Next Steps and Draft: Sylvie and Bruno~

Okay! So during my discussion with Justin in class, I came to the conclusion that I had a pretty good thesis for what I'm going for, and got even more excited about some sources I had been previously been dubious about. I realized that some of them, while I saw them as "far-fetched," may actually be really useful as clever counterarguments. Also, after talking to Justin about varied sources, I was even happier about a specific source on Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland that I had found. I decided that the next bit I would work on would be outlining and drafting, like we did with our W;t essays, and so I was pretty grateful that we were actually assigned to do so. I have never really been very good at drafting in the past, but really loved how it worked out for me when I did it properly. Overall, I am actually kind of excited about this! Is that nerdy? Yes...that's nerdy.



1) Firstly, I want to spend about 10 minutes working on an opening paragraph and trying to incorporate my thesis in a good way.

2) Writing body text, or the "in the middle" bits, and I'll devote about 25-30 minutes to this. I think that's enough time to get some ideas out, yet not enough to let me sit around at all.

3) After this, I will spend about 15 minutes writing my closing paragraph. I'm allowing a lot of time for that because, frankly, I am really bad at closing paragraphs. They're hard for me. I usually end it with either "and they lived happily ever after" or "and then they literally just died" and there's no in between. So I'm allowing time to work through that.

4) If I have a few minutes after this, I'll just do a bit of cleanup (grammar/heinous error checking).



4:00 P.M. Edit~

Sylvie and Bruno, written by Lewis Carroll, is a novel that dismally few people have heard about. It was written in the year 1889, and was considered by Carroll to be something of a break away from his earlier works (and among these earlier works are included such classics as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Hunting of the Snark). Sadly, while these earlier works take the spotlight, for lack of a better phrase, Sylvie and Bruno and its sequel, Sylvie and Bruno Concluded have remained relatively untouched by critics' hands. This novel, however, is something to look at. Within this novel, Carroll has combined both the whimsical (and at times almost disturbing) nonsense which he is known for, and something entirely different--a very obvious, very intentional meaning. Sylvie and Bruno follows a narrator--an adult man--who drifts back and forth between the very fine line that constitutes a dream and reality, and he accompanied (at least to his belief) by a wide set of characters, including both adults and children.

Lewis Carroll, in his novel Sylvie and Bruno, makes the statement that although children may be seen as "innocent" and adults "guilty," there must be a bridge between these two places in order to achieve an ideal balance between purity and knowledge. Some things that separate the children from the adults in this story are really very obvious. One example (possibly one of the most significant examples of all in this story), is Carroll's choice of names, and his use of their power. Most of the adults names' are never revealed. They are known only by titles, such as "The Gardener" or "The Baron." Even those whose names are known are not without title. These are names that supposedly tell the world something about them, and are purported to mean something to those that hear. Meanwhile, the children of the story are known simply by given names--Sylvie, Bruno, and even Uggugg. Even from this device alone, the separation between the two populations is grossly evident.

After Carroll creates this broad separation, he continues to expand it. At one point, the characters are "celebrating" Sylvie's birthday, and one adult character (CHECK WHICH ONE LATER) gives Sylvie the gift of a small sewing-kit, which he brags only cost him a few pennies. While he is boasting of the money he saved, Sylvie is honestly pleased with the gift, including even the damaged bits, saying that she could use the bent pin "as a hook, to catch Bruno with when he tries to run from his lessons" (CHECK QUOTE LATER). Sylvie bears no such understanding of money nor of its importance, and has too much imagination to be disappointed in her gift. Her mind is not focused on the outside, but the inside--she knows what a bent pin could be to her, not what it might be to someone else.

The children, frankly, lack the self-conscious awareness that the adults in this story are burdened with. They lack self-interest, almost completely, and in one instance, Sylvie (while an adult tries to pull her away) clutches a dead rabbit to her heart, crying that it had a beautiful life that it could have lived. Not only that, but she states that "God" had intended him to have a beautiful life, yet it had been cut off. She is only aware, in that moment, of the rabbit, and the rabbit's purer meaning. She is able, in a second, to recognize how precious life is, while, perhaps, the adults have pushed the thought from their minds. "I suppose every child has a world of his own — and every man, too, for the matter of that. I wonder if that's the cause for all the misunderstanding there is in Life?" (CHECK QUOTE)

Sylvie and Bruno, to anyone who has read it, undoubtedly bears a meaning. Carroll is able to use what many see as confusion and nonsense to his complete advantage in this novel, and is able to make a point that is not impossible to see. The importance of a mediation is one that we, as humans, often forget about, constantly telling others to "grow up" or "not act like a child". Perhaps we should become more interested in a "pure knowledge"--or, the ability to learn and gain wisdom, while maintaining the innate purity that we were all born with.



Notes: Guys. That was a whirlwind. A total whirlwind of me getting, like...no writing done. This is the barest OUTLINE of some of the ideas I want to cover, and actually it kind of bothers me. However, at least I now have half a skeleton to work with. But if you read this, bear in mind that it's only half a skeleton! Not even a whole one yet! I did follow my time plan very strictly, though, and I am glad I did, otherwise I would have even less closure than I do now.