“The Two Faces of
Mattie Silver” was written by Gary Scharnhorst in order to illuminate the idea
that Mattie Silver may not have been as in love with Ethan as she seemed to be. The author tries to show that Mattie Silver
was really only a “conniving temptress” trying to remain in Starkfield by any
means necessary. Scharnhorst mentions
that Mattie’s real goal was to be able to stay in Starkfield with Zeena until
she was able to maybe marry Denis. The author attributes the fact that Mattie
refused to ride with Denis because she was really flirting with him. He makes this point because she waited until
he had brought the horse out before running into the shadows. When
Ethan walks Mattie home from the dance, he puts his arm around her but “Within
a page, however, Mattie has extricated herself and pressed ahead of Ethan…”(Scharnhorst
356). The following day, Mattie is heard humming one
of the songs from the dance while she is doing the dishes. This shows that Mattie is still thinking
about the dance with Denis. Mattie has
very limited options because she has no house-keeping skills and she has
nowhere else to go. The author points
out that the times when Mattie draws closer to Ethan are the times when Mattie
faces the problem of being sent away. “As
long as Mattie is confident that she is in Zeena’s favor and may share her
home, she is indifferent to Ethan. Only after she learns of Zeena’s dissatisfaction
with her and desire to send her away does she begin to look upon Ethan as her
protector…”( Scharnhorst 356). I feel that the author presented his argument very
well. He was able to composite many
examples from the novel to support his theory.
I agree with the idea that the author presents. I was beginning to have similar ideas while I
was reading the novel. Scharnhorst made references
to many small details that I would not have otherwise connected to this idea
that were important in convincing me that this could be more than just an assumption
about Mattie.
This summary was very well presented. I found this new option to be quite intriguing. Though the book I was trying not to see Mattie in a bad light though through the proof given I feel I may have no choice but to understand and take into consideration this viewpoint of Mattie Silver.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I'm a little aghast at the suggestion of putting Mattie Silver in this light. I'm not a huge Mattie Silver fan, but I'm also not out for blood, you know? I didn't like her, but I think this article might take it a little too far. (At least for me, perhaps you really enjoyed the article!). I guess I was never really for the Mattie-Dennis thing and I'm just biased to the situation. Good summary though Alyssa!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this. This way of thinking really made me think differently about Mattie Silver. Thinking about the novel, I remember when Mattie acted flirtatious around Ethan and when she acted indifferent. She used Zeena and Ethan to her advantage. I thought you did well summarizing the article as well as getting your point across. This is very convincing. :)
ReplyDeleteWondering whether or not Mattie cared for Ethan is a common thought that we as a class pondered at least once, but after reading this article I think I believe that she was only out for herself and never cared for Ethan at all. You mentioned several great examples (for instance, I never made the connection between Mattie humming a song from the dance and Denis).
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