Literary Merit of The Red Tent
Welcome back to my blog! I just finished reading Anita Diamant's novel The Red Tent, and all I can say is, what an ending! A lot happened, and although I don't want to spoil things, I think a brief summary of the ending is in order, so that you're not left hanging after last weeks dramatic turn of events in the reading.
In my last post, I talked about how Dinah was being treated horribly by many people, mainly because of her gender. I explained how her son essentially got taken from her as a newborn. Dinah then watches her son grow up, raised mainly by her mother-in-law, Re-nefer. Although she is very sad about the situation regarding her son, she finds a little bit of joy in going back to being a midwife, as she was years before. Around this time, she meets a new man, Benia, whom she falls in love with. They eventually get married, and Dinah continues to practice midwifery.
The next part of the book contains somewhat of a time skip. Dinah is much older when she is called by a messenger to deliver a child. She soon realizes that the father of this child is her brother, Joseph, who she has not seen since she fled to Egypt with Re-nefer years ago (after Joseph had been part of the plot to murder the men of Shechem, including Dinah's husband). After being reunited with her brother, Dinah keeps in touch with him, and a little while later he asks her to come with him to visit their father, Jacob, on his death bed. Despite Dinah's uneasiness with Jacob after he killed her husband, she decides to go. When she arrives, she finds that Jacob no longer remembers her, which leaves her emotionally conflicted. However, she is able to find closure when she learns that her tragic story has been told to many, and will continue to be passed down for generations. She returns home much happier, and is able to find complete peace before her quiet death at the end of the novel.
If I am being honest, the ending did make me sad. Diamant described Dinah's death in a way that was both beautiful and tragic. From Dinah's perspective - "I died but I did not leave [my family]. Benia sat beside me, and I stayed in his eye and in his heart" (page 320). Dinah describes death as almost a happy event, explaining that "[t]here is no magic to immortality" (page 321). I really did enjoy the way that Diamant wrote the ending, because I think it gave appropriate justice to the end of Dinah's story.
That brings me to the main question I will be addressing in this post - is The Red Tent AP worthy? I have been thinking about this question in the back of my mind from the very first page of this novel, and I have to admit that my answer has wavered many times. I think that my final answer is, "yes, but no". What I mean by this is that I think there are some elements of the novel that are certainly worthy of being brought up in an AP Literature exam essay, yet I definitely would not consider it to be at the top of my list, if I were to make one.
I'll start by telling you something I really loved about Diamant's writing in this book - the imagery. Throughout the novel, imagery is constantly used to help convey the scene to readers. One of my favorite instances of this is when Dinah describes how "[as she] watched, the sun turned the cliffs pink and then gold. Women stirred and stretched, and then climbed down the ladders. Soon, the smell of food filled the air and the day began" (page 267). I like the imagery in this description because I can really envision the scene and what Dinah is seeing. Like I said, this is pretty consistent throughout the book, which helps to make Dinah even more relatable. Imagery is an important literary device that could definitely be referenced in an analytical essay about this novel, including an AP style one. For that reason, I think that AP students could certainly benefit from reading this book.
That being said, here's the thing about The Red Tent - it contains some really important ideas about gender roles and misogyny, similar to aspects of The Handmaid's Tale, which we did read in class. I think, however, that The Handmaid's Tale is the better of the two options because though they share fundamental ideas, The Handmaid's Tale seems to have more meaning. I love the idea behind The Red Tent, of shedding light to the mistreatment of female biblical figures, as well as giving them somewhat of a voice. The problem I had with this novel, however, is that it is a lot of plot. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, as it makes it easy and exciting to read, but I think that in AP terms, this makes it harder to work with. One of the most important things to remember on AP essays is that you don't want to just summarize the novel you're writing about. You need to be able to analyze specific things about the plot, and I just don't think The Red Tent contains enough material to easily analyze. This definitely doesn't mean it's not doable, but I personally would not spend time teaching it in an AP class, because it is not the easiest novel to work with in terms of analyzing.
As always, thank you for reading, and I'll see you in my next (and sadly last :( ) post!
In my last post, I talked about how Dinah was being treated horribly by many people, mainly because of her gender. I explained how her son essentially got taken from her as a newborn. Dinah then watches her son grow up, raised mainly by her mother-in-law, Re-nefer. Although she is very sad about the situation regarding her son, she finds a little bit of joy in going back to being a midwife, as she was years before. Around this time, she meets a new man, Benia, whom she falls in love with. They eventually get married, and Dinah continues to practice midwifery.
