As any of my AS Spanish classmates are well aware, the end of Spanish AS came as a relief. Now we don't have to worry about grammar or excessive knowledge of vocabulary (or lack of it) until next June. Of course, we all had to return to school anyway so as to prepare our personal statements and university applications, but it also means that lessons stretch beyond the syllabus and allow us as students a little leeway to enjoy, for example, Spanish literature and culture as opposed to solid blocks of specification lists.
So, in Spanish, we have just finished reading La Casa de Bernada Alba by Federico García Lorca (who also wrote Blood Wedding for those of you who saw our school play). La Casa tells the story of a mother and her five daughters after the death of their father, set in a rural village in a repressed Spain. Lorca himself was shot during the Civil War and never saw Spain under General Franco the dictator, but from this play especially we can easily see he knew what was coming.
Bernada Alba, the titular character, is an old mother who thinks of one thing and one thing only: honour. In this Spain, only the older daughter may marry since she carries the dowry of the family, whilst any other daughters must stay at home to help their mother, all the while staying chaste and respectable. It is very much a society of "what would the neighbours think", and the repression is unbelievable.
The symbolism in La Casa de Bernada Alba is overwhelming. Bernada herself holds a walking stick. From her first line to her last line she demands silence while banging the stick on the ground: ultimate authority, and also that no matter what the course of events may be, her attitude never changes. Colours are another source of symbolism for Lorca; the white lace that all the girls wear marks their purity whereas the green dress that Adela wears brings an omen of death. And just Adela's name itself: it sounds like the Spanish word 'adelante' meaning 'forward', for she is the daughter who signifies the progression of movements against the dictatorship.
I shan't spoil any of the plot of this play, but I definitely think you should all find out what happens for yourself. Not only will you learn about Spanish history and culture but you will improve your Spanish along the way! For those who read in translation, never fear. Though some of the language techniques may be lost, the story stays the same as does any symbolism you may wish to pick up on. Enjoy!
By Jess
Showing posts with label Foreign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foreign. Show all posts
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Sunday, 13 March 2011
L'Étranger
I have just finished reading Albert Camus' 'L'Étranger,' not, alas, in the original French though. Therefore technically I have just finished reading Albert Camus' 'The Outsider' but that sounds far less intellectual. I was lent the novel by a friend, who wanted my opinion so she could pass it off as her own when asked about it. I complied and I thought I would share my thoughts with all of you.
The Outsider is a novel split into two parts. The first part introduces us to the protagonist, Meursault at a time when he has just been informed that his mother has died. We follow him as he visits the old people's home he placed her in, there is an underlying feeling of guilt with Meursault about having his mother put in a home. However, he comes across to everyone he meets at the home as very detached and emotionless. When we hear him justifying it, claiming that he could not afford to look after both of them, we understand. But, we later learn that his mother was about 60. I don't know about you, but I'm 17 and even I know 60 is not all that old. Part one concludes with the dramatic scene when Meursault shoots an "Arab" for seemingly no other reason than the heat bothering him. Yes, you read that correctly, the heat was bothering him, so he shot someone. In fairness to Meursault he was being threatened with a knife at the time, but this was not the reasoning presented to us by Camus, we are told only of the heat and bright sunlight.
Part two opens with Meursault being incarcerated, but the detached emotions I mentioned earlier make his time in jail very bearable. Once he gets used to his loss of liberty he whiles away the hours making mental lists of every object in his apartment; he quietly gets on with this new chapter of his life quietly and without fuss. You would think that prison wardens would appreciate this attitude given some peoples reaction to finding themselves in prison, but no. His complacency is taken as a lack of remorse for what he has done in his trial, his lack of tears at his mothers funeral are taken as further evidence of this. The prosecutor paints a malicious and soulless image of Meursault. Of course as a reader I appreciate what he did was wrong, but we have come to have compassion for him, and would never describe him as soulless. Lost? Misunderstood? Absolutely. But soulless? No. Meursault is sentenced to public decapitation for his crime.
Rather than accepting the ruling as fair, or even deserved, we question why he receives such a harsh punishment. Is he being tried for his crime, or because he does not react the way the public want him to? Would he have got off with a lighter sentence if he had broken down in tears at the trial for what he had done? 'The Outsider' raised a lot of questions for me, and it was an incredibly intriguing read. But I can't lie to you, I'm not entirely sure if I enjoyed it. 'The Outsider' has been described as 'the Bible for the dissatisfied, the alienated and the misunderstood,' and I don't think I fit into any of those categories.
By Talia
The Outsider is a novel split into two parts. The first part introduces us to the protagonist, Meursault at a time when he has just been informed that his mother has died. We follow him as he visits the old people's home he placed her in, there is an underlying feeling of guilt with Meursault about having his mother put in a home. However, he comes across to everyone he meets at the home as very detached and emotionless. When we hear him justifying it, claiming that he could not afford to look after both of them, we understand. But, we later learn that his mother was about 60. I don't know about you, but I'm 17 and even I know 60 is not all that old. Part one concludes with the dramatic scene when Meursault shoots an "Arab" for seemingly no other reason than the heat bothering him. Yes, you read that correctly, the heat was bothering him, so he shot someone. In fairness to Meursault he was being threatened with a knife at the time, but this was not the reasoning presented to us by Camus, we are told only of the heat and bright sunlight.
Part two opens with Meursault being incarcerated, but the detached emotions I mentioned earlier make his time in jail very bearable. Once he gets used to his loss of liberty he whiles away the hours making mental lists of every object in his apartment; he quietly gets on with this new chapter of his life quietly and without fuss. You would think that prison wardens would appreciate this attitude given some peoples reaction to finding themselves in prison, but no. His complacency is taken as a lack of remorse for what he has done in his trial, his lack of tears at his mothers funeral are taken as further evidence of this. The prosecutor paints a malicious and soulless image of Meursault. Of course as a reader I appreciate what he did was wrong, but we have come to have compassion for him, and would never describe him as soulless. Lost? Misunderstood? Absolutely. But soulless? No. Meursault is sentenced to public decapitation for his crime.
Rather than accepting the ruling as fair, or even deserved, we question why he receives such a harsh punishment. Is he being tried for his crime, or because he does not react the way the public want him to? Would he have got off with a lighter sentence if he had broken down in tears at the trial for what he had done? 'The Outsider' raised a lot of questions for me, and it was an incredibly intriguing read. But I can't lie to you, I'm not entirely sure if I enjoyed it. 'The Outsider' has been described as 'the Bible for the dissatisfied, the alienated and the misunderstood,' and I don't think I fit into any of those categories.
By Talia
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