Train of Thought

Signs of the Times

2010-04-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

Given Norris’ account of The Responsibility of the Novelist as the purpose to tell the truth and use novels as the architecture of life at the time it is written, I begin to understand more Wilde’s purpose and outcome of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde has captured life at the time he wrote this novel, portraying the vanity of the people and their desire to retain youth and beauty even at the cost of their own soul. Though his depiction is quite exaggerated, he definitely communicates his message by connecting Dorian to his portrait. Wilde builds for us a character that in his time achieves what his peers most desire, but reveals it to be the absence of true life and therefore the most detestable of desires. Dorian’s peers begin to not recognize him for his actions, because they are so far from who he truly was. In Wilde’s text Lord Henry gives us a glimpse into this perspective, “As for a spoiled life, no life is spoiled but one whose growth is arrested. If you want to mar a nature, you have merely to reform it,” (p. 79). Here I believe Wilde is plainly being truthful with the reader, that you are only spoiled if you do not grow. This contradicts the desire of those around him and faces directly the will of Dorian Gray to stay eternally youthful. Dorian wants to arrest that very growth that would give him wisdom and a realistic place in the world.
Wilde, through the work of a novel, has secured his place and his opinion in the world and placed his stamp of disapproval on the vanity of his time. He was rebuked and misunderstood, possibly because he called out the detestable nature of what he saw. This gives his work the measure of truth and therefore he has fulfilled the responsibility of the novelist to call it like it is.

Go Forth, Youth in Denim

2010-03-05T11:30:00.001-08:00

The Levi’s campaign celebrates Whitman’s poetic project by giving visual life and perspective to his words. The imagery they chose to tie his words to the symbols of American life set his ideas into a form that gave us a specific use for them. By comparing his perspective to go forth and set up a nation with the wild will of youth and raw beauty limits what Whitman was calling us to do.
My reaction to these ads was inspired. In my opinion they did a great job at capturing the power of Whitman’s words and using people in a naturalistic and real way to excite the innate passion for triumph and progression of our society. They use imagery of friendship, love, pride and glory to speak to those places in each of us that hold onto these ideals, and by that they definitely spoke to the masses. I think it was a great way to tie notions of the past, Whitman’s political poetry, with desires and stagnation of our current generation. A call to “Go Forth” to an otherwise apathetic generation using sensual and pure imagery I think succeeded in just that. Even if the excitement to act only lasts as long as the commercial.
The themes of consumption and promotion obviously are prompted in the product display of the Levi’s jeans on almost each character. Other than their product placement, the remainder of the environment is vastly nature, in which there is no other source of advertising.
As far as the claim that advertisers play the role of poets in our society, I could be easily swayed to believe exactly this. They have gained the place in our culture of providing quick yet rich and deep messages to vast numbers of people, in all walks of life. Whether it be a one liner on a billboard or a 15 second commercial, they have the ability to not only use words, but images and music to invoke emotion and ideals into their observers. This in itself is far more than simple poetry could do even 100 years ago. So yes, I think they have taken that place in a large way, but it has also been revamped and supercharged.

Beware of the Rest of the World

2010-02-16T10:47:00.000-08:00

Dark Romanticism is a strong element in Hawthorne’s short story “The Minister’s Black Veil.” Although the story was very mystical and elusive as to the mystery behind the veil itself, it was clear in communicating it’s use of the powers of sin and the overwhelming passion in the lives of it’s characters. For instance we will start with the minister, Mr. Hooper, the wearer of the black veil. He suddenly appears in his life with this shroud that hides him from the rest of the world, without a clear explanation. We learn right away that this veil strikes fear and gloom into the hearts and minds of everyone who happens to glace upon the appearance of Mr. Hooper. His parishioners awestruck, hardly able to speak to him and others convinced he had gone mad, all due to this sheer piece of cloth that covered his face. The idea that he was hiding from something, was enough to cause those he knew to be terrified and shudder in fear from him. This shows the perspectives of Dark Romanticism that Hawthorne added in his story. There is no realistic reason a person should appear with fear and gloom just by wearing a shroud over their face, but it was written to convey that was the perspective of the characters. Early in the short story the preacher Mr. Hooper gives a sermon while wearing the veil for the first time and his parishioners are struck deeper by the words of his message due to his altered image. They seem to imagine his temperament askew, just because his appearance is so, “A subtle power was breathed into his words,” there was no more power present than the message given prior without the veil, but they placed a power of darkness and doom in the image the beheld.
In the end we learn why the preacher has veiled his face for the remainder of his life, and the insistence he places on keeping it thus. He used it as a means to see everyone else in the world with veiled faces to cover the sin they all keep inside. This idea of inherent sin and wickedness is a big theme in Dark Romanticism.
I personally liked this story, and enjoyed the strange interactions that were produced because one man did something out of the ordinary and the change in caused in all those he encountered.

