"Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
In this short story, I was for the most part lost in the plot line. But after reading it a couple of times, I sort of understand the message. To me, the message was that there is something lost when two cultural identities inter mix. Mr. Kapasi and The Dases are two completely different entities of different cultures, different pasts, and different experiences. Yet the two try to co exist in one environment. Which proves to be unfruitful. I especially found that Mr. Kapasi was very wise in explaining to Mrs. Das how her lie to her husband about her illegitimate son was ruining her relationship with her family. Mr. Kapasi explained it to Mrs. Das that "Is it really pain you feel... or is it guilt?" (Lahiri). This spoke to me. How two emotions could be confused and manipulated to feel like the same thing. Perhaps the point of this reading was to express how there can be a loss of emotional identity when there is no truth, or true love. As abstract as that concept is, it made sense to me.
I think that this and all the other works in this unit express how identity is lost through our own actions. How we determine what traits and aspects of our lives can ruin what makes us each individual. This story especially, taught me that we lose a part of ourselves when ever we lie, or hide and alter what is important to our identity, much like in "Everyday Use".
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Unit ONE. post FOUR
"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker.
I would like to comment on how this work especially ties into the theme of this unit. Identity. In the beginning of the story, the speaker and her two daughters are a lower class African American family living in a small shack. Dee, the oldest goes away for school and Maggie and her mother are left at home. This story picks up with Maggie and her mother waiting for Dee to come visit. This is where identity comes in. Dee had participated in one of the Back to Africa movements that were oh so popular in the early twentieth century. This is apparent by the way she speaks. For example, her greeting to her mother and younger sister includes her telling her mother that her names is "Not 'Dee,' Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!" (Walker). I think that the point of the story is that identity does not lie in cultural past, rather it lies with your family, how you were raised, and what you were taught to believe. This story is deceptively sad in the end because Dee, in trying to discover her identity and heritage, abandoned what really defined her personality, her identity, her true self. This Story paints a vivid picture message that we do not have to look far to find what we really are. When understood, this message is especially powerful when it is expressed ironically as in this work.
I would like to comment on how this work especially ties into the theme of this unit. Identity. In the beginning of the story, the speaker and her two daughters are a lower class African American family living in a small shack. Dee, the oldest goes away for school and Maggie and her mother are left at home. This story picks up with Maggie and her mother waiting for Dee to come visit. This is where identity comes in. Dee had participated in one of the Back to Africa movements that were oh so popular in the early twentieth century. This is apparent by the way she speaks. For example, her greeting to her mother and younger sister includes her telling her mother that her names is "Not 'Dee,' Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!" (Walker). I think that the point of the story is that identity does not lie in cultural past, rather it lies with your family, how you were raised, and what you were taught to believe. This story is deceptively sad in the end because Dee, in trying to discover her identity and heritage, abandoned what really defined her personality, her identity, her true self. This Story paints a vivid picture message that we do not have to look far to find what we really are. When understood, this message is especially powerful when it is expressed ironically as in this work.
Unit ONE. post THREE.
"Mr. Z" by M. Carl Holman.
In question two, the book asks to identify Mr. Z's motivation to achieve.
This was kinda tough, yet at the same time obvious. While reading this poem, I got the impression that Mr. Z was put down most of his life because of his ethnic background. Specifically his mother, who is implied to have been African American. This poem reminds me of the typical teenager who would do something because his parents said he could not do it. His character develops from a country boy to a sophisticated member of society who is said to have been "unclogged by ethnic weights" (Holman). We see him climb from racial boundaries to become well mannered and educated. His drive was to get away from the racial stereotype that had held him down in the past. And he did, or so he thought. In his death, he was not even viewed as an equal even though he walked like a white person, ate at high end restaurants like white people did, and even spoke like a white person did. None of that changed the fact that he was viewed differently. In the end, his obituary read "One of the most distinguished members of his race" (Holman). This gives the connotation that Mr. Z could never escape his ethnic past, no matter how similar he was to White people. So ultimately he failed at his goal to get away from his culture. He lost his identity, which is all others could see him as.
In question two, the book asks to identify Mr. Z's motivation to achieve.
