Coming to Age

The Hearing Trumpet by Lenora Carrington is a story that unravels through the parallel of a mind unravelling.  This story is deceptive as the reader is uncertain whether we are in an altered state or unknown perception of the protagonist’s ability to communicate.  We are unsure of what to understand by the narrator.  When we are able to get into this perspective and mindset, it is written in a most fascinating means.  Particularly striking to me was when this was exhibited on page 23.  The passage here was writing in a such an intriguing perspective. 

“You may not believe in magic but something very strange is happening right now.”   What Carrington does here is bring us into a breaking of the mind, of reasonable and orderly thought.  It is what we assume happens near the end of life.  When synapses and parts of our brain give out.  This is similar to what people try to achieve while on drugs.  There are places in our brain that we do not have access to.  I once heard a lecture at Spirit Rock, in which the presenter was speaking about the vastness of our brains.  To allow the audience perspective, they had us imagine the brain being a mile in distance.  They then told us that what we access of that mile is about 1-3 steps.  As we get older and parts of our brain shut down, I believe that other parts of our brain fire off synopsis to compensate.  This I believe is what is happening here in this story. I find it fascinating that Carrington writes into this part of our psyche and does it in such a poetic way. 

“Your head has dissolved into thin air and I can see the rhododendrons through your stomach.  It’s not that you are dead or anything dramatic like that, it is simply that you are fading away and I can’t even remember your name.  I remember your white flannels better than I can remember you.  I remember all the things I felt about the white flannels but whoever made them walk about has totally disappeared.”

This passage is so brilliantly written and elicits a powerful image but also lets us into the mental process of someone that is struggling with aging.  The last line in particular when the narrator states that they have feelings towards the clothing but whomever wore them she cannot remember.  Beyond this, she says, “whoever made them walk about.”  That is such a beautiful description instead of simply saying whomever wore them, instead makes us see them in motion and moving. 

There is a lightness to this passage as well, a giving over rather than a panic.  In our “right mind” this may cause anxiety or fear, not being able to place or face something you ordinarily know so well.  However, the narrator remains calm and presents and as though it almost comically.  I love this perspective as she lets go and simply accepts what is happening. 

This story sticks out to me among everything we’ve read in this class so far, in part due to the lack of a romantic element. I noticed a recurring theme in most every other story of the main character exploring a new romance or rekindling an old one. While this story did touch on romantic relationships, the focus on friendship and a relationship between a grandmother and granddaughter was refreshing.

One quote that stuck out to me in particular is as follows: “If her granddaughter was home for stories, Ailin would tell her stories, but she knew that, even though Ying acted nonchalant when the pictures of her posing in an exotic city with stately buildings, grand statues and blue harbours with white boats were admired by her childhood friends, she had already too many stories of her own to shoulder.”

This caught my attention for multiple reasons. The vivid imagery when describing the photos is a device used frequently in this story; the color contrast (blue v.s. white) pops out in the reader’s mind. This passage has a calm, tranquil feeling about it. And yet there is also something deeply melancholic about the end of the sentence: “she had already too many stories of her own to shoulder.” Though we don’t yet know the tragic event that occurred in the lives of Ailin and her friends, this gives off the feeling that perhaps Ying herself has gone through some circumstances too difficult to speak of.

It also hints that maybe Ailin feels as though her presence in her granddaughter’s life is not as important as she feels it should be. Perhaps as they both grow older, Ailin has less to offer to Ying than she wishes she did. There seems to be a thread of missed connections in this story: Ailin’s lost friendships, her physical disconnection from her son, her mental disconnection from her granddaughter, the lack of connection with her late husband. I wonder how much really changes by the end of the story. If anything, it seems as if Ailin and Ying find some connection through the sharing of stories of the past.

Lenora Carrington’s The Hearing Trumpet, has been very entertaining to read to say the least. Initially I had to look up what a hearing trumpet was before I even began to understand the possible metaphorical meanings that the trumpet could hold. I found that it is the equivalent of today’s hearing aid. It is interesting to think about the possibilities that Mariam has because she now has the ear trumpet. The hearing trumpet provides a fascinating metaphor for the power that Mariam is able to have because of it. 

In the first section of the book, the trumpet is a tool that enables her senses and knowledge that Mariam would have otherwise not have known. One may argue that she uses the trumpet to spy on her family, but really it’s her curiosity that she is trying to fulfill. She also doesn’t have great hearing to begin with, so why not try on her family? The trumpet provides her with the ability to gain knowledge about her future. This otherwise would have not happened unless she had the trumpet. This also happens when she goes to the “institution” and she is overhearing on one of her companions. This is another opportunity to play with her curiosity and avail herself to the “hearing” world.

The hearing trumpet becomes the metaphor of Miriam’s ability to exercise her full abilities as a human being. With age comes the decline in health and self-sufficiency. We see that Miriam is very self-sufficient because she is always in her yard, taking care of her cats, and is able to bathe herself. The point of view of her family becomes alarming because they see her completely different as she sees herself. The trumpet gives her the ability to also see what others are thinking about her as well. 

