My Sister's Thesis, Part ii
I've gotten to a difficult part in my sister's thesis, partially thematically and partially linguistically. It is difficult for me to find sympathy for Annie Ernaux. Not because she is having an abortion, but because on the one hand I don't know any men who are as nasty as apparently described in L'événement and on the other hand because I get the feeling that the Law felt masculine in France in '65 and may yet still feel masculine. The law doesn't feel masculine to me, here in Virginia. Also, I don't speak French and, contextual clues notwithstanding, I'm having some difficulty with the passages.
The law has never felt particularly masculine to me. Some laws do feel masculine and some feel feminine.
As a Sgt. in the Marine Corps, I could not make male Privates who misbehaved dig foxholes and fill them back in, but instead was forced to fill out paperwork that would dog them throughout their careers - and was also unlikely to cause them to change their behavior. This felt like a feminine law. The threat of career threatening paperwork was a very successful tool in preventing female Privates, PFCs and LCpls from misbehaving while the threat of a weekend spent digging foxholes was a very effective tool in preventing male Privates & PFCs from misbehaving. I would have rather had the option of both with rules in place that prevent abuse - community standards should prevail. No man would have made such a law. And in fact, no man did - it was the direct result of Congressional lobbying on the part of the Mothers of America, a group that frequently lobbies on behalf of members of the military. They have also removed any kind of rough action from boot camps, as if military training should be more akin to kindergarten than preparing soldiers for war.
In any event, laws that mandate specific sentences for crack cocaine feel masculine - if unfair. There's a law, there's no provision for altering it, this is the way it is and everyone knows it so just live with it. That's the way my father might solve a controversy - here's the answer, deal with it.
And then it seems like there's this vast body of law that isn't terribly either masculine or feminine: Don't drink and drive, don't speed, tenants are responsible for lost rent on the part of a landlord if they leave before their lease is up, etc.
Anyway, I'm going to put my sister's thesis down for a bit and fly to Edinburgh for Hogmany. For New Year's, I'll be dancing in the streets of Edinburgh with my friends Anna and Darren and Brian and Martin and David and Roddy and Francesca, God willing. If I'm lucky then Dave Duffy and Big Paul and Andy Watson will all be there, and maybe even Wendy and Claire. Should be good.
Bad part is, I have to fly over Ireland to get there. So I'll be flying over Carol instead of stopping where she is and seeing her. The good news is that I'll get to see her for a while in two weeks or so! Maybe as long as a month. This is a good thing. She's leaving for her flight around the world at the end of that time and we're breaking up, and that sucks, but there's not much I can do so I'll accept it with all of the good grace that I can.
Comments
It is so fascinating to me to see how Nathan perceive my thesis. As an author, I put my work out there - from my own context, and in many ways it means something very specific to my internal dialogue and understanding of the world. Obviously, as my stint with the American military was much more brief than my brother's, my understanding and perceptions of the military is much less complete than his. But it isn't just that - we have each had our own life experiences, and understandings thereof. So, reading what I wrote, and applying it to his own life experiences brings him to such different conclusions than my own, meaning that he thinks about things (i.e. the military) that wouldn't even occur to me. Thanks, Nae, for giving me a little peek into your mind, but also for allowing me to understand the detachment involved in being an author. Cheers to Scotland, I wish I could be there with you... Big hugs, your sis, Mara
Posted by: Mara | January 1, 2004 1:29 AM