The Final Blog

Like several of our fellow pupils, The Ruineers group did eventually stray from the norm—yet we believe it was thoroughly developed and just flat-out interesting; this isn’t to say we didn’t have our flaws. One seemingly pervasive issue for the group as a whole was that at times we struggled to get everyone to meet because our schedules were usually conflicting with one another.

Yet what may have proved to be a stumbling block for us—and many others I’m sure—became our most valued asset as well; by not getting a chance to group up, discuss class topics, and creating one main thesis, we each spent some time ruminating over the issue at hand. It is because of this forced isolation that our final product became that much more eclectic and truly intriguing. While most groups probably decided on one idea right away—so as to remain coherent in their over-arching theme—our group melded together several ideas manufactured out of our free-time and untainted by psychological diseases like “groupthink.”

Perhaps that then, is what defines us as more than just some random selection of students with differing ideals; given time, each of us came to a unique, but surprisingly similar conclusion regarding ruin that manifested itself as creatively massive edifice when compared with other groups. This is not to say other students didn’t put forth the same amount of effort as us. However, everything boiled down to the core, our central feelings, thoughts, and desires shone brighter than anything else simply because we took the time to be honest with not just ourselves, but with each other; we learned to appreciate one another for the facets that make us valuable in a group, and while at times we struggled to sift through the information and come up with a feasible thesis, we always managed to float back to cooperative spirit—and that alone became the catalyst for our success.

Take for example Jessica Wells’ blog “The Lily of The Valley” [Link: https://ruineers.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/the-lily-of-the-valley/].  What starts as a gentle, almost facetious inspection of the irony found in Dante Rossetti’s poem Jenny quickly becomes an overwhelmingly serious discussion when it is declared that Jenny’s purity is corrupt and slowly eroding.

Another fascinating and startlingly intuitive post is by Laurel Gordon in her blog “New Ruin in Esther Kahn” [Link: https://ruineers.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/new-ruin-in-esther-kahn/]. The parallels drawn between similarly fictitious characters is especially salient because it outlines the idea that while ruin may not be overtly present, it is bound to rise beneath the veil of an overly active woman like Esther Kahn.

A third persuasive—and surprisingly accurate text—provided by Cameron reflects on the importance of Art Nouveau at the time in which it came about. [Link: https://ruineers.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/art-nouveau-what-is-it-why-is-it-important/] The ideas of this piece prove most insightful as they reflect on the significance of this particular art movement as not just another form or design of expression, but as a mark of time and society; Art Nouveau wasn’t just art, it was humanity. It was society, and it was a representation of the massive change within society.

Lastly, “Cubism: An Interpretation” [Link: https://ruineers.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/cubism-an-interpretation/]. While the seeming randomness of the picture itself is enjoyable, it is the idea hidden between the jagged and unscrupulous lines of “Cubism” that is most enjoyable because in a way, like anything dauntingly ambiguous, it leaves a feeling of anxiety at not being able to be identified. This thick greyness of definition is a perfect explanation of the origin and composition of ruin: a person can never truly pinpoint when ruin will strike, and even when it does, its devastating demeanor may mean several different things to several different individuals—thus the mirroring of reality that ambiguity and greyness directly resemble ruin in its fullest form!

All in all, our blogs not only represent the entrails of ruin wide-open and dissected thoroughly, but they also, through the “Cubism” artwork, demonstrate the wide range of emotion associated with ruin. This ability to encompass more than just words when defining ruin is the group’s greatest facet. And even then, our words alone flash with such an innovative and enamoring effulgence that it seems hard to believe that impact our work will dwindle in the years to come—one day we may look back and smile with pride knowing how well-developed our ideas on ruin were.

