Intro. to Women's Literature

Ordinary People

2006-08-04T07:18:00.000-05:00

I chose to bring in Ordinary People by Judith Guest because it is one of my favorite books. It's about a teenage boy who tries to committ suicide and how he and his family deal with it. This book focuses mostly on the boy and his feelings and recovery process but after taking this course I was really able to look into a female character of this book: the mother. Conrad's mother is trying to live the perfect life with the perfect family. So when her perfect son dies and then her other son attempts suicide her whole world crumbles. She lives in constant denial and fear of looking bad. She tries to pretend that everything is okay and by doing so she tends to ignore her son and his obvious need for attention and help. She is so desperate to have the perfect family and the perfect life that she almost ignores her sons problems. She does love him and wants him to be well but this need to perfect in others eyes keeps her from really showing that love very often. While Conrad's mother is a secondary character in Ordinary People she was able to stand out more to me because of taking this class. I was able to look at her differently and grapple with her narrative of wanting the perfect life. Maybe society has put this pressure on her (the family is upper class) or maybe she puts the pressure on herself. Either way she became a new character for me because of taking Women's Lit and I think I am able to understand her character better.

Right to Be Wrong

2006-08-03T09:47:00.000-05:00

I've got a right to be wrong
My mistakes will make me strong
I'm stepping out into the great unknown
I'm feeling wings though I've never flown
i`ve got a mind of my own
I'm flesh and blood to the bone
I'm not made of stone
Got a right to be wrong
So just leave me alone

I chose the song "Right To Be Wrong" by Joss Stone. I really like this song because it conveys such a sense of independence of a female, especially from a man and relationships. Joss Stone is a very unique artist because she is not afraid to be herself and be independent. In this song there is also the image of wings and flying, which we talked about earlier in this class. Unlike some of the narratives and images of women that have been discussed, Joss talks a bout being left alone, and not caring if someone thinks she is right or wrong. I like how she says her mistakes will make her strong, because most people think mistakes are always a negative, but she turns it into a positive.

The Last Blog

2006-08-03T09:42:00.000-05:00

The text that I thought grappled with the narratives about women we’ve read is a Destiny’s Child song entitled “Independent Women”. The title along should give it away what the song is about. This song was huge in 2001 due to the fact that it was the theme song for the hit movie “Charlie’s Angels”. I picked this song because it is an empowerment song for all women. I am a person who lives hip-hop and sometimes the lyrics are so disrespectful and degrading to women. So when DC came out with this song it was a good break from what I am used to hearing. The narrative that this song contradicts is that of women are only good for being sex objects, servants, mothers, and wives. However Destiny’s Child states the opposite. They say that women are independent people who don’t need a man, or anybody for that matter, to take care of them, they can do it themselves.

jolene

2006-08-03T09:24:00.000-05:00

The first song I thought of when I thought of women's issues was Jolene, by Dolly Parton. It's very sad, and describes a woman's poor self-image and dependence on a man. Her husband or boyfriend has cheated on her with Jolene, and instead of leaving him or confronting him about it, she goes to her and begs her to stop. WHAT??!! She talks of Jolene of having "beauty beyond compare, with flaming locks of auburn hair, with ivory skin and eyes of emerald green" and "I cannot compete with you, Jolene." And she begs Jolene not to take her man, and "my happiness depends on you."
It's a beautiful song, I love it, but it's sad also. If this were written today, I think it would have more of a "screw you" attitude toward the guy.

This One's for the Girls

2006-08-03T08:57:00.000-05:00

This is for all you girls about 13
High school can be so rough, can be so mean
Hold on to, on to your innocence
Stand your ground when everybody's givin' in
This one's for the girls
This is for all you girls about 25
In little apartments, just tryin' to get by
Livin' on, on dreams and spaghettios
Wonderin' where your life is gonna go
CHORUS
This one's for the girls
Who've ever had a broken heart
Who've wished upon a shooting star
You're beautiful the way you are
This one's for the girls
Who love without holdin' back
Who dream with everything they have
All around the world
yeah This One's for the girls(This one's for all the girls)

This is for all you girls about 42
Tossin' pennies into the fountain of youth
Every laugh, laugh line on your face
Made you who you are today
REPEAT CHORUS
Yeah, we're all the same inside (same inside)From 1 to 99
REPEAT CHORUS
(This one's for all the girls)Yeah, this one's for the girls(This one's for all the girls)

I chose this song because it is such a realistic narrative of a life of a woman. It talks about the struggles and the things that worry us...like our wrinkles...and it is just so true of the things we really deal with. I like it even more because it really stresses the fact that we are beautiful the way we are. It stresses that even with our "laugh lines" and our struggles, women can be strong and beautiful and should be proud and happy to be themselves.
It starts out talking about a teenage girl...trying to be strong and not give into the temptations that a girl faces in high school. For me, I can see this situation so vividly and I know exactly what the singer is referring to.
It then goes to focus on a 25 year old woman trying to make something of herself and trying to figure out what she's going to do with the rest of her life. This is also something that I can really imagine. It seems as though I know the girl is going through a rough time, that it's okay, because it's just part of life and I know that she's going to get through it.
I love the third verse because it says "you're beautiful the way you are." It is talking to any girl that has been heart broken. It is sort of an encouragement and tries to give strength to a woman in that situation.
I love the line in the last verse that says the "laugh lines on your face makes you who you are today." I remember the first time I heard this song and that has always been my favorite. I know it's hard getting older and realizing a new wrinkle or imperfection that has come from aging, but it makes me feel a lot better when I think about all the laughing and smiling that I did to get that wrinkle. It makes me realize the importance of grasping our imperfections as well as our attributes and accepting them because they are what makes us, us.

I think overall, this song focuses on life events and tries to bring out the positive side of them. I this song is really important for women, especially those who haven't yet discovered their strength or importance.

The Truth is I Never Left You

2006-08-03T00:33:00.000-05:00

If I had the movie (which I sadly admit I don’t) I would bring Andrew Loyd Webber’s Evita star none other than Madonna. Instead, I will choose the song Don’t Cry for Me Argentina. Not only do I love this song and know it by heart, but I think it shows a great story of a powerful woman shown in a positive live. Eva Peron rose to a high position of power through debatable means, but in the end won the hearts of the people of Argentina. She rose from very modest beginnings to a position of great power, and tragically died which cemented her story in history. As we have discussed before, in many movies, women of power are presented as evil or bitches, but Evita is loved by her people. Here is a small section of her story.

Don’t Cry For Me Argentina

It won't be easy, you'll think it strange
When I try to explain how I feel
That I still need your love after all that I've done
You won't believe me
All you will see is a girl you once knew
Although she's dressed up to the nines
At sixes and sevens with you

I had to let it happen, I had to change
Couldn't stay all my life down at heel
Looking out of the window, staying out of the sun
So I chose freedom
Running around, trying everything new
But nothing impressed me at all
I never expected it to

Don't cry for me Argentina
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days
My mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance

And as for fortune, and as for fame
I never invited them in
Though it seems to the world they were all I desired
They are illusions
They're not the solutions they promised to be
The answer was here all the time
I love you and hope you love me

Don't cry for me Argentina

Don't cry for me Argentina
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days
My mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance

Have I said too much?
There's nothing more I can think of to say to you
But all you have to do is look at me
To know that every word is true

Don't cry for me Argentina

Entry for 3 August

2006-08-02T12:49:00.000-05:00

I won't be in class, but, if I was going to be in class, I would've brought another movie. This sounds really cheesy, but this class made me think about "My Best Friend's Wedding" with Julia Roberts. I thought about it because of the day we were talking about women who like to be pursued and how there's rarely a narrative that involves a woman going after a man. I think this movie goes with and against some of the narratives we've been talking about. Most conspicuously, the woman as the pursuer is very different from the traditional narrative that we recognized where the woman wants to be pursued. What's ironic, though, is that it doesn't work in the movie because the man that she pursues ends up with another woman. So really, maybe it's not going against the narrative that much in the first place. Also, she does all kinds of sneaky, underhanded, manipulative things to try to win the guy over, which I think is in line with the image of women as, well, sneaky and manipulative. I also saw the narrative of the competition between women here because the fiance thinks she will never stack up to the Julia Roberts character, but the Julia Roberts character complains about the perfection of the fiance and how annoying it is that there's nothing annoying about her perfection. (That's not me being unclear; that's what they say in the movie. Anybody who has seen it will vouch for me.) Anyhow, that led me to think about the narratives of friendship between women and between women and men. I think that there's one narrative that says that men and women can't be friends because one will end up being attracted to the other, which is obviously the basis for this whole movie. But I can't decide if the movie supports that or not because, in the end, part of me wants to believe that the Julia Roberts character (Julianne) wasn't really in love with her best friend; his engagement just threatened the security that she found in their relationship. The images that the fiance and Julianne represent are also different ideas about kinds of women. The fiance is girly and giggly and a horrible driver and Julianne is a tomboy and hates PDA and other emotional stuff. Anyhow... those thoughts aside, there's a bunch of secondary women characters that represent other images of women like the two promiscuous cousins and even the women in the bathroom at the stadium who, despite their being dressed in less feminine ways and the slang they use that seems to represent a different class or type of women, still relate to the drama and competition between the fiance and the Julia Roberts character.

Song Blog

2006-08-02T11:36:00.000-05:00

For the song that grapples with images and narratives of women/gender, I chose “The Voice Within” sung and co-written by Christina Aguilera. Regardless of personal views on Aguilera, it cannot be denied that she tackles some deep issues in many of her songs. I think she is conflicted, though, because she sings about getting “Dirrrrty” and about how to “Get Mine, Get Yours,” but also about being “Beautiful” and being able to “Soar.” Many of her songs show cultural narratives about women. This particular song grapples with both physical self image and emotional self confidence narratives that women deal with from the time they are young girls. She sings that women shouldn’t look outside of themselves to find happiness. In the fourth stanza she also says that running away is not the way to change things you want to change. I feel she is talking about avoiding real life problems. She is a firm believer in fighting for yourself and things that you want. Later in the song she sings about life being a journey and that women should keep exploring life and never settle for less than their best. I feel that this song is along the lines of an independent and unique woman narrative. It’s a beautiful song and encourages me to persevere whenever I have self confidence worries.

The Voice Within

Young girl don’t cry
I’ll be right here when your world starts to fall
Young girl it’s alright
Your tears will dry, you’ll soon be free to fly

When you’re safe inside your room you tend to dream
Of a place where nothing’s harder than it seems
No one ever wants or bothers to explain
Of the heartache life can bring and what it means

When there’s no one else, look inside yourself
Like your oldest friend just trust the voice within
Then you’ll find the strength that will guide your way
You’ll learn to begin to trust the voice within

Young girl don’t hide
You’ll never change if you just run away
Young girl just hold tight
Soon you’re gonna see your brighter day

Now in a world where innocence is quickly claimed
It’s so hard to stand your ground when you’re so afraid
No one reaches out a hand for you to hold
When you look outside look inside to your soul

Life is a journey
It can take you anywhere you choose to go
As long as you’re learning
You’ll find all you’ll ever need to know
(be strong)
You’ll break it
(hold on)
You’ll make it
Just don’t forsake it because
No one can tell you what you can’t do
No one can stop you, you know that I’m talking to you

July 31 Blog

2006-08-02T09:43:00.000-05:00

In this text, I found many passages interesting throughout. In the first part Charity is described as "blind and insensible to many things, and dimly knew it; but to all that was light and air, perfume and colour, every drop in her responded." All during the text Wharton uses the phrase, "Charity was not thinking.." Why was she not thinking?? I asked myself this question many times during the reading. We know she fell in love with Harney and was wrapped up in him..even eventually losing her independence and the ideal of herself in him. She wasn't thinking many times because it seems as though to me that love overwhelmed her and her independence was then forced to the side. However, I don't think that her independence was completely lost...but maybe lingering because even at the end she wrote a letter to Harney pretty much letting him go. She was also independent in the fact that she decided not to have an abortion and marry Mr. Royall because she wanted to put her baby's best interest first over her own.

Summer: Better Late Than Never

2006-08-01T22:19:00.000-05:00

“’Marry you? Me?’ she burst out with a scornful laugh. ‘Was that what you came to ask me the other night? What’s come over you, I wonder? How long is it since you’ve looked at yourself in the glass?’”

“’I guess you’re good, too,’ she said, shyly and quickly. He smiled without answering, and they went out of the room together and dropped down to the hall in the glittering lift.”

I chose these two passages because I wanted to discuss the relationship between Mr. Royall and Charity. I was a little too sleepy to comment much in class today, but after class I thought of a few things I still was not that sure of. First, I personally felt slightly sorry for this man, while at the same time I did not trust him. He seemed to really love this girl, so in a way he plays the underdog in the story—she talks cruel to him when he proposes but finally settles for him (though out of necessity not love). I didn’t trust him in the fact that he seems to have a drinking habit and a taste for other women. Also, he was her guardian. I know she wasn’t his real daughter, but hadn’t he always been her father figure growing up? This seems very Woody Allen and his adopted daughter/wife to me. Wouldn’t it be scandalous for this girl to marry the man that raised her, especially if it turns out she is pregnant? Would that have still been better than for her to have just been a single mother? I guess the financial stability plays a role there, but wouldn’t people still think it odd?

Summer

2006-08-01T20:46:00.000-05:00

“She knew that Mrs. Royall was sad and timid and weak; she knew that layer Royall was harsh and violent, and still weaker.”
This stood out to me because I don’t often associate weakness with being harsh and violent. Harsh and violent make me think of a strong and scary man. But when these words are paired with weakness, I see the reason for his harshness and violentness. It shows that he is weak and therefore he has to be harsh and violent to protect himself…it’s sort of a front so people don’t see the real him. Since Charity lives with him, she is able to see that weakness.
I think this relates to lawyer Royall’s weakness with alcohol and his desire to be with Charity. These things both show his weakness…so this line is just a hint to make sure the reader realizes it. I think that it describes the cultural narrative of men being strong and sometimes too strong, but I also think it kind of expands on it. I think that by having the reader consider that strength is a way to cover up a weakness is something that really hasn’t been considered in other readings…or at least isn’t something that I haven’t noticed yet.

“Oh, I don’t believe half the bad things you all say of the Mountain!”
This stood out to me because it really says a lot about Harvey’s character. It shows that he isn’t judgmental and does not place value on someone because of where they’re from. I was really impressed at the way he made Charity feel good about herself and made it so she didn’t need to be ashamed of where she was from. This really made me like Harvey. I think it relates to other parts of the book because it sort of re-affirms at the realness of Harvey. Through the book up to this point, Harvey has always seemed to have a genuine care for people and has been very considerate of others…for example, when he accidentally got Charity in trouble with his aunt…he felt bad and talked to his aunt about it for her. I think this sort of contradicts the cultural narrative that many city people look down upon country people. This showed the city boy actually giving the country people a chance before judging them.

summer

2006-08-01T06:22:00.000-05:00

"A girl came out of lawyer Royall's house, at the end of the one street of North Dormer, and stood on the doorstep."

Whenever I read a book, I always pay attention to the first line, because it often foretells a theme or message in the book. I think that the opening line in "Summer" is no exception. In the beginning, Charity is standing on the doorstep of adulthood and maturity, still not quite fully a woman, but not fully a girl anymore. She is on the doorstep, waiting to be pushed more in one direction or another. I think that the relationship of her and Lucius is the catalyst for her to take a step out of the doorway and into adulthood. However, as she seems to think that she is ready to step out, she is obviously still naive. Like many of the narratives we talked about in class, if she would have taken time to read the books in the library she worked in, then maybe she would have been more prudent about expectations of Lucius and his commitment to her.

"She had never learned any trade that would have given her independence in a strange place, and she knew no one in the big towns of the valley, where she might have hoped to find employment."

I like this quote because it is a statement within the fictional novel that also was true in the world that it was written in. Throughout history men have used knowledge and education as a means of control. Obviously lawyer Royall had issues with control and possession, and that is why it is not surprising that Charity was trated in this manner. If she was never taught to do anything else, then she would have been forced to do only what she knew how to do, in the place that she was most famliar. This is also a theme that was shown throughout our class discussions about narratives and the collages, and I think that since this book was written in the beginning of the first wave of feminism, that it speaks directly to these themes.

July 31

2006-07-31T09:30:00.000-05:00

"You're from the Mountain? How curious! I suppose that's why you're so different..."
"Her hapy blood bathed her to the forehead. He was praising her--and praising her because she came from the Mountain!"
I thought that it was strange that being called different was praise to Charity. When I first read what Lucius said to Charity, I was expecting her to take it as an insult. However, it seemed as if it was the greatest compliment anyone had ever given her. To me, it seems like people do what they can to fit in and not be different for the most part. Being different is usually meant to call people strange or not quite right. I think that she was almost nervous to tell Lucius that she was of the mountains, just from the negative impression of it she had recieved from the people of the town all of her life. I think that we will find out a lot more about the mountain life now that she has someone else interested in it and to help her investigate it.

"She understood that, profoundly as she had despised Mr. Royall ever since, he despised himself still more profoundly."
I thought that this passage was interesting to me. It seems to show just how ashamed Mr. Royall was of what he did that night. It seems also that Charity doesn't even have to be upset with him, because he is beating himself up about it enough on his own. The relationship between Charity and Mr. Royall is very strange to me. I imagine it was different before Mrs. Royall died. I think things would be more clear if we knew how Mr. and Mrs. Royall came about to be guardians of Charity. It also seems that Charity now has the upper hand with the decisions made and what goes on at the Royall house. Maybe Mr. Royall is kind of giving in to her because he is afraid she will go tell other people in the town of what happened or else, coming from the quote, he is so angry at himself for what happened he is giving in to make up to her what he did.

Summer

2006-07-31T08:22:00.000-05:00

I have to start by saying that I really like Edith Wharton. Ethan Frome is one of my favorites and Wharton is an excellent author so I was happy to hear that we would be reading Summer this semester.
Okay, moving on...
Of all Mr. Royall had said she had retained only the phrase: "He told Miss Hatchard the books were in bad shape." What did she care for the other charges against her? Malice or truth, she despised them as she despised her detractors. But that the stranger to whom she had felt herself so mysteriously drawn should have betrayed her!
I like this passage because it is so relateable. Charity is smitten with this young man and is heartbroken that he has betrayed her by tattling on her to Miss Hatchard. She isn't concerned with being fired or with the books; rather she is concerned about the fact that Lucius has betrayed her. It seems like we've all been there at one time or another. Heartbroken by a crush, a lover, a friend and nothing else seems to matter except for their betrayal. This passage certainly opens up the rest of the book and the relationship between Lucius and Charity. She is taken with him and he with her and so the romance begins.

When she came down from her room for supper he was not there; and while she waited on the porch she recalled the tone in which Mr. Royall had commenced the day before on their early start. Mr. Royall sat at her side, his chair tilted back, his broad black boots with side-elastics resting against the lower bar of the railings. His rumpled grey hair stood up above his forehead like the crest of an angry bird, and the leather-brown of his veined cheeks was blotched with red. Charity knew that those red spots were the signs of a coming explosion.

This passage was important to me because it reaffirmed that lawyer Royall will most likely be the obstacle in the romance narrative of Charity and Lucius. I had a feeling before when he told Charity that he wanted to marry her and tried to come to her room but this passage really stood out to me. This man is obviously odd, lonely, depressed, weird, etc. and Charity knows it. I think he will really stand in their way and it makes me hope that Charity will get out of there. Wharton does an excellent job of describing Royall and I personally just get an odd sense about him. I think he is really going to be a villain in this novel if he hasn't been already.

2006-07-31T00:54:00.000-05:00

"But anyway we all live in the same place, and when it's a place like North Dormer it's enough to make people hate each other just to have to walk down the same street every day." I think this quote perfectly describes the feeling for the rest of the book - a small town where everyone knows each other and resents the fact they can't get out easily and hates each other for it. Being from a small town myself, this line made me laugh because I can relate. Everyone knows everything about each other and gossip makes it's round very quickly.

"You were seen going into that fellow's house. . .you were seen coming out of it . . ." This quote relates to my first one, in the fact that gossip travels quickly, and even stranger, someone actually waited and watched for her, just to tell Mr. Royall. I think this describes the narrative of a girl should be married and shouldn't do as she pleases, like go to see a friend - a guy friend - at nighttime. Even Mr. Royall calls her a "damn whore" later, just out of suspicion due to her appearance.
I also noticed the marriage narrative later on. Even though Charity is about independence and doesn't care what people think, she finds herself thinking about Harney that way. On page 93 she thinks "with ten dollars he might have bought her an engagement ring. . ." but quickly realizes it and tells herself they're just friends. I think that's interesting. . .something to look for as the book continues.

Summer part 1

2006-07-31T00:53:00.000-05:00

"But all that had happened to her within the last few weeks had stirred her to the sleeping depths. She had become absorbingly interesting to herself and everything that had to do with her past was illuminated by this sudden curiosity."

