“And then I knew I was one of Life’s fools”
We discussed the poem by Aner Clute a little bit in class today, and I really liked it. First of all, when she talks about the boy and the stealing of the apple, she says that everyone labels him a thief. Therefore, he becomes a thief because that’s what everyone is calling him. Suppose that he took the apple because his family was poor and he was starving. Instead of calling him a poor boy that should get help, everyone looks at the negative and says he’s a thief instead. Because of this, he can’t get a job, and can’t earn money, and so has to steal more to survive, and it becomes an endless cycle.
In Aner Clute’s case, I think she’s talking about herself, and how she was promised to be married to Lucius Atherton. Because everyone kept saying it, it became true. Instead of being with Homer Clapp, she married Lucius instead because that’s what the people expected of her.
In a way, this whole love triangle reminds me of Gatsby. Aner (Daisy) meets Homer (Gatsby) and falls in love with him. However, she marries Lucious (Tom) instead, who is young and fearless and has a love of adventure. Homer’s heart gets broken and, like Gatsby, he puts everything at stake in hopes of becoming the kind of man that she would want, someone rich and powerful. But in the end, he loses everything.
