Trafalgar Square, across which Peter Walsh walks.
In this reading, Peter, having left Clarissa Dalloway's house, whiles away some time while waiting to meet the lawyers who are helping with the divorce of the woman he is love with. He marches alongside of some young men training to be soldiers; he follows an anonymous young woman for a while; he sits on a park bench and falls asleep; and, as I take it, he dreams ("The grey nurse resumed her knitting . . . . But to whom does the solitary traveller make reply?") In his dream he imagines some goddess-like being "showering . . . down from her hands compassion, comprehension, absolution . . . ."
compassion: feeling kindly and sympathetically toward those who are suffering
comprehension: understanding
absolution: forgiveness, as from someone with full authority to declare someone no longer subject to punishment
The prompt for this blog: how does one of thes words--compassion, comprehension, absolution--function as a value in the romantic comedy, The Awful Truth?
In other words, you needn't comment on Mrs. Dalloway tonight; I'd like you instead to discuss the movie you saw today. Thank you!
25 comments:
The word Comprehension functions as a major value in the movie The Awful Truth. The loss of comprehension between the two main characters Jerry and Lucy, lead them to a distrustful relationship ending up in a divorce. The second major example of the loss of comprehension is when Jerry assumes that his wife Lucy is cheating on him with her music teacher. Another example is when Lucy finds out that her husband Jerry has been lying to her about how business is going. Saying that it is going well when really it is going very poorly. She figures this out when Jerry brings her a fruit basket and she turns over an orange that has a stamp on it saying where it came from. When both Lucy and Jerry try to get each other to confess their lies, they simply deny the lie causing more distrust and a loss comprehension between them. Suddenly when they throw themselves into divorce they grow more and more apart until they feel a loss of comprehension or loss of awareness of what is going on in each other's life. Overcome by jealousy, Jerry starts to try to mess up Lucy's relationship with Dan and doubts the success of the relationship. Lucy starts to only regain that comprehension when she finally knows for certain that she loves Jerry. Now Lucy is overcome with jealousy and sadness when Jerry is said to be married to an heiress. So she tries to mess up Jerry's relationship by posing as Jerry's obnoxious sister acting like Jerry's previous silly girlfriend Dixie Bell Lee. Finally at the end of the movie both Lucy and Jerry regain that comprehension of each other that they lost in the beginning of the movie. They now know for certain that they love each other and all the little details that were blocking them from this love are now cleared up, allowing Lucy and Jerry to start their relationship over again.
i have to disagree with one of the points that annabel made.
"Suddenly when they throw themselves into divorce they grow more and more apart until they feel a loss of comprehension or loss of awareness of what is going on in each other's life."
i think the opposite effect happened in result of their divorce. Once they start fighting and head towards divorce, they do, as annabel said, start to get jealous of each others new love interest. they playfully plan to ruin each others chances with another mate. i disagree with annabel in that they grew apart because i think that they, in some weird way, grew closer. i think the comprehension of their love is revisited. they discover their old love while spending time apart. in the end scene with the cabin, it is clear they never stopped loving each other.
i think that the two grew closer than ever after seeing each other in the arms of someone else. i think they know exactly what is going on in each other's life (ie. jerry always being around with the excuse being the dog, etc.).
i loved Irene Dunne in this movie and especially Cary Grant (as usual)! :)
I think the word that I find most fits, what I got out of the movie, is 'absolution'.
The movie starts out at a final act within itself - Jerry and Lucy are getting a divorce, and by the way Lucy was talking, she thought it was good, that she couldn't stand the sight of him, his name, the thought of having married him in the first place.
From then on, it always seemed to be 'absolute' when it came to Kucy and Dan, and Jerry and his girlfriend (I forget her name). They automatically thought of marriage once their divorce was final. Lucy seemed to make this decision out of desperation, in order to rid herself of Jerry, who always seemed to be around somehow. It seemed black and white: they weren't together, they both 'loved' someone else, they'd be divorced, they'd both marry someone else as soon as the ink was dry. Every action seemed absolute and final, and every emotion too. The grey space, however, was underneath.
I also believe that the word 'absolute' correlates to how black and white Jerry and Lucy looked at situations, especially Jerry's suspicisions of Lucy's affair with her voice instructor. Everything seemed to be one way or the other, but in the end, it seemed to soften, to lighten, especially by the way Lucy posed as Jerry's one-time date Dixie Bell Lee (or 'his sister') when he visited his girlfriend's parents house.
