Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Magic Shake-Ball

QUESTION FOR MAGIC SHAKE-BALL: I bought a guinea pig for my kids yesterday. My husband thinks this was a huge mistake. What do you think, Shake-Ball? MAGIC SHAKE-BALL'S RESPONSE: "A devil, a born devil, on whose nature Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains, Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost." --The Tempest 4.1.208-10 INTERPRETATION: Prospero ranting about drunk, rebellious Caliban at the end of the play? Does the guinea pig view us as Caliban does Prospero? That is, as a controlling, dominant discourse that silences him? That little guy seems so sweet and docile . . . But I get it, Shake-Ball, I do. I need to keep my eyes open for a huge, violent rodent uprising.

3 comments:

  1. Guinea pigs are cavies, not rodents. Oh my God, Michelle, you're already trying to label that poor caged being as a dark, grotesque "Other" so that you can justify your position of white matriarchal superiority. I don't know who you are anymore.

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  2. Oh, SNAP. You called me out on all counts.

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  3. What's this exchange have to do with MY life?

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