First off, Bellis, Carnelia's last name, is the latin name for a daisy. To pluck the petals off a daisy is to pull Carnelia's life away from her - the extent to be assessed by the reader.
Daisies are also associated with innocence, particularly in Victorian flower language. (I'm a huge sucker for the Victorians' everyday use of floral symbolism.) The loss of petals is suggestive of Carnelia's loss of innocence, and, with the association with her name, of her identity.
You are likely familiar with the practice of pulling petals off daisies, saying "(S)he loves me, (s)he loves me not," alternating with each petal. A large portion of the novel concerns Carnelia and Elec guessing at whether or not the other loves them or is capable of love at all. More importantly, it's about Carnelia's uncertainty about whether or not her succubus status means that she has lost the love of the society she was raised in - and of the Christian God that dominates it.
Of course, plucking the petals off a daisy is a very passive way of living one's life, and central to the novel is the necessity of living actively. Does Carnelia take charge of her life? I'll have to finish writing it before you can find out.
~*~
You've probably noticed that in addition to chapter drafts, I've been posting what I've called here "Elec's Excerpts." I felt like the story needed some additional perspective to balance out Carnelia's very opinionated narrative. Although it may be obvious to experienced readers the ways in which Carnelia's story-telling is biased, I want it to be equally obvious to less perceptive readers that they're not getting the whole tale in the chapters. Hence, I've decided to insert excerpts from Elec's notebooks between chapters, although the author will not be named to the readers until far into the story.
The novel's design currently looks something like this:
1. "Loves Her...," presenting the primary themes and some of the title implications.
2. Chapter One, introducing Carnelia and showing the reader how she interacts with her friends.
3. "Identification," suggesting that Carnelia's place in the world is more flexible than Carnelia would like to think.
4. Chapter Two, introducing Elec and giving the reader an idea of their dynamic.
5. "The Post-Modern Narrative," tipping readers off that Carnelia is not the Fountain of Truth, and calling attention to the frequency of Carnelia's insistence that she dislikes Elec.
6. Chapter Three, showing how Carnelia and Elec interact with acquaintances.
7. "A Challenge," revealing how Elec views his relationship with Carnelia. This will most likely be turned into verse.
8. Chapter Four (which will not be up for a long while, although it has been drafted), demonstrating how Carnelia interacts with strangers and broaching her sexuality directly for the first time.
Stay tuned. ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment