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Catherine Maria Sedgwick Romance In Real Life

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Coming Full Circle with “Romance in Real Life” In “Romance in Real Life,” Catherine Maria Sedgwick presents to readers a tale to surely evoke some emotions. Sedgwick tells the powerful story of Mary Angely, who went from running away from her harrowing guardians, to being taken in as a little girl by- the Reynolds-who owned an inn, to being returned to her original father, and to eventually turning into the beautiful woman that becomes known as the “Lady of the Guitar.” At first this story was difficult to understand because it takes place a little over ten years of events, from 1777 to about 1787. This meant frequent setting changes, and characters introduced. What made it even more difficult is that the story switches narrators from time …show more content…
What confused me was that Sedgwick stated that ten years had gone by, and that she was now introducing two new characters: M. Constant, and Berville who he was writing the letter to. I wanted to know why there was no mention of Mary Angely, who had been the main character of the story up until the shift to letter format. Since, the story leading up to the letter was long enough, I kept asking myself- why? I thought that the story might have been better off without it, and that Sedgwick could have ended the story half way through- a little girl runs away from her violent guardians, is found by a sweet couple who own an inn and brought up by them, and then they eventually have to give her up to send her back to her biological father. Just the first half of this long story, is a short story and then some. However, as I read the story again, transcribed my part, and talked about the story with my teammates- it all started to make sense. The awe stunning “Lady of the Guitar,” that the readers are introduced to in the confusing letter from M. Constant to Berville, turned out to be the beautiful adult version, of the fierce little girl from the first half of the story. Sedgwick wanted to show the reader what little Mary Angely had grown up to …show more content…
I found it calming to sit down and transcribe parts of Sedgwick story. It was nice to just be at one with the words, typing them out so one day someone can enjoy the story with a clean version. Also, the process helped open my eyes to how important explanatory notes are. In every story, there are always little nuisances that authors incorporate into their stories that often get overlooked by a superficial understanding, or because they are buried in deep, difficult language. In my section of Sedgwick’s piece, there were some what appeared to be song lyrics, “So sweetly she bids us adieu, I think that she bids us return” (Sedgwick, P.245). From typing in the quote to Google, what I thought to be song lyrics, turned out to be what looks like, Sedgwick’s interpretation of William Shenstone’s farewell quote from his poem published in 1755, “Pastoral Ballad.” Shenstone was an English poet most notably known for his works about nature. The poem Sedgwick refers to is broken down into four parts- “Absence,” “Hope,” “Solicitude,” and “Disappointment,” that tell the story of what seems to be a man deeply in love. It makes complete sense that Sedgwick interpreted this quote in her story because she herself was writing a love story, and was able to use it effectively to help foreshadow to readers that they had not seen the last of the “Lady of the Guitar.” “Sedgwick’s quote is very close to the lines from

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