This story starts with a Vietnamse father coming to visit his son in Iowa.His son is in his last year of the Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop. Which we first were introducted to in the Stone Reader movie. There are only three days left before his final story is due. But he is having a lot of trouble writing. He is struggleing with what to write about. The son’s life is king of a wreck at the moment. On page 7 he shares how unrelaxed his life is. “There is a subterranean bar in a hotel next to my work, and every night I would wander down and slump on a barstool and pretedn I didn’t want the bartender to make small talk. He was only a bit older than me, and I came to envy his ease, his confidence that any given situation was merely temporary.” I can really understand this. Much of the time I make a bigger deal out of things that don’t really matter. I wish I could just forget about the small things. It seems that the father coming is sort of uncomfortable for his son. He hadn’t even told his girlfriend that his dad was coming. We then discover that his father had been abusive to him when I was younger. I believe that the son was deliberately trying to get as far away as possible from his childhood. So he would write about things such as “lesbian vampires.” But never would he write about his Vietnamese culture and upbringing. This is even when some of his peers heavily tried to get him to write this type of “ethnic literature”.
But the son was unable to come up with a good story to write about. So finally he gave in and started to write. He used some stories that his father had shared with him. Stories about how he had survived a massacre. But his father read his story and finds many “mistakes” in it. Therefore his father determines that he should open up to his son more about his past. The son states that he would like to write this story down. But on page 24 the father shares his thoughts on this. “He was silent for a long time. Then he said, ‘Only you’ll remember. I’ll remember. They will read and clap their hands and forget.’ For once, he was not smiling. ‘Sometimes it’s better to forget no?” I don’t really agree with this. I feel that people who have good stories should share them with others so that other people can learn from other’s lessons. But his father does sound serious about this.
Next the son writes down everything that his father shares with him. He takes 45 pages of notes. Then that night before the paper is due he writes his story. When he wakes up he finds that his father has gone for a walk with the story. On page 27 the son states how his father will react to his story. “He would read it, with his book learned English, and he would recognize himself in a new way. He would recognize me. He would see how powerful was his experience, how valuable his suffering – how I had made it speak for more than itself. He would be pleased with me.”
Since the paper was due at noon the son goes looking for his father and the paper. He then finds his father with a homeless man. With a sickening feeling in his heart he realizes that his father has burned the paper. But now for the first time he seems to see his father how he really is.
My thoughts on this are that the son should have made a better attempt to understand his father’s feelings. Even after his father had requested that this story be only between them the son still went and tried to get a good grade and possibly money. He never thought about how terrible the things his father shared were to live through.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
The Bridegroom
I’m not too sure what to think about this story. In some ways I agree with the response to homosexuality of the father in law. But in other ways I think that he may have over reacted.
This story starts out with a man taking his brother’s daughter after he dies and raising her. She is not attractive at all. On page 92 the uncle describes Beina. “What had caught his heart? Did he really like her fleshy face, which often reminded me of a blowfish?” He is talking about Beina’s suitor. His name is Baowen and he is an extremely attractive man that could have just about any woman that he wanted. But for some reason he out of the blue marries this unattractive girl. The uncle is skeptical about why this happened. But he relived that Beina has a husband to take care of her and provide for. The uncle really tries to make their marriage a success and for a while it seems to be going well.
After a time Baowen gets arrested for involvement in a gay gathering. This is viewed as a criminal offense in this eastern country. Baowen had done nothing “wrong” so far but on page 97 he states. “I – I liked a man in the club, a lot. If he’d asked me, I might’ve agreed.” At this time we know for sure that he is a homosexual.
In this country very little was known about homosexuality. The overriding opinion is that it is a sickness that can be cured. This is very interesting because I have never thought of it this way before. I am trying to put myself in people’s shoes that have not been exposed to this type of behavior before. It must have been very strange and I can see why it was considered a crime. But now it is very widely accepted and not uncommon. I wonder if there are more homosexuals now than before or now they make it more known.
From the beginning of their marriage in the story I was suspecting that something was wrong. This completely explains everything. Baowen states that he was doing Beina a favor by marrying her and keeping his homosexuality a secret. This is because she seems indifferent to this. I don’t understand this at all. It makes no sense that she would want to remain married to a gay man. But maybe he was the first person to treat her right without caring about her looks.
Baowen is sent to a mental hospital to get “cured”. But obviously this had no effect because he had relations with a male nurse and then was convicted of criminal activity. This was the last straw for the uncle. He could not be associated with this type of behavior. It looked bad on him and his niece. But at the end of the story we find that Beina still doesn’t care about her husband’s actions. On page 115 the uncle shares how he feels. “Well, it’s impossible for me to have a criminal as my son-in-law. I’ve been humiliated enough. If you want to wait for him, don’t come to see me again.” At this point he picks up his hat and leaves his niece.
One thing that I really admired about this story is Beina’s attitude. She remained calm throughout the entire episode and still remained in love with her husband. This shows how much spouses can look over when they become soul mates. It is kind of neat to see how other cultures view homosexuality. I haven’t thought about this much, but after reading this I am more aware of these difference
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
A Wife's Story
This story was very interesting to me. I liked how the Indian lady was watching the play Glengarry Glen Ross, because I already know what it is about. I wasn’t at first familiar with what a Patel is. I looked this up and found that it is A surname of Indian origin (Hindu and Parsi) from a Gujarati word meaning village headsman. In the play that the narrator was watching these Patel’s were degraded and put down. After the play she decides that she needs to write to the author of the play, David Mamet. For some reason when I was reading this play earlier I remember something about this controversy.
The narrator is married but living in New York City getting her PHD while her husband is still in India. She lives with an oriental woman who is a hand model. This story reminds me very much of my girlfriend. Her mother is Korean and moved to the United States when she was in her twenties. My girlfriend has told me many stories of her mother and also of herself and how difficult is sometimes is to be different. Her mother came and got an education and then married. But she has the mindset that her daughter must have a successful career to be considered a working member of society. This is a very different view from mine but I understand it. This story kind of shows this also. Because immigrants work so hard and are not treated right. On page 26 the narrator states “I don’t hate Mamet. It’s the tyranny of the American dream that scares me. First, you don’t exist. Then you’re invisible. Then you’re funny. Then you’re disgusting. Insult, my American friends will tell me, is a kind of acceptance. No instant dignity here.” This statement kind of sums up the way immigrants are treated.
The narrator’s husband comes to visit and is a completely different person than she remembered from india. Instead of the prudent and thrifty man he was there now he is out of his element. But he does seem to enjoy exploring the city. On page 33 the narrator shares “He looks disconcerted. He’s used to a different role. He’s the knowing, suspicious one in the family. He seems to be sulking, and finally he comes out with it. “You’ve said nothing about my new glasses.” I complimented him on the glasses, how chic and Western-executive they make him look. But I can’t help the other things, necessities until he learns the ropes. I handle the money, buy the tickets. I don’t know if this makes me unhappy.”
I see this as the woman kind of enjoying being able to play a bigger role than if she was in india. Here she is more important and he is confused and like a child. I can imagine how this must before for him. He is used to being in control of everything and now the roles are reversed. But he seems to accept it because he loves her. She takes him to see all the America has to offer and then she realizes on page 34 “There’s so much I already take for granted.” How much more true is this of us who are so used to the comforts we have every day.
To go along with this he seems to notice that his wife attracts other men. Maybe this isn’t true but he feels threatened because he doesn’t know what is going on. I tend to think that this would be how I would feel. I know that I like to be in control and never have to ask for assistance. We can see this everyday in watching the asian students around campus. Sometimes when they are in my classes they seem intimidated by the other students. But other times they seems to excel and thrive.
In my girlfriends case she has learned from her mother some very important lessons and I have too. Her mother has developed her own identity here and doesn’t care what others think about her.
The narrator is married but living in New York City getting her PHD while her husband is still in India. She lives with an oriental woman who is a hand model. This story reminds me very much of my girlfriend. Her mother is Korean and moved to the United States when she was in her twenties. My girlfriend has told me many stories of her mother and also of herself and how difficult is sometimes is to be different. Her mother came and got an education and then married. But she has the mindset that her daughter must have a successful career to be considered a working member of society. This is a very different view from mine but I understand it. This story kind of shows this also. Because immigrants work so hard and are not treated right. On page 26 the narrator states “I don’t hate Mamet. It’s the tyranny of the American dream that scares me. First, you don’t exist. Then you’re invisible. Then you’re funny. Then you’re disgusting. Insult, my American friends will tell me, is a kind of acceptance. No instant dignity here.” This statement kind of sums up the way immigrants are treated.
The narrator’s husband comes to visit and is a completely different person than she remembered from india. Instead of the prudent and thrifty man he was there now he is out of his element. But he does seem to enjoy exploring the city. On page 33 the narrator shares “He looks disconcerted. He’s used to a different role. He’s the knowing, suspicious one in the family. He seems to be sulking, and finally he comes out with it. “You’ve said nothing about my new glasses.” I complimented him on the glasses, how chic and Western-executive they make him look. But I can’t help the other things, necessities until he learns the ropes. I handle the money, buy the tickets. I don’t know if this makes me unhappy.”
I see this as the woman kind of enjoying being able to play a bigger role than if she was in india. Here she is more important and he is confused and like a child. I can imagine how this must before for him. He is used to being in control of everything and now the roles are reversed. But he seems to accept it because he loves her. She takes him to see all the America has to offer and then she realizes on page 34 “There’s so much I already take for granted.” How much more true is this of us who are so used to the comforts we have every day.
To go along with this he seems to notice that his wife attracts other men. Maybe this isn’t true but he feels threatened because he doesn’t know what is going on. I tend to think that this would be how I would feel. I know that I like to be in control and never have to ask for assistance. We can see this everyday in watching the asian students around campus. Sometimes when they are in my classes they seem intimidated by the other students. But other times they seems to excel and thrive.
In my girlfriends case she has learned from her mother some very important lessons and I have too. Her mother has developed her own identity here and doesn’t care what others think about her.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Movie (Monday March 22)
Stone Reader Blog for Monday March 22, 2010
I was anticipating this part of the movie since last Friday. I really wanted to know how it ended up. Whether Dow would be crazy or perfectly normal. This really interested me because there had been so much build up to the end of the movie.
We find that Mark is still trying to learn more about Mossman before he actually goes to meet him. Mark meets with Dan, one of Dow’s old classmates. Dan shares that Dow was consumed with the book and would work on it for 20 hours straight at times. Dan shares how he may have had some influence in the book because he was mentioned several times. Particularly about how we wrote to Dow when he was in Vietnam. Dan believes that this book is a very good read for people in this time of age.
Mark’s next move is to go and see Mossman in Iowa City. During this first meeting we don’t actually see Dow. But Marks shares how it was sort of awkward in that Dow answered the door then left to go upstairs without saying a word. He returned with a copy of the stones of summer.
Next Mark meets with Dow’s old agent for the book. His agent remembers Dow’s book and tries to explain why it failed to gain much attention. Mark states that he would like to get Dow’s book back into print and wonders if that is a possibity.
Mark again meets with Dow to discuss the book. Dow shares how he stopped writing after the book. And he was taken to a hospital because he had acute anxiety. He states that it took him ten years to get over it. One part that I really like is how he thought of the book. He considers it unfinished and open ended. This is very interesting to me. I can kind of understand that, he worked so hard on something that it became his life and his life is still going and therefore the book is still going. All of this is in his mind. He compares this to Shakespeare in that he always writes his book in his mind and has it memorized. Maybe he has another novel in his mind that he would like to write someday. I think of my life that way sometimes. It is like an ongoing narrative in my head and I can remember almost all of it.
The movie ends and we find that because of this movie the stones of summer is now in print through Barnes and Nobel. I hope that Dow sees some of the profit from this rebirth of the book. Mark spent a lot of time working on this movie and I was very glad that it came to fruition.
I don’t know how many books are out there that need “rediscovering”. This is a very admirable thing to do for someone and society. There are probably thousands of books out there that were written but never got the right attention.
In conclusion I really enjoyed this movie, even though the beginning was kind of boring and slow. I would recommend it to others.
I was anticipating this part of the movie since last Friday. I really wanted to know how it ended up. Whether Dow would be crazy or perfectly normal. This really interested me because there had been so much build up to the end of the movie.
We find that Mark is still trying to learn more about Mossman before he actually goes to meet him. Mark meets with Dan, one of Dow’s old classmates. Dan shares that Dow was consumed with the book and would work on it for 20 hours straight at times. Dan shares how he may have had some influence in the book because he was mentioned several times. Particularly about how we wrote to Dow when he was in Vietnam. Dan believes that this book is a very good read for people in this time of age.
Mark’s next move is to go and see Mossman in Iowa City. During this first meeting we don’t actually see Dow. But Marks shares how it was sort of awkward in that Dow answered the door then left to go upstairs without saying a word. He returned with a copy of the stones of summer.
Next Mark meets with Dow’s old agent for the book. His agent remembers Dow’s book and tries to explain why it failed to gain much attention. Mark states that he would like to get Dow’s book back into print and wonders if that is a possibity.
