Women seem to have a significant effect on Eggers in the novel. He seems to be preoccupied with the physicality of women as a young heterosexual man, and he views them as rather two dimensional characters in most cases.
When he sees women in public, he focus firstly on their appearance, using an adjective to describe a woman on the bus as being 'young'. The connotations of youth are often associated with fertility and sexual prime. He is speaking about her as if he wants to start a family with her as he speaks of 'her daughter'. The view that a woman's worth is decided by her having children is now considered offensive and an almost pre-historic view as women are nowadays considered more than just baby carriers. The usage of the lexis 'Latina' to describe the woman also shows that Dave does not see the woman beyond her ethnicity. To some nowadays, this would be considered offensive as there is a debate in popular culture as to whether this is still acceptable so it shows the ignorance of young Dave. As well as that, in American culture Latina women are over-sexualised and rarely seen beyond the stereotype of being sexually promiscuous so this further reflects Dave's views: that he only sees her in a sexual way. He also describes her as being 'a little older than him', suggesting maturity and experience but also focusing solely on her age, which is an issue that women have in being taken seriously. Older women are considered 'past their sell-by date' and younger women are considered only sexually appealing yet this woman is just old enough to have some of the knowledge he needs, suggesting that he feels alone in raising his brother. With his mother recently dying, there is an underlying implication here that what he wants is comfort and security. Family units are often seen as being secure. He also mentions the daughter is 'younger than Toph', further implying he wants the two families to assimilate and for Toph to have a friend. It can be inferred that Dave thinks his brother is also lonely after the death of their parents.
He describes women who are not young and feminine as being 'haggy creature[s]'. The adjective 'haggy' negatively suggests a woman who is aged and has evil intentions. Again, Dave's narrow-minded views are being displayed in the text as he does not describe young women as that, instead focusing on their age and the sole fact they are women. He rarely goes into too much detail about the women or focuses on their personality, saying in other parts of the novel that these women are uninteresting simply because he considers them old and unattractive, when he meets them as he sees them only as being women. With the sole purpose as being plot devices in his own story. He also uses the noun 'creature' as a suggestion that the woman he is describing is not human, she is something else. This is dehumanising and shows that he does not see women as being people, suggesting rather strange and detached views about them. It also suggests they lack personalities or interests of their own. Eggers is eager in highlighting this as he does plainly so, warping the character of Dave in ours eyes in order to show how prejudiced he was as a young man.
Subconsciously, Dave also focuses on the physicality of his sister but not in a sexualised way. He describes Beth as 'wearing a sweatshirt and spandex leggings'. This description is used by Dave to heavily emphasise that she enjoys working out. Eggers suggests, in that part of the story, that his sister enjoys working out and often cannot wait to do so when Dave gets home to resume responsibility. It suggests that the women in his life are superficial and cannot be responsible for things. Despite this, she has hobbies and interests that are talked about in more detail even if it is just a repetition of her working. Although Beth is his sister, he does not speak of her much like she is part of their family unit. He refers to his family as being Toph and him, suggesting he doesn't see much of a need to have Beth as part of their family life yet he still actively seeks out other women. Despite this he still uses the collective pronouns 'all of us' to refer to what is suggested to be Beth too, portraying that there is some kind of group.
The only woman's interests he particularly goes into detail about is his mother, mainly speaking of her illness and how it has affected everyone in his family. The death of his mother clearly has an impact on him as he continues to chase motherly figures throughout the novel. He also mention that his mother likes television, 'mom prefers the show where...', and goes into more detail about it, which suggests that he views her more as a person rather than an object. He uses the collective pronoun 'all' to suggest the women are together and that they are a hive mind, lacking any personality.
Eggers uses asyndetic listing in the form of a complex sentence to talk about his negative relationships with women. The complexity of the sentence suggests he is naming off different people in a hurry, implying there is a rush of emotion and thought process. He mentions that 'Beth and I... would be bloody and dismembered' if they attempted to live together, suggesting tension between the two. Because he is the protagonist of the story, this statement paints Beth to be the more unlikeable character in an attempt to paint him in a better light. He also states that he and 'Kirsten... need time apart', suggesting separation and a lack of a strong relationship with his girlfriend. This suggests she is simply there as a plot device character, with little real role or presence in his life.
