Under the Surface

“Pride and Prejudice”, could Jane Austen have chosen a better title for her thrilling, globally distinguished Novel?   The first chapters very well prove the efficiency of the book’s title, as the ardent prejudice that reigned in the time, is revived. How judging, arrogant, superficial and ambitious creatures we are.  Let me not forget fake and lousy for, even though times have changed, we don´t really bother to hide these features.  In Austen’s Pride and Prejudice we find these dispositions implied through dialogue between characters as well as in descriptions of how they view each other. For instance, Darcy makes a good first impression due to “the report which was general circulation within five minutes after his entrance of his having ten thousand a year.” (pg.6)  As a mother, she feels her role is to find a wealthy, honorable husband for each of her daughters and is greatly enthralled by Mr. Bingley’s income and background.   

           
  These attributes so characteristic of the human species are very well embodied by the different characters presented in the beginning of the book.  Mrs. Bennet for example, doesn´t show any remote effort to hide her attraction to money that proves prominent every time she opens her mouth to say something other than “my poor nerves”.  

               

Today, it may seem absurd how love was defined by money and convenience rather than passion and fond feelings of affection and allegiance. One may argue past times of superficiality and shallowness are nothing but that, part of the past, and yet, we keep pointed at different people because they have or not followed fashions latest norms, bought Apple’s latest technology etc…  

Beauty sells. I can most confidently affirm that the success of a movie when released to the public lies on the appearance of the actors featured. Sure, some few judge books for their content rather that their cover, but most are likely to return the book to the dusty shelf where it belonged. Companies all over the world struggle to make their products most alluring to the eye and, millions of beauty shops around the world feed from human vanity and pride.

And so, … are we really that different from the characters of the novel?

Walking Down the Street of Self-Destruction

The theme of self-destruction has a great role throughout the story of Buddy Bolden. It was illustrated in his drinking, his friend Bellocq’s suicide, the physical harm he caused to himself and the constant defiling of the beauty of art  described in the quote, “…The making and destroying coming from the same source, same lust, same surgery his brain was capable of.” (pg.55)  Bolden was a slave of his drinking and his fears, both sources of his art and his ruin.  This self-induced damage is what ultimately leads a life of art and talent to its end in the loneliness of a mental asylum.   

It is near the end, when the narrator reflects walking on Gravier Street, that one is able to see a strong connection between the narrator and the main character.  The phrases, “When I read he stood in front of mirrors and attacked himself, there was the shock of memory. For I had done that…” (pg. 133), explicitly proves that the person speaking identifies with Bolden’s suffering and discontent, with his emptiness. The passage communicates Bolden’s lack of satisfaction towards who he was, as it narrates that he stood in front of that mirror “defiling people he did not wish to be.”(pg.133) The quote, “this way he brings his enemy to the surfaceof his skin”, reminds me of the ideas presented by the movie Fight Club.  Through pain and destruction the characters of the movie intend to find the truth, perfection, power and, a feeling of aliveness.

Finally, the author’s description of Gravier Street, “the coke signs almost pink”, is an allusion to Bolden’s life and how it ended. The coke signs, bleached by the sun, are only the shadow of what they had been before. The signs, as Bolden, have faded. The color has been drained out of them.