Mark again meets with Dow to discuss the book. Dow shares how he stopped writing after the book. And he was taken to a hospital because he had acute anxiety. He states that it took him ten years to get over it. One part that I really like is how he thought of the book. He considers it unfinished and open ended. This is very interesting to me. I can kind of understand that, he worked so hard on something that it became his life and his life is still going and therefore the book is still going. All of this is in his mind. He compares this to Shakespeare in that he always writes his book in his mind and has it memorized. Maybe he has another novel in his mind that he would like to write someday. I think of my life that way sometimes. It is like an ongoing narrative in my head and I can remember almost all of it.
The movie ends and we find that because of this movie the stones of summer is now in print through Barnes and Nobel. I hope that Dow sees some of the profit from this rebirth of the book. Mark spent a lot of time working on this movie and I was very glad that it came to fruition.
I don’t know how many books are out there that need “rediscovering”. This is a very admirable thing to do for someone and society. There are probably thousands of books out there that were written but never got the right attention.
In conclusion I really enjoyed this movie, even though the beginning was kind of boring and slow. I would recommend it to others.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Movie (Friday Mar. 12)
This section of the movie was even more interesting than the first section. One thing that I noticed immediately is that Mark seems to have been doing more chores around the house. So this means I have to take back what I said in the first blog. I like to see this and am glad that he is taking a more manly role. Such as cutting wood and removing leaves from the pond.
Back to his quest for Dow Mossman. Mark makes just about every attempt to find out more about this author and seems to be making very little progress. He knows that Mossman attended the Iowa’s Writers workshop in the 1970’s. So he began by talking with a student that was there during the same time that Mossman was. His name is Bruce. Bruce speaks highly of Mossman’s writing in the Stones of Summer. But again he had never heard of Mossman. Gives Mark some names of other students at that time who might be familiar with Mossman. One person that he talks about is William Cutter Murray, who the book is dedicated to. Murray was an instructor at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and was very instrumental in helping Bruce develop his work.
Next Mark flies to Florida to find the designer of the book cover. This man has no idea or recollection of Mossman or anything related to the book. This seems to be the answer that Mark is getting everywhere. At this point Mark is discouraged. He has spent the better part of a year working on this task and doesn’t think he is any closer. I can understand this. If my hard work doesn’t pay off like I want it to then I tend to want to move on to other things. But this shows a lack of perseverance on my part. I can learn from this movie to never give up. But Mark then finds that other people are buying the copies of the Stones of Summer very fast and wants to know why.
His next step is to go to Iowa to find Mossman. His first stop is the University of Iowa where he finds some manuscripts of Mossman’s. He learns very little from these manuscripts except that Mossman takes very good care of his work. After this he learns that William Murray is living close by. He then visits him and finds his first real clue. Murray mentions Mossman before Mark can. He talks about how Mossman was sent to an insane asylum after writing his book. This is because he put to much of himself into the book that it possessed him. Murray knows that Mossman in know living 30 miles away in Cedar Rapids.
There are a couple of things that I can identify with. One is how Mossman started to go crazy while writing his book. When I start working on something I tend to not be able to get it out of my mind until I complete it. Right now it is my senior design project that I can’t seems to get out. I can’t wait to the end of the movie when hopefully we get to meet Mossman.
Back to his quest for Dow Mossman. Mark makes just about every attempt to find out more about this author and seems to be making very little progress. He knows that Mossman attended the Iowa’s Writers workshop in the 1970’s. So he began by talking with a student that was there during the same time that Mossman was. His name is Bruce. Bruce speaks highly of Mossman’s writing in the Stones of Summer. But again he had never heard of Mossman. Gives Mark some names of other students at that time who might be familiar with Mossman. One person that he talks about is William Cutter Murray, who the book is dedicated to. Murray was an instructor at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and was very instrumental in helping Bruce develop his work.
Next Mark flies to Florida to find the designer of the book cover. This man has no idea or recollection of Mossman or anything related to the book. This seems to be the answer that Mark is getting everywhere. At this point Mark is discouraged. He has spent the better part of a year working on this task and doesn’t think he is any closer. I can understand this. If my hard work doesn’t pay off like I want it to then I tend to want to move on to other things. But this shows a lack of perseverance on my part. I can learn from this movie to never give up. But Mark then finds that other people are buying the copies of the Stones of Summer very fast and wants to know why.
His next step is to go to Iowa to find Mossman. His first stop is the University of Iowa where he finds some manuscripts of Mossman’s. He learns very little from these manuscripts except that Mossman takes very good care of his work. After this he learns that William Murray is living close by. He then visits him and finds his first real clue. Murray mentions Mossman before Mark can. He talks about how Mossman was sent to an insane asylum after writing his book. This is because he put to much of himself into the book that it possessed him. Murray knows that Mossman in know living 30 miles away in Cedar Rapids.
There are a couple of things that I can identify with. One is how Mossman started to go crazy while writing his book. When I start working on something I tend to not be able to get it out of my mind until I complete it. Right now it is my senior design project that I can’t seems to get out. I can’t wait to the end of the movie when hopefully we get to meet Mossman.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Movie (Wednesday March 10th)
Blog for Wednesday March 10th movie.
I had my doubts about this movie when I started. Wasn’t sure what it was about, there seemed to be no story behind it. But as it went on I began to get into it and kind of enjoy it. This is because it is so different from the typical movie.
Basically Mark, the narrator and main character, is trying to get a better understanding of what has happened to Dow Mossman, the author of “The Stones of Summer”. This book is of interest to him because her first purchased this book in the 70’s after reading a book review by Professor John Sealy in the New York Times. At this time in the 70’s he was in high school and had pneumonia and that is why he was reading this book. But now for some reason he is unable to find very much information on the author, Mossman, and there seem to be very few other readers of this book. He begins to buy up different copies of this book wherever he can find it and give it to some of his friends that he thinks may be interested in it.
One thing that I found interesting is how he kept going back to explain his childhood. This explains his love for books in general and how they shaped his life. Some of the books he mentioned were familiar, such as the Hardy boy books. I used to read these when I was young. And I can still remember some of them. Much more than lots of other things from that long ago. Mark shares how a book called “Catch 22” really was the beginning of his literary love. He quoted how some stated “that one author can turn you into a reader”. This is true, if you find one book that really speaks to you then you will continue to look for more that do the same and it is an unending cycle. This is not something that has happened to me. But at some times I read a book that makes me want to continue reading others that are like it. Such as the “Band of Brothers” I tried to find other books like this one and read them all. Even the Borne series was kind of the same for me. When I was little I used to go to the public library and look at all books that are out there and want to look at all of them.
Back to the movie. Mark wants to have a better understanding of how some authors write an excellent book or novel. And then just stop writing and are never heard of again. This is what seems to have happened to Mossman. Mark visits one of his critic friend at the University of Buffalo to have a conversation about this phenomenon. This critic points out that some writers stop writing because their first book was so successful that they don’t feel that they can top the first one. Or even the other way around. Their book is so bad that they can’t write another one.
Mark then goes to John Sealy’s summer house in Maine to interview him about his literature review of “The Stones of Summer” and other books. Sealy is very receptive to his attempts to learn more about Mossman. But unfortunately he doesn’t know anything more than Mark does. But they have a good time discussing books that they both enjoy. This is the same for anyone that has something that they enjoy. I like to discuss fishing, guns and such with friends that have similar hobbies.
One thing that I didn’t like is how Mark talked about his wife. She seemed to be the one that does all the manual labor around the house and he doesn’t help at all. This is defiantly not how I was brought up and seems kind of backward to me.
I had my doubts about this movie when I started. Wasn’t sure what it was about, there seemed to be no story behind it. But as it went on I began to get into it and kind of enjoy it. This is because it is so different from the typical movie.
Basically Mark, the narrator and main character, is trying to get a better understanding of what has happened to Dow Mossman, the author of “The Stones of Summer”. This book is of interest to him because her first purchased this book in the 70’s after reading a book review by Professor John Sealy in the New York Times. At this time in the 70’s he was in high school and had pneumonia and that is why he was reading this book. But now for some reason he is unable to find very much information on the author, Mossman, and there seem to be very few other readers of this book. He begins to buy up different copies of this book wherever he can find it and give it to some of his friends that he thinks may be interested in it.
One thing that I found interesting is how he kept going back to explain his childhood. This explains his love for books in general and how they shaped his life. Some of the books he mentioned were familiar, such as the Hardy boy books. I used to read these when I was young. And I can still remember some of them. Much more than lots of other things from that long ago. Mark shares how a book called “Catch 22” really was the beginning of his literary love. He quoted how some stated “that one author can turn you into a reader”. This is true, if you find one book that really speaks to you then you will continue to look for more that do the same and it is an unending cycle. This is not something that has happened to me. But at some times I read a book that makes me want to continue reading others that are like it. Such as the “Band of Brothers” I tried to find other books like this one and read them all. Even the Borne series was kind of the same for me. When I was little I used to go to the public library and look at all books that are out there and want to look at all of them.
Back to the movie. Mark wants to have a better understanding of how some authors write an excellent book or novel. And then just stop writing and are never heard of again. This is what seems to have happened to Mossman. Mark visits one of his critic friend at the University of Buffalo to have a conversation about this phenomenon. This critic points out that some writers stop writing because their first book was so successful that they don’t feel that they can top the first one. Or even the other way around. Their book is so bad that they can’t write another one.
Mark then goes to John Sealy’s summer house in Maine to interview him about his literature review of “The Stones of Summer” and other books. Sealy is very receptive to his attempts to learn more about Mossman. But unfortunately he doesn’t know anything more than Mark does. But they have a good time discussing books that they both enjoy. This is the same for anyone that has something that they enjoy. I like to discuss fishing, guns and such with friends that have similar hobbies.
One thing that I didn’t like is how Mark talked about his wife. She seemed to be the one that does all the manual labor around the house and he doesn’t help at all. This is defiantly not how I was brought up and seems kind of backward to me.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
"The Same River Twice" pp. 54-109
This section of “The Same River Twice” started with Chris and his wife having a sort of disagreement over a treatment for the unborn baby. In the end Rita won and they end up getting the test done. On page 58 it shows their reaction to finding out that their baby is ok so far. “An accompanying letter says that the test has shown them to structurally sound. The kid has a solid foundation. If it turns out to be a terrorist, the fault will be environmental, not genetic. Rita and I hug each other for what seems like hours.” If found this quote to be kind of strange. How Chris was already thinking that his baby would be different. For some reason maybe he thought that if his kid turned out weird then it wouldn’t be his fault.
Next we pick back up with Chris’s memories of his path to adulthood. He recalls his father and how he and his mother interacted. A statement on page 60 sums this up. “Her usual stance was a balancing act between loyalty to her children and to her husband. She raised us, but Dad controlled us.” This seems to be how most families are raised. The mother does the raising of the children and the father does the decision making. In a way I agree with this system but feel like the parents should work together a little better.
We now are listening to Chris share his stories. He is traveling across America hitchhiking. A “missionary” named Al picks him up. Al shares some of his crazy beliefs. He is basically begging God to come back and take him up to heaven and leave all the “sinners” behind. Also he believes that insects are little devils from Satan. Therefore he raises spiders to counteract this evil. Chris gets dropped off and Al prays that some else will pick him up in five minutes and sure enough someone does. A crazy man named Winner picks him up. Winner is a racist how believes that it is going to be his job to protect America when WWIII comes along. He stockpiles guns supposedly all over the states. Once Chris leaves Winner he is on the California shoreline. Chris stays on the beach for a while. He begins to draw some sketches and leave them for other people to find in hopes that they will like them and want to pay him for his drawing skills. But this dream is shattered when a man picks up one of his drawings and then throws it into the trash. This man states that the bums are no better than the trash they leave behind. Chris then revaluates his life plan and decides to move on from California. I kind of felt bad for Chris at this point. He was only trying to fit into society but he was too different for people to understand. I know that I do this to people sometimes. I don’t give them the time of day because they are so different from me.
Chris’s plan led him to Alabama. He met up with a traveling circus and joined on to be a laborer. At first he seems to have found a place where he fits in. Because everyone is kind of strange and weird they accept him for who he is. After a time he is give the opportunity to move up to play “Louie the Great Trained Walrus”. He wore this ridiculous suit and followed what his “trainer” would say. The trainer would have a dialogue with the walrus as an act with the audience. I found one part of this dialogue on page 105 to be very interesting.
“Kaybach (“trainer”) tossed a fish and asked the final question.”
“Are you a walrus, Louie?”
“I shook my head no.”
“Oh, I guess you think you’re human, then.”
“I nodded very fast.”
“I’m sorry, Louie. You’re nothing but a walrus. You’ll never be a man.”
This last statement seems to be very much what Chris is dealing with in the present. He is trying to discover what really a man is. And possibly his entire growing up he was trying to discover this answer. Not long after Chris becomes so sick of the circus that he leaves in the middle of the walrus act and causes a huge scene.
Next we pick back up with Chris’s memories of his path to adulthood. He recalls his father and how he and his mother interacted. A statement on page 60 sums this up. “Her usual stance was a balancing act between loyalty to her children and to her husband. She raised us, but Dad controlled us.” This seems to be how most families are raised. The mother does the raising of the children and the father does the decision making. In a way I agree with this system but feel like the parents should work together a little better.
