I think Cheever meant that Francis Weed was "common as a weed" as an expression of that era put it. His restlessness and impatience with the tedium of conventional married life became widespread in postwar American society. Things would change drastically in the late 1960s: a nice house and stable family life were no longer enough for many Americans. The last two figures to appear in "Country Husband" are Gertrude -- the wandering little girl rebel -- and Jupiter, the mischievous dog who will probably be poisoned by one of neighbors. They are the future, and Frances's "cure" (a woodworking hobby) is a mere stopgap. Cheever himself openly took male lovers in his later years, and a devoted male companion stayed in the Cheever home to help Cheever through his final illness, which was probably AIDS. Sadly absent from this literary analysis was Francis' sudden wartime memory of watching a French village girl get shamed in public for consorting with a German officer. It's a brutal scene. Francis knows he can't possibly share it with his wife or his neighbors: "If he told the story now, at the dinner table, it would have been a social as well as a human error. The people in the Farquarson's living room seemed united in their tacit claim that there had been no past, no war -- that there was no danger or trouble in the world... the atmosphere of (Francis' suburb) made the memory unseemly and impolite."
Very apt points! Unfortunately, my entry level lit students would not understand the historical background or, in reality, care about it. They take the class to fill a need for an elective. On the other hand, I teach grad courses in British lit and those students also lack a grasp of historical context and often do not "get it." Sigh.
@@gwendolyn2001 Whether they care about it or not, the scene is important. Perhaps you underestimate them? There are some vivid black and white photo graphs in old LIFE magazines of women "collaborators" being humiliated by jeering crowds. I don't think anyone would see those images and feel indifferent: "Her head was bent, and her face was set in that empty half smile behind which the whipped soul is suspended."
@@constantreader8760 no, I don't underestimate my students. I also teach grad courses in Brit lit and many of my students do not "get" aspects of the works we read. In one class, I post information about aspects which they need to include in discussions which explicate works, and they still don't get "it"--of course, they would need to read the announcements to see the information.
I am shocked that anyone still views this video! It was made well over a decade ago and though I still post it in my online classes, I doubt that the students watch it. I am not familiar with American Beauty but when I have time, I will check it out (if I remember). Thanks for the comment.
it was a b17 heavey duty bomba..the ball turret was on the under carriage to the back of the plain.life span was 37 seconds german fighter was on target..wow you need to read about Randell Jareel.......you talk SHIT
I do not know which book you are using, but I was using the Norton Introduction to Literature text. In addition, the text has changed at least twice since I made this video. So, I imagine that you are using a different book. :)
great video this is one of the reason i don't enjoy poetry or any literature there is always what If's why can't it be just a straight forward answer like Math
benjamin odinaka And that is why some of us love poetry and other forms of literature! To us, math is boring. 2 + 2 = 4. Yawn. Life is rarely straightforward, and there are many different perspectives. :)
benjamin odinaka If we were all the same and had the same type of intelligence, there would be no poetry or we would not understand universal mathematics. Perhaps we would not know what we did not have, but we would be poorer for the lack. :)
@@moltasberglund I cannot log into this account because I forgot the password, so you will not recognize the name, but I am MsWLZ. And the "82" was hyperbole. I am now 69.
Interesting video. Nice to hear somebody analyzing this piece of art. I've been reciting this poem in my mind at work today, and that final line, "When I died, they washed me out of the turret with a hose", totally fascinates me. Such a strong, visual, terrifying yet beautiful line.
It is a "small" but deep poem. The last line is so impersonal but, as you say, terrifying. We give lip service to how important life is but we don't truly believe it. War shows us how little we value life, and we wash remains from turrets with hoses. Yet, how can we deal with such horrifying events if we do not make them impersonal? I have never been to war, so I cannot judge anyone who has. Sigh.
His name seems to be symbolizing his status in Shady Hill. A weed is a parasite that benefits at the expense of the other. We can see in with his relationship with his neighbors. Also that a parasite has to be removed which Shady Hill feels toward him after his "rebellion" ?
