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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To despair of literacy?

47 replies

Fugitivefrombrusstice · 07/03/2018 10:45

In a now-deleted tweet the Sun made some comment about how 'snowflake students' think that Frankenstein's monster was actually a misunderstood victims.

Anyone who has ever read the book knows of course that THIS IS THE ENTIRE POINT OF THE NOVEL!

What other books do you think are chronically misunderstood or misinterpreted by people who refer to them despite have clearly either not read the book, or misunderstood it entirely?

OP posts:
Squishysquirmy · 07/03/2018 11:47

Tbf, I could well imagine Wuthering Heights being Bella and Edwards favourite book.
However, that is not because WH is "romantic" but because B and E had a fairly fucked up idea of romance...

Original poster
Fugitivefrombrusstice · 07/03/2018 11:48

@Squishysquirmy true dat!

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UtterlyRainbowed · 07/03/2018 11:49

I am Gin's DD!! Yes the Twilight link! Due to that I heard "Heathcliff is soooo romantic I want him to be my boyfriend" - I did a whole lesson on healthy relationships and how obsession is not healthy and what red flags should be in a relationship. Jesus Christ.

Original poster
Fugitivefrombrusstice · 07/03/2018 11:51

@UtterlyRainbowed you sound like the kind of brilliant, informed, eloquent 'snowflake' the Sun is so perpetually terrified of! Well done!

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Squishysquirmy · 07/03/2018 11:57

The relationship in WH is also potentially incestuous isn't it? (If you read between the lines).

Dad goes away for business a lot. Comes back with small, angry, child one day that he "found" and wants him to be brought up along side his other children...

gihaboyago · 07/03/2018 11:59

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

thecatfromjapan · 07/03/2018 12:01

Forgive The first few responses you had were very strange, weren't they? AIBU is bizarre.

The Sun tweet was repeated all over Twitter and was rather funny.

I think it's because some literary works are very memetic (they become memes and are very successful as memes). 'Dracula' is a good example of that. People encounter the meme form - or one of the memes - and not the original, hence the extraordinary misinterpretation.

The Sun were probably thinking of a Hammer Horror version of 'Frankenstein'. It was a brilliantly flat-footed tweet, though. Grin

I'm trying to think of any others. There must be loads.

UtterlyRainbowed · 07/03/2018 12:07

Yes squishy and is believed in some readings to be based on her own relationship with her brother. There are so so so many things wrong with it.

Haha OP that is the best compliment I have ever received. Thank you :)

thecatfromjapan · 07/03/2018 12:09

And of course 'The Great Gatsby', or more precisely, the adjective 'Gatsbyesque' is used as a shorthand for 'glamorous', 'hedonistic', and a kind of moneyed glamour.

I've read enough fashion magazines in my life to know it was a slow inspiration day in the office when the go-ahead was given for yet another 'Gatsbyesque' shoot was given.

And it is used as such precisely by people who, by and large, haven't read it - usually not at all, not even in a superficial, imposing-preconceptions manner.

I can't see that there is much to be argued with in this.

sirfredfredgeorge · 07/03/2018 12:20

Dad goes away for business a lot. Comes back with small, angry, child one day that he "found" and wants him to be brought up along side his other children...

I think you're thinking of "A Bear called Paddington" I don't remember any incest themes.

thecatfromjapan · 07/03/2018 12:26

I think that the idea/reading of Heathcliff as illegitimate off-spring of Cathy's father was one that Andrea Dworkin drew on (and popularised) in her (very strong) analysis of the theme of male power in 'Wuthering Heights'. It's a very good essay, if you're interested in literary criticism/feminism.

NotCitrus · 07/03/2018 12:34

I'm now seeing Paddington as Heathcliff and really am snorting with laughter at the potential relationship between Paddington and Kate Bush...

Original poster
Fugitivefrombrusstice · 07/03/2018 12:38

Yes I have seen the theory about Heathcliffe being an illegitimate son!

There's also an interpretation I find very convincing relating to him being symbolic of the nations fear of the new merchant class. Edgar is fearful of Heathcliffe usurping his position, which is of course exactly what happens when Heathcliffe leaves to make his fortune and then returns to take over Wuthering Heights. He disrupts the hierarchy of birth and inheritance, which is something the British aristocracy were very fearful of when people without aristocratic blood started to make enormous amounts of money through trade and commerce.

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Squishysquirmy · 07/03/2018 12:43

A sturdy duffle coat and sensible hat would be very useful when roaming the cold, windy moors. As would a marmalade sandwich.

thecatfromjapan · 07/03/2018 12:43

I'm thinking 'Jane Eyre' is probably another example. It's less prone to be interpreted 'flatly' (and I suspect that is because 'Wide Sargasso Sea' is widely read, so people do have the experience of coming to the original by way of an interpretation - which is odd when you think about it but also interesting) but I think Jane Eyre herself tends to be under-interpreted. And, again, I think that's probably a result of having knowledge of representations of the novel, rather than an encounter with the original.

That one springs to mind because lots of interpretations of 'Jane Eyre' look at Jane Eyre as a similarly disruptive figure (the young governess - a potentially sexually disruptive force - entering the family home) for the readers of that time.

kesstrel · 07/03/2018 13:07

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Seeing her as a wonderful, lovable, inspiring teacher.... That's probably down to the film as well, though.

mustnotlooktohave · 08/03/2018 05:18

I always thought the implication was that Heathcliff was black or mixed race, given where he was found and the timings of it.

It is a happy ending of sorts anyway. Isabella is the real heroine in the end though. Shame she died.

OutComeTheWolves · 08/03/2018 05:53

I went once new a guy who considered himself very alternative. He 'wasn't like everyone else' and looked down on everyone for being stuck in a rat race when he was on a different path.

His favourite book was The Beach. At one point in the book the characters all get a tattoo; the same tattoo. The irony being they all wanted to be different but they all ended up the same.

Yup this guy got the tattoo from the book as a symbol that he too was different.

Disclaimer: I haven't actually read the book I've only seen the movie. I'm just going off what he's told me about the book here!

mustnotlooktohave · 08/03/2018 05:59

I don’t remember that part but it has been some time since I read it.

I saw Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet as a teenager and was rather charmed by the idea of meeting someone on the other side of a fish tank. It has not happened yet, and I’ve been to the Blue Planet many times!

DannyLaRuesBestFrock · 08/03/2018 06:33

You follow The Sun on Twitter and moan about other people's illiteracy? 🤔

mustnotlooktohave · 08/03/2018 06:52

It was everywhere tbf. I think waterstone’s RTd.

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