This quote stood out to me because it summed up all that was going on with Charity, and how she had this new curiosity about herself, and lots of new things to think about. First she is having Mr. Royall asking her to marry her, which to me is still so bazar. I know he was lonely, but I still don't really understand why he would marry the child he adopted? I know he wanted her to stay with him, but I still thought that part was really weird. Charity also gets a job as a librarian, and then also almost loses it. And she starts really falling for Harney. I think Harney has put a lot of good into Charity and made her have something interesting in her life, and something to look forward to. She is just beginning to to be curious about her past. She now has something to discover about herself, and where she came from. My cousins from my dad's side of the family were adopted, and when they found out, they were pretty shocked and wanted to know their story. They wanted to meet their parents, or at least see pictures and know what they were like. They were on a misson of discovering who they were and where they came from, like Charity.

"The signs of his liking were manifest enough; but it was hard to guess how much they meant, because his manner was so different from anything North Dormer had ever shown her."

This quote stuck with me because I think the relationship between Charity and Harney is pretty interesting. It reminded me of Seventeen Syllables with Rosie and Jesus. I also found their relationship interesting, and I couldn't quite figure out when I was reading it if they had feelings for each other or not. I felt the same way with this book. At first, I really did think a romance would spark between Charity and Harney. I thought that just the way they looked at each other showed some feelings, but then as I read on, I realized that it was true that there weren't any real signs of affection from Harney toward Charity. In this case, it seems like Charity is looking to be with Harney more than the other way around, but in Seventeen Syllables, I felt like Jesus was more of the pursuer. From what I have read so far, there is no romance between Charity and Harney yet, but I still feel like it will come. I think its interesting too how their relationship has a lot to do with Charity's relationship with Mr. Royall, and how jealous he is of her wanting to be with Harney more than him. When he was talking about how the whole town knew that Charity was over with Harney the night before, it made me think of Sula, and I thought their village in this book really reminded me of the Bottom in Sula. Both of these places knew everything about everyone, word got around fast, and they both talked about people being "watched."

Summer, Part One

2006-07-30T20:23:00.000-05:00

The first quote that stood out to me is, "Poor and ignorant as she was, and knew herself to be-humblest of the humble in North Dormer, where to come from the Mountain was the worst disgrace-yet in her narrow world she had always ruled." (p.13) I really like this quote because it really did make me feel good. the mountain has this horrible reputation as being a place where trash and dirt poor people live. Charity knows that she comes from this place, and she still still was ok in her mind. With this quote I just felt that she was saying that she knows where she comes from, she isn't ashamed; in fact she is proud she overcame that horrible place. Who cares if she had help from lawyer Royall, fact is she did it!

The second quote that really stuck out was, "...I'm going to lose my job, and I wanted it more'n anyone in the village, becasue I haven't got anybody belonging to me, the way other folks have." (p.31). This quote really stuck out to me because it contrasts the other quote so much. I feel like she is saying yeah I rose above the mountain, but I still don't have anything. It made me really sad because if the library is all she has, and she treats that job with hardly any respect, what her life really means to her. I mean if that is all I had I would devote so much to it, spend so much time making it better for everyone.

Response to reading for 31 July

2006-07-30T20:15:00.000-05:00

It was a little slow for me getting started with this book. Maybe I was too tired when I started reading. In any case, the farther I read, the more I liked it and once I reached halfway, I realized I didn't want to stop. I did, though, to write. So here goes.
One passage that I found interesting not only because of the way it fit into this text but because of some of the things we've been talking about in class was when Charity is talking about whether Harney likes her or not and it says, "The signs of his liking were manifest enough; but it was hard to guess how much they meant, because his manner was so different from anything North Dormer had ever shown her. He was at once simpler and more deferential than any one she had known; and sometimes it was just when he was simplest that she most felt the distance between them." First off, this reminded me of Sula because of the misunderstandings between Nell and Sula that resulted because of their different life experiences. I also think that this passage stuck out to me because obviously people's homes are important. Charity's coming from the Mountain is obviously central to the story and her character builds itself around the fact... especially her being different from everyone in North Dormer. Harney is interesting to her because he's from somewhere bigger, more mysterious. I kept this passage in mind as I read and thought about their relationship, and it seems that the distance between them is maintained, at least so far, but that, as they build experiences together, it becomes more negligible. I think that this would fit well into our discussion about people being close even when they don't have to talk because of the way they interact and because of the experiences that they share. I don't know how the relationship with Harney and Charity will turn out. I hesitate to say I hope it's for the better for fear of having my own heart broken.
Another passage that stood out to me was when Charity determines not to go in to see Harney when she's spying on him in Miss Hatchard's. She says, "She did not know why he was going; but since he was going she felt she must do nothing to deface the image of her that he carried away. If he wanted her he must seek her: he must not be surprised into taking her as girls like Julia Hawes were taken...." I guess it initially stood out because relationships between girls and boys are so much different today, and this was a good example of a woman who wants to be pursued by a man and who sees it as her duty to maintain her purity, even if it means passing up a chance to be with him, so that he can decide to be with her. I also think it stood out because of how important she considers his impression of her and how she doesn't seem to care later when the town thinks they're sneaking around together. Mr. Royall says she's proud, but I think her pride may be a cover for the insecurity that she feels about her past, which comes out conspicuously when she overhears Mr. Royall speaking with Harney and at other points in time when she wonder where she came from or who her parents are. Anyways, I think it's funny that later she "sneer[s] at herself for not having used the arts that might have kept him." Good stuff.
Just for fun, another passage I really liked was when she started spying on Harney and it says, "He was there, a few feet away; and while her soul was tossing on seas of woe he had been quietly sitting at his drawing-board. The sight of those two hands, moving with their usual skill and precision, woke her out of her dream." I think it's scary how bad things can get in our heads when we don't know what's going on. Like the Morrison quote that Donna read during class. But this also reminded me of a discussion I had about whether being in love makes everything else in life matter more or less, which, in a way, relates to the whole "Make Me Better" concept. Some people say being in love is like being in a dream. Seeing Harney woke Charity from a dream. I think being in love can make life seem more important, can make you notice things like how beautiful his hands are and can make the whole world seem more beautiful and worth noticing. But apparently it also makes things worth worrying about as well....

July 27th Readings

2006-07-30T20:07:00.000-05:00

I think that The Schooldays of an Indian Girl and Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of the Eurasian actually have a lot in common. In the first story, the little girl is stared at by the other white people on the train, people look at her different. In the second story that little girl constantly catches people staring at her as well. I think that both children felt out of place and had a hard time feeling like they really belonged to something. I could never imagine feeling that out of place at such a young age. However I am in complete awe of how these experiences seemed to strengthen the girls. I know that when you are in middle school you are so paranoid of what other people think, when someone glances at you you immediately think that they are talking about you. How horrible would it be to not only be paranoid, but to actually be correct in your thoughts!
I think that the stories also are different. In the first film, the little girl is taken from her mother. She actually has to endure physical changes. She has to cut her hair off, change her shoes, learn new rules. Her whole life is altered to try to be something she isn't. I think that this little girl has it a whole lot worse than the girl from the second story. The other little girl still has her mom, she just has to deal with emotional strife. (Which I know is just as cruel at times). I feel sorry for the little girl because she has to hear such cruel things about her race. She has to hear comparisons to other races, and how those races are much more superior. I also felt like their was a huge barrier between her mother and herself. I know that her mother was there in the story, but the little girl felt like she couldn't talk to her. My mother is like my bestfriend now, I talk to her daily, I tell her everything. I think that it would be so hard on me if I felt like I had a life disrturbing issue and couldn't go to my mom with it.

Summer part 1

2006-07-30T19:53:00.000-05:00

"Where'd you go to?"
"Anywhere where I can earn my living. I'll try here first, and if I can't do it here I"ll go somewhere else. I'll go up the Mountain if I have to." She paused on this threat, and saw that it had taken effect. "I want you should get Miss Hatchard and the selectmen to take me at the library: and I want a woman here in the house with me," she repeated.

This passage of text provoked me because I felt like it was a defining moment for Charity's character. The way in which she demanded what she wanted and wasn't afraid to say that she would even go up the Mountain if she had to seemed to really mark her character from the beginning as a strong and level-headed girl. From the reading so far, it seems that a woman earning a living on her own was very rare, and so her character is already being set up as one who will ask for what she wants, regardless of what anyone thinks.

"It was not the fear of any sanction, human or heavenly; she had never in her life been afraid. It was simply that she had suddenly understood what would happen if she went in. It was the thing that did happen between young men and girls, and that North Dormer ignored in public and snickered over on the sly. It was what Miss Hatchard was still ignorant of, but every girl of Charity's class knew about before she left school. It was what had happened to Ally Hawes's sister Julia, and had ended in her going to Nettleton, and in people's never mentioning her name."

This passage provoked me because of the way Charity felt like she had to hold back and not go inside to see Harney. I think it's particularly interesting the way she has this inner battle with herself, building more and more tension as she is watching him from outside. I think it is another passage that shows a lot about Charity's character. Although from the beginning she seemed to be rather independent, the stigma that would surely follow if she went to see Harney would almost be too much. I think it also provoked me because it says so much about North Dormer and the kind of town it is. It seems that anything slightly controversial isn't talked about in a healthy way, but rather discussed among the gossip of the people in the town. I think this passage exemplifies the tension that Charity is feeling between her natural instincts and desires and the social pressure she is under in North Dormer. It shows her "respressed sexuality" and "small-town prejudice," as it states on the back cover of the book.

Part One of Summer

2006-07-30T18:28:00.000-05:00

Summer part I

Charity was not very clear about the Mountain; but she knew it was a bad place, and a shame to have come from, and that, whatever befell her in North Dormer, she ought, as Miss Hatchard had once reminded her, to remember that she had been brought down from there, and hold her tongue and be thankful. She looked up at the Mountain, thinking of these things, and tried as usual to be thankful. But the sight of the young man turning in at Miss Hatchard's gate had brought back the vision of the glittering streets of Nettleton, and she felt ashamed of her old sun-hat, and sick of North Dormer, and jealously aware of Annabel Balch of Springfield, opening her blue eyes somewhere far off on glories greater than the glories of Nettleton. "How I hate everything!" she said again. (pg 6)

The last line of this passage on page 6 is what made me immediately like Charity. Though I have read more of the book since the opening chapter, and found Charity to be harder to like, I still feel a connection to her. “How I hate everything!” is how I have been feeling lately. Our reasoning may be a bit different, but it is a connection nonetheless. The paragraph preceding that line explains part of her history, and personality too. Charity already seems to be a woman with a hard outer shell and an extremely unstable inner self. The mountain represents what Charity has “overcome,” while I feel her hate of everything is something she has to also overcome. She seems to be a very jealous and possessive person. All of these personality traits can be see in this passage. I think that it relates to other events later in the novel because this gives the reader background information about Charity and her life. As far as cultural narratives goes, this passage can be linked to that of a women’s desire to rise above her current surroundings. Similar texts include the poems by Nellie Wong and Lucille Clifton.

"You mustn't be afraid of looking at the blue pin any longer, because it belongs to you," he said; and she felt a little box being pressed into her hand. Her heart gave a leap of joy, but it reached her lips only in a shy stammer. She remembered other girls whom she had heard planning to extract presents from their fellows, and was seized with a sudden dread lest Harney should have imagined that she had leaned over the pretty things in the glass case in the hope of having one given to her....(pg 87)

This passage on page 87 stuck out to be because I often relate my own life to things we read. Sometimes when I’m in stores with the men in my life (whether it be my boyfriend, dad, or grandpa), I casually mention that I like something—or even eye it—only to find it in my possession later. I feel like Charity, in that I didn’t mean to imply THEY should buy it for me. I reacted to this passage because I think a lot of girls may feel similarly. We are not all gold diggers (insert a chuckle here). Charity, thus far, does not seem one to be overly concerned with material goods, but they do matter somewhat to her. She seems more to be about attention. I also think this passage shows that Charity is also subject to feminine traits like being pleased with a man when she gets a gift. I still feel that Charity enjoys her time with Harney more than the gift. This narrative can be understood of one of the romance narratives. It is very typical for the man to buy the woman he is romantically interested in a piece of jewelry. I am unsure of what exact connection this passage has to the rest of the novel, because it comes at the end of the first half. I do think it just serves to show Harney’s willingness to make Charity happy, and Charity’s growing appreciation for Harney

July 27

2006-07-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

A noticeable difference I saw between the two excerpts is that Sui had a lot more mockery to deal with that was spoken or out right hateful towards her, while the Indian girl dealt with this, it was more just the looks she received and the actions she had to submit to. It also seemed that it was worse for Sui to be half Chinese than it would have been for her to be full. Both of the girls did what they felt was best for them. For example, Sui said she would, "Never again will I allow any one to 'hound' or 'sneer' me into matrimony." Even when this was being pushed on her by her family. The Indian girl went off on her own to get a college education even against her mother's will. It was interesting to me because it seemed like both of these girls were initially trying to fight to keep their Chinese or Indian heritage a part of their lives, but in the end, by going against what their families wanted for them, it seemed almost as if they were more conforming to the American society by not doing what was their own cultural norm. I think that since Sui was part Chinese it may have caused even more criticism for her to deal with, but I think that since it was obvious both girls were of another culture, they both had to deal with a lot of prejudices.

July 27th Blog

2006-07-27T09:27:00.000-05:00

Both of these stories were captivating because once again they deal with what is "normal or right" in society. Both give the history that white is right and what is desirable for women. In The Schooldays of an Indian Girl I was moved by many different passages in this text. When she was getting ready to get her hair cut by the "pale face woman" she stated, "Our mothers had taught us that only unskilled warriors who were captured had their hair shingled by the enemy. Among our people, short hair was worn by mourners and shingled hair by cowards!" This was exactly the case in the little girls' eyes. She was captured by the enemy and now she believed she would be viewed as a coward. This part was really sad for me to read because it was like she was an animal at this school with no say in her own appearance. The next passage read, "I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids. Then I lost my spirit. Since the day I was taken from my mother I suffered extreme indignites." This passage was written in a way that was so easy to picture the little Indian girls pain and struggle she went through physically and emotionally. In Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian, the passage that struck me was actually the last one because she is standing as her own person with her own beliefs. "After all I have no nationality and am not anxious to claim any. Individuality is more than nationality. "You are you and I am I" says Confucius. I give my right hand to the Occidentials and my left to the Orientals, hoping that between them they will not utterly destroy the insignificant "connecting link" And that's all."

July 27th readings

2006-07-27T09:13:00.000-05:00

There are obvious similarities in both of these stories. Both girls are forced to conform to white ways, both feel ashamed and heartbroken by how they are treated by others, both are victims of prejudice. However, there are also some differences. In Schooldays the young Indian girl is forced to conform in a more structured way. She is sent to a school where Indian students are made to pray, taught Christianity, stripped of their native clothes and tongue, and physcially forced to cut their hair. In Far's writing she is conforming more because of society and how they look at her. She hears people talk and make racial slurs. She is encouraged to not reveal her nationality and instead claim that she is Japanese. Society is conforming her and making her feel like she is not good enough. However, she does tend to ignore that pressure in many cases. She speaks up when Mr. K is making inappropriate racial slurs. She studies her culture and hopes to go to China one day.
Another difference is that the little Indian girl is desperate for her mother and aunt. She wants them most in her time of despair. With Far, however, the mother encourages them to fight back, to stand up for themselves and who they are. Far doesn't talk of needing her mom's love and approval; it seems she already has that. In Schooldays the young girl wants her mother but then later rejects her wishes by continuing on to college. Her mother wants her back home to live the rest of her life as she has done and doesn't encourage the young girl to finish her education. You don't get that sense from Far's writing. You get the feeling that the mother wants Far to succeed and be happy and proud.
I think some of the differences occur because of the context and social situation that each child is in. In Schooldays she is taken from her isolated Indian home into a completely foreign place. She doesn't even know what a staircase is. She is not familiar with anything having to do with white ways and is totally confused and lost. In Far's writing however it seems she lives in a neighborhood. She is more socialized to American ways especially because her father is American. Also, Far can hide her nationality or change it to favor peoples opinions. The little Indian girl cannot do so.
These two girls come from two very different places yet have very similar experiences. No matter where you are from or where you live racism hurts and can be devastating especially to a young child. These two girls were both hurt and confused about their race, their home, and their culture because of what other people said. People can be cruel and cruelty hurts no matter who you are, what your culture is or the color of your skin.

Assimilation

2006-07-27T08:44:00.000-05:00

Some of the major similarities Zitkala-Sa’s The Schooldays of an Indian Girl and Sui Sin Far’s Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian are that they both tell stories of two non-white girls trying to fit in, or being forced to fit in, with a white world and European/American ideas and culture. They both go through many accounts of discrimination. Some being misunderstandings of their culture, such as how Zitkala-Sa feels when her hair is cut because of the meaning it hold with her people, and others out right racism, such as the flag held up at the contest, and the racial stereotypes used around Sui Sin Far.

A difference I saw between the two was that Zitkala-Sa had pride in her culture from the beginning. This is partially because she had been raised in and taught about her history and culture. This is in contrast to Sui Sin Far. She was raised without much knowledge of her mother’s culture and history, and therefore, it seems to have taken her some time to develop a pride for her heritage. This difference could also come from the fact that Sui Sin Far was able to blend in because her father was European. Because of this, much of the racism she endured was much less direct than that faced by Zitkala-Sa.

july 27

2006-07-27T08:28:00.000-05:00

(anti) assimilation
In both of these stories, I was impressed by the women’s resilience to acts of prejudice. While the Native American story was one of assimilation and the Chinese American story more of anti-assimilation, there were many similarities in each of the narratives. In their stories, both women described being watched by others. I noticed that both narratives described the girls hiding. Zitkala-Sa hid from the palefaces so that her hair would not be cut, and Sui Sin Far hid from others that wanted to inspect her. They each also felt societal pressures to be a certain way.
Whereas the Native American girl was forced to change (cutting her hair, learning Christianity), the Chinese American girl was able to keep whatever culture she wanted…though each culture presented a contrasting difficulty.
I felt that in the narrative of assimilation, Zitkala-Sa grew up to neglect her heritage. When she was younger, it was a stigma to her, so as she went east again, she participated in activities (and college) that allowed her to escape her people. In the beginning she did not want to cut her hair or conform to ‘white’ ways, but in the end she defies her Native American mother.
Sui Sin Far defended her heritage all throughout her life. As a child she beat up people who offended her, and as an adult she stood up for other Chinese. She was not forced into assimilation (but she still was stigmatized). She still had a painful story because of peoples’ prejudices towards her race.
I think that the stories had several similarities because being a minority always puts pressure on women. Regardless of forced assimilation or allowed differences, minority women will undoubtedly feel stigmatized—as represented in these narratives. The differences, of course, can be accounted for because one was that of forced conforming and the other of allowed pride.

Zitkala-Sa and Sui Sin Far

2006-07-27T07:32:00.000-05:00

These two texts are similar in that they both tell the story of a young, non-white girl’s hardships as she grows up in a white man’s world. They both describe the pain the two girls feel when they are being talked about or stared at. They both tell of a girl who grows up and assimilates, but still fights off prejudice. They both took on English names at some point in their lives to fit in better.
The basic plotline is the same, but there differences. First, Zitkala-Sa is proud of her Native American heritage, where as Sui is scared of the first Chinese people she sees and doesn’t want to be like them. Sui tries hard to be like everyone else when she’s a child, and Zitkala-Sa fights and scratches to not change her Indian ways. But, in the end, they both stand and look prejudice in the eye, although the ending had a twist. Zitkala-Sa ended up living in the white man’s world and abandoning her Indian lifestyle, while Sui kept roaming and hoped to live the rest of her life in China. “As my life began in my father’s country it may end in my mother’s.”
I think the differences come from where the two girls were born. I think Zitkala-Sa was proud of her heritage because she was born in an Indian village as a full-blooded Indian; she realized she was different when she went to school. Sui was born in white America to a white father, so from the start she was different. Nobody likes to be different from everyone else when you’re young, so she noticed right away.

July 27 reading

2006-07-27T01:19:00.000-05:00

I thought that the similarities between the two passages was very interesting. They both were obviously persecuted against due to their ethnicity, even though they were of different ethnicities. Both of them kind of used things of non-traditional American culture, like magic (the indian girl) and the Eurasian girl talks about feeling the pains of her family and how her ethnicity doesn't go well with her body. I thought that these concepts just show even more how the narrators are not traditionally American.
The primary difference seems to come from the love of the family for the actions the narrators take. The indian girl did not get much support from her indian mother when she went to school. Even after she graduated as validictorian, she did not feel any satisfaction because she did not have the love and approval of her mother. The half Chinese girl, on the other hand, continuously felt the love from her family, at least no persecution about her nationality. I think that the reason for this is that the indian girl strayed away from her indian background while her mother wanted her to remain fully emersed in the indian way of life. The half Chinese girl also strayed from the traditional way of life, but it was her parents decision to take her and her siblings away from China and into the U.S.- it was their decision to emerse them into traditional United States and Canadian culture. Although this is partially a difference, it is also a similarity because they did both feel some harsh feelings from their family. Although the indian girl's mother gave her a hard time for continuing her education, the Chinese girl's family gave her a hard time for her lack of brains and body. They constantly compared her to her siblings and that made her feel unloved for a different reason than the indian girl felt unloved. i find it interesting that both stories end in some sort of rejecting love and the woman making the choice to do whatever it is that results in somebody not being with her. the indian girl decided to continue school, so her mother disapproved. The Chinese girl wouldn't agree to be Japanese, the leading decision to break off her engagement. In a way, this shows the empowerment of the women in these stories, overcoming their prejudice by being in control of their actions despite the persecution.

