Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Character Description: Ariah's Children. *As of page 367

Chandler:
 As a child he was a lanky, pale little boy. A recluse that would disappear for days at a time, without anyone knowing where he was. Had a tendency to hole up in library or go on very long walks by himself. Somewhat of a black sheep in the family. Took backseat to Royall and Juliet. But as a man, he has somewhat grown into himself and blossomed. Chandler has now beefed up, tall, Ariah even noticing he had gotten better looking. He is working as a high school science teacher in Niagara Falls and is in love with Melinda, an unmarried woman with a 1 year old child. It is obvious that Chandler has a kind heart, through his willingness to do the right thing and service within the community. He is a certified 'crisis responder', who goes to accident scenes to help wherever necessary, and also volunteers for the suicide hotline. Which is ironic that both those things are tied so closely with suicide. Chandler is very loyal to his family and is very protective of his mother and two younger siblings.


Royall:
Royall will always be Ariah's favorite. Since he was born he has been a big boy with beautiful flaxen hair, certainly his father's son. He is bubbly and outgoing, everyone who meets him falls in love with him. He is not as smart as his older brother, getting mediocre grades in school, but winning 'most attractive boy' in his class. After high school he goes to work for the Niagara Falls tourism industry, captaining an boat full of tourists across The Gorge. Royall cuts off his engagement to sweetheart, Candace Carpentry, because he feels he is "capable of loving a woman more", much to his mother's disapproval. Royall is a free bird who loves to be outdoors and on his own terms. Although he is not brillaint he is curious, begging for more out of life much to his family's surprise, he enrolls himself in the university. He is also desperately searching for more information about his later father.


Juliet
Juliet is Ariah and Dirk's first and only daughter. Ariah wants to love Juliet the most, and although she loves her, Royall will always be her favorite. Juliet is a sweet girl, who puts up with her mother's emotional turmoil and unexpected fits. She is creative a domestic, fixing up the house whenever she can. Juliet does have a fiery side; never afraid to speak out how she truly feels about something. She lovess her brother's dearly and is delighted when they are at home.

Theme: Grief/Loss & How We Deal With It


The entire novel, "The Falls", is based on the loss and struggles that Ariah goes through in her life. The primary two being the suicide of her new husband, Gilbert Herskine, and the fatal car accident of her real love, second husband Dirk Burnaby. What is significant is not the loss themselves but the presence the deceased have long after they have passed away.


When Ariah's first husband leaped off "The Fall's" she was devastated, her life stood still as she searched endlessly 7 days and 7 nights for his body in the monstrous Niagara Falls. After Gilbert's body was found in the river, she retreated back to her hometown in Troy, trying to go back to  a normal life. Soon after, Dirk Burnaby shows up at her door. He proposes to her and she accepts, beginning a new life for Ariah Burnaby. She never speaks of Gilbert, and only refers to him as the other, seemingly successfully shutting out the dark part of her past. But although Gilbert dies, Ariah will not escape him. A part of him will alway be there; in the form of her first born son, Chandler Burnaby. Ariah has doubts that Dirk is the father, because Gilbert and her had consumnated their marriage the night of their wedding. She shuts these fears out. But as Chandler grows older it is evident that he is not at all like the Burnaby clan, with his tall, lanky stature and reclusive ways, but far more like his real father. Although she will never admit, Chandler's presence is a daily reminder to Ariah of Gilbert and her trgic past.
Ariah's second husband, Dirk Burnaby, also dies tragically later in the novel. His car carreened off a cliff into the Niagara Falls days after his controversial Love Canal case and arrest following. The night before his death, Dirk had dropped off a puppy named Zarjo for his 3 children, much to the anger of his now estranged wife, Ariah. After his death, Zarjo seems to take the role of Dirk in th household. This is evident because of Ariah's original distrust of Zarjo that eventully grew into love, much like Ariah and Dirk's relationship. Dirk could not be in hiw wife and children's lives so he put Zarjo there to love and protect them.


The theme of grief is evident throughout the book, because the whole plot of the book is tragedy and how life proceeds after. Picking up the pieces and moving on after loss. This is a very relateable topic to life in general and American culture because it is something we have all experienced or watched being experienced. The symbols that arise through this theme are interesting, because it makes you think what 'replacements' might appear in real life after a death.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Image Study









The Devil's Whirlpool
This is a picture of the infamous devil's whirlpool where Gilbert Erskines's body was spit out seven days after his tragic suicide. The bride he left behind one day after his marriage waits for his corpse to appear, searching from sun up to sun down for her late husband's body. Ariah Littrel feels incomplete, trapped in the moment, irresolution at the fact that there is no corpse. Without this proof of his passing she is somewhat in denial of the events and cannot move on until she sees him. The whirlpool represents conclusion, answers, confirms Ariah's fears. But it also lets the bride move on, as she has been paralyzed by The Falls this past week. Athough the whirlpool's surfacing of the body is a horrid, gruesome occurence, it also has relief behind it, bringing closure to Gilbert's death. It is a turning point in the novel, because from there Ariah begins a completely new life, separate from Gilbert and her life as Mrs. Erskine.


