Discuss Erdrich’s style. How does she write against traditional Western ideas of language? Use examples from the text to explain your answers.
Louise Erdrich weaves a languid tale of Native American culture in a contemporary world with a starkly different approach to style than the traditional Western format. While her literary work is defined as a novel, it can also be perceived as a collection of short stories that share similar themes. Erdrich uses multiple perspectives and characters to tell the story of a diverse culture living in present day society.
Love Medicine is made up of fourteen stories, told by seven characters whose lives seem to overlap in both small and large ways. Each character is vastly different from the next, with their own past and present life events but they all share one thing in common: their Native American heritage. Erdrich is able to demonstrate different personalities and characteristics of many individuals but maintains the cultural background. This multi-perspective writing style is extremely different from the traditional solitary perspective and has its benefits. While the large amount of characters might become confusing, it is interesting to gain multiple points of view about one specific event. For example, the reader gets to witness both Nector and Marie’s day on the hill below the convent. We are shown both sides of the story, which adds a great deal of dimension. The audience is able to feel as if they are getting the entire story, which is sometimes difficult when a character is depicting an event in first person. It is easy to trust the narrator or a third person perspective who remains unbiased but when the reader is asked to believe a character’s rendition of a story, one might prefer to take it with a grain of salt. This depth is not only interesting but much more creditable.
In addition to the multiple perspectives, Erdrich strays away from the traditional writing style with an incredible accuracy to Native American dialect. She writes in a very fluid and lyrical manner throughout the entire novel but emphasizes the poetic language in the dialogue. Erdrich received countless letters complimenting her on the exactness of the Native American’s language. While not all characters tell their stories in first person, the lyrical tone of each chapter provides a rich and realistic account of the lives of these Native Americans, which was very impressive to critics and readers alike.
Erdrich was also able to draw connections from character to character but still focus on their personal events and endings. In a traditional novel, there is only one ending and it lies on the very last page. This is not so in Love Medicine. Each character comes to their own conclusion and at very different parts of the novel. Even so, Erdrich places Lipsha’s story at the very end of her novel because his conclusion acts as not only the end of a personal journey but the claim to identity that weaves throughout the entire novel. When Lipsha gets into his brothers car to “cross the water and bring her home”, he is realizing and accepting his culture in addition to taking his mother’s spirit back to the reservation where they both belong.
Even though it is difficult to decide whether this literary piece is a novel or a collection of short stories, it is a powerful step away from the traditional Western writing style. Louise Erdrich explores new and powerful avenues and by doing so, has created a innovative and multi-dimensional masterpiece.
WORK CITED.
Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1984. Print.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Breath, Eyes, Memory
Do a character summary of Sophie’s character. What are the obstacles that Sophie must overcome? Using examples and quotes from the text, describe how Sophie fares in this quest. What does she draw from in order to overcome her problems?
From the brilliant mind of Edwidge Danticat comes Sophie Caco, a young Haitian girl whose life is split into a million different pieces, overloaded with countless obstacles, and challenged by the culture and generational practices that surround her. She is the strong and forgiving woman whose life progression is illustrated in the novel Breath, Eyes, Memory. In this story, Sophie is forced to embrace a relationship with the mother that gave her away as well as adapt to a new and vastly different society. She must overcome the traditional practices of ‘testing’ and work to gain control of her own body. This is a character that battles many rigorous and painful hardships.
The reader follows Sophie’s journey at a slight distance. She often expresses her emotions, but never seems to reveal herself completely. Frequently, Sophie depicts herself in the third person and provides little or no explanations. Her story reads very much like a script, lacking in emotional intimacy. This speaks volumes about the type of person Sophie is. Not only does she disguise her true feelings from the reader, she hides them from herself. When her mother ‘tests’ her, she avoids confronting her true emotions by ‘doubling’. She places herself in a different dimension, where all things are beautiful and painless. This removes her from a situation where she feels extremely violated, uncomfortable, and emotionally distraught. She also utilizes this doubling mechanism in other scenarios when she begins to feel a sense of pain. When Sophie first arrives in New York and is dining with her mother and her mother’s significant other, she feels incredibly awkward and lost, not sure where she fits into the equation. “When they looked up from their plates, my mother and Marc eyed each other like there were things they couldn't say because of my presence. I tried to stuff myself and keep quiet, pretending that I couldn't even see them. My mother now had two lives: Marc belonged to her present life, I was a living memory from her past” (56). By pretending that she couldn’t see the two of them, she places herself in an imaginary world devoid of her mother and this new life she has so abruptly been thrown into. Sophie lives her own life at a distance, refusing to cope with any of her emotions. This is why she later visits a therapist in order to confront the feelings she has trained herself never to experience.
In addition to ‘testing’, Sophie is succumbed to many other obstacles. She is forced to find a balance between two cultures: her Haitian upbringing and the present America. She feels pressure from American society to be thin so she becomes bulimic. This is one of the ways she tries to take control of her own body. She later returns to Haiti to become healthy and to rediscover her happiness as well as reactivate her cultural memory. She feels she has lost a sense of herself due to her mother and the American society. She strives to rebuild herself as a whole instead of living her life split into thousands of pieces. Sophie also struggles with the imperfections of her mother who violates her emotionally and physically. “As a child, the mother I imagined for myself was like Erzulie, the lavish Virgin Mother. She was the healer of all women and the desire of all men…Even though she was far away, she was always with me. I could always count on her, like one counts on the sun coming out at dawn” (59). Sophie must overcome her wishes and desires and learn to accept the reality of her mother. A part of her journey is learning to cope with the abuse and working toward forgiveness. In the third part of the novel, the reader sees a major growth when Sophie’s therapist asks if she hates her mother and she replies, “She wants to be good to be now…and I want to accept it” (207).
