The Minerva Club

The Minerva Club was a club in which Topaz was the secretary of. It was a club of nine ladies that listened to or discussed poems. In lecture, Dr. Ogden asked us to find out why they were called the “Minerva” Club. This is what I found:

Minerva was a Roman goddess of wisdom and crafts. Apparently, Romans would easily confuse her name with the word “mens”, which means “minds”. Minerva was also the virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, crafts, and was the inventor of music.

These ladies must have thought very highly of themselves when naming the club. Poetry? Sure. But mind and wisdom? Maybe not. In my mind, as a result of the pudding-faced lady, the Minerva Club was not put in such a positive light when I first started reading about the club. Considering the racist views that the pudding-faced lady had on the Joe Fortes and Mrs. Coffin issue, maybe a Minerva Club of wisdom and mind was not a well suited name. However, Topaz changed my mind when she stood up to defend Joe Fortes and Mrs. Coffin. At that moment, Topaz was the mind and the wisdom of the club. As Topaz became furious, she also brought the Minerva warrior to the club as the warrior inside of her arose to defend Joe Fortes.

Make time to stop and smell the flowers

The very first piece of literature that I read as an English 101 student was “In Vancouver” of Vancouver Short Stories. In my first time reading it, I found that it was uninteresting and I felt that it had no relevance to me because I could not relate to what it was like to be a British, immigrant logger. However, after analyzing the story for my paper, it started to grow on me. In my opinion, Grainger’s “In Vancouver” actually conveys a message that every one of us could learn from and that’s why I want to share it with you.

After reading the story multiple times, I started to see many similarities in these young, British loggers and our current Vancouver citizens.

The first logger characteristic that was easily noticeable was their selfish attitude towards the Vancouver land. These citizens greatly overlooked Vancouver’s beautiful landscape by covering it up with many shops and stores to make the city more “attractive”. As a logger you see, “shoe stores, drug stores, clothing stores” as you walk down the streets of the city (7).
To compare this with Vancouver’s current situation, think about downtown Vancouver. The place is crammed with shops and people. Even as you travel through the city, you will notice that any free land remaining in the city is being demolished and replaced by business buildings or condos. There is little that allows us to actually see Vancouver for it’s true beauty.

Secondly, the loggers enjoyed spending their free time inside to drink. It was their mentality that “by keeping good-and-drunk you keep joyous” (10). These loggers did not care to enjoy any free time outside, to truly appreciate the beautiful city.
Similarly, today’s Vancouver citizens enjoy to spend their leisure time indoors. With the many clubs and bars, many people of Vancouver also tend to spend their time inside to enjoy themselves and to spend money. There are many things that one can do to enjoy themselves on Vancouver’s beautiful land, which requires no cost to do.

Another similarity that I found was the resemblance between the logger’s view on Vancouver history and current Vancouver’s view on the cities history. In both cases, the history has been buried under the progress-driven mentality of both societies. Also, I found that inequality between men and women where present in both cases. In Grainger’s “In Vancouver”, only loggers were seen in the city during the day. Even at night, only men were out drinking and enjoying themselves. In this story, men over powered the women. Although it may not be as obvious in today’s society, inequality still exists as many men are considered over women in career fields such as politics or the police force.

Everywhere you look, Vancouver’s picturesque landscape is being destroyed and covered. If we continue on in this selfish manner and continue to disregard Vancouver’s history, there may be nothing left for future generations. With this, I ask you (as I asked myself after analyzing this story), when was the last time you actually devoted sometime to truly appreciate the natural beauty of Vancouver?

Patriarchy vs Matriarchy

In the novel, “The Innocent Traveller,” issues relating to gender can be evident throughout. In particular, gender roles are viewed for females and males. Ethel Wilson provides many examples which show conflicting concepts of patriarchy and matriarchy during a time when females were expected to behave according to society’s standards.

Readers can first notice gender role differences being highlighted during the opening sentence in the novel. During the introduction, Topaz illustrates the dinner scene as her father is seated “far away at the end of the dinner table” (9). Topaz describes him as being “the kind, handsome and provident man.” This sentence reiterates the socially constructed role of the father in a traditional household system. The paterfamilias being seated at the end of the table indicates dominance or leadership qualities which are essential values of patriarchy. Also, the father is referred to as being provident. Once more this corresponds to the concept of males providing the family with income and support. Moreover, Topaz introduces her mother as being a silent and passive observer as she casts a “quiet somber gaze” (9) around the table. Evidently, her mother neatly fits into the traditional gender role of females being soft and gentle while conforming to patriarchal values.

Furthermore, the character Emily is strong willed and was referred to by Dr. Ogden during a past lecture as a “blue stocking.” Basically, that just implies that she is somewhat of a feminist and believes in matriarchy values. For instance, upon breaking up with Mr. Potter, Emily tells herself, “I am a strong woman” (36) and decides to do something to keep herself occupied rather than being buried in sorrow. This demonstrates to readers that she is independent and does not have the desire of needing a male figure to take care of her. As Dr. Ogden also mentioned, blue stockings generally do not express their emotions which is why Emily hides her feelings and moves on by setting up the School for Young Ladies at Brighton.

