Veils May be There for a Reason

The choice of W. Somerset Maugham to take the title of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem for his novel, The Painted Veil seems very appropriate after reading Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem. Shelley is writing about how the way that life seems on the surface is not how people really are underneath. This seems very appropriate to the storyof Kitty who is very concerned about appearances, and marrying well, and seeming important, but who is really very shallow underneath. She is upset with her husband for reading about science and history, rather than being entertaining at parties. When Shelley writes about the way that "Fear/ And Hope" are "twin Destinies", it reminded me of Kitty's mother who hoped for what she deemed a good marriage for her daughter, but feared that her daughter was growing old and losing her beauty so she would be passed over by all the men who would help her move up in society.

Both the poem and the novel seem kind of pessimistic about human nature and life. In the poem, truth is unattainable and perhaps it is better not to look under the painted veil. From what we have read of the novel so far, it seems like life underneath the painted veil is filled with shallow, mostly dishonest or unhappy people. Even Kitty's husband, who married for love, knew that Kitty didn't love him and was willing to settle for that. So both the poem and the novel, at least so far, seem to not have much faith in how people live their lives.

Of rats and men

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. – Oscar Wilde

I chose this Oscar Wilde quotation because I agree that we can get so caught up in following the rules and doing what we are supposed to that we don’t step back and ask why we are following this path. We are just existing, instead of really thinking about what it would mean to enjoy every day and not necessarily do what is expected of us or what is defined as success.

As a senior, I think about this a lot lately: I am tired of my life being sleep, school, homework, over and over again. And the whole goal is just to get to college and take more classes with more homework and more tests and probably less sleep. Does this really lead to happiness? Is it living or existing in a framework someone else created?

The girls in the podcast seemed pretty typical, talking about when to post, waiting for likes, and the same comment of “you’re so pretty” over and over. It was an interesting dissection of what other people comment as a way to understand your social world and diagram how people relate to each other. I thought the podcast made social media sound less pointless than adults usually think it is.

Etiquette Then and Now

The 1913 etiquette guide Manners and Rules of Good Society made me think how much society has sped up, if people in 1913 had time to care that invitations had to have the name, day, hour, etc  in special designated spots, and that there were rules about the order people had to walk into dinner. I think with the decline in paper writing, these exacting rules do not exist today as much. Or maybe these rules never really applied to the majority of people, and people just pretended they did so they could pretend to be elites.

One etiquette rule that continues is that men and women should get different prizes/presents. Women could get gloves, bonbons, perfume, a purse today and no one would think it odd. And men could get cigars or a flask (umbrellas seem less common, but maybe after this week they will make a comeback). So it is interesting that some gender divisions seem to still apply today.

Social media has its own social etiquette today but is probably less formal and rigid than the 1913 guide and came into existence based on experience. One unstated rule is that you shouldn’t like your own posts. And if you want to get the most likes, early afternoon is usually the best time to post.