Titles are important to any analysis of a literary work. They give the readers clues about symbols, character, or theme. At the end of his short story, “The Curse,” Dubus states “The curse moved into his back and spread down and up his spine, into his stomach and legs and arms and shoulders until he quivered with it. He wished he were alone so he could kneel to receive it.” In your opinion, what is the “curse” Mitchell receives? Post your ideas here.
10 comments:
The curse the Mitchell receives is the story of what happened to the girl. He knows the whole story because he witnessed it. So when people come to ask he what happened, he says that he can never finish the story because there are so many people that come in and want to know the details. Mitchell is cursed because he is the only person who can tell her story exactly the way it happened and he is cursed by the memory of that experience. Mitchell wishes he could kneel to receive it meaning that the memory is so painful and his regret for not doing anything, that he himself feels so weak he feels he could just break down. He is cursed with images of the girl being taken advantage of.
I believe that the curse for Mitchell was the guilt that he was expirienceing from not taking any action in the situation involving that woman and the men. in class when we talked about transferrance the "scapegoat theory" from that guy (george fraiser)I felt like that theory applied to Mitchell's situation. He blamed alot of his circumstances; like none of his regular people being at the bar (and not alot of people at all), he also blamed the men themselves for being on "dope" and their appearance, and many other things that were holding him back. He uses these circumstances as his own "scapegoats" as to why he just stood their and let this happen to the girl, and I think he realizes towards the end that to "cure" himself he just needs to accept his guilt (accept what happened) and that is why he "kneels to recieve it".
Mitchel receives the the curse of the cycle of abuse. This curse couldn't even be cured by his wife's cleansing; it only lasted for the a while and it was back. This guilt for not stepping in when drug crazed guys took advantage of a young woman was the final step in the cycle. People have addiction; whether it is like the girl coming in for cigarettes, the guys doing drugs and getting high, or if it is that want to have something or do something you know you shouldn't. This addiction leads to abuse; in this case it was taking advatage of the girl. Even if your not part of this abuse the abuse leads to regret because something unjust and just wrong has been done. It is an ongoing cycle which Mitchel receives. He must live with this guilt even though he probably would have been killed if he stepped in and said something.
i believe the curse that mitchell recieves is the curse of guilt. he feels guilty that he could've done something to help the girl (when in reality he couldn't). so he felt guilty about something that couldn't happen. so he brought the curse apon himself in a sense. if i'm wrong can someone plz correct me?
I agree with Dylan. I believe that the curse Mitchell receives is guilt. He feels guilty because he knows he should have stopped them, any other person would have. But there were five bikers and one of him. He was the only one who witnessed this crime, if there had been others who like Mitchell were not able to stop the bikers they too would have been cursed with guilt. Throughout the story Mitchell tries to pass the guilt on to someone else, the police that come to the bar, his wife, and his children even. In the end I think he finally realizes that there was nothing he could have done to stop them. He himself could have been severely hurt enabling him to make the phone call that in long term ends up saving the girl. To me the reason he bends down to receive the curse, is because he is finally accepting the fact that there was nothing he could of done, he is accepting it.
The curse that mitchell recieves is the curse of knowing what happend to that girl and know that he was in a no win situation to help the girl. He wanted to help her but knew he could have been seriously hurt and possibly killed by those men then what help would he of been to her. The men still would have raped her and being that he stood back and didnt do anything made things just as hard but because he didnt get killed or badly hurt by those men, he is more help to her because he is a witness to what those men did to her and that is what makes him so usful it is because he can testify it there was a trial to be. But until that happens Mitchell is cursed with the girls hurt and his own rage and anger towards the men. The anger and rage he has is so deep that has turned to sadness and helplessness. That is the curse in my opinion.
Adding on to what Emily said, i think that also by bending down to recieve the curse by finally accepting the fact that he couldn't of done anything to help the girl it's also allowing him to relieve himself of the curse at the same time by accepting what happened and the only thing that could happen.
The curse is knowing something that shouldn't have happend, knowing that it could have been stoped but wasn't. This curse is a curse that will stick with Mitchell his entire life, not being able to forget what happend to the girl, trying to forget with his wife and daughters help...but not being able to find the "secert to not getting stuck." Because there is no secert thing that can get you from not feeling guilty about letting a girl get raped when you could and should have stoped it.
Mr. Getty, why are we not blogging on Atonement? We should be...
Post a Comment