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fontainebleau22 · 7 years

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For the commentary: Sweet Cider and tell me about the scene where Martha panics seeing Billy's knives

Delighted to be asked about this!

Thisscene comes immediately after the hinge-point of the story, when Martha hasconvinced herself that she and Mr Robicheaux have reached an understanding, andis the first of the events to suggest to her that her interpretations have beenmistaken. I hope it’s clear that up to this point, she’s been thinking of Billysubconsciously as a child-figure: Goody is ‘Mr Robicheaux’ to her, but heintroduces Billy as just ‘Billy’, he’s initially weak and dependent, and whenhe starts to get better he doesn’t seem to have a role to fit into, and Marthathinks about ‘Mr Robicheaux’ using his influence to integrate him into thetown. I did have a more explicit comment about her view to begin with, but itseemed too heavy-handed to actually say it.

On Friday afternoon Martha returnedfrom town with her basket of sewing and a pannier of berries from the Williams’farm. Supposing both her guests absent, she stepped into the kitchen withoutwarning, arms full, and stopped short, astonished by a glittering array spreadacross the table: knives.

Atfirst I set the scene in the bedroom, but that was both too similar to thelater scene with the salve, and not threatening enough: finding him in thekitchen, which is her domain, is more upsetting.

A dozen bright knives, broad bladesand narrow, fearsome long and wicked short, with handles of embossed silver orof bone.

Ithink it’s important to suggest what an oddity Billy is with his ostentatiousknives; it’s easy to forget because it’s part of the film, but they are reallyunusual.

She gasped in horror, and Mr Rocks,sitting with blade in one hand and whetting stone in the other, turned astartled face towards her. Heathen,cried a voice inside her, savage;stories from her childhood, told in whispers, of scalping and mutilation,flickered through her mind.

Ithought for quite a while about Martha’s reaction here, and it’s largely basedon the portrayal of Ma in the Little House books, which are set earlier, butnot by much. Pa in the LH series is quite open-minded about natives, realisingthat they know a lot more about the land than white settlers, and he’s willingto talk to them and listen to what they say. But Ma is point-blank terrified of‘Indians’. There’s a telling scene early in the series when two natives come tothe house while Pa is away, and while it’s told from Laura’s point of view as achild, when you read it as an adult you can see that Ma is scared she and herdaughters are going to be raped. So it seemed to me plausible that Martha,though she was raised in a town, has been brought up on scare stories ofscalping and attacks which she’s never questioned, and so she overreacts herebecause Billy suddenly seems all threatening and alien.

How had she invited this into herhome? She stared at him, eyes wide, and he stared back mutely, then suddenlythe basket of berries fell scattering from her grip and she fled upstairs,slamming the door of the bedroom behind her as though to protect herself.

Sheoriginally dropped a load of clean washing, but I thought the berries had morepotential.

She stood trembling, thoughtstumbling one upon another. She had seen Mr Robicheaux’s long rifle, had seenthat they carried bullets and guns, as was natural for travellers; but whatcould be the purpose of such a display of savagery? Was Mr Rocks a man ofviolence, a killer even? Did Preacher Calderwood have any idea? And more, whatdid it say of Mr Robicheaux, so civil and cultivated, that he should travelwith such a man?

No sound came from below, and aftera while she began to calm herself. She sat on the edge of the bed to collecther thoughts. Mr Rocks was no danger to her, it was foolish to think so. Andhiding herself up here would not do: this was her house and she should not beintimidated.

Anothertiny point that she’s had to learn to do without a man to protect her, and ithas made her more self-reliant, even if she has a wobble here.

She poured water, splashed anddried her face, reset her cap in front of the glass,

Ifelt I was labouring the point about caps and bonnets, but it’s one elementwhere the costume design of the movie seemed to me understandably very patchy:married women in this society would always cover their hair except with their husband, hence thescene where Martha lets her hair down to brush and thinks about courtship.

then flung open the door determinedly;she almost ran into Mr Robicheaux as he bounded up the stairs. ‘Mrs Hamilton!Billy fears he may have upset you…’

She was glad she had composedherself and was able to say soberly, ‘I was alarmed, I will own. Those knives.Like an Indian …’

His face was all concern, and hereached to take her hand in his. ‘Mrs Hamilton, I am so sorry. We both are.Billy is … that is to say, the life we lead …’ His touch was steady andcomforting. ‘Will you come down and let me explain?’

Anotherof Goody’s errors, largely motivated by self-interest; he doesn’t want the twoof them to be turfed out until Billy’s properly well, so he goes overboard in gallantry,and Martha thinks it’s for her.

She allowed herself to be guideddownstairs to take a seat at the table while Mr Robicheaux took the kettle andmade tea. The spilled fruit had been collected and set in a bowl on the table,though she saw one or two purple stains on the floorboards where a berry hadbeen trodden underfoot.

Thisis why I like the berries: I was proud of this detail.

Mr Rocks came to stand by too, his expressionwatchful.

‘No doubt it was alarming to see anarsenal of weapons in your kitchen,’ Mr Robicheaux said sympathetically,setting a cup in front of her, ‘but no threat was intended: Billy cleans his knivesto keep them in good condition.’

‘But what can he need such acollection of weapons for?’ She found it simply impossible to imagine.

Ithink this has to be right.

‘Protection,’ said Mr Rocks simply.‘Hunting. And –‘

Mr Robicheaux cut off what he wouldhave said further with a shake of his head. He bent close to her, hisexpression warm with concern. ‘I am sorry with all my heart that we havefrightened you.’

For a moment Martha leaned towardshim, then she caught Mr Rocks’ sideways glance and sat up straighter. ‘It wassurprise, as much as anything. It is all easily mended.’

ObviouslyI wanted to hint that Billy is possibly more aware than Goody of what’s inMartha’s mind: Goody is half trying to keep her on good terms with them, buthalf (I think) enjoying all the attention, and no doubt dismissed Billy’swarnings because he thinks he’s made his position as clear as he can.

And the day returned to its regularpattern, the knives packed away and the two of them working peaceably outside.By evening she was a little ashamed of what now seemed an overreaction;nevertheless, the question nagged at her. She had supposed Mr Rocks a drifter,taking what employment he could find, and had envisaged him as a hired hand, ona farm or a ranch, or perhaps as a labourer. But thoughts of his finding workin their town now seemed vain: was this perhaps the kernel of the argument shehad seen? Was Mr Rocks, recovered to strength, more eager to leave than hisfriend?

Andso Martha finds a way to reconcile what’s happened with her hopes again.

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hirakdesherrani · 6 years

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Twenty-five episodes into Diyar-e-Dil

I had made three posts earlier when I was three, ten and fifteen episodes into the show. I think post the 17th episode I started watching the serial on the usual speed that I finish Pak dramas.

The more I watch serials, Indian or Pak, the more I get disappointed in men. Tajamul is swindling money off his own sister and niece, Muizz is a schemer, Behroze did a 180 degree character flip and emotionally blackmailed Farah into marrying Wali, and Wali is the Pak version of Shivaay Singh Oberoi. Can anyone blame me for my mistrust of men in general, and always supporting female characters on screen? Desi serials really don’t give us any reason fangirl over men. All of them suck. And in real life men aren’t any better. I can count on my fingers the number of males I genuinely like (and my own brother and quite a few cousins don’t make it to this list). No wonder girls are mad over a character like Omkara (not that he has much to recommend himself); at least he did not force Gauri to do something against her will or without her consent, i.e. if we ignore Omkara 2.0 in DBO :/

Anyways, I really did not expect Tajamul and Muizz to have masterminded an elaborate plan to swindle money from Farah’s rightful inheritance. In fact, Muizzs’ whole scheme to marry her for her inheritance, really threw me off. I stunned into silence when I saw his true colors.

Can’t say I’m too surprised by Wali. Finally I started feeling Osman’s acting. The first fifteen episodes did not impress me ‘cos I found him stiff. But he really grew on me from the seventeenth episode. I kinda had an inkling that Wali might be like Suhaib on the surface, but intrisically he’s like his uncle, Behroze. Behroze love Ruhi, but there was latent dominance and patriarchal attitude woven into him. As long as Ruhi agreed with him, he was the most romantic, goals husband. But the first time she disagreed, disobeyed him, he lost his temper and literally ordered her like his mulazzim, servant. Wali is no different. He tried to be nice to Farah, but when she threatened to divorce him, he lost it and treated her like his jagir, his property. The whole abduction and holding her hostage sequence was disturbing to watch, ‘cos he literally threw her around and the manhandling was ugh! Its really sad; when I started liking Osman’s acting, I could not like Wali as a character anymore. I know they are endgame but I don’t think I’ll warm up to WaFa (the same happened with Shivika, I really liked them until Shivaay molested Anika and threatened to blow up her brother).

Like with almost every other serial, I’m here for the female characters. Ruhi, Arjumand, Farah, I love all three of them (Zarminey is kinda annoying, mostly ‘cos I don’t like her face :/). Ruhi allowed her depression and insecurity to cloud her mind, on top of that, her brother and nephew fully took advantage of her vulnerability. Knowing very well, that Ruhi has a volatile temper and sense of self-respect, they repeatedly prodded on her motherly instincts to coerce her into demanding Agha Jaan for Farah’s share in the inheritance. A woman’s greatest weakness is her child (thats why I don’t wanna have kids ever, also the thought of blood and pain makes me shudder), and her natal family fully used this weakness to their advantage.

I have always like Arjumand but will she stop calling Behroze selfish? Falling in love is not selfish and Behroze did try to patch up with Agha jaan before the latter threw him out. If Behroze had married Arjumand, when his heart was already given to Ruhi, would Arjumand have been happy? It would have been a worse fate. I don’t think Arjumand is jealous of Ruhi, but she does hate Ruhi the most, because she blames Ruhi for her rejection and presumed insult, which hurt her pride and made her feel unwanted. So, in a way Ruhi was right, that Arjumand does hate her because she took Behroze’s rejection hard. But in all this poor Behroze is not at fault. Why don’t these two women understand that his love for Ruhi does not mean his rejection of Arjumand?

The two characters I like the most right now are Agha jaan and Farah. The best scene of this whole series till now has been Agha jaan and Farah reconciling over Behroze. The scene where they both cry their hearts out while remembering Behroze and Agha jaan finally convinces Farah that his love for her is not fake, but he really does want to be give his granddaughter all the love that she has missed and deserves; that scene just messed me up. My grandmother says that grandparents always love their grandchildren even more than their children, because there is this unique feeling of holding your son’s/daughter’s child close to you. Since I share a strong bond with my grandmother, any healthy portrayal of grandparent-grandchild relationship on-screen just chokes me up.

I feel bad for Farah, who she has been emotionally abused by both her parents and how they convinced themselves that what they were doing was for her benefit, but they actually had their own interests in mind. Its not like Behroze and Ruhi didn’t love Farah, but for Behroze his guilt and wish to fulfill his late brother’s desire trumped his love, while for Ruhi her mistrust and insecurity over Agha jaan did the job. I wish both of them had thought to ask Farah what she wants rather than what they think is best for her. Parents often make this mistake. My own parents have, though on a much much smaller scale, plus I’m not immature like Farah by hoodwinked like that. Khair I relate and understand Farah’s emotional turmoil and dilemma the most. No wonder she didn’t stop Ruhi from leaving, and feels betrayed by Ruhi. Ruhi in turn has been betrayed by her own relatives, and moreover has barricaded her heart in grieving for Behoze alone, to notice that Farah also needs her.

The drama is at an interesting point with Farah upset that no one asked her consent for marriage while Zarminey was afforded that privilege, and rightly so. I’m just glad that Zarminey is getting married. Please uski rukhsati bhi karaado, can’t tolerate her annoyingly childish attitude, with those monkey-like expressions.

#Diyar-e-Dil #my stuff

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