Nights at the Circus: Mysteries and the Flesh

I just finished reading Nights at the Circus and my final feelings of the novel were not what I had originally anticipated. The first section of the novel and even most of the second section kept me enthralled. I really enjoyed reading the backgrounds on each character connected with Colonel Kearney’s circus. As soon as the train crashed, however, I was slightly put off. It became a completely different story and different feel than the beginning. The beginning was filled with obscure history that posed the universal question Angela Carter wants the reader to contemplate: Are these histories “fact or fiction?” Yes, the third section had obscure histories; but, as I said, they had a different feel to me. I completely believed the histories about the run-away murderesses, the Escapee, and the Siberian tribes. The histories prior had an air of mystery. I feel the third section fell short in its mysteriousness.

Perhaps the reason I felt this way is because Fevvers was not focused on as much as she was before. Her history is the real mystery. Her history tied into other character’s histories, creating an air of mystery and almost disbelief around these other characters. This air of mystery is obviously intensified because we are viewing these characters from Walser’s eyes. He appears to be the king of skepticism. Once he gets amnesia the whole mystery of the novel lacked. Also, the fact that Fevvers became a narrator in the third section took away from her own mysteriousness. The reader had a chance to view life from Fevver’s perspective. Prior, I was constantly wondering what she was thinking. Is she telling Walser the truth? Does she admire Walser? Even the mysteriousness of Lizzie was gone and her tricks with time were less captivating to me.

“The Colonel doffs his billy-cock hat with delighted glee as Fevvers, looking not in the least like India-rubber but very much flesh for the Prince of Wales, that connoisseur, stumps past.” (175)

Now that I’ve expressed my opinion of the narrative I can discuss what I found confusing within the text. I saw a constant use of the word “flesh” from the beginning of the novel to the very end. I kept asking why Angela Carter used this specific word constantly. When we discussed the grotesque body versus the classical body in class today, I interpreted the author’s constant use of “flesh” as a way of highlighting Fevver’s humanness and her 'grotesque body'. She has qualities pertaining to the classical body but all of those qualities are from Fevver’s own creation (the dyeing of her wings, for example). Perhaps the author is stating that she is a human being after all. Putting aside all of her performances, Fevvers is still a human being with flesh. She is not as mythical as everyone would like to believe.

Could the use of ‘flesh’ also pertain to the subjugation of Fevver’s body? It seems as though she has control over her body, but at the same time she is constantly limited with her unique physical features. Her body seems to be all she has in life. It controls where she goes and what she does. It completely defines who she is, whether it’s being Cupid in Ma Nelson’s house, the Angel in Madame Schreck’s museum of women monsters or part of Colonel Kearney’s circus. Her best weapon is her body but it is also her enemy. She is extremely limited. Though she is more than a body, to most people she is only a body, simply a piece of unique flesh.

Geek Love: Need Need Need

“The dumb little fuck was supposed to be so goddamn sensitive, how come he couldn’t figure it out? All he had to do to make me like him was need me.” (Dunn 94)

When I read this quote in Geek Love (stated by Oly about Chick) it really jumped out at me. I feel it sums up Oly’s character quite well. There is a constant “needing” in the novel. Arty’s ‘need’ to be the best performer in the family and bring in the most money. The Binewski parent’s ‘need’ to create the perfect freak/geek children. Chick’s ‘need’ to please and protect everyone around him. The list goes on and on. I'm going to focus on Oly’s ‘need’ to have people need her.

In our last class, we discussed the hierarchy within the Freaks. I think Oly’s obsession with being needed originates because of this hierarchy of differences and the fact that she is at the bottom rung of the hierarchy. She makes up for her low "freak" status by making sure she is useful to the Binewski family. The fact that she was not odd enough to be rewarded with her own carnival show really impacted Oly’s dynamic with her family. She is in a constant struggle with herself to prove her own worth. This is shown with her almost slave-like labor for Arty and her original dislike for Chick because he did not need her. Even in the story with Miranda and Crystal Lil, Oly’s need to be needed is expressed. Miranda needs Oly for money with rent and to win an art contest. Could this have been a motive for her agreement to pose for Miranda? Also, Crystal Lil needs Oly to watch over her by taking out the garbage and other such tasks. Oly was continually questioning her worth to the Binewski family. The fact that she was needed at times, even for the menial work, allowed Oly to believe she was climbing the Freak hierarchy.

Oly’s need to be needed puts her into a role of caretaker. This could be the cause of the children’s lack of a caretaker in their parents. The Binewski parents are more concerned and preoccupied with creating perfectly deformed children and building their carnival empire to be the mother and father their children need. They both take on the role of detached creators rather than loving father and mother. Yes, there are times when their parenting abilities come to the forefront, but it does not happen as often as it should. Both Al and Lily progressively, albeit unintentionally, distance themselves from their own children as the book develops. Clearly Oly's lack of originality in the "freak" department greatly contributed to her dependency on being needed. However, maybe her parents' action, or lack thereof, was a factor. Perhaps Oly’s need for more conventional parents helped construct her need for people needing her. Need need need!