We began the class by talking about John’s post. In his blog post he discussed whether the main character in Good in Bed is likeable or not. He believes she is likable because she is different to how women are depicted today. She goes against social norms- she is obese, but sticks up for herself. She reaps beautiful characteristics and is genuine and confident. As a class, many of us agreed on the fact that she is likeable and somewhat relatable. Professor Bergren asked the class: does it matter whether we like her or not? Someone thought that being able to relate to a character makes you like him or her more. About half the class agreed and half disagreed.
Then we discussed the relationship between relatability and likability. Someone made the point that relatability leads to a greater understanding of the character, which therefore leads us to liking the character (relatabilityà greater understanding of the characterà likeability). Maddie made the point that relatability and likability do not always equal each other because it is possible to see your own flaws in a character and relate to his/her bad qualities, which leads you to not liking him/her.
Professor Bergren then asked us why the author of a particular article thinks that relatability is a flawed concept. Someone mentioned that you could assume something is relatable “without going into depth” and that the term “relatable” is too broad, but that you could argue the author’s point by saying that relating to characters could make you really enjoy and get pleasure out of the book.
We then went on to talking about why we appreciate things that we find relatable. Someone mentioned that being able to relate to a character is a stepping-stone to finding empathy towards that certain character. We are “in our comfort zone” when we are able to relate because certain situations in the novel seem normal and everyday to us. We then noticed that books in first person are sometimes more relatable. For example, LAS is in 3rd person and is not as relatable as “Good In Bed”. In the novel “Good In Bed”, you are put in Cannie’s shoes because she is the narrator of the story. In LAS, which is in 3rd person, you are not given as a specific of a point of view. If we were in Lady Audley’s point of view while reading LAS, we would understand her motivations more and would better sympathize with her.
We then went on to look at the epigraph at the beginning of the novel. (Epigraphs are usually decontextualized quotes that appear before the beginning of a narrative or essay). We learned that there’s a predictive quality to epigraphs. The epigraph in “Good in Bed” symbolizes moving on. It discusses something that used to be relatable but now is depressing and hard to relate to anymore. Both epigraphs could possibly be symbolic of her previous relationship/love. We talked about how both epigraphs work together/against each other. Both explain that home is nothing like people say it is and love is nothing like people say it is. It almost seems as if Cannie were the one choosing the epigraphs at the beginning because they are representative of her feelings.
Then we looked at p. 17. We observed the long descriptions of Bruce and the transitional aspects of the paragraph. As the paragraph progresses, more negative comparisons to Bruce are used. We also noticed that there are many adjectives that resemble size. The end of the paragraph ends by making fun of Bruce.
Professor Bergren told us that the first and second drafts of our essay should be posted on the Google Doc. The final draft should be posted in Dropbox. The two worksheets should be put in her mailbox by Friday evening.
We finished the class with Maddie showing us how to enroll in classes. She advised us to pick classes in advance. Go to my.trincoll.edu. On the left click on TC online. Sign in again. Click on self-service. Click on enrollment. Go to enrollment add classes (spring 2015). Course schedules (check times!!). Copy course number and add in the box. When you have everything plugged in you wait until it’s the time you’re allowed to add classes and press submit.