Even though Sophie’s mother and her cultural differences are large road blocks, perhaps the most prominent struggle of all is her search for womanhood. In the very last pages of the novel, Sophie’s grandmother tells her a girl can only become a woman when her mother passes before her. Therefore, the burial of Sophie’s mother opens the door to her womanhood. She accepts the reality of all that has been and is now able to move forward. “There is always a place where, if you listen closely in the night, you will hear your mother telling a story and at the end of the tale, she will ask you this question: ‘Ou libere?’ Are you free, my daughter?’ My grandmother quickly pressed her finger over my lips. ‘Now,’ she said, ‘you will know how to answer” (234). Sophie forgives her mother, embraces her culture, and becomes a woman: she has overcome it all.
WORK CITED.
Danticat, Edwidge. Breath, Eyes, Memory. New York: Vintage Books, 1998. Print.
From the brilliant mind of Edwidge Danticat comes Sophie Caco, a young Haitian girl whose life is split into a million different pieces, overloaded with countless obstacles, and challenged by the culture and generational practices that surround her. She is the strong and forgiving woman whose life progression is illustrated in the novel Breath, Eyes, Memory. In this story, Sophie is forced to embrace a relationship with the mother that gave her away as well as adapt to a new and vastly different society. She must overcome the traditional practices of ‘testing’ and work to gain control of her own body. This is a character that battles many rigorous and painful hardships.
The reader follows Sophie’s journey at a slight distance. She often expresses her emotions, but never seems to reveal herself completely. Frequently, Sophie depicts herself in the third person and provides little or no explanations. Her story reads very much like a script, lacking in emotional intimacy. This speaks volumes about the type of person Sophie is. Not only does she disguise her true feelings from the reader, she hides them from herself. When her mother ‘tests’ her, she avoids confronting her true emotions by ‘doubling’. She places herself in a different dimension, where all things are beautiful and painless. This removes her from a situation where she feels extremely violated, uncomfortable, and emotionally distraught. She also utilizes this doubling mechanism in other scenarios when she begins to feel a sense of pain. When Sophie first arrives in New York and is dining with her mother and her mother’s significant other, she feels incredibly awkward and lost, not sure where she fits into the equation. “When they looked up from their plates, my mother and Marc eyed each other like there were things they couldn't say because of my presence. I tried to stuff myself and keep quiet, pretending that I couldn't even see them. My mother now had two lives: Marc belonged to her present life, I was a living memory from her past” (56). By pretending that she couldn’t see the two of them, she places herself in an imaginary world devoid of her mother and this new life she has so abruptly been thrown into. Sophie lives her own life at a distance, refusing to cope with any of her emotions. This is why she later visits a therapist in order to confront the feelings she has trained herself never to experience.
In addition to ‘testing’, Sophie is succumbed to many other obstacles. She is forced to find a balance between two cultures: her Haitian upbringing and the present America. She feels pressure from American society to be thin so she becomes bulimic. This is one of the ways she tries to take control of her own body. She later returns to Haiti to become healthy and to rediscover her happiness as well as reactivate her cultural memory. She feels she has lost a sense of herself due to her mother and the American society. She strives to rebuild herself as a whole instead of living her life split into thousands of pieces. Sophie also struggles with the imperfections of her mother who violates her emotionally and physically. “As a child, the mother I imagined for myself was like Erzulie, the lavish Virgin Mother. She was the healer of all women and the desire of all men…Even though she was far away, she was always with me. I could always count on her, like one counts on the sun coming out at dawn” (59). Sophie must overcome her wishes and desires and learn to accept the reality of her mother. A part of her journey is learning to cope with the abuse and working toward forgiveness. In the third part of the novel, the reader sees a major growth when Sophie’s therapist asks if she hates her mother and she replies, “She wants to be good to be now…and I want to accept it” (207).
Even though Sophie’s mother and her cultural differences are large road blocks, perhaps the most prominent struggle of all is her search for womanhood. In the very last pages of the novel, Sophie’s grandmother tells her a girl can only become a woman when her mother passes before her. Therefore, the burial of Sophie’s mother opens the door to her womanhood. She accepts the reality of all that has been and is now able to move forward. “There is always a place where, if you listen closely in the night, you will hear your mother telling a story and at the end of the tale, she will ask you this question: ‘Ou libere?’ Are you free, my daughter?’ My grandmother quickly pressed her finger over my lips. ‘Now,’ she said, ‘you will know how to answer” (234). Sophie forgives her mother, embraces her culture, and becomes a woman: she has overcome it all.
WORK CITED.
Danticat, Edwidge. Breath, Eyes, Memory. New York: Vintage Books, 1998. Print.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The Color Purple
Discuss the form Alice Walker uses for this novel. What is this “novel of letters” called in literature? Why do you think Walker writes the novel this way? What advantages or disadvantages does it give her?
Alice Walker utilizes an interesting and less common form for her novel, The Color Purple. Instead of allowing it to read as a story, she places the reader in a secret and exclusive world where an author no longer exists. She removes the wall between the reader and the paper back cover. Walker places a stack of letters into the audience’s hands and encourages a personal experience, right alongside Celie and Nettie. This form, this “novel of letters” has been titled an epistolary novel.
This genre of writing originated in the eighteenth century and is often used to write about women and their personal concerns, seeing as a letter or diary entry is an intimate and secretive outlet. “Female characters in the novels often wrestle with sexual temptation and moral propriety and find that the only way to express themselves honestly and thoroughly is by confiding in a trusted friend through letters” (The Epistolary Novel). Alice Walker uses this form to her greatest advantage. By writing in a form of letters, her characters are able to express themselves openly and freely, providing the reader with a first hand account of their story. Walker is also able to establish several different relationships with the reader by alternating perspectives and characters without getting in the way. She removes herself from the entire picture, creating dimension and a great sense of credibility. The reader is able to witness the various actions and desires of both Celie and Nettie and connect the dots on one’s own terms throughout the novel.
Walker also uses this form of writing to stress the strength and power of communication. Both women grow stronger through their letters but are only saved when they are finally reconnected and able to express themselves to a listening audience. For example, Nettie begins to feel lost and confused when she doesn’t receive responses from her sister Celie. The reader sees her motivations and desires fade and alter themselves until she is rejoined with Celie. It is then that we witness a type of growth and implementation from Nettie, she is finally free. Walker paints a similar scenario with her character, Celie, who loses her faith and free will when she assumes her sister dead. It is when Shug Avery assists Celie in finding Nettie’s hidden letters that everything begins to change for her. She finds strength in communication and in turn, an open window to independence.
Another interesting reason as to why Walker chooses to write her novel in the epistolary form is to illustrate the similarities and differences between African Americans in Africa and the United States. Nettie writes her letters from Africa where she depicts the great amount of oppression of black people, especially black women. This parallels Celie’s experience in Georgia but by a much smaller degree. The reader is able to travel and understand the culture of two geographical locations, which affect both characters’ growth throughout the novel.
While there are many advantages to writing a novel in the epistolary form, many critics claim that because there are various perspectives, it becomes impossible not to compare. Many find Nettie’s letters to be much less interesting than Celie’s and therefore difficult to absorb. This dramatically reduces the pace of the novel and therefore becomes less affective. Another disadvantage is the lack of time. Although Walker does mention several musical artists of that time to put these characters on the map, she does not feel the necessity to provide dates. This allows her to warp, twist, and jump in time but has a tendency to confuse the reader and therefore disrupt the fluidity of the story.
A “novel of letters” might seem like a bold and difficult avenue, but Alice Walker does an impeccable job. The Color Purple would not be the incredible story it is without the vitality and personal struggle of the characters at arm’s length for the reader. Although there are criticisms, I find this epistolary novel to be stimulating and emotionally accessible.
WORK CITED
The Epistolary Novel Criticism. E-Notes, n.d. Web. 22 October 2009.
Dice, Paul. Does Alice Walker’s The Color Purple work successfully as an epistolary novel?. Helium, n.d. Web. 22 October 2009.
Alice Walker utilizes an interesting and less common form for her novel, The Color Purple. Instead of allowing it to read as a story, she places the reader in a secret and exclusive world where an author no longer exists. She removes the wall between the reader and the paper back cover. Walker places a stack of letters into the audience’s hands and encourages a personal experience, right alongside Celie and Nettie. This form, this “novel of letters” has been titled an epistolary novel.
This genre of writing originated in the eighteenth century and is often used to write about women and their personal concerns, seeing as a letter or diary entry is an intimate and secretive outlet. “Female characters in the novels often wrestle with sexual temptation and moral propriety and find that the only way to express themselves honestly and thoroughly is by confiding in a trusted friend through letters” (The Epistolary Novel). Alice Walker uses this form to her greatest advantage. By writing in a form of letters, her characters are able to express themselves openly and freely, providing the reader with a first hand account of their story. Walker is also able to establish several different relationships with the reader by alternating perspectives and characters without getting in the way. She removes herself from the entire picture, creating dimension and a great sense of credibility. The reader is able to witness the various actions and desires of both Celie and Nettie and connect the dots on one’s own terms throughout the novel.
Walker also uses this form of writing to stress the strength and power of communication. Both women grow stronger through their letters but are only saved when they are finally reconnected and able to express themselves to a listening audience. For example, Nettie begins to feel lost and confused when she doesn’t receive responses from her sister Celie. The reader sees her motivations and desires fade and alter themselves until she is rejoined with Celie. It is then that we witness a type of growth and implementation from Nettie, she is finally free. Walker paints a similar scenario with her character, Celie, who loses her faith and free will when she assumes her sister dead. It is when Shug Avery assists Celie in finding Nettie’s hidden letters that everything begins to change for her. She finds strength in communication and in turn, an open window to independence.
Another interesting reason as to why Walker chooses to write her novel in the epistolary form is to illustrate the similarities and differences between African Americans in Africa and the United States. Nettie writes her letters from Africa where she depicts the great amount of oppression of black people, especially black women. This parallels Celie’s experience in Georgia but by a much smaller degree. The reader is able to travel and understand the culture of two geographical locations, which affect both characters’ growth throughout the novel.
While there are many advantages to writing a novel in the epistolary form, many critics claim that because there are various perspectives, it becomes impossible not to compare. Many find Nettie’s letters to be much less interesting than Celie’s and therefore difficult to absorb. This dramatically reduces the pace of the novel and therefore becomes less affective. Another disadvantage is the lack of time. Although Walker does mention several musical artists of that time to put these characters on the map, she does not feel the necessity to provide dates. This allows her to warp, twist, and jump in time but has a tendency to confuse the reader and therefore disrupt the fluidity of the story.
A “novel of letters” might seem like a bold and difficult avenue, but Alice Walker does an impeccable job. The Color Purple would not be the incredible story it is without the vitality and personal struggle of the characters at arm’s length for the reader. Although there are criticisms, I find this epistolary novel to be stimulating and emotionally accessible.
WORK CITED
The Epistolary Novel Criticism. E-Notes, n.d. Web. 22 October 2009.
Dice, Paul. Does Alice Walker’s The Color Purple work successfully as an epistolary novel?. Helium, n.d. Web. 22 October 2009.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Howl
Do some research on the history, reception, and legacy of the "Beat Generation," of which this poem is a part. Use quotes and works cited in your answer.
The “Beat Generation” began to originate in 1952 with John Clellon Holmes’ novel Go, but caught the public’s attention in 1956 when Allen Ginsberg introduced his gritty and daring poem, Howl, to the world. Its racy and scandalous content not only mustered a great amount of attention but obscenity charges, which were later dropped. Many claim that Ginsberg’s reading of Howl was the beginning of it all. His poem objected the traditional literature and social norm of that time. It defied the unwritten rules and regulations and explored fresh, seedy avenues. Allen Ginsberg used his prose to throw the literary world into a vicious shock and in turn, jump-start a cultural phenomenon.
