After the Falls: Cathy's relationships with her Mom and Dad

Cathy, being an only child, had a very close relationship with both her mother and her father. From an early age, because she had no siblings, she would spend copious amounts of time with them both, and her father especially. As she was a very "active" child, a doctor suggested that she be given a job, as a way of deploying her extra energy in a more positive direction. This job at McClure's Drugs allowed for her relationship with her father to really flourish. She would spend hours working in her father's store. This relationship is evident and can be seen as Cathy reflects on her past life after her move to Buffalo. "The problem was that I hadn't had real friends in the past, other than the occasional boy on my street with whom I would play outside. I had never had a friend to my house because I was never there. I had worked since I was four years old, and my closest friends were the employees in the drugstore, mostly Roy, the driver, and my father," she said. Cathy compares her relationship with her father to that of a "well-oiled machine". They would share "the same concerns about the store and how to make things run smoothly." After having stabbed a bully with a compass, Cathy was sent to see "Dr. Small". What he told her predicts exactly the outcome of her and her father's relationship. Cathy reports that the doctor said, "I was far too close to my father and Roy and needed to have female friends, or I would not be ‘socialized’ correctly. If I didn't have girlfriends at a young age, as a teenager I would grow too far away from ‘normal female concerns.’" Dr. Small, of course, was correct. As Cathy’s mother repeats years later, "Remember when Dr. Small said that all that time with your dad and not with other little girls would come home to roost when you were a teenager?" She paused. "Well, welcome to the chicken coop."

Cathy's relationship with her father began drifting away really as soon as they moved out of Lewiston. She had become a teenager and like most teenagers, wanted less and less to do with her father. Although she wants to gain independence, we can still see how much her father means to her. This can be clearly demonstrated through one example which is repeated multiple times throughout the book. Cathy always brings up the way her father spoke to her after she went to see "Donny Burns" after a mass. Her father's words were, "Girls that chase boys come to a bad end. You looked like the kind of girl I don't want for my daughter." These words forever resonate with her as she is quite reluctant to have anything to do with males for a very long time. This is because her father rarely used a harsh tone with her. The only other time that her father really reprimanded her was on the one occasion that she had a fight with her mother. Her father told her, "if you ever make your mother cry and have to go to bed like that again, you'll have more scars to worry about than acne." However, it is easy to see her father's unconditional love for her as he gives her two dimes so that "if she ever gets in over her head" she could call him, "no questions asked, ever." Her father holds true to his word when he drives to pick her up from the "Idle Hour, about an hour out of town in Lakeview", in order for her to avoid driving home with "dead-drunk drivers". Cathy never really begins to feel remorse for how she treated her father in her teen years until she realized that something was not quite right with him. She realized this when she asked her father why he had a vial of various pills. When he responded, "I just love all the different colours when the sunshine hits the vial," Cathy declares that her "father had lost his mind."

Cathy hires Dr. Zukas to look at her father and he determines that her father has a brain tumour which is what had been affecting his behaviour. After her father is diagnosed with this condition, Cathy's relationship with her father changes. She has to look after him, as her mother in the beginning cannot face having to deal with the tragedy. We see how much Cathy truly values her father's words and his opinion of her as she visits him one time when he was hospitalized for "Cheyne-Stokes". He cannot recognize Cathy in her adulthood, so he talks about his daughter to Cathy as though he was talking to a stranger. She asks him, "So tell me about your daughter." Her father responds after saying she was bossy that, "She was a real pip." Cathy really takes this to heart as she spends lots of time and energy into looking up the meaning of the word, "pip" and trying to uncover what her father had meant.

Cathy and her mother always had a good relationship, however, it did not become really close until after her father had become ill. Cathy did not disclose to her mother most of the bad things that happened in her life. For instance, Cathy never told her mother why she had not made the cheer-leading team as she, "knew that her mother would suffer more than her from the acne comments, and she didn't want her to feel sad." Although she had various disagreements with her father, Cathy only had one fight with her mother. On the ride home from seeing the acne specialist, Cathy tells her mother, "In the future, don't tell me what I see in the mirror is not true when it is true. That's how they make crazy people. Next time, just be honest." Later on, as her mother drives away after having dropped Cathy off at Ohio U., Cathy reflects on how she will miss her mother. "As my mother drove away, I realized that I was losing my best friend. I'd had no sisters or brothers, and she had functioned as both. We both had the Irish penchant for black humour and for teasing the one funny thread from a tangle of tragedy. I hoped she would be able to handle being at home alone with my father and not miss me as much as I would miss her." I think this passage best exemplifies her true relationship with her mother, as it shows what her life would lack without her mother's presence. In conclusion, I would describe Cathy's relationship with both her mother and father as very close, however each relationship was special in its own way. Cathy's relationship with her father was altered through his illness, and her relationship with her mother was strengthened through having to deal with the complications and everyday stresses caused by her father's illness. They bonded over using the words or phrases that her father would deploy for everyday things such as, "big skate" for car. The demise of her father helped Cathy to uncover the true importance that both her parents held in her life.

Entry 2: Memoirs

Out of the several memoirs from today's class, two that really stood out for me were David Sedaris' Big Boy and Augusten Burroughs' Ass Burger. I am going to begin with Sedaris' piece. I found that the blunt, colloquial descriptions in the story really allowed for one to become involved in the event/predicament that the author found himself in. The comparison of the turd sitting in the toilet to "this coiled specimen, as thick as a burrito" really places in one's mind an unforgettable image. As well, the use of italics helps to create a sense of urgency in the situation. "Just a minute", "I'll be out in a second!" and "Here I come. I'm just washing  up." help to transport oneself into the state of panic in which the author was feeling. Also, this event all takes place in one very specific setting. This factor assists in recreating this moment as it is all focused into one area. In the story, everything revolves around where he is currently positioned, as though his whole existence depends on the disappearance of this inconvenient turd. "It wasn't fair," it was not "his job", however he somehow felt a huge obligation to remove it from existence. All of these effects combined resulted in a very successful recreation of that particular moment. 