Karim, that is a great observation! I always tell my students to pay attention to names, yet I never considered "weed" before. My favorite character in the story is the dog, Jupiter. Jupiter (king of the gods) does not "fit in" either--unlike a proper dog, he runs wild through the neighborhood. However, unlike Francis, the dog is happily different from other dogs! However, he is poisoned--Francis chooses to be safe. At the end of the story, Francis takes up woodworking--essentially "fading into the woodwork" as the cliche goes.
I knew there is something with the dog ! and the name personifies Zeus but I couldn't get more into that idea :P. Yet our professor told us to criticize this short story in a mythological view of an Apollonian and Dionysian concept.
MsWLZ hey actually, i'm karim's classemate and we have this story among other stories in the final exam.my observation is that every character in this story reflects the past, jupiter the dog (the myth), the maid (the war) and so on.
Abdelkarim Boutamany Hmm . . . Jupiter can be interpreted in an Apollonian sense in that he is distinct from humans and other dogs in Shady Hill, yet he is Dionysian in that he is chaotic. Francis is "giving in" to Dionysus because his lust for Anne is based on pure emotion and lacks logic. I have always looked at this story from the point of view of the 1950s, so your teacher's mythological aspect is interesting. I teach a couple of mythology classes, and usually, I apply mythic interpretations to just about everything!
If I were to apply a mythological approach to this story, it would be based on a couple of mythic themes. For one, I would examine The Epic of Gilgamesh. After speaking with his dead friend, Enkidu, Gilgamesh was afraid of dying, so he went on a quest to find out how to become immortal. After meeting Utnapishtim, the only mortal to achieve immortality, Gil learns that he will not be granted eternal life. He has to accept this and, eventually, he dies.
After the near mishap with the plane, Francis is also afraid to die; his quest is based on the same reason as is Gil's quest, but it is a different kind of search. Francis knows he can't live forever, but he attempts to regain his lost youth by his infatuation with Anne. Eventually, he knows it won't work and he resumes his normal but boring existence. The fear of death and the quest for immortality and/or youth is a staple in myth!
The “ball turret” was a standard feature mounted on the underside of the World War II United States Army Air Corps Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” and Consolidated Aircraft-Ford Motor Company B-24 “Liberator” model four-engine heavy bomber airplanes. Every ball turret was equipped with a matched pair of Browning M-2 .50 caliber heavy machineguns. The two machineguns were aimed and fired by the small-statured man who sat inside the ball turret in a fetal position. His job was to shoot at enemy German or Japanese fighter planes attacking the B-17 or B-24 from below. So, yes, he was "hunched" in the "belly" of a military airplane that embodied the power of the "State." For context, a “G” model B-17 could carry up to 8,000 pounds of bombs to drop on Nazi Germany and had a total of thirteen defensive machineguns distributed over the belly, back, sides, nose, and tail of the airplane, to include the two machineguns in the belly-mounted ball turret. German fighter pilots called the B-17 the “Flying Porcupine” due to this plethora of machineguns protecting the B-17 against fighter plane attack from all directions. There were ten crewmen on every B-17, including the pilot, copilot, bombardier, navigator, radioman, tail gunner, top turret gunner, left side “waist” gunner, right side “waist” gunner, and, of course, the ball turret gunner underneath. The bombardier and the navigator did double duty manning the machineguns in the nose. “FLAK” is the German acronym for Fliegerabwehrkanonen, which translates as “flyer defense canons”-that is, large cannons positioned on the ground to shoot explosive shells up into the sky at American and other Allied airplanes. When a FLAK shell explodes in midair, it creates a nasty, thickly *black* cloud; hence “black flak.” The “nightmare”-like German fighter planes attacking B-17s and B-24s were mostly the Messerschmitt ME (Bf) 109 and the Focke-Wulf FW 190 models. “Wet fur froze”: Yes, a fur-lined flight jacket soaked wet with sweat from naked fear and then frozen in the cold six miles up. The book _Air War Against Hitler’s Germany_ by Stephen W. Sears has a cutaway mechanical drawing of a ball turret on page 84. Page 93 of the same book has a photo of the underside of a badly damaged B-17 that made it home to England. The ball turret area is a gruesome jumble of shattered Plexiglas and shredded steel. The man inside the ball turret was obviously reduced to hamburger. It would have taken a hose and some sort of scraping tool to remove his remains.
