Love, its Rationalization and Dependency

1
Love, its Rationalization and Dependency

• Morning

2
Structure of the Story

• Lydia after going to the farm (finding ticks)
• Flashback
• ? Lydia as a grad. Student Meredith working on
  his diss. married for 5 years.
• Their meeting in college and their relationship
• Scott and Lydia, relationship and their going to
  the farm (134-37)
• Climax the motel episode (140- 42)
• Reunion Merediths changes social pressure
  changes in Scotts family ? divorce and Lydia
  with Scott

3
Starting Questions

• Why does Lydia develop love relationship with
  Scott outside of her wedlock? What does she
  want?
• Does she get it? How do the two men relate to
  her?

4
Lydias Interests and Lack

• Phisophy abstraction inferior position
• Platonism
• Levi Strauss 144
• Scott his position, knowledge and sexuality
• The farm house ? stir up her fear and need of
  history

5
Philosophers Famous Lines Lydias Ideas

• Spinozas Ethics He who repents is twice unhappy
  and doubly weak
• Passion is faceless and mere blindness of will.
• Lydias
• Fetishizing history and savages forgetfulness
  (137)
• I do what I want to do and therefore what I do is
  what I want.
• Fate like Spinozas close universe
• I did wrong, to marry him. 148
• Scott marriage tangled roots underneath 133

6
Lydia about love

• Married at 21
• Brainy, absent-minded, committed to housewifery
• trusting good intentions, mutual respect and
  affection and love 131

7
Meredith vs. Scott

• Mederith
• no romantic 130 organized with clear plans
  about his future
• Concentrated on his work 130
• Needs Lydia as a companion 130 131
• Ms simple logic 141
• Did the right thing 143

• Scott
• Emotional love-making as a playful discourse
  Lydia feels like a Christmas tree 132
• authoritative body 134
• His simple logic 139

8
Self-Centeredness Dependency

• The wifenot talked about by them unless when
  Scott is annoyed by her(pp. 133 139
• Lydia Coming to rescue her men
• Meredith 141
• Scott 145 46 (while Meredith grows mature)
• Domesticated love 147

9
Lydia on love

• What does she need? E.g. Lydia about the house
  135
• P. 145 -- What has she done, and why? She could
  not remember.

10
Morning in Context

1. gender idealization of one's lovers (women),
   gender difference, stereotype, inequality

• gender idealization of one's lovers (women),
  gender difference, stereotype, inequality
• Lydia is no longer repressed sexually, but she
  still serves as a rescuer.

11
Morning in Context

• 2. views of love shown through -- treatment of
  endings love and death -- views of self --
  love as fusion, love against self-preservation,
  love as self-projection love as a way to fill up
  ones lack -- marriage (as economic exchange,
  as continuation of one's fantasies),-- language
  and emplotment (e.g. of Romantic love, of poetry,
  of opera)-- etc. etc.

2. views of love shown through -- treatment of
endings L M calm, not obsessive, but
following a decided route -- views of self
L, M and S love as a way to fill up ones lack
-- marriage -- economic exchange for
statusfirst a priests son and then a
teacher.-- language and emplotment (e.g.
philosophy)