July 27 Blog

2006-07-26T21:34:00.000-05:00

The stories of Zitkala and Sui Sin Far have some overlaping details to them. As I read both stories I couldnt help but to feel both of these women's pain. The similarities that I seen between the two stories are that both girls were being judged for being different and were viewed as objects instead of people. Both were focused to to adapt to the western societies that they were thrown into. Other similarities were that both had to face the issue of being a girl and a minority in a culture were both are deemed inferior, however they had support from those around them such as native friends and siblings.
The differences that I noticed was that way that each girl dealed with the mistreatment that they encountered. Zitkala seemed to be more timid and shy. She didn't show any courage until the "palefaces" wanted to cut her hair. Thats when she was unwilling to change. Sui Sin Far appeared to be the stronger of the two. When others treated her unfair she lashed out again them. Although she really didn't know she was different she still stood up for herself adn who she was. I think that the girls were so different because of their background and the way they were raised. It seemed to me that Zitkala had a better understand of who she was. Her mother had shared Native American traditions with her. Sui Sin Far's mother seemed to abandon Asian traditions because she wanted to embrace the European ways.

Readings for 7/27

2006-07-26T21:08:00.000-05:00

I think there were a lot of similarites and differences in these two texts. The most obvious similiarty was the way the girls were treated because of their ethnicity. They were both dealing with the emotions of being mistreated based on something they couldn't even control. I think both girls were asking questions about why this would happen to them. Both girls began to show a lot of perserverance, but I think that is where their differences come in as well. I think they were both being treated in the same way, and had to deal with that, but I think they dealt with it in different ways. For the Indian girl, she was being mistreated because of her Indian ethnicity. By the end of the story, she seemed to have taken control of her life and seemed to accomplish a lot. She was owning up to who she was, and took pride in her ethnicity. I think the Chinese-American girl had to deal with a completely different battle. She was dealing with a double consciousness, a sense of owning up to her English and Chinese ethnicity. I think she was more accomodating to the treatment she received than the girl in the other story. By the end of the story, her resolution seemed to be this kind of limbo between her two battling identities. I think this struggle has to be so much more difficult than the Indian girl's, just because she had to deal with this inner battle of which ethnicity she felt most identified with. The obvious reason for this is her dual ethnicity. I think the struggles of both of the girls address a huge problem in today's society. Although our country has come a long way in terms of prejudice, I think racism is still an issue. These girls were made to feel insecure simply for the sake of other's security.

Zitkala-Sa and Sui Sin Far

2006-07-26T20:57:00.000-05:00

I see many similarities in these stories. In both stories each girl leads a childhood of being ashamed and of struggling with their identity. In both stories the girls seem to start out with a kind of weakness, although the Chinese girl seems to be weaker, and then as they grow and do not allow the prejudices against them to limit them they develop a strength. This strength allows them to be respected even when they are facing prejudices. Because they are able to stand up and take the prejudices and prove the prejudices wrong, they gain respect.
The story about the Indian girl is different in the way it ends. It seems as though even though she has overcame so much, she still has a "hunger" in her heart because she has sort of sacrificed her mother to have victory over those who are prejudice against her. It's like she won the battle that she sat out to win, but she realized she had done it at the sake of her mother...it seemed like she sort of felt like the people who were prejudice against her had their own victory in that they made her create a negativity between her and her mother.
In the story about the Chinese girl, however, she seems to be very happy and even proud of who she is. She seems to have no regrets or ideas of her standing up to prejudices affecting her life in any way but positively.
I think the main reason for these differences is that the Chinese girl had an American father and even though her mother was Chinese, she still was raised in English ways. Because of this her parents had no resentment towards her for pursuing the ways of white men in the way that the Indian mother had resentment for her daughter for turning her back to her culture to adopt the white mans culture. The Indian girl was raised strictly in Indian culture and her behavior was offensive to her mother and probably humiliating as well. This accounts for the differences in the way these two very similar stories end. Even though they are similar in that they deal with race and prejudices, they deal with two very different races and two very different ways of being brought up. So they really aren't similar in any way besides the fact they both deal with racism and overcoming it.

Similarities and Differences

2006-07-26T18:57:00.000-05:00

I found many similarities and differences from The School Days of an Indian Girl, and from Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian. Basically these were both texts about young girls who were considered "different" because they were the minority. They were both scared and were always trying to hide away at first. The Indian girl hid under the bed and also would resort to her room, where Sui hid herself behind a hall door. The Indian girl knew what her ethnicity looked like, whereas I found it shocking that Sui had never seen a Chinese person before. The Indian girl's parents were both from the same ethnic background, but Sui's parents were two different, her mom being Chinese and her father English. The Indian girl was clearly only viewed as Indian, where Sui could be viewed as many different ethnicities. She had to come out and tell her employer and the others at the meeting that she was Chinese. I also noticed a similarity between the two regarding their mother-daughter relationships. Neither one seems to have a very good relationship with their mom. The Indian girl's mother went against her because she decided to be ambitious and go for the college career, even though her mother didn't want her to. Sui says, "I am different to both of them- a stranger, tho their own child." I think it's so sad to see Sui feel this way, and I think her mom did not communicate well with her, or provide her with any guidance in helping her understand her ethnic backgroud. Also, going back to the very beginning of the story when her mother slaps her because she doesn't understand or believe her daughter. After reading both texts, I realized I saw both girls as very strong, and both having built confidence in themselves. They both learned to stick it out and be proud of who they are, and try to overcome the prejudices against them. I just felt so sad for both when I read these, and I was happy to at least see them try to overcome their fears of being "different." "Thus, homeless and heavy-hearted, I began anew my life among strangers." The Indian girl goes off to college, and Sui is off with her job. Both end up winning battles- the Indian girl wins the oratorical contest prize twice, and Sui encounters real battles with her brother against the other children. But the biggest battle of all being the one with themselves, and learning to overcome their fears, and sticking up for themselves, even though they are constantly fighting the battle of being looked down upon as being "different" to everyone else.

July 25th Readings

2006-07-25T22:16:00.000-05:00

"Seventeen Syllables" and "Men in Your Life" do not seem to follow the idealistic romance plot. In "Seventeen Syllables" Rosie's mother had to lose the love of her life, and spent the rest of her life with someone that doesn't even compare with her old love. I feel that this would be a horrible thing to live with. How could you spent all your life with someone that you didn't really love; especially after experiencing real love with someone. I also think that Rosie picks up on her mother and father's distance between each other and is scared to have that feeling. If that is how you are raised, is love is distance and apartness; how could you ever want that.

"Men in Your Life" made me laugh out loud. What women has ever not wanted to change a man. I felt like this was not even a romantic narrative at all. It really didn't play on any relationships. I liked this story a lot though. I thought that it was humorous that they compared comfort in a relationship to allowing each other to borrow money.

I think that both these text offer the more realistic side of love. In the usual romantic narrative it seems like they always live happily ever after. I ddint see that so much in these text.

Response to readings for 27 July

2006-07-25T20:18:00.000-05:00

I guess some of the most obvious similarities were the emotions that the girls experienced because of the way they were treated for being "different." They were both scared, confused, and angry. They were also both bent on success, or it seemed that way. Like because they were treated as inferiors, they had to prove themselves. This was interesting to me because I think it's much more often the case that being treated as inferior makes people believe that they are inferior. In another one of my classes, we read a couple of books about kids from "bad" neighborhoods who were more than intellectually capable of going to college and/or getting decent jobs, but who didn't believe they had the ability because they were always told that they didn't. One of the differences that I think is important is that the Indian girl is of "pure blood" and comes from a family that is 100% ethnically the same as she is. Her mother has an idea of what she should do, which is return to her family, but she chooses not to, which results in her being rejected by her mother. Sui, on the other hand, doesn't have a real home in the first place. She is torn between two homelands, her mother's and her father's, neither of which she considers her own. Her parents seem to provide little guidance as to how she should feel about her nationality or what she should do because of it. Unlike Zitkala, she doesn't even have a starting point against which she could rebel. I think the differences between the two girls and the people around them were different too. Zitkala was one of a number of Indians, who stood in stark contrast to the missionaries around them. The differences between her and her surroundings were very pronounced. Sui, though, was mistaken for white, Japanese, and Spanish or Mexican in San Francisco. She didn't fit in, really, with anyone. I guess that's what leads up to her statement at the end about valuing the individual.

July 25

2006-07-25T09:44:00.000-05:00

I do not think that "Seventeen Syllables" and "Men in Your Life" are the typical romance stories. They are a lot different than the type of romance that we watched in class yesterday. It almost seemed like the short story focused more on the issues Rosie's parents were having, and her and Jesus story was just thrown in as a side note...a little childhood crush more than anything. The other was just two women talking about the men in their lives. I think that it does not strike me as the typical romance narrative because I am used to the big blown up romance stories that you read in novels or see in the "chick flicks". To me, these stories had more realistic romance stories that one would be more likely to experience in real life, and maybe that is what is offered that you may not typically find.

The Notebook- Movie blog from July 24

2006-07-25T09:35:00.000-05:00

"The Notebook" is a great movie based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks. This movies is a heartwarming story of two young adults falling in love and the journey of their blossoming romance. Noah and Allie are separated by social class and status, and Allie's parents. The two faces these issues along with many years apart and finally find each other once again and the love they once shared that was never lost at all. "This beautiful tale has a particulary special meaning to an older gentleman who regularly reads the timeless love story to his agining companion." The quote, "Behind every great love is a great story" definitely sums up this romantic love story. I initially chose this movie because of my love for it. It is one of my favorites because of my deep connection to it.

July 25th Blog

2006-07-25T09:20:00.000-05:00

Seventeen Syllables and Men in Your life are both romance narratives where I believe it shows the difficulites of love, like all of the romance movies we watched yesterday. They were entertaining because some form of conflict plays a part in them. In Seventeen Syllables the mother and father in the text have a forced relationship. Rosie's father denies her mother and her mother clearly is not happy either. However Rosie begins to develop a relationship with Jesus a boy from her school. The text describes her sneaking away to see him and watching him during the day which is definitely romantic. Men in Your Life takes a more modern spin in my eyes. Finances and money are addressed and the difficulities this issue includes. I love the passage at the bottom of the page because it describes her feelings for a man that she wants to marry. "Yes, I think I will marry Eddie 'cause the only, single thing we will have to worry about is bein' poor...Yes, that is a pretty big thing to worry about all of the time, but if a man gives you all of the very best that he has offer, all the time, what more could a woman want?...." I can deeply relate to this passage because my fiance and I are young parents with a little infant and I can say that we struggle sometimes with money but we get through it because we love it each other and thats all that matters. "Love Conquers All"

July 25th readings

2006-07-25T09:03:00.000-05:00

Seventeen Syllables-This text really didn't evoke much reaction from me, romantic or otherwise. I saw the romance in a little different way, more from the mother's perspective. I think the haiku poems were her romance. They romanced her by taking her away from her normal life. She was another person when writing her poetry. She was not the wife and mother who had an unfortunate past. She was a writer and she was valued and praised for her accomplishments. The romance for her was that she could be someone else and express herself in a way that was so different from what she experienced in her normal everyday life. The poetry swept her off her feet in a way and it gave her something to be proud of. She could use poet as another way to define herself rather than just wife, mother, worker, etc. Someone suggested she was having an affair with the editor which may be true but maybe she was just having an affair with her poetry.

Men in Your Life-This piece was better in the fact that I like the way she describes her relationship with Eddie. They don't have a typical, romantic, movie plot romance. They have fun together and she appreciates him but there is no talk of flowers, gazing into each others eyes, or other mushy stuff. Instead they have fun, they dance, they talk, they joke around. She adores Eddie and thinks highly of him but their relationship seems very relaxed and easy going. She doesn't seem to be hounding him to get married or pressuring him to start a family which some women do.
I feel like my husband and I have a similar relationship. We are not mushy, let's talk about our feelings, type of people. We laugh and joke and show our love in that way. We get along well and our relationship is very easy going. It's not perfect, mind you. He is, remember, still a man. :) But we don't spend time gushing over our love for each other or gazing into each others eyes. That actually makes us both highly uncomfortable. However, because we are both laid back we get along really well and have learned how to talk to each other. We get along well because we aren't romantic in the typical way the most people think of romance. We love each other very much but can express that in more relaxed non-obvious ways.

Seventeen Syllables and Men in Your Life

2006-07-25T08:34:00.000-05:00

Seventeen Syllables shows the importance of romance. The relationship of Rosie's parents was not one of romance. It had been arranged and was not something that was based on love and romance. Rosie's mom couldn't have the man that she truly loved and was romantically involved with because of her social status, so she had to settle for Rosie's father. A little bit of romance is shown in the way Jesus treats Rosie. I think he is romantic, but it gave Rosie a feeling that she didn't understand and kind of scared her. Rosie's idea of romance and love was probably skewed a little after seeing her father act the way he did and hearing her mother tell her why she had married Rosie's father.
Men in Your Life doesn't start off romantic. It begins talking about a man who is demanding to his wife and rude to his guests, but as the narrator goes on she begins to describe her love. She has Eddie, a great man who she really loves and who really loves her. I think they have a very romantic relationship. It is kind of sad that they can't be together because of money problems, but at the same time they are happy with each other. They don't seem to need marriage to be romantic and establish their love for each other.

I think that romantic love is very important and matters very much. Love is something that comes easy at first...it's a feeling...then that initial infatuation wears off and love remains a feeling, but also turns into something that requires work. Part of that work is being romantic and doing things for each other...knowing the right moment to kiss and appreciating your partner.
I think both of these texts show a more realistic representation of how people handle love and romance today. In Seventeen Syllables, it illustrates a marriage that no one would dream of, but one that many people have. Being married out of convenience or need and having to suffer in a marriage that really isn't the most happy or romantic. In Men in Your Life, it was very straight forward and gives a true account of love and romance. But, many times in other texts romance and love is hyped up into this fairy tale. This story didn't do that, but it still offered a good view at romance.
I love being romanced and thinking about being in love and married, but I think that many romantic texts and movies give us a very unrealistic view of love. I just recently came to the realization that love isn't just a feeling and that in order to live happily ever after people have to work at it. For so long I thought as long as the feeling was there then you're in love, if it's gone, then you're not. Now I realize that the entertainment industry provide us with a sort of fairy tale view of love and romance and cause us to have expectations that can never be lived up to...this cause disappointment which is probably a reason for so many divorces these days. I really appreciate these texts because they present a very realistic view of love...and while it may not give me chills like some scene in a love story, it's more realistic and doesn't give a high expectation that will only lead to disappointment.

July 25

2006-07-25T07:58:00.000-05:00

"Seventeen Syllables" This story, the anti-romance as Jim put it, confused me. I understand what happened, but I'm confused as to why it was written. The story went all over the place - the scene at the friends' house that was pointless, the Jesus part that went nowhere, the angry husband, and the mom telling her daughter never to get married. It ended abruptly, I thought, and afterward I felt confused as to why it was written.

"The Men in Your Life" I liked this story, because it was the opposite of "Seventeen Syllables." Where that had no sort of love in it, you can tell that this woman talking to Marge loves Eddie. You can tell she's in love from the very beginning when she's trying to convince Marge that men aren't all that bad. "Neither do I go in for this downin' of men all the time like they are so many strange bein's or enemies." Being a woman myself, I know that when a woman is mad at a man or have been hurt, she most likely does a lot of guy-bashing. I also know that when a woman is in love with a man, she thinks he's the best in the world, like when she's talking about how much fun she and Eddie have together, even with no money. It's not a typical romance story; it doesn't have a plotline of them meeting, courting, something keeping them apart, finally getting together, etc. It does have a lot of apparent love, though.

Gegen die Wand (Head-On)

2006-07-25T01:23:00.000-05:00

I chose this romantic movie just because it goes against all things expected of traditional romantic comedies. Produced in Germany, the movie centres around Cahit and Sibel, two Turkish immigrants living in Germany. Cahit is a middle-aged man who, after the loss of his beloved wife, stops caring about life itself and in an attempt to end his misery, crashes his car into a wall one night. He survives and is taken to a clinic where he meets Sibel, a young girl with suicidal tendencies. Sibel's family is very conservative, and in hopes of escaping their control, she begs Cahit to marry her. Prior to the marriage, Sibel makes it clear that she wants complete freedom in the marriage (in every sense of the word) and that essentially, she and Cahit will only be roommates. Throughout the movie, Cahit and Sibel's fake marriage begins to resemble the real thing. As their love for one another grows, so does Cahit's protection of Sibel. His love for her gets the best of him when he accidentally kills a man for hitting on Sibel. Cahit goes to prison and Sibel, abandoned by her family, goes to Istanbul, yet is failed by a friend. The ending is predictable in that Cahit is seen riding a train to Istanbul in the ending scene, yet it is still the most watchable scene in the movie. My favourite scene from this movie is the scene in which Cahit and Sibel first begin to realise their love for one another. Though Sibel pushes it away, it is seen in Cahit's eyes. I feel this movie is a good example of romance in that it is not for the faint-hearted. After the first half of the movie, I began to ask myself why I was continuing to watch these people spiral downward to their demise, yet the close of the movie brings the meaning into perspective; quite brash in saying it, this movie shows the meaning of love and marriage entangled in different cultutes, different families, and different lives.

July 25 readings

2006-07-25T00:50:00.000-05:00

I thought that both texts conveyed love, but in very different ways. The first showed love that was being hidden from everyone else, a love they had to keep secret. The mother wrote the poems in order to have to go to the editor, whom she was having an affair with. My questions is, was she having an affair with only the editor, or were there others as well (the Japanese family friend's husband)? It's clear she was unhappy in her marriage, so she cheated and warns her daughter to never get married. The daughter remembers the way she felt about Jesus and wonders why she shouldn't get married. This shows how the mother never felt loved and somebody wanting her enough to want to commit to them. The daughters wonders if she will ever want that for herself.
The second piece was interesting because it gave a clear description of what the woman was wanting and what she wasn't wanting. In the end, she well-summarized what she wants by saying, "if a man gives you all of the very best that he has to offer, all the time, what more could a woman want?" She wants a man that will make her laugh and have a good time with her, even if he can't take her out to nice places. I can relate to this through my own experience because my boyfriend has a lot more bills to pay than I do- therefore I usually have much more money than him in this relationship. However, he finds really creative things to do like watch the sunset or look at the stars and carving pumpkins (in October), so we still have a really good time. I completely agree with the second author and think that she will be happier than the first author if she tries to marry a man that will give her all of him, all the time.

For Rich or For Poor

2006-07-25T00:18:00.000-05:00

In “Seventeen Syllables,” I personally did not see what I would take as a traditional ‘romance.’ The closest to romance was Rosie’s kiss with Jesus. The first kiss is something that all people have fantasized about, and to most of us (at least from what I’ve experienced and heard) feel mixed feelings about afterward. Maybe we are confused because of what it might mean, or just upset because there weren’t the fireworks that we always expected to happen when that first kiss finally came. This, however, is a small part of the romantic ideal, which I personally would put more in a coming of age story rather than a romance. On the other side of the story, I see the mother and father’s relationship as that of an anti-romance. The mother was forced into her marriage, and tragically pulled away from anyone she had loved. The only escape in her life is in her haikus, but even those are crushed by her husband.

In “Men in Your Life,” I saw in the story of Eddie a true story of romance. “Yes, I think I will marry Eddie ‘cause the only thing we will have to worry about is bein’ poor. . . . Yes, that is a pretty big thing to have to be worrying about all the time, but if a man gives you all of the very best that he has to offer, all the time, what more could a woman want? . . .” It may not be a woman being swept away by a prince, but I personally prefer when the girl picks the underdog rather than a Cinderella story. I think real love is love no matter what, for rich or for poor. However, I often think this in itself has gained fairytale status. I personally come from a family with divorced parents and have many friends with single parents, and for many of them, the divorce came along during times of financial problems. I could be very off on this, but I personally think ‘for poor’ has become just as much a dream left to Hollywood as the Prince Charming story.