We now are listening to Chris share his stories. He is traveling across America hitchhiking. A “missionary” named Al picks him up. Al shares some of his crazy beliefs. He is basically begging God to come back and take him up to heaven and leave all the “sinners” behind. Also he believes that insects are little devils from Satan. Therefore he raises spiders to counteract this evil. Chris gets dropped off and Al prays that some else will pick him up in five minutes and sure enough someone does. A crazy man named Winner picks him up. Winner is a racist how believes that it is going to be his job to protect America when WWIII comes along. He stockpiles guns supposedly all over the states. Once Chris leaves Winner he is on the California shoreline. Chris stays on the beach for a while. He begins to draw some sketches and leave them for other people to find in hopes that they will like them and want to pay him for his drawing skills. But this dream is shattered when a man picks up one of his drawings and then throws it into the trash. This man states that the bums are no better than the trash they leave behind. Chris then revaluates his life plan and decides to move on from California. I kind of felt bad for Chris at this point. He was only trying to fit into society but he was too different for people to understand. I know that I do this to people sometimes. I don’t give them the time of day because they are so different from me.
Chris’s plan led him to Alabama. He met up with a traveling circus and joined on to be a laborer. At first he seems to have found a place where he fits in. Because everyone is kind of strange and weird they accept him for who he is. After a time he is give the opportunity to move up to play “Louie the Great Trained Walrus”. He wore this ridiculous suit and followed what his “trainer” would say. The trainer would have a dialogue with the walrus as an act with the audience. I found one part of this dialogue on page 105 to be very interesting.
“Kaybach (“trainer”) tossed a fish and asked the final question.”
“Are you a walrus, Louie?”
“I shook my head no.”
“Oh, I guess you think you’re human, then.”
“I nodded very fast.”
“I’m sorry, Louie. You’re nothing but a walrus. You’ll never be a man.”
This last statement seems to be very much what Chris is dealing with in the present. He is trying to discover what really a man is. And possibly his entire growing up he was trying to discover this answer. Not long after Chris becomes so sick of the circus that he leaves in the middle of the walrus act and causes a huge scene.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
"Same River Twice" 9-53
After reading the first 53 pages of this book I am really enjoying it. This is because it is illustrating how Chris Offutt is finding out his role as a man.
To start out he is sharing his how he has just gotten married to Rita. On page 16 we find out that soon afterward they have some big news. “Two weeks later Rita called from the doctor’s office. She spoke fast, her voice husky with tears and glory. The test was positive. I went outside and lay down beside the river. …I was stationary while all existence was on the glide.
I never thought I’d be married, let alone mutate into a father. Such normal events had never seemed to have a place in my life. To mark the occasion, I bought an aluminum skiff with a six horse-power engine, and dubbed it Lily, Rita’s middle name. I moored it in the river twenty yards from the house and felt a little better prepared for fatherhood.” From his remark that he normally doesn’t follow the traditional roles of a man was very evident in the next pages. When he was old enough he went to New York to become an actor. Here he failed to become successful at acting. But he managed to meet a black girl named Jahi. I immediately didn’t like her. She began to teach him about New York life and he started to enjoy it and her. On page 36 we find that there are some things that remind him of Kentucky. “Tony led his motley posse along a dirt path through the park. The horses walked a lazy single file. Half an hour later they still strolled with heads down, performing their function like machines. I was embarrassed for the animals, domesticated to disgrace.” This event was when Jahi and Chris went horseback riding in the city park. Chris seems to miss the way that he grew up, in the country. He then proceeds to gallop his horse. Then another inexperienced rider is thrown from his horse and is killed. For some reason Jahi seems to think that having sex will make them forget this awful tragedy. I believe that it was at this point Chris realized that he doesn’t belong with her.
After moving on from her he plays some football with some others his age. He catches a pass but in the process he blows out his knee and has to have a cast put on it. He took his first airplane ride home and rested. But he didn’t stay long. As soon as the cast was off he left again.
Throughout this story he is looking back on his life. But at some points he comes back to the present where he is on the verge of becoming a father.
After having the cast removed he hitchhiked to Minnesota. There he became involved with a native American and a couple of Hispanic brothers. These three roommates were a strange bunch. They seemed to always stay intoxicated or high. There were some crazy events. The brothers were some type of gangsters and they were trying to force their cousin onto Chris. They wanted him to marry her so that she could stay in the country legally. On page 51 we see this conversation.
“Maria says she is in love with you.”-The brothers aunt
“What!”
“Because you will marry her.”
“I won’t.”
“You must”
“Why?”
“Because she is in love with you.”
I found this interesting. Maybe in other Hispanic cultures there is very little regard for the feelings of the children. Probably they just wanted have some type of connection so that they could stay in the US. Chris proceeds to take advantage of the situation by having sex with the cousin and then leaving town for good.
Vocabulary words:
Delineate (page 25): To draw or trace the outline of; sketch out.
Hutch (page 42): A pen or coop for small animals, especially rabbits
Sojourn (page 50): To reside temporarily
To start out he is sharing his how he has just gotten married to Rita. On page 16 we find out that soon afterward they have some big news. “Two weeks later Rita called from the doctor’s office. She spoke fast, her voice husky with tears and glory. The test was positive. I went outside and lay down beside the river. …I was stationary while all existence was on the glide.
I never thought I’d be married, let alone mutate into a father. Such normal events had never seemed to have a place in my life. To mark the occasion, I bought an aluminum skiff with a six horse-power engine, and dubbed it Lily, Rita’s middle name. I moored it in the river twenty yards from the house and felt a little better prepared for fatherhood.” From his remark that he normally doesn’t follow the traditional roles of a man was very evident in the next pages. When he was old enough he went to New York to become an actor. Here he failed to become successful at acting. But he managed to meet a black girl named Jahi. I immediately didn’t like her. She began to teach him about New York life and he started to enjoy it and her. On page 36 we find that there are some things that remind him of Kentucky. “Tony led his motley posse along a dirt path through the park. The horses walked a lazy single file. Half an hour later they still strolled with heads down, performing their function like machines. I was embarrassed for the animals, domesticated to disgrace.” This event was when Jahi and Chris went horseback riding in the city park. Chris seems to miss the way that he grew up, in the country. He then proceeds to gallop his horse. Then another inexperienced rider is thrown from his horse and is killed. For some reason Jahi seems to think that having sex will make them forget this awful tragedy. I believe that it was at this point Chris realized that he doesn’t belong with her.
After moving on from her he plays some football with some others his age. He catches a pass but in the process he blows out his knee and has to have a cast put on it. He took his first airplane ride home and rested. But he didn’t stay long. As soon as the cast was off he left again.
Throughout this story he is looking back on his life. But at some points he comes back to the present where he is on the verge of becoming a father.
After having the cast removed he hitchhiked to Minnesota. There he became involved with a native American and a couple of Hispanic brothers. These three roommates were a strange bunch. They seemed to always stay intoxicated or high. There were some crazy events. The brothers were some type of gangsters and they were trying to force their cousin onto Chris. They wanted him to marry her so that she could stay in the country legally. On page 51 we see this conversation.
“Maria says she is in love with you.”-The brothers aunt
“What!”
“Because you will marry her.”
“I won’t.”
“You must”
“Why?”
“Because she is in love with you.”
I found this interesting. Maybe in other Hispanic cultures there is very little regard for the feelings of the children. Probably they just wanted have some type of connection so that they could stay in the US. Chris proceeds to take advantage of the situation by having sex with the cousin and then leaving town for good.
Vocabulary words:
Delineate (page 25): To draw or trace the outline of; sketch out.
Hutch (page 42): A pen or coop for small animals, especially rabbits
Sojourn (page 50): To reside temporarily
"Same River Twice
After reading the first 53 pages of this book I am really enjoying it. This is because it is illustrating how Chris Offutt is finding out his role as a man.
To start out he is sharing his how he has just gotten married to Rita. On page 16 we find out that soon afterward they have some big news. “Two weeks later Rita called from the doctor’s office. She spoke fast, her voice husky with tears and glory. The test was positive. I went outside and lay down beside the river. …I was stationary while all existence was on the glide.
I never thought I’d be married, let alone mutate into a father. Such normal events had never seemed to have a place in my life. To mark the occasion, I bought an aluminum skiff with a six horse-power engine, and dubbed it Lily, Rita’s middle name. I moored it in the river twenty yards from the house and felt a little better prepared for fatherhood.” From his remark that he normally doesn’t follow the traditional roles of a man was very evident in the next pages. When he was old enough he went to New York to become an actor. Here he failed to become successful at acting. But he managed to meet a black girl named Jahi. I immediately didn’t like her. She began to teach him about New York life and he started to enjoy it and her. On page 36 we find that there are some things that remind him of Kentucky. “Tony led his motley posse along a dirt path through the park. The horses walked a lazy single file. Half an hour later they still strolled with heads down, performing their function like machines. I was embarrassed for the animals, domesticated to disgrace.” This event was when Jahi and Chris went horseback riding in the city park. Chris seems to miss the way that he grew up, in the country. He then proceeds to gallop his horse. Then another inexperienced rider is thrown from his horse and is killed. For some reason Jahi seems to think that having sex will make them forget this awful tragedy. I believe that it was at this point Chris realized that he doesn’t belong with her.
After moving on from her he plays some football with some others his age. He catches a pass but in the process he blows out his knee and has to have a cast put on it. He took his first airplane ride home and rested. But he didn’t stay long. As soon as the cast was off he left again.
Throughout this story he is looking back on his life. But at some points he comes back to the present where he is on the verge of becoming a father.
After having the cast removed he hitchhiked to Minnesota. There he became involved with a native American and a couple of Hispanic brothers. These three roommates were a strange bunch. They seemed to always stay intoxicated or high. There were some crazy events. The brothers were some type of gangsters and they were trying to force their cousin onto Chris. They wanted him to marry her so that she could stay in the country legally. On page 51 we see this conversation.
“Maria says she is in love with you.”-The brothers aunt
“What!”
“Because you will marry her.”
“I won’t.”
“You must”
“Why?”
“Because she is in love with you.”
I found this interesting. Maybe in other Hispanic cultures there is very little regard for the feelings of the children. Probably they just wanted have some type of connection so that they could stay in the US. Chris proceeds to take advantage of the situation by having sex with the cousin and then leaving town for good.
Vocabulary words:
Delineate (page 25): To draw or trace the outline of; sketch out.
Hutch (page 42): A pen or coop for small animals, especially rabbits
Sojourn (page 50): To reside temporarily
To start out he is sharing his how he has just gotten married to Rita. On page 16 we find out that soon afterward they have some big news. “Two weeks later Rita called from the doctor’s office. She spoke fast, her voice husky with tears and glory. The test was positive. I went outside and lay down beside the river. …I was stationary while all existence was on the glide.
I never thought I’d be married, let alone mutate into a father. Such normal events had never seemed to have a place in my life. To mark the occasion, I bought an aluminum skiff with a six horse-power engine, and dubbed it Lily, Rita’s middle name. I moored it in the river twenty yards from the house and felt a little better prepared for fatherhood.” From his remark that he normally doesn’t follow the traditional roles of a man was very evident in the next pages. When he was old enough he went to New York to become an actor. Here he failed to become successful at acting. But he managed to meet a black girl named Jahi. I immediately didn’t like her. She began to teach him about New York life and he started to enjoy it and her. On page 36 we find that there are some things that remind him of Kentucky. “Tony led his motley posse along a dirt path through the park. The horses walked a lazy single file. Half an hour later they still strolled with heads down, performing their function like machines. I was embarrassed for the animals, domesticated to disgrace.” This event was when Jahi and Chris went horseback riding in the city park. Chris seems to miss the way that he grew up, in the country. He then proceeds to gallop his horse. Then another inexperienced rider is thrown from his horse and is killed. For some reason Jahi seems to think that having sex will make them forget this awful tragedy. I believe that it was at this point Chris realized that he doesn’t belong with her.
After moving on from her he plays some football with some others his age. He catches a pass but in the process he blows out his knee and has to have a cast put on it. He took his first airplane ride home and rested. But he didn’t stay long. As soon as the cast was off he left again.
Throughout this story he is looking back on his life. But at some points he comes back to the present where he is on the verge of becoming a father.
After having the cast removed he hitchhiked to Minnesota. There he became involved with a native American and a couple of Hispanic brothers. These three roommates were a strange bunch. They seemed to always stay intoxicated or high. There were some crazy events. The brothers were some type of gangsters and they were trying to force their cousin onto Chris. They wanted him to marry her so that she could stay in the country legally. On page 51 we see this conversation.
“Maria says she is in love with you.”-The brothers aunt
“What!”
“Because you will marry her.”
“I won’t.”
“You must”
“Why?”
“Because she is in love with you.”
I found this interesting. Maybe in other Hispanic cultures there is very little regard for the feelings of the children. Probably they just wanted have some type of connection so that they could stay in the US. Chris proceeds to take advantage of the situation by having sex with the cousin and then leaving town for good.
Vocabulary words:
Delineate (page 25): To draw or trace the outline of; sketch out.
