Pages 193-295 Reflection

     In my recent posts, I mentioned how different Mattie’s way of life is from our modern day lives. This theme continues in this section. By now, if you don’t know that Mattie loves English and literature, you must be reading another book. However, the exact extent of her love for literature becomes clearer in this section. During a visit at Miss Wilcox’s home, Mattie comes across a sight that would have a much less powerful impact on the youth of today than it does on her. As she turns into a room from the hallway, she recalls, “What I saw next stopped me dead in my tracks. Books. Not just one or two dozen, but hundreds of them. In crates. In piles on the floor. In bookcases that that stretched from floor to ceiling and lined the entire room. I turned around and around in a slow circle, feeling as if I’d just stumbled into Ali Baba’s cave. I was breathless, close to tears, and positively dizzy with greed” (199). Though it’s a long quote, I feel that the use of it in its entirety really captures how Mattie feels in that moment. When she states that she “stopped dead in her tracks” I felt like she found a murder scene or something. Instead, she found some books. Now I understand that for Mattie, this was a big deal. Books were not as common as they are today and when you combine that with her love for literature it makes sense that she would be so excited. The author’s use of descriptive language also aids in readers’ connection with the text. You can picture little Mattie in this massive room with books covering every wall. She says she was almost crying. Phrases like these make her true feelings evident. I found it ironic that she was “dizzy with greed.” Nowadays, if we found out someone had a massive collection of books, they probably wouldn’t be accused of being greedy for that reason alone. Yet innocent Mattie seems to feel guilty that she is in the midst of such a massive collection. She is feeling greedy, emotional, and downright overwhelmed. I just found her reaction very interesting.  

     Later on in this section, I found a quote that peaked my interest even more. As I’ve said before, I love listening to unique perspectives and hearing my ideas challenged. That’s the only way to improve our minds. Mattie is thinking to herself when she hits upon a fascinating concept. She thinks, “Jeezum… What if God was a woman? Would the pope be out of a job? Would the president be a woman, too? And the governor? And the sheriff? And when people got married, would the man have to honor and obey? Would only women be allowed to vote?” (208). I had honestly never thought about this before. Not only does it raise the questions that are explicitly stated, but it also begs the question, why is God considered a man?  Why does Roman Catholicism say that man was created first? I’m sure you could go your whole life studying these questions and still find no definite answer. Questions like that are so fascinating to me. These help me make a real deep connection with the text that I truly enjoy. I hope the author can finish strong with some more seriously philosophical questions that are just begging to be contemplated.