The End.

Well, it is way too late the night before this portfolio is due and I am finally finishing up all the loose odds and ends that I had in this project. After looking back on the months of work we have put into our blogs, I’ve decided that this is definitely an interesting and benficial approach to a class. While I think that we can all agree that it was a little annoying to remember to blog and comment every week, ok so I forgot a few posts/comments, and that is why I am up until four the night before this is due, I think it is a good idea for a class. It gives us the ability to see what our classmates are thinking, which can inspire out own thoughts on the novels we are reading. Also it is really interesting to look back on all the work we have done starting in January, and how our writing style and ways have changed and developed.

The Native Speaker

The Native Speaker, written by Chang-Rae Lee is a very interesting book that we read this semester. The main character, Henry Park, provides a certain amount of mystery and curiosity to the novel. His profession, which we don’t know from the start, we learn later on in the book, being a spy, is an incredibly mysterious thing, even so he had to hide it from his wife for a while. I thought that this type of character really added to what we were reading. While I have definitely come to enjoy other books and characters that we have read, I am having a hard time in comparing him to any other character that we have been introduced to. I find there to be a really interesting connection between Henry and Gatsby. Gatsby was considered to be very mysterious to everyone in town because they didn’t know him. But once Nick gets to know Gatsby, all the mysterious and questions, in a sense, went away. With Henry, it’s the opposite. At first he seems like an average, normal man. But to those closest to him, like his wife Lelia, he is more secretive than to a random person. Lelia didn’t know that he was a spy from the beginning, she had to find out later. I think it’s really interesting how opposite Gatsby and Henry are. Also, Henry kind of reminded me of the narrator from The Invisible Man. It’s hard to even provide a certain situation or anything that specifically happened to make me link these two men, but the mystery factor definitely plays a big part in comparing these two men.

Post on the End of Sula

As we have finished this book, a few things come to mind when I consider about what I want to write about in my post. First of all, I have thought a lot about Sula’s funeral, and Nel’s feelings on this subject. Actually, backing up first I’ll talk about the situation between Nel’s husband and Sula. While Sula does have very loose and casual feelings about the topic of sex, I don’t think that there is any question that she was completely in the wrong in sleeping with her best friends husband. While she doesn’t see it as a big deal because that is how she was raised, she should know enough that it is definitely an incredibly inappropriate thing to do with not just anyone’s husband, but her best friend’s husband. It does need to be taken into consideration that Sula was raised by a woman who had immensely casual feelings on sex, but there truly is no excuse that she slept with Nel’s husband. However, he too definitely deserves some blame in this situation. He knows that it is wrong to do, and he not only cheated on his wife with some random woman, but the woman was his wife’s best friend. This is why I am a little confused that Nel truly misses Sula after her death. I mean, this is definitely understandable, her best friend for her whole life has passed away, but I personally would still have a lot of bitter and unforgiving feelings towards Sula. Sula, even though she didnt mean to, caused Nel so much pain. In addition to the pain of knowing that her best friend and husband shared that intimate moment together, that moment pushed Nel’s husband to leave her. I am kind of torn in the end, part of me sees why Nel is so upset, but part of me is left confused that she is THAT upset at a person who has probably caused her the most pain she has ever experienced.

Post on the Beginning of Sula

Toni Morrison’s novel entitled Sula, is a very interesting book that tells the tale of two women, at the same time very different as well as very similar. That seems to be an odd thing to grasp, but once one reads about the two girls Nel and Sula, they will be able to see how two people can be both very similar and total opposites at the same time, depending on how you look at them. A perfect example of a difference and a similarity at the same time is their upbringing. Sula’s mom is one who views sex has a very casual and simple thing, which has a huge impact on Sula, making her view sex as the same. Nel’s grandmother had also been a prostitute, viewing sex as very casual. Now if Nel’s mother had taken the same route as Sula, she would have followed in her mom’s footsteps and also viewed it as casual. But Nel’s mom took the opposite route, she was very proper and reserved, which had an affect on Nel. I found this to be very interesting, that they were so different, but got along so well and looked out for each other in such a great way. One of my favorite parts of the book was when Sula cut her finger off to show the boys that they should not be messing around with Nel, because Sula just will not have that.