Participants in this “Beat Generation” worked to battle against social conformity and traditional styles of writing. They used their literary pieces to question mainstream politics and culture. With the end of World War II came repair techniques to get society back on its feet. Television began to paint portraits of extremely functional families that could never exist in real life. Many products were being introduced to the market with an advertising gimmick that promised to make life better. The Beatniks, as they were often called, opposed this disillusionment. They encouraged self-discovery through drug use, casual sex, Buddhism, and music. These authors were not concerned with pleasing the world they brought their literature into but shattering the rigid society that surrounded them. “Ginsberg's willingness to experiment with his writing and break social taboos made him one of the key figures of the Beat generation, a movement aimed at breaking the conformist and often stifling atmosphere of the late 1940s and 1950s” (Groundbreaking Book).
When reading literary works from the “Beat Generation”, it is apparent that the authors didn’t hesitate to write exactly what they felt; sexual escapades, homosexuality and drug use were favored topics. Many authors utilized drugs when writing to achieve a sort of transcendentalism, including Ginsberg. Howl was actually inspired by his stay in a mental hospital where he had a peyote-induced vision. He imagined the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, California turned into Moloch, the Phoenician God and sacrificed children by fire. "Society had no room for the crazy people or the people of genius or anyone who is different," Morgan said. "That's what he is raging about in 'Howl” (Stetler). The “Beat Generation” embraced the people society rejected, which often earned them a negative stereotype. They were thought of as people dressed in all black, with incredibly pale skin, who spent all of their time in coffee shops reading poetry or walking around town muttering obscene poetry under their breath. Although the stereotype was just an accusation, one characteristic held true. Most of the authors did spend the majority of their time in coffee shops exchanging pieces with one another, often making them up on the spot. “'Howl' and other pieces composed for this type of performance are better heard and understood aloud - this type of poetry is known as spoken word poetry, and still goes on today in coffee houses across the world” (The Beat Generation). This spoken word improvisation had a direct correlation to the jazz music of that time. Artists such as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis centered their music around extemporization. Beatniks attempted to write their words just as they heard jazz music.
This exploratory generation of authors brought an entirely fresh approach to literature. Things that were always dubbed taboo were now words on a page. Ideas that were unspoken were yelled into the streets. Society was challenged by the “Beat Generation”, the generation that all begun with one public reading. “'Howl' was the poem by Allen Ginsberg that really brought the Beat movement into the world. There is rhythm in it, and it is full of free-association and an accurate (depending on how you look at it) portrayal of American disillusionment” (The Beat Generation).
WORKS CITED
The Beat Generation. BBC, 27 May 2002. Web. 16 October 2009.
Groundbreaking Book: Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg (1955). The Academy of American Poets. Web. 16 October 2009.
Stetler, Carrie. “Howl” at 50: Beat Generation’s Cry. The Seattle Times Company, 6 November 2006. Web. 16 October 2009.
The “Beat Generation” began to originate in 1952 with John Clellon Holmes’ novel Go, but caught the public’s attention in 1956 when Allen Ginsberg introduced his gritty and daring poem, Howl, to the world. Its racy and scandalous content not only mustered a great amount of attention but obscenity charges, which were later dropped. Many claim that Ginsberg’s reading of Howl was the beginning of it all. His poem objected the traditional literature and social norm of that time. It defied the unwritten rules and regulations and explored fresh, seedy avenues. Allen Ginsberg used his prose to throw the literary world into a vicious shock and in turn, jump-start a cultural phenomenon.
Participants in this “Beat Generation” worked to battle against social conformity and traditional styles of writing. They used their literary pieces to question mainstream politics and culture. With the end of World War II came repair techniques to get society back on its feet. Television began to paint portraits of extremely functional families that could never exist in real life. Many products were being introduced to the market with an advertising gimmick that promised to make life better. The Beatniks, as they were often called, opposed this disillusionment. They encouraged self-discovery through drug use, casual sex, Buddhism, and music. These authors were not concerned with pleasing the world they brought their literature into but shattering the rigid society that surrounded them. “Ginsberg's willingness to experiment with his writing and break social taboos made him one of the key figures of the Beat generation, a movement aimed at breaking the conformist and often stifling atmosphere of the late 1940s and 1950s” (Groundbreaking Book).
When reading literary works from the “Beat Generation”, it is apparent that the authors didn’t hesitate to write exactly what they felt; sexual escapades, homosexuality and drug use were favored topics. Many authors utilized drugs when writing to achieve a sort of transcendentalism, including Ginsberg. Howl was actually inspired by his stay in a mental hospital where he had a peyote-induced vision. He imagined the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, California turned into Moloch, the Phoenician God and sacrificed children by fire. "Society had no room for the crazy people or the people of genius or anyone who is different," Morgan said. "That's what he is raging about in 'Howl” (Stetler). The “Beat Generation” embraced the people society rejected, which often earned them a negative stereotype. They were thought of as people dressed in all black, with incredibly pale skin, who spent all of their time in coffee shops reading poetry or walking around town muttering obscene poetry under their breath. Although the stereotype was just an accusation, one characteristic held true. Most of the authors did spend the majority of their time in coffee shops exchanging pieces with one another, often making them up on the spot. “'Howl' and other pieces composed for this type of performance are better heard and understood aloud - this type of poetry is known as spoken word poetry, and still goes on today in coffee houses across the world” (The Beat Generation). This spoken word improvisation had a direct correlation to the jazz music of that time. Artists such as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis centered their music around extemporization. Beatniks attempted to write their words just as they heard jazz music.
This exploratory generation of authors brought an entirely fresh approach to literature. Things that were always dubbed taboo were now words on a page. Ideas that were unspoken were yelled into the streets. Society was challenged by the “Beat Generation”, the generation that all begun with one public reading. “'Howl' was the poem by Allen Ginsberg that really brought the Beat movement into the world. There is rhythm in it, and it is full of free-association and an accurate (depending on how you look at it) portrayal of American disillusionment” (The Beat Generation).
