"She made the hollowness of my flesh fill with people and she believed in love and everything comes to those who wait, kid - you would get anything you hankered for, she said, if you'd believe and keep it in the mind's eye"
This quote stuck out of the ordinary to me for quite a few different reasons. In the beginning of the chapter we are shown how much Clara means to her and how everything Clara says she's motivated by. With this quote it seems to show that Clara has experienced so much in life and knows that there is so much more to life then the bootleg bar they are working in and that she just needs to keep her eyes open for the opportunity to come along.
This quote specifically stuck out to me because of how she states what Clara does for her and how what she said is so important to her not only for the importance behind the saying, but because it is coming from Clara. I like how she states how she filled the "hollowness of her flesh with people," which to me means that Clara made her feel warmed, loved, and cared for not only by herself but from other random people also.
And then I liked how she states that Clara "believes in love and everything comes to those who wait." It made me think that there is this girl who is doing this grungy job that she probably does not want to do at all and has this amazing attitude of not only making other people keep there head's up, but also showing that she still believes in life's little miracles and that eventually, if someone works hard and waits patientally, something great will come to them. This girl makes not only everyone around her, but the reader's (such as myself) think that we do honestly get what we deserve and that we just have to keep our eyes open and keep believing (as corny as that might sound), it is completely true and I think we get frustrated and forget that so often.
And finally, it goes along with everything I have been stating as the quote comes to an end by saying "you would get anything you hankered for... if you'd believe and keep it in the mind's eye." Basically saying to me that, honestly, anything you long for will eventually come to you, if you just believe and keep thinking that it will come true (by keeping it in the mind's eye (which is a very creative way of saying it)).
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I too think that this sentence tells us a lot about the book. However, I looked at in in a much different light than you did. To me it is a nice - spirit lifting sentence but the rest of the book and the relationship between the girl and Clara is one of desperation and loneliness.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it seems that Clara is telling the girl that if she waits and is patient that she can have the whole world but I don' t see how Clara can actually believe this because she too has nothing and has made nothing of herself. The irony in this statement makes me realize that even when people are living in poor conditions they still have hope and that may be one of the true characteristics of human kind. If we had no hope that this world and the people in it would have failed long ago.
I agree that Clara is an extremely interesting person, especially in the early chapters. She serves as a sort of mentor for The Girl. I agree with much of what your wrote. I would like to add that Clara's positivity is important in a couple other ways. One, Clara's positive outlook on the future is very much a representation of how bad the present is for her and everyone else. The era they are living in is extremely rough. I think Clara looks so much to the future because the then and now are so terrible.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think Clara sees The Girl as someone that reminds her of herself. She doesn't want to see the narrator fail or have to take on the tough times that Clara had to take on in her life.