Reading Response Posting #3

Reta is an interesting character. She is a writer; she lists her works at the very start of the novel, including her translated memoirs of a old and wise French feminist, a woman who is both her friend and confidante. Her tendency as a writer is to live very much in her head and internalize her observations and feelings, a trait in many writers to they can better observe and understand their surrounds. Reta is searching to understand in the ways she knows how, by running things over in her mind to familiarize herself to them. She has friends she can talk to, but her conversation with others give away little of the turmoil within her. There is a slight sense of strain as she talks to people, like the librarians who treat her like glass. One of them was the one who located Nora and now they keep a constant vigil of books by Reta's side. Something she both needs and feels awkward receiving. Instead of discussing with other characters she uses herself as a soundboard for her own thoughts. These factors lead to events and emotions piling up in her head, one on top of the other. Soon they becoming a weight that makes it hard to function. But, of course, as a person of responsibility she must.

When something as big as a child is missing from a family it is impossible to think of things continuing, but meals have to be made, laundry has to be done, the world has to turn. This strikes Reta as she is cleaning a counter. Despite everything, 'I am still I, though it's hard and harder to pronounce that simple pronoun and maintain composure' (Unless 197). A huge piece of her is gone but she must still carry on. She does normal things like spread mulch in the garden and meet her writing group for lunch but always on her mind is Nora. It has been said that occupying yourself with other things and keeping busy are the best ways to help one move on from sadness. Reta's tendency as a writer feeds into her thought process so that even while she is talking to her publisher she is thinking about Nora. She is in the midst of writing a sequel to her book and, though it's coming alone and ideas still seems to spawn themselves in her mind, it causes her guilt.

How can she write while he daughter is on the street corner?

How can she function?

How can she breathe?

There can be no solace for her because forgetting and beginning to let go is just as bad as dwelling. Each feels as though it is an abandonment of her child and, as a mother, this is terrifying to her. This is a mother's guilt, for being a mother is essential to what Reta is; a woman who cares about those around her, especially her children.

Reading Response Posting #2

Reta must deal with the absence of her daughter from her life but it doesn't mean she has to accept it. She wants to know why Nora has chosen this path, what causes her to wish for this GOODNESS which she obviously feels is beyond her. Reta places the blame on the roles of women in society still being less than that of man's. Throughout the novel there are male characters who continuously step upon Reta. A bullying journalist who makes her feel ancient and wants more of the juice from her personal life than the accounts of her writing. A publisher who pressures and talks at her until she agrees to change her book to suit his plans for it. Both pressure her and each time she allows them to do so, only allowing the reader to see her sharp and funny inner thoughts.

What is hard to understand about Reta's tolerance of this behaviour is that she does not at all seem like a meek female. She is a successful writer with great insight and well received novels under her belt. She has lived unmarried with the father of her three children (the two met at a protest march) for twenty-six. She translates the works of a strong feminist who is a woman whom she greatly admires. And yet, she allows herself to be trodden upon.

Reta can be a very intrapersonal person and so it makes sense that when she does cut loose, she does it discreetly. Throughout the novel Reta writes many pointed letters to writers who have published academic work extolling the virtues of the great minds of the centuries. Listed are Locke, Bacon, Galileo, and Newton. Also there are writers mentioned, such famous and influential authors and poets like Updike, Barnes, and Lowell. Reta demands to know where all the women have gone. She calls out for some by name, knowing that they are there, just pushed into the background. And this, Reta feels, is the problem. If women are not acknowledged than it is the same as writing off their accomplishments. She does not get angry at the offending writers; no, 'anger is not humanizing' (Unless 220) and all she wants is for her daughters to have the same chance to touch that greatness as men do. She realizes that the writers have 'merely overlooked those who are routinely overlooked' (Unless 220) and in her quiet but at last pointed way she makes her plea.

Of course, the letters are never sent.

In this is the theme. Men are not the only ones repressing women against achieving great things, they oppress themselves by not aiming there. Case in point: Reta only publishes light fictional literature, fun to read and 'naturally the novel would have a happy ending' (Unless 14). Even Reta, someone who is faced with what she sees as a her daughter's acknowledgement of inadequacy, cannot push herself to want that greatness too.

Reading Response Posting #1

'Unless' by Carol Shields is the story of a writer, but more immediately, of a woman who is a mother. She is dealing with what feels like the loss of a daughter; a young woman who has chosen to withdraw from her life at university, ties with her family and boyfriend, so that she may sit on the corner of Bloor and Bathurst in Toronto wearing a sign around her neck that says GOODNESS.

The character is the narrator and she introduces her own pain and the location of her daughter from the very beginning, but not how she came to be there. The last time Rita Winters, the main character and narrator for the story, sees her daughter Nora in a relatively normal state is introduced to us as a memory. Nora is home, eating breakfast and slipping. She confesses to the crime of not being capable of 'loving anyone enough' (Unless 128) because she 'love(s) the world more' (Unless 129). She loves everything, the little bush paths in Indian she's never seen, the way the waves come in, the strength with which the sun shines; like a young child who is all at once infused and overwhelmed by everything she sees. The emotions are so intense that they can only be extremes and both happiness and sadness are heartbreaking.

This is the start of Nora's breakdown, a step on her path to find and become this unattainable GOODNESS that she feels is out there but beyond her grasp. It is also the beginning of Rita's wondering and the start of the theme for the novel. Why is it that this girl, unassuming and undemanding in all ways, feels like she can't be this GOODNESS she aches for.