Romantic Narratives

2006-07-24T22:28:00.000-05:00

"Seventeen Syllables" definitely takes an interesting twist in regards to it's romantic content. I wasn't sure as I began reading if the story would be about Rosie and Jesus or Rosie's mother and father. I think the text does follow a romance narrative, but not in the stereotypical sense. It isn't very "lovey dovey," and the parts that do show a glimpse of that romance between Rosie and Jesus are smothered by the mother's request that Rosie never marry due to her own misfortunes and unhappy marriage. I think it's interesting that the story doesn't really end on a happy note, as we would like for it to in most romantic narratives. I think we focus so much on the positive things of relationships in films and stories, and so it was a twist to see it go the other way. The husband didn't fight for his wife, he didn't realize how awful he was being and try to reconcile anything. The mother didn't even wish for her daughter to experience what she had, and so she tried to push her away from it. I think the way in which we interpret this text as a romantic narrative or not is very important because if we limit ourselves to what a romantic narrative should look like or end up as, we only set ourselves up for disappointment; within the text and in our own lives a lot of the time. This text offers a way of thinking that says romance will not live on forever; that it eventually dies and that marriage isn't worth the pain that it can sometimes cause. I don't necessarily agree with the message the text sends out, but I think it's good to weigh both sides of what a romantic narrative could be considered to be.

"Men In Your Life" seemed to be somewhat negative when I started reading it. The two women talking are clearly upset and annoyed with men and their trivial games. Throughout the text, the women are discussing Eddie, who seems to be an upstanding kind of guy. Even though they talk about how embarrassing he can be, or the annoying things that he does, it ends on a heart felt note. I am still not sure if I would classify this as a romance narrative because I felt like it wasn't really following any kind of plot line. It offered many thoughts on the relationship they shared, but there weren't really things that happened in the story that involved a lot of action. The last part of the text seemed to focus more on the things she loved about Eddie instead of the things that annoyed her. I liked the perspective on love that the author seemed to bring to the text through Eddie's girlfriend. She seemed to have a strong idea of what love is. She knew they would be poor for the rest of their lives, but she knew that Eddie would do anything for her. She knew it was worth it because of how she missed him when he was away. Although this seemed a little "mushy," I felt that her feelings were very realistic and portrayed the romance they had in a very articulate way. I think this offers the idea that true love takes the good with the bad; knows that you might be poor, but happy. Not many romance narratives in today's society seem to portray that. I think movies and stories today focus so much on extravagant story lines and set up unrealistic expectations. This text seemed to portray romance in a very real and down to earth way.

Garden State

2006-07-24T22:17:00.000-05:00

In the movie "Garden State," the main character Andrew comes home to New Jersey when he learns of his mother's tragic and sudden death. He has been on different kinds of drugs prescribed to him by his psychiatrist since he was little as a result of being blamed for his mother's death. When he comes back for the funeral, he has a chance encounter with a girl named Sam and they build a relationship over the following couple of days. When the time comes for Andrew to leave, he is with Sam in the airport and she is begging him not to go. He explains that he just has a lot of stuff he needs to take care before he can be with her. He tells her that isn't a period at the end of a sentence, but rather an ellipsis, to symbolize the beginning of something else. When Andrew gets on the plane, he realizes that he doesn't want to leave. He runs back into the airport and explains to Sam that what he said was dumb and that he is in love with her. He says that's the only thing he's ever been sure of in his entire life. At the very end of the scene, he asks, "So what do we do?" and Sam replies, "I don't know." I think this scene at the end is really amazing because of the truth behind it. He knows there is a lot of stuff in life that he doesn't have figured out, but who DOES have it all figured out? He says to Sam that he doesn't want to waste any more of his life without her in it. I think I am drawn to this because he is deciding what he wants, but they are still so unsure of themselves and the future. They are just clinging to the only thing they do know, as scary as it might be. They are just real people who are just as confused about life as anyone else, and they found something in each other and realized they couldn't throw that away, regardless of the risks.

"Seventeen Syllables" and "Men in Your Life"

2006-07-24T21:42:00.000-05:00

"Seventeen Syllables": This story kind of confused me. I think it does follow a romantic narrative, but not something you would expect. There definately was no happy ending. I couldn't even tell if Rosie did have real feelings for Jesus or not. I think it was hard for her to understand her own feelings and know what love really means. It shocked me to hear the other part of this narrative, about Rosie's mother. Her mom had an arranged marriage, but had been in love prior, but couldn't be with who she loved because of her social class. It really disturbed me when Rosie's mom makes her promise to never get married. Her mom was not in love with Rosie's dad when they married, but why wouldn't her mom want Rosie to experience the love she had with the man back in her village? Shouldn't she want her daughter to overcome this and feel true love?

"Men in Your Life": This piece seemed real to me. Basically all the lessons and rules of love, and men and women, seem really normal to me. I think all of them are what I believe in. For example, I always hear guys say "Can't live with em', can't live without em'" regarding women. I also feel that most people do always want the best for themselves "and then a little bit more." I think this piece does follow a romantic narrative of just loving someone for them. The last line was one of my favorites, "Yes, that is a pretty big thing to have to worry about all the time, but if a man gives you all of the very best that he has to offer, all the time, what more could a woman want?" I think it just ties the whole story together, and shows that this woman is really smart and true; throughout the whole reading she wants to love someone that is true to her. She sees how Tessie's husband acts, and how Wallace was, and says she would take Eddie anyday because he is not the type to play games. Eddie even tells her when he doesn't want to do something and feels taken advantage of, and she happily realizes she would not want to be trampled over either. This reminded me of the movie "The Wedding Date," because my favorite line from that movie is "I'd rather fight with you than make love to anyone else." It just stood out to me as the sweetest thing, because it really shows their love for each other is true, and I loved when the woman in this piece says, "Even a letter from him is worth more than a whole evenin' with somebody else."

July 25 blog

2006-07-24T21:37:00.000-05:00

I took a Sociology of Families class that showed how society encourages the romantic view of marriage and family life. The class explored how that is often not the case in real life, and many women are disappointed by their romantic life outcomes. I think these two texts shed light onto honest romance, rather than “happily ever-after” romance. Both contrast with what is typically portrayed as ‘romance.’ In “Seventeen Syllables,” marriage is seen as ending romance and love and in “Men in Your Life,” material goods in love are shown as unnecessary. Each of these contrasts with traditionally promoted romantic ideas: Weddings are often seen as the start of a long life of romance, and necessary to be fulfilled in the act of love. Pop culture promotes the necessity of material items in romantic relationships: diamonds, roses, fancy dinner dates, etc…. That is not to say that women in America expect that all of the time, but it is engrained in our romance mentality. Romance is powerful because women are often taught at a young age that romance is ideal. Society, including pop culture and mass media, push this romance culture on us (and men too, although in a different manner). When literature presents a story about love that is true to reality, it can still be considered a romance narrative.
There were parts of each of these texts that seemed to be a romance narrative, but there were also parts that didn’t fit the “mold.” The parts that were romantic were when the narrator of “Men in Your Life” describes how Eddie makes her happy by all the sweet things he does, and also when Rosie explains how Jesus makes her feel and when her mother explains marriage. These texts offer a realistic view of romantic love that other texts may not.

7/25 writing

2006-07-24T21:09:00.000-05:00

The first text took an interesting twist on the romantic narrative because it compared an arranged marriage to the romance of a young, naive girl. I thought it was interesting how the mother in the story kept her secret for so long to protect her daughter from the truth about her marriage. But once her dad took the heinous action of burning her prize, I think she lost the desire to be so loyal to him. The daughter on the other hand, seems confused about her feelings for Jesus. I think a large part of her confusion is because she grew up in an environment that lacked passion and affection. This text doesnt seem to talk about romance in the sense that the movies today did.

The second text seemed more in line with the romantic narratives portrayed in the movies we watched. Eddie seemed to be a decent guy who really cared about her. The first guy that she went out with was obviously only interested in sex and she was not interested in that. I think that it follows the romantic narrative because they both respected each other and they both made each other happy. This text offers a difference from ordinary romantic texts in that the happily ever after part of the story isnt really implied.

Romantic Movie

2006-07-24T19:54:00.000-05:00

For my movie, I chose Shrek 2. This probably seems like a weird choice because most people assume that it is a children's movie, but it definitly has adult themes and humor to it. In the last scene Shrek comes and saves Fiona (his wife) from the evil fairy Godmother. After he saves her, she makes a sacrifice for her by telling her that he is willing to become human for her. She knows that he is willing to make a huge sacrifice for her, so she makes one for him and they turn back into ogres. I like that she makes this choice, because it really shows she loves him and the only thing that matters is that they are both happy together. It also shows that their love is based on much more than just looks. I think that some of the other movies we watched today were largely popular because they were based on the fact that the couple was very attractive. I think that this says something about our society that messages are always being sent that you have to be attractive to be worthy of romance and love.

Romantic movie

2006-07-24T15:23:00.000-05:00

My movie wouldn't be categorized as a romantic movie but it does have romance in it. I chose A Bronx Tale because it is a great movie on so many levels. It's about a boy growing up in his New York neighborhood during starting in the 50's-60's. Calogero lives right up the street from a corner bar where mobsters hang out. Him and his friends idolize these older men and as time goes on he starts to become a part of their group. Calogero isn't necessary involved in really bad mobster stuff but the leader takes a liking to him and watches over him while letting Calogero hang out with the crowd. While he is in late high school Calogero meets Jane, a fellow student, and he is in love at first sight. However, Jane is black. At that time it was a big no-no for someone from the Italian neighborhood to date someone from the African-American neighborhood. There are troubles from the beginning but they continue to be drawn to each other no matter how much heat they get from others. There is a scene when Calogero walks Jane home but has to stop at a certain point so as not to cross over into the black neighborhood.
I think the romantic plotline is a familiar one. Several movies have taken on the issue of interracial dating. However, I like the way this movie keeps that sweetness, that innocence of young love alive. Even with all the violence and negative reactions they still like each other and they stay very sweet with each other. They are both starting to form their own opinions about life, politics, love, etc. and are both realizing that they don't care what others think but at the same time they do care what others think. Calogero hides the fact that he is dating a black girl from his friends because they are very racist.
It's hard to explain but this is a really great movie with a nice, romantic side plot that really draws you in and makes you root for the odd couple. :) I highly recommend it to everyone.

Response to readings for 25 July

2006-07-24T12:49:00.000-05:00

"Seventeen Syllables": I think the story follows a romantic narrative. Rosie is obviously falling for Jesus but they're young and she doesn't know what to do about it. Then there's the whole second plot of how her mom didn't marry for true love and now she's trapped and stifled and all of that so she doesn't want her daughter to get married and end up like her. I think the thing that's different about this, at least when I read it, is that at the end, it seems to me that the whole time Rosie just wants some kind of love but she doesn't get it from her parents and now her parent wants to take away the prospect of Jesus's love. I think this text is interesting because of the way culture and class play into it. And because of the different characters' conflicting ideas of love. Rosie's mom turned romantic love into something bad because her experiences made it impossible for her not to. For Rosie, it's still something new and exciting and confusing, and I don't think her parents are helping to clear anything up.
"Men in Your Life": This piece is pretty funny. I think it plays into the traditional romantic narratives of loving somebody for who they are and for who you are when you're together instead of because of how they look on paper. I guess the interesting part of this story for me is how gossip-centered it seems and it reminds me of this "Would you rather" questions that asked if you'd rather sleep with somebody famous but not be able to tell anyone about it or be able to tell everyone you slept with somebody famous and have them believe you but never actually do it. I don't know if that made sense. Anyways... I guess this isn't really like that but I thought it was funny because she doesn't even mention Eddie for a while and it's almost like her thoughts only come out because she's telling them to somebody else, but they've obviously been there if she and Eddie talked about getting married. It reminds me a little bit of "Hitch" too because she likes Eddie for his little eccentricities even though he isn't the obvious choice to the world.

"The Notebook"

2006-07-24T11:30:00.000-05:00

"Behind every great love is a great love story" This quote is definitely perfect for this movie. This flim is based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks. It is a heartwarming story about two teenagers finding love in one another even though they have significant social class differences. Allie and Noah overcome obstacles of parents, social class, and years of lost time to find each other once again. "This beautiful tale has a particulary special meaning to an older gentleman who regularly reads the timeless love story to his aging companion."

The scene I have chosen is a dancing scene where Noah and Allie's love journey first begins. Noah asks Allie to dance with him and the two begin dancing in the street at night. No music is playing so Noah begins humming a song. Allie tells him that she loves that song. Music then begins to play and its a beautiful love scene full of emotion. This movie is one of my favorites and I hold it close to my heart.

GoodFellas

2006-07-24T10:26:00.000-05:00

I chose a very different kind of romantic plotline - this one is a secondary plot in the movie. The love between Henry and Karen is strong, I think, although troubled. Henry is womanizing and gets any girl he wants all the time, but he still falls in love with Karen. The scene I chose is where Henry defends Karen's honor by beating up the guy that molested her, her neighbor. I like this scene in the plot because it shows that he actually does love her; he wouldn't do that for a girl he just has sex with. Then they go on to get married, and their love is a rollercoaster of drama after that. They go through rich times, their love survives his stay in jail, poor times, mistresses, drugs. After everything, they end up together in the Witness Protection Program.

The Notebook

2006-07-24T09:47:00.000-05:00

"Behind every great love is a great story." Like other people in our class, I too chose the Notebook. Its my favorite movie and I love the plot line. This movie is based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks. Its a love story between to young people, Noah and Allie and their blossoming romance. They are separted by social class and Allie's parents. During the movie the two try to overcome their differences while trying to overcome many years of lost time together. This movie is close to my heart and one I will cherish for a lifetime.

movie blog

2006-07-24T09:14:00.000-05:00

I chose Shrek 2 for my movie. This movie starts out with Prince Charming on a mission to save Princess Fiona, but finds that she has already been rescued and is on her honeymoon, with an ogre, Shrek. She is now an ogre too. She takes him home to meet her parents, the king and queen, and they are mortified. Then there is a big scheme to break up Shrek and Fiona by the fairy godmother, who is Prince Charmings mother, in order to get Fiona and Prince Charming together and turn Fiona back into a Princess. My favorite romantic scene in the movie is right at the beginning when it shows Fiona and Shrek being newlyweds and in love with each other with the Counting Crows in the background singing, Accidentally In Love. Even though it is an animation and it is really corny, I still like it a lot because it is so simple and sweet. I think I like a lot too because of the song being played in the scene. It just seems really happy and simple, unlike the complications of most loves.

Love Put to Music

2006-07-24T08:25:00.000-05:00

I had trouble narrowing my selection down to one, so I choice to focus on the genre of Musical Romance instead, seeing as my three favorite love stories are musicals.

The movie Moulin Rouge is based around the classic opera La Boheme. It tells the story of a poor writer, Christian, who falls for a courtesan. The two must keep their love secret because Sateen(the courtesan) has another admirer, the Duke, who is investing money to change the Moulin Rouge into a theatre. The two show their love through the songs (all reworked modern pop music) that Christian writes for the new show. In the end, they are found out, and just as they are finally able to be together, Sateen dies of Consumption.

My description may not be the most romantic, but it is a beautiful movie. My favorite scene is based around the song “The Elephant Love Medley” where a reworking of classic love songs is used to show Christian’s pursuit of Sateen after it is discovered the Christian is just a poor writer, not the Duke. The scene is musically and visually beautiful, and the story is classic.

La Boheme was also the inspiration of the musical RENT. It follows a group of bohemians in New York City around the years 1989-1990. The tuberculosis has been replaced with AIDS, and the love stories now includes a gay relationships, (including that of the drag queen Angel), and a lesbian relationship. The most touching scene of the movie is where we see Angel’s Partner, Colins, sings at Angel’s funeral—I always cry here. I include RENT here because it shows a lot of different sides to the classic love stories. We get to love past the classic standers of male/female, female/male. Is there a difference in this genre of romance?

The final movie, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, tells the story of a transsexual rock star from East Berlin, and how she came to the US and found love and heartbreak. This movie has is the farthest stretch from the traditional romance, but has one of my favorite love songs of all time in it. It takes Plato’s explanation of love from the Symposium and puts it to song—I find it amazing:

The Origin of Love

When the earth was still flat,
And the clouds made of fire,
And mountains stretched up to the sky,
Sometimes higher,
Folks roamed the earth
Like big rolling kegs.
They had two sets of arms.
They had two sets of legs.
They had two faces peering
Out of one giant head
So they could watch all around them
As they talked; while they read.
And they never knew nothing of love.
It was before the origin of love.

The origin of love

And there were three sexes then,
One that looked like two men
Glued up back to back,
Called the children of the sun.
And similar in shape and girth
Were the children of the earth.
They looked like two girls
Rolled up in one.
And the children of the moon
Were like a fork shoved on a spoon.
They were part sun, part earth
Part daughter, part son.

The origin of love

Now the gods grew quite scared
Of our strength and defiance
And Thor said,
"I'm gonna kill them all
With my hammer,
Like I killed the giants."
And Zeus said, "No,
You better let me
Use my lightening, like scissors,
Like I cut the legs off the whales
And dinosaurs into lizards."
Then he grabbed up some bolts
And he let out a laugh,
Said, "I'll split them right down the middle.
Gonna cut them right up in half."
And then storm clouds gathered above
Into great balls of fire

And then fire shot down
From the sky in bolts
Like shining blades
Of a knife.
And it ripped
Right through the flesh
Of the children of the sun
And the moon
And the earth.
And some Indian god
Sewed the wound up into a hole,
Pulled it round to our belly
To remind us of the price we pay.
And Osiris and the gods of the Nile
Gathered up a big storm
To blow a hurricane,
To scatter us away,
In a flood of wind and rain,
And a sea of tidal waves,
To wash us all away,
And if we don't behave
They'll cut us down again
And we'll be hopping round on one foot
And looking through one eye.

Last time I saw you
We had just split in two.
You were looking at me.
I was looking at you.
You had a way so familiar,
But I could not recognize,
Cause you had blood on your face;
I had blood in my eyes.
But I could swear by your expression
That the pain down in your soul
Was the same as the one down in mine.
That's the pain,
Cuts a straight line
Down through the heart;
We called it love.
So we wrapped our arms around each other,
Trying to shove ourselves back together.
We were making love,
Making love.
It was a cold dark evening,
Such a long time ago,
When by the mighty hand of Jove,
It was the sad story
How we became
Lonely two-legged creatures,
It's the story of
The origin of love.
That's the origin of love.

A Walk To Remember

2006-07-24T07:42:00.000-05:00

This movie takes place in a high school. The main female character, Jamie, is a Christian girl who is not very popular in school. The main male character, Landon, is a wild guy who could have any girl he wants. Landon gets into some trouble and has to do community work and the school play as his punishment and this is how he begins to fall in love with Jamie. At first he is ashamed of her and the fact that he likes her. But then he makes it up to her. He falls deeper and deeper in love with her. In the end we find out that she has cancer and doesn't have a long time left to live. They end up getting married and then she dies...but it shows the incredible transformation that Landon went through because of the example of Jamie. She completely changed who he was.
My favorite scene:
Jamie has a to-do list for her life. It's pretty long and at one point in the movie she tells Landon some of them. They are things like being in two places at once, getting a tattoo, and other things like that. My favorite part is when Landon takes her on a date and gives her a stick on tattoo and takes her to the state line so she can be in two places at once. It just really shows how much he is changing and how they are falling in love. I just really appreciate this love scene because he is able to show her how much he loves her through doing things for her. A lot of times the love scenes are steamy sex scenes and, to me, I think it's hard to tell if that is really "love." With this, he is getting nothing from his actions and knows nothing will come from them except for Jamie's love...Jamie made it very clear to him that she had strict boundaries and isn't having sex until marriage. I just love how he respects that and does all these sweet things without trying to persuade her into something she doesn't want to do. I think that shows real love and that's what real love is to me.

Heartache and Adultry...LOVE IT!

2006-07-23T22:02:00.000-05:00

Tristan + Isolde
This script is full of dialogue that is relevant to the topic of romantic love. I cannot pick one scene as my favorite. For the sake of saving blog space, I will pick only one. This is one of my favorite scenes because it shows the hidden meaning in Tristan’s and Isolde’s words. Almost everything each of them says has a double meaning because of the hidden world they try to live in. Isolde’s speech about love and its importance in life is relevant to our theme this week. She takes a very traditional view of love, in that it is vital to survival. The portrayal of Tristan as unhappy and angst because Isolde married his best friend shows the traditional view of loves importance to happiness. Though they both want to be together, society tells them they cannot. They decide to defy the norms set before them, and live a secret lie.

