Make up blog: A Monday of Pride and Prejudice

(straight read, front to back, and responses by chapter/section)

Pride and Prejudice:

Ch. 1-3:

No comment besides Mr. Bennet is pretty hilarious. I still don’t understand too well about why people didn’t like Mr. Darcy’s first impression; I thought he might just be a shy person, except for when he said,  “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me.” That part was pretty a-hole-ish.

Ch. 4-5:

First of all, I don’t think anybody has the right to be proud, but Miss Lucas is right: you can’t blame Darcy because he does have everything and is probably “better” than a lot of his contemporaries. Apparently, even his best friend Bingley realizes this. But of all the people young Lucas has got it right – who cares about pride, a pack of foxhounds and a bottle of wine will do just fine.

Ch. 6:

Well at least Miss Bingley knows why Mr. Darcy is annoyed by these obnoxious dance events – I thought I was the only one. We’ve got a whole lot of matchmakers on our hands also; I mean, even Sir William Lucas is trying to set Darcy and Elizabeth up! When Darcy told her that “a woman’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.” I think I laughed out loud a little bit because oh how true is that…

And no, Elizabeth may not be the prettiest Bennet girl – or maybe she is, but I get the impression Jane is – but it’s obvious she’s cunning at the very least.

Ch. 7:

Three-mile walk, not bad.

But that Mrs. Bennet be scheeeeeeemin’! Trying to mastermind a plan for Jane to get “stuck” at Bingley’s place. Screw eharmony, hire Mrs. Bennet!

Ch. 8:

Accomplished:

(1)Thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing dancing, and the modern languages; posses a certain something in her manner of walking, tone of her voice, her address and expressions; do all mentioned exceptionally well.

(2) Non-existent; a mythical creature that meets all criteria mentioned in (1)

Ch. 9-11:

Miss Caroline Bingley needs to calm her ass down take a freaking hint!

But here is the gold:

‘“And your [Darcy’s] defect is to hate every body.” [said Eliza] “And yours,” he replied with a smile, “is willfully to misunderstand them.”’ (p. 93)

Ch. 12-13:

Not much happened here. I hope the girls’ cousin, Mr. Collins, doesn’t completely take the house from them, but that’s how the world turns…

Ch. 14-15:

I can’t tell what Collins is bragging about, but nobody cares about Lady Catherine de Bough, or her daughter. Also, it seems Wickham and Darcy know each other. Maybe we’ll find out more during dinner with Aunt Phillips.

Ch. 16-17:

So I’m thinking here that the super-good-looking Mr. Wickham is definitely lying, or at least not telling the whole truth. But really, how Eliza trusts this guys just because he is good looking is beyond me. Either way, he says that Darcy did not allow for his father’s wealth to be transferred over to Wickham, which is actually pretty plausible – Darcy may or may not have done that, but I’m sure for a better reason than him just hating Wickham, specifically his own pride. “For almost all his actions may be traced to pride” (p.115). Point being this: Eliza and Wickham form a sort of instant connection.

It was kind of funny when Eliza smiled when she thought that Miss Bingley had no chance with Mr. Darcy, who was supposedly to marry his cousin, daughter of Lady de Bough. But of course she is exited to meet Wickham again at the next ball Bingley is throwing.

Ch. 18:

Whoa, that was an awkward party. I get that it’s her character but Eliza needs to quit being so sassy; poor Darcy doesn’t even know why he’s getting so much hate from her. Mr. Collins is another one; he’s just a total lost cause; just Darcy tipping his hat and walking away is perfect. I can’t believe Mrs. Bennet would marry Eliza to Collins just of the sake of getting her married – actually I can believe it because she’s pretty shallow, it obvious all she cares about is Netherfield. Bingley and Jane: match made in heaven, but no drama equals boredom.

Ch. 19:

“My reasons for marrying are, first…” that’s when I would have just walked away if I were Eliza. I mean, the only reason he’s marrying is because Lady de Burgh told him to. Collins not only can’t take a hint, he just goes into straight denial!! Oh, I swear a lot of these people are just so full of themselves.

Nonetheless, as usual when people get tired of Collins’s ramblings, Eliza finally just kept silent and withdrew…

Ch. 20:

“Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do” (p. 142). I’m so glad that Mr. Bennet is there to put Mrs. Bennet in her place time and time again.

