"The Birth-Mark" - N. Hawthorne

There is something so hauntingly beautiful about the romantic era. I have always had a weakness for whimsically tragic stories. Whether it's works of art, music or literature. Where you are left pondering all the ideas these tales have planted deep in your thoughts.

 (Auguste Rodin - The Gates of Hell, late 1880s) 

"The Birth-Mark" - Nathaniel Hawthorne

 There is a story about a husband and his wife and something, a force unknown or maybe just their own insecurities, something that is pushing them, the wife possibly into deep depression and her husband, maybe to madness. The bride, Georgiana has a mark on her cheek, something I thought was what made her beautiful, something we all hope for when it comes to our own uniqueness. The strength of the mark upon her face was beyond a sense of vanity, but something holding the two lovers apart. It is repeatedly, and then permanently described as a "crimson hand." Not the kind of hand that has granted her with a gift of true beauty. I believed she had a natural spirit, and was enchanted by the thought of a whimsical side to this tale.

 

"..that some fairy at her birth-hour had laid her

tiny hand upon the infant's cheek.." (Par. 7)

It was something that could have given Georgiana great power.

 

"Many a desperate swain would have risked life for the privilege of pressing

his lips to the mysterious hand.." (Par. 7) 

However, as time went by it seemed as though there were many in Georgiana's life that did not see this hand as a magical one in of lust and love. Could this have been? Maybe before Aylmer and her time with him. Many saw it as a "bloody hand," something that smothered her ability to be beautiful, to be perfect. Did these feelings or thoughts come on their own, or did her husband help bring them to light. Aylmer loved his wife, it seemed, but he was so in love with the desire for perfection, he could not see her and that she could have already been perfect. Was it his wife's perfection he wanted or was it his own?
This obsession of his had worn on Georgiana, it was clear, and this was breaking her down, she now saw her what once could have been a gift from the heavens, as a mark of shame and disgust. She wanted nothing to do with it. And so Georgiana was willing to do whatever it took to become perfect.

How could anyone have known, that without this mark her soul would be set free of this world.

"Watch the stain of the rainbow fading out of the sky,

 and you will know how that mysterious symbol passed away." (Par. 83)

 

 

When the mark left, Georgiana left with it, and so then Aylmer who is filled with joy that his creation to purify his bride had worked, is left alone. And in her last words to him she cheered for him and also pitied him for he did not appreciate the true gifts of nature.

 



This story was filled with amazing imagery, and a lovely use of allegory and after I read "The Birth-Mark", well actually is more about half way through, I was struck with the urge to search and read and look and upload many of my favorite works of art which happen to be from the 1800s. I am much more familiar with the arts of this time, but I am excited to look into more literature of the era.  

 

(John William Waterhouse - Ophelia, 1889)

  "Truth often finds its way to the mind close muffled in robes of sleep, and then speaks with uncompromising directness of matters in regard to which we practice an unconscious self-deception during waking moments." - The Birth-Mark, Nathaniel Hawthorne

 



All References: (Booth, A., Mays, K. J. Norton Intro to Literature, "The Birth-Mark. New York, NY: W.W. Nortan & Company, Inc, 2011. Print )

"Sonny's Blues" - J.Baldwin

James Baldwin, what a cool cat.

   About half way through the story, I realized maybe I should have read up on the author a little before beginning. I was unfamiliar with James Baldwin, and what his story was. But I read on. And because I was such a clean slate of thoughts and feelings, while reading I became confused at times, possibly because of the type of beginning Baldwin had for his "Sonny's Blues." It started up right in the middle of everything, medias res. I like how that sounds, and plan to use it more often. (This also reminded me of Raymond Carver's "Cathedral", that story seemed to begin already in motion, like I had skipped ahead on accident) So looking back, maybe if I had known more about the author, this James Baldwin, I could have pictured in my head a better understanding of the beginning.
However, even though I was a bit lost on the when of the story, the writing itself blew my mind. There was beautiful imagery, and you could practically feel the words, and that was only in the first few paragraphs, so naturally, I was hooked. 

   As I read on, I learned about the relationship of these two brothers, where it had been, where it currently was and where it may be going. I felt that it was made obvious Sonny's struggles, but his brother, the narrator, what was he struggling with? It wasn't till later in the story that I thought it was finally coming to light what he was dealing with in himself. There were elements of guilt, skepticism and denial. He wasn't trying to judge his own brother, but he felt at times jealous and anxious about Sonny's choices.

   Near the end, when the brother finally goes down to the club, for the Sonny's gig, he is all of sudden in Sonny's world. This was something he never thought about except maybe in a logical way. Thinking how is he going to make a living, where is he sleeping, the basics. He never considered this world as a place of passion and talent, a place of raw energy. But once they are in that night club, once Baldwin sits us down at a table, at the bar, you can feel that energy.

   I felt, as the reader, that Sonny's entire story was revealed at the end.  With the description of their performance on stage, I would have been completely satisfied if that sequence was the entire story. Not to say that the first half wasn't written well or enjoyable to read, it was. But that is how strongly it grasped me. Everything Sonny wanted the world around him to know was on that stage. Maybe it was there every night they played. But for the narrator, Sonny's brother, he was finally, after all of this time, able to actually hear Sonny's story.

   I'd like to wrap up with the second to last paragraph in the story because I thought it was beautifully written and leaves a sense of hope, or optimism. You should read it again, it's pretty darn good.

 

"Then they all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played. Every now and again one of them seemed to say, amen. Sonny's fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contained so many others. And Sonny went all the way back, he really began with the spare, flat statement of the opening phrase of the song. Then he began to make it his. It was very beautiful because it wasn't hurried and it was no longer a lament. I seemed to hear with what burning he had made it his, and what burning we had yet to make it ours, how we could cease lamenting. Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did. Yet, there was no battle in his face now, I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth. He had made it his: that long line, of which we knew only Mama and Daddy. And he was giving it back, as everything must be given back, so that, passing through death, it can live forever. I saw my mother's face again, and felt, for the first time, how the stones of the road she had walked on must have bruised her feet. I saw the moonlit road where my father's brother died. And it brought something else back to me, and carried me past it, I saw my little girl again and felt Isabel's tears again, and I felt my own tears begin to rise. And I was yet aware that this was only a moment, that the world waited outside, as hungry as a tiger, and that trouble stretched above us, longer than the sky."

 

- "Sonny's Blues" James Baldwin (Booth, A. & Mays, K.J. (2011) The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York, NY, W.W. Nortan & Company Inc),