Stein and Change

I have to admit that when I read the first few pages of Gertrude Stein's The Geographical History of America I was thinking that it was a lot of nonsense.  That was the point, it didn't really make sense.  Who would write a book where Chapter One is repeated several times and appears as Chapter 1 or Chapter I or Chapter one.  It was like a series of riddles in which I was desperately trying to find the answer, but IS there really an answer?  The statements made about the human mind and human nature were dismantled and retold in a series of ways.  Sometimes it seemed to fold in on itself and then somehow straightened back out - only not completely. 

What I realized after reading more of it was there was a play with the words as expressed in "The human mind.  The human mind at play." or a Play, as in "Play I...Play II" (431).  I think Stein's ability to play with the language showed us some things about our language.  She addressed the human mind and human nature over and over again.  At times they have something to do with the other but more often than not the have nothing to do with the other.  And all of this talking about the human mind and human nature seems as an exploration to find out if they really have anything to do with the other. 

So while I was not initially impressed by the first third of the piece, I realized that she is actually doing something with the writing.  She is showing it fresh, from different perspectives and it means something different and somehow makes more sense as she goes on.  For instance, in the earlier part of the piece she writes, "What is the use of being a little boy if he is going to grow up and be a man."  She writes this statement a few times throughout the piece.  Then later she writes, "But what is the use of being a little boy if he is going to grow up to be a man.,  Do you see what a mistake it is to say that." (431).  That's the main point that I see throughout the piece - change.  Change affects language and the way we use it, change affects us as individuals and our identity, change affects the world around us and the geography of America.  Change shapes everything and molds the future into what it has yet to be.

So now, I don't think of it as nonsense at all.  To me this makes a lot of sense.  It makes me think and I like that.  It reminds me of a statement my husband said a friend made to him a long time ago, "You know, there are times I really worry about you and when I don't, I worry about myself."  I think this just may apply here.