WORKS CITED
The Beat Generation. BBC, 27 May 2002. Web. 16 October 2009.
Groundbreaking Book: Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg (1955). The Academy of American Poets. Web. 16 October 2009.
Stetler, Carrie. “Howl” at 50: Beat Generation’s Cry. The Seattle Times Company, 6 November 2006. Web. 16 October 2009.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Using quotes from the text, chart Janie's character growth through the course of the novel. Show how her character changes over time.
“It’s uh known fact, Pheoby, you got tuh go there tuh know there. Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh themselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves” (183). The character, Janie, from Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is often referred to in literature as a character that makes dramatic discoveries while embarking on a personal journey to find spiritual enlightenment and a strong sense of identity. She is credited for disrupting gender roles and developing an astonishing sense of independence. Not only can a reader chart her growth throughout the novel through her three husbands which act as pillars in the backbone of this novel, but her use of language and discovery of her own voice.
In the beginning of this novel, Janie is skeptical of who she is as a person and woman of the world. She is also unsure of what she wants to make of herself. Her personal journey begins when she has a revelation under the blossoming pear tree. The pear tree symbolizes a harmony within nature, which Janie longs to be a part of. She often refers to the perfect type of love as a harmony of both souls and the nature that surrounds them. “She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree…She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid” (32). This marriage of nature initiates her desire to unearth this harmony and begin growing as a woman.
The first growth the reader sees in Janie is after another perfect day with Joe Sparks. He tells her how fond he is of her and that he wishes she would leave Logan and run away with him. That evening, Janie reveals that she will never worship Logan the way that he wishes. She leaves their home and sets off to meet Sparks to begin their life together. “The morning road air was like a new dress…she came to where Joe Sparks was waiting for her with a hired rig. He was very solemn and helped her to the seat beside him. With him on it, it sat like some high, ruling chair. From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything. A bee for her bloom” (61). She has opened a new chapter of her life, moved on to the second landmark of the novel – her marriage to Jody. She immediately celebrates her freedom and hopefulness to experience love just as she imagined, which is why she describes her new life sprinkled with flower dust and springtime, a perfect description of harmony with nature.
Unfortunately, Janie once again, finds herself restricted. Jody forces her to wear her beautiful hair in a wrap while she works in the shop, a symbol of her free will clouded and smothered. When Joe Sparks is near death, Janie uses her reserved power to verbally lash out at him, a sign of finding her voice. Once Joe passes, Janie “[tears] off the kerchief from her head and let[s] down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there” (104). Even though she found herself halted by a male obstacle, she continues to grow through her voice and free will.
When Janie meets Tea Cake, the reader feels Janie has found the man who is able to harmonize with her and nature. "Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place" (122). It becomes apparent that Janie progresses further with her inner voice. She is now able to control her speech and able to be silent when she chooses. When Janie is talking to Pheoby, she tells her that talking doesn’t amount to anything unless it is connected to actual experience. She has not only discovered who she is and what she wants to do with her life but what part of her voice is most important to share. After Tea Cake passes, Janie returns to Eatonville, prepared for the gossip and rejection of her own community. In the beginning of the novel, the negative opinions of the women on the porches would have greatly affected her but instead she pities them. Janie tells Pheoby that she has been to the horizon and back and has experienced true love, something that none of the woman can claim. The story of her journey has been told, through her voice of independence, experience, and new found harmony; harmony not between a man and herself, but between herself and nature.
WORK CITED
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. Book.
“It’s uh known fact, Pheoby, you got tuh go there tuh know there. Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh themselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves” (183). The character, Janie, from Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is often referred to in literature as a character that makes dramatic discoveries while embarking on a personal journey to find spiritual enlightenment and a strong sense of identity. She is credited for disrupting gender roles and developing an astonishing sense of independence. Not only can a reader chart her growth throughout the novel through her three husbands which act as pillars in the backbone of this novel, but her use of language and discovery of her own voice.
In the beginning of this novel, Janie is skeptical of who she is as a person and woman of the world. She is also unsure of what she wants to make of herself. Her personal journey begins when she has a revelation under the blossoming pear tree. The pear tree symbolizes a harmony within nature, which Janie longs to be a part of. She often refers to the perfect type of love as a harmony of both souls and the nature that surrounds them. “She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree…She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid” (32). This marriage of nature initiates her desire to unearth this harmony and begin growing as a woman.
The first growth the reader sees in Janie is after another perfect day with Joe Sparks. He tells her how fond he is of her and that he wishes she would leave Logan and run away with him. That evening, Janie reveals that she will never worship Logan the way that he wishes. She leaves their home and sets off to meet Sparks to begin their life together. “The morning road air was like a new dress…she came to where Joe Sparks was waiting for her with a hired rig. He was very solemn and helped her to the seat beside him. With him on it, it sat like some high, ruling chair. From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything. A bee for her bloom” (61). She has opened a new chapter of her life, moved on to the second landmark of the novel – her marriage to Jody. She immediately celebrates her freedom and hopefulness to experience love just as she imagined, which is why she describes her new life sprinkled with flower dust and springtime, a perfect description of harmony with nature.
Unfortunately, Janie once again, finds herself restricted. Jody forces her to wear her beautiful hair in a wrap while she works in the shop, a symbol of her free will clouded and smothered. When Joe Sparks is near death, Janie uses her reserved power to verbally lash out at him, a sign of finding her voice. Once Joe passes, Janie “[tears] off the kerchief from her head and let[s] down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there” (104). Even though she found herself halted by a male obstacle, she continues to grow through her voice and free will.
