Okay, so I was bored this weekend and decided to reread, yet again, "He." Like Neena, I too find "He" so darn disturbing. Perhaps that is why I read it....well it was also to prove a point to my mother, who for some reason has the habit of saying she was a terrible mother. She is wrong, of course to assume she messed up as a mother, but instead of getting the reaction that I wanted, which would have been somewhere along the lines of, "well I guess I didn't do to bad after all" in comparing her to Mrs. Whipple. Instead she said something like, "Okay obviously I knew better not to pull something like this, but sometimes I wonder what you really think...just like 'He's' feelings are revealed in the end." I think she struck at something really vital here. Of course at the surface "He" is a story about an obviously neglected and abused handicapped child. But really, with my own mother's comments I can't help but think that this story takes what perhaps (I say "perhaps" because I'm not a mother and I don't want to be unfair) is a common worry among mothers (and fathers I should add) that they didn't do good enough...and in their not doing good enough they made a huge mistake. It is no lie that Mrs. Whipple loves "He," perhaps in an erroneous way. Like Neena I have been disgusted by reading "He" time and time again, actually more so than the time before. But... (there is always a but)
I watched "Becoming Jane" over the weekend (yes it's a very good movie, I'd recommend it but be aware of some historical errors) and something the father said shot me straight back to my thinking of "He." It was something like, "Nothing destroys a soul like poverty." I think Katherine Anne Porter and Flannery O'Connor had a knack for taking something so dramatic and making it seem real with just the right circumstances. I can't help but wonder while reading "He" that so many more people could be in Mrs. Whipple's place in her same financial situation. I'm not saying she is somehow morally justified in her ignorance, because after all, she is ignorant, but would getting down to the nitty-gritty truth reveals something about all of us. The Whipple's were poor and people act mighty strange in poverty. I truly loved Neena's comment,
It is obvious to the reader that she is a proud woman that is constantly concerned with how others view her, but these insights help us to better understand how she views her her son. What she says to others are often lies ("I just took off His big blanket to wash") that are nothing more than a front to make herself look or feel better herself and are not an honest representation of how she really feels about her son.Don't we all have the potential to be proud and selfish? I mean hopefully not to the same degree as Mrs. Whipple. I can't help but be introspective when reading Porter's and O'Connor's stories, and constantly thought, "Oh my gosh, I have been proud before. And not far from Mrs. Whipple's pride."
0 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)