Malebranche and Hulga

Melebranche was a French philosopher who argued that “we see all things in God” and knowledge about the world is not possible except through a relationship between man and God. What we see in the physical world comes from our God. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Melebranche’s thesis is in his section of Vision of God “we see external objects by means of ideas in God.” Our thoughts, therefore, would be God’s thoughts and what we see would be the sensation of God’s ideas. Knowing this about Melebranche, the dramatic point of Katharine Ann Porter’s “Good Country People” where Hulga screams at her mother to look introspectively and understand she is not God presents a huge statement about our roles as human beings and how we should think of each other. Mrs. Hopewell believes her interpretation of her daughter aligns with God. Women should smile and act beautiful, even if they are not beautiful. Mrs. Hopewell believed there “was nothing wrong with [her daughter’s] face that a pleasant expression wouldn’t help…people who looked on the bright side of things would be beautiful even if they were not” (267). Obviously, Mrs. Hopewell’s thoughts trod against God’s, for God sees every person as beautiful according to his own standards, rather than society’s standards. If Melebranche’s philosophy existed ideally, every person would see the people in this world as beautiful because God’s thoughts were supposed to infiltrate our own and determine how we interpret the external/physical world. Because our humanity prevents that kind of humility in our eyes, we must admit as humans that we are flawed and unable to see the world through holy lenses. Pride breaks us down as we simultaneously feel lifted up by own our own opinions and desires. Pride, the worst of the seven deadly sins, is Mrs. Hopewell’s flaw. Because she truly believes her own ideas about beauty and about femininity to be of God’s, she turned her own daughter away from her and most likely influenced Hulga’s rejection of her faith, of her name, and metaphorically of finding joy in the world.

"He" Response 9/4/08

When I began reading Katherine Porter's "He," I noticed that the title refers to Mrs. Whipple's son, a nameless, "simpleminded" boy whose family and neighbors treat as if he is mentally handicapped. Unlike his sisters, Emly and Adna, "He" lacks a name, and therefore, seems less than a son, less than a human being. His mother claims to love him more than her entire family combined, but she treats him as an animal by comparing him to a monkey, taking away his blanket to warm other children, and feeding him his dinenr outside and seperate from the family. While the reader is saturated with Mrs. Whipple's impression that her son is mentally slow, an argument could be made that "He" is not really handicapped, but merely poor at communicating. Plenty of boys love to climb trees and have a low tolerance for pain or "don't really mind [if they get a sting]" from a bee. He comprehends what it means to go to another home and fetch a bull. He comprehends what it means to see and feel disgust for the innocent death of a piglet. Additionally, when his parents send him away to a hospital, he knows and understands what is happening because "he was scrubbing away big tears that rolled out of the corners of his eyes." Perhaps He just had trouble with communication, autism, or a speech impediment that prevents him from seeming normal. In "He" Mrs. Whipple defines her son as abnormal, and therefore condemns him just as she condemns the baby pig before it was ready and grown. The two events parrallel each other in that they represent the sacrfice and destruction of innocence for selfish causes. Mrs. Ripple kills the pig despite the best interests of her family so she can seem well-off when her brother comes to visit. Mrs. Ripple, similarly, rids her home of her son so the neighbors view her as a moral, loving mother, despite His best interests. She wasted two perfectly good lives by sacrificing them for reputation. Mrs. Whipple, could then metaphorically represents some kind of Pontious Pilate figure--Pontious Pilate, even though he knows Jesus is innocent of all crimes, allows Jesus to be crucified because the Jewish mob crowds demand it--- while "He" represents a Christ figure. In the Bible, a capitalized "He" always refers to God or to Jesus Christ. Perhaps, then, Porter, argues we are all Pontious Pilate in nature; we are all ready to sacrifice innocence, and we are all ready to condemn those around us--like Mrs. Whipple condemns her son to retardation-- according to our own standards in order to save our reputation and justify our wrongdoings.