discussion facilitation summary

the majority of the class seemed to address in one form or the other clara's fall from grace, the idea of sin and evil, and also the contradictory nature of clara. tjere were several people who brought the fact that clara seems to contradict herself at times, and seems inconsistent in her emotions/ logic. this was explicitly focused on in Maria's blogpost called "Gender Norms and Limitations" in which she views clara's inconsistencies as a product of her effimenant ways, which was common in early 19th century literature. a few people also brought up the fact of maybe one is supposed to feel sympathy for clara. in blog "pity pity" and "fall from grace" one gets the sense that clara is perhaps just an innocent victim of circumstance. it was noted that she has endured the loss of her parents at an early age, she is tormented by her love for pleyel, and now she seems to be associated with a murderer. this leads you to concluded that there does seem to be supernatural forces working against her. in Holly's blog she focused on the religious tones in the text. in her blog "the garden of Wieland" she contendes that the sorty is one of religoius commentary. through her explanation you see that this idea of original sin and the fall from grace are intertwined. an instance that stood out to me was in the explanation given by Madolyn in "clara: from conviction to confusion" in which she states taht clara is afforded confidence in herself and her beliefs, in part due to her isolation from society at large. i agreed with the claim that the change that occurs in clara's character is due to influential outside forces i.e. carwin and the supernatural.