Paper #4 hypertext

Irony

1.) "Bliss" by Katherine Mansfield.  Mansfield wrote "Bliss" at the age of forty, two months after marrying a man eighteen years her junior. I wonder if she was feeling bliss at the time. Katherine had changed careers from music to writing and changed her name several times as well. Some see her as a woman who constantly changed revealing these lives in her work. It is quite possible she rode a roller coaster of confusion through her life and had times of bliss and well as times of great sorrow. "Although Bertha Young was thirty...." With the title of the story and the name of the main character, Mansfield immediately sets up an expectation of irony. Bertha is an "old" sounding name and yet means "shining." Pairing this name with Young immediately gives us a paradoxical young woman. The fact that Bertha is "...thirty..." and feels she "...suddenly swallowed a bright...sending out shower of sparks....?" Are we to believe there is an age limit on bliss? Does she feel guilt over this? I believe this is quite an autobiographical beginning.

Constraints

2.) ... "drunk and disorderly"?. "How idiotic civilization is!" This is the first of several references to the order and rigidity of society of Mansfield’s time. "... could not bear the tight clasp of it..." Might this be a metaphor for taking off her mask and revealing her true self to herself and the world? After wanting to express her bliss and share her news over the phone with Harry she "...hung up...thinking how more than idiotic civilization was." This was an era of emotional repression to the extreme and Mansfield’s fans appreciated her ability to convey honestly the social constraints heaped upon women of the day.

Fruit

3.) "Mary brought in the fruit...tangerines, ...apples...strawberries...silver bloom...and had made two pyramids of these bright round shapes...really most curious." "...in her present mood, was so incredibly beautiful.. .She began to laugh." The first of many references to fruit which is an very obvious allusion regarding the blooming of her sexual awareness. Does it seem that the two pyramids might represent breasts to her?

Denial/immediate deletions

4.) "No, no. I’m getting hysterical." She begins her repetitive verbal denial of her repressed sexual feelings. "No, that about the fiddle...It's not what I mean. "Yes, perfectly. Oh Harry." "What had she to say? She'd nothing to say."  "Nothing. Entendu,...." She wants to share her happiness but pushes it aside to avoid looking foolish and seems to deny these feelings as well.

Constraints/Control/Social status

5.) "...said Nurse, setting her lips in a way that Bertha knew...." "Bertha wanted to ask if it wasn’t rather dangerous...But she did not dare to." "Very offended, Nanny handed her over." "...Coming back in triumph and seizing her Little B." Bertha has been placed in this role as the "overseer" of her home and family, observing from afar and never truly connecting emotionally with baby or husband. This was a role given to women with money and access to such luxuries of the period. Is it possible that she has been forced into this role by society and its rules or did she adapt to this position quite easily? Nonetheless she doesn’t seem to feel any sense of control over her own kingdom. "... picking up the cushions,...that Mary had disposed so carefully,...she threw them back on to the chairs...." This seems an attempt to make her house her home.

Emotional distancing/Miscarriage

6.) "Why have a baby if it has to be kept...in another woman’s arms?" "You’re nice...I’m fond of you. I like you." This is evidence of her emotional distance and inability to express and or feel deep, profound love for another person. Particularly disarming is that she reacts this way towards her own child. Mansfield suffered a miscarriage and never had any children. Does it seem that her portrayal of the distance between Bertha and Little B comes from never experiencing motherhood? Is having a baby whom is completely cared for by someone else as bad as not having a baby at all? Could these confounding emotions be the result of Mansfield’s pain and longing for a child she would never have? Mansfield’s themes were often of emotional isolation.
 
 

Predator/Prey/Animal instincts

7.) Bertha’s dinner guests included "...a "find" of Bertha’s called Pearl Fulton." "... as she always did fall in love with beautiful women...." Bertha not only has a rich fantasy life but with regards to her "finds" there is something disturbingly predator/prey about the whole thing. Later when looking out the window and observing a grey cat being followed by a black cat "The sight of them, so intent and so quick, gave Bertha a curious shiver." This is tricky. Does she see herself and her "finds" in this mating ritual or does is she disgusted by the male/female mating ritual? Is there something in the honesty of their animal instinct that gives her the creeps? When Pearl and Eddie leave there is another reference to the cats... "...like the black cat following the grey cat." Another theme of Mansfield’s was that of women who were "rejected or preyed upon by men."

