My overall impression of "Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice" by Nam Le was that it has stuck consistent with other short stories that we have been reading in this class because of its asian origin. We have read many other short stories that are either written by a person other than of American heritage, or involve foreigners somewhere in the story.
The first part of the story that immediately jumped out at me was on page 6, "I'd told Linda only the previous night that he was coming. We were at her place Her body was slippery with sweat and hard to hold. Her body smelled of her clothes. She turned me over, my face kissing the bed sheets, and then she was chopping m back with the edges of her hands." I usually find excerpts or scenes like this really interesting and fun to read, which is probably it ultimately stood out to me. However, the subject matter of what is actually going on in the scene (she is giving him a massage) is different from what I actually thought was going in initially (intimacy). The way that Nam Le begins the scene with his description of her slippery body that is hard to hold because of sweat leads the reader to believe that intimate relations are happening, but then it turns out that she is really just turning him over to give him a back massage.
The second phrase that I connected with was on page 14, "Southern-style shredded chicken salad, soaked in vinegar and eaten with spotty brown rice crackers." Although this is an extremely random sentence to trigger my thoughts, the whole reason I kept thinking about this was because of "After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town". The whole story was about a fried chicken joint in China and here we are talking about southern fried chicken in another asian story. I also found it ironic because the more that I thought about it, I realized that a lot of random chinese restaurants will sell fried chicken. It made me curious as to why this trend exists.
The last excerpt that stood apart from the rest was on page 16, "There were bodies on the road, a baby ith only the bottom half of its head, a monk, his robe turning pink. I saw two bodies with the ace of spades carved into the chests. I didn't understand it. I my sisters didn't even cry." First of all, the imagery here was excellent, despite the fact that it was forcing me to picture brutally disturbing things. I thought it was purely awful that the Viet Cong did such things and do not understand how the human race can be so ravage and heartless. I was also very confused as to how his sisters were not crying and that people were spitting and laughing. Personally, if I were to see such a thing, I would absolutely be scarred for the rest of my life and would most definitely not be laughing.
Vocabulary I was unfamiliar with:
defeatism: a person who expects or is excessively ready to recieve failure
consecration: to make or declare
attenuate: reduce the force, effect, or value
connex boxes: portable containers
eddies: circular movements of water
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Lazarus Project: Pages 200-246~Aleksandar Hemon
Aside from three quotes that I found interesting or found a connection with, I have drawn two major conclusions about these fifty pages. My overall impression from this section was that the theme was life versus death. It seemed as though in many different points throughout the fifty pages, the topic or discussion of death came about both in the present with Rora, Iuliana, and Brik, and the flashbacks of Olga and Taube. Secondly, the tour through the museum of polgroms consumed a large portion of this section of reading. My main connection to this is that it reminded me a lot of what I have heard about the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C. I am from D.C. and have yet to tour the Holocaust museum, but I have wanted to go for a very long time now.
The first quote that I literally had an immediate reaction in my head to was when Rora was speaking toward Brike on page 209, "Know what? Everybody knows some things. You don't need to know everything. What you need to do is shut up and stop asking so many questions. You need to relax." This scene made me laugh because Brik reminded me so much of myself. I am a chronic overanalyzer and and constantly asking questions. It is almost always to the point that someone has to tell me that I am annoying and need to shut up. This mostly happens with my boyfriend and sometimes with my father because they cannot handle my overwhelming curiosity about literally everything that I stumble upon.
The second quote that gave me insight was when Taube was speaking on page 224, "...We are within our life and we stay there for as long as possible, that's our home. We need life. There is too much death already, and there is probably more coming our way." Not only was this particular quote extremely deep, but everything that Taube says in reference to death and life within this scene was clearly given a great about of thought. Although I do believe that his character is somewhat forced to be saying these things in order to convince Olga to stay and cooperate with him and his team, I truly appreciated his outlook on life. Taube puts a bold emphasis on the fact that death is all around us, but we cannot give up because those that have passed are relying on us that are alive to continue on and to carry their traditions. I completely agree with Taube, although I believe that most of us lose sight of this reality too often.
Finally, my favorite scene of these fifty pages was on page 235, "Here it was. Iuliana was flustered, blushing, a globule of sweat sliding down past her ear, then curving at the jawline. She smiled at me--I could have kissed her right there, those living lips, those gloaming eyes, that pale face. That's me, I thought. That woman is me. Somewhere beyond the roof of tree crowns the sky grumbled, hearing up for a storm. Rora took a picture of her, then of me, then of us." I honestly thought this scene was beautiful in description, language, and imagery. I could picture the scenery perfectly, with the light sun beams gleaming off their faces of delight and wondrous love, all astounded both by the matter at hand (finding the tombstone) and the love they all discovered for each other right in that very moment. Even though it is clear that Brik has internal battles between his love for Mary and is interest in Iuliana, for some reason, this scene made me want Iuliana and Brik together. The way he describes her beauty is so precious that you can't help but root for her.
Vocabulary I was unfamiliar with:
Finitude: to look through/explore/examine
Sotto voce: a low, soft voice
Platitudes: a flat, dull remark
Ubiquitous: existing everywhere
Rapt: deeply engrossed or absorbed
Indelibly: making marks that cannot be erased
The first quote that I literally had an immediate reaction in my head to was when Rora was speaking toward Brike on page 209, "Know what? Everybody knows some things. You don't need to know everything. What you need to do is shut up and stop asking so many questions. You need to relax." This scene made me laugh because Brik reminded me so much of myself. I am a chronic overanalyzer and and constantly asking questions. It is almost always to the point that someone has to tell me that I am annoying and need to shut up. This mostly happens with my boyfriend and sometimes with my father because they cannot handle my overwhelming curiosity about literally everything that I stumble upon.
The second quote that gave me insight was when Taube was speaking on page 224, "...We are within our life and we stay there for as long as possible, that's our home. We need life. There is too much death already, and there is probably more coming our way." Not only was this particular quote extremely deep, but everything that Taube says in reference to death and life within this scene was clearly given a great about of thought. Although I do believe that his character is somewhat forced to be saying these things in order to convince Olga to stay and cooperate with him and his team, I truly appreciated his outlook on life. Taube puts a bold emphasis on the fact that death is all around us, but we cannot give up because those that have passed are relying on us that are alive to continue on and to carry their traditions. I completely agree with Taube, although I believe that most of us lose sight of this reality too often.
Finally, my favorite scene of these fifty pages was on page 235, "Here it was. Iuliana was flustered, blushing, a globule of sweat sliding down past her ear, then curving at the jawline. She smiled at me--I could have kissed her right there, those living lips, those gloaming eyes, that pale face. That's me, I thought. That woman is me. Somewhere beyond the roof of tree crowns the sky grumbled, hearing up for a storm. Rora took a picture of her, then of me, then of us." I honestly thought this scene was beautiful in description, language, and imagery. I could picture the scenery perfectly, with the light sun beams gleaming off their faces of delight and wondrous love, all astounded both by the matter at hand (finding the tombstone) and the love they all discovered for each other right in that very moment. Even though it is clear that Brik has internal battles between his love for Mary and is interest in Iuliana, for some reason, this scene made me want Iuliana and Brik together. The way he describes her beauty is so precious that you can't help but root for her.
Vocabulary I was unfamiliar with:
Finitude: to look through/explore/examine
Sotto voce: a low, soft voice
Platitudes: a flat, dull remark
Ubiquitous: existing everywhere
Rapt: deeply engrossed or absorbed
Indelibly: making marks that cannot be erased
Sunday, November 6, 2011
"After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town"~Ha Jin
Upon beginning After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town, I thought it was going to be a fairly shallow story, simply about an American-based fried chicken restaurant established in China. However, about half way through the story, it is very apparent that the underlying themes are about the differences in government between China and American (Socialism vs. Capitalism) and standing up for one's beliefs. I was a tad confused by the inference that China is Socialist in the story because I have always thought that China was run by Communism. In addition to these elements, I also noticed that all of Ha Jin's short stories thus far, have been related to marriage or relationships in some sense at least in one part of the story. In The Bridegroom this theme is very obvious and in After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town, this element is incorporated by Ha Jin's adding of the catering for the wedding party.
