April 2009 Archives

"If you're telling me this guy doesn't exist, I'm..."
Resurrection Blues, Arthur Miller (74)

I found this very conversation between Henri and Skip very interesting, and after reading it I couldn't shake the idea that maybe this man, messiah, whatever you might call him wasn't real, just something out of the characters imaginations.  I liked Henri most out of the figures in the book, and I got the impression that his philosophical idea may have carried some weight in terms of the message Miller was trying to get across: I don't know what it was exactly, but it still seemed substantial.  Also, the idea that the imaginary man was the only one who "still really feels everything" (76) seemed pretty ironic when considered with Henri's "hall of imagination" theory.

Other than that, the play appeared very straight forward as far as interpretation goes.  It poses the question, "What would happen if Christ showed up today?"  I think the result would be very much like Miller presented it to us, and that is very sad but true.

After Foster said "the sex that occurs is invariably tied up with something else," (147) I wondered, hmm, what does that suggest about Henry's high sex drive? The Time Traveler's Wife covers the intimate acts of the couple's relationship, and Henry's sexual appetite (26 times in a day, wow).  Is sex here a metaphor for something else or is it just sex? Foster attaches a number of possibilities as to what sex can imply. But I don't see what else sex in a book chronicling a couples life together would mean but sex.  I did sort of think the physicality of it kept Henry planted in the present because it relaxed him like running did, but I don't know.  Any other theories?

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Prayer
By Theodore Roethke

If I must of my Senses lose,

I pray Thee, Lord, that I may choose

Which of the Five I shall retain

Before Oblivion clouds the brain.

My Tongue is generations dead,

My Nose defiles a comely Head;

For hearkening to carnal evils

My Ears have been the very devil's.

And some have held the Eye to be

The instrument of lechery,

More furtive than the Hand in low

And vicious venery--Not so!

Its rape is gentle, never more

Violent than a metaphor.

In truth, the Eye's the abettor of

The holiest platonic love:

Lip, Breast and Thigh cannot possess

So singular a blessedness.

Therefore, O Lord, let me preserve

The Sense that does so fitly serve,

Take Tongue and Ear--all else I have--

Let Light attend me to the grave!

"'What a time to be born,' the protagonist thinks as he passes by, and it should be clear here that the birth with which Ellison is concerned is the protagonist's new birth as a public intellectual."
"Eloquence and Invisible Man," Christopher Hanlon (93)

For the record, I liked this second academic article much better.  I thought it kept a tighter focus on the topic, and retained a higher interest level for the reader.  Many passages from Invisible Man that Hanlon centered on and provided explanations to I found useful in aiding my own understanding of the work. For instance the passage I selected wasn't so clear to me, I remember being confused over why Ellison chose to insert this brief labor moment into the story.  Once Hanlon mentioned rebirth, I thought "Oh...."  I'm still taken back by the many functions a minute detail can hold in a story.  It's funny thinking back to how I once read, especially in association with the topic of invisibility, because I was blind to all the invisible connections.  It has been like being let in on a secret. I was also surprised to hear that the protagonist's speech at the "Battle Royal" was not Ellison's own thoughts but in fact the words of Booker T. Washington.

"'Guess I'll have to get some better filters,' she mused. 'These I got just lets through the grounds along with the coffee, the good with the bad.  I don't know though, even with the best of filters you apt to find a ground or two at the bottom of your cup.'" The Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison (323)

I'm fond of this quote for a few reasons, one being its usefulness as a simple life-reminder that the negative is a constant even in the best of conditions. The other relates to its placement and purpose (rather, what I think its purpose and placement suggest).  I've noticed figures in the book occasionally slip these hints to the narrator--red-flags if you will--that deliver the reader a "heads up" as to what lies ahead.  Although I haven't gotten too much further past this conversation, the suggestive capability of Mary's words surely stress more than the quality of a cup of coffee. 
There is also Mary's point about the filthy folks roaches:  "'Just let a little knocking start and here it comes crawling out.  All you have to do is shake things up a bit.'" Notice she doesn't refer to the insects as they, which would seem the more likely way to talk about a living thing, instead she says it as if speaking about the nature of something. My guess is the remark forecasts problems: all's fine while things remain calm, but let trouble come and out come the BUGS too.  I suspect these innuendos aren't aimed at The Invisible Man, but at us, the reader.

Oh, and has anyone else noticed how often the word staccato is used.  I only noticed because after encountering it several times, I decided my vague understanding of its meaning could use a refresher.  (For me it's one of those words you come across that you sort of get but if someone asked you to explain what it meant you'd fail.) Anyway after the word kept popping up, I looked it up: Detached, Disconnected, Disjointed were the (key) parts I was missing. Ellison's emphasis of this word might be significant, what do you think?