Final Paper Brainstorming

Thesis from Paper 2:

Interest in The Female Quixote reflects the right of having a claim in something through the economic examples of interest as a commodity and currency, something that can be invested and competed for, and the right of a family to have a share in an estate. (This will need to be reworked for the final paper)

The interest I am talking about is not an actual monetary interest accrued overtime off of a principal value. I am talking about the interest people show for something or someone. People have interest in something that holds their attention, that provides the person with happiness and pleasure.

"It is the vanity, not the ease or the pleasure, which interests us. But vanity is always founded upon the belief of our being the object of attention and approbation" (Smith 512).

Smith is arguing that we strive to earn a living to gain our interests not for the pleasures we can afford, but, for the attention that we receive from others.

"To be observed, to be attended to, to be taken notice of with sympathy, complacency, and approbation, are all the advantages which we can propose to derive from it" (Smith 512).

The "it" that is being derived from is the "great purpose of human life which we call bettering our condition" (Smith 512).

So we strive to "better our condition" by accruing more of our interests. These interests are in more than just the simple necessities of life. These things have to be above what the common man can attain. These are the luxuries of life. These luxuries increase the "vanity" that makes the person the "object of attention and approbation." The person of vanity is in the eyes of the public. The luxuries may not be the ultimate interest. The ultimate interest is that of vanity and being in the public eye.

The person in the public eye has their vanity fueled by being the object of the public's attention. The public now has an interest in being connected to the person of vanity. The person in the public desires to be in the same position as the person of vanity. They invest their interest in the vain person in the hopes that they can, in turn, receive the interest of the vain person.

Maybe, in order to maintain their place of vanity in the public eye, the vain person will show interest in the public to, in a sense, buy their attention. This exchange of interests helps the public rise in vanity and approach the position of the vain person.

"it is upon him that their passions seem all to wait with expectation , in order to receive that movement and direction which he shall impress upon them; and if his behavior is not altogether absurd, he has every moment an opportunity of interesting mankind and of rendering himself the object of the observation and fellow-feeling of everybody about him" (Smith 512).

Clearly, these ideas are raw and not quite coherent yet. I need to dig into The Wealth of Nations deeper to make sure these quotes support my claims. It is possible that Smith will contradict these assertions but any contradictions could be useful for the paper if I can explain both sides of what Smith is trying to say and what I am trying to say.

I think the quote "The estates exchanged must be equal in quantity; not in value...but of interest" (Blackstone) from the OED will be helpful in this discussion.

I also need to see how I can tie this into Mr. Glanville's interest in Arabella. Is his interest in marriage supported by the idea of appearances in the public eye. Could this be the motivation for him to "cure" her of the obsession with romances?

Ideas for Final Paper

For my final paper I'm going to continue my discussion on interest as a state of mind. I'm going to pull various examples from my last paper on the Female Quixote to demonstrate how interest is a valuable commodity that can be traded, invested, used to purchase things, etc. I will expand upon these ideas and better explain what the interest of the characters actually is. Mr. Glanville is interested in Arabella for marriage. I need to elaborate on how this interest motivates him and drives him to certain actions.

I will then relate the drive that pushes people towards their interests to what I talked about in my oral presentation. I will continue to explore The Wealth of Nations and talk about the explicit economic sides of interest. I will try to focus on how people exchange interest in each other with each other. This idea of the exchange ties back to interest as a currency. I will again show how interest is invested in other people in the hopes that those people will return the interest. This idea come from Adam Smith's quote "It is the vanity, not the ease or the pleasure, which interests us. But vanity is always founded upon the belief of our being the object of attention and approbation" (Smith 512).

I would like to tie in that whether interest is positive or not relies on the consequences of seeking the interests. I would also like to compare the pursuit of interests to the pursuit of happiness. These ideas may be too broad to fit my thesis.

I want to improve the level at which I use literary evidence and the depth of the analysis of these passages. I would like to, if possible, analyze syntax to get an even deeper understanding of what the authors are writing. 

I will integrate what I have found from the OED as well as the Mind is a Metaphor database. I will quote these more extensively and provide more in depth analysis of what these sources offer. 

Quotes on Anger and Frustration

"These pretty superlatives, dropping glibly from the tongue, vitiate the taste, and create a kind of sickly delicacy that turns away from simple unadorned truth, and a deluge of false sentiments and overstretched feelings, stifling the natural emotions of the hear, render the domestic pleasures insipid, that ought to sweeten the exercise of those severe duties, which educate a rational and immortal being for a nobler field of action" (Wollstonecraft 260).

"Satire shou'd, like a polish'd Razor keen,
Wound with a Touch, that's scarcely felt or seen.
Thine is an Oyster-Knife, that hacks and hews;
The Rage, but no the Talent to Abuse;" (Montagu 189).

Interest or Boredom in the Sermon Scene of Tristram Shandy

Does the sermon scene in Tristram Shandy show the characters bored or interested?

"[Certainly, Trim, quoth my father, interrupting him, you give that sentence a very improper accent; for you curl up your nose, man, and read it with such a sneering tone, as if the Parson was going to abuse the Apostle" (Sterne 88). 

"The common talk of men must relate to facts in which the talkers have, or think they have, an interest; and where such facts cannot be known, the pleasures of society will be merely sensual" (Johnson, Idler No.7).

