middlemarch

i have begun the literary journey of george eliot's middlemarch.

at the first page i was quite afraid i would have trouble understanding the writing, but it seems like it was just a question of acostumbramiento. (f@ck i can't think of the word in english!)

i'm only a few chapters in, and am enjoying it thoroughly. it's not one of those books i can take with me to the pool or the dentist's office. first of all it's the size and approximate weight of a brick. second, i must sit down, write a few post-its, take some notes, and really THINK about what i am reading. that kind of reading is the most rewarding - i'm required to think, to find connections, to understand new ideas in my own context. as a result i end up feeling smarter! and for educators, challenging reading like this is essential if we are to learn how to challenge young minds to think critically about the things they read.

for the seasonally unemployed: embark on a literary journey. that way you'll at least have produced something for yourself that can never be spent! yay! becoming smarter!

first impressions: dorothea reminds me of myself during my cult days, and i probably would have ended up much like her had i not gone to salta when i was 20.

literary connection: jane eyre (charlotte bronte) is probably somewhat responsible for the undoing of my involvement in the cult. when the oldest of the german speaking family that jane lives with proposes marriage to her so she can go with him to be a missionary in india, i felt so strongly against this proposal. it had no feeling; he was proposing that she be his woman-tool to help him achieve a greater good, glory for himself. so it is with dorothea and mr. casaubon - he expresses no love for her, only admiration and a recognition that she would be the perfect woman-tool for him. it even says that he was somewhat disappointed that he wasn't experiencing the passion that men are said to experience as documented by poets, etc. i don't understand how he could get to the age he is without feeling that kind of passion. he is so emotionally ignorant. she is so caught up in her dogma that she doesn't realize the absence of love. she doesn't know enough about the real world and about herself to make the kind of decision that will entrap her for the rest of her life.

prediction: she's going to be unhappy and have some kind of awakening too late. fortunately for me, i had that awakening before i had made any ridiculous commitments. praise JEEEEE-SUS!