Jasmine

The vignette from this weeks assigned reading The House on Mango Street that I chose was 62 Elenita, Cards, Palm, Water. I liked this reading because I actually really enjoy astrology, tarot and little rituals in my life. Elenita is called a “witch woman” in the vignette and it seems like she does brujeria rituals and is a psychic. Esperanza is disappointed in her message from Elenita.” Ah, yes, a home in the heart. I see a home in the heart. Is that it? That’s what I see, she says,” Esperanza wants a home but Elenita only see’s a home in heart not an actual material home. Esperanza is rightfully feeling disappointed and skeptical. The part that made me laugh was “Then she takes my hand and looks into my palm. Closes it. Closes her eyes too. Do you feel it, feel the cold? Yes, ) lie, hut only a little”. It reminded me of when we read Salvation by Langston Hughes and he lies and says he sees the holy spirit.

I was very excited to see that this weeks assigned reading was The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I have fond memories of reading this in middle school and making a beautiful diorama project for it. It was interesting to reread again as an adult as I see these story with a different level of maturity now. The vignette that made the strongest impression on me was The Family of Little Feet. I really like all the similies Cisneros uses when describing all the different feet of her family members. My favorite being  when she describes her grandfathers, “his feet were fat and doughy like thick tamales, and these he powdered and stuffed into white socks and brown leather shoes”. I can just picture those chubby feet and it made me laugh when she compared them to tamales. It reminds me of when I was a little girl and I used to say my grandpa would snore like a bear.

This weeks read “Where are you going, Where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates was chilling and uncomfortable. My own understanding of the story was that Connie was your average pretty high school girl who had a rough home life being scrutinized by her mother, compared too much to her sister and ignored too much by her father. All of this leads to Connie living her life knowing her beauty is something that can get her the attention she is missing at home. That beauty only gets her so far when Arnold comes into the story and completely strips that attitude away from her. As Korb says in her analysis, Arnold gets past Connie’s “at home” persona, he is able to psychologically capture her. The story was so creepy to me because Arnold knows exactly what he is doing to the young girl. It made me wonder how many other innocent girls he must have done this to. The stalking, the showing up unannounced and the way he speaks to her to rattle her out of her “I’m above you” persona is truly demented.

In the article “How to Read a Poem” written by William Carlos Williams, he acknowledges the challenges of reading poetry. The readers must “complete” what the poet has begun. This week the poem that I am choosing to speak about is “White Lies” by Natasha Trethewey. This poem is about all the “white lies” the speaker told during her childhood, as the poem progresses the story becomes less innocent. The speaker uses spondee in the third line of the poem “light-bright, near-white” which first introduces us to the racial theme of the poem. The speaker goes on to talk about her “white lies” as she is identified as white by one of her classmates “‘…the time a white girl said (squeezing my hand), Now we have three of us in this class. But I paid for it every time Mama found out.” The speaker was happy to be seen as white but in doing that she was denying her black mother. Her “white lies” symbolize the innocence of the lies she told but also symbolize the thing she is literally lying about which is that she is not 100% white. I did some research on the poet and she was half black and half white and this gives a little insight to the identity issues she faced growing up being mixed. I feel that the poet did a great job at displaying those emotions in the poem.

With all the activities the class was given this week I was able to learn more about poetry than I ever had before. I remember learning about haiku’s in gradeschool but do not remember learning about the deeper meanings of poems. All of the videos were extremely helpful in explaining the different types of poems as well as giving examples. After what I have learned I realize that I really enjoy reading poems that use imagery. It’s another fun component added into the reading to create an element of imagination vs the emotions you would typically feel from reading a deep poem. I really like to use my imagination and try and visualize what the poet is depicting.   I want to read and maybe even get back into writing poetry again just so I can try and make some using imagery.

For my essay I chose “Araby” by James Joyce, My thesis statement is “James Joyce uses light and dark imagery to symbolize the narrator’s journey from childish romanticization to disillusionment.” I think the specific kind of secondary source information that will support my thesis best would be a literary critique analyzing or critiquing Joyce’s use of dark and light imagery. So far I’ve browsed JSTOR and GALE. I haven’t had luck yet finding a critique similar to my idea that the narrator is  childish for his romanticization, but I’m sure I’ll be able to bounce off of some of the opinions in whichever source I decide to work with.

The theme of the Emily Dickinson poem “The Wife” relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour” in the sense that the women have both lost their identity to a man. The first two parts of the poem talk about how the woman is dropping everything in her life to go and fulfill the duties of a wife and devote her life to a man. In the story “The Story of an Hour” the main character cries due to the news of her late husband, but not entirely for the reason of sadness. She is crying because she is happy that she gets to become an individual again. Many people in relationships might find themselves losing their identity to their partner, instead of keeping their own individuality. It can be tough to maintain that sense of self when you are enamored and focused on your partner, but it is vital to keep those parts of yourself that make you, YOU! Both women in each of the works we had to analyze lost that part of them self and it screams a tone of sadness in each work.

