I wanted to read a thought-provoking mystery during my summer break, so I considered one of Joyce Carol Oates’s book.
Carthage is an entertaining, provocative novel filled with
suspense. It is engrossing; Joyce Carol Oates always creates characters that
make you think long after you finish the book.
The novel reminds readers of the war in Iraq.
It exposes the trauma, suffering and pain it caused and the circumstances that
led to it.
I do
recommend Carthage but I am not blind to the fact that this novel
perpetuates a number of stereotypes and prejudices that float consistently in
the traits of unconscious biases.
The heart of the mystery sets off with the
disappearance of Cressida Mayfield, a nineteen-year-old woman from Carthage,
New York. What happened to Cressida?
The mystery revolves around her
disappearance; the novel is an unpredictable adventure with several twists and turns.
It keeps the readers on tenterhooks till the end. There is no way you can guess what happened
to Cressida, and I love that about the novel.
Joyce
Carol Oates is a brilliant novelist. I appreciate the way she makes the reader
believe something about a character, only to later lead the way to the
reevaluation of the original views she offers. This may be a strategy to expose the
complexity of reality. One has to be careful before judging others. Still, the
trap of stereotypes and biases in this novel makes my head spin like a
carousel.
First
of all, I found it unsettling that she portrayed an absurd dichotomy between
Cressida and her older sister, Juliet. Cressida is labeled as the “smart girl”
and Juliet is the “beautiful” one. I found this deeply unsettling.
Cressida
Mayfield and Juliet Mayfield,
the two icons
of the relentless stereotyping of women
“Cressida was invariably judged too smart.” I
was intrigued to learn about her. We read about Cressida being “smart” ad
nauseum. However, the concept of “smart” is warped to satisfy a kind of
stereotype that fits the unconscious biases of society. I find this character
shallow, self-centered and somewhat boring. Cressida was tactless, selfish and
blunt in a way that did not make her smart. I expected witty remarks or actions
that would shape funny, thought-provoking situations, but nothing happened to
convince me that Cressida was indeed smart other than the mind-boggling work
she did on Frankenstein for a college assignment.
The author associates the idea of a so-called
“smart” girl with being rude and reckless. It was very disappointing because I
do believe that some modern societies still have problems with what they
consider “smart women”. Smart women are viewed with distrust, so this story
helps to enhance the problem and fortify the idea that smart women can be
dangerous and unpredictable. Now think about how this translates into politics…
This
is a social feature that dates back to the Middle Ages, when women who
expressed disagreement or opposition were persecuted as witches, so the “smart
girl” stereotype depicted here may be an expression of the misogynistic trend
that continues to exist, and it is used effectively to silence and disempower
women across the world. The “smart woman” who appears “different” is a red flag
to be avoided at all costs.
Women are expected to be docile and follow the
rules consistently to be liked. Blunders are not to be forgiven, so the “smart”
one in this novel meets the “need” of the collective consciousness of American
society to project distrust on “smart women”. Cressida is not to be trusted. She
is unpredictable. On the other hand, Juliet is the “beautiful” one, and even
though Juliet was sometimes physically attacked by her fiancé she covered it up
for him because she was “in love with him”. She would never acknowledge that
there was something terribly wrong in that relationship, and this satisfies a
kind of prejudice here about what to expect from the so-called “beautiful women”:
that beautiful women can tolerate violence because they are dumb enough to do
so. The so-called beautiful woman never seems to understand that the
relationship is unhealthy. In this novel the women are classified and put into
these senseless boxes that perpetuate injustice and unfair judgments about
women.
Cressida and her intellectual
conversations… with her father
Cressida
enjoyed discussions about Greek philosophers with Zeno, her dad. However, Joyce
Carol Oates makes clear that Juliet and Arlette avoided getting engaged in such
discussions because they “did not like to disagree”. I have lost count of the
times in which intellectual discussions take place between the teenaged daughter
and her father in novels. Fathers are portrayed with fun intellectual interests
at the dinner table whereas mothers are boring. I never understood this
dynamic, but the bias exists in literature and it makes no sense to me. It is
interesting to see how the patriarchy is at work in subtle ways.
What does
“being beautiful” mean?
Beauty
is in the eyes of the beholder, so the whole obsession with beauty here is hard
to comprehend. Why did Cressida care about it so much? Cressida is jealous
because Juliet is considered beautiful. She bullies Juliet. Cressida thinks her parents don’t love her. Even the author suggests that their parents, Zeno and Arlette, do not love Cressida as much as they love Juliet. How can a parent’s love be influenced by
the kid’s physical beauty? The situation is preposterous and ridiculous, but don’t
be so quick to judge them. Her parents do suffer after her disappearance; Joyce Carol Oates wants to make sure you understand that they do love Cressida.
Ambiguity is the queen of the game. They love her, but they had trouble parenting her. Why is it so hard for Cressida to connect with her parents?After a careful analysis I realised that her father is prone to spoil her, so Cressida has low tolerance for frustration.