Fantasy/Misinterpretation

8.) "What Miss Fulton did, Bertha didn’t know." "... though they had...met a number of times and really talked, Bertha couldn’t yet make her out." Although she has convinced herself she has fallen in love with Pearl, she hardly knows the woman. Here we are beginning to see how superficial Bertha is and also how much she lives in her head in quite a colorful fantasy world.
 

Physical manifestations of denial

9.) "... she flung down on a couch and pressed her hands to her eyes." "I’m too happy--too happy!..". This is the first real reference of a physical reaction to her denial. After tallying all of her blessings... "I’m absurd....felt quite dizzy, quite drunk. It must have been the spring." Not only does this constant contradiction of her true self begin to take a physical toll but she seems to become more and more intense in these contradictions as the story progresses. After Bertha believes she has connected with Pearl she "...had to dig her nails into her hands-so as not to laugh too much." Ouch! She is getting carried away.

Friends

10.) The simile of her life and blossoming sexuality comes out in the way she dresses for the party. "A white dress, a string of jade beads, green shoes...." "Her petals rustled softly into the hall...." What does the word petal refer to in this sentence - her dress, tendrils of her hair? If she has dressed to suggest a flower what wardrobe reaction might the other guests be hoping for? Mrs. Knight wears a dress "with...monkeys round the hem...." Eddie wears a "...white silk scarf....his socks were white, too --most charming." Bertha’s guests all seem a bit monkeyish and quite full of themselves. They are all trying desperately to impress each other. Bertha references her friends when convincing herself how happy she is "...thrilling friends, writers and painters...." At dinner she "...longed to tell them how delightful they were, and what a decorative group they made...they seemed to set on another off...." This is glaring evidence not only of Bertha’s shallowness but of her friend’s as well. Birds of a feather....

Nicknames

11.) "(In their home and among friends they called each other Face and Mug.)" "Little B" is a nickname for Bertha’s baby and we never do discover her real name. Harry refers to Bertha as "Ber" during their telephone conversation. Katherine Mansfield often gave those she loved nicknames. She called her brother "Bogey" and "Chummie." Later, she also referred to her husband as "Bogey."

Gullible

12.) "...cold, like all blond women...." "... liver frozen...kidney disease..." Harry uses Bertha’s gullibility to throw her off track when the subject of Pearl comes up. They don’t have a good marriage and aren’t honest with each other about the most important aspects of such a union so are we surprised when we find he is having an affair? He later makes other snide remarks about Pearl running "...to fat...danger for blond women." Bertha laughs at this. Why,...when later she is upset to think that Harry doesn’t like Pearl?

Snobs

13.) "...Bertha liked this, and almost admired it in him very much." What does this say about their relationship? They and their friends are snobs and appear to look down their noses at others. Is this what holds them all together? We see evidence of the Knight’s disdain for those on the train staring at Face’s ridiculous monkey dress. Then Bertha is having her own thoughts about the dress ..."...she did look like a very intelligent monkey...ear-rings;...were like little...nuts." Does it seem all of this analyzing and critiquing helps them keep their distance from one another and their emotions in check? They are all quite oblivious to how pretentious and obnoxious they themselves are.

Denial of feelings for husband

14.) "...something strange and almost terrifying darted into Bertha’s mind...." She jumped up and ran...." "What a pity someone does not play!" Now she is denying the sexual feelings she has for her husband. "For the first time in her life ...desired her husband." Poor Bertha, her head is spinning with denial.
 
