Explication 1: Tipping the Velvet Short Paper (2.5-3 pages)…

Explication Assignment: Please title it “Exhibition and Erasure” and follow the instructions (what is highlighted) carefully. What is attached: 1. Tipping the Velvet eBook.2. The passage I picked, which is what the paper is about in: Chapter 13, Part 2.3. Instructions (focus on what is highlighted). 4. General overview of the story for context.PLEASE NOTE: THERE ARE NO OUTSIDE SOURCES, ONLY THE EBOOK AND WHAT I PROVIDED. PLEASE VIEW THE INSTRUCTIONS ATTATCHED.

What is the assignment? (THIS IS NOT THE INSTRUCTIONS. JUST ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

An explication is essentially a take apart assignment where you closely analyze the authors language. Instead of summarizing what happens in the scene, the goal is to examine how the language works and why the author chose it. When doing a close reading, you should constantly ask questions about the text: why this word, why this image, why this symbol, and what effect it creates. It is also helpful to think about what other language could have been used instead, and why the author chose this particular phrasing. The purpose is to analyze how the language reveals deeper meanings about power, class, sexuality, and character relationships.

Key questions to ask in a close reading:

Why does the author use this specific symbol or image?
What effect does this word choice or metaphor create?
What alternatives could the author have used instead?
What does this language reveal about power, identity, or social hierarchy?

Close Reading Example Passage from the Book (Extra optional help with how to write it and ask literary questions):

Passage: I hesitated. Then: No, Diana, I said. She came closer. What? There is a way rich people have of saying What?: the word is honed, and has a point put on it; it comes out of their mouths like a dagger coming out of a sheath. That is how Diana said it now, in that dim corridor. I felt it pierce me through, and make me sag. I swallowed. I said, No, Diana. It was no more than a whisper.

But when she heard it, she seized me by the shirt, so that I stumbled. I said, Get off me, you are hurting me! Get off me, get off me! Diana, you will spoil my shirt!

What, this shirt? she answered. And with that, she put her fingers behind the buttons, and pulled it until it ripped, and my breasts showed bare beneath it. Then she caught hold of the jacket, and tore that from me too all the time panting as she did so, and with her limbs pressed close against my own.

I staggered, and reached for the wall, then placed my arm over my face I thought she would strike me. But when I looked at her at last I saw that her features were livid, not in fury, but in lust. She reached for my hand, and placed my fingers at the collar of her gown; and, miserable as I was, when I understood what it was that she wanted me to do, I felt my own breath quicken, and my cunt gave a kick.

I pulled at the lace, heard a few stitches rip, and the sound worked on me like the tip of a whip, snapping against the haunches of a horse. I tore it.

From her, her gown of black and white and silver, that came from Worths to match my costume; and when it was wrecked and trampled on the rug, she had me kneel upon it and fuck her, until she came and came again.

Then she sent me to my own room, anyway. I lay in the darkness and shook, and put my hands before my mouth to keep from weeping. Upon the cabinet beside the bed, gleaming where the starlight struck it, lay my birthday gift, the wrist-watch. I reached for it, and felt it cold between my fingers; but when I placed it to my ear, I shuddered for all that it would say was: Kitty…Kitty…Kitty….”

Key Analytical Points (Analyzing the text)

Diana as a Sugar Mommy

Diana financially supports Nan and holds power over her.
The relationship becomes controlling rather than equal.

Dianas Control

Diana is domineering and aggressive.
She ignores Nans protests and continues the encounter.
Her control shifts from sexual desire to toxic possession.

The What? Dagger Simile

Dianas What? is compared to a dagger coming out of a sheath.
This shows:
sharpness and danger
emotional harm toward Nan
a tone of superiority

Possible meanings:

Diana is threatening and powerful.
The dagger motion can resemble sexual penetration, linking violence and sexuality.
The description of rich people saying What? shows a class hierarchy.

Class Difference

Nan notices the difference in how wealthy people speak.
Even though Nan lives with Diana, she does not feel truly rich.
There is still a social hierarchy within the household.

Sexual Power Dynamics

Diana grabs Nan and tears her clothing.
Nan protests but the situation continues.
Nan kneeling during sex shows submission and dominance.

Key point:

Their relationship becomes purely sexual rather than emotionally mutual.

Clothing Symbolism

Clothing is repeatedly torn and destroyed.

Possible interpretations:

The destruction reflects the deterioration of their relationship.
Clothing represents class and gender identity.
The clothes become sexual props, similar to the dildo used in their encounters.

Predator Imagery

Diana appears predatory and takes pleasure in domination.
Her behavior shows enjoyment of control over Nan.

The Watch Symbol

The wristwatch is Dianas birthday gift to Nan.
Instead of simply reminding Nan of Kitty once, the watch ticks Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.

Possible meanings:

Symbol of time passing.
Symbol of Nans new financial stability with Diana.
Reminder of Kitty and the safer emotional relationship Nan once had.

Key idea:

Even though Nan has wealth now, she realizes she may have lost something emotionally.

EXTRA CLASS NOTES:

Nan vs. Zena Relationship

Nan and Zena have more balanced power dynamics.
Their relationship has more intimacy and mutual exchange.
They come from similar economic backgrounds.

Zena as a Character Foil

Zena contrasts with Diana.
Diana treats Nan as an object.
Zena treats Nan more like a partner.

Discussion of Underground Sexuality

Class discussion mentioned how repression can lead to alternative expressions of sexuality.
This relates to ideas from Foucaults repressive hypothesis.