Intro to Women's Literature

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2008-05-07T14:40:00.001-05:00

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2008-05-07T14:35:00.001-05:00

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Independent Women

2007-08-03T11:38:00.000-05:00

Something you should know about Independent Women Lyrics

Title: Destiny's Child - Independent Women lyrics

Artist: Destiny's Child

Visitors: 29436 visitors have hited Independent Women Lyrics since Feb 12, 2007.

Print: Destiny's Child - Independent Women Lyrics print version

Lucy Liu... with my girl, Drew... Cameron D. and Destiny
Charlie's Angels, Come on
Uh uh uh

Question: Tell me what you think about me
I buy my own diamonds and I buy my own rings
Only ring your cell-y when I'm feelin lonely
When it's all over please get up and leave
Question: Tell me how you feel about this
Try to control me boy you get dismissed
Pay my own fun, oh and I pay my own bills
Always 50/50 in relationships

The shoes on my feet
I've bought it
The clothes I'm wearing
I've bought it
The rock I'm rockin'
I've bought it
'Cause I depend on me
If I wanted the watch you're wearin'
I'll buy it
The house I live in
I've bought it
The car I'm driving
I've bought it
I depend on me
(I depend on me)

All the women who are independent
Throw your hands up at me
All the honeys who makin' money
Throw your hands up at me
All the mommas who profit dollas
Throw your hands up at me
All the ladies who truly feel me
Throw your hands up at me

Girl I didn't know you could get down like that
Charlie, how your Angels get down like that
Girl I didn't know you could get down like that
Charlie, how your Angels get down like that

Tell me how you feel about this
Who would I want if I would wanna live
I worked hard and sacrificed to get what I get
Ladies, it ain't easy bein' independent
Question: How'd you like this knowledge that I brought
Braggin' on that cash that he gave you is to front
If you're gonna brag make sure it's your money you flaunt
Depend on noone else to give you what you want

The shoes on my feet
I've bought it
The clothes I'm wearing
I've bought it
The rock I'm rockin'
I've bought it
'Cause I depend on me
If I wanted the watch you're wearin'
I'll buy it
The house I live in
I've bought it
The car I'm driving
I've bought it
I depend on me
(I depend on me)

All the women who are independent
Throw your hands up at me
All the honeys who makin' money
Throw your hands up at me
All the mommas who profit dollas
Throw your hands up at me
All the ladies who truly feel me
Throw your hands up at me

Girl I didn't know you could get down like that
Charlie, how your Angels get down like that
Girl I didn't know you could get down like that
Charlie, how your Angels get down like that

Destiny's Child
Wassup?
You in the house?
Sure 'nuff
We'll break these people off Angel style

Child of Destiny
Independent beauty
Noone else can scare me
Charlie's Angels

Woah
All the women who are independent
Throw your hands up at me
All the honeys who makin' money
Throw your hands up at me
All the mommas who profit dollas
Throw your hands up at me
All the ladies who truly feel me
Throw your hands up at me

Girl I didn't know you could get down like that
Charlie, how your Angels get down like that
(repeat until fade)

This song is apart of the narrative about women who are independent. This shows that independent women do not have to depend on anyone else to take care of their business. This song is against the norm of a woman getting married and having a man get everything for her. So I am showing the other side of women, the empowering women who wants to show individuality. This stills hold that women can have everything if they did it themeselves.

"Single"

2007-08-02T15:11:00.000-05:00

Single- Natasha Bedingfield
Ah yeah that's right
All you single people out there
This is for you

I'm not waitin' around for a man to save me
(Cos I'm happy where I am)
Don't depend on a guy to validate me
(No no)
I don't need to be anyone's baby
(Is that so hard to understand?)
No I don't need another half to make me whole

Make your move if you want doesn't mean I will or won't
I'm free to make my mind up you either got it or you don't

This is my current single status
My declaration of independence
There's no way I'm tradin' places
Right now a star's in the ascendant

I'm single
(Right now)
That's how I wanna be
I'm single
(Right now)
That's how I wanna be

Ah yeah Uh Huh that's right

Don't need to be on somebody's arm to look good
(I like who I am)
I'm not saying I don't wanna fall in love 'cos I would
I'm not gonna get hooked up just 'cos you say I should
(Can't romance on demand)
I'm gonna wait so I'm sorry if you misunderstood

Everything in it's right time everything in it's right place
I know I'll settle down one day
But 'til then I like it this way it's my way
Eh I like it this way

Make your move if you want doesn't mean I will or won't
I'm free to make my mind up you either got it or you don't
'Til then I'm single

This is my current single status
My declaration of independence
There's no way I'm tradin' places
Right now a star's in the ascendant
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I chose this song because it sends a really good message. She is not going to play into the stereotypical message that she is told daily. She doesn't need a man to make her feel important like many of the characters in the stories we've read feel. It is a very empowering song that sends a really good message to young girls.

rilo kiley-does he love you?

2007-08-02T10:03:00.000-05:00

Get a real job
Keep the wind at your back and the sun on your face
All the immediate unknowns
Are better than knowing this tired and lonely fate
Does he love you?
Does he love you?
Will he hold your tiny face in his hands?

I guess it's spring, I didn't know
It's always seventy-five with no melting snow
A married man, he visits me
I receive his letters in the mail twice a week

And I think he loves me
And when he leaves her
He's coming out to California

I guess it all worked out
There's a ring on your finger and the baby's due out
You share a place by the park
And run a shop for antiques downtown

And he loves you
Yeah he loves you
And the two of you will soon become three
And he loves you
Even though you
Used to say you were flawed if you weren't free

Let's not forget ourselves good friend
You and I were almost dead
And you're better off for leaving
Yeah you're better off for leaving

Late at night
I get the phone
You're at the shop sobbing all alone
Your confession it's coming out
You only married him
You felt your time was running out

But now you love him
And your baby
At last you are complete
But he's distant and you found him
On the phone pleading, saying, 'baby I love you'
And I'll leave her and I'm coming out to California"

Let's not forget ourselves good friend
I am flawed if I'm not free
And your husband will never leave you
He will never leave you for me

This song is between two women who were friends living in California until one of them gets married. Unbeknownst to the other, the new husband and the old friend are having an affair. I think it is a pretty typical romance narrative in the way that this women thinks everything will work out if this guy leaves his wife. It's like we were talking about in class, forgiving and forgetting happens so easily in books and movies, it's unrealistic. It also touchs on the narrative of women's dependance on men. The now married woman used to say 'you are flawed if youre not free' but then she marries him because 'she felt her time was running out'. It is sort of like in Summer, Charity grapples with the feeling of wanting to be independent, yet can't make herself happy with out a man.

My Sister, My Friend

2007-08-02T09:55:00.000-05:00

Hey girl it's me i just called to tell you hi
Call me when you get this
Haven't talked lately so hard to find the time
Give the boys a big kiss
Tell them that I miss them
By the way I miss you too

I was thinking just today
About how we used to play
Barbie dolls and make-up
Tea parties dress up
I remember how we'd fight
We made up and laughed all night
Wish we were kids again
My sister my friend

Oh yeah before I forget I met someone
I think I really like him
I was wondering if I'm jumping the gun
By going out on a limb
And invite him home for Christmas
To meet the family

Seem like just yesterday
You brought home old what's his name
He had been drinking
What were you thinking
After dinner he passed out
We can laugh about it now
We've learned a lot since then
My sister my friend

Do you think you could come and see me sometime soon
We could just hang out like we used to
It's late and I should go
But I can't hang up the phone
Until I tell you
What I don't tell you enough
Even though at times it seemed
We were more like enemies
I'd do it all again
My sister my friend

---------------------------------

I absolutely love this song. It illustrates a very personal women's relationship: one between sisters. We have discussed the power of women's friendships, and the connection women have with those that they have grown up with. The "sisterly" relationship is one we really haven't discussed in class. As a young woman, the relationship I have had with my two younger sisters, Taylor and Chandler, is one of the most significant in my life. The older I get, the closer I become with each of them and the more I appreciate the people they are. In the end of the song, the phrase "Even though at times it seemed, we were more like enemies. I'd do it all again." gets me everytime. It reminds me of my middle sister, Taylor. Growing up we had the most ridiculous fights, but looking back, I cherish the days when our bedrooms were right next to each other.

Down and Dirty with Dolly

2007-08-02T09:34:00.001-05:00

A hilarious commentary on sexism in the workplace, "9 to 5" displays the slow evolution of the female image. In the "revenge" sequence, in which Dolly Parton, Lilly Tomlin, and Jane Fonda fantasize about punishing their boss, conventions are turned upside down as the women manipulate common cultural narratives to empower themselves. Parton's character, an unwitting sex object, becomes the aggressor and terrifies her boss. Tomlin takes on a classic appearance and defeats her superior using disturbingly cute means. While Fonda's fantasy is not featured here, she takes on the supposedly masculine aspect of the hunter to achieve her ends. All three women have dominant roles within their fantasies, yet maintain their femininity as they deem it a source of pride rather than something of which to be ashamed. Basically, it echoes the initial question as to what truly empowers a woman as a woman.

living our love song

2007-08-02T09:22:00.000-05:00

Jason Michael Carroll - Livin' Our Love Song

Baby, when I look at you
With your hair falling down in your baby blues.
Standing there across the room,
I get so lost in the way you move.
It makes me reminisce, back to years ago
On a night like this.
Teary-eyed, as you took my hand,
And I told you that I'd be your man.
So many things have come, so many things have gone,
One thing that's stayed the same is
Our love's still going strong.
Baby just look at us, all this time and were still in love,
Something like this just don't exist between a
Backwoods boy and a fairytail princess.
People said it would never work out,
But living our dreams we shattered all doubts.
Feels good to prove 'em wrong,
Livin' our love song.
Darling, would you look at me,
With my heart beatin' fast, and my shaky knees.
Its pretty hard to believe
After all these years, I still need you this badly.
You're dancing in my arms
With a spotlight moon and a sea of stars.
Oh girl we've come so far,
Everything I want is everything you are.
Just want to lay you down, say I love you
Without a sound.
I think you know what I'm talking about.
Baby just look at us, all this time and were still in love,
Something like this just don't exist between a
Backwoods boy and a fairytail princess.
People said it would never work out,
But living our dreams we shattered all doubts.
Feels good to prove 'em wrong,
Livin' our love song.
Baby just look at us, all this time and were still in love,
Something like this just don't exist, between a
Backwoods boy and a fairytail princess.
People said it would never work out,
But living our dreams we shattered all doubts.
Don't it feels good to prove 'em wrong,
Livin' our love song.
It feels good to prove 'em wrong,
Just livin' our love song.

I chose this song because it is one of my new favorite songs right now. It has personal sentiment for me. anyhow, it does address some things we discussed through the course about roles in society based upon class or social status. she is a "fairy tale princess" and he is a "backwoods boy". this can highlight the idea of comming from two very different places and also the romantic narrative like Romeo and Juliet of how they weren't expected to be together by others. It is a romantic narrative that as we learned in class many women look to have even still. It is the idea of wanting this great "love song" wiht a guy and having this big thing that seems completely out of a movie. The way he talks about her seems romantic but it is also sexual and of course it is him who is doing all the talking about how she is so beautiful with her "baby blues" and how he wants to Just wants "to lay you down, say I love you Without a sound. I think you know what I'm talking about. " this is a sexual reference and sex is always something that is made romantic in our society but in reality it is not always such a thing. i feel that although i still love this song, i shows a great deal of the things surrounding women's narrative that we discussed in class.

Grappling with Gender Roles

2007-08-02T07:39:00.001-05:00

The song I chose to bring is called 'Tough' by Craig Morgan. The song is a type of ballad, sung by a man in which he says that he thought he was tough until he knew his wife. He contines to go through all of her trials and tribulations and acknowledges his short commings when she is diagnosed with cancer and handles herself with more composure or 'toughness' than he does. I She’s in the kitchen at the crack of dawn

Bacon’s on, coffee’s strong
Kids running wild, taking off their clothes
If she’s a nervous wreck, well it never shows
Takes one to football and one to dance
Hits the Y for aerobics class
Drops by the bank, stops at the store
Has on a smile when I walk through the door
The last to go to bed, she’ll be the first one up
And I thought I was tough

The first part of the song deals with a lot of female roles that we have discussed in class, the woman in the kitchen, watching the kids, etc.The image of her showing no emotion parallels the scene in Revolt of Mother in which she is making pies without showing her anger. I think the man in this song is giving his wife the credit for having a hard life and making the best of it, but in the refrain he says "there was a time, back before she was mine, when I thought I was tough'.This reinforces the age old stereotype that the man owns the woman. I think that this is the part of the song that is grappling with gender roles. Although the man in the song is praising his wife for being strong (not an image usually associated with women), he is still claiming her like property and he is also the one to define her as tough, when perhaps she isnt at all. I like this song becasue it changes roles that we are used to hearing in songs and in movies, but I still think it has its roots in all other traditional pieces where men control women and women can't speak for themselves.

NO DOUBT - JUST A GIRL

2007-08-01T20:49:00.000-05:00

JUST A GIRL

Take this pink ribbon off my eyes
I'm exposed
And it's no big surprise
Don't you think I know
Exactly where I stand
This world is forcing me
To hold your hand
'Cause I'm just a girl, little 'ol me
Don't let me out of your sight
I'm just a girl, all pretty and petite
So don't let me have any rights

Oh...I've had it up to here!
The moment that I step outside
So many reasons
For me to run and hide
I can't do the little things
I hold so dear
'Cause it's all those little things
That I fear

'Cause I'm just a girl I'd rather not be
'Cause they won't let me drive
Late at night
I'm just a girl,
Guess I'm some kind of freak
'Cause they all sit and stare
With their eyes

I'm just a girl,
Take a good look at me
Just your typical prototype

Oh...I've had it up to here!
Oh...am I making myself clear?
I'm just a girl
I'm just a girl in the world...
That's all that you'll let me be!
I'm just a girl, living in captivity
Your rule of thumb
Makes me worry some

I'm just a girl,
what's my destiny?
What I've succumbed to
Is making me numb
I'm just a girl, my apologies
What I've become is so burdensome
I'm just a girl, lucky me
Twiddle-dum there's no comparison

Oh...I've had it up to!
Oh...I've had it up to!!
Oh...I've had it up to here!

I believe the first verse focuses on how women are supposed to be pretty, petite and wear pink ribbons. When it says "the world is forcing me to hold your hand", I believe it is talking about how society says that we need to have a man to be happy and how we don't have any rights. The men have the say in everything.
The refrain talks about how she's had it and she's sick and tired of being treated this way.
She then begins to talk about how everyone stares are her just because she is a girl and she feels like some kind of freak.
The last verse is apologizing for being a girl. "I'm just a girl, what's my destiny?..." "...I'm just a girl, my apologies." I believe this is her apologizing because she has no real destiny (or so society says) just because she is a woman.
No Doubt ends this song by saying "I've had it up to here!"

I believe that this song is one of a kind. It focuses on the portrait of how women are viewed and treated in our society. Throughout the song, Gwen Stefani emphasizes different ways that females are belittled and made to feel that they are not as worthy as men. I think I particularly like this song because No Doubt is standing up for women's rights-- and it's about time!!! The song lyrics oppose womens stereotypes and they give women the strength to stand up for themselves. Hopefully this song and many other people are able to change how the rest of society has viewed women and people are able to realize that women are just as good as any man-- we can be just as successful and just as happy!!!

summer part 2

2007-08-01T11:05:00.000-05:00

Ashlynne had said about the first part of the book,

"Entering her prison house with a listless step she took off her hat, hung it on a plaster bust of Minerva, opened the shutters,..."

When I read this line I felt bad for her, that her job was so horrible to her that she compared it to a prison house. The more you read on you find out she only works 2 hours a day! I thought that was funny and really dramatic, but the more I think about it now I realize she was probably referring to the whole town as a prison house for her. She felt trapped in a small undesirable place.

i have to agree with this entirely. As much as she wants to get out, she can't and at the end of the book we see that she doesn't. She has become what she did not want to be. I believe the whole town is a prison that as a woman she can't escape from.

Performance piece: Bjork's Bachelorette

2007-08-01T10:48:00.000-05:00

Bjork: Bachelorette

I'm a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl
You're the bird on the brim
Hypnotised by the Whirl

Drink me, make me feel real
Wet your beak in the stream
Game we're playing is life
Love is a two way dream

Leave me now, return tonight
Tide will show you the way
If you forget my name
You will go astray
Like a killer whale
Trapped in a bay

I'm a path of cinders
Burning under your feet
You're the one who walks me
I'm your one way street

I'm a whisper in water
Secret for you to hear
You are the one who grows distant
When I beckon you near

Leave me now, return tonight
The tide will show you the way
If you forget my name
You will go astray
Like a killer whale
Trapped in a bay

I'm a tree that grows hearts
One for each that you take
You're the intruders hand
I'm the branch that you break
Hum-yeah!
** Icelandic part **

I chose this particular song because I believe Bjork is exploring the dual nature of woman, playing with traditional and non-traditional ideas. In the opening lines, she describes herself as a "fountain of blood", and her male counterpart as a bird hypnotized by her. She is obviously not the passive victim of male desire - the violent imagery she uses to describe herself contrasts with the timid imagery she uses to describe her lover, thus subverting the notion that women are always the passive receptors of male affection, and men are the aggressors.

