UNFORGIVEN BY CRAIG SHERBORNE: Marriage, Infidelity, and Conventionalism

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Paper Type: Book Review
Paper Format: APA
Pages: 4

Question:

 Choose one work from the four listed below and write an analytical essay that discusses the ethics of representation in relation to the work. Points to consider may include the following questions: Is the theme of the work a delicate or taboo topic in our culture? Why? What is the relationship between the writer and the key subject(s) or theme and how can this be said to have influenced the work? What research methods have been used by the writer to produce the text and to what extent are these methods visible, reliable or objective? How does the writer’s use of techniques of representation – for instance tone, point of view, imagery, dialogue, structure – shape the work’s ethical implications?

 How have assumptions about genre impacted the reception of the text by readers? What sort of ethical issues (if any) arose for you in your reading of the work? Your essay will be marked on the quality of the analysis and argument presented, the strength of the writing and the professionalism of the presentation. 

APA 6th edition referencing style is a requirement for this assignment.

1.  Fiction Garner, Helen. Excerpt from The Spare Room. Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2008. 1-18. Print.
2. Memoir/Personal Essay Kinsella, John. “Fellow Travellers.” Fast, Loose Beginnings: a Memoir of Intoxication. Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne. University Press, 2006. 58-85. Print. Sherbourne, Craig.
3. “Unforgiven.” The Monthly. February 2008. 36-43. Print. 

Answer

Infidelity, Marriage, and Conventionalism in Unforgiven

By bearing, raising, and imparting norms to children, families ensure the continuity of societies. It is, therefore, not surprising that cultures place many rules to enhance the stability of families. Traditions have rules to protect these social institutions and provide readymade solutions whenever they experience impasses. In the West, these conventions not only encourage adult men and women to marry and retain their marriage for as long as possible but also discourage infidelity and divorce, which may destabilize families (Brundage 2009). Western culture also prefers that people keep matters regarding sex private, and those who talk openly about sex acts or organs appear deviant. However, the extent to which these conventions are valid or beneficial is unclear. In Unforgiven, Craig Sherborne explores uncomfortable topics that directly or indirectly challenge the dominant perceptions about male-female relationships and question the validity of the traditional family (Sherborne, 2008). The author represents marriage as an institution that should only exist when couples love one another and end when the love diminishes, portrays true love as a temporary concept, and views modern conventions about female objectification and eroticism as mere inconveniences.

First, the story seems to convey that marriages, just like love, should not necessarily be permanent but should end when a couple loses love. The first meeting between Alex and the narrator is a reflection of what one would call true love. Indeed, Alex does not have any material interest in the narrator, who lives in a “room so small it’s called the box” and does a low-paying job (Sherborne, 2008). Alex herself is expecting a large sum of money from her divorce settlement and does not need to be economically dependent on the narrator. That Alex nevertheless courts the narrator is evidence of her genuine love. Similarly, the narrator’s genuine interest in Alex is evident in the fact that he does not demand anything from the woman upon their divorce. Up to the time when Alex goes for mastectomy, the narrator is satisfied with the relationship. Here, the author shows that marriages that disintegrate are not necessarily those built upon lies or material interests of couples; that even marriages that begin with true love sometimes fail. Eventually, in some marriages, the so-called genuine feelings between couples wither, and partners get “very, very bored” (Sherborne, 2008). This stance is revolutionary, especially in Western societies, where people perceive the truth as a static, verifiable, and one-dimensional concept “that transcends history and culture” (Maffie, 2001). Sherborne’s narrator perceives true romantic feelings as unstable; that people can transfer these feelings from one individual to another without compromising their morals. Therefore, unlike the dominant representations of true love and marriage as long-lasting and static, the author presents these concepts as temporary and manipulatable.