When Janie meets Tea Cake, the reader feels Janie has found the man who is able to harmonize with her and nature. "Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place" (122). It becomes apparent that Janie progresses further with her inner voice. She is now able to control her speech and able to be silent when she chooses. When Janie is talking to Pheoby, she tells her that talking doesn’t amount to anything unless it is connected to actual experience. She has not only discovered who she is and what she wants to do with her life but what part of her voice is most important to share. After Tea Cake passes, Janie returns to Eatonville, prepared for the gossip and rejection of her own community. In the beginning of the novel, the negative opinions of the women on the porches would have greatly affected her but instead she pities them. Janie tells Pheoby that she has been to the horizon and back and has experienced true love, something that none of the woman can claim. The story of her journey has been told, through her voice of independence, experience, and new found harmony; harmony not between a man and herself, but between herself and nature.
WORK CITED
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. Book.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The Sun Also Rises
Using our class notes, discuss how this text is representative of the Avant Garde movement in American Literature (lecture will be given the day we start discussing the book). Use quotes from the text to back up your answer.
When one thinks of the term Avant Garde, they might envision an eccentric evening gown birthed from four yards of purple leather and littered with various pieces of warped silverware. Or perhaps they might think of an incredible piece of art, where a stocky man in a trench coat is surrounded by an orange ball, a typewriter, and a poster of the human anatomy. Would one ever dream to think of Ernest Hemingway’s famous novel, The Sun Also Rises as Avant Garde? While there may not be any orange balls or warped silverware, Hemingway crafted his novel in opposition to the norm. He embraced this Avant Garde movement, also referred to as Dadaism, through his fresh way of writing dialogue, his characters, and his style of writing.
One of Hemingway’s most notorious characteristics is the way he writes his dialogue between characters. While most authors of that time were still including ‘she exclaimed’ and ‘he screamed furiously” to display emotion and create fluidity, Hemingway was cutting out the middleman and just writing raw dialogue. “ ‘If our money comes and you’re sure you don’t mind.’ ‘ It will come, all right. I’ll see to that.’ ‘Tell me what tackle to send for.’ ‘Get two or three rods with reels, and lines, and some flies.’ ‘I won’t fish,’ Brett put in” (Hemingway, 88). The Avant Garde movement in literature was all about making it new and making things different. It was a movement that was created in response to post-World War I. “Dada was not art; it was anti-art. For everything that art stood for, Dada was to represent the opposite” (Dadaism). Ernest Hemingway went against the grain with this type of distant and static writing. He simplified the way his characters spoke to one another and through this created a new type of fragmented dialogue that was innovative and extremely Avant Garde.
Another fresh approach used in The Sun Also Rises are the characters Hemingway created. Perhaps the most Avant Garde character is Lady Brett Ashley. She represented the new, modern woman who had short hair, made sexual advances, and called men ‘chap’. This was not something the world had seen before. They were used to the traditional woman, one that obeyed her husband and only took interest in the household and the upbringing of her children. Hemingway gave Brett opinions and an incredible amount of zest. Not only did he choose to make her vivaciously bold, but he chose to position her in a desirable light. If the reader did not favor Brett and her actions, perhaps they would think differently when they read about the countless amount of men that were intoxicated by her presence. Perhaps women would begin thinking that this is what one must do to receive such an incredible amount of attention and devotion. “Brett was damn good-looking. She wore a slipover jersey sweater and a tweed skirt, and her hair was brushed back like a boy’s. She started all that. She was built with curves like the hull of a racing yacht, and you missed none of it with that wool jersey” (Hemingway 30).
Besides the way Hemingway wrote dialogue and created his characters, he also had an extremely distinct and new way of writing. He included many fissures and a great deal of fragmentation. There is a very discontinuous style to his writing, where he interchangeably alters the point of view and ignores the idea of conventional time. It is a very distant style of writing, which creates a great deal of space between the author and the reader. “With the order of the world destroyed by World War I, Dada was a way to express the confusion that was felt by many people as their world was turned upside down” (Dadaism). This Avant Garde movement was centered on self-expression and conveying emotions through pieces of art. Hemingway’s modern style of writing was perhaps a way to express his own confusion in the post-World War I era. He focused not on creating connections, which made his novel easy to digest, but wrote it in a way that he himself felt; scattered, distant, and passionate.
While The Sun Also Rises might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the term Avant Garde, it was an American staple in the ‘make it new’ modernism movement. By way of Hemingway’s dialogue, characters, and style, he set a new foot into the literature world, changing history.
WORKS CITED.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1926. Print.
n.a., Dadaism Art. HuntFor, 2007. Web. 24 September 2009.
When one thinks of the term Avant Garde, they might envision an eccentric evening gown birthed from four yards of purple leather and littered with various pieces of warped silverware. Or perhaps they might think of an incredible piece of art, where a stocky man in a trench coat is surrounded by an orange ball, a typewriter, and a poster of the human anatomy. Would one ever dream to think of Ernest Hemingway’s famous novel, The Sun Also Rises as Avant Garde? While there may not be any orange balls or warped silverware, Hemingway crafted his novel in opposition to the norm. He embraced this Avant Garde movement, also referred to as Dadaism, through his fresh way of writing dialogue, his characters, and his style of writing.
One of Hemingway’s most notorious characteristics is the way he writes his dialogue between characters. While most authors of that time were still including ‘she exclaimed’ and ‘he screamed furiously” to display emotion and create fluidity, Hemingway was cutting out the middleman and just writing raw dialogue. “ ‘If our money comes and you’re sure you don’t mind.’ ‘ It will come, all right. I’ll see to that.’ ‘Tell me what tackle to send for.’ ‘Get two or three rods with reels, and lines, and some flies.’ ‘I won’t fish,’ Brett put in” (Hemingway, 88). The Avant Garde movement in literature was all about making it new and making things different. It was a movement that was created in response to post-World War I. “Dada was not art; it was anti-art. For everything that art stood for, Dada was to represent the opposite” (Dadaism). Ernest Hemingway went against the grain with this type of distant and static writing. He simplified the way his characters spoke to one another and through this created a new type of fragmented dialogue that was innovative and extremely Avant Garde.