1:16-19.7 (Tristan has been moody and often absent in court because of his broken heart. Lord Marc tries to offer solutions, thinking Tristan is simply in a funk.)
Lord Marc: Perhaps its time you took a wife
Tristan:scoffs
Lord Marc: You can’t live alone forever
Tristan: I can.
(Isolde walks by)
Lord Marc: Isolde! I was trying to explain to Tristan the importance of love…seems he might live with out it.
Isolde: Why?
Tristan: There are other things to live for: (referencing a previous scene): duty, honor…
Isolde: They are not life, Tristan. They are the shells of life—and empty ones, if in the end all they hold are days and days without love. Love is made by God; ignore it and you suffer as you cannot imagine.
Tristan: Then I will no longer live without it.
(Lord Marc runs off to the traditional Full Moon ride, Tristan’s words in the above scene signify his agreement to finally meet Isolde at a spot she had suggested before. They meet in the cover of darkness, and make love. During their love-making, this scene is acted out.)
Isolde: How many did you love before me?
Tristan: None
Isolde: And after me?
Tristan: None

This movie is my favorite type of love story. The tagline for its promotions was “Before Romeo and Juliet, there was: Tristan + Isolde.” It’s very similar, yet rather different from the William Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet. In Tristan + Isolde, the plot centers on a love triangle. Isolde is the daughter of the Kind of Ireland, who is fighting for control of Brittan. Tristan is a knight in one of the tribes in Brittan. Following a battle with Ireland, Tristan is thought to be dead and pushed out to sea (as was the custom). Isolde finds him on the coast of Ireland and nurses him back to health. After Ireland hears of the lost battle overseas, it becomes unsafe for Tristan to remain in Ireland. He wants Isolde to run away with him. She suppresses her love for him and makes him leave. He returns to Brittan, where he unites the tribes of Brittan under Lord Marc. Tristan fights in a knight tournament, for which the prize is Isolde. Tristan, thinking that Isolde is someone else, wins the tournament for Lord Marc. Isolde unknowingly thinks she now gets to marry Tristan. She is highly disappointed when she must marry Lord Marc. Their love remains unknown to the entire Brittan court until they begin an affair after the above scene. They eventually get caught, leaving Lord Marc betrayed by his best friend and wife. Lord Marc’s inability to keep his wife “in control” makes the tribes of Brittan turn on each other. There is a huge battle, and Tristan ends up saving the day—but he receives a fatal wound in the process. The story of their love unravels, and Lord Marc realizes he cannot stop Isolde from loving Tristan. She runs to him as he dies and the end storyboard says that she disappears after his death.
I love this movie because of the tragic storyline. This film appealed to me so much because it was not the typical “happily ever after” love movie. I like movies that show reality. Often times in life, people do not end up with the ‘one’ they want. It is also realistic because both Tristan and Isolde change their minds several times about having an affair. This shows that society’s pressures get to them, but in the end they cannot deny their love. That is where the traditional view of love (the cliché, “one person for everyone”) comes into this movie. Tristan + Isolde is similar to Romeo and Juliet, but differs from most other romantic movies because of the tragedy involved. The Notebook and other movies of that nature end happily. I appreciate those movies, but find the greatest pleasure from watching movies that make me yearn for more.

I want to quote the whole movie but cannot…just to add one more:
1:23-23:30
Isolde: (In reference to Lord Marc) He’s a kind man, Tristan, I cannot hate him. Yesterday at the market I saw a couple holding hands, and I realized we’ll never do that…never anything like it. No picnics or unguarded smiles, no rings, just stolen moments that leave too quickly.

Sweet Home Alabama

2006-07-23T19:51:00.000-05:00

" Why you wanna marry me anyhow?"
"So I can kiss you whenever I want"
Here are two little kids who are so in love with each other and they have no cares in the world. I love this scene because it is so unrealistic. How often can you be in love with someone and have no worries in the world. Here are two adorable little kids and their only worries in the world are each other. Another reason I like it is because I wish that I could be young again. It makes me remember a time when I had no worries, and I had no cares; the only thing I worried about was making sure my night light worked properly. Now I have school, papers, homework, work, have to watch what I eat, exercise properly, clean my house, feed my own pets, etc. I feel like nothing is ever done. Now days it seems like having a companion or being in love would just be another thing to add to the list. It seems like when you are older you have so much more responsibility in a relationship; going on dates, calling each other, making time for each other. I just wish that all I could do all day is get chased on the beach by some little boy who just wants to kiss me whenever he wants.

Love Jones

2006-07-23T19:36:00.000-05:00

The blogs I have read so far are really love and detailed. I, on the other hand, am going a different route. The movie that I picked is called love jones. The term love jones means you can't stop thinking about someone...no matter how hard you try. You can't quite put your finger on why they are so irresistable to you but you know that you can't live without them. The movies stars Larenz Tate and Nia Long. This movis is my all time fave because it is a very simple concept. Two people not looking for love but they somehow find each other. They go through ups and downs but in the end the guy gets the girl. It is romantic because of what they do together. Alot of times people judge romance as what a person buys for you but sometimes its not about that. In this movie they write poetry and songs adn go dancing to express what the other means to them. It also speaks to me because it is a urban love story. So many times people try to play into "hollywood" expectaions of what romance is. This movie set the bar a little higher and defined what love was in the Black community. Its about being there and having love and respect. It isnt about being able to take someone way on a private jet or buy them diamonds.

Movie blog

2006-07-23T17:34:00.000-05:00

The movie I chose is called The Family Man, starring Nicholas Cage and Tea Leoni. This movie is about a very wealthy man named Jack Campbell, who works in NY on Wall Street and has everything he could want, except love. When he was in college, he made the choice to go leave his serious girlfriend and go to London to pursue his career instead of pursuing it in the US. She tried to stop him by proposing to him in the airport, but he still went, leaving her heartbroken and crying. She couldn't follow because she already had a job in the US that she couldn't leave. Years later, the wealthy Jack Campbell falls asleep and has a dream (stemmed from his ex-girlfriend calling earlier in the day-- he told his secretary to take her # and he'd call her later) about what life would have been like if he had stayed with his girlfriend. It gives him a "glimpse" of what his family life would have been like. The glimpse shows his girlfriend as his wife, and they have two children; a three year old girl and a baby boy. He has to do things domesticated fathers do like walking the dog and picking up its crap, changing the baby's diaper, giving the kids a bath, taking them to school. When he first enters his dream and wakes up laying next to his wife, he freaks out and wants to know where his ferrari is and he longs for his expensive suits. By the end of the dream he realizes how nice it is to have a family and kids. He's getting ready to go to bed in his dream, but doesn't want to fall asleep in fear he'll wake up back in his penthouse sweet (spell?). But... he does fall asleep, and he does wake up back in his penthouse sweet. He finds his ex-girlfriend's number and calls her, only to find out that she is moving overseas and wants to return some of his old stuff to him because she didn't have room to pack it. Lost in the hecticness of her movers and people calling her, he takes his stuff and leaves, barely getting noticed. My favorite scene (the one I'll bring to class) is at the very end where his ex-girlfriend (Kate) is in the airport getting ready to get on the plane. After leaving her house earlier in the day, he decides he has to see her again and rushes to the airport, finds her terminal and yells her name. She turns around and, curious what this is about, tells him she's had closure after all the years... and that she is alright, he can stop worrrying. Then he says something like, "We had a house in Jersy. It was a mess, but after 115 more payments, it's gonna be ours. We had two kids. Annie can't play the voilin worth a darn, but she's getting better every day. And Josh.. he can't talk yet, but we just know that he's thinking and learning so many things. And when he smiles... his whole face lights up and makes you smile too. And us,... we're in love. After 13 years of marriage, we're terribly, madly in love. Please, Kate, you can go to Paris any day, just not today. Please have a cup of coffee, you can go to Paris tomorrow." She looks at him in awe and says, alright... a cup of coffee, jack. And they go to a coffee shop and the movie leaves them talking and drinking coffee. Sorry this entry is so long. I love this movie just because it is basically everything I feel about what I want my life to be. I don't want a ferrari or a penthouse sweet, or expensive clothes and people working under me. I want a family who loves each other and is happy, that's really the most important thing to me.
What makes this movie different from others is that the main plot of the movie never actually happens.. it is all a dream, and when the actor wakes up he is completely changed and everybody is confused about his quick sudden change of heart. He completely goes from being a rich, selfish prick to wanting to find this girl and fall in love. He abandons his work for her, on the whim that she might want to get coffee. I know some people thought this movie was boring, but I really reccommend it. It makes me cry every time I watch it because it makes me think of the future and what (hopefully) will come to be.

Movie Blog

2006-07-23T17:28:00.000-05:00

My favorite romantic movie is The Notebook. Everyone probably already knows the story, or if you don't, you probably read it on Tracee's blog. Basically, the movie is about a girl, Allie, whose family is very wealthy, and a boy Noah, who is not part of the upper-class. Allie and Noah fall in love, but her family does not want their daughter to be with Noah because they want her to be with Laune who is wealthier and always looks "proper" to them. This particular movie is different from others because the whole story is based on a book an old man (Noah) is reading to this woman (Allie) who is in a nursing home. Allie has Alzheimers and Noah is reading her the story of the two of them and how they met, what happened in their teenage years, and how they ended up.

The whole movie is so intriguing to me because it starts off where Allie and Noah meet at a carnival. Noah sees Allie and immediately wants her. He does everything to get her to get to know him. Once they have gone out, and gotten to know each other somewhat, my favorite scence takes place when Allie first starts to trust Noah. They are walking, and Noah goes and lays in the middle of the street. Allie immediately thinks he's crazy:

Noah: Come here I want to show you something
Allie: Noah, what are you doing?
Noah: Just come on.
Allie: You're gonna get run over.
Noah: By all the cars?
Noah: My dad and I used to come out here and lay down and watch the lights change. And watch them go from green to red to yellow.
Noah: You could try it if you wanted to.
Allie: No.
Noah: Why not?
Allie: Because I don't know...will you just get up?
Noah: That's your problem, you know that? You don't do what you want.
Allie: Okay.
Allie: What happens if a car comes?
Noah: We die.
Allie: What?
Noah: Just relax. Just trust. You need to learn how to trust.
Allie: Okay.
Allie: Painting.
Noah: Hmm?
Allie: You asked me what I do for me
Noah: What now?
Allie: I love to paint
Noah: Yeah?
Allie: Mhmm
Noah: Huh
Allie: Most of the time, I have all these thoughts bouncing around in my head. But with a brush in my hand, the world just gets kinda quiet.
Noah: Get out of the street.
Noah: Are you okay? Why are you laughing?
Allie: Oh that was fun.
Noah: Do you want to dance with me?
Allie: Sure. Now?
Noah: Mhmm
Allie: Here?
Noah: Mhmm
Allie: We're not supposed to dance in the middle of the street.
Noah: Who said dance in the street?
Allie: And we don't have any music.
Noah: We'll make some.
Noah: Hums
Allie: You're a terrible singer.
Noah: I know.
Allie: But I like this song.

This is the scene to me, that really sparked their whole romance. But the movie just has so many good scenes, seriously the best love story ever, really romantic, funny, and in the end really sad.

Movie blog

2006-07-22T14:05:00.000-05:00

I have to do this one now because I'm positive I won't be the only one who picks it.... I'm not a huge fan of romantic movies, but last semester "The Notebook" was on TV every two hours or so during finals week so every break that we got, my roommate and I watched it and I ended up really liking it. I'm guess most of you know what happens in the movie. It's the story of a couple that meets during a summer (I think) and the girl is wealthy and the boy isn't and they're in love but then her parents make her move away and he tries to write to her but her mom steals the letters so they don't talk for a really long time and she ends up being engaged to this other guy but then she sees this article about how the other guy built the house she told him she wanted so she goes to visit him and they fall for each other again and stuff and they end up together. But the underlying narrative in the movie is this old guy in a nursing home or something reading the story of these two kids to a woman who has Alzheimers or something and it ends up that they are the two kids in the story and she had written it for him to read to her so she would remember their story. I think the reason I like the movie, aside from the fact that the whole Alzheimers thing is pretty creative, is because they don't pretend like their relationship is perfect. My favorite scene is when he's trying to convince her to stay with him and it goes something like this:
Noah: You're bored! You're bored and you know it! You wouldn't be here if there weren't something missing.
Allie: You arrogant son of a bitch!
Noah: Would you just stay with me?
Allie: Stay with you? What for? Look at us, we are already fighting.
Noah: Well that's what we do. We fight. You tell me when I'm being an arrogant son of a bitch and I tell you when you are being a pain in the ass. Which you are 99% of the time. I'm not afraid to hurt your feelings. You have like a two second rebound rate and you're back to doing the next pain in the ass thing.
Allie: So what.
Noah: So it's not going to be easy. It's going to be really hard. And we're going to have to work at this every day. But I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, every day.
I like it because it's more realistic than the romance shows that make you think love is nothing but happiness all of the time. In fact, I guess he says it's a pain in the ass 99% of the time....

Sula, 2nd half

2006-07-21T01:04:00.000-05:00

The part that particularly stuck out to me in this half of the story is Sula's betrayal of Nel by sleeping with her husband. The fact that Jude got dressed once Nel found them and Sula just sat on the bed, unclothed, really made me seem as if Sula wasn't even ashamed of what she did. Later on we find that Sula slept with him because she had empty space inside and Jude filled that space. The fact that the girls were such good friends, yet Sula didn't seemingly find anything too wrong with what she did really brought Sula to a whole new level to me. I had always pictured her as this really tough, strong girl yet with childish feelings. I feel, in this case, that I am wrong about her because in this case, she is indifferent to feelings whereas in the beginning we see her cry and show emotion.

The second thing that stuck out to me is Nel's devition to Sula. While it really saddens me that Sula would treat her friend with such betrayal, it is the actions of Nel that really get me here. To me, Nel has been the definition of a true friend. Even after Sula sleeps with her husband, they have a falling out-- yet Nel still visits Sula when she is sick. Nel still gets Sula's medicine from the pharmacy and it is Nel who eventually cries out in sorrow for her lost friend and soul mate. It makes me think of the closeness I have with my friends and how I would react if they died.
One of my best friends, who I have known since I was about 9 years old, just had a baby earlier on today (the 20th). It is she and her husband's first child and I cried tears of joy as if it were my own baby being born. It is in this way that I feel the feelings that she is probably feeling- almost as if I am her. It is in this way that I think of Nel's feelings for Sula- so intense that they practically are the same person. It just struck me when Nel cried out for Sula in the end... kinda in the same way the Sula smiled and remembered Nel right before she died. It is like, no matter what happened, in the end they remember and miss each other because they were so close. And I think that's what friendship has to be about-- getting over and through the messes that go on in life and in the end knowing that you really love each other and will never forget one another.

Sula-Last Half

2006-07-20T09:19:00.000-05:00

Sula by Toni Morrison (Last Half)-
In regards to the passage about Teapot and his mamma Betty the part that stuck out to me was when Sula had an encounter with Teapot and his drunken mother. "His mother, just then tripping home, saw Sula bending over her son's pained face. She flew into a fit of concerned, if drunken, motherhood, and dragged Teapot home. She told everbody that Sula pushed him." The passage goes on to say that "The very idea of a grown woman hurting her boy kept her teeth on edge. She became the most devoted mother: sobre, clean and industrious." This was remarkable to me that this horrible drunken mother could quickly turn her act around because someone supposibly hurt her boy, but what is ironic is that she has been "hurting" her boy for years with her selfish drinking and lack of care.

Close to the end of the book, another passage presented itself to me regarding Teapot and his mother again. After Teapot asked for some sugar-butter-bread his mother found that she had not butter, only oleomargarine. She was "too tired to mix the saffron-colored powder into the hard cake of oleo, she simply smeared the white stuff on the bread and sprinkled sugar over it. Teapot tasted the difference and refused to eat it. This keenest of insults that a mother can feel, the rejection by a child of her food, bent her into fury and she beat him as she had not done since Sula knocked him down the steps." Once again as I mentioned before this is another act that angered me. Betty was too tired to whip up some butter for her son, probably knowing that he wouldn't eat it unless she did, she gave it to him anyway. However she wasn't too tired to beat him. When reading of Teapot and his mother, I was furious.

July 20, Sula

2006-07-20T09:03:00.000-05:00

"When it came to matters of grave importance, she behaved emotionally and irresponsibly and left it to others to straighten out."
I thought that this quote and the passage with it explained a lot about Sula. It makes a lot of sense to me. When people are scared or in an uncomfortable situation, that act rash and usually regret what they did. I think that that is what this quote is meaning. It reminds me of people who do not think ahead of the consequences. For example, when Sula cut her finger to protect herself from the boys, all I think she was thinking about was getting out of that situation. She didn't consider her hand being messed up or the pain that came with it. I think that it also represents how she was as an adult, like when she slept with Nel's husband. Sula didn't think of the consequences, like loosing a friendship, when she did this.

"The real hell of Hell is that it is forever...She said doing anything forever and ever was hell."
I thought that this was an interesting quote. I think that there is a lot of truth behind it. Repetition is boring, and too much of it can be depressing. I think that is why a lot of people are miserable in their careers. Doing the same thing for years and years is a killer. I feel like that with my part time jobs that I have been at for only a few months. It is really hard for me to think about doing something for the rest of my life. I think that was why it was so hard for me to decide what to major in. I think that is one of the reasons Nel and Sula grew apart so much as adult. The idea of being a wife and mother to Sula was a kind of hell, because it was for the rest of your life, but Nel didn't feel that way.

This Bed Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us

2006-07-20T08:34:00.000-05:00

“They did not believe death was accidental—life might be, but death was deliberate. They did not believe nature was askew—only inconvenient. Plague and draught were as ‘natural’ as springtime.”

This passage jumped out at me because it seemed to uphold many of the things we discussed about death from the first half. Death was something natural to them. It didn’t happen without reason, and this seems to have made it a much easier part of life to deal with. These people faced so many hardships on a day to day basis—death just seems to be one of them.

“She had not thought of causing Nel pain when she bedded down with Jude. They had always shared the affection of other people: compared how a boy kissed, what line he used with one then the other. Marriage, apparently, had changed all that, but having no intimate knowledge of marriage, having lived in a house with women who thought all men available, and selected among them with a care only for their tastes, she was ill prepared for the possessiveness of the one person she felt close to.”

I was struck by this passage by how innocently it explains Sula’s reasoning for sleeping with Nel’s husband—she was simply sharing like they had always done. It seems that thanks to her upbringing, Sula’s concept of marriage was slightly skewed. She had seen her mother and grandmother selectively choose men, even married ones, without any consequences. She seems surprised by Nel’s reaction, and blames marriage for changing her. Sula viewed her friendship with Nel as a deeper bond than the commitment between Nel and Jude. Even so, does this justify her actions?

Sula (Second half)

2006-07-20T07:57:00.000-05:00

"I am just standing here and seeing it, but they are not really doing it. But then they did look up. Or you did. You did, Jude. And if only you had not looked at me the way the soldiers did on the train, the way you look at the children when they come in while you are listening to Gabriel Heatter and break your train of thought-not focusing exactly but giving them an instant, a piece of time, to remember what they are doing, what they are interrupting, and go on back to wherever they were and let you listen to Gabriel Heatter."

This passage really struck me, especially the first part. It made my heart break for Nel when she walked in that room and saw Jude and Sula. I'm still questioning if it would be worse to walk in on your spouse having intercourse with another or down on all fours, naked and nipping at another like dogs. Anyway, I felt for Nel and could relate to what she was feeling. I think everyone tries to deny something awful that has happened to them or that they saw. Nel tried to deny it and would have forgotten it except that he looked up at her. The problem couldn't be denied away and instead stared her in the face. There are times when I wish something bad or scary would go away, like I could forgive it if I just didn't have to look but then it comes back to slap you in the face and you have to deal with it. I think Nel was heartbroken; not only had her husband cheated on her but he had done so with her best friend. I like that Morrison wrote that from Nel's point of view, Jude was looking at her like the soldiers on the train. Whether he was really looking at her like or not is insignificant because Nel felt that Jude was looking at her like that. Seems it would be even more hurtful to Nel to have Jude looking at her with annoyance and anger that she walked in on him and Sula. I may be interpreting that wrong but Nel seemed so hurt by the way Jude looked at her. This passage was sad and I like the way that Morrison wrote it in the perspective of Nel talking directly to Jude. It made it more powerful and meaningful.

"And the fury she created in the women of the town was incredible-for she would lay their husbands once and then no more. Hannah had been a nuisance, but she was complimenting the women, in a way, by wanting their husbands. Sula was trying them out and discarding them without any excuse the men could swallow. So the women, to justify their own judgement, cherished their men more, soothed the pride and vanity Sula had bruised."

I was interested in this passage because it seems so incredulous but Morrison kind of makes it all make sense. Women were hating Sula because she slept with their husbands and then threw them away. They weren't angry at their husbands but instead felt sorry for them when they were burned by Sula. Just the fact that infidelity is taken so lightly in this passage. It's not about these men cheating it's about how the wives feel about the women they are cheating with and justifying themselves in taking their husbands back. There is no anger at being betrayed or hurt rather there is cherishing and soothing to the husbands that cheated. However, when reading this passage it kind of made sense what these wives were doing. Not that I condone it or would ever put up with it but I think because Morrison leaves out the shock value and the emotion she makes you sympathize and understand where these wives are coming from. The way Morrison writes this has me in two different thought processes but that maybe that was her point. It's all very interesting and I'm not sure how to put what i mean into words. I hope this made sense. Any thoughts?