My overall impression of After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town, is that of the few connections that I did make with the story, they were very strong connections. One of my first strong connections was on page 202, "When the feast was over, both Mr. Shapiro and Peter were excited, their faces flushed." This quote made me think further into the visualization of their flushed faces because of many reasons. First, I found this flushing of their faces to almost be a symbolic connection between their two cultures because asians typically get red-faced when they are drinking alcohol, but white Americans typically do not--even though Mr. Shapiro is not asian, his faced is flushed too, which draws a connection between their two characters because of their happiness for the booming of their business. My second conclusion drawn from this imagery was that the two could be rosy cheeked not just from the excitement of the situation or from the alcohol, but also possibly from having been put on the spot in front of all of the wedding party. No matter your race, one usually becomes flushed or hot-faced when they are made the center of attention--this draws another connection between Mr. Shapiro and Peter.
The second quote that instilled an interesting thought in me was also on page 202, "I figured my stomach wasn't used to American food yet. I had eaten fries and biscuits everyday, but had never taken in ice cream, cheesecake, red wine, and champagne. Without doubt my stomach couldn't digest so much rich stuff all at once." The reason this made me think was that I never really realized that all of our cultures foods truly are extremely different and our stomachs have all become adapt to our culture's particular food. I put myself in their situation and pictured eating Chinese food every day of every meal and almost got sick at the thought! It is strange to think that American food is a delicacy to them, when I would never be able to handle eating that much fried chicken on a daily basis. Similarly, us Americans view going out to eat at a nice Chinese or Mexican or Italian restaurant as a delicacy.
My third deep thought while reading After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town, was during my understanding that the story is strongly about socialism and capitalism. On page 218, "The author praised our policy on leftovers and believe it would reduce waste eventually. He said we Chinese should adopt the American way of running business." It never occurred to me that Americans even ran our businesses down to a Capitalistic way, different of many other countries. It also never dawned on me that we wasted so much food--although I understand the principle that passing these leftover to the homeless or hungry could be unsanitary, the massive waste of extra food that occurs in America is truly depressing. America's disposal of leftover food supports our Capitalistic way of living because within Capitalism, Darwin's Theory of evolution is supported--survival of the fittest takes place and those who can afford to eat will get food, those who can't will not. This waste of food all relates back to the fact that within Capitalism, everyone cannot actually be equal.
Lastly, I had a small connection toward the end of the story with the three employees are about to go on strike at Cowboy Chicken on page 222, "When the day was at last over, we met briefly at a street corner. We were confused, but all agreed to wait and see. Feilan sighed and said, 'I feel like we're in a tug-of-war.'" I related the Feilan's feelings because my friend group has recently gone through the same sort of disagreement issue. Because we have all had difficulty agreeing on a location to live for our junior year, within our group of four, the same sort of tug-of-war dilemma has occurred. Because two of us want to live in one complex and the other two want to live in another, we have also had the same sort of secret meetings plotting about how to convince the other two to want to live where we prefer to live--the same thing that the characters are doing in After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town.
Vocabulary I was unfamiliar with:
Eunuch: a man who has been castrated
My overall impression of After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town, is that of the few connections that I did make with the story, they were very strong connections. One of my first strong connections was on page 202, "When the feast was over, both Mr. Shapiro and Peter were excited, their faces flushed." This quote made me think further into the visualization of their flushed faces because of many reasons. First, I found this flushing of their faces to almost be a symbolic connection between their two cultures because asians typically get red-faced when they are drinking alcohol, but white Americans typically do not--even though Mr. Shapiro is not asian, his faced is flushed too, which draws a connection between their two characters because of their happiness for the booming of their business. My second conclusion drawn from this imagery was that the two could be rosy cheeked not just from the excitement of the situation or from the alcohol, but also possibly from having been put on the spot in front of all of the wedding party. No matter your race, one usually becomes flushed or hot-faced when they are made the center of attention--this draws another connection between Mr. Shapiro and Peter.