The Mask That Ruin Wore by Laurel Gordon

            In one of the closing lines of Oscar Wilde’s poem “The Harlot’s House” he summarizes the exact truth of prostitution; “The dead are dancing with the dead, The dust is whirling with the dust.” Wilde’s poem, along with works such as Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” and Charles Baudelaire’s “Fleurs du mal,” or “Flowers of Evil,” demonstrate the beauty and allure of sin and in their close expose the imminent ruin that must come with such a lifestyle. These poems each convey a similar message; sin will draw you in with its lights and allure, but beneath that façade there is always ruin waiting.

            In his poem “The Harlot’s House,” Oscar Wilde paints the image of a young couple who have come upon a house with light and music issuing from within. As the man observes it, “The dead are dancing with the dead, The dust is whirling with the dust” (lines 26- 27). In these lines, Wilde poetically conveys to the reader that though the people in the house are dancing, pantomiming a beautiful and joyous lifestyle, they are dead. Be it their soul, their integrity, or perhaps their pocketbook, they are depleted. The lady accompanying the man, however, “she–she heard the violin, And left my side, and entered in: Love passed into the house of lust” (28- 30). What Wilde then writes is the ending he believes inherent to sin such as prostitution; “Then suddenly the tune went false, The dancers wearied of the waltz, The shadows ceased to wheel and whirl.” (31-33) This unsuspecting young woman saw the beauty and heard the music of the house, and not thinking of the consequences of such an action, entered into this glamorous hole of destitution. The moment she does, it is exposed for what it is; the music ends, the dancers end their dance, and the house has lost its allure. Too late, however, as the lady has already entered in and presumably lost the man who loved her. Wilde once more conveys his idea of the people in the house, after likening them to the dead and to dust, in this thirty-third line referring to them as ‘shadows’. This man saw what his lady could not; a harlot house is still a harlot house; a house of sin and depravity of the soul, no matter the mask it wears.

            Christina Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market” is a much more subtle representation of prostitution. In this poem, two sisters face temptation in the form of a forbidden fruit. Like the two subjects of “The Harlot’s House,” the two sisters are divided, as one is tempted by the fruit and the other sees the truth of the trade. She must watch then as her sister succumbs to temptation and tastes the fruit, only to be ruined by the taste, cursed to never find it again. The message Rossetti conveys is very similar to that of Oscar Wilde; sin comes in many forms, but temptation, no matter how alluring, always masks ruin. Temptation does its best to ruin the sisters of “Goblin Market,” leaving one distraught over the loss of that seemingly perfect fruit, and causing the other, out of love for her sister, to return to the goblins in hopes of appeasing her sister, where  “the goblins cuffed and caught her, Coaxed and fought her, Bullied and besought her… Lizzie uttered not a word… Lest they should cram a mouthful in” (stanza 22). In both Wilde’s poem and Rossetti’s there is a clear portrayal of right and wrong and in each a character clearly deceived by temptation and one who sees through the deception. Be it a harlot house or enticing piece of fruit, if one looks closely, they can see that what is beautiful is not always good, and what is not good will inevitably lead to ruin.

            Charles Baudelaire’s “Fleurs du mal,” or as it is translated in English, “Flowers of Evil” expresses the observations of a man who ‘dreams’ one night of finding himself, “Leaning on my elbows, cold, silent, envying,” (line 16) in a gambling house, surrounded by prostitution and destitution resultant of gambling. This man, like the wise sister in “Goblin Market” and the man of “The Harlot’s House,” seems to see the place for what it is; a deliverer of ruin. In his second stanza he observes the men of the gaming tables, “faces without lips, Lips without color… Fingers convulsed with a hellborn fever Searching empty pockets and fluttering bosoms” (5-8). When he speaks of the prostitutes there, though he conveys them as jolly, they are aged, in “faded armchairs” (1). In a single line he expresses his opinion of these women; “The dismal merriment of those old prostitutes”(18). These lines, like many in “The Harlot’s House” and “Goblin Market,” convey, if not the speaker’s, at the very least the writer’s integral message; the beauty of ruin draws many in and keeps them there long after the initial allure has worn away.

