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April 29, 2006
amazing
Miller, Resurrection Blues (to be published in February) -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
I can't even begin to describe how impressed I am by this play. I just started to read it for the second time and it seems that every line is
so full of meaning that I am still missing things. The conversation at the beginning of the play between Henri and Felix provides a great deal of information. Just as Felix describes to her father the rate of speed at which Jeannine must have been traveling when she hit the sidewalk, he asks about Henri's dentist in the same breath. Then after hearing about a dead baby on the sidewalk, Felix tells that he is in analysis because his "dog just won't hunt." I love how Henri gets sucked into these conversations while he is trying to discuss a potential crucifixion with the leader of his country. Miller portrays Felix as a man with a great deal of personal issues on his mind an obsession with money. He asks "Charley" at the end of the play to come down from wherever he is since there is "one big pot of money" at stake. And Miller pulls no punches when Felix yells out, "Come down and get crucified!"
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at 01:38 PM | Comments (2)
April 26, 2006
Critical Approaches to Flannery O'Connor
Formal Oral Presentations -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
From my oral presentation:
Here is my thesis and questions regarding it using each of Roberts' Critical Approaches.
Thesis: “The Artificial Nigger,” “The River,” and “Good Country People” succeed at portraying moments of epiphany to varying degrees. Using the following critical definition of epiphany allows for the comparison of the three main characters’ epiphanies based on: 1) the actual life-changing events they experience, 2) their capacities for self-awareness and 3) their inherent deficits.
Definition of epiphany (Myers): “[an] inspirational moment…inevitably preceded by a crushing awareness of one’s unworthiness and by a shedding of self-sufficiency.”
Critical Approaches
Moral/Intellectual
How successfully does the use of epiphanies convey O’Connor’s message? What, in fact, is O’Connor’s message to the reader?
Topical/Historical
How is O’Connor’s use of the moment of epiphany for Mr. Head, Bevel, and Joy/Hulga connected to her southern Catholicism?
New Critical/Formalist
Do the details about the characters affect the success of the epiphany? (ex., youth, arrogance)
Structuralist
Are the characters portrayed as active or passive protagonists? Is this difference significant in determining whether an epiphany occurred? If Bevel actively takes his own life, does he become self-sufficient? Or is the realization separate from the resulting actions?
Feminist
Comparing Hulga with Bevel and Mr. Head, does O’Connor give Hulga more or less ability to experience the moment of epiphany? Is this related to her being female?
Economic Determinist/Marxist
Do the economic/social situations of the three characters have any effect on their abilities to experience the epiphanies? Would they be less likely to experience them if they were wealthy?
Psychological/Psychoanalytical
Does the character need to have a mature ego to experience the “crushing awareness of one’s unworthiness”?
Archetypal/Symbolic/Mythic
Is the moment of epiphany a “search for paradise” or merely a lesson from O’Connor about the ineptitude brought about by arrogance?
Deconstructionist
Could the epiphany be merely a way for O’Connor to express her religious views and not a development for the characters? What is the meaning of epiphany?
Reader-Response
Does the reader create the idea of the epiphany? How would different readers of various religions interpret such a concept?
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at 09:52 AM | Comments (1)
April 24, 2006
stay on track
Roberts, Ch.17 -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
"Many elements go into writing good answers on tests, but responsiveness is the most important."
I have found that I am the most successful when answering test questions when I reread the question over and over throughout my writing. Often it is possible to trail off on a point that is not as necessary to the answer as it should be. By rereading the question, I am able to stay focused and keep my answer on track.
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at 01:01 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2006
puzzle pieces
McBride, The Color of Water (1996) -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
"for as she laid her life before me, I reassembled the tableau of her words like a picture puzzle, and as I did, so my own life was rebuilt."
I wonder if James' siblings needed this as much as he did and how it changed them to read this book. It seems that James couldn't integrate the parts of himself without knowing where he came from and that he almost knew that what he would find out would be a rich history that would give him a new way of thinking about himself.
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at 02:50 PM | Comments (3)
April 17, 2006
assimilation
McBride, The Color of Water (1996) -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
"If you throw water on the floor it will always find a hole, believe me."
McBride's mother shows much wisdom in regards to her sisters, who were trying to leave pieces of themselves behind to become "American". This is a struggle faced by so many people in our country, what of their origins to retain and what to disregard. But as his mother notes, those pieces of oneself are sure to fight their way to the surface again. Just as she denied her Jewishness to her children, but it obviously seeped in in valuable ways.
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at 08:47 PM | Comments (1)
April 09, 2006
Hughes' "Tamborines" & "The Weary Blues"
Hughes and Frost -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
"Tamborines!
Tamborines!
Tamborines
To the glory of God!"
This is read so quickly it gives energy and a sense of song.
"Droning a drowsy syncopated tune
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon."
This also refers to song, but is such a mouthful of words it requires the reader to slow down. Hughes is so successful in these two poems conveying sound through his word choice.
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at 10:25 PM | Comments (1)
Frost's "A Considerable Speck"
Hughes and Frost -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
"No one can know how glad I am to find
On any sheet the least display of mind."
What a great way Frost has of expressing the idea that a writer might have - even this microscopic bug with a "mind" is something on his page. When having difficulty writing one would appreciate any sign of thought at all.
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at 10:22 PM | Comments (0)
April 08, 2006
Ch. 12
Roberts, Ch. 12 -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
"... your basic strategy is persuasion."
This seems like such a simple, straightforward idea, that we must persuade our reader that our claim is true. However, I have found that often I find myself questioning my claim while I am writing. I know this is necessary and should be used to provide objections and then proof for why these objections don't hold up, but it often just succeeds in stopping me dead in my tracks and making me wonder if I chose the right claim.
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2006
interpreting views
Roberts, Ch. 8 -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
"In many stories, characters express their own views, which can be right or wrong, admirable or contemptible. When you consider such dramatic speeches, you must do considerable interpreting and evaluating yourself."
This points out the importance of reading beyond the words, not just reacting to the characters. We may disagree with or love a character, but what do we think about the use of the character in the story or the idea the author is trying to get across?
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at 04:34 PM | Comments (3)
April 02, 2006
pride of the peacock
O'Connor, '''The Displaced Person'' -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
"He (the priest) came regularly once a week with a bag of breadcrumbs and, after he had fed these to the peacock, he would come in and sit by the side of her bed and explain the doctrines of the Church."
Was the priest feeding some kind of vanity as represented by the peacock? Or did he see in it the beauty created by God? It is hard to say what O'Connor wants us to think since she deals with religion in such an ambiguous way. In the beginning of the story, the peacock seemed to focus his attention "on something no one else could see". O'Connor may mean for the peacock to represent an all-knowing figure looking out at the inevitable future.
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at 08:59 PM | Comments (2)
O'Connor, '''Good Country People'' -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
"Woman! do you ever look inside? Do you ever look inside and see what you are not? God!"
Hulga asks the question that reverberates throughout O'Connor's works. And again we have an intelligent/ignorant "child" needing some serious guidance. I seem to think also that there is always one parent of some type rather than two. It reminds me of how every Disney story requires the mother to be absent. I've often thought that many of the events would not take place if there were a balanced family system. Not to say at all that single parent famillies are unbalanced in any way, but that O'Connor perhaps uses this as another "deformity".
Posted by JenniferDiFulvio at 08:48 PM | Comments (2)