Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Let's be honest.. Helene would be Queen of Social Networking.

Writing from the perspective of Helene was so much fun! If I had to guess why, I'd say it's because Helene is Queen Social, and there is no doubt in my mind that modern Helene would rule today's social networking with an iron (well manicured) fist. Much of my Facebook activity consisted of posts which demonstrated how self-absorbed and overly social Helene is. It was necessary to emphasize these negative qualities because I believe Helene is the worst female character in the entire novel, despite being generally well-liked (at least to her face). Her selfishness, use of her beauty to get ahead in the world despite manipulating the feelings of others, thoughtlessness, and terrible family all contribute to making Helene the most sinful woman in War and Peace, even if she is the most social.
I selected a provocative picture of Helene for her profile picture because it emphasizes Helene's main weapon as a socialite. Without her charming good looks, all she would be is a sneaky trickster trying to get ahead in the world--either that or a total fool like Hippolyte. I made a post about flirtation for obvious reasons: Helene flirts with anything with two legs, perhaps even her brother. I also thoroughly enjoyed The Narrator's post about Helene: "But Helene, like a really great man who can do whatever he pleases, at once assumed her own position to be correct, as she sincerely believed it to be, and that everyone else was to blame (742)." I felt this post really emphasizes how good she is as twisting things to suit her. Another good example of this is suggested by my post about having three men in love with her (Pierre and two others) at the same time. While Pierre does not really love her, Helene is entirely convinced she can use her charm to always get her way. I also felt it was important to post about the end of Helene's life; her abuse of several people's affections at once is what ultimately killed her. Helene's death was a very fitting end for the most horrible woman in the story, and Tolstoy certainly displayed that outward beauty will not get you far for long without an inner beauty as well. 

3 comments:

  1. While I was on Facebook at Pierre, your posts were so incredibly like Helene, that as I was thinking from the perspective of Pierre I kept being like "oh my gosh Helene, Stop, I can't believe I'm married to you." I feel like you were really good at making Pierre feel inferior and annoyed by Helene on Facebook. Nice job!

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  2. You did an amazing job of portraying Helen. I had to restrain the old prince from liking all your posts!

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