Charles Macaulay - Blog Posts
The Secret History Mini-Rant
I just finished 'The Secret History' by Donna Tartt, and wow. It's really good. I thought it would be a bit overhyped but no, it really is that good--to me, at least--I love how each character is so human. A prime example being Julian. [SPOILERS] When he left after he found out what they had done...it was so cowardly, so disgusting...and so *him*. I don't know, overall, amazing characters, amazing plot...and I still can't help but romanticize it at times. We never learn I guess...
Congrats to me for my first long post/rant.
Az
If your favourite character from The Secret History is Charles Macaulay please stay the hell away from me
no.2 the fivesome??
ok i can't and won't explain why it took me so long to write another one but i'm back !!
So... the whole five way thing that the gang had was. a lot. honestly reading was fine until you realised that everyone had slept with each other at some point other than richard and he was on his was there with francis anyways. my thoughts on this are all over the place but i just. i need it in plain english.
So Richard was in love with Camilla, and attracted to Henry and Charles, and almost slept with Francis. Camilla was in love with Henry, who loved her back. Charles and Camilla slept together and Charles was an abusive dickwad to her. He was probably in love with Camilla too. Francis and charles slept together on occasion and Francis was in love with Charles. I feel like there's more but. whatever.
wow. my thoughts are why was everyone so horny. literally you could've slept with Anyone Else. but nooooo we study ancient greek we're too good for everyone else. they're not built different they're built wrong. they took groupcest to another level.
i mean like,,, they were all college students so you can't judge them too hard because they were all on mood altering substances 99% of the time, so at that point they probably didn't have many brain cells left. Honestly richard shouldve just bit the bullet and gotten with Francis or something to put them both out of their collective miseries.
i'm embarrassed for them tbh. and just to point out that Richard being bi asf is a genuine (problem?) thing that female writers do with unreliable male narrators who are supposed to be straight. which i find like. so funny because it goes totally over my head the first time i read books, because im bisexual too so it's normal to me. but then going back and realising its some cishet white guy narrating and its a little suspicious?
obvious it's usually because the author is a cishet white woman who projects her attraction to men onto her characters. another notable example of this is Harry Potter. so this isn't like an isolated incident it's a thing that happens. the same way that men can tend to write women 2-dimensional, women tend to write as men bisexual. on accident? it's all very interesting to me.
no.1: dickieboy oldman
First impressions: he's nothing like me. he's a weird narrator, unreliable and all this account take on this dreamlike take of what happened. i mean seriously, his account of everything is almost a decade after the events and it's idealised and confusing, chock full of timeskips.
But. he's an incredibly written unreliable narrator. he leaves out key details, (like the fact he was drunk off his ass half the time) (or on drugs) and just really. he lets his own bias get in the way of everything. he still loves bunny and charles (charles somewhat less because he actually hurt someone he "cared" about) because he's a white man from california in the eighties. he doesn't care that they're but abusive hateful people because their prejudices don't actively hurt him. even though they harmed his friends.
and furthermore he kind of indulges in the same prejudices. he feels violent urges towards camilla (though it was really a passing remark and he doesnt act on them as charles does) and his internalised homophobia inhibits his relationship with francis whenever he's confronted with francis' gayness all over again. (although francis was flirting with him the entire time. so that may be a moot point.) so yeah. he's definitely a narrator alright.
the way he interacts with people is interesting because he feels the urge to lie about. well. everything to do with his past. and so he doesn't really HAVE a relationship with people until they realise he's penniless. which they notice pretty quickly. (even bunny does) (ie making fun of his offbrand ties etc etc) as the people around him spend mroe time with him and realise that Richard Papen is actually poor, they start treating him like a person.
Richard has a very distinct and interesting way of interacting with his friends individually. he builds up a distinct way to build rapport with each of them. (reassuring charles that he is liked, listening to francis and taking him to the doctors etc) because not only does he have a deep seated need to be like, BUT he wants these people to stick with him for life. he wants them to want him.
but onto the reason i wrote this. hes fuckin gay. the way he describes men is just out of this world. henry is described like he's a god. francis is beautiful and untouchable. charles is an all american dream. and camilla. is constantly described as boyish and looking exactly like charles. which means he's attracted to charles by proxy. he literally kisses francis back in the kitchen. he would've got on his knees for henry had he the chance. he was literally a charles apologist. he was so repressed it hurts my heart. he just didn't like women the way he described men. he wanted to grow old with francis in the countryside. camilla was the closest he was going to get to a man.
he's toeing the line between bicon and gay bastard but god does he walk it hard. he does it for us. i love and hate his junkie ass.
so i just read a secret history, and Richard what the fuck?
Yes, I am literary going to give Donna Tart another goddamn chance to shatter my heart and soul and make me feel misserable but at least make me feel something BIG
guees who bought cigarettes bc characters in book that I finished were smoking and I want to be like them
The Secret History ruined my summer.
From now on I am not going to do anything but listen to Lana Del Rey and think of concerningly smart and rich men. And maybe read something that will make me feel even more misserable.
dropping out of university is ok. joining some weird group to study greek is ok. taking part in a bacchanal is ok. accidentally killing a random farmer is ok. planning to run away to uruguay is ok. murdering one of your friends is ok. do whatever u need to do to cope.
To be fair, they are students. I can attest to the accuracy of the representation.
Love how everyone in The Secret History is always either drunk or high. Or asleep.
You have been vetoed
*pushes you off a ravine*
A little sketch of how i imaginated Buny when i read the Secret history for the first time.
