SUMMARY:
In August of 1993, Clem killed herself. Louisa and her parents had flown out to Florida to collect all of Clem's things and arrange a funeral for Clem. The first day Louisa was in Florida, Buzz acted as her chaperon, taking her where she needed to go and getting her settled in her motel room. Everything that Louisa did and everybody that Louisa met reminded her and made her think about Clem. She knew her sister was having an affair but she did not know with who and that is one thing that Louisa was trying to find out how the mystery man was. Then she met R.B she knew it was he who had an ongoing affair with her sister. But now Louisa wanted to know something else, how did she do it? R.B said she turned on her truck in the garage and also used some of the medicine they put the bear to sleep to set up her own IV and that's what killed her. Louisa and their parents scatered her ashes all over the ocean, the only place they thought Clem was happy.
In August of 2005, Clem is taking care of her godson. Henri, Esteban's youngest. She had remarried to a man that deals with real estate, lost a loved one, his wife, to sucicide and had 2 kids already. She was still living in New York when she ran into Ralph, one of the guys Clem met in Vermont years ago. Louisa invited him to dinner hoping to find out why her sister took her own life. Although Louisa has thought of hundreds of reasons why and played out millions of different scenarios in her head, she can not ever know and Ralph could not answer those questions. Dinner ended, and even though her questions have no answers, she still learned a lot.
QUOTE:
"He tells me then that he's positive; he found out years ago--but just in time to take drugs that are keeping so many people alive. He'd been on the verge of accepting a major position at a wildlife fund that would have given him administrative power yet kept him in the field. 'I said no, because I figured I wouldn't be alive for a whole lot longer," (Glass, 281).
REACTION:
This was the state of mind of Ralph when he found out something horrible in his life. Even though nobody really knows what was going through Clem's mind that would make her want to kill herself it was probably somewhere along these lines. In the time of AIDS/HIV Clem enjoyed sleeping around. What I think based on Ralph and Louisa's dinner talk, is that Clem found out that she was positive and the virus began attacking her immune system and she could not handle it emotional so she decided to end her own life with a boom, like she had told Ralph she wanted to go out back in the summer of 1980 when she was taking care of her Great-Aunt Lucy.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
I See You Everywhere (165-228)
SUMMARY:
In February of 1993, Louisa has left Hugh and has been with this new boyfriend, Ray, for about two years. They just recently discovered she has breast cancer, but doctors caught it early, stage one, so she has a very good chance of recovery and beating the disease. The first person she called to tell is Clem, then her mom, then the next day her dad. The treatments she was receiving caused her to go to them hospital almost everyday and spent a lot of time inside a machine she named nine, blue or lucky. Although she was facing this health issue, she continued to work and did not let the disease hold her back. She was now writing for a art magazine in New York and while searching for new faces in the art world, stumbled upon a man named Esteban. He created art from knitting and was working on a piece that the magazine was playing on showcasing. Esteban has a wife named Muriel and they are expecting their first child. At the reveal Esteban held at his house, Ray and Louisa met Muriel and Louisa described her belly as being so big that it was ready to pop produce twins! Ray seemed uncomfortable being around Muriel because Louisa has been talking about kids and Ray wants nothing of them. They both have strong opinions and stick to them which is why, according to Louisa, why they work so well together.
In May of 1993, Clem has left her familiar coast life and is now inland looking after a grizzly bear family. She is seeing a married man R.B. and stays in the same cabin with him. The family of grizzly bears consisted of a momma bear, Doris, a boy bear, Danny, and a sister bear Tipper. While the bears constantly caused havoc by their wandering into the city, they seemed fine, except for Danny. He looked like he was not gaining any weight and never helped his mother and sster clean up after a meal. Clem found this behavior strange and requested test be done on the cub. The test discovered a whole in his heart that needed to be corrected by surgery. Unfortunatley, the surgery did not go as planned and he died. Her coworker, Buzz, was comforting Clem because she developed a love for this family, when Clem told him he would make a great husband, and he responded by saying "woman who don't want husbands tell me that all the time."
QUOTE:
"Buzz you'd make a great husband," I tell him. "I know," he says sharply. "Woman who don't want a husband tell me so all the time," (Glass, 228).
