role in "The Monk'

For this, my first blog, I want to discuss Lewis' take on the Catholic church, or possibly, religion in general. I cannot say that I am a nonreligious person, but I think anyone who truly looks at it can find hypocrisy wherever they go, especially in the church, no matter what religion you are. I spent the first 12 years of my schooling in Lutheran schools so I can honestly say that I have witnessed this as well. Lewis makes it seem like the common thing to do in that time was to join a convent if you were unhappy in love, or life in general. Just that in itself is a blasphemous idea. Looking at it from an outside perspective it would seem the ultimate in hypocrisy to commit your life to God because, well, you had no other options at the time. Look at Agnes, she was pledged to the convent before birth. Why would a mother ever wish a life like that upon her child unless that was truly what that child wanted. I can't imagine how lonely and pointless your life would seem if you unhappily married the church. Lewis' take on the whole matter is enough to make you see the church with an air of disgust. The prioress that found Agnes out acted with unfairness, and heartlessly. I don't want to know a God that would wish to deny someone true love, and in my personal opinion, I don't think He would. How can this woman, who had dedicated her life to a higher cause, act like she was the ultimate judge. In her eyes the "sin" of love was punishable by death, all to keep her name and her convent in good standing. On top of that, she lied about what she had ordered. Why, if she hadn't deep down known she was wrong, would she feel the need to conceal what she had done. The hypocrisy in it all is so evident that its hard to see any good in these people. I don't mean to start some religious debate, because it can be a touchy matter, but I feel like this was Lewis' intent. I'm also not saying that there are not truly well-meaning people in the church, but it does seem that we always hear about that bad and not the good. I know it may have just been the accepted thing to do in those times, but the whole idea of willingly giving up all the real experiences of life because of lost love or what have you, is just shocking to me, and I felt that it deserves some attention.