The absoluteness of the beginning of the movie allowed for the softening to happen, for Jerry and Lucy to compromise, to trust, to understand that assumptions aren't always so absolute in their truth or their falseness; that, ultimately, love is never absolute, that, at least to me, ('true', whatever that means)love can never be final.
The word comprehension applies in the part of the movie when the clock is ticking by and they are watching as minutes pass by when they are finally no longer husband and wife.
The main characters finally begin to understand each other only at the end,even though it was loss of it that led them to divorce.
As Jane mentioned I think that the clock counting down the minutes until they would no longer be married was a focal point of the end of the movie. I actually paired the word “absolution” with this image because marriage is supposed to be a commitment forever; however divorce ends this commitment, which in my mind makes it an even more powerful ending than marriage. Divorce is a very absolute thing, it usually shows that at least one person in the marriage did something or feels something that is so terrible that the two people can no longer be together. This kind of action, divorce, would be a very hard to thing to “get over” and would not be soon forgotten. I believe that it must have taken Lucy a lot of energy to be able to forgive Jerry of accusing her of having an affair. Also, it was probably difficult for Jerry to forgive Lucy for jumping to the idea of divorce so quickly and then leaving and with his dog too! The definition of absolution that Mr. Durning gave us “forgiveness, as from someone with full authority to declare someone no longer subject to punishment” made me think of the separation of Jerry and Lucy as punishment. The image of the clock ticking by the minutes to the end of their marriage pushed Jerry and Lucy in to that last bit of forgiveness. Neither one could stand seeing the other with anyone else, as Audrey mentioned, and to end their suffering they decided to forgive each other and be together again.
Compassion is a big theme in the movie because although the lovers are playing jokes on each other, there is still a little compassion for one another because they understand what the other is going through. This compassion is seen also in the fact that the two reunite, that they have compassion for one another and actually care what they are going through, not only trying to play jokes on each other.
The two words I think best fit the movie are absolution and comprehension. First of all, the movie is called "The Awful Truth." Obviously understanding is going to be key. Through a misunderstanding of each other and their love for each other, the two get a divorce. After learning the awful truth and each understanding that they still have feelings for each other (realizing they can't hide it any longer), absolution is key. In other words, forgiveness.
I think that though all three words play a part in the movie, absolution is the most important. I felt that a lot of the movie and the way they went about a divorce in general was fairly childish in that it didn't seem to me that they were really wanting to get out of the marriage but rather were doing so as some kind of a test for each other or something. They are so playful about it that it seemed inevitable that they would forgive each other and come to an understanding and get back together.
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Comprehension seems to me to be one of the strongest forces in the movie: a lack of it and then a gaining, or re-gaining. There was a lack of comprehension between Jerry and Lucy at the beginning--not only an inability to comprehend each others' stories and points of view, but an inability to comprehend and be fully aware, perhaps, of the depth and permanence of their love for each other. Both tried hard to love other people, but by seeing the other with someone else, found it practically impossible to not try to mess it up. By experiencing this hardship of separation, they were able to comprehend, eventually, the need for them to experience compassion for each other and grant each other absolution, because of their continued love, which they realized they could not deny forever.
I think that compassion was an underlying theme in this movie. The lovers got jealous of each other when they saw each other with other people, but it was only because they felt such compassion for each other. They also "tried" to show compassion for the other one when they were talking about the new lives they were about to start with other people, but in the end, they realize that they cannot go through with it, and it was then that they truly understood each other.
Much of what I have to say has already been said, but I guess its worth restating. At first I wanted to discuss compassion, but then I realized that there can be no compassion (at least in a relationship) without comprehension.
I agree with Annabel in the sense that the divorce (beginning the movie with an act of finality, as Kim pointed out.) is a result of the lack of comprehension in Jerry and Lucy's relationship. Jerry is jealous of the music teacher with whom Lucy has come home, and Lucy is insulted by his assumption that there was anything "going on." Neither is willing to really comprehend the other's situation.
While the initial divorce was due to a lack of comprehension, I disagree with Annabel and agree with Audrey when I say that the comprehension between the two characters increases after their divorce. Once they are no longer able to take each other for granted, there is a sense of jealousy on both sides. They begin to notice each other's positive traits, coming to know each other better post-divorce than they were able to in marriage.
While there is still no comprehension in the sense that they are unable to comprehend the other's need to separate, to move on with his or her life. The ultimate resolution is that they are finally able to comprehend the importance of the other.
So, if I were to make a "comprehension arc..."