Second, the author also portrays marital infidelity as an expression of honesty and a potential means to individuals’ happiness. After Alex’s operation, it is evident that the narrator loses interest in the marriage. From the story’s perspective, continuing to stay together is not the best option for the two people who dislike one another. The narrator cites Alex’s nagging as the cause of his disinterest in the marriage, but this is not true. Indeed, it is interesting that the narrator suddenly finds Alex’s expressions of insecurities and the task of continually assuring her that he loves her to be daunting. After this operation, the narrator does not even want to touch his wife: “I begin to dread the touch of her” (Sherborne, 2008). However, Alex has always been insecure since they met, yet the narrator does not complain during the initial stages of the relationship. For instance, during their stay in London, Alex often expressed disgust for her breasts and doubts about the narrator’s love for her. That said, the narrator is not necessarily immoral or cruel for holding these views about love. Indeed, he struggles to revive his waning interest in Alex unsuccessfully; he frequently kisses his wife and indulges her in sex despite having lost interest in these acts. Moreover, he frequently assures Alex that he loves her, and even during arguments, when his wife orders him to leave or throws away his belongings, he always decides against walking away. Through this innocent portrayal of both characters, Sherborne draws the reader’s empathy toward both characters. While portraying Alex’s innocence and justifying her anger, the author also presents the narrator’s predicament with the same empathy, suggesting that some marriages sometimes simply end because there is no benefit in their continuity. Like Alex and the narrator, married couples who refuse to end unfulfilling unions only subject themselves to infidelity and pain. Therefore, infidelity itself is not a problem but an honest indicator of a marriage that is already dysfunctional and that should have ended long ago.

Sherborne also ventures into sensitive topics regarding eroticism, female objectification, and conventionalism. The descriptions of sexual intercourse in the story are quite graphic. The author delves into erotic details of sex organs and activities that some people might find uncomfortable to read, especially in public. Secondly, the narration raises questions and doubts regarding the concept of true love. That the narrator’s attitude towards his wife changes just after the mastectomy indicates that, for a woman to attract the narrator’s true love, she must have two intact breasts and a generally desirable body. In other words, removing breasts from a woman eliminates the narrator’s interest in her, and that is why his love shifts to Janet, who possesses bodily features that Alex lacks; “That curve of hip; that bust, a complete bust without unevenness or sagging. The earth’s deepest browns for her eyes” (Sherborne, 2008). It also seems that the author rejects the concept of the social contract and demonstrates why it is unfair, especially to men. Notably, women get divorce settlements from their rich husbands upon divorce, yet the question of compensation does not arise when men break away from their rich wives. The narrator only carries his clothes when leaving Alex. On the other hand, Alex receives much money from her first husband. Also, marriages only meet women’s desire for children and do not have any meaningful benefit to men, yet society expects males to be faithful and monogamous. Alex’s anger issues partly arise because her susceptibility to cancer does not allow her to have children. Therefore, these divergent perceptions about marriage, women’s bodies, and sex indicate the author’s skepticism about conventionalism.

In conclusion, Unforgiven raises pertinent questions about society’s view of male and female relations, sex, and marriage. Notably, it challenges the notion that couples should remain married even when they are no longer intimate, labeling non-intimate marriages as worse than infidelity. Staying in a loveless marriage only causes more unhappiness and is not worthwhile.  Also, just because the love between two people ends at some point does not discredit mean that their earlier feeling toward one another was not real. Alex and the narrator share genuine love at first, but this romance wanes eventually. The couple’s attempt to remain together, which eventually proves futile, only leads to more hatred and suffering for both. Moreover, while the author points children and wealth as the benefit that women acquire from marriage, it is not apparent how these unions benefit men.

 

ACADEMIC BOOK REVIEW: THE STRANGE CAREER OF JIM CROW, VANN C. WOODWARD

BOOK REVIEW: THE STRANGE CAREER OF JIM CROW, VANN C. WOODWARD

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Paper Type: Book Review
Paper Format: MLA
Pages: 6 pages

Born a Crime - Trevor Noah

Publisher:  Spiegel & Grau, November 2016

rating: 4/5

"The tricky thing about the hood is that you are always working, working, working and you feel like something's happening, but really nothing is happening at all"

A Young Trevor lives in South Africa with his single mum. This is during the height of apartheid. Trevor is, in fact, “Born a Crime”, since the existing laws of the land do not permit inter-racial sexual relations. Any man or woman who is caught engaging in sex with a person from a different race risks imprisonment of up to 5 years. So Trevor and his Swiss dad have to stay far away from one another for safety. At one point, Trevor’s mother even hires a colored nanny to pretend to be the boy’s mother when they visit a public place.