The second quote that instilled an interesting thought in me was also on page 202, "I figured my stomach wasn't used to American food yet. I had eaten fries and biscuits everyday, but had never taken in ice cream, cheesecake, red wine, and champagne. Without doubt my stomach couldn't digest so much rich stuff all at once." The reason this made me think was that I never really realized that all of our cultures foods truly are extremely different and our stomachs have all become adapt to our culture's particular food. I put myself in their situation and pictured eating Chinese food every day of every meal and almost got sick at the thought! It is strange to think that American food is a delicacy to them, when I would never be able to handle eating that much fried chicken on a daily basis. Similarly, us Americans view going out to eat at a nice Chinese or Mexican or Italian restaurant as a delicacy.
My third deep thought while reading After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town, was during my understanding that the story is strongly about socialism and capitalism. On page 218, "The author praised our policy on leftovers and believe it would reduce waste eventually. He said we Chinese should adopt the American way of running business." It never occurred to me that Americans even ran our businesses down to a Capitalistic way, different of many other countries. It also never dawned on me that we wasted so much food--although I understand the principle that passing these leftover to the homeless or hungry could be unsanitary, the massive waste of extra food that occurs in America is truly depressing. America's disposal of leftover food supports our Capitalistic way of living because within Capitalism, Darwin's Theory of evolution is supported--survival of the fittest takes place and those who can afford to eat will get food, those who can't will not. This waste of food all relates back to the fact that within Capitalism, everyone cannot actually be equal.
Lastly, I had a small connection toward the end of the story with the three employees are about to go on strike at Cowboy Chicken on page 222, "When the day was at last over, we met briefly at a street corner. We were confused, but all agreed to wait and see. Feilan sighed and said, 'I feel like we're in a tug-of-war.'" I related the Feilan's feelings because my friend group has recently gone through the same sort of disagreement issue. Because we have all had difficulty agreeing on a location to live for our junior year, within our group of four, the same sort of tug-of-war dilemma has occurred. Because two of us want to live in one complex and the other two want to live in another, we have also had the same sort of secret meetings plotting about how to convince the other two to want to live where we prefer to live--the same thing that the characters are doing in After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town.
Vocabulary I was unfamiliar with:
Eunuch: a man who has been castrated
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
"Orbiting"~Bharati Mukherje
After reading "Orbiting," by Bharati Mukherje, I was left with a few general thoughts aside from the parts of the story that jumped out at me. First, I am confused as to how the story got its title. Second, it is interesting in that it introduces an idea different from other stories that we have read: interracial relationships. Third, Rindy has portrayed herself as having an unconventional relationship with her parents--she wants her parents to know that she has slept with Ro. Lastly, I was glad that we were given the opportunity to read a story that involved Thanksgiving dinner because we are so close to having Thanksgiving break!
The first section in the text that sparked a strong thought in my head was on page 62, "He bought me a Cinzano and touched my breast in the dark. He was direct, and at the time weirdly courtly. I took him home though usually I don't, at first." Not just this quote stood out to me, but the entire subject that Rindy is talking about did as well. By speaking of boyfriend to boyfriend and then speaking of how she brought Ro home with her on the first date, I sort of ignored the part where she said she usually doesn't do that. She gave me the impression that she, as a character, must be boy crazy or get around a lot because of how many boyfriends she has had and slept with. She also seems a bit hung up on her ex, Vic, because she talks about him a lot.
Secondly, on page 65, Rindy is describing Ro, "He wants men to come on to me. Lately when we go to a bar he makes me sit far enough from him so some poor lonely guy thinks I'm looking for action." I found this strategy very bizarre because most boys and men I know are very jealous and protective when it comes to other guys coming on to their significant other. Although I thought it was a weird outlook of Ro's, his technique that watching other men attract to his woman showed him that she really is as attractive as he finds her, actually did make sense to me. However, I do not think I could ever put this to use--I am much too jealous of a person.