Ch. 21-23:

Oh what a turn of events! First off, it makes sense that Charlotte accepted the proposal because she’s actually much older than Eliza; also, during this time, women do not usually let an opportunity to marry up in ranks like this to just pass by for no good reason. I feel bad for Jane having to find out that she is not a guarantee in marrying Mr. Bingley, but we can’t really take what Miss Bingley has to say too seriously now, can we? Do the rich really have that much of a problem of marrying beneath them? Is it that deep? Honestly, if Darcy would just quit being a little bitch and just tell Eliza his feelings for her this novel can be that much shorter. But everybody has his or her own individual flaws I guess (to paraphrase the man himself), in this case it proves to be pretty detrimental to the narrative.

24-25:

Things are looking pretty dreary as of now, must keep reading. Hopefully Jane’s trip to London will settle some things with Mr. Bingley, since he’s decided to stay there all winter according to his sister.

Ch. 26:

I’m glad Jane figured out Caroline is a big ol’ bizzach, even if she’s not doing anything about it L. It’s funny that Eliza’s aunt warned her not to pursue Wickham because he might be only after money – which he probably was since he’s pursuing some girl who just won a large fortune – because it’s a similar reason to why Darcy is scared to have relations with Eliza.

Ch. 27-29:

We can see Eliza here being a little bit partial to Darcy when she comments on Lady de Bough’s daughter’s unappealing looks. Although, the way the chapter ended was pretty wild. Lady Catherine de Bough is a snobbish prick! When she totally annihilated Eliza and her sisters, accusing them of having ill upbringings because they didn’t have a governess, and basically implying that they’re talentless since all five of the Bennet girls were unmarried… I’m glad I know a little bit of the ending at this point.

Ch. 30-32:

Still getting used to Charlotte as Mrs. Collins. I’m going to lie but Darcy does make it difficult for himself when he shows up to meet with Eliza but doesn’t say a word really unless he has to. On top of that he just stares at her for long periods of time… you really can’t make up your mind can you Darcy.

Ch. 33:

“There are not many in my rank of life who can afford to marry without some attention to money,” (p. 206). Still true today, always will be true in one way or another.

Ch. 34:

I can’t believe he proposed this chapter! But it all makes sense now why he had is apprehensions. I think Elizabeth just freaked out at the notion of being proposed to by Darcy; honestly, she must have thought that she had no chance whatsoever (due to the difference in their social classes) being with him, so much that it made her hate him a little bit for it. Ironically, this is the same reason for Darcy’s not confessing his love for her sooner…

Ch. 35-36:

Yeah, reality check Miss Elizabeth Bennet! Obviously Wickham was all about the money from the beginning. Eliza felt that she should have seen this coming since she usually has a knack at reading people, but of course, “vanity, not love, has been my folly,” she proclaims on p. 227.  

Ch. 37-42:

I wasn’t following too much of what was going on at this point but it seems that Elizabeth tells Jane about the realities of Darcy and Wickham’s relationship. They decide against telling everybody, which backfires on them in the way that now Lydia, the youngest daughter, is trying to take Ms. King’s place as she has moved away.

At the end of the volume, Elizabeth agrees to go visit Pemberley, where Darcy’s manor is. She says it would be dreadful if she was to run into him, but blushes at the thought – she seems to still be confused at whether she fancies him or not…

Ch. 43:

This chapter is very pivotal in terms of how much Eliza learns of Darcy. We find out that he has been raised as his noble father’s son and rightful successor, as he is responsible for the well being of his sister. Eliza even says that she has never seen Darcy so polite as she did that day. It is obvious from their looks and exchanges that there is still some fire between the two people, only both of them are not so sure what the other is thinking which doesn’t allow themselves to go about it the right way. Nonetheless, a large gesture is taken by Darcy by offering to introduce Eliza to his sister, of whom he loves most dearly.

Ch. 44-45:

We meet Miss Darcy, who is not proud but just shy. Of course, Miss Bingley is there to bring up Wickham to embarrass Eliza; she doesn’t mention anything about it thought. It is very obvious to Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner that Mr. Darcy is in love with Eliza. When Miss Bingley tries to speak ill of her at the end of the chapter, Darcy claims that Eliza is “one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance.”

Ch. 46-48:

Eliza and company finds out that Lydia may have eloped with W. They panic and return home to the rest of the family. Should have seen it coming; Lydia was always into men in uniform. Mr. Bennet, Mr. Gardiner, and Eliza go to London to look for the (hopefully, since she did sign her name as Lydia Wickham in the letter – at that point I don’t think I’d be too worried, but I don’t know I don’t have any missing children) newlyweds. I don’t know where this hate came from, but Mr. Collins wrote a letter practically reiterating what his patroness Lady Bitch de Bough said to Eliza earlier in the novel. And to “throw off your unworthy child for your affections for ever,” (p. 305) SEROUSLY!! I for one am glad that Mr. Collins is in a doomed relationship of no substance. Unfortunately, Lydia, or Wickham, was nowhere to be found. They give up and return home. Mrs. Bennet is beyond hysterical about what has just transpired.

Ch. 49:

The Bennet girls’ uncle, Mr. Gardiner, found Lydia and Wickham for they have agreed to get married, but with terms. Mr. Bennet suspected that Mr. Gardiner had helped Wickham settle some of his debts, estimating it to have cost about 10,000 pounds! Nonetheless, Mrs. Bennet is happy that her youngest is getting married, at 16 no less. As mentioned by Eliza before, and knowing Wickham’s character, financial matters have probably influenced this marriage – which is not necessarily a bad thing quite honestly; financial stability for a potential family is always good.

Ch. 50:

Eliza realizes that she really loves Mr. Darcy. Contrasting their potential marriage to Lydia’s with Wickham, she concludes that hers with Darcy would be much more practical and sensible than Lydia and Wickham’s marriage, which is merely based upon primal passions.

Ch. 51:

Oh my goodness gracious, Lydia is freaking annoying! She has no idea what is going on!! She’ll learn in time though, and probably end up just like her mother, honestly.

Ch. 52:

The letter from Eliza’s aunt explained how much Darcy helped in setting up Wickham and Lydia (since he was straight up going to dip out on her); he even paid Wickham’s debts! Yeah, Eliza you should have said yes. But can’t she see that he went through all that for her? Why would she think that Darcy is going to marry de Bough’s daughter? Even if he was, she should know that it seems that Darcy would gladly still marry her if only Eliza would just go to him…

Ch. 53:

Mrs. Bennet would still be mean to Darcy. I don’t understand, why is Darcy helping out with Lydia’s and Wickham’s marriage being kept secret again? Must keep reading…

Ch. 54:

I swear, next time a dinner transpires that involves all parties present, someone need to get a whole bunch of liquor so that everybody can just say what’s on their mind. Clearly what we have here is a communication problem between all parties – for the sake of elegance no less. I’m kidding, but no seriously though…

Ch. 55:

Bingley proposed to Jane! Things are looking up at this point. How are there six more chapters?

Ch. 56:

Now we find out the real reason why Darcy was so hesitant in pursuing Eliza: prejudice, not pride. “If you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere, in which you have been brought up,” said Lady Bitch de Bough – oh, how I wish this movie was rated R just so someone can end her violently!  We find out that Darcy had been arranged to marry his cousin this whole time. Back to the theme of financial matters influencing marriages: I feel as though the more practical reason for this arrangement is to keep the wealth within the family, not merely some sort of class-prejudice (most-likely a disgusting combination of both). Also, Miss Eliza Bennet handled the whole thing pretty well I think. She refuses to decline any proposal from Darcy henceforth (although I’m not sure whether she will be accepting the proposal out of love or simply to spite Lady de Bough, either way, I’ll take it).

Ch. 57-58:

Darcy and Elizabeth are finally engaged. It was nice to hear that Darcy knew how impolitely he was acting around these women (and actually how he viewed the rest of the world in general), but that quickly changed after Eliza’s refusal – we see this primarily when Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner and Eliza visit his manor soon after. Not only that, he even persuaded Mr. Bingley to take Jane seriously as a suitor as he admits to his own poor judgment. This comes to show that they make each other better.

“The turn of your countenance I shall never forget, as you said that I could not have addressed you in any possible way, that would induce you to accept me,” (p. 367).

Ch. 59:

Of course nobody, not even Jane, expected this at all! They even doubt how much she actually felt for this man Darcy, if any. But since they know that Eliza would never marry for money, and after knowing the truth about Darcy helping their family, had to oblige and believe her.

Until this happened on p. 372: “It [her love for Darcy] had been coming so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberly.” (face smack!). I mean, yeah, I knew what she meant by this, but still, poor choice of words (totally made her sound like a gold-digger). Nonetheless, it was hilarious to see Mrs. Bennet’s instant change of heart towards Darcy now that her daughter is gaining all this immense wealth and power (let’s not pretend like Eliza didn’t fantasize about all of this when she was visiting Pemberley for the first time).

Ch. 60-61:

The conclusion was good, very fitting. That’s all I have to say about that. I liked this novel very much, actually. So much, that four sides of paper would be insufficient to contain all my delight!

(Week 9) Reading resists boredom… with other thoughts and inquiries

“[Reading] resists boredom. Voluntarily picking up a book, we expect – indeed demand – to have our interest engaged […] reading liberates us from routine and tedium as well as the pain life more actively inflicts. Even the kind of verbal production read only for information or ideas involves us in alternative worlds of conceptualization and imagination.” – Boredom p.1

“To us, who are regaled every morning and evening with intelligence, and are supplied from day to day with materials for conversation, it is difficult to conceive how a man can subsist without a newspaper, or to what entertainment companies can assemble, in those regions of the earth that have neither Chronicles nor Magazines, neither Gazettes nor Advertisers, neither Journals nor Evening Posts.” – The idler no.7

The first excerpt explains to us how reading is an act that directly opposes boredom – interest. The latter is a thought about how it is hard to imagine not having anything of interest to read – which I agree is pretty hard to imagine – since apparently the English can’t seem to sit still and do nothing just for one second. Either way, the idler no. 7 goes on to explain why he thinks the morning and evening papers should communicate and create suspense and interest from news stories, which hints at the notion that people read papers and magazines back then more because they have nothing else to do and less because they actually found news interesting. But this doesn’t make sense because the former excerpt said that to read something means that it must inherently be interesting for the person to read it in the first place…

Speaking of reading uninteresting things, lets talk about the ramblers of this week: Euphelia and Bellaria. I hate these b!%&#es, but it’s not their fault. Let’s not talk about how Bellaria changes clothes four times a day and says that she has no times to read because she has to go walk in the park twice every day and accept or decline massive amounts of party invites. Let us do talk about how she’s super pretty, and knows she’s super pretty, and talks about how guys will apparently do anything for her. Second thought, let’s not. Euphelia, how can you get bored of nature and flowers and autumn? You live in God Damn England!! Isn’t it always gloomy there? And your mother is an “economist of pleasure?” (1) WTF is that? You can’t schedule your own planner or something? (2) You have no spare time because you planned a card-game and the opera on the same night? Sounds like too much effin’ spare time to me… Sorry I don’t have anything smart to say about this week’s Ramblers, but neither did Bellaria and Euphelia.

I did love the Addison reading on the Royal Exchange. If only he was alive today to see what it has evolved into. He loves this diverse, daily gathering of people so much that he starts to cry about it at times. Wierd, but I admire his passion for something practical and honest; at least your not throwing pebbles in the water because you decided you hate flowers one day and can’t make friends with country folk. Aa-Euphelia-hem! Pardon me, sore throat, seasonal flu is coming around.

Yeah, that’s really all I gotta say about that… I really didn’t mean to write this much, but hey! I was bored…

(Week 8) Memory: How is the process of recognition dependent upon superimposition?