Ariah's appearance/image
Ariah's images is very important in this novel because she is seen very differently through the eyes of each character. Ariah sees herself as bony, disgusting, and sweaty; constantly belittling her image and putting herself down. Her first husband, Gilbert Erskine, decribes her in very negative terms regarding her physical appearance as well as her personality. He is disgusted by the immature, insecure woman he has deflowered on their wedding night; commenting on her gaping mouth, sweaty forehead, and stench. But Dirk Burnaby's view of his new wife Ariah is completely opposite of how Gilbert and even Ariah views herself. He describes her as dainty, beautiful, like no woman he has ever been with. He adores the strong, intelligent, talented woman his new wife is. Interestingly the physical things Dirk mentions are those that she has hated about herself in the past (frail figure, rusty red hair, porcelein skin). Ariah's kids have complicated views of Ariah. They love their mother and feel almost protective of her (especially her eldest, Chandler) but they sometimes resent her for her rash, emotional, bitter ways.
It is interesting to experience Ariah as a character through so many different point of views because it fully develops her character more so than any other in the book. At some points you might not even think they are describing the same person when describing Ariah. It is a testament that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder.


Love Canal
The Love Canal is a very important image in the novel because it leads to alot of very important, ultimately tragic events in the plot. Dirk Burnaby originally tries to turn down the love canal case, but is roped into it through a series of events out of his control. Burnaby gets in over his head with the case. He becomes obsessed; pulling out of his own pocket, letting his temper loose, amd ruining the relationship he has with his family. Like the love canal is lethal to the community it is also lethal to Dirk Burnaby. It seeps into his life and ruins everything, the case eventually leading to his tragic death. This event ended the 'happily ever after' that the Burnaby family had created, the living damned to live the rest of their lives in grief and separation.




The Falls
Of course Niagara Falls is an important image in Oates' novel, it is essentially the center of the plot, many events revolving around its powerful pull. The Falls has many different effect on the characters throughout the story, although most of them are morbid, compelling individuals to do irrational, tragic things. Gilbert is drawn to Niagara as an escape to his problems, The Falls being his answer. Dirk Burnaby hears the call of the falls speaking to him to do the unthinkable, to finally leap from the tight rope he has been walking across throughout his flashy life. The Falls finally taking him in a tragic 'accident'.  Then, Dirk's only daughter also hears the voices of the Falls, begging her to jump in, that her father would want it. Juliet almost falls victim to the Falls, if not for her admirer, the quiet Bud Stonecrop, who eventually quiets the Falls voices in her head.
The events that pilot the novel's plot are caused by the Falls and its hypnotic influence and power.



Symbol: Chandler Burnaby

Chandler is the first child Ariah bears with her new husband, Dirk Burnaby. Ariah carries the secret fear that this child may not be Dirk's, but Gilbert's, whom Ariah had sex with only once to consumnate their marriage right before he killed himself. As Chandler grows older it is obvious that he is not like the great Burnaby family, or anything like his well-like, successful father, Dirk Burnaby. This boy is awkward, quite unsocial, avoiding his mother for days at a time. Chadler holes up in the library or will simply wander around town, disapearing from sight. He wears glasses, is fair skinned, and is lanky and somewhat emaciated. It becomes more obvious to the reader, and Ariah (who refuses to admit this to herself) that Chandler, the eldest Burnaby boy, is JUST like Ariah's late husband, Gilbert Erskine. I believe strongly that Chandler is Gilbert's son, and not Dirk Burnaby's. Chandler is a direct symbol of Gilbert Erskine, and his presence after death. He is an everyday reminder to Ariah, that she cannot escape the skeletons of her past, that, like she said originally, "I am damned".

A picture of Oates and husband Raymond J. Smith, taken a couple of years after their marriage in 1961. At their Ontario home. Oates is thin and very dainty, dressed very much like the outfits and image Ariah portrays in the novel. Interestingly, her husband beside her rather resembles Gilbert Erskine. Ariah's late husband in The Falls had glasses, pale skin, and dressed very proper and intelligenty, almost in a geeky way.
Amy's Predictions.

