The Marriage of Opposites is a historical fiction novel by Alice Hoffman, set in the early 1800s on the tropical island of St. Thomas. The story follows Rachel Pissarro, an extraordinary woman who gave birth to painter Camille Pissarro, the Father of Impressionism. The novel explores themes of forbidden love, friendship, and the ways in which patterns of behavior are repeated down the generations.
The novel begins with Rachel’s unconventional marriage to the nephew of her late husband, Camille Pissarro. The story revolves around the family’s unlikely romance and marriage, which ultimately leads to the birth of the renowned Impressionist painter.
The novel explores themes of forbidden love, friendship, and the ways in which patterns of behavior are repeated down the generations. The characters remain flat and unknowable, while the novel itself is predictable.
The novel also explores the concept of family secrets, as many characters have illegitimate children who are unacknowledged, abandoned, or cast off. The novel explores the different manifestations of family in the novel, such as the relationship between Rachel and her son, Isaac, and the enduring legacy she leaves behind.
In conclusion, Alice Hoffman’s The Marriage of Opposites is a captivating historical novel that delves into themes of love, rebellion, and the pursuit of passion. It is a satisfying exploration of family dynamics and the ways in which patterns of behavior are repeated down the generations.
📹 Download The Marriage of Opposites: by Alice Hoffman | Summary & Analysis PDF
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📹 What is Enantiodromia? Jung and Heraclitus on Married Opposites
What is enantiodromia? In this episode we explore what Jung and Herclitus have to say about this marriage of the opposites.
I heard a metaphor from Kant recently which I can’t stop thinking about and I think ties to this topic (specifically when you were talking about the times we suffer feeling most alive). He spoke of a dove which would think to itself; “if only there were no air to provide resistance against my flight, I would get to my destination so much quicker and easier!” Little would she realise that without any air she would plummet to the ground. The thing she enjoys so much would be impossible. When suffering through something, feeling pressure, perhaps the dot in yin in the swell of yang is bloated and straining not yet to burst. It is fascinating how the dissipation of suffering leads to profound relief. The painful tension drew the bow to fire the arrow far into joy. I’ve experienced it in my life multiple times. Perhaps one shouldn’t curse the suffering as the dove shouldn’t curse the air?
I am writing a paper on Nietzsche. I have the Preface of Beyond Good and Evil open before me. I wanted a reference for Heraclitus’ notion of opposites, which was so important to Nietzsche. I was perusal your article where you talked about the word bio meaning bow and life in Greek. I thought, wow, that is probably what Nietzsche was referring to in the Preface when he said “with so tense a bow we can now shoot for the most distant goals.” And then you mentioned Nietzsche.
Really enjoyed your article. Loved the example of the opposing power of a bow string. I spent the best part of eight years traveling around the world skydiving and living on dropzones in a tent. I’m totally with you on how it feels to get a little taste of civilisation. For me, after months of having to walk across a muddy field to take a shower; I just remember the absolutely delight I took when I stayed in a hotel one night and got to have a shower and then walk barefoot on carpet. OMG, that was amazing! I’m currently studying Jungian therapy, so learned about enantiodromia on the course I’m doing. However, your article made it much easier for me to get my head around it. I live in Japan and so I’m studying eastern philosophy; in particular I’m interested in kintsugi – which of course has the philosophy of celebrating the broken, for the bowl cannot become beautiful and strong without first being broken 🙂
The concept of enantiodromia is fascinating – if we assume that the phenomenon emerges out of a desire for the psyche to tend toward balance (or the universe tends toward equilibrium), balance can only be a short lived state because the persistence of enantiodromia suggests balance would ultimately be followed by a new form of chaos. There is a theory (obviously unproven) in regards to the origins of the universe that postulates that nothingness is an unstable state (and this is how the big bang came to be). Question: Does the mind wish to tend toward balance between there exists so much chaos (in other words, what came first, the enantiodromia or the tendency toward balance?) If we were in a state of balance, would the mind want to tend toward chaos? Or is true balance not possible and therefore not even something that is worth considering? Please note that when I say ‘wants’, ‘desires’ or tends’, I do not imply any conscious forces at play, I mean unconscious tendencies.
Your exposition of enantiodromia is excellent! The way you related it to a variety of practical examples in politics, economics and also the personal life of the individual made the theory very tangible. I have been preoccupied with the concept of enantiodromia for a while now. I have been trying to forecast how and which parts of our society will transform into their opposite in the coming future. Do you have any ideas? For example, I hypothesise that many corporations operate by de-individualizing their work force. And I wonder for how long the individual psyche of an employee can sustain such pressure, and what consequences this will bring? (If you understand what I mean?)
I attempted suicide recently. I don’t tell all the details, for it takes too long to explain the why’s and the how’s, but I was blissful during it. I also learned the significant lessons behind my failed suicide attempt, why it had to happen. I lost my fear of death to a certain degree. When you talked about feeling the most alive in suffering, it reminds me of my life. I felt alive through suffering and became one with it after all my hardships. I endured a sexual childhood trauma when I was six years old, years of suffering due to the unresolved trauma, paranoid schizophrenia, Psychosis, six weeks of panic attacks, tormenting myself with guilt for years and this failed suicide attempt. But this failed suicide attempt was the stage where suffering didn’t feel like suffering anymore. I don’t know if I’m just so hardened by suffering, just enlightened or both, although I don’t like to claim it. And I have this Enantiodromia on my head. The yin and yang symbol in Form of light skin and a dark birthmark under my left eyebrow and dark hair and a light scar since birth on my right head or hair side. Yin and yang with some fantasy hehe. And yin and yang is a paradoxon. But through time, paradoxon are possible. Because only through time can one thing be like it is now and completely opposite, contradicting or paradox at a later time. Paradoxon always challenged me, because I sought to understand how it is possible and time is my answer. The Enantiodromia is also related to my inner woman.