Classics and the Western Canon discussion

The children are impressed with their teacher who knows books and has traveled. Gvendur thinks about animals; Nonni thinks about far off countries; Asta Sollilja is swept up by poetry and the teacher’s “honeyed, fascinating eloquence.” Her favorite poems are those that speak of the sorrow of life. The children struggle to understand the Bible. Asta questions the teacher about God. The teacher sends a letter to the doctor requesting medication for his cough. He tells Asta if he doesn’t hear anything back, he will have to leave.

The medicine arrives, and the teacher’s health seems to improve. Asta wakes up at night and hears him reciting poetry that seems to be directed at her. She lights the lamp and the boys wake up. The teacher declares it is “wishing time.” Gvendur wishes his father’s sheep have a good winter and that he should earn a lot of money and come home before Easter to buy more sheep. Nonni wishes to travel to other countries, to the land where the Mississippi flows. The teacher writes a letter to be sent to Fjord. He declares their wishes will come true. We do not hear Asta’s wish, but the chapter ends with the ominous words, “. . . he [the teacher] reached for the lamp, blew it out, and took Asta Sollilja.”

The next chapter opens with a reference to a terrible thing that has happened. Asta’s clothing is disheveled. She feels alone, afraid, ashamed, and isolated. Her body feels butchered, cut up, and split open. She wishes she had died. She feels she has let her father down. She is conflicted about being with the teacher—feels joy coupled with guilt. But when the teacher asks God to forgive him for what he has done, Asta assures him he did nothing wrong and that she is to blame.

Bjartur comes home after having worked with Ingolfur at the co-operative society. He has lost all the credit he had with Bruni who has absconded after going bankrupt. The sheriff and doctor tell him he has little hope of getting any of his money back. Asta stays out of everyone’s way. She replies to her father in monosyllables and won’t look him in the eye. Nonni is a dreamer. Bjartur stumbles on Helgi’s mangled body, throws a glove at the corpse, and chases after his ewes.

Nonni sympathizes with Asta when he finds her crying. Bjartur receives a letter inviting Nonni to go to America. Asta prepares his clothes for departure. She goes to Rauthsmyri a few days before her confirmation. But the bailiff’s wife brings her back a day early. She tells Bjatur that Asta is four months pregnant. Bjartur gets angry, disavows Asta, and tells Madam Myri that Asta is their responsibility. He storms off to look after his sheep. He gets back to the croft at night and finds Asta in her threadbare dress, waiting. He slaps her, accuses her of bringing disgrace to his land, orders her to leave, and informs her she is not his natural daughter. Asta says she is leaving and goes out into the cold night in her threadbare dress and worn-out shoes. The book ends with Bjartur tenderly feeding three new-born lambs, much to the gratitude of their mother.

The bailiff’s wife, who usually makes patronizing statements about farmers and the nobility of farmers’ work, confronts Bjartur. She claims to have defended him for the last fifteen years even after Rosa’s death; the deaths of his new born babies buried in their churchyard; the death of Finna; the loss of his eldest son. But now she can no longer defend him. She blames him for Asta’s pregnancy:

To run away from all the enormities of the past winter and send an infamous wretch in your place, a notorious drunkard and jailbird who is not only a parish pauper with a horde of children but also rotten with consumption, and this blackguard is to look after your children, to look after Asta Sollilja, a full-grown young woman—“

Is she correct? Is Bjartur to blame?

Bjartur defends himself by saying they pawned Asta on to him in exchange for the land. He knew all along she wasn’t his child when he married Rosa. He accuses the bailiff’s wife of dumping her son’s bastard on to him. He claims he is not responsible for her since she is not his child. They are responsible for her.

When your own child lay lifeless under the bitch’s belly, and you had abandoned it to die I took your own child and gave it shelter and made it the flower of my life for fifteen years, but now I say that I have had enough . . .

Is Bjartur correct? Who has a responsibility to help Asta?

Bjartur marries Rosa even though he knows she is pregnant with Ingolfur’s child. The bailiff’s daughter is anxious to get to Reykjavik to get married because she is pregnant. Pregnancy out of and/or before wedlock seems to be fairly common. So why is Bjartur so angry to learn Asta is pregnant when, in the past, he wasn’t too upset that Rosa, his bride, was carrying another man’s child?

Why does Asta try to absolve the teacher of the rape by claiming she is responsible for what happened?

There's plenty of blame to go around.

Roger wrote: "There's plenty of blame to go around."