Lastly, the very end of the story changed my entire outlook on Ro and Rindy's relationship. I tend to be judgemental of love in stories and I found myself thinking that their relationship was quite odd and different. But when she describes him on page 74, "I realized all in a rush how much I love this man with his blemished, tortured body. I will give him citizenship if he asks. Vic was beautiful, but Vic was self-sufficient. Ro's my chance to heal the world." I truly appreciated her description of how much she loves him and why because I believe that when you truly love someone you see past their flaws without even recognizing it, and a mutually loving relationship consists of being able to grow with each other, learning from each other. This is where she has gotten a different side of love with Ro versus the love that she had with Vic.
Vocabulary I was unfamiliar with:
Poignant: evoking a sense of sadness or regret
The first section in the text that sparked a strong thought in my head was on page 62, "He bought me a Cinzano and touched my breast in the dark. He was direct, and at the time weirdly courtly. I took him home though usually I don't, at first." Not just this quote stood out to me, but the entire subject that Rindy is talking about did as well. By speaking of boyfriend to boyfriend and then speaking of how she brought Ro home with her on the first date, I sort of ignored the part where she said she usually doesn't do that. She gave me the impression that she, as a character, must be boy crazy or get around a lot because of how many boyfriends she has had and slept with. She also seems a bit hung up on her ex, Vic, because she talks about him a lot.
Secondly, on page 65, Rindy is describing Ro, "He wants men to come on to me. Lately when we go to a bar he makes me sit far enough from him so some poor lonely guy thinks I'm looking for action." I found this strategy very bizarre because most boys and men I know are very jealous and protective when it comes to other guys coming on to their significant other. Although I thought it was a weird outlook of Ro's, his technique that watching other men attract to his woman showed him that she really is as attractive as he finds her, actually did make sense to me. However, I do not think I could ever put this to use--I am much too jealous of a person.
Lastly, the very end of the story changed my entire outlook on Ro and Rindy's relationship. I tend to be judgemental of love in stories and I found myself thinking that their relationship was quite odd and different. But when she describes him on page 74, "I realized all in a rush how much I love this man with his blemished, tortured body. I will give him citizenship if he asks. Vic was beautiful, but Vic was self-sufficient. Ro's my chance to heal the world." I truly appreciated her description of how much she loves him and why because I believe that when you truly love someone you see past their flaws without even recognizing it, and a mutually loving relationship consists of being able to grow with each other, learning from each other. This is where she has gotten a different side of love with Ro versus the love that she had with Vic.
Vocabulary I was unfamiliar with:
Poignant: evoking a sense of sadness or regret
Friday, October 28, 2011
The Same River Twice: Pages 152-188~Chris Offutt
I was very excited to finish The Same River Twice because of how much I have enjoyed reading the book. The way Chris Offutt tied up his memoir actually brought about a few scary scenes during which I was preparing myself for the worst. One of these involved Rita and her delivery because she was so late--I was convinced that she was going to have a stillbirth. However, the situation also sparked some memories for me, that my mom always talks about. On page 178, Chris says, "The baby is two weeks overdue, a sign of intelligence." I never knew this fact, but I could relate to it because I was born three weeks late. The irony of this is that I also started school a year younger than the typical student and have excelled without issue.
Another excerpt that grabbed my attention from this section on the book was on page 165, "A four-year-old boy leaned over the water, his body between the rails. Slowly hi feet rose into the air and I watched his little legs slide overboard."The scene is described longer than that on the page. This scene terrified me because it was brought about completely out of nowhere. I was not expecting that whatsoever and was thrown off guard. Amidst the lolligagging descriptions throughout the chapter, this was a burst of drama, sucking the reader back into the story. Chris' immediate instinct to jump in the water to save the boy was very impressive.
