Vreeland’s short story about Manet portrays his wife, Suzanne, as a very complex woman filled with many emotions about her dead husband. In this story Suzanne comes across as a caring widow who wishes to carry out her dead husband’s final wishes. She wants to keep the pictures that are important to her and asks Albert to copy some of Manet’s works that she loves the most. During this passage another aspect of her personality reveals itself with her special names for each of the paintings. With each name she reveals how she felt about each of the models and their relationship with her husband. She was clearly a jealous woman who was insecure in her relationship with her husband. Another interesting passage is when she recalls taking care of her husband in the last three years before his death. She just wanted to touch his skin and be close to him physically and he would not allow that. She longed for a closer relationship, the relationship he gave to his models. She was just a woman to care for him, to be his wife, and the woman he had Leon with. She wanted more from him, and this shows in her personality through that passage.
Suzanne’s character makes me feel as though she does not exert free will, but she lets herself be oppressed by the memory of her husband and his paintings. She allows her life to be run by these models and her husband. She could have created and kept the relationship she wanted with Manet, like she had with him for ten years, but she allowed herself to be cast aside. She reacts to the pain she feels by creating new titles for the paintings and by keeping track of everyone in Manet’s life. Vreeland shows Suzanne’s progression into someone different at the very end of the story. Suzanne tells Victorine about Suzanne and Manet’s relationship, trying to justify their marriage. Victorine offered Manet collaboration, but Suzanne tells Victorine the true Manet; sick, weak, and human. Suzanne finally stands up for herself in a situation, and while childish in many ways, it’s her ability to show how important she was to her husband, and to prove she has worth.
I felt the way Vreeland wrote this short story was more interesting than Yellow Jacket because it offered more with relation to human flaws. Suzanne, Manet, the models were all obviously very flawed in their personalities. Suzanne allowed herself to be taken advantage of and Victorine has immense pride. The clash of these two women was the most interesting to me because it made Suzanne step outside of her usual submissive self. The clash also showed how real relationships are seen. While Victorine was beautiful and young and offered Manet collaboration, she was not the woman taking care of him in his dying days. Even though Suzanne wanted more out of her relationship, she showed how marriage and love really works. You stick by the person you love and care about and she takes pride in being his wife. Victorine never had a real relationship with Manet because she was not part of the good and the bad. This insight into relationships and how women treat each other was very interesting to me.
Suzanne’s character makes me feel as though she does not exert free will, but she lets herself be oppressed by the memory of her husband and his paintings. She allows her life to be run by these models and her husband. She could have created and kept the relationship she wanted with Manet, like she had with him for ten years, but she allowed herself to be cast aside. She reacts to the pain she feels by creating new titles for the paintings and by keeping track of everyone in Manet’s life. Vreeland shows Suzanne’s progression into someone different at the very end of the story. Suzanne tells Victorine about Suzanne and Manet’s relationship, trying to justify their marriage. Victorine offered Manet collaboration, but Suzanne tells Victorine the true Manet; sick, weak, and human. Suzanne finally stands up for herself in a situation, and while childish in many ways, it’s her ability to show how important she was to her husband, and to prove she has worth.
I felt the way Vreeland wrote this short story was more interesting than Yellow Jacket because it offered more with relation to human flaws. Suzanne, Manet, the models were all obviously very flawed in their personalities. Suzanne allowed herself to be taken advantage of and Victorine has immense pride. The clash of these two women was the most interesting to me because it made Suzanne step outside of her usual submissive self. The clash also showed how real relationships are seen. While Victorine was beautiful and young and offered Manet collaboration, she was not the woman taking care of him in his dying days. Even though Suzanne wanted more out of her relationship, she showed how marriage and love really works. You stick by the person you love and care about and she takes pride in being his wife. Victorine never had a real relationship with Manet because she was not part of the good and the bad. This insight into relationships and how women treat each other was very interesting to me.
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