BACONANDEGGTACO
2nd Period
Final Exam Blogpost
Introduction
Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights revolves around the doomed love affair between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff during the Romantic Era. Throughout the novel, the narrator details a riveting tale of passion, revenge, and the destructive powers of love. In the metafiction, temporal distortion, and magical realism, Brontë trusts her audience will discover the strength and love buried under all of the hatred and greed.
Metafiction
Healthcliff and Catherine are often seen as mirror images of each other, and in turn, so are Cathy Jr. and Hareton. This blurring of boundaries challenges traditional notions of metafictional literature and character identity. Even in the beginnings of their relationship, Catherine loved Heathcliff despite his flaws as she proclaimed, “I am Heathcliff!” (Ch. 9, Brontë), attempting to prove their likeness. This relationship is paralleled between Hareton and Cathy Jr, as Cathy “took a sly look at him, expressing small admiration” (Ch. 21, Brontë) when they first met. Elissa Bassist’s "Writer Math”' is an essay feeding into the ‘girl math’ trend of today's youth, and everything she says is so utterly relatable I actually might die. Her constant contradictions provide humor and showcase her metafictional style as she references the reader's inner monologue and directly responds to them, “‘I’ll send it by EOD’—no, the odds are 6-1 you won’t” (Bassist). By destroying the 4th wall and immediately shutting down the audience, Bassist provides humor and clearly displays she has no faith in us. To be fair, I don't have faith in myself either. Just like Katherine didn't have any faith in Heathcliff in “Wuthering Heights”. Despite Katherine and Heathcliff’s INTENSE love for one another, Katherine still ended up marrying Edgar Earnshaw. At least Hareton and Cathy Jr. ended up together! One happy ending goes down in the books!
Temporal Distortion
Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” employs temporal distortion throughout the novel by providing a nonlinear narrative. The story is unfolded in a series of flashbacks, recollections, and memories at different times. The novel begins with Lockwood’s arrival to the Grange as he introduces himself to Heathcliff, “Mr. Lockwood, your new tenant, sir.” (Ch. 1, Brontë). However this is soon interrupted by the shift in perspective to Nelly’s frequent flashbacks of Catherine and Heathcliff’s childhoods, forcing the reader to piece together these fragments of story and furthering the author’s use of temporal distortion. In E.E. Cumming’s poem, “[i carry your heart with me (i carry it in]”, he showcases a prime example of temporal distortion due to his lack of timeline⏳. His poem jumps around references of the natural world but never specifies the author's true location or current doings. Speculation could be made as to whether the author was staring at the moon and sun, or perhaps nursing a tree to watch it spread its roots (which would take YEARS… so maybe he REALLY loves trees👀). Cummings followed the same structure as Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of The Canterbury Tales, as his fables failed to follow a specific timeline as well. As the pilgrims voyaged to the shrine of St. Thomas Beckett, they retold many stories in order to win the storytelling contents amongst themselves. In doing so, their stories jumped from character to character, often referencing interactions between stories, yet never following a timely play by play. One of the specific tales that Chaucer tells is the Knight's tale, which ends similary to Catherine and Heathcliff's relationship- tragically.
Narrative structures are quite unique between these three authors, as Chaucer rambles about the tea on everyone, Cummings organizes a sonnet that's not ACTUALLY a sonnet, and Bronte focuses on multiple love stories spanning half a century. This avoidance of traditionalism seamlessly interweaves temporal distortion in all of these tellings in order to further engage the audience. AKA, they are being boujee. I find it super fun to try and put the pieces together as I'm reading a novel and become a detective.
Magical Realism
During Lockwood’s first night at the Grange, he threatens Heathcliff due to his poor experience in Catherine’s bedroom and he exclaims, “Well, it is—swarming with ghosts and goblins! You have reason in shutting it up, I assure you. No one will thank you for a doze in such a den!” (Ch. 3, Bronte). This element of the supernatural contributes to the postmodern theme of magical realism, as the characters repeatedly run into “ghosts” of the past, strange curses, and darker aspects of human nature. Off topic- but I think we can all agree that people don't normally become painted and blend into walls… at least not on Wednesdays. However, this seems to be a regular occurrence for Goyte in his music video “Somebody That I Used to Know”. This element of becoming one with the wall symbolizes something deeper- the gradual disintegration of the painted bodies of Goyte and Kimbra are a metaphor for their crumbling relationship. They definitely have a barrier (literally and metaphorically😉) between them as their pent up anger is revealed throughout the video. Honestly, if I was able to passive aggressively sing-yell at my ex-boyfriend, I would take that chance too! Even if the paint is a pain to get off...it's worth it. Basically these two authors are similar because they both incorporate magical realism. One with ghosts, and another with paint on walls.
Conclusion
As each element discloses, magical, time-skipping, perspective-shifting narratives come to light. Wuthering Heights is a tangle of love, passion, darkness, and beauty. Within the darkest parts of the self, there can be love. Possibly ghosts too, if you're Catherine Earnshaw. To make yourself feel better though, try listening to some of Taylor Swifts' music!
Works Cited
Peyton Burleson #901497903
Ms. Holly Leach
ENGL 2322.019
Works Cited
"Animation Ghost." Giphy, 2016, giphy.com/gifs/animation-ghost-spooky-YARUMKaGd8cRG. Accessed 10 May 2024
Bassist, Elissa. “Writer Math.” McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, 18 Apr. 2024, www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/writer-math. Accessed 9 May 2024.
Bronte, Emily. “Wuthering Heights.” Simon & Schuster, December 1996, www.gutenberg.org/files/768/768-h/768-h.htm. Accessed 9 May 2024.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. from The Canterbury Tales. 1387. Translated by Nevill Coghill, myPerspectives, English Language Arts IV, Edited by Morrell, Ernst, Ph.D., et al., Pearson, 2006. pp. 185-228.
Cook, Peter. “Mawwiage.” Giphy, 2017, giphy.com/gifs/marriage-the-princess-bride-priest-26Ff05K21rzHKB15K. Accessed 9 May 2024.
E.E. Cummings. “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in].” Poetry Foundation, Liveright Publishing, 1952, www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/49493/i-carry-your-heart-with-mei-carry-it-in. Accessed 9 May 2024.
Goyte. “Somebody That I Used to Know.” YouTube, 5 July 2011, youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY. Accessed 10 May 2024.
Grade Saver. "The Knight's Tale Video Summary." Youtube, 10 March 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=f58u4bDlmnw. Accessed 10 May 2024
HRejterzy. “Tree Love.” Giphy, 2021, giphy.com/gifs/tree-free-hugs-hug-kwnRfbCKVf4VHfv3hm, Accessed 10 May 2024
Leach, Holly. “Highlights of Postmodernism.” Nerd Central, 3 May 2023, nerdcentralorg.files.wordpress.com/2024/05/highlights-of-postmodernism.pdf. Accessed 9 May 2024.
Maer, Thoka. “GIF by Thoka Maer.” Giphy, 2016, giphy.com/gifs/art-time-abstract-3o7TKJoSDgvrTXcHQc. Accessed 10 May 2024.
Masters, Jasmine. “And I Oop.” Giphy, 2019, giphy.com/gifs/oop-whatcha-say-andioop-KDbi6mOb2O73HHs0xg. Accessed 10 May 2024.
MC Music with Lyrics. "Taylor Swift 'THE ERAS TOUR SETLIST' with Lyrics." Youtube, 18 February 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KH80MbhecI. Accessed 10 May 2024.