Great Class!!

I must admit that I only signed up for the class because it was one of two left that I needed to take before transferring to Wright State.  But again, I love to read so I was looking forward to it.  I guess my expectations were just that I would learn more about American authors and their readings, and I did.  I am SOOOO glad I did.  I feel that these are authors and stories and poems that I should've already known about and am ashamed to say that I had only heard of a few.  I have taken other lit classes here at Sinclair but this was back when I first started and I must say, I don't retain information too well. 

I don't feel my ideas about being an American have changed too much.  I have always been proud of being an American and am still proud of this.  I am not proud of our ancestors actions towards people of different races, genders, religions, sexual orientations, etc.  But that still is around today and we are still fighting it.  Maybe not like it was, but it's still here.  I'm not sure this will ever change completely.  Hell, as a nation, we can't even agree on things.  I feel it is better that it used to be but we have a long way to go.

Now my definition of American Literature has changed!  For the better!  I was one who in the beginning felt that not all written words are literature, and I still fell that way, even more so.  But I also learned about more literature that I ever have.  Poetry is now in my vocabulary.  Good or bad, I have a new respect for it.  It still boggles my mind how some of these authors mind's work!  How do they come up with their words?  How do they put them all together so they make more sense, (somewhat)?  I always thought that maybe I could be a writer some day but I think I lack their imagination, dedication, and discipline.  Any way, I'm sure I will find my path, and when I do,

LOOK OUT!

Invisible Man

I know that Ellison stated that the story was not about race but I don't see how it could not have been about race.  His grandfather himself felt like a traitor for being meek and cowardly and not standing up for his race and what he believed in.  Then his grandfather spoke to Ellison's father on his deathbed and told him to live his life the same way.  "Live with your head in the lion's mouth.  I want you to overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction, let 'em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open." )(1254)  In other words, give in to the white race and be at their beck and call. 

This is exactly what the people in "Ain't Afraid of Your Jails" were fighting against.  African Americans were already granted the rights to be treated equal but they couldn't eat at the same lunch counters.  They couldn't ride in the front of the buses.  They had to drink out of a different water fountain and use a different bathroom.  What about this is equal?  These people stood up for what they believed in and were punished for it.  Physically and emotionally. 

In "The Invisible Man", the narrator believes that genuine obedience will win him respect and praise. To some extent he is right, as the white men reward his obedience with a scholarship. Yet they also take advantage of him, forcing him to take part in the

"No Named Woman" comes from a collection of memoirs titled "The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts" by Maxine Hong Kingston. 


In Maxine Hong Kingston's story "No Name Woman", I feel the author does not honor her aunt by retelling the story.  The author talks about how her family never speaks her name.  "We say that your father has all brothers because it is as if she had never been born." (1568)  Her aunt has disgraced her family and brought shame to them.  "Don't tell anyone you had an aunt.  Your father does not want to hear her name.  She has never been born." (1576)  The author feels that by retelling the story she is honoring her aunt in a way her family was never able to do.  But the beliefs of her family show that even today, 50 years later, they are still afraid of the spirits of their ancestors.  They want her to suffer forever, even after her death.  "The Chinese are always very frightened of the drowned one." (1577)

At first I thought that she was showing her aunt some honor by telling the story and saying that she did exist, even if her family denied her.  But after reading it again, I respect how strongly her family feels about it.  We all have "rules" or traditions handed down from generations, and maybe we don't like all of them but there are some that need to be respected.

I loved this story, how vivid it is and how imaginative Kingston gets with how she perceived her aunts last hours.  At the same time, why this?  Why now?  Why bring pain to her family again after they expressly asked her not to?  "...What happened to her could happen to you." (1570) "You wouldn't want to be forgotten as if you had never been born."  Her mother clearly tells her the story as a warning, as a way to teach her a lesson.  She just didn't want her to have sex or to get pregnant. 

Adultery is definitely looked at differently today that it was back then but she respects other aspects of her culture, why not this one?

Freedom Fighters

 At segregated lunch counters from Greensboro to Nashville, young college students face arrest to bring the injustices of segregation to light. And a small group of blacks and whites from the north calling themselves the Freedom Riders brave mob violence in their attempt to expose segregation in bus stations across the South.

I feel guilty for not knowing more about these brave people.  These people that risked their lives to take a stand for what was rightfully theirs.  Freedom.  Yes, this happened before I was born, although not too much before that.  But I still should know more about the people who fought for their right to be equal to everyone else.  Their right to sit in the front of a bus.  Their right to drink out of one drinking fountain.  Their right to enter through the same door as white people.

The actual accounts of those days were eye opening.  The cruelty they endured and yet they had such strength.

