ENGL 4310

As I was reading "Noon Wine," I was noticing all of the times when intuition comes into play. During class today, I was stuck on this idea of intuition and how feelings and emotions are always inferior to reason. In a way, I think that Porter is trying to reverse those binaries a little bit in "Noon Wine." There are many passages where people feel like something is wrong but don't know why. There are two instances that stick out to me the most. The first is when Mrs. Thompson catches Mr. Helton shaking her boys. She says that it made her uneasy but was not something that "she could put into words, hardly into thought" (237). The second instance that sticks out to me is between Mr. Thompson and Mr. Hatch. Throughout the entire conversation Mr. Thompson keeps feeling like Mr. Hatch is trouble, but he can't figure out why. All Mr. Thompson knows is that he "didn't like it, but he couldn't get a hold of it" (250).

Obviously, one of the roles of intuition in this story is to keep the reader interested. I know that I couldn't wait to find out why the Thompsons kept having these feelings that something just wasn't right. But I also think that Porter is really saying that sometimes we just know things without knowing them (if that makes sense). If either Mr. or Mrs. Thompson had acted upon their intuitions and gotten rid of the people causing their discomfort, Mr. Thompson never would have become a murderer. But they don't act on their feelings because feelings are supposed to be silly. You only act when you know something. Who acts in a "crazy" way (like kicking someone out) when they only have feelings to back it up?

Then again, this is exactly what Mr. Thompson does. When he kills Mr. Hatch, he isn't thinking about it logically. He doesn't take the time to assess the situation and think of the repercussions. If he had, he probably wouldn't have struck Mr. Hatch with the axe. Instead of thinking it through logically, Mr. Thompson acts on pure adrenaline and impulse. He sees Mr. Hatch lunging for Mr. Helton, and he acts.

Now I'm not sure what to get out of this story. I can't decide if Porter is trying to flip the binaries and put intuition before logic, or if she is saying that we should think things through before acting (so we don't end up murdering someone). Perhaps she is saying both? Or maybe she's saying nothing of the sort.