As Ruth has mentioned in her chapter, I found myself laughing through this as well. Miriam’s point of view is funny and also at times very sassy. I was interested in other parts of the story such as the setting because it is never really clear where Miriam is in the books. The thing that took me about is the language about “Indians” and the agave plants. It made me think of a place such as New Mexico or Arizona. There is much more to be said about Carrington’s humorous writing, but for now it is the trumpet that is an overall symbol that caught my attention.

Hi all, here is my cultural report based off of Yiyun Li’s stories. Hope you are all staying safe.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1axUdwvLz8-hzPxZqPK9CAor-yZQ6PJ9LBIMMdS9PjGY/edit?usp=sharing

 

For this response, I decided to focus on Yiyun Li’s Sweeping Past. This short story centers around the protagonist, Ailin, reminiscing of her two best friends in the eternal sisterhood that they had sworn to each other, and the tragic backstory that caused the rift. 

I found this story interesting when I was first reading it, mainly because I wasn’t sure what to expect when it first began, with little context to the style of Li’s writing or storytelling. However, the shift between the memories and current day in a way that made the narrative of Ailin’s younger days seem more current, and the timelines feeling blended, was poignant in the first couple of paragraphs. 

It also felt like an impactful way of showing the generational difference layered over the cultural difference a possible non-Chinese reader may have when it comes to the prospect of the arranged marriage between Mei and Lan’s son and daughter. Ying herself could not understand whre Mei and Lan’s resentment of Ailin could come from, especially when she was not the cause of either of the children’s death. Ailin, however, mentions herself that she understands that the anger spawned from her old friends’ grief was not inherently rational, nor did she expect it to be. 

Overall, this was a gripping telling on the concept of grief, I feel. The grief not only Mei and Lan felt towards their children’s respective deaths, but also the grief that Ailin may not have openly expressed to Ying, but she must have felt even in her older age of her lost friendships. This, coupled with all the regrets and what-ifs that have run through her when in reference to her later marriage being a catalyst, shows that there are perhaps parts of the situation that she will always wonder about, even if she has done her best to make her peace with the circumstances. 

I found this story to be very interesting and heartwarming despite the cold nature of Auntie Mei. From the Egret, to “Grandpa Paul,” to even Auntie Mei being raised by mythic women, I found this story to have many elements that made it to be interesting. The working facets of this story help to strengthen Auntie Mei’s complexities as a character and her relationships to her clients. The audience becomes the witness who really sees and understands the depths and complexities of Auntie Mei’s character.

The notion of caretaking is a very prevalent theme in the short story, A Sheltered Woman by Yiyun Li. Auntie Mei has been the primary caretaker for many families before she began taking care of Chanel and Baby. Auntie Mei had kept an exact number of families that she had cared for throughout her time as a “gold medal nanny.” The audience quickly learns about how strict, rigid, and emotionally unavailable Auntie Mei was. There is also a notion of generational difference present between Chanel and Auntie Mei as well. Although Auntie Mei was a “gold medal nanny,” she was very much emotionally unavailable to her clients. It wasn’t until Auntie Mei learned about Chanel not wanting to care for her newborn son, that the audience began to see a shift in emotional availability for this family. 

Before Auntie Mei had come to work with this family, she had strict rules for herself to be able to perform her work. Her work consisted of staying a month at a time with different clients, and then she would move on to the next family. Although Auntie Mei is a caretaker, she somehow is able to perform her job without emotional attachment to the families themselves. There is also the example of her never putting the cribs in her room with past clients, because she didn’t find it necessary for the babies to get attached to someone who would only be living there a month. Auntie Mei finds comfort and safety in her rules because she is afraid of expressing her emotions herself. This fear of expressing emotions also derives from the generational gap that she has with most of her clients and their families. The generational gap is very present with Chanel as well. All of the rules that she had laid out for the families becomes the way that she maintains her survival and is able to perform duties.

Auntie Mei began to be more emotionally available after Chanel decided she did not want to breastfeed anymore. Auntie Mei’s job as a caretaker is to also help the mother produce milk. Producing milk is a way for the mother and child to bond. Because Chanel is unable to produce milk, she is unable to perform her motherly duties such as providing sustenance and love for her child. It can be argued that Auntie Mei sees that Chanel cannot love her baby because she is unwilling to breastfeed Baby. This is such a profound moment for Auntie Mei because this is when the audience begins to see the shift in Auntie Mei’s emotional availability. Auntie Mei’s fears about Baby not feeling loved or cared about rise to the surface, and although she is not a mother herself, the caretaker decides to make a choice about whether to step up emotionally for Baby.

Once Auntie Mei decides to step up emotionally, all of the rules that she once had fall to the sideline because she wants to love and care for Baby and Chanel. As mentioned earlier, one of her biggest rules which was to not put the crib in her own room. However, after Chanel decides that she does not want to breastfeed, Auntie Mei decides that it was best for the crib to go in her room. She also had a strict rule which appeared to be to not “love” the babies she had cared for previously. Once Chanel decided that she was not going to breastfeed,  Auntie Mei conceded to herself that she was going to have to provide Baby with “love” as well. Auntie Mei breaks her own rules as a way for her to try to receive some type of love for herself. By picking up the slack with Chanel and Baby, Auntie Mei is able to fulfill her own emotional needs even though she may not be aware of them. Auntie Mei’s complexities arise and although she is doubtful about Chanel she begins to develop an emotional relationship with Chanel as well.

