The last note (short story)

THE LAST NOTE

In the town, nobody knew where she had come from or what her name was.  All they knew was that she sang.

Nobody knew her age and by looks it was impossible to tell. She was rarely seen and the very few people who saw her would never agree on that point. As they tell in the neighborhood, she was one of those people that seem at the same time young and infinitely old.

Most of the time, there was only voice. It’s not that she would isolate herself there inside, only that she didn’t have friends anymore — or never had them. She would open the door when people knocked, but nobody did. So, most of the time, there was only the song.

Oh! The song! What was the lady always singing?

Nobody knew, it had no lyrics. Some say in the beginning — and when was it? No one could tell. — there were, but no more. Her words were long lost, or so they said. But the feeling that speechless voice could unlock in everyone’s hearts was true, very true.

It was always the same melody, only changing tunes. And as it changed it talked about happiness, sadness, loneliness, courage, fear, peace, war… You could feel it in your heart, as the song went on and on. It touched your soul, they say, like if the lady’s spirit itself was getting into you. And as scary as that may sound people eventually got used to that.

And one day the silence.

It took a while until they noticed. Little Mary was the first one: “Mommy! Aren’t the birdies singing louder today?”

The town was astonished. Where did the lady go?

Soon enough there was a crowd in front of the little house. Everyone wanted to hear the absence of sound. At last, not a single voice would rise. Even the birds were quiet. “Is she ok?”

Finally someone knocked on the door. No answer.

“Let us break in, she might need help!” — Might was not sure enough. Hold on a second. There was a key under the carpet. Why should that surprise them? But who was she waiting for? Was she?

They got in. A child went on the front, of course. And what did they find?

First of all, there was a note. Hanging there, sounding and resounding she was. Suspended between time and space. The longest echo on earth, until it disappeared.

Through fear they searched. What else was there? A cup of tea still warm. A scarf. And a name. Written all around the place — a name. Was it her name? The name she was singing for? The name of her song? No one could tell.

Long have they waited, but the lady never returned. So they forgot.

And in the town’s yard it is said:

She sang.

And became song herself.

Andressa Andrade

Written on September 8th, 2014.

Why you should give Twilight a second loook

Hi, virtual wanderers who ended up here in Wonderland for some reason unknown! Welcome! :D

It's good to see you guys here!

So... I know this post's title will cause some polemic... I already feel it.

Well, the other day I was in my English Literature Club (I think you can call it like that - anyways, I'm not going anymore, unfortunatelly...) and we somehow started this discussion about Twilight. The teacher and the other students were all against the series, saying they'd rather watch paint dry than watch one of the movies and stuff... They were talking like if there was only bad in Stephenie Meyer's work.

I am not a "fan" of the series. I criticize it lots, specially as a writer. I see many flaws in it. But you have to look for the good things too! I have all the books, have read all at least twice each (except for The Brief Second Life of Bree Tanner, which I only read once and didn't feel like reading again... ever). Have watched all the movies, too - the first three, I watched twice each. So, yeah, I criticize a lot, but can't say I don't like it. So I stood up in Twilight's defense... And ended up having to write an essay on Why you should give Twilight a second look. And since many of my friends are interested on reading... I'll just publish it here and see what happens. Please, comment! Let the debate begin... Hahah! :P

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WHY YOU SHOULD GIVE TWILIGHT A SECOND LOOK

To hate on Twilight is a trend now. Even people who have never read a single line of it or watched a single movie talk bad about it, going with the flow. But let us be rational about this: it is a best-seller for a reason. I mean, the series might not be the best in the world — far, very far from that — , but it has its merits. So let us analyze this.

Everyone knows the story. An utterly uninteresting girl called Bella Swan moves to a small town, where she is now going to live with her father. She goes to school and falls in love with Edward Cullen, the most “perfect” guy of the town. Surprisingly, he corresponds to that love and right after the girl finds out he is a vampire. That brings many problems to the couple and we have the complication of Jacob Black, Bella’s best friend that is also in love with her. He happens to be a werewolf — member of a tribe of enemies of the vampires. We have then a love triangle. In the end, Bella chooses Edward over Jacob and marries him. Summing things up, that’s it. So, what is so special about that story that has lead millions of people all around the world to read it?

To answer that question, we have to make some reflections on what Literature is. More specifically, we have to answer another question: what is Literature here for? Of course, Literature is a form of art, so it should not have to be “useful” — being should be enough for it. But in our utilitarian society we measure the value of everything according to its utility, to the benefit or the advantage it can give us. So, following that line, what is Literature useful for?

Well, the art of the words has changed through history, and so did its function. Literature has served many purposes: we have written to remember, to protest, to denounce, to entertain, to inform, to contain rebellions and to create rebellions. We have written to affirm, to convince, to deny; to build and to destroy. And at all those moments, the utility given to Literature reflected the needs of the society it has originated from. In our time, we can sum up the Literature’s function in one word: escapism.

What does that mean? It means that nowadays’ books have all this one goal: to give people a way to escape from reality. Give them somewhere to go when they do not want to be where they are. As a proof of that, we have the growth of two genres that are the absolute majority in our book store shelves: supernatural and self-help. Supernatural stories literally transport the reader to a completely different — more magical and more pleasing — reality, whilst self-help books help people dealing with the cruel real world, when they cannot escape from it.

So that is the main “utility” of Literature in this early XXI century. And what does that have to do with Twilight? The answer is quite obvious: what Meyer has actually done was writing a typical book of our time. Pertaining to the supernatural genre, it matches all the characteristics of the literary movement of our time, which I like to call Escapism or Supernaturalism.

Before answering our title question, let us think of another important point: who was Twilight written for? As a wannabe writer, there is one thing I can tell you for sure: it is impossible for a person to write without having an ideal reader in mind. Of course you want everyone to read your text, but you have to keep in mind that it is going to be more interesting to a certain profile of reader — and you have to keep your eyes on that reader. So, who was Stephenie Meyer’s target public?

It is not hard to figure out: the series was written for women. Actually, for girls: young teenagers around their 13-15 years old. I myself read the series for the first time when I was that age. It was at the maximum point of its success, all my friends were reading. And all liked it back then, even though some now criticize it. So, when you are thinking of Literature, trying to ponder its value — yeah, let us just pretend that is possible —, you cannot forget this: it was written specifically for someone. And if you are not that “someone”, chances are you are not going to like it, personally. But that does not mean the book is necessarily bad. It only has not fallen into the right reader’s hands.

“And what are the ‘merits’ of Twilight?”, my impatient reader must be asking. Here goes your answer: the series meet the needs of its ideal readers.

Because every young girl can somehow find herself in Bella — that is called identification and, according to American mythologist Joseph Campbell, it is the most important process that can occur within the self of a reader or listener while following a story.

The teenager girl of our time is always insecure about herself. Some are more insecure, some are less, but all have their doubts, even if they are hidden behind a strong personality. Bella is what you can call an “insecurity cluster”: she holds all types of fears a girl can have. She is not beautiful, she is not clever, she is not special at all. She is just average. So she worries: “Do I look well enough?”, “Will any guy ever like me?”, “Am I a nice person people will want as a friend?”

But with Bella’s story what we learn is: the right guy will like you, in spite of anything. You can be just normal and still, if the love is true, he won’t care. To his eyes, you are going to be beautiful and nice and everything you think you are not. It might seem ridiculous to some, but to the young girl who is reading the series that is important. A lot.

“What a silly girl is that, to need a story like Twilight to help her with her — lack of — self-esteem”, one might say. But that need is not a problem or a shame to that girl and we should not make fun of her. It is just a normal phase of her growth and she will very soon find herself. And to be honest even fully grown up women have to face that same insecurities at times. That is what society does to us. (And that is why adult women like Twilight too — and it is totally ok.)

So why should you give Twilight a second look? Because you should look at it with the eyes of its target readers. To those young girls, the series is perfect because it is exactly what they need. Edward and Jacob make them believe, make them hope… Make them dream. And at their age, dreaming might at times be everything they have. Everything they know. So it is good that they have that for them. At the very end, that is what life is all about: dreaming.

Andressa Andrade

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S.: Please, forgive any grammar/spelling mistakes... English is not my native language, so sometimes things can go wrong, lol.