English 021 Creative Reading

Weblog - Category - 4 Byatt
Possessed
4 Byatt
by jsimpson

Copper can be described in terms of definition 3a. There is evidence that he is in some ways becoming or being possessed with the spirit of Ash. He himself feels that his own identity is visible through Ash's. Montimer Cropper, fluently documenting every last item of the days of Randolph...
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March 29, 2005, 03:06 PM
Ellen Ash
4 Byatt
by jhoffman

The fundamental prerequisite to true ventriloquism is not the ventriloquist but the doll, that object to whom thoughts are attributed. It follows that Ellen Ash, who left only a diary incoherent even to Beatrice Nest (252), is most vulnerable to the ventriloquism of modern academics, and thus the most easily...
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March 29, 2005, 03:01 PM
Maud's Possessions
4 Byatt
by bellwang

Doctor Maud Bailey adds to the title of A.S. Byatt’s romance by adhering to the second definition of “possession”: “something owned, occupied, or controlled : PROPERTY” (Merriam-Webster). Maud controls her image the same way she controls her immaculate apartment. Because Maud’s doll-mask face has “nothing to do with her,...
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March 29, 2005, 02:59 PM
Return To Sender
4 Byatt
by kparker

While she appreciates Ash’s praises of her poetry, Christabel does not want to be directly under Ash’s tutelage. Therefore, she feels she must take physical possession of the letters she writes to Ash. Christabel values the originality of her mind’s work. This is why she compares herself to a spider,...
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March 29, 2005, 02:57 PM
The Duty of Possession
4 Byatt
by acathcar

The first Merriam-Webster definition of “possession” accurately describes Beatrice Nest’s influence: she has committed “the act of having or taking into control” the journals of Ellen Ash. “Beatrice’s lien, her semi-exclusive propriety” (110) makes her a formidable obstacle to the other Ash scholars. For Cropper and Blackadder in particular, she...
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March 29, 2005, 02:42 PM
Roland's psychological defense against his sad sad life
4 Byatt
by lcolon

In Possession by A.S. Byatt, Roland experiences “domination by something” as a form of possession. He is most obviously in physical possession of Randolph Ash’s and Christabel’s letters, yet he is possessed, emotionally and intellectually, by these letters. Roland’s own sense of self is shaky and undefined; he is vulnerable...
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March 29, 2005, 02:28 PM
Blanche's Possession
4 Byatt
by began

Blanche Glover demonstrates the 3a definition of possession (“domination by something”). In this case, her realization of Christabel and Ash’s relationship dominates her writing and actions. From the early moments of this affair, Blanche shows hints that this acquaintanceship is scandalous, as her “brain is filled full of vague images,...
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March 29, 2005, 02:27 PM
Freedom and Posession
4 Byatt
by rmccally

Christabel Lamotte is a woman who doesn’t want to live too grand a life. She desires only to live freely with her companion, Blanche and not to be tied down by anything or anyone. She doesn’t want money or fame, and wants to possess only what she needs to remain...
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March 29, 2005, 02:12 PM
Keeping One's Self for One's Self
4 Byatt
by kanders2

What is most important to Christabel LaMotte is to have possession of herself, to control herself and her life like a hockey player controlling a puck, thus disallowing anyone else to own or control her. She has or attempted to “renounce the outside World –and the usual female hopes” (205)...
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March 29, 2005, 02:08 PM
"Never shall a young man.../ Love you for yourself alone/ And not your yellow hair."
4 Byatt
by jsese

Maud, possessed by what others think of her, is “something owned, occupied, or controlled” (Merriam-Webster). Her yellow hair is the ultimate symbol of the chain that binds her to others’ opinions: she kept it cropped to avoid criticism and grew it out at a lover’s whim. As she explains to...
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March 29, 2005, 01:57 PM
Dual Possession
4 Byatt
by kmcqueen

Roland’s character is dually associated with definitions 1b and 3a (Merriam Webster). Acting on impulse and snatching Ash’s letters from his personal novel reveals Roland’s: control or occupancy of property without regard to ownership. Revealing his motives as, “But he did not want to. He felt they were his” (27)...
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March 29, 2005, 12:07 PM
Truth perhaps?
4 Byatt
by jmurray

Randolph Henry Ash was a man in search of the truth. He says in a letter to LaMotte, "we live in a world...that has gone piling up speculation and observations until truths that might have been graspable....are now obscured by palimpest on palimpset" (Byatt, 181). In his writings and in...
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March 29, 2005, 12:05 PM
Love's Possession
4 Byatt
by pdecoste

Possession when applied to Randolph Henry Ash means “a psychological state in which an individual’s normal personality is replaced by another.” Roland recognizes Ash’s possession when he states, “It was this urgency above all that moved and shocked Roland. He thought he knew Ash fairly well, as well as...
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March 29, 2005, 11:34 AM
Change in Possession
4 Byatt
by oradwan

The Victorian characters in Possession seem, to a modern reader, to be possessed by an inhuman amount of restraint. All of their out of date mannerisms make the first love letters sent to Ms. LaMotte by RH Ash seem very distant and collected. Yet as the book continues, Ash’s letters...
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March 29, 2005, 11:14 AM
The Feminist Possession of Cristabel's Values through her Possession of her work and character
4 Byatt
by sstewar2

Cristabel LaMotte’s role within the novel Possession, is most significant when the reader focuses on her character, the content of her poetry, and the letters between her and Randolph Henry Ash. When talking about her poems and the letters, Cristabel’s possession falls under the category of something owned, occupied, or...
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March 29, 2005, 03:52 AM
Self-PossessIon: Maud's Fortress of Autonomy
4 Byatt
by aahearn

Maud Bailey is concerned with definition 3-c of possession: “the fact or condition of being self-controlled” (Merriam-Webster). She says, “I keep my defenses up because I must go on doing my work. I know how she (LaMotte) felt about her unbroken egg. Her self-possession, her autonomy. I don’t want to...
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March 28, 2005, 03:18 PM
Fifth blog assignment
4 Byatt
by mphillip

Due before class on Tuesday, March 29 PossessionMain Entry: pos·ses·sion Pronunciation: -'ze-sh&n also -'se- Function: noun Date: 14th century 1 a : the act of having or taking into control b : control or occupancy of property without regard to ownership c : OWNERSHIP d : control of the ball...
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March 10, 2005, 01:07 PM