Hutch (page 42): A pen or coop for small animals, especially rabbits
Sojourn (page 50): To reside temporarily
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Stop/Go/Yield
GO (I like this):
I enjoyed the book we just finished, Glengarry Glen Ross. This is because it reminds me of how industry actually works in American. I have seen many of these aspects while I was working as an intern for an engineering company. It was kind of cool to see how the different people interact from the outside.
Another thing that I like is how you are willing to sometimes go onto tangents and discuss things that people bring up. This is very interesting at times and I like to hear your take on these situations. Additionally it is good for me that you eliminated the music of chance. I’m not sure what this book is about but it definitely lightens my load.
I like the way that the course is set up. It allows the better students to take advantage of their work ethic and get ahead.
YIELD (things we should do more often):
I like it when we get to read other students blogs. It really helps me to gauge my work against theirs and also gives me some feedback on my writing style. I would like to do this more often. It seems to be a very good use of class time. It makes us interact with each other and meet new people with different opinions than us.
Watching movies on the books we read also is good because it helps me to visualize some of the parts that were confusing to me. I would like to do this more. Just like how you have planned for before spring break.
STOP (please, no more!):
I sometimes get confused with what we are discussing in class, especially how it pertains to the reading that we are analyzing.
I didn’t like the book Lolita. I’m not sure what to recommend for reading. But I know that some other classes have not read Lolita. I’m not saying that this book is that bad. But it just doesn’t appeal to me. But that is only my opinion.
I enjoyed the book we just finished, Glengarry Glen Ross. This is because it reminds me of how industry actually works in American. I have seen many of these aspects while I was working as an intern for an engineering company. It was kind of cool to see how the different people interact from the outside.
Another thing that I like is how you are willing to sometimes go onto tangents and discuss things that people bring up. This is very interesting at times and I like to hear your take on these situations. Additionally it is good for me that you eliminated the music of chance. I’m not sure what this book is about but it definitely lightens my load.
I like the way that the course is set up. It allows the better students to take advantage of their work ethic and get ahead.
YIELD (things we should do more often):
I like it when we get to read other students blogs. It really helps me to gauge my work against theirs and also gives me some feedback on my writing style. I would like to do this more often. It seems to be a very good use of class time. It makes us interact with each other and meet new people with different opinions than us.
Watching movies on the books we read also is good because it helps me to visualize some of the parts that were confusing to me. I would like to do this more. Just like how you have planned for before spring break.
STOP (please, no more!):
I sometimes get confused with what we are discussing in class, especially how it pertains to the reading that we are analyzing.
I didn’t like the book Lolita. I’m not sure what to recommend for reading. But I know that some other classes have not read Lolita. I’m not saying that this book is that bad. But it just doesn’t appeal to me. But that is only my opinion.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
"Glenngary, Glen Ross" pp. 9-78
Reading "Glengary Glen Ross" by David Mamet I was relieved. This play was so much more appealing to me compared to the readings of the last couple of weeks. There was not a ton of sexual references. Also it seemed to be more real life to me.
The play starts out with Shelley "The Machine" Levene, a slumping salesman who doesn't seem to be able to close a real estate deal, and his boss Williamson talking about Shelley's recent performance. Most of their converstation consists of Shelley attempting to convince his boss that he can still sell real estate like in the old days all he needs is a chance. But Williamson is not intersted in this propposition. Levene tries everything he can to obtain some new leads to work on. On page 16 Levene is pleading with Williamson "...and what is that, John? What? Bad luck. That's all it is. I pray that in your life you will never find it runs in streaks. That's what it does, that's all it's doing. Streaks. I pray it misses you. That's all I want to say." Here Levene is trying to play on the sensitive side of his boss. Next he tries to even make his boss feel sorry for him because his daughter has bad health in an attempt to gain some type of sypathy from his manager. At the end he attempts to bribe his boss by claiming that if he is given some hot leads then he will certainly close the deals and that he will give some of his cut to his boss under the table. On page 23 we note the converstation between them about this bribe.
Levene: I can't close these leads, John. No one can. It's a joke. John, look, just give me a hot lead. Just give me two of the premium leads. As a "test," alright? As a "test" and I promise you...
Williamson: I can't do it shel.
Levene: I'll give you ten percent.
Williamson: Of what?
Levene: Of my end what I close.
Williamson: And what if you don't close.
Levene: I will close.
Williamson: What if you don't? Then I'm fucked. You see...? Then it's my job. That's what I'm telling you.
After reading this conversation I saw a lot of familiar things. For one everybody is only concerned with their own well being. Also I tried to put myself in Williamson's shoes. What would I do. Would I try to help a struggling older man and put my job at risk? At the end of their conversation Williamson actually agrees to turn over some leads if Levene can pay him some cash. He doesn't have this cash and so they leave.
The next scene is of two disgruteled salesmen who are sceming of ways to get back at the company. Escpecially Mitch and Murray the two ceo's I guess. Dave Moss is talking to George Aaronow. Moss is much more agressive than George and begins to lay out his plan of stealing all the big leads in the office and selling them to a competitor that he seems to know well. He tries to convice George that the acutall stealing of the leads is his part. This is becuase Moss will do the negociating with the competitor.
One part of the story that I didn't think was very important was when Ricky Roma the best salesman was having a converstation where he smooth talked a timid man into a realestate deal.
After this converstion we are in the office where there has been a bugglary. I attomatically asumed that this was done by the sceming Moss and Aaronow, but I'm not sure if Aaronow attually went through with the plan or not. A police officer is interigoating all the employees one at a time and George seems to be reall nervous. He asks for advice on page 61
Aaronow: "But what should I tell them (police)?"
Roma: "The truth, George. Always tell the truth. It's the easiest thing to remember."
This is great! The one man who just made a questionable sale based of of potential lies is telling his fellow worker to always tell the truth. We do this so much. We can always give advice but cant live it out. So sad!
Next Levene comes into the office to share that he finally has made a sale which his boss seems to think is not going to go through. Then the man who Roma had just made a sale to walked into the office.
The play starts out with Shelley "The Machine" Levene, a slumping salesman who doesn't seem to be able to close a real estate deal, and his boss Williamson talking about Shelley's recent performance. Most of their converstation consists of Shelley attempting to convince his boss that he can still sell real estate like in the old days all he needs is a chance. But Williamson is not intersted in this propposition. Levene tries everything he can to obtain some new leads to work on. On page 16 Levene is pleading with Williamson "...and what is that, John? What? Bad luck. That's all it is. I pray that in your life you will never find it runs in streaks. That's what it does, that's all it's doing. Streaks. I pray it misses you. That's all I want to say." Here Levene is trying to play on the sensitive side of his boss. Next he tries to even make his boss feel sorry for him because his daughter has bad health in an attempt to gain some type of sypathy from his manager. At the end he attempts to bribe his boss by claiming that if he is given some hot leads then he will certainly close the deals and that he will give some of his cut to his boss under the table. On page 23 we note the converstation between them about this bribe.
Levene: I can't close these leads, John. No one can. It's a joke. John, look, just give me a hot lead. Just give me two of the premium leads. As a "test," alright? As a "test" and I promise you...
Williamson: I can't do it shel.
Levene: I'll give you ten percent.
Williamson: Of what?
Levene: Of my end what I close.
Williamson: And what if you don't close.
Levene: I will close.
Williamson: What if you don't? Then I'm fucked. You see...? Then it's my job. That's what I'm telling you.
After reading this conversation I saw a lot of familiar things. For one everybody is only concerned with their own well being. Also I tried to put myself in Williamson's shoes. What would I do. Would I try to help a struggling older man and put my job at risk? At the end of their conversation Williamson actually agrees to turn over some leads if Levene can pay him some cash. He doesn't have this cash and so they leave.
The next scene is of two disgruteled salesmen who are sceming of ways to get back at the company. Escpecially Mitch and Murray the two ceo's I guess. Dave Moss is talking to George Aaronow. Moss is much more agressive than George and begins to lay out his plan of stealing all the big leads in the office and selling them to a competitor that he seems to know well. He tries to convice George that the acutall stealing of the leads is his part. This is becuase Moss will do the negociating with the competitor.
One part of the story that I didn't think was very important was when Ricky Roma the best salesman was having a converstation where he smooth talked a timid man into a realestate deal.
After this converstion we are in the office where there has been a bugglary. I attomatically asumed that this was done by the sceming Moss and Aaronow, but I'm not sure if Aaronow attually went through with the plan or not. A police officer is interigoating all the employees one at a time and George seems to be reall nervous. He asks for advice on page 61
Aaronow: "But what should I tell them (police)?"
Roma: "The truth, George. Always tell the truth. It's the easiest thing to remember."
This is great! The one man who just made a questionable sale based of of potential lies is telling his fellow worker to always tell the truth. We do this so much. We can always give advice but cant live it out. So sad!
Next Levene comes into the office to share that he finally has made a sale which his boss seems to think is not going to go through. Then the man who Roma had just made a sale to walked into the office.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
"River of Names" and "Cathedral"
Immediately after reading “River of Names” by Dorothy Allison I did some research on her background. This is because in the story there were mentions of places and things that I was familiar with. I found out that she was born in Greenville, SC. I am from there.
This story is about a lesbian lying in bed with her lover Jesse. She remembers all the horrible things that have happened in her past. She is from a very large family with lots of cousins, aunts and uncles. It seems to me that there are an exaggerated amount of things that have happened to her family. I picture her family as living in some really run down farm house out in the country. They are all drunks and always treating each other terribly. The parents do not take responsibility for instilling in kind of character into their children. It is a vicious cycle that cannot be broken. The narrator, the lesbian, has tried to get out and knows that her life choice will make no difference to her family. Being a lesbian is much better than what some of her relatives have turned out to be. We see this on page 5 “I come of an enormous family and I cannot tell half their stories. Somehow it was always made to seem they killed themselves: car wrecks, shotguns, dusty ropes, screaming, falling out of windows, things inside them. I am the point of the pyramid, sliding back under the weight of the ones who came after, and it does not matter that I am the lesbian, the one who will not have children.” To me it seems that the narrator is scared to have children. That if she gets married and has a normal relationship with a man that they will only continue the carnage that her family has started. From some research of Dorothy Allison I found that she was also a lesbian and I think that this story is very close to how her childhood went.
One thing that I wanted to comment on is that I come from a family of 6 children. And in no way does this story represent anything like my childhood. So I don’t think that there is a correlation between family size and dysfunction in the family. This failure in her family comes from lack of guidance and selfishness on the part of the parents.
“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver.
In this story the narrator’s wife has a blind friend that is coming to visit. The husband has never met this man before and is very unsettled about him coming to stay. Also he is unsure of his wife’s relationship to this blind man. To tell you the truth I kind of agree with this thinking. Not because of his blindness but because it is always weird to meet people from your significant other’s past that you know nothing about. On page 111 the narrator begins questioning his wife about this man. She becomes sort of defensive. “If you love me,” she said, “you can do this for me. If you don’t love me okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I’d make him feel comfortable.”
This shows that even before he has met him he already has a bad opinion about this man. This is something that I do sometimes. I make up my mind about someone and then later when I get to know them I actually enjoy being around them. That is what happened in this story. The husband and the blind man watch a television show about cathedrals. They have a moment where the narrator, husband, realizes that this blind man is very special is not someone to be scared of. They end up drawing a cathedral together as we find on page 122. “He (the blind man) found my hand, the hand with the pen. He closed his hand over my hand. “Go ahead, bub, draw,” he said. “Draw. You’ll see. I’ll follow along with you. It’ll be okay. Just begin now like I’m telling you. You’ll see. Draw,” the blind man said.” There is a real life lesson that we should learn to accept people different from us before we judge them without even knowing them.
Vocabulary:
“River of Names” page 10 hydrocephalic: A usually congenital condition in which an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the cerebral ventricles causes enlargement of the skull and compression of the brain, destroying much of the neural tissue.
“Cathedral” page 120 fresco: The art of painting on fresh, moist plaster with pigments dissolved in water.
“Cathedral” page 120 Lisbon: The capital and largest city of Portugal, in the western part of the country on the Tagus River estuary
This story is about a lesbian lying in bed with her lover Jesse. She remembers all the horrible things that have happened in her past. She is from a very large family with lots of cousins, aunts and uncles. It seems to me that there are an exaggerated amount of things that have happened to her family. I picture her family as living in some really run down farm house out in the country. They are all drunks and always treating each other terribly. The parents do not take responsibility for instilling in kind of character into their children. It is a vicious cycle that cannot be broken. The narrator, the lesbian, has tried to get out and knows that her life choice will make no difference to her family. Being a lesbian is much better than what some of her relatives have turned out to be. We see this on page 5 “I come of an enormous family and I cannot tell half their stories. Somehow it was always made to seem they killed themselves: car wrecks, shotguns, dusty ropes, screaming, falling out of windows, things inside them. I am the point of the pyramid, sliding back under the weight of the ones who came after, and it does not matter that I am the lesbian, the one who will not have children.” To me it seems that the narrator is scared to have children. That if she gets married and has a normal relationship with a man that they will only continue the carnage that her family has started. From some research of Dorothy Allison I found that she was also a lesbian and I think that this story is very close to how her childhood went.