In the second stanza, she implores her lover to drink her, in order for her to feel real. This passage directly contrasts the previous stanza, in that she now desires to be validated by her lover. Further, she states that love is a two-way dream, admitting she is not entirely in control over her feelings when it comes to lust and love, as the previous stanza would have the listener believe. This passage isn't necessarily exploiting her weaknesses - rather, it is an acknowledgement of them and the dual nature of woman. Cultural narratives often dictate that woman has to either be passive and weak, or strong and unfeeling. This song outright rejects that one-dimensional view of women.

In the fourth stanza she returns to characterizing herself as a violent, destructive force, as a path of cinders burning under her lover's feet. Yet in the very next lines, she emphasizes her passivity - her lover walks her like she is a one-way street. This is another, more extreme example of how Bjork is contemplating woman as a complex, multi-faceted being, rather than a character drawn strictly in black and white.

Contrasting imagery continues throughout the remainder of the song, further emphasizing that women are perhaps more complex than men, at least as far as love/lust are concerned. This song celebrates all the complexities of women, rather than painting them in an entirely negative or entirely positive light.

The Very Picture of a Modern Gal

2007-07-31T21:45:00.000-05:00

"She was blind and insensible to many things, and dimly knew it; but to all that was light and air, perfume and colour, every drop of blood in her responded. She loved the roughness of the dry mountain grass under her palms, the smell of the thyme into which she crushed her face, the fingering of the wind in her hair and through her cotton blouse, and the creak of the larches as they swayed to it."

"She had learned what she was worth when Lucius Harney, looking at her for the first time, had lost the thread of his speech, and leaned reddening on the edge of her desk. But another kind of shyness had been born in her: a terror of exposing to vulgar perils the sacred treasure of her happiness."

These passages of Edith Wharton's Summer may have been the author's sense of irony at work; however, it may have also been an indirect attack on common thinking of the time. Women were often correlated with nature and men with science or engineering, such as "Mother" Nature and "Father" Time (which may say something for the reiteration of the lack of men in North Dormer during the day). A woman's value was also tied to her responsibilities which were inevitably tied to her husband or lover. The first passage may relate to Charity's origins and the latter is a juxtaposition of her feelings for Royall. Sadly, I'm disgusted and frustrated with Charity. She seeks to be independent and fails time and again, placing such great value such as Harney or a branch of flowers. Not that one can't enjoy nature! It's simply that I'm left to wonder if her enjoyment of it is pure and true rather than an adherence to the stereotype. In the end, Charity seems horribly selfish and childish and inevitably reemphasizes perpetuated stereotypes, such as those of Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Syfers' "Why I want a Wife".

In response to Lilly,

2007-07-31T19:14:00.000-05:00

In Lilly's most recent blog, she posted the following paragraph:

After reading the entire book, I do not think that Charity is a very strong character because she is so easily shaped by her surroundings and more specifically the men in her life. I think that she learns that the romance narrative she grew up believing does not necessarily exist and that even though people are separated by class in the minds of others, just because you are of a certain social class does not mean you are morally superior. I liked this character and it was interesting to see how she changed and responded as the story progressed.

I agree with her in that she thinks that Charity is not a strong character but I think that way for a different reason that she does. I think that most of us, if not all, are shaped by our surroundings but that does not make us weak. I believe that we are products of our environment and products of nurture. So I don't feel that it's fair to single Charity out in that aspect. However, I do, in some aspect, agree with the fact that she can't be considered a strong charcter for the fact that she was substancially effected by the men in her life. I also feel that that was llittle change or progression in the character of Charity. She still acted close to the same way in the end as she did in the beginning. She was still willing to go with what was "expected" or what she was told to do. I don't think Charity is a character we want to model after but rather learn from.

summer part two

2007-07-31T09:26:00.001-05:00

In Tonae's blog about the first half she was right about Mr. Royall having hating Lucious because of Charity liking him. His anger become more visible as the book goes on like when he sees her with him with out a hat on and calls her a bareheaded whore in front of everyone.
In Quinlin's blog she talks about all of the sexual refrences and I say thats very in line with how Wharton portrays Lucious to look at Charity. For example when she attempts to run away to the mountains and he finds her while riding bike, she mentions twice how he wasn't listening to her he grabbed her and asked her to kiss him like she did last night. Or how he was looking at her with passion, not with understanding. He didn't love her intelligance, and he wasn't there to understand her, he was just interested in the newness of her and foriegn small town ways.

Summer #2

2007-07-31T09:26:00.000-05:00

The first passage that I had a strong reaction to was: "Gentlemen, let us look at things as they are. Some of us have come back to our native town because we'd failed to get on elsewhere. One way or other, things had gone wrong with us... what we'd dreamed of hadn't come true. But the fact that we had failed elsewhere is no reason why we should fail here. Our very experiments in larger places, even if they were unsuccessful, ought to have helped us make North Dormer a larger place..." My reaction to this was that I was delighted that someone try to see the good in living in North Dormer. I was glad that someone wanted to make it better. This function as well with the rest of the book because everyone seems unhappy at North Dormer because there is basically nothing there, and it is always being criticized.

The second passage that I had a strong reaction to was: "Well, after all, was her mother so much to blame? Charity, since that day, had always thought of her as destitute of all human feeling; now she seemed merely pitiful. What mother would not want to save her child from such a life?" I had a reaction to this because it seems like how she is describing her mother as if she did not care about her. That makes me feel sad that she felt this way and that she was contemplating this. This function as apart of the text as a whole because she wanted to be away from this place so much and she blamed her mother for her unhappiness.

Summer Response

2007-07-31T07:39:00.001-05:00

I am responding to Mary's comments about the first half of Summer. She chose to mention that Charity was always treated as a lower person, someone without education and who was brought down from the mountain. It seems in the entire first half that she is constantly reiterating how much she does not belong in North Dormer or around all of the powerful and glamorous people. Yet when she returns to the mountain for her mother's funeral, she realizes that she does not belong there either and she even compares herself with Julia and says that she too will make a living for herself and her baby. In the entire scene when she enters the room that her mother's body is in and the people ask the minister who she is, I get the impression that she comes across as one of the rich snobby girls that she compares herself to in the city. I thought that this was an interesting juxtaposition because it showed that she was where she belonged even though she was not able to recognize that herself.

The second paragraph mary chose to comment on was one describing Mr. Royalle in Charity's eyes as someone who was not exciting, but solid and always there. I think that the entire ending is more interesing after reading the paragraph from the first half because when they get married it is a sort of boring thing that happens very quickly and Charity really has no emotional rection to it. At the very end, Charity and Mr. Royalle seem to connect deeper than they have, although she says his look made her feel both ashamed and secure. I am not sure that the feeling of being ashamed is a good one to have going into a marriage, but it is good that she is finally secure. I think the reader can also tell that Mr. Royale loves her because he does sort of apologize for his rude behavior on the 4th of July and he says that he wants her to be more brilliant than the other girls, I think that his small gestures make up for his shortcommings.

After reading the entire book, I do not think that Charity is a very strong character because she is so easily shaped by her surroundings and more specifically the men in her life. I think that she learns that the romance narrative she grew up believing does not necessarily exist and that even though people are separated by class in the minds of others, just because you are of a certain social class does not mean you are morally superior. I liked this character and it was interesting to see how she changed and responded as the story progressed.

In Response to Summer

2007-07-31T07:05:00.000-05:00

I am responding to Tonae's post:

I had a similiar reaction when Royall came into Charity's room that night. As a reader, I feared for her. I had no idea that we was wanting to marry her. When he asked, I was shocked. I think he was wanting to marry her to make his life easier - guaranteed companionship and housekeeping. Now that I have read the whole story, this part seems pretty ironic. Charity is just as shocked as I was the proposal - and doesn't even consider it. Yet, when she finds herself in trouble (pregnant out of wedlock) and heartbroken (Harney leaves her, doesn't marry her as she once hoped), Royall becomes Plan B. Everything else falls through, and suddenly the thought of marrying her once father figure doesn't seem so bad. Instead of becoming an outcast, Charity choses the stability of being "Mrs. Royall."

I think a lot of women can relate to Charity. While times have changed, I still think there are some women that marry for stability. They marry because they know they will be taken care of. While we talked in class how Charity is not a good role model for young women, I think that Charity is a model of what not to do.

Summer, due 7/31

2007-07-30T21:31:00.000-05:00

I’m choosing Quinlin’s blog from yesterday. I thought it was interesting how she picked out all the sexual imagery from the novel because I didn’t see it that way at all. In fact, I barely even noticed it. I focused more on how Charity was so romantic. Even at the end of the novel, the sad letter Charity wrote to Harney still had romance in it. “I’m married to Mr. Royall. I’ll always remember you.” Even though it was so short and she was saying goodbye to him for good, the way she worded it- I’ll always remember you- It was just really touching.

Summer part II

2007-07-30T19:19:00.000-05:00

"Only - was there no alternative but Julia's? Her soul recoiled from the vision of the white-faced woman among the plush sofas and gilt frames. In the established order of things as she knew them she saw no place for her individual adventure..."

I chose this passage because I was curious as to what the image of the white-faced woman means. That image has come up on more than one occasion, and I'm assuming it has some symbolic value. I think this passage is significant because Charity seems to be giving up. She's decided there's no place for her to have her own adventure, and doesn't really consider that the established order of things can easily be changed. I think she knows the established order can be changed, but isn't willing to go through the emotional distress that changing the order involves. I guess in this way Charity could be seen as a rather weak character.

"She had given him all she had - but what was it compared to the other gifts life held for him? She understood now the case of girls like herself to whom this kind of thing happened. They gave all they had, but their all was not enough: it could not buy more than a few moments..."

I think this is the moment when Charity realizes that she has grossly misjudged her relationship with Harney. She realizes that social obligations will always prevail over the real love she perceived between the two of them. It's passages like these that make Wharton seem like a part of the naturalistic school of writers. Charity is at the mercy of societal obligations that she cannot control, much like Lilly Bart in House of Mirth.

Summer Pt 1

2007-07-30T14:56:00.000-05:00

"Hard as she found it to understand why he passed enchanted before certain neglected and paintless houses, while others, refurbished and "improved" by the local builder, did not arrest a glance." (49)

I liked this image a lot because for one I could definitely imagine these torn up houses next to new ones. The imagery was extremely strong and I loved it! But i also liked this section because I felt like in a roundabout way she was referring to herself. She couldn't understand how Harney could have feelings for her when she sees herself as plain and boring next to the other girls.

"Charity... imagined herself married to a man who had such a straight nose and such a beautiful way of speaking, and who lived in a brown-stone rectory covered with Virginia creeper." (60).

I chose this because it reminded me a lot of my narrative collage. We are brought up in a culture that basis happiness of a marriage on the wedding, the money, the way it all "looks" not on a strong relationship between the two who are involved. It also reminded me of the story we read, "Men in your Life." because she already knows what she wants before she finds it. It also seemed to me like Charity wanted to run away from what she came from and this section seems to portray that to me especially well.

Summer 1st half

2007-07-30T11:47:00.000-05:00

"Entering her prison house with a listless step she took off her hat, hung it on a plaster bust of Minerva, opened the shutters,..."

When I read this line I felt bad for her, that her job was so horrible to her that she compared it to a prison house. The more you read on you find out she only works 2 hours a day! I thought that was funny and really dramatic, but the more I think about it now I realize she was probably referring to the whole town as a prison house for her. She felt trapped in a small undesirable place.

"The girl walked along, swinging her key on a finger, and looking about her with the heighted attention produced by the presence of a stranger in a familiar place."

This line didn't strike me odd by any means, I just really liked it. I liked it because I know how she feels, I love when my bf goes home with me and I always point out "there's my highschool, theres where I used to work, etc." And as much as i'm sure he loves it (ha!) I really start to miss my old town even though until that time I don't miss it at all. Also with movies and music I do this too. Like I have movies that I have just watched to death and never want to watch anymore, but if someone I know hasn't seen them I always insist we watch it immediatly and when we do I"m that annoying girl who says stuff like "wasn't that funny! and Pay attention you'll miss the good part!" Then i'll remember why I loved that movie so much. I think maybe it could be forshadowing that it will take this guy to remind her of all the things she used to love about this town.

Summer

2007-07-30T09:35:00.000-05:00

I think that it's important to look at all of the sexual imagery in the novel along with its symbolism. Like on page 101, "A long "Oh-h-h" burst from the spectators: the stand creaked and shook with their blissful trepidations. "Oh-h-h," Charity gasped: she had forgotten where she was, had at last forgotten even Harney's nearness. She seemed to have been caught up in the stars." This creates a phallic imagery which suggests a sexual bliss that will occur for Charity as a result of deeper physical intimacy with Harney. It's also very romantic in the way she forgets where she is and becomes caught up in the stars. This heightens the passion of their first kiss. As the scene continues, her rapture tightens and she describes him as having mysterious power which she is possessed by. It's an interesting scene that is steady with her character.

Summer #1

2007-07-30T09:28:00.000-05:00

From the first half i had a strong reaction to: "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 suppose you think it would be cheaper to marry me than to keep a hired girl. Everybody knows you're the closet man in Eagle County; but I guess you're not going to get your mending done for you that way twice." My reaction was that I was in disbelief that he would ask her to marry her. The night that he went to her room I thought he was coming to rape her. The passage function as apart of the context as a whole because this came after she told him she wanted to leave. Which was odd because she told him she wanted to stay. It talks about her not being afraid and being superior to him but she does not want to stay as if she is scared.

The second passage that I had a strong reaction to was: "The tone with which Mr. Royall had said "He's not coming" seemed to her full of an ominous satisfaction. She saw that he had suddenly begun to hate Lucius Harney, and guessed herself to be the cause of this change of feeling. My reaction to this is Mr. Royall clearly is jealous that that Charity had feelings for Lucius. This passage function with the context as a whole because Charity turned down Mr. Royall's marriage proposal, and that angered him. From the beginning Charity showed a liking for Mr. Harney.

Summer- First Half

2007-07-30T07:44:00.000-05:00

The first passage that struck me as interesting, given our recent discussion topic of cultural narratives is on page 24. It begins "Then she remembered his sudden pause when he had come...as if to have the impression of a kiss". The entire dream sequence is very much a description of a cultural narrative about love and romance affecting someone so much that she is dreaming about the romance without even knowing the man very well. I thought that it was out of character, or at least a dramatic change in the mellow, almost shy character we had seen so far. I think that it is also intersting to notice the amount of attention she pays to her own looks in the fantasy, she also says that it may be a mistake to wish her eyes were blue. This echos another cultural narrative we have talked a lot about, that women always want to change their features to look like models, or whatever is considered beautifu and exotic at the time.
The second passage I chose is on page 39 and fills the enire page save for the beginning of the second paragraph at the bottom. I liked this passage because it shows changes in the character and her reflection of her own life. She talks about how she is shy and had refrained from any 'town lovemaking', yet she watches lucius harney and responds to the fact that he is the brillaince she had been waiting for and that he values her. This plays into the cultural narrative that women have to be valued like an object in the eyes of men to be worthy. It also shows the romance narrative and the hidden desires Charity has for herself and a relationship with Harney.

Summer Part 1

2007-07-30T06:37:00.000-05:00

Her bewilderment was complete: the more she wished to appear to understand him the more unintelligible his remarks became. He reminded her of the gentleman who had "explained" the pictures at Nettleton, and hte weight of her ignorance settled down on her again like a pall."

this passage takes place during Charity's and Harney's first encounter at the Library. I thought it was interesting becauase it not only shows the difference in their cultural or social status, but also in the difference between being a woman of a lower social status. He is educated and from the city, while she is uneducated and from a small town below the mountains where she was actually born. She was "brought down from the mountain" by Mr. Royale when she was young. The mountain people are considered to be scum or outlaws and they are all poor and ignorant people who must be evil in the eyes of the towns people. they do not understand them. charity seems to carry this feeling of inadequecy with her through out the story even though she seems to be a strong character she has moments of vulnerability and weakness concerning her heritage. Harney emphasizes this inadequey for her and she is drawn to him hoping to impress him but always doubting that she can because of her educational background as well as where she came from.

Except on the occasion of his one offense he had been to her merely the person who was always there, the unquestioned central fact of life, as inevitable but as uninteresting as North Dormer itself, or any of the other conditions fate had laid on her.

I thought this passage describing Mr. Royale in charity's eyes was interesting because it reveal a great deal about her. She is bored with her life. She is stuck with this man who saved her from the mountains and deep down i think besides not having money or a husband to help her leave his house she feels a sense of duty to him for keeping her from such a terrible fate. Even though she acts defiant to him, i feel that there is something there that makes her stay. This makes it all the more noticable by calling him the person always there. It seems to be a constant in her life that brings comfort from the unknown even though it is disinteresting to her. She is bored but complacent it seems because she hasn't done anything but get the job at the library to help in leaving this man and Dormer.

