Shaniyah Chisolm

A vignette that made a strong impact on me was “Bums in the Attic” on pages 94-95. On Page 94, it states, “We go on Sundays, Papa’s day off. I used to go. I don’t anymore. You don’t like to go out with us, Papa says. Getting too old? Getting too stuck-up, says Nenny. I don’t tell them I am ashamed-all of us staring out the window like the hungry. I am tired of looking at what we can’t have. When we win the lottery… Mama begins, and then I stop listening.” For me, growing up in New York City, everyone is working towards a better life. The affordable living conditions most people have to opt for aren’t the best living standards. Lower-class citizens are usually working towards things most people have. It is a wake-up call seeing someone with 3 stories in their house, a washer, and dryer, or other things that are overlooked in most homes. It can feel very shameful not to be in the same position as your peers. This vignette reminded me of my grandpa. As a landlord, he was always willing to work with people from the community in need of a place to live comfortably to get adjusted. They went on to get their own places, better jobs, and support their families. I know in the future I want to be a homeowner but I will always know what it’s like to not have certain things necessary for survival.

The vignette that stood out most to me in “The House on Mango Street” is on page 36, “Those Who Don’t”. The message of “Those Who Don’t” is that from an outsider’s point of view, the neighborhood they live in seems dangerous and unwelcoming but to them, there is a strong sense of community. The people others seem weary of are people Esperanza sees daily and knows personally. This also highlights racial bias. Her neighborhood is mostly people of color, “all brown around” find comfort in this. This reminded me of The Bronx. Growing up there my entire life, I can see the beauty in my borough that others might not. Places like The Bronx have a strong community that goes on for generations. Outsiders may think the neighborhoods are scary but you grow to know the people around you personally. Going to another place like a residential area of Manhattan is a culture shock and less inviting because of the foreignness and racial disparity. When I started going to school in Manhattan when I was younger it was new and scary to not be around as much of my community as I was used to.

“When the tender, loving care of the parent of the same sex is not strong enough to build up ever more important positive ties in the naturally jealous oedipal child, and with it set the process of identification working against this jealousy, then the latter dominates the child’s emotional life. Since a narcissistic (step)mother is an unsuitable figure to relate to or identify with, Snow White, if she were a real child, could not help being intensely jealous of her mother and all her advantages and powers. If a child cannot permit himself to feel his jealousy of a parent (this is very threatening to his security), he projects his feelings onto this parent. Then “I am jealous of all the advantages and prerogatives of Mother” turns into the wishful thought: “Mother is jealous of me.” The feeling of inferiority is defensively turned into a feeling of superiority.” (Bettleheim 204)   “In “Snow White,” as in “Little Red Riding Hood,” a male who can be viewed as an unconscious representation of the father appears—the hunter who is ordered to kill Snow White, but instead saves her life. Who else but a father substitute would seem to acquiesce to the stepmother’s dominance and nevertheless, for the child’s sake, dare to go against the queen’s will? ” (Bettleheim 204-205)   I found it interesting how Bettleheim highlights the psychological aspect of how inferiority and superiority affect a child and parent relationship and the outcomes from it. In a child-and-parent relationship, a child looks up to their parent for guidance. Parents are there to help raise their children and teach them lessons that will help them grow into well-rounded individuals. Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is an example of a superiority complex between a mother and daughter […]

In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Joyce Carol Oates’s work makes me feel uneasy. I do agree with Korb as it’s an inverted fairytale. Connie hated her family and acted differently around them. Because she did this, she had 2 different personalities she took on in different situations. There was one she favored more which was when she was away from her family. She specifically hated her mother and wanted her so badly to be gone because she didn’t fit her idealized version of herself that her friends knew. Arnold Friend represents a skewed version of all her desires. Someone infatuated with her gives her an escape into becoming her idealized self completely. In return for this, she had to give up her family, especially her mother. I think she comes to for a second when Arnold Friend tells her that her mother was dead when all she wanted to do was call her mother for help to protect her. The uncertainty of the ending leads me to believe the story is about the grooming and objectification of young girls. She felt like she needed to have a more mature adult nightlife but later we see her breakdown like a child, being naive and not being able to tell if Arnold and Ellie were trustworthy or even around her age. It’s a distorted version of a fairytale that the reader knows in a real-world situation will have very scary dangerous consequences, implied by the ominous ending.