The dichotomy between Arlette and Zeno
Zeno appreciates Cressida’s artistic skills. He is impressed by her artworks, but I noticed that Arlette only appreciated her art when Cressida was a child and also once she lost her daughter. Again, we see an unsettling dichotomy here: the man values the complexity of Cressida's art; his wife only does so under special circumstances. The man shares intellectual conversations with Cressida. His wife is unwilling to do so.
Due to Cressida’s talent for drawing, Arlette did consider the possibility of
putting something together to publish a children’s book, but Zeno dismissed the
idea. He considered that Cressida was far too complex for that. Zeno thought
that doing so was not at Cressida’s intellectual level, so her father is put on a
pedestal here as if he were the one who knows what is best for Cressida.
Brett Kincaid
Juliet’s boyfriend, Brett Kincaid, is the
brave hero who served in Iraq. The trauma of war left physical and mental scars
that will eventually ruin his life. Even before going to war Brett Kincaid had
been carried away by violent impulses. Violence is totally acceptable in males,
anyway. Joyce Carol Oates shows that women fall in love with him because he is
so “brave and kind.” His violent impulses can
be safely ignored because his kindness and empathy overshadow those flaws
according to the cultural mindset of the novel. I am not making anything up.
This is what happens in the story.
It is confusing to me, because Brett used
to hang out with psychopaths who treat women like garbage, but, strangely
enough, Brett has been immune to the influence of his peers who sexually
assault women and get away with it. I think this aspect of the novel is baffling.
Joyce Carol Oates clearly wants the readers to feel compassion for Brett, so
she shows that he can be very empathetic and kind despite his background of
hanging out with psychopaths. Joyce Carol Oates shows that Brett
is ready to defend the vulnerable at all costs, but why was he a friend
of the psychopaths who referred to women in the most disgusting ways? I have
trouble handling this ambiguity. Is it realistic? What do you think?
PTSD
(post-traumatic stress disorder)
The stream of flashbacks and disruptive thoughts exposes the atrocities of war and the effects of trauma. I appreciate how the author evokes deep emotions and feelings. She captures the emotional impact of war and the helplessness that results from it.
Juliet and Brett’s dream of getting
married never materialized. Their dream is completely shattered for different
reasons, and there is something about this that remains unclear at the end...
Unfair
prejudices
I loved it when Cressida volunteered to teach
math to students in middle school. She was in her element when she did that. I
loved how she poured her creativity into the fascinating task of teaching
mathematics. That was smart of
her, but it did not last long. At some point somebody made a comment that was
offensive to Cressida. The situation highlights Cressida’s deep sensitivity,
but I did not really understand why it affected her so much. This could have
been fleshed out more perhaps. It was disappointing that she stopped volunteering
because of that. Why did it offend her so much? What does this tell us about
Cressida?
I was
also struck by the fact that all the middle school students who needed
assistance in math had “brown skin”. Why is Joyce Carol Oates pointing this out?
Does she think that only students with brown skin need assistance with math? This was not only inappropriate; it was also
unnecessary to point out the skin color of the students.
The
intriguing nature of “The Investigator”
“The investigator” is a unique, intriguing character.
He investigates and works to address injustice and change things in unconventional,
peaceful ways. Yet he is rather authoritarian and cold
in his own private realm. I wanted to learn more about this strange man. What
happened to him?
What I truly liked about the novel
The
novel offers the opportunity to get to know a great variety of characters in
various settings and situations. At times it dares to invite us to contemplate
different perspectives on the same situation.
The
death penalty is explored with heartbreaking details. The novel exposes the
darkest, most brutal aspects of society. Yet amid the violence and disrespect for human
dignity there are rays of hope...
I cherished the unique instants of
contemplation, shared silence and human connection. I appreciate the peaceful
moments of inner redemption: the empathetic understanding that forms unlikely friendships…
Similarities with We Were the Mulvaneys
Arlette finds comfort and solace in the Catholic
religion just like the mother in We Were the Mulvaneys. Again,
Catholicism offers them the relief and comfort they seek.
Men use
alcohol to deal with their outrage and hopelessness.
Male
violence is acceptable and tolerated in several ways.
Both novels
deal with the effects of trauma and violence.
Both novels
expose the consequences and features of the lynch mob mentality. Interestingly, Joyce Carol Oates mentions the
so-called lynch mob mentality at this interview here. I want to highlight it
because the lynch mob mentality is a tool of authoritarian regimes.
Conclusion
This is a
thought-provoking, engaging novel that reveals the darkest brutal aspects of
society. It reveals the effects of trauma and violence and the persistent nature of gender double standards. It exposes the ways in which women are
oppressed and classified by labels with an utter disregard of their talents and
potential. Unfortunately, it reinforces stereotypes and prejudices that are
part of unconscious social biases.
Feel free to read my writing on the following books by Joyce Carol Oates:
