domingo, 30 de junio de 2019
The Korean War
In History, we are studying the Cold War. In groups, we had to make a presentation about the different wars we studied. I made it with Gastón, Ezequiel and Félix and we had to talk about the Korean War.
lunes, 24 de junio de 2019
"The Moving Finger" by Edith Wharton
In Literature, we read "The Moving Finger" by Edith Wharton. After we analysed the story, we had to make a literary essay explaining how love, obsession and control are explored.
“The Moving Finger” by Edith Wharton, is a story that deals with the difficulties of losing a person you love. Love, obsession and control are explored through the different reactions and feelings Mr Grancy and Claydon have for Mrs Grancy and her portrait and how they compete for the painting.
To begin with, Mr Grancy develops, at a certain point, a toxic relationship with Mrs Grancy. It is said that, after a failed marriage which had a bad influence on him, the second Mrs Grancy helps him to recover. After they marry, Mr Grancy asks Claydon to paint a portrait of his wife, who represents the woman Mr Grancy sees. When Mrs Grancy dies, three years after the portrait is painted, her husband is devastated, a consequence of most happy marriages. However, Mr Grancy tells the narrator that he used to tell her as a joke “...‘You're my prisoner now…’” referring that as he had a portrait of Mrs Grancy, if she left her husband, she would remain with him because he had the painting. This makes the reader think that he is in control of his wife’s freedom. The portrait is a representation or symbol of imprisonment, as, even though Mrs Grancy is dead, Mr Grancy has total control of the painting and, as a consequence, of her. Moreover, while Ralph Grancy is in Constantinople, he starts to imagine Mrs Grancy is with him everywhere he goes, which shows an obsession with his dead wife. She seems real to him, and once he returns to his house in the USA and enters the library, he’s excited to “meet” his wife again, as it was the place where the portrait was. He also controls her painting by calling Claydon to change it so that the Mrs Grancy in the portrait looks the way Mr Grancy thought she would look like when she grew old with him, which is what they had promised each other before she died. Once he returned to the USA five years after being in Europe, he’s disappointed to see the Mrs Grancy in the painting has not grown old like him, which makes him see her as if she was a stranger. In this way, Ralph believes his wife is alive. If Claydon had not changed the portrait, Mr Grancy would have been forced to accept Mrs Grancy was dead. “It’s the picture that stands between us; the picture that is dead, and not my wife.” Ralph refuses to endure the idea of Mrs Grancy being dead, so he wants the artist to make her painting look older. Even though Mr Grancy loves his wife, he is obsessed with her and, as a consequence, he tries to control her life, before and after her death.
On the other hand, it can be interpreted that Claydon has feelings for Mrs Grancy. First, Mr Grancy tells the narrator that Claydon painted Mrs Grancy the way her husband saw her, which is not the Mrs Grancy people who knew her saw. This gives the reader the impression that Claydon loved the woman and she loved the artist, as she could have revealed her love for him in the painting since it is Mrs Grancy’s look that calls Mr Grancy’s attention. In the portrait, the woman has a look that conveys love and passion, and she was looking at the artist, who was painting her. Furthermore, Claydon has an obsession with the woman, as, after her death, he wants to be in control of Mrs Grancy’s portrait. The reader could interpret that even though the artist loved the woman, he wants the painting as it is his masterpiece, and Claydon compares his situation to Pygmalion, a sculptor in Greek mythology, who gave life to a sculpture of a beautiful woman and fell in love with her. In this story, Claydon turns his real woman into a picture. This could be represented in the following quotation: “... it was the woman he had loved and not the picture...” The artist fell in love with the picture of Mrs Grancy, and he is disappointed when Ralph asks him to make her older as she was “so divinely, unchangeably young!”. Claydon thinks Mr Grancy does not love her wife enough as no men would ask his wife to sacrifice her youth and beauty. The reader could interpret that even though Claydon wants the portrait as it is his masterpiece, he loves Mrs Grancy and this is why he changes the painting the way he painted it for the first time, to make her the way she was, unchangeably young. Moreover, once Mr Grancy dies and the portrait is inherited by Claydon, he makes a final change to the painting, leaving it like the original one. This could represent Claydon’s wish to preserve the portrait with the Mrs Grancy he knew and fell deeply in love with before she died. It is also mentioned that when the narrator goes to Claydon’s studio, everything was placed in such a way that the most important thing in it was Mrs Grancy’s portrait, Claydon’s masterpiece.
Finally, as both Mr Grancy and Claydon are obsessed with Mrs Grancy, and after her death, with her portrait, there is an indirect fight or a subtle rivalry between them about Mrs Grancy’s painting. To begin with, once Mr Grancy returns to the USA and sees that the woman in the portrait is not as old as him, Ralph asks Claydon to change it, even though Mr Grancy knows it will destroy the artist. Possibly as an act of revenge, ten years later when Mr Grancy was not in excellent health conditions and asks Claydon to change the portrait again, the artist paints the face of the woman in a way in which she seems to “know” that her husband is dying. Consequently, as Mr Grancy believes everything the portrait communicates him, his health decays, turning Mrs Grancy into his death-warrant. It also needs to be considered the fact that Claydon does this job immediately, even though it is said he had a lot of work to do; and that the time he did the first change to the painting, he thought about it a whole day before starting working. An interpretation for Claydon accepting to change the painting though he is occupied could be that he wants to make Ralph believe they are still friends. However, the artist could have had the intention of finally inheriting Mrs Grancy’s portrait once her husband died; which is what happens almost at the end of the story. When the narrator goes to Claydon’s studio once Mr Grancy dies, he is shocked when he sees the last change in the portrait, which looks like the original one. Claydon says that he can change Mrs Grancy’s portrait the way he wants to as it is his property and has control over it. This is shown in the following quotation: “...‘How could I not? Doesn’t she belong to me know?’”. This shows the end of Mr Grancy and Claydon’s fight, leaving the artist as the winner.
To conclude, “The Moving Finger” by Edith Wharton is a story which develops love, obsession, and control through the way in which the characters relate to Mrs Grancy, as Mr Grancy and Claydon love her deeply, and, as they are obsessed with the woman, both of them want to have control over her and her portrait, which leads to two friends to deteriorate a relationship of many years and fight explicitly for her. In my opinion, neither of them could let her go. However, it can be interpreted that Mr Grancy needs a woman in his life, as after his first wife died, he marries the Mrs Grancy the reader knows more about. Even though his first wife was not good for him, he never got divorced. He depended on both of his wives.
As for Claydon, I believe he really loves Mrs Grancy and wants to have the painting for himself as it is his masterpiece and, as mentioned before, he turns his real woman into a picture. However, he also wants to control Ralph’s wife through the portrait, as Claydon changes the painting as it was the first time he painted it once Mr Grancy inherited it to the artist. Claydon controls the portrait the way Mr Grancy did before he died.
Literary essay on "The Moving Finger"
To begin with, Mr Grancy develops, at a certain point, a toxic relationship with Mrs Grancy. It is said that, after a failed marriage which had a bad influence on him, the second Mrs Grancy helps him to recover. After they marry, Mr Grancy asks Claydon to paint a portrait of his wife, who represents the woman Mr Grancy sees. When Mrs Grancy dies, three years after the portrait is painted, her husband is devastated, a consequence of most happy marriages. However, Mr Grancy tells the narrator that he used to tell her as a joke “...‘You're my prisoner now…’” referring that as he had a portrait of Mrs Grancy, if she left her husband, she would remain with him because he had the painting. This makes the reader think that he is in control of his wife’s freedom. The portrait is a representation or symbol of imprisonment, as, even though Mrs Grancy is dead, Mr Grancy has total control of the painting and, as a consequence, of her. Moreover, while Ralph Grancy is in Constantinople, he starts to imagine Mrs Grancy is with him everywhere he goes, which shows an obsession with his dead wife. She seems real to him, and once he returns to his house in the USA and enters the library, he’s excited to “meet” his wife again, as it was the place where the portrait was. He also controls her painting by calling Claydon to change it so that the Mrs Grancy in the portrait looks the way Mr Grancy thought she would look like when she grew old with him, which is what they had promised each other before she died. Once he returned to the USA five years after being in Europe, he’s disappointed to see the Mrs Grancy in the painting has not grown old like him, which makes him see her as if she was a stranger. In this way, Ralph believes his wife is alive. If Claydon had not changed the portrait, Mr Grancy would have been forced to accept Mrs Grancy was dead. “It’s the picture that stands between us; the picture that is dead, and not my wife.” Ralph refuses to endure the idea of Mrs Grancy being dead, so he wants the artist to make her painting look older. Even though Mr Grancy loves his wife, he is obsessed with her and, as a consequence, he tries to control her life, before and after her death.
