blog #4 Feminist Literary Criticism

In The Antagonist, by Lynn Coady the protagonist Gordon demonstrates clear views about both the men and the women that appear the novel.  Most of the characters in the story are males who Gordon has interacted with in one way or another during his life. They include his college friends, his father, people he worked with and his hockey coaches.  Female characters are only occasionally mentioned and they include his deceased mother Sylvie, his onetime girlfriend Kristen and college friend Tina.  In comparison to the male characters little information is given about them, you learn about them from Gordon remembering his past and how the male characters interacted with them. Gordon refused to talk about Sylvie in his emails to Adam because he did not want her to be disrespected in anyway. He clearly loved and admired his mother, often referring to her as “the goddess” (14). Gordon loves his mother so much that he hates his father because of the way he treated her.  Gordon recalls that his father was not physically abusive, but was verbally abusive and often treated her with disrespect. Gordon tries to treat women with respect and is angry that he joins Adam in referring to their friend Tina in a disrespectful way after she had gained some weight. Gordon was upset that they were calling her “tiny”(5) behind her back. I think that this bothered him because it was reminiscent of how his father spoke to his mother. Another instance where he shows compassion for women is when he confronts Kyle as to whether he had hit a girl that he was seeing. He is angry at Kyle and was ready to fight him over the incident. Kyle rejected his accusation saying that it was consensual and no one was hurt. It is afterwards  that Adam and Gordan discuss how he views women and Adam states that he thinks Gordan has a virgin/virgin complex which is opposite to what Gordon thinks are Kyle’s views on women which is ”they’er all whores”(205).  

 Gordon talks about an old girlfriend named Kirsten, the only girl who he had ever brought home to meet his father. He described her as a good Christian girl who “had accepted Jesus as her personal savour” (30) and then compared her to his mother who was also very religious.  Gordon tried hard to impress her with his good behaviour and it gave you the impression that he was trying to still impress his mother.

The women in Gordon's life are seen as a calming influence as his mother Sylvie and his girlfriend Kirsten help him deal with his anger towards his father.

This book is set in fairly recent times with references to email and Winners but parts of it would go back to the 1960’s when Gordon Sr. and Sylvie met.  Typical of this era, Sylvie was a house wife and was home to lovingly raise Gordon. Her Catholic values prevented her from getting a divorce despite the verbal abuse and allowed Gordon’s attitude towards men and women  to be shaped by what he saw happening within the house.  

blog #3 the issue

The abuse of narcotics is an issue that that is evident throughout the novel, The Antagonist by Lynn Coady.  Gordon and his college buddies spend a good portion of their time smoking marijuana and drinking excessively, “It is 4:17 on a Thursday afternoon and they are all, of course, stoned brainless.”(159) I researched the harmful effects that marijuana can have on users and I discovered that there are many down sides to using such a drug. According to the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, “the immediate effects of taking marijuana include rapid heartbeat, disorientation, lack of physical coordination, often followed by depression or sleepiness. Some users suffer panic attacks or anxiety.”(Harmful Effects on the Brain) This information makes me question why the characters in the story would willingly take drugs. Assuming that they are fairly intelligent individuals on the basis that they have made it to a postsecondary institution, one would think that they would realize that drugs are full of harmful effects. In the book not only do the characters do drugs, but one of the main characters, Wade also sells drugs as a way to pay for his tuition, “a great many of his friends — and mere acquaintances even — had come to rely on him for hash and other illicit sundries.”(164) Wade was the only one of Gordon’s friends that did not have a scholarship to help pay for his tuition and therefore needed a job.  He had tried to work as a bartender but soon realized that he could not maintain his academic standing and work three nights a week at Goldfingers. He also soon realized that “another downside of the job was that most of his hard-won tips were going into the baggies,” (162) of marijuana that he was buying from the doorman at the bar. The result was that he wasn’t taking home much money away and therefore turned to dealing as a much easier way to make quick money. At no time in the book does he consider the consequences for possessing drugs for the purpose of trafficking. His only consideration was that it was a quick way to pay his tuition and maintain access for his own personal use.  When in fact what he was doing is a criminal offence and “trafficking in or possession for the purpose of trafficking marijuana or hashish is an indictable offence with a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment for a small amount of cannabis. There may also be a minimum punishment of imprisonment for one to two years if certain aggravating factors apply.”(What Is Drug Trafficking Under Canadian Law?) A punishment such as this would deter me from ever considering selling illegal drugs, whatever the reason, as it would put my future in jeopardy. After gaining some insight into the harmful effects of marijuana and punishments associated with selling it, I as a reader really question the characters in the book and why they would regularly use something that cannot only cause serious health concerns but also result in jail time if convicted of trafficking.

