I have a different edition of Nights at the Circus, so forgive the fact that our page numbers won't align.
In Nights at the Circus, I quite enjoy the scenes where Fevvers behaves like a slob although she constantly describes herself as being some angelic winged goddess. When Walser is interviewing Fevvers in her dressing room and they take a sandwich break, Fevvers' eating habit is described as being messy and somewhat savage-like. She "tucked in" the sandwich "with relish, a vigorous mastication of large teeth, a smacking of plump lips smeared with grease"(59). Fevvers had just narrated her time as the only virgin in a brothel, where she was an innocent figure in the foyer; she illustrates herself as such a dainty woman, but she belches and wipes her greasy mouth on her satin sleeve. This contrast of civility with unsophisticated behavior is similar to the antics of John Self. He can carry himself in a business lunch or at a meeting with one of his actors, yet his true self is incredibly obscene and inappropriate. He's sloppy and unclean, yet this true nature is more or less hidden when he is conducting business.
An instance where there is a combination of femininity and reality vs. artifice can be found in the passage where Fevvers is at the Royal College of Surgeons. Walser recalls how she spent three hours "entertaining" the surgeons, "without so much as unbuttoning her bodice". Fevvers is speaking about her own reality, yet there is no way of knowing whether her reality is true because she never provides indisputable evidence. When she shows Walser the scar at the bottom of her foot, there is no way of knowing where that scar actually came from. She speaks with such confidence that no one questions her actual knowledge of the subject. Carter writes that the professors did not want to be "rude" in "questioning the extent of her personal knowledge". The fact that Carter used the word "rude", to me, shows the professors' sense of manners when it comes to dealing with women (67). If the person who claimed to be a bird was part man, it is likely that these professors would grill him for actual evidence of his claims. Since Fevvers is an attractive, and relatively large, woman, no one wants to upset a lady by refuting her arguments. She also posses the charm and eloquence of a master of persuasion. She has a way of speaking matter-of-factly and with such enthusiasm, which makes it difficult for someone to put a word in edgewise.
In Nights at the Circus, I quite enjoy the scenes where Fevvers behaves like a slob although she constantly describes herself as being some angelic winged goddess. When Walser is interviewing Fevvers in her dressing room and they take a sandwich break, Fevvers' eating habit is described as being messy and somewhat savage-like. She "tucked in" the sandwich "with relish, a vigorous mastication of large teeth, a smacking of plump lips smeared with grease"(59). Fevvers had just narrated her time as the only virgin in a brothel, where she was an innocent figure in the foyer; she illustrates herself as such a dainty woman, but she belches and wipes her greasy mouth on her satin sleeve. This contrast of civility with unsophisticated behavior is similar to the antics of John Self. He can carry himself in a business lunch or at a meeting with one of his actors, yet his true self is incredibly obscene and inappropriate. He's sloppy and unclean, yet this true nature is more or less hidden when he is conducting business.
An instance where there is a combination of femininity and reality vs. artifice can be found in the passage where Fevvers is at the Royal College of Surgeons. Walser recalls how she spent three hours "entertaining" the surgeons, "without so much as unbuttoning her bodice". Fevvers is speaking about her own reality, yet there is no way of knowing whether her reality is true because she never provides indisputable evidence. When she shows Walser the scar at the bottom of her foot, there is no way of knowing where that scar actually came from. She speaks with such confidence that no one questions her actual knowledge of the subject. Carter writes that the professors did not want to be "rude" in "questioning the extent of her personal knowledge". The fact that Carter used the word "rude", to me, shows the professors' sense of manners when it comes to dealing with women (67). If the person who claimed to be a bird was part man, it is likely that these professors would grill him for actual evidence of his claims. Since Fevvers is an attractive, and relatively large, woman, no one wants to upset a lady by refuting her arguments. She also posses the charm and eloquence of a master of persuasion. She has a way of speaking matter-of-factly and with such enthusiasm, which makes it difficult for someone to put a word in edgewise.
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