Can blissful ignorance really hide an affair?

Bliss follows a woman named Bertha, as she experiences a constant feeling of “bliss.” Throughout the story, she takes in different joyous and extravagant experiences and criticizes society for not being able to enjoy these pieces of life. By the end of Bliss, it’s revealed that Harry, Bertha’s husband, was having an affair with one of Bertha’s friends. But, looking back, there were instances with Harry that foreshadow his detachment from their relationship. 

Early on, Bertha has an interaction with the Nanny and her baby. Throughout this interaction, Bertha expresses how she dislikes that her child is “not in a case like a rare, rare fiddle--but in another woman’s arms” (146). Bertha then quickly shoos off the Nanny, following up with a gesture to her baby as she cradles them saying, “Now I’ve got you to myself, my little precious,” (147). This exchange shows Bertha’s desire to interact with her child. She does not like the fact that the Nanny interferes, holding her back from the mother-daughter relationship she strives for. 

On the other hand, during the dinner party when asked about the baby, Harry responds by saying, “... don’t ask me about my baby. I never see her. I shan’t feel like the slightest interest in her until she has a lover.’” (153). While they are both the child's parents, Bertha is the one with a want for a connection, making efforts to interact with her baby. This dynamic foreshadows his infidelity by giving insight into their relationship with each other. Bertha is putting a lot of energy and emotion into it, while Harry is detached, most likely more interested in his affair. 

In the story, Bertha criticizes society by trying to understand why the world cannot be happier. She then criticizes herself by wondering why she is so dissatisfied, knowing she has a “good” life in a stable home. When Bertha and Harry talk about their baby, the readers only have enough information to believe that Bertha was truly just too joyous for her time. Only after the affair is revealed can we gauge how much Bertha was able to suppress due to her blissful ignorance. 

"Girl" --> Things I Wish I Knew

 “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid features a list of actions and experiences, rather than having a distinct dialogue. This list contains fragments of advice given by a mother to a daughter. Intertwined within the non-stop flow of advice, there are italicized points that represent the daughter’s responses. The mother’s statements mainly focus on the experience of being a girl (hence, the title), but they range from common advice to insanely specific ideals. 

I would rename this story to “Things I Wish I Knew.” I interpreted this piece as a collection of the mother’s memories, having each piece of advice she gave coming from her own experiences. It reminded me of those videos or speeches where someone tells you everything they wish they knew sooner so you won’t make their mistakes. Something similar to this would explain the alternating between intensities of the mother’s advice, such as the contrast between “how you set a table for lunch” to “how to love a man.” 

A good example of her more intense advice is when she uses repetition within her statements - she begins with “this is how to make good medicine for a cold.” In the next sentence, she follows up with, “this is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child.” Here, it could be implied that she’s talking about how to force a miscarriage; even though it is phrased with the same first few words as the previous sentence, it is starkly different. Making medicine for a cold is basic life knowledge that everyone can utilize. On the other hand, making medicine to get rid of a child is very specific to womanhood, and even then, it is something a little questionable to say to a young girl with no context.  

                                     

The same goes for the mother’s constant return to the concept of “being a slut.” She gives another string of advice: “this is how to behave in the presence of men who don’t know you very well, and this way they won’t recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming ...” The first clause is a common teaching - common etiquette among strangers. However, the mother twists the meaning and makes it more grim. She was not just teaching her how to be presentable, rather, how to not be a slut. 

The way she is able to give such bold advice to her young daughter gives the story an uneasy tone. Despite this, I don’t think the mother is meant to be seen as a horrible person in this story. No matter the context, she is still giving advice. And looking at her specific examples, you can argue that they prove her mother’s vulnerability. I believe she is in tune with the struggles of her past and rather than moving past them, pretending that they were never a part of her, she decides to tell her daughter about them. This is her way of protecting her daughter, making sure that she does not have to be lost when put in the same horrible circumstances that she was once in. 

“Girl” did not feature a completely misogynistic mother forcing unnecessary information upon her daughter. Rather, it was a mother doing a reminiscence of her own life, slowly remembering the struggles of her past and sharing with her daughter the bits of knowledge she was forced to pick up along the way - these are the things she wishes she knew.

"Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They Are Terrifying" would make a great teenage coming-of-age story.

 For casting the main trio in the story, I tried to cast fairly young actors for the main three, as they were high schoolers in the story and the best coming-of-age films take place in the midst of the teenage years. I also chose Asian-American actors, as their Korean identity is essential to the plot. I did attempt to find Korean-American actors, but after skimming cast lists of other films and shows featuring a Korean main character, I learned that Hollywood does not strictly specify ethnicity.