This is the link to my cultural report. My report is inspired by “A Sheltered Woman”. Once you have opened the slides, please click the three dots in the upper right hand corner and then switch speaker notes on for the whole cultural report. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-fI-2cmPchEp0ZYUhDWa5W56v0cEaogzb1_7WTDYOCs

The Hearing Trumpet starts with the narrator being given a hearing trumpet. She then describes where she lives in a strange digression. She narrates unusually like a personal dialogue.

She then goes on a routine visit to Carmilla, her friend who gave her the trumpet. Their conversation is described so tediously that you can feel their desire to escape their lives.

The narrator mentions feeling like she spent her whole life waiting for something that never happened. Angered after her family decides to institutionalize her and her son says she’d be better off dead, she visits Carmilla again, and thinks how much she will miss her. Packing up her things, she finds her trunk and flashes back to when she bought it in New York. In the institution, she is horrified by how they treat another woman there. It then shifts to arguments with the doctor, then continues to idly describe the boring activities she does. There is then a horribly long speech by a visiting young man that I could not stand to read. Then, a woman at the home does. Another woman, Anna, starts accusing the narrator of things she couldn’t do.

The ending loses me and I can’t comprehend what’s happening.

“A sheltered woman” has an oddly mysterious start

: “[t]new mother, groggy from a nap, sat at the table as though she did not grasp why she had been summone.”

It flashes to a compzell

ing look into her past: “[y]esrs ago, Auntie Mei had bought it at a garage sale in Moline, Illinoi  zzz s. She had liked the picture of flowers on the cover, purple and yellow, unmelted snow surrounding the chaste petals. She had liked the price of the notebook, too: five cents. When she handed a dime to the child with the cash box on his lap, she asked if there was another notebook she could buy, so that he would not have to give her any change; the boy looked perplexed and said no.”

It’s mysterious and hard to guess what direction the story’s going, or what the writer’s intention is. Then, it reveals the main character has postpartum depression. It gives a tedious explanation of her struggles breastfeeding. It gets quite slow-paced and ends with a positive message of aging:”[n]one would be able to stop her if she picked up Baby and walked out the door. She could turn herself into her grandmother, for whom sleep had become optional in the end; she could turn herself into her mother, too, eating little because it was Baby who needed nourishment. She could become a fugitive from this world that had kept her for too long, but this urge, coming as it often did in waves, no longer frightened her, as it had years ago. She was getting older, more forgetful, yet she was also closer to comprehending the danger of being herself. She had, unlike her mother and her grandmother, talked herself into being a woman with an ordinary fate. When she moved on to the next place, she would leave no mystery or damage behind; no one in this world would be disturbed by having known her”

“Stepping past” starts off seeming like a stereotypical story of friendship: “[t]hey had become sworn sisters in Ailin’s backyard 50 years ago, her being the oldest of the three and the one to come up with the idea. They were 12 going on 13, their bodies just beginning to fill the grey Mao jackets handed down from their mothers.”

Like many stories, it mentions clothes as an important part of girls’ identity.

The story keeps a pleasant tone while going back to a photograph: “[and{ they could smile on the wall in the indifferent eyes of foreign strangers, as if time had stopped at the photographer’s cramped studio 50 years ago, Ailin thought.”

Tymeirah Hayes

March 17, 2020

The story Sweeping Past starts off at a very fast pace because the author jumps right into the meat of the story. My attention was immediately caught in the beginning of the story by the introduction. The quote from the story that I noticed the most was the very first line. It states “ They had become sworn sisters in Ailin’s backyard 50 years ago…”  This quote stood out to me because it instantly got me excited to read the story. Now at this particular point of the story I am already trying to form ideas of what this quote could possibly mean. For example, I thought to myself why is the author using the word sworn so early or at all. One of my first thoughts that I had in response to this quote was that  sworn sisters were a way to explain a connection to a cult. My mind began to think so many things when I read this quote all for me to come to the realization that the relationship was as simple as friendship.

As well as that, I also thought about the time given of how long these sworn sisters had been sworn sisters. It was interesting that they had been sworn sisters for 50 years.  50 years is a very long time to have such a relationship with someone. I thought it was interesting that the author mentioned the 50 years, and wasted no time to mention how long this sisterhood had lasted. A theme that this quote brings up for me  after reading it is the power of a bond particularly between women. I started to think about the close friends that I have had since I was in 9th grade and how our friendships over the years have only strengthened. Infarct, I now look at them as my sisters. The story has a very interesting way of divulging deeper into The sisterhood / friendship. However, it was at that point that I was actually drawn into the story because I was trying to figure out what all of the different loaded terms meant. Like the word sworn or how important 50 years actually was to the story. My initial response to the quote was to be prepared for a story about a bond that had lasted for 50 years, which made me excited because I was intrigued to see how that might look in an instance and in this case for the women involved. I was very excited to read on and by the end I was very happy with what I read and how things ended.