This was kinda tough, yet at the same time obvious. While reading this poem, I got the impression that Mr. Z was put down most of his life because of his ethnic background. Specifically his mother, who is implied to have been African American. This poem reminds me of the typical teenager who would do something because his parents said he could not do it. His character develops from a country boy to a sophisticated member of society who is said to have been "unclogged by ethnic weights" (Holman). We see him climb from racial boundaries to become well mannered and educated. His drive was to get away from the racial stereotype that had held him down in the past. And he did, or so he thought. In his death, he was not even viewed as an equal even though he walked like a white person, ate at high end restaurants like white people did, and even spoke like a white person did. None of that changed the fact that he was viewed differently. In the end, his obituary read "One of the most distinguished members of his race" (Holman). This gives the connotation that Mr. Z could never escape his ethnic past, no matter how similar he was to White people. So ultimately he failed at his goal to get away from his culture. He lost his identity, which is all others could see him as.
Unit ONE. post TWO
"Toads" by Philip Larkin
In the first question, made me realize that there were two toads, and although I did not answer what the question wanted, I believe understanding the purpose of the two toads is much, much more important.
The first Toad can be described as, in lay man's terms, Senior-itis. The speaker sees the first toad as the temptation to give in and quit. To essentially give up all of his worldly plans to succeed and live off the land. The first toad is his justification to living off the street and materialistically. In Line 13, the speaker says "Lots of folk live up lanes With fires in a bucket, Eat windfalls and tinned sardines - They seem to like it" (Larkin). He says this as if to say that he might like it if he tried to live off the street.
All that the first toad is is negated by the second toad, which we can simply call ambition or self determination. The second toad is the speaker's internal drive to become more than nothing. It is his want to succeed. Quite simply, the second toad gets in the way of satisfying the first.
The point of the poem is to state that one cannot satisfy his desire to be nothing and something at the same time.
In the first question, made me realize that there were two toads, and although I did not answer what the question wanted, I believe understanding the purpose of the two toads is much, much more important.
The first Toad can be described as, in lay man's terms, Senior-itis. The speaker sees the first toad as the temptation to give in and quit. To essentially give up all of his worldly plans to succeed and live off the land. The first toad is his justification to living off the street and materialistically. In Line 13, the speaker says "Lots of folk live up lanes With fires in a bucket, Eat windfalls and tinned sardines - They seem to like it" (Larkin). He says this as if to say that he might like it if he tried to live off the street.
All that the first toad is is negated by the second toad, which we can simply call ambition or self determination. The second toad is the speaker's internal drive to become more than nothing. It is his want to succeed. Quite simply, the second toad gets in the way of satisfying the first.
The point of the poem is to state that one cannot satisfy his desire to be nothing and something at the same time.
Unit ONE. Post ONE.
"Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes.
Perhaps the most outstanding feature of this poem is the author's use of simile and metaphor. This use of metaphor creates powerful images in the readers imagination. The diction chosen elevates the effectiveness of the literary device. For example, "or does it fester like a sore"(Hughes), creates a strong visual while being read.
Question two of in the book states that this poem describes any dream, but makes the reader realize that Hughes was an African American. Knowing his life span and the history of that era, one can put together the puzzle that the poem specifically describes the dream African Americans had for civil freedoms and how they had to fight to attain them. I might even go as far as to say that this poem is a look back on the civil rights movement and how it exploded from the will and dreams of an oppressed people. All of the similes could also be used to describe how African Americans were not acting on their dream of being free from segregation and it was weighing on their mind, or it sugared over like a treat they could never get to. Or it festered and irritated them that that they were doing nothing about their horrible treatment. Or maybe it withered and dried in the sun as their hopes of civil equality died with the rise of Jim Crow Laws.
Maybe I am reading into it too much and I am tying in too many things outside the text, but I believe that when taking the author's history into context, this boils down to the dream of civil equality.
Perhaps the most outstanding feature of this poem is the author's use of simile and metaphor. This use of metaphor creates powerful images in the readers imagination. The diction chosen elevates the effectiveness of the literary device. For example, "or does it fester like a sore"(Hughes), creates a strong visual while being read.