On the other hand, it can be interpreted that Claydon has feelings for Mrs Grancy. First, Mr Grancy tells the narrator that Claydon painted Mrs Grancy the way her husband saw her, which is not the Mrs Grancy people who knew her saw. This gives the reader the impression that Claydon loved the woman and she loved the artist, as she could have revealed her love for him in the painting since it is Mrs Grancy’s look that calls Mr Grancy’s attention. In the portrait, the woman has a look that conveys love and passion, and she was looking at the artist, who was painting her. Furthermore, Claydon has an obsession with the woman, as, after her death, he wants to be in control of Mrs Grancy’s portrait. The reader could interpret that even though the artist loved the woman, he wants the painting as it is his masterpiece, and Claydon compares his situation to Pygmalion, a sculptor in Greek mythology, who gave life to a sculpture of a beautiful woman and fell in love with her. In this story, Claydon turns his real woman into a picture. This could be represented in the following quotation: “... it was the woman he had loved and not the picture...” The artist fell in love with the picture of Mrs Grancy, and he is disappointed when Ralph asks him to make her older as she was “so divinely, unchangeably young!”. Claydon thinks Mr Grancy does not love her wife enough as no men would ask his wife to sacrifice her youth and beauty. The reader could interpret that even though Claydon wants the portrait as it is his masterpiece, he loves Mrs Grancy and this is why he changes the painting the way he painted it for the first time, to make her the way she was, unchangeably young. Moreover, once Mr Grancy dies and the portrait is inherited by Claydon, he makes a final change to the painting, leaving it like the original one. This could represent Claydon’s wish to preserve the portrait with the Mrs Grancy he knew and fell deeply in love with before she died. It is also mentioned that when the narrator goes to Claydon’s studio, everything was placed in such a way that the most important thing in it was Mrs Grancy’s portrait, Claydon’s masterpiece.
Finally, as both Mr Grancy and Claydon are obsessed with Mrs Grancy, and after her death, with her portrait, there is an indirect fight or a subtle rivalry between them about Mrs Grancy’s painting. To begin with, once Mr Grancy returns to the USA and sees that the woman in the portrait is not as old as him, Ralph asks Claydon to change it, even though Mr Grancy knows it will destroy the artist. Possibly as an act of revenge, ten years later when Mr Grancy was not in excellent health conditions and asks Claydon to change the portrait again, the artist paints the face of the woman in a way in which she seems to “know” that her husband is dying. Consequently, as Mr Grancy believes everything the portrait communicates him, his health decays, turning Mrs Grancy into his death-warrant. It also needs to be considered the fact that Claydon does this job immediately, even though it is said he had a lot of work to do; and that the time he did the first change to the painting, he thought about it a whole day before starting working. An interpretation for Claydon accepting to change the painting though he is occupied could be that he wants to make Ralph believe they are still friends. However, the artist could have had the intention of finally inheriting Mrs Grancy’s portrait once her husband died; which is what happens almost at the end of the story. When the narrator goes to Claydon’s studio once Mr Grancy dies, he is shocked when he sees the last change in the portrait, which looks like the original one. Claydon says that he can change Mrs Grancy’s portrait the way he wants to as it is his property and has control over it. This is shown in the following quotation: “...‘How could I not? Doesn’t she belong to me know?’”. This shows the end of Mr Grancy and Claydon’s fight, leaving the artist as the winner.
To conclude, “The Moving Finger” by Edith Wharton is a story which develops love, obsession, and control through the way in which the characters relate to Mrs Grancy, as Mr Grancy and Claydon love her deeply, and, as they are obsessed with the woman, both of them want to have control over her and her portrait, which leads to two friends to deteriorate a relationship of many years and fight explicitly for her. In my opinion, neither of them could let her go. However, it can be interpreted that Mr Grancy needs a woman in his life, as after his first wife died, he marries the Mrs Grancy the reader knows more about. Even though his first wife was not good for him, he never got divorced. He depended on both of his wives.
As for Claydon, I believe he really loves Mrs Grancy and wants to have the painting for himself as it is his masterpiece and, as mentioned before, he turns his real woman into a picture. However, he also wants to control Ralph’s wife through the portrait, as Claydon changes the painting as it was the first time he painted it once Mr Grancy inherited it to the artist. Claydon controls the portrait the way Mr Grancy did before he died.
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| Edith Wharton (1862-1937) |
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