            These three poems each expose a different face of ruin: prostitution, temptation, destitution, desperation. Within each poem, the writer is conveying to the reader a simple fact; sin can oftentimes parade itself as beautiful, delicious, joyous or rewarding, but beneath the façade there is always ruin waiting.

 

Work Cited

Baudelaire, Charles. “Flowers of Evil.” Fleursdumal. Supervert. 2012. Web. 12 December 2012.

Rossetti, Christina. “Goblin Market.” The Victorian Web. 17 October 2005. Web. 12 December 2012.

Wilde, Oscar. “The Harlot’s House.” The Victorian Web. 27 April 2010. Web. 12 December 2012.

Destitution: the Cause and Effect of Prostitution by Jessica Wells

The title of our poster, “Destitution, Prostitution,” has a few different meanings behind it. It can mean that a state of destitution and poverty leads to a life of prostitution. It can also reversely mean that prostitution leads to a person’s moral destitution. These two meanings can combine to reveal a single idea: destitution and prostitution create a self-feeding circle in which being poor can direct one into selling themselves which proceeds to turn that person’s morals to dust. This theory is supported by many of the texts we have read in class. These include “A Modern Harlot’s Progress,” “The Ruined Maid,” and “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” Each of these texts is very different, but they all provide insight that verifies this concept.

In “A Modern Harlot’s Progress” by William Acton’s Prostitution is a scientific and logical approach to the causes and effects of prostitution. Acton explains that the main cause for prostitution is poverty. Many working women, especially those with children, had no way to feed and clothe themselves or to pay for shelter of some sort. These women had no choice to but to turn to prostitution as their answer. According to Acton’s observations, “…needlewomen of some classes by the incompatibility of infant nursing with the discipline of the workshop” were just one group of women led to prostitution because of the lack of money and lack of time they had to raise their children. Contrary to the popular response of the time, Acton was able to view prostitution without religious or moral bias. His piece does in fact prove that poverty, lacking necessities, and desiring convenience all point toward a woman’s choice to pursue prostitution.

“The Ruined Maid” is a short poem by Thomas Hardy about what it means to be ruined by prostitution. A girl had left the life of working on a farm with her family to become a prostitute. ‘Melia (assumed to be Amelia) grew tired of “digging potatoes, and spudding up docks” and decided that she wanted to live the high life, which comes at a cost. Although she now speaks and dresses like a lady, presumably due to her clients treating her so well, she has corrupted her morals, her integrity, and her virtuousness to escape the life of a laborer. At the least, she admits to her state of ruin. She was very probably living in poverty without any good way to escape a lifetime of hard work. Prostitution probably seemed like a very easy option to become a “lady” like she maybe had always wanted. In this case, Amelia was in a state of destitution that proceeded to turn into prostitution that was followed by the destitution of her morals, further supporting the idea that destitution and prostitution create a cycle.

The play “Mrs. Warren’s Profession by Bernard Shaw confronts the idea of women as brothel business owners and the morality and ethics of such a position. Mrs. Warren’s daughter Vivie states in the play, “The poorest girl alive may not be able to choose between being Queen of England or Principal of Newnham; but she can choose between ragpicking and flowerselling, according to her taste.” These jobs of rag picking and flower selling were common options for people who had to choose between that or prostitution. Although Vivie has a point, let’s be honest, prostitutes make a considerable amount of money and they have patrons who buy fancy items for them, not just in modern times, but in the Victorian era as well. When Mrs. Warren is telling Vivie about her childhood, she explains that she and her sister were very poor and worked in shops for great periods of time for little pay. Justifying her partnership in the brothel she is running, she says of prostitution of poor girls, “It’s far better than any other employment open to her.” Mrs. Warren speaks from both experience and observation. She got involved with prostitution when she could not make ends meet and could not be happy in her low end job and she knows that other women turn to brothels for the same reason. This play relays again that deprivation and deficit is thought by some women to be best solved via selling their bodies to men they don’t know.

