A story an Enneagram Four can relate to

Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer

                                           

At first I was worried that this story wouldn't be handled with care. Even though I knew little about it, I instinctively empathized with Chris McCandless. Then I began to perceive how much the author did as well. The whole story is an intent to capture his unique journey. He does not justify the pain Chris caused to his parents. Krakauer manages to convey painful truths about their complex relationship without demonizing or sugar coating. 

The intense journey of self discovery that Chris undertook is fathomable. The fact that he chose the path of completely no contact with his family is mystifying, but somehow he deemed it necessary for the pure ideal of independence that he sought in his life experiment. 

The idealist in me relates perhaps more than I would care to admit to the explorations of this young man in the early nineties. I see a portrait of my young twenty-something self - the ideas that I entertained, the asceticism that I pursued (in a much smaller way), my intent to grapple with the core of life's meanings, the way that I felt that I was on a completely different path from others, my desire to trim the fat of life's trappings and test myself. Perhaps if I had not been so deeply connected to my family, and was bolder, I might have undertaken just such a journey.

I enjoyed this book far more than I had anticipated. I think I expected it be more more of a pragmatic adventure story. I knew that Chris ended up dying, but little else about him. I was blindsided by the author's sensitive yet passionate approach to the story. I love how he approached it from different angles and also articulated the many criticisms that were broached after Chris's death - even about his lack of survival skills. The author carefully defends Chris in many ways. For example, how many of his many critics had actually succeeded to live alone in the Alaska wilderness and survive for months at a time - which Chris did manage to do. 

The book is intertwined with meaningful quotes that were part of Chris's portable library. I felt deeply connected to Chris and the author. The author personalizes the story even more by paralleling his own journey and some of his own experiences (one dangerous climb in particular) to that of Chris's. He also relates Chris to others throughout history - few and far between but unique characters who really sought to live life as deeply and intensely as possible - something an enneagram 4 can ever so relate with! (Better a short intensely lived life than one fraught with "quiet desperation" and dull civility. 

This is one book, I would definitely keep for my library to re-read. I'm eager to see the movie next.

Buxom bodices and Brash Buccaneering

I just finished Season 4 of this show - I believe it began filming around 2015, so it is the most recent version of the story. (There are several older ones I believe.) There is a season 5 but I have to rent it so I will wait to watch it. 

It took me the better part of a year to watch these. It wasn't like an addictive compulsion for me to finish this. It passed the time pleasantly. I especially enjoyed the scenery, music, and aesthetic of the filming, costumes etc.

Spoiler alert: What prompted me to write was my emotional reaction last night upon finishing the series when Elizabeth dies. I never liked Elizabeth. I found her tolerance for the despicable social-ladder-climbing-at-all-costs of her second husband George to be disgusting. She was an opportunist. While I can sympathize with the fact that women had few chances for stability without an "advantageous" marriage, she engaged herself to Francis before confirmation that Ross was really dead. When he showed up alive, she still married Francis even though she clearly was still in love with Ross.

 I could forgive her that, but then she manipulated George into marrying her in time to cover up her pregnancy through her one night stand with Ross, which didn't really work because her baby turned out looking just like Ross and coming "one month early" but with full term characteristics. OOPS. George has many flaws but being a complete idiot isn't one of them.

I don't believe she ever loved George - she knew he would provide her the genteel life and social standing she craved. Then she stood by passively disapproving or at time approving his gross exploitation of the poor - including his arrangement of the marriage of her cousin Morwenna to a perverted loathsome vicar. 

I can feel some sympathy for Elizabeth. Her maneuverings never really managed to attain her the happiness she hard-sought. When she tried to manipulate the timing of the birth of George's baby to make it seem like another "eight month miracle" - in order to fully deceive him about the first child being his, it backfired and killed her. 

Elizabeth's formality and dogged pursuit of gentility stand in sharp contrast to the warmth and genuineness of Demelza, who happens to rise in stature completely without guile. 

All that being said, I do appreciate the complexity of relationships with history, especially in the context of a rural village where everyone is linked to one another. Elizabeth was at one time the symbol of happiness for three men. The last episode masterfully wove together the power of her influence and thus her death. Ross can't help but be moved by her passing. We see the graciousness of Demelza as she extends kindness to Elizabeth and Valentine (the illicit child of Ross and Elizabeth) just prior to the death. 

I wasn't sad to see this end. I have for some time been weary of the same pointed rocks over the shore, no matter how beautiful. Also the bare chested embraces of Ross and the constant presence of buxom bodices. (Those just make me jealous LOL) There is only so much drama that can happen in a given small village: you've got the miners, romances that transcend social classes, intense jealousy, war heroes who return and romance wives, deaths, and beyond that there is only so much that can be fabricated!