In the same way, Topaz also is seen as an independent woman who lives a single life without a male companion. Topaz in particular is a very outgoing woman who does not conform to traditional gender roles. For instance, in the novel there is a part where Topaz joins the men’s section on the train and begins a conversation with them as they smoke. This act of hers is of course seen as a taboo by Anne and Rachel. Also, Topaz may come across to readers as being a feminist. For example, Topaz tells Miss Umplethwaite, “If I had a husband and he forbade me to do anything…I should kick him” (230).

In addition Anne and Rachel can also be considered independent women since they travel alone along with Topaz to Canada. Especially during the time that the novel was written, it was a big deal for females to travel alone without a male chaperone. In doing so, concepts of matriarchy can be viewed since these women are independent of men. Therefore their independency is evident since they live together in a household which is run by females.

In brief, many values of patriarchy and matriarchy are evident in the novel and the examples help readers pay attention to small details. As Ethel Wilson carefully selects her words it causes readers to think about the concepts of how society easily sets male and female standards. Also, the bigger message may be about how one can redefine these traditional roles and break typical gender stereotypes just as Topaz successfully does in the novel.

Celebrities + Religion = Disaster

Ogden mentioned in lecture that led zeppelin consider religion to be an imaginative truth, meaning that it has an “undeniable resonance for the human imagination”. I think that most creative minds, be they musicians, authors or artists can appreciate the entertainment value of, for example, the stories in the Bible because they appeal to the imagination.

Religion nowadays has less of an influence on the artist’s creative works and more of an influence on the artists themselves. Religious belief has become a hot new trend. Madonna made red Kaballah bracelets a fashion statement and Tom Cruise has made Scientology the punch line to countless late-night talk show monologues. Instead of letting faith and belief influence their work as artists, they are trying to convert the world.

This is the opposite of what Coupland was trying to do in Hey Nostradamus! The book written to show that faith is not something to be skeptical about and that normal people can have religious beliefs. This is a good message to convey. Unfortunately the Tom Cruises of the world aren’t helping the cause.

Accusations and Judgments in Hey Nostradamus!

Prof. Ogden talked a lot about the theme of doubt in Hey Nostradamus!, but I found that there is also a common thread of accusations in each character’s story. Cheryl’s Youthalive! friends accuse her of “going all the way” with Jason outside of wedlock which causes the only real source of stress in Cheryl’s short life. In Jason’s section, the police, general public and even Cheryl’s parents accuse him of orchestrating the whole massacre, which is why out of the four stages of the afterlife that each character is supposed to be in, Jason is in hell. Throughout the book Reg is accused of being a cold and heartless monster, and also of abandoning his son when he needed him the most because of his devout religious convictions.

Accusations about Heather were a bit harder to figure out, until Heather started talking about Cheryl and how she manages to pop up in their lives every so often. She stated that the five “most unattractive traits in people are cheapness, clinginess, neediness, unwillingness to change and jealousy” (204).

Heather encompasses all five of the traits she thinks are so horrible. The only time she was generous towards another person was when she was desperate for information from the psychic; this could mean that she is cheap. Heather is very clingy and needy; throughout her whole story there is a tone of desperation and loneliness that is highlighted by her relationship with the psychic. Even though Heather knew that the psychic was messing with her, she still called her dozens of times a day. She was so desperate for some contact with Jason that she basically lost her mind. Unwillingness to change on Heather’s part was obvious because she left all of Jason’s stuff lying around the apartment, even though he had been missing for months, “there’s a man’s wallet with credit cards collecting dust on the counter…I’ve been trying to keep Jason’s aura alive…”(175).

Heather is obviously jealous of Cheryl, she even admits to it; even after she says that she think jealousy is the worst of the five most unattractive traits. She is jealous of Cheryl because Jason still loves her and it would be impossible to change that, which is also more evidence of Heather being clingy. Heather’s self-loathing nature is why she is in limbo; she is desperate to the point of insanity for information about Jason’s whereabouts and is very self-loathing. I think that the reason Heather is not in hell is because she befriended Reg when no one else would. She saw the good in him when everyone else thought he was a monster.

The characters in the book also seem very judgmental. Reg judges everyone because in his mind they are imperfect in the eyes of God, Heather judges Cheryl’s parents, “And don’t even get me started on Cheryl’s plastic, mean-spirited parents. Hypocrites. […] I’ve never heard them discuss an idea at the table, let alone give much thought to where Jason might be.” (202) and even Jason’s family, “his family was one notch less than totally useless.” (201). This book is supposedly against all things cynical, but these characters seem pretty cynical to me. Whatever happened to “only god can judge me?”