2. Work on your analysis of the two paintings, due Wednesday. Hand in on Wednesday your observations, your chart, your summary, your claim, and your discussion.
3. Optional: write another "what I learned" personal essay, due tomorrow.
Prompts for "The Country Husband":
a) Tor F: Francis might be having a mid-life crisis.
b) Why might the dog, Jupiter, be in this story?
c) Why might Gertrude be in this story?
d) How does the near-airplane crash figure in?
e) What is the role of memory in this story, specifically Francis's memory of World War II?
Francis Weed is definitely having a mid-life crisis. The whole ordeal starts when he comes home after being in an airplane that almost crashed. His wife Julia does not seem to understand what he just went through and is not sympathetic towards him. He states that he comes home every night to a battlefield and that comment sets the story off in a dramatic direction. One night he drives the baby-sitter home. Her name is Anne Murchison. "There were tears of lust in his eyes. Determinedly-not sadly- he opened the door on his side and walked around to open hers." The fact that he has emotions for this young girl obviously explains that he must be bored with his wife. He is letting his mind wonder and he appears to like her even though he just met her. "He opened a second window and got into bed to shut his eyes on that night, but as soon as they were shut- as soon as he dropped off to sleep- the girl entered his mind, moving with perfect freedom through its shut doors and filling chamner after chamber with her light, her perfume, and the music of her voice." Francis is obsessed with Anne. He only thinks of her. Even though nothing has happened he is being disloyal to his wife. "Francis recoiled at the mention of the girl's name. Then a dingy light seemed to emanate from his spirit, showing everything- Julia, the boy, the chairs- in their true colorlessness. It was like a bitter turn of the weather." Francis is now jealous of Clayton, even though he has no right to be because he is already married. The way he describes that everything turned to colorlessness says that nothing else has any meaning to him except Anne. "You have no idea how much you hate me. I think it's subconscious. You don't realize the cruel things you've done." Even Julia is now realizing that Francis is really not to interested in her anymore. "He followed her car and halfway through another before calling her name- "Anne! Anne!"- but she didn't turn." Francis is so crazed to find Anne that he cannot distinguish who she is. His mind is gone and Julia is right about him not loving her. At the end, Francis goes to see a psychiatrist because of his love problems. He tells the psychiatrist, "I'm in love, Dr. Herzog." Francis is completely and emotionally a diaster. He feels like he is not being let free and as a middle-aged man he is having a hard time coping with love. In the end, the dog, Jupiter, is rooming free, which symbolizes how Francis would like to be, free and able to do anything he wants to do.
ReplyDeleteKatie Burch
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ReplyDeleteA) I believe that Francis is having a mid-life crisis for several reasons shown in the text. When the narrator describes his family dynamics, it is described as a battle. He says, "the other children drift away from the battlefield, and Francis goes into the back garden for a cigarette and some air." The use of the word "battlefield" shows that his home life is not peaceful and very stressful, and he takes care of that stress by needing a cigarette. When Julia says, "Damn you, Francis Weed!" it seems that Francis cannot do anything right, and his wife is nagging him about it, just adding more stress to his life. All of this nagging and stress leads to the cracking point, "He struck her full in the face. She staggered and then, a moment later, seemed composed. She went up the stairs to their room. She didn't slam the door. When Francis followed, a few minutes later, he found her packing a suitcase." This is the true sign of a mid-life crisis, it seems that his world is falling apart bit by bit.
ReplyDeleteThe country husband
ReplyDeleteGertrude Flannery seems like an interesting character. I think every neighbourhood has a strange child; however Gertrude seems to be extremely strange, walking in to her neighbour’s homes for now appropriate reason. I love the way the neighbours blame the parents, and that it’s not even the parents fault for having a weird child. It does say in the story that the parents are kind and caring to her. It seems as though Gertrude is a rebellious child and wants her own way.
Anyway, she seems as though she walks in on everything, and watches everyone else’s business like a nosey so and so. She walks in on Francis wrapping his arms around Anne and kissing her. What a creep!! So as Gertrude is a witness, and I suspect that she doesn’t listen to Francis when he bribes her, I think she finally tells the story to Mrs. Masterson.
I feel that Francis is most defenitaley going through a mid-life crisis. Katie is correct though by pointing out that Francis had been through quite a bit by being in the plan accident and the fact that his wife does not seem to fully grasp the effects this could have had on him. Also the fact that Francis is clearly bored with his own life. Even though he does have his wife and family and did just live to tell the tale of an air plane crash. Francis continues to let his life get worse and worse and he doesn't seem to care. It is almost as if he enjoys it. This is why it seems that Francis is going through a mid-life crisis.