Growing up in a ghetto, Trevor experiences or interacts with people who go through the typical challenges of slum life and of a young man: crime, drug abuse, poor sanitation, violence, police brutality, hunger, anger, heartbreaks, interracial mistrusts, name it. A mid these, he learns to hustle and makes small money running errands for the rich kids, selling pirated music, lending out money for interest, and deejaying. But things really go south when Trevor’s mum marries an unpredictable and violent alcoholic who, in the end, points a 9mm handgun at her head and fires! No, nobody dies in this story.

If you have watched and liked Trevor Noah’s comedy shows then you’ll probably love this book. The story is full of light humor as well as serious introspection. Oh, and the first-person account is best read in Trevor’s accent; makes it very humorous. 

Death at the Spring Plant Sale - Anne Ripley

Death at the Spring Plant Sale  by Anne Ripley: Summary and Review. 

My Book Rating: 3.8/5

Living in Bethesda is slow and mundane. Bethesda is also 

expensive and so, naturally, it attracts high profile government workers like Walter Freeman. The only things that seem to ruffle life once in a while here are the events organized by Old Georgetown Garden Club- an association of rich wives, spinsters, and divorcees brought together by their common interest in gardening, some for pleasure and others for survival.

When Louise, a moderately famous television hostess, travels to Bethesda to cover a plant sale event organized by the club, she witnesses the murder of a woman with whom she had made acquaintances only a couple of hours ago. Catherine Freeman has been shot twice in the skull while coming from a night out with her husband, Walter.

But who would want to kill the very kind and soft-spoken Catherine? No, the shooter must have been targeting Walter. Only Walter has made many enemies with the harsh policies he proposed recently as the country’s fiscal board member. Adopting this view, the police offer more protection to Walter as the search for the shooter intensifies.

There are, however, some inconsistencies with this narrative that Louise and her friend, Emily, find unsettling.  Both friends had been nearby during the shooting, though they didn’t get to see the assailant.

Why were the Freemans riding with the car windows down at night? And why was the AC on? Did Walter hire someone to kill his wife? But why would he?

Detectives view this new perspective with a pinch of salt, not only 

because it sounds preposterous, but also because they don’t want a woman telling them how to handle their business. What Louise doesn’t know is that Walter has already passed a polygraph test.

Noting that they are hitting a dead-end, and with hesitant advice from Louise’s husband, the two women decide to widen their suspects list. Only then do they realize that many people might have wanted to kill Catherine, either working together, or solo.

There’s Sophie Chalois and Reece Janning who have been separately sleeping with Walter, but one does not know about the other.  There’s Meg Durrance and Phyllis Ohmalcher who hate Catherine, for she always takes the first place in gardening competitions and gets the most cash out of plant sales.

Word about Louise and Emily’s snooping soon spreads around the neighborhood, and everyone is suddenly uncomfortable. It doesn’t help that the woman holds a small but significant reputation for crime busting in her own hometown in Virginia. And while they may have nothing to do with Catherine’s murder, everyone has a skeleton in their closet that might be uncovered by Louise’s intense curiosity - skeletons that can cause unnecessary disturbances in the hitherto peaceful neighborhood.

   

Continuing with her search against all this opposition, Louise puts her life and that of Emily’s family in jeopardy. But she presses on and eventually meets face to face with Catherine’s shooter- except that it’s the person she least suspected.

My take

Ann Ripley writes in an easy-flow language, while adding bloom to banalities of life. I, for one, never thought gardening was such an interesting endeavor.

The author paints her characters fully, and the plot is solid, without excessive coincidences and the vagueness associated with most crime thrillers. While tackling a serious situation, the story is full of light moments, and this eliminates tension, allowing the reader to appreciate the close bonds between some characters, the Bethesdan climate, flowers (yes, flowers!), buildings and streets, and food.

I definitely look forward to reading more Ann Ripley books.

My Life in Prison- John Kiriamiti

My rating: 4/5

A former Kenyan criminal's encounters during the post-colonial era

After various unsuccessful attempts to escape prison; faking insanity, attacking warders, and even trying to commit suicide, Jack Zollo decides that enough is enough. Though full of hatred, pain and and regrets, adopts a positive attitude towards his life and also tries to change the lives of his counterparts. 


Now, during the process of "rehabilitation", things go haywire. Tribalism and hatred thrives among the inmates and the warders because of poor prison administration under Sergeant Kagi. The institution turns into a massacre zone where death is nothing new. The existence of a cannibal within makes it even worse. 

