The Loud Noise
Postmodern is defined as certain tendencies in post World War II Literature. Similar to modernist, the postmodernist concept relies heavy on fragmentation, paradox, and questionable narrators. It coincides with meta narrative and little narrative being characterized by the rise of industry, technology, urbanization, and the belief of no absolute truth. In this context, the stance of the characters in White Noise, moral ambivalence as well as discussing the characters moral choices in relation with man’s “death fear”, and the artificial relief provided by the never ending technological process which are slightly referred to as moral ambivalence. ‘Death fear’ and the ‘ technological process are conveyed as the extension of man’s pursing a concrete life in today’s world where man faces various unexpected problems he is unable to deal with, since they don’t fit the patterns of the rationalist order and reason. Don Delillo uses his own narrative technique and expresses with a specific sense of humor, mans disappointment of being left helpless and alone despite the “Grand Narratives of the Era”.
Even early as Chapter six Jack infers, “Mans guilt in history and in the tides of his own blood has been complicated by technology, the daily sleeping falsehearted death. At the beginning of Chapter 6, Jack considers his son’s premature hair loss and wonders if he or Heinrich’s mother might be responsible for their son’s thinning hair, by having unwittingly consumed toxic foods or raising the boy in the proximity of industrial waste. Jack begins with a specific, particular observation but soon brings the problem of Heinrich’s thinning hair into a wider, universal context. Heinrich’s relatively insignificant hair loss illustrates the novel’s greater concern with the way technology has unwittingly changed fundamental aspects of life. Jack’s individual genes might be responsible for Heinrich’s balding, but, given the pervasiveness of chemicals in the modern world, it’s impossible to determine who or what, exactly, is at fault. Man’s culpability is no longer obvious in many situations, since to some degree technology has begun to operate outside of man’s control. Technology has not only blurred the lines between what we are and are not accountable for, but it has also eroded away, like Heinrich’s hairline, some essential part of our lives. This passage sets the stage for the airborne toxic event and for Jack’s eventual confrontation with his own technologically induced death, Nyodene D. This passage represents a few of several themes that represent ‘post-modernism’, underground conspiracies, and the role of technology expansion in it.
Additionally another theme streaming in Post-Modernism and throughout the text besides death is consumerism, and media saturation which is ever-present towards the end of chapter ten. Jack says, “The system was invisible, which makes it all the more impressive, all the more disquieting to deal with but we were in accord, at least for now. The networks, circuits, streams, and the harmonies.” At the close of Chapter 10, Jack goes to an ATM and finds that the bank computer corroborates his personal accounting. For Jack, this represents a significant victory, arrived at by hard work and good fortune. The vast, complicated network of technology that underlies everything from the supermarket scanners to the ATM machines has, to some degree, validated Jack and his sense of personal identity. The data have told him that he is indeed who he thinks he is. The value Jack places on such a seemingly small thing reflects both the importance of numbers and technology in defining identity, as well as Jack’s deep-seated insecurity about what that identity is. He seeks confirmation wherever he can, and if the ATM can confer a temporary sense of security, then he is all the happier and stronger for it. However, the quote also hints that this accord won’t always be the case, and that at some point in the future, the networks and the technology they represent will turn against Jack.
Don DeLillo has published thirteen novels since 1971, along with several plays and numerous stories. I believe he is one of the most distinctive and interesting American writers of our day (not to mention that he can be very funny). His sentences are utterly his own. That’s why this is a definitive postmodern novel.
Works Cited
Don Delillo, White Noise
Class Notation
http://www.perival.com/delillo/ddbiblio.html.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Gaston Mclemore
AML 3041-02
Dr. Jordan
December 1, 2009
Jamaica Kincaid
“I was always being told I should be something, and then my whole upbringing was something I was not: it was English.”
The word culture is defined as the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. With that being stated it’s safe to say that Kincaid’s colonial upbringing plays an important role in her life as well as her writings. She was born in 1949 as Elaine Potter Richardson, on the island of Antigua, located in the Caribbean, and later changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid due to disapproval of her parents for writing. From 1983 to today, Kincaid is best known for her Caribbean novels, poems and short stories such as Annie John, A Small Place, At the Bottom of the River, and Girl. The major themes of her writings tend to put independence, gender relations, and colonization in a paradox, battling with the admiration yet resentment of the British colonizers. Along with this written detail of the novelist, I will be presenting a clip of Kincaid reading and discussing excerpts from, Annie John.
Annie John, a novel written by Jamaica Kincaid in 1985 depicts the growth of a girl in Antigua, an island in the Caribbean. It covers issues as diverse as mother-daughter relationships, sexism, racism, clinical depression, and education. The independence of the chapters makes their compilations seem episodic, which is to say that each chapter involves a series of episodes about certain times in a young girl’s life. During this close-reading she touches on her start in print with “Talk of the Town” column in the New Yorker, specifically the irony that her submissions in the 1970s, just preceded the period of celebrity culture. Kincaid says, “It was time when rich people in America wanted to be known for working, doing something other than being rich, and they would get jobs or something like that.” Also, she speaks on wanting to write differently from anyone else at the magazine, “a vanity or arrogance of her youth.” Her piece about a book reception for economist Milton Friedman consists entirely of an inventory of the cost of the event to her and other participants, whom Kincaid rigorously fact checked. Her hostility towards Friedman is due in part by his advisory position, in those days to “a cruel government in Chile,” and Kincaid emphasizes that she wanted to express this but “didn’t want to just say it.” When “Mr. Shaw published it, it was amazing to me”, says Kincaid firmly.
Furthermore, Kincaid talks comically about a passage called “new”, which she expresses her passion for youthfulness while reading a conversation about two women discussing the nature of men, women, and the new celebrity culture emerging. Among some of her prestige awards are the Prix Femina Etranger for her memoir, My Brother in 2000, a Guggenheim fellowship in 1989, a PEN/Faulkner Award nomination and the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts for her collection of short stories, At the Bottom of the River (1983).
Although Kincaid’s woks are short in length, they have never failed to elicit respect, if at times reluctantly. She is a forthright person who speaks candidly, and left the New Yorker in 1995. Kincaid is currently a professor at Claremont Mckenna College, and up until recently a visiting professor and teacher of creative writing at Harvard University. Over a career that has spanned more than two decades has earned a reputable place in the literary world for her personal, stylistic and honest writings.
Works Cited
Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Volume 13, Gale, 1994.
contemporary Black Biography, Volume 4, Gale, 1993.
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/460
"Jamaica Kincaid," BBC World Service, http://www.bbc.co.uk (February 11, 2003).
www.wikipedia.org/Jamaica Kincaid
AML 3041-02
Dr. Jordan
December 1, 2009
Jamaica Kincaid
“I was always being told I should be something, and then my whole upbringing was something I was not: it was English.”
The word culture is defined as the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. With that being stated it’s safe to say that Kincaid’s colonial upbringing plays an important role in her life as well as her writings. She was born in 1949 as Elaine Potter Richardson, on the island of Antigua, located in the Caribbean, and later changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid due to disapproval of her parents for writing. From 1983 to today, Kincaid is best known for her Caribbean novels, poems and short stories such as Annie John, A Small Place, At the Bottom of the River, and Girl. The major themes of her writings tend to put independence, gender relations, and colonization in a paradox, battling with the admiration yet resentment of the British colonizers. Along with this written detail of the novelist, I will be presenting a clip of Kincaid reading and discussing excerpts from, Annie John.
Annie John, a novel written by Jamaica Kincaid in 1985 depicts the growth of a girl in Antigua, an island in the Caribbean. It covers issues as diverse as mother-daughter relationships, sexism, racism, clinical depression, and education. The independence of the chapters makes their compilations seem episodic, which is to say that each chapter involves a series of episodes about certain times in a young girl’s life. During this close-reading she touches on her start in print with “Talk of the Town” column in the New Yorker, specifically the irony that her submissions in the 1970s, just preceded the period of celebrity culture. Kincaid says, “It was time when rich people in America wanted to be known for working, doing something other than being rich, and they would get jobs or something like that.” Also, she speaks on wanting to write differently from anyone else at the magazine, “a vanity or arrogance of her youth.” Her piece about a book reception for economist Milton Friedman consists entirely of an inventory of the cost of the event to her and other participants, whom Kincaid rigorously fact checked. Her hostility towards Friedman is due in part by his advisory position, in those days to “a cruel government in Chile,” and Kincaid emphasizes that she wanted to express this but “didn’t want to just say it.” When “Mr. Shaw published it, it was amazing to me”, says Kincaid firmly.
Furthermore, Kincaid talks comically about a passage called “new”, which she expresses her passion for youthfulness while reading a conversation about two women discussing the nature of men, women, and the new celebrity culture emerging. Among some of her prestige awards are the Prix Femina Etranger for her memoir, My Brother in 2000, a Guggenheim fellowship in 1989, a PEN/Faulkner Award nomination and the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts for her collection of short stories, At the Bottom of the River (1983).
Although Kincaid’s woks are short in length, they have never failed to elicit respect, if at times reluctantly. She is a forthright person who speaks candidly, and left the New Yorker in 1995. Kincaid is currently a professor at Claremont Mckenna College, and up until recently a visiting professor and teacher of creative writing at Harvard University. Over a career that has spanned more than two decades has earned a reputable place in the literary world for her personal, stylistic and honest writings.
Works Cited
Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Volume 13, Gale, 1994.
contemporary Black Biography, Volume 4, Gale, 1993.
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/460
"Jamaica Kincaid," BBC World Service, http://www.bbc.co.uk (February 11, 2003).
www.wikipedia.org/Jamaica Kincaid
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Walker of Fame
This literary form of epistolary is a novel of composed letters. There are two theories on the genesis of the epistolary novel. The first claims that genre originated from novels with inserted letters, in which the third portion containing the third person narrative in between the letters was gradually reduced. The other theory claims that the epistolary novel arose from miscellaneous of letters and poetry; some of the letters were tied together in a plot. Both claims have some validity. The importance of this form is that the reader is privileged to know the thoughts of the character who is writing the letters in the letters in their own words. Words are weapons in novellas and evoke debate, controversy, shock, and awe which Alice Walker provoked in the Color Purple.
Walker uses the novel’s epistolary form to emphasize the power of communication. Celie writes letters to God, and Nettie writes letters to Celie. Both sisters gain strength from their letter writing, but they are saved only when they receive responses to their letters. Therefore, although writing letters enables self-expression and confession, it requires a willing audience. When Celie never responds to Nettie’s letters, Nettie’s letters, Nettie feels lost because Celie is her only audience. Nettie grows disillusioned with her missionary work because the imperialists will not listen to her and because the Olinka villagers are stubborn. Only after Nettie returns home to Celie, an audience guaranteed to listen, does she feel fulfilled and freed. In addition, this literary form brings out the folklore throughout the novel. Another example that brings that emotional tone is when Celie writes “A dust devil flew up on the porch between us, fill my mouth on dirt. The dirt say, anything you do to me, already done to you. I’m pore, I’m black, I may be ugly and can’t cook, a voice say everything listening, but I’m here.” (207). Walker makes her audience love Celie, although Celie does not have love. Mary Agnes renames herself to show her refusal to let the man in her life gain interpretive control over her.
Walker emphasizes throughout the novel that the ability to express your thoughts and feelings is crucial to developing a sense of self. The espistolary assists in showing the power of strong female relationships in a feminist perspective. Throughout the Color Purple, Walker portrays female relationships as means for women to summon courage to tell stories. In turn, these stories allow women to resist oppression and dominance. Relationships among women form a refuge, providing reciprocal love in a world filled with male violence.
The female ties take many forms, some motherly or sisterly, some are in the form of mentor and pupil, some are sexual, and some are simply friendships. Sofia claims that her ability to fight comes from her strong relationships with her sisters. Nettie’s relationship with Celie anchors her through years of living in the unfamiliar culture of Africa. The most important is Celie ties to Shug bring about Celie’s gradual redemption and her attainment of a sense of self.
The color purple is the color of flowers in the field. I always understood that the flowering field became “god” for Celie when she could no longer believe in the God from the church that couldn’t/wouldn’t answer her letters. I think its creative and the epistolary really ignites the realism of the time of the novel and makes this prominent not only in the African American canon but probably what she calls the “Womanist” theory.
Works Cited
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple, New York Harcourt,2003
The Officers of the Alice Walker Literary Society
http://www.jamesweldonjohnson.emory.edu/alicewalker.htm
This literary form of epistolary is a novel of composed letters. There are two theories on the genesis of the epistolary novel. The first claims that genre originated from novels with inserted letters, in which the third portion containing the third person narrative in between the letters was gradually reduced. The other theory claims that the epistolary novel arose from miscellaneous of letters and poetry; some of the letters were tied together in a plot. Both claims have some validity. The importance of this form is that the reader is privileged to know the thoughts of the character who is writing the letters in the letters in their own words. Words are weapons in novellas and evoke debate, controversy, shock, and awe which Alice Walker provoked in the Color Purple.
Walker uses the novel’s epistolary form to emphasize the power of communication. Celie writes letters to God, and Nettie writes letters to Celie. Both sisters gain strength from their letter writing, but they are saved only when they receive responses to their letters. Therefore, although writing letters enables self-expression and confession, it requires a willing audience. When Celie never responds to Nettie’s letters, Nettie’s letters, Nettie feels lost because Celie is her only audience. Nettie grows disillusioned with her missionary work because the imperialists will not listen to her and because the Olinka villagers are stubborn. Only after Nettie returns home to Celie, an audience guaranteed to listen, does she feel fulfilled and freed. In addition, this literary form brings out the folklore throughout the novel. Another example that brings that emotional tone is when Celie writes “A dust devil flew up on the porch between us, fill my mouth on dirt. The dirt say, anything you do to me, already done to you. I’m pore, I’m black, I may be ugly and can’t cook, a voice say everything listening, but I’m here.” (207). Walker makes her audience love Celie, although Celie does not have love. Mary Agnes renames herself to show her refusal to let the man in her life gain interpretive control over her.
Walker emphasizes throughout the novel that the ability to express your thoughts and feelings is crucial to developing a sense of self. The espistolary assists in showing the power of strong female relationships in a feminist perspective. Throughout the Color Purple, Walker portrays female relationships as means for women to summon courage to tell stories. In turn, these stories allow women to resist oppression and dominance. Relationships among women form a refuge, providing reciprocal love in a world filled with male violence.
The female ties take many forms, some motherly or sisterly, some are in the form of mentor and pupil, some are sexual, and some are simply friendships. Sofia claims that her ability to fight comes from her strong relationships with her sisters. Nettie’s relationship with Celie anchors her through years of living in the unfamiliar culture of Africa. The most important is Celie ties to Shug bring about Celie’s gradual redemption and her attainment of a sense of self.
The color purple is the color of flowers in the field. I always understood that the flowering field became “god” for Celie when she could no longer believe in the God from the church that couldn’t/wouldn’t answer her letters. I think its creative and the epistolary really ignites the realism of the time of the novel and makes this prominent not only in the African American canon but probably what she calls the “Womanist” theory.
Works Cited
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple, New York Harcourt,2003
The Officers of the Alice Walker Literary Society
http://www.jamesweldonjohnson.emory.edu/alicewalker.htm
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Beat Generation
In the 1950s there were a group of writers who were known as writers of the Beat Generation. They were ‘hippies” who rejected mainstream America and often experimented with drugs and eastern religion and spirituality. Many of these writers include Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burrroughs, and Neal Cassidy. Many of these writers were considered the founders of the movement and met in uptown Manhattan in the mid-40.s (Asher,1994) they eventually migrated to San Francisco where they met Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who was the founder and City Lights Bookstore. Much of the beat generation was influenced by jazz music, due to its spontaneity, and its musicians such as, John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk. Much of the work created by these writers was controversial due to its non-conformist style and sometimes obscene subject matter. A common theme that linked them all together was a rejection of the prevailing American middle-class values, the purposelessness of modern society and the need for withdrawal and protest.” (Parkins, 2005) More specifically they protested against racial discrimination, capitalism, censorship, anti-military weaponry enhancements, and rallied for legalizing marijuana among other drugs.
The rise of the Beat Movement came at time during upheaval, and expansion of commodities in the United States. In the 1950’s the U.S survived two world wars and the precedent stock market crash of that time. At the height of the Beat Movement, the economy improved and Capitalism was the driving force of most American people. Many commodities and conveniences were invented; such as “the first credit card diners” (1950), the “television.” “The first diet soda,” (1951), the “first non-stick Teflon pan,” and the first McDonalds” to name a few. (http:/investors.about.com/od/timelines/a/modern.html) To the members of the beat movement particularly Allen Ginsberg these creations ate up Americans “brains and imaginations”(21) capitalism was looked at as the poisonous “crossbones” by Allen Ginsberg.(21) He was a prominent author during this period. Some notable work of Ginsberg is “HOWL”, which is a book of unconventional poetry, published by “Lawrence Ferlinghetti” in 1956. For this sensitive era the book was not received well. The book was seized by customs official and Ferlinghetti was arrested and faced fines as well as prison time on “obscenity charges” (http:/www.citylights.com/ferlinghetti). The poems included phrases such as “alcohol cocks and endless balls” which in the 1950s was considered very obscene. The trial of Ferlinghetti drew national attention from many prominent literary figures, and was the landmark first amendment case that set a legal precedent, particularly for publication of controversial social language. The right to freedom of speech was upheld and Ferlinghetti was acquitted of all charges. This acquittal allowed beat generation writers to go into theaters and read aloud their poetry.
There are many sides and perspectives untouched here that would craft an even further in-depth understanding of Ginsberg and the Beat Generation. His arrival pushed another foot forward into modernism, in the sense that he attempted to reach farther into explaining the human condition in newer ways that were considered controversial but realistic of the time period. The Beat Generation influence is still pertinent today in rock and roll influencing major figures such as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and Jim Morrison making Ginsberg and The Beatnik Generation still relevant.
Works Cited
Asher, L. (1994, JULY, 25.) The Beat Generation. Retrieved from Literary Kicks:
http://www.litkicks.com/BeatGen/
Parkins,K (2005, March.) Beat Generation. Retrieved from http://home.clara.net/heureka/art/beat generation.htm
“A Brief Biography of Lawerence Ferlinghetti.” City Lights Books. 2009. City Lights, Web. 16 Oct 2009.
In the 1950s there were a group of writers who were known as writers of the Beat Generation. They were ‘hippies” who rejected mainstream America and often experimented with drugs and eastern religion and spirituality. Many of these writers include Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burrroughs, and Neal Cassidy. Many of these writers were considered the founders of the movement and met in uptown Manhattan in the mid-40.s (Asher,1994) they eventually migrated to San Francisco where they met Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who was the founder and City Lights Bookstore. Much of the beat generation was influenced by jazz music, due to its spontaneity, and its musicians such as, John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk. Much of the work created by these writers was controversial due to its non-conformist style and sometimes obscene subject matter. A common theme that linked them all together was a rejection of the prevailing American middle-class values, the purposelessness of modern society and the need for withdrawal and protest.” (Parkins, 2005) More specifically they protested against racial discrimination, capitalism, censorship, anti-military weaponry enhancements, and rallied for legalizing marijuana among other drugs.
The rise of the Beat Movement came at time during upheaval, and expansion of commodities in the United States. In the 1950’s the U.S survived two world wars and the precedent stock market crash of that time. At the height of the Beat Movement, the economy improved and Capitalism was the driving force of most American people. Many commodities and conveniences were invented; such as “the first credit card diners” (1950), the “television.” “The first diet soda,” (1951), the “first non-stick Teflon pan,” and the first McDonalds” to name a few. (http:/investors.about.com/od/timelines/a/modern.html) To the members of the beat movement particularly Allen Ginsberg these creations ate up Americans “brains and imaginations”(21) capitalism was looked at as the poisonous “crossbones” by Allen Ginsberg.(21) He was a prominent author during this period. Some notable work of Ginsberg is “HOWL”, which is a book of unconventional poetry, published by “Lawrence Ferlinghetti” in 1956. For this sensitive era the book was not received well. The book was seized by customs official and Ferlinghetti was arrested and faced fines as well as prison time on “obscenity charges” (http:/www.citylights.com/ferlinghetti). The poems included phrases such as “alcohol cocks and endless balls” which in the 1950s was considered very obscene. The trial of Ferlinghetti drew national attention from many prominent literary figures, and was the landmark first amendment case that set a legal precedent, particularly for publication of controversial social language. The right to freedom of speech was upheld and Ferlinghetti was acquitted of all charges. This acquittal allowed beat generation writers to go into theaters and read aloud their poetry.
There are many sides and perspectives untouched here that would craft an even further in-depth understanding of Ginsberg and the Beat Generation. His arrival pushed another foot forward into modernism, in the sense that he attempted to reach farther into explaining the human condition in newer ways that were considered controversial but realistic of the time period. The Beat Generation influence is still pertinent today in rock and roll influencing major figures such as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and Jim Morrison making Ginsberg and The Beatnik Generation still relevant.
Works Cited
Asher, L. (1994, JULY, 25.) The Beat Generation. Retrieved from Literary Kicks:
http://www.litkicks.com/BeatGen/
Parkins,K (2005, March.) Beat Generation. Retrieved from http://home.clara.net/heureka/art/beat generation.htm
“A Brief Biography of Lawerence Ferlinghetti.” City Lights Books. 2009. City Lights, Web. 16 Oct 2009.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Gaston Mclemore
AML 3041-02
Dr. Tatia Jacobson
10/12/08
Eyes on the Prize
Zora Neale Hurston was an African American folklorist and author during the Harlem Renaissance. She was born somewhere between February of 1891-1901 growing up in Eatonville, Florida, which came to be the first all-black town to be incorporated in the United States. Hurston traveled throughout the Caribbean, South, and Haiti studying black culture. The literature of the 1920’s was considered to be post-war prosperity, which elevated a sense of freedom and experimentation. Now considering her background and historical presence throughout the renaissance movement, enhances the relevance and realism to the text. Also, this enables Hurston to use the ability of telling the slave narrative through Colloquial language, creating a rich and diverse debate in literary context.
Janie is clearly set as the protagonist of this novel but can also seem antagonistic of her self, considering the significance of time, time change, and the relationships as well as her inner battle of discovering spiritual freedom and individuality. Hurston depiction of Janie deviates from the typical categorical placement of an African American woman, which I find primitive and originative. She’s strong and represents a mixed ancestry, considered black while sporting her “straight” hair. In addition Janie strays away from the stereotypical gender role by vocalizes her dreams and urge for independence, while humorously wearing overalls. This act of hers almost overshadows her inquisitive and ambitious drive that leads her to leave with Jody and see the world. It seems as though she becomes aware of her relation to nature and the world.
Hurston shows the hardships through the gender issues, but doesn’t paint a dark image of Janie throughout the novel. This contrasts with the typical depiction of an African American woman where there is not an emphasis on them, and if so, there portrayed in a dark place mentally, physically and probably nameless. On the contrary, Janie is put in a high place, in the spotlight and having an epiphany of sorts. For example , in chapter two it says quote “ She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant, the chanting, the gold of the sun and the painting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of the bloom; the thousand sister calyxes arch to reach the love embrace and shiver of the tree to tiniest branch creaming with every blossom and frothing in delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to hold a revelation (Hurston).” This gives a rise to Janie’s sexual awakening, yearning and emphasis on reciprocation, with the bees and flowers idealizing her vision of love mutually. Its those type of distinctions that set precedents for Hurston’s portrayal of Janie that differ much from the prior novels and writings of African American women.
In final thought, I think Zora Neale Hurston could be seen as a mysterious and provocative writer of the early twentieth century, which is debatable. Although, her remarkable technique of colloquial language, and silence throughout the text to evoke the cultural, societal, and political ways of the mid 1900’s. This is why I believe her relevance in the literary canon particularly the Afro-centric is not debatable.
Zora Neale Hurston “Their eyes were watching God”
Stephen Soitos “ American Writers: A collection of Literary Biographies” Ed. Jay Parini. New York
AML 3041-02
Dr. Tatia Jacobson
10/12/08
Eyes on the Prize
Zora Neale Hurston was an African American folklorist and author during the Harlem Renaissance. She was born somewhere between February of 1891-1901 growing up in Eatonville, Florida, which came to be the first all-black town to be incorporated in the United States. Hurston traveled throughout the Caribbean, South, and Haiti studying black culture. The literature of the 1920’s was considered to be post-war prosperity, which elevated a sense of freedom and experimentation. Now considering her background and historical presence throughout the renaissance movement, enhances the relevance and realism to the text. Also, this enables Hurston to use the ability of telling the slave narrative through Colloquial language, creating a rich and diverse debate in literary context.
Janie is clearly set as the protagonist of this novel but can also seem antagonistic of her self, considering the significance of time, time change, and the relationships as well as her inner battle of discovering spiritual freedom and individuality. Hurston depiction of Janie deviates from the typical categorical placement of an African American woman, which I find primitive and originative. She’s strong and represents a mixed ancestry, considered black while sporting her “straight” hair. In addition Janie strays away from the stereotypical gender role by vocalizes her dreams and urge for independence, while humorously wearing overalls. This act of hers almost overshadows her inquisitive and ambitious drive that leads her to leave with Jody and see the world. It seems as though she becomes aware of her relation to nature and the world.
Hurston shows the hardships through the gender issues, but doesn’t paint a dark image of Janie throughout the novel. This contrasts with the typical depiction of an African American woman where there is not an emphasis on them, and if so, there portrayed in a dark place mentally, physically and probably nameless. On the contrary, Janie is put in a high place, in the spotlight and having an epiphany of sorts. For example , in chapter two it says quote “ She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant, the chanting, the gold of the sun and the painting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of the bloom; the thousand sister calyxes arch to reach the love embrace and shiver of the tree to tiniest branch creaming with every blossom and frothing in delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to hold a revelation (Hurston).” This gives a rise to Janie’s sexual awakening, yearning and emphasis on reciprocation, with the bees and flowers idealizing her vision of love mutually. Its those type of distinctions that set precedents for Hurston’s portrayal of Janie that differ much from the prior novels and writings of African American women.
In final thought, I think Zora Neale Hurston could be seen as a mysterious and provocative writer of the early twentieth century, which is debatable. Although, her remarkable technique of colloquial language, and silence throughout the text to evoke the cultural, societal, and political ways of the mid 1900’s. This is why I believe her relevance in the literary canon particularly the Afro-centric is not debatable.
Zora Neale Hurston “Their eyes were watching God”
Stephen Soitos “ American Writers: A collection of Literary Biographies” Ed. Jay Parini. New York
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Gaston Mclemore
AML 3041-02
Dr. Tatia Jacobson
Edith’s Roman Fever
Edith Wharton’s short story Roman Fever portrays the early 1900s in Rome, depicting the ever-changing scenery, and society during the Victorian era, leading into the modernist era. The women and main characters Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade, are shown to be in conflict with the norms of the up-bringing and movement which they grew around and the new passions of the younger generations. In addition they compare their daughters and reflect on each other’s lives while noticing a distinction of their children’s actions, carelessness, and ways of thinking that differs from their cultured ways.
Wharton historically and metaphorically uses the text to analyze the monuments, and main characters to visually foreshadow or paint the picture of the “Old New York” or “Old Rome” battling with the “new” modern societal social standards or principles. Wharton descriptively shows the kind of life an independent woman of means could live in Rome at that time, matching that of the ancient monuments; beautiful but subtle, still, stuck in time. Predominately most of the story is set gazing over the forum and coliseum remembering the “good ole times” when they were young running about Rome. The area of issue comes as did in “The Age of Innocence” is the immobility and routine of women lives, while in conflict trying to adapt to change seemingly watch life go by.
There were a handful of Roman Monuments present in Roman Fever, all reflective of the setting and dynamics of the time.
Listed below;
The first significant is that of the Coliseum. “The coliseum is an ancient amphitheater where Romans went for entertainment. Their entertainment mostly consisted of battles; people killing animals or people killing each other (K Carr)” In Roman Fever Wharton described it as “The monument when afternoon and evening hang balanced in mid-heavan (837).”
The second is that of the Palatine; This hill is the hill of Romulus, and the supposed creator of Rome. This is where the most prominent figures lived. It’s said to be the birth place of Rome “Rene Seindel”).
The last is that of the Roman Forum (The ruins) - Stationed between Palatine Hill and Capitoline Hill of the city of Rome. The oldest and most important structures are found, including the Old Republic establishment of the senate and Republican government. Additionally it served as city hall or city square for people to enforce justice and faith. It became known to be the center of the republic and Empire.
These are a few of the seven hills that make up Rome, not including the Velian, the Caelian, or Quirinal which are significant as well, though being separated from one another was structured and functioned similar to the pentagon or white house of today. Policy, Commerce, and agriculture were amongst the day to day discussions and routine topics.
I think the significance lies not far from another modernist literature from Joseph Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness. Light and dark symbolizes the back and forth quarrel between Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade dealing with “light” which represent the beauty, and memory of the Old monumental Rome while through each night hatred and conflict cloud both women. Also, this plays a role in the gender and time issues for the women of being cemented in a younger, modernized world, irregular to their Victorian up-bringing. It’s seemingly like they both are falling into the “dark” because of the emergence of their ever growing daughters and new settings.
P.S. unfortunately my blog site won’t let me post the pictures, but the work cited cites has them.
Works Cited
“The Roman Forum.” Tripod. Web. 24 September 2009
Karen Carr, “Roman Coliseum” History for Kids. 10 Mar 2009. Kidipede, Web 24 Sept 2009
Rene Siendel, “Palatine Hill,” Sights. 06 Aug 2003. Web 24 Sept 2009
Photos bestofrome.eu/pho/pho.html
AML 3041-02
Dr. Tatia Jacobson
Edith’s Roman Fever
Edith Wharton’s short story Roman Fever portrays the early 1900s in Rome, depicting the ever-changing scenery, and society during the Victorian era, leading into the modernist era. The women and main characters Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade, are shown to be in conflict with the norms of the up-bringing and movement which they grew around and the new passions of the younger generations. In addition they compare their daughters and reflect on each other’s lives while noticing a distinction of their children’s actions, carelessness, and ways of thinking that differs from their cultured ways.
Wharton historically and metaphorically uses the text to analyze the monuments, and main characters to visually foreshadow or paint the picture of the “Old New York” or “Old Rome” battling with the “new” modern societal social standards or principles. Wharton descriptively shows the kind of life an independent woman of means could live in Rome at that time, matching that of the ancient monuments; beautiful but subtle, still, stuck in time. Predominately most of the story is set gazing over the forum and coliseum remembering the “good ole times” when they were young running about Rome. The area of issue comes as did in “The Age of Innocence” is the immobility and routine of women lives, while in conflict trying to adapt to change seemingly watch life go by.
There were a handful of Roman Monuments present in Roman Fever, all reflective of the setting and dynamics of the time.
Listed below;
The first significant is that of the Coliseum. “The coliseum is an ancient amphitheater where Romans went for entertainment. Their entertainment mostly consisted of battles; people killing animals or people killing each other (K Carr)” In Roman Fever Wharton described it as “The monument when afternoon and evening hang balanced in mid-heavan (837).”
The second is that of the Palatine; This hill is the hill of Romulus, and the supposed creator of Rome. This is where the most prominent figures lived. It’s said to be the birth place of Rome “Rene Seindel”).
The last is that of the Roman Forum (The ruins) - Stationed between Palatine Hill and Capitoline Hill of the city of Rome. The oldest and most important structures are found, including the Old Republic establishment of the senate and Republican government. Additionally it served as city hall or city square for people to enforce justice and faith. It became known to be the center of the republic and Empire.
These are a few of the seven hills that make up Rome, not including the Velian, the Caelian, or Quirinal which are significant as well, though being separated from one another was structured and functioned similar to the pentagon or white house of today. Policy, Commerce, and agriculture were amongst the day to day discussions and routine topics.
I think the significance lies not far from another modernist literature from Joseph Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness. Light and dark symbolizes the back and forth quarrel between Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade dealing with “light” which represent the beauty, and memory of the Old monumental Rome while through each night hatred and conflict cloud both women. Also, this plays a role in the gender and time issues for the women of being cemented in a younger, modernized world, irregular to their Victorian up-bringing. It’s seemingly like they both are falling into the “dark” because of the emergence of their ever growing daughters and new settings.
P.S. unfortunately my blog site won’t let me post the pictures, but the work cited cites has them.
Works Cited
“The Roman Forum.” Tripod. Web. 24 September 2009
Karen Carr, “Roman Coliseum” History for Kids. 10 Mar 2009. Kidipede, Web 24 Sept 2009
Rene Siendel, “Palatine Hill,” Sights. 06 Aug 2003. Web 24 Sept 2009
Photos bestofrome.eu/pho/pho.html
Friday, September 25, 2009
Gaston Mclemore
Dr. Tatia Jacobson
AML 3041-02
September 24, 2009
"The Manly Man"- (Hemingway Blog Question 1)
Subtlety, Implication, Inadequacy, sufficiency, attachment yet detachment, inferiority and superiority, Misogyny or misandry? On the periphery this may appear as a conjunctive placement of antonyms to make up an introduction, which is debatable. Although, I ask to gaze into the substance of those terms in relation to Hemingway’s protagonists. It is factually known that this novel “The Sun Also Rises” was published in 1926 approximately seven years after World War I. During this era there was a concoction of issues such as gender, racial as well as cultural. As this blog proceeds take note of the distinction yet relation, and significance.
Jake is obviously the narrator and protagonist. It’s clear the central shaping of Jakes role surrounds his post-war intellect mentally, physically, and psychologically. You have to take notice of the subtlety of the distinction he draws. He’d rather talk around topics than speak directly or specifically unless he’s comfortable or initiated especially when dealing with his injury or the war. In chapter I, it states “What’s the matter with you, anyway? (Georgette)” I got hurt in the war,” (Jake said) “Oh, that dirty war.” We would probably have gone on and discussed the war and agreed that it was in reality a calamity for civilization and perhaps would have been better avoided. I was bored enough (24-25). After heavy consumption of bottles of wine with Georgette was he comfortable or “bored enough” to discuss it.
In addition, Hemingway portrays Jake as an individual who’s very insecure about his masculinity, which Jake embodies. Hemingway’s method of graphing is to say little with a lot of communication. For instance, in chapter VII Jake questions “Couldn’t we live together Brett? “ Couldn’t we just live together?” said Jake. Brett firmly answered “I don’t think so. I’d just tromper you with everybody. (62)” This shed lights on the heart of the novel as well as Jake’s characterization. He pleads for Brett to be with him but she rejects exclaiming she would always “tromper” him. My interpretation is that she’s promoting bluntly that she’ll crush his heart or cheat on him. Jake’s assumption is that it’s because of his injury, which follows Hemingway’s depiction of male insecurity.
Interestingly, Hemingway shows another dimension into Jake’s personality by acknowledging the barrenness of the lost generation way of life. He tells Robert Cohn in Chapter II “you can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. (62)” He’s able to recognize the harsh behavior that he and his friends constantly engage in, showing the awareness and open mind that Jake can have.
Hemingway introduces Robert Cohn, which brings us to the second protagonist. His characterization almost deviates from the rest of the crowd humorously, seeming like a “lost character” amongst the “lost generation”. Cohn is non-veteran and comes from a wealthy, Jewish family. Commonly as Jake, Hemingway constructs Cohn with insecurity issues as well. In Chapter I Jake describes Cohn emotionally as feeling like an outsider and inferior. It states “He cared for nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton. (62)” Ironically this quote visually set the stage for the theme and pattern for the story that builds on competitiveness and resentment between men and insecurity.
In closing I believe the uniqueness of the portrayals of Robert and Jake is that there very much as alike as well as different? I say that because of the common feeling of insecurity shared yet Cohn was more of the romantic of the novel.
Hemingway, Ernest “The Sun Also Rises” Pgs 11-61
Dr. Tatia Jacobson
AML 3041-02
September 24, 2009
"The Manly Man"- (Hemingway Blog Question 1)
Subtlety, Implication, Inadequacy, sufficiency, attachment yet detachment, inferiority and superiority, Misogyny or misandry? On the periphery this may appear as a conjunctive placement of antonyms to make up an introduction, which is debatable. Although, I ask to gaze into the substance of those terms in relation to Hemingway’s protagonists. It is factually known that this novel “The Sun Also Rises” was published in 1926 approximately seven years after World War I. During this era there was a concoction of issues such as gender, racial as well as cultural. As this blog proceeds take note of the distinction yet relation, and significance.
Jake is obviously the narrator and protagonist. It’s clear the central shaping of Jakes role surrounds his post-war intellect mentally, physically, and psychologically. You have to take notice of the subtlety of the distinction he draws. He’d rather talk around topics than speak directly or specifically unless he’s comfortable or initiated especially when dealing with his injury or the war. In chapter I, it states “What’s the matter with you, anyway? (Georgette)” I got hurt in the war,” (Jake said) “Oh, that dirty war.” We would probably have gone on and discussed the war and agreed that it was in reality a calamity for civilization and perhaps would have been better avoided. I was bored enough (24-25). After heavy consumption of bottles of wine with Georgette was he comfortable or “bored enough” to discuss it.
In addition, Hemingway portrays Jake as an individual who’s very insecure about his masculinity, which Jake embodies. Hemingway’s method of graphing is to say little with a lot of communication. For instance, in chapter VII Jake questions “Couldn’t we live together Brett? “ Couldn’t we just live together?” said Jake. Brett firmly answered “I don’t think so. I’d just tromper you with everybody. (62)” This shed lights on the heart of the novel as well as Jake’s characterization. He pleads for Brett to be with him but she rejects exclaiming she would always “tromper” him. My interpretation is that she’s promoting bluntly that she’ll crush his heart or cheat on him. Jake’s assumption is that it’s because of his injury, which follows Hemingway’s depiction of male insecurity.
Interestingly, Hemingway shows another dimension into Jake’s personality by acknowledging the barrenness of the lost generation way of life. He tells Robert Cohn in Chapter II “you can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. (62)” He’s able to recognize the harsh behavior that he and his friends constantly engage in, showing the awareness and open mind that Jake can have.
Hemingway introduces Robert Cohn, which brings us to the second protagonist. His characterization almost deviates from the rest of the crowd humorously, seeming like a “lost character” amongst the “lost generation”. Cohn is non-veteran and comes from a wealthy, Jewish family. Commonly as Jake, Hemingway constructs Cohn with insecurity issues as well. In Chapter I Jake describes Cohn emotionally as feeling like an outsider and inferior. It states “He cared for nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton. (62)” Ironically this quote visually set the stage for the theme and pattern for the story that builds on competitiveness and resentment between men and insecurity.
In closing I believe the uniqueness of the portrayals of Robert and Jake is that there very much as alike as well as different? I say that because of the common feeling of insecurity shared yet Cohn was more of the romantic of the novel.
