Fresh Thoughts: 100% Organic

I liked the third prompt for todays post a lot. One of the themes I really loved in both the novel and the film was motherhood. Although the characters are all very strange and have very quirky personalities, I felt that the concept of motherhood was portrayed as “normal.”

When Alice tries anything to fit in with Jonathan and Bobby, she is clearly wanting to be accepted by the boys. Mothers do this all the time. They want to be “the cool mom.” There are always those mothers that buy their sons alcohol, let them fun wild, and tell themselves boys will be boys…

Although she was a minor character, and I can’t even remember her name off the top of my head, Bobby’s mother was  also a “normal” representation of motherhood. She wanted respect, and for Carlton to listen and stop defying her. She tried to be very strict with Bobby and raise him the right way. When Carlton died, a part of her died as well, and then a few years later she died herself, from motherhood-inspired grief over Carlton’s tragic death.

Clare was also a typical mother in the way that she craved motherhood so deeply. She also destroyed her way of life to protect her child from perceived harm. Although Clare was such an unorthodox character, she exhibited classic motherhood characteristics.

In the film, Etheline was also a typical mother. She never divorced her husband, even though she was extremely unhappy with him. She focused her life on her children, and even wrote a book about how great they were. Although this is not the most honorable thing in our eyes, there are lots of mothers whose claim to fame is exploiting their children, i.e. Kate Gosselin. Etheline also took all her children back into her home when they were grown men and women. This is another motherly trait, and it often happens in real life. When the world gets too difficult, you can always move back in with mom.

So I guess the major things to talk about this week would be the movie The Royal Tenenbaums and the ending of our novel A Home at the End of the World.

I really felt that the novel left a lot of plot lines up in the air, for the reader to figure out on their own. Sometimes I like when authors do that because I can end the story the way that I want to end it in my head. Sometimes I hate it because I just want to know more about the characters. In this case, I wish I knew more about what went on between the characters, and how they ended up living their lives in the future. I was particularly interested in the way that Rebecca would end up, living her entire life with Clare. Something tells me that a life with Clare may not be the best environment for a child to grow up in. Clare really doesn’t seem all that nurturing.

The film on the other hand, left nothing up in the air at the end. I felt that some aspects of the movie caught me off guard. It seemed to me that the characters acted as if they were characters right off the pages of a book. It was almost as if the movie was meant to be an interpretation of what goes on in a reader’s head as they read a book. The characters were always wearing the same outfits, and acted without much nuance. They were always exact in their movements and had very little personality, but a lot of quirks. I wasn’t exactly sure what to make of this movie, but I did like it, and find it very funny in a unique way. It makes me wish that there was a novel version of The Royal Tenenbaums. I wonder what that novel would read like!

As I reached the end of the novel, I was shocked. I got to the last chapter, and couldn’t believe it was the last! I felt that there were so many unresolved issues in the novel, and I couldn’t believe that Cunningham left the readers hanging in the way he did.

One thing that really shocked me was Clare’s leaving. It seemed like she always wanted to leave, but after what she went through with Jonathan’s leaving, I was so surprised that she actually left without any warning. I was also surprised that Clare asked Bobby to go with her at the last second. I really hoped that she would change her mind and go back at the one point where she had the impulse to turn around. It was almost as if Clare decided that she definitely could not be as eccentric as she originally thought, and her worry over Rebecca’s non-traditional upbringing eventually drove her away.

I was also shocked that Erich ended up staying with Jonathan and Bobby until his death. It seemed that all the characters felt they owed something to Erich, but in reality, they were very much strangers. If I were Jonathan, I feel that having the man who gave me AIDS in my house, and watching him die, would drive me insane. I wondered how Jonathan could face that daily reminder of what would eventually befall him. And I was also surprised at how calm Bobby is when faced with the idea of Jonathan’s sickness, and the fact that he will likely be taking care of Jonathan in much the same way that he is now taking care of Erich.

I feel that the family theme in this novel broke down in this section. What happened to the “Hendersons?” Maybe they fell apart in the face of birth and death?