Zollo is ready to handle whatever cometh his way- as long as his best inmate friend and comforter, GG, is by 
his side. 


Through this true story, the author explores the influence of Kenya’s political tensions in the 1970s on prison environments. Readers are taken directly to the shoes of prisoners. More importantly, one gets to learn that the socio-dynamics surrounding prisoners are not very far from things that exist in the outside world; except for the fact that prison situation is more condensed and intense. 

Apart from warning criminals and prospective criminals against their ways, the writer expresses his 
dissatisfaction in the way correction facilities are run Kenya. The harsh mistreatment at Naivasha Maximum 
Security Prison, he says, only makes a criminal tougher and more dangerous. He also educates us, the public, on how we can contribute towards helping those who 
have dipped themselves into the crime pit: "I know what they need: Love and forgiveness from their 
fellow men." 

This book is definitely worth a read.

I’ll Be Home Late Tonight – Susan Thames

Book Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

"Time comes when you get to choose between what you create and what you are given"

Susan Thames explores the unique relationship between a teenage girl and her mother, as the latter drags her young one into a journey that threatens to tear two apart but, in a way, also brings them even closer. Set in the 1960s, the book delves widely on the topics of motherhood, growth, and later on racism.

After June’s husband abandons her for a rich woman, she too decides to vacate her mother’s house and travel to anywhere that she and her daughter will find it comfortable enough to stay in. Years earlier, her tiny family had moved in to her mother’s with the hope that her salesman hubby would soon find a better job and get a better home for the family- a hope that continued to dash away with time.

Lily, from whose point of view the story is told, seems to be the only one who admires both  parents and her grandmother, despite their many flaws: The grandma, though full of love and warmth, daydreams about angels once in a while, and has attempted many times to jump from the attic and the high-rise windows of her house.

And June is an excessively nagging wife who complains about everything bad and downplays every good her husband does.  We also realize later that she is a whore who would go the mile to sell her 14-year-old daughter to prostitution. To be fair, however, poverty - and Lily’s obsession with men- were still going to lead her into the sex trade anyway, with or without her mother’s intervention.

In their journey, Lily and June run into relatives who are ready to accommodate them, but June always messes up in one way or the other and the two are sent parking. Far away from “home” and  money running out, the two turn into wooing men not only for money, but also for a place to take shower and sleep.

Despite acting snobby at times and thinking rather too maturely, Lily is still a child inside: She wants to go to school, make friends, play, and date her age mates.  When they manage to stay long enough in a place, Lily does make a few friendships- friends who are tough enough to ignore the girl’s outward meanness and look at the vulnerable personality inside her. But soon, all friendships are abandoned as she and June make another journey.

Lily finally realizes that her life is doomed as long as she continues to follow her mother’s aimless travel. She plans to escape from June, never to see her again. But where would she go? To a father who she still loves but who has rejected her? To her deranged grandmother who has refused to pick her calls ever since she and mummy left her shouting stark naked at the parking lot? To the relatives who kicked them out after June slept with one’s husband and introduced the other’s son to drug abuse?

Fortunately, one part of Lily’s personality comes to play at the right time and puts a short break to their suffering: Lily has a surprisingly warm heart for colored people - in fact too warm for her mother’s comfort. Unlike June, Lily refuses to perceive racism as a “normal” thing, and so tries to fight it in her own way.

While on one of their bus trips to nowhere in particular, a row ensues between the bus driver and a black woman. Lily stands in to defend the woman, leading to both ladies being ordered to leave the bus. Fearing that she will lose her daughter again, June follows suit, but with lots of bitterness, for her daughter has just wasted their expensive bus tickets.

It turns out that the black woman is looking for an assistant in her small restaurant business. Ignoring  June’s racist attitude, she welcomes mother and child into her house. At last, Lily is proud that, for once, she created her own choice rather than dragging along in June’s.

Even though troubles and disagreements between mother and daughter continue arising once in a while, Lily and June seem to have resigned to the fact that one is nothing without the other. And  for now, at least, they have a roof to sleep under. And June has a constant job with an employer who neither cares about what color she believes in, nor whom she has sex with.

I’ll Be Home Late tonight  reminds parent that LOVE and RESPONSIBILITY only work best when they go hand in hand.