Island of Adventure

2010-01-30T00:24:00.000-08:00

Upon first review of the Floating Island by Dorothy Wordsworth it didn’t seem to relate much to Romanticism and the aspects therein. However, once I really dug deep and tried to understand what else the author could be using this “island” to represent I began to see how it did possess those aspects. A few examples of where we see these typical Romanticism characteristics are in imagination, freedom and worship of nature.
Wordsworth used imagination to create a new world out of this island that has broken away from the land it was once attached to. It becomes a ground where life is sustained and given room to grow (ln. 12-16). She develops a sense of freedom by revealing this land that has escaped the grasp of the overwhelming world, “loosed from its hold” (ln. 7). It now has the ability to roam in freedom and adventure, to create its own destiny. We can definitely see how she portrays a worship of nature, the whole poem is about a floating island! The first line tells of the uniting power between the forces of this powerful nature. How it controls and directs the paths of life, “But Nature, though we mark her not, Will take away – may cease to give, (ln. 19-20). This line clearly shows the power given to Nature and Wordsworth’s choice to personify it as an entity of fate.
This poem shows the roots of being driven from the overflow of emotion. Wordsworth writes with such intensity about the adventure this “floating island” undergoes. From birth to travel to sustaining life and then eventually its death that takes it to the bottom of the lake and turns it into fuel for another life, it lacks no feelings of excitement for what lies ahead. I think she uses these ideals to create an appreciation of the spontaneity that comes with everyday life, and the possibility of what may happen, even when we least expect it.

Writing a Picture

2010-01-22T02:49:00.001-08:00

Edgar Huntly is astoundingly full of nature imagery, that fact was painfully clear. I think it was at the point when Edgar is following Clithero through the woods and cave which took 3 full pages in description of the environment around them, that I began to skim forward to the next paragraph with plot details. What I’m trying to say is it was a LOT! I tend to get lost, or bored in these kinds of literature, I just want them to get to the point! It is interesting because like this blog assignment states, it is not a very picturesque novel. Even with all that description, I struggled to actually imagine the surroundings. All that aside, I thought we could definitely feel the impact and threat the surroundings produced. One such event is when Edgar has gone back to his makeshift bridge in some opening of a rock area (again, this is where I’m not so clear what the place actually looked like) and attempts to find where Clithero has escaped and reach him, pg. 118-120. He describes the panic of facing the grey panther and how he expects death at any moment. In this aspect he is very detailed about every emotion and thought that passes through his being as he struggles with the environment which is seemingly always out to get him.
If another author more focused on building a clear picture of the surroundings had written this scene I believe they could have taken away the readers ability to connect on such a strong emotional level with Edgar’s plight. Though they would have gained a better understanding of the setting, we may have lost the pure and unclouded intensity of this moment of horror.

The Terrible and Horrible, Oh My!

2010-01-20T23:07:00.000-08:00

Yes, my blog is late. I would like to start off by saying that if I am unsure or unclear about what to do for an assignment or fear that I will not do it perfectly, I put it off. I’m going to call that being a perfectionist. So, now feeling like it is the last minute I will take a stab at it.
Terror is apparently the feeling you have when you think something bad is about to happen. That, stomach in your throat, hold your breath, tense every muscle in your body type of experience. This feeling can last for a few seconds before the horrible thing actually happens, or it can last days, in anticipation of something dreadful. Since I tend to steer clear of movies and literature that possess these type of terror related circumstances, it’s hard for me to think of examples. One that sort of fits this category is in the novel The English Patient when the nurse finds a man in a mine field and he cant move because he has stepped on a mine, and he urges her to not come any close, but she is set on helping him. So she walked through the mine field casually and carelessly as the man is yelling at her because she may die any second, but she makes it safely. That I think would constitute as terror.
Horror seems to be the scared feeling you experience once you are have encountered the thing that has elicited your terror. To actually come face to face with your fear. This can be seen in movies like scream, when the man in the mask jumps out from behind the door or under the bed and the victim experiences horror and reacts in a negative way to the aversive experience and the fear of what is happening to them.
And that’s all I have to say about that.

