Phase
2 DB
Short story, “Carnal Knowledge”
Put
yourself in the position of Jim, the protagonist, whose values are dramatically
different from Alena’s. Why do you think he is so easily swayed to compromise
his beliefs in Alena’s presence?
Putting
myself in the position of Jim, I think the main issue that makes him to be
easily swayed by Alena’s presence is what he wants in life. It can be noted
that he has a good life, in his mid thirties, and a stable job. The only thing
that seems to be missing from his life is a good female companion. He yearns
for a person he can easily understand and share common things. He is tired of
making "acquaintance of a divorced computer programmer in her mid thirties
with three kids and bad breath" (246) and her like. I think this
is the main reason that influences Jim to be easily manipulated, because he
does not want to offend Alena. He tries as much as possible to understand her
in a bid to build a relationship with her. He becomes a man with "twentieth
century urban American sensibility" (Utley) becomes a radical activist for
animal rights. "Something was happening to me. I could feel it in the way
the boards shifted under me, feel it with each beat of the surf and I was
ready to go along with it." (249).
Now
imagine that you are Alena; in what ways does she consistently live out her
convictions?
There are many ways in
which Alena consistently lives out of her convictions. The most notable ways in
which it can be said that she has lived out of her convictions is when she
trades sex in trying to show her kindness towards animals. This can be seen
when Jim is beaten by a chauffeur of a kick boxer, after he pickets on
Thanksgiving in a bid to save turkeys. It later turns out that the sacrifice
that Jim made in picketing on behalf of the animals is aid of in another
manner, where there are acts of sex that Alena finds hard to forget. Another
way in which Alena also lives out of her convictions is when she makes the
decision to save her then new dog from a company which was using animals for
some cruel experimentation.
Can
you empathize with her passion for justice?
Personally,
there are many situations in which I can empathize with Alena when it comes to
justice as far as animal rights and justice against any cruelty towards animals
is concerned. For those of us who are owners of pets know how it is special to
take care of animals. It is important to note that if animals are taken good
care of, they can be more loyal compared to human beings. It is also important
to indicate that animals are the most vulnerable species in this planet
compared to human beings and it is an outrage feeling for human beings to take
advantage of this when treating animals. I completely agree with what Alena
stands for but again I think it is important for some lines to be drawn in her
quest to advocate for protection of animal rights. I think she confuses to some
extent when she says that, “Not like us, no. We’re the plague on this planet,
don’t you know that?” (269). This is a dangerous extent on how she disregards
human beings not forgetting that she is also one of them.
In
your opinion, who has more integrity, Jim or Alena? Why?
According
to my opinion, I think Alena stands to have more integrity than Jim. The reason
as to why I am of this thought is because she knows what she stands for and she
works towards seeing it happen. She makes several transitions in her life to
see to it that animals are protected and that they are not mistreated. It can
be noted that she occasionally goes out of her way just to make sure that her
opinions are known. She even holds sex over the heads of those who might think
that they feel differently; at least in the eyes of Jim. For the case of Jim, I
think he lacks integrity. The main reason as to why I say this is because most
of the changes that occur in his life is because of his aim to please and
appease Alena, and this does not represent the true feelings that he has
towards her. Despite the fact that on the outside he might have acted as if he
was in love and shared something with her, the main aim was for him to sleep
with her.
What
is the theme, or main message, of this piece?
In
reading this short story, I am of the opinion that there are two main themes
that manifest themselves in the piece. These could be either human rights or
why they are important to people as well as sex. As a reader, I have seen that
there are people who believe strongly in animal something controversial and on
the other hand those people who cannot imagine having a meal without meat. The
story also highlights how some men can confirm just to anything for the sole
purpose of maintaining or gaining the attention of a woman they are attracted.
It is also important to mention that some women will take advantage of this
weakness in men and inadvertently change who they are, or their mode of
lifestyle. Both the conceptions can be deeply evaluated but from the tone of
the story being more of a comical, main ideas presented within the story are
not too farfetched in reality and how people tend to live their lives either
consciously or unconsciously, while others also take advantage of them in case
of any precarious situation.
Describe
Boyle’s tone and use of irony as a means of reminding us that our assumptions
about life and people are not always accurate.
Boyle
seamlessly uses symbolism as well as irony in putting many things to light. By
the use of symbolism, readers can be able to comprehend the intentions of the
author without the author mentioning the exact thing. I can say that the
overall tone of the story was humorous and light in maintaining how people in
this world feel about animals and related topics in the modern world. The lives
of different people are occasionally misconstrued regarding their different
beliefs on certain issues but the whole thing is just the same. Boyle
successfully illustrated a character in a man that would anything to make sure
that he attained the attention of a woman and on the other hand also developed
a character in a woman that would do anything just to make sure that the rights
of animals were protected. In today’s society, there are people who cannot eat
meat, or wear woolen clothes or use any animal made products, but this does not
mean that they would go an extreme of sexual acts as for the case of Jim and
the turkey incident. This means that it is not okay to make assumptions on how
we might act, because people have the tendency to act in different ways basing
on their beliefs. If this is done, then it means that the premise of our
trustworthiness and integrity can be compromised in one way or another.
Reference
Boyle, T., C. (1999)
T.C. Short Stories “Carnal Knowledge” Chicago: Penguin Group US
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