A Story that sticks in the Imagination

As I’m reading 2 separate books about the holocaust currently (Sarah’s Key and The Storyteller), it strikes me like a bolt of lightening that most of my knowledge of the holocaust is about Hitler:  what HITLER did, how HITLER’S regime took over, SS soldiers, concentration camps.  Yes, there’s Schindler’s List, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Night, and others that focus on the victims of Hitler’s horrific crimes against humanity, but the truth remains that the vast majority of my knowledge of the Holocaust comes from my history lessons in my History classes and most of the lessons the teachers taught focused on Hitler and the “story” of the Holocaust from Hitler’s—not perspective, but at least what Hitler did more focusing on the Jews and others Hitler’s regime focused on killing.

I have to ask myself why the history books and teachers focus more on Hitler than the victims.  Why is Hitler’s name more well known than any names of any of heroes, Jewish and non-Jewish, including those who saved Jews (and the others) from destruction?

I don’t have any answers to the Why? question except to say that the only thing I can come up with is that as long as we focus on Hitler’s actions, we don’t have to FEEL.  Yes, Hitler was an evil man and he needed to be taken down a peg, but as long as we focus on him and what his regime did, our feelings about the Holocaust can stay separated from the reality. 

I haven’t begun to FEEL what happened during the Holocaust until I read the STORIES of the victims.  Yes, some of the stories I’ve been reading are works of Historical Fiction (Sarah’s Key and The Storyteller), but the truth remains that whether the story is a true memoir of someone who lived through it or a work of Historical Fiction where the essence of the story is what’s real but not the actual STORY that is told that these stories make readers like me FEEL.

Reading about Hitler is a way of separating myself from the true horror because sure, it’s awful what Hitler did, but since there aren’t any names or real faces of those who suffered, it’s not REAL what Hitler did.  These stories provide faces and names—reality.  And thus, FEELINGS…..

Jodi Picoult has, of course, done it again with her brilliant novel THE STORYTELLER.  I was riveted from beginning to end and I hated that the book came to an end at all.  She talks about how when an author ends a story without a true ending, it leaves the story forever with the reader because it's always in the reader's imagination.  She's so right.  I know a lot of people who hate stories that just end without a clear ending, but I am one who has always enjoyed them.  It's one of the reasons why GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell is so genius.  I have changed my mind 20 different times about the ending of that book and I like every one of my endings!  (Like Josef in THE STORYTELLER trying to write the ending of Minka's story, but can't find one that works....)  It's the reason why I refused, and continue to do so, to read or watch the sequel to GONE WITH THE WIND, SCARLETT.  I like the imaginings in my head of the ending of the original story and I don't want them "ruined" by someone else's imaginings!

As the granddaughter of a Jew myself, I really connected to Sage and her reaction to her grandmother and finally hearing her grandmother's story.  Sadly, my grandmother isn't around anymore for me to hear the whole story, but what I do remember is important and makes me proud of my heritage.

Great job, Jodi.  Great job.  Thanks for the GREAT read....

Dark Lady of Grammar

This title, officially, was actually bestowed upon a friend of mine when a Darth Vader mask was passed down from another fellow colleague who originally had the title "Dark Lord of Grammar."  (He moved on up and is no longer actually teaching English, so he passed the mantle.)  Anyway, regardless of whether I hold the title or not, I feel that way.  Dame Mitchell has disappointed me.  No, her editors have disappointed me.

There is NO VALID reason for leaving out the comma before the "and" when listing in ANY context.  I guess it's called the "Oxford Comma."  There's been a lot of debate recently among the folks in the world of English about whether or not the "Oxford Comma" should be used.  It's a load of crap.  I'm including a few web sites who, apparently, agree with me.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Oxford-Comma/48254769340

The cartoon in this link is disgusting, but it makes the point very effectively:  http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/oxford-comma-cartoon/

So why bring this up?  Dame Mitchell leaves the comma out.  It's killing me.  I actually want to put the commas in for her.  I realize that her editor(s) more than likely preferred the comma be left out, but it's still killing me. 

I still see the greatness of Dame Mitchell's amazing work, but it's very frustrating to find the discrepancy of something like that in a work I consider one of the greatest of the 20th century.  But I also find it very frustrating and upsetting to read each of the Harry Potter books and see the grammatical mistakes there.  Granted, I'm trying to give Rowling the benefit of the doubt in hopes that it's not HER fault that subject/pronoun agreement is misused throughout each of the 7 books....maybe it's just taking it from Britain and translating it for Americans. 

I feel so strange even typing that.  It is so odd to think that Americans even need a TRANSLATION of the Harry Potter books because Rowling wrote them in true British fashion.  I realize I'm different from millions of other readers in that I truly do love British literature--the old and the new--so I WANT the British version of the stories; I'm frustrated and very disappointed in the fact that in order to me to even get a British version of the HP series, I'd have to sell my kidney, my husband, and probably my right arm.

But I digress.  (What's new?!) 

Anyway, I am trying very hard to focus on the STORY of Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton (she still hasn't remarried yet) rather than the grammar problems I'm finding in the story, but obviously that dumb comma, or lack thereof actually, is driving me crazy!