A new semester...

2010-01-14T01:05:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
This is my second sememster at WSU, and I am an English major, and thus far I'm really enjoying it. I took Julie's class last sememster and had a blast. She's an awesome teacher and I'm sure you will all enjoy it just as much as we did. I really like having this blog to discuss the books we read, I tend to not say as much in class as I do on here, due to having more time to reflect, and my thoughts start developing around 2 am. I'm looking forward to getting to know you all. Good luck!

The Big Clash

2009-11-19T13:39:00.000-08:00

Cal by Bernard MacLaverty was a wonderful novel full of political crisis and citizen alienation taking place in a small country with big conflict. MacLaverty offered up a deep plot that kept me on the edge of my seat, with danger lurking around every corner, literally. I thoroughly enjoyed this very straightforward portrayal of this young man just trying to live life in the midst of civil dispute on a grand scale. We definitely see the trouble colonialism causes in this very culturally rich country divided by two religions and the usurped control of a foreign government.
It was tragic to see the state of life for the Irish Catholics in Ulster. I was sympathetic for Cal and his father and the struggle they faced. I do not understand why their pride was more important to them than their quality of life. They stay living in a town they are constantly persecuted in even though they have no ties there but each other. Only the father has a job, but they refuse to relocate for a life that could be significantly happier and safer to say the least. Pride seems to drive all the trouble the characters face throughout the novel. Both sides are prejudice and murderous over the difference of religion. A fact we see across time and across nations.
All in all, amazing novel, eye opening and sobering to see through the eyes of a young man caught between his conscience and the loyalty to his nation.

A Little Bazaar

2009-11-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

First I will start off with what I disliked about the Dubliners by James Joyce. Bypassing the actual short stories, I want to get right into the critical essay by Heyward Ehrlich, “Araby” in Context…. Though this essay got off to a good start, providing helpful and informative facts to clarify some rather sketchy topics in Dubliners, it moved onto a monotonous barrage of WAY to much information about the history of bazaars in Europe. Not only was it more than what was needed to give some insight, it was beyond repetitive. I came across three instances where he goes into detail on the number of people in attendance (Joyce 267, 272, 273). One great piece of information I took away from this essay was the history on Irish Orientalism. I am happy to see this term come up in our reading since we haven’t had much of it yet. It was very intriguing to learn how much of Irish culture was taken from the Orient (Joyce 262).
On a lighter note, the two stories Araby, Eveline seemed much like Lahiri’s writing in the sense that it was very true to reality. There was not a lot of fluff which kept the stories easy to navigate, but both ended so abruptly I was left wondering what the point of the story had been. There would definitely be two short stories I wouldn’t mind having a little more background on to gain a broader understanding of Joyce’s purpose for the tales.

Happy Endings

2009-11-08T21:22:00.000-08:00

The point that stood out to me the most from all the blogs I read was what Stevie (http://stevie-z.blogspot.com/ ) had to say about all of Lahiri’s stories having a happy ending. When reading the stories, I did not come to that conclusion myself. However, after reading Stevie’s blog I realized they really did have a happy ending. Even though each story contained plenty of struggle and difficulty for its characters, Lahiri leaves us with an ending that is open enough to imagine that there could be a better future than what they have experienced. It is true with A Temporary Matter, because the couple could have gone on to repair their marriage after all the truth came out, in The Treatment of Bibi Haldar because now that she has a child and a business her life can flourish even without her family and or the possibility of a husband, in Interpreter of Maladies because Mr. Kapasi didn’t get caught up in a most likely fruitless relationship with the American woman, and in The Third and Final Continent because Lahiri shows us that the narrators life goes on to be happy and full of success. So with each story, we walk through the initial harsh experience that the main characters face, but they always come out clearly on the other side.