"Does Marijuana Kill Brain Cells? Harmful Effects on the Brain - Drug-Free World." Does Marijuana Kill Brain Cells? Harmful Effects on the Brain - Drug-Free World. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

"What Is Drug Trafficking Under Canadian Law?" Donna V Pledge Toronto Criminal Lawyer What Is Drug Trafficking Under Canadian Law Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

The Antagonist - reader response

While reading the novel, The Antagonist and using the techniques that I have learned from this unit, I have begun analyzing the text from a reader response point of view. Upon reflection, I have found that it is what I bring to the book through my experiences that allows me to interpret it the way I do. This also allows me to be able to relate in a small way to what Gordon is going through.  I have had similar awkward interactions with fellow students and team mates because my father is a police officer.  I have never fought, like him but have had to deal with their response, after they had been arrested or fined as the cop’s son whose father had clearly done them an injustice.   

Much like Gordon, I grew up in a small town, in Canada, where there is only one high school, so it was inevitable that I knew or knew of my fair share of “punks” (44) who much like Mike Croft would have spent their days loitering outside the local businesses, more than likely driving the owners crazy like what Gordon's father experienced in the book. Although my father and Gordon’s have different professions they both deal with the “punks” (44) around town. I, much like Gordon have had awkward interactions with people that I went to school with in random places similar to what Gordon had with Kyle in Winners, “Kyle and I, meeting up after all these year? I’ll tell you. We were at a Winners in downtown Toronto.” (122) Having experienced an interaction like the one in the book not that long ago, but certainly more from Kyle’s side then Gordon’s, I could imagine what the atmosphere and awkwardness would have been like. The description of the interaction helped me understand how this person must have been feeling when randomly meeting up with me. Even though the circumstances are different, I can feel that people think that I know more intimate details about their actions then I really do and therefore behave guarded around me.   

Another experience that I bring to the text is my love for sports, especially hockey. I much like much like Gordon, loved to play not to make it to the National Hockey League but just to have fun. “I realized in a secret and essential way that hockey was actually mine”.(118) Although Gordon and I have separate issues that we need to escape from, both of us used hockey as a form of an escape from our real world problems for a while.

Finally, Gordon’s experience with Facebook is another point that I can interpret in relation to things that I have experienced and today’s culture. His experience with creating the account and then finding out that “the second I friended you, the entire class of ’91 starts pouring in for a reunion party.” (130)  is something that often happens. I have sometimes received friend requests from people that I have only met once or other times from people I haven’t seen since public school. I understand his reluctance to having these people enter into his life when he has not interacted with them in years.   

ISP Post 1 The Antagonist

The book I chose to read for my ISP is The Antagonist by Lynn Coady. I found this book to be interesting to read and relevant to today as it highlights how even the people you consider to be your friends can betray you. It is written as a series of emails from the main character, Gordon Rankin Jr to his former college friend Adam.  The emails are in a response to Adam using the details of  Gordon’s life as the basis for a book that he published. It is clear to the reader that Gordon is angry about having his life used as the basis of Adam’s novel. He reveals that he thought Adam was his friend who he could tell his deepest secrets to, “You must be some kind of oracle, a man of profound sympathy and insight.” (32) Finding the story of his life laid out in his buddies book, leaves him both angry and betrayed. It is his response that is both comical and sad that makes this a good book to read.

The writing style that Coady uses is interesting because it helps the reader understand Gordon without simply just describing him. In the emails, Gordon often states the condition he is in, whether he is drunk, tired, angry, or in a good mood “I got a bit worked up after writing that and went off to drink and watch TV and now I am drunk. I just realized I can write you however I want — drunk or sober”(11). Gordon stating how he is feeling while writing the emails helps me to understand what he is going through and the emotions he is putting into the emails. His rambling responses are also funny when he has one sided conversations with Adam who is clearly not happy that he is being accused of basing his novel on Gordon’s life.  Gordon’s response to Adam’s threat of keeping a paper trail is to say that he was going to keep a paper trail of his own. He ends up writing  Adam saying that he should “stop whining, stop threatening (it’s pathetic” (20). 

Social determinants are prevalent in the book. These are factors in society that can affect the path that your life will take. Alcoholism, drug use and being a victim of physical or verbal abuse can cause phycological problems that are hard to overcome and can cause lasting effects.  Gordon was “born the illegitimate offspring of fornicators”(17) his adoptive mother as a saint, whereas his father was “the prick”.(15) who was verbally abusive to both him and his mother. He has a poor relationship with his father because of this and it is this dysfunctional relationship that he views as the reason for his shortcomings, “the problem, as alway, was Gord.” (70) 

His physical size worked for and against him. He was seen as a goon and a thug as his great size gave him the appearance of a fully aged man when he was just a teen. It also worked to his advantage when he received a hockey scholarship to university because of his size.  His path derailed with the death of his mother and he began a long spiral down to days spent just lounging around and doing drugs after he looses his scholarship.