These three texts provide evidence of the common theme of our poster “Destitution, Prostitution.” They show that women who work hard and remain in poverty easily turn to prostitution as a way out of their monotonous and difficult lives to forge ahead into a world of extravagant people and material objects. These women begin to become morally corrupt until they are left impoverished in their lack of virtuousness. “Destitution, Prostitution” is more than just a catchy phrase; it is a self-feeding cycle of the ruined woman.

~ J.W.

Works Cited

Acton, William. “A Modern Harlot’s Progress.” Prostitution. 1875. Google Books. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

Hardy, Thomas. “The Ruined Maid.” 1866. The Victorian Web. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

Shaw, George Bernard. “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” 1894. Gutenberg. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

Hybrid Assignment: Draft

In connection with Jessica Wells’ piece, “Forever Lilies”

“They are the meeting place of beauty and despair; they are the overlap of joy and pain”

It was with this quote that I, after hours and days and weeks of toil with the concept, defined the sublime. For the past dozen weeks, this theme of the sublime, as I had defined it, became a recurring theme in the literature of the course: Augustus Leopold Egg’s disturbing depiction of a failed marriage in Past and Present, and Particularly George Frederick Watts’ chilling oil on canvas painting, Found Drowned.

These paintings all take a circumstance like a marriage or a person like the young drowning victim, things that were once perfect and beautiful, and these artists depict them so that the viewer can still see the shadow of what used to be; the beauty that once was. The scene and the life has changed though; the people are cold, the beauty is gone, and the sublime has entered. These paintings are a depiction of what once was beautiful and what is now painful, and they are a stunning representation of that. They are sublime.

It is this theme of the blur between beauty and pain that carries through all of the characters entertained in the past few months. Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “Jenny”, for example. What was once pure is now tainted; the white lily is now browned. These representations make the reader question what is beautiful. Why is the white lily beautiful? Why is purity a virtue? Why is the brown lily unwanted? Why is Jenny unwanted? This flower and this woman, in their two states, may be the same in essence, but they have undergone a change; a change form simply beautiful to a complicated sublime, and a change from wanted to unwanted.

-L.G.

 

Hybrid: Poster Draft

FOREVER LILIES

“Jenny” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti is a poem about a man expressing sympathy toward a young prostitute as he observes her behavior. Jenny is compared the lily, which brings deep irony to  her lifestyle as a prostitute.

Lilies are generally thought of as white. White is indicative of purity, which conflicts with Jenny’s profession as a prostitute. Prostitution has compromised the sanctity of her virginity, so she would be considered deeply impure, especially in the Victorian era where prudence was expected and respected.  However, brothels seem to be slightly popular at this time as well. The lily is also recognized as the symbol for the resurrection of Jesus three days after his death and the flower of the Virgin Mary. Because of the religious symbolism and connotation of the lily, it is often used during Easter, the celebration of the resurrection.

These representations also clearly contradict Jenny’s work and behavior, considering she is far from any aspect of religion or virginity.  The poet asks, “What, Jenny, are your lilies dead?” This suggests that her purity has died and disappeared with the time she has spent as a prostitute. Her petals have all wilted and the “snow-white leaves” are now gone and lost forever.

The ironic use of the lily is important in “Jenny” because it allows the reader to realize and emphasize Jenny’s sins and moral corruption. The contrast created by the irony also brings attention to the expectations of women. Women are many times expected to be pure, yet somehow, they are also expected to be sexual objects. These two traits are not cohesive. Modern women have many expectations to live up to, but to be entirely impure as well as sexually available simultaneously is an impossibility. Generally, women all over the world from the Victorian age to the modern age are still supposed to be the lily, the symbol of purity and respectability, despite the pressure from men to be otherwise.

~ J.W.

