Thursday, August 30, 2012

On the Shelf, On the CD

I didn't/don't really know what to write about for this blog because I don't know if there are any requirements, so I'll just wing it. Sorry if the following doesn't make any sense. Ready... Go!


Two posts ago, I blogged away about Kate Chopin's The Awakening. I'm still reading it and I'm almost finished. I vowed today in class to finish the book when I got home, but I took a nap instead. Priorities. So, I can't summarize the book, I don't really have a new enlightening connection to the book since nothing really exciting happened that I can relate to, so what to blog about? Here I go making obscure connections.

Right now the current CD in my car is a musical. Shudder if you must, but try to repress it, it's a goody. A rather unknown (in comparison to the big ones like Les Mis), but cool, modern, a completely devastating. It's Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years. It's the story of the meeting, marriage, infidelity, and divorce of a young couple, Jamie and Cathy, a writer and a struggling stage actress.

The construction of the musical is unconventional, to say the least. There are only two cast members (Jamie and Cathy) for starters. Secondly, they're only on stage together for one song. The story goes in reverse chronological order for Cathy and chronologically for Jaime, meeting in the middle for their marriage proposal/wedding. The result is absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking. I'll admit that I've cried a few times listening (pathetic, I know.)

I hate Jamie. I want to punch him in the face and call him various obscenities. I am almost completely unable to rationalize his actions, but how is it that I completely support and can wholeheartedly justify Edna, from The Awakening, "cheating" on her husband?

Isn't cheating, cheating? Why should I view one relationship with contempt, but defend another? Didn't Edna's husband provide her with all she ever needed: love, money, a home, a beautiful family? Cathy did the same, didn't she? She was a faithful, loving wife, trying to balance her dreams and her tempted husband.

Maybe I only side with women. Maybe I'm the crazy one for being able to justify any type of infidelity. Maybe I'm looking too far into situations pertaining to fictional characters.

Probably the last, but that's just me.

No comments:

Post a Comment