LITERATURE
Spirituality or Soullessness?
Lack of internal freedom is the main
feature of the Forsytes. There is something
shackling, restrictive in the appearance of
each member of the family, in every gesture
and even in the pose: Aunt Anne's "inflexible
back", the aunts that are sitting "in a row close
to one another", "stooped" James, standing
"close to the window, where he could get more
than his fair share of fresh air", and other
Forsytes, with self-limitations on the space
and contemptuous grimaces. The only person
being constantly in the center is the old Jolyon
- the head of the Forsyte family, who "gave an
impression of superiority to the doubts and
dislikes of smaller men".
Special survivability. The one who does
not have a soul, striving for peace over time,
does not die. The Forsytes didn't die at all.
"Death was contrary to their principles, they
took precautions against it, the instinctive
precautions of highly vitalized persons who
resent encroachments on their property".
There is a great number of the Forsytes, so
that it seems as if no one in the family is
familiar with each other.
Inability to love. A striking example of
this life defect is Soames. He strives for love
and beauty, but having been brought up on
calculations and facts, he is not able to
understand the essence of love and beauty
based on freedom! He has a beautiful wife who
does not love him, he has a magnificent house
that can't make him happy and is perceived as
a golden cage. And do the Forsytes need love
indeed?
Predetermination. The Victorian era
was famous for its unshakable faith in
progress, in moral precepts and the rigid
social hierarchy, based on property. And the
Forsyte generations lived honestly, sacrificing
their feelings for the sake of well-established
norms; they worked, acquired, trampling
morality and heart impulses. But this time had
passed, the familiar world collapsed, and so
did everything that the Forsytes had been
gaining so long. The younger generation
chooses its own way, shows disobedience,
keeps pace with the times.
It is obvious that the Forsytes way of life
is connected with the time they lived in and
the place they occupied. So whether this is
right to consider this family as of being
absolutely soullessness. Probably not. Not
least because the old Jolyon understood at
the end of his life that he could live even after
his death, "and yet it was him that Forsyteism
transcended . For it is written that a Forsyte
shall not love beauty more than reason; nor his
own way more than his own health". And only
after a very long lifetime, he realized that
"pleasure is healthful; beauty is good to see;
living means to live with the youth of the
young".
Capital? Life is impossible without
capital, it can be owned.
Beauty and love? And they can be
controlled, but not by everybody.
Follow Tatyana on Instagram: @t_yarusha
February 2019 №2
SUNRISE
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