Also, I was wondering if any of you had a similar reaction to learning of the journalist's affair with the Indian girl. I found it so emotionally alarming for its lack of emotion: Porter nearly states the affair with such dry nonchalance and indifference. We do not get any sense of moral judgement, and more importantly, we do not get any feelings from the journalist himself about it. No guilt, no pride, hardly anything. We only get that he had an "odd feeling" when he thought the baby may be his (72). The skill in her narration here, I think, is that this is told without giving us anything to go on in terms of how we are to feel about it, and in turn how it should make us feel about the journalist overall. I wonder if I just missed something or maybe that's her point, but what could it be trying to achieve?
Thursday, September 18, 2008
What Tree? Under the Table and Daydreaming
I have just a few quick observations about this story, "That Tree." Once again, we have a story about the starving artists and about what it's like to be living in a foreign country, but out of all the Porter Mexico stories, I think this one presents the clearest sense of American response to and prejudices of the Mexican people. We can see this view in the character of Miriam. We know from the very beginning that the journalist wanted to come to Mexico to chase the romanticized dream of becoming a poet there (pg. 67), but Miriam really does not want to be there. We see the racial view from her eyes. "She would not have an Indian servant near her" because "they were dirty" (75), those Mexican girls "had only one idea in their heads" (71) to her, and she cannot understand the customs of his Mexican artist friends (76). Miriam and the journalist are on opposite ends of the spectrum here, but I wonder where is Porter? Maybe this story best captures the essence of what she was feeling: both drawn to Mexico on one hand and also reacting in shock to some customs that differed from her own? This story was very difficult for me to find someone to root for. We think we are learning everything from the journalist's perspective, but later on the character of Miriam becomes more dominant. What do we make of this ambiguity?
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2 comments:
It would be interesting to know where Porter stood. Although I don't know about the characters... maybe they aren't so opposite in their views. There seems to be a lack of respect for the native women from the "journalist." He apparently thinks he can get away with more, and it's almost he doesn't consider it cheating as long as it's with an Indian woman... at least that's how I interpreted it. I think that's why he was so "meh" about it because she didn't seem that important to him.
Also, towards the end, he seems to talk down on the young, poor Mexican artists. He talked about them as if only he knew what was going on, and they were just talented or something.
I agree; I found the affair with the Indian girl rather disturbing. It is as if Porter just threw it into the middle of a sentence because she needed some kind of filler. There were no explanations or emotions tied to the affair and I think this is what gives it such an alarming characteristic. It is stated so casually that the reader has to go back and reread it just to be sure they are not adding plot to the story themselves. Maybe there is no emotion attached to this affair because that is exactly how the narrator felt. He felt that this was a girl he simply slept with and nothing more; there were no mental or emotional attachments what so ever; he was not in a relationship with her. She was only an object to satisfy his needs while Miriam was out of town. Porter wants us to feel the way the narrator does about the Indian girl; she wants us to feel as if it is a casual and relaxed situation.
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