Sula, Second half

2006-07-20T06:54:00.000-05:00

"They did not believe doctors could heal-for them, none ever had done so. They did not believe death was accidental-life might be, but death was deliberate. They did not believe Nature was ever askew-only inconvenient. Plague and drought were as 'natural' as springtime. If milk could curdle, God knows robins could fall. The purpose of evil was to survive it and they determined (without ever knowing they had made up their minds to do it) to survive flodds, white people, tuberculosis, famine and ignorance. They knew anger well but not despair, and they didn't stone sinners for the same reason they didn't commit suicide-it was beneath them."

At the very beginning of the second half, I read this passage. I read over it two or three times. It just really made me open my eyes and realize the strength these people had and the things they had to deal with. I realize that as I read this book, I keep imagining nice, big air conditioned homes...all these luxuries. This passage really brought me back to reality and illustrated to me how bad these people had it, and how well they handled it. I think this passage provoked me because it is just so straight-forward. A lot of times, we're expected to interpret a piece of text or look deeper into something to find it's real meaning, but I feel like this passage is just what it is. It just lays it all out there; it doesn't try to romanticize their life at all, which really helps me to see things for what they were at this time.
The first thing I think of when trying to relate this passage to another part of the book is when Shadrack is described as walking around naked and peeing in front of women and children. I don't think they're related, but they're both just very straightforward and very informative about whatever each passage is talking about. I think the author does this throughout the book...as she tells her story, she presents things with deeper meanings and with just enough detail to allow us to rely on our imagination for much of the images...then all of the sudden, she spouts out a passage like this one and lets you know how it really is. This passage contributes in a huge way. It explains to the reader why the black people in this story act, react and live the way they do. It helps the reader to acquire a new understanding of this culture and life in their time.

"Their conviction of Sula's evil changed them in accountable yet mysterious ways. Once the source of their personal misfortune was identified, they had leave to protect and love one another. They began to cherish their husbands and wives, protect their children, repair their homes and in general band together against the devil in their midst."
This really stood out to me because it seemed to kind of bring a softening over the entire community. It's kind of a follow up to the above passage...kind of goes from just knowing things were going to be bad sometimes and accepting that to knowing a source of the evil and being able to protect against it. I think it's interesting that these people were able to use the bad things Sula did for their own good and were able to appreciate each other a lot more and to explore love on a whole new level for each other.
This passage sort of explains that since these people didn't have anyone to attribute to the bad things that happened in life, it was hard for them to comprehend things. But as Sula established herself as a form of evil to them, they were able to feel more emotion and have stronger reactions to things. This allowed them to have a larger love for their family.

Sula part 2

2006-07-20T06:33:00.000-05:00

I want to touch on the affair of Sula and Jude, but not in the sense of "how could Sula do that to Nel?". The thing that I had the strongest reaction to was that I didnt have a strong emotional reaction when that happened. In fact, when I first read the back cover of the book, that was the first thing I thought was going to happen. I was disappointed in Morrison that this really beautiful piece of writing would climax with an affair of Sula and Jude. But when I started thinking about it, I know Morrison would not just throw the affair in to hook the readers and make Sula into some trashy romance novel. Yesterday we also talked about how no one had a very strong reaction to Eva setting her son on fire also. I was also agreed with this fact, because I did not find myself being absolutely appalled by Plum's death. So my question is, did Morrison write these acts in a way that the readers would examine it as a critique of how jaded we have become to violence and demoralization of society? I havent come up with an answer yet, but its something to think about.

I also want to comment on the significance of Sula's affair with Ajax. I think that this is a significant relationship because it is the first time that she lets anyone completely in to her life. It could be argued that she had let Nel into her life, however in the end, it is obvious that this is not true because their friendship is not as solid as Nel assumed it was. When Sula cleans the house for Ajax and puts him on a godlike pedestal, it is obvious that it is going to all crash down on her. It is sad because Sula seems really happy for once, as illustrated in the passages about her descriptions of Ajaz as well as the scene when she is playing with the deweys. (Did anyone else think something bad was going to happen to one of them in that scene?) Sula's relationship with Ajax is like a quick look at the inner workings of Sula, but as soon as he leaves, it is closed back up and sealed for good.

Sula (second half)

2006-07-20T01:20:00.000-05:00

After seeing how both Nel and Sula developed in the first part of the novel, the first passage that I reacted to the most was the passage beginning on page 104 and continuing well into page 108. Sula's mom, Hannah, was known for her frequent affairs, so it doesn't surprise me much that Sula has an affair with Nel's husband Jude... the shocking part was that all Jude said to Nel after being caught in the act was "I'll be back for my things." The reason I reacted so strongly to this passage was the words Morrison used to open it, "So how could you leave me when you knew me?" I recognised this to be the cause of an immense pain in Nel just because her husband had chosen the company of another (or many others) over her exclusive company. Not only was Nel left to care for her children alone, she also had nobody to turn to since she had lost her husband and her best friend in the same fleeting moment. I felt that this passage in particular related to other parts of the story because it forces the characters to deal with pain or loss. At Chicken Little's funeral, Nel is the one who feels guilt whereas Sula simply cries. Eva has to deal with the loss of Plum and Hannah, although the former was a loss she probably was grateful for. I feel one of the prominent themes in "Sula" is the fear that comes with living; fear of losing everything, fear of never being accepted, fear of being accepted by too many people, fear of being alone, fear of broken promises, fear of loss, fear of love, and fear of life.

Dealing with a similar theme, the other passage that I reacted strongly to was the last two paragraphs on page 149. When Sula is ill, Nel comes to see her for the first time in three years and the two talk about Sula's affair with Jude. After their conversation when Nel leaves, Sula is left to her own thoughts until "she was not breathing because she didn't have to. Her body did not need oxygen. She was dead." The part I liked the most was what Sula says following her death, "'Well, I'll be damned...it didn't even hurt. Wait'll I tell Nel.'" I find it interesting that Sula's last thoughts are on Nel, despite the past three tumultuous years, and that Sula is never afraid of dying-- she embraces it for she believes she had nothing left to experience in life. This also goes along with the aforementioned prominent theme. Sula wants to tell Nel that death is painless so that Nel will not be afraid of it. Sula and Nel's relationship changes throughout the novel, yet the entire time the two girls who become women are intrigued by each other and act as two halves of a whole. No matter what happens, in the end the two still care deeply for one another. Sula's last thoughts are on Nel, and at the end of the novel, Nel realises that all this time it is not Jude she was missing, it was Sula and their childhood friendship that happened to dissolve before either girl knew how much it meant to them.

Blog 5

2006-07-20T00:20:00.000-05:00

Morrison

”Then I really would act like what you call a man. Every man I ever knew left his children.”
“Some were taken.”
“Wrong, Nellie. The word is ‘left.’”/………../
“Really? What have you got to show for it?”
“Show? To who? Girl, I got my mind. And what goes on in it. Which is to say, I got me.”
“Lonely, ain’t it?”
“Yes by my lonely is mine……

The first thing about this passage that evoked a reaction from me was the bickering back and forth between Sula and Nel. I’ve felt a similar thing between my sister and me. I always correct her and point out deeper thoughts that she often fails to realize. Nel tries to convince herself and Sula that Jude didn’t leave his children; it was Sula that took him away. Sula forces Nel to recognize that Jude is his own person, and left on his own. This contrasts with earlier passages, in which it is Nel that forces Sula to see reality.
Also in this passage, Sula explains to Nel that she would rather be herself than attached to anyone else. Sula doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone else; she is perfectly fine with being self-contained. This also contrasts with earlier passages. It was Nel that stood in front of the mirror, convincing herself that she was “me, just me.
This passage on page 143 of Sula shows many of the themes intended by Toni Morrison. Self-identity and also a recognition of varying viewpoints in life are two themes that I think Morrison tries to show in Sula. All throughout the novel, different characters struggle to “find” themselves. Shadrack has to come to terms with his physical appearance, Helene tries to push herself away from her mother’s identity, Nel wants to be an individual, and the deweys become one…there are many other examples. Word choice, and the different meanings behind words are also important in this novel. Another example (aside from the difference in left/taken) is towards the end of the novel when Nel visits Eva. Eva tells Nel that she just “watched” Chicken Little die, whereas Nel feels she simply “saw” him die. Many other examples of varying viewpoints are seen throughout the novel.
This passage plays into many reoccurring plot and tone themes used by Morrison.

In the midst of a pleasant conversation with someone she might say, “Why do you chew with your mouth open?” not because the answer interested her but because she wanted to see the person’s face change rapidly. She was completely free of ambition, with no affection for money, property or things, no greed, no desire to command attention or compliments—no ego. For that reason she felt no compulsion to verify herself—be consistent with herself.

I felt a connection to this passage because I often find myself doing the same thing. I don’t consider myself to be AS free of the need to verify myself as Sula does, but I really do things to see others’ reactions more than I do to find something out. The connection between this passage about Sula’s personality and my own personality, is a far fetched one…but I was able to make that leap for the sake of ‘getting into the book.’ While reading Sula, I aligned myself more towards Sula than Nel. I also reacted to this passage because I was really intrigued by Sula’s ability to be “ego-less.”
I think this passage hardens my belief that Nel and Sula compliment each other, and that is the reason they became such great friends. Eva even comments on a similar theory in the closing pages of the novel. She said that they were one in the same. In the manner that Sula feels no compulsion to verify herself, Nel constantly looks to reaffirm her position in life through others’ ideas.
Morrison’s theme of looking for recognition is also seen in this passage. It also helps readers to have more insight into Sula’s personality and reasoning behind many of her actions.

Sula second half

2006-07-19T23:43:00.000-05:00

"She had no thought at all of causing Nel pain when she bedded down with Jude. They had always shared the affection of other people: compared how a boy kissed, what line he used with one and then the other. Marriage, apparently, had changed all that, but having had no intimate knowledge of marriage, having lived in a house with women who thought all men available, and selected from among them with a care only for their tastes, she was ill prepared for the possessiveness of the one person she felt close to."

This passage made me feel like Sula didn't really know she was doing wrong by going with Nel's husband Jude. I think she felt closest to Nel, and felt she could share the same affection with Jude as Nel had. She felt that all men were always available. I guess she just thought since her and Nel were so close, they could share everything, even Nel's husband. I mean I thought this was absolutely insane, but I can see where Sula does get this from. It's hard for me to believe Sula really felt that way, but I guess now that I really look at it, I can kind of see how she would, but I still feel she is wrong. It does make me feel sad for Sula now, but she should not of went off with Jude. It makes me wonder how close you can really be to someone, but still not know what could really hurt them.

"How you know? Sula asked. Know what? Nel still wouldn't look at her. About who was good. How you know it was you? What you mean? I mean maybe it wasn't you. Maybe it was me."

This passage kind of goes along with my first one. I just thought it was so interesting and surprising to see Sula ask this to Nel. It left me wondering if Nel was mean in any way. I of course, thought Sula was always the mean one, for going with Nel's husband Jude. I just thought it was interesting to see Sula's side, of maybe how Nel was wrong, and the mean one to her. It was really shocking to hear Sula say, "If we were such good friends, how come you couldn't get over it." I was just thinking to myself, is Sula crazy? How could Nel possibly just get over something like that? I looked back through the text and Morrison had explained how a big reason Sula had come back was to see Nel, but when Sula did get back, Nel had changed. Sula was sad and disappointed in the way Nel was now living, she felt she now was a big part of the town, and had given herself to their town. I think it was just upsetting for Sula to leave being so close to someone, and to come back excited to see that same person, but now the person has changed into someone she didn't think she would be. I mean, it was years, and people do change. I know when I go back home on breaks, and I see my best friends from high school, after being away at different colleges, many of them have changed and done things I never thought they would.

Part !! Sula

2006-07-19T19:33:00.001-05:00

"She had clung to Nel as the closest thing to both an other and a self, only to discover that she and Nel were not one and the same thing"
I know that Sula did a horrible thing by sleeping with Jude; no doubt it is completely unforgivable. However, after reading this, I felt so sad. I mean Sula really wasn't close to anyone else in her family, so Nel was like her sister, mom, and best friend. In a sense, Nel was all Sula had. To lose that would be so incredibly hard. She says that it is like her other and a self, Nel really did "complete" Sula. I think that Sula felt as if she had lost a part of herself. This feeling comes up previously in Sula when Nel talks about how lonely she was before Sula. I also feel like maybe Helene felt like she never even could have this feeling becuse she was by no means close to her mom; but this kind of added so much to her relationship with her grandma. So when her grandma died, I think that she really did feel like she lost all she had ever known.

"Sula began to discover what possession was. Not, love, perhaps, but possession or at least the desire for it. She was so astounded by so new and alien feeling."
This reminded me of how "hard" Sula really tries to be. It seems like she is scared to let anyone back in her life, especially how things ended with Nel. I think Sula is afraid of getting burned twice. She thinks that if she lets Ajax in, and admits she has really fallen for him he will leave her like Nel left. Sula has seen so many people leave people in her life. Nel loved Jude so much, and Jude left her. So many people in this book come in peoples life and then they leave on a dime. How many people though haven't felt this at one point in their life? Everyone meets someone that they become very close to, and eventually they aren't in your life anymore. Or perhaps they left on a really bad note, of course for awhile you are afraid to let people in.

Sula part 2

2006-07-19T19:33:00.000-05:00

"They insisted that all unions between white men and black women be rape; for a black woman to be willing was literally unthinkable. In that way, they regarded integration with precisely the same venom that white people did." This passage stood out to me because I think it points out several interesting things. I think the issues of race in this book are very intriguing to me since I'm also in the African American literature class. The fact that people were so disgusted with Sula for sleeping with a white man is interesting, because it seems to set up some kind of double standard. Although blacks were mistreated and had every right to feel angry toward whites, by ranting and raving about a black women sleeping with a white man, it brings several questions to my mind. Does this mean that black people did not want to be associated with white people? Or just in that way? Did the prejudice against blacks cause so much bitterness that could not be redeemed even through integration? Did blacks regard integration with precisely the same venom that white people did? Was the fact that Sula slept with a white man reason for her to become less of a person in their eyes? I just found this thought and role reversal to be very interesting and thought provoking, and it definitely plays into the issues of race that dealt with throughout the book. I think it explains a lot about why Sula was so hated by the time of her death.

"It had surprised her a little and saddened her a good deal when Nel behaved the way others would have. Nel was one of the reasons she had drifted back to Medallion, that and the boredom she found in Nashaville, Detroit, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Macon and San Diego." This passage reminded me of the discussion we had in class about the poem As Children Together. It seems that in both of these texts, there are completely different types of women who are close friends in childhood, and then go opposite ways. One woman usually stays in the hometown, accomodating to a life of a stereotypical mom or housewife, and the other takes off without blinking on these great adventures and travels. It forces me to consider the different reasons that this happens. Is it due to how young girls are raised in different families? Or something more? Sula was so angry with Nel for accomodating in this way, yet she slept with Nel's husband, and several other men for that matter, and didn't seem to care about anyone but herself. In a time where women are starting to become more and more empowered, are we empowering them to do immoral and selfish things just to avoid that bitter "stereotype?"

Sula, part two

2006-07-19T18:41:00.000-05:00

"You. Sula. What's the difference?" p.168 This comment by Eva struck me. To me, it made the two girls' relationships come together. They were the same person. Nel had evil tendencies, just as Sula had a little good in her. Nel was able to just watch Chicken Little drown, without any reservations or getting upset. Sula had started to show a little care and compassion for Ajax, rather than using him for her own pleasure. This short conversation with Eva led Nel to reexamine the last 30 or so years of her life. Only then did she realize that her true soul mate was Sula and finally began the grieving she couldn't achieve when Jude left her.

"Devil all right."
"No two ways about it." p. 117 I think the town didn't understand Sula, or like her, and the people had to look for a reason, so they weren't being evil themselves. They searched for all kinds of explanations: she never got sick as a child, she never got mosquito bites, she didn't age much, she didn't belch while drinking beer, etc. After coming to this idea that she was the devil incarnate, the town sort of banded together in their distaste for her. Rather than seeing Sula as evil, I see her as the person who brought the town together. While she was living there, mothers protected their children, husbands, and themselves and they banded together against her. In the end, I think that the book was written about Sula, the dark angel who made life better for the Bottom. After she died, they had a bad winter, complete with hunger, sickness and poverty worse than usual.

Response to reading for 20 July

2006-07-19T16:49:00.000-05:00

So there was a lot to choose from in here, huh? I guess I'll just throw a couple out there.
One passage that gets to me is when Sula comes back and Nel recognizes that, "Talking to Sula had always been a conversation with herself." I think this stuck out to me especially because of our discussion in class about how Sula isn't even really a character until she's described in terms of her friendship with Nel. I guess I've seen them as two part of one person... kind of like the Usher twins in Poe's short story. They aren't really whole when they aren't together. This is really driven home for me when Nel can't function after Jude leaves, but at the end of the story, she realizes that it's Sula that she missed all along.
Then, another passage that sticks out is when Sula says to Nel, "Yes. But my lonely is mine. Now your lonely is somebody else's. Made by somebody else and handed to you. Ain't that something? A secondhand lonely." I still don't really know how to approach Sula. I see her and Nel as inseparable, really, like Eva does I guess. So when Sula describes the differences in their lonelinesses, I think that they're really both missing the same thing - each other... and themselves.

2006-07-19T13:18:00.000-05:00

"They did not believe that doctors could heal-- for them none had ever done so. They did not believe death was accidential--life might be, but death was deliberate. They did not believe Nature was ever askew--only convenient. Plague and drought was "nature" as springtime...the purpose of evil was to survive it..."pg. 90
This passage stood out to me because it summed up what people were saying in class. The statement that Meegan made about medical attention being available to Blacks was a very true. This fact was stated in the passage. It goes to show how good isnt natural but evil is. Giving the past history of African Americans this makes sense. I have heard older people say before that we were put her to stand the test of time. Meaning that good times are far and in between because something bad is always happening. Blacks had experienced mor bad times than good so that was what they were accustomed to. Also the statement about death being deliberate but life was by accident made me think about abortion and teens having unplanned babies. This statement reflects how a lot of young people think today. You often hear people saying that they didn't ask to be here and with all the school shootings and bombings it seems very relavent today.

"She had clung to Sula as the closest thing to both an other and a self, only to discover that she and Nel were not one and the same" pg.119
When I first read that sentence it jump out at he due to what happened (Sula sleeping with Jude). It seemed to be the first time Nel realized that she was the leader of the two. Sula had hinted at it earlier when she said had more sense than her. I believed that after she realized that she was her own person that she would begin to live her life different. However everytime she began to think about something she thought of Sula. So I wondered if her "discovery" was just a way to shield the pain of losing a husband and a friend.

Sula, 1st half

2006-07-19T01:07:00.000-05:00

The first part that really stuck out to me in Sula is not a part that I think someone would typically remember. It's the part when Nel returns from the trip with her mother and looks in the mirror and says "I'm me. " She repeats it, creating her own identity, realizing that she is a being in herself. This stuck out to me, because I remember doing something similar when I was little. However, in my case this realization took place when I was at school (in elementary school). I think I was about in 2nd or 3rd grade, and I was walking down the hallway. I remember looking at someone else walking down the hallway, then looking at myself and thinking how cool it was that I was a human. (please, no laughing.) I remember thinking, I'm not an animal, I'm not some floating ghost, I'm a human and I'm me. Perhaps it was a somewhat different realization than Nel had- for her it was more about self-empowerment, for me it was a cool realization that I'm human and would grow up being human and could do great things. Maybe this is weird of me, but it was a point in time when I realized that there are so many different things in this world, and I felt lucky to be human.

The second part that really stuck out to me was when Eva sat Plum on fire. When I was reading it at first, I didn't realize that the eagle pouring wetness was actually kerosene. And when I read that, I could picture Eva standing there, seeing her son drenched in kerosene and then lighting the paper, watching the flames engulfing him, then turning her back. It was a strong image to picture, and almost sickening to me to know that a mother would do that to her child. I know she was doing it to put him out of his misery (reminds me of assisted suicide), but to me it doesn't seem as if she tried hard enough to get him out of his misery in a different way, NOT killing him. Just seems like if she really truely love him, she would try anything to make him well and with her at the same time, but what she did resulted in neither. This doesn't remind me of anything in my life, just that my mother has always done everything she can to keep me well, happy, and safe. By killing Plum, Eva didn't suceed in making him those three things... or did she? Perhaps that's the only way she knew how to make him better and happier, and safer (from himself). I don't know, it could go either way.

