Reflection to "The garden lodge"

            It is always interesting to read works of modernist authors’ literature. As they were created in the 20^th century, which is usually called as the Age of Anxiety, modernist literatures are about how people react when they fall into materialistic lives. Many modernist literatures depict the self-destruction of those who became materialistic: all the guiltiness and regrets from what they have done.

           However, what is interesting about “The garden lodge” is that the main character, Caroline is not “destroyed” by her materialistic life, the affair with Raymond d'Esquerre. In the story, when Harold suggested her to tear down the lodge (where she had an affair with Raymond d'Esquerre), she accepted his suggestion. (As it can be seen in the story, tearing down the lodge is not just destroying the garden but also it means that her past is destroyed. It’s quite important for her.)

           Caroline accepted Harold’s suggestion, but when looking into the story, it is easy to figure out that though Caroline decided to let her past go, she had a hard time deciding to do it. She seemed quite daunted by the “magnificent” Raymond d'Esquerre.

…..And d'Esquerre was a man to reckon with. Caroline did not deceive herself now upon that score. She admitted it humbly enough, and since she had said good-by to him she had not been free for a moment from the sense of his formidable power. It formed the undercurrent of her consciousness; whatever she might be doing or thinking, it went on, involuntarily, like her breathing, sometimes welling up until suddenly she found herself suffocating. -quote

             I think her reaction is quite reasonable because being materialistic was not her innate personality. (She grew up in Brooklyn. That explains a lot.) As having an affair is kind of a deviation from what she experienced in the past, she definitely had difficulties dealing with it. After all, Caroline somewhat overcomes her dilemma by letting her affair go. This can be interpreted as Caroline accepting the materialistic life, which was common at that time, as a natural thing.
         Actually, while reading the story, Caroline reminded me the character "Jenny" in the drama "Gossip Girl". In the drama, Jenny at first was an innocent teenage girl from Brooklyn. When she first entered the materialistic elite world in Manhattan, like Caroline, she had a "culture shock", bewildered at the others' materialistic lives. However, soon Jenny accepted that lifestyle, and became the so-called "insider" in Manhattan. This process of adjustment is very similar to that appeared in "The garden lodge". 

           To sum up, from my point of view, “The garden lodge” depicts the relatively smooth process of a character accepting the different ideology.

-------------------------------Comments---------------------

Hyejoon: I liked your idea that this story is about how a person accepts the change in ideology. However, other modernist novels are also about the changes; the difference between the others and this (I think at least) is the illustration of ‘how well’ the characters accept the change. Unlike many other typical modernist stories which seem to indicate that the change happens violently and inevitably brings destruction, this story suggests that it happens rather peacefully and fosters a more mature stage.

Haeuk Ko: Is tearing down the lodge same as destroying her past? I rather thought it was an act of putting a seal over her memories. Rather than ripping the memory into pieces and burning them so that no trace of them would be left in her mind, I viewed the action as a line she drew herself for the purpose of moving on to other things. Also I thought the opera was not a product of disturbed mind but a final act of cherishing her memories-to put an end to it.