Thanks for the information! While the class is centered on what the poem "means," having historical context only adds to the meaning and understanding.
The only assimilation is death when we are absorbed back into the earth. Someday, the earth will be burned by the sun and our atoms will be assimilated into the dust of the universe.
We do and we don't live in Omelas--Omelas is a utopia that is created by the individual, but few individuals create their fantasy world outside of their heads. We do live in Omelas because we sacrifice people, including children, everyday. This video is a jumping off point for discussion in my classes where we talk about such issues. There is no true way to walk away, but some of us do not rationalize the poor treatment of others but must accept that we are limited humans.
I loved your analysis. I've always thought that this story held a deeper criticism of society than you indicate. We do live in Omelas, and we do sacrifice one another to misery in an effort to achieve social utopia. We take turns being the child, and we fail to achieve our utopia, and of course, since our societies are not truly just, some people spend more time suffering on behalf of others. The real tragedy is there is no way to walk away. Sartre also had it right. There is No Exit.
Another wonderful video! Wishing you where my English teacher! You make poetry so interesting and fun, I'll be owing you my A level grade! Thanks again!
But remember, at the beginning of the story, both Goodman and Faith speak of dreams--so the possibility of a dream was set early. Goodman lost his faith regardless of the reality or the dream! Hope this helps you.
The reader never knows for sure whether Goodman actually makes the trip or if it were a dream. The story is a metaphor and it doesn't matter if the trip were real or a dream because it symbolizes life. We progress through life and are consistently challenged. Goodman "failed" the challenge because his faith was destroyed. If it were real, Hawthorne was going purposely to seek out the devil. If it were a dream, the purpose was still the same!
@Cizcan That's the beauty of hearing other people's takes on poetry--we often pick up on new ideas or have our own thoughts clarified. Sorry, I can't think of any other strong anti-war poetry. Dalton Trumbo's novel Johnny got his Gun is a very strong anti-war book, though.
Great points. The abortion thought was one I picked up on, but never really focused on until hearing your opinion. Do you know any other strong anti-war poetry?
Thank you so much for posting this, It really helped me get started with the essay I am about to write on this novel. Very grateful and you did a wonderful job! Once again, thank you! /All the way from Sweden :)
I think Cheever meant that Francis Weed was "common as a weed" as an expression of that era put it. His restlessness and impatience with the tedium of conventional married life became widespread in postwar American society. Things would change drastically in the late 1960s: a nice house and stable family life were no longer enough for many Americans. The last two figures to appear in "Country Husband" are Gertrude -- the wandering little girl rebel -- and Jupiter, the mischievous dog who will probably be poisoned by one of neighbors. They are the future, and Frances's "cure" (a woodworking hobby) is a mere stopgap. Cheever himself openly took male lovers in his later years, and a devoted male companion stayed in the Cheever home to help Cheever through his final illness, which was probably AIDS. Sadly absent from this literary analysis was Francis' sudden wartime memory of watching a French village girl get shamed in public for consorting with a German officer. It's a brutal scene. Francis knows he can't possibly share it with his wife or his neighbors: "If he told the story now, at the dinner table, it would have been a social as well as a human error. The people in the Farquarson's living room seemed united in their tacit claim that there had been no past, no war -- that there was no danger or trouble in the world... the atmosphere of (Francis' suburb) made the memory unseemly and impolite."
Very apt points! Unfortunately, my entry level lit students would not understand the historical background or, in reality, care about it. They take the class to fill a need for an elective. On the other hand, I teach grad courses in British lit and those students also lack a grasp of historical context and often do not "get it." Sigh.
@@gwendolyn2001 Whether they care about it or not, the scene is important. Perhaps you underestimate them? There are some vivid black and white photo graphs in old LIFE magazines of women "collaborators" being humiliated by jeering crowds. I don't think anyone would see those images and feel indifferent: "Her head was bent, and her face was set in that empty half smile behind which the whipped soul is suspended."
@@constantreader8760 no, I don't underestimate my students. I also teach grad courses in Brit lit and many of my students do not "get" aspects of the works we read. In one class, I post information about aspects which they need to include in discussions which explicate works, and they still don't get "it"--of course, they would need to read the announcements to see the information.
Great analysis. I´ve just read "The Country Husband" and was blown away by it. It seems that "American Beauty" was inspired by it
I am shocked that anyone still views this video! It was made well over a decade ago and though I still post it in my online classes, I doubt that the students watch it. I am not familiar with American Beauty but when I have time, I will check it out (if I remember). Thanks for the comment.
it was a b17 heavey duty bomba..the ball turret was on the under carriage to the back of the plain.life span was 37 seconds german fighter was on target..wow you need to read about Randell Jareel.......you talk SHIT
Exactly the audience pays a major role when we write.
Amazing analysis 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Good stuff. Thanks.
really nice job. it will be helpful for my test.may god bless you madam :)
I love it that the videos that I made for my students help other students. Thank you for letting me know. :)
You say "page 40," but it only has 9 pages. Why is that? Are you reading the story out of another book?
I do not know which book you are using, but I was using the Norton Introduction to Literature text. In addition, the text has changed at least twice since I made this video. So, I imagine that you are using a different book. :)
That would be why! Thank you for the clarity!
Not too sure it's fair to say he committed suicide.
this video was a lifesaver for me.
Illuminating, Thanks :)
+Ahmad Abdolkhani You are welcome! It is an old video, but the analysis is always the same. :)
great video this is one of the reason i don't enjoy poetry or any literature there is always what If's why can't it be just a straight forward answer like Math
benjamin odinaka And that is why some of us love poetry and other forms of literature! To us, math is boring. 2 + 2 = 4. Yawn. Life is rarely straightforward, and there are many different perspectives. :)
MsWLZ2 yeah i get what you say but the same 2+2=4 can be 3+1=4 i get your point
benjamin odinaka If we were all the same and had the same type of intelligence, there would be no poetry or we would not understand universal mathematics. Perhaps we would not know what we did not have, but we would be poorer for the lack. :)
I hear ya. That breadth of possibility re meaning and intention is enough too drive anyone insane. Luckily, the poem remains.
I didn't understand this story at all until i watched you're video. Thanks a lot. By the way... I thought "wow! she looks great for 72" haha nice one!
Vanessa, glad it could help you! You should see me now that I am 82. (Grin.)
@@MsWLZ So now you’re 88?
@@moltasberglund I cannot log into this account because I forgot the password, so you will not recognize the name, but I am MsWLZ. And the "82" was hyperbole. I am now 69.
Interesting video. Nice to hear somebody analyzing this piece of art. I've been reciting this poem in my mind at work today, and that final line, "When I died, they washed me out of the turret with a hose", totally fascinates me. Such a strong, visual, terrifying yet beautiful line.
It is a "small" but deep poem. The last line is so impersonal but, as you say, terrifying. We give lip service to how important life is but we don't truly believe it. War shows us how little we value life, and we wash remains from turrets with hoses. Yet, how can we deal with such horrifying events if we do not make them impersonal? I have never been to war, so I cannot judge anyone who has. Sigh.
His name seems to be symbolizing his status in Shady Hill. A weed is a parasite that benefits at the expense of the other. We can see in with his relationship with his neighbors. Also that a parasite has to be removed which Shady Hill feels toward him after his "rebellion" ?
