In Thomas C. Foster's chapter called Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion, he is sorting out the distinction between a meal in real life and a meal in literature. He is also sorting how a meal in literature is described, communion meaning different things.
A meal is never just sitting down and eating the food with mindless chatter circulating throughout the room. At least, in literature it isn't. In any book that I've read, a big dinner scene usually signifies a climax or a turning point in the plot. Foster talks about it in the same way, mentioning that there has to be a very good reason to write a meal scene.
In the novel Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Ethan Wate, the protagonist, and his girlfriend, Lena Duchannes, are invited to a dinner by Lena's uncle, Macon. The dinner seems innocent enough, it being Thanksgiving and Lena gets along with her family, more or less. She is on the fence, however, about Ethan going because she comes from a family of Casters, a wizard or witch in a simpler term. She attempts to prevent Ethan from attending, but he ends up going with her.
The day of the dinner, Ethan encounters Ridley, Lena's cousin who happens to be a Siren, which is someone who is able to use spells to lure people, usually men, into doing things they wouldn't normally do. She accompanies Ethan to Macon's house where she isn't allowed and puts a spell on Ethan to where he can't move or breath. Already, the dinner is hitting rocky soil.
Foster answers a question about the dinner potentially turning sour. He explains that the act of eating a meal with someone is personal and sacred, at least in religious terms. When you eat with someone, it usually means you like them, which is what the author mentions. In Beautiful Creatures, the family is uneasy around Ridley because she is a Dark Caster, someone who uses their powers for evil deeds. Lena knows Ethan is paralyzed and the meal takes a downward spiral when Lena's powers get out of control due to her high levels of emotion.
Every meal is a communion, says Foster, and I agree. Any act, really, of coming together and enjoying an experience together is a communion. In literature, a meal introduces the reader to the characters' relationships with one another. The reader can always tell if something big is going to happen from the way the characters act at a meal. It's all about the emotions, the tension that's been building leading up to the meal.
I don't recall the characters in Beautiful Creatures actually eating the food.
A meal is never just sitting down and eating the food with mindless chatter circulating throughout the room. At least, in literature it isn't. In any book that I've read, a big dinner scene usually signifies a climax or a turning point in the plot. Foster talks about it in the same way, mentioning that there has to be a very good reason to write a meal scene.
In the novel Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Ethan Wate, the protagonist, and his girlfriend, Lena Duchannes, are invited to a dinner by Lena's uncle, Macon. The dinner seems innocent enough, it being Thanksgiving and Lena gets along with her family, more or less. She is on the fence, however, about Ethan going because she comes from a family of Casters, a wizard or witch in a simpler term. She attempts to prevent Ethan from attending, but he ends up going with her.
The day of the dinner, Ethan encounters Ridley, Lena's cousin who happens to be a Siren, which is someone who is able to use spells to lure people, usually men, into doing things they wouldn't normally do. She accompanies Ethan to Macon's house where she isn't allowed and puts a spell on Ethan to where he can't move or breath. Already, the dinner is hitting rocky soil.
Foster answers a question about the dinner potentially turning sour. He explains that the act of eating a meal with someone is personal and sacred, at least in religious terms. When you eat with someone, it usually means you like them, which is what the author mentions. In Beautiful Creatures, the family is uneasy around Ridley because she is a Dark Caster, someone who uses their powers for evil deeds. Lena knows Ethan is paralyzed and the meal takes a downward spiral when Lena's powers get out of control due to her high levels of emotion.
Every meal is a communion, says Foster, and I agree. Any act, really, of coming together and enjoying an experience together is a communion. In literature, a meal introduces the reader to the characters' relationships with one another. The reader can always tell if something big is going to happen from the way the characters act at a meal. It's all about the emotions, the tension that's been building leading up to the meal.
I don't recall the characters in Beautiful Creatures actually eating the food.