The last section that I related to was on page 167, "My official poetry notebook rapidly filled with journal entries. Friendless and stranded as I was, the journal became a prolonged scream into the swamp, the incessant chatter of a man talking to himself. This was my most productive period." The reason I connected with this was because I tend to do the exact same thing what I am down or stressed. In times that I feel like I cannot speak to others about my problems, I write them down or talk to myself in a similar manner, which is exactly what Offutt did when he was going through hard times.
Vocabulary I was unfamiliar with:
Malevolent: wishing evil to harm others
Managerial: having to do with manager functions
Lithely: flexible
Druid: a member of the pre-Christian religious order
Another excerpt that grabbed my attention from this section on the book was on page 165, "A four-year-old boy leaned over the water, his body between the rails. Slowly hi feet rose into the air and I watched his little legs slide overboard."The scene is described longer than that on the page. This scene terrified me because it was brought about completely out of nowhere. I was not expecting that whatsoever and was thrown off guard. Amidst the lolligagging descriptions throughout the chapter, this was a burst of drama, sucking the reader back into the story. Chris' immediate instinct to jump in the water to save the boy was very impressive.
The last section that I related to was on page 167, "My official poetry notebook rapidly filled with journal entries. Friendless and stranded as I was, the journal became a prolonged scream into the swamp, the incessant chatter of a man talking to himself. This was my most productive period." The reason I connected with this was because I tend to do the exact same thing what I am down or stressed. In times that I feel like I cannot speak to others about my problems, I write them down or talk to myself in a similar manner, which is exactly what Offutt did when he was going through hard times.
Vocabulary I was unfamiliar with:
Malevolent: wishing evil to harm others
Managerial: having to do with manager functions
Lithely: flexible
Druid: a member of the pre-Christian religious order
Sunday, October 16, 2011
“The Same River Twice: Pages 54-109” ~Chris Offutt
The Same River Twice has been quite a racy and controversial book so far. I have found it to be quite intriguing, especially considering that it is a true story and the author’s reflection on his own life (somewhat autobiographical). The journeys that he has already gone on and the experiences he has encountered are not of your typical American (or at least not of middle-class like we are living in). My overall impression of the story’s theme at this point in time is self-identity. Chris has gone back and forth between choosing what he truly wants to do with his life—one moment he wants to be a poet, and then an artist, and then a playwright, but by the very end of the last assigned chapter, he changes his mind again. I think this battle in self-identity is also portrayed in the way that Offutt has decided to organize his chapters, going back and forth between his risqué, naïve days, and his mature parenthood days. This shows that he, as a whole, will never forget the two completely different sides that have encompassed his life and who he has come to be.
I would have to say that this book has been the most interesting to me out of the many short stories and poems that we have read thus far. Not only have I been able to make more connections to previous pieces I have read, but also this book tends to grab my attention much more than others because of both the storyline and the ease of the reading. Offutt encases his evident talent of imagery in many places throughout the book, which helps us as readers to feel like we are a part of the story, feeling what he is feeling. On page 73, Chris Offutt talks about the Lamaze pregnancy class that he and his wife are attending. “Again and again she emphasizes the pain of birth, saying it is similar to having your lips peeled over your head.” This is a clear example of Offutt’s use of imagery. Aside from the fact that this quote actually made me cringe, I felt bad for Chris and his wife, Rita. There is no way in this world that I would want to be attending a pregnancy class that just makes me more scared to give birth. I feel Rita’s pain in not wanting to attend the class anymore because the instructor’s techniques are not soothing whatsoever and actually seemed to be more on the negative side of pregnancy, rather than preparing the spouses in a positive manner.
The part of the story that I could relate most to previous reading was when Offutt was riding and driving with Winner, the creepy man with skull tattoos and grungy biker clothing. First, I thought it was strange that Chris encountered two polar opposite people back-to-back. Coming from riding with Al, the spiritual, innocent man who was determined on going to heaven, straight to riding with a man who is constantly talking about the devil and cursing every other sentence, must have been frightening for Chris. The reason Chris’ experience with Winner reminded me of something I had read in the past was the excerpt on page 84, “Maybe he and Winner were both correct—the world was doomed to extinction. Global annihilation was better than getting old; heaven and reincarnation were the same guarantee. No one surfed the river Styx.” Immediately I thought of Dante’s Inferno, because I remembered reading about the river of Styx in Dante’s portrayal of Hell. I’m still not quite sure if Offutt was purposefully making a reference to The Inferno, or if it was a mere coincidence.