A New Audience

2009-11-01T16:58:00.000-08:00

The short stories written by Ha Jin contain messages and details of Chinese life that would be illegal to read in his homeland. For instance in Saboteur, he depicts a man basically framed by the police of the city he is in. This story which clearly shows the controlling and manipulative behavior of Chinese officials would be criminal if distributed to the masses in China. This kind of conflict would further deter writers from creating literature that reflects the reality of the situation they live in. It will continue to be tailored to the needs of the communist party leaders as we see in Jin’s story A Tiger-Fighter is Hard to Find. Here the producers of a short film create a scene that satisfies the propaganda the party wants the citizens of China to believe, no matter how unrealistic they are.
If Conrad had written Heart of Darkness in his native language, I think it would have affected the impact his story had on the world and postcolonial literature. By writing in English, he opened the doors to the people that would be able to read and understand the issues faced in Africa. Had he written in his native language I believe he would have been seen in a different light, taking the role of an outsider to western society trying to portray an injustice without having the foothold to do so. Having tailored it to an English audience, he proved a connection with Western society and thus bought himself more respect.
For Jin to write his stories in English, having been a migrant to the US, changed his perspective on writing. He was no longer just a Chinese native writing about conflict he perceived within the limits of his immediate world, but instead his perspective was cultured and he was able to gain wider view of his homeland, by being outside of it. In this way his experience with Western culture made it possible for him to so accurately portray the affects the American restaurant “Cowboy Chicken” would have on a society that operates very differently than it is used to.

Mirrors Mirrors

2009-10-12T16:02:00.000-07:00

Honestly, none of the points Spivak made stood out to me, which is why it has taken me till Sunday night to respond. She didn’t seem to have any strong points, only things we have heard before. I also must agree that her language was very difficult. Her essay made for a difficult read, but I did make out a vague generalization of points, again, which made it difficult to respond. I will say I did like how she pointed out the “images of mirroring,” (WSS 242). I was glad to see that the things that seemed connected to me, where also seen a connection for someone else.
The fact that Tia is a mirror image of Antoinette is one point of mirroring Spivak points to, and it is interesting to me that Tia is also the rejection of Antoinette in her own world. We see this many times; while they play by the water, Tia steals her clothes (WSS 14), Tia throwing a rock at her, as part of a riotous local group (WSS 27). Even though Tia is her friend and the reflection of her as a native, she portrays the force of rejection and disintegration that Antoinette clearly faces. It is funny to me that Rhys builds this character of companionship for Antoinette in Tia, then shows us how even in her friendships, there is no loyalty. This in itself mirrors all of the relationships Antoinette has throughout her life. We see this in her mother who abandons her, her real father who left her, her stepfather and stepbrother who sold her, her husband who buys her and gives up on her, keeping her in bondage, and her closest friend Christophine who for all we know has kept her drugged her whole life to keep her under her control as well.
In the bigger picture, this story novella could be a story of a young woman growing up in a world of abandonment and rejection, and Spivak supports that point by showing us the ideas mirrored throughout.

The Crazies

2009-10-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

I have to start of stating how much I enjoyed reading Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. It was full of imagery, culture, superstition, and structure. There were a few things that stood out to me as particularly interesting, you know, those things you underline for no real purpose other than to come back to later and ponder, or just because they are amusing. However, I must say that I read the first 20 pages before I remembered I was reading a novella for class and needed to pay attention to the details, it was just that easy to get wrapped up in! The first of these things that caught my interest was the way Christophine was referred to as “a Martinique obeah woman,” (WSS 17). I had never heard this reference before, so luckily there was a footnote describing it. Obeah being a woman who basically practices her “magic” to bring wealth and good fortune to her clients, it is clear why she is assigned this role. It adds to the perspective that the natives commonly engage in the practice of such superstitious activities. The second thing that really stood out to me as peculiar was something Antoinette portrays during her stay at the convent. Up to this point we have a pretty clear perspective of her characters thoughts and feelings towards her life and surroundings, then in one scene she shows something very opposite, “and my mother, whom I must forget and pray for as though she were dead, though she is living, liked to dress in white,” (WSS 33). As she is giving us a description of something completely unrelated, she throws in this line about her mother and her need to consider her mother as dead, when she knows she is still alive came off in a very different tone than the rest of her thoughts. I wonder if this new perspective was influenced by her new lifestyle and teaching there at the convent. This seems to be a point where her character goes though a big change.
Those are some of the interesting things I came across in the first half of this novella. I can’t wait to finish it!