Summer

2007-07-30T02:39:00.000-05:00

"In the course of that incredible day, Charity Royall had, for the first and only time, experienced railway travel, looked into shops with plate-glass fronts, tasted cocoanut pie, sat in a theatre, and listened to gentlemen saying unintelligible things before pictures that she would have enjoyed lokking at if his explanations had not prevented her from understanding them. This initiation had shown her that North Dormer was a small place . . . " pg. 5

Coming from a small town this passage really caught my attention. This is the first time that Charity realizes how small and limiting North Dormer is. She gets a taste of the city and for a moment, realizes that there is much more out there. I really relate with her at this point in the story. My hometown is very small, quaint, and resistant to change. At times, I feel it is limiting, and I was so excited to come to Columbia (which felt huge to me when I first moved here!)

["You go right back from here," she said, in a shrill voice that startled her, "you ain't going to have that key tonight"] pg.17

I picked this second passage because it shows Charity's assertiveness. She is being the adult in the situation. It shows her ability to stand up for herself. This surprised me at this point in the story, because up until this point I thought of her to be more timid, more of a pushover. My opinion of Charity really begins to change at this point.

Sula - 2(I don't know why it never showed up . . .)

2007-07-30T02:36:00.000-05:00

Okay here is my Sula Pt 2 :

"I heard you were sick. Anything I can do for you?" (pg. 138)

I was really moved by Nel's kindness in this part of the story. Although Sula has committed the ultimate betrayal against her friend, Nel comes to check on Sula when she hears of her illness. I really think this part of the story shows Nel's character. She knows that everyone else in the town is rejoicing at Sula's illness. Nel is the bigger person, facing her former friend and going to check on the outcast that she has become. I was blown away by this act of kindness. I tried to put myself in Nel's shoes, and know that I couldn't do such a thing. It really made me respect her.

["All that time, all that time, I thought I was missing Jude." And the loss pressed down on her chest and came up into her throat. "We was girls together," she said as though explaining something. "O Lord, Sula,"she cried, "girl, girl, girlgirlgirl."] pg. 174

I thought this passage had a powerful message. Sula and Nel had grown up together, and gone through much together as friends. Although Sula betrayed her, Nel stil longed through her friendship during her adult years. I think this shows how powerful women's relationships can be. Both women were a stronghold for each other, and even though their relationship didn't end on good terms, Nel still longed for it.

SUMMER: PART ONE

2007-07-29T23:25:00.001-05:00

The first passage I chose to write about actually takes place in Chapter One. “Entering her prison house with a listless step she took off her hat, hung it on a plaster bust of Minerva, opened the shutters, leaned out to see if there were any eggs in the swallow’s nest above one of the windows, and finally, seating herself behind the desk, drew out a roll of cotton lace and a steel crochet hook. She was not an expert work woman, and it had taken her many weeks to make the half-yard of narrow lace which she kept wound about the buckram back of a disintegrated copy of “The Lamplighter.” But there was no other way of getting any lace to trim her summer blouse, and since Ally Hawes, the poorest girl in the village, had shown herself in church with enviable transparencies about the shoulders, Charity’s hook traveled faster. She unrolled the lace, dug the hook into a loop, and bent to the task with furrowed brows.”

I chose this very simple passage because it tells you a little bit about the main character of the book, Charity. Although we don’t know why she feels her house is a “prison house”, I find it very interesting that the book has just starting and there are already negative feelings. On the other hand, looking to see if there were eggs in the bird’s nest made me thing that she might like nature. One thing I thought that was very interesting was how she felt she had to knit/lace her blouse faster because Ally Hawes wore hers to church. The fact that there is already competing feelings taking place makes me wonder where this book will go. Even though the author doesn’t really elaborate, I was thinking (as I was reading) about any possible outcomes that may take place. It the competition attitude somewhat reminded me of Nel and Sula in the book Sula. I’m very excited to see where this book goes because if it is anything like that, it will be a very good read.

Second passage: “She had liked the young man’s looks, and his short-sighted eyes, and his odd way of speaking, that was abrupt yet soft, just as his hands were sunburnt and sinewy, yet with smooth nails like a woman’s. His hair was sunburnt looking too, or rather the colour of bracken after frost; his smile shy yet confident, as if he knew lots of things she had never dreamed of, and yet wouldn’t for the world have had her feel his superiority. But she did feel it, and she liked the feeling; for it was new to her.”

I like this passage because it is such a strong description and it puts such a vivid picture in my head- just reading it made me smile. It’s every woman’s dream to find a man like this. It really doesn’t resemble anything we’ve read in this class so far. This passage is so happy and colorful! It does, however, remind me of some of the “chick flick” movies that we watched in class. I’m having a difficult time explaining in words what struck me so hard about this passage but I absolutely love it. It just gives me this warm feeling. I feel that the author did a wonderful job of wording this passage; of giving Charity this beautiful, romantic side and it just made me want to keep reading and never stop!

Summer part I

2007-07-29T21:56:00.000-05:00

"It did not, of course, always end so sensationally; nor, perhaps, on the whole, so untragically. Charity had always suspected that the shunned Julia's fate might have its compensations. There were others, worse endings that the village knew of, mean, miserable, unconfessed; other lives that went on drearily, without visible change, in the same cramped setting of hypocrisy. But these were not the same reasons that held her back. Since the day before, she had known exactly what she would feel if Harney should take her in his arms: the melting of palm into palm and mouth on mouth, and the long flame burning her from head to foot. But mixed with this feeling was another: the wondering pride in his liking for her, the startled softness that his sympathy had put into her heart. Sometimes, when her youth flushed up in her, she had imagined yielding like other girls to furtive caresses in the twilight; but she could not so cheapen herself to Harney. 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 chose this passage because it summed up Charity's dilemma, which is pretty much the age old dilemma women have struggled with. Should she resist her lust for Harney in order to preserve her integrity? She admits that Julia Hawes, even though she's been shunned by North Dormer, has enjoyed a more exciting life than most North Dormer residents. At the same time, she has a desire to been seen as the quintessential lady, and the epitome of classy behavior. Charity also seems to possess competing views of what romance really is - is it more desirable to have a passionate but illicit romance, or a more traditional and decidedly less passionate romance?

I also picked this passage because it's a good example of Wharton's foreshadowing. She's one of my favorite authors, because even though you know pretty much all of her characters meet a tragic end, she sucks you into rooting for her protagonists, and though you hold out a hope that things will eventually be alright, even though they never turn out to be.

"She walked on, wondering whether Mr. Royall was still on the porch. In her exalted mood she did not greatly care whether he was waiting for her or not; she seemed to be floating high over life, on a great cloud of misery beneath whih everyday realities had dwindled to mere specks in space."

I chose this passage because it's a confirmation of what the reader has already begun to suspect. Charity is not only in love with the person Harney, but also the vision of him taking her away from her own dull life in North Dormer. She may be in love with the person, but the ideal of the person has also blinded her to the realities of their relationship. She consistenly misinterprets his actions, and ignores how the name "Annabel Balch" seems to keep popping up in relation to Harney.

I guess it makes it easier to go to class if the alarm is set...

2007-07-26T22:29:00.000-05:00

I love these sort of readings; they prompt one to think about their own perceptions and how they feel about this subject matter. There were both simularities as well as differences in the two readings. Obviously, both main characters faced struggles for their cultural background. It was so hard for me to read about their hardships they faced only because of their heritage, something obviously out of their control. It made it even more difficult because I know that still happens today. However, there were differences; things that were people were more in control of. They were treated much differently as a result of their outbursts by their mother. Also, the way others treated them was a bit different and I think that also determined how they delt with the situation. These sort of readings are a perfect opportunity for us to take a personal look at how we view others and concider any prejudices we might have.

Assimilation Narratives

2007-07-26T19:54:00.000-05:00

The most basic similarity I found between the two narratives was that each girl was ostracized for not fitting the mold of a typical American - that is, being of European descent. It's especially ironic in the case of Zitkala-Sa, considering Native Americans were here before the European settlers. The most fundamental difference I found in the narratives, was that Sui Sin Far had at least one parent that passed as American, whereas Zitkala-Sa did not. However, Sui Sin Far was in the catch-22 of not being American enough to satisfy her American peers, but not Chinese enough to be fully accepted by that group either. Another difference was the extent of acceptance they received from their mothers. Zitkala-Sa's mother seemed to pretty much disown her, but Sui Sin Far's mother was more tolerant of her daughter's rebellion. Although I think both suffered dramatically because of the inability or unwillingness of their parents to realize how awful their situations were. You can account for some of the differences simply by looking at the American attitude toward a particular ethnicity at the time. You could argue that if they had been raised at a different time, neither would have received the amount of unacceptance that they did.

July 26

2007-07-26T12:45:00.000-05:00

I found both of these stories extremely moving. As a white, middle class American I have not had to deal with many of the things that these girls had to deal with. There struggles were very similar to each other because they were often seen as outcasts. However, I felt like the one tried to fit in more because she wanted to be liked and not different, where as the other embraced her culture and her differences. I think they are both very interesting accounts of what it is like to assimilate to the culture of the United States and it really made me realize some of my own prejudices toward people of other nationalities that come to this country and how I want to change my thoughts about them.

assimilation narratives

2007-07-26T12:04:00.000-05:00

I thougth both of these stories seemed to truly help depict what it is like for someone who is not from the standard white background in the United States. Although both were from the past, many prejudices still exist. I found both of these stories to protray each young girls struggle with being part of mainstream america. However the first story about the indian girl in the school seems much different. She is being forced to take on the culture of the mainstream white world around her. She seems very passive at fighting this and eventually goes on the collegel where she continues to deal with prejudice and lonliness. the second story about the girl who is part Chinese, but grows up in England is different because when she is insulted she seems to fight back and demand recognition for the heritage as a chinese girl. She is angry at the predudices around her. She in turn begins to learn about her chinese heritage and traditions almost as a form of protest against the mainstream who want her to be conformed. The reality is, looking different makes it hard for anyone to be accepted in a white dominated society.

2007-07-26T09:35:00.000-05:00

In "The Schooldays of an Indian Girl," and in "Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian" these stories of race or similar because both characters had to deal with being different. Both girls encounter racism and discrimination because of their differences. The girls had to deal with being nonwhite. The girls had to deal with trying to assimilate into mainstream culture and forget about their own. Both girls wanted to know more and recognize their different heritages. The differences that I see is that in "the Schooldays of an Indian Girl" she was taken away from her family to learn different ways. In "Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian" she is more eager to learn about her Chinese culture because she does not know much about it. The difference is that one is Indian and one is Chinese. The difference is that one is growing to learn more about her culture and I presumed to not look like she is Chinese. I think the differences are there because one grew up in her culture and the other one did not.

the schooldays and mental portfolio of an eurasian

2007-07-26T09:31:00.000-05:00

These two excerpts from longer memoirs are similar in the way that the little girls, at first, don't realize why everyone looks at them differently. The Indian girl has "pale faces" look oddly at her shoes at blanket, and the little chinese girl doesn't even know when her mother is called chinese what that means. However they are both very smart girls and catch on quickly to the things that make them different from other girls and boys and they really embrace it.

The main difference that struck me was how one was aware of their culture and what it meant at a young age and the other didn't even know what a china man looked like and got slapped for story telling. In Schooldays she always longed for home and for her mother where as i felt like the other story was more her just trying to figure this whole other race thing out!.

July 26

2007-07-26T09:27:00.000-05:00

Both of these readings really made me think. The characters are struggling to come into their own, feeling categorized by their cultural background. Although I have never been characterized for my race, I really felt for the girls and tried to imagine what it would be like to be in their shoes. Every girl idolizes and wishes to be like another at some point while growing up and the struggle to fit in is never an easy one.

"Resistance is Futile"

2007-07-26T09:23:00.000-05:00

Sui Sin's "Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian" and Zitkala-Sa's "The School Days of an Indian Girl" discuss assimilation into a culture close, yet emotionally distant, to one's own. In "Leaves", it should be noted that the protagonist is not solely of Chinese descent. Similarly, the heroine of "School Days" is Native American. Such simple distinctions estrange them from those who share a culture not far removed from their own. The differences lie in the approach, but probably correspond with maturity. The woman of "Leaves" seems to be recollecting from adulthood while the girl of "School Days" relives the horror of her transition. Between woman and girl, experience and inexperience, it is no surprise that one adapts and dismisses more easily than the other. Conclusively, what is horror, what is extreme and unspeakable as committed by imperialism, seems to be defined by age, experience, and relation.

July 26, 2007

2007-07-26T07:56:00.000-05:00

These two stories are very similar in the way they are written. I really enjoyed the child’s perspective of prejudice because it was not completely understood by either one of the girls but both were intuitive about how they were different, even though they had no idea about the social acceptance (or not) of their culture in white society. The stories were also obviously similar since both small children experienced the same feelings of being different even though they were in different places and from different backgrounds. I thought it was interesting that the main character in the first story, The Schooldays of an Indian Girl, knew her ancestry because her mother and relatives were still immersed in their culture. However, in Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian, the girl was never able to know real Chinese people and visit china, she too had impressions that Chinese were dirty and vile creatures. I think that this is a very important distinction to make, for although the girl ultimately stands up for herself and decides to embrace who she is, I think that she is still very different from a Chinese American and cannot really understand any struggle other than her own. The first story is also unique because the school girl ultimately becomes to look and go through the schedule of white people and ends up diaobeying her mother to go to college. I think in the same way as the woman in the second story, she gains her own independance from any race or culture and she must be appreciated for that and not for her background.

Blog due 7/26

2007-07-25T21:34:00.000-05:00

THE SCHOOLDAYS OF AN INDIAN GIRL

This writing was very difficult for me to analyze. I think it might have a lot to do with the fact that I don’t know the history or the culture what so ever. I feel the author is focusing a lot on the cultural criticism of her time. For example, in part four she describes her dream with the “white man’s devil” and how he came into their house while her mother and her mother’s friend were in the kitchen and chased after her. I imagine this somehow had something to do with her insecurities of being an Indian.

LEAVES FROM THE MENTAL PORTFOLIO OF AN EURASIAN

The main difference between this story and Schooldays is that the writing is a lot more straight forward- a lot more literal. This story is telling actual stories whereas Schooldays talked a lot more about dreams and how she interpreted things. The main similarity is obviously that neither of these girls is Caucasian. I got the feeling that they both felt a little left out and maybe a little awkward. I can completely understand why they would feel that way, especially in the time that they grew up, where different races were looked down upon- the whiter your skin the better.
I feel bad for people who had to go through that. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to go through that- thinking I was bad or different or wrong. I couldn’t imagine having to think of myself as different. We are all human beings and in that sense, we are all the same and all equal.

July 24

2007-07-24T22:46:00.000-05:00

Seventeen Syllables did not strike me as the usual romance narrative when I read through it the first time. However, the more I began to look at it I did see some of the typical narratives in place. For example, the story is about an arranged marriage between a man and woman. Rosie is unsure how she feels about this marriage and I believe it is because the marriage she has seen through her parents is not a good example at all for her. Also, I realized her mothers strong love for her poetry. This was interesting to me because I had not thought about the love that occurs for inanimate objects, as well as people.

Men in Your Life was also not the typical romance story that one would expect. I found it very funny how these two women were so judgmental and sure of what they wanted from the men before they even really began to date them. However, once they loved a man they seemed to look past all the flaws that they pointed out in other men before. It went along with what we talked about in class regarding women forgetting and forgiving men for things that they maybe should not have. It went along with the whole narrative of "love conquers all" or in the end all one really needs is love, which to me really doesn't ring true.

Romance

2007-07-24T09:33:00.000-05:00

Seventeen Syllables:

This story has a romance narrative because it talks about how two people from different cultural backgrounds feel about one another. What makes it a romance narrative is the way that Rosie reacted to being kissed and the things she did afterwards. Rosie seemed to care about Jesus because she seemed to me to be always thinking about him. I think she knows it is inappropriate for her to see him but she does it. This is different from other romance narratives because Rosie has to deal with her unhappy parents and at the end she promises her mother that she would not marry. So that would kill her happiness.

Men In Your Life:

This story does not seem like a romance narrative to me because the main character seems to be dissing the man that she talks to. At the end I guess it could have a romantic theme because she is reminiscing about a man that treated her right, but the beginning makes you feel that she is downing men. This is different because she is talking about the ways that men act and why she does not have one. She does find that she there is one man in particular that she wouldn't mind being with. I did not see it being a romance narrative.

romance narratives

2007-07-24T09:28:00.000-05:00

I thought these two stories were interesting. The first one, "Seventeen Syllables" was different to me. it did not strike me as a romance at all except for Rosie and Jesus and that was only a small part of the story. It seemed very strange to be a romance and the mother did not even love her husband. She married him because she had to. it seemed sad.

The second story, "Men in your life" was really interesting. i liked it alot and really do feel like it was a romance because of how she describes Eddie. You can tell their relationship is the stereotypical romance in the fact that they "play" togehter and enjoy being together even when they have no money. They seem to have built a sense of trust and you can tell they understand an respect eachother. i love the last line, "...but if a man gives you all the very best that he has to offer, all the time, what more could a woman want...?" She is talking about the best of them. NOt money or things. Seh is talking about a man that respects her and loves her and shows it all the time. i thought that in itself was romantic.

