Well, at least the truth behind the mysterious woman and Quint is revealed to me. Once again seeking answers from Mrs. Grose after her encounter, the governess learned about the story behind Quint and Miss Jessel, the woman who appeared before her. Miss Jessel was a fair lady, but though Quint was a friend of the mansion's inhabitants, he took advantage of that and, apparently, did whatever he wanted with everyone in the mansion, including Miss Jessel. That gave some leeway to my assumption of the true "innocence" behind the kids, but now I questioned to what extent Flora and Miles rely on or even trust them to keep themselves entertained. The answer to that came only soon afterwards -yet again- when the governess saw Quint for the third time. It was, of all times for this time at night, and once Quint had left, the governess saw that Flora was not asleep in her bed. She found Flora at the window by her bed "looking for someone outside," and with the suspicion that arose from finding Flora out of bed, the governess sought to find the identity of another person who was outside on the lawn. Upon reaching the window of a room in the mansion's tower, she found Miles looking at something -or someone- that was above her position on the tower. I now find myself thinking about how deeply those kids have thrown themselves in the chasm of unknown horror of the future and if any attempt that the governess may make would be anything close to enough to save them.

The screw keeps turning

Well, I thought something was going to be going wrong sooner or later, but I did not imagine that it would start at such a scale as how it did. First, a mysterious man appears at the mansion and the governess spots him. What is stranger at this moment is that, without a single word being shared between the two of them, the man suddenly disappears without a trace of his going anywhere. To give any character the benefit of the doubt, that man could have been a stalker, an unknown servant of the mansion, or maybe even a regular man who was just passing by the mansion. Any assumption of his identity could have been correct to any reader; that would be the case, however, until the governess finds the man again and he vanishes a second time. This time, she knows the man was there for a specific reason: to find the mansion owner's son, Miles. After a stimulating conversation between the governess and Mrs. Grose, the mansion's longest-serving servant, the shocking identity of the man is revealed. Now, I honestly did not know what to expect from this book before I started reading it and, therefore, did not think very much about the man at first, but to have it revealed that it may be the spirit of a homeless man who was a friend of Miles left me quite surprised. Along with that surprise came my realization that this was the first step for the governess to learn everything there was to know about the mansion's history and the children because when the truth starts to be revealed, the knots in the mystery start to untangle themselves. But as soon as Miles was starting to become a more open book to me, the story threw me a strange curveball when I less expected it. Not soon after the second incident with Quint (the man who was revealed as a possible ghost), another strange character, a woman this time, did the same thing as Quint: appeared out of nowhere, stayed for a small period of time, and the disappeared. As strange as that was, it wasn't as confusing as the discovery that the governess made about Flora, the mansion owner's daughter. According to the governess, Flora, however it may be possible, knew about the woman's presence and had no normal reaction to it, such as mentioning her to the governess. When will this confusion be settled and the truth revealed?

The Turn of the Screw

I had begun The Turn of the Screw, and so far I don't know what to expect from it. The story is a frame story that starts with some friends telling tales around a fire a Christmas Eve when a certain person, Douglas, mentions that he has an interesting tale from the written words of a friend of his. Unfortunately, he was not able to begin telling the story until the following day, which all the friends looked forward to with anticipation. Then begins the story inside the frame, the story of a woman who begins with finding a job as a caretaker and school teacher for two kids. So far, the young woman has met the little girl of the family. One thing that does cause concern in me, though, is that she and the servants of their house puts a lot of emphasis in their "innocence," which makes me question just how sweet, kind, and innocent the children are.

Artificial Flowers

C.P. Cavafy's poem Artificial Flowers steps aside from what many people would think about "natural beauty" and turns to man-made creations for sources of beauty. He says that real flowers will not please him and calls gardens containing such "trite and common," though many gardens are unique in their own way, containing their own assortment of featured plants. He is bored of nature's perishable beauty, but some people consider that impermanence of life as a part of beauty. He says his requested works are "neither fading nor decaying, forms unaging." Though artificial works aren't prone to change unless used or altered, the beauty of such work can be lost if the work is destroyed. He mentions his requested works come from a different kind of garden "where Forms and Styles and Knowledge dwell." If I had one guess as to where or what that garden is, I would guess it is or lies in the human mind, the house of creativity and knowledge for every person. Cavafy goes further to say that artificial works are "true Art's true gifts, more beautiful than nature, with perfect leaves and branches." Perfection is one thing that humans always strive for but can never truly obtain, and even if those works are flawless in one's eyes, there is at least one person who will see imperfection in the work in one way or another. "Their charm" he continues, "derives from wise and pure Good Taste; they didn't vilely sprout in mud or dirt." As I mentioned, perfection of art is different between individuals or groups of people, but another thing that makes nature greater for the people opposing artificiality is the satisfaction of growing the plant and keeping it alive. What's more, artificial plants never sprout or bloom like real plants; they are simply made to look like they are in a permanent state of blooming. Artificial plants also lack natural scents; Cavafy's solution: "we'll pour out perfume, burn myrrh before them." Perfume, just like plants, does not last forever, so he would have to waste quite a bit of perfume and myrrh to give his plants a scent, and even if they would have a scent, it might not match the plant. Cavafy's poem is one of controversy and irregularity in the way he defines his definition of beauty versus others' views of beauty, and I would rather prefer to only view artificial works instead of pretending they were the perfect natural thing on the planet.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