1. Lack of comprehension leads to divorce.
2. Immediate jealousy causes lack of perspective -- further lack of comprehension.
3. Each begins to see the other's merits -- increase in comprehension and emotional intimacy.
4. Ultimate comprehension of how much they need each other.
:-)
I think absolution definitely plays a huge role in this movie. After all they are trying to forgive each other through out the movie in a kind of backwards way. They play tricks on each other and then the other feels like they have to get even. But slowly through this their relationship makes a circle and they begin to forgive each other and realize how much they care for each other even though they don't want to say it outright.
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So we've decided that a lack of comprehension led to the divorce. By trying to get over the divorce they tried to convince themselves that they loved other people, but still felt compassion for each other. Once they admitted to this, they let absolution fall in place and reunite! Yay!
What everyone has said so far definitely makes sense. I agree with Sierra that absolution is a good way to describe it, because they do realize that they really care for each other, though they won't admit it outright. However, they do realize, regardless of whether or not they will admit it, exactly how much they care about each other, and so in a way, they forgive each other for everything that was previously wrong. Yes, none of it is obvious, but they go to whatever it takes to be with each other, and only seem to see the good in each other, even though they were so angry previously. So they forgive each other for everything that was wrong, subconsciously perhaps, but they do forgive each other.
In regards to the movie The Awful Truth, really all three words are equally important but in different ways.
Generally speaking, Lucy and Jerry's idea for a divorce stem from a lack of those three key words: compassion, comprehension, and absolution.
Both of them, whether intentionally or not, feel a lack of compassion, comprehension, and absolution towards the other. They are unwilling to trust each other (which is a major value that is 'redeemed' by each of them by the end of the film.
Lucy doesn't trust Jerry about his reasons for not going to Florida when he said that he did, and Jerry doesn't trust Lucy for taking vocal lessons with Armand Duvalle. This mistrust that they have in each other stems from their unwillingness to understand each others situation (comprehension). (While this following connection might be debatable) I believe that their lack of understanding for one another impedes them from feeling deep compassion or love for one another. Because they do not feel compassion or real loving towards one another they have no reason to forgive each other, or absolve them (absolution). While it's not as if Jerry and Lucy are completely devoid of these feelings (I mean otherwise there would be no movie, or at least it would be at maximum 5 minutes long) they are very lacking at the start of the film. The reason that there is a movie about their character's lives is because gradually through both humor and seriousness they are able to rekindle those feelings that they once had for each for each other. Yes, at times their initial actions might not be completely noble, each instance in the movie, each awkward encounter, each sarcastic line, allows their feelings for one another to grow again and blossom into the relationship that it once was.
By the end of the film, both Jerry and Lucy are able to trust each other and in doing so they are able to understand (or comprehend) each other and their actions. With this newfound understanding they are able to feel the compassion and love that began their releationship that day that they both saw Mr. Smith in the pet store. This compassion, love, feelings of kindness and sympathy allow both of them to absolve each other (to forgive each other for their maybe 'less than admirable' actions).
Inspired by what Gabby said, in her arc of comprehension (which I really thought was an interesting observation), in my view:
COMPREHENSION leads to COMPASSION which leads to ABSOLUTION
(and I believe that the exact opposite is true)
LACK OF COMPREHENSION leads to LACK OF COMPASSION which leads to NO ABSOLUTION/FORGIVENESS
Generally, I think these two 'cycles' can sum up the value progression of the film.
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and yes, I agree that there definitely were examples of all three words in this movie...
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mad cool points, everybody
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One other interesting thing that I thought of inbetween blogging was about the compassion element between Jerry and Lucy. In your definition, Mr. Durning, you said that compassion was 'feelings of kindness and sympathy toward those who are suffering'. What was interesting to me was the idea of this 'suffering'. Mainly, I thought it was ironic that both of them eventually act kind and lovingly toward each other (even when they are 'pranking' each other to sort of sabotage each others love life) when, in reality, they are the ones making each other miserable and suffer. They are the source of each others suffering (and mainly they do this intentionally).
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i agree with everything pretty much everyone has said
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i enjoyed this movie!!
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I must commend Todd in saying the compassion is a big theme in this movie. Let's break the word compassion down. Passion is a fierce fiery drive for something. "Com" is techinally with or for you, so together they have a burning passion whether it be love or hatrid because it different at certain points. Compassion is definitely used throughout the movie. Compassion is evidently a theme because the movie is about love overall and romance of course. I also would like to say that I completely agree with Kim.
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Awesome points!
Mike, I agree with you that the "arc of comprehension" functions both ways.
:-)
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