Ok, so here I am at page 225, about 5/8ths through the book i'de say, and I have to admit I'm really starting to love this book. It's exactly the type of scandal and provacity that I so crudely joke about. A book right up my alley (promsicuity, adultery, suicide, gossip). I'm kind of kidding, but I'm not..
Right now, I'm at the point where Ariah is currently living with her handsome husband, Dirk Burnaby. in their lavish suburban townhouse near Niagara Falls. The emotional fragile houswife has just been informed by her less than trust worthy sister-in-law that Dirk is having an affair with his attractive client, Nina Olshaker.
I will be honest, this book is really keeping my toes. I have not been able to assume the direction the plot is going really at all. I did not see the romance with Dirk and Ariah happening, and I also did not expect Dirk to ever become involved with another woman. I think the unepectedness of the events that occur is due largely to the compleity of the character and the seemingly uncharacteristic actions they make.
My assumption at this point in the book is that Dirk Burnaby will stay with Ariah. I think her and the sister-in-law are jumping to conclusions that Dirk may be cheating. The sister-in-law could have ulterior motives, and Ariah is insecure and emotionally unstable to start with and always tends to jump to morbid thoughts. I believe this is more a business adventure for Dirk. Taking on Nina's seemingly impossible case is a challenge to him, and he gets a thrill from defying the odds. Him supporting Nina financially could just be guilt or a moral motivation. Although Dirk may not be partaking in adultery, I feel like this first conflict between the Burnaby's could put immense strain on their relationship. I don't see the Burnaby's staying together much longer. Ariah's insecurities and fears that she doesn't deserve all of the good that is happening to her will eventually drive Dirk away. He will take away his 'true' children, Bridget and Royall, and Ariah will be left with Chandler. This representing a piece of her late husband Gilbert Erskine, and that the past is still haunting her. I believe this story will ultimately end a tragedy. Ariah ending up with misfortune as well as many of the characters.


Who Is Joyce Carol Oates?
Oates is the author of the award winning novel, The Falls. The author was born June 16, 1938 and grew up to be a notable American author, touching on hard issues such as suicide, promiscuity, homoseuality, adultery, and death in her work. Joyce Carol Oates published her first book in 1963, and since then has published over 50 novels, as well as short stories, poetry, and fiction. Along with writing the wildly successfal novel The Falls, she had many other works that garnered global recognition and accolades. The novel Them (1969) received the National Book Award and her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000) were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Starting in 2008, Oates is the Rpger S. Berlind'52 Professor in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing currently at Princeton University, where she has been a teacher there since 1978.

Oates was born in Lockport, NY to Carolina Oates, a homemaker, and Frederic Oates, a tool designer. The Fall's Troy, NY setting took place not far from Oates' childhood home. She was raised catholic (a religion detested by the character's of The Falls) but turned athiest throughout adulthood. Joyce had a deep admiration for literary greats like Thoreau, Bronte, Faulkner, and Hemingway, where she drew much inspiration for the development of her writing. Oates was the first member of her family to graduate highschool, going to Syracuse on scholarship, then later to the University of Wisconsin. Joyce met Raymond J. Smith at the University of Wisconsin, whom she later married in 1961.
Joyce Carol Oates






Sunday, March 4, 2012

The cruel beauty of The Falls
That calls to you-
Surrender!
-M.L. Trau, "The Ballad of the Niagara," 1931
#2.
Symbol: Niagara Falls
Dirk Burnaby as well as many other characters in the novel discuss the pull and strength of the powerful Niagara Falls. It is warned that if you spend too much time around the Falls it would put evil thoughts in your mind. "The Falls exerted it's malevolent spell that never weakened."
This majestic cataract is seen as a beautiful poison, like a thorny rose. One can be drawn closer and closer by it's beauty, only to be washed away by it's powerful strength. Clyde Colborne discusses in the book, that 'Most Niagara natives kept their distance from The Falls, so they were immune' from it's fatal call.
"But if you drifted too near, even out of intellectual curiosity, you were in danger: beggining to think thoughts unnatural to your personality as if the thunderous waters were thinking for you depriving you of your will."
Niagara Falls is a symbol of temptation and evil. It represents the beauty and glamour of life drawing us closer and closer, but the final result is death. The Falls is the devil, tempting innocent, even strong minded people closer and closer, daring them to do the unthinkable. Everyone in town and who has ever experienced The Falls seems to understand the effects, and the community as a whole has a reverence regarding the cataract; both out out respect and fear.
Dirk Burnaby once said to Clyde Colborne, "You had to have a deep, mysterious soul to want to destroy yourself. The shallower you are, the safer."
#1.
I've finally reached page 200 in the novel, halfway through The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates. I have to admit... this book is nothing what i expected it to be. Contrary to my predictions towards the begging of my reading that this might be a slow read, the plot has really taken off. The Falls has become a shocking, sometimes raunchy depiction of trauma and the grief that ensues. Here are some quick facts to get you acquainted with the novel before i get into a deeper plot analysis.


Setting: The powerful and hypnotic Niagara Falls and the quiet community surrounding it. Troy, NY where Ariah lived with her parents and returns to after her late husband's death.The high end New York touwhouse that Dirk and Ariah Burnaby now raise their son, Chandler in Shalott, where Dirk Burnaby's mother's estate is located.


Time period: 1950's. Story begins in early June, and continues throughout the summer.


Main characters: Ariah Littrell (Once Ariah Erskine), Gilbert Erskine (and his presence even after death), Dirk Burnaby.
[Major character development to be seen in later posts]


Minor characters: Claudine Burnaby (Dirk's mother), Reverend and Mrs. Littrell (Ariah's parents), Mr. and Mrs. Erskine (Gilbert's parents), Chandler (Dirk and Ariah's child tpgether), Clyde Colborne (owner of the Rainbow Falls whose friendship with Dirk Burnaby led to the couple's original introduction.