Hemingway, Ernest “The Sun Also Rises” Pgs 11-61
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Scarlet Letter Blog-
Gaston Mclemore
Dr. Tatia Jacobson Jordan
AML 3041-02
September 4, 2009
Real Romantics
Romanticism is a movement in the latter half of the 18th century that emphasized strong emotions and reaction against reason and logic. It was apart of the rebellion towards people during the elitist or aristocratic social and political norms during the Age of Enlightenment. It stressed symbolism, supernatural components as well as feelings of awe, horror and love. It particularly challenged the sublimity of nature and romantic sensibility or aesthetics. It elevated the thought of idealistic perspective as opposed to realistic, and valuing the plot over character. This form of the literary canon appears frequently in the Scarlet Letter.
Immediately in chapter one there’s metaphorical terminology used in correlation with untamed nature. It states “But, on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rosebush, covered, in the month of June, with its delicate gems, which might imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of nature could pity and be kind to him (Nathaniel Hawthorne pg 117-118.) The one impropriety in this scene is the rose bush that sprouts next to the prison. The surveyor or narrator is inferring that the rose bush offers a reminder of nature’s forgiveness or kindness to the scolded ones. He points out and exclaims that it will either “provide a sweet moral blossom” or ease in the stadium of suffering and obscurity. Symbolism also takes place in chapter two in the market place where the crowd watches Hester Prynne as she proceeded from prison with the embroidered letter “ A” sewed in gold and scarlet on her chest. I can assume from the criticism by women in the crowd as well as the misbegotten child embraced by Hester, that the letter “A” is personifying her as an adulterer. This was the narrator evoking her as a symbol of disgrace, discredit, humiliation and evil. Her crime is even compared to that of a “witch” in the text who was executed for witchcraft in 1656. The text says “It might be, too, that a witch, like old Mistress Hibbins, the bitter-tempered widow of the magistrate, was to die upon the gallows. In either case, there was very much the same solemnity of demeanor on the part of the spectators (Nathaniel Hawthorne pg. 119).
Additionally, strong representation of the Puritan doctrine screams profoundly (in a subliminal sense) through this language of the narrator. In opposition of the romanticism era came “realism” which was the literary movement of the nineteenth-century. This canon took an approached that attempted to describe everyday life without idealization or subjectivity. It was introduced to America by William Dean Howells. Now considering the Scarlet Letter took place during the eighteenth century, one could argue there was a literal snap shot of realism here and there. If you blinked, while reading then you probably missed it, but let’s remember that this a time of strong religion particularly puritan doctrine.
Early on it’s pointed out the type of society that we’re dealing with. As it states “As befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful (Nathaniel Hawthorne).” Now I agree the reading itself, the category of the literature movement that its falls under is romanticism. Although if one hypothetically speaking put him/her self in the timeline and mindset of a character it could be as normal to wear “A” on your chest then as it is to wear a tattoo on your chest today. I could be speaking hypotheticals or philosophizing but just think about it.
Dr. Tatia Jacobson Jordan
AML 3041-02
September 4, 2009
Real Romantics
Romanticism is a movement in the latter half of the 18th century that emphasized strong emotions and reaction against reason and logic. It was apart of the rebellion towards people during the elitist or aristocratic social and political norms during the Age of Enlightenment. It stressed symbolism, supernatural components as well as feelings of awe, horror and love. It particularly challenged the sublimity of nature and romantic sensibility or aesthetics. It elevated the thought of idealistic perspective as opposed to realistic, and valuing the plot over character. This form of the literary canon appears frequently in the Scarlet Letter.
Immediately in chapter one there’s metaphorical terminology used in correlation with untamed nature. It states “But, on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rosebush, covered, in the month of June, with its delicate gems, which might imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of nature could pity and be kind to him (Nathaniel Hawthorne pg 117-118.) The one impropriety in this scene is the rose bush that sprouts next to the prison. The surveyor or narrator is inferring that the rose bush offers a reminder of nature’s forgiveness or kindness to the scolded ones. He points out and exclaims that it will either “provide a sweet moral blossom” or ease in the stadium of suffering and obscurity. Symbolism also takes place in chapter two in the market place where the crowd watches Hester Prynne as she proceeded from prison with the embroidered letter “ A” sewed in gold and scarlet on her chest. I can assume from the criticism by women in the crowd as well as the misbegotten child embraced by Hester, that the letter “A” is personifying her as an adulterer. This was the narrator evoking her as a symbol of disgrace, discredit, humiliation and evil. Her crime is even compared to that of a “witch” in the text who was executed for witchcraft in 1656. The text says “It might be, too, that a witch, like old Mistress Hibbins, the bitter-tempered widow of the magistrate, was to die upon the gallows. In either case, there was very much the same solemnity of demeanor on the part of the spectators (Nathaniel Hawthorne pg. 119).
Additionally, strong representation of the Puritan doctrine screams profoundly (in a subliminal sense) through this language of the narrator. In opposition of the romanticism era came “realism” which was the literary movement of the nineteenth-century. This canon took an approached that attempted to describe everyday life without idealization or subjectivity. It was introduced to America by William Dean Howells. Now considering the Scarlet Letter took place during the eighteenth century, one could argue there was a literal snap shot of realism here and there. If you blinked, while reading then you probably missed it, but let’s remember that this a time of strong religion particularly puritan doctrine.
Early on it’s pointed out the type of society that we’re dealing with. As it states “As befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful (Nathaniel Hawthorne).” Now I agree the reading itself, the category of the literature movement that its falls under is romanticism. Although if one hypothetically speaking put him/her self in the timeline and mindset of a character it could be as normal to wear “A” on your chest then as it is to wear a tattoo on your chest today. I could be speaking hypotheticals or philosophizing but just think about it.
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