Although there were many parts of the story so far that grabbed my attention, such as the description of the Parrot Lady’s act (so bizarre), the third passage that really got me thinking was on page 102, when the circus members are tormenting Gabe the Gorilla. Because they feel bad for doing such inappropriate acts and violating Gabe’s privacy, they try to make up for it by apologizing to him and giving him bananas. “Arnie went last. He was crying. He opened his pants and said, ‘See, they ain’t that much to mine either.’ Arnie stuffed four bananas through the cage and claimed credit for bringing all the men to apologize.” What this scene made me realize is that the gorilla didn’t really know what the men were saying to him, yet he was smart enough to associate the giving of bananas with apology because of their wrong-doing. I never really thought about how humans are the only animals to have a sophisticated language and that most other animals communicate through body language, which is how Gabe still understood the point that the men were trying to get across.
Vocabulary I was unfamiliar with:
Fisticuffs: combat with the fists
Equanimity: calmness
Coalesce: to unite or grow together
Affront: to insult
Sunday, October 9, 2011
"Cathedral" ~Raymond Carver & "The Things They Carried"~Tim O'Brien
"Cathedral"
Raymond Carver's, "Cathedral," was a very unique short story and I enjoyed reading it because it seemed to sort of teach a lesson. The story begins by making a clear display of the husband's feelings toward the blind man, Robert, and how he seemed to almost have a feeling of disgust toward him. I believe this feeling came from his inability to relate to Robert. However, by the end of the story, the husband's outlook has completely changed because the experience of drawing a cathedral with Robert allowed him to experience a little of what his life is like, thus making him able to relate more.
A couple quotes stood out in the text. On page 110, the husband is speaking about his wife's experience with her first marriage and how badly it affected her. He says, "She got to a feeling she couldn't go it another step. She went in and swallowed all the pills and capsules in the medicine chest and washed them down with a bottle of gin. The she got into a hot bath and passed out." I was utterly shocked while reading this because of the way Raymond Carver changed the subject so quickly. One moment he was describing the relationship between the wife and her first husband and the military, and the next moment he has switched to an extremely depressing subject. I felt that the wife's reaction to moving around was a bit extreme and because suicide is so dramatic in the middle of the context of the story, this scene jumped right off the page. The second quote that made me think was on page 111, "All this without having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like. It was beyond my understanding. Hearing this, I felt sorry for the blind man for a little bit." After reading this, I realized how truly depressing it would be to never be able to see what the person you're in love with looks like. I know that for me, personally, I'm not sure how I would handle being in a situation like that. I feel that despite how much personality and mental connection matter, being able to see your "lover" is equally as important. After all, I believe that one's initial attraction to someone is based solely on their attraction to the other's appearance. This quote made me feel very bad for the blind man, even if it didn't matter that much to him.
My overall reflection on this short story, aside form the plot, was that I realized that Raymond Carver seems to use a lot of repetition throughout the story. At first it was only the wife who kept asking or saying the same things over and over, but then on page 118, the husband begins to to it as well. I'm not quite sure what Carver was trying to get at by being so redundant, but it definitely caught my attention while reading. Also, my own personal connection with the story was the fact that Robert kept calling the husband "bub," because I use the same nickname with my friend--and its not a very common nickname!
"The Things They Carried"
Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" went about telling a story in two different ways: imagery and repetition. There were also two sides to the story: a love story, and the mens' battle at war. O'Brien's allusion to "the things they carried" served as a deeper meaning than literally what they carried. Although he does describe exactly what each troop carried and how much it weighed, the deeper meaning to this was the mental weight that war held in the troops' minds. The way that O'Brien also describes each and every element that the men are carrying allows us, as readers, to picture them "humping" all these things around and how much weight truly lies on them. The story sort of gives the audience an insight to men's lives at war and the toll that it takes on their mental state.