Another fresh approach used in The Sun Also Rises are the characters Hemingway created. Perhaps the most Avant Garde character is Lady Brett Ashley. She represented the new, modern woman who had short hair, made sexual advances, and called men ‘chap’. This was not something the world had seen before. They were used to the traditional woman, one that obeyed her husband and only took interest in the household and the upbringing of her children. Hemingway gave Brett opinions and an incredible amount of zest. Not only did he choose to make her vivaciously bold, but he chose to position her in a desirable light. If the reader did not favor Brett and her actions, perhaps they would think differently when they read about the countless amount of men that were intoxicated by her presence. Perhaps women would begin thinking that this is what one must do to receive such an incredible amount of attention and devotion. “Brett was damn good-looking. She wore a slipover jersey sweater and a tweed skirt, and her hair was brushed back like a boy’s. She started all that. She was built with curves like the hull of a racing yacht, and you missed none of it with that wool jersey” (Hemingway 30).
Besides the way Hemingway wrote dialogue and created his characters, he also had an extremely distinct and new way of writing. He included many fissures and a great deal of fragmentation. There is a very discontinuous style to his writing, where he interchangeably alters the point of view and ignores the idea of conventional time. It is a very distant style of writing, which creates a great deal of space between the author and the reader. “With the order of the world destroyed by World War I, Dada was a way to express the confusion that was felt by many people as their world was turned upside down” (Dadaism). This Avant Garde movement was centered on self-expression and conveying emotions through pieces of art. Hemingway’s modern style of writing was perhaps a way to express his own confusion in the post-World War I era. He focused not on creating connections, which made his novel easy to digest, but wrote it in a way that he himself felt; scattered, distant, and passionate.
While The Sun Also Rises might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the term Avant Garde, it was an American staple in the ‘make it new’ modernism movement. By way of Hemingway’s dialogue, characters, and style, he set a new foot into the literature world, changing history.
WORKS CITED.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1926. Print.
n.a., Dadaism Art. HuntFor, 2007. Web. 24 September 2009.
Friday, September 18, 2009
O Pioneers
Write a blog that is an excerpt from Alexandra’s diary. Use page numbers at the end of each entry so that I know exactly where you are in the text for each.
Dearest Diary,
I have come to a realization. I have come up with the idea that will save us all. I realized it when I visited the river farms. I learned so much from the people there, about their crops, their poultry, and even talked to a young man who was growing a new type of clover hay. But as soon as Emil and I started on our journey back to The Divide, I realized how wonderful our land is. Not only because The Divide has just as much to offer, but because this is Dad’s land. The land he gave to me to take care of. As soon as I saw our land, I began to swell with happiness. I couldn’t control the wide grin that spread across my face, I’m sure Emil was curious as to why. I even began to hum! Hum! It’d been a while that I felt this sure and positive that things would work out.
That afternoon, when we arrived at home, I called a family council. I told my brothers about what I saw and tried to convince them that the river farms didn’t even compare to what we had here in The Divide. Before I talked to them, I came up with a solution in my head. We could sell our cattle and the little amount of corn we had left and buy the Linstrum place. Then we could take out two loans and buy Peter Crow’s place, continue to raise all the money we can, and buy ever acre we can lay our hands on. It was bound to work! Once I presented this idea to Lou and Oscar, they responded furiously. I was so prepared for them to be shocked by the idea, but I didn’t expect this. I still felt like I could convince them, that if we followed my plan, everything would work out, but I remember becoming increasingly nervous with every exclaimed response.
The thing my brothers don’t understand is that I don’t want them to work like dogs forever. I want us to all work together, even though the times are hard, and come out on top in the end. This is the time to get ahead. And that is what I realized when I visited the river farms. A little while later, I saw Oscar go outside for a pail of water. I anxiously awaited his return, hoping we could talk further about my plans. When he did not come back, I ran outside to find him. He told me that he didn’t want to sign any more papers, to grow deeper into debt. I tried to tell him that I didn’t want him to work forever, that this was just the beginning to a prosperous end. He left me a little while after that. I took the time to sit under the stars and breathe in the exhilaration of a new beginning. This is where I write to you from. I can hear the creatures of the land whisper to one another, I can see the starts twinkling, lighting the page in which I write my inner most thoughts on. I think this will be good. This is what Dad would have done. He wouldn’t have wanted me to pick up and abandon what we have so rightfully worked hard for. No, I will stay here and make you proud, Dad. This is the moment that everything begins to change. I can promise you that.
With best wishes for the future,
Alexandra
WORK CITED
Cather, Willa. O Pioneers. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2003. Print.
(Utilized pages 35-38)
Dearest Diary,
I have come to a realization. I have come up with the idea that will save us all. I realized it when I visited the river farms. I learned so much from the people there, about their crops, their poultry, and even talked to a young man who was growing a new type of clover hay. But as soon as Emil and I started on our journey back to The Divide, I realized how wonderful our land is. Not only because The Divide has just as much to offer, but because this is Dad’s land. The land he gave to me to take care of. As soon as I saw our land, I began to swell with happiness. I couldn’t control the wide grin that spread across my face, I’m sure Emil was curious as to why. I even began to hum! Hum! It’d been a while that I felt this sure and positive that things would work out.
That afternoon, when we arrived at home, I called a family council. I told my brothers about what I saw and tried to convince them that the river farms didn’t even compare to what we had here in The Divide. Before I talked to them, I came up with a solution in my head. We could sell our cattle and the little amount of corn we had left and buy the Linstrum place. Then we could take out two loans and buy Peter Crow’s place, continue to raise all the money we can, and buy ever acre we can lay our hands on. It was bound to work! Once I presented this idea to Lou and Oscar, they responded furiously. I was so prepared for them to be shocked by the idea, but I didn’t expect this. I still felt like I could convince them, that if we followed my plan, everything would work out, but I remember becoming increasingly nervous with every exclaimed response.