In the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Li Mu Bai and Jen's last fight against each other takes place in a forest of bamboo. In China, bamboo symbolizes righteousness, something that Jen, throughout the movie, could not learn until the end. Li Mu Bai, however, knew plenty more about righteousness than Jen through his experience and many battles. Something that especially signifies Li Mu Bai's dominance over Jen in terms of righteousness is the fact that, even with a pose that looked not as sturdy as it should have been, he was able to stand on the bamboo as if he wasn't being moved when Jen started shaking the bamboo stalk they were on. He remained on the tip of the bamboo with his same position, no matter how much Jen jostled it. As for Jen, her purpose for wanting the sword and running away, as well as how she mocked and insulted her enemies as she fought them, exemplify her lack of righteousness. She strove to learn how to be a warrior, but one important lesson she skipped in her lessons was the true meaning of the path of the warrior, the path of the righteous. Her lack of righteousness made her resolve weak and flimsy, making it easier for Li Mu Bai to knock her off the bamboo and claim his victory.

Rocky (not the boxer or the mascot)

Speaking of notable characters, I feel as though I must mention Rocky. Rocky is Tayo's cousin/brother, and possibly the only person in his family that makes Auntie have a small sense of pride in her family. Why is she the only one? Well, Tayo's mother gave birth to him with a white man, so he wasn't 100% Native American; Tayo's mother having a kid with a white man is something that is against Native American "rules", for lack of a better word, and she brought shame to the rest of the family; then we learn about Josiah and his little affair with Night Swan. So I can see why she has only Rocky to rely on for having someone good in the family, but I think there was an instance or two where she treats Tayo like dirt. That being said, it sort of serves her right when the only one in the family who returns from the war is Tayo, but that death also deals a great blow to Tayo. But I am digressing. Her reliance on Rocky is quite satiated during his high school years since he actually gets a football scholarship, but the story does not mention anything about his grades, so the cup is only half full for now. The reliance, however, also includes Rocky's actions, and at one point in the story, Auntie is disappointed in him when he is spending more times for dinner at his girlfriend's house. Don't get me wrong: I understand that since everyone else in the family has nothing positive to contribute to their name, Rocky is the only one that can give the family some good reputation; however, I feel as though Auntie has just abandoned all hope in the rest of the family like garbage and is focusing on making Rocky the perfect boy. If that doesn't scream "rude" to anyone else, then I do not know what does.

Night Swan

I am still reading Ceremony right now, but at the point I am at right now, I am just lost in the development of the timeline. But in my confusion, I was able to be introduced to a peculiar side character known only as Night Swan. She is a dancer that Josiah had met at a bar one time, and if I am not mistaken in the descriptions of Josiah, I think he is or was in love with her. It all started with a request for a cigarette, and escalated quickly to a private dance. The private dance was a flamenco inside a room at the bar, but it was unlike anything Josiah had seen before. It was as if he was mesmerized, focusing only on the dance as the music and her dancing sped up. He was like this the whole time that he stayed with Night Swan, except for the last minutes he was with her that day. For some reason, Josiah saw something in Night Swan that could force him away from all he knew and loved before, and he called her a witch and threatened to have everyone else run her out of town. Then, once again, the timeline confuses me as she was talking about love of dance and how she was accused of murdering a woman's husband. I am not sure if this all took place during the same day, but Night Swan is such a mysterious character that I lost track of keeping the timeline. She said that she was a grandmother and then she recalled the time she decided to settle down in the bar as a retirement home. She definitely is a strange character- strange enough for Old Grandma to have a few stories to tell about her apparently. I wonder how long she knew about Night Swan.