Tuesday, September 11, 2012
misconception?!?!?!?!?!1?!
Hi! I just wanted to share a little biggish thought I had regarding a quote we really briefly brushed over in class today, and that is regarding Frederic's first experience at the hospital. Now I know we've had a lot of fun bashing Catherine in class and talking about how stupid/not stupid she is, but I'd say we've actually been harder on Frederic, since we see him as a chauvinistic, sex-hungry, immoral, desensitized, morbid lunatic, which I really can't deny. What caught my attention, though, was his interaction on page 75 with one of the nurses (Gage, I think). She tells him that he asks many questions for a sick boy, and he responds "I'm not sick, I'm wounded." As well as it fits in the context of the book, just demonstrating his frustration with a poorly run hospital, I think it's interesting to compare it to how we see him as a sick, as in "despicable," human being. Could it be that he isn't a 100% terrible person or at least wasn't always a 100% terrible person and he was emotionally "wounded" somehow in the past? Perhaps this is a misunderstanding not only on the nurse's part but on our part, assuming that he's just a plain bad person without any reason behind it all. Since this isn't an essay I'm not going to go fishing for other evidence to support this or elaborate much more, but it's worth keeping an eye on and considering. I just thought that quote was neat. Ok. Bye.
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I don't feel as though Frederic is 100% terrible. I just feel as though there are a lot of moments where we as the reader become frustrated with Frederic and, as Mrs. Kasprak would say, just slap him. Although I cannot think of any examples right now where he isn't a terrible person. As for the quote "I'm not sick, I'm wounded," I interpret that when Frederic says sick he is referring to a mental illness, for instance PTSD. Where a mental illness will not "heal" a wound will. If that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteRight I think he's terrified of people thinking he's 'sick' and something is wrong with his mind. however, if you're 'wounded' then he was fighting and injured in battle. But I also sorta don't think he's a terrible person at all. I think he's naive, and sorta dumb, and maybe a bit sexist, but I think we also need to try and read for the time-period, and realize he's pretty much an average joe sexism-wise for the time.
ReplyDeleteYea in perspective of when this took place, he doesn't seem horrible at all. He is in the war....HE IS IN THE WAR!! That takes a huge toll on your life and how you function so we need to cut him some slack. He's trying to be normal but in his mind that means sex and drinking and sex. If Frederic Henry was walking around today, the way he did in the book he would definitely not be appreciated one bit. His mentality of dominance over women, his disgusting sex drive, his addiction to alcohol: all HUGE turn-offs. But coming back to how things were back then he's not completely out of the ordinary.
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