Barbara Gowdy We So Seldom Look On Love Analysis
Insight on Necrophilia (1999)
The author Barbara Gowdy has succeeded in “We so Seldom Look on Love” to arouse our curiosity through a romanticized depiction of what most would consider a sin, necrophilia. It is most probable that society in the nineteen fifties influenced the style and choice of characters to explore such delicate and obscure behavior. Barbara Gowdy proved herself to be very clever by opening a passage through the soul of a young woman, in order to humanize the inexplicable lust for dead flesh. What better way to translate imagination in its purest form than through the soul of a young women: “When you die and your earthly self begins turning into your disintegrated self, you radiate an intense current of energy.” (p. 1) Certainly the author wishes to offer an approach to necrophilia that defies the reader’s expectations. The idea that such a disturbing behaviour can evolve in the heart and body of a girl at such a young age, can alter the reader’s preconception on the necrophiliac’s physical and emotional profile: “Necrophiles aren’t suppose to be blond and pretty, let alone …show more content…
The author gave us shivers while her character was describing the different rituals with her naivete and imagination: “I ran my hands over his skin. My hands and the inside of my thighs burned as if I was touching dry ice.” (p. 6) How to better experience what the author wants you feel than to catapult you directly into the character’s mind. Here I was, reading out loud, and thinking to myself that it could have been me. No other writing style would have given me the sensation of living and breathing the character’s emotion. The first person narration takes the reader into the character’s most intimate moments and feelings. It makes you feel as if it was
The author Barbara Gowdy has succeeded in “We so Seldom Look on Love” to arouse our curiosity through a romanticized depiction of what most would consider a sin, necrophilia. It is most probable that society in the nineteen fifties influenced the style and choice of characters to explore such delicate and obscure behavior. Barbara Gowdy proved herself to be very clever by opening a passage through the soul of a young woman, in order to humanize the inexplicable lust for dead flesh. What better way to translate imagination in its purest form than through the soul of a young women: “When you die and your earthly self begins turning into your disintegrated self, you radiate an intense current of energy.” (p. 1) Certainly the author wishes to offer an approach to necrophilia that defies the reader’s expectations. The idea that such a disturbing behaviour can evolve in the heart and body of a girl at such a young age, can alter the reader’s preconception on the necrophiliac’s physical and emotional profile: “Necrophiles aren’t suppose to be blond and pretty, let alone …show more content…
The author gave us shivers while her character was describing the different rituals with her naivete and imagination: “I ran my hands over his skin. My hands and the inside of my thighs burned as if I was touching dry ice.” (p. 6) How to better experience what the author wants you feel than to catapult you directly into the character’s mind. Here I was, reading out loud, and thinking to myself that it could have been me. No other writing style would have given me the sensation of living and breathing the character’s emotion. The first person narration takes the reader into the character’s most intimate moments and feelings. It makes you feel as if it was