When Bad Things Happen to Pretty People

I've been reading another good book (or rather a good series) lately: The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer *WARNING: SPOILER ALERT*. Now don't get me wrong; I really do enjoy this book, but I find the heroine, Bella, a difficult character with whom to empathize. In this book is a girl who thinks she is pretty plain, but for some reason nobody seems to have gotten the memo. She has to turn down 3 dates to a school dance, simply because she doesn't want to go. It's a rough life. Then she finds a vamipre AND a werewold who are both in love with her. The bad news just keeps on coming. Not only is she beautiful to humans, but even other species find her irresistable because apparently she smells good. Boy, and I though I had problems. The story of a beautiful damsel in distress is a tale as old as time (pun intended): Sleeping BEAUTY, BEAUTY and the Beast, Snow White (FAIREST in the land), the list goes on. Disney and all other movie-producing companies have yet to make a movie about a homely girl who has good things happen to her without her being transformed into a pretty girl first (She's All That, Never Been Kissed, Cinderella, The Princess Diaries). Disney especially tries to address the concept that someone who is not pretty can still have good things happen to him/her, however they fail miserably. The Beast (Beauty and the Beast) has someone to love him when he's a monster, but he conveniently gets transformed into a "handsome" prince (not the most attractive prince in my opinion, but I'm not really a fan of long hair). Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame doesn't get the girl. She goes for the captain of the guard with all his rippling muscles and flowing blonde hair, but at least Quasi makes some friends, which is all he should hope for as a hideously deformed bell ringer, right? As Quasimodo laments "No face as hideous as my face was ever meant for heaven's light". Disney seems to hint at their own opinions while remaining subtly tongue-in-cheek. Of course one cannot blame them for producing movies about beautiful people. As they themselves say in the introduction to Beauty and the Beast "...for who could ever learn to love a beast?" And no, I don't mean a really pretty girl hidden behind glasses, a unibrow, and a bad haircut; I mean an honest-to-goodness average person who would never have to suffer the awful embarassment of having to turn away multiple dates to the prom, or even having a date to the prom. Today's media seems to emphasize the truth from which so many average joes try to escape: if you are pretty enough, good things will happen to you.

The Idiot

I've decided I need to blog more about books I'm reading. Right now, I'm reading "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I think it's a very humorous book. It's about a man (a Prince called Muishkin actually) who has epilepsy, which in those days made people believe he was an idiot. He is actually one of the most intelligent people in the book. He is also sensitive and caring. The stigma that comes from being an "idiot" keeps him from studying at a university, finding a good career, even getting married; he has no hope for a great future. Those around him are more open with him because "he's just an idiot". This is where the Prince triumphs the most: by gaining insight and encouraging people to express their true feelings. I don't want to give away anything that happens, but at times the other characters are so ridiculous that they make the Prince seem like a genius by comparison. One of the most difficult things about reading Russian literature is the names. Russian uses patronymics. It's actually quite easy to figure out a patronymic. As implied by the name, it originates in the name of the person's father. My father's name is Michael. Take the name add "ovna" for a girl and "ovich" for a boy (with a few exceptions, of course). My Russian name would be Rachel Michaelovna (or to make it more Russian, Rachel Mikhailovna). My husband's name is Dennis. All of our children would have the patronymic (or middle name, if that makes it easier) of Dennisovna for the girls and Dennisovich for the boys. Another complication that arises with Russian names is the fact that the Russian language uses a different alphabet and at times the sounds are difficult to convey with English characters, not to mention that English has some sounds that never appear in Russian (like the letter W) and Russian has some sounds that never appear in English. Also, it's difficult to know where to put the emphasis on a word if you've never heard it before. A few Russian names have been Americanized by improper emphasis; Anastasia is a classic example. To a Russian, it's pronounced "AhnahstahsEEya" (capital letters denote emphasis). Vladimir, the name of the Russian President, is another name that Americans generally mispronounce (VlahdEEmeer). It's also important to remember that characters in the book refer to each other by their first name and their patronymic (SergEY IvAnovich) or by their last name only (which is the case of Prince Muishkin). One more helpful hint: Russian names have diminuitive forms, which are employed at certain times of life by certain people (I understand the concept, but I'm still not quite clear on when certain diminuatives are used). Anastasia, for example, may be called Anya, Anyetchka, Anna, Nastia, Nastasia, etc. Alexander may also be called Alex, Alexei, Alexis, Alik, Aloyoshenka, and (my personal favorite) Alyosha. If you've been paying attention to previous blogs about Russia, you will notice I mention a young man named Volod. His real name is Vladimir; Volod is a diminuative. It's all very confusing, but I hope that after this explaination, the names will make a little more sense the next time you read some good Russian literature.