Romance

2007-07-24T09:22:00.000-05:00

SEVENTEEN SYLLABLES

"When he took hold of her empty hand, she could find no words to protest; her vocabulary became had become distressingly constricted and she thought desperately that all that remained intact now was yes and no and oh, even those few sounds would not easily out" (pg. 89)

I really like this passage because it is definitely one of Rosie's first experiences with romance. She is really not sure how to respond to Jesus, and goes weak in his presence. Soon after they kiss, she runs, not knowing what to do. I think this passage is proof that this is a story of romance, or lack there of. It seems that Rosie's parents are in a loveless marriage and Rosie's mother loves receiving attention from other men. This can be seen in the scene where Rosie's father is ready to leave the Hayano residence while her mother hardly notices as she is engrossed with conversation with Mr. Hayano. Everything makes since at the ending when Rosie's mother tells her daughter of the arranged marriage that became the alternative to suicide.

I think that Rosie's relationship with Jesus is affected by the way Rosie has watched her parents interact. When Rosie goes to meet Jesus, she doesn't know how to act because she is unfamiliar with romance.

MEN IN YOUR LIFE

"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 thought this was a great way to end this piece. It is a familiar conversation between woman of all ages. Women always gather to talk to about men. I felt like this work was so real. The women were quick to judge other men and their relationships with woman, but when it came to their own, everything was perfect. I think the woman who wants to marry Eddie may be in denial. Although he may be a great man, I think she is exaggerating his perfection due to her affection for him. This is not rare. I have had friends talk up their relationships (how great he is, how happy they are), only to hear how miserable they really were after the relationship has ended. It makes me wonder how the woman really is, and if Eddie is all that she describes him to be.

I think this is a romance narrative because it is two woman describing what they WANT for a romantic relationship and their standards.

Stupid Cupid and the Arrows (Eros) of Ouch

2007-07-24T07:36:00.000-05:00

In "Seventeen Syllables" and "Men in Your Life", it may be difficult to discern the romance. While reading classical literature, it is easy to forget that the author is narrating from a perspective of her ethnicity and culture; therefore, when we encounter works from cultures that are not similar to our own or have less literary exposure, it may be difficult to understand the parallels or interpret specific conventions.

Yamamoto and Childress may seem unusual in terms of romance; but, I interpreted several traditional ideas at work. For instance, Rosie experiences the uncertainty of young love while her father experiences what seems to be a possessive jealousy. And though the narrator of Childress' work may seem angered and embittered, is not her loyalty, her continuous presence in the relationship, a popular ideal of love? She reminded me of so many that I've met- Clarance and his wife are possibly a foreshadowing of the moral: Innumerable women of this world love men they have no reason to love, and surely, at one time or another, they all ask themselves why.

As I understand, it is not unusual for a man to be possessive of his wife to a point of violence in Asian culture. I vaguely recall the idea that, in China, a man had the right to kill any man who dared to look at his wife's bare feet. If that doesn't scream "possesive", I don't know what does. In African American culture, I know far too many women who rant and rave about the evils of "their man" and yet throw funny looks at those who ask the obvious question, "Why don't you leave?" A lot of them are afraid to be alone. A lot of them cling to the ideal that a woman needs a man to have a complete family. A lot of them probably need to take this course.

2007-07-24T07:27:00.001-05:00

I think that both stories for today do follow a romantic narrative, though not necessarily the one where the woman falls in love with the prince and lives happily ever after. In Seventeen Syllables Rosie is observing her parent's relationship and they are not connecting because the father feels that the mother is in essence cheating on him when she spends all her time and energy on the poetry. Rosie experiences her own taste of the romantic narrative when she is kissed by a boy and completely taken by surprise. She has to take her time to think about the implications of the kiss and how she feels about the boy, Jesus. The readers get a glimpse that she may like him, after running away, when she is peeking out of the privy to see if he is looking for her near the house. In a sense, Rosie may be playing 'hard to get' which is a variation of an american romantic narrative. The other romance in the story is that of her mother when she was young. The mother seemed to have quite a romance when she was in Japan, but due to the status of the boy and the traditions of the town, she was unable to have a relationship. This echos many narratives we have already looked at, but instead of ending with happiness, her mother must choose between a new life in America or ending her life. It is sad that this is the basis of her marriage.

The second story, Men in Your Life shows many relationships through the eyes of two women gossiping. The first discussion is about how women shape thier sons, this sets the story up for the three men we hear described. The first is Clarance, and he is married and treats his wife very poorly, though the narrator does not mention it, it is obviously that he is emotionally and probably physically abusive. The escaping of women from abusive relationships is often part of the romantic narrative when they are able to move on and find someone else. The second man in the story is Wallace, the bad date. This is another fairly common scene in films and stories of the romantic narrative 'gone wrong'. Instead of the date sweeping this girl off her feet, he does the opposite and she decides very quickly that it will not work out. Finally she mentions Eddy and the things they do together and his faults but also the attributes she really enjoys about him and the reader comes to find that she likes him more than she knows. This is a common narrative becasue the relationship is humble and not deliberately romantic yet with the closeness between the couple, we realize they care a lot about eachother,

I think by looking at the romance in these texts we are able to tell a little more about the lives of the characters because we already know how these narratives go, since we see them all the time in our culture. Seventeen syllables looks at romantic love as something that is negative and unattainable. Men in your Life also does not put an emphasis on romanitc love because the none of the characters in the story are romantically involved, however, it gives the hope that the narrator's realtionship with Eddy will turn into something romantic and successful.

Romantic Love, Due 7/24/07

2007-07-23T22:39:00.000-05:00

SEVENTEEN SYLLABLES
I don’t think that this text really has a romantic love them. I think it is more about the love between a mother and her daughter and the differences the two of them have. For example, Rosie was born and raised in the United States, whereas her mother was born and raised in Japan. Learning to be bicultural is something that neither one of them wants to do, but they do it because they love each other. It is obvious that this was written for many different cultures and not only focuses on topics such as gender and race, but also the frustrating issues that families might have to go though as well.

MEN IN YOUR LIFE
“…if a man gives you all of the very best he has to offer, all the time, what more could a woman want?”
That was a very strong way to end this narrative. I do feel that it was more of a romance narrative than Seventeen Syllables because it focused more upon women and men. My initial reaction when reading this was that the author was doing a lot of complaining. But then I looked at it again and thought that this was her telling Marge that she likes Eddie. Then looking at it from one more prospective was she just settling for Eddie because all other guys are bad? Basically, what I’m trying to say is that I do not think this story followed a typical romance narrative because they are more lovey dovey and usually have an ending where the man and woman life happily ever after and this, obviously, was not the case. That’s why I more or less came to the conclusion that the author was just settling for happiness with Eddie because they would have a story book marriage. But is that more important than finding/being with someone who truly makes you happy?

Romantic narratives for Tuesday

2007-07-23T21:50:00.000-05:00

Seventeen Syllables--Hisaye Yamamoto
-------------------------------------

I think it's easy to find the parts of this story that make it a romantic narrative. It even shows the sweet, light-hearted, all-is-wonderful sort of love along with its opposer. Rosie, the main girl, is obviously the portrayer of romantic love. She has a rather serious crush on Jesus. The story does a good job of creating that familure feeling when a new crush has been discovered. She sneaks away to see him, only to press her face to his for a moment, she has excellerated heart palvitations, she thinks about him all the time, even when working; these are all general ingrediets that together make a romance narrative. However, there's also the other side of love as seen in her mother's situation. The story ends with her mother forcing Rosie to promise to never marry. She does this because of her bad experience with marriage, something she used to keep her from killing herself. Obviously Rosie doesn't want to make that promise because she has found someone who, at the current moment, she could say forever with. That is another aspect of romance narraratives-battling external factors that are trying to keep one from loving or loving a specific person. It's the whole thing with 'love conquers all'. There can be no victory if there is no battle.

Men in Your Life--Alice Childress
----------------------------------

Well that was interesting. Not really what I was expecting and certainly atypical romance narrative. In my opinion, I wouldn't call that a romance narrative. This woman is just complaining about random things men do wrong in relationships and pretty much getting a load off her chest by ranting about men. It sounds to me like she's fed up with the men she's dated and has a lack of romance in her life. I guess that's all there is to say about that one. I laughed, though.

romantic love

2007-07-23T21:44:00.000-05:00

Men in Your Life.

I don't think this story really followed a romatic narrative as much as the author possibly intended. After reading it I focused on the negatives aspects of thier realtionships with men instead of the one positive with Eddie. It makes a difference in what the reader takes away from this story. It remined me of As Children Together because so many people took it differently, and I feel the same with happen with this story. In the text though, you do see other ways of being romantic without the stereotypical gestures such as flowers and an expensive dinner. The narrarator just enjoyed Eddies company.

Seventeen Syllables.

I think this story had a much stronger romantic narrative than Men in Your Life. It had a romance budding between Rosie and Jesus, as well as her mom and many other poets. Not to mention her love for poetry and between parent and daughter. I think love was the theme of the movie and so it was very important that that is what you take away from it. It shows love in all of its different stages. In the beginning with Rosie and Jesus and the parents. I really liked this story and related to a lot of the situations and relationships. The story was very relatable.

Romance Narratives?

2007-07-23T20:13:00.000-05:00

Seventeen Syllables is approaches the romantic narrative in several ways. The notion of the artist in love with their work is embodied in Rosie's mother. The relationship between Rosie and Jesus embodies young, or puppy, love. Rosie's mother and father's relationship shows a side of the romance narrative that is often forgotten or neglected - the result of the end of infatuation, and the frustration of complacency.

Men in Your Life isn't exactly a romance narrative in the traditional sense, but it takes up the question of what love means to a particular individual. I guess you could call it a variation on the romance narrative, but I don't think you could call it a romance narrative in a strict sense of the word.

I don't suppose it really makes a difference how a text approaches the idea of romance, because the idea of a romance narrative is pretty subjective. You can't really prefer include one definition of romance and exclude another, so the genre is acutally quite malleable.

Seventeen Syllables challenges one's perceptions that romantic love cannot occur between a person and an inanimate object or intangible idea. Men in Your Life offers a deductive method of determining your own definition of romantic love. Both of these observations could be considered alternate theories about romantic love.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

2007-07-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

Deciding on a romantic movie was so easy for me, because romantic comedies are easily my favorite. In How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Andie Anderson (played by Kate Hudson) is a writer for a popular women's magazine. For her current article she is researching the don'ts of dating in her "how to in reverse" experiment. To research her story, she begans to date a Ben Berry (played by Mathew McConaughey). As planned, she begans to create every common mistake made by women in relationships. Little does she know, but Ben is trying to win a bet devised at work over whether or not he can make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days. His prize if he does so is the control of a lucrative diamond account at his advertising agency.

My favorite scene is towards the end of the film when Ben takes Andie home to visit his family. They spend the day out on the pier riding Ben's motorcycle. In the background, Keith Urban's song, "Somebody like you" plays as they flirt playfully and Ben teaches Andie how to drive his bike. As corny as it sounds, I get chills everytime I watch this part of the movie. I love the chemistry between the characters and the playful way they interact. Although it is so stereotypical, I think that Ben teaching Andie on the bike is so romantic.

While watching the movie, it is very obvious that this is a turning point in the story. You began to feel that there is a genuine connection between the two characters and that Andie is falling in love with him.

Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind

2007-07-23T09:39:00.000-05:00

In this movie Joel (Jim Carey) finds out that his girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has had her memory erased of their relationship from her mind. He decided to contact the doctor who invented this and do it too, but as they are erasing his memory he learns how to control the memories of her and trys to hold on to them. He realizes how much he still loves her and it deals a lot with relationships after they have been together for a long time, after the beginning bliss stages. He thought he hated where they were but her realizes he misses her.
On of my favorite scenes in when they are playing on the frozen lake in Montag and they lay down to look at the stars and Joel says (something like this, I obviously dont remember exactly) "I could just die, i'm so happy." I really like that part because you really get that feeling that they're in that moment that we all have, when you think about how that moment is perfect and you dont want it to end because you know when it does there are so many other things you need to worry and think about. I also think it's romantic because it's not sexual at all. He is just happy holding her hand bundled up on the ice under the stars. This movie all around is full of scenes I love and I definitely recommend it!

Daddy's Lil' Girls

2007-07-23T09:35:00.000-05:00

The romance movie that I am using is called "Daddy's Little Girls" by Tyler Perry. It is about a man who is fighting for custody for his three daughters from their estranged mother. In the process he finds a stuck up woman who becomes his family lawyer and they ignite a flame between each other. This woman has the worst time finding a mate because her standards are too high and she think she is too good for anybody. There are two scenes that I feel show that this has a romantic plot to it. My favorite part is when he takes the lawyer "Julia" out for her birthday which she truly does not acknowledge. He loosens her up to have a good time and she does but while she is drunk she tells him how she feels. Another part that ties into this is when Julia comes over his house to meet his daughters and after their meal they talk about how they are feeling one another. I think those parts in the movie makes it a romantic movie. This is different from other movies because the romantic plot is not the main part of the movie. It shows a positive African American man who is trying to do all of the right things.

Sweet Home Alabama

2007-07-23T08:59:00.001-05:00

I love this movie because it does have a romantic plotline but it isn't that sappy. Reese Witherspoone plays Melanie Smooter who actually goes by the name Melanie Carmichael. She was born and raised in Alabama in a small town and she was known as a wild trouble maker. She left Alabama and moved to New York where she became a designer and a successful one at that. WE are introduce to her in the beginning getting engaged to the mayor of New York's son. however, she can not get married until her divorce goes through with her ex. An ex that know one, except her alabama friends and family whom she hasn't seen in 7 years, knows about. She changed her identity and she pretended to be a completey different person than a Southern tomboy.
She is forced to go back to her home town and see her parents, friends and ex-husband Jake, that she is still married too. She goes to get him to sign the divorce papers, but he continues to refuse or avoid it until they are in an all out war with eachother. We then find out that she left jake after having a miscarriage. She had gotten pregnant in highschool and they got married. After she lost the baby she left jake and her past behind. The problem is, Jake never stopped loving her and in the beginning of the movie we are shown two little kids on the beach in the rain and it is Jake and Melanie. Jake is telling Melanie that he is going to marry her some day. It is a very cute seen that is repeated again at the end of the movie when Jake and Melanie are all grown up. S
She finally finds herself again by going back to her roots. She also discovers she still loves Jake and she was running away from not only her identity but her true love as well.
I feel that this movie shows what true love really is. It is not about getting along all the time and everything being perfect. It is about pushing eachother to be better people and not letting eachother get by with anything that they shouldn't. Jake and melanie do this and it is their butting of heads that actuallly makes them good for eachother. This movie is different than most romantic movies because it shows the finding of love again and examines the meaning of what it is like to lose yourself in a world you created. I love this movie. i love how Reese witherspoone plays a spunky women who does not take anything from anybody. She portrays a strong woman.

"A Patch of Blue"

2007-07-23T08:21:00.000-05:00

"A Patch of Blue," starring Sidney Poitier and Elizabeth Hartman, depicts the budding relationship of Selina D'Arcey and Gordon Ralfe. As the story progresses, Gordon broadens Selina's view of the world and she begins to understand that there could be more for her than just the shambling apartment she shares with her lush of a grandfather and abusive mother. Gordon also realizes that many small freedoms he has taken for granted are denied others for reasons beyond skin. My favorite scene is when Gordon and Selina visit the supermarket together. Ignoring conventions, they eagerly pursue their errand and it becomes an amusing excursion for the both of them

The Notebook

2007-07-23T08:03:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite romance stories is the movie The Notebook. In this movie, set in the 1950's, two high schoolers from two very different backgrounds find summer love in each other. Once summer ends, Allie's parents make her move away because they disapprove of the romance. Noah writes her letters everyday, but her mother makes sure she never gets them. Allie finally moves on and becomes engaged but knows she still has feelings for Noah. She decides to go visit him so she can move on and be happy with her soon-to-be husband. Once there, Noah and Allie fall back into love and realize that they cannot live without each other. She ends up leaving her fiance for Noah.