REACTION:
This quote shows what people think of the things Clem wants in her life. He is not the first person hat has said she doesn't want a family centered future because she even says it herself. She seems to be getting herself into relationships that have no real attachment in someway. While on the contrast, Louisa is seeking the family future and is getting herself into relationships with men that don't have any desires to have a family. The sisters attract the men that the other sister wants/needs.
In February of 1993, Louisa has left Hugh and has been with this new boyfriend, Ray, for about two years. They just recently discovered she has breast cancer, but doctors caught it early, stage one, so she has a very good chance of recovery and beating the disease. The first person she called to tell is Clem, then her mom, then the next day her dad. The treatments she was receiving caused her to go to them hospital almost everyday and spent a lot of time inside a machine she named nine, blue or lucky. Although she was facing this health issue, she continued to work and did not let the disease hold her back. She was now writing for a art magazine in New York and while searching for new faces in the art world, stumbled upon a man named Esteban. He created art from knitting and was working on a piece that the magazine was playing on showcasing. Esteban has a wife named Muriel and they are expecting their first child. At the reveal Esteban held at his house, Ray and Louisa met Muriel and Louisa described her belly as being so big that it was ready to pop produce twins! Ray seemed uncomfortable being around Muriel because Louisa has been talking about kids and Ray wants nothing of them. They both have strong opinions and stick to them which is why, according to Louisa, why they work so well together.
In May of 1993, Clem has left her familiar coast life and is now inland looking after a grizzly bear family. She is seeing a married man R.B. and stays in the same cabin with him. The family of grizzly bears consisted of a momma bear, Doris, a boy bear, Danny, and a sister bear Tipper. While the bears constantly caused havoc by their wandering into the city, they seemed fine, except for Danny. He looked like he was not gaining any weight and never helped his mother and sster clean up after a meal. Clem found this behavior strange and requested test be done on the cub. The test discovered a whole in his heart that needed to be corrected by surgery. Unfortunatley, the surgery did not go as planned and he died. Her coworker, Buzz, was comforting Clem because she developed a love for this family, when Clem told him he would make a great husband, and he responded by saying "woman who don't want husbands tell me that all the time."
QUOTE:
"Buzz you'd make a great husband," I tell him. "I know," he says sharply. "Woman who don't want a husband tell me so all the time," (Glass, 228).
REACTION:
This quote shows what people think of the things Clem wants in her life. He is not the first person hat has said she doesn't want a family centered future because she even says it herself. She seems to be getting herself into relationships that have no real attachment in someway. While on the contrast, Louisa is seeking the family future and is getting herself into relationships with men that don't have any desires to have a family. The sisters attract the men that the other sister wants/needs.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
I See You Everywhere (109-164)
SUMMARY
In 1989, Louisa and Hugh had been married for five years. The couple went to Rhode Island when Louisa's mother wanted her to come and clear out the barn that had housed a lot of her stuff. While Louisa is cleaning out her stuff, there's a a family motto "You never know when it will come in handy!", Hugh stays in the guest room, her old room, and s sleeping the day away. One afternoon, Louisa, Hugh and her mother had lunch on the beach where her mom hounded her about having kids stating it was "about time they had some" and "not to wait until they were ready because they would never be ready,". Louisa tried to change the subject by adding that the two of them will be going to England for a year but her mother responded by saying "the health care system is free in England." While Louisa was cleaning she found a box that contained letters over ten years old when her and her friend, Eliza, wrote to each back and forth. She held these letters near and dear to her heart. They describe Eliza's summer romance, her first love, her everything at the time, a man named Jeremy. She looked at her mother and father and remember that Clem said they had an arrangement, then looked at her marriage with Hugh and thought to herself, on multiple occasions, that they were in "trouble". Finally, when Louisa cleaned out as much as she could, or wanted to, she went to the bedroom to find Hugh asleep and realized why she wanted to keep these letters so badly.
