Can you identify any common themes explored in both The Optimist's Daughter and Let the Great World Spin? How do these books fit into our course theme, Strangers in a Strange Land?
Common themes between the two novels include the loss of a loved one, whether that person is a father or a child. The Optimist's Daughter is a very Southern novel that takes place primarily in New Orleans and Mississippi. Let the Great World Spin doesn't have the same Southern tone and underlying Southern culture as the Optimist's Daughter since it takes place in New York City. I think that Laurel in the Optimist's Daughter feels very much like a stranger in a strange land when she is the only living family member left. She has lost her mother and then loses her father, and the only somewhat family member alive is her father's new wife Fay whom she detests. She hates how Fay bosses her father and her around and always has to have things go her way. When Laurel's father passes, she is faced with Fay alone and has to put up with her selfishness and her foul attitude. It is even worse for Laurel when Fay gets ownership of the house Laurel grew up in. She then feels like a stranger in her own house, which many new yorkers felt like after 9/11 in their city. The connected theme throughout these books is feeling out of place and not having much control over the big picture around you.
I agree with Taylor about the theme of being unable to control the world around you. I feel like Laurel comes to this conclusion at the end of The Optimist's Daughter just as the characters in Let the Great World Spin come to this conclusion. Let the Great World Spin definitely relates to the idea of strangers in a strange land, as New York City is painted as a very versatile and odd place in the novel. The characters are from all different places and backgrounds and find themselves in a city full of strange events that, while they don't seem connected, impact each other in meaningful ways. The tightrope walk is only one of the many connections between the characters. They are all strangers to each other, but reside in the same strange place. In the Optimist's Daughter I think, even though it's Laurel's birthplace she's returning to, it has become very foreign to her. She loses almost everything that once made it home, and even though she still knows the people, they probably do not know her particularly well since she spent so much time living her own life up north. She has to find her place again in the short span of time when she is tending to her father's affairs, but of course even that is not completely her responsibility anymore because Fay has a say in most of the decisions now. While the land may not be foreign, Laurel is definitely surrounded by people who have become more strangers than friends to her, and she finds that the world around her is not working quite as it should or as she remembered, such as the clock in her old house. Everything is strange, and nothing is in her control.
I think the main theme in both books truly is Strangers in a Strange Land. In Let the Great World Spin, the characters, especially Corrigan, spend their time trying to find their ways in life. Corrigan moves to New York City, claiming that God sent him there. Once in the city, Corrigan looses his connection with God and becomes somewhat of a zombie compared to the man he used to be. In The Optimist's Daughter, Laurel returns to her childhood home to find an unfamilar house due to Fay's belongings and decorating skills. She can't find evidence of her parent's marriage or of her mother's existence. She feels like a stranger in her own home. In both books there is a sense of not belonging. The idea that a person has "to leave before returning home" is present even if some characters do not find themselves at the end of the novel.
I completely agree with Lauren on this topic. Even though Laurel was born in Mount Salus, Mississippi, both she and Corrigan are set in lands unknown to them. On the issue of Corrigan, he seemingly just throws himself into the depths of underground New York City, trying to prove that really "Jesus was on welfare." The city however spits him out and takes away his life before life took away his faith. For the case of Laurel, she returns to her hometown the same as it was when she left, however she now sees Mount Salus differently. Even the smallest of details, the details almost the most important to her, seemed foreign and unknown to her. She had been away for so long that she had forgotten. Within these two books, it is not that both characters do not know who or what the cities are, they just do not know what they really represent.
Both texts, obviously, deal with people living in places unfamiliar or uncomfortable for them. Corrigan attempts to lift prostitutes out of the gutter, and Fay has a fit about Mardi Gras. Neither changes anything, but they are tempered by their experiences. Neither are effectual colonial powers, so I doubt the colonial theme we're studying in class, but the image of these out-of-place characters is reinforced. Both are ultimately stories of families torn and mended through loss and displacement and the struggle of different characters to gouge out a space in unknown places.
I love the way Rebecca commented about the strangers and strange people in New York City. I completely agree, and I also think by comparing these books we can see how one can be a stranger in a city filled with strangers, and how one can be a stranger to their own small, sleepy hometown where everyone knows eachother. In both scenarios, characters are forced to not only look at others, but look inside themselves.
Its sounds very repeatative, but i have to agree with everyone so far about both novels having characters making transitions into a new life where they might not always fit with the group around you. Laurel in the Optimist daughter may have been familiar with the setting since that is where she grew up, but since she moved away alot has changed whether it was her fathers recent marriage to fay, the death of her father, or all of her closest friends being married while she was a widdow. In let the great world spin moving to a new city especially one like New York City there is going to be a big transition, and your defianitly going to feel like a stranger amongst large groups of people.
I believe that common theme between the two summer reading books is hope. Furthermore, the idea of hope when characters in both books seem to be in position where they are hopeless. In The Optimist's Daughter, Laurel has lost all of her loved ones and is in a dispute with Fay the entire book. However at the end of the book, she puts the past behind her and the moves on with her life. In Let the Great World Spin, we see character lose children and effects it has on them and people dealing with and trying to leave a drug filled life. These character while seemingly hopeless find a way at the end of the book to find hope and joy in their life.
I think that both of the summer reading books have a theme of people coming together and letting go of the past. Let the Great World Spin uses the tightrope walker and the way he connected the people of New York on that day as symbolism for the 9/11 attacks and the way the country came together in the midst of tragedy. In the Optimist's daughter, those who care about Laurel come together to be with her in her difficult time. I think that the influence of these people helped her leave behind her hometown and its painful memories.