Cameron’s Flower Shop Talk

Arthur Symons Moulin Rouge provides the reader with a vivid visual of a dance hall in the late nineteenth century. He uses his conventions to support his opinion on prostitution, as well as express gender constructions during the time. Symons starts by setting the scene with Olivier Metras’ Les Roses, a waltz created during the nineteenth century that sheds some light on Symons poem. Overall Les Roses, allows us to see the “dancers” movement through the artist’s eyes. Before I delve into the overall theme of Moulin Rouge, I believe that it is important to note that the dancers in this poem live a life similar to an escort or prostitute, which is they sell their bodies as a means of entertainment for men. This is common of the time, and expressive of the barriers that women faced. While Les Roses plays loud in the background, Symons describes the dancing of the women in the hall. He describes this dance as “The perfect rose of lights and sounds” and that the dancer’s movements to the song resemble “The rose returning into the circle of it’s rounds”. This paints a picture of the dancers spinning with their flamboyant dresses, dancing to the waltz, rising with the crescendo and continuing with the melody of Metras’ song. By using the word “rose” to describe the dancers and their movements, Symons wants his readers to see the dancers as superficial and skin deep. Since roses tend to shed their petals over a short amount of time, so do the dancers by accepting the life of a dancer. Symons is saying how their beauty is short-lived, and easily reproducible. As Symons moves farther into the poem he delves into the life of the prostitutes and some of the repercussions of this lifestyle. He describes a dancer in the group to be “alone” and “apart” from the others. As Symons continues to say “Her morbid, vague, ambiguous grace” he tells us about the moral repercussions that the dancer in his poem is feeling as the subject of such a grandeur show. He leaves us with the overhanging impression that the dancer is being watched by “mirrors” and that these mirrors are reflecting the dancers own misgivings in her profession. In the next stanza Symons continues to describe the dancers’ movements as both a “dream” and a “dance of shadows”. By using these obscure lyrics, Symons is explaining that the dance is truly just a charade for the pleasure of the men watching, not a work of art, or a show of skill. Instead he is leaving the impression that this charade dehumanizes the dancer’s by making them the object of the viewers’ lust. The “mirrors” by now have been identified as the men watching the performance, and most likely the ones that are going to later pay for sex from the dancer that they fancied the most. Now that we see the pressure put upon the women to impress these men, we can see why the dancer feels judged by them. This is tied up by the last stanza where Symons comments that the dancer is “a shadow dancing back to a shadow in the night”. Since during night time shadows cannot form, Symons is commenting on how fake both the dancer and her customer are. Whereas earlier in the poem where Symons was commenting on the victimization of these dancers, he is now continuing to explain that both the dancer and the men are the protagonist of the situation. Both are “shadows” allowing them to be thrown into the throng of a moral injustice. So, what does this say about gender in the nineteenth century? Tons, while explaining his views on the Moulin Rouge, Symons also explains the sexism that was prevalent during the nineteenth century. During this time women were seen more as objects of a man’s desire, without rights they did not have the resources to truly find themselves as human beings. Instead they are trapped without a means to survive except by selling their beauty to the very men who discriminate against them. They are “shadows” and the men are “mirrors” both focusing on the aesthetics of the situation, and none worried about who the dancer is as a person. This, is the gender problem of the nineteenth century. Sexism allowed the men of the time to see women as objects, not people, and forced the women of the time to give up their humanity in trade for a means of survival. Symons although, is convinced that the women also have added to their situation by allowing themselves to be mirrored. Even though they must follow a profession of exploitation, they are still allowing themselves to be dehumanized. They enjoy the money they make off of prostitution, and have come to accept the lifestyle as their own. This helped prolong their situation, and it was not until both genders overcame this ignorance that the problem started to remedy itself through history.

Artists Statement: In this collage I wanted to take the theme represented in Arthur Symons Moulin Rouge and give it some type of visual interpretation. Here you can see that both the man and the women are standing on the leaves of the rose. The man is smelling the flower, inspecting it for any irregularities and testing to see whether or not it is worthy of being a rose by his standards. The women on the other hand, is distressed and falling off the rose/leaning precariously over the edge. To me this symbolized the problem with gender roles in the nineteenth century by highlighting the objectification of women during this period. By showing that the man is judging the rose, and not the women shows that he is only interested in her aesthetics’. What this means for the women, is that she is trapped by the rose and forced to look upon herself in the same way. This captures the oppression that women felt during the nineteenth century. Unable to truly find themselves as people they are trapped in a world of aesthetics.

