Summer Reading Creative Project

Text: Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home.

 Essence: Water paves the path for character transformation from life to death.

 Brief Summary of Text: Kitty Finch is first found swimming naked in the Jacob family’s pool and is greeted by several characters who are sharing a villa in Italy for the summer. They all wonder who this strange, mental girl is at first, but as the week goes on, all but a few of them fall under her spell. Kitty takes a special interest in Joe Jacobs—renowned poet as well as a husband and father. Joe finds out that the reason for Kitty’s arrival was so she could give him some poetry of her own to read. She feels connected to him through his poetic words and wants him to feel the same. After reading her poem, he does feel a connection to her, but continues to hide it. By the end of the novel, Kitty has made Joe acknowledge his feelings of sadness and depression, but the tables are turned when he is found dead in the same pool in which Kitty was discovered.

1973 Prompt: An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

 Thesis: In Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home, the ending of the novel ties back to the beginning, and informs the reader that the real reason Kitty Finch came to Italy was to try and save Joe Jacobs from his secret depression.

 Explanation of Project: In the very beginning of Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home, Kitty Finch’s “head emerged from the water, its mouth open and gasping for breath” (7). When Kitty comes out of the pool she is baptized, and given a second chance to live. The young girl is on a mission to find Joe Jacobs and give him her poem so that he can validate the connection she feels they have. The end of the book is a complete contrast to Kitty’s rebirth. Joe, “words and spluttering […] utterances […] disappeared into the water” (148) instead of emerging from it. In my project, I connected the water theme in the beginning and the end by playing a sound effect of someone swimming at the beginning and end of my ‘mash-up’ of songs.

 Water is an important theme not only at the beginning and end, but also throughout the novel. When Nina Jacobs menstruates for the first time “She finally jumped into the pool” (68). Isabel Jacobs also periodically swam in “the cold green water” (46). These swimming scenes take place during the slower paced parts of the book. In my project, the sound of a person swimming is hidden underneath all of the other sounds. This sound effect is most evident when the slower songs are playing—just like in the book. I chose to use a variety of contrasting songs within my project. The book is choppy and jumps from character to character.

While some characters thought that “The arrival of Kitty Finch was bad news” (73), others were head-over-heels for the girl, and wanted to “marry Kitty Ket” (79). Much like the novel, these songs reflect the various characters’ thoughts, and move very abruptly from one another. I did not put a slow song directly after a slow song. Instead, as this ‘mash-up’ goes from song to song, it goes slow to fast, or fast to slow; this imitates the pacing of the book.

Besides the theme of water in the novel, Levy discusses the complexity of depression and loss. Kitty and Joe both battle depression, and Kitty even mentions that “Life is only worth living because we hope it will get better” (4). The small portions of songs that I used in my project all have lyrics that somehow relate to this theme. Some songs discuss the struggle of having no one to help in a time of need, and others talk about a deep sadness in the world. In addition to their relation to the theme, the lyrics also relate to a central topic in the book. The entire reason Kitty came to Italy was to find Joe, the famous poet. She had read nearly everything he ever published, and now she wanted him to read a poem that she had written herself.

The reason I chose to do a ‘mash-up’ of various songs is because I believe that song lyrics are the same thing as poetry, only put to music. Both poetry and song lyrics convey a persons feeling in a more sophisticated, flowing manner, and both are worded in a way that a person would not ordinarily speak. Since water is a very significant symbol in Swimming Home, I wanted to do something visual with water while the song played. Since the end of the story is tied so exactly to the beginning, I showed the journey from beginning to end using water.

When Kitty first talks to Joe, she says “I have come to France to save you from your thoughts” (26). At first, Joe refuses to admit to Kitty’s accusations that he is suffering from his depression. With each day that Kitty stays with him, Joe believes her more and more. By the end of the book Joe finally admits to himself that he is quite unhappy, and the only thing he can think to do about it is to commit suicide. To show Joe’s gradual transformation in the novel, and how Kitty was the one who led him to his eventual downfall, I used two cups to represent these two characters. As the song started playing, I poured water from the ‘Kitty’ cup into the ‘Joe’ cup. The ‘Joe’ cup was filtered with a paper towel that had red food coloring on it. As the water from the ‘Kitty’ cup is slowly transferred to Joe, the water gets more and more red, signifying the downfall of his character. By the end of the song the water from Kitty’s cup is all in Joe’s cup, because Joe is dead.

Through the use of both an aural and visual presentation, the audience is able to see the transformation of characters and the major themes in the novel.