Journal #14 Tabitha Tenney: Dorcasina Is A DORK!

QUOTE:

“Poor Dorcasina, overcome by surprise and terror, jumped out of the window at the backside of the summer-house, and fainted upon the turf” (Tenney 908).


SUMMARY:

Dorcasina thinks that Scipio is O’Connor, so when O’Connor startles Scipio and is roughly handled, Dorcasina becomes mortified and knocks herself out.


RESPONSE:

After reading Tenney’s “Female Quixotism” I started to wonder if this could possibly be the origin of calling someone a “dork,” at least in the sense of acting as silly as Dorcasina, and not as a “whale’s penis” like most dictionaries also display for the definition of a dork. I guess I am thinking this particular story could in fact be the origin, since the name “Dorcasina” is unusual. However, because of this, I also don’t even necessarily doubt that the word already existed.

Tenney also uses “Philander” as a name, which I’m pretty sure is on purpose, since in class I asked if philander was already a word when “Female Quixotism” was written. If Tenney chose basically silly names to describe her characters, then I think maybe “dork” already existed. Now the question is why didn’t Tenney name her character “Dorkasina?” Maybe Dorkasina with a “k” just didn’t look right? Or maybe when the kids in the 50’s started calling each other a “dorc,” somebody misspelled it. Whatever is really behind the name Dorcasina, the way Dorcasina acts definitely classifies her as a dork, at least by today’s standards.

Now speaking of being a dork, I actually don’t like Dorcasina’s character, so I think she gives being a dork a bad name. I personally classify Dorcasina as being completely oblivious to how undesirable or “uncool” she is, which I guess can be pretty dorky, but in possibly the worst way.