One of my favorite parts in the movie is when Allie wakes up and looks next to her, expecting to find Noah. Instead she finds a note that says he went for breakfast and to follow the rose petals. These petals lead all the way to a special room he made for her. It is a room for her to paint in that over looks the river, something she had said she wanted when they were 17. I love this scene because it really shows his love for her. After all this time he still has not moved on and he remembers everything she had wanted. Most guys cannot even remember your birthday, let alone something you asked for in passing five years ago. I think this plotline is very similar to many romantic movies except for the fact that it begins and ends with Noah and Allie as adults, and then looks back on the relationship through a story they wrote about it. I find that very interesting.

movie blog: Almost Famous

2007-07-22T23:45:00.000-05:00

*WARNING: SPOILERS IN FIRST PARAGRAPH, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE*

Almost Famous is so well-written, that each time I watch it, I hate to see the movie end. A high school kid named William, by leaving out a few important details, gets an opportunity to write an article for Rolling Stone. His assignment is to interview Black Sabbath, but he ends up interviewing Stillwater, and up and coming band opening for Sabbath. The band takes a liking to him, and invites him to go on tour with them. He meets a groupie named Penny Lane, and is immediately captivated by her. However, her current love is Russell Hammond, the group's lead singer. William and Penny Lane grow closer as the tour progresses, even though she is still sleeping with Russell and various other musicians. When Russell's girlfriend joins the tour, Penny Lane becomes severely depressed. She tries to overdose on sleeping pills in a hotel room, but William chases after her and saves her life. They never really end up being together, but they both realize that after the music stops playing, you still need someone to love. Meanwhile, an angry Rusell learns that William is planning to include everything that went on during the tour, in his article to Rolling Stone. He contacts Rolling Stone, and tells them that William's article is filled with lies. He tries to contact Penny Lane, and she agrees to see him. After giving him William's address, he arrives unsuspectingly at his front door. After reconsidering his behavior, he lets Rolling Stone print William's article.

I picked this movie because of the multiple definitions of romance at work in the plotline. Both William and Penny Lane have a love affair with music, and perhaps love music more than people. Penny Lane never really loved Russell; she was in love with the rock and roll lifestyle he represented. The only true romantic relationship in the flim was between William and Penny Lane. The members of the band, William, and Penny are all experiencing a romantic attachment to the rock and roll lifestyle, and by extension, each other.

Boiled down to the nuts and bolts of the plotline, Almost Famous is a somewhat traditional romance. There is the heroine, the knight in shining armor, and the villain that gets in the way. Yet it also represents a very non-traditional idea of romance, because music itself is the center of romantic focus. All relationships are secondary to the love of the music. This film explores how music can essentially create relationships, and how people can simultaneously destroy each other.

Love Actually

2007-07-22T22:48:00.000-05:00

This is one of those movies that I can watch over and over again and never get tired of it. I'm typically not one for sappy movies but do love a good love story which is probably why I've watched this movie several times and surely watch it again. The movie tells multiple love stories from the good beautiful aspects of love to the heart-renching, painful parts of it. Along with the love stories, the movie is set around Christmas time, which is, of course, romantic in itself. It brings tears, smiles, laughs, and sighs. I wouldn't say this is my FAVORITE but definitly sets in the top 5 list. It has an amazing cast, is genuine, personal, and captivating. I think this one is a bit different because it covers multiple aspects of different love stories instead of just focusing on one. It's theme is really about love, how we all need love regardless of location, gender, occupation, sexual orientation, age, etc. It really focuses on the beauty of love and how it's all around us and can be found in different people in different ways. WATCH IT! Then watch it again! It's amazing!!!! It's not one that makes you want to go find your significant other specifically but one that makes you want to tell everyone close to you how much you love them. It's great.

King Kong

2007-07-22T22:22:00.001-05:00

The remake of King Kong shows a romantic relationship between a woman and a giant ape. It is not necesarily a traditionaly romantic film becasue a sexual relationship and marriage etc., the goal of most human relationships. The film begins with a native tribe on a mysterious island saccrificing the young Anne Darrow to the beast Kong. He snatches her and falls immediately in love with her. Thoughout their relationship on the island, Kong saves her from the dinosaurs and the men. Ann realizes the beasts compassion, though she is scared of her situation. She is glad to see the 'hero' of the story (Adrian Brody) when he comes to save her, he has also falled in love with Ann. However, when she realizes the plot of the men is to attack Kong and render him unconscious in order to take him back to america, she looks into his evey and crys out for him. The scene that is most telling of the romance between the woman and the ape it at the end when Kong goes looking for Ann. He sees many women who look like her, but he knows it isnt her. Ann runs through New York city to find Kong and when he goes to defend her and himself from the troops, she cannot let him leave her in a safe place and climbs the Empire State building to be with Kong. This film is different from others becasue of the impossible and terrifying nature of the romance, however it follows a romantic plot line similar to other movies.

Romantic Movie: Hitch, Due 7/23/07

2007-07-22T13:55:00.000-05:00

The movie I chose for this assignment was Hitch. It's a romantic comedy that has the ability to make you laugh or cry. I chose this movie because it seemed like it dealt with relationships in a different way than most. The tagline of the movie is "Hitch: The cure for the common man." The premise of the movie is that there is a man named Hitch who is a dating doctor. He can help any man obtain any woman that he chooses but ironically can't help himself. One of my favorite scenes of the movie was where Sara, who is played by Eva Mendes, invites Hitch to a fish eating event. Because Hitch is trying to impress Sara, he continues to eat the fish even though he is allergic to it. As the night progresses, Hitch's face swells to the size of a balloon. Sara takes him to a pharmacy to get allergy medication. The night ends as Hitch (drunkenly) and Sara take a romantic walk through the park. Back at Sara's place, they share a little bit of conversation before they separately go off to bed.
I think this plotline is different from others because of the way things disasterously work out for Hitch. Usually, the man in movie, always tried to impress the lady, and in my opinion, most of the time it works. For most of Hitch and Sara's relationship, it was just disaster after disaster, untill when it really mattered the most. Hitch told Sara that even though he might mess up all the time, he couldn't bear to lose her.

Sula part duex

2007-07-19T12:33:00.000-05:00

After finishing the book, I was able to reflect on it and find a few different themes and even sub themes. There was obviously a theme of death throughout the book and even ended with the main character, Sula dying. I think this has a meaning that's deeper than surface level. I think it says a lot about the lives they led and the struggles they all faced. Moreso, there are subthemes such as a connectedness. The book opens with Shadrack then we don't see him again until the last chapter which brings the story full cirlce. On that topic, my first passage I've chosen is the last line of the book which reads, "It was a fine cry--loud and long--but it had not bottom and it had not top just circles and circles of sorrow." (174) The quote, circles and circles, I feel is very symbolic of the book. Each person in this town had such a strong impact on each other and what one did affected the others dramatically. It reminds me of a pond when something small is dropped in and the ripples span out from the center, each getting bigger and each being created by the previous one. Even with characters that came across to us as being independent were strongle affected by those around them.

Secondly, I've also chosen the passage from page 131. I'm not going to type it because it's a half of a page long. It's the scene where Sula is looking the the mirror, tracing lines on her face. She puts a ribbon in her hair which is out of Sula's character. This scene shows a moment of weakness from a woman that has previously shown to be shamless and disreguarding of other's judgements and thoughts. She shows a very vulerable, soft side of herself and I, as a reader, felt like I was seeing something I wasn't supposed to. It's a moment, that I feel like, she is almost realizing that she may not be the person she WANTS to be or has put her self up to be in the preceeding time. We have seen her softer side before like when she over hears her mom saying that she loves Sula but doesn't like her, but not like this. What upsets me the most is that it wasn't family or friends that makes her reach this moment of weakness and complete honesty but a man. I think that says something and opens up discussion on women's issues.

Sula #2

2007-07-19T09:27:00.000-05:00

The first passage from Sula that I would like to comment on is: "Here she is in the midst of it, hating it, scared of it, and again she thought of Sula as though they are still friends and talked things over. That was too much. To lose Jude and not have Sula to talk to about it because it was Sula that he had left her for. My reaction is that I feel that Nel is hurt and the only friend that she could count on in times of need caused her pain. When Nel gave the thought of going to her ex-friend to be consoled she had forgot that it was this friend that caused it. This relates to the other passages in this book because it shows the girls true relationship. That even though they grew apart for awhile Sula was the first person that Nel needed for comfort. Some themes are about the women in Sula's life and the way they were with men, and the fact that Sula grew to be just like her mother who she despised.

The second passage that I had a strong reaction to was: "Although you could never tell. She wondered for an instant what Nellie wanted; why she had come. Did she want to gloat? Make up?" My reaction to this is that Sula is acting very ungrateful because Nel is being a good person to come help even though Sula had betrayed her. I am surprised that Nel would actually started talking to her again, but I feel that this is significant for toward the rest of the book. This relates to other passages because again it shows the true nature of their bond. Nel had become like all those other women and shut Sula out but when Sula needed help Nel came to her rescue. Thats how their relationship is to me throughout the whole book.

Roses to rattlesnakes

2007-07-19T09:25:00.000-05:00

"And the other one, the one with the scary black thing over her eye, laughing softly and egging their mother on.... this slight woman, not exactly plain, but not fine either, with a copperhead over her eye.... that her wide smile took some of the sting from that rattlesnake over her eye."

Earlier in the story, Sula's birthmark was referred to as a budding rose or a rose and stem, all suitable analogies in view of her age and physical growth. As a young girl, she was like a blossoming flower, which adheres to the common stereotype likening women to flowers; however, it should be noted that she was likened to a rose with its stem that bore thorns. It could be thought that whatever viciousness that was within Sula to give her thorns as a child flourished wholly once she left since the mark is scary and serpentine upon her return to Medallion. As the imagery changed, I noted the shift and my apathy toward Sula's character changed to fearful apprehension. She was no longer a child victim of the oddities around her, but a woman instigating unrest. With the rose above her eye, she is mere witness to her mother's death. With a snake, a scary black thing, above her eye, she is the render of kin, destroying Nel's marriage and unconsciously prompting Jude to abandon his children. The birthmark is definitely a symbol of Sula's identity. In fact, it is one of the first things mentioned about her in the book and one is given the sense of its impending darkness. If only I had recognized that as a foreshadowing of her character, I would have anticipated her wicked ways.

"Of the few who were not afraid to witness the burial of a witch and who had gone to the cemetery, some had come just to verify her being put away but stayed to sing "Shall We Gather at the River" for politeness' sake, quite unaware of the bleak promise of their song."

"You reap what you sow." I feel nothing of surprise, only justice. It causes me to wonder if that means I am already a bitter woman. Not truly a witch, the anger and evil ways of Sula mark her a witch. All her bold declarations of hell and awaiting it reiterate the idea, a witch being one allied with the Devil. The song seems to reflect her first dark act, the death of Chicken Little, whose funeral was attended by mourners that truly seemed to care for him in contrast to the anxious spectators of Sula's funeral. It seems death is also the reflection of identity and the way others reflect upon oneself as seen in these two funerals.

Sula the second half

2007-07-19T08:45:00.000-05:00

"In spite of their fear, they reacted to an oppressive oddity, or what they called evil days, with an acceptance that bordered on welcome. Such evil must be avoided, they felt, and precautions must naturally be taken to protect themselves from it. but they let it run its course, fullfill itself, and never invented ways either to alter it, to annihilate it or to prevent its happening again. So also were they with people."

This passage in the first part of the second half of the book is talking about the arrival of the birds and Sula. It seems to connect the "plague" of the birds with evil which then suggest that Sula herself brought the birds with her return after being gone for ten years. She seems to be the "people" that this passage refers to. Evil seems to be a big issue; especially in the second part of the book and Sula is the one who is deemed evil by the towns people. In many ways she acts according to her whim and her actions could be considered evil. Such as sleeping with Nell's husband. But their are many places throughout the book where evil takes place but is less emphasized. For instance, Eva burns her own son. She thinks she is doing it out of love but to most normal people that could be seen as evil. Sula's mother Hannah sleeps with all types of men even if they are married and that could be seen as evil to most people, but isn't given as much attention. However, sula is deemed evil because she watched her mother burn, watched when chicken drowned, put her grandmother in a nursing home and slept with her friends husband. All of those things are bad, but she never actually lit someone on fire and her mother slept wiht more married men then she did. So it is interesting to me how evil seems to be defined in the story.

"So he had said "always", so she would not have to be afraid fo the change-teh falling away of skin, the drip and slide of blood, andthe exposure of bone underneath. He had said 'always' to convince her, assure her, of permanancy."

I found this passage interesting because it is answering the question most of us had when reading the first part of the book which is "what did Shadrack mean when he told Sula always"? I feel like Shadrack was trying to sooth Sula becaue she had seen death for the first time. She seemed to be afraid not for being caught not doing anything to save chicken, but afraid of death herself. Shadrack seems to mean "permanancy" as a way of saying immortality. However antoher way to interpret it would be that we are always afraid of death. It is a permanent fear in the minds of all humans. Maybe this is a wrong way to read it but later on down the page he speaks of seein Sula dead and says "so he had been wrong. Terribly wrong. No 'always' at all. Another dying away of someone whose face we knew." it seems to mean that he was wrong about always fearing death. he sees Sula dead and realizes you can't fear death when you're dead and maybe death isn't always such a fearful thing. Maybe that is why he felt national suicide day was no longer important.

Sula part 2

2007-07-19T07:49:00.000-05:00

There were so many powerful passages in this second half that it was hard to choose two to write about. However, The paragraph on page 105 beginning, "But they had been..." and ending "when my mother turned to custard". I really thought this passage stood out becasue it is a climax in the story when Sula sleeps with Jude and Nel finds out. This is really the end of their friendship in Nel's eyes, but she doesn't express anger really, just reverst back to negative experiences from her childhood. I think it is safe to say that Nel is not fully realizing the extent of the situation and she is dissociating to keep herself from going crazy. I liked the way the passage was addressed to Jude and then at the very end we come to understand that the pain that came at this moment was not about Jude, but about Sula.

I also liked the entire section on page 135 when Sula discovers that she never really knew Ajax's name. This is provoking becasue it is a connection that Sula had put so much energy to and she really alomost loved Ajax, when she discovered this and felt betrayed. I think this ties back to the part in the first half when she overhears that her mother doesn't like her. It reminds her that she doesn't want to trust or rely on enyone except herself and I thik it sadly changes her character again in a negative way.

Both of these passages contain images and events that affect the two women in powerful ways and since they echo the past so closely, I think that the readers can really understand how the events in their past caused them to separate abd become who they are when they finally meet again at the end.

Sula Pt 2

2007-07-19T07:48:00.000-05:00

"Nibbling at each other, not even touching, not even looking at each other, just their lips, and when I opened the door they didn't even look for a minute" (105). This image really stuck out to me because of how sexual it was. They were not in love, yet they broke a marriage and a happy home because of a lust they felt for each other. This is obvious because it states that they were not even looking at each other. This just shows the unattachment to the other yet there was something there that was enough to break up a happy home. That is devastating to me.

"A crease of fear touched her breast, for any second there was sure to be a violent explosion in her brain, a gasping for breath."
"Sula felt her face smiling. "Well, I'll be damned... it didn't even hurt. Wait'll I tell Nel.""
This image really stuck out to me because of how beautifully I thought it described death. Most people fear death and think of it as a very scary situation. however, this was not the image Morrison portrayed, and for that reason it really stood out to me. Also, Sula's last words really stuck with me. After all they had been through, she still wanted to tell her best friend what she now knew. This is important because it really shows the strength of women's relationships.

Sula: Part 2, Due 7/19/07

2007-07-19T00:17:00.000-05:00

“Hunched down in the small bright room Nel waited. Waited for the oldest cry. A scream not for others, not in sympathy for a burnt child, or a dead father, but a deeply personal cry for one’s own pain. A loud, strident: “Why me?” – Page 108

This quote really stuck with me because I think it is something everyone can relate to. Everyone has had a friend stab you in the back or a boyfriend break up with you. It really hurts. You just want to cry and scream “Why me”? So many things run through your head and you don’t understand what you did to deserve such emotional pain. I think this passage had amazing imagery and really showed how Nel was feeling. I think the author did a wonderful job expressing the feelings of the character and actually showing her readers how she was feeling. What made things even worse for her is that Sula was the cause of this pain, her best friend, the person she care about more than anyone, caused her to feel this terrible way. This would make the pain twice as bad.

“What do you mean take him away? I didn’t kill him, I just fucked him. If we were such good friends, how come you couldn’t get over it?” -Page 145
“You lay there in that bed without a dime or a friend to your name having done all the dirt you did in this town and you still expect folks to love you?” -Page 145
“Goodbye, Sula. I don’t reckon I’ll be back” – 146

These quotes are very monumental to the book because Nel is finally sticking up for herself. She’s trying to explain to Sula how she feels and Sula is being completely heartless. She truly doesn’t feel that she did anything wrong and that it is Nel’s fault for not caring enough to stay friends with her. This is when you truly see the person that Sula really is.
This is the complete opposite of how I thought the book would end. I honestly thought that Sula would apologize to Nel and tell her how much she regrets not being a good friend, etc. However, this truly was the turning point of the book. This is when Nel finally realized that it was time to let go of Sula, to be done with her. She finally realized that she was better off without her.

Sula (second half)

2007-07-18T22:04:00.000-05:00

"I am just standing here. They are not doing that. I am just standing here and seeing it, but they are not really doing it."

This line reminded me of an earlier scene when Nel saw Sula throw Chicken Little in the water and didn't do anything about it. She thinks this scene is such a horrific sight that it can't actually be taking place before her eyes. I just really like the way she describes seeing something that hurts so badely to see. It definitly reenforces how passive she it, how passive most women are at the time actually, except for Sula.

"You laying there in that bed without a dime or a friend to your name having done all the dirt you did in this town and you still expect folks to love you?"

