Solie’s essay “Fictions of the Opera Box” utilizes realist Victorian novels to study the socioeconomic class system and how the divide was specifically evident through the world of opera. I particularly enjoyed the following passage: “The Metropolitan Opera opened in 1883, with no fewer than 122 pique-inspired boxes for which the wealthy subscribers drew lots. ‘As certainly as the pews of a church are ranged in lines ordained by the purpose of the structure, so the Metropolitan was built around the tiers of boxes which were its original sin.’”[1] From Solie’s studies, one can deduce that only the elite upper class owned opera boxes. A trip to the opera had little to do with the enjoyment of the music, but rather it was a place to see and be seen. Wharton explains in her novel The Custom of the Country that the box numbers and names of those who occupied the boxes were listed on the back of the program.[2] No doubt for some people this information was more interesting than the program itself.
I was also fascinated with how Solie connected the opera world to the Victorian-originated trend of slumming, in which wealthy people visit impoverished areas “for fun.” I found this idea ridiculous until I realized that in my trip to India I was fascinated by the lives of the poor, especially in the Himalayan villages. Living with little or no means is something I know nothing about, and in a way my experience in India made me feel that I had lived a little bit more, that I was a little bit better of a person for the taking the time to understand someone besides myself. I wonder if the Victorians viewed slumming this way. Solie writes, “Part of the appeal of opera had for upright Americans was its way of legitimating the exotic, the sensational, what would in everyday circumstances be not quite respectable.”[3] Solie argues opera and slumming are both a means for the wealthy to lose themselves in a story that is not their own. It seems that throughout time the wealthy are not really the happy ones. I appreciated Frank Norris’s anecdote from The Pit, which a group of homeless people stand outside the theater to watch the wealthy concert-goers walk down the streets.[4] This tidbit exemplifies so perfectly not just the existence of two distinct social classes, but the huge divide between the two, as if the rich and the poor are observing each other through permanent glass fish bowl.
I'm sure some people felt the way you did--that by seeing another way of life they had become more aware or compassionate. And yet others, alas, probably didn't learn anything. I'm so glad you have personal experiences relevant to discussion that you're willing to share with the class--we are all learning from you!
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