One thing that I wanted to comment on is that I come from a family of 6 children. And in no way does this story represent anything like my childhood. So I don’t think that there is a correlation between family size and dysfunction in the family. This failure in her family comes from lack of guidance and selfishness on the part of the parents.
“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver.
In this story the narrator’s wife has a blind friend that is coming to visit. The husband has never met this man before and is very unsettled about him coming to stay. Also he is unsure of his wife’s relationship to this blind man. To tell you the truth I kind of agree with this thinking. Not because of his blindness but because it is always weird to meet people from your significant other’s past that you know nothing about. On page 111 the narrator begins questioning his wife about this man. She becomes sort of defensive. “If you love me,” she said, “you can do this for me. If you don’t love me okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I’d make him feel comfortable.”
This shows that even before he has met him he already has a bad opinion about this man. This is something that I do sometimes. I make up my mind about someone and then later when I get to know them I actually enjoy being around them. That is what happened in this story. The husband and the blind man watch a television show about cathedrals. They have a moment where the narrator, husband, realizes that this blind man is very special is not someone to be scared of. They end up drawing a cathedral together as we find on page 122. “He (the blind man) found my hand, the hand with the pen. He closed his hand over my hand. “Go ahead, bub, draw,” he said. “Draw. You’ll see. I’ll follow along with you. It’ll be okay. Just begin now like I’m telling you. You’ll see. Draw,” the blind man said.” There is a real life lesson that we should learn to accept people different from us before we judge them without even knowing them.
Vocabulary:
“River of Names” page 10 hydrocephalic: A usually congenital condition in which an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the cerebral ventricles causes enlargement of the skull and compression of the brain, destroying much of the neural tissue.
“Cathedral” page 120 fresco: The art of painting on fresh, moist plaster with pigments dissolved in water.
“Cathedral” page 120 Lisbon: The capital and largest city of Portugal, in the western part of the country on the Tagus River estuary
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
"Emergency" and "Home"
These are my thoughts on “Emergency” by Denis Johnson.
The story starts out in the emergency room of a hospital. The main character, the narrator, works alongside an orderly named Georgie. Georgie is addicted to drugs which he steals from the hospital. And I found out later the narrator also is addicted to these drugs.
When a man named Terrence Weber walks himself to the emergency room with a huge hunting knife in his eye everything get chaotic. The doctor present at that time doesn’t feel that he is able to perform the necessary duties to fix this mans problem. So he calls in several experts. But before anyone can arrive the drugged up orderly somehow manages to remove the knife and there are no complications with Weber. I found this very strange that the doctor felt incompetent in performing the operation while a high orderly did it with no fear and did it well.
After this ordeal the Georgie and the narrator, both high on acid or something, start driving about in a pick up truck. They hit a rabbit that Georgie then proceeds to clean and prepare for food. On page 279 we see just how crazy he is ‘”We’ll camp in the wilderness,” he said. “In the morning we’ll breakfast on its haunches.” He was waving Terrence Weber’s hunting knife around in what I was sure was a dangerous way.’ This scene was crazy because why did he still have the hunting knife? Also he must have no problem with blood because he seems to run into it everywhere he goes. I was sure at this point that something terrible was going to happen because they were driving high and with out headlights in the dark skinning rabbits. But then the story got worse. Georgie finds eight baby rabbits inside his “dinner”.
Both of them decided to take a break from driving and park a little ways from the interstate. On page 282 the narrator shares “We listened to the big rigs going from San Francisco to Pennsylvania along the interstate, like shudders down a long hacksaw blade, while the snow buried us.” Again they are referring to a blade. Probably while they were high these normal sound may have been enhanced and given them a sense of the world passing them by while they were caring for a bunch of baby rabbits. They then discover that the rabbits have been squashed and killed between the seat.
They then proceed to head back and pick up a hitchhiker that they knew. This person shares that he was drafted by now is running away. He wants to get to Canada. Georgie promises that he will take him to Canada. Which I don’t understand this because Georgie seems to have no control over anything can’t even keep some rabbits alive.
Here are my thoughts on “Home” by Jayne Anne Philips.
A twenty-three year old daughter has come home because she ran out of money and had no prospect of marriage. She lives with her older mother who basically does nothing but knit when she is home. The daughter shares how boring life is at home with only her mother and even reads the Reader’s Digest. She reads crazy stories of bear attacks and other things.
She receives a call from an ex-boyfriend, Daniel, he has been living with a new girlfriend out west. But he has returned east and his girlfriend with come east in a few weeks. She begins to recollect their relationship and remembers how Daniel was so scared physically and mentally from an incident in the military.
Daniel comes to stay with her. She wants him. As he sleeps she goes into his bedroom and seduces him into having sex with her. Her mother hears them. And the next morning her mother is very upset with her and ashamed.
The story starts out in the emergency room of a hospital. The main character, the narrator, works alongside an orderly named Georgie. Georgie is addicted to drugs which he steals from the hospital. And I found out later the narrator also is addicted to these drugs.
When a man named Terrence Weber walks himself to the emergency room with a huge hunting knife in his eye everything get chaotic. The doctor present at that time doesn’t feel that he is able to perform the necessary duties to fix this mans problem. So he calls in several experts. But before anyone can arrive the drugged up orderly somehow manages to remove the knife and there are no complications with Weber. I found this very strange that the doctor felt incompetent in performing the operation while a high orderly did it with no fear and did it well.
After this ordeal the Georgie and the narrator, both high on acid or something, start driving about in a pick up truck. They hit a rabbit that Georgie then proceeds to clean and prepare for food. On page 279 we see just how crazy he is ‘”We’ll camp in the wilderness,” he said. “In the morning we’ll breakfast on its haunches.” He was waving Terrence Weber’s hunting knife around in what I was sure was a dangerous way.’ This scene was crazy because why did he still have the hunting knife? Also he must have no problem with blood because he seems to run into it everywhere he goes. I was sure at this point that something terrible was going to happen because they were driving high and with out headlights in the dark skinning rabbits. But then the story got worse. Georgie finds eight baby rabbits inside his “dinner”.
Both of them decided to take a break from driving and park a little ways from the interstate. On page 282 the narrator shares “We listened to the big rigs going from San Francisco to Pennsylvania along the interstate, like shudders down a long hacksaw blade, while the snow buried us.” Again they are referring to a blade. Probably while they were high these normal sound may have been enhanced and given them a sense of the world passing them by while they were caring for a bunch of baby rabbits. They then discover that the rabbits have been squashed and killed between the seat.
They then proceed to head back and pick up a hitchhiker that they knew. This person shares that he was drafted by now is running away. He wants to get to Canada. Georgie promises that he will take him to Canada. Which I don’t understand this because Georgie seems to have no control over anything can’t even keep some rabbits alive.
Here are my thoughts on “Home” by Jayne Anne Philips.
A twenty-three year old daughter has come home because she ran out of money and had no prospect of marriage. She lives with her older mother who basically does nothing but knit when she is home. The daughter shares how boring life is at home with only her mother and even reads the Reader’s Digest. She reads crazy stories of bear attacks and other things.
She receives a call from an ex-boyfriend, Daniel, he has been living with a new girlfriend out west. But he has returned east and his girlfriend with come east in a few weeks. She begins to recollect their relationship and remembers how Daniel was so scared physically and mentally from an incident in the military.
Daniel comes to stay with her. She wants him. As he sleeps she goes into his bedroom and seduces him into having sex with her. Her mother hears them. And the next morning her mother is very upset with her and ashamed.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
"Lolita" pages 179-236
Wow! I am so glad that this is the last time I have to write about Lolita. This story has been very depressing. I am going to be honest, I felt like I got no good out of this book and never want to here it mentioned as long as I live! It makes me feel sick inside.
We pick this story up where Lolita has started to go back to school. On page 183 we find out how low their relationship has gone. “I am now faced with the distasteful task of recording a definite drop in Lolita’s morals. If her share in the ardors she kindled had never amounted to much, neither had pure lucre ever come to the fore. But I was weak, I was not wise, my schoolgirl nymphet had me in a thrall. With the human element dwindling, the passion, the tenderness, the torture only increased; and of this she took advantage. Her weekly allowance, paid to her under condition she fulfill her basic obligations, was twenty-one cents at the start of the Beardsley era-and went up to one dollar five before its end.” Lolita was now only a paid mistress to Humbert. She understood this and began to slip in her school work. She constantly blackmailed him by threatening to withhold sex if no more money was offered. Which Humbert had to pay to fulfill his sexual desires. To help relieve this situation Humbert allowed her to enter the school play. On page 185 Humbert states “but by that time I had brought prices down drastically by having her earn the hard and nauseous way permission to participate in the school’s theatrical program; because what I feared most was not that she might ruin me, but that she might accumulate sufficient cash to run away.”
Humbert took great lengths to find out if there were any boys that Lolita like or was spending time with. He even questions her friend about her interactions with other boys. He is much relived to find out that she basically pays no attention to other boys. I found it very crazy when while Humbert was talking to Lolita’s friend he felt like she was making a move on him. At this point he felt like possibly Lolita was recruiting other girls her age to partake in her lifestyle. This seems so far fetched to me.
But Lolita’s secret life was sort of coming out in school and her teachers new that something was wrong. They consulted Humbert why he would not let her partake in normal high school activities that other kids were. He finally confessed that he didn’t want her around other boys. At home Humbert notices that she is very different than she was two years ago. He tries to impose his will on her and they proceed to get into an argument that ends when Lolita runs away. But she doesn’t go very far. He finds her talking on the phone and she acts like everything is ok. I am wondering who she talked to on the phone that made her calm down.
They proceed to go on another one of their trips before she even performs in the play. As they depart on their way Lolita is acting sort of strange. On page 217 Humbert realizes that a certain car has been following them ever since they left. “Being a murderer with a sensational but incomplete and unorthodox memory, I cannot tell you, ladies and gentlemen, the exact day when I first knew with utter certainty that the red convertible was following us.” Humbert tends to think that this follower is someone after Lolita and even calls that person a second Humbert. Or possibly that he is a cop trying to find out what exactly is going on between them. Humbert even spies Lolita talking to the driver at one point and she, because of her acting classes, has become a very good liar and denies knowing anything about him. This driver even changes cars to avoid suspicion but Humbert still is aware of him following behind. It is obvious to me at several times in the story that Lolita is having some type of contact with whoever this person is. She even disappeared at one point and Humbert thought she was gone for good. But she turns up again and manages to talk her way once again out of whatever she had just done. By the end of the reading for today Humbert was still watching her very closely.
Some unfamiliar words I came across are listed below.
Vouchsafe on page 187: To condescend to grant or bestow
Tonalities on page 190: A system or an arrangement of seven tones built on a tonic key
Mauve on page 223: A moderate grayish violet to moderate reddish purple.
We pick this story up where Lolita has started to go back to school. On page 183 we find out how low their relationship has gone. “I am now faced with the distasteful task of recording a definite drop in Lolita’s morals. If her share in the ardors she kindled had never amounted to much, neither had pure lucre ever come to the fore. But I was weak, I was not wise, my schoolgirl nymphet had me in a thrall. With the human element dwindling, the passion, the tenderness, the torture only increased; and of this she took advantage. Her weekly allowance, paid to her under condition she fulfill her basic obligations, was twenty-one cents at the start of the Beardsley era-and went up to one dollar five before its end.” Lolita was now only a paid mistress to Humbert. She understood this and began to slip in her school work. She constantly blackmailed him by threatening to withhold sex if no more money was offered. Which Humbert had to pay to fulfill his sexual desires. To help relieve this situation Humbert allowed her to enter the school play. On page 185 Humbert states “but by that time I had brought prices down drastically by having her earn the hard and nauseous way permission to participate in the school’s theatrical program; because what I feared most was not that she might ruin me, but that she might accumulate sufficient cash to run away.”
Humbert took great lengths to find out if there were any boys that Lolita like or was spending time with. He even questions her friend about her interactions with other boys. He is much relived to find out that she basically pays no attention to other boys. I found it very crazy when while Humbert was talking to Lolita’s friend he felt like she was making a move on him. At this point he felt like possibly Lolita was recruiting other girls her age to partake in her lifestyle. This seems so far fetched to me.
But Lolita’s secret life was sort of coming out in school and her teachers new that something was wrong. They consulted Humbert why he would not let her partake in normal high school activities that other kids were. He finally confessed that he didn’t want her around other boys. At home Humbert notices that she is very different than she was two years ago. He tries to impose his will on her and they proceed to get into an argument that ends when Lolita runs away. But she doesn’t go very far. He finds her talking on the phone and she acts like everything is ok. I am wondering who she talked to on the phone that made her calm down.
They proceed to go on another one of their trips before she even performs in the play. As they depart on their way Lolita is acting sort of strange. On page 217 Humbert realizes that a certain car has been following them ever since they left. “Being a murderer with a sensational but incomplete and unorthodox memory, I cannot tell you, ladies and gentlemen, the exact day when I first knew with utter certainty that the red convertible was following us.” Humbert tends to think that this follower is someone after Lolita and even calls that person a second Humbert. Or possibly that he is a cop trying to find out what exactly is going on between them. Humbert even spies Lolita talking to the driver at one point and she, because of her acting classes, has become a very good liar and denies knowing anything about him. This driver even changes cars to avoid suspicion but Humbert still is aware of him following behind. It is obvious to me at several times in the story that Lolita is having some type of contact with whoever this person is. She even disappeared at one point and Humbert thought she was gone for good. But she turns up again and manages to talk her way once again out of whatever she had just done. By the end of the reading for today Humbert was still watching her very closely.
