Elán Esch and Medea

By: "Manny kneels next to Rico, whispers. I know that whatever Manny is saying is showing the Meanness in him, that he is Jason betraying Medea and asking for the hand of the daughter of the king of Corinth in marriage after Medea has killed her brother for him, betrayed her father. Manny's mouth moves and  I read She ain't shit, ain't got no heart. He looks at China when he murmurs, but it feels like he looks at me."(Ward 172)

This instance of Greek Mythology comes at a pivotal point in the novel Salvage the Bones. Before this, Esch came to support Skeetah and China in China's most important fight yet, where she sees Manny(her "lover").  This point in the book marks a change in Esch's perspective on who Manny really is. In the earlier sections of the novel, our main character sees Manny as her Jason, seemingly perfect and flawless. This is not the case, as Manny is incredibly flawed(shown through his actions) but Esch chooses to overlook them and sacrifice for him. However, as the book develops, Esch begins to see Manny less and less as an immaculate hero and begins to see that he has just used her for his own personal gain.  This ties in nearly perfectly to Jason's quest for the golden fleece as we see Medea take massive sacrifices for Jason and does nearly everything for him, but in the end, is betrayed by her "flawless" man. The allusion reveals that Esch is slowly becoming less and less reliant on Manny's affection and approval, and gradually realizing that his approval and affection does not matter in the slightest, later leading her to be incredibly strong and independent.


This is an image of Jason pledging his eternal love to Medea. 
He agreed to marry her in return for her assistance in procuring the golden fleece 
This was created by French painter Jean-Franqs de Troy(1679-1752)

This is a picture of a tornado survivor standing around the remains of his broken home. This symbolizes Esch because of the way he stands alone, defiantly in the aftermath of the catastrophe, master of his own destiny and prepared to pick up the pieces and make his life newer and better.

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 30, 2017 at 11:05 AM

    Nice

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 30, 2017 at 11:14 AM

    I enjoyed the impeccable flow of the paper. I don't really have many questions, considering you covered everything pretty well. I also felt your "allusion" that Esch was in, relates to the forced love that Medea faced from cupids arrow. 4/7! 😹 😻

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousAugust 30, 2017 at 11:15 AM

      p.s. <3 You also did well expressing how naive Esch was to Manny. pce

      Delete
    2. AnonymousAugust 30, 2017 at 11:19 AM

      Thanks for the criticism

      Delete

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