An example of this is Lana Condor, who will be portraying Ronnie in my adaptation. She was previously cast as Lara Jean in All The Boys I’ve Loved Before - Lara being half Korean and Lana being Vietnamese. Despite that, I found her character in the movie very stereotypical and not too striking to take away from the greater plot. I found this behavior very similar to Ronnie, who, for the most part of the story leading up to her climax, was not particularly drawing.

Lana Condor as Ronnie

For the other two, Mini and Caroline, I cast Stephanie Hsu and Lola Tung respectively. Stephanie Hsu played the daughter, known as Tubaki, in Everything Everywhere All At Once. I found this role to seem very edgy and “camp,” which captures the description of the gothic and almost edgy character of Mini. For Caroline, I cast Lola Tung, who is well known for her role as Belly in The Summer I Turned Pretty (TSITP). I chose Lola because she has a “softer” face which makes her seem kinder and “perfect,” like Caroline. Her character in TSITP also has many moments where she acts a bit overbearing. I took this into consideration after Mini and Ronnie pointed out Caroline’s occasionally “annoying” personality. 

Stephanie Hsu as Mini

Lola Tung as Caroline

In the text, they don’t think they explicitly mentioned a physical setting and if they did, it was not impactful to the plot. I imagined it to take place in a suburban town in the Midwest. From what we know, there are enough Asians to successfully hold a Korean-adoptee meet-up, but not enough for the main three to feel “in place.” I also like the idea of (at least one of) them residing in a stereotypical suburban home - not overly large but large enough to host a few of your friends over without it being uncomfortable. 

During the story, they mention the idea of school, such as when they talk about their social dynamics and how they wouldn’t be friends at school. However, I don’t think it was that relevant to the plot, and with everything else going on I think this story would be best set in the summer leading up to another school year, such as late July and early August. 

On top of all of the Asian-American angst in this story, I think a great song that fits with many scenes is Drunk Walk Home by Mitski. I truly cannot describe this song and capture the emotion it portrays. While I would love to have this song for multiple scenes, I think it would best fit Ronnie's resolve, where she decides to ask Mom for her strength and decides to forge her own life, beginning with ending her relationship with Alex. 

The Idea of Death in Speech Sounds & The Comet

 “They seemed to move in a world silent and asleep,--not dead. They moved in quiet reverence, lest somehow they wake these sleeping forms who had, at last, found peace.” - The Comet

“She had told herself that the children growing up now were to be pitied. They would run through the downtown canyons with no real memory of what the buildings had been or even how they had come to be. Today’s children gathered books as well as wood to be burned for fuel. They ran through the streets chasing one another and hooting like chimpanzees. They had no future. They were now all they would ever be.” - Rye, Speech Sounds

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In “The Comet,” as Jim and Julia pass through the streets of New York, the narrator remarks how they are passing through a world where everyone else is asleep, beside them. They specifically say that those sprawled onto the floor are not dead, only asleep. It then follows up saying that those asleep were finally experiencing peace. In “Speech Sounds,” after Rye is saddened about the memory of her children, now dead from the disease, she reminds herself of something she would tell herself to cope: it’s better now because the children of their new world cannot experience the true joys of childhood. And instead, even the curse of death is better. 

Both quotes portray the belief that in their situations, death is “better,” or more forgiving in their situation, than life. “Speech Sounds” gives us a direct reason why Rye thinks the way she does. Knowing her background as a mother and literature teacher, she was most likely in tune with understanding and appreciating the joys and struggles of daily life. This appreciation probably led her to accept that the world they now lived in would not carry her values, leading to the conclusion that the death of her children was better overall. 

“The Comet” does not give the reader a concrete reason, as “Speech Sounds” did, on why the characters may believe that death is a more peaceful option. However, we can compare using the same thought process used by Rye. She believed that the dead (children, in her case) would not experience the joys of life, anyway, so it was okay for them to pass. Knowing Jim’s background, this could relate to the racial struggles he faced during the time period. At the time, his people would have less freedom and more struggles to fight, compared to others. The idea of a peaceful death could have referred to the ease of “sleeping,” compared to their day-to-day life. 

Going along with the idea of the characters believing death is more desirable and forgiving than living to experience the end of the world, the context surrounding the quote implies an envy of those who had died. In “The Comet,” there were quotes that implied the thought of suicide, such as Jim saying “The world lies beneath the waters now--may I go?” only shortly after the statement tying peace to death. Similarly, the plot of “Speech Sounds” begins as Rye takes on a dangerous journey, risking her safety in hopes of finding her relatives. 

Both statements are said as a form of coping in a time of distress over loss. From there the characters are able to accept the cruelty of what happened to them, managing to disregard their own empathy. Instead of believing that their loved ones were the ones that were the most hurt, by dying, they can not believe that death was a more merciful option.