 

Homosexuality/Consummation

15.) "...she’d understood that he was different."... "It had worried her that she was so cold...." Katherine Mansfield divorced her first husband very soon after marrying without ever consummating the marriage. Obviously, Bertha and Harry had sex at least once. Mansfield also had at least one affair with a woman she went to school with. Why would Harry pretend to be "different?" Does it seem they are both a bit quirky and confused? Are they both bisexual or did he find her unappealing all along, possibly having numerous affairs through their marriage?

Children

16.) What are we to make of these folk’s attitudes about children? "This is a sad, sad fall!...When the perambulator comes into the hall...." Do we take this to mean that people’s lives are changed in a negative way when they become parents? Do kids clutter not only the house but their lives as well? "... don’t ask me about my baby. I never see her. I shant feel the slightest interest ...until she has a lover,..." Does Harry propose to ignore his child until it comes time to worry about her virginity or her reputation? This was a time when children were to "be seen and not heard" and men weren’t encouraged to bond, but for heaven’s sake!

Symbolism

17.) "...red and yellow tulips, heavy with flowers,...." "How strong the jonquils smelled in the warm room." "...seemed to see...pear tree...open blossoms...her own life." "... in the back of her mind,...the pear tree." The many references to flowers, blooms and springtime would suggest rebirth, perhaps of Bertha herself. Spring is typically portrayed as a time of romance and procreation or at least a pairing off of some sort. It does not seem coincidental that there are so many references to nature nor that Bertha seems to subconciously relate to them.

Silver

18.) "...Miss Fulton...with a silver fillet..." "It would be silver now...." "... round, silver moon." "... dropped, in silver flowers, from their hair and hands?" What can we make of these references to silver? Silver is considered a high quality metal, lustrous, pure. Silver - tongued means eloquent; there a silver lining in every cloud. Does Bertha see Pearl as more than human. She seems to have imbued Pearl with qualities Pearl may not have. Isn’t it typical of Bertha to see things as she prefers instead of as they really are?

Moon

19.) "...whiter since the moon rose." "There is a moon, you know." "There!" she breathed....looking at the flowering tree....almost to touch the ... moon." The moon has captured the imagination of man since the beginning of time and has been symbolic of many things through the ages. It is associated with life cycles, daily, seasonal, etc.... It is an object of illumination for travelers seeking their way at night. The moon has been the metaphor for romance for lovers and poets for hundreds of years. There are goddesses of the moon in mythology. What is Mansfield’s purpose in using the moon as a metaphor?

Misinterpretation/Irony

20.) "...as if they had said to each other: "You too?"" "At that moment Miss Fulton "gave the sign."" "...understanding each other perfectly,..." "...Bertha was following when Harry almost pushed past." "... he was repenting his rudeness...." "What a boy he was in some ways--so impulsive--so--simple." Mansfield is said to have the ability to reveal character "through the rendering of a decisive moment." "And she saw...turned her violently to him. His lips said: "I adore you,"... "...moonbeam fingers...." The metaphor of illumination is pure irony. Whose illumination do we have? Mansfield has given us a sad but comical ending to this dark comedy. The revelation of all three characters Harry, Bertha and Pearl rests in this moment. But the only one we really care about is Bertha.  Although somewhat affected by this shock she reacts in a very trivial manner. We don’t expect anything, but for her to set her sights on another "find," take aim and project some amazing fantasies onto her (or him, depending on the phase of the moon.) Not surprisingly, Mansfield also experienced the pain of infidelity.

As we can see "Bliss" is not only autobiographical of Mansfield but of many women of this time. Allowing us into the mind and emotions of a woman who spends so much time denying these is indicative of Mansfield's genius and literary talent. The layering of this stories causes a reaction that upon first reading one might say "huh?" But with each additional reading we say "wow," "Wow," "WOw," "WOW!" Mansfield took many social  and psychological issues of her time and created a story that captures the imagination of the reader.

Sources:
www.buffnet.net/~starmist/kmansfld/kmansfld.htm
http://www.wcb.vcu.edu/wcb/students/tdehoff/files/www.time.com/time/magazine/article/intl/0.3266.33702.00