Some staggling thoughts on the Waste Land discussion

First I would like to say I am probably 1/2 feminist so I hope this blog does not come off "she's still thinking about that?" I wanted to mention it in class today but we didn't talk about the Waste Land so I will blog my thoughts.

So I guess it all comes back to, for me, the whole discussion about the second passage, was the woman described raped or just unhappy? I personally think that the woman in the passage "A Game of Chess" from "The Waste Land" was raped, and to say but she had no will, that it was not rape, than we are making excuses for the man. He does not need our defense I am sure that he can come up with it all on his own. I think that woman are all going to react differently to different situation, not all woman are going to fight back. Especially if this is not the first time, as we all suspect from the poem, of course after 2 or 3 time he spirit is broken. She will not have any will left, in order to live she must become mechanic. The poem does seem to describe the woman as having no will and becoming mechanic in this situation. But I think that is from the emotional rape that has happened over and over in the physical sense but likely in her mind it is replaying, especially the first time. The poem won't mention the phycological effects of being raped over and over, where would it start, how could it begin to describe what that kind of situation does to a woman. And where would this description that cannot possibly be summed up fit into the poem. I think T.S. Eliot did well in trying to describe the emotional and phycological effects just by hinting, that this isn't the first time, and describing the woman's reactions and movements. He seems to not just touch on sexuality in this section, but also death. The death of the woman's will, the death of her spirit, the death of the feminine soul. She has no spirit, no will, she lives as a machine, or that is to say, her body lives but she does not.

That is just my opinion and interpretation of that scene in the poem. The reasons for it being in the poem, I am not quite sure. I have tried to understand Eliot's thought process, organization, and intentions. But I found the poem as a whole very confusing because I felt that it jumped from subject to subject. Like several poems in one section (sometimes) and many sections in the poem. But as you break each part down, it becomes easier to relate, for example there seems to be the underlying theme of sexuality and death. And when examined even closer as we did with section 2, you begin to gather meaning from the poem and suddenly, the different topics and the jumping around doesn't matter anymore, suddenly it begins to connect itself to gather. I still cannot tell how this section connects except though its themes of sexuality and death. I also think that there are many interpretations to each part of the poem and to try as one person to link them together, is hard, not impossible, but hard. And I am sure we would each link the poem and its meanings differently, so who am I to say what is right, all I can do is give my thoughts, my opinion, my interpretation and let you digest them how you will.