The Blog

Final Paper

2009-04-28T22:52:00.001-07:00

For the final paper I have chosen to read and discuss Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I am nearing the end of the novel and have so far enjoyed the book. Heller’s use of ironies, paradoxes, and just old-fashioned slapstick humor is very enjoyable. The generally humorous tone of the novel makes it a different kind of literary great and separates it from most other novels from the suggested reading list.

I plan to stick with the saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and analyze the novel in relation to Biblical meaning. The parallelisms between the story itself and various religious references are something that stick out in particular to myself while reading. Of course on the off chance I don’t find enough material to write about however, I may find myself writing on a very different topic.

The Death of an Athletic Salesman

2009-04-08T00:14:00.000-07:00

Brett Favre, Michael Jordan, Christian Laettner, Ian Thorpe, and many other athletes have all experienced it; a fall from fame. Some are affected by injury and illness, others have their accomplishments eclipsed by younger, stronger athletes, and a number just play their respective sports for too long. Brett Favre should have retired long ago, and Michael Jordan should never have come back out of retirement. But the type of fall from greatness that is the central idea of “To an Athlete Dying Young” by A. E. Houseman is that of Ian Thorpe, who was merely eclipsed by the faster swimmer, Michael Phelps.

The athlete described in the poem avoids the cold and heartless fate that awaits anyone and everyone. There will always be another that is better in some way, the world will go on. A stark contrast to the early death of the runner is the outcome of another athlete’s life in “Ex-Basketball Player”, by John Updike. Flick, one of the greatest basketball players to pass through a certain high school ends up living a monotonous life of a mechanic. Another example of this would be James “Boobie” Miles, in “Friday Night Lights.” A division 1 prospect and one of the best to ever play football for the Permian Panthers, football is all Boobie knows in life. So when he tore his ACL, Boobie’s life as he knew it vanishes and is left with nothing, as he fearfully sees himself in the men who come by to pick up the garbage.

Within this message is the question, what is the perfect time to die? Dying too early might prevent someone from achieving all they potentially could, and we all know what happens when you stick around for too long. Housman insinuates that there is a certain truth to the phrase “past one’s prime” and that this time period occurs very early, although an age margin is not specified in the poem.

The only way to overcome this tragic fate is to die too early to witness it. Thus the speaker of the poem does not view the early death of this great and celebrated athlete as a tragedy but more as a blessing. This escape “from fields where glory does not stay” will allow the runner to live on in greatness within the memories of others. Similar to the northern Germanic tribes, who believed that the only way to escape death was through one’s legacy, the speaker seems to view this avoidance of the decline of fame as the ultimate goal. Wistful and melancholy tones mixed with a slightly detectable yearning lead the reader to believe that the speaker is himself an athlete who once was great but now is forgotten. Several lines also indicate that the speaker is also somehow related to the deceased, either a pallbearer or a friend, or both. The reader can hypothesize that the speaker used to be the town hero until the deceased broke his or her record. It is not hard to believe that the line “the time you won your town the race” holds a certain amount of bitterness to it as the fame transferred from the speaker to the new athlete.

Housman, like John Donne, seems initially to challenge death, or better yet, welcome it. The young athlete who died in this poem is seen as fortunate, one who got the best situation. Yet the underlying message is quite cynical, for the deceased merely escaped the tragic fates that befall everyone by his own lack of knowledge. Although his “eyes the shady night has shut cannot see the record cut”, this still indicates that the record will be broken by another, better athlete and the sport and on the whole, the world, will go on. So the best course of action to take to achieve greatness is to hide one’s head in the sand and enjoy oneself- “ignorance is bliss- otherwise, there is no escape. (655)

Blomment

2009-03-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

The discussion about the relativity of happiness to success seems to have been left unresolved in our class. One side believed it to be ludicrous to relate success and happiness with each other. The two terms are completely separate ideas and the saying that one is happy and therefore he or she is successful is null. According to this party, the happiness of an individual should never be an instrument by which to measure success. I tended to side with the arguments put forth by this group of individuals during the class discussion. The other side’s arguments were unclear to myself but I believe they were attempting legitimize the lifestyles of characters in the play by saying that if they are happy then they are successful.

The argument seemed to be at a stalemate when the second group couldn’t seem to comprehend Matt Rosenzweig’s comment that if this latter belief were true, then everyone would be happy because there would be something in every individual case that could legitimize them, no matter how successful they actually were. When presented with the counterargument of what measures success, we came up with one- the Greenberg scale. Although not a trained statistician myself, I constantly attempt to estimate the successes of the characters in the play along this scale.

There are obviously very few successful individuals in the play that we directly encounter, if any at all. This is easily seen even without the made-up, standardized Greenberg scale of success. Willy is an aging man who cannot afford to retire and is so bad at his job that he is on commission, not even a stable salary. His wife is in the same situation as he is, relying on their two sons to care for them in old age; but this turns out to be a poor decision. Their first son, Biff, is in his 30s and cannot find an adequate job because he is “restless.” This problem most likely stems from his high school days when he was a University of Virginia prospect. It is not uncommon to see former athletes unable to find their niche in society after all the fame, glory, and attention passes them by. How can one find solace in the joys of life after having played on the big stage in front of tons of fans? Their younger son, Happy, is somewhat better but clearly cannot support the entire family. He holds a respectable job with a decent salary, and the reader does not learn much of Happy’s personality other then that he seems to be an extreme womanizer.

Anyway you look at it, these individuals have contributed nothing positive to society or to themselves. A successful individual might be a selfish one, amassing a fortune for him or herself, or a generous one, giving up all possessions to help others. The Lomax family falls under neither of these categories and thus, I conclude, is not successful in any nuance of the term.

(496)

A Doll's House: Ken and Barbie All Grown Up

2009-02-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

Up until the concluding scene of the play, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact message the author was trying to get across. One could imagine that the play was about women’s rights, but pro or con? The scenes contained so many sexist stereotypes and the date and era that the play was written and performed in can not help but confirm the reader’s suspicions that Ibsen was against women’s rights.

Upon further inspection, however, the reader can find much evidence of Nora’s attempts to cross over the gender lines in a positive light. Her actions are examples of what many prominent women would later do to help facilitate the women’s rights movement.

Initially, the reader sees Nora as a childish character, merely her husband’s pet. Then she confesses to Mrs. Linde her attempts to be an independent person, taking on work by herself and handling business matters behind her husband’s back; but even this is questionable as she approaches these matters with a substantial amount of naivety and blunders about quite a bit. But in the end, Nora has transformed into a motivated, driven individual who realizes what she wants for herself and is ready to do anything to achieve it. This when the reader realizes that her confessions of the secrets she had kept for many years was provoked by her jealousy of Mrs. Linde’s individuality and independence.

There is also a good amount of criticism of the male gender involved in the play. This can be seen in Torvald Helmer’s character, who is set up by the author in such a way that it is difficult not to dislike him. His selfishness and eagerness to look out for only himself is easily despised by the audience. Ibsen is making a point when, in the end, Nora decides to look for only herself and nobody else- clearly showing that she had crossed over the gender lines set by the society of the era and on to independence. (329)

Hamlet's Sanity- Part 1 in the Series of Analyses of the Works of Eric Tiberius Fram

2009-02-08T20:46:00.001-08:00

“Hamlet's sanity became a question for me when I realized that he was going to change the course of his actions and of his life based on a conversation he had with a ghost.” This shrewd statement, by Eric Tiberius Fram, is one that I unexpectedly had to disagree with. Hamlet’s actions in the primary segment of the play point to anything but insanity. “However, while at the beginning of the play, the only person who comes into contact with the ghost in Hamlet, later in the play, Horatio too hears the ghost. This validates Hamlet's contact with the ghost as an actual event and not just a hallucination.” This statement, also taken from the blog of the Great One, nullifies the initial statement as Hamlet’s willingness to follow the ghost is given credibility, which was expected anyways as a survey taken in 2003 showed that more than half of the adults in the United States believe in ghosts.

“It is interesting to consider that idea that the main character of a Shakespeare play may possibly be insane. Since the play is centered around Hamlet, if he was insane, would the audience be seeing the story through the lens of a madman, or would the audience be able to tell the difference between the rumination of a madman and the actual events that occur?” This proposition is similar to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which questioned the effect that language had in shaping one’s reality. If there is no word for a concept, one can never truly understand the said idea. Similarly, the audience can never know if the recitation of the events they are seeing before them are accurate.

“In the end though, when all of the evidence is collected and compiled and analyzed, we must conclude that Hamlet is perfectly sane.” This concluding sentence proves to merely be evidence of one of the author’s few downfalls, uncertainty. The fact that Dr. Fram ever questioned Hamlet’s sanity when he decided to follow the teachings of Confucius in filial piety by listening to his father- regardless of the fact that it was actually an apparition of his father- or when Hamlet repeatedly made sure of the legitimacy of the ghost’s statements and delayed the murder of his uncle is silly.

I initially intended this to be a study of a piece of writing by a great man but I realize now that it kind of got out of hand and turned into a blatant criticism of all this man stood for in relation to literature. However, I stand unashamed because I am now done with my assigned blog- results that my fellow friend and Hava Java cult member will accept in return for his pride. (453)

Over and Over

2009-01-25T18:49:00.000-08:00

I am truly glad that we read so many different Greek tragedies as a class because they are all stories of their own. It is nearly impossible to find any parallelisms among any of these readings. There is something new to be learned with each tragedy we encounter. For example, Antigone is the first time the reader sees an example of megalomania in the reading. In no other instance has a leader come to power because of his great deeds prior to the setting of the story and then caused his own downfall through his superiority complex. Creon’s state in the conclusion that is described as a “walking dead man” is the end result of his own hubris- I never saw it coming. The series of events that take place in the story were such a surprising, unique, and refreshing change that made the reading experience all the more enjoyable.

Seriously though, the comparisons between Antigone and Oedipus- used as examples because we’ve read them as a class- are unending. Yet we still analyze Antigone as an individual and unique story. Thus we must consider Creon’s actions and debate whether or not he is a good or evil character- as discussed in Robert’s blog. We must also question if he could have somehow prevented the Teiresias’ prophecy from coming to fruition had he proceeded to take a different course of action- as contemplated in Matthew’s blog. So we proceed to spend 4 periods of 50-minute time intervals each week discussing questions that nobody has the answer to. But my opinion remains the same, Norma Jean in the short story “Shiloh” did, in fact, jump off the cliff. (277)

And They Lived Happily Ever After...

2009-01-11T18:46:00.000-08:00

Ronald Blythe’s statement that The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a novel that evokes the “sheer desolating aloneness of dying” is, in my opinion, incorrect. I consider the intended main idea of the novella to be the irony that death is an escape from a lonely, barren life. Tolstoy makes this view of the difference between life and death through examples such as the expression on Ivan’s face in his coffin, “as if what was necessary had been accomplished, and accomplished rightly.” Ivan’s life, as described in the later chapters, is one full of monotony and routine; it is best described in a word, paradoxically, as lifeless. He marries simply to be settled in, lets his work consume his life, and does not build worthwhile relationships with other human beings. The first chapter does show that Ivan Ilyich died truly alone, but this is not the cause of death itself, but instead it is a result of Ivan’s deeds in life. Ivan’s life is not special in any way in this particular society either; all of his “acquaintances” are guilty of the same faults. But it is exactly these faults that keep all members of the society in an inescapable cycle in which the roles of life and death are mistakenly reversed.

The thought that death is the ultimate reward and an escape does not come readily to most readers because it is not the generally accepted norm. As in Matthew Tibi’s recent senior speech, everyone seems to be looking for immortality, to live forever. I imagine that I was able to more easily see this theme because of how I had been taught in my religious faith, that death means an ascendance into Heaven and thus, is a good thing. Furthermore, death is one of the few things in life that all humans experience together, it is a universally shared experience. Although not the strongest argument, it still points to the fact that death is not the cause of an individual’s isolation.

The only character in the novella who seems to correctly understand this is Gerasim, who is the only character who does not fear death and, in turn, lives a good, cheerful life. He is also the only one who Ivan truly appreciates as he approaches death in his final days because Gerasim is the only one who does not have to lie about death and make it something it’s not- he speaks the truth. In essence, the story is filled with Tolstoy’s attempts to preach to the reader the importance of understanding life and death and their respective roles by repeatedly criticizing the lifestyles of the major characters involved. (443)

Heart of Darkness // Waiting for the Barbarians

2008-12-07T18:37:00.001-08:00

There are the numerous, concrete parallelisms between the Magistrate and Mr. Kurtz in their two respective novels. In the era of British imperialism, Britain can be seen as the “Empire” presented in Waiting for the Barbarians, and the Africans are the “barbarians.” Both these characters can be labeled as explorers and collectors. Both embody figures of authority who stray from the accepted social mores of their cultures and eventually become similar to the respective barbarians in the eyes of their peers. The two stories can be seen as a reflection of one another. In Heart of Darkness, Marlowe is from the mainland of the British Empire, observing Kurtz after years of being immersed in the foreign country. In Waiting for the Barbarians, the Magistrate is the one who has been “sunk, after years in this backwater, in slothful native ways,” (50) and the emissary from the capital is presented in Colonel Joll.

Similar to how Kurtz is shunned by his people because of his preference to live among the Africans, the Magistrate is imprisoned and tortured by the Empire because of his interest in the barbarian culture. In Waiting for the Barbarians, the citizens of the town soon fall to the tasking life under martial law. As the soldiers all abandon the town, the Magistrate essentially comes back into his position of authority and I like to think that the people of the town realize that he has been right all along. Similarly, Kurtz’s view of integrating with the Africans is directed in the right path, although the end result of his actions- becoming a worshipped god to the tribal people- is not what one should strive for.

But the parallel actions of these two characters from the two novels are not what is so profoundly unique. The distinctiveness lies in the motives that drive the actions of the Magistrate and Kurtz. As Douglas Kerr says in his article, “Kurtz too has acquired a lover…the wilderness itself.” (22) Upon reflection, I find that the same could be said of the Magistrate. He is confused by his feelings for the barbarian girl because he doesn’t understand that his intentions aren’t comparable to those involved in a sexual relationship but instead it is a relationship of cultural curiosity. The Magistrate and Mr. Kurtz represent two separate instances of individuality and the courage to venture out of bounds and into the “wrong.” (399)

Waiting for the Barbarians

2008-11-23T22:16:00.001-08:00

The first two sections of Waiting for the Barbarians gave me mixed feelings about the narrator. At first, I favored him over the other characters presented in the story, placing him above Colonel Joll, the barbarians, and the other people of the Empire. But as the story goes on, Coetzee gives this main character more depth- as the narrator becomes more human. By this I mean that the reader becomes confused with the true intentions of the narrator, and I feel that he himself is just as clueless. The problem seems to lie in the narrator’s want to be better, but is held back by the fact that he is merely human. He tries to protect innocent individuals from being interrogated by Colonel Joll, becomes irritated by the torture of the barbarians, attempts to find a reason for why he hunts, etc. A major part of his daily activities involves him trying to explain his existence. The excavations of the ruins, his studies of the ancient scripts, his want to preserve the barbarians’ society all point to a desire to give meaning to his life. The second chapter of this novel deals mainly with the narrator questioning human sexual desire. As he grows older, he again begins to question why he has such wants. In the end, this uncertainty and indecisiveness is what taints the image of the narrator in my mind, and also in the minds of other characters in the novel. As seen in the young officer’s reaction when the narrator gets carried away, there is a foreshadowing of what is to result from the narrator’s contemplations. (269)

Diversity of the Human Race/Comparative Worth of Races

2008-11-17T00:16:00.000-08:00

Alfred Russel Wallace

- Two parties of argument; one believes that mankind is homogenous and that variations of physical attributes of man have created ‘races’, the other believes in the permanence of these characteristics, the original diversity of man

- The effects of natural selection on man vs. animals: mental weakness takes precedent over physical weakness

- Natural selection affects variations in man’s mental capacities now, instead of physical ones

- Nature still affects man physically in one factor- the color of the skin

- Those civilizations who prospered in harsher climates “hardened” the mind of the inhabitants and thus advanced them further than other civilizations of the world

- Such harsher climates were those of temperate weather and inclement seasons: North-South relationship

- Prediction of the origins of races of man, naturally adapting, gregarious species who migrated to different environments; mental development was accelerated during this time from some unknown cause

Francis Galton

- Sets up comparisons between the Negro and Anglo-Saxon race

- Ranking of the cognitive abilities of different races: A-G are above the mean, a-g are below the mean, and X and x for the extremes

- Example of the white traveler, civilized but an average person, meeting the black tribal chief, raised to be a leader: records never show that the white is inferior to the black- the smartest black compares to an average white

- Greeks are the most valuable race in the history of man, Australians are the lowest

The Conclusion of the Compsons

2008-11-03T21:48:00.001-08:00

The novel is essentially brought to a close by Faulkner in Dilsey’s quote, “I seed de beginnin, en now I sees de endin” (297). The reader is hard pressed to fully interpret what Faulkner was trying to say through Dilsey in this passage. But the story is being brought to a close as the Compson family finally reaches its demise, or so one can predict. Dilsey had been with the family the entire novel, and possibly longer than even this time frame, when the Compson’s were a respectable, aristocratic, Southern family. She sees the ending when, in this final chapter, Quentin runs away and Jason goes after her, leaving mother to die and, consequently, Benjy to be sent to Jackson. Quentin’s running away is crucial because it contradicts Jason’s father when he said to Quentin, “no compson has ever disappointed a lady” (178). Thus all the values and traditions of the respectable Compson family are abandoned and the most recent generation collectively leads the family to its downfall. As Dilsey grows old, she sees that there will be nobody to hold this family together after her, and the Compson legacy will vanish. This is what she saw in her enlightenment during Easter service at church. Faulkner thus brings closure to the novel with the death of the Compsons.

(218)

Paradise Lost and Found

2008-10-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

As I read through the pages of The Sound and the Fury in preparation for class discussions, I always look for biblical symbols and motifs. Not only because of my religious views but also the fact that most literary works contain references to the Bible in some way. This common ground provides fuel for the majority of my input in class and, consequently, creates a greater sense of achievement and purpose internally. However, thus far, I had been unsuccessful in extracting any references to the Bible in this novel. Luckily, Mary Dell Fletcher had more insight than myself and was able to devote two pages of interpretation solely to Faulkner’s biblical symbolisms.

This article, titled Edenic Images in The Sound and the Fury, appeared in volume 40 of the South Central Bulletin in the winter of 1980 and published by The Johns Hopkins University Press. It was written by Mary Dell Fletcher who attended Northwestern State University of Louisiana. In it, Fletcher mentions random, unconnected scenes that relate to themes that appear in Paradise Lost by John Milton. The central idea is that literature is constantly seeking Edenic paradise, “a rural scene, a physically beautiful garden filled with sunlight, blue skies, warm winds, babbling brooks, and aromatic flowers.” (Fletcher, 142) But many literary scholars also tend to relate this paradise with the loss of it through the acquirement of knowledge, as taught in the Bible. This historically great work of art tells its readers of a story in which God told Adam and Eve to stay away from the one Tree of Knowledge but Satan was able to deceive Eve, and in turn Adam, to eat the fruit from the tree, resulting in God’s wrath and exile from the Garden of Eden. Fletcher saw the parallelisms to this story in Caddy’s climbing the tree next to the house the night when Damuddy dies even though “your paw told you to stay out that tree.” (Faulkner, 39) In disobeying her father’s orders, Caddy climbs the tree and gains “greater knowledge”; specifically, she learns that her grandmother has died. Fletcher quotes Faulkner’s interviews when he pointed out the importance that “the girl was the only one that was brave enough to climb the tree.” He also notes the importance of the symbolism of the scene where “we watched the muddy bottom of her drawers.” (39) This, according to Fletcher, is in reference to the Biblical teachings in which, as punishment for disobeying His orders, God cursed women with the “unclean blood of the menstrual cycle.”

Benjy also holds similar roles to that of Adam in the Bible. According to Faulkner, he created Benjy as the personification of innocence in the sense of blindness. Benjy is Faulkner’s interpretation of what God intended the human race to be: oblivious to anything outside of their senses, blind to good and evil, and the type of ignorance that is stressed in Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. Fletcher also noted on the importance of time in relation to the Bible. Benjy recounts his portion of the novel in no distinct order in reference to time. Similarly, the Bible does not provide an accurate timeline which has created the question within the Christian community of how long the world has been in existence. From this I started thinking about the importance of the second section of the novel retold by Quentin. His obsession with time and clocks and the idea that he is “trapped” in time takes on new meaning, although I am not sure of what that meaning is.

The Compson pasture is also a huge part of this metaphorical relationship between the novel and the Bible. Benjy’s chopped recollections of the pasture are filled with descriptions of flowers, bright grass, trees, and the sun. These descriptions create an image in the reader’s mind similar to the Edenic garden that is the ultimate goal of so many. There seems to be some importance in Benjy’s attachment to the pasture, his constant want to return to it even after his family has sold it and moved away because it reminds him of home and Caddy- paradise lost. Symbolically, the pasture is later sold to pay for Quentin’s tuition at Harvard, paradise is lost in return for the pursuit of higher knowledge. I like to think that Faulkner is trying to make certain implications when Quentin kills himself, thus proving the futility of all the Compsons had given up for his education.

In the end, with the help of my good friend Mary Fletcher, I am able to extrapolate some Biblical importance from this novel once again.

(770)

Living the American Dream in Shiloh, Tennessee

2008-09-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

The American Dream: “That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement… It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable…” as stated in 1931 by James Truslow Adams who first coined the phrase. “Shiloh”, written by Bobbie Ann Mason, is a story of Leroy Moffitt’s hopes to live the American dream and, more importantly, how he fails to achieve it.

The two main characters of the story, Leroy and his wife, Norma Jean, are making considerable changes in the hopes of recreating themselves. Norma is “attending a body-building class” at the beginning of the story (6). She later finishes her “six-week body-building course and now she is taking an adult-education course in composition at Paducah Community College.” (86) The narrator, presumably Leroy, also notices that “Norma Jean has been cooking unusual foods- tacos, lasagna, Bombay chicken.” (93) By the end of the story, Norma Jean has also quit smoking, after having been caught by her mother. It is apparent that Norma is going through great pains to try and remake her own character, to become something new.

Leroy is also guilty of holding false hopes of his own. After he is injured in an accident from his previous job as a truck driver, he takes up crafting; initially to pass the time but later, takes his new hobby seriously, promising his wife to build her a log house with his own hands. While he is grounded in his home for a few months, Leroy grows “unusually tender about his wife and guilty over his long absences.” (9) However, Leroy seems to pick and choose which aspects of his life he wishes to create, perhaps contributing to the future failure of his plans. He does not see anything wrong with buying drugs from his former high school classmate’s son, who is the same age as his own dead son would have been at the time.

Even Mabel, Leroy’s mother-in-law is looking for some change. She insists that the Leroy and Norma Jean take a trip to Shiloh, Tennessee, where she went on her honeymoon, after being married to Jet Beasley.

There are characteristic flaws in the relationship of Leroy and Norma Jean, very similar to that of Mr. and Mrs. Das as well as our good friends- the Bennett couple. The concept of a mismatched couple somehow married and living together for many years seems to have become the status quo. The only major discrepancy in the Moffitts’ case is that it doesn’t work out so well for them in the end. This could be due to a lack of communication among the members involved in the said relationship. While at home, Leroy notices that “they never speak about their memories of Randy…they sometimes feel awkward around each other.” (9); and again at the park museum, “he feels awkward, like a boy on a date with an older girl.” (133) This shortage of exchanges of thoughts creates disparities in the two’s hopes and dreams. Leroy is never quite able to understand what Norma wants from him, and Norma just seems to be exasperated by him at times, refusing his promises of a log cabin and “[taking] Leroy’s needlepoint and [shoving] it into a drawer.” (37) These flaws are the primary contribution to their failure in the end of the story.

Mason cleverly embeds many packed sentences within the narrative throughout the story. She foreshadows what is to come by saying “that they must create a new marriage, start afresh. They are lucky they are still married.” (9) Eventually, Norma Jean becomes unable to handle the failure and leaves Leroy. She explains her emotions, for once, saying that “I feel eighteen again. I can’t face that all over again.” (154) She seems to contradict her previous wishes to start over and be remade. Leroy is, as always, predictable and takes a while to process all the information, most likely because he has been smoking dope, and later simply agrees with Norma Jean’s opinions- “It was clumsy of him to think Norma Jean would want a log house. It was a crazy idea… He will wad the blueprints into tight balls and fling them into the lake.” (155) As soon as he makes up his mind, he starts after Norma Jean who is “walking through the cemetery, following a serpentine brick path” (155) and, after reaching the bluff, waves goodbye to Leroy; it is left up to the reader to determine what became of poor Norma Jean after that.

(795)

Revelation 21:4

2008-09-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

Flannery O’Connor once said that “I write the way I do because (not though) I am a Catholic.” Upon reading and interpreting two of her works this week, one finds that this could not have been more clearly stated. The reader finds a recurring theme of religion in almost all of O’Connor’s works; “Revelation” proves to be no exception.

The symbolisms and motifs of this short story can easily be extracted from a purely religious viewpoint because of the author’s writing style. It is patently clear that Mrs. Turpin sees herself as the perfect Christian, providing an example for the rest of the world to follow, as those of the faith are taught to do. Yet blinded by her prejudice, Mrs. Turpin cannot see that she is a perfect example of why so many today are reluctant to accept Christianity as their religion. It is the common case of a misinterpretation of the teachings of the Bible by an individual. Mrs. Turpin believes that she must use her blessing of being made “better” than others to save the souls of what appear to her to be savages and lowlifes. Based upon her judgment of other people around her, it is hard to believe how Mrs. Turpin views herself as the shining light of Christ for all to see. In the waiting room, she quickly groups the other people in the room into labels such as “trash” and “niggers”. It is apparent that she thinks very poorly of these people when she describes their habits of “[Lounging] about the sidewalks all day drinking root beer. Dip snuff and spit in every puddle and have it all over my face. I could be nasty. Or you could have made me a nigger… Lay down in the middle of the road and stop traffic. Roll on the ground.” (380)

From the religious perspective, the climax of the story is God attempting to send a message to Mrs. Turpin of what it is to be a true Christian. She is attacked in the waiting room of the doctor’s office- comparable to waiting in purgatory before the gates of Heaven- by a random college girl who tells Mrs. Turpin to “Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog.” (376). It is as if this girl could see straight into Mrs. Turpin’s soul, past all the fake appearances and outside layers. Yet still, Mrs. Turpin does not get the message, later becoming furious with God and even challenging His authority. It is then that she sees something like a highway, extending from earth to the heavens, with a train of souls going upwards, “clean for the first time in their lives…” (381). The conclusion leaves it up to the reader to decide whether or not Mrs. Turpin finally does get the message from up above.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” (Revelations 21:4)

(525)

An Interpretation of "Interpreter of Maladies"

2008-09-14T20:45:00.001-07:00

During my experience in the other block of AP English I noticed that the members of the table did not enjoy speaking as much as those in my original class. Most likely because of this fact, an important idea of the short story, in my opinion, was only briefly addressed; and I would now like to take the time to more thoroughly inspect the topic. The “Interpreter of Maladies”, essentially, is about the cultural differences that face the Das family, as observed by the third-person, limitedly omniscient narrative of Mr. Kapasi. Upon thoughtful reflection, I find the story to relate in many ways to my own life.

Within the first minutes of being introduced to the Das family, Kapasi initially notices that they look like tourists, with their bright clothing and cameras. He also makes a note of how Mr. Das “squeezes his hand”, greeting him like an American; a custom that we refer to as a handshake. As noted in discussion, Mr. Kapasi sees Bobby’s braces and can only interpret them as silver wires in his mouth, as he had never seen anything like them before. The reader again sees an example of this rift when the puffed-rice vendor half-jokingly, half-seriously professes his love to Mrs. Das through a traditional song and she does not understand what it means.

Following readings of the book revealed to me these same cultural divergences existent in my life. As an “international kid”, I have constantly juggled two different cultural existences my whole life. Almost every summer since I was young, my family would go to Korea for vacation; when I lived in Korea, I would fly back to America. But being primarily an American teen, I usually found difficulty in the former. Without an entire knowledge of the Korean language, I struggle every year to converse with members outside of my immediate family. My ‘Americanization’ has also led to many misunderstandings beyond the language barrier, creating amore than necessary share of awkward moments.

It is on account of these reasons that Mrs. Das might find Mr. Kapasi’s alternate job as a medical interpreter “romantic”. There is an indelible want to return to one’s roots in every individual- causing the Das’ to return to India and my nuclear family to return to Korea every year. The ability of Mr. Kapasi to be able to speak to and understand individuals of both cultures is something that almost every one of us desires. However, unable to be seen through her narrow vision, even the interpreter of maladies, Mr. Kapasi, can only relate to Americans and English speaking individuals to a small extent, much less than what we hope for. Although time has separated both cases likely from ever reverting to their respective cultures, it is important for us to know where we come from because, as in the story, in the end, family is what matters most. (483)

Summer Reading Experience

2008-08-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon
iCon, by Steve Jobbs
Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Contrary to what one might extrapolate from my relatively short reading list this past summer, I am an avid reader. Since I was a young child, I read books as a recreational activity; though this habit has unfortunately waned over time. I used to read and re-read various novels of all genres, some above my level and some below, but all equally enjoyable to myself. Even now, whenever I find the rare opportunity of having free time, my mind seems to draw itself towards its old habits. Take the last book on the list for example, this summer was not the first time I read Treasure Island (probably the 8th or 9th in fact), yet for some reason, almost as soon as summer vacation had begun, I was compelled to pick up this book and revisit the experiences of Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver.

However, the one reading that was most striking in my mind was Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki. The book is an educational narrative intended to teach the reader on how to make money. In using his own life as an example, Kiyosaki talks of his childhood, when he abandoned the advice of his own father for his friend's father, whom he called his own, merely because of the fact that his friend's father was rich and his own was not. This shock was compounded when, upon a little research, I discovered that the author was now bankrupt. Ironically, I continued to read his thoughts on how to create a fortune for myself and I found myself fascinated. I talked about my thoughts on the book with the person who I thought the most qualified in the subject, my father.

Although his job description falls under the category of investment banker, my father has not made his fortune that allowed for my brother and myself to enjoy our lives to the fullest by working within the lines. Through hard-work he has been able to become one of the most sought-after risk managers in Korea. His wealth was increased by his research and investment in the real estate market, along with his safe-spending. My interest in this field led to many discussions with my father about money making, and has consequently resulted in a better understanding of my father’s life as well as a strengthened bond because of this mutual interest between us.

Learning about the real estate market, the stock exchange, the currency exchange, mutual bonds, and how to maximize my assets while minimizing my liabilities really taught me something about myself as well. Up until now, I had been set on a college major related to medicine. My major of choice was not changed by a single summer of reading but this newly-found interest in finance and business has certainly opened up new horizons in my future as I look forward to many more educational readings on this topic. (520)