Question #2 for Week One: Sections I – III: Pages 3 – 128

How accurate is Iris's declaration, "Long ago I made a choice between classicism and romanticism. I prefer to be upright and contained--an urn in daylight" p. 43? How was this "choice" affected by the distinctions Iris and Laura's parents made between the two girls when they were children? What incidents show that Iris has ambiguous feelings about the roles she and Laura assume as children? What signs are there that Iris has a romantic side she keeps hidden from the adults? What cost does this exact?

From what I have read of the book so far, I would say that this declaration is accurate. Poor young Iris longed to be held by her mother, but had to settle for being allowed to stay in the same room if she is helpful with the baby and quiet. Everyone expects her to take care of Laura, but sometimes she just wants to sit under the bush and read her books. She imagines the life of her grandmother whom she has never met.
--BJ

For Iris, it hardly seems like a choice she made ... rather a role forced on her by circumstances. I found her comment "I didn't know I was about to be left with her idea of me; with her idea of my goodness pinned onto me like a badge and no chance to throw it back at her," speaking of her mother, particularly telling. Like a classic heroine, she grieves her mother's death but also wants Laura to suffer rather than believe "Mother is with God" with a tranquil single-mindedness that makes Iris want to shake her.

From the vantage point of old age, Iris acknowledges romanticism as "some odd skewered element ... most people kept hidden but Laura did not and this was why she frightened them" but clearly sees it as something very negative. This is reinforced by the choice she sees between being an urn in daylight and an old woman in a delapidated house with the doors rusted shut laying abed with wild hair and fingernails sprouting into claws.

Agreed, Iris didn't make the choice but instead, like many people, formed herself to fit the perception that was already in place. To me, it seemed that the mother didn't have the interest in letting Iris develop her own personality, as the mother needed and required Iris to be disciplined in order to take care of Laura. Whether she knew that she wouldn't be around much longer because of her health or because she had two children who only had each other for playmates and so one of them had to be responsible.

I especially enjoyed the line "an urn in daylight". It describes both her childhood and old age quite well. She was kept apart from the rest of the world as a child, much as you would keep a cherished or valuable possession away from the hands of people who may steal it away from you. In old age she was also 'put on display' in the scene where she gives the award. People seem to value her not for herself, but for the memory and value she seems to have, much as you would a urn that is put on display.

The mere fact that Laura's novel The Blind Assassin was published posthumously implies that Iris submitted it for publication. That alone would tell me that Iris does indeed have a romantic side. She says she prefers to be upright and contained, but I think she says that just because she's come to expect of herself what everyone else has.

Iris makes many references to Laura's ability and willingness to do and say what she pleases without knowing or caring what the consequences are within conventional society. Laura doesn't recognize conventional society, and as a result, Iris must for both of them. She does resent this role, but she seems to love Laura and wish to protect her in equal measure.