 

The other memoir, Ass Burger takes place in a longer space of time. Burroughs uses many descriptive side-notes in his story which overall creates an atmosphere that makes one feel as though they experienced the same events. He uses the comparison of him and his brother to demonstrate how they operate completely differently. The following is an excerpt that I think captures this efficiently: "Well, that's just unacceptable. I mean, you're reading at a third-grade level. Don't you find that alarming?" Considering I was in the third grade, no, I didn't." His brother's obscurities are shown through his lack of social cues, as he blatantly asks his mother's friend, "Didn't you have an abortion last year?" However, his missed social cues are contrasted with his genius abilities, as he ends up building the "rocket-shooting, fire-spitting, exploding guitars for the band Kiss". The author contrasts this accomplishment with that of average 17 year olds as he states, "This same year, his high-school classmates merely graduated." Throughout the remainder of the memoir, we see similar themes brought out as well as the discovery that this whole time, his brother had Asperger's syndrome. Burroughs finishes the story through confirming the personality of the brother as John delivers a gas-operated pump to his house. When asked, "But why?" he simply responds, "Because there may come a day when you need a gas-operated pump and now you'll have one". The constant descriptions and stories of John, the older brother confirm his role in the story. The ending of the story is really effective, because it leaves you right in the heart of the situation, thinking about the rest of the story up until that point.  

Entry 1: Fine Writing

Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov is filled with brilliant and fine prose. Chapter 5, "The Grand Inquisitor" contains many passages of exemplary writing. The one that I am going to focus on in particular is near the beginning as Ivan starts to tell his story. 

"There are cries, sobs, confusion among the people, and at that moment the cardinal himself, the Grand Inquisitor, passes by the cathedral. He is an old man, almost ninety, tall and erect, with a withered face and sunken eyes, in which there is still a gleam of light. He is not dressed in his gorgeous cardinal's robes, as he was the day before, when he was burning the enemies of the Roman Church- at this moment he is wearing his coarse, old, monk's cassock. At a distance behind him come his gloomy assistants and slaves and the 'holy guard.' He stops at the sight of the crowd and watches it from a distance. He sees everything; he sees them set the coffin down at His feet, sees the child rise up, and his face darkens. He knits his thick grey brows and his eyes gleam with a sinister fire. He holds out his finger and bids the guards take Him. And such is his power, so completely are the people cowed into submission and trembling obedience to him, that the crowd immediately makes way for the guards, and in the midst of deathlike silence they lay hands on Him and lead him away. The crowd instantly bows down to the earth, like one man, before the old Inquisitor. He blesses the people in silence and passes on' The guards lead their prisoner to the close, gloomy vaulted prison- in the ancient palace of the Holy, inquisition and shut him in it. The day passes and is followed by the dark, burning, 'breathless' night of Seville. The air is 'fragrant with laurel and lemon.' In the pitch darkness the iron door of the prison is suddenly opened and the Grand Inquisitor himself comes in with a light in his hand. He is alone; the door is closed at once behind him. He stands in the doorway and for a minute or two gazes into His face. At last he goes up slowly, sets the light on the table and speaks. "'Is it Thou? Thou?' but receiving no answer, he adds at once. 'Don't answer, be silent. What canst Thou say, indeed? I know too well what Thou wouldst say. And Thou hast no right to add anything to what Thou hadst said of old. Why, then, art Thou come to hinder us? For Thou hast come to hinder us, and Thou knowest that. But dost thou know what will be to-morrow? I know not who Thou art and care not to know whether it is Thou or only a semblance of Him, but to-morrow I shall condemn Thee and burn Thee at the stake as the worst of heretics. And the very people who have to-day kissed Thy feet, to-morrow at the faintest sign from me will rush to heap up the embers of Thy fire. Knowest Thou that? Yes, maybe Thou knowest it,' he added with thoughtful penetration, never for a moment taking his eyes off the Prisoner." 

I believe that this passage is especially fine for various reasons. Dostoevsky is able to really classify the characters through his descriptive writing. We are shown how the Grand Inquisitor uses “clout” or brute force as a way of “controlling” the mindless people of that time period. This message is delivered through Ivan who explains his prose poem, “The Grand Inquisitor.” The chapter begins with an introduction of how things used to be, “plays, many stories and ‘poems’ circulated all over the world at that time, in which saints, and even the supreme heavenly powers appeared "whenever their presence was required”. The story of the Grand Inquisitor takes place in Spain, in Seville during the grimmest days of the Inquisition, where Christ appears, apparently reborn on Earth. Great details are used when Christ is first introduced in this story, he embodies some of the characteristics of a ruler with “clout” as “people are drawn to Him by an irresistible force”, although his force is not similar to that of the Grand Inquisitor; “The Grand Inquisitor’s power is so great and the people are so submissive and tremblingly obedient to him”. This use of contrast really outlines the difference the impact the characters have on the society. The impact of the passage lies in the detailed physical descriptions of the characters. The details of the Grand Inquisitor allows oneself to immediately understand why he was such a high respected figure of his time. "He knits his thick grey brows and his eyes gleam with a sinister fire." It is evident that the Grand Inquisitor is not a friendly man, even more so when all he has to do is, "hold out his finger and bids the guards take Him" and Christ is arrested. This passage really catches my eye as fine prose because it really puts you in the situation, regardless of whether you have any comprehension of the Catholic faith. No matter what your background, through the use of descriptive words and scenes, Dostoevsky is able transport you to this time period.