Picture Perfect

2009-09-17T15:09:00.001-07:00

I am thoroughly happy to have completed this story and now be able to view it in its entirety. I have to say, this last portion was by far my favorite. It really brought together everything we have been studying and talking about in class in regards to colonization and its effects on the cultures that are imposed with an outsiders view and lifestyle. While reading this novella leading up to this section, I kept wondering when we were ever going to encounter the white man’s aggressions towards this tribe. As unfortunate as the events that occur were to the people of the Umuofia, it was a fantastic portrayal of the destructive effect that may take place when one culture imposes its lifestyle and beliefs on a people group of a different culture. And this is what I believe led Okonkwo to take his life, is the path to complete destruction of the traditions of their culture. He clearly found his identity in maintaining and fulfilling these traditions, so as he watched them slip away from the society of his homeland, he in turn saw and felt the imminent demise of himself. He no longer fit into the new society that was being built up around him in his own home. I have to say, I loved the last paragraph where the District Commissioner portrays the ignorance of the white man in what he has done through the process of colonization. As he reduces Okonkwo’s long and tumultuous life to a paragraph in a book, we are shown a clear picture of the differences of the “other”. That D.C. would never understand the passion of Okonkwo’s life because he is so far removed from his society, and that ignorance, though completely natural, keeps their worlds from ever finding true understanding. Most people hated what that last line did to the big picture, but I saw it as the perfect way to end what was blatantly a book about the irreconcilable differences of two cultures, especially when one culture is there to conquer the other.

Why not know more…

2009-09-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

Heart of Darkness has clearly been a highly controversial piece, however, as an accurate portrayal of a part of history that has been suppressed and glossed over, by European society, and the “other”, I think it is a highly educational novella for anyone to read. Clearly, we must take with a sense of objectivity the harsh and violent language Joseph Conrad uses, especially where it is aimed at the African natives. But this harsh language alone is no reason to avoid a book such as this. When reading literature from a different time, there always must be openness to the fact that the cultural norm the author is coming from is not always going to fit into the comfortable bubble we currently live in. This is part of what makes up studying history, and perspectives of those that came before us.
I fully agree with Miller when he explains how we should read Heart of Darkness, “as a powerful exemplary revelation of the ideology of capitalist imperialism, including its racism and sexism,” (HoD 474). It should be clear that we communicate internationally on a basis of sharing one culture with another, we will never be the same culture and we will all never fully acclimate to the perspectives of foreign societies. Therefore, we have literature and communication one person to another to imply these cultural differences. It is not for the reason of colonizing one another, but to objectively but openly view another society through the eyes of a stranger. Meanwhile always attempting to view the world through the eyes of the author, this is essentially why literature such as Heart of Darkness is created. To give eyes into the world that some will never gain on their own.

Some still compare

2009-09-08T00:15:00.000-07:00

Francis Galton wrote "The Comparative Worth of Different Races", in which he tries to convince us that we cannot compare one race to another. He argues that since we come from different social constructs and different cultures, the difference of our classes are not directly comparable, "the ability of class A of one race be equal to the ability of class C in another," (HoD 225). Galton therefore determines that we must still compare each race to one another, even if the system of comparison is not perfect. He regards that this breakdown of one race to another, is reason enough to raise the standard of expectation amongst these races to become equal with the highest race. "It seems to me more essential to the well-being of future generations, that the average standard of ability of the present time should be raised," (HoD 228). Given his perspective on each race maintaining an unequal level of existence, he informs us that the process of colonization proves to either destroy or reform a race and their culture. The affects of such an endeavor are seen in the Heart of Darkness in the way that Kurtz dominates the African jungle with his heavy handed control on every aspect of the natives’ lives and even existence. The natives are beaten and chained and forced into manual labor to the point of physical exhaustion and even death. This abuse, coming from a man of higher class according to Galton, is exploited in order to find his riches and therein gain even more control. Galton seems to believe that this sort of colonization can raise the level of a races social worth to a higher standard. However, Kurtz only brings destruction and demoralization to the African natives. This is hardly a productive effort of social transformation.

New School

2009-08-26T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
This is my first sememster at WSU. I am looking forward to getting back to school work again, this was a long summer and all these books should do the trick. However, I am not a blogger and this is my first one, so it will definately be interesting. I am suprised at the high level of internet use required by most of my classes, which is forcing me to purchase a new laptop, guess what I'll spend my Sunday doing =) Anyway, I'm excited to get the hang of all this. Good luck!