I set it up on my computer so I could read the transcript at the same time as watch the actual footage from the special on PBS.  It was moving, riveting, sad, and so many other things, all at the same time.  I will never know what it felt like to be in their shoes, and I hope I never have to.

 

While I do have more blogs to post, I just need to digress here for a moment.  Thought the presentations as a whole were awesome!!  The amount of work that the class put into them was great.  They all made me appreciate this class even more.  Like I said in my presentation, the discussions were one of the things I liked the best.  All the different opinions and different aspects, whether you liked the reading or hated it, you were still able to voice your opinion.  As Tina pointed out, the perspective is different for everyone.  That's what I love about literature and this class.

The part that bothers me is the lack of respect some of the class had for their classmates, the professor, and the class as a whole.  We are adults, and I use that term loosely for some of you, so we should all act like adults.  Your tardiness was rude.  Surfing your phones during class was rude.  Leaving class early just because the professor wasn't there was rude.  Talking while someone is presenting, or while the professor was talking was rude.  We all listened to you when you had something to say, we deserve the same respect.

As one of the older students in the class, maybe I am asking too much from you but I'm pretty sure some of the other students in the class will agree with me. Just GROW UP! Some of us actually take our higher education seriously.  That's all.

A Streetcar Named Desire

This play was very moving.  Yes, it's depressing, but also a story about love.

Stanley is a proud man even though he may show it in the wrong ways.  Stella loves her Stanley, even though he can be violent.  Blanche is a lost soul, just looking for an outlet. 

When Blanche comes to visit Stella, I first see this as a cry for help.  The reader does not know much about Stella's and Blanche's past together, just that they are sisters and Stella left Blanche behind to care for their family and their land. There is a sense that Blanche is resentful of this.  She brings it up EVERY chance she gets.  Stella had to do what she had to do.  Blanche is just sorry she didn't think of it first.  Stella's focus is now on Stanley, and the family they are about to start together.

Stanley doesn't want to share Stella.  He resents Blanche for coming and fights it the entire time.  The real problem is he doesn't want an outsider judging him.  He lives his life the way he wants and doesn;t want to have to answer to anyone.  Stella loves him for all his flaws and he knows that with her sister there, this could change.  So the real question is, who will win over Stella?  Will it be Stanley, her husband, who loves her and provides for her?  Or will it be Blanche?  Her sister, her family, her only living relative, who needs her sister, but only wants her sister, not the abusive husband too.

Well, we all know who wins, but in the end there really are no real winners.  Blanche loses because she is sent away, against her will.  Stella loses because she is still married to an abusive husband.  Stanley loses because Stella is changed.  She is not the same weak, naive woman he married.  

Oh boy, I seem to have gotten a little behind.  Here goes nothing.  I really enjoyed The Open Boat.  The story of four men forced to abandon their ship and are in a small dinghy trying to survive the ocean and get to shore safely.   Upon discussing it in class though, I found out much more about the story.  Like for instance, I missed the shark at first.   I mean, I read it and saw the word "fin", but totally passed right over it and never put it together.  Not until the correspondent mentioned it to the captain, did I realize it was there.  I had to go back and reread it again.  I think maybe I forgot to tell my group mates (that part was in our section V) but once we started to analyze it closer, it became more clear.  Another thing I didn't see at first was the death of the oiler.  I remember it but I thought maybe he didn't die, maybe he survived.  Wishful thinking, the optimist in me.  I felt bad that it was the oiler that passed.  I felt that he was the one who did most of the work.  Not unfairly or anything, I just think it was in his nature. 

The story though is one of brotherhood and comradery.  The teamwork they have between them is wonderful.  I would think that normally there would be fighting or bickering, animosity, maybe even hostility.  But the men were true companions, switching back and forth the job of oaring and sleeping when needed.  The captain was a true captain too.  I felt that he was always watching over his men.   Someone in class touched on the fact that he didn't go down with his ship but it never actually said that.  I believe that he stayed with the ship the longest and was still able to get to safety in the dinghy. 

When the author touched on death, it brought the whole story full circle.  The anger that some of the men felt when dealing with it was very raw.  "If I am going to be drowned- if I am going to be drowned- if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?"  You really feel his desperation.  At least I did.  It made me pull for their survival even more. 

I was left screaming at the people on shore!!  How much has to happen for you to do something about the men in the boat??!!  The oiler could've survived if they had realized the severity of the situation in the first place.  At the end, you feel good though.   The men, all but one, make it to shore and are helped by many people, men and women, and you feel their relief, their gratitude.  Many emotions for me, for the reader.  That is something I like in the stories I read.  I was taken in all sorts of different directions while reading and it was a pleasant journey.  A thoughtful journey.  A peaceful sort of journey.