Extra Long Blog Post on The Invisible Man

After finally having completed the insanely long amount of reading for this blog, I have come to a couple conclusions and developed much more of a feel for the book. I guess you could say, unfortunately, the more I read into Eliison’s novel, the less I become interested in it. There are a few things that continue to get on my nerves, which make me much less interested in reading the book. Probably the thing that has been bothering me the most, is that we STILL do not know the narrator’s name. It’s not like it deeply affects the book for me, that I don’t know his name, it’s just more of an annoying thing that builds up because I constantly think that they will finally deliver his name to us, but it just never happens. Anyway, for this super long post I just thought I’d discuss a few key things in each chapter, so here it is:
*In chapter eleven, I thought Ellison might finally tell us “the narrator’s” name because he goes into the hospital for his injuries from work (so they bring him to a factory hospital) He is asked on a form “What Is Your Name?” He thinks on that question for several pages, becomes very frustrated, and realizes that he just does not know. Further than that, he is asked what his mother’s name, and came across several names, but none sounded right to him, so he gave up on that.
*In chapter twelve, I found more symbolism in the color white. The narrator is wearing white overalls, and he receives more attention by just choosing that atricle of clothing. To me, this symbolized the fact that maybe if he was a white man, he would no longer be “invisible.”
*In chapter thirteen something rather exciting happens. The narrator is taken to a coffee house by a white man. The white man offers him a job, being a paid spokesman for his politicial organization. The narrator would represent the Harlem Branch. Initially, he turns the job down, but once he returns to his apartment, he realizes its a very good opportunity for him, and calls the man back to accept his offer.
*In chapter fouteen a member of the Narrator’s new job has an interesting complaint – that being, that he wasn’t black enough. Regardless of this observation, the narrator is told he will be the new Booker T. Washington, and he accepts this position. Along with joining this organization, the narrator must do a few things. He is told that he must change his name (which is not a problem, since he does not even know his original name), he must move into one of the organization’s apartment complexes, and he has to entirely make a break from his past life.
*In chapter fifteen, there is a very distinct description of a certain figure. There is a iron coin bank that is discussed, but what is odd about it is what the “statue” is of. It is a black man who has red lips and a very big smile, in which the coin goes one you deposit one. Now, I was a little confused at what this figure could have symbolized, but I was thinking maybe the huge grin on the face of this person could symbolize that during this time, black men were not nearly as wealthy as whites, and the grin that the coin goes in could show the joy they could get from receiving money, even as small as a coin.
*In chapter sixteen, the narrator is given the opportunity to give his very first speech. With members of the brotherhood standing close by, the narrator delivers a less than perfect performance. Before he delivered his speech he was given certain catchphrases and specific things to say, but all of that left his head. He used a lot of very boring/blah words, such as “we”,”they”,”us”, and other nonspecific words like that. His speech does not go over very well with the other members of their organization, and he is told that is he done delivering speeches.
*In chapter seventeen, we learn that the narrator has been studying things for the Brotherhood for months on end, in hopes to repair the damage he caused in his very first speech. Another important aspect of this chapter is that the narrator yet again brings up his grandfather’s speech on his deathbed, and that it continues to stay with him and haunt him.
*In chapter eighteen, many important things happen to the narrator. First off, he receives an anonymous letter say that he is “not to go too fast.” This left me a bit confused. Also in this chapter, the narrator has some more trouble with the brotherhood. He gave an interview, and after the interview he was accused of not really caring about the brotherhood, and that he was just using it to help himself. Because of these suspicions, he is denoted to a women’s spokesman. While it is pretty obvious that the narrator is not pleased with this placement, he still wants to prove his dedication to the organization and works very hard as a women’s spokesperson.
*In chapter nineteen, some scandalous things happen. The narrator gives a speech in his new position, and attracts the attention of a white woman. He goes with her back to her house, when we learn that she is married, but rarther neglected by her husband. The narrator and this white woman, surprisingly, sleep together. Afterwards the woman’s husband comes home, but does not even notice the narrator’s presence. He leaves the house once he gets a chance to slip out. This part of the novel really surprised me. Throughout Ellison’s work, it is made so clear that whites and blacks are so distanced from each other and that the whites really look down upon blacks, for the most part anyway. But this woman did not mind the color of his skin, because her white husband was not treating her properly.
*And FINALLY, at the end of this reading, we come to chapter twenty. In this, the narrator is hurt because he has been excluded from a meeting the brotherhood had called. He is told that he is being accused of getting “white fever.” White fever? I think that that means he is becoming too much a part of the white race – little does the brotherhood know, he had just slept with a white woman, and I am guessing that there would be severe repercussions from that behavior.