Some unfamiliar words I came across are listed below.
Vouchsafe on page 187: To condescend to grant or bestow
Tonalities on page 190: A system or an arrangement of seven tones built on a tonic key
Mauve on page 223: A moderate grayish violet to moderate reddish purple.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
"Lolita" pages 140-179
We pick back up with this story when Humbert has just told Lolita that her mother has died. Lolita seemed to have accepted this fact very quickly. Because the very next day her and Humbert began their travels all over the United States. They did this probably because it would seem weird to their neighbors if they lived together back home. People may get suspicious of their activities. Throughout their travels they avoided the upright places to stay and mostly stuck to the simple motor courts or motels I guess. Humbert’s lawry on page 153 gave him some advice, he “has suggested I give a clear, frank account of the itinerary we followed, and I suppose I have reached here a point where I cannot avoid that chore. Roughly, during that mad year (August 1947 to August 1948), our route began with a series of whorls in New England, then meandering south, up and down, east and west; dipped deep into ce qu’on appelle Dixieland, avoiding Florida because the Farlows (his lawyer) were there, veered west,” Also they avoided where Lolita was born even though she really want to go there. To me it seems like Humbert is trying to distract Lolita from reality. By taking her all these different and new places he is able to keep her to himself with none to answer to. It is very strange to me to think about this, because I am probably going to be married soon and I would like to take my children (whenever I have some) to see the US. I did this as a child and can only imagine what Lolita was going through. But throughout this entire trip Humbert was taking advantage of her. Page 158 shows that Lolita is becoming bored with this lifestyle. She asked “how long did I think we were going to live in stuffy cabins, doing filthy things together and never behaving like ordinary people.” Additionally on page 159 Humbert shows his extreme jealously towards any other males Lolita paid attention to. “Oh, I had to keep a very sharp eye on Lo, little limp Lo! Owing perhaps to constant amorous exercise, she radiated, despite her very childish appearance, some special languorous glow which threw garage fellows, hotel pages, vacationist, goons in luxurious cars, maroon morons near blued pools, into fits of concupiscence with might have tickled my pride, had it not incensed my jealousy. For little Lo was aware of that glow of hers, and I would often catch her conulant un regard in the direction of some amiable male, some grease monkey, with a sinewy golden-brown forearm and watch-braceleted wrist, and hardly had I turned my back to go and buy this very Lo a lollipop, that I would hear her and the fair mechanic burst into perfect love songs of wisecracks.” I think that this section really shows Humbert and Lo’s relationship for how it really is. Lo is so mixed up and confused that she actually sort of flaunts herself in front of other men. At an age of only 13 at this time this must seem really strange to all these adult men. But possibly this is only Humbert’s imagination. He is so possessive of her that even when she is just being like a normal little girl he becomes so jealous that he can’t stand it. In the last sentence he uses the word “love” to describe the interaction between Lo and these other men. Maybe this is because he wants love from Lo but can’t because she only has sex with him because he bribes her and basically pays her as a prostitute.
After a time Humbert decides to move back east. On page 173 we find what Humbert thinks of this decision. “I now think it was a great mistake to move east again and have her go to that private school in Beardsley, instead of somehow scrambling across the Mexican border while the scrambling was good so as to lie low for a couple of years in subtropical bliss until I could safely marry my little Creole for I must confess that depending on the condition of my glands and ganglia, I could switch in the course of the same day form one pole of insanity to the other-“ I don’t really understand why he would want to make her his wife. What would that change? It wouldn’t make her love him. But as we can see he thinks with his testicles instead of his head. On page 176 we find out what he intends to do, he will send Lo to a private all girls school. This is an attempt to keep her from boys her age. This quote shows how much he really doesn’t care about Lo “I really didn’t mind where to dwell provided I could lock my Lolita up somewhere;” She, outside her will had become his prisoner and in a way her was her prisoner too. He couldn’t live without her sex. So he had to keep her around no matter what.
After a time Humbert decides to move back east. On page 173 we find what Humbert thinks of this decision. “I now think it was a great mistake to move east again and have her go to that private school in Beardsley, instead of somehow scrambling across the Mexican border while the scrambling was good so as to lie low for a couple of years in subtropical bliss until I could safely marry my little Creole for I must confess that depending on the condition of my glands and ganglia, I could switch in the course of the same day form one pole of insanity to the other-“ I don’t really understand why he would want to make her his wife. What would that change? It wouldn’t make her love him. But as we can see he thinks with his testicles instead of his head. On page 176 we find out what he intends to do, he will send Lo to a private all girls school. This is an attempt to keep her from boys her age. This quote shows how much he really doesn’t care about Lo “I really didn’t mind where to dwell provided I could lock my Lolita up somewhere;” She, outside her will had become his prisoner and in a way her was her prisoner too. He couldn’t live without her sex. So he had to keep her around no matter what.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
"Lolita" pages 109-140
This blog covers pages 109-140 that we will discuss on Friday.
We pick back up with this weird story. Humbert had married Lolita’s mother in a pathetic attempt to stay close to Lolita. But when his wife found out that he had been writing in his dairy of his love for Lolita and his contempt for his wife they had a scrum. This ended when his wife ran out into the road and was immediately struck by a vehicle which killed her. Humbert is now driving to pick up Lolita from her camp, she doesn’t yet know that her mother is dead, only thinks that she is ill. This section covers where Humbert schemes to drug Lolita in an attempt to molest her in her sleep. On page 116 Humbert shows his true intent of giving her the drug. ‘“Oh, I want to see that picture. Let’s go right after dinner, Oh let’s!” Exclaims Lolita. “We might,” chanted Humbert-knowing perfectly well, the sly tumescent devil, that by nine, when his show began, she would be dead in his arms.’ I believe that this is showing that possibly Lolita’s soul may die that night, not her actual physical body. What Humbert wanted to do would effectively ruin her life.
I found it strange that when Humbert took her to the motel that she was at first somewhat surprised that they would be sleeping in the same room. She states ‘” Are we to sleep in one room?” said Lo, her features working in that dynamic way they did – not cross or disgusted (though plain on the brink of it) bu just dynamic – when she wanted to load a question with violent significance.
“I’ve asked them to put in a cot. Which I’ll use if you like.” – Humbert
“You are crazy,” said Lo
“Why, my darling?” – Humbert
“Because, my dahrling, when dahrlling Mother finds out she’ll divorce you and strangle me.” – Lolita
I felt that this is significant because Lolita was not actually saying that she disapproved of the arraignment but only that her mother and his wife would. This gives a clue to what happens the next morning. Humbert manages to sneak into bed with her. But when they wake up the next morning she actually seduces him. At this point they proceed to become lovers. Afterward Humbert finds out that he is not the first. She has had sex with a boy at camp to find out what it was all about. All of the sudden they start acting like any boyfriend and girlfriend that just spent the night together. There seems to be no mention of their age difference.
After leaving the hotel in very quiet way they begin the drive “home”. But the Lolita begins to complain of some pain and starts kind of joking or maybe serious talk with Humbert. On page 140 Humbert thinks about what they have done. “Cold spiders of panic crawled down my back. This was an orphan. This was a lone child, an absolute waif, with whom a heavy-limbed, foul-smelling adult had had strenuous intercourse three times that very morning.” Maybe Humbert is feeling some type of remorse at what he has done to her. I’m not sure. In my opinion he has raped her and now kidnapped her. If she decides to try and get away he may have to kill her. I would not put it past him. This is the end of the section I am to read.
Here are a few words that I looked up.
On page 116 the word tumescent was used, it means to become swollen.
On page 123 Humbert uses the word abysmal which means very profound; limitless.
Additionally I looked up hoary which was used on page 117. This means gray or white with or as if with age.
We pick back up with this weird story. Humbert had married Lolita’s mother in a pathetic attempt to stay close to Lolita. But when his wife found out that he had been writing in his dairy of his love for Lolita and his contempt for his wife they had a scrum. This ended when his wife ran out into the road and was immediately struck by a vehicle which killed her. Humbert is now driving to pick up Lolita from her camp, she doesn’t yet know that her mother is dead, only thinks that she is ill. This section covers where Humbert schemes to drug Lolita in an attempt to molest her in her sleep. On page 116 Humbert shows his true intent of giving her the drug. ‘“Oh, I want to see that picture. Let’s go right after dinner, Oh let’s!” Exclaims Lolita. “We might,” chanted Humbert-knowing perfectly well, the sly tumescent devil, that by nine, when his show began, she would be dead in his arms.’ I believe that this is showing that possibly Lolita’s soul may die that night, not her actual physical body. What Humbert wanted to do would effectively ruin her life.
I found it strange that when Humbert took her to the motel that she was at first somewhat surprised that they would be sleeping in the same room. She states ‘” Are we to sleep in one room?” said Lo, her features working in that dynamic way they did – not cross or disgusted (though plain on the brink of it) bu just dynamic – when she wanted to load a question with violent significance.
“I’ve asked them to put in a cot. Which I’ll use if you like.” – Humbert
“You are crazy,” said Lo
“Why, my darling?” – Humbert
“Because, my dahrling, when dahrlling Mother finds out she’ll divorce you and strangle me.” – Lolita
I felt that this is significant because Lolita was not actually saying that she disapproved of the arraignment but only that her mother and his wife would. This gives a clue to what happens the next morning. Humbert manages to sneak into bed with her. But when they wake up the next morning she actually seduces him. At this point they proceed to become lovers. Afterward Humbert finds out that he is not the first. She has had sex with a boy at camp to find out what it was all about. All of the sudden they start acting like any boyfriend and girlfriend that just spent the night together. There seems to be no mention of their age difference.
After leaving the hotel in very quiet way they begin the drive “home”. But the Lolita begins to complain of some pain and starts kind of joking or maybe serious talk with Humbert. On page 140 Humbert thinks about what they have done. “Cold spiders of panic crawled down my back. This was an orphan. This was a lone child, an absolute waif, with whom a heavy-limbed, foul-smelling adult had had strenuous intercourse three times that very morning.” Maybe Humbert is feeling some type of remorse at what he has done to her. I’m not sure. In my opinion he has raped her and now kidnapped her. If she decides to try and get away he may have to kill her. I would not put it past him. This is the end of the section I am to read.
Here are a few words that I looked up.
On page 116 the word tumescent was used, it means to become swollen.
On page 123 Humbert uses the word abysmal which means very profound; limitless.
Additionally I looked up hoary which was used on page 117. This means gray or white with or as if with age.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
"Lolita" pages 3-62
I first off want to start out by saying that I was appalled at this book. Never would I read anything like this if I didn’t have to. I do not enjoy reading about perverse men and little girls. My time would be better spent reading a quality biography about some general in WWII. But this is only my opinion. There must be something to learn in studying such a work, I guess. So I will do my best to get through this so to move on to better reading.
The story starts off with a very graphic sex scene between Humbert, the main character, and his (very important here!) girl friend, Annabel, of the same age. They are around 12 years old at this time. They are in a garden near her house. But they are unable to finish because they are interrupted by her family. Annabel ends up dying of typhus only four months after this event. Humbert then goes on to share his ventures with the opposite sex. He obviously is obsessed with sex. During his college years he frequently has sex with prostitutes. On page 15 the start of the third paragraph Humbert states “While a college student, in London and Paris, paid ladies sufficed me”. But throughout his accent to adulthood Humbert is obsessed with what he likes to call nymphets. These are very young girls probably in their early teens that he seems to think are sex objects. My opinion of this matter is that Humbert has very painful memories of his failed attempt to make love to Annabel and therefore feels that he must go back to correct whatever mistake he made. This is why girls that are of the same age as Annabel are so sexually desirable to him. Until he consummates his relationship with a young girl he will always be longing for satisfaction.
Humbert started a “real” relationship with a woman that was close to his age by the name of Valeria. One scene that really stood out to me in their relationship was when they broke up. Humbert was on the verge of moving both of them to America. But while getting the necessary papers for Valeria she suddenly refused to go with him. Humbert then discovers that Valeria has been having an affair with another man. They were on the sidewalk with a taxi slowly following them. By “chance” Humbert calls this taxi so that they do not create a commotion on the sidewalk. But he then comes to find out that Valeria’s lover is actually the taxi driver that just happened to be nearby. They all three go to a café where they all meet. Later Humbert entertains the idea of killing Valeria but decides to only hurt her which he never has the chance to do. As soon as they were divorced which delayed Humbert’s plans, he moved to New York. This is really where the story starts.
Humbert wants to move the country and finds a residence that ideally has a young girl in it. But this family’s house burns down and therefore he is forced to move in with a lady by the name of Charlotte Haze, who is a widow along with her young daughter. On page 39 Humbert expresses his excitement to discover his fortune that he will be living with a young girl. “I was still walking behind Mrs. Haze through the dining room when, beyond it, there came a sudden burst of greenery-“the piazza,” sang out my leader, and then, without the least warning, a blue sea-wave swelled under my heart and, from a mat in a pool of sun, half-naked, kneeling, turning about on her knees, there was my Riviera love peering at me over dark glasses.” This description of his first impression is filled with sexual thoughts, especially when he only seems to be thinking about her body. On the same page Humbert talks about the moment that his glance “slithered” over her body. This really creeps me out! When I have kids I am going to be ultra careful who I trust to be in presence with my children.
