Traveling to London for the British Women Writers course was a wonderful experience. Having the opportunity to walk through the city where many great writers lived and set their stories was very interesting and enlightening. The walking tours were informative and helped me to understand the circumstances under which the authors we studied were writing and setting their stories. There is something about being able to experience a place while learning it’s history that makes it, it’s inhabitants, and it’s place in history more vivid and tangible. The two tours that I enjoyed the most were The Darkest Victorian Walking Tour and the Blitz Walking Tour. The tour guides were incredibly knowledgeable, and were able to convey what life was like in Victorian and WWII London. The historical context and interesting stories the guides provided deepened my understanding of the novels and short stories we read for the class, as well as for novels I read previously that were written by British authors.

In addition to the planned activities, being able to explore the city on my own was also a great experience. There are so many fascinating things to see! I particularly liked the V&A Museum, as well as spending an entire morning in some of London’s parks. London is an easy city to navigate using the tube, and would be a great place for those who want to be more independent to begin to venture outside their comfort zones. Additionally, because the trip lasted only one week, it is a great introduction to the study abroad experience. Overall the trip was very enjoyable and interesting. I only wish I could have done and seen more while there!

I noticed some of the characters in this story are in ways similar to those in Brick Lane. When Andrew was introduced, I remember thinking he was similar to Chanu. He’s interested in education, likes to explain things to Fatou, has a (probably smaller) belly that Fatou sees fold over on itself, and is characterized as a dreamer. Fatou also thinks he is a good man, even though he has flaws. Fatou’s relationship with his is different than Nazneen’s with Chanu because she chose to continue the relationship, however, Andrew is the person who initiated the relationship. Like Nazneen, Fatou has limited resources and opportunities in the new country she is in. Fatou is in some ways more more independent that Nazneen was initially because she worked and went out into the world, yet the circumstances she was living under really left her just as poorly off as Nazneed would have been. Nazneen had no way of supporting herself, and had no significant about of money to fall back on if the need arose, and Fatou didn’t really either, because even though she was working, she had no money, and probably would have had no references to get another job. I wonder how Fatou will get through after having been fired, and if she will end up marrying Andrew. If she does marry Andrew, I wonder how much of a factor necessity will be for her.

The Blitz walking tour today was very interesting, and helped me to better picture the setting of “Mysterious Kôr” as well as the characters experiences. When I read the story the first time, I thought about how I’ve lost myself in fantasy worlds, just to escape every day life. I think I did this more when I still lived with my parents, which is in the middle of farmland where there are not many opportunities. The world in which I lived was very real to me, yet at times I felt like I was in a dream like state because I let myself get wrapped up in the worlds of the books I was reading or the movies I had watched. I think Bowen was able to represent that feeling really well with the characters. However, seeing some sites from wartime London, and especially seeing the photographs of the rubble, helped me to see the “real” experiences the characters felt also. Because Bowen’s readers at the time she published were already familiar with the real life of wartime London, they probably were able to see the harsh reality of the setting in a way that someone who has not eperienced it cannot. However, I do think many people can probably relate to the feelings the characters had, even if they have not had as much trauma in their lives. I think it would be interesting to read the rest of the stories from The Demon Lover now that we have discussed “Mysterious Kôr” and seen London.

Going to the almshouse and the museum today really gave me more insight into the way people lived throughout the Victorian period. It’s been interesting to see the outside of houses, the communities people lived in, and hear about the living conditions, but it really was another thing entirely to be standing in a room that people lived in, surrounded by the things that they would have used in their daily lives. It really helped me to better understand many of the characters, because how we live our daily lives, I think, has a huge influence on who we are and how we view things. I think the tour and museum today was especially helpful since technology has made our lives so different than the characters we read about in Victorian literature, but on the other side of the coin our lives are also very similar. Seeing the rooms at the museum helped me to better vusualize the setting and the characters, much like I can already do with characters in literature set closer to this time period. It made the setting and struggles of the characters more tangible. And I found the information about how people lived fascinating!

Before we get started talking about Mrs. Dalloway, I’d like to ask if anyone else found it difficult to tell when focus was shifting from one character’s perspective to another. I found myself reading along, knowing the focus was a particular character, then realizing that the focus had shifted, and having to re-read previous passages to figure out where the transition was. Are there clues that Woolf included to indicate that she was transitioning to another’s character’s perspective that I overlooked? I did find it got easier to tell as I became more familiar with the characters, but initially it was pretty confusing.

I’d also like to say that I loved that there was so much packed into just one day. I like the way Woolf included information (about the characters, the culture, the history) through the perspectives of different characters concerning both the present and the past. I think she really captured the thought processes many of us have throughout our days. Sometimes that thought process is repetitive and annoying, but also very interesting and revealing.

Throughout the tour and while discussing North and South in class today, I couldn’t help but compare it to other Victorian novels (specifically the ones from class last semester). When reading Dickens and Hardy, it was very apparent to me that the novels contained a lot of critical social commentary. However, when reading some of the women authors I felt that some of the social commentary was a little more subtle. The novels we read by both the Bronte sisters as well as Eliot definitely contained a lot of social commentary, but it seemed to blend more seamlessly into the story, and perhaps required a closer reading to see. With Gaskell as well as Dickens and Hardy, the approach seems at times more direct, as characters talk openly about the social concerns the novels focus on, and are thus more apparent. I’m curious if other women authors in the Victorian period were as direct as Gaskell was in the novel once she got readers hooked with the marraige plot. The differences between how men and women wrote are very interesting, and it does seem to me that Gaskell was a little more straightforward in her criticism. I’m curious if she received any criticism herself for that, and am curious in general about what was said about her work when it was published.

Brick Lane Theme/Issue Response:

In class today we discussed the Chanu and Karim, and one thing I noticed about both characters is that they have a kind of nostalgia for something that never really existed in the way they think about it. Chanu has a deep longing to return to Bangladesh, yet the country he wants to return to and that he “remembers” is starkly contrasted with the country Hasina experiences and writes about in her letters. One of the reasons Chanu says he wants to return to Bangladesh is to get Shahana and Bibi there so they can have a better life, but given the horrible experiences Hasina has, it seems unlikely that they would have had a better life there. Similarly, Karim has a sort of nostalgia for Bangladesh, even though he has never been there, and does not know what it is really like. His reasons for this are probably different that Chanu’s, and it would make sense to me that it had to do with wanting to learn his history and culture, like we discussed in class today. It also seems likely that his response was so strong because of the othering and discrimination he likely felt. Nazneen, on the other hand, has nostalgia for certain real places and times. It was interesting to note the differences!