Karim, that is a great observation! I always tell my students to pay attention to names, yet I never considered "weed" before. My favorite character in the story is the dog, Jupiter. Jupiter (king of the gods) does not "fit in" either--unlike a proper dog, he runs wild through the neighborhood. However, unlike Francis, the dog is happily different from other dogs! However, he is poisoned--Francis chooses to be safe. At the end of the story, Francis takes up woodworking--essentially "fading into the woodwork" as the cliche goes.
I knew there is something with the dog ! and the name personifies Zeus but I couldn't get more into that idea :P. Yet our professor told us to criticize this short story in a mythological view of an Apollonian and Dionysian concept.
MsWLZ hey actually, i'm karim's classemate and we have this story among other stories in the final exam.my observation is that every character in this story reflects the past, jupiter the dog (the myth), the maid (the war) and so on.
Abdelkarim Boutamany Hmm . . . Jupiter can be interpreted in an Apollonian sense in that he is distinct from humans and other dogs in Shady Hill, yet he is Dionysian in that he is chaotic. Francis is "giving in" to Dionysus because his lust for Anne is based on pure emotion and lacks logic. I have always looked at this story from the point of view of the 1950s, so your teacher's mythological aspect is interesting. I teach a couple of mythology classes, and usually, I apply mythic interpretations to just about everything!
mohammed badereddine I agree that the characters reflects the past--how does this all tie together in the end?
What is the mythological approach in this story ?
If I were to apply a mythological approach to this story, it would be based on a couple of mythic themes. For one, I would examine The Epic of Gilgamesh. After speaking with his dead friend, Enkidu, Gilgamesh was afraid of dying, so he went on a quest to find out how to become immortal. After meeting Utnapishtim, the only mortal to achieve immortality, Gil learns that he will not be granted eternal life. He has to accept this and, eventually, he dies.
After the near mishap with the plane, Francis is also afraid to die; his quest is based on the same reason as is Gil's quest, but it is a different kind of search. Francis knows he can't live forever, but he attempts to regain his lost youth by his infatuation with Anne. Eventually, he knows it won't work and he resumes his normal but boring existence. The fear of death and the quest for immortality and/or youth is a staple in myth!
There are other aspects, but too much to type!
MsWLZ THANK YOU VERY MUCH THAT S HELPFUL :)
Bon bonia Glad that I could help--give me credit! (Grin.)
The “ball turret” was a standard feature mounted on the underside of the World War II United States Army Air Corps Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” and Consolidated Aircraft-Ford Motor Company B-24 “Liberator” model four-engine heavy bomber airplanes. Every ball turret was equipped with a matched pair of Browning M-2 .50 caliber heavy machineguns. The two machineguns were aimed and fired by the small-statured man who sat inside the ball turret in a fetal position. His job was to shoot at enemy German or Japanese fighter planes attacking the B-17 or B-24 from below. So, yes, he was "hunched" in the "belly" of a military airplane that embodied the power of the "State." For context, a “G” model B-17 could carry up to 8,000 pounds of bombs to drop on Nazi Germany and had a total of thirteen defensive machineguns distributed over the belly, back, sides, nose, and tail of the airplane, to include the two machineguns in the belly-mounted ball turret. German fighter pilots called the B-17 the “Flying Porcupine” due to this plethora of machineguns protecting the B-17 against fighter plane attack from all directions. There were ten crewmen on every B-17, including the pilot, copilot, bombardier, navigator, radioman, tail gunner, top turret gunner, left side “waist” gunner, right side “waist” gunner, and, of course, the ball turret gunner underneath. The bombardier and the navigator did double duty manning the machineguns in the nose. “FLAK” is the German acronym for Fliegerabwehrkanonen, which translates as “flyer defense canons”-that is, large cannons positioned on the ground to shoot explosive shells up into the sky at American and other Allied airplanes. When a FLAK shell explodes in midair, it creates a nasty, thickly *black* cloud; hence “black flak.” The “nightmare”-like German fighter planes attacking B-17s and B-24s were mostly the Messerschmitt ME (Bf) 109 and the Focke-Wulf FW 190 models. “Wet fur froze”: Yes, a fur-lined flight jacket soaked wet with sweat from naked fear and then frozen in the cold six miles up. The book _Air War Against Hitler’s Germany_ by Stephen W. Sears has a cutaway mechanical drawing of a ball turret on page 84. Page 93 of the same book has a photo of the underside of a badly damaged B-17 that made it home to England. The ball turret area is a gruesome jumble of shattered Plexiglas and shredded steel. The man inside the ball turret was obviously reduced to hamburger. It would have taken a hose and some sort of scraping tool to remove his remains.
