In “White Lies”, Natasha Trethewey writes about how she would “pass” for white when she was a child. The title itself has a double meaning. The term “white lie” generally refers to a harmless lie, however in this poem she is literally lying about being white. I had to “complete” what Trethewey has begun here in understanding that her “white lies” were not actually harmless. In the article “How to Read a Poem”, the author explains “this act of completion begins when you enter the imaginative play of a poem” (Hirsch). When I read Trethewey describing herself as a child lying about living in the better part of town and wearing store-bought dresses as opposed to handmade ones, my first reaction was sympathy. It is understandable for a child to pretend she has nicer things and at this point in the poem, the lies still seem innocent. It is when she writes “like the time a white girl said (squeezing my hand), Now we have three of us in this class” that is becomes apparent these lies are wrong. This line shows that there is a clear racial divide and Trethewey is not just playing pretend, she is denying her identity.
Lisa
The activities and readings from Week 11 have renewed my interest in poetry. I found the article “How to Read a Poem” in Activity 2 particularly interesting. I was not aware that there were so many techniques that can be applied to reading a poem. I, personally, have been guilty of dismissing a poem if I was not immediately able to decipher its meaning after reading it once. It never occurred to me that it may have been the writer’s intention to cause the reader to make an effort to understand and appreciate the poem. I have also never considered reading a poem aloud to hear the rhythms and sounds of the words. I almost feel a little guilty not having put in the effort while reading poetry in the past and I wonder how many great poems I may have overlooked. I am now eager to read more poetry with the new skills I have acquired through the readings this week.
I will be focusing my research essay on “The Most Handsome Drowned Man in the World” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This story explores the ways in which the arrival of the unknown drowned man invokes a sense of wonder among the people of the village and sparks their interest in the extraordinary. I have chosen literary articles as a secondary source of information to support my thesis. I have been searching mostly using the Gale Literary Sources database. I found this database to be very easy to utilize and my search returned many relevant articles. I have already read several interesting articles that provide helpful analysis of this short story and will contribute significantly to my essay. Some of the articles I found do not refer specifically to this title, but to other works by Garcia Marquez. I found these articles to be helpful as well as they show insight into this author’s writing style over time.
The theme of Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Wife” is about how a woman loses her identity when marrying a man. In “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard is initially overcome with grief upon learning of her husband’s untimely death. She then quickly realizes that his death results in her freedom. She becomes elated at the thought of living her life just for herself and not having to do as her husband commands. In “The Wife”, Dickinson speaks of this duty of a wife having to rise to her “husband’s requirement” and letting go of her own personal interests. Dickinson further elaborates on the sacrifices a wife makes by saying that her thoughts and feelings also “lay unmentioned”. She describes how a wife could not share her mind with her husband and compares the magnitude of these thoughts and feelings to the “fathoms” of the “sea”. This provides insight to the reader of how incredibly lonely this existence was for women.
In its “interior”, I feel that “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is about how the absence of “bad” or “evil” doesn’t necessarily make a person “good”. O’Connor introduces us to several characters, all of whom are very unlikeable. Bailey seems always annoyed, his wife doesn’t have much personality and both of their children are bratty and rude. The grandmother, however, is the one that stands out as having the attributes that are commonly considered as belonging to someone who is “good”. She dresses well, she believes in Jesus, she’s old, and she pretends to care for her grandchildren’s well-being. While none of these characters is actually too awful, none has any qualities that would indicate they were a good human being. I think O’Connor intentionally created these characters to be relatable to the reader, not necessarily that we personally identify with them, but in the sense that we all know people like each of these characters. We don’t consider them to be bad people, we might even subconsciously consider them to be good people if they are wealthy, religious, or take care of themselves physically. We especially don’t consider them to be bad when there is always the bad guy, or “Misfit”, to whom we can compare them.
In “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles, I noticed the timeless human experience of shame and self-punishment. When Jocasta realizes that she has had children with her own child, the shame of what she has done, albeit unknowingly, is too much to bear and she commits suicide. When Oedipus realizes that he has had children with his own mother, he blinds himself because he cannot bear to look at those children. Shame is a universal feeling and this story, being a tragedy, is an extreme situation of the terrible extent of the shameful deed coupled with the public setting of Oedipus and Jocasta being King and Queen. Everyone can relate to feeling regret over a past act or event and subsequently the need to try to right the wrong somehow in order to cope with the inner turmoil. Sophocles creates a scenario where these feelings are so overwhelming that the audience not only sympathizes with the characters, but pities them.