So, Group 1 took on Question 3 in class Monday. That was the question regarding family.

We decided to focus on the Hendersons. We felt that the Hendersons served the purpose of making a complete mockery out of traditional families. They allowed Bobby, Jonathan, and Clare to fit together in a fantasy-inspired kind of way. By making Jonathan into the creepy Uncle Johnny, their mockery was ever more pronounced, since they acted as if the creepy uncle is a necessary and unavoidable part of the ordinary family. As the trio move forward as a non-traditional family, the Hendersons provide that needed sharing amongst the three of them.

The questions that we posed for discussion in class were:

Does Bobby have a defined sexuality, and how does that impact the entire story line?

Will Bobby, Jonathan, and Clare manage to stay together?

How/when did Bobby become so easy to influence?

My own observations about Part II:

I felt that Clare’s sudden change in this section of the book was the most shocking. In her first appearance in the book, she seems entirely different from the character she has become by the last section. It is almost as though something has snapped in Clare, and she is not able to go back to the lovable, zany character she was before Bobby entered the picture.

I also feel that Alice took a huge turn as a character as well, especially in the recent section after Ned’s death. It seems as if Alice is more shaken than she ever thought she would be by Ned’s death. She may feel guilty for so seriously considering leaving Ned so near to his death, but it is almost as if Alice has actually gotten exactly what she wanted for once and now has no idea what to do with herself.

In my reading of A Home at the End of the World so far, one excerpt really grabbed my attention. On page 139, Clare says “Most parents aren’t lovers. Mine weren’t. Mine were only married, and they didn’t care much for one another. At least Jonathan and I are good friends.”

I like this quote because it does ring true to so many marriages. To find a marriage where the parents are still madly in love after a few years with children is very rare. It seems that everyone entering into a marriage plans on overcoming that inevitability, but couples are rarely successful.

The idea of Jonathan and Clare having a child seems almost scary in the context of the novel. I can’t imagine them as parents, even though they may do a great job of raising a child. I am interested to see where this aspect of the story goes and discover what happens.

Well, to define the word “family” is a big task. Especially my family. There are a lot of complexities involved in being family. I think my family has about a million examples of complex family situations.

I guess the place to start would be a mother and a father. Mine divorced when I was only 9 months old. I have no memory of my parent’s marriage at all.  Now that I am a grown-up, my father and I have no relationship whatsoever. I do remember some interactions with him as a child, but those memories consist of him visiting from Pennsylvania on Christmas and showering me with gifts. That eventually got boring.

My mother and I always lived together in my childhood. At one point, she was a single mother, and I remember that as a hardship that we endured.

But don’t let me forget the other part of family: siblings. I have an older brother with a learning disability. He and I are fully related. Then I have a brother who is two years younger than I. We are half-siblings, since he has a different father. I also have another brother who is seven years younger than I. He is the child of my mother and my step-dad. So to recap, I have 3 brothers…. the older one has the same blood, the middle one has a random dude for a dad, and the youngest has my step-dad for a dad. We all share the same mom.

And then there are the step-siblings. My step-dad has three children from his previous marriage. They are all close to thirty years old, so we aren’t really that close, they were old when our parents got married. My step-brother is the youngest of them, and we are definitely the closest. My two step-sisters are a lot older, and kind of resentful of me and my mom, so things are sometimes a little rough with them.

However, that is not where the complexities end. To me, my step-dad is my Dad. He is the one that kissed my boo-boo’s, taught me to swim, and cried at my graduation. He is the one that will walk me down the aisle. So although he is not my “father,” he is my Dad.

And another thing, all my brothers are my brothers. Where the sperm came from doesn’t really matter at all. We all look a lot different, but we all have my mom’s eyes, so it’s okay.

Then there are always the dramas associated with extended family, such as; weddings, funerals, backyard barbeques, christmas gifts, hospitalizations, church functions, and presidential elections.

Without going into far too much detail, I would sum up Family in one word: complicated.

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