I think that it would be appropriate to label the above gender dilemma as the problem of the rose. Even though our society has advanced and women have achieved equal rights of law, the problem of the rose has not dissipated. Even today women are constantly judged and “mirrored” through countless acts of sexism. Professionally women have to work harder to achieve the same amount of respect from their male counterparts, and why is this? I believe it is due to a combination of many factors, including but not limited to physical differences and mental differences between the two genders. How does this relate to gender roles and sexuality during the nineteenth century? As I mentioned earlier the problem during this time was sexism. Because men of this time did not respect women as human beings with equal rights, women were repressed into being slaves of desire. Dancing is a great representative of this, because it shows how both women and men viewed each other during this time period. The lack of respect from both parties to the rights of women did and will continue to weigh on the female agenda. The fact of the matter is, that women have not achieved equality in the world today. Whereas they are much farther than they were in Symons time, women still face sexism in modern times. What is the reason for this? The rose, a continual obsession of aesthetics that causes people to overlook a women’s true being. Makeup, designer fashion, highlights, the list goes on and on of things that are meant to keep the rose beautiful. These adaptations, are nothing but a barrier to keep the human mind contained, and constrained within the boundaries of societal acceptance. The worst part about the whole problem is that men are not the only contributing factors. Women themselves seem to propel each other into the materialistic world of makeup and hairdoos. Similar to Symons believing that both the man and the dancer are both “shadows”, both men and women continue on the problem of sexism. The hand of man in this can be seen clearly throughout history, the abuse can truly not be downplayed. The hand of the women on the other hand is not as obvious, and can be seen in the “mirror” that Symons represents in his poem. This mirror, is the feeling that one must reflect and improve upon their outward appearance, it keeps women from looking to and improving upon the true substance of the world. Their humanity, their ability to identify themselves as a person and use this to build relationships with others.

With help from Symons I was able to identify this problem. The true question although, is whether either party can truly overcome the problem of the rose. Through what means will it take to get others to realize that the true beauty comes from the root of the plant. That which sustained, and provided the internal strength needed to provide that rose with life and beauty. That which stretched far beneath the hard soil, and propelled the rose towards the sun. This root, is the only asset needed to overcome this dilemma for men. On the other hand the understanding of both the root and the flower is what is needed for a women to truly accept her own humanity.

 

Works Cited: Symons, Arthur, Moulin Rouge, http://books.google.com/books?id=RR9HAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA24&ots=8T4k0TzdK9&dq=arthur%20symons%20moulin%20rouge&pg=PA24#v=onepage&q&f=false .

