Mendel wasted a lot of time experimenting with the hawkweeds, which he was turned onto by Nageli, but the hawkweeds "did not hybridize in rational ways." They behaved, it would later be discovered, according to parthenogenesis, or forming seeds without fertilization. This led Mendel to doubt his work with the peas, and it changed the course of his career.
The hawkweeds were a tragic distraction. Do you think the narrator's marriage was also a tragic distraction?
5 comments:
Oh, I should have put my previous comment in this thread!
Yes, she was a natural, brilliant scientist who was completely squelched by her marriage.
Yes, I just noticed my questions were a bit redundant.
I think the author is making a point about how we all can get distracted by "hawkweeds" in our lives because we trust, like Mendel trusted Nageli, that the paths society lays out for us will deliver the expected results, the expected happiness. Instead of following our own hunches, scientific or emotional, we let things like societal expectations, gender roles, etc., lead us astray.
Maybe there's something here about humility, too. People who lack humility and self-doubt are always more able to confidently go forth and trample or take advantage of meeker, if smarter, souls.
But does the story say humility and self-doubt are absolutely good? We want Nageli and Richard to be humble, but what about Antonia and Mendel?
It was tragic. Both situations made me sad. I was especially struck by the story of how the narrator "won" her boyfriend's affections with the Mendel letter.
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