The love story portion of "The Things They Carried" was what actually caught most of my attention. On page 371, the passage speaks about the pebble that Martha sent Lieutenant Cross, "Lieutenant Cross found this romantic. But he wondered what her truest feelings were, exactly, and what she meant by separate-but-together." This whole scene reminded me of one of my favorite books and movies, "Dear John." It seems as though many love-military stories, encompass this scenarios of the person at war wondering how much the person at home really does love them. In both cases (Dear John and The Things They Carried), the men at war end up burning all the letters and pictures of the loved one. I found that ironic.
Words I was not familiar with:
Encyst: enclosed
Unencumbered: to free of burden
Raymond Carver's, "Cathedral," was a very unique short story and I enjoyed reading it because it seemed to sort of teach a lesson. The story begins by making a clear display of the husband's feelings toward the blind man, Robert, and how he seemed to almost have a feeling of disgust toward him. I believe this feeling came from his inability to relate to Robert. However, by the end of the story, the husband's outlook has completely changed because the experience of drawing a cathedral with Robert allowed him to experience a little of what his life is like, thus making him able to relate more.
A couple quotes stood out in the text. On page 110, the husband is speaking about his wife's experience with her first marriage and how badly it affected her. He says, "She got to a feeling she couldn't go it another step. She went in and swallowed all the pills and capsules in the medicine chest and washed them down with a bottle of gin. The she got into a hot bath and passed out." I was utterly shocked while reading this because of the way Raymond Carver changed the subject so quickly. One moment he was describing the relationship between the wife and her first husband and the military, and the next moment he has switched to an extremely depressing subject. I felt that the wife's reaction to moving around was a bit extreme and because suicide is so dramatic in the middle of the context of the story, this scene jumped right off the page. The second quote that made me think was on page 111, "All this without having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like. It was beyond my understanding. Hearing this, I felt sorry for the blind man for a little bit." After reading this, I realized how truly depressing it would be to never be able to see what the person you're in love with looks like. I know that for me, personally, I'm not sure how I would handle being in a situation like that. I feel that despite how much personality and mental connection matter, being able to see your "lover" is equally as important. After all, I believe that one's initial attraction to someone is based solely on their attraction to the other's appearance. This quote made me feel very bad for the blind man, even if it didn't matter that much to him.
My overall reflection on this short story, aside form the plot, was that I realized that Raymond Carver seems to use a lot of repetition throughout the story. At first it was only the wife who kept asking or saying the same things over and over, but then on page 118, the husband begins to to it as well. I'm not quite sure what Carver was trying to get at by being so redundant, but it definitely caught my attention while reading. Also, my own personal connection with the story was the fact that Robert kept calling the husband "bub," because I use the same nickname with my friend--and its not a very common nickname!
"The Things They Carried"
Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" went about telling a story in two different ways: imagery and repetition. There were also two sides to the story: a love story, and the mens' battle at war. O'Brien's allusion to "the things they carried" served as a deeper meaning than literally what they carried. Although he does describe exactly what each troop carried and how much it weighed, the deeper meaning to this was the mental weight that war held in the troops' minds. The way that O'Brien also describes each and every element that the men are carrying allows us, as readers, to picture them "humping" all these things around and how much weight truly lies on them. The story sort of gives the audience an insight to men's lives at war and the toll that it takes on their mental state.
The love story portion of "The Things They Carried" was what actually caught most of my attention. On page 371, the passage speaks about the pebble that Martha sent Lieutenant Cross, "Lieutenant Cross found this romantic. But he wondered what her truest feelings were, exactly, and what she meant by separate-but-together." This whole scene reminded me of one of my favorite books and movies, "Dear John." It seems as though many love-military stories, encompass this scenarios of the person at war wondering how much the person at home really does love them. In both cases (Dear John and The Things They Carried), the men at war end up burning all the letters and pictures of the loved one. I found that ironic.
Words I was not familiar with:
Encyst: enclosed
Unencumbered: to free of burden
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)