I agree as long as we recognize Asta Sollilja is completely blameless and is a victim in all of this. She is still haunted by the memory of her father pushing her away when she nestled up to him in bed at the inn. She doesn’t understand his anger but is convinced she was at fault even though we are told repeatedly nothing happened.

She doesn’t have a clue how to behave when the teacher touches her in this week’s reading:

And finally he touched her, as a man is bound to touch a little flower growing by itself behind many glaciers among a hundred thousand stones. His hand passed gently over her shoulders and her back, and finally the palm rested on her buttocks; but for a fraction of a second only. And when he had taken his hand away, then, and not before, did she look up. Her eyes questioned timidly and helplessly, like those of a child who has been smacked and given a piece of candy, all at the same moment.

Later, she blushes furiously when the teacher whispers poetry for her ears only at night. And even though she feels as if her body has been pounded and pulled to pieces after the rape, she is willing to take the blame on herself just as she blames herself for Bjartur’s anger at the inn.

A confused, bewildered child, ignorant of sexuality, but willing to blame herself for the egregious behavior of adult males.

Tamara wrote: "Roger wrote: "There's plenty of blame to go around."

I agree as long as we recognize Asta Sollilja is completely blameless and is a victim in all of this. She is still haunted by the memory of her..."

Absolutely.

Susanna wrote: "The rape is even more shocking because the teacher is presented at first as likable."

Yes, but according to the bailiff's wife, the teacher already had a reputation as "a notorious drunkard and jailbird who is not only a parish pauper with a horde of children but also rotten with consumption."

How could Bjartur invite a complete stranger to stay in his cramped dwelling when he is not there to make sure the man doesn't do anything to hurt his children? Since the teacher already had a reputation, if Bjartur had bothered to ask about him before inviting him to stay in his home, the tragedy could have been avoided.

I can't decide if Bjartur is gullible and naive to trust that a complete stranger will do no harm, or if he is so arrogant that he doesn't seek advice from others who may know better. Maybe all of the above.

Bjartur stumbles into Helgi’s mangled, decayed corpse near the river bed. Even though it is so disfigured and “bore no likeness to any human being,” Bjartur recognizes it as Helgi’s corpse. He prods it with his stick, and says, “As one sows, so does one reap.” Then he realizes he has to do something:

Ah well, he would have to do something for the body, seeing that he had found it, and that as quickly as possible, for the ewes had taken to their heels and were out of the gully by now. He was wearing a pair of thick, heavy gloves that were practically new, and he took the glove from his right hand and threw it to the corpse, for it is considered discourteous to leave a corpse that one has found without first doing it some small service. A few seconds later he was standing on the brink of the gully: it was as he had thought, the ewes were in full flight.

He doesn’t tell anyone about Helgi’s corpse. But he does ask Hallbera to knit him a new glove.

How does one reconcile Bjartur’s flippant attitude toward finding his son’s corpse and the way he mourns for his dead sheep? He is such an enigma. He shows callous indifference on the one hand and genuine compassion on the other.

What do you make of his reaction to finding Helgi’s corpse?

Tamara wrote: "Bjartur stumbles into Helgi’s mangled, decayed corpse near the river bed. Even though it is so disfigured and “bore no likeness to any human being,” Bjartur recognizes it as Helgi’s corpse. He prod..."

I've found his reaction deeply appalling. Just like his reaction to Asta's pregnancy. But, just like you've said, he also showed other sides of him that surprised me positively. Like when it was confirmed that he had indeed sent the teacher to the kids (I had thought it was a lie of the teacher...). Although not the best choice of person, obviously, but it was surprising that he wanted them to receive an education and enlarge their horizons. Also, when Nonni got the chance to travel, I would expect Bjartur to deny him this opportunity, claiming that he needed Nonni's hands to farm work or that it was a silly thing (to travel). However, he does not just agree with it but he treats it respectfully. So, I have tried to rationalize about his reaction to Helgi's corpse, thinking that it was due to their relationship, Helgi seemed the most angry of the boys, he had used violence (even if just against the sheep) to express it, etc. But my hopes for being able to consider Bjartur as a nice father were short lived after his poor reaction to Asta's pregnancy.

Susanna wrote: "The rape is even more shocking because the teacher is presented at first as likable."

I agree, Susanna. I think it is just one more contradiction that this very realistic novel is trying to show us about human beings. The teacher did something unforgivable to Asta. On the other hand, it seems that he achieved a much better destiny to Nonni. It is implied that Nonni will be successful in his travel and that he will indeed become a worldly famous singer. Not only he will achieve something he likes but it was also a wish of his mother. And it all happened because of the teacher's letter to someone. It is hard to reconcile how the same person could have such different roles in Nonni's and Asta's lives. But we all know that this also happens in real life with real people.