In “How to Read a Poem” William Carlos Williams writes that a reader must “complete” what the poet has begun, in the Italian sonnet, “What My Lips Have Kissed and Why and When”, Edna Saint Vincent Millay uses her sonnet to make provoke thought in the reader. Poems tell stories and in order to understand the story, the reader must read between the lines to fully understand. The sonnet is at a surface level about love and loneliness. The deeper meaning to gain from the poem is the narrator reflecting on past loves and regrets she has had and the heartache she feels. In lines 6 through 8, the text states, “And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain For unremembered lads that not again Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.”. The narrator is guilty that she has forgotten these past lovers who were once important in her life. As time moves on, she knows they will never rekindle what they had or will speak again in the same way. Lines 12 to 14 state, “I cannot say what loves have come and gone, I only know that summer sang in me A little while, that in me sings no more.” Though the narrator knows she enjoyed being in love with her past lovers, though short-lived she feels empty and in grief. She now wonders if the relationships she’s experienced were even worth experiencing. Usually, we’re used to seeing stories about love where the person is longing for past loved ones but the narrator doesn’t remember much about them. The sonnet started off with her longing for these past relationships she only faintly remembers and ends open-ended left for the reader to come to their own conclusion of how their outlook on the topic.

My ideas of poetry have broadened after the Week 11 activities because I had a sense of what poetry is but I forget how different poetry can be. It’s a broad writing form. When I think of poetry, I think of repetition and rhyme and though those literary devices are found in poems, that is not all poems are. It has been a while since I’ve refreshed my memory on poetry but I find that the short video from Activity 3 helped differentiate the different types of poetry, specifically sonnets. I have always been fond of poems and how poems can have many different meanings while being so concise. I am more drawn to powerful imagery and stories so poems are interesting to me but sometimes can be hard to break down. Reading Activity 5 Sonnet Number 130, “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” by Shakespeare helped break down the sonnet making it easier to understand and less intimidating. I’m usually able to understand poems but Shakespeare’s work can sometimes stump me so the short video helped me better understand the sonnets for this week.

My thesis statement from my “Salvation” by Langston Hughes shares an ironic moment in Langston’s early adolescence being introduced to Christianity, misinterpreting the way he felt he had to react to worship. Though religion is practiced by many starting at a young age, a nuanced idea like religion is complex for children to understand. Though the reader is aware of this, Hughes uses dramatic irony as a way to show the naivety of the narrator whereas the reader understands the disconnect. I’ve explored a few secondary sources but I will try to look for something in the BMCC database but so far a lot of the articles I would have liked to use aren’t available so I will continue to use reputable sources from Google Scholar about Hughes’s biographical background and way or writing.

The theme in Emily Dickinson’s “The Wife” relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour” by using the theme of oppressiveness within marriage. In “The Wife”, there is a lack of independence within marriage.  In “The Wife”, line 1 starts off with “She rose to his requirement, dropped” (Dickinson). I find this quote shows the lack of bodily autonomy, relating to how Mrs. Mallard felt during her marriage. In lines 3 to 4, the text states, “To take the honorable work Of woman and of a wife.” (Dickinson). Dickson uses the two words woman and wife to mean very different things. You have to give up a part of yourself being a woman to become a wife, losing a part of yourself you once were to be a wife. The poem highlights the reality of how women are overlooked and their own identities are stripped away from them within marriages to please their husbands. In paragraphs 8 through 10 in “The Story of an Hour”, Chopin writes, “But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought. There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully… as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” (Chopin). Her husband’s death though shocking at first gave her a sense of independence. Normally a wife would be portrayed as devastating hearing their husband is dead but focusing on the societal expectations of a wife around that time period, […]