Eggers portrays Dave as being romantically, and sexually, starved. He does this by emphasizing the fact that Dave has almost an obsession with women on their own. They do not exist if they have partners of their own and if they do, as he imagines the woman on the bus has, this is not important to Dave because he imagines that they will not mind him creating a union with them. He emphasises this when he states there are 'single women living with single men' in his neighbourhood, suggesting that there is no romantic relationship between these people. He uses asyndetic listing to list off the people who live in his area, repeating the adjective 'single' in one part of the novel and then using other words to suggest their relationship status, such as 'divorcees, widows, widowers'. All of which are statuses that mean someone is not in a committed relationship. 'Single mothers' highlights the preoccupation he has with mothers, again suggesting he is not over his and he aims to find someone to give him guidance in raising Toph. It is also as if he is looking specifically for women that are available to date. The view that women's marital status is important is again a considerably old fashioned view and it is one that would be considered inappropriate today, which suggests Eggers is deliberately calling his younger self out. He also emphasises 'single men' and 'widowers', suggesting there is no relationship in an attempt to justify the loneliness he feels. It is like he is recreating himself in these situations with women.
In conclusion, Eggers portrays women as being two dimensional and uninteresting, especially if they are unattractive. With young women, he uses them as a way to make himself feel less lonely as he imagines himself having a relationship with them. They have no real personalities of their own and lack anything of value apart from their youth or children.
The only woman's interests he particularly goes into detail about is his mother, mainly speaking of her illness and how it has affected everyone in his family. The death of his mother clearly has an impact on him as he continues to chase motherly figures throughout the novel. He also mention that his mother likes television, 'mom prefers the show where...', and goes into more detail about it, which suggests that he views her more as a person rather than an object. He uses the collective pronoun 'all' to suggest the women are together and that they are a hive mind, lacking any personality.
Eggers uses asyndetic listing in the form of a complex sentence to talk about his negative relationships with women. The complexity of the sentence suggests he is naming off different people in a hurry, implying there is a rush of emotion and thought process. He mentions that 'Beth and I... would be bloody and dismembered' if they attempted to live together, suggesting tension between the two. Because he is the protagonist of the story, this statement paints Beth to be the more unlikeable character in an attempt to paint him in a better light. He also states that he and 'Kirsten... need time apart', suggesting separation and a lack of a strong relationship with his girlfriend. This suggests she is simply there as a plot device character, with little real role or presence in his life.
Eggers portrays Dave as being romantically, and sexually, starved. He does this by emphasizing the fact that Dave has almost an obsession with women on their own. They do not exist if they have partners of their own and if they do, as he imagines the woman on the bus has, this is not important to Dave because he imagines that they will not mind him creating a union with them. He emphasises this when he states there are 'single women living with single men' in his neighbourhood, suggesting that there is no romantic relationship between these people. He uses asyndetic listing to list off the people who live in his area, repeating the adjective 'single' in one part of the novel and then using other words to suggest their relationship status, such as 'divorcees, widows, widowers'. All of which are statuses that mean someone is not in a committed relationship. 'Single mothers' highlights the preoccupation he has with mothers, again suggesting he is not over his and he aims to find someone to give him guidance in raising Toph. It is also as if he is looking specifically for women that are available to date. The view that women's marital status is important is again a considerably old fashioned view and it is one that would be considered inappropriate today, which suggests Eggers is deliberately calling his younger self out. He also emphasises 'single men' and 'widowers', suggesting there is no relationship in an attempt to justify the loneliness he feels. It is like he is recreating himself in these situations with women.
In conclusion, Eggers portrays women as being two dimensional and uninteresting, especially if they are unattractive. With young women, he uses them as a way to make himself feel less lonely as he imagines himself having a relationship with them. They have no real personalities of their own and lack anything of value apart from their youth or children.
This is brilliantly put into the context of reception - what about production? Don't let a developed explanation stop you doing enough close analysis - you need to do more than identify techniques - you need to show how they communicate meaning and that different readers might receive different meanings e.g. some might react very negatively to Dave's objectification of women whereas some might share his 'male gaze' on the women, although I think Eggers is very careful not to make the descriptions arousing as that would not expose Dave's naive sexism.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about re-organising: I would always deal with the mother first as it is clear that the experiences with her affect all his other relationships with women and she comes chronologically first in the memoir, so significantly - you should evaluate what the important aspects of the theme/question are and plan accordingly, guiding the reader through your explanation, which should be fully linked up.