The thing my brothers don’t understand is that I don’t want them to work like dogs forever. I want us to all work together, even though the times are hard, and come out on top in the end. This is the time to get ahead. And that is what I realized when I visited the river farms. A little while later, I saw Oscar go outside for a pail of water. I anxiously awaited his return, hoping we could talk further about my plans. When he did not come back, I ran outside to find him. He told me that he didn’t want to sign any more papers, to grow deeper into debt. I tried to tell him that I didn’t want him to work forever, that this was just the beginning to a prosperous end. He left me a little while after that. I took the time to sit under the stars and breathe in the exhilaration of a new beginning. This is where I write to you from. I can hear the creatures of the land whisper to one another, I can see the starts twinkling, lighting the page in which I write my inner most thoughts on. I think this will be good. This is what Dad would have done. He wouldn’t have wanted me to pick up and abandon what we have so rightfully worked hard for. No, I will stay here and make you proud, Dad. This is the moment that everything begins to change. I can promise you that.
With best wishes for the future,
Alexandra
WORK CITED
Cather, Willa. O Pioneers. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2003. Print.
(Utilized pages 35-38)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Edith Wharton Blog
After reading various websites about Edith Wharton’s life, I see a large amount of similarities between her stories and her history. When examining her past in accordance with her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Age of Innocence, I notice identical location, similar status, and parallel romantic escapades.
Perhaps the easiest connection to pick up on is the location of The Age of Innocence and where Edith Wharton spent the majority of her life. She was born into an extremely wealthy family in 1862 in New York City. When she was four years old, her family moved to Europe until she was nine. Wharton and her family then returned to New York City. Although she participated in more traveling, she remained in the big city for the rest of her life. This is an extremely good foundation for Wharton to build her stories on. She was more familiar with New York than any other place in the world. She also knew exactly how society acted in this precise location. Her novel, The Age of Innocence is set in New York. Although we, as a class, did not read the novel, watching the movie made it apparent that the setting was one of my major backbones of the story. It held the society and troubled souls within that society together.
The status of Edith Wharton’s family and the characters showcased in The Age of Innocence are identical. Wharton wrote about the big money New York society because that is what she herself was a part of. Like I said before, she was born into a very wealthy family, she went to Yale, an Ivy League school, and was the first woman to earn her doctorate degree. She traveled to Europe frequently, which probably gave her the ability to write about Ellen and her life out of the country before re-entering New York society. Besides the location of The Age of Innocence, the wealthy society is key to the novel. Without the high level society, Archer would not have to deal with the eternal struggle of living in despair among the New York socialites or living his own independent life without the money and recognition. The way the society is written in The Age of Innocence appears as if it is strictly autobiographical. One might assume that several of the characters depicted in her Pulitzer Prize winning novel represent specific people that she once dined, laughed, and danced with.
In addition to the location and society, the romantic strings between Archer and Ellen are quite similar to Wharton’s romantic situation. Edith Wharton married in 1885 to Teddy Wharton. She was only twenty-three years old. They ended up getting a divorce once she realized Teddy was cheating on her and stealing her money to support himself. While one might assume Edith stood by her husband and was only the victim, such is not true. Wharton happened to have an affair of her own with Morton Fullerton, a journalist, for three years. Although anyone can write about the trials and tribulations of love and suffering, only the ones that have truly experienced love can write about it well. This goes for Edith Wharton and the love affair between Archer and Ellen. It was depicted as so tantalizing, such an escape from the society they both despised and feared. Perhaps this is what Wharton underwent during her marriage to Teddy. They were married for thirty years. Teddy was from the society she grew up in, but lacked the same artistic and creative inspiration she held so dearly. The same goes for Archer in The Age of Innocence.
The connections between Wharton’s writings and her real life are astonishing. It is no wonder that her pieces of work received so much recognition. She spent an entire lifetime collecting data and experiencing the events and emotions that she bestowed upon her characters.
WORKS CITED.
Merriman, C. D. The Literature Network. Jalic Inc, n.d. Web. 10 September 2009.
Campbell, D. The Edith Wharton Society. n.p., 21 July 2008. Web. 10 September 2009.
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Scarlet Letter
Realism is driven by the use of dialect. Huckleberry Finn is an exquisite example of a realistic type of literature that uses a specific type of language to reflect the way people of that time truly spoke. Another major characteristic is the use of flawed heroes. The settings are usually simplistic. They are meant to represent the everyday, unlike romanticism that uses the exotic locale to make things exciting and slightly dangerous for the reader. Character development is much more important in the realism genre. This is what makes the novels interesting; A deeply provocative character in an everyday setting with everyday problems.
Romanticism on the other hand, takes the reader into a completely different world where situations and settings are ordinarily out of the usual. Like I mentioned before, the exotic locale is an important characteristic of the romanticism genre. For example, in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester and the townspeople are surrounded by an eerie and magical forest. The forest represents passion and the supernatural, which is another quality of romanticism; Symbolism. Hawthorne chose to use almost every object mentioned in the novel to represent something. For example, the rosebush mentioned at the beginning of the novel (Chapter 1, 46) symbolizes morality and gender issues throughout the novel. The use of Archaic language used to identify a uniquely American Literature is also found in The Scarlet Letter. In contrast with the realism genre, romanticism defines a true hero and true villain and through that, displays the struggle between good and evil. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester is the clear hero. Even though she did commit adultery, the reader gathers the idea that she didn’t perform the act with maliciousness or hatred towards her husband, but with the idea that he had passed. Chillingworth, who is often thought to symbolize a leech or the devil is the clear villain. He attempts to attack both Hester and Dimmesdale and it is simple for the readers to associate evil with all that he does throughout the novel.
The evidence that the novel, The Scarlet Letter, belongs in the romanticism genre is almost overwhelming. Although one might struggle to understand the content, seeing as the average reader digests much more realistic pieces, the characteristics associated with romanticism are very magical. This is what shapes novels such as The Scarlet Letter and Moby Dick into such enchanting pieces of literature. It also places them into the classic literature hall of fame.
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