peer editing to Marcela -- EnglishtextsM

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Date Posted: 11:45:51 06/19/07 Tue
Author: Gasperim
Subject: peer editing to Marcela

Universidade Federal de Minas gerais
Faculdade de letras
Produ��o de textos
Professora Adriana Tenuta
Aluna Marcela de Menezes Fran�a

Bliss, is a very instigating short story. It is a story of a naive thirty-year-old woman called Bertha, who is always having moments of bliss and consider herself a very privileged WOMAN for having a husband, a baby, money, a house and nice friends. In the story, Bertha has guests for dinner and one of her guests was someone really special for her: Pearl Fulton, a very mysterious and attractive blond woman. At the end of the story she finds out her husband CHEATING on her with her fascinating, beautiful and mysterious friend, Fulton.
In this context of Bertha�s feelings toward her friend Pearl Fulton, I strongly believe that Bertha was not as happy as she claimed to be, once she had a life of appearences. There are important and subtle suggestions in the text that prove this.
Bertha had everything that society considers to be essential for a happy and wonderful life: a house, a husband, they were part of the upper class and had a lovely baby. However, one of the reasons that makes me see her as an unhappy woman was the fact that she was in love with somebody else: her friend Pearl Fulton. The narrator explains how these two women�s first meeting was, saying that �What Miss Fulton did, Bertha didn't know. They had met at the club and Bertha had fallen in love with her, as she always did fall in love with beautiful women who had something strange about them.� It is clear in this part that Bertha was sexually attracted by her friend. Her fascination by Fulton is also expressed when, during the dinner party, Bertha wants to be just with her friend and wait for her Fulton to give a sign, to show her the same feeling: �while I am making the coffee in the drawing-room perhaps she will 'give a sign.' Bertha was preparing coffee, and waiting, waiting and waiting for this moment as if Fulton were having the same feeling she was, the same attraction. This also proves how naive Bertha was.
Other arguments are those related to Bertha�s feelings toward her husband. As it is shown in the text, although she insists on saying she had a great family and she loved her husband very much, there are excerpts in the text that Bertha contradicts herself . She was talking to her husband about Bertha, saying naively how Fulton would sit �(...)with her head a little on one side, and smiling(...)�, and Harry, her husband, being ironic, said something about Bertha�s comment, and at this moment �For some strange reason Bertha liked this, and almost admired it in him very much..� Harry�s wife �almost� admired him, what is easily visible that Bertha rarely has this feeling of admiration for her Harry, what, on the other hand, she had toward Fulton. Another situation that depicts clearly her feelings toward her husband is when beside calling him a �good pal�, it is also said that �For the first time in her life Bertha Young desired her husband�. The interesting thing is that she desired him for the first exactly at the moment she wanted to be with Fulton. Her excitement, her bliss and desire were not related to Harry, but Fulton.
Another argument is the way Bertha believes in happiness, in a superficial way, following what the society takes for granted. According to an excerpt from Bliss,
She[Bertha] was young. Harry and she were as much in love as ever, and they got on together splendidly and were really good pals. She had an adorable baby. They didn't have to worry about money. They had this absolutely satisfactory house and garden. And friends - modern, thrilling friends, writers and painters and poets or people keen on social questions - just the kind of friends they wanted. And then there were books, and there was music, and she had found a wonderful little dressmaker, and they were going abroad in the summer, and their new cook made the most superb omelettes ...

This description of happiness describes appearences of a typical happy family. However, as it was told before, Bertha did not really love her husband, he was cheating on her with her friend, who she had fallen in love with. In the story, there is also a part that Bertha starts being in panic because she realizes her guests would leave and she was going to be alone again. There would be no more guests, nobody to tell her how good the dinner was, nobody to say good things about her life, her house and her family. It was going to be just her and Harry:
�At those last words something strange and almost terrifying darted into Bertha's mind. And this something blind and smiling whispered to her: "Soon these people will go. The house will be quiet - quiet. The lights will be out. And you and he will be alone together in the dark room - the warm bed ... "

In summary, Bertha was not so happy as she thought to be. It is clear in the short story that she was not attracted by her husband, she was in love with Fulton and followed every step the society ruled to be important for happiness. It seems the na�ve Bertha was a product from society. She found herself so inserted in a such fake ideal, that Bertha was not even capable to question her feelings toward Fulton, asking herself why she was not sexually attracted by Harry, questioning also if she had such a perfect family as she claimed to have.

Dear Marcela,

There is no doubt concerning how successfull you were when writing .However, what has left me doubtful is the fact that perhaps you should write an essay which did not have to be restricted to a literature paper.That happens since your thesis statement is not something debateble enough( a literary point of view is not broadly discussed since it is a specific story which might not be known by a majority.)

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