I'm unsure if the characters in the sermon scene are bored or interested in the sermon. Tristram's father interrupts Trim after only one sentence to interject his opinion on the sermon. Each character, in turn, does this throughout the whole scene. These seems to be evidence of the "common talk [...] which the talkers have [...] an interest." They interrupt frequently to argue the theology of the points being made or how the church carriers out its business. There are several instances of the characters hobby-horses coming out in their discussion. Toby and Trim compare certain passages to battles and battlements, Dr. Slop wakes up from his nap when physicians are mentioned, and Tristram's father continues his many peculiar opinions. In this quote the father is chastising Trim for reading the passage in a way he thinks improper.

The characters are talking about things they have interest in and knowledge of facts about them. This gives the appearance that they are interested in the sermon. However, the frequent interruptions could point to that they rather talk about what is on their minds than continue to hear the sermon. Their boredom in hearing the sermon could be satisfied by the "sensual" act of talking. Their talking could be purposed to have a more interesting conversation then what the sermon is presenting.

Are Attention and Distraction Inseparable?

What does distraction look like in Tristram Shandy and the picture by Hogarth?

"I find it necessary to consult every one a little in his turn; and therefore must beg pardon for going on a little further in the same way: For which cause, right glad I am, that I have begun the history of myself in the way I have done; and that I am able to go on tracing every thing in it" (Sterne 4).

The picture "Gin Lane" by Hogarth

We see a duality of attraction and distraction early on in Tristram Shandy's narrative of his life. He pays close attention to every detail to the point that he gets distracted from the narrative of his life by describing everyone that played a part somehow in his birth. He believes it is necessary to write this way because he can't help but follow the meanderings of his mind on each subject like the parson, midwife, the marriage document, etc.

Gin Lane shows distraction in a different light. The lady sitting on the stairs is so occupied by the thing her hands that she is unaware of the child falling over the railing. Again we see an example of distraction caused by attention being focused on something other than what the person is distracted from.

Are attention and distraction inseparable?

Arabella's Personification of a Letter

Why does Arabella personify the letter from Sir George?

"And thou, too indiscreet and unwary Friend, whose Folds contain the Acknowlegement of his Crime! What will it advantage thee or him, if, torn by my resenting Hand, I make thee suffer, for the Part thou bearest in thy Master's Fault; and teach him, by thy Fate, how little Kindness he has to expect from me!" (Lennox 173)

"Poor Tobin, who latterly fell blind, did not regret it so much for the weightier kinds of reading — the Paradise Lost, or. Comus, he could have read to him; but he missed the pleasure of skimming over with his own eye a magazine, or a light pamphlet" (Lamb 13).

I found it interesting that Arabella takes her anger at Sir George's "criminal" advances out on the physical letter. She is transfixed by written word. Clearly she sees life through the lens of the romantic stories she loves. Her frustration is rooted in her conflicting desires to either read the letter or banish it from her sight and punish Sir George by returning it to him. She is unable to punish Sir George so she desires to use the letter as a kind of simulacrum. She struggles between following her emotions and the precedents set for her by the romantic heroines. This is also starting to play our in her relationship with Glanville. She is allowing him more freedoms than may be precedent so that she does not lose his love by either his death or vexation. However, she still tries to control him as the heroines controlled their suitors.

The Lamb quote shows a contrast with how a simple pamphlet can bring pleasure to a reader. Sir George's letter envokes scorn and malice from Arabella but pamphlets proved joy for the reader Tobin. I'm not quite sure how to further connect the two works. The Lamb piece did represent how entranced people can be with various styles of books and writing.

Miss Betsy as a Monomaniac

Does Betsy care about Trueworth at the end of volume 2 or is just only worried about her reputation and what diversions she will have to find without him?

"if Mr. Trueworth had desisted his visits, it was only because he was convinced she desired not the continuance of them. [...] she spoke [these words] with no other intent than to clear herself of the imputation of having been forsaken; -- a thing she looked upon as the worst blemish that could be cast upon her reputation." (Haywood 323)

"they possess the sharp ability to split reality into differentiated fragments, each to be endowed with a specific function. Parceling, appropriating, and controlling are some of the tell-tale signs of their condition. [...] Under their alleged ordinariness is concealed a love-hate relationship with permanence, a less than noble need to dominate." (Van Zuylen 10)

Miss Betsy rarely takes the time to consider how her own actions affect the people around her. She deflects the blame for her split with Trueworth completely onto him. She continues to believe that he wasn't special to her and that he left because he recognized that. She couldn't possibly admit that it was her own faults (or apparent faults) that caused him to leave.

Like the Monomaniac that Van Zuylen talks about, Betsy compartmentalizes Mr. Thoughtless into a past diversion of little meaning to her. In order to avoid the shame of being "forsaken" she separates him from  any emotional attachment she may have had for him. She makes him out to have been a mere suitor in the long list of lovers she has entertained. To further mend the situation she begins to entertain Mr. Munden and then Sir Frederick.

Betsy desires control and others to dote on her in order to provide her self-worth. She separates her actions from the actions of others passing all the blame on to them so that she can continue in her state of "innocents". Through this process she maintains her "control" and "dominance" of her social life.