Common themes between the two novels include the loss of a loved one, whether that person is a father or a child. The Optimist's Daughter is a very Southern novel that takes place primarily in New Orleans and Mississippi. Let the Great World Spin doesn't have the same Southern tone and underlying Southern culture as the Optimist's Daughter since it takes place in New York City. I think that Laurel in the Optimist's Daughter feels very much like a stranger in a strange land when she is the only living family member left. She has lost her mother and then loses her father, and the only somewhat family member alive is her father's new wife Fay whom she detests. She hates how Fay bosses her father and her around and always has to have things go her way. When Laurel's father passes, she is faced with Fay alone and has to put up with her selfishness and her foul attitude. It is even worse for Laurel when Fay gets ownership of the house Laurel grew up in. She then feels like a stranger in her own house, which many new yorkers felt like after 9/11 in their city. The connected theme throughout these books is feeling out of place and not having much control over the big picture around you.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Taylor about the theme of being unable to control the world around you. I feel like Laurel comes to this conclusion at the end of The Optimist's Daughter just as the characters in Let the Great World Spin come to this conclusion. Let the Great World Spin definitely relates to the idea of strangers in a strange land, as New York City is painted as a very versatile and odd place in the novel. The characters are from all different places and backgrounds and find themselves in a city full of strange events that, while they don't seem connected, impact each other in meaningful ways. The tightrope walk is only one of the many connections between the characters. They are all strangers to each other, but reside in the same strange place. In the Optimist's Daughter I think, even though it's Laurel's birthplace she's returning to, it has become very foreign to her. She loses almost everything that once made it home, and even though she still knows the people, they probably do not know her particularly well since she spent so much time living her own life up north. She has to find her place again in the short span of time when she is tending to her father's affairs, but of course even that is not completely her responsibility anymore because Fay has a say in most of the decisions now. While the land may not be foreign, Laurel is definitely surrounded by people who have become more strangers than friends to her, and she finds that the world around her is not working quite as it should or as she remembered, such as the clock in her old house. Everything is strange, and nothing is in her control.
ReplyDeleteI think the main theme in both books truly is Strangers in a Strange Land. In Let the Great World Spin, the characters, especially Corrigan, spend their time trying to find their ways in life. Corrigan moves to New York City, claiming that God sent him there. Once in the city, Corrigan looses his connection with God and becomes somewhat of a zombie compared to the man he used to be. In The Optimist's Daughter, Laurel returns to her childhood home to find an unfamilar house due to Fay's belongings and decorating skills. She can't find evidence of her parent's marriage or of her mother's existence. She feels like a stranger in her own home.
ReplyDeleteIn both books there is a sense of not belonging. The idea that a person has "to leave before returning home" is present even if some characters do not find themselves at the end of the novel.
I completely agree with Lauren on this topic. Even though Laurel was born in Mount Salus, Mississippi, both she and Corrigan are set in lands unknown to them. On the issue of Corrigan, he seemingly just throws himself into the depths of underground New York City, trying to prove that really "Jesus was on welfare." The city however spits him out and takes away his life before life took away his faith. For the case of Laurel, she returns to her hometown the same as it was when she left, however she now sees Mount Salus differently. Even the smallest of details, the details almost the most important to her, seemed foreign and unknown to her. She had been away for so long that she had forgotten. Within these two books, it is not that both characters do not know who or what the cities are, they just do not know what they really represent.
ReplyDeleteBoth texts, obviously, deal with people living in places unfamiliar or uncomfortable for them. Corrigan attempts to lift prostitutes out of the gutter, and Fay has a fit about Mardi Gras. Neither changes anything, but they are tempered by their experiences. Neither are effectual colonial powers, so I doubt the colonial theme we're studying in class, but the image of these out-of-place characters is reinforced. Both are ultimately stories of families torn and mended through loss and displacement and the struggle of different characters to gouge out a space in unknown places.
ReplyDeleteI love the way Rebecca commented about the strangers and strange people in New York City. I completely agree, and I also think by comparing these books we can see how one can be a stranger in a city filled with strangers, and how one can be a stranger to their own small, sleepy hometown where everyone knows eachother. In both scenarios, characters are forced to not only look at others, but look inside themselves.
ReplyDeleteIts sounds very repeatative, but i have to agree with everyone so far about both novels having characters making transitions into a new life where they might not always fit with the group around you. Laurel in the Optimist daughter may have been familiar with the setting since that is where she grew up, but since she moved away alot has changed whether it was her fathers recent marriage to fay, the death of her father, or all of her closest friends being married while she was a widdow. In let the great world spin moving to a new city especially one like New York City there is going to be a big transition, and your defianitly going to feel like a stranger amongst large groups of people.
ReplyDeleteI believe that common theme between the two summer reading books is hope. Furthermore, the idea of hope when characters in both books seem to be in position where they are hopeless. In The Optimist's Daughter, Laurel has lost all of her loved ones and is in a dispute with Fay the entire book. However at the end of the book, she puts the past behind her and the moves on with her life. In Let the Great World Spin, we see character lose children and effects it has on them and people dealing with and trying to leave a drug filled life. These character while seemingly hopeless find a way at the end of the book to find hope and joy in their life.
ReplyDeleteI think that both of the summer reading books have a theme of people coming together and letting go of the past. Let the Great World Spin uses the tightrope walker and the way he connected the people of New York on that day as symbolism for the 9/11 attacks and the way the country came together in the midst of tragedy. In the Optimist's daughter, those who care about Laurel come together to be with her in her difficult time. I think that the influence of these people helped her leave behind her hometown and its painful memories.
ReplyDelete