Review of Frazier's "Nightwoods"

What Fear Provokes: Fight or Flight Response

Review of Nightwoods By Charles Frazier

“People start doing all kinds of interesting things when they’re scared” (83).

Charles Frazier’s Nightwoods chronicles the metamorphosis of Luce, an isolated woman who believes that she is contented with a solitary life spent in the nature of the North Carolinian mountains as she is forced to confront her fears head-on when she takes in two children after her sister falls victim to uxoricide. These painfully silent, violently rash children not only interrupt the ebb and flow of Luce’s life alone but their presence embodies something more important. It reconnects Luce with the world around her, pulling her into her dismal familial past, rekindling a lost love, and compelling her to unfreeze herself from her numbing fear. 

Now, briefly, for some science. The "fight or flight response" is a physiological reaction in humans which occurs when the body or mind is put under strain. It is characterized by the release of predominately the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline, which increase heart and breathing rates and blood pressure and result in the person either fleeing the situation at hand or making a desperate attempt to fight against the forces at hand. It is one of our most primal and essential survival mechanisms and the characters Frazier forms all seem to fit into one of the two categories: fight or flight. 

Exploring the secluded woods near her house, an out-of-use Lodge of olden times, the recluse Luce is confronted with her own staggering fear. Through her isolation further into her own mind, Luce takes the "flight" response, fleeing the world and avoiding her fears. Luce’s fear is largely symbolized by a gaping “black hole” in the woods, that is “before life and beyond life” (Frazier 71). The black hole stands for our inability to fall into our fears, our resistance to understand what seems incomprehensible, and our rash response to the insurmountable hurdle of fear itself.

The victim children and their murderous father both take the “fight” response to deal with their fears. Rather than fall victim to forces greater than themselves, they take on the role of God controlling what burns and what bleeds. The children are fire-obsessed and singe Stubblefield’s family house for entertainment. Bud, the primary antagonist of the work, controls through bloodshed primarily. Quite obviously, fire and blood, respectively, are symbolic of concepts larger than their basic definitions. For Bud, blood is connected to an extremely warped spirituality, formed from a childhood of church-going. Tampering with violence and blood, to Bud, is analogous to confronting God and, even, following God’s example: “If God wanted things to be different, he’d have coated us in armor. Or made us pray to a face pulled apart by pain, screaming. But he wanted us to bleed. The flow of blood, a red bleeding heart. That is beautiful” (246). In blood, according to Bud, lies the root of all human folly: our quivering vulnerability. In Bud's eyes, to determine the fate of blood is to master that vulnerability: to beat your own fear.

The fact is, we can't beat our fears. It's our fears that horrify us, but it's also our fears than define us, demonstrating where proper boundary lines exist and placing us in our proper roles as human-beings. Fear, Frazier posits, must neither be beaten or fled from. No, fear, must be soaked in and then we must become stronger because of it. 

Fashion Friday: Outfit for San Francisco

Tomorrow I depart for San Francisco, California for a week-long stay. The weather there is very different from the sweltering conditions of a North Carolinian summer & I also want to be a bit more chic than my usual workout clothes ensemble.

1. The Jet-Setter comfortable yet fashionable 

Light Makeup & Layered Hair

Banana Republic Trench Coat

Blue Ruffle Tank from The Limited 

Gap 1969 Denim White Jeans 

Nine West Purse 

Bass Cork & Metallic Wedges

After College Possibilities: To Africa with the Peace Corps

“Your 20’s are your ‘selfish’ years. It’s a decade to immerse yourself in every single thing possible. Be selfish with your time, and all the aspects of you. Tinker with shit, travel, explore, love a lot, love a little, and never touch the ground.”
---Kyoko Escamilla 

I'm always looking toward the future; I'm a little restless with my life, I suppose. But I think this is because I'm a dreamer by nature, always looking toward the next adventure, curious about what the world has to show me and teach me. That being said, I just finished my Freshman year at UNC Asheville and I'm already considering post-college options for myself. Part of my restlessness is due to the fact that I, like many others my age, am still finding myself among the many tempting areas of study that college and the world have to offer me. Recently though, I have started to reconsider my purpose in the world and I've been leaning a lot more toward work of a charitable nature. Less than a year ago, I wanted to work a high-powered job for an advertising company or social media network. Now, however, I no longer care about my salary as much because I'd rather be rich with experience than rich in material goods.

So, after college, I am highly considering joining the Peace Corps and volunteering for 27 months in Africa. I'd like to work on one of the health projects there, such as malaria or HIV/Aids prevention or work in education. 

