Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Disillusioned
What do you make of Ms. Hempel's reaction when she finds out that "the father of Ms. Duffy’s baby was an American, whom she’d met in the courtyard of an ugly condominium" rather than an exotic Mideasterner, and that Ms. Duffy's sudden quietness was explained not by a romantic adventure abroad but by being in upstate New York with food sickness?
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2 comments:
She likes to imagine and fantasize about things that are different than her own life (like the Chinese and colonial cultures in the earlier story). At the same time, though, the experience brings home the fact that her life could change without anything that strange or exotic -- instead of a romantic adventure abroad or even a full-body cast from a terrible accident, her life could be changed right where she was. It gives her a lot to think about.
Yeah, she seemed really taken with the idea of Ms. Duffy off on some exotic adventure and then stumbling into a cave and emerging transformed, or whatever silly way she puts it. I think her image of the Mideast trip just contrasts so starkly with the dullness of school life. The truth about Ms. Duffy's absence and pregnancy is fairly bleak in comparison with what Ms. Hempel had imagined.
I found it interesting that Ms. Hempel seems to feel so trapped in her job. She seems to think leaving for any other job would be a betrayal of her students and the teaching profession and that the only ways out would be pregnancy or catastrophic injury.
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