One thing that stood out to me in reading the novel so far was the cake that Laura made for her husband. Through this cake, Laura is trying to do two things at the same time. Firstly, she wants to please her husband simply because that is what she is expected to do. She is supposed to take care of the houshold, she is supposed to make her husband happy, even if it means subtracting herself from the equation. This signifies two themes that we've come across this semester - the importance of marriage but also the loss of identity (being known as Mrs....)
On the other hand, Laura wants to please herself in that she views the cake as a work of art where she can get the chance to be creative. The cake can be seen as her chance to speak after being silenced by the norms of her society. She has become a slave to her husband [the overseer] while the era that she lives in is the slave master that dictates what she can or cannot do, who she can or cannot be, her ultimate destiny! It's almost as if she wants to prove herself through the cake. That's why she seeks perfection in it.
Therefore, when the cake does not turn out exactly how she wants it, she decided to throw it out and make another one. Unforntunately even after Laura made the second cake, it was still ruined when Dan spitted on the cake while blowing out the candles. Laura therefore feels like nothing she does is enough. She is then reminded of the box she has been forced to live in. Not jack in the box but Laura in a box!
She has tried to fullfil these norms but now she just wants to pop up, pop out! She is not satisfied with the life that she has been handed. She wants more! She needs more! But...would she ever be able to get more? Probably not! Because just like the cake...it ultimately gets ruined!
What interested me most about Dan blowing out the candles on the cake was exactly what you mentioned, the spit covering the top of it. Both Dan and Kitty's husband Ray are seen as having only minor control of their saliva.
ReplyDeleteLaura's description of Ray on page 105: "...he is full of liquids. He sweats copiously. Small bubbles of clear spit form at the sides of his mouth whenever he speaks at length. Laura imagines (it's impossible not to) that when they make love he must spurt rivers, as opposed to her own husband's modest burble."
I don't know what to make of that. Is it just a body fluids thing? Laura imagines Ray in bed, spurting up fluids, none of which are used to impregnate Kitty, whereas Dan, a man of "modest burbles" has one child and another on the way.
So, basically, I don't know. There's something to this spit thing, I just can't quite grasp it.
I have to agree with both of you...the spit thing is somewhat compelling, I just can't fully grasp what it means! As far as the cake goes, I feel some pity for Laura because no matter what she does she feels she cannot win with Dan and Richie. By spit being blown on the cake, the author is showing the restricted nature of Laura's role in her family. She will always be inferior to others, which is something we see often with women during these time periods.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post! I also found that Laura's baking of this cake was her last attempt to hold onto the tiniest aspect of her identity, which has been ripped away from her with the demands of domestic duty.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting how Laura, at the beginning of the novel, is "trying to lose herself" in her novel, while simultaneously trying to make herself realize her own reality (37). She just simply does not have the time to devote to herself, which is ultimately the reason for her renting a hotel room, apart from her husband and her son. She is trying to remind herself how selfless she should be, and how her desire to stay in bed and just read is unacceptable.
I agree with Ashley. She knows that, with her husband, she cannot do what she really appreciates, or be with who she wants...like someone who might have thought he/she married to young.
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