For third Quarter I chose to read the book Life Class by Pat Barker. This book’s main character is a man named Paul that is in an art class called the life class. As Paul rushes out of class in the first few pages he is developed as not very artistic as he wonders why he is there. The book is in the time period of the early 20th century and therefore the relationships that develop in the first bit are more restrained and very different than we see now. As Paul tries to figure out what he has to say he admires a woman named Elinor and, as he befriends her, meets a friend of hers named Teresa who he gets to know and then has relations with. Paul is a very interesting character, here to learn a new art and meeting new people, but can be seen somewhat regretting his change as we see through the words of his conscience that appears in the voice of his deceased grandmother. Paul is a kind, gentle man that worries about those around him, “Are you responsible for this?” he asks a man taking advantage of a young woman. He goes on to ask the man to leave the woman alone and we see his kindness and caring nature as he protects a complete stranger. His “girlfriend” Teresa is a big alteration in his character but only for this bit of the book. She is a beautiful woman and her relationship with Paul shows him about women and her difficult life gives him a different perspective.
Life Class is an engrossing novel with many arguable themes. One topic the author seems very interested in is women. As three women enter Paul’s life in this first small piece it is a reoccurring topic. The theme that seems to be presented by women is that things are never what you expect them to be. The Beautiful Teresa is a poor city girl with a bad past and the enthralling Elinor is a shallow little girl. Finally the little girl in the park, looking so innocent at first, is hurt and drunk, needing the assistance of a stranger. Another theme has to do with dangerous men harming the women he meets. They support the theme that violence in men deserves punishment as he throws the cane of the man who preys on the young woman in a pond and then, as he hits him in the face, fights back. I think that this will be a very interesting theme considering Paul goes to war later in the book and it will be interesting to see how this theme corresponds to the violence of war.
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3 comments:
Its suprising that even if you see how someone acts, we automatically think we 'know' who that person is, and its amazing how half the time we are wrong. Your theme is supported by great quotes, and i can see that it really is arguable. nice job
This shows how easily we can come to judge a person, especially when it comes to their occupations. When someone is into art they are automatically an "artist" which we seem to judge them on. It shows us how ones actions don't always support who we are.
This book sounds very interesting. Paul seems like a very kind man and against violence. He is very different than the theme the book supports about dangerous men harming women. I think that because these two things contradict, the book will be very interesting.
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