Lady Tal- Lauren Reschke

The relationship between Lady Tal and Jervase Marion struck me as odd and I continuously had mixed feelings on it throughout the reading. In the beginning he describes his dislike for her “…it was a vague repulsion due to her dreadful strength, her appearance of never having felt anything, the hardness of those blue, bold eyes, the resolution of that well-cut, firmly closing mouth, the bantering tone of that voice, and the consequent impression which she left on him of being able to take care of herself to an extent almost dangerous to her fellow- creatures” (210). This led me to believe his dislike for Lady Tal lied within his own insecurities, implying he was threatened by Lady Tal. I found it ironic that the gender roles almost seemed reversed. I interpreted Lady Tal as being the dominant figure in their ‘relationship’ while Marion was the timid one afraid to express his thoughts. However, I kept questioning Lady Tal’s dominance throughout the reading. “Lady Tal, who usually struck him as so oppressively grown up, powerful, able to cope with everything, affected him at this moment as something very young, helpless and almost childish… that she had never thought, or acted, or felt for herself; that she had not lived” (249). After contemplating the descriptions that were used throughout the reading, I came to believe that Lady Tal wasn’t as independent and powerful as she presented herself to be. Marion was threatened by this exterior, but while spending more time with her, was able to slowly observe the ‘real’ Lady Tal which allowed him to accept his feelings for her, without fighting it with disgusted thoughts as he found himself doing a lot. Overall, this reading had me flip flopping a lot on both the relationship between Lady Tal and Jervase Marion and the ‘real’ personality of Lady Tal.