Oh, Susanna!

I often find myself more engaged in the literature of the Bible when I hear Dr. Sexson read to us passages in class. I enjoyed being submerged in the text of the Story of Susanna in the Book of Daniel, and quite enjoyed reading and understanding it. However, the poem of Peter Quince at the Clavier by Wallace Stevens was a bit more challenging to unravel a meaning to compare. So, what do I do? I YouTube it. And I find a man reciting it, much like Dr. Sexson recites Bible passages in class.



As I read the story of Susanna, I understood that she was the victim of the elders lies. I looked at her as a character who was cheated out of a chance to speak her side of the story. But I never thought of her physical appearance. The Peter Quince poem by Wallace Stevens put the Story of Susanna into a new perspective for me. I looked at why Susanna was the victim. Why did the elders choose to threaten her unless she had sex with them? Why did she have have the integrity as a women to say no? She knew truth would prevail. Wallace Stevens description of her physical appearance describes her as more than the victim. But a woman of strength, rather. She did not give in to the threats of the elders for committing adultery. Much like Joseph did not give in to Potiphar's wife's threats when he refused her in the Book of Genesis. It was important to Susanna, like Joseph, to preserve their innocence.





Also, Wallace Stevens uses the description of music to set the tone for his poem from the beginning. It doesn't have to be the sound of music technically, but rather the feeling that is sprung when music is heard.

"Music is feeling, then, not sound;

And thus it is that what I feel,

Here in this room, desiring you,



Thinking of your blue- shadowed silk,

Is music. It is like the strain

Waked in the elders by Susanna:"





The description of music to set the tone of the poem is used throughout the verses of the whole poem.

"Susanna's music touched the bawdy strings

Of those white elders; but, escaping,

Left only Death's ironic scrapings."

In this verse, Stevens uses Susanna's "music" to represent her devotion to sticking to the truth, and in the end, her truth kept her alive, and sent the elders to death instead of her, for their lies.





"Soon, with a noise like tambourines,

Came her attendant Byzantines."



"And then, the simpering Byzantines

Fled, with a noise like tambourines."

These passages show significant success at describing music or sound, to set the tone. The first verse describes the chaos of Susanna's attendant coming and seeing her with the Elders, and the noise like tambourines is used to show this.

And the next passage uses the same noise of tambourines to describe when the loud mouthed attendant runs off to tell on Susanna and all hell will break loose.



-------->The YouTube Video of Peter Quince at the Clavier that I viewed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVSXt4GHMPc

Exodus

I really enjoyed battling through the Book of Exodus. I only wish God would give me a rod that would turn into a snake when I threw it down too, to help me chow through all this painful, but compelling literature. It's no wonder Dr. Sexson ranked Exodus as an 8 that day in class. I mean, the Ten Commandments are listed, the Israelites are led out of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea is described, Mount Sinai is here and is important in relation to Words with Power, and of course... we meet Moses. However, what I like best about Exodus is the reader gets to actually know more about God. It may not be what I thought, it may be that he is easily angered and snaps on the Israelites for every human mistake that is made, for example, when he wanted to kill them all for worshipping that calf made by Aaron, but we still see God a lot more in this Book as compared to Genesis.

I enjoyed reading the transformation of Moses from somewhat of a weak man into a courageous man. At the beginning of Exodus, he wouldn't comply with God's request to talk with Pharaoh in Egypt and does nothing but complain about this mission given to him. Because why? He is afraid of speaking and doesn't do so well with communication. Kind of a wimpy excuse for the prophet chosen by God to fulfill such an important task of leading the Israelites out of Egypt. So, we have Joseph the Dreamer, Jacob the trickster, and Isaac the Blind of Genesis, and Moses the Complainer of Exodus. But towards the end of Exodus we see Moses flourish into a savior, or other words someone actually deemed worthy to be chosen by God for such a mighty undertaking. He actually saves the Israelites from God. And he does this by speaking to God, and speaking was such a timid matter for him before.


David Plotz brings up an interesting argument about Exodus concerning monotheism and polytheism in the Ten Commandments, that I have yet to think about. The first two of the Ten Commandments states, " You shall have no other Gods besides Me" and "You shall not bow down to them or serve them", now, that leaves room for a lot of interpretation, especially for an individual who is not highly religious, such as myself. David Plotz desribes the Israelites being polytheists, and then discovering that God was the top dog, coming to this realization of monotheism. But it still leaves grounds for further interpretation for me. If God was the only God why would he even have to make a rule of not having other Gods? Is there proof in the Ten Commandments that there is multiple gods? Wow, perplexing argument David Plotz. I need to study/theorize more on this. Did anyone else find this as thought provoking as I did?

WOmen in the Bible

...Or do they? Sure, they may be hidden under the blustering tales of the men. But they're present among the minds who look closely.
It's a little, but grand word called manipulation. And us women know how to work it. :)


Ok, let's be honest. Women in the Bible are material objects. They're made into prostitutes by their fathers, sold off basically for marriages and don't even get to choose their own spouses, they're seen as repulsive for having a menstrual cycle, and above it all they are not recognized for how big of a part they play in recreation. Ok, Adam we know you gave life from your rib. Thanks be to God.


But now let me dig into my reminiscent mind, and fish out the times that women have made fools of men, and risen above their dominating ways, by the power of manipulation. And maybe just being smarter all together.

Examples:


-When women can trick their own father into having sex with them, that is manipulation. (Lot's daughters in Genesis)


- Rebekah (or the original Lady Macbeth as David Plotz calls her, hehe) manipulates her son Jacob to trick Isaac into blessing the wrong son. And if you remember, Jacob is hesitant at first because he is afraid of getting cursed. But all Rebekah has to say is "Just do as I say", and the scam unfolds.

- Sarah, Abraham's wife, fools Pharaoh into thinking that she is Abraham's sister. Abraham couldn't have done that good of acting.

-Who sends Joseph to jail because he won't "lie" with her? A woman. Ok, so Potiphar's wife being a sex crazed maniac may not be the best example, but it still shows women in power due to manipulation.


A person who is fond of detracting would say I am dead wrong. But we must not forget terms such as Couvade, when men envy childbirth in the Bible shown when Adam gives "birth" to Eve via his rib, and as we discussed in class, in a patriarchy, even men are women. Women are visibly seen as less important in the Bible, but still hold much significance.

As discussed in Linda Sexson's visit to our classroom, women in the Bible are present in 3 categories. And these categories are: feminine: symbolic and metaphorical , women: social persons who are designated by culture, and female: biological

I think I will find it helpful while continuing to read the Bible, and as I reach and interpret the stories of women, to keep in mind these 3 categories. These help determine the role they play.