Blog Question #5:
In Chapter 31, on page 1542, the editors discuss "Archetypal (or myth) Criticism" which includes 'the quest.' Literary criticism by itself is pretty dry and incomplete, but in reading a story, poem, or play it miraculously leads the reader into that story, poem, or play. For instance, in Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," until one recognizes Kurst, not Marlowe as the character with the quest. Of course, Marlowe is on a physical quest for the superstar agent, Kurst, travelling into the deep jungle. He succeeds and finds Kurst. But it is Kurst who has and is travelling his own quest for power. Unfortunately, for him, he goes mad and finally dies after FAILING in his quest. His words, "the horror, the horror" tell us why he has failed. His quest is the notable one. His "heart of darkness" is corrupted and destroyed by the Congo's "heart of darkness."
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Blog Question #4:
I chose John Updike's "A & P" to discuss point-of-view. Maybe it appealed to me because I remember those stores. They were homey and smelled of coffee beans. So this story was made easier to picture given my memories.
It's told in first person with the voice of a teenage boy. This voice gives "A & P" its realism. Third person just wouldn't have had the impact of: "She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, were the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs." The reader can see the teenage boy with his eyes bugging out. A third-person narrator would have sounded a bit perverted. But not a teenage boy.
This teenage boy gives us a fly-on-the-wall picture of happenings in the store. Nothing seems to escape his voracious eyes. Then he surprises the reader by jumping into the scene himself, taking his knight-in-shiny-armor stance and quitting his job even though he knows he will regret it. And he tells the reader: "my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter." This kind of insight just wouldn't have been so personal and heartfelt from a third person narrator.
I chose John Updike's "A & P" to discuss point-of-view. Maybe it appealed to me because I remember those stores. They were homey and smelled of coffee beans. So this story was made easier to picture given my memories.
It's told in first person with the voice of a teenage boy. This voice gives "A & P" its realism. Third person just wouldn't have had the impact of: "She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, were the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs." The reader can see the teenage boy with his eyes bugging out. A third-person narrator would have sounded a bit perverted. But not a teenage boy.
This teenage boy gives us a fly-on-the-wall picture of happenings in the store. Nothing seems to escape his voracious eyes. Then he surprises the reader by jumping into the scene himself, taking his knight-in-shiny-armor stance and quitting his job even though he knows he will regret it. And he tells the reader: "my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter." This kind of insight just wouldn't have been so personal and heartfelt from a third person narrator.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Blog Question #3
I chose Anton Chekhov's "Misery" for a setting discussion.
This story is set in a time when horse-drawn carriages (or sledges) were vehicles to convey passengers--probably late 1800's. Since Chekhov died in 1904, this would be a time he'd be very familiar with. The time of day is the "twilight of evening."
The scene is an urban city in Russia. It's one "full of monstrous lights, of unceasing uproar and hurrying people." Large snowflakes "are whirling lazily about street lamps...and lying in a thin soft layer on roofs, horses' backs, shoulders, caps." It makes Iona looks "all white like a ghost." There is much traffic and pedestrians on the road. At one point, "A coachman driving a carriage swears at him, a pedestrian crossing the road and brushing the horse's nose with his shoulder looks at him angrily..." because Iona is having trouble negotiating the streets with so much traffic and heavy snow falling.
I chose Anton Chekhov's "Misery" for a setting discussion.
This story is set in a time when horse-drawn carriages (or sledges) were vehicles to convey passengers--probably late 1800's. Since Chekhov died in 1904, this would be a time he'd be very familiar with. The time of day is the "twilight of evening."
The scene is an urban city in Russia. It's one "full of monstrous lights, of unceasing uproar and hurrying people." Large snowflakes "are whirling lazily about street lamps...and lying in a thin soft layer on roofs, horses' backs, shoulders, caps." It makes Iona looks "all white like a ghost." There is much traffic and pedestrians on the road. At one point, "A coachman driving a carriage swears at him, a pedestrian crossing the road and brushing the horse's nose with his shoulder looks at him angrily..." because Iona is having trouble negotiating the streets with so much traffic and heavy snow falling.
Blog Question #2
The language in "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid makes the short piece very enjoyable to read and especially to read aloud. This piece concerns instructions from older adult (probably mother or grandmother) to young daughter. The words flow and one can hear the cadence of another culture/place. It could almost be sung.
Another reason this piece is enjoyable is hearing the poetry in the "mother's" words--the repetition of sounds and phrases. For example, alliteration is very present. "WASH the WHITE; BE SURE..BECAUSE; SMILE...SOMEONE." These poetic devices make the voice sing.
The language in "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid makes the short piece very enjoyable to read and especially to read aloud. This piece concerns instructions from older adult (probably mother or grandmother) to young daughter. The words flow and one can hear the cadence of another culture/place. It could almost be sung.
Another reason this piece is enjoyable is hearing the poetry in the "mother's" words--the repetition of sounds and phrases. For example, alliteration is very present. "WASH the WHITE; BE SURE..BECAUSE; SMILE...SOMEONE." These poetic devices make the voice sing.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Entry Blog #1 Chapter One
It might be easy to look at Robert Frost's "Immigrants" as a white male-chauvinist patting white folk on the back about their immigration from Anglo-Saxon Europe to found a New World. Also, it might be easy to look at Pat Mora's "Immigrants" as a non-white female worrying about the Other while discussing immigration. Both poems discuss immigration, but from different perspectives.
Robert Frost wrote his poem for a pageant in 1920, at Plymouth, Massachusetts to celebrate the Mayflower. Would he have written the poem differently if it had been for an Iroquois celebration? His poem ignores the Native Americans who called America home. His poem ignores the disease and death that the Mayflower immigrants brought to the inhabitants of the New World. He focuses on the celebration of the white dream exclusively.
On the other hand, Pat Mora, writing in 1986 from a Mexican-American's perspective, creates a poem in conflict between "hallo, babee, hallo," and the immigrants' dream to assimilate with the inhabitants of their New World. She points out that the immigrants "wrap their babies in the American flag."
One thing both of these poems have in common is their treatment of the female gender. Frost would ignore women and focus on his "Pilgrim manned" ships, and Mora would capitalize and celebrate the male child while using lower-case for the female child.
It might be easy to look at Robert Frost's "Immigrants" as a white male-chauvinist patting white folk on the back about their immigration from Anglo-Saxon Europe to found a New World. Also, it might be easy to look at Pat Mora's "Immigrants" as a non-white female worrying about the Other while discussing immigration. Both poems discuss immigration, but from different perspectives.
Robert Frost wrote his poem for a pageant in 1920, at Plymouth, Massachusetts to celebrate the Mayflower. Would he have written the poem differently if it had been for an Iroquois celebration? His poem ignores the Native Americans who called America home. His poem ignores the disease and death that the Mayflower immigrants brought to the inhabitants of the New World. He focuses on the celebration of the white dream exclusively.
On the other hand, Pat Mora, writing in 1986 from a Mexican-American's perspective, creates a poem in conflict between "hallo, babee, hallo," and the immigrants' dream to assimilate with the inhabitants of their New World. She points out that the immigrants "wrap their babies in the American flag."
One thing both of these poems have in common is their treatment of the female gender. Frost would ignore women and focus on his "Pilgrim manned" ships, and Mora would capitalize and celebrate the male child while using lower-case for the female child.
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