Dame Mitchell

Yes, I've dubbed Margaret Mitchell "Dame Mitchell."  Why?  Because she deserves a special title above and beyond Mrs. or Ms. Mitchell!  That woman was GENIUS, I tell you, G-E-N-I-U-S!!!!  After more than 20 years, I am re-reading Gone with the Wind (this won't be the only post on this book, I feel I must warn you, so be on the alert!).  I am so excited!  My mom re-read the book last fall and her excitement in re-reading the book has been catching.  I started reading my very old--and very treasured--hardback copy (thank you very much to my close childhood friend Melissa Corbett--I'm so sorry I can't think of her married name right this sec--who gave me that particular copy one night when I kept reading it rather than doing stuff with her on a sleep-over!), but the binding is broken on that copy, making it very difficult to hold on to--even more difficult than usual, considering the fact that the book is over a 1,000 pages long, you know!  So I got on the internet a week or so ago and found a used, but in very good condition, paper-back copy that I ordered.  It's finally here and I started the book last night!  Yes, I found that after two hours of reading, I had to force myself to put the book down!!!

What an incredible book!  Not only is the story one that sucks me in from the first page--the first sentence--the first word (I know why God decided not to give me a daughter---He knew I'd have to name her Katie Scarlett!!!!), but the WAY Dame Mitchell tells this story is incredible!!!  BTW:  I am fascinated by the fact that it's been more than 20 years, closer to 30 really, since I last read this book, yet I still remember the details of the story.  I can tell what's going to happen before I even read it.  And that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of re-reading it in ANY way!!!!!!!!!  I am at least surprised at how awesome a story it truly is!!!!

This book is INCREDIBLE.  (Get used to that word.  It's going to be used a lot during my posts about Gone with the Wind.)  I am absolutely astounded to note the care and detail Dame Mitchell used in the writing of this story.  Every single word is important to the story as a whole.  She doesn't stray from the story or tell the reader details that don't add to or help advance the plot.  Every detail is a detail we need at some point in time throughout this massive text.  As an older reader of the novel, I am amazed at the intrigue way she wove her story and her characters together.  Everything fits so seamlessly--so flawlessly!  And everything comes back around at some point or another.  If you read a passage thinking that it's not important because it has nothing to do with Scarlett or any of our other favorite characters, you realize later in the story that said detail WAS important because it has EVERYTHING to do with our beloved (and hated) Scarlett!!!!  Of course, reading it AGAIN makes a huge difference.  Since I remember so much about the story, I now know that the details I may have skimmed over when I was a young reader 20+ years ago, I am now seeing how they come in to play later!!!!!  Awesome!  Incredible!

And don't get me started on the LANGUAGE.....Dame Mitchell's use of GRAMMAR!!!!  That woman knew her stuff!  She was smart enough to use dialect and language that would be spoken by the INDIVIDUAL characters as respect to their class and station in life.  She was also smart enough to use subject/pronoun agreement correctly!!!!  Not even Rowling does that--at least not in the American-published texts!!!!  (Trust me; she uses subject/pronoun agreement incorrectly throughout all 7 books in the series; I'd be happy to show you my marked copies of the books if you'd like to see the mistakes!  Where, oh where, were her editors?!)  I am so impressed that I am able to focus on the story rather than on her grammatical mistakes!!!  Although, it appears that I'm still focusing on the grammar since I noticed so clearly that she uses it so effectively!!!!!  LOL!

And my favorite part????  Katie Scarlett O'Hara.  The character in literature, like Severus Snape, we love to hate to love.  Oh my.  That girl/woman is ROTTEN.  I love the line Dame Mitchell uses where she says in Chapter 1 on the very first page that Scarlett's "manners had been imposed upon her by her mother's gentle admonitions and the sterner discipline of her mammy;  her eyes were her own" (25).  It's all about the eyes, you know.  And Scarlett's are GREEN.  Such a beautiful color.  Even though I only read Chapter 1 so far, I remember that Scarlett's eyes play a huge role throughout the whole story.  Only Rhett learns to read her because of her "telling" eyes.  Everyone else is easily by Scarlett when she wants to deceive them.  Only Rhett looks into her eyes and sees Scarlett for who she truly is.....and still loves her anyway!!!!

What isn't to LOVE about this book?!

Scarlett truly is one of those characters who we are supposed to dislike because she simply is so BAD, but it's exactly her naughtiness that we love so much about her!  That and the fact that she proves to be a true "Steel Magnolia" in the face of adversity.  Where others (especially women) around her are weak, she is strong--even though she'd love to be just as weak as they all are!  She's not ruled by her conscience; if she sees something that needs to be done, she does it, consequences be d*****.  (You know I'm not a swearing woman!)  

Rhett is the same way.  He's so bad.  He's so very awful.  He even has a true whore as a mistress who he actually flaunts in front of Scarlett!  But he is MY favorite male fictional character of ALL time!  I would SOOO choose him over Ashley Wilkes any day, time, hour, minute, or second!!!!  It's his true love of Scarlett and his love for Bonnie Blue Butler, as well as Scarlett's other children from her previous marriages, that make him so sexy and desirable--and lovable!  What woman wouldn't forgive/overlook a man's indiscretions who loves his wife and child as much as Rhett obviously loved his?!  

Oh my, and I'm only on Chapter 2!!!!!!!!!!  I can't wait!  After I watch tonight's episode of The Big Bang Theory, I'm going to have to read Chapter 2 before I go to bed, even though I'm really tired and have a long day tomorrow!!!!!  Dame Mitchell, I can't wait to continue enjoying your genius!!!!!!!

Work Cited

Mitchell, Margaret.  Gone With the Wind, 75th Anniversary ed. with a Preface by Pat Conroy.  New York:  Scribner, 2011.  Original publication 1936.  Pring.