…And rarely just illness

1. …And rarely just illness Chapter 24 Winni Zhang 4th Period 9-21-11

2. A priest with “no hope” In the beginning of “The Sisters” by James Joyce the young unnamed narrator says that his friend, which is a priest, is dying. He says that there is “no hope” for him. A priest with “no hope”? The reader now wants to know why. “He’s had a stroke , not his first, and it has left him paralyzed” (HTRLLAP 213). As readers, we are more interested in the notion of paralysis, and stroke. Our interest is focused on what this is telling us about the book, about the author, about the way he writes and about the boy himself.

3. Certain principles governing the use of diseases in works of literature: 1) NOT ALL DISEASE ARE CREATED EQUAL Cholera was way more common and way deadlier than tuberculosis(TB), but TB often occurs in literature way more. You ask why? Because of the bad reputation of Cholera. It’s painful and its smelly and it leads to a ugly and horrible death. Same with STD, it is never commonly used in books because in its tertiary stage can involve losing a limb and madness.

4. 3) It should be mysterious in its origin. 2) It should be Picturesque It is imagery and its suitable for a picture the author is trying to describe. For example, TB is bad, the character is coughing up a storm , and there is blood too, but the author almost always describes this character with a type of bizarre beauty. “The skin becomes almost translucent, the eye sockets dark, so that the sufferer takes on the appearance of a martyr in medieval paintings.” (HTRLLAP 216) Using TB again as an example, The disease often spreads trough families by somebody looking after a dying parent, siblings or a child and having to come in contact with all the contaminated droplets and blood for a extended period, but usually the way it gets spread is mysterious. “John Keats had no idea that caring for his brother Tom was sealing his own doom, any more than the Brontes knew what hit them. That love and tenderness should be rewarded with a lengthy, fatal illness was beyond ironic.” (HTRLLAP 217). Later on science discovered that Cholera came from bad water as for STD I am sure we all know where that comes from.

5. 4) It should have strong symbolic or metaphorical possibilities Let’s use smallpox as an example. Smallpox was hideous both the way it is presented and the disfigurement it left. TB however was a “wasting disease” (HTRLLAP 217), both meaning wasting away as in getting thinner and a “waste of lives that were often barely under way” (HTRLLAP 217) Out of all the principles the fourth principle is the most important principle. It can allow an author to bring an otherwise objectionable illness into a work. For example plague, if you use it as one person is suffering bubonic plague then it doesn’t do much , but if you use it widespread and as a social devastation then it works really well. It will take center stage in the book. When Henry James wanted to kill Daisy Miller, he gives her Malaria. Malaria translates to “bad air” – malicious gossip and hostile public opinion.

6. Example: Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell’s Melissa, the narrators lover, suffers from TB. She is the dancer/escort/prostitute “…Is a victim of life.” (HTRLLAP 221). She has been through poverty, neglect, abuse, and exploitation and everything is just bringing her down and everything dragging her. The on top of that, Darley cant even save her from this disease. Which translates to – so many men have just used her up he cant do anything about it. So her disease mirrors her as a person in life.

7. Illness Real illness can become very useful in novels, and a made-up Illness can be whatever the author wants it to be but in the end it will always have a meaning behind it. Unfortunately, nowadays it cant be like that in some books because there is almost a cure for everything. “ It’s too bad modern writers lost the generic ‘fever’… Cure is defenitly worse than the disease, at least for literature.” (HTRLLAP 225)

8. Great expectations link • In Great Expectations, Pip “was falling very ill” towards the end of this novel (Dickens 491). When Pip being ill it created strong symbolic meaning because it brought Joe to come see Pip, and Pip felt better after Joe came over.

9. Next time when your teacher tells you to read a novel you will know what and how to analyze the text when it is talking about a disease or illness.” • Also we could use it when someone else is talking about illness you can reflect on their life.” How this applies to everyday life

10. Works cited • Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Bantam Dell, 1986. Print. • Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York: Harper-Collins Publishers, Inc., 2003. Print.