Sula 1

2006-07-18T09:40:00.000-05:00

"because each had discovered years before that they were neither white nor male, and that all freedom and triumph was forbidden to them, they had set about creating something else to be. Their meeting was fortunate, for it let them use each other to grow on." pg52
I picked this passage because it was foreshadowing. It was already stated earlier that the girls were not to play with each other yet their paths crossed anyway. I believe that this passage gives the reader a peck into what is to become of the girls and their friendship. The mention of their race and gender tells me that they will face many challenges together concerning this issue but will some how work them out together. This passage speaks to me because I feel this way everytime go to a new place. I seek out the Black faces. Not because I don't like people of other races but because there is comfort in numbers. If I walk into a classroom and see a Black face it is like a bond is automatically made because we have a common backgroung. Although Sula and Nel live in an all Black community, they still encounter others that are different from them. It is good that they have each other to help make sense of everything.

"I had birthed him once. I couldn't do it again. He was growed, a big old thing. Godhavemercy, I couldn't birth him twice...he'd be creepin' to to the bed trying to spread my legs trying to get back up in my womb. He was a man, girl, a big old growed-up man." pg. 71-72
The first thing that came to mind when I read this passage was Oedipus Rex. The fact that Plum stil has this childlike behavior about himself bothers me because it isn't like Eva ever babied her kids. So one has to wprry where did this quality come from. Maybe it was because he longed for his mothers love. I see parallels with this passage and the story of Oedipus because of the way Eva explains the dreams she has about him crawling into her womb and getting into bed. The way she says it sounds so sexual, much like the one between Jocasta and Oedipus. It got bad between Eva and Plum that she had to put him out of his misery much like Oedipus had to do to himself.

Sula - First Half

2006-07-18T09:06:00.000-05:00

Sula by Toni Morrison (First Half)
"A shucking, knee-slapping, wet-eyed laughter that could even describe and explain how they came to be where they were."
This passage struck me because of the ways Morrison describes the laughter going on. The terms; shucking, knee-slapping, wet- eyed were words that painted a vivid picture into my head about this scene and what was going on in the story. She then leads with what the laughter is about and says, "A joke. A nigger joke...Just a nigger joke. The kind white folks tell when the mill closes down and they're looking for a little comfort somewhere. This passage reminded me of different times in my own life when I have heard or overheard someone saying a joke in this exact same context. For me hearing people say jokes about people's skin color, hair color (you blondes know what I'm talking about) or any other negative stereotype just makes me realize people's ignorance and lack of education.

The next passage that struck me was that on page 17. "He took his bride to his home in Medallion and put her in a lovely house with a brick porch and real lace curtains at the window."
This passage also struck me immediately as I was reading because of Morrisons choice of words.."and put her in a lovely house." Once again as we have read before in other texts such as the Yellow Wall Paper, the woman is being cared for and supposed to be submissive. To "put her" as Morrison describes gives a vivid image of the woman having no say in anything and she is now placed in "his home" as she describes, but wait she has "lace curtains" so everything is perfect now...right?

"Love Hurts. . .Sometimes"

2006-07-18T08:37:00.000-05:00

“Eva stepped back from the bed and let the crutches rest under her arms. She rolled a bit of newspaper into a tight stick about six inches long, lit it and threw it onto the bed where the kerosene-soaked Plum lay in snug delight. Quickly, as the whoosh of flames engulfed him, she shut the door and made her slow and painful journey back to the top of the house.”

I was very surprised by this section. The fact that Eva was able to kill her own son was shocking, and to me at least, unexpected. What surprised me more than anything is how life just seems to go on afterwards. There is no punishment for Eva—no one even seems to look down on or question her actions until Hannah asks her about it much latter. I’m sure we have all been told at least once in our lives by our parents (hopefully jokingly), “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it.” Eva’s actions seem to have been because of love. She rocked him close, then took his life. I’m not sure how or if I can reconcile this—maybe that will be an effort for my paper.

“The water darkened and closed over quickly over the place where Chicken Little sank. The pressure of his hard and tight little fingers was still in Sula’s palms as she stood looking at the closed place in the water. They expected him to come back up, laughing. Both girls stared at the water.”

As with the death of Plum, I was very surprised by how lightly death is taken. I’m sure much of it was a sign of the times and the tougher conditions of life, but it is still surprising. I also wonder how much of Sula’s actions were accidental and how much she actually planned. I like to think she didn’t plan to kill Chicken, but I wonder—did he slip? Did she throw him? Why not go for help? And what reasons for these actions to this little boy? Her outlook on death rises again when she watches her mother burning. She doesn’t help, but her actions feel more motivated this time. She heard her mother say she didn’t like her, but is this enough cause to watch your mother die?

Sula, part one

2006-07-18T08:34:00.000-05:00

"Any enthusiams that little Nel showed were calmed by the mother until she drove her daughter's imagination underground." This line made me very angry and sad, and I'm still not entirely sure why Helene did that. Children are great for their vivid imaginations, and I think adults need to step away from reality and be imaginative and creative; I thought it was very sad that she would take that away from her daughter.

"Aw, Miss Eva. It'll be ready. We just having spaghetti."
"Again?" Eva's eyebrows fluted up and the newlywed pressed her lips together in shame.
This line made me laugh, because it reminded me of my mom - always critical. It illustrates how Eva truly was the mother, even to people she took in to her house who aren't her children. This also reminds me of a collage (sorry I can't remember whose) of women always being watched. This time, the young newlywed isn't being watched by a man, but is being criticized by a motherly or grandmotherly figure who is pressing her to be better. Better by her standards. As a woman myself, I feel like I'm being judged by older women - my grandmother (who is absolutely shocked that I cook and can knit and crochet), old ladies at the grocery store, etc. and I feel expected to become SuperWife. I think this idea will play more in the book as Sula begins to become a woman under the watch of her grandmother Eva, and without her mother.

Sula, First Half

2006-07-18T08:25:00.000-05:00

"He'd have to stand in the back of Greater Saint Matthew's and et the tenor's voice dress him in silk, or touch the hands of the spoon carvers (who had not worked in eight years) and let the fingers that danced on wood kiss his skin. Otherwise the pain would escape him even though the laughter was part of the pain. A shucking, knee-slapping, wet-eyed laughter that could even describe and expalin how they came to be where they were."

This passage really struck me, especially the line about the laughter being part of the pain. It really made me see that these people have been used and abused and told what to do their entire lives and never had an opportunity to speak up for themselves. It is a very sad reality.
Every time that I laugh, it's because I'm happy or amused...I have never laughed in pain or felt pain when I'm laughing. This passage really made me feel bad for these people, not just a small twinge of sadness...so I feel that by comparing it to something may take away from depth of the pain of these people.
Just the fact of me not realizing that people could be in pain, but still be laughing...that's what caused my reaction. I guess, now that I'm thinking more about it, it could be compared to this group of people I know in Mexico. Every summer my church goes to Mexico on a mission trip and I've also been there for Christmas, too. It seems no matter how little these people have...they live in shacks and have nothing...they are always so happy, smiling and excited...but I can never get the look of pain that I see in their eyes out of my head. This situation is exactly why this story affected me the way it did. It made me feel sad.

"The day was cold enough to make his breath visible, and he wondered for a moment at the purity and whiteness of his own breath among the dirty, gray explosions surrounding him."
"Shadrack stared at the soft colors that filled these triangles: the lumpy whiteness of rice, the quivering blood tomatoes, the grayish-brown meat. All their repugnance was contained in the neat balance of the triangles-a balance that soothed him, transferred some of its equilibrium to him."
These are two separate passages from different parts of the reading, but I just like how they tie together. It just really shows how the effects of war leave a mark on a person. Right as he woke up and saw the food, it caused him to see vivid images or colors that he had experienced in the battle field.
I can't think of a specific example, but when someone goes through a traumatic or exciting or just a very memorable experience, there are things at the experience such as a smell or a taste or a color that will always take them back to the event. When I smell a certain perfume, it reminds me of when I lived in New York, because that's what I always wore there. When I hear the song Kryptonite, I think of summer when I was still in high school. I could go on and on...but just thinking of these things not only brings back the memories, it brings back the emotions and feelings I had during those times. I think this is exactly what happened to Shadrack. He kept being reminded of being in battle and it really scared him.

Sula (first half)

2006-07-18T08:10:00.000-05:00

Morrison's description of the woman in the Bottom at the very beginning caught my attention due to how it made the surrounding area look as well as the people; "Her bare feet would raise the saffron dust that floated down on the coveralls and bunion-split shoes of the man breathing music in and out of his harmonica." I also liked how she described the man playing the harmonica as "breathing music" because it is so apt for the action of playing the harmonica, yet the peacefulness that comes with that description also fits the mood of the Bottom. Another passage that appealed to me was about Shadrack's war experience and seeing a fellow soldier's face get blown off and "taking no direction from the brain, the body of the headless soldier ran on, with energy and grace, ignoring altogether the drip and slide of brain tissue down its back." This is pretty graphic, which is one of the main reasons it appealed to me. It probably tells a little more than most would like to know, especially with the part about the brain tissue, but it also helped me to realise how Shadrack much feel after seeing that, for I doubt that I would remain unchanged if I saw exactly what Morrison described. Both passages helped me to become more involved in the story because of their description of the events and surroundings, as well as their purity.

Sula

2006-07-18T07:37:00.000-05:00

"His name was Ajax, a twenty-one-year-old pool haunt of sinister beauty. Graceful and economical in every movement, he held a place of envy with men of all ages for his magnificently foul mouth. In fact, he seldom cursed, and the epithets he chose were dull, even harmless. His reputation was derived from the way he handled the words."

I'm not sure what struck me about this passage. It may be because I've always been interested in the way people talk: accents, lisps, pronunciations, etc. I'm not sure why that is but I've always been fascinated by language and the way people talk. I think that is why I liked this passage. I like the way Morrison describes Ajax and this awe other people have of him just because of the way he pronounces his curse words. The fact that his foul mouth is magnificent strikes me because usually cursing is associated with bad things and the contradiction she makes by saying "magnificently foul mouth" is rather interesing. The words Morrison uses here are excellent and her description is perfect. I don't know if this made any sense but I just really liked this passage talking about someone's language. Just the fact that Nel and Sula were delighted to hear him say pig meat as they walked by shows that this man has some sort of charisma, not just in looks but in language as well. I actually knew someone who was a lot like Ajax in the fact that even when he cursed he was still charming and elegant. I always thought that was so interesting.

"Then summer came. A summer limp with the weight of blossomed things. Heavy sunflowers weeping over fences; iris curling and browning at the edges far away from their purple hearts; ears of corn letting their auburn hair wind down to their stalks. And the boys. The beautiful, beautiful boys who dotted the landscape like jewels, split the air with their shouts in the field, and thickened the river with their shining wet backs. Even their footsteps left a smell of smoke behind."

I chose this passage almost strictly because of the way Morrison writes it. She is so descriptive and does it in such a magical, wonderful way. I love to read Morrison for that reason. I don't always understand her writing but I love to read her just for the way she writes. I liked this particular passage because I have always loved summer. I can't wait for it to get here and then i'm very disappointed when it turns cold. Summer means the smell of sunscreen, chlorine, fresh cut grass, and all these other wonderful scents that I associate happiness with. I also remember summer being the time to really scope out the boys so I can relate to Morrison's passage in that way. :) And now that I'm older and married I watch as other young women do the same thing. At the pool, you really see the girls and boys strutting and flirting and it's so funny to watch cause I remember doing that when I was their age. Summer for me means happiness and fun and relaxation so I was really drawn to Morrison's passage describing the summer that was upon Medallion.

Sula Part 1

2006-07-18T06:30:00.000-05:00

"Then, for no earthly reason, at least no reason that anybody could understan, certainly no reason that Nel understood then or later, she smiled. Like a street pup that wags its tail at the very doorjamb of the butcher shop he has been kicked away from only moments before, Helene smiled."

When I first read this quote, I could almost feel the tension that was present in the train cabin. Smiling was the last thing that Helene should have done to this train conductor. I think that with her new dress, and trying to be an example to her daughter, as well as embarrassment, she truly had no other choice. Yelling and screaming would have just gotten her kicked off the train, and possibly arrested. This passage really spoke to me because I have been in this situation of forced smiling many times. In high school I worked in a very busy breakfast and lunch restaurant where many of my parents friends and colleagues came in whom didnt remember meeting me at Christmas parties or my parents dinner parties. The restaurant was in a wealthy neighborhood that was notorious for snobby and demanding customers, as well as customers that demanded everything when they wanted it, how they wanted it. Sometimes my parents friends would be extremely rude and snobby to me, whether they realized that I knew them or not. I would HAVE to smile, even though I felt like throwing a pot of coffee on their face after I had to have their cheese omelette remade for the fifth time.

"In the safe harbor of each other's company they could afford to abandon the ways of other people and concentrate on their own perceptions of things. When Mrs. Wright reminded Nel to pull her nose, she would do it enthusiastically but without the least hope in the world."

It is ironic that Morrison uses "safe harbor" to describe their friendship, because only a couple of pages later, Sula becomes a very unsafe harbor, when she causes Chicken to drown. This is sort of a far fetched connection, but I think that the two girls hide this secret in the harbor of their friendship. This quote doesnt exactly relate to the first quote I picked out, except that it relates to my life. Not that I have murdered anyone, or anything even close to that, but my sister and I often tell each otehr things so that we dont have to tell anyone else. We are sort of each others safe harbors, a place to unload our secrets and not have to worry about what happens to them. I also like this quote because it makes their friendship sound so simple and therapeutic, as if it was exactly what both girls needed in their twelve year old lives.

Sula first half

2006-07-18T00:00:00.000-05:00

"They were solitary little girls whose lonliness was so profound it intoxicated them and sent them stumbling into Technicolored visions that always included a presense, a someone, who, quite like the dreamer, shared the delight of the dream."

This passage really stuck out to me because it showed how Sula and Nel had really met, which Morrison described as through dreams. These two girls shared so much in common and were both living through the same dreams. Both being only children, and living with poor family conditions, dreamed of someone who felt the same way as them, and who shared the same views. Nel may be stronger than Sula, but they both were able to grow on each other. I think their friendship is so valuble to their well-being, and also to help each other get through their crazy mothers. I think friendships are one of the most important relationships a person can have. I know I would not be the woman I am today without my friends. They are the ones always there for you through thick and thin, no matter what. They are the ones I can relate to best and are always there to help me with any problems with my family, boyfriend, job, anything that might be bothering me. They are also always there to share a great time with. I just think without having friends, I would not have much fun and would not be able to express myself in ways I do with my best friends.

"There was her face, plain brown eyes, three braids and the nose her mother hated. She looked for a long time and suddenly a shiver ran through her. I'm me, she whispered. Me. Nel didn't know quite what she meant, but on the other hand she knew exactly what she meant. I'm me. I'm not their daughter. I'm not Nel. I'm me. Me. Each time she said the word me there was a gathering in her like power, like joy, like fear."

This passage really seemed strong and powerful to me. I was surprised to hear Nel talk this way. I was really happy, with everything she was going through, to be able to be a stronger person, and think the way she did. Even if her mother hated her nose, after Nel looked at herself she was able to see she was "me," not the Nel her mom wanted her to be. I thought this whole part was very interesting. I liked how at the end it says every time she says the word me, she feels power, joy, fear. I think it was very important for Nel to understand she is herself, and she has the power to be the woman she wants to grow up to be. Regardless of what her mother thinks she looks like on the outside, she knows she is herself, she is me. I think everyone should be able to think of themself as me, as Nel did. I think it is neccessary no matter what other people are thinking of you, that you understand that you are your own self. This made me think about my roommate from freshman year whose mom was always telling her she was fat. The things she would say to her were so cruel, I just could not even believe. All of us girls, kept trying to lift her spirits and help her realize she is not fat (which she was not at all), and tell her no matter what her mother says about her appearance, does not matter. What matters most is what she thought about herself.

Sula, first half

2006-07-17T22:28:00.000-05:00

"But when the blackness greeted him with its indisputable presence, he wanted nothing more."
This seemed kind of strange to me, but at the same time kinda of triumphant. He wants nothing more than seeing his face in a toilet bowl? It seems strange that that is how he began his new life. I think it just means that he went through so much that he just didn't really understand, or didn't even really know what was real or not. It's like he felt dead, and he had to look at his own face to be able to start again and realize he had a life to live. Shadrack's story so far is kind of confusing to me so far, but I just thought that was a really strong phrase. It brought back feelings that I get when I am working towards something and my whole mind is focused on it, and to accomplish it. It just feels great. I want nothing more than to reach whatever that goal is. The funny thing though is that when I do reach it, I find out there is always something else to focus myself on. I never seem to be completely satisfied.

"Mama, did you ever love us?"
"No. I don't reckon I did. Not the way you thinkin'."
When I first read this I couldn't imagine a mother saying that to her child, no matter what the circumstances. It was very interesting to me that she answered that way, but then went ahead and gave the ways that she did love them. It is just strange to me how she initially answered the question. I know it happens, because you hear stories of neglected children and abuse stories all the time, but I cannot imagine anything like that. I have never even came close to question whether I was loved by my parents or not. It was also strange to me how she asked in a way where it didn't really matter what the answer was one way or the other. It is just a strange question to me all together. I don't think that I really like this book so far.

Sula Part One

2006-07-17T22:21:00.000-05:00

Reaction One
"I just thought of a way he could die like a man, not all scrunched up in my womb."
I hard a very strong reaction to the part in the book when Eva killed Plum. When I first read you and thought about it, I thought wow, what a selfish woman to kill her own son. The more that I think about this part of the book the more my mind wanders. Sometimes when I think about this I don't think she is selfish; I think she really did do Plum a favor. He was gone away to war, and comes back home and is miserable. What a horrible life that had to be for him; one minute you are powerful, partaking in one of the most courageous things you can do, and then the next you are at home with your mom? Then I re-think this again, and think wow, couldn't she have motivated him to get a life? At the same time, I think he would have drank himself to death, or became a severe alcholic and perhaps even committed suicide. So maybe she did to him a favor. Dying in a fire that you couldn't prevent is a lot more noble than just ending your life. I also feel like maybe Eva felt a bit of a grudge against Plum. He was the one that she wasted her last bit of lard on when her family was starved and cold, to help him produce a bowel movement. It could be far fetched, but true. Either way this whole concept of mother killing child really inspires multiple reactions in me.

Reaction 2
When I read about Sula and Nel killing Chicken Little, and Shadrack saying, "Always"; it made me feel comforted for a second. I know that when I read it for the first time I thought that he meant always, as in I always see everything. Then when I think about it, the girls went to his house, hardly anyone (if anyone) ever goes into his house, he was lonely. I think that Shadrack took pride and felt a strange sense of happiness that they trusted him to go there. They were not scared to enter his house. For a moment I think that he felt like maybe he finally made a friend. The rest of the town thought he was crazy and avoided him at all cost. When Shadrack says always, I took it as he is saying you are always welcome. If he meant it in the creepy sense, I am always watching, then why would he smile at Sula when she walks through town? Maybe it was because he thought that nobody would even take him seriously if he did actually go and tell; but maybe he really was welcoming her as a new friend. In the book it says, "...he had answered a question she had not asked." This is coming from Sula's point of view. She thinks that it is in regards to him seeing her kill that boy. I really think Shadrack's "always" meant that Sula was always welcomed and could trust Shadrack. Shadrack never did tell on them.

Sula part 1

2006-07-17T21:24:00.000-05:00

One of the passages of text that provoked a strong reaction for me was when they were riding on the train and Helene had to use the bathroom. The train stopped at a station, and she didn't realize that as a black woman, she would have to go to the bathroom outside in the grass. "She looked around for the other woman and, seeing just the top of her head rag in the grass, slowly realized where 'yonder' was. All of them, the fat woman and her four children, three boys and a girl, Helene and her daughter, squatted there in the four o'clock Meridian sun. They did it again in Ellisville, again in Hattiesburg, and by the time they reached Slidell, not too far from Lake Pontchartrain, Helene could not only fold leaves as well as the fat woman, she never felt a stir as she passed the muddy eyes of the men who stood like wrecked Dorics under the station roofs of those towns." This passaged provoked me because of the simple audaciousness of it all. These people were forced to pee in the grass. This correlates to my life right now because I am also currently in the African American Lit. class, and it correlates a lot to what we have been discussing in regards to how blacks were treated during this time. Although things this drastic don't happen in today's society, I think it still resounds today. I think it's important to educate people so that they value the freedoms that all people have, and work toward lessoning prejudice and racism that still exists.

The second passage that I found interesting was when they went to the ice cream parlor in the Bottom. "It sat in the curve of Carpenter's Road, which, in four blocks, made up all the sporting life available in the Bottom. Old men and young ones draped themselves in front of the Elmira Theater, Irene's Palace of Cosmetology, the pool hall, the grill and the other sagging business enterprises that lined the street. On sills, on stoops, on crates and broken chairs they sat tasting their teeth and waiting for something to distract them. Every passerby, every motorcar, every alteration in stance caught their attention and was commented on. Particularly they watched women. When a woman approached, the older men tipped their hats; the younger ones opened and closed their thighs. But all of them, whatever their age, watched her retreating view with interest." This passage reminded me of the conversation we had in class about how women are always being watched, especially by men. It was as if this passage was only solidifying that to be true. Whether it be in a respectful manner or not, women are watched. This passage doesn't seem to be disrespectful to me, because it was saying that the men would tip their hats and that they watched them with interest, but it doesn't take away from the feeling of being watched. I also thought it was interesting that the passage said they were waiting for something to distract them... as if women are a distraction? I can think of several times in my own life when I was walking downtown or in public anywhere and I felt like men were watching me. Not that I think I'm gorgeous or anything, but it does provoke somewhat of a paranoia. I think as I woman who experiences this, it effects my interpretation of the text because I know how awkward it is to feel like men are watching you.