“Strophe 195 Our sorrows defy number; all the ship’s timbers are rotten; taking of thought is no spear for the driving away of the plague There are no growing children in this famous land; there are no women bearing the pangs of childbirth. 200 You may see them one with another, like birds swift on the wing, quicker than fire unmastered, speeding away to the coast of the Western God. 14 Western God Since the sun sets in the west, this is the god of night, or Death.” In this passage, the chorus is singing about the great despair that the kingdom is dealing with in response to the plague that they have had to endure. The first line “Our sorrows defy number” expresses that their sadness is immeasurable. Lines 198 – 199 explain that the children are not growing, therefore dying, and the women are not “bearing the pangs of childbirth” therefore the women are not able to conceive. Lines 200 – 202 are describing the rapid deaths of the people. Footnote numbered 14 explains that the “Western God” is considered to be the god of Death. These lines depict the people as “speeding away to the coast of the Western God” meaning they are travelling quickly towards death. Line 200 – 201 specifically express the speed with which the people are dying as “birds swift on the wing”, as in a bird flying swiftly and “quicker than fire unmastered”, meaning a fire that is spreading uncontrollably.
“Araby” by James Joyce is a story about a boy whose life is dreary and void of joy and human connection. When describing the street on which the boy lives, the narrator mentions the “dark muddy lanes”, the “dark dripping gardens where odours arose from the ashpits” and the “dark odorous stables”. This paints a very bleak world for the boy and he becomes fascinated with things associated with light and color. He fantasizes about things that seem exotic, outside of the cold, dim life he knows. Mangan’s sister becomes the focus of his attention and thinks of her constantly, always picturing her in light or color. He then begins to think of Araby in this same fashion and obsesses about attending the bazaar. We also learn that the boy lives with his aunt and uncle, which gives the impression that he may have been orphaned or abandoned. Very few characters in the story have names, especially those closest to him, such as his aunt and uncle, the girl that he is infatuated with, and even the boy himself. This shows that he is possibly lonely and not connected to others in a close, meaningful sense. By the end of the story, the boy has a grim realization that going to Araby was not the exciting experience for which he had been hoping. The conclusion of the story creates a very sad feeling of a young man yearning for some light, love or happiness in his life, but who is met with disappointment and regret for being hopeful.
It seems that Sugar and Sylvia are having an almost identical experience discovering F.A.O. Schwartz. At first, when looking in the storefront window, they are loud and silly and excited about the fancy toys. Then, when it is time to enter the store, they both became shy and insecure. Once they are inside, they are still unsure of themselves and clumsily bump into each other. The author notes that the girls would have usually found this funny, but they are too stunned by the prices of the toys in the store. At this point, Sugar and Sylvia start to respond differently. Sugar, fascinated with an incredibly expensive sailboat, begins touching it, which makes Sylvia very upset. The author shows anger building steadily inside Sylvia, and she tries not to acknowledge it. Sylvia seems as though she is somewhat aware of the inequality that exists and resents it being brought to her attention. Sugar, on the other hand, seems as though she is just starting to see it for the first time. When Sugar finally speaks about the unfairness out loud, Sylvia Is “disgusted with Sugar’s treachery” and walks off. When Sugar catches up to Sylvia, she is excited about going on a little spree with the four dollars they have, whereas Sylvia finally decides to think about what she learned and resolves to face the challenges ahead.
In the beginning of “Salvation”, 12-year-old Langston attends a special meeting for the youth at his church and he is looking forward to being saved by Jesus, as promised by his aunt and the elders of his community. Young Langston seems to be eager to have this experience and doesn’t doubt the event will happen just as they have described it to him, as he expresses having trust in them for being wise due to their age. It then becomes apparent to young Langston, after he is the last child waiting to see Jesus, that it is not going to happen for him. He expresses feeling shame and guilt that everyone in the church is waiting and praying hard for his salvation, in vain, and eventually decides to lie that Jesus had come to him. The irony is that he was anxious for Jesus to be with him always and to join everyone else in the church who had all been saved, but he ended up feeling all alone. He describes the loneliness of spending what was supposed to be such a powerful, happy night crying alone in bed and not even being able to share the truth with his aunt.
I think this story was assigned as the first in this course because it is a story that invokes a sense of wonder and emotion which draws the reader in and can make the student excited about the class ahead. The story causes the reader to visualize everything in detail, from the characters to the scenery, as well as to reflect on the feelings and reactions of the villagers. I, myself, really enjoyed reading this story and I am eager to read more in the coming months. Also, being a short story, “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” provides the opportunity to briefly introduce the class to some of the topics we will potentially be discussing this semester, without be too overwhelming at the start. For instance, we are able to start considering how to write a thesis statement on a piece of literature without having to read an entire novel first.