ReplyDeleteI think that Francis is going through a mid-life crisis. In the beginning of the story he survives a traumatic event (his plane almost crashes), but when he gets home his family doesn’t acknowledge that he just went through this big event. They totally ignore all his attempts to tell them about it. As the reader we see that when he walks into the house, there seems to be total chaos in his family. Two of his kids are fighting, one child is crying, and his daughter is reading a magazine in her room that he specifically told her not to read. While all of this is taking place, his wife seems to be not paying attention to any of this behavior going on around them. Cheever writes, “Nine times out of ten, Francis would be greeted with affection, but tonight the children are absorbed in their own antagonisms” (72). Later in the story Julia, his wife, accuses him of hating her because of “the way you leave your dirty clothes around in order to express your subconscious hatred of me” (84). She tells him that she believes he acts like a child and she has to clean up after him and she does everything to make his life run smoothly. He seems to be feeling unhappy at home and not happy in his marriage. So, when he met the babysitter who was young and he thought looked perfect, he started fantasizing about having an affair with her. “The thought that he would drive Anne Murchison home later that night ran like a golden thread through the events of the party that Francis and Julia went to” (80). That quote showed how obsessed and excited he became about getting together with Anne. This seemed to show how much he wanted to escape from his home life.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Francis Weed was having a mid life crisis. The plane crash had brought up his mid life crisis. After the plane crash Francis had felt unappreciated and ignored because his family didn't listen to him. Francis almost seemed happy about the airplane crash. "We came down in a field". Francis had proudly told people that he did not know. The airplane crash could have been an adventure for him. This made Francis rethink everything. Francis rethought his family, his marriage, and about Shady Hill. I believe Francis was being selfish to think just of himself, just because he was in a plane crash. This was also a midlife crisis because he felt unhappy when he was happy for many years before. Nothing had changed, but himself.
ReplyDeleteC) I think that Gertrude is a symbol of all the unconvential, less then perfect things that the people of Shady Hill try to cover up. Shady Hill is the epitome of the high-class suburban lifestyle; where scandal and dirty laundry are shut away and unspoken of. Gertrude is that dirty laundry; "Garrulous, skinny, and unwashed, she drifted from house to house around the Blenhollow neighborhood,..." People are constantly trying to kick her out and tell her to go home and yet she is always back to knock on the door; as are imperfections. In Mr. Weed's case, Gertrude appears only when he is kissing Anne, which is the display of his obsession. Gertrude comes out when the scandal comes out.
ReplyDeleteKatie Taylor
Francis Weed is in no doubt in the middle of a mid-life crisis. He has fallen in love with another woman who is not his wife, one of the many issues that plagues him throughout this story. His affair with this woman seems to bring out the darker side in him, exemplified by his physicality with Julia, and calling Clayton a complete failure, despite the potential truth in the statement. The crisis escalates to such a level that finally a climax is reached, in which Francis hits his wife. "He struck her full in the face. She staggered and then, a few minutes later, seemed composed." Julia's "composed" reaction may seem ironic, but I believe that she has just comes to terms with the fact that their relationship cannot work.
ReplyDeleteThe near airplane crash I believe is a symbol for Francis Weed's ongoing relationship with not only his wife, but with his lover. Soon, everything will come "crashing" down onto both parties.
a) I definitely think that he's having a mid-life crisis. This story begins with the air plane crash that he had. It really surprised him, because, he never had an experience like that before. It was a big risk to him. Also, it becomes a turning point of his life. After this happened, his life has changed a lot. Before he goes back to his home, he was kind of excited to tell about what he has experienced to his family. He was expecting their attention, and worries. But, they didn’t say anything about the crush. Even his wife seems like she’s not really concerning about it. His children also didn’t really care. Nobody was concerning about his story, and his safety. This was the time he realized that people around him are not really caring about him. After this time, he becomes to be in a crisis. His personality has changed. The way of his talking was mean, he changed to be selfish, and he seems like a mad person. The biggest thing that shows us that he’s actually in a crisis is, his feeling to a young baby sitter. He falls in love with her. He was tired of his wife who doesn’t really concerning about him and seems like doesn’t love him any more. The fact that he loves the baby sitter who’s at almost same age with Francis’s daughter, it tells us that he’s definitely in a crisis. And the story ends while he’s trying to fix everything that has changed.
ReplyDeleteI have read!
ReplyDeleteKatie Burch
d) The near air-plane crash figures in because even though it is a tragic event it has a good side to it, like other things in this story. Even though Francis got into a plane crash, the good thing is that he lived. Another example of this is that after the crash he fell in love, again, but was married. Francis fell in love with his babysitter Anne. Falling in love is a wonderful feeling, but not for Francis. In the end, Francis ends up going to a psychiatrist because he has a mental break down in the woods, due to his wife leaving him and Anne actually leaving him. Once he was let into the psychiatrists office, he said hoarsely, with tears in his eyes, "I'm in love, Dr. Herzog." It is also ironic because this love is killing him, instead of the plane crash.