The next part of the book contains somewhat of a time skip. Dinah is much older when she is called by a messenger to deliver a child. She soon realizes that the father of this child is her brother, Joseph, who she has not seen since she fled to Egypt with Re-nefer years ago (after Joseph had been part of the plot to murder the men of Shechem, including Dinah's husband). After being reunited with her brother, Dinah keeps in touch with him, and a little while later he asks her to come with him to visit their father, Jacob, on his death bed. Despite Dinah's uneasiness with Jacob after he killed her husband, she decides to go. When she arrives, she finds that Jacob no longer remembers her, which leaves her emotionally conflicted. However, she is able to find closure when she learns that her tragic story has been told to many, and will continue to be passed down for generations. She returns home much happier, and is able to find complete peace before her quiet death at the end of the novel.
If I am being honest, the ending did make me sad. Diamant described Dinah's death in a way that was both beautiful and tragic. From Dinah's perspective - "I died but I did not leave [my family]. Benia sat beside me, and I stayed in his eye and in his heart" (page 320). Dinah describes death as almost a happy event, explaining that "[t]here is no magic to immortality" (page 321). I really did enjoy the way that Diamant wrote the ending, because I think it gave appropriate justice to the end of Dinah's story.
That brings me to the main question I will be addressing in this post - is The Red Tent AP worthy? I have been thinking about this question in the back of my mind from the very first page of this novel, and I have to admit that my answer has wavered many times. I think that my final answer is, "yes, but no". What I mean by this is that I think there are some elements of the novel that are certainly worthy of being brought up in an AP Literature exam essay, yet I definitely would not consider it to be at the top of my list, if I were to make one.
I'll start by telling you something I really loved about Diamant's writing in this book - the imagery. Throughout the novel, imagery is constantly used to help convey the scene to readers. One of my favorite instances of this is when Dinah describes how "[as she] watched, the sun turned the cliffs pink and then gold. Women stirred and stretched, and then climbed down the ladders. Soon, the smell of food filled the air and the day began" (page 267). I like the imagery in this description because I can really envision the scene and what Dinah is seeing. Like I said, this is pretty consistent throughout the book, which helps to make Dinah even more relatable. Imagery is an important literary device that could definitely be referenced in an analytical essay about this novel, including an AP style one. For that reason, I think that AP students could certainly benefit from reading this book.
That being said, here's the thing about The Red Tent - it contains some really important ideas about gender roles and misogyny, similar to aspects of The Handmaid's Tale, which we did read in class. I think, however, that The Handmaid's Tale is the better of the two options because though they share fundamental ideas, The Handmaid's Tale seems to have more meaning. I love the idea behind The Red Tent, of shedding light to the mistreatment of female biblical figures, as well as giving them somewhat of a voice. The problem I had with this novel, however, is that it is a lot of plot. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, as it makes it easy and exciting to read, but I think that in AP terms, this makes it harder to work with. One of the most important things to remember on AP essays is that you don't want to just summarize the novel you're writing about. You need to be able to analyze specific things about the plot, and I just don't think The Red Tent contains enough material to easily analyze. This definitely doesn't mean it's not doable, but I personally would not spend time teaching it in an AP class, because it is not the easiest novel to work with in terms of analyzing.
As always, thank you for reading, and I'll see you in my next (and sadly last :( ) post!
Jen,
ReplyDeleteI loved your description of imagery! I agree with you that it could definitely be helpful on some of the AP essays we may come across. Overall, you definitely made me want to read The Red Tent! I also liked how you touched upon the fact that this book would be okay to use on the AP exam but not necessarily your first choice; I feel as though there are a lot of books like that unless the one you're reading fits the question perfectly!
What would you think about this book being assigned reading for AP Lit?
Grace
Jennifer, you hit on the concerns I had about approving this as a choice for the blog assignment. I knew it was a lot more plot that the novels we have read in class, and so that can make it difficult to analyze.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, the imagery that you have chosen as an excerpt, while painting a clear picture of what is going on, doesn't require much from a reader to figure out, nor does it specifically add to a motif or symbolism in the novel. These are things I look for in the novels that I select for class, as they help students pay closer attention.
I appreciate your honest thoughts about the book.