Question two of in the book states that this poem describes any dream, but makes the reader realize that Hughes was an African American. Knowing his life span and the history of that era, one can put together the puzzle that the poem specifically describes the dream African Americans had for civil freedoms and how they had to fight to attain them. I might even go as far as to say that this poem is a look back on the civil rights movement and how it exploded from the will and dreams of an oppressed people. All of the similes could also be used to describe how African Americans were not acting on their dream of being free from segregation and it was weighing on their mind, or it sugared over like a treat they could never get to. Or it festered and irritated them that that they were doing nothing about their horrible treatment. Or maybe it withered and dried in the sun as their hopes of civil equality died with the rise of Jim Crow Laws.
Maybe I am reading into it too much and I am tying in too many things outside the text, but I believe that when taking the author's history into context, this boils down to the dream of civil equality.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Poetry interpretation article.
I found that Perrine had some valid points to his lesson on how to interpret poetry. However, there is a fundamental point that I have trouble grasping, primarily for the fact that I do not believe it to be true. Perrine stated that one must be able to find an interpretation that had no contradictions and if there were contradictions, that visualization is false or wrong. Also, Perrine stated that if there were more than one visualizations, then the one that is most correct is the one that is most "economical" (whatever that means). I disagree with both of these because I do not believe that there is one concrete way of reading and analyzing any type of poetry. I say this because it is hard to pinpoint the exact feelings and purpose the author of a poem is trying to convey without having years of practice and experience with that poet's works. For a novice, such as myself, the idea of poetry, to me at least, is to come up with an interpretation that is satisfying to the reader's imagination (or lack of). That is one of the beauties of poetry, it allows the reader to have his creativity factor into the poem. When we decide that there is one, and only one, way of reading and analyzing a poem, all of the joy is taken out of reading that poem. Secondly, what if the poet wanted you to question your own interpretation by using contradiction. That may be the purpose of the poem, make you question and think.
When reading this article, I believe that Perrine had some very beneficial advice for how to read a poem. Being the lazy person that I usually am, I would normally take words arranged in a poem at face value. I was only able to see literal meaning, which, in poetry, is almost never the correct way to view a poem. I think after reading this article, especially the section about the symbols, it would be helpful to me to open my mind to the different meanings that the words could mean. I think that when reading a poem that contains literary symbols, I would more cautiously consider the higher meaning. Perfect example: the William Blake poem that we went over in class. I had no idea what the rose or worm could have meant. My tiny and underdeveloped literary brain only had the capacity to take the words at face value rather than dig deeper into what the author intended for them to mean. From now on, I think that I will write possible ideas for what authors are trying to say onto a white board or piece of paper, just so that I can grasp the deeper meaning that the author may intend to convey. Similarly, I think that I will have to learn when symbols mean nothing more than their face value.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
My reading photo.
I currently work for a non-profit organization called Keep Indianapolis Beautiful Inc., a wonderful company that I personally love working for. What I do is fulfill the company name. How? Glad you asked.
In the included photo, I am reading F.Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby while providing water to this poor, thirsty Liquidambar styraciflua (better known as the Sweet Gum or Tree Stars from the "Land Before Time" films).
Every year, KIB plants hundreds of native trees around Marion County, as far down as Southeastway park. Who in the world cares for the nearly 5000 trees planted in Indianapolis by KIB and its volunteers? That is where I come in. I am a member of the Youth Tree Team. I, and 80 or so of my coworkers, travel around Indianapolis every week and water all of the trees that we have planted. With this drought, our job has never been more important. As you can see from the photo, every tree is given two five gallon buckets of water each week. Think that it is easy to carry ten gallons of water? Think again. Each bucket weighs forty pounds. And we do it hundreds of times a day, over distances of up to a football field (sometimes the water trailers can't get to some of the trees, which are really far away). Over the summer, as a group, the YTT carried an average of 121,000 buckets of water, which when multiplied by five gives you 605,000 average total gallons of water. Still sound easy? Oh, I forgot to mention that we had to deal with the ridiculous heat daily. In addition to watering the trees, the YTT is tasked with mulching and general care of trees (sadly, including removal of dead trees). I am happy to do my job because I love the people I get to work with, I love helping bring nature to the city, and I love being part of a company that is motivated by the environment rather than corporate advancement.
If you would like to learn more about KIB, volunteer for an event, or apply to be a YTT member, go to KIBI.org/youth_tree_team
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)