Touching Bottom- Feminist Literary Theory

In the short story, Touching Bottom, the traditional roles of the male and female characters have been reveresed. Typically, the male protaganist is the hero of the story, but in Touching Bottom the narrator, a women named Kari Strutt, is the one who saves the day when she decides to swim parallel to the shore to call for help. In doing so she frees her step son and self from a potentially deadly current. Whilst women usually are the rescued, she becomes the rescuer of a male in the text. The other main male character of the story is the narrator's husband who also does not play the usual heroic male role. He plays quite the opposite in fact; he is the lowly scum flirting with other women, not giving a damned about spending time with his family, and ultimately the safety of them, a man so ignoble he destroys his second marriage in the course of the book. Without the physical strength and the will to endure of the protaganist, the husband would have lost his son, because of his preoccupation and infidelity.

The time period of which Touching Bottom was written allows Strutt to do something which women of the past could not. She is able to liberate herself from her unfaithful husband by divorcing him after the incident at the beach. In doing so she severs the ties between her and Ian, her step- son, which is most likely the hardest part of the divorce, considering her relationship with Ian is a closer more bonding one than the one she had with her former husband. Later in life she is able to meet up with Ian as an adult and discuss memories with him. Strutt says that "Ian is a man now... He is tall, and handsome, and very smart." In their entire visit they do not mention his Father once. Perhaps this is because her former husband continued his life in the same way he was with her, and therefore he is an undesireable person to speak of. The narrator never gives any indication of regreting her decision to divorce Ian's father, except that she would not be able to see Ian. She says " I came home", so being married and living with Ian's father never was a home to her. She makes no reference to a new family, but being alone seems much better for her than being with her former husband.

Ode to a Nightingale

Why does Keats seek out the company of a common bird and record the experience in the form of an ode? Why bother?

Keats seeks out the company of a common bird and records it because he is in a rather melacholy, reflective sort of mood. He is upset with his world, and begins to think of the world through the perspective of another creature, the nightingale. The nightingale is fortunate; its' species has not created such a complex and sorrowfilled world like humans have; it belongs in nature, among trees, plants, wildlife. It can "Singest of summer in full-throated ease" for there is joy in the simplicity of the nightingal's life. Keats writes because he feels envious that the nightingale lives so freely and he admires the beauty of the bird and an ode is melodious, flowing- a perfect way to express beauty, sorrow, and passion.

How is Ode to a Nightingale reflective of the Romantic Spirit?

Ode to a Nightingale reflects the romantic spirit in that its main theme is the beauty of nature. The romantic period was more concerned with beauty, magnifecence, and colour as opposed to an accurate depiction of the subject. This is reflected by Keats. He does not describe the physical attributes of the bird, he uses rhetorical and poetic devices to convey his image of the nightingale.

How does the content of two stanzas support your claims in the first two questions? Quote evidece and name devices.

The mood of Keats is demonstrated by his many references to death in various stanzas ie. "Thou wast not born for death" and by his choice of diction, words like " perilous", "forlorn", and "decieving". His envy of the bird is shown by the lines " No hungry generations tread thee down" and "Forlorn... To toll me back from thee to my sole self". Imagery is created when "thy plaintive anthem fades/ Past the near meadows, over the still stream/Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep/ In the next valley glades" as the reader can almost see the writer losing his connection with the nightingale, almost hear its chirping fade into backround noise. There is also alliteration "still streams" and an obvious statement of several nature settings. The rhetorical question that ends the ode "Was it a vision or a waking dream? Fled is that music- Do I wake or sleep?" is a wonderful way to allow the reader not only to reflect on how the poem effected them but also on how their time with nature effects them. To think of how the days blend together when camping, or how time flows when watching a body of water, or the curiosity of watching a bug can last longer than a watching a favourite sitcom.