March 2009 Archives
"I havent smoked a reefer since, however; not becasue they're illegal, but because to see around corners is enough (that is not unusual when you are invisible)" (Ellison 13).
I decided to talk about this particular quote because I found it very interesting. (Isnt that why we look at specific quotes?) That the narrator describes how he felt when he was under the influence of this substance and how he liked it but it was too much, is specifically what I found interesting.
In being invisible the narrator is used to seeing things that others miss. He conveys the idea that he is particularly clever and observant throughout the prologue, and i think that this is what the reader is supposed to get. When smoking reefer he got the sense that he could hear around corners as well. He could really hear what Louis Armstrong was saying, but he lost motivation to care like he normally would.
The narrator says the drug destroys ones perception of time and as such it influences the ability to act, something that the narrator believes very strongly in. The prologue sets up a very interesting character who is mature and intelligent then we move to the first chapter start to see where he came from and why he can understand himself so well.
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL267/2009/03/ellison_the_invisible_man/
"Are riding to work in rows, as if recently brainwashed." (204)
I chose to look at the poem by Plath entitled Insomniac. While reading this poem I was reminded of a novel that was made into a rather popular movie called fight club. While the movie fight club has the charming Brad Pitt and Edward Norton it retains a lot of the message behind the book. There is a scene that is in the book and in the movie where we see the main character have this problem with insomnia.
The thing is that this insomnia gives rise to a plan that is essentially the revolution of the proletariat. The character that has insomnia sees the world for what it truly is and tries to fix it.
As I read the poem I saw these parallels where the insomniac can almost see things more clearly when they are the ones who are kind of going crazy.
The pills of all the colors and drugs that dont work leading up to the lines of people with trivial repetitions.
Then finally the ending quote which almost summarizes the idea in fight club.
I think this poem is quite obviously about child abuse and not about a small boy dancing with his father. While this seems fairly obvious I might try and back up my claim from the text.
First "The whiskey on your breath" this shows that the father was drunk and everyone knows the story of a drunken father coming home and slapping his family around.
This whole stanza, talking about a small boy, hanging on like death, and waltzing not being easy tells a story. This is when the boy is young and has a sense of innocence which makes things worse. He hangs on like death might mean that he wishes for death because he is beat so bad, or that he feels like death. The waltzing is almost in a plural sense here so we might assume that it isnt a once in a while thing.
Battered on one knuckle might suggest that the father is angry and punches things.
Things breaking in the kitchen and mother being upset could signify the mother not really being able to do anything about it.
Finally taking the time on his head and his hands being cracked with dirt could mean that the father is a strong working man and he is beating his son.
Then again could the poem just be about a boy and his father dancing when he is drunk - being merry and accidently knocking things off in the kitchen - the dad lightly taps the boy on the head for rhythm and moves a little too rough in his drunken state and scratches his sons ear?
Is that a Symbol? (Foster 97).
Since re-reading this chapter I again am inclined to share my opinions about the topic of symbolism. It seems that many people go into a work looking for very specific symbols and they have to mean a certain thing. However I think it is important to do what foster says and ask yourself what does it mean to me?
Although the author might include specific symbols in a work that are supposed to hold a particular meaning but if the reader doesnt get those meanings then it doesnt matter. What matters at that point is what the reader did get out of the work. If an apple is in a work and supposed to represent the fruit from eden - but a person who grew up around an apple orchard will probably see a different meaning first, something personal that others may not get.
That is the beauty to literature. While there are some right answers there are probably just as many answers that are right to the person who is reading the literature.
If this is article is typical of all academic articles then i would be forced to conclude that all academic articles are boring. I know this is a very short sighted view point but i mean come on. It seems that this article has a very specific audience and one must have extensive knowledge of the "dust bowl" era, the bible, and of course The grapes of Wrath. This fact coupled with the dry language makes for a difficult read. Enough about my opinion on how terrible the article was.
I think that some interesting points are raised in the beginning and i cant help but relate it to fosters chapter 18 about baptisms with water.
I liked the point that was raised about the family wanting water in the beginning then when they are traveling the water is something that slows them down. This is an interesting contrast and I think that it is something that is key to the plot of the story. If the family could have had the rain where and when they needed it then they would have never had to leave their homes. This is a testament to how powerful nature is compared to man.
I think the thesis is relating the american myth of the garden with the myth of the frontier (the beginning of the second paragraph)
"There are lots of things that happen when a writer introduces a blind character into a story and even more in a play." Foster 202.
The reason why i chose this quote is because it seems kind of obscure. In all the stories that I have read Im not suer I can come up with many in which there is a blind character. Sure we have the story of oedipus but really how many stories have blind characters?
Of course things happen when we see a blind character (no pun intended...) but isnt that obvious? We see people in real life with handicaps and it doesnt really mean anything just like the idea with the scars that foster presents. But how exciting would a story with a blind person be if the writer didnt present it in a meaningful way?
I feel like im on repeat with the idea that foster provides interesting points and some of them are rather clever - in the sense that i wouldnt have thought about that if someone hadnt said it - but it is kind obvious that things are there for a reason.
"Dinosaur: It's cold." (Wilder 132).
I would say that this quote pretty much sums up the first act of the play. Thus far it reminds me of something along the lines of Alice and Wonderland. I mean what is going on? I had no specific expectations coming into this play, but I really had no idea it was going to be like this. Going to see this play would certainly be very entertaining, especially if it were in 1942 when it first opened.
I have to wonder what the people who first saw this play thought about it.
Everything is pretty wild and crazy, with characters going in and out of character, animals talking the ice age. Seriously, what kind of drugs does it take to write something like this?
Im not sure how the rest of the play is going to be, but for this first act all I can think about is why?
This is my portfolio of blogs for EL 267. When we first started blogging I wasn't really into it but i see now that it is an easy way to communicate with the other students in the class. It works especially well in a night class where we only meet once a week.
At first my entries weren't that clever or insightful but as I got into the blogging and got used to it i started to have some more depth and even generated some pretty good discussion.
Timeliness
These are all my blog entries that I have done, they were all posted online on or before their due dates. I'm pretty cool like that.
Love and money
Depth
On these entries I feel that I really got into the blog and put some time and thought in. Some of the ideas were clever and others not so much, but I put more time into these for sure.
Interaction
It was hard for me to really interact with my peers and get involved in the blog conversations. But I did have a few blogs that generated some good conversation with the other students. On the love and money blog i didn't actually reply to the comments that were up because they were more statements that agreed with my blog rather than insightful questions, but it still got a lot of attention from my peers.
Discussion
Again it was hard for me to really get used to the idea of commenting insightful things to get conversation rolling on other peoples blogs, but as the semester progressed I definitely got better.
Alicia Campbell - Flipping the bird
Julianne Banda - offstage importance
Coverage
These tended to be my first couple of entries where I was still getting used to the idea of blogging. I didnt say anything particularly insightful or clever I just kind of got it done.
Recent Comments
April Minerd on Who were you talking to on the phone? Me.: I see your point, up until the
Joshua wilks on seeing and believing: That is an interesting point o
Robert Zanni on seeing and believing: I also found this confusing as
Rosalind Blair on seeing and believing: That passage in the book was a
Joshua WIlks on Symbolism Embolism: exactly! that is what i meant
Georgia Speer on Symbolism Embolism: Joshua, after reading your blo
Sue on what is going on?: I totally agree with Carlos, I
Andrew Adams on what is going on?: The absurdity of the play is w
Joshua WIlks on what is going on?: I totally agree with carlos he