In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, I believe the story in its interior is about deceit and ignorance can go hand in hand.  O’Connor uses the grandmother as a way to show how manipulation and deceit toward her own family, people who you’d never turn on, to see a plantation home. Devices such as irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism are all used to tell the story but do play a part in the interior of the story. We see that the grandmother is obsessed with her vanity and views the past, specifically ignorant, racist parts of the past, to paint a better image of herself for others. Manipulative people like to be seen in a more positive light and will do many things to seem better than others. With all of her lying and ignorant comments, the topic of trust was brought up numerous times almost making her family’s death bound to happen. Without the lying, they would’ve been safe. The Misfit was symbolism for the opposite of a “good man”. Even in the grandmother’s last efforts to save herself, she is manipulating the Misfit and is only stopped when being shot and killed. The Grandmother wasn’t as good of a woman as she thought she was. The interior of the story shows that people no matter how true they believe their words are, do not practice what they preach.

“Oedipus the King” is interpreted by many people in different ways. My personal view on Oedipus is that his actions had consequences. I think poetry is a very philosophical art form. It’s created to tell stories but also creates thought-provoking life lessons. Life doesn’t just happen to you, though things can happen out of your control, overall, the actions you choose affect the trajectory of your life. Oedipus is shown to have immense pride described as hubris. His pride got in the way of his clarity even when it was laid out in front of him. The oracle told him his fate and even then he chose not to listen because he thought he was above that. He was ignorant of the fate shown to him to keep power over Thebes and keep a good image. Blindness and eyes are also used as symbolism for the ignorance shown by Oedipus in comparison to a character like Teiresias, physically blind but not ignorant. The psychological aspect of Oedipus is very interesting considering there are different psychoanalysis relating to “Oedipus the King”. The Oedipus complex, hubris, toxic pride, and psychological egoism are some of the few studied theories seen in literature and the real world. Whether people believe in them or not, it shows that it is timeless and can still be used to look at real-world problems.

“This is a terrible sight for men to see! I never found a worse! 1490 Poor wretch, what madness came upon you! What evil spirit leaped upon your life to your ill-luck—a leap beyond man’s strength! Indeed I pity you, but I cannot look at you, though there’s much I want to ask 1495 and much to learn and much to see. I shudder at the sight of you.”  I interpreted this quote as religious karmic payback. Combining the dynamic between Oedipus and Jocasta and Oedipus and Laius, all the morally questionable actions that happened throughout the play make it so that the life choices he made came back to bite him in the ass. In line 1493, “ill-luck” is very important to how like dominoes action after action is karmic. In exchange for these poor actions, they had to give up something to balance it out. For Oedipus, his father’s killing being unintentional makes everything more impactful. Even in lines 1493 through 1496, the chorus can’t look at him but are intrigued at how he got to this point. I think it’s a double meaning one for his sins and the other for his appearance with the gouged-out eyes, doing so with Jocasta’s own dress pins. He is a tragic hero, being the King of Thebes and having many flaws. Overall, the quotes from the chorus shame Oedipus not only for his crimes of incest and murder but also for his attempt to escape the reality he created, gouging his eyes out in shame and disgust at his own actions.

I believe “Araby” by James Joyce is about infatuation and anticipation regarding young people “falling in love” for the first time. I’d agree in saying Araby is not a love story but follows the emotions someone naive would go through for someone they like. Usually, in love stories, authors highlight the name of the character they are in love with, but James purposely leaves out both the narrator’s and friend’s sister’s names. Mangan is the only bridge between the two characters. I think this was done to incorporate the theme of the boy being blinded by love. Throughout the story, we see how much the narrator thinks about Mangan’s sister and going to Araby to bring her something. The narrator was so deadset on making sure he was able to impress Mangan’s sister that he wanted to go to Araby to get her something because she wasn’t able to go. He was impatient but had to wait all day to be able to go. He built up a lot of anticipation for going to Araby to find a gift when it was time to go he was first disappointed that his Uncle, the one who was supposed to give him the money to go, arrived late alluding to the fact that his Uncle had been drinking. After getting the money he went to Araby but upon arrival realized it was about to close for the night. He went to the only open stalls but the people running it made him uncomfortable. Overall, I think Araby is really about what infatuation will make you do. His infatuation blinded him that all he could focus on doing was bringing her something from the bazaar. When he failed to do so, his whole world came crashing down. So this may not seem like […]

