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rebeccafarber's picture

Our class discussion

Our class discussion prompted me to further examine the sisters' reactions to Beethoven's symphony.

When we listened to the clips of classical music and closed our eyes, people shared such different reactions and stories they had each built to the music. Yet we listened to the same notes at the same time in the same scenario; that is to say, there were no variables that separated our experiences making them more unique than any one other's. But for one classmate, she was featured in a parade while listening to one clip. For me, I was somewhere in a murky ocean, floating on a raft. Why these different responses - different stories to the same starting point?  Now I'm starting to get somewhere else.. suppose there is no reality that we can each perceive, no one story we can all reach and that's the reason our reactions are so different? Because the limit of how many stories can emerge from one source are infinite, boundless, making reality impossible to achieve. What have i done.. It seems I can't even read a novel without wondering why our interpretations of this novel are so different, yet the words are the same..

I completely agree with Jean’s post, however, that the novel has remnants of Wuthering Heights (I have not read Pride and Prejudice so I could not agree on that count). It is so interesting to note the parallels between the two stories, both thematically and even structurally. The developing loving between Margaret and Mr. Wilcox is a poignant aspect of the novel, proving that it is within ourselves that we relate to each other and not by external means (such as through money, status or wealth). 

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