Notes on posts about Brand New Ancients
Yuyu: I think a good example of analysis.
The phrase from ‘when I was young…‘ emphasise the fact that Brian is a representation of someone who is socially marginalised, and it also brings in what life itself might look like for some of those people. However at the same time, although Brian’s past actions can be unrelatable, we can still relate to him in this phrase. It reminds us of how his choices would have been limited, and he had merely done what he could have done, which is what everyone does as they live.
By putting Brian’s death at the end of the story, it shows the fate of humans regardless of how they have lived. The last line keeps the rhythm of the previous lines and is not emphasised in any way. This discusses the triviality of our deaths, and that we only can live on to eventually die quietly.
Sinuan:
Brian knows, “he makes all the difference” to SuChin’s family because of his money. His actions of sleeping with young girls are unethical but the small action of giving him money makes him seem to be heroic to SuChin. Kate Tempest compares Brian’s time as ‘paradise, here in Olympus’, because he is enjoying his epic but wretched life just like the Greek gods’ stories in Olympus. We can also see another example when Clive who is a villain in the story, has a heroic side of him when he helped Terry setting off the fire, reflecting him to be admired brave and confident. Similarly, the Greek Gods are considered to be powerful and heroic but the underneath truth is that they are also full of conflicts, disfunction, and destructive nature. This further supports Kate Tempest’s message that humans are no less powerful and heroic than gods. So, the ending seemingly is rewarding to Brian because nonetheless Brian-like all humans(and gods) make mistakes and do wrong things, but there are also times when they are ‘god-like’ and that is what makes human daily life and experiences epic and worth understanding like the Greek mythologies.
A GOOD POST OF MINE:
Why finish the story with Brian’s denouement (outcome)? And why (seemingly) reward him with this ending?
The bittersweet ending can be seen as a way to identify the culprit behind the eventful story. The whole story of Brand New Ancients is of the birth of half-brothers Tommy and Clive as they lead two completely different lives created from the hookup of Brian and Jane. This paints Brian in a very bad light as he leaves and gives up on his children, he then is absent for majority of the story. For him to reappear in the ending would be to conclude and blame him for causing all the catastrophic events following the affair. The bittersweet aspects follow as Tempest creates empathy for Brian by saying how “he found found happiness there and even an old man deserves some loving”. Brian leaving his family can be seen as cold-hearted but the ending shows quite the opposite, maybe regret too, as ” a single tear slid out of his eyes, his nose ran. He thought of Clive, poor Clive. And poor Tom.”, showing that he does in fact care about his kids to an extent. This creates sympathy for Brian as he is old and is coming to terms with the things he did in his past as he knows that death is approaching him. This bittersweet ending reflects that of the greek myths such as Antigone where she dies but is able to be with her love, Haemon, in the heavens. This connection between the old greek themes and the modern day world relates back to Tempest’s big idea of seeing the many small humans as big gods which was consistent throughout the novel.