Why Africa, though? Africa has long intrigued me; it's where all humanity originated, the natural landscape is so varied and gorgeous, the people are extremely diverse, and it also faces some of the world's most horrific issues. All this in mind, the thought of even having any impact on such a vast, complex continent seems extremely daunting. Yet, this is what attracts me to it. It is the little things put together; our little individual impacts that shape the future. Plus, who doesn't want an adventure in a completely different landscape and culture than your own? I know I certainly do.

Below are two videos, the first on HIV/AIDS and the second on malaria. 

fact: every minute, a child dies of malaria

On My Bookshelf

1) Nightwoods, By Charles Frazier 

“Nothing changes what already happened. It will always have happened. You either let it break you down or you don't.”-from Nightwoods 

Just got this book today, on an impromptu trip to the used bookstore and have read three chapters so far. I was attracted to the book because of two main reasons. The first is I read Frazier's most well-known book Cold Mountain for AP English Literature my senior year of high school and fell in love with Frazier's ability to construct his sentences and narratives. The second reason is I am in college in Asheville, North Carolina and Frazier's settings are always in the rural North Carolinian mountains, which intrigue me on a personal level. 

The book concerns itself with a far more intimate panorama than that of Cold Mountain (which is a Civil War, adventure epic) and focuses on the life of an isolated woman living in an out-of-business lodge in the Western area of North Carolina. So far I am enjoying the beautiful sentences and rich imagery. 

2) Poor Economics, By Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo 

“Poverty is not just a lack of money; it is not having the capability to realize one’s full potential as a human being.”-from Poor Economics 

“Every year, 9 million children die before their fifth birthday. A woman in sub-Saharan Africa has a one-in-thirty chance of dying while giving birth — in the developed world, the chance is one in 5,600. There are at least twenty-five countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, where the average person is expected to live no more than fifty-five years. In India alone, more than 50 million school-going children cannot read a very simple text.”-from Poor Economics

Recently, I have been more compelled to do charitable work and I've also been intrigued by other cultures. I am highly considering joining the Peace Corps after college and perhaps going to Africa to work on a health or education related project there. 

Understanding poverty is a difficult task and I'm hoping Poor Economics, a highly-praised book concerning itself with determining the reason so many suffer in sub-standard conditions and going from there to solve this problem pragmatically. I hope that it will offer me (a definite realist on matters like this) some real hope for the problems we face globally. 

Check in later for full critiques on these books & to find out what I learned from them! 

Yoga, Buddhism & Babies

Namaste, y'all

In my ever-growing journey towards personal fitness, I have taken up a yoga practice, taking classes at the local YMCA, conveniently located about a mile from my house. In the practice of yoga, one learns how to control the breath in order to contort the body into numerous and variable poses. Through the poses, strength (both inner and outer) is both formed and revealed to the practicer. 

But, what has struck me the most about the practice of yoga, is that it really has very little to do with the body and a whole lot more to do with the mind. Through focusing all the brain's energy and capacities toward the breath or the area of the body that is being stretched, the mind is cleared and refreshed, while also being strengthened. 

Buddha

In Western society (especially that of the modern day), there is too much of a disconnect between the workings of the mind and the body. In Eastern philosophy, however, the key to all wisdom, enlightenment, and intelligence lies in the integral connection between body and soul. 

So, this summer, I have decided to research the practice and philosophy of Buddhism and hope to integrate it into my life some how. I also hope to become a certified yoga instructor by the end of my time in college. For it may sound cliche, but yoga is life. 

In yoga, when you conclude that day's practice, you say "namaste" as you bow to the instructor and the other members of your class. The word roughly means "the light in you respects the light in you" connecting not only your mind and body but also connecting these elements to the outside world and the others which inhabit it. 

Charlie at the playground

This summer, I am babysitting my three-year-old cousin Charlie, a very petite, highly energetic boy with strawberry blond hair and a never-ceasing desire to run and play. At first, doing this job was sort of the last thing I wanted to do with my luxurious free days of summer. However, after the first day of spending time with this little guy, I felt an instant connection, what I'm sure now is my maternal instinct. 

My favorite little athlete

I was one of those little girls who was always clinging to a doll, coming up with crazy adventures for it, and, of course, loving it with all my heart and my role as a big sister to Emma (now 16) certainly prepared me for the job. But it wasn't until I had reached the age I am now that I realized that I was truly born to be a mother. 

Seeing Charlie's smile create little dimples in his plump cheeks as I animate one of his stuffed animals into a character or chasing after him with our favorite toy (an orange soccer ball), I am amazed at his capacity for joy and his ability to quickly dribble with the soccer ball although he only stands at less than three feet tall. I feel that truly as Charlie grows and learns with me, I grow and learn with him just as much and that "the light in me honors the light in him."