ReplyDeleteKatherine Nemetz
I absolutely agree with the idea that Francis having a mid-life crisis. Francis is a normal, average middle-aged man, who lived in Suburb in America. On the way home, he had a plane accident, which was near-death experience. His mid-life crisis is more serious after having a plane crash. Although the plane accident was huge thing to him, his family seems like they don’t care and still life goes on. Once he thought that he got another chance to live, he has no consideration for others anymore, even the thought those considerations are useless. Mean while, he saw this girl, whose name is Anne. She is a teenaged baby sitter, who has the alcoholic father. Francis felt compassion for her and couldn’t stop to thinking about her. Finally, he failed to control himself and kissed her. I don’t think he really loves her. Although he obsessed her so hard, he just wanted somewhere to escape his boring life, and just that time, Anne, who wasn’t in his life until then, appears.
ReplyDeleteAfter recognizing his feeling for Anne, he acts like a different person. There is no more deliberate, and polite person, but selfish and self-willed person. He starts to think that he had made the mistakes of listening to others all with equal attention. He insulted others without hesitation and that rudeness of him made not only him, but also his family to be a lonely.
Finally, as the result of his selfishness, he lost his people, who worked for him so hard. He starts to looked back his past and regretted. He accepted psychologist’s comment, and trying to lead his usual life again, by wood making.
Francis is without a doubt having a midlife crisis. Firstly, a near death experience is arguably a turning point in one's life. (I think everybody agrees with that statement). On what Katie Burch said about Francis' wife not understanding his situation about the 'aero-accident', I'm not sure she even realizes that he's trying to tell her something. When he comes home after hiding in the barn, Francis' wife seems completely preoccupied with her own important things, and she doesn't pay attention to him. One could argue that she doesn't pay attention to Francis, because he is no more important to her. (This could leave room for an argument on why Francis is having love issues, and interest in a different womanERROR_WINS_INTERNAL
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Jupiter plays a surprisingly significant role, in my opinion. That paragraph on page 74 describing Jupiter is crucial, and is put right after explaining his chaotic household and you can feel the tension in Francis as "the other children drift away from the battlefield, and Francis goes into the back garden for a cigarette and some air." Then, the narrator jumps into telling about Jupiter; how alive he is, how he goes after what he wants. "His eyes gleamed with mischief, and he held his head high. It was that fierce, heavily collared dog's head that appears in heraldry, in tapestry, and that used to appear on umbrella handles and walking sticks." Jupiter is obviously a very distinguished-looking dog, and what might you think of Francis at this point? A dull, middle-aged man who will fade into obscurity like every other country husband. This dog went for his loves, like food. "Sticks and stones and rude commands only moved him to the edge of the terrace, where he remained, with his gallant and heraldic muzzle, waiting for Donald Goslin to turn his back and reach for the salt." Dedication lives in this dog, and so far there is very little dedication shown in Francis. Though this side-by-side comparison is enough to show they are different, I’d like to infer that Francis wishes he could be like Jupiter. Maybe not quite a dog, but looking at his future actions, there is definitely some complications that arise when Francis finally does what he wants. Though he does acknowledge that “Jupiter’s days were numbered. The Wrightsons’ German gardener of the Farquarsons’ cook would soon poison him.” Is this foreshadowing for how Francis life nearly crumbles apart, and he hardly truly went after Anne.
ReplyDeleteAt the end, “the last to come is Jupiter.” I see that this symbolizing Francis’s own homecoming, of the sorts. He is happy wood-working, and while that may not be completely quelling his mid-life crisis, I believe he is working through it and will eventually find comfort in his life once more.
a. I agree with everyone who responded to this prompt that Francis is indeed having a mid-life crisis. Until the plane crash, Francis was an average American, a husband and a father of three children. He was probably satisfied with his life until he went through this life or death situation. Especially because Francis is so average, he likes the extraordinary feeling he got when he went through the crash. I believe that the more average you are, the more impact you will get from a single event. I don't think that Francis is selfish; I just think that his urge to tell everyone about how he survived a plane crash drove him into a downward spiral towards mid-life crisis.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading this story I had assumed that there would be more mention of the plane crash, but after the family paid no attention to it, it seemed the plot did the same. Now when I think of it though I feel that it is, perhaps, symbolism of Francis's midlife crisis. He had come very close to death but since he had survived he felt as though he had been given a second chance at life. Unfortunately, though, he did not consider how this "new life" he wanted would affect his present one until later.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with Tessa, and especially with Trevor. The lack of support, especially after an accident, and in such a devastating time for Francis I think could leave a very deep impact on his relationship with his wife. I am not even sure if his affair was a product of his mid life crisis, but maybe it was the outcome of his unspoken desires, just wanting someone to notice him, be affected by him, and understand him.
ReplyDeleteI think the dog Jupiter is in the story as a symbol of the humanity of all the people in Shady Hill. What with all the parties and the constant worry about social status, the people of Shady Hill seem to have lost their passion and their ability to thrive rather than just go through the motions of life. I think that it is this quality that Anne brings out in Francis Weeds. He mentions that Jupiters "days are numbered" in Shady Hill, and I think that that is a metaphor for the numbered days that the passions of any Shady Hills residents have.
ReplyDelete