Camerons Gender Project

                Arthur Symons Moulin Rouge provides the reader with a vivid visual of a dance hall in the late nineteenth century. He uses his conventions to support his opinion on prostitution, as well as express gender constructions during the time. Symons starts by setting the scene with Olivier Metra’s Les Roses, a waltz created during the nineteenth century that sheds some light on Symons poem. Les roses, allows us to see the “dancers” movement through the artist’s eyes. Before I delve into the overall theme of Moulin Rouge, I believe that it is important to note that the dancers in this poem are escorts/prostitutes. This is common of the time, and expressive of the barriers that women faced. While Les Roses plays loud in the background, Symons describes the dancing of the women in the hall. He describes this dance as “The perfect rose of lights and sounds” and that the dancer’s movements to the song resemble “The rose returning into the circle of it’s rounds”. This paints a picture of the dancers spinning with their flamboyant dresses, dancing to the waltz, rising with the crescendo and continuing with the melody of Metras’ song. By using the word “rose” to describe the dancers and their movements, Symons allows us to see the dancers as superficial and skin deep. Since roses tend to shed their petals over a short amount of time, so do the dancers by accepting the life of a prostitute. Symons is saying how their beauty is short-lived, and easily reproducible. As Symons moves farther into the poem he delves into the life of the prostitutes and some of the repercussions of this lifestyle. He describes a dancer in the group to be “alone” and “apart” from the others. As Symons continues to say “Her morbid, vague, ambiguous grace” he tells us about the moral repercussions that the dancer in his poem is feeling as the subject of such a grandeur show. He leaves us with the overhanging impression that the dancer is being watched by “mirrors” and that these mirrors are reflecting the dancers own misgivings in her profession. In the next stanza Symons continues to describe the dancers movements as both a “dream” and a “dance of shadows”. By using these obscure lyrics, Symons is explaining that the dance is truly just a charade for prostitution, not a work of art, or a show of skill. Instead he is leaving the impression that this charade dehumanizes the dancer’s by making them the object of the viewers lust. The “mirrors” by now have been identified as the men watching the performance, and most likely the ones that are going to later pay for sex from the dancer that they fancied the most. Now that we see the pressure put upon the women to impress these men, we can see why the dancer feels judged by them. This is tied up by the last stanza where Symons comments that the dancer is “a shadow dancing back to a shadow in the night”. Since during night time shadows cannot form, Symons is commenting on how fake both the prostitute and her customer are. Whereas earlier in the poem where Symons was commenting on the victimization of these dancers, he is now continuing to explain that both the dancer and the men are the protagonist of the situation. Both are “shadows” allowing themselves to be thrown into the throng of prostitution. So, what does this say about gender in the nineteenth century? Tons, while explaining his views on prostitution Symons also explains the sexism that was prevalent during the nineteenth century. During this time women were seen more as objects of a man’s desire, without rights they did not have the resources to truly find themselves as human beings. Instead they are trapped without a means to survive except by selling their beauty to the very men who discriminate against them. They are “shadows” and the men are “mirrors” both focusing on the aesthetics of the situation, and none worried about who the dancer is as a person. This, is the gender problem of the nineteenth century. Sexism allowed the men of the time to see women as objects, not people, and forced the women of the time to give up their humanity in trade for a position on a trophy stand next to their lover. Symons although is convinced that the women also have added to their situation by allowing themselves to be mirrored. Even though they must follow a profession of prostitution they are allowing themselves to be dehumanized. They enjoy the money they make off of prostitution, and have come to accept the lifestyle as their own. By doing this, they continue their oppression for decades.

 

Artists Statement: In this collage I wanted to take the theme represented in Arthur Symons Moulin Rouge and give it some type of visual interpretation. Here you can see that both the man and the women are standing on the leaves of the rose. The man is smelling the flower, inspecting it for any irregularities and testing to see whether or not it is worthy of being a rose by his standards. The women on the other hand is distressed and falling off the rose/leaning precariously over the edge. To me this symbolized the problem with gender roles in the nineteenth century by highlighting the objectification of women during this period. By showing that the man is judging the rose, and not the women shows that he is only interested in her aesthetics’. What this means for the women, is that she is trapped by the rose and forced to look upon herself in the same way. This captures the oppression that women felt during the nineteenth century. Unable to truly find themselves as people they are trapped in a world of aesthetics.

 

Synthesize: How does this relate to gender roles and sexuality during the nineteenth century? As I mentioned earlier the problem during this time was sexism. Because men of this time did not respect women as human beings with equal rights, women were repressed into being slaves of desire. Prostitution is a great representative of this, because it shows how both women and men viewed each other during this time period.      

The Little Things to Virginia Woolf

Oftentimes a novel takes place over the course of several weeks, months, or even years. With short stories or essays, the timeline is not uncommonly the same, but they are more often than not a bit shorter: perhaps a week, a few days, or even a story taking place all within an hour. However, it seems to be quite uncommon for a writer to write not just about one day, but to write their entire piece about a single instance, act, or seemingly simple concept.

