‘Birdsong’: The Gothic genre?

When one reads ‘Birdsong’ for the first time you would not say that this book was at all Gothic. ‘The red room’ a place of love or a place of evil? Stephen and Isabelle’s rushed romantic affair takes place here, its hidden by a number of corridors and secret passageways which contribute to the stories ‘Gothic’ element. The colour ‘red’ is often associated with passion and romantic love but Faulks may use this colour as a symbol of hell, betrayal and a woman’s fertile nature. There are also many other elements in this novel which contribute to the ‘Gothic’ element of ‘Birdsong’. For instance, Azaire hitting Isabelle, which emphasises her physical imprisonment but also the “iron railings” surrounding the oddly shaped house. These “iron railing” symbolizes secrecy but yet wealth of the family. This domestic violence and iron railings also shows Madame Azaires psychological imprisonment, she is a feminist yet she is trapped in a controlling marriage, she craves freedom. The house of Azaires contrasts dramatically with the calm natural description and imagery of Amiens. “Formal front towards the road from behind iron railings”; “The slate roof plunged” and “chairs that opened inwards from unregarded passageways” although these descriptions show the grand and wealthy house of Azire they also contribute to the ‘Gothic’ element in the novel.

‘Spelling’ by Margaret Atwood (UPDATE)

 It is important to recognise that Atwood’s poetry is not just about feminism, it’s also an exploration into the depths of human consciousness and loneliness. Above all her poetry may intend to conclude how a woman’s biological structure can be used against her. 

The poem ‘Spelling’ is a philosophical observation of the way women are treated academically. The main focus which is clearly highlighted within the poem, is education and not just education, but education for women. ‘Spelling’ consists of 9 stanzas, which are of a different length, this may also metaphorically suggest that all women aren’t the same although the male gender is. Stereotypically very much like Hitler, biologically not politically. The poem uses her well known technique, free verse, she uses this to emphasise the meaning of the start and end of a sentence. The structure of the poem moves from a description of a scene to a philosophical reflection on the education of women. 

The poetic voice of the poem is an educated mother watching her ‘daughter’ play on the floor ‘with plastic letters’. ‘Red, blue & hard yellow,’ the primary colours used indicate how young the ‘daughter’ is, it also becomes apparent how early these girls in this ethnicity begin education. The first line of the poem is very dense, it introduces many aspects of culture and women’s lives. The enjambment used within the first stanza shows the unstable ways of not educating women. The reference to ‘spell/spelling/how to make spells’, these three statements show how the daughter is learning to ‘spell‘, she then learns the correct way of ‘spelling’ words and ‘spells’ is a reference to the future. It may have also be a reference to witchcraft or how poetry is the highest form of language, ‘spells’ has a double meaning, very ambiguous, it may have been a suggestion of witchcraft and the education of the ‘daughter.’  Biblically Eve made Adam cast a ‘spell’ due the serpent, a sexual spell, which also shows how women from very early on lost their immortality due the negative atmosphere the bible creates for women.

Atwood uses ‘Spelling’ as testament of the power of words and she depicts the vitimisation of the powerlessness of women without the use of language. ‘I wonder how many women, denied themselves daughters’ this has a double meaning, firstly, it may have been intended to be a deliberate act of a man for women not enjoy words, unlike some women, for example, Jane Ostin who wrote heavily sexual literature. On the other hand, it may of also been seen as having an abortion, and then hiding behind the physical barrier of a ‘curtain’ to ‘mainline words‘ for some women words are like drugs in the bloodstream. By creating powerful language these women may get a euphoric ‘high’ and then become addicted to words. They’d rather nurture words instead of a child. 

‘A child is not a poem/a poem is not a child’, both a poem and a child have to be conceived and matured in the womb of a woman. However, a woman has a choice to birth a poem, where a child they do not have a choice. ‘Is not’ shows how a woman has to have one or the other. After this effective way of words Atwood returns to describing the scene, ‘However’ this split’s the stanza and stops a line of thought. This allows the political side of the poem to heighten. One of Atwood’s well known ways of imagery is vivid verbs, ‘thighs tied/together by the enemy/so she could not give birth’, this shows how men act upon their own hate on to women. ‘Thighs tied’, is also an old Jewish belief on how to treat and unfaithful pregnant woman. It denies their purpose. There is also no male equivalent for this abuse, it can only be done to a woman. 

‘Ancestress: the burning witch,/her mouth covered by leather/to strangle words.‘. Mary Webster was a resident of Puritan Hadley, Massachusetts, was accused of witchcraft in 1684.  Atwood believed Mary was on of her ancestors, she made Webster the subject of her poem ‘Half-Hanged Mary’. Webster was left hanging all night. It is known that when she was cut down she was still alive and lived for another 14 years, ‘her mouth covered by leather/to strangle words’, this shows how there was no last utterance to remember her by, no words that might of evoked pardon for her to change the communities minds.  The people surrounding Webster realise ‘A word after a word/after a word is power’, this emphasises the power of words together, not singular. Without literacy the mind has nothing. Words give women more power, the words become damaging for men. 

Mary Webster was left to burn at the stake, ‘language falls away/from the hot bone’, this metaphor shows the flesh of the witch burning away along with all the powerful ‘words’. ‘At the/melting point of granite/hollow’, these women are hollow not solid like granite. They are before the volcano, (‘flows out of it like blood’), the people are therefore forced to confront their own mortality. The burnt body shows how when there is no language used we cause destruction. Whether in life or death, the body speaks. Webster has been through a true crucible and emerges to tell a story of women confronting their fragility. Atwood concludes the poem ‘name/naming/name/your first word’, the echo creates an emphasis on how your name is a part of you. However, some women don’t have that right.