March 2007 Archives

O'Connor (Choose One of Three) -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

" 'Do you know what I would do with this place if I had a the chance?'...'I'd build a big parking lot on it, or something,' he muttered."

Before reading this short story, I actually listened to the song "Big Yellow Taxi" and in the song the main lyrics are "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot." Shortly after hearing this song, I read this story and it was almost too ironic. When the boy said this in the story, I almost laughed out loud, not because putting a parking lot in would be humours, but just because I couldn't stop singing the song in my mind. Another line from the song say, "They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum." I just couldn't help but compare the story to this song or the song to this story. I felt that it was all about taking away the paradise of Mrs. Pritchard. When Powell makes the decision to burn down the trees in the story, I couldn't help but reflect on my feelings of dislike for Mrs. Pritchard, who thought she could never have anything bad happen to her because she wasn't a negro or didn't live in a developements. I also hated the way that Mrs. Pritchard treated the child, who I named Ann because I felt so bad that she was neglected the way she was. When the boys caught the forest on fire and the child (Ann) didn't stop them, I felt as though she was being freed from her neglect at the end when it says, "She stood taut, listening, and could just catch in the distance a few wild high shrieks of joy as if the prophets were dancing in the fiery furnace, in the circle the angel had cleared for them." I really liked this story a lot and am glad I had to read this one out of the three.

Desmond, ''Flannery O'Connor's Misfit and the Mystery of Evil.'' -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"If He did what He said, then it's nothing for you to do but thow everything away and follow Him, and if He didn't, then it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can -- by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness..."

After reading through what Desmond had to say about O'Connor's Misfit and the Mystery of Evil, I felt as though I had look past many things that happened in her stories. After I read this section early on I thought about how almost every little detail that O'Connor uses falls into place and has a specific purpose. In this quote I realized that due to the Misfits confusion on why Jesus was resurrected he had many obvious problems. The, may I say it, trifles throughout the story make a huge difference in the large scheme of things. As we have learned, O'Connor love the religious references and I believe that her ideas on good and evil are so interesting and and the route in which she shows us through her stories is even more interesting.

In this quote above, the Misfit talked about the pleasure of meanness, and I feel that throughout the story he felt that God was punishing him, so why live his life afraid, instead he figured might as well live it up and make others suffer along with him. Maybe I am getting this wrong, but that is how I interpreted this portion and I felt that is what Desmond was saying as well, which after reading only once, I didn't really comprehend.

Truss, Eats, Shoots and Leaves -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"But when the question is posed by the sentence rather than by the speaker, logic demands that the question mark goes outside the inverted commas:
Why didn't Sophia see at once that his lordship dotedon her "to the highest degree of distraction"? "

I am not sure if anyone else feels this way, but I think the British style of punctuating with quotations is more understandable. I always have trouble placing my end punctuation. Should it be inside or outside of the quotations? But in the British style, it makes so much sense to why they do it this way that is shown above. Why is it that we didn't adapt this style over in America? Or did they not adapt our style? I guess I am just very interested in how very different the same language can actually be in the large scheme of things. The slang, the spelling, and the punctuation. It is all very thought provoking.

Truss, Eats, Shoots and Leaves -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"The big final rule for the comma is one that you won't find in any books by grammarians. It is quite easy to remember, however. The rule is: don't use commas like a stupid person. I mean it."

After reading through these sections, I was not offended. But not being offended was strange, because I can identify with sticking commas into paragraphs where I would pause when I read the text. I don't know what it is about Truss's writing style, but instead of feeling like she is pointing a finger at me saying, "you're dumb if you don't understand this." I feel like she is telling a story where I realize my own mistakes. Its as if the book is almost a novel and there is a moral at the end teaching you to identify your own flaws in punctuation. I was just wondering if anyone else felt this way after reading these sections. And if not, how does her writing style make you feel?

Truss, Eats, Shoots and Leaves -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"If you still persist in writing, 'Good food at it's best', you deserve to be struck by lightning, hacked up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave."

I picked this quote from Eats, Shoots and Leaves because I found it hilarious. Multiple times throughout the reading I was laughing out loud at the sarcastic tone and the stories Truss had to tell. While I was reading, I also realized that in this day and age, I almost accept these mistakes. After reading what Truss's reaction was when she viewed these mistakes, I realized how bad punctuation truly is and how I just overlook most of the grammatical errors that I see. I feel that so far this book has helped me realize how common these mistakes are and how BIG of a difference a little apostrophe can really make when you are trying to get a point across to someone.

Hamilton, Essential Literary Terms (226-246) -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"A couplet is a pair of rhymed lines of the same length and meter."

I have never heard of couplet. Although I have never really studied poetry before, I thought that I understood more about poems than I really do. This section was very important in my studying poetry, because I am learning terms that I didn't know about specifically. I feel that with this information I will be able to understand poetry more and possibly enjoy it even more.