Thursday, July 10, 2008
Discussion Question #7
Okay...The wasp nest is very symbolic to me... on a lot of different levels... First- Norah's stomping out the wasp nest to me is Norah's way of "killing" her life as it is currently...I think that Norah had been kind of "void" for a long time... even though she had the memorial service for Phoebe, she never really got past that... not that she should have... I think she had been grieving for all of that time. David did not want anymore children, and so since Paul was getting ready to go to school/ or he was already in school, she really was kind of lost. Her focus was no longer on Paul, at least not during most of the day. This is when her drinking got worse. In the process... she just kind of existed. Secondly... I think this is the point at which she "reinvented" herself. Norah realize that she needed something for herself. She needed something to call her own. The fight with the wasp was in my opinion her way of fighting her demons, and letting go of her frustrations, disappointments, and of her old self. On another level, symbolically, wasp sting - the sting is painful- this could be a way for Edwards to show that Norah was taking the "sting" out of all of the painful memories/events of her life.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
The entire scene of her first seeing Kay and envying her and her life with two children, then running into Bree and enying her at the college where they are protesting the war and destroying the wasp nest was very symbolic. I agree she had been void for so long, but she also consumed her life with doing things that was expected of her as a daughter, wife and mother. She never did anything for herself. She never lived for herself. Her tackling the wasp nest was a way of handling "it" herself. She was challenging herself to do something outside of her realm, her comfort level. The symbolism between the explosion at the college and explosion of the vacuum cleaner with the bees was things were about to change and there was no going back! She was moving to a life of her own. The significance of the fight with the wasp is parallel to the fight for her life, her own identity. Yes, stomping out her old self and reinventing herself into the woman she wants to be. I thought the "sting" symbolized" that the process of change was going to be painful, that it was not going to be easy and change never is!!
It is interesting to see that Edwards chose to have Norah tackle a wasp’s nest…David’s weakness! Regardless, it is symbolic of destroying the past and starting new. She needed to know that she could do this herself without depending on anyone else. She needed to put her past to the side. Norah was a by stander in her own life, she was not living she was going through the motions of life without really living. At this stage of her life she makes a 180 and begins to live for her. Norah fights her past, the idea that she will not have another child, the idea that she cannot bring Phoebe back; Norah tackles all her problems by taking the wasp’s nest down. This was a very significant part of the book. I feel that this was the point of no return for Norah. David and she drew apart more and more each day after the wasp’s nest.
Florit, you hit on something I never thought about and that was she was able to take down something that she alone could do because of David' and Paul's allergic reaction to bees. Hince David's weakness. Wow! new perspective!
Post a Comment