Ghosts, Gatherings, and...Cinco de Mayo!

From Colleen's Blog...."With the spectre of Liam haunting Veronica's every move, The Gathering is very much a ghost story. Avery Gordon in his book Ghostly Matters writes,

“Haunting was the language and the experiential modality by which I tried to reach an understanding of the meeting of force and meaning, because haunting is one way in which abusive systems of power make themselves known and their impacts felt in everyday life, especially when they are supposedly over and done with (slavery, for instance) or when their oppressive nature is denied (as in free labor or national security). Haunting is not the same as being exploited, traumatized, or oppressed, although it usually involves these experiences or is produced by them. What’s distinctive about haunting is that it is an animated state in which a repressed or unresolved social violence is making itself known, sometimes very directly, sometimes more obliquely. I used the term haunting to describe those singular yet repetitive instances when home becomes unfamiliar, when your bearings on the world lose direction, when the over-and-done-with comes alive, when what’s been in your blind spot comes into view. Haunting raises specters, and it alters the experience of being in time, the way we separate the past, the present, and the future. These specters or ghosts appear when the trouble they represent and symptomize is no longer being contained or repressed or blocked from view. The ghost, as I understand it, is not the invisible or some ineffable excess. The whole essence, if you can use that word, of a ghost is that it has a real presence and demands its due, your attention. Haunting and the appearance of specters or ghosts is one way, I tried to suggest, we are notified that what’s been concealed is very much alive and present, interfering precisely with those always incomplete forms of containment and repression carelessly directed toward us.” (xvi)"

Whoa. This passage is very interesting, and well thought out in my opinion. Avery Gordon makes a great point on what a haunting consists of (in his eyes) and what it really entails. I liked the part, “Haunting raises specters, and it alters the experience of being in time, the way we separate the past, the present, and the future. These specters or ghosts appear when the trouble they represent and symptomize is no longer being contained or repressed or blocked from view.”

It seems as though The Gathering truly is a ghost story, with this in mind. Veronica manages to sort of “ruffle up” the “ghosts of the past” and it is seen in this novel in her “night thoughts” and through the “presence” of her now dead brother Liam. It is also sort of seen when she goes back to the past in her point of view of what she thought happened. Just the actions she uncovers and the scenery alone prove to be haunting; going back and uncovering a secret as vast as the one she uncovered can be haunting enough, without the presence of another “being.”

Also this week we were supposed to post another passage about our ideas for our final project and well, although I have somewhat of an idea of what I could do, I don't know if it will be sufficient enough to fit the criteria we have to match...if anyone has a creative idea of what to do please, feel free to comment! I could use all the help I can get.

By the way Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!!