I liked this line because it's the first time Nel has spoken back to Sula. Before this she looked up to Sula so much and even after Jude left thought it was Sula who she missed. I'm glad she finally spoke up. I feel like this what a sort of turning point for her, she really became her own woman and let go of Sula.

Sula Pt 1

2007-07-18T21:42:00.000-05:00

The first passage that stood out to me was "he opened his eyes and saw what he imagined was the great wing of an eagle pouring a wet lightness over him." (47). This was so powerful to me because his mother was pouring kerosene on him to kill him, yet he felt so tranquil because he did not know this. I know it is odd to say, but that is always how I hoped to die. At peace and not in pain. Because of this I was drawn to this description. Also, I cannot imagine what his mother was going through when she made the decision to kill her own son. My own brother was a drug addict and it was so painful for my mother to watch him sink lower and lower. I believe this is exactly how Eva felt.

Another passage that caught my attention was "When a woman approached, the older men tipped their hats; the younger open and closed their thighs. But all of them, whatever their age, watched her retreating view with interest." (49). This was interesting to me because it made me think of the theme we talked about the first week of class that women are always being watched. This definitely is another example of that. I also found it interesting the different reactions of men. The older men only tipped their hats, but the younger almost seemed to be unable to hold their sexual attraction for women in by moving their legs back and forth. I found this very interesting.

Sula - Part One

2007-07-18T10:10:00.000-05:00

While I think the story was slow in its start, the more I read the more hooked I became on the story and ended up reading up reading well into the morning hours.
Here are two passages that caught my attention:

"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. Smiling dazzlingly and conquettishly at the salmon-colored face of the conductor." (pg. 21)

I thought this passage really created a good image in my mind. I imagined Helene as a woman of pride, refusing to be shamed by the "salmon-colored" conductor. I really liked this passage because I think Helene is setting a good example for Nel, keeping her head held high while everyone on the train was trying to belittle her.

"She [Eva] remembered something else too, and try as she might to deny it, she knew that as she lay on the ground trying to drag herself through the sweet peas and clover to get to Hannah, she had seen Sula standing on the back porch just looking. When Eva, who was never one to hide the faults of her children, mentioned what she'd thought she'd seen to a few friends, they said it was natural. Sula was probably struck dumb, as anybody would be who saw her own mamma burn up. Eva said yes, but inside disagreed and remained convinced that Sula had watched Hannah burn not because she was paralyzed, but because she was interested." (pg.78)

I was so riveted throughout this entire section (1923). I was glued to the story at this point. Although the story has already established Sula as curious by nature, this passage reveals that Sula's curiousity isn't as innocent as originally believed. I also think that this passage is a foreshadowing of a lack of trust between the granddaughter and grandmother. After this event, Eva relationship with Sula is forever changed. As I read this passage, I was in shock. It appalls me that a girl would let her curiosity take precedent over her mother's life. My opinion of Sula changes drastically at this point in the story, as now I start to recognize the cold side of her personality.

Sula

2007-07-17T19:46:00.000-05:00

The first passage I've chosen to write about can be found on page 40. It reads, "Hannah worried about him a little, but only a very little. For it soon became clear that he simply wanted a place to die privately but not quite alone. No one thought of suggesting to him that he pull himself together or see a doctor or anything. Even the women at prayer meeting who cried when he sang "In the Sweet By-and-By" never tired to get him to participate in the church activities. They just listened to him sing. wept and thought very graphically of their own imminent deaths."

This excerpt stood out to me because I think it's a universal feeling that we share when close ones are in need of help or attention. It's applicable to me as the reader as well as others around me. I think that when others are in such a state that he is others tend to loose hope or take on an "oh well" mentality. It's rare to find someone that cares more about that other person's well-being enough to loose interest in themself. However, in this case there was no one like that to pull him out of this state, not even to suggest that he see a doctor or to take on the sober battle themself. In fact, people around him showed such selfishness that they began imagining their own deaths due to his situation, they turned the attention back on themselves. So far I see a running theme of death and selfishness in the novel and I hope things become more positive in the second half. Now, the argument can be made that it says he wanted to die privately but not quite alone so the women were providing him with his wishes. I beg to differ; concidering the community he is in, which is small and tight-nit, I think it's fair to assume that regardless of his habits, he cares about the people around him and wants them near him but lacks the ability to show that or ask for it. I think this also displays another theme in the book which is a lack of personal responsiblity. I would argue that the people around him, that see him like that, need to take responsiblity to help him instead of waiting for him to ask.

The next excerpt I've chosen is from a scene that takes place on pages 68-69 where Hannah is talking to her mom, Eva.
"'I'm talkin' 'bout 18 and 95 when I set in that house five days iwth you and Pearl and Plum and three beets, you snake-eyed ungrateful hussy. What would I look like leapin' 'round that little old room playin' with youngins with three beets to my name?"'

This is Eva's response to Hannah's question, asking if Eva ever played with her children. Eva also makes the point that just because things are good now doesn't mean they've always been good. I think this is so true and something that many of us tend to forget. I know that I forget what my parents have done and gone through to get to where they are now and while things are good now and we are finincailly and emotionally stable, it's been a fight to get here. Even though Hannah says yes, she knows about the beets it's much different to hear stories and know them than it is to have lived it. We so often take things for grandit and don't realize how others had to struggle so that we can reep the benifits. This is a true moment of children's innosence. Also, this shows the difference between the two in what they value, Eva values hard work and apprication while Hannah values time together and love.

Sula

2007-07-17T09:24:00.000-05:00

The first passage that I had a reaction to was on pg. 46-47: "She sat down and gathered Plum into her arms. She rolled a bit of newspaper into a tight stick about six inches long, lit it and threw it into the bed where the kerosene-soaked Plum lay in a snug delight. My reaction to this was that I thought this woman was crazy. Thoughts were running through mind trying to figure out why she we set her own son on fire. I was astonished at the thought of someone doing this. This passage relates to another Toni Morrison novel "Beloved", when the main character tried to kill her children. The woman tried to kill her children because she wanted to protect and prevent them from being sold into slavery. "Beloved" relates to "Sula" because it seems that these women would kill their children to protect them. That why I came to the conclusion that Eva was setting Plum on fire because she felt that she had to save him from himself. I felt that she was hurt in doing this because she wanted to hold her son to let him know she loves him.

The second passage that I had a reaction to was: "Because each had discovered years before they were neither white nor male, and that all freedom and triumph was forbidden to them, they had set a bout creating something else to be. I feel that my reaction to this is that being oppressed is a good reason for people to come together to form bonds. As troubled little girls Nel and Sula needed to have that friendship to get through rough times and it makes me feel relieved. This passage reminds me of the movie "The Color Purple," because two sisters who were kept away from each other their bond never diminished. The relationship between Nettie and Cely kept Cely strong form the reality of being abused by her older husband. When the girls are together they ignore everything around them because it does not matter as long as they have each other. This relates to Sula, because The color Purple shows the bond between sisters even through oppression. These two stories are similar in the way the girls handle the situations they are in.

Sula (first half)

2007-07-17T09:13:00.000-05:00

"As Reverend Deal moved into his sermon, the hands of the women unfolded like pairs of raven's wings and flew high above their hats in the air. They did not hear all of what he said; they heard the one word, or phrase, or inflection that was for them the connection between the event and themselves."
I really like this line because it reminded me of a negative and positive way i've always thought people have dealt with the idea of church. I've been going to church since before I can even remember and since i've grown i've been able to make the decision as to whether or not I want to go, as opposed to my dad making me, and I still choose to attend. However I've had many many conversations with people who either don't believe in the church and over again I hear the argument 'just take what you need from the sermon and learn from it.' or things along those lines in which you just choose the part of religion you want to follow and ignore the rest. Anyone who has been a Christian or even gone to church for an extended period of time knows that this is a common mistake amongst believers, they do what fits into their lives and ignore the parts that make it hard. This passage reminds me of that idea. On the positive side it reminds me of people who do get the whole picture and know once they decide to practice this it's all or nothing and how sometimes in a sermon there is one line, as in literature, that stands out to you and really touches you the most.

"Nel sat on the red-velvet sofa listening to her mother but remembering the smell and the tight, tight hug of the woman in the yellow who rubbed burned matches over her eyes"

I really related to this line because it reminds me so much of me. I remember growing up once a week changing my mind about the group I wanted to fit in with. Half my friends were in bands and one week i'd think 'yeah! I want to be in a band, I love music' and then the next week i'd hang out with my girlfriends and my girliest side would come out and i'd think I only ever want to wear dresses ever again and smell pretty too! It's funny when you're young the images create in your mind of types of people based on they way they dress and how they carry themselves. I thought I could only be one or the other, a hip band mate or a pretty little girl. It just really made me laugh thinking about that awkward time! It also reminded me of "When I was growing up" because of the good image she has in her head about blond white girls and the way this girl inspires to be as womanly as her grandmother not knowing the downfalls of it yet.

Sula part 1

2007-07-17T09:04:00.000-05:00

"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...Thus reassured that the white, the red adn the brown would stay where they were- would not explode or burst forth from their restricted zones..."(page 8).

this passage in the first part of "Sula" stood out to me because it reminded and insinuated the idea of segregation. How all things or people that are different neeed to be kept apart from eachother inorder for their to be some sort of peace. However, as most would know, this is not right. it is the chaos the differences that each thing or group has that when mixed together can create a great deal of diversity and new and interesting things and ideas. It reminded me of many other things i have read about slavery or the Harlem Rennasance(?), where the main idea is that different is bad and it can't be mixed together witih other types of people. That is why Harlem eventually turned into a run down part of New York. the white people who lived there moved out when the black artist of the time began moving in from all parts of the country and the world.

"Hannah exasperated the women in the town-the "good" women, who said, ' One thing I can't stand is a nasty woman'; the whores, who were hard put to find trade among black men anyway and who resented Hanah's generosity; the middling women, who had both husbands and affairs, because Hannah seemed too unlike them, having no passion attached to her relationships and being wholly incapable of jealousy. Hannah's friendships with women were, of course seldom and short lived..."

This passage in the first part of Sula stood out to me because it seems to catergorize women. There are the married "good" women, the prostitutes who aren't married and the married women who are bad because they cheat on their husbands. Hannah doesn't fit into any of these catergories and i find it interesting. it is just like the passage about shadrack and everything needing thier assigned place. Well here, it seems that women need their assigned position or label in society and when you fit none of those labels then you are really and outcast and different. you are alone. i also thought it was interesting because it talks about teh roles women are expected to play and how you can only be considered good if you are a faithfully married woman. this goes along with soem of our readings such as "why i want a wife". It emphasizes what women should do iin order to be considered "good". if you are not this, then you are bad or not fitting the norm of society.

Sula- first half

2007-07-17T07:43:00.000-05:00

The first passage that I really liked and felt a connection to was on page 12. Morrison is describing hte life of Shadrack and the state he is in when he is released from the hospital.
She writes, "...the fact that he didnt even know who or what he was...with no past, no language, no tribe, no source, no address book, no comb, no pencil, no clock, no pocket hankerchif, no rug, no bed, no can opener, no faded postcard, no soap, no key, no tobacco pouch, no soiled underwear and nothing nothing nothing to do..."
I was drawn to this paragraph becasue it is highlighting things about his life that might be important (things inthe form of objects) but he does not have them. It was interesting to me to see the choice of objects that one might have that would have possible made Shadrack better off. The text that this reminds me of very much is "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brian. This was originally a short story that he expanded to a novel and it lists in a manner like in this passage all of the things that soldiers carried with them. For these men, their stuff was what differentiated them from eachother and told the reader of their pasts and the lives that they were missing to serve their coutnry. Morrison takes a twist of this though, because instead of connecting Shadrack to a place through these things on his person, he is without them and she uses the list in a very powerful way to tell the reader to what extent he is lost.

The second part of the reading I encountered and responded to is the entire last paragraph on p. 29 beginning "When Sula first visited the Wright house..." This passage reminded me of our conversation yesterday relating to the poem "As Children Together". The passage is divided in two between Sula's response to Nel's clean and more upsacle house and Nel's preference for Sula's "wolly house". I think that this is always true about people, especially when they are growing up. I remember that I would have much rather played over at my friends house than my own and my friends felt the same way. Each place and mother had different attributes that we envied by those who were not already used to them. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fense. This reminded me of yesterday's discussion because it is a snapshot of what the girls in the poem might have thought or said at one point when they were younger. I think that we will have to keep the poem in mind as we see how Nel and Sula grow up and respond to eachother as women.

Sula, pt. 1

2007-07-17T02:42:00.000-05:00

"All the while Helene and Nel watched her. The one in a rage at the folded leaves she had endured, the wooden benches she had slept on, all to miss seeing her grandmother and seeing instead that painted canary who never said a word of greeting or affection or. . ."

This passage easily evokes feelings of sympathetic irritation. While the exact circumstances may not be common, surely many people have experienced the desecration of something personally sacred. It is not always death or related to religion as we place value on objects, events, and ideals, developing a similar perception. For instance, small children often develop attachments to specific toys (all toys, in a worst case scenario) and grow jealous or even violent if another child attempts to play with these. If the child is forced to share, they will try to minimize this infringement by dictating how the toy should be used. My sister will attest that I once felt this way about Barbie and supervised play fastidiously in my zeal. With the notion of controlling the situation in mind, I wonder if Helene would have felt differently had her mother appeared in proper mourning garb and hadn't been so concerned with her appearance.

"Old people were dancing with little children. Young boys with their sisters, and the church women who frowned on any bodily expression of joy (except when the hand of God commanded it) tapped their feet."

This passage evokes feelings of nostalgia and amusement within me. Because my family reunions are very similar, I can easily relate. I've had my toes trodden upon by little girls eager to dance and kept my aging great aunts company as they were unable (or unwilling) to join the more active of the festivities. In relation to Sula, it just seems as though things do not change all that much. The communal dynamic of a small town is almost steadfast across time and continues to unite generations and cultures again and again.

Sula Blog: Due 7/17/07

2007-07-17T01:58:00.000-05:00

There are two particular quotes that I found in the first half of the book that really caught my eye.

The first one is found in section 1920 on page 24. “She looked around for the other women 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 Ellisvile, again in Hattiesburg and by the time they reached Slidell, not to 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.”

The reason this quote affected me so much is because it seems so real, and at the time. It was. There was so much racism going on in our world at this time. It just really made me think about how far we have really come as a country. Although I can’t think of one right now, but I only believe that I can compare this to other books I have read focused on racism. It would be impossible to compare this to something that happened in my life because this kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore. There are now black doctors and nurses, black executives, etc. I am so glad that I will never know how African Americans truly were treated. It’s cruel and not human. You would never hear of something like that going on this time and while reading this, I honestly found myself thanking God for letting me live in a time where all this is past, where people are created equally. There will always be some racist people in our world, but these people are immature and need to grow up. This is definitely something I feel very strongly about and it interests me a lot.

The second quote that caught my eye right away was in section 1922, on page 53. “Their friendship was as intense as it was sudden. They found relief in each other’s personality. Although both were unshaped, formless things, Nel seemed stronger and more consistent than Sula, who could hardly be counted on to sustain any emotion for more than three minutes.”

This quote is obviously about friendship- a very strong friendship. It kind of reminds me of the friendship that I have with my best friend, Kathleen. Kathleen and I luckily don’t have to cope with the problems that these girls did. But if we ever had to, I feel confident that Kat and I would be about to get through it together. Besides my family, no one in the world compares to that girl. And to me, this quote exemplifies that kind of friendship. This book has definitely made me appreciate the things I have more than I have been. I guess what I am trying to say is that when it comes down to it, a true friend will be there for you no matter what, through good and bad. They will help you work out your problems and be there for you no matter what- whether it is something as big as racism in the early 1900’s or something petty like make up, hair, nails, etc.. And when you’re acting petty, they’ll be there to give you a kick in the butt and say “What the heck are you thinking!”

I’ve said it above, but I feel the need to say it again. In just one day of reading this book, it has made me appreciate the things I have to much more- even the little things. These things are leisures that we might not have forever. So appreciate them. Cherish them.

Sula: part II

2007-07-16T23:25:00.000-05:00

"The black people, for all their new look, seemed awfully anxious to get to the valley, or leave town, and abandon the hills to whoever was interested. It was sad, because the Bottom had been a real place. These young ones kept talking about the community, but they left the hills to the poor, the old, the stubborn – and the rich white folks. Maybe it hadn’t been a community, but it had been a place. Now there weren’t any places left, just separate houses with separate televisions and separate telephones and less and less dropping by."

To me, this passage symbolizes Nel and Sula’s eventual drift apart. It explains how two parts of one self came to be separated by the passage of time. They remain friends in a particular place in time, just as the Bottom remains a community in a fragment of time. Their drift apart parallels their community’s disintegration. In a larger sense, Morrison appears to be highlighting one of the flaws of the postmodern society – isolation. While early 20th century communities were far from perfect, there was a sense of solidarity. Each had their own idiosyncrasies, in contrast to the faceless metropolises that dot the American landscape today.

This passage adds to the mythological quality of Morrison’s work. It seems the reader is always examining closely, yet is still remaining on the outside, confined to their own little particular place in time.