Humbert goes on to write his feelings for the little girl, whose name is Lolita, in his diary. At the end of my reading for today it finishes with Humbert trying to seduce Lolita in the living room on the couch. With the girl unaware Humbert plays out his sick fantasy. On page 61 Humbert shows his relief that the girl is completely unaware of his advances toward her. While she is on the phone with her mother he thinks “Blessed be the Lord, she had noticed nothing!” This makes me so sick because he uses the Lord’s name in the same statement in which he is thinking about molesting a young girl.
The story starts off with a very graphic sex scene between Humbert, the main character, and his (very important here!) girl friend, Annabel, of the same age. They are around 12 years old at this time. They are in a garden near her house. But they are unable to finish because they are interrupted by her family. Annabel ends up dying of typhus only four months after this event. Humbert then goes on to share his ventures with the opposite sex. He obviously is obsessed with sex. During his college years he frequently has sex with prostitutes. On page 15 the start of the third paragraph Humbert states “While a college student, in London and Paris, paid ladies sufficed me”. But throughout his accent to adulthood Humbert is obsessed with what he likes to call nymphets. These are very young girls probably in their early teens that he seems to think are sex objects. My opinion of this matter is that Humbert has very painful memories of his failed attempt to make love to Annabel and therefore feels that he must go back to correct whatever mistake he made. This is why girls that are of the same age as Annabel are so sexually desirable to him. Until he consummates his relationship with a young girl he will always be longing for satisfaction.
Humbert started a “real” relationship with a woman that was close to his age by the name of Valeria. One scene that really stood out to me in their relationship was when they broke up. Humbert was on the verge of moving both of them to America. But while getting the necessary papers for Valeria she suddenly refused to go with him. Humbert then discovers that Valeria has been having an affair with another man. They were on the sidewalk with a taxi slowly following them. By “chance” Humbert calls this taxi so that they do not create a commotion on the sidewalk. But he then comes to find out that Valeria’s lover is actually the taxi driver that just happened to be nearby. They all three go to a café where they all meet. Later Humbert entertains the idea of killing Valeria but decides to only hurt her which he never has the chance to do. As soon as they were divorced which delayed Humbert’s plans, he moved to New York. This is really where the story starts.
Humbert wants to move the country and finds a residence that ideally has a young girl in it. But this family’s house burns down and therefore he is forced to move in with a lady by the name of Charlotte Haze, who is a widow along with her young daughter. On page 39 Humbert expresses his excitement to discover his fortune that he will be living with a young girl. “I was still walking behind Mrs. Haze through the dining room when, beyond it, there came a sudden burst of greenery-“the piazza,” sang out my leader, and then, without the least warning, a blue sea-wave swelled under my heart and, from a mat in a pool of sun, half-naked, kneeling, turning about on her knees, there was my Riviera love peering at me over dark glasses.” This description of his first impression is filled with sexual thoughts, especially when he only seems to be thinking about her body. On the same page Humbert talks about the moment that his glance “slithered” over her body. This really creeps me out! When I have kids I am going to be ultra careful who I trust to be in presence with my children.
Humbert goes on to write his feelings for the little girl, whose name is Lolita, in his diary. At the end of my reading for today it finishes with Humbert trying to seduce Lolita in the living room on the couch. With the girl unaware Humbert plays out his sick fantasy. On page 61 Humbert shows his relief that the girl is completely unaware of his advances toward her. While she is on the phone with her mother he thinks “Blessed be the Lord, she had noticed nothing!” This makes me so sick because he uses the Lord’s name in the same statement in which he is thinking about molesting a young girl.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
"American" Along With "In the Baggage Room at Greyhound"
Up front I want to make it clear that I did not enjoy reading these poems. But regardless I will do my best to explain what I thought they were about and also give my “insight” into them. I will start with “America” by Allen Ginsberg.
In this poem I think that Ginsberg is trying to express his frustration with politics, society and America in general. The time period is around the forties and fifties. It seems to me that he a communist because he constantly referred to communism like on lines 10 and 11 on page 40 when he states “America I used to be a communist when I was a kid…I’m not sorry”. This shows to me that possibly Ginsberg feels that his views are being suppressed and that people now are not encouraged to share their opinions. After doing a little research I remembered that at this point in American history the American people were afraid to share their views of anything especially if they were partial to communism. Senator Joseph McCarthy was at that time using his power to scare the American people about communism. He did this to increase his political power. He led viscous charges against anyone associated with communism. Whether or not they deserved it is up to debate. Ginsberg in this poem is attempting maybe to encourage the American people to be different and not so close minded. By reading Time magazine Americans learn how they are to live and behave. Ginsberg shows that he too has been caught up in this craze. On line 10 on page 41 we see that after Ginsberg reads Time magazine he realizes that he is like everyone else in American “It occurs to me that I am America.” Towards the end of the poem we find out that Ginsberg is probably homosexual. This was probably not very well accepted at that time. I feel like America has come a ways from this but there are still lingering problems in society. My opinion is that sometime college students become brainwashed into going into the major that they are best at; but maybe not what they enjoy. Then the rest of their lives they end up working and doing things that they hate. But society states that we need to do what will make us the most money. We need to learn to do what is in our heart and make decisions based of what we want to do, not what society says is the right thing. Again this is what I think the poem is saying but I’m most likely wrong. I didn’t like it but it did make me think about how maybe I was pressured to be one way when maybe I should have taken another path. It is kind of like Frost’s poem about the two paths in the woods. Society may want us to take one path while really we should go opposite of it.
Now I will analyze “In the Baggage Room at Greyhound” by Allen Ginsberg. This poem takes place in the baggage room for Greyhound in San Francisco. Ginsberg is trying to illustrate all the sights and sounds of the busy room. To me it kind of felt like waiting in line after you get off an airplane and are waiting for your luggage. Everyone is either excited or exhausted. One thing that really stuck out in this poem to me is how Ginsberg brought to life the sorter at the bottom of page 44 “Nor mustached negro Operating Clerk named Spade, dealing out with his marvelous long hand the fate of thousands of express packages.” I can really picture this man, he has worked here for his whole life and his job is so boring that he doesn’t have to think anymore. Ginsberg is looking at all this to make sure that he has a mental picture of the hell he is leaving behind. This will help him to appreciate whatever he does in his future.
I found a few words that I looked up, the first was psychoanalysis on line 18 on page 40 in “America” . It is the method of psychological therapy originated by Sigmund Freud in which free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of resistance and transference are used to explore repressed or unconscious impulses, anxieties, and internal conflicts, in order to free psychic energy for mature love and work.
The next word that I didn’t know was cynical on line 17 on page 44 in “In the Baggage Room at Greyhound”. This word means believing or showing the belief that people are motivated chiefly by base or selfish concerns.
Lastly I was unfamiliar was Calistoga on line 17 on page 46 in “In the Baggage Room at Greyhound”, which I found was a town in northern California.
In this poem I think that Ginsberg is trying to express his frustration with politics, society and America in general. The time period is around the forties and fifties. It seems to me that he a communist because he constantly referred to communism like on lines 10 and 11 on page 40 when he states “America I used to be a communist when I was a kid…I’m not sorry”. This shows to me that possibly Ginsberg feels that his views are being suppressed and that people now are not encouraged to share their opinions. After doing a little research I remembered that at this point in American history the American people were afraid to share their views of anything especially if they were partial to communism. Senator Joseph McCarthy was at that time using his power to scare the American people about communism. He did this to increase his political power. He led viscous charges against anyone associated with communism. Whether or not they deserved it is up to debate. Ginsberg in this poem is attempting maybe to encourage the American people to be different and not so close minded. By reading Time magazine Americans learn how they are to live and behave. Ginsberg shows that he too has been caught up in this craze. On line 10 on page 41 we see that after Ginsberg reads Time magazine he realizes that he is like everyone else in American “It occurs to me that I am America.” Towards the end of the poem we find out that Ginsberg is probably homosexual. This was probably not very well accepted at that time. I feel like America has come a ways from this but there are still lingering problems in society. My opinion is that sometime college students become brainwashed into going into the major that they are best at; but maybe not what they enjoy. Then the rest of their lives they end up working and doing things that they hate. But society states that we need to do what will make us the most money. We need to learn to do what is in our heart and make decisions based of what we want to do, not what society says is the right thing. Again this is what I think the poem is saying but I’m most likely wrong. I didn’t like it but it did make me think about how maybe I was pressured to be one way when maybe I should have taken another path. It is kind of like Frost’s poem about the two paths in the woods. Society may want us to take one path while really we should go opposite of it.
Now I will analyze “In the Baggage Room at Greyhound” by Allen Ginsberg. This poem takes place in the baggage room for Greyhound in San Francisco. Ginsberg is trying to illustrate all the sights and sounds of the busy room. To me it kind of felt like waiting in line after you get off an airplane and are waiting for your luggage. Everyone is either excited or exhausted. One thing that really stuck out in this poem to me is how Ginsberg brought to life the sorter at the bottom of page 44 “Nor mustached negro Operating Clerk named Spade, dealing out with his marvelous long hand the fate of thousands of express packages.” I can really picture this man, he has worked here for his whole life and his job is so boring that he doesn’t have to think anymore. Ginsberg is looking at all this to make sure that he has a mental picture of the hell he is leaving behind. This will help him to appreciate whatever he does in his future.
I found a few words that I looked up, the first was psychoanalysis on line 18 on page 40 in “America” . It is the method of psychological therapy originated by Sigmund Freud in which free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of resistance and transference are used to explore repressed or unconscious impulses, anxieties, and internal conflicts, in order to free psychic energy for mature love and work.
The next word that I didn’t know was cynical on line 17 on page 44 in “In the Baggage Room at Greyhound”. This word means believing or showing the belief that people are motivated chiefly by base or selfish concerns.
Lastly I was unfamiliar was Calistoga on line 17 on page 46 in “In the Baggage Room at Greyhound”, which I found was a town in northern California.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
"Sonny's Blues"
This is what I got out of Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin. I want to summarize the story as well as give some of my thoughts on things that stuck out to me in the story.
As you first start reading the story it is about someone (I didn’t find out until later that this was the brother of Sonny) reading about Sonny getting caught in a drug bust. This narrator is a school teacher in Harlem. At first I didn’t really understand why the narrator was so interested in Sonny’s predicament with the law, I thought maybe they had just been friends in the past. After finishing teaching for that day the narrator runs into a friend of Sonny’s. This friend expresses remorse for Sonny and how he will be unable to help him any more. Also the friend shares with the narrator that he feels responsible for how Sonny’s life was turning out. On page 34 the friend states “I never give Sonny nothing, but a long time ago I come to high school and Sonny asked me how it felt. I told him it felt great. I did.” I think that this shows how possibly the world that Sonny and his friend grew up in was so bad that doing drugs seemed so enticing. The friend ends up telling the narrator what he thinks will happened to Sonny, how they will try to break his addiction and then let him go to start it again.
Next we find that in fact the narrator and Sonny are brothers. This is because the narrator writes to his brother in jail. But only after the narrator’s daughter, Gracie, has died from polio (which we find out later). To me it seems that Sonny has come a long way in his recovery. He expresses his sadness for the little girl’s death. Once Sonny gets out of jail the narrator meets him in New York and brings him back to live with his family. While eating dinner they begin to bring up memories of they parents. They end up describing both their parents. The father was a drunk who died when Sonny was 15. The narrator remembers that the last time he saw his mother was when he went to war. She shared that she thought his uncle was run over by some white kids and that after that event their father was never quite the same. The narrator then returned from the war to go to his mother’s funeral.
At this point we find out that Sonny really enjoys playing the piano. So he lives with the narrator’s wife’s parents. He plays the piano constantly but is skipping school and spending time with his friends in Greenwich Village. The couple he living with finds this out and Sonny then joins the army after dropping out of school. Both Sonny and the narrator return from war but there is a rift between them whenever they see each other. The story then skips forward to when the narrator’s girl has just died. On page 48 the narrator states “I think I may have written Sonny the very day that little Grace was buried. I was sitting in the living room in the dark, by myself, and I suddenly thought of Sonny. My trouble made his real.” It was at this point I feel the narrator finally understood his little brother’s pain. Maybe they had found something in common with each other.
After this the story moves into the present and Sonny and the narrator are going to Greenwich Village. At this time Sonny begins to open up to his brother. He talks of his addition to herion. How it makes you feel in control of everything. They arrive at the jazz club and the narrator sees how welcome sonny is here. Sonny plays even thought it has been a really long time since he last played the piano. But soon he begins to play wonderfully. After the song the narrator sends up some drinks to Sonny. At this point the brothers seem to have completely understood each other for a second. On page 56 the narrator shares “He didn’t seem to notice it (the drink the narrator had sent to him), but just before they started playing again, he sipped from it and looked towards me, and nodded.”
