![]() ![]() Della prays for Jim’s acceptance of her haircut-“Please God, make him think I am still pretty”-which suggests that Della has internalized normative conventions of femininity, which dictate that a woman’s value lies in her ability to please a man (12). The narrator remarks that Della now looks like a “truant schoolboy,” while Della references her resemblance to a “Coney Island chorus girl” (11). When Della sells her hair so she can afford a proper Christmas present for Jim, she breaks with the ideals of femininity and instead takes on a more masculine, or immaturely girlish, appearance. As a central symbol of beauty and femininity, Della’s long, brown hair is her most beloved possession, one the narrator compares to the Queen of Sheba’s jewels and gifts. ![]()
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![]() The textual interpretation describes the way in which evolutionary thinking and cultural scepticism exerted considerable influence on Wells and the entire late Victorian fin de siècle. It also touches on Wells’s biography, focusing on the impact of his lower-middle-class background, socialist leanings, free love attitudes, and scientific training on The Time Machine. ![]() The chapter begins by providing the context for his early phase of writing scientific romances. Wells provided some of the most permanently influential cautionary tales and technological scenarios of contemporary science fiction, inspired by late Victorian fin-de-siècle scepticism and fears of biological and cultural degeneration. Wells’s key scientific romance The Time Machine: An Invention (1895). ![]() ![]() She was just the object for Maurice’s obsession and everything was about him, not Sarah. Up until then, Sarah had barely come across as a real person. This happens via a journal, which Maurice gets hold of by hiring a detective. ![]() ![]() Perhaps, I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for a self-centred, whiny, middle-aged, obsessed writer (is there a right frame of mind for this?)Īt some point, the story changes to Sarah’s point of view. Despite of the powerful, concise writing, which builds up a convincing picture of a very real character (inspired by Greene himself), I can’t say I enjoyed this part. Also, Maurice possesses a good portion of self-irony. ![]() Always realising the affair would eventually come to an end, he behaved badly towards Sarah, sub-consciously struggling between wanting to bring forward this inevitable end, whilst at the same time fearing it more than anything else in life. With great honesty, Maurice owns up to his short-comings in the relationship and the motives underlying his behaviour. He overthinks, analyses, obsesses, hates and suffers from extreme jealousy. ![]() The affair has ended, but Maurice isn’t by any means over Sarah. Maurice is looking back on his affair with Sarah, who is married to the faithful and rather naive Henry. Is this meant to be one of the great classics? Really? I am sorry to say it, but The End of the Affair wasn’t for me. ![]() |