In 1990, Clem wakes up from an on again off again coma but cannot remember about the last five weeks of her life. She remembers Jerry, her latest beau, and them two talking about people that let their lives past them by and how he wants children because having children is life. Family, doctors and nurses are coming in and out of the room but not once, that she can remember has she seen Jerry. She began thinking and she was counting all the times she has been in the hospital. Age 1: she bit through her tongue after rolling off the changing table. Age 2: she cracked her middle metatarsal, Age 4: she obtained rabbis through a barn rat. Age 7: she had an allergic reaction to blue cheese dip, Age 10: she was stung and had her eyes and ears swollen shut. Age 15: she broke into a pool, did a dive and broke her nose, Age 22: she was racing Luke on a bike when station wagon sideswiped her and left a foot long gash, later that year she had an ectopic pregnancy. Age 23: she became pregnant again then at age 30: she has head trauma, a fractured collarbone, 2 cracked ribs, 3 days being in and out of a coma, bruises and amnesia. The day the hospital releases Clem from the hospital, Louisa calls, after leaving Boston from staying with Clem to go back to her home in New York, to say she's fallen in love with another man and is going to leave Hugh.
QUOTE:
"As I read them, I realize why it thrilled me so much that summer to get them. They are love letters: letters all about love, at least how it begins," (Glass, 133)
REACTION:
Louisa thought this as she sees Hugh sleeping, not an unusual sight for her, and is wondering, for the hundredth time, what is keeping them together, why they are still together. Although this quote was thought for this scenario, it suits these two sections very well. The first section was Louisa trying to figure out her marriage in her head, comparing it to her parents and Eliza's first romance the summer of '74. The second section was Clem trying to figure out what happened to her, how she got into the hospital and why Jerry has not come to visit her. The sister have this idea of what love is in their head and are setting themselves up for disappointment and seem like they are never going to be happy.
In 1989, Louisa and Hugh had been married for five years. The couple went to Rhode Island when Louisa's mother wanted her to come and clear out the barn that had housed a lot of her stuff. While Louisa is cleaning out her stuff, there's a a family motto "You never know when it will come in handy!", Hugh stays in the guest room, her old room, and s sleeping the day away. One afternoon, Louisa, Hugh and her mother had lunch on the beach where her mom hounded her about having kids stating it was "about time they had some" and "not to wait until they were ready because they would never be ready,". Louisa tried to change the subject by adding that the two of them will be going to England for a year but her mother responded by saying "the health care system is free in England." While Louisa was cleaning she found a box that contained letters over ten years old when her and her friend, Eliza, wrote to each back and forth. She held these letters near and dear to her heart. They describe Eliza's summer romance, her first love, her everything at the time, a man named Jeremy. She looked at her mother and father and remember that Clem said they had an arrangement, then looked at her marriage with Hugh and thought to herself, on multiple occasions, that they were in "trouble". Finally, when Louisa cleaned out as much as she could, or wanted to, she went to the bedroom to find Hugh asleep and realized why she wanted to keep these letters so badly.
In 1990, Clem wakes up from an on again off again coma but cannot remember about the last five weeks of her life. She remembers Jerry, her latest beau, and them two talking about people that let their lives past them by and how he wants children because having children is life. Family, doctors and nurses are coming in and out of the room but not once, that she can remember has she seen Jerry. She began thinking and she was counting all the times she has been in the hospital. Age 1: she bit through her tongue after rolling off the changing table. Age 2: she cracked her middle metatarsal, Age 4: she obtained rabbis through a barn rat. Age 7: she had an allergic reaction to blue cheese dip, Age 10: she was stung and had her eyes and ears swollen shut. Age 15: she broke into a pool, did a dive and broke her nose, Age 22: she was racing Luke on a bike when station wagon sideswiped her and left a foot long gash, later that year she had an ectopic pregnancy. Age 23: she became pregnant again then at age 30: she has head trauma, a fractured collarbone, 2 cracked ribs, 3 days being in and out of a coma, bruises and amnesia. The day the hospital releases Clem from the hospital, Louisa calls, after leaving Boston from staying with Clem to go back to her home in New York, to say she's fallen in love with another man and is going to leave Hugh.
QUOTE:
"As I read them, I realize why it thrilled me so much that summer to get them. They are love letters: letters all about love, at least how it begins," (Glass, 133)
REACTION:
Louisa thought this as she sees Hugh sleeping, not an unusual sight for her, and is wondering, for the hundredth time, what is keeping them together, why they are still together. Although this quote was thought for this scenario, it suits these two sections very well. The first section was Louisa trying to figure out her marriage in her head, comparing it to her parents and Eliza's first romance the summer of '74. The second section was Clem trying to figure out what happened to her, how she got into the hospital and why Jerry has not come to visit her. The sister have this idea of what love is in their head and are setting themselves up for disappointment and seem like they are never going to be happy.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)