In a way, her strangeness, her naivete, her craving for the other half of her equation was the consequence of idle imagination. Had she paints, or clay, or knew the discipline of the dance, or strings; had she anything to engage her tremendous curiosity and her gift for metaphor, she might have exchanged the restlessness and preoccupation with whim for an activity that provided her with all she yearned for. And like any artist with no art form, she became dangerous.

I chose this passage because it highlights a major theme throughout the novel. Women have consistently turned to men, as a way to seemingly subvert the power hierarchy. What's ironic is that, while having sexual power makes one feel good in the moment, it doesn't change the historical paradigm. Woman's only creative outlet was to be a sex artist, which proved to be deeply unsatisfying for Sula, and many others.

Until very recently in history, women were denied many of the economic advantages men enjoyed. It is easy to forget that most of us still have grandparents who lived before the women's rights movement, without political, social, or sexual freedom. The setting of Sula isn't even a hundred years ago, which makes me very appreciative of those who fought to earn my sex equal opportunities for societal advancement.

Further, Sula and Nel were doubly disadvantaged, being minorities and women. While Sula tried to better herself, it didn't earn her respect from her fellow townspeople - she was ostracized and alienated for pushing the boundaries.

Sula: part I

2007-07-16T23:18:00.000-05:00

"Hannah exasperated the women in the town – the “good” women, who said, “One thing I can’t stand is a nasty woman”; the whores, who were hard put to find trade among black men anyway and who resented Hannah’s generosity; the middling women who had both husbands and affairs, because Hannah seemed too unlike them, having no passion attached to her relationships and being wholly incapable of jealousy. Hannah’s friendships with women were, of course, seldom and short-lived, and the newly married couples whom her mother took in soon learned what a hazard she was. She could break up a marriage before it had even become one – she would make love to the new groom and wash his wife’s dishes all in an afternoon. What she wanted, after Rekus died, and what she succeeded in having more often than not, was some touching every day."

This passage seemed very compelling, because it accurately describes the plight of a woman who doesn’t fit into the narrow conception of what being a woman means, and is resented for it. It’s strange that even though Hannah and these women shared several of the same womanly desires and experiences, they still chose to despise her. Perhaps she physically manifested the evil parts of themselves they wished to pretend didn’t exist. I had a similar experience with a female who I became close to. Some of her personality traits I despised in other people, and they eventually ended our friendship. However, after she moved away and I reflected on the situation, I realized that I shared some of the same characteristics I had despised in her. Perhaps I, like the women in Sula, wanted to ignore the characteristics of myself I found to be negative, rather than trying to change them myself. There was a clash between the rational and the emotional halves of myself. The rational part wanted to change my behavior, but the emotional half was unwilling to admit it was even there.

"It was not really Edna Finch’s ice cream that made them brave the stretch of those panther eyes. Years later their own eyes would glaze as they cupped their chins in remembrance of the inchworm smiles, the squatting haunches, the track-rail legs straddling broken chairs. The cream-colored trousers marking with a mere seam the place where the mystery curled. Those smooth vanilla crotches invited them; those lemon-yellow gabardines beckoned to them. They moved toward the ice-cream parlor like tightrope walkers, as thrilled by the possibility of a slip as by the maintenance of tension and balance. The least sideways glance, the merest toe stub, could pitch them into those creamy haunches spread wide with welcome. Somewhere beneath all of that daintiness, chambered in all that neatness, lay the thing that clotted their dreams."

I found the last sentence of this passage to be particularly interesting. “Clotted their dreams” could simply mean occupied their innermost thoughts, but it could also mean destroyed their ambition. Thus far, neither Nel nor Sula has a particularly ambitious attitude toward life. If the female figures in your life need a man to validate their existence, what message does that send to you? Hannah, Sula’s mother, was constantly searching for a man to validate her existence, to recapture some of the feelings she experienced with her deceased husband. Undoubtedly the messages Sula and Nel received from the maternal figures in their lives informed their perceptions of men. My own experiences with maternal figures contrasts that of Sula. Several of my relatives consider themselves feminists, and the message "you don't need a man, so don't rely on one" was consistently reinforced. Thankfully I've turned out differently than Nel or Sula, in part because the messages I was given as a child didn't reinforce the cultural narrative that a woman needs a man to validate her existence.

For July 16

2007-07-16T10:45:00.000-05:00

"As Children Together"--Carol Forche

The first time I read this throuh, I had a much different interpretation than my fellow class mates. I read it in a much more aggressive, emotionally damaging tone. Then, after reading the blogs, I went back and read it again and felt the tone to be much different. The two friends once ran away together but now have drawn apart. They grew up and grew apart and this author is remember older days and missing and old friend. But the line that stands out the most to me is when she writes,
"Your mirror grew ringed
with photos of servicemen
who had taken your breasts
in their hands, the buttons
of your blouses in their teeth,
who had given you the silk
tassels of their graduation,
jackets embroidered with dragons
from the Far East. You kept
the corks that had fired
from bottles over their beds
their letters with each city
blackened, envelopes of hair
from their shaved heads."
This, like someone else posted, is very similar to the scene in Grease when that girl is describing the silk robe she got from the one of many soldiers she writes back and forth with. They both want independence, Victoria wants independence with a man, the narrator wants true independence. I think the narrator, in a way, wishes she had the same attention that Victoria does but also knows that is not fitting for her.

"Trifles"--Susan Glaspeli

County Attorney: "You're convinced that there was nothing important here--nothing that would point to any motive"
Sheriff: "Nothing here but kitchen things."

As a feminist, this was a frustrating reading for me. It speaks of how superior men were to women which allowed men to make all decisions and then dictate them to the women, regardless of how the women felt. I also noticed how interesting it was that Glaspell used gender sterotypes throughout the play. The men's superiority is so important that it can not be lowered even to find the true motive for murder. It is the nuances of the woman's daily life that the real evidence is found.

"The Revolt of Mother"

This writing obviously focuses on the oppression of women as Sarah Penn fights for equality in treatment. There's also a demonstration of the lack of power women had.

I know you be, as well as I want to. Now, father, look here” — Sarah Penn had not sat down; she stood before her husband in the humble fashion of a Scripture woman — “I'm goin' to talk real plain to you; I never have sence I married you, but I'm goin' to now. I ain't never complained, an' I ain't goin' to complain now, but I'm goin' to talk plain. You see this room here, father; you look at it well. You see there ain't no carpet on the floor, an' you see the paper is all dirty, an' droppin' off the walls. We ain't had no new paper on it for ten year, an' then I put it on myself, an' it didn't cost but ninepence a roll. You see this room, father; it's all the one I've had to work in an' eat in an' sit in sence we was married. There ain't another woman in the whole town whose husband ain't got half the means you have but what's got better. It's all the room Nanny's got to have her company in; an' there ain't one of her mates but what's got better, an' their fathers not so able as hers is. It's all the room she'll have to be married in. What would you have thought, father, if we had had our weddin' in a room no better than this? I was married in my mother's parlor, with a carpet on the floor, an' stuffed furniture, an' a mahogany card-table. An' this is all the room my daughter will have to be married in. Look here, father!”

This excerpt is very powerful and gave me chills because she finally steps up and speaks her mind, she puts her foot down and says what I feel, she's been wanting to say for a long time. It's a demonstration of her fight for earned recognition. She says how hard she works and there's little to show because he doesn't put forth effort to help or contribute they way she feels he should, as a team. I loved this reading and think the point is very clear and made well.

July 16, 2007

2007-07-16T09:32:00.000-05:00

"The Revolt of Mother"

"Nobility of character manifests itself at loop-holes when it is not provided with large doors."

I thought this line was great foreshadowing. After I read this line I knew she was going to take a chance and let her husband know what she really thought. Neither her son or her husband in the beginning would even really explain why, when or how they were building this new barn. She was never asked her opinion on it, she was not provided and "large doors" of opportunities to speak her mind, but she definitely let it be know how she felt which showed the strength in her character. It was a very effective line and I continually thought of it as I read.

Trifles

[Then Mrs. Hale rises, hands tight together, looking intensely at Mrs. Peters, whose eyes make a slow turn, finally meeting Mrs. Hales. A moment Mrs. Hale holds her, then her own eyes point the way to where the box is concealed.]

After this is stated the women take turns trying to hide the bird and the box all why just exchanging glaces. I liked how they communicated this way, with out using words because that been a joke amongst women about how we can just read each other with out using words. It services the whole story because it is the women who figure out the mystery while the men just laugh them off!

As Children together

"So standing in a platter of ice outside a catholic dance hall you took their collars in your fine chilled hands and lied your age to adulthood"

I like how this woman stood on "a platter of ice". The wording made me think of a platter of food, like she was helpless peice of food being served. The next line states that she took their collars, as if she were in control of the situation and lied herself to adulthood. I think it fits so well with the poem because that is a reoccurring thing. She acts older with men and then is thrown away. I really liked this line.

july 16

2007-07-16T09:01:00.000-05:00

After reading "The Revolt of a mother" by Mary Wilkins, I found many things amusing and interesting. One passage in particular was, "However deep a resentment she might be forced to hold against her husband , she would never fail in sedulous attention to his wants."
I thought that ths was interesting because it shows at the beginning of the story how she seems so frustrated, yet so powerless because she is only a woman. She continues to do her wifely and motherly duties to the best of her abilities even though she is furious. I think that later on this becomes importatn becasue when she finally makes a stand for what she wants even though she is doing something that can make her husband angry she holds steady adn continues making dinner etc. i think that this actually played into her favor of manipulation.

Trifels is a story i have read once or twice in other classes a while ago. there are many things that stand out in the story such as, "I'd hate to have men comming into my kitchen, snooping around and criticising." This is interesting because although its basic meanign is true for most women, the deeper meaning which connects to the whole story is much more important. Teh kitchen is associtated with women. and it return it becomes the one place a woman had to claim as their own. Fro men to come into it the way they did, is like trespassing on something personal and sacred.

"So standing in a platter of ice/ outside a Catholic dance hall/ you took thier collars/ in your fine chilled hands/ an lied your age to adulthood." i thought this passage from Forche's poem "As Children Together" was interesting because it reminds me of many young girls wanting to be older and pretending that they are. This type of behavior sometimes led to bigger problems for these girls which is the feeling i got from the poem. ij felt htat that girl wanted her soldier so badly that she did anything without thinking about what more there is.

July 16

2007-07-16T08:26:00.000-05:00

The Revolt of Mother
"She looked as immovable to him as one of the rocks in his pasture-land, bound to the earth with generations of blackberry wines."

This passage really stood out to me because it showed the strength of Sarah Penn. She is determined to get an answer, and is not going to back down until she does. I think it is extremely important to the rest of the story because it shows from the first scene that she is tired of the passivity she usually shows. This is seems very much like a women's writing because she does give this character so much power, something many men wouldn't do.

Trifles
"Oh, her fruit; it did freeze... She worried about that when it turned cold. She said the fire'd go out and her jars would break."

I found this image extremely amusing. I can picture the women's faces in this scene and they seem very concerned. It is interesting because we haven't really seen this concern the entire play, even though they are talking about a murder, until the discussion of broken jars of fruit. It seems as if these women just go through the motions of everyday life and have taken on the role of being a good wife so well, that that is all they really care about. It also shows their lack of sympathy that is very evident throughout the end of the play when they decide not to tell what they have realized about the murder.

As Children Together
"Jackets embroidered with dragons from the Far East. You kept the corks that had fired from bottles over their beds"
"So standing in a platter of ice outside a Catholic dance hall you took their collars in your fine chilled hands and lied your age to adulthood"

This is my favorite poem that we have read so far! I LOVED it! I can relate to it so much!! The two images I picked out stood out to me very much. The first one about the jackets with dragons reminded me of the scene in "Grease" when Marty is showing all the girls her new silk, dragon robe from one of her many military boyfriends. Her character in the movie seems almost identical to the girl described in this poem.

The second caught my attention because I attended an all girls catholic high school. The image of this girl outside a Catholic dance hall with a boy reminded me of all my high school dances. It also made me think about the stereotypes about "bad" Catholic girls. This seemed to go along with that. I think they are both important because at the beginning of the story the girl is not like that. She is an innocent, young girl who her best friend loves very much. But by the end she has turned into someone that the narrator can hardly relate to. It is very sad to me but at the same time I believe that the narrator is very glad she wasn't ever like her best friend in the ways she describes.

Blog 3 - 7/16/07

2007-07-16T03:38:00.000-05:00

THE REVOLT OF MOTHER

I really liked this piece. Throughout the story I envisioned little Sarah Penn as the ideal farm wife. As the story unfolded, I could feel the tension building. Two different passages really stuck out to me.

["Father, you come here." Sarah Penn stood in the door like a queen; she held her head as if it bore a crown; there was that patience which makes authority royal in her voice. Adoniram went.]

I really like how the author illustrates Sarah’s gut in sticking up to her husband. Reading this gave me the image of Sarah taking regal authority. I also found humor in how Adoniram is seen almost bowing to her rule as he drops what he is doing to answer her.

[Adoniram was like a fortress whose walls had no active resistance, and went down the instant the right besieging tools were used. "Why, mother," he said, hoarsely, "I hadn't no idee you was so set on't as all this comes to."]

In the end, Adoniram really doesn’t put up too big of fight. Although we have seen him to be tough throughout the story, this part of the story shows that he does have some heart. All of his walls fall and we see a softer side as he found by his wife to be sobbing. The conclusion of the story really changed my opinion of Adoniram. I grew to respect him as a good husband and father who had gotten caught up in the progress of his farming.
---------------------
TRIFLES

I had read this story last semester for a different class, but I think I got more from this time. I mad e the extra effort to really think about the images the author was putting out, and it gave me more perspective on what was happening.
I really liked when the intensity picked up in the piece. This passage is definitely my favorite:
[MRS. PETERS. (in a whisper). When I was a girl--my kitten--there was a boy took a hatchet, and before my eyes--and before I could get there--(Covers her face an instant.) If they hadn't held me back, I would have-- (Catches herself, looks upstairs, where steps are heard, falters weakly.)--hurt him.
MRS. HALE (with a slow look around her.) I wonder how it would seem never to have had any children around. (Pause.) No, Wright wouldn't like the bird--a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too.
MRS. PETERS (moving uneasily). We don't know who killed the bird.
MRS. HALE. I knew John Wright.]

I love how the women show their intelligence and wit here by discussing their discovery without really discussing it. It made my laugh how they outsmarted the men, who put down their intelligence earlier in the story. I also love how they are so loyal to Mrs. Wright. They feel for her loneliness and take steps to protect her.
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AS CHILDREN TOGETHER

I really don’t know how I feel about this piece. Although I am not sure of the author’s intent, I felt sad after reading it.
The ending really stood out to me:

“If you read this poem, write to me.
I have been to Paris since we parted.”

The author is reaching out to a long lost childhood friend. This made me reflect on my life and childhood friendships. I was reminded by grade school friends that moved away, junior high friends that transformed into different people, and high school classmates that I have lost track of in the short time since graduation. While growing up sometimes means growing apart, the people you grow up with are ones close to your heart. After reading this poem, I really hoped that the author was, at some point, reunited with her childhood friend.

Pastoral Engagements

2007-07-16T02:49:00.000-05:00

The Revolt of the Mother

"I've done my duty by you forty year, an' I'm goin' to do it now; but I'm goin' to live here."

I find it interesting how this line embodies the simplicity of Sarah's heterodoxy. She has committed no great atrocity and nothing, except the scenery, truly changes for the community. It seems that her greatest crime is forcing her husband to honor a promise. While she must forcibly attain her desire, the sinister and subversive implications of her actions are nullified as she indicates that her social position has not changed. I like this line because it emphasizes that Sarah has no intentions of making some kind of grand stand or promoting societal upheaval. It is not a matter of justice, but a matter of right and wrong. Within the text, I believe the line indicates a lack of animosity in Sarah and the innocence of her action.

Trifles

"You know, it seems kind of sneaking. Locking her up in town and then coming out here and trying to get her own house to turn against her!"

In a variation of the classic stereotype, Mrs. Hale implies that a woman's home is her territory and thus beholden to her. It is made clear that Mrs. Hale knew John Wright, but she refers to the house as belonging to Minnie. The house does not seem to belong to both of them, but to the female due to her labors and expectations about the home as evidenced by the exchange between the men, Mrs. Hale, and Mrs. Peters in response to the state of the kitchen. While the women of the play may have been governed by men, it seems as though they have applied their own rules and ideas to these stereotypes as to make them their own. It is much akin to the idea that a derogatory term loses power when easily used by those it was intended to offend. I believe these lines indicate how differently the women perceive the house, suspect, and crime.

As Children Together

"...past crystal swamps and the death/ face of each dark house,/ over golden ice of tobacco spit...."

The first thing that came to mind when I read this was the old saying, "Don't eat the yellow snow." While the words "golden" and "crystal" usually evoke rich images of beauty or luxury, they are associated with what may be perceived as unpleasant or base things here. With the eventual degradation of Victoria, one could possibly interpret this deceptive imagery as foreshadowing.