Virginia Woolf wrote multiple pieces of this nature. In her short essay, “The Lady in the Looking-Glass; A Reflection” she writes of a lovely woman who is wealthy, social, successful, and seemingly happy. An element of her life or her character is exposed in the climax of the story; the simple act of seeing herself in the mirror. The several hundred words of the essay lead up to this moment, beginning with beauty and cheer and slowly deteriorating into a ruinous tone of sadness. The concept of seeing oneself in the mirror is the idea around which this story revolves; it is a simple act, something most think nothing of on a day to day basis, however, it exposes in a slightly underhanded way the thoughts of the character, leading lady Isabella Tyson.

Similar to “The Lady in the Looking-Glass; A Reflection”, Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” revolves around the idea that for someone (particularly a woman) to write effectively and progressively, she must have a room of her own and the resources by which to work. These are both simple concepts about which most wouldn’t care to consider twice. In her stories, however, these subtle, simple ideas are the substance of her very thinking in many of her pieces.

Woolf, Virginia. “The Lady in the Looking-Glass; A Reflection.” The University of Adelaide. August 4 2012. Web.

Deciphering a Method

Susie Asado by Gertrude Stein is, in short, a bit of a mystery. After reading it multiple times, the reader is left feeling like they read something written by a loon. This is not so. Stein was sane, just unconventionally experimental with her work. She seems to go with every instinct she has by writing down her immediate thoughts, whether logical or entirely nonsensical. This piece in particular is very difficult to read out loud. This is because of the conflicting sounds that are difficult to pronounce together such as “drink pups drink pups lease a sash hold” or “this means slips slips hers.” In fact, most of the verbal stumbling comes from the constant use of the letter ‘s.’  There is also hardly any punctuation and even if there was supposed to be, it would be difficult to know just where it should go because the words do not make real sentences. Everything is incomplete; the thoughts are all fragments. Stein seems to have gathered inspiration from artists such as Pablo Picasso and was able to use her words the way that those artists were able to use their paintbrushes.

This painting is in fact a portrait of Gertrude Stein created by Pablo Picasso himself. This could insinuate that they had a mutual artistic respect for one another. They were, of course, two artists with different mediums, but the same desire to modernize, experiment, and discover. They are also very similar in the very elementary or childish sense one gets when reading Stein’s works or viewing Picasso’s art. They are so simple that it can be difficult to comprehend or even appreciate… a few of their creations just seem like a complete mess. Because of this, Stein’s literature was not exactly praised by many because to most people, it makes no sense. In contrast, Picasso became famous with paintings, some of which are strangely unimpressive. This just goes to show that people who experiment with art forms are often thought to be either geniuses or untalented, without an in between. It is hard to say what exactly separates Picasso’s success from Stein’s practical failure in the eyes of artistic critics, but it could be because art is something you can see and begin to feel, whereas literature is something you can only feel if you can understand it. Regardless, we still look at Stein’s pieces today and wonder what she was trying to convey, so this is proof that even though she did not succeed immediately, she has left a lasting impression on the artistic world.

“Gertrude Stein.” Poetry Foundation. n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2012. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gertrude-stein

~J.W.

Cubism: An Interpretation

After viewing a few famous works of art, painted in the style of cubism, we decided to take on the challenge of creating our own modern interpretation of cubism. We used “Nude Decending a Staircase” by Duchamp and “Woman with a Guitar” by Braque.

We call this Singing to the Stars.

We took different elements from the pieces we observed. First, we created a more muted background that still provides interest. The light and dark grays create a shaded look, which is common in traditional cubism. Then we decided to add a human element, a musician, that was a both a little obvious and a little obscure. The tower of shapes next to the musician are representative of the stars, with the heart of the musician connected to them. We decided that a modern form of cubism should have bright colors that would create a contrast against a monochrome background. We felt that cubism is not really a great representation of skill, but more a representation of analyzing lines in life. Singing to the stars is our abstract scene of a musician playing for nature. As we have discovered by our own masterpiece, cubism can be recreated by anyone with an imagination!
~The Ruineers