The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man, written by Ralph Ellison, is a very interesting book. To be honest when we first started reading this canonical piece, I was expecting it to be very boring, difficult to understand, and worst of all that the length was going to make me want to rip my eyes out. But as I have continued to read this book, I have been pleasantly surprised with it. While it is not an “easy read,” it is certainly a much easier read than I originally thought it would be. While at times it is a little difficult to understand, for the most part it is relatively easy to get through.
There was one specific part in the book that represented a lot to me – that being the Optic White part. This small part of the novel seemed to show a lot. First of all it showed Ellison’s clever use of metaphors, and most importantly it captured the very essence of the book, being racism. On page 200, the narrator is given instructions to make a perfect white paint. The process in doing this is rather odd. He started with a “dead black” paint, and was told to drop 10 drops of black paint into the paint can. The narrator was confused because the intent was to make a perfectly and purely white paint, but how could this be possible to mix to black colors and then create the purest and cleanest white colored paint, that it can be used on national monuments. The part that really connects to the racism that the book follows is the metaphor that the Optic White Paint Company uses – “White is Right.” This is the unfortunate racist mindset throughout The Invisible Man, and this slogan is definitely a metaphor for thinking that white people are dominant and “right” over African Americans.

Cannonical Works…

Trying to pick apart and provide a detailed and specific answer to the question: what makes a book part of the canon, or not apart of the canon, can be rather difficult. In looking at the cannonical pieces we have read thus far this year, I feel as though there are several aspects that must be included in all cannonical works; most of which involving something dreadful, such as death, forced/unhappy marriages, or a conflict that seems impossible to solve. Now, to me, these things seem as though they should not be included in something that everyone is “expected” to read. While in Lovecraft’s The Mountains of Madness, these qualities are even more graphic and apparent, and it is not considered to be a part of the canon.
This thought brings me right back to the beginning – what makes a book to be considered a part of the American Canon of Literature? In some ways I feel like its just a group of old english majors deciding what books they like the best, and this then forms the canon that our class surrounds. While I know this is clearly not the case, I feel as though it is impossible to dissect the essence of what makes up the canon of our literature, and it is just a very lucky and fortunate thing if an author’s book makes it into the canon.

