great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

Maria:

In Life of a Sensuous Woman, the narrator deals with her relationships with men in various ways. In the section, A Monk’s Wife in a Worldly Temple, the narrator experiences a very poor relationship with the head priest in which she begins to understand the horrors of reality and then rationalize the horrors.
The paragraph began with a priest falling in love with the narrator and her agreeing to be his wife in exchange for silver. This was unusual as she has never agreed to be committed to anyone for money before and being his wife meant she was bound to him and his ways. Although monks and priests were supposed to be respectful, holy beings and vowed to act like model monks, they still sinned and allowed themselves six nights a month to eat fish and poultry and have sex with women as well as visit restaurants where they can meet women. The narrator begins to feel confined and subject to the priests wishes, which causes her to be disgusted by having sex with him and even being around him. On page 601, the narrator says, “It was just a job, and there was no love in it.” This shows the realization of the narrator that although she was his “wife”, this did not mean he was in love with her. The narrator may have agreed to be the priest’s wife because it could have been an opportunity for her to be more than just a women used for sex but have actual meaning and an actual relationship, however this “marriage” was actually ended up killing her inside. In reality the agreement was not an offer of marriage but simply an agreement to fulfill the wishes of the priest. On page 601, the narrator says, “Later I got used to the situation, and I even came to enjoy it.” This quote is contradictory to the few sentences before as it, as the narrator explained the lack of attention and care that the priest had for her. This quote represents the narrator attempting to rationalize the priest’s actions and make it seem fine since she agreed to be his wife. The narrator deals with men in different ways through the story and had dealt with conflict and regret thought her relationship with the priest.

Tara:
Maria, I like how you tied in that the narrator understands the horrors but then she quickly accepts them. It makes me believe that the narrator is unaware of a true relationship, and is willing to turn even the worst situations into a better one. It almost seems as if she does this to feel better about being compensated in return for a marriage and sex.
The narrator in Life of a Sensuous Woman faces many challenges when it comes to relationships and self reflection. In the chapter Mistress of a Domain Lord the narrator goes through a series of acceptance and almost always ends up disappointed. On page 597 the narrator says “ When I got there, the old retainer thought I was even better than the woman in the painting, so the search was called off. Everything was decided on the spot, and I got to set the conditions myself.” In this moment the narrator had accepted that maybe this was the right relationship for her. She appeared to be the perfect fit for the official domain mistress without trying as hard as the other candidates. In the beginning the narrator enjoyed her life in the mansion and she enjoyed making love to the lord. Shortly into their marriage the narrator was accused of making the lord sick and weak by having too much sex with him. On page 599 the narrator says “Those old men didn’t know the first thing about love, but they made the decisions. I was suddenly dismissed and sent all the way back to my parents- again.” In this moment even though the narrator had grown to love her life with the Lord she had to accept the accusations against her. Although there was not much the narrator could have done at that point it seemed as if her disappointment was a familiar feeling, and she needed to just continue on her journey.

Nicole:

Great interpretation, Tara. I liked what you said about turning bad situations into better ones and making the best out of her actions that she now regrets. We know that the narrator has been participating in sex since the age of thirteen. I believe that losing her first love has steered her to have a different approach on sex. She described her sex with this one man as making love but then says her mind changes once he is killed for loving her. “ I completely forgot about that man. Its amazing how quickly a woman’s mind can change.” Page 595 I feel this is how she dealt with her pain. To forget and have everyone after him have no value. I feel that she was able to love once and once it was taken away from her she used sex as a bandage or a way to coming close to “making love” again. She goes on to defend her own heart through out the story when everyone constantly criticizes her about her provocative ways. Over and over attempts to question her morals as well as her ability to love especially the last line in the story where she describes her heart as a lotus. “The lotus flower in my heart opened for you, and before it closed it told everything, from beginning to end” Page 611