“The structures which memory stores are not actual little pictures, but quasi-pictures, “representations” in the sense that the information stored cause a change in the brain that encodes or molds it in a certain way and in a particular “place” in the brain. […] What is involved in remembering is the association and recollection of previously impressed material when the original is no longer present to us. If the object should become actually present to our senses again and we can compare our mental image to it for accuracy, we are engaged in a process of recognizing rather than of remembering or recollecting.” – Models for the Memory (chapter 1)

“Superimpositional storage: memories are blended, not laid down independently once and for all, and are reconstructed rather than reproduced. […] By ‘superimpositional storage’ I mean the property that one network of units and connections may be used to store a number of representations, so long as they are sufficiently distinct to coexist without confusion.’” – John Sutton

Before I talk about superimposition, I would like to contrast the process of recognizing and remembering/recollecting. The first excerpt above explains to us that every new character we take into memory will affect all previously impressed material of similar character: in the sense that if one is to recollect in his or her head what a chair looks like, he or she will not remember a specific chair – unless it is by choice, and only possible if this specific chair is particularly distinct to all other chairs the person has encountered – but an ideal version of a chair influenced by all the various “quasi-pictures” of chairs already embedded in memory. Recollecting would be to conjure up an image of a chair without having actually present, while recognizing would be to see a chair and to recognize it is a chair when compared to all the images of the chairs (or a collective ideal image of a chair) in the mind.

            The second excerpt is my interpretation to the first part of the first excerpt. Superimposition is the way our memories try to remember and distinguish all the different shapes and sizes (etc.) of chairs someone has encountered in real life. Although, since the brain’s memory function works via connectivity of associations, the ability to distinguish between chairs is dependent upon how orthogonal one chair is to another – for two sets of chairs that are similar within the brain, it is most likely that it will be harder for the brain to distinguish between the two.

            In other words, superimpositional storage plays a huge role in recollection and recognition in that it interprets new memory traces not by its individual characteristics but with everything and anything that is a memory trace in the brain. The more similar the new trace is to any other traces already in the brain, the harder it will be to distinguish because it is presumed that the more similar the memory traces are, the higher chance that they would be processed within the same (or closely interwoven) network of units and connections (groups of neural linkages), potentially leading to distortion or error when the memory is needed to be tapped.

            Some would say that superimpositional storage has a major downside in that every memory is practically distorted the moment one recollects something for the first time, while I would argue that this is probably the reason the brain can store a practically infinite amount of memory while never running out of “disk space” like a computer would.

Week 7: What is enraging the musician?

The Enraged Musician – by Hogarth

“An exogenous cue is an external event such as the abrupt onset of a stimulus at a peripheral location that involuntarily draws the attentional spotlight to its location. […] An endogenous cue is typically a symbol such as a central arrow head that must be identified before a voluntary shift in attention to the designated location can be made […] indicating that their benefits are due to conscious control of the attentional spotlight.” – Historical Overview of Research on Attention by Johnson

“The taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or train of thought.” – William James’s definition of attention.

In the painting, the musician is clearly annoyed at the many various distractions immediately outside window. It is an exaggeration of the hubbub of city life. As the musician is trying to concentrate his attention upon his classical music-making, he is unable to do so because the same modes of sensation needed to listen to his own music is being overrun by the lingering noises on the outside of his window.

            This depiction of distraction may serve as a good example of exogenous control versus endogenous control of attention. As stated in the quote above, exogenous control of attention refers to a passive, almost reflex-like, attention in which it is non-voluntary and is being controlled by external influences (i.e. loud noises, visual cues – spotlight). On the other hand, endogenous control of attention is the active and voluntary type of attention; this type of attention is commonly associated with a more voluntary activation of specific stimulus (i.e. reading, manual labor).

            Recent studies (post-1975) show that it is hard to use multitask when the tasks being performed use the same stimulus or response modalities (Johnson p.20). “Multiple task performance typically is better when the tasks use different input-output modes than when they use the same modes.”  Relating this back to the Enraged Musician, we can assume that the exogenous control of his attention via loud noises is overpowering the same stimuli needed for his endogenous control of attention toward his music; here, exogenous attention is distracting by taking away from his endogenous attention’s “clearness” (James’s definition of attention).

            Taking into account the excerpts and interpretations above, attention can be thought of as the currency for mental activity – philosophers seem to attribute the action of directing attention with a cost of brain processing power – and it is limited. Thus, since the brain compartmentalizes all its modes of sensation and reflection spatially, multitasking tends to get harder when the multiple tasks (brain activity) use the same brain space as opposed to spreading out the work-load to various compartments of the brain. This is personified in Hogarth’s painting in that the musician is annoyed at the fact that he cannot focus all of his attention to playing the violin.