In our continued readings of Fanny Fern’s, “Ruth Hall,” our class has discussed many themes occurrent throughout. Of those themes, the love of convenience displayed by Ruth’s relations, i.e. her brother, “Hyacinth,” proved , to me, to be an interesting point. One would nary imagine a dog in love with a flea, which plagues it so. However, such is the “love” displayed by Hyacinth, flea-like, parasitic in nature, with him latching onto Ruth at his own convenience, with no regard, nor gain, for his “host.”
Though “flea-like,” Hyacinth would only keep up with well-bred associations, initially rejecting Ruth’s “mongrel” company. Such an example is seen upon Ruth’s correspondence with Hyacinth, Ruth hoping to receive his endorsement to propel her newfound idea of “[writing] for the papers” as a means of making a living, him being “the prosperous editor of the Irving Magazine” (Fern 220). In his reply, Hyacinth denies Ruth’s appeal, on account of her “[having] no talent that way, stating “that writing can never be [her] forte,” thusly refusing her the opportunity to contribute to his “esteemed” paper, let alone to be praised within its pages (Fern 221). However, at a later point in the story, after Ruth has achieved a considerable degree of success, under the nom-de-plume, “Floy,” Hyacinth, in an artificially nonchalant manner, slips into a conversation with an acquaintance that “Floy,” is indeed his sister. So apparent is Hyacinth’s “change of heart,” that his acquaintance marks it so, pointing out that “nobody knew that she was [Hyacinth‘s] sister, when she first published the pieces that are now collected in that book,” to the response of Hyacinth’s ignorance of his remark” (Fern 336). Thus, apparent even to outside parties, it is clear that Hyacinth held a love of convenience for Ruth, and in true “parasitic” form, only thought of his own selfish spoils coming out of Ruth’s well-being.
Works Cited
Fern, Fanny. "Ruth Hall." http://openlibrary.org/books/OL6989748M/Ruth_Hall. Mason Brothers 1855. 155 - 197. Web. 9 July 2012.
I love the idea of a "parasitic form of marriage" I think that from the details that you have provided it suits very well to the point your are expressing. Although I would have liked more information on the novel or book that you’re are talking about. Overall it is clear that you have grasped a key idea in your reading.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you organized the blog, you have nice topic sentence which helps to understand what you are going to write about. You expressed your idea of "parasitic love" very clear and supported it by an example from the book. The blog itself looks very interesting but maybe you could talk more about why do you think Hyacinth has a "parasitic" love to Ruth.
ReplyDeleteThe title Parasitic Love sounds very interesting.
ReplyDeleteYou gave good examples and did not overuse quotes and you explained them well. May be you could have wrote more for the last sentences but overall it was understandable.
Hey Cody Pinero, this is Kimon Papakostas, I had commented on your previous blog post as well.
ReplyDeleteThis post was much more enjoyable to read since you incorporated your personal view on the subject with support from direct in-text quotations. I also enjoyed the biological view of ‘parasitic love’ and your comparison of Hyacinth with a flea. Try describing the setting a little bit more before and after your direct quotations to illustrate what is really going on for the reader. I would also suggest re-reading what you have written before you post it since I you can always find better ways to phrase some of what you are trying to say by revision (it happens to me every time). Other then that I really enjoyed reading a more casual post from you and I’m very happy you managed to be a little less direct and a little freer with your feelings towards the text.
Once again, feel free to write me back with comments or requesting further feedback. ☺