Liminality, symbols, motifs and themes

Hello Class and welcome to my blog!

We entered the class to be confronted with two questions:

1. Males: Would you describe yourself as a boy or as a man? and why?
2. Female: Would you describe yourself as a girl or a woman? and why?

Many came to the conclusion that they would describe themselves as a boy/girl because they didn't want to be fully responsible like a adult has to. I myself said I don't feel mature enough to call myself a man (which was certainly proved towards the end of the lesson)

Mr Sadgrove then taught us what the word Liminal meant, so he presented us with this definition:

• The unfixed position between any two oppositional terms; the experience of being on a threshold or a boundary, marginal.
• Liminal- of, pertaining to, or situated at the limen (threshold)

To help us remember the word, we were told to draw a picture representing the meaning . So if you were not present in the lesson, do this.

The class was then given an article from Emagazine (which sir has posted the login details below this post). This article consisted of liminality within Wuthering Heights and which characters had barriers, keeping them separate to others in any different way).

We came to the conclusion that Heathcliffe's Liminality was:

• He's different to the others because `Heathcliffe` is the name of a dead child. So he is, in a way, in a marginal position between the living and the dead.
• He is also on the borderline of a supernatural creature because the Earnshaw's call him the "imp of Satan" and when he first arrives, he is known as "as dark almost as if it came from the devil"
• He is also inbetween the "gypsy brat" and the rich Earnshaws. (Inbetween two barriers is the key point in understanding what liminal means.)

The article also mentioned Life and Death:

• In Chapter 3, when Catherine’s ghost appears, the window acts as the barrier between the living and the supernatural. Therefore Catherine also has liminal elements.
• Catherine is seen as a ghost before she dies, so she is once again trapped between the real world and the dead.
• Heathcliffe's dies, but his eyes are still open. From this we can say that he is, like Catherine, within those boundaries of life and death.

Nature and Culture:

• The window pane breaks down the barrier between nature and culture. It's the portal between instinct and civilisation.

Lastly, we were given a sheet, with a table labelled with Symbol, Motif and Theme. we had to decide which of the following went with what word.

• Power
• Weather
• Windows
• Love
• Confinement and escape
• Books
• Dreams
• The Bible
• Animals
• Childhood and Family
• Suffering
• A Whip
• Communication
• Transcendence (above other things)
• Religion
• Economic and Social Status
• Violence

Homework:
-Essay- Discuss the idea of the liminality with reference to Wuthering Heights.
Focus on how it is communicated through (symbols, motifs, windows, doors, ghosts, dreams) Use AO2 and some dripped in AO4

-Annotate the rest of the symbols sheet

-Read Chapter 6

Feel free to add anything I may of missed out on, due to the extreme laughing!! Thanks :D

Chris W