Wrapping Up The Sound and the Fury

While I try as best to keep an open mind about literature, especially that of a different time period, I had a difficult time in doing so with The Sound and the Fury. I felt that while this novel had a lot of meaning and thought to it, obviously, I just had a very difficult time getting very attached to it, as well as having a difficult time in figuring out why this book should be apart of the canon of American Literature.
The language and word choice that Faulkner supplies us with adds even more difficulty in reading his novel. The time period that this novel takes place in is a very different time then what we live in today, making it hard ot understand the diction in the book.
Aside from language, I felt that in this book, basically every bad thing that could possibly happen to a family, happened. At times I just felt depressed and saddened for these characters.
In comparison to the other texts that we have read this year, I do not see much of a connection to the Sound and the Fury and The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. While there was unfortunate events and sadness in The Great Gatsby, it was more accidental, and expected. For example Myrtle’s death was an accident, be it ever sad. And Mr Wilson murdering Gatsby and himself was certainly sad, but it wasn’t completely shocking. Wilson believed that Gatsby had killed his wife, so he reacted in a psychotic way. In The Sound and the Fury, the incest and tears and deaths were more depressing and unnecessary. I actually was reminded of the novel Of Mice and Men. This is probably one of my favorite books that I have ever read, inside or outside of an english classroom, but I did find it to be very sad and depressing. Benjy realled reminded me of Lenny, and even reading the novels you can tell how much love and appreciation these fictional characters have to give and its just sad when you read all the horrible things that happen to them.

The End of The Sound of the Fury

Page 319 -
“Ben quit wimpering. He sat in the middle of the seat, holding the repaired flower upright in his fist, his eyes serence and ineffable. Directly before him Luster’s bullet head turned backward continually until the house passed from view, then he pulled to the side of the street and while Ben watched him he descended and broke a switch from the hedge. Queenie lowered her head and fell to cropping the grass until Lester mounted and hauled her head up and harried her into motion again, then he squared his elbows and with the switch and the reins held high he assumed a swaggering attitude out of all proportion to the sedate clopping of Queenie’s hooves and the organlike basso of her internal accompaniment. Motors passed them, and pedestrians; once a group of half grown negroes…”

After looking very closely as this passage, I have reached several conclusions, as well as questions.
At the beginning of the passage we learn that Benjy had been crying, but was now calming down. What was calming him down? It could have possibly been the flower that had been broken, but was now “repaired.” Benjy is a simple person and it seems that the act of fixing a flower could relax and please him.
As Benjy is calming down Luster is watching a particular house and turns his head only when he can no longer see it. I can’t help but wonder, who’s house is it that Luster is so content on watching?
Once it gets to the point Luster can no longer see the house, they pull the car over and Queenie becomes upset. What happened to her that caused her to get emotional.
The next few sentences left me very confused. Something happens between Queenie and Luster, but I don’t really understand what. There is a discussion of mounting and hauling and Queenie’s “internal accompaniment.” I can’t help but wonder was there a sexual experience happening right here in which Benjy is watching? Or merely an argument or conversation? And what are all the bypassers thinking of this situation?

The Sound and the Fury

The passage that I picked for my post this week can be found on page 151, the 6th line up starting with “then I was crying…”
In this situation Quentin is very upset and Caddy is trying to comfort him. Something was really upsetting Quentin, causing him to cry, but Caddy acted out her role as a mother and tried to make him feel better by talking to him. They begin to reminisce about the day of Damuddy’s death. Not just her actual death, but the situation when Caddy sat down in the water in her underwear and got in trouble for it. As soon as they discussed this the narrator, Quentin, says “I held the point of the knife at her throat.” This statement took my by surprise. I didn’t understand what Quentin was doing, nor did I understand his motive. As I read on, I realized that Quentin was going to slit Caddy’s throat, and then his own. She is telling him to push harder on the knife, but he starts to cry and she ends the crazy idea to comfort him. All of a sudden she jumps up, asking what time it was, and did not continue with the knife.
This passage really confused me just because, to me, it seemed as though it was such a random thing to happen: have Quentin kill Caddy and then himself. He just doesn’t seem as though he would have that inside of him. While, obviously, he did not go through with it at this point, he seemed pretty intent in the moment. I think that Quentin truly loves Caddy, possibly in more ways than one, and this is why he was willing to end her less than perfect life, and then take his own. It seems like this is a popular love for Caddy… that unconditional, will do anything for you. Benjy also has a love for Caddy that is not exactly like Quentin’s love, but it is a very strong and meaningful one.