This week’s read “A Good Man is Hard to Find” could be seen on the exterior as a chilling story about the murders of a family who just wanted to go on vacation. When we dive deeper, think about the story and maybe even reread it, you may notice that the interior is all about the coincidental theme of the story. From all the characters and including the title. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” so a bad man- The Misfit must be easy to find. The grandmother thinks there is no good left in the world, what a coincidence she is stuck with a grumpy and disrespectful family. What a coincidence that the grandmother dressed nicely so that if there was an accident and her body was left in the road, people would know she was a lady. And what a coincidence that the dirt road she tells Bailey to turn down leads them to The Misfit. The grandmother really thought she would be able to reason with a stone cold killer, maybe find something in common with him to get some sympathy but in the end she just gets left in the dirt, dead in her nice clothing.

Greek tragedies were plays that had themes around human nature as a way to make the audience feel connected and involved in the performances. While there are many examples of timeless human experiences in Oedipus the King by Sophocles, the experience I choose to speak on is curiosity. Even more specifically curiosity about finding out who your biological parents are. Adoption is very common in todays world but I’m sure was not common and probably even frowned upon in 429 BC. Since adoption is so common today, a lot of children are left wondering who their blood parents could be. Sometimes biological parents might not want to be found, but the child could be dying to know so they could get their closure about the situation. In todays world it’s become easier to find people with technology and social media, Oedipus would have probably had a much easier time finding out the truth in 2022. Curiosity is what makes us human and keeps us evolving, you never know until you try or find out!

“560 He is sad and lonely, his feet that carry him far from the navel of earth;39 but its prophecies, ever living, flutter around his head. Strophe The augur40 has spread confusion, 565 terrible confusion; I do not approve what was said nor can I deny it. I do not know what to say; I am in a flutter of foreboding; 570 I never heard in the present nor past of a quarrel between the sons of Labdacus and Polybus, that I might bring as proof in attacking the popular fame 575 of Oedipus, seeking to take vengeance for undiscovered death in the line of Labdacus.”   I selected this passage from Odeipus the King because you truly feel the Chorus’ shock to the situation. The elders are confused and perplexed by the information Teiresias delivers. They don’t know what to believe. “The augur40 has spread confusion, 565 terrible confusion; I do not approve what was said nor can I deny it.” The Chorus want to remain loyal to their King but they are able to remain logical because they want to see the proof if it’s actually true. They handle the situation in such a logical way. They want vengeance to whoever is responsible for the killing of Laius. Oedpius is just as angry and confused about the information. In the passages just before this Odepius is getting angry with Teiresias but the prophet is just there to deliver the news, he means no harm but only wants for Odepius to see the irony of how he is blind to his actions. And although the prophet is blind he can see the truth. I was just as perplexed while reading the beginning of Odepius the King and can appreciate the art of Greek tragedies.

What is “Araby” really about? To me “Araby” is a story about obsession. James Joyce uses impressive figurative language to make the readers feel that the narrator is blinded by love. The narrator develops a crush for his friends sister who he hardly knows. He admires her from afar and daydreams about her. Once they finally speak and she lets him know of her wishes to go to the bazaar he becomes obsessed with going so he can bring something back to her. He uses his imagination and thinks the bazaar is going to be this extravagant market where he can get something that will hopefully make Mangan’s sister like him. Once he arrives, he is extremely disappointed and let down because the market is basically closed. He already felt very isolated and sad during most of the story and this final event makes him feel even lower. I think the main point of the story is to show that obsession and delusion is no good because you could be heavily let down when your expectations are not met.

The two characters I want to talk about are Mercedes and Sugar. I’m under the assumption Mercedes is a little younger than Sylvia and Sugar. I think Mercedes was trying to have an open and innocent experience at F. A. O. Schowartz. Instead of having to think about the price she just admired the toys and even wanted to come back with her birthday money.   Sylvia had a really different experience. She was angry and appalled about the prices in the store being close to what it could cost to feed multiple families. I understand Sylvia, it’s really sad as a kid realizing that you are poor. You see your parents struggling to put food on the table and become hyper aware to how much less you might have than others around you. You see your friends at school getting huge gifts or going on vacations. You don’t really get to enjoy your childhood. I think that is why Sylvia felt so much anger towards this experience. Being at the store probably made her feel like she was being taunted.

“Salvation” by Langston Hughes was another very interesting read by Prof. Conway. I think Hughes was different by the end of the story because he then developed an even greater fear about being “saved” which he initially thought would be a positive experience. He became even more confused because being “saved” turned into him lying but by lying he made the congregation happy because they thought he was “saved”. I think Hughes was overthinking what being “saved” actually means but he was also only thirteen years old so what could you expect. I thought it was really funny when his friend decided to just go up and be saved because he was tired of waiting, so he didn’t take it too literally and just went up and gave the people what they wanted, which is essentially what Hughes did but he ended up having a really guilty conscience about it.

The Handsomest Drowned Man In the World was a very interesting read. I feel that Professor Conway had us read this story because it was odd and imaginative. The story really made me think and wonder and try to visualize what “Esteban” looked like. Much like Esteban had the children imagining what he could be and the women imagining what he was like. I thought it was strange that the town suddenly decided to change their whole town for one dead man that nobody ever knew in real life. Maybe the people were so compassionate that they changed things about their town all the time to become inclusive to every single person. Maybe the townspeople feared that if they didn’t change their town he would come to haunt them. And now much like the people of the town I am assuming and thinking about their motive for changing things in the town for The Most Handsomest Drowned Man In the world.