Monica wrote: "Also, when Nonni got the chance to travel, I would expect Bjartur to deny him this opportunity, claiming that he needed Nonni's hands to farm work or that it was a silly thing (to travel). However, he does not just agree with it but he treats it respectfully...

His reaction is surprising. Maybe it’s because he knows Nonni is a dreamer, unlike his other children, which suggests he knows his children better than he lets on. Or maybe it's because he knows it is something Finna wanted for Nonni:

You mother had always thought of making something of you, so maybe you had better go.

On the other hand, he barely paid any attention to Finna when she was alive, so why do so now? After he confirms Nonni wants to go America, he says:

“It’s all settled, then. I asked you simply because I consider that a man should make up his mind himself and follow none but his own behests.”

I’m wondering if the operative word here is man. Maybe there’s some gender discrimination going on in that he allows his sons to choose their own paths, but he won’t allow his daughter. Or it could be because he is closer to Asta than to his other children, had higher expectations for her, and so is disappointed for what he considers to be her fault in the pregnancy.

I've said a lot of "maybes" and "ifs." Like you, I struggle to reconcile the different faces of Bjartur. You said this about the teacher:

Monica wrote: "It is hard to reconcile how the same person could have such different roles in Nonni's and Asta's lives. But we all know that this also happens in real life with real people.

I agree. The same can be said about Bjartur.

I can't resist adding this:

Bjartur tenderly feeds old Kapa’s lambs when she delivers triplets. Man and ewe communicate in this beautifully worded passage:

But when she [the ewe] saw what the man was doing, she drew nearer and nearer; she fastened upon him her large, intelligent eyes of black and yellow, full of motherly tension. Sympathy has perhaps no alphabet, but it is to be hoped that one day it will be triumphant throughout the whole world. It may be that this was by no means a remarkable heath and by no means a particularly remarkable croft on the heat, but nevertheless incredible things happened occasionally on this heath; the man and the animal understood each other. This was on Whit Sunday morning. The sheep came right up to him where he sat with her lambs in his arms, sniffed affectionately at his hard-featured face, and mewed a little into his beard with her warm breath, as if in gratitude.

The ewe mewing into Bjartur’s beard reminds me of Asta nuzzling up to his neck. He is so compassionate and tender and sensitive toward his ewe and her lambs. Yet, he throws out his step-daughter, the “flower” in his life, to make her way alone in the cold night with nothing but a threadbare dress and worn-out shoes.

Go figure.

Perhaps Bjartur's harsh treatment of Asta is the result of him projecting on her his own disgust with himself for his sexual attraction towards her.

Roger wrote: "Perhaps Bjartur's harsh treatment of Asta is the result of him projecting on her his own disgust with himself for his sexual attraction towards her."

That's a really great point. Something I hadn't considered before.

Susanna wrote: "Yes, I think there is gender discrimination, and even little Nonni is aware of it. In ch.55 The Big Sister he thinks "She was weeping, her face buried in the grass. He was well aware that though she was their big sister..."

Good catch.

In that same chapter, when young Nonni finds Asta weeping, we get another beautifully worded passage:

This was the first time that he had ever looked into the labyrinth of the human soul. He was very far from understanding what he saw. But what was of more value, he felt and suffered with her. In years that were yet to come he relived this memory in song, in the most beautiful song the world has known. For the understanding of the soul’s defenselessness, of the conflict between the two poles, is not the source of the greatest song. The source of the greatest song is sympathy. Sympathy with Asta Sollilja on earth.

The value of sympathy came up earlier when Bjartur was feeding the Kapa’s lambs:

Sympathy has perhaps no alphabet, but it is to be hoped that one day it will be triumphant throughout the whole world.

A beautiful sentiment, beautifully expressed.

I found this little tidbit interesting with its tongue-in-cheek humor. When the teacher explains to the children sections of the Bible, he tells them the story of Adam and Eve:

. . . but they found it difficult to understand sin, or the manner of its entry into the world, for it was a complete mystery to them why the woman should have had such a passionate desire for an apple when they had no idea of the seductive properties of apples and thought they were some sort of potatoes.

This also suggests the children had a poor diet since it did not include fresh fruits and vegetables. The only vegetable they seem to be familiar with is a potato.