Mirror Identity

            On Tuesday morning I memorized the first two verses of "Le mal intérieur" (The Ache Inside) by Serge Gainsbourg. There are four verses and the last one is the same as the first and so I only have one left to learn and may have the whole song nailed down tomorrow. 

            I weighed 84.8 kilos before breakfast. 

            I left for the Bildungsroman seminar at 11:15. It was my first bike ride downtown since my knee injury last week. My knee didn't really feel worse for all the pedaling. 

            Matt gave the first presentation. He had been scheduled to present last week but was sick and so he presented on chapters 1 to 15. He said the tone is like a fireside chat. David meanders. He experiences through contrast. Matt asked what makes David Copperfield credible or not credible. 

            I said the number of coincidences in the novel move the story into the realm of the supernatural. Like when David is having tea with the Heeps and Micawber walks by or when Steerforth is staying at the same hotel as David. One or two coincidences can happen but when they pile up they become unnatural. 

            Kristen's presentation mentioned Professor Jaffe's essay Vanishing Points. She talked about the character of Agnes being important. I suggested to her that Agnes really does nothing to cause any events to take place and neither does David. I used the phrase "pushing the plot forward". A few people said pushing the plot forward is not important. 

            Professor Jaffe said there are a lot of groupings of characters living together that are not nuclear family situations. For example, Mr. Peggotty is a father figure to several people to whom he is related but not directly. 

            She urged us to read between and around the lines. 

            I thought the fight David had with the butcher was interesting because he didn't win until after he was dumped by the older woman he thought he was in love with. 

            Professor Jaffe told us a story of the speech her son made at his bar mitzvah in which he said he'd like to thank the minor characters in his life including his parents. I didn't think of it at the time but the bar mitzvah happens when a boy is about twelve and that's when a parent does become a minor character from the child's perspective. Twelve-year-olds are generally embarrassed to be around their parents. 

            Jaffe asked us who are the minor characters. I said that a lot of those that show up by coincidence are minor characters. I mentioned the menacing of Emily by Rosa in the rooming house but Jaffe told me that was a spoiler and we wouldn't talk about it until next week. I gave another example then of Miss Murdstone showing up like a bad penny as Dora's companion. 

            Someone mentioned that he'd learned that today was Professor Jaffe's birthday and so everybody wished her a happy birthday. 

            I stopped at Freshco on the way home to buy two small containers of skyr. Katarina the cashier asked, "That's it? No grapes today?" I told her the grapes are all too soft but I bought cherries yesterday. I was just getting plain skyr because I'd bought vanilla skyr by mistake. She said I could bring it back but I said I'd already opened it and was using it. I forgot also to mention that I'd bought the vanilla skyr from No Frills. 

            I weighed 83.7 kilos before lunch at 15:15, which is the lightest I've been at that time in a week.

            I took a siesta and slept a half hour longer than usual. 

            I weighed 84.3 kilos at18:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:30. 

            I re-read "The Mirror Stage" by Jacques Lacan. I understand that he's saying that the "I" forms at the moment the infant sees its reflection. But I don't see where he indicates how that mirror effect manifests itself later in life in the people we meet. He may be saying it but his language is so technical that I can't get a grip on it. I'll look at some parts of Jane Eyre where I think she sees herself in others and then I'll start writing my essay that's due in two weeks. I'll try to figure how to bring Lacan in later.

            Later on I found some more articles on Lacan's theory and they explained it a little better. It's pretty obvious that a physical mirror isn't necessary for a child to develop a sense of self. Children born blind develop a sense of I and so they must have mirror moments from touch and sound. Some remote tribes may still not have access to mirrors and yet they still develop egos. I assume then that Lacan just uses the mirror as a ready example and since mirrors are all around most babies it's that moment where the I forms. It must also form without a looking glass though, but perhaps not as suddenly. 

            I had a potato with gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching season 4, episode 18 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            Granny now has a proper buggy with yellow wheels for her horse Lady Belle to pull. She wants to get a horse and buggy for Mrs. Drysdale to ride as well because she wants to have races with her like she used to with Alverna Bradshaw back home. But Granny buys a dilapidated old horse for Margaret because she wants to win those races. Mr. Drysdale agrees to convince his wife to race once with Granny. Since he knows his wife's horse can't win he promises her that if she wins he will drive the Clampetts out of Beverly Hills. But when Jed sees the horse that Granny bought for Margaret he thinks Granny needs to be taught a lesson about fair play. He gives Lady Belle to Margaret and paints Lightning to look like Lady Belle to fool Granny. But Granny discovers the ruse and gives Lightning some of her special tonic to give the old horse the pep it needs to win. 

            I made it a week without seeing any bedbugs. I think I'd have to scroll back a few months in my journal to find when that happened last. I'm starting to get my hopes up but I've been disappointed after doing so in the last year and a half. Looking at my bedbug timeline I didn't report any sightings between October 6 and October 20, but I see from my journal that I was mistaken and that I only made it five days without seeing one in October.