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She hides behind Possibility and controls that which she takes shelter in. The foundation of predictability on which Surprise rests and is gently reeled down from, dangled in the face of Possibility, is cracked with character. There is always much to be discovered, more to be uncovered and Possibility smiles in the face of the Unknown.
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She plays quick and maps her moves within self-set boundaries, both to appease her instinct for foresight and to humor the opponent she sits across from.
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His cards are weapons, not walls, held together by rationale of calculative future plays and the pathological need to control that which is at hand - both his hand, and hers.
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Logic and Aggression sit side by side, staring down Possibility and the enticing strand of Surprise that fades out of view. There is always too much that is inaccessible yet asking to be discovered in a game of chance, and Aggression surmises that not even Logic could break down the unpredictability of the Unknown.
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He plays smart and balances the game, countering the temptation of scores beyond his reach with a one-stop-intellect-shop mindset. It is methodical for the sake of both players.
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Logic holds back Aggression and Surprise convinces Possibility to incline herself to the side of privacy and all is balanced.
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And if she forgoes her self-inflicted boundaries, forgoes all docility, he believes she has misstepped. No longer would he remain the discoverer and she the discovered. Curiosity creates a mine of precious stones to stand for what is unknown.
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And if Temptation and Enticement and the infuriating potential of Chance that lays just beyond his grasp were to vanish, what becomes of the game? If Surprise and Possibility melt as she shows her hand, what does he play towards now? Logic is inclined to find another partner, another game, another Surprise.
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And she plays on.
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I decided to approach my project from a creative writing standpoint, basing it off of the male and female characters of John Donne’s Elegy 19. Donne writes of the enticement of discovery, using the female body as a metaphor for the conquering of America and her land. The process of unearthing possibility and exploring the riches of this new found land is glorified yet Donne’s mystery of discovery is the sole redeeming quality of the subject at hand. This comparison is particularly unnerving due to the lack of female voice in Donne’s writing.
I chose to write my short story from the perspective of two game-players. I also chose to characterize personality traits and strengths that each game-player would utilize in his or her strategy. True to the original text and particularly using the following passage as a touchstone - “All women thus aray’d themselves are mystic books, which only we (whom their imputed grace will dignify) must see reveal’d” - the female character plays with Possibility and Surprise. Both defensive tactics act offensively through enticement, something that Donne viewed as both inherently female and requiring a conqueror. The male character, based somewhat on Donne’s male gaze perspective, stands with Logic and Aggression. Both were chosen as qualities that are not quite capable of directly countering Possibility or Surprise, and vice versa. The story takes a turn as I considered how Elegy 19 would divert from the original poem’s plot if the land or woman did not possess the unknown mystery or coyness that so much of Donne’s appraisal of their worth banked upon. Without the “blest (act of) discovering thee,” the game for the male character is over. The female character, on the other hand, is no longer a romanticized mystery as she would have been able to reveal her hand by choice. She, having been voiceless in Elegy 19, has little to lose in my adaptation and much to gain, including a more rounded out identity that does not vanish after Surprise leaves her side but is able to play on. By choice she utilizes the enticement of Possibility, by choice she shows her hand, and by choice she avoids becoming post-discovery waste.
By: Hannah Oh