To Put Aside the Serpents

The Woman and the Husband loved their son, though he was not their own. Conceived by an affair, and orphaned by the death of her sister, the boy came to be raised by the Woman and the Husband. The boy grew and prospered, and as he prospered so did they. His every success became theirs, the Woman talked of his accomplishments to all she saw. Thus the Woman and the Husband were satisfied with their wonderful life. There were those however that were not content. The Old Wife lived down the street, and she did not approve. Who were these people to raise a child of sin, the Old Wife felt slighted by their happiness, so she fumed and plotted.

There was a dark part of the town, that no one really entered willingly. This was one of those places where the shady people lived their lives in monotony. Always striving to leave, but inevitably never making any progress. It was in this place the Old Wife sought the instrument of her plotting. The Old Wife knew of an Angry One that lived here, who would undertake any sort of task, as long as the price was right. She strode under the streetlight, dogs barking in the night, as if she were the queen of the world. She pounded upon the Angry One's door until he answered. She bemoaned her fallen pride, and agreed to any price. The Angry One, whether moved by her story or her payment, agreed to avenge her. The Old Wife left, walking through a mist of rain, pleased to see her revenge unfold.

He could see them from where he stood in their backyard, light poured from their windows illuminating everything within. He could here there laughter, their happiness, even at a distance. No one else in the neighborhood seemed awake. His snake skin boots echoed on the concrete as he walked beside their pool. How could they not hear his coming? They only had to glance outside to see him, but the Woman and the Husband were blind to their fate. The Angry One bellowed as he kicked down their burnished oak door from its hinges. He stalked into their house, fire bursting from his hand as he shot with his pistol. The Woman screamed in terror, the Husband froze in fright. This fear would be his undoing, as he was the first to feel the bite of the Angry One's bullet. Pain blossomed in his mind like a searing madness. The Angry One fired again and again and again at the Husband, until only the walls held any semblance of the man he once was. The woman ran, mad with grief, fear aiding her feet, but it was all for naught. The Angry One opened fire once more, and then she too felt the bite of his bullets. She fell into the pool, it was so much warmer than she expected, its waters like a final, loving embrace. His work done the Angry One sank back into the night, his boots so quiet now as he walked away.

It was all anyone could talk about the next day. The housewives cried and shook as they called one another. Each one not so aghast at the tragedy, that they couldn't call everyone that they knew. Oh didn't you hear, the Woman next door, shot dead in her home. The whole town was so mortified by this cruel and senseless act. All except the Old Wife, she peered out her window as they wheeled the bodies away, and smiled inwardly at every conversation she overheard about the event. Such irrelevant women she thought, as they chattered away like gulls to the woman who had arranged it all.

Mythologies Theme Song

I heard this song listening to Pandora and it completely reminded me of Mythologies. Mythic Detective work strikes again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5sXSix359M

Signs and Symbols

I know its a little late for the Signs and Symbols discussion, but I tried my hardest not to listen to any of the discussion in class so as not to become biased.

As I was reading the story I jotted down notes and I'll just repost them and go from there

Everything went wrong
-The train, the bus, the walk. This seemed to me like the world telling them not to visit their son. The loss of life of the train was chance, the wait for the bus coincidence, and the rain on their walk is Design.

-Tiny unfledged bird in a puddle- This bird is a metaphor for their son, unfledged, meaning wings are not large enough for flight, therefore it crashes to the earth.This to me was one of the most powerful images linking the story to Daedalus and Icarus, and foreshadowing the son's possible death.

The names really jumped out at me, but I think I was looking to deep. Rebecca Borisovna- rebecca is biblical but the significance of the last name (which apparently means short/wolf) doesn't make sense, the father's brother Isaac "the Prince"-son of Abraham, biblical, so should we call the father Ishmael? also the mother talks of another family whose surname is Soloveichiks, which interestingly I learned (from epic google searching) means Nightingale in russian.

The other major allusion to Icarus,was when they describe the first time the child tried to kill himself "masterpiece of Inventiveness" (Daedalus-master inventor), learning to fly but wanted to tear a hole into his world. Much as Daedalus wanted to escape his world, so did the son wish to escape and fly away

Everything is a Cipher, and He is the Theme- This was profound to me because, you assume that the son is crazy, but how do we know this? The world shows him the symbols and he is the theme, they dont see them because they aren't about anyone but him, Like UPS, you notice thing when they are made apparent

I really liked when the illness was explained and how it kept building to a crescendo until it became that "great mountains of unbearable solidity and height sum up, in terms of granite and groaning firs [symbols only the son can decipher], the ultimate truth of his being"

the Parents' appartment is on the 3rd floor landing (threes again)

3 cards fall from the deck-- Knave(Jack) of hearts, 9 (3 sets of 3s) of spades, Ace of Spades
I thought the cards were significant so I googled all of them obsessively and was suprised by my results!!

So I plan on reading a bit deeply into this but These cards specifically foreshadow the death of the Son

Jack of Hearts A warm-hearted friend. A fair-haired youth; or a young person with Water signs predominating in his or her chart. ( most of this seems like gobbledy gook, but I took that jack of hearts means a young male)
9 of Spades Illness, accident, bad luck. The querent is at his/her personal low.
Ace of Spades Misfortune; sometimes associated with death or, more often, a difficult ending.
website where I got this rock solid information
http://www.cafeastrology.com/fortunetellingcards.html
Its pretty obvious that Nabokov was trying to tell us that the Son was going to die, and I've finally figured out that mystery.

More threes
The 3 colors in the jars: yellow, green, red
which according to color astrology...
Yellow- the most positive color, closest to light
Green- healing,life, and rebirth.
Red-passion, masculinity, danger
so you can read into those what you want, the cards were my masterpiece of intellect

My try at Art Appreciation

As I look at this painting I'm struck by all of the red, which seems to imbue a passion into the scene, and I really liked the interpretation that the curtains set a stage. I see the woman weaving at the forefront as Arachnae. She seems to have this look of haughtyness, the position of her head and hand bely a sense of arrogance, like she is telling the woman holding the curtain of how superior her weaving is. I also like the idea that although she is wrapped in clothing she bares her leg to the thigh, which shows her indecency/lack of respect, which is how she acts towards Athena. I think the ladder in the background is really a key transition between the two scenes(front/back). It represents reaching a higher place, as Arachnae reaches above her station to flaunt her skills to Athena, the shading has the ladder beginning in light and ending in darkness, like Arachnae has reached too far and ventured into a place she should not be, because you cannot see a God's form, she has reached into a place she should not see.
For the background you really again see Arachnae's arrogance, she stands the the middle as the center of attention her hands displayed in a show of exaltance at what she has done. Ovid gives the impression that Arachnae's weave was just as good if not better than Athena's, yet her weave isn't displayed in the painting. I believe the tapestry displayed is Athena's as it has a brightness to it and contains heavenly figures in good light. I like that Athena is fully clothed for battle with her spear upraised, as if this is the moment before she curses Arachnae. I'm also interested in what the woman on the far right is thinking, because she is the only one looking to the forefront, while the others stare towards Athena and Arachnae. Maybe she is bringing the two together in the sense that she is looking at what Arachnae did to be in this situation (gossiping to the woman holding the curtain?)

 

 

Also thought these close ups might be cool to look at, didnt know there was a cat in this picture, they're not just all over the internet, but Spanish Baroque art as well!