Response to reading for 18 July

2006-07-17T14:21:00.000-05:00

The first passage that I'd like to respond to is when Helene smiles on the train. "Then, for no earthly reason, at least no reason that anybody could understand, certainly no reason that Nel understood then or later, she smiled. Like a street pup that wags its tail at the very doorjamb of the butcher shop he has been kicked away from only moments before, Helene smiled. Smiled dazzlingly and coquettishly at the salmon-colored face of the conductor." I think that it's interesting that the only people whose reactions to Helen's smile aren't described are herself and the person the smile was directed at (the conductor). The only effects of Helene's smile were embarrassment and anger. All Helene accomplished was cheapening herself and her race. Although I understand the embarrassment and the anger, I also believe I sympathize with Helene. I'm not trying to justify what she did, but I think she was out of options. I believe she was searching for something to latch on to, something that would allow her to maintain some sense of pride, even though all she ended up doing was degrading herself and her sex. Stuff like this happens to me a lot more than it should. One example that comes to mind is when I broke up with my last boyfriend. I wasn't terribly upset about the breakup, but I think I felt like I was losing something that was part of me and I wanted to make sure that I had a life of my own outside of the relationship. So, after we broke up, I called a boy I had dated in high school who I knew (unfortunately for him... I told you girls can be manipulative) still liked me and tried to tell myself that, since he still liked me, it was good for me to talk to him and make him feel better. In truth, I was being disgustingly sneaky and selfish and I was actually caring about him less by talking to him and not giving him the space he needed to get over our relationship, but at the time I thought that I could use what we used to have in order to feel better about myself. I realize none of you know me that well, so I hope you don't think I'm some evil, conniving psychopath.... Even though this passage draws vivid images and conveys pretty clear messages about why it wasn't ok for Helene to smile at the conductor, I think it's maybe most sad to think about the reasons that Helene smiled, even if Nel couldn't think of any. If we weren't supposed to think about the reasons, I don't think Morrison would have drawn the sentence about not knowing the reasons out for so long.

The next passage that stood out to me was when Hannah asks Eva if Eva loved her children and Eva launches into this huge speech about how she showed her love by keeping them fed and alive. I guess if I had to quote a small part of the passage that stuck out to me, it would be at first when Eva replies to Hannah's questions with, "No. I don't reckon I did. Not the way you thinkin'." Then she turns it around and says, "Them big old eyes in your head would a been two holes full of maggots if I hadn't." The passage makes me think about the different kinds of love in the story. Eva loved her children, and the only way she had time to show them was by keeping them fed and... well... you guys know what she did in the outhouse with Plum. Sick. In any case, I think that a modern misconception tells us that love is something natural and something that feels good and something with conditions. I also think that people expect to be loved the same way they love others, and that's not always the case. I haven't read this book, but I know people who have read a book about the "love languages" and how some people only want you to show you care about them by spending time with them. Others want to be touched and others want gifts and other stuff. What it comes down to is that we all have different ideas of what love is. I've actually been doing a kind of study about love lately and I've been learning some interesting things. The assignment schedule asks for personal stories, so here's my two cents.... Perfect love is a lot of things, and Jesus is the only human example of it that we have. Love is self-sacrificing and it serves the Beloved and that's what Eva was doing when she was working to feed her kids. I'm not saying that, today, a man who doesn't spend any time with his children because he's working all the time is blameless. Children need love in a lot of ways, and not only monetary, but I think Eva was loving her children in the only way she knew how. I also don't necessarily support the pride she seems to take in her sacrifice. Without going into more of this Bible study on love, I think it's interesting how love can be so circumstantial in society. It's all about perspective to us, when it should really be about thinking about the person we love. We're not perfect though, eh? Anyways, I think I've had similar experiences in relationships. I remember when my first boyfriend moved away and I was angry because he never cried about it and I didn't understand how he could not cry if he was upset, but he had already moved almost every year of his life before that and he was probably more upset about it than I was; he just had a different way of showing it. Some of the ways that my love for other people has come out in my life hasn't necessarily been in what our culture would consider loving behavior. I have had to cut off relationships with people (like the boy from my example in the first passage) because I loved them too much to hurt them by letting them rely on me. I have loved people by going with them to places that I really didn't want to go because I wanted them to know that I supported them. I think that love has been especially difficult in black society since it was for so long rewarded only by the ripping apart of families etc. The love in Sula, I believe, runs deeper than the love that we think always feels so good. It makes me kind of excited to read the second half of the book.

blog 4

2006-07-17T13:43:00.000-05:00

Morrison

While Eva tested and argued with her men, leaving them feeling as though they had been in combat with a worthy, if amiable, foe, Hannah rubbed no edges, made no demands, made the man feel as though he were complete and wonderful just as he was—he didn’t need fixing—and so he relaxed and swooned in the Hannah-light that shone on him simply because he was.

Toni Morrison’s writing in Sula thus far, has been full of comparisons and metaphors. I think that has helped several passages to evoke reactions from me while reading. This passage on page 43 made me truly see yet another difference in a mother and daughter pair that Morrison has made a fixture in the book so far. Her female characters seem to always be at odds with their mothers. This passage shows the difference of interaction with males by Hannah and Eva.
These prominent differences in Sula remind me of the texts we read last week. Many of those poems/stories features women trying to be different from their mothers. Most of those women failed, or realized that they would rather be like their mothers. The poem by Lucille Clifton, “The Thirty Eighth Year,” comes to mind. That woman set out to be anything but ordinary (like her mother), yet ended up exactly the same.
I also bring a personal event to this passage. My mother and I are quite different. But we relate in many ways. Unlike the characters in the book, she is my best friend. I use her as an example in how I live my life. I admire her, and I hope to (cliché) be half the woman she is. I am unable to directly relate with the characters in the book. I think that my reactions to these type of passages from Sula would be different if my life experiences were similar. Because my mother and I are so close, I think my reaction contrasts with Morrison’s writing. Although I don’t have a personal attachment to these types of passages, I think it makes the book more interesting.

Nel’s response to Jude’s shame and anger selected her away from Sula. And greater than her friendship was the new feeling of being needed by someone who saw her singly (84)……..Even from the rear Nel could tell that it was Sula and that she was smiling; that something deep down in that litheness was amused (85).

On page 85 (the last page of this section), Morrison foreshadows a troubled future for Nel and Sula. I haven’t finished the book yet, but the back cover also hints at a ‘break-up.’ This passage shows that Nel is not as feisty and independent as Sula. I feel like Nel needs a man in her life, while Sula can live with or without one. I don’t know how the story turns out, but this passage makes me see a wedge between the two girls that could potentially ruin a friendship. I suppose this passage sticks out to me (as did the one about Hannah not being able to keep many female friends), because I had a ‘break-up’ with my long-time best friend when I was 17. I don’t think I will ever be the same. It’s been years three since it happened, but for many reasons, I still think about it more often than I’d like. The reason is centered around a boy. I don’t have many close female friends anymore. I suppose I don’t trust our gender. Nel seemed to change because Jude could give her something that Sula wasn’t able to. I feel that in the friendship, Nel needed Sula, but in the marriage Jude needed Nel. In this passage, I aligned myself on Sula’s side. I would have left the wedding too. I think that my past history with “Meredith” defiantly influences how I read this book. What’s more, it influences my entire life. I think we all can agree that losing a best friend is just as detrimental as losing a lover. I don’t know what happens in the book, yet, but when Morrison ended the section in this manner…something is going to happen.

July 17th Response

2006-07-17T09:06:00.000-05:00

"The Revolt of Mother" by Mary Wilkins Freeman
In this text, the passage that struck me was the passage near the middle where mother and Nanny were washing the dishes and discussing their father building the barn instead of the house. This reminded me a lot of my own life when I was younger I was always questioning my mother on the things my step-father did. I never understood him and complained about our own house being smaller than I would have liked. Instead of building us a new house they built a business instead. Just like mother in the story, my own mother told me not to complain but that I should be happy. Looking back on it I realize how lucky I was to have everything that I had.

Trifles by Susan Glaspell
I thought this text was really interesting because it was easy to picture what was going on throughout. The part in the beginning where Hale and Mrs. Wright were talking and he was asking her if her husband was home made me laugh out loud. She was just sitting in the rocking chair messing with her apron and answering his questions directly without hiding anything about her husbands condition. For instance, the part where he asks her, "Why, what did he die from?" She replies, "He died of a rope round his neck," and she just went on pleating her apron. This was humorous to me because she left nothing unsaid and was very blunt about what happened!

As Children Together by Carolyn Forche
This poem was rather confusing to me but believe it to be taken from a man's point of view about a woman named Victoria with whom he had a relationship with in the past. As I was reading this text, it reminded me of the people I have come in contact with in the past and how quickly life passes by. It seems as though people's lives completely change when you are not in direct contact with them on a regular basis. People move away, graduate high school or college and when you do see them again it is amazing all of the things you learn about them and then remember doing with them is remarkable.

July 17 reading response

2006-07-17T08:59:00.001-05:00

"The Revolt of a Mother" at first seemed like it was going to have the same ending as many of the other readings we've read: a woman not getting her way, giving in to what the man wants and needs, ending up feeling trapped and sometimes lonely. However, I was glad to see that this woman did something to change the way her husband was treating her. Not only was her desire just a want, it was necessary to get a larger house due to the increase of size of her husband's farm. "Father, I've been takin' care of the milk of six cows in this place, an' now you're goin' to build a new barn, and' keep more cows, an' give me more to do in it." She was already tight in space and he wanted to make the space even tighter. Her desire was completely necessary, and when she tried to talk to him about it he wouldn't answer. I was happy to see that she got her way by moving into the barn-- showed her husband that if he won't help her do what needs to be done, she'll do it herself.

"Trifles" was a interesting play. I thought the most interesting aspect of it was how the men were trying to convict the wife, and used the household cleanliness to help decide their verdict. They held the fact that she had dirty towels against her, that the had dishes in the sink and other things about the house in a mess. It was as if they were trying to say she wasn't a good wife because these things were not as they should have been. If it wasn't for the fact that the other women were there to explain how hard it is to keep up a household, the men probably would have used that more as evidence rather than looking around the property as much as they did. I also thought it was interesting how the last sentence the women said was "We call it-- knot it." She didn't say knotting it, she said knot it, which reminded me of calling "Not it" when playing tag as a child (or something of that nature). What they were calling "knot it" to... I'm not sure.

"As Children Together" reminded me of the fact that I have childhood friends who I haven't seen in a very long time as well. And I don't think about them that often; I don't even know if they're well or not. I thought it was sad that one of the girls grew up and basically slept around until she found a man, who doesn't treat her well, and now she lives in a trailor outside of town with him and her child. Her friend has done something with her life-- she's been to Paris. This poem just leaves lingering thoughts about the way we drift away from people we once cared about. We can be doing really well- working, going to school, having a good boyfriend- but others we once knew may not be as well. Others we once cared about may not be doing well, and that's sad to think about, especially to think about the fact that we may not even realize the state of their well-being.

Response to readings for 17 July

2006-07-17T07:28:00.000-05:00

"The Revolt of Mother": The passage that struck me the most was toward the beginning of the story when Sarah is talking to Nanny and says, "You ain't found out we're women-folks, Nanny Penn.... You ain't seen enough of the men-folks yet to. One of these days you'll find it out, an' then you'll know that we know only what men-folks think we do, so far as any use of it goes, an' how we'd ought to reckon men-folks in with Providence, an' not complain of what they do any more than we do of the weather." The passage was intersting to me at first because of the last bit when she says that women only know what men think they do. It makes me think of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" when the women work to put the idea of the girl going back to school into the man's head so he'll think it was his idea, otherwise he wouldn't think it was a good one. I thought it was funny, though, that she says women are supposed to figure men in with God, like they should hang on every word that men say and should never question whether it's right. As I read through the rest of the story, though, I found that the first part of the passage summed up the result of such thinking. Sarah says, "You ain't found out we're women-folks yet.... You ain't seen enough of the men-folks yet to." This suggests that women's identity comes solely from their interactions and relationships with men. Throughout the story, Sarah is known mostly as "Mother," that is, until she acts out of line with her husband's will. I think that Freeman makes a distinction between being a woman and being an individual, though, because Sarah's identity does not rest on her relationship with her husband or with other men.
"Trifles": "What do you suppose she was so nervous about?" I thought it was funny when Mrs. Hale asked Mrs. Peters this question because I assumed they already had ideas about Mrs. Wright's deeds. For me, this question illustrates both the appearance of women that men choose not to look past and also the depth of meaning in what women say and think. The men believe that the women are asking questions about "trifles" and that they are unconcerned with what is most important. In fact, the women are noticing evidence that the men find themselves too important to consider. I think that this also illustrates a problem with communication between men and women. Men often assume that women mean no more and no less than what they say. Perhaps this is because men do not say more or less than what they mean or than what they are thinking. But women tend to talk around subjects, to explore and insinuate and attempt to draw out information from others in order to confirm or deny their own thoughts. Obviously, this play speaks to the ignorance of men in assuming that women are so simple-minded, and I think this quote was one of my first indications to that end.
"As Children Together": One passage that stood out to me described Victoria's husband "cursing holy blood at the table/where nightly a pile of white shavings/is paid from the edge of his knife." The father in the beginning of the poem created the same image, which suggests that, despite her determination ("I am going to have it."), Victoria has ended up in the same place she started. I think that the men are almost more telling than the women in this poem. The women look for any means of escape, but the men are engaged in drinking and pointless whittling. The men, as far as the reader is concerned, can do whatever they want, otherwise they would not be mentioned, but they waste their lives away. If Forche wanted to explain the inability of women to overcome merely their physical environments, men would not be part of the picture, but they are overwhelmingly present, and offer no escape.

Blog 3

2006-07-17T06:28:00.000-05:00

"An inborn confidence in their mother over their father asserted itself"
This quote both sums up as well as contradicts the story "Revolt of 'Mother'". On one hand, it is true that mother asserted herself over father with some deep confidence that many women in her position did not possess. However, it also blames all of the actions that mother takes on an inborn confidence. What should have been talked about was her bravery and her individuality to stand for what she thought she deserved after 40 years of marriage. I am not arguing the fact that there was confidence involved in this story, however, it is written in a way that says it was the only factor driving her actions.

"Holding each other's coat sleeves we slid down the roads in our tight black dresses."
When I initially read this poem I got an image of my best friend and I sledding when we were younger. I think about this image sometimes when I am thinking about where the time has gone since the days of playing outside until it was too dark to stay out and sledding in the moonlight when we should have been asleep. I think this poem has similar themes of past times and memories. The author seems to be talking about a more innocent time, a time of their lives where they balanced on the edge of adolescence and childhood. Her friend seems to take an interest in older men, while she was hoping that she figured out that she did not need to pretend to be something she was not just for the interest of the soldiers and male adults. I like the beginning images of winter and darkness, because it sets up nicely the issues that the poem is trying to convey.
("As Children Together")

"No- its not cheerful. I shouldn't say she had the home -making instinct."
This quote from "Trifles" perfectly coincides with some of the other readings that we have examined for this class.
"Why I want a Wife" and " Revolt of 'Mother'" Are two perfect examples. It is first very sexist of the County Attorney to believe that there exists a home-making instinct. In the context he puts it, her lack of instinct has created an unhappy household. It is my belief that many women and men may lack the creativity or time to create a perfect "Martha Stewart" house. Does this make them any less happier of people? No! Does it make their children unhappy? Probably not! In the context of the play, this comment is taken without a second thought, but I highly doubt it would escape unnoticed today.

Objects

2006-07-17T01:19:00.000-05:00

In all the peices, I see an association of the women to obects in their lives. In "The Revolt of 'Mother,'" everytime we see Mothers emotions described, it is in conjunction of obects of her domestic chores. "When she came out, her eyes were red. She had a roll of unbleached cotton cloth. She spread it out on the kitchen table, and began cutting out some shirts for her husband." And "Mrs. Penn was making pies. She went on clapping the rolling-pin into the crust, although she was very pale, and her heart beat loudly." Even while planning to move into the barn, and after moving into the barn, her daily life is never interupted. When her husband returns, she doesn't even all objections--she makes him wash up, say a pray, and eat as if nothing has changed.

In Triflees, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale create an image of Mrs. Wright through examinations of her domestic work. "Oh, her fruits did freeze. She worried about that when it turned so cold. She said the fire'd go out and her jars would brake." This is further developed in their examination of the quilt and the state of the house such as the towel. They seem to glaze over the fact that a murder occured, and almost seem to try to justify it in through her world that existed around domestic chores.

In "As Children Together," the image of the girl is created by her souveniers she saved from men. ". . .You kept / the corks that had fired / fired from bottles over their beds, / their letters with each city / blackened, envelopes of hair / from their shaved heads." The identy of the girl in the poem revolves completely around her actions with men and the objects associated with them.

Blog 3

2006-07-17T00:49:00.000-05:00

All of these texts, to me, seemed more focused around the men in the women's lives than anything else. In Freeman's "The Revolt of 'Mother'" I found that, despite the strenght of Sarah Penn, the strongest part of the story was what Adoniram says at the very end, "I hadn't no idee you was so set on't as all this comes to," while he is sobbing in front of the new barn. This affected me the most because, not only did it show Adoniram as a more caring husband and father than the rest of the story did, it also helped me to realise that despite his wife asking him to build a house instead, he simply didn't realise how set on a new house she really was. Similarly in "As Children Together," the men are the underlying focus of the letter. The strongest part for me was, "take any man's face/to her unfastened blouse/and wake to wine/on the bedside table./ I always believed this,/Victoria, that there might/be a way to get out." This in contrast with the end is powerful to me because at first there much be "a way to get out" yet at the end the author has heard Victoria's husband returned home "broken/cursing holy blood at the table/where nightly a pile of white shavings/is paid from the edge of his knife" which describes the father mentioned at the beginning, making the desired escape impossible. In Susan Glaspell's play, once again the most important part to me was at the end when the County Attorney says, "Well, Henry, at least we found out that she was not goign to quilt it. She was going to--what is it you call it ladies?" and Mrs. Hale responds, "We call it--knot it, Mr. Henderson." This ends the story on a strong note because the the entire time the men are mocking the women for only worrying about "trifles" and not focusing on the serious matter at hand, yet in the end, the women turn up having learned more from their "trifles" than the men have from searching the house multiple times. This ties the story together in that the men never know what the women found out and the women don't care to tell them anything except that Mrs. Wright was planning on knotting it instead of quilting it.

Blog 3

2006-07-16T23:55:00.000-05:00

The Revolt of a Mother
"Nobility of character manifests itself at loop-holes when it is not provided with large doors."
At the point in the story when this passage appeared, I was a little unsure of what was meant by it, but for some reason it really stood out to me. Then, by the end of the story I realized exactly what it meant. It really illustrates Sarah Penn's determination to get what she deserves. She had worked hard for forty years and had loved and served her husband. He had promised her a house and since he didn't follow through with it, she took advantage of the situation with the new barn. I think this line really sets the reader up for what is to come in the story and I just really love the line.

Trifles
"Why this isn't her scissors."
"Oh, Mrs. Peters-it's-"
"It's the bird."
"But, Mrs. Peters-look at it! It's neck! Look at its neck! It's all-other side to."
"Somebody-wrung-its-neck."
This passage really caught me off guard and surprised me. Up until this point I thought maybe Mr. Wright had killed himself or someone snuck in the house and did it...I really didn't think that his wife did it. I think this is the point in the story where it is obvious that Mrs. Wright is the killer. Mr. Wright was killed in the same way the bird was killed. It makes me think that he killed her bird and it really hurt Mrs. Wright because that's all she had to keep her company. It made her so upset she decided to show him how it felt.

As Children Together
"I did not then have breasts of my own, nor any letters from bootcamp and when one of the men who had gathered around you took my mouth to his own there was nothing other than the dance hall music rising to the arms of iced trees."

This passage really stands out to me. It was the point in the story where I realized that the narrator was brought into the prostitution or sleeping around by her friend. This specific instance was her first time doing it and it was under the influence of her friend, Victoria, that had done it many times. Victoria seemed to be proud of it in the way that she had pictures of all the men everywhere and through her being proud, she probably made it seem appealing to the narrator. This poem kind of seems to have a sadness in it and maybe the narrator is trying to place blame with Victoria for the life the narrator ended up living. But, at the same time, she is wanting to get back in touch with Victoria. I'm kind of confused by that.