Third Reading

2007-07-15T23:28:00.001-05:00

The Revolt of “Mother”

Then she stood waiting. She was a small woman, short and straight-waisted like a child in her brown cotton gown. Her forehead was mild and benevolent between the smooth curves of her grey hair; there were meek downward lines about her nose and mouth; but her eyes, fixed upon the old man, looked as if the meekness had been the result of her own will, never the will of another.

This passage was the most important to me because it describes Sarah, the woman who becomes the main character, and it sets the stage for the rest of the tale. I think that it is very interesting that the reader doesn’t know the woman’s name until several pages into the story. It is the title and role of mother that distinguishes her from the other characters and it is this persona that allows her to come alive and create the crux of the story by asserting her desires and making them a reality. The images that I liked most in the paragraph were the description of the mother as child like. I think that it was also fitting to the story that she is a benevolent woman and not used to ruling her house as a dictator. The meek attribute I think is mentioned because it gives some control to the woman, she is humble by her own choice, not by her husband’s, which gives her the potential to control other things in the story which lend to foreshadowing. I liked this passage because it had a pleasant tone and introduced the mother in a way that made me respect her and understand her motives.

Trifles

MRS. PETERS: [To the other woman.] Oh, her fruit; it did freeze. [To the COUNTY ATTOURNEY] She worried about that when it turned cold. She said the fore’d go out and her jars would break.

I have read this short play in other classes and it is still one of my favorites. I think it is very appropriate for this class because it shows through speech and body language how women communicate and interpret each other, compared with how men bluntly interpret women. I really like this passage because it shows the caring that women have for things that men find silly, like what will happen to fruit when it becomes cold. I can picture Mrs. Wright as a woman who is very proud of her work and even without being close friends, these women immediately understand the trouble it is to keep a house clean and to put up cherries in the heat etc. I also like the story as a whole because of the irony of how the case is more or less solved. The two women get much more accomplished while speaking of quilting and what men would consider every day gossip, then the sheriff an attorney could imagine. This passage fits into the rest of the play because it outlines the understanding and connection between the women in the house and the woman in jail. It allows the plot to proceed because it establishes a state of mind that the women have that is completely different from that of the men.

As Children Together

I don’t know where you are now, Victoria,
They say you have children, a trailer
in the snow near our town,
and the husband you found as a girl
returned from the Far East broken
cursing holy blood at the table
where nightly a pile of white chavings
is paid from the edge of his knife.

This is the ending section of the poem and it strikes me as powerful because the sister is supposing how the other’s life is from stories she has herd. I think it is sad because the sister is unable to make a connection, and she outlines her sister’s life like the one she hated growing up. Victoria seemed like such a role model because she was older and more sexually mature, with dreams of going to exotic places and meeting exotic people. Now, at the end of the poem, her dreams have turned out to bite her in the butt and it is her little sister that modestly mentions having been in Paris. I think that though this poem is sad to me, it ends on a hopeful note and that is one in which the narrator has done unique things with her life and will possibly have the opportunity to shape her sister’s life in a better direction. The passage adds a lot to the poem because it is the progression of the biography and gives the reader a type of conclusion or idea of how the relationship between the women might grow and change, or not.

Blog 3: Due 7/16/07

2007-07-15T18:55:00.000-05:00

THE REVOLT OF MOTHER
"Sarah put her apron up to her face; she was overcome by her own triumph. // Adomiram was like a fortress whose walls had no active resistance, and went down the instant the right besieging tools were used.” This quote was located at the end of the story. It sent a shiver down my spine. I liked the first part about Sarah because she finally stuck up for her and her family and it worked. She won. No more would the barn and the farm animals take precedence over her family. She had proven her point and she had won. I believe that Adomiram was so sad because he had finally realized what he had done and he felt bad that he had put these animals over his family who he loved so much. He didn’t realize that it upset them so much, because he hadn’t been paying much attention to them. It wasn’t that Adomiram didn’t want a new house or that he didn’t love his family, he just wasn’t paying enough attention to realize they were upset.
I really liked this story because it said that women can overcome men. We just have to stick up for ourselves. We don’t have to do exactly what men say (because that was expected at the time this was written).
I also think this story goes way past building a barn instead of a house. I think it has a much deeper meaning. I think it shows the importance of family and feelings. Put your family first because in the long run, they will be there for you. Not the horses or the cows or some stupid barn. In the end, the family stuck together, they compromised and they forgave eachother.

TRIFFLES
This play was rather interesting to me and it definitely left me thinking and wanting to read more of it. It never told us whether or not the wife killed her husband or not. My favorite quote is where they were talking and the wife said that she didn’t wake up when her husband was murdered. I think that no matter of how sound of a sleeper you are, if someone was being strangled or hung next to you, you will wake up. But on the other hand, he could have killed himself, in which case there was no struggle and maybe then she wouldn’t have woken up. I also that it was interesting how her husband was killed with a rope around his neck, strangled and the bird had the same type of death. Those two things alone got me to start thinking that maybe it was the wife that killed her husband. The quilt confused me though. I don’t understand how that played a part in the story whatsoever. The writer definitely made it suspenseful, so that I wanted to continue reading, however when I finished reading I was very disappointed that there was really no ending. We had no idea what happened.

AS CHILDREN TOGETHER
This poem was very sad. As I was reading, it wasn’t making much sense to me, and then I read the line that brought it all together. “I don’t know where you are now Victoria. They say you have children, a trailer in the snow near our town”. I believe they were sisters that did everything together. Victoria was a little older then the author. Was Victoria was promiscuous? The poem was about their memories together. Maybe Victoria may not have been happy with her life and ran off with one of the guys. I can tell from the poem that the author misses her sister very much. This poem had a lot of emotion in it and the author seemed very depressed.

7/12

2007-07-12T09:04:00.000-05:00

Daystar

“She wanted a little room for thinking: but she saw diapers steaming on the line, a doll slumped behind the door.”

I thought this provided a good image. I can imagine all of the diapers that she just finished washing and a little door slumped behind the door. This image tells the reader that the woman is the mother of an infant and a toddler. In this work the mother just wants a break from her life. The time that her children nap each day is her only break and she uses it to relax and let her imagination go. In my opinion, she is not happy in her life, as a mother or a wife. She is tired and restless as a mother, and does not enjoy her husband. This is obvious from the end of the text when the author says: “Later that night when Thomas rolled over and lurched into her, she would open her eyes and think of the place that was hers.”
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A Pair of Silk Stockings

“She smiled, just as if she had been asked to inspect a tiara of diamonds with the ultimate view of purchasing it. But she went on feeling the soft, sheeny luxurious things--with both hands now, holding them up to see them glisten, and to feel them glide serpent-like through her fingers.”

This created a vivid image for me. When I read this part of the story, I could imagine Mrs. Sommers feeling the stockings and the satisfaction it gave her. I can see the stockings gliding through her finger tips and the beautiful shine that they have. I really related to Mrs. Sommers in this work. Sometimes after a paycheck, I am guilty of going shopping and several impulse purchases one after the other. In this story, Mrs. Sommers just gets caught up in the escape from her lifestyle that the $15 can temporarily fix. In my opinion, it is the beautiful stockings that originally steer her from her path as she winds up at the theater.
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Why I Want A Wife

"I want a wife who will plan the menus, do the necessary grocery shopping, prepare the meals,serve them pleasantly, and then do the cleaning up while I do my studying."

Throughout this entire work, not just in the passage that I selected, I imagine a woman running around trying to get all of the things listed accomplished. In the above passage, I can imagine a woman planning, shopping, cooking, entertaining, and cleaning. And I imagine that she does so in a "cookie-cutter wife" manner, pleasantly and with a smile.
This was my favorite out of the assigned reading today. I laughed at the irony. The author makes some excellent points and really makes it known how she feels. I thought that finding an image in this was much tougher because she is so -to the point-that she doesn't really paint images as much as she came out straight with what she meant. I thought the author did a great job of illustrating her feelings toward the job of the wife.

July 12 reading

2007-07-12T09:02:00.000-05:00

In Rita Doves' poem Day Star, i was interested by the line in which she says, "Other days/ she stared until she was assured/ when she closed her eyes/ she'd see only her own vivid blood". This stood out to me because she seems to desire some sort of peace. Such a peace that she can see her own bright blood as it flows through her body. It makes it seem as if she desires to feel alive. I believe this image functions with the whole poem because the poem seems to be about how she feels like a robot or not a person at all, but rather someone who goes through these daily routines and they make her feel dead. There is no passion in these daily activities or duties and the vision of blood emphasizes her desire for this.

In "A pair of Silk Stockings" by Kate Chopin, i was drawn to the line in which she describes the stockings. "But she went on feeling the soft, sheeny luxiourious things-with both hands now holding them up to see them glisten, and to feel them glide serpent-like through her fingers." I thought that this description of the stockings was quite interesting because the stockings themselves are made to sound like a temptation. They are compared to a serpant and a serpant is always associated with the devil, temptation and sin. Also the fact they they are shiny and glisten seems like a piece of jewelry that one would desire. I feel that this image connects to the whole story because it is this woman finally ignoring what she should be doing with the money she found and letting herself enjoy the pleasures it brings form her. Instead of clothes for her children etc. she buys things for herself and they make her feel alive and womanly again. It is another story about the need for freedom.

"Why I want a Wife" by Judy Styfers, is such an interesting poem. The part where she says, "As i thought about him as i was ironing one evening, it suddenly occured to me that i too, would like to have a wife." This line is interesting because she is a wife. And the image of her ironing in the evening displays this quite well. It also connects with the whole pieces because the whole piece deals with why she wants a wife and it basically outlines how wives are treated and what is expected of them. She is part of this group and the fact that she is ironing clothes in the evening displays her frustration of why she feels resentment for the behaviors towards and about wives.

Blog 2

2007-07-12T08:12:00.000-05:00

DayStar
"Sometimes there were things to watch- the pinched armor of a vanished cricket, a floating maple leaf."

This passage stood out to me the most because for some reason I could really picture it. I think it is because of the strong connection I have with nature. My whole life I have been fascinated with it, so this imagery I can definitely see vividly. I also liked this quote because it describes something that most people wouldn't even notice. We see bugs and leaves every day. However, this woman seems so unhappy and bored with her life, that something as little as a cricket's shell or a leaf breaks the monotony. I think many woman can relate to this poem.

A Pair of Silk Stockings
"She had sometimes caught glimpses of spotless damask and shining crystal, and soft-stepping waiters serving people of fashion."

This imagery definitely stood out to me because I am a waitress and have been for all of my working life so the description of this restaurant really relates to me. However, I guess because I am surrounded by it daily and this woman had never been in the restaurant, our thoughts of it were very different. She looked at it like it was beautiful, where I see it as just a building. This really made me think about how two people can look at the same thing, and see something totally different. Each person just takes their life experiences and thoughts, and they cause a different reaction. This is the same reason that when we read poems in class, each person reacts to something differently. I just found this extremely interesting.

Why I Want A Wife
"I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife's duties."

This image struck me mostly because showed how differently men and women view women as a whole. It reminded me of what we had talked about in class, how in the past women were thought of as hysterical and never treated. This seemed like the same sort of thing because the man already assumes that the wife is just rambling and does not have real, valid complaints. That is infuriating! I could not imagine living in a time (even though this was only written thirty-something years ago) where men thought this. It was interesting however, to hear these things come from a woman's writing, and not a man. I believe it shows that we see what is going on, and we are trying to fix it.

Just Another Day

2007-07-12T07:21:00.000-05:00

Daystar

"She had an hour, at best, before Liza appeared/pouting from the top of the stairs."

Although one technically cannot determine precisely who Liza is from the passage, the connotations associated with "pouting" would lead one to assume she is a child. A number of ideas provide further evidence of this, such as the napping children and diapers on the line. Having a small battalion of nieces and nephews and fair experience with younger children myself, I can easily picture a sleepy face appearing at the landing. It would look slightly quarrelsome as it has not yet shook loose its sleepy stupor and is rather unclear whether it should be happy or if there is something about which it should show displeasure. In the poem, this line is one of many that emphasize how desperately the woman seeks to escape her domestic duties, which seem to be quite trying at times (Liza appears pouting rather than with a smile).

A Pair of Silk Stockings

"...when she lay awake revolving plans in her mind...."

"Revolving," lacking its usual prepositional phrase, reminded me automatically of a revolving door. Considering the events of the rest of the story, the line may act as foreshadowing and reiterate the idea of Mrs. Sommers' "better days" that encouraged her actions.

Why I Want a Wife

"...I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one."

Oddly enough, this line causes me to picture a washer. It might possibly be because it is a useful machine that toils hard regularly only to be replaced by newer models or thrown out when something suddenly goes wrong. My family has gone through a number of perfectly healthy looking washers as they took to devouring our clothes. A part of me suffered regret and reluctance as the machine did look so new; however, the fact that it was ruining all my favorite undergarments could not be ignored. Simply put, they had to go, new or not. In the manner in which Syfers described a wife, wouldn't she be just another domestic machine?

for 07/12/2007

2007-07-12T01:36:00.000-05:00

Daystar: There are a few places that spark a glimpse of imagery but I dont think the piece accomplishes a total picture or fluid creation. The line that reads, "So she lugged a chair behind the garage to sit out the children's naps" This line not only gies a tone to the reading but also does create imagery. I can see her dragging that chair to the same place she regularly goes to do this, unenthusiastically setting to down in the same spot and slumping into it, replicating the doll that's slumped behind the door. I also like how the author chose to say "sit out the children's naps" I think this gives us good imagry of her body language and facial expression during their naps. It's clear that she does not want to be there but it's something she must do so she reluctantly sits it out

A Pair of Silk Stockings: Though lengthy, the line that I chose for this piece really stood out to me. "She sat herself upon a revolving stool before a counter that was comparatively deserted, trying to gather strength and courage to charge through an eager multitude that was besieging breastworks of shirting and figured lawn" This line nearly speaks for itself in terms of imagery and what it evokes. The words flow nicely together which grasps the reader and the word choice sets the perfect picture in one's mind and allows the reader the see what the writer is feeling. This connects us to the reader, something that is a struggle to accomplish.

Why I want a Wife: In this piece, I think that Syfers creates more of a "movie" imagery, which by that I mean changing picture that flows with the writing. There is obviously a lot to pick apart in this piece like how she wants someone that does all that she does for the husband. As she describes what she wants a wife for (to do all that she does) i can just picture her doing these things, working hard, hair falling in her face, and her brow is lined with sweat. This is also a neat technique and one that I enjoy because it keeps the reader reading and keeps the mind interested by keeping it active.

Blog 2: Due 7/12/07

2007-07-12T00:49:00.000-05:00

DAYSTAR
This poem seems like something that everyone could relate to. While reading it, I imagined images of a girl sitting on a couch and all she wants is some peace and quiet. It was only an hour until the little sister, Liza, usually woke up. My favorite part in this poem is she would open her eyes// and thing of the place that was hers// for an hour where she was nothing// pure nothing, in the middle of the day. I like this because it’s true. Someone can be very stressed out and keep trucking a long and they will be noticed. However, if you give up and take time off no one will notice you. Although I am not a mother, nor do I have little kids in the house, I still feel that I can relate to this. Everyone wants to be alone sometimes. I feel this poem is very literal and that most people would be able to relate to it.

A PAIR OF SILK STOCKINGS
It’s very obvious what this story is about- a woman who had a little extra cash and is very happy about it. She’s having a difficult time not spending it all on something that doesn’t matter. But her items were important.

“She wanted and excellent and stylish fit, she told the young fellow who served her, and she did not mind the difference of a dollar or two more in the price so long as she got what she wanted.”

That was my favorite sentence because it is so true! Everyone, especially girls, will spend a little extra money on something they love instead of just buying something they like. I am picturing a lady in a department store surrounded in shoes and clothes, trying them on, and debating what she should buy. The end did seem a little sad or disappointing, but I’m not sure why. I can’t seem to put my finger on it, but they why she’s writing kind of changes.

WHY I WANT A WIFE
This poem is extremely repetitive but it has the most amazing imagery. I can’t pick my favorite line or stanza because it all had something to do with each other. I think it explains something that everyone wants—not a wife, but someone to take care of them. In a perfect world, we would all have “a wife”, but life is not perfect and we have to do things for ourselves. I feel lucky to have parents that can afford to support me and put me through college. The images that I am imagining is a little robot wife that’s programmed to do everything you tell it.
In a way, I kind of feel that this poem is a little degrading to women. The “wife” described in the writing is emotionless, with no feelings. Everyone, man or woman, has feelings. The author doesn’t want a wife; she wants to start a new life. What surprised me is that she starts out the writing saying that she is a wife and a mother, and if this is the case she would know how difficult it is. She would know that wives aren’t these emotional robots that have no care in the world. They are the complete opposite.

Second Wave of Texts

2007-07-11T23:48:00.000-05:00

Daystar

…diapers steaming on the line,…
pinched armor of a vanished cricket
floating maple leaf

These are some images from Daystar that helped to create the tone of the poem for me. The diapers steaming on the clothes line is a very strong image of the monotony and drudgery of the heroin’s life. It is one of the first images and for me it shows that the focus of the lady is on her children and raising her family. The two following images are observations she has while she is escaping her life, if only