Ms. Moore’s character juxtaposes the narrator, Sylvia’s point of view in a lot of ways. It was done purposely to show the main theme of the story. Class and status is the common theme throughout  “The Lesson”, Toni Cade Bambara uses both characters to show their similarities yet differences. Ms. Moore is depicted as a put-together wealthy educated woman. Not only does she have a college degree but she tries to educate the children in their community. It’s also alluded to that she is unmarried and doesn’t go to church. Sylvia is the opposite. She’s a young girl who is shown to be very outspoken and rowdy. When they go to the store, Ms.Moore is very calm and collected, watching the way the children react to being in the store. Sylvia before heading into the store was very headstrong and confident but after entering was timid. She felt shameful being in the store with such expensive toys far out of her budget. Everyone else in the store is acting unphased, being regular shoppers.    Ms.Moore took them there on purpose to learn about money. FAO Schwarz represents what Ms.Moore achieved in her life. She can blend in amongst the people in the store while Sylvia starts to understand that the way her family lives compared to people that can shop there is completely different. Bambara uses things we couldn’t imagine being privileges that Sylvia and the other children don’t have such as a desk and stationery in your home. Both characters are very intelligent but have very different ways of living. Ms.Moore’s proper socially acceptable way of living clashes with Sylvia’s childhood rebellion. In the end, both of them have the upper hand, both having the intelligence to understand the way the world works and where they stand in society.

At the beginning of “Salvation”, we see a young hopeful child getting ready to go to church with his aunt. Often in churches, people like to take children to churches to become acquainted with the religion at an early age to worship. In the text, it’s described as bringing the young lambs to the fold. When people are in church, specifically black churches, they’re very high energy. People can be found singing, preaching, and fainting. Since the adults are accustomed to religion, they’re able to have faith in it and connect deeply with it. Compared to the adults in the church, the children didn’t feel anything. Langston believed to be saved he had to vividly see Jesus. His aunt explained that when he was saved, he’d see a light, and something happened to him inside. He was expecting a physical being instead of a feeling. Religion is a very nuanced topic that is hard for children to grasp. There are a lot of open-ended questions when it comes to religion that would make it hard as a child to fully understand how you’re supposed to act and feel when you’re worshiping. Throughout the story, we see how Langston’s excitement and childlike wonder dwindle once he starts to not feel or see anything in the church. He saw his friend also not feel anything but went up anyways to get it over with. Later he did the same but felt guilty as if he were lying because he did not feel anything or see any light and lost that faith he once had. The dramatic irony in the story stems from the vague sense of religion.

I think Professor Conway assigned “The Handsomest Drowned Man” because Gabriel Garcia Marquez depicts all the qualities people strive for in one person. The man, Esteban, Is tall, strong, and handsome. Despite being dead, the people admire the man’s qualities without really knowing him.  The man had an impact on so many people without even doing anything to move them. He, himself, moved them, almost like a sense of leadership. It’s interesting to take into account Marquez’s cultural background considering he is Colombian. Machismo culture in Latin America is a very strong sense of masculine pride, though having negative connotations, it is ingrained in a lot of people, especially at the time of publication, 1968. To have one person embody that would be truly admirable for the people in the village, specifically men, as something to strive to be. There are themes of vanity and unity, bringing all sorts of people together in the village. I think this shows how easily a group of people can react when a manifestation of all attributes they find attractive come to life. In real-world examples, we see how figures with a large diverse audience such as political figures, celebrities, etc. have a charm to them that people are drawn to. They could do good, bad, or nothing at all and still have an effect on people’s behavior. The story helped us put ourselves in the character’s shoes and connect the descriptions given in the text to how we as the reader would react to get a better picture of how the characters in the story felt.