Thanks for the information! While the class is centered on what the poem "means," having historical context only adds to the meaning and understanding.
MsWLZ You're welcome!
thank you for this
I am glad that it could help you. :)
The only assimilation is death when we are absorbed back into the earth. Someday, the earth will be burned by the sun and our atoms will be assimilated into the dust of the universe.
if blood is a life force then what are you
can you help me assimilate my body
thank you
We do and we don't live in Omelas--Omelas is a utopia that is created by the individual, but few individuals create their fantasy world outside of their heads. We do live in Omelas because we sacrifice people, including children, everyday. This video is a jumping off point for discussion in my classes where we talk about such issues. There is no true way to walk away, but some of us do not rationalize the poor treatment of others but must accept that we are limited humans.
I loved your analysis. I've always thought that this story held a deeper criticism of society than you indicate. We do live in Omelas, and we do sacrifice one another to misery in an effort to achieve social utopia. We take turns being the child, and we fail to achieve our utopia, and of course, since our societies are not truly just, some people spend more time suffering on behalf of others. The real tragedy is there is no way to walk away. Sartre also had it right. There is No Exit.
Another wonderful video! Wishing you where my English teacher! You make poetry so interesting and fun, I'll be owing you my A level grade! Thanks again!
Nah, just wonderful. (Evil grin.)
Katie, thank you!
Thank you! I found this very helpful, feeling more confident about the poem, also very enjoyable! :)
Oh wow Thankyou so much. That really helped me understand the story better
You are amazing!
This poem alone makes the entire poetry module of Lit 180 worthwhile. Love it!
If I said, "Eugene," mea culpa--he was a much later presidential candidate.
Lord of the Above, He is much older than Eurynome, but we choose our myths, eh? Besides, he had a mother--Nammu. Namaste.
Thnx MsWLX , it's the best story I have ever read .
But remember, at the beginning of the story, both Goodman and Faith speak of dreams--so the possibility of a dream was set early. Goodman lost his faith regardless of the reality or the dream! Hope this helps you.
The reader never knows for sure whether Goodman actually makes the trip or if it were a dream. The story is a metaphor and it doesn't matter if the trip were real or a dream because it symbolizes life. We progress through life and are consistently challenged. Goodman "failed" the challenge because his faith was destroyed. If it were real, Hawthorne was going purposely to seek out the devil. If it were a dream, the purpose was still the same!
Thank you--I am gratified when people love poetry as much as I do.
great stuff
@MsKatherineLucia Thank you!
@Cizcan That's the beauty of hearing other people's takes on poetry--we often pick up on new ideas or have our own thoughts clarified. Sorry, I can't think of any other strong anti-war poetry. Dalton Trumbo's novel Johnny got his Gun is a very strong anti-war book, though.
Great points. The abortion thought was one I picked up on, but never really focused on until hearing your opinion. Do you know any other strong anti-war poetry?
@TheSwedishDreamer I am gratified that it helped you! I hope that it helps my students just as much. :)
Thank you so much for posting this, It really helped me get started with the essay I am about to write on this novel. Very grateful and you did a wonderful job! Once again, thank you! /All the way from Sweden :)
@SituationDj You are welcome!
@SuperSpecialTrainer We English teachers need all the compliments that we can get!
you rock girrrrl
@AFriskySeaGull I am glad that it helped you! :)
That helped with my notes thank you :)
@thehouseofimports You're welcome! I make these videos for my students, but I am always pleased when they help someone else. :)
thank you