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
I completed the book the Glass Menagerie and was somewhat disappointed by the ending. Again I will write my version of the seventh scene. After dinner Jim and Laura are alone in the parlor. They proceed to catch up with each other and Laura reminds Jim of the nicknames that he gave her in high school “Blue Roses”. At this moment Jim manages to make Laura more comfortable and then proceeds to dance with her culminating in kissing her. After this I thought that this story was too good to be true. Maybe everything would work out after all. Laura and Tom would fall in love and Tom could follow his dreams. But soon enough we find that Jim is already engaged, a fact that no one not even Tom, was aware of. During this scene of them dancing Jim bumps a table that Laura’s favorite glass figurine is sitting on. It falls and the horn of the unicorn falls. I thought that this possibly was an image that was important. A fantasy figure was turned into a common mortal horse. This possibly could be illustrating that Laura was moving past her ideal fantasy world into reality. Laura’s reaction on page 86 shows that now possibly she realizes that there are more important things in life. “Horn! It doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.” I thought that this imagery was very powerful.
When Jim is about to leave Amanda makes the comment on page 94 “Goodbye, Mr. O’Connor. I wish you luck- and happiness-and success! All three of them, and so does Laura! Don’t you, Laura?” And Laure replies “Yes!”. Jim warns Laura to not forget his advice of believing in herself. I think that at this point Laura’s outlook on life has changed dramatically. After Jim leaves Amanda finally breaks and begins arguing with Tom. At this point Tom leaves to follow his dreams. But the end on page 97 we find that “Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be!” I think that even though Tom is following his dreams he still thinks about Laura all the time. Tom ended up being like his father and running away when things were hard.
There were several words that I was unfamiliar with. To start with I didn’t really know what menagerie was. It is a place where animals are kept and trained especially for exhibition. Next on page 6 Amanda refers to mastication. This is when you grind and knead (rubber, for example) into a pulp. Additionally on page 4 in the setting up of scene 1 the word proscenium is used. This means the part of a modern stage in front of the curtain.
Monday, January 18, 2010
The Glass Menagerie Scenes 1-6
After reading the first 6 scenes of the Glass Menagerie I kind of thought that nothing really had happened. First off I will begin by giving a summary of play up to scene 7 (which I hope has more action than the first 6!).
A family made up of three members, Amada the single mother, Tom the poorly paid provider son, and Laura the social outcast 24 year old daughter. Amanda is single because her husband abandoned the family a long time ago. This has added extra stress on Amanda which she usually takes out on Tom. She frequently criticizes his life choices, such as going to the movies too often and not taking the initiative to improve his life and make more money. She even goes as far as criticizing his eating habits as can be seen on page 6 “Honey, don’t push with your fingers. If you have to push with something, the thing to push with is a crust of bread. And chew-chew! Animals have secretions in their stomachs which enable them to digest food without mastication, but human beings are supposed to chew their food before they swallow it down. Eat food leisurely, son, and really enjoy it. A well-cooked meal has lots of delicate flavors that have to be held in the mouth for appreciation. So chew your food and give your salivary glands a chance to function!” I felt like this quote really showed how stressed out Amanda was. I see this all the time with single mothers. They have to carry the full load of the family and fulfill the role of both parents. She just tends to ramble on and not really know what to say. This was evident throughout the entire play. The daughter, Laura, is, I think cripple and possibly mentally retarded. She basically can’t function outside of her family. She ended up throwing up in her business classes that her mom had enrolled her in. Now she sits around the house polishing and dusting her Glass Menagerie. Laura’s disposition frustrates her mother. On page 8 her mother claims to have “received – seventeen! – gentle men callers!” when she was single. But so far Laura has had no prospects of a husband. After constant quarrels with Tom over his smoking and laziness Amanda devises a plan. She knows that Tom is on the verge of leaving the family to pursue adventure elsewhere. This is because of his constantly attending movies that take him into a virtual adventure and not trying to advance himself from his dead end job. Therefore Amanda makes a deal with Tom that if he finds a suitor to marry Laura then he can leave to pursue his adventure. Laura seems to feel that she is not in need of man and lives in her own fantasy that there will be a man for her one day, possibly imaginary. In desperation to leave Tom asks his best friend at the warehouse over for dinner. This friend named Jim attended high school with both Tom and Laura. We find that Laura is deathly scared of seeing Jim again because she had once had a crush on him in high school. After introductions are completed both Tom and Jim go out onto the fire escape.
It is at this point that Tom shares with Jim his intentions to leave because he can’t bear to live here any longer. On page 62 we see that Tom really is on the verge of going nuts. “I’m starting to boil inside. I know I seem dreamy but inside-well, I’m boiling! Whenever I pick up a shoe, I shudder a little thinking how short life is and what I am doing! Whatever that means, I know it doesn’t mean shoes-except as something to wear on a traveler’s feet!”. There is a conflict of desires between Amanda and Tom. But Laura is the central character that we see in the play. They both want what is best for her but both are about to lose their minds and Jim is the “savior”.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
My thoughts on "The Flowers" and "Girl"
After reading Alice Walker, “The Flowers” I thought “What in the World”! I guess that reading this I can see how brutal things would have been soon after the Civil War. The slaves would have been free but still having to work as share croppers. The story illustrates that racism was still running rampant and that lynching was probably what had happened to this poor man. I think that the second line in the seventh paragraph, “Myop saw that he'd had large white teeth, all of them cracked or broken”, shows that possibly the man was abused or beaten before he was hung, giving evidence of a lynching.
From the beginning of the story the little girl is running about very innocently and happy. She is shut out from the world until now. Everything in her life is very happy go lucky. The second and third line of the second paragraph show that, “She felt light and good in the warm sun. She was ten, and nothing existed for her but her song, the stick clutched in her dark brown hand, and the tat-de-ta-ta-ta of accompaniment.” At only ten years old she was unaware of the brutality that was being shown towards people of her skin color. While wandering away from what was familiar and welcome to find flowers she finds herself in a dark and sinister cove where she has never been. All of the sudden she stumbled upon and steps on the face of a dead black man. I found it interesting that at that point she didn’t throw down her flowers and run. But she actually went and picked another rose. At this point she find the rotted noose around the flower she was about to pick. Now she lays down her flowers because her innocent mind is now come to the reality that this man was murdered and left to rot. She now can never go back to the way she was before and this is symbolized by her laying down her flowers and that the summer is now over, forever.
The poem “Girl” was interesting. I think that it is a narrative between a girl on the verge of becoming a woman and her mother. Most of the poem is the mother speaking to her daughter by giving her words of wisdom that would be passed down from each generation. These commands that her mother is giving to her are meant to keep the daughter from being “the slut you are so bent on becoming” from line seven. I felt that like this was showing that the mother disliked her daughter for some reason, possibly because the daughter was already not heeding these commands and upholding the heritage that she was a part of. Possibly the mother was trying to scare the daughter to make her listen. But I think that the mother was making sure that the daughter had the proper knowledge and tools to become an adult. Therefore the mother is actually showing her love for her daughter in wanting her to succeed in life. I think that everyone can see themselves and their childhood in this poem. I know that my parents tried their best to teach me everything that I would need to know in order to succeed. One thing that stuck out to me is how the mother tries to teach the girl to smile at people she doesn’t really like. I know that my parents taught me to do something like that. To treat others as you would like to be treated. But in contrast to the mother in this poem my parents did it in a much less intimidating way. The mother in this poem is very mean and harsh. But possibly she has to be like that or this could be the way it always has been done throughout the generations. At the end the girl makes the comment that what if the baker will not allow me to touch the bread. And the mother then states that she should not be the type of person who people would disdain. Basically the mother is saying that if you follow everything that I have taught you then you will become well liked and a working member of society. But this is only possible if you obey all these commands. I know from seeing my sister and mother react that sometimes the daughter has a tendency to be rebellious. I can kind of see that in this story also.
From the beginning of the story the little girl is running about very innocently and happy. She is shut out from the world until now. Everything in her life is very happy go lucky. The second and third line of the second paragraph show that, “She felt light and good in the warm sun. She was ten, and nothing existed for her but her song, the stick clutched in her dark brown hand, and the tat-de-ta-ta-ta of accompaniment.” At only ten years old she was unaware of the brutality that was being shown towards people of her skin color. While wandering away from what was familiar and welcome to find flowers she finds herself in a dark and sinister cove where she has never been. All of the sudden she stumbled upon and steps on the face of a dead black man. I found it interesting that at that point she didn’t throw down her flowers and run. But she actually went and picked another rose. At this point she find the rotted noose around the flower she was about to pick. Now she lays down her flowers because her innocent mind is now come to the reality that this man was murdered and left to rot. She now can never go back to the way she was before and this is symbolized by her laying down her flowers and that the summer is now over, forever.
The poem “Girl” was interesting. I think that it is a narrative between a girl on the verge of becoming a woman and her mother. Most of the poem is the mother speaking to her daughter by giving her words of wisdom that would be passed down from each generation. These commands that her mother is giving to her are meant to keep the daughter from being “the slut you are so bent on becoming” from line seven. I felt that like this was showing that the mother disliked her daughter for some reason, possibly because the daughter was already not heeding these commands and upholding the heritage that she was a part of. Possibly the mother was trying to scare the daughter to make her listen. But I think that the mother was making sure that the daughter had the proper knowledge and tools to become an adult. Therefore the mother is actually showing her love for her daughter in wanting her to succeed in life. I think that everyone can see themselves and their childhood in this poem. I know that my parents tried their best to teach me everything that I would need to know in order to succeed. One thing that stuck out to me is how the mother tries to teach the girl to smile at people she doesn’t really like. I know that my parents taught me to do something like that. To treat others as you would like to be treated. But in contrast to the mother in this poem my parents did it in a much less intimidating way. The mother in this poem is very mean and harsh. But possibly she has to be like that or this could be the way it always has been done throughout the generations. At the end the girl makes the comment that what if the baker will not allow me to touch the bread. And the mother then states that she should not be the type of person who people would disdain. Basically the mother is saying that if you follow everything that I have taught you then you will become well liked and a working member of society. But this is only possible if you obey all these commands. I know from seeing my sister and mother react that sometimes the daughter has a tendency to be rebellious. I can kind of see that in this story also.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Robert Frost Poems
After reading these few poems by Robert Frost there were a couple that really stood out to me. The first is "Mending Wall" and the second is "The Road Not Taken".
I will start with the "Mending Wall", I am not sure if what I am thinking is correct but I will go with it anyway. It seems to me that at first it is an annual thing to repair your wall. I find it intersting that the thing that keeps the neighbors separated is the one thing that brings them together one time a year. This is because hunters have torn it down to find small game under the rocks. Lines 14 and 15 I feel are very important:
"And set the wall between us once again".
"We keep the wall between us as we go".
Possibly this means that the two neighbors only see each other once a year to fix the wall that keeps them from seeing each other more often. Additionally I think that line 15 shows that even while together they keep themselves separated by this wall. This could represent individuals such as husbands and wives that tend to put barriers between themselves to protect their hearts from being hurt. But they don't know why they are there, it could be because in the past there was a real reason for the barrier. But know as in the poem the one neighbor begins to question why there is a wall when there is really no apparent reason. Lines 25 and 26 illustrates how the first neighbor feels about the wall. He shows that it is lucrative to think that his apple tree will cause some type of harm to the neighbors pine trees.
"My apple trees will never get across"
"And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him".
I have seen this many times in relationships where people alienate themselves from people that really love them only because of something from the past. To tell you the truth I am really confused about the ending of this poem, it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of he poem. My only idea is that the neighbor becomes angry at the thought of removing the wall. But other than that I can't really understand what he is talking about.
One word I was unfamiliar with was "elves" in line 37, that is an acronym for emissions of light and very low frequency perturbations due to electromagnetic pulse sources; extremely bright extremely short (less than a msec) electrical flashes forming a huge ring (up to 400 km diameter) in the ionosphere. And also is the plural of elf.
The second poem was by far my favorite of all the readings posted for today. My overall feeling was that this is a poem that everyone can relate too. I know that I can. Its hard to explain though. In life it is easy to follow the crowd and live basically unnoticed. But the most successful people will have taken risks that others may have found too risky. I believe that Frost is trying portray a very important life decision. Maybe marriage? Because once you have chosen a spouse there is no turning back and starting over to try something else. That one decision will lead to other choices that will take you far away from the fork in the road. The second paragraph is the most powerful to me. I think it says that even though the fork or decision looks like it may make little to no impact on your life that you need to look farther down the road to make the best decision. I try to think about this when making large decisions in my life and if you only life for what gain you may have now you will not make the wise choice. The third line in the third paragraph states “Oh, I kept the first for another day!”. This is the attitude that you can always come back. But later in the same paragraph he shows that in his heart he knows he never will. So make sure you make the right choice!
One other thought I have is that this is a reference to when Jesus states in Mathew 7: 13 and 14. “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Frost may be saying that since he took the road less traveled then it lead him away from bad circumstances in his life. It may have not be the easy way or the obvious choice but it made all the difference in the end.
There were two words that I looked up. The first is “hence” in the second line of the last paragraph. It meas “from this place forward”. The second is in the next line, “diverged”. This means “to move or extend in different directions from a common point”.
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