This week both the two styles of criticism, Reader-Response and Cultural criticisms portray very compelling arguments for their relation to Casino Royale. In particular though, Reader-Response criticism really struck a chord with me when reflecting back on the book. With the stress of Reader-Response being, as Murfin states, “on what pages do to the minds (and what minds do in response)” (118), an interaction between the reader and the writer becomes established. In particular I felt drawn to this critique because it allows for an emotional interaction when reading the text. For example the final passage of Casino Royale states, “Yes, dammit, I said “was”. The bitch is dead now” (213). Within the boundaries of Reader-Response critique I’m allowed to find this statement absolutely hilarious in both its literal sense, (forgive me fore being juvenile and finding humor in curses still), and the ironic sense with Bond’s life coming to an abrupt change. Simultaneously, someone could argue their hatred for Bond, Vesper, or even Global warming if such a response is invoked. I pose this question then, what effect did the final lines of Casino Royale have on you as you read them?
Monday, March 24, 2008
Halarious ending? I think so. you think (........)?
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2 comments:
I was a bit stunned at how the ending went. It seemed to dull me. I was just getting drawn into the novel when he was kidnapped. It felt childish for Bond to resort to the language he did and almost humorous. It's sad to think that a grown man still resorts to calling a women a bitch.
I think that by using the word bitch, Bond's priorities are clarified to the reader. Just a few pages earlier we find out that he's planning on asking Vesper to marry him, but at the end when he finds out about her true identity and reason for being around, his opinion changes drastically. This shows that he is a spy in his heart, and he loves his job more than he ever loved Vesper. He was not able to look past the fact that she DID love him and she DID protect him in the best way that she know to - the bottom line was she was working with the Russians, and not with him. With his allegiances and priorities fixed solidly, there's no surprise that he'd refer to Vesper as the dead "bitch" for her lack of allegiance.
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