The crane wife
Reader, I almost married him. C J Hauser
Even now I hear the words as shameful: Thirsty. Needy. The worst things a woman can be. Some days I
still tell myself to takewhat is offered, because if it isn’t enough, it is I who wants too much. I am ashamed to be
writing about this instead of writing about the whooping cranes, or literal famines, or any of the truer needs of the
world. But what I want to tell you is that I left my fiancé when it was almost too late. And I tell people the
story of being cheated on because that story is simple. People know how it goes. But it’s harder to tell the
story of how I convinced myself I didn’t need what was necessary to survive. How I convinced myself it was my
lack of needs that made me worthy of love. After cocktail hour one night, in the cabin’s kitchen, I told Lindsay about how I’d blown up my life the
week before. I told her because I’d just received a voice mail saying I could get a partial refund for my high- necked wedding gown. The refund would be partial because they had already made the base of the dress but
had not done any of the beadwork yet. They said the pieces of the dress could still be unstitched and used for
something else. I had caught them just in time. I told Lindsay because she was beautiful and kind and patient and loved good things like birds and I
wondered what she would say back to me. What would every good person I knew say to me when I told them
that the wedding to which they’d RSVP’d was off and that the life I’d been building for three years was going
to be unstitched and repurposed?
Lindsay said it was brave not to do a thing just because everyone expected you to do it. Jeff was sitting outside in front of the cabin with Warren as Lindsay and I talked, tilting the sighting
scope so it pointed toward the moon. The screen door was open and I knew he’d heard me, but he never said
anything about my confession. What he did do was let me drive the boat. The next day it was just him and me and Lindsay on the water. We were cruising fast and loud. “You
drive, ” Jeff shouted over the motor. Lindsay grinned and nodded. I had never driven a boat before. “What do I
do? ” I shouted. Jeff shrugged. I took the wheel. We cruised past small islands, families of pink roseate
spoonbills, garbage tankers swarmed by seagulls, fields of grass and wolfberries, and I realized it was not that
remarkable for a person to understand what another person needed.
ACTIVITY 01
Em um dado trecho do conto, a autora dirige- se aos leitores para falar que quase.
a) Retire o trecho em que ela diz que sente
vergonha de estar escrevendo sobre isso em vez de
estar escrevendo sobre os pássaros que ela foi visitar, fomes literais ou qualquer outra necessidade do
mundo.
b) Por que você acha que a autora se sente
envergonhada de estar falando sobre o fim de seu
relacionamento?
ACTIVITY 02
A autora cita algumas qualidades sobre Linda
para justificar por que ela contou a ela sobre o fim
de seu relacionamento. Que qualidades são essas?
ACTIVITY 03
Em que o título do conto se relaciona com a
história narrada pela autora sobre o seu ex
relacionamento? O que se pode deduzir sobre isso?
ACTIVITY 04
O gesto de Jeff em entregar o volante do
barco para a autora pilotá-lo significou muito para
ela. O que ela percebeu com esse gesto? O que você
achasobre isso? (Último parágrafo)
Respostas
Resposta:
Activity 01
I am ashamed to be writing about this instead of
writing about the whooping cranes, or literal
famines, or any of the truer needs of the world.
Porque ela aceitou coisas e situações que ela acredita
que não deveria ter aceitado. Ela percebe o quanto
se deixou afetar e se envolver em um relacionamento
que a anulou em muitos sentidos. E a necessidade de
falar sobre isso demonstra o quanto ela estava
envolvida em algo que não a fazia feliz, mas que ela
achava que precisava.
Activity 02
Linda, gentil e paciente e porque ela amava coisas
boas como pássaros (5º parágrafo)
“(…) because she was beautiful and kind and patient
and loved good things like birds.”
Activity 03
Certamente, a autora se comparava à mulher pássaro
que lutava para tirar suas penas todas as noites para
que o homem que ela amava não percebesse que ela
era um pássaro e não uma mulher. A autora deve ter
se visto como uma mulher que lutava todos os dias
para não ser a mulher que sempre foi apenas para
agradar ao noivo.
Activity 04
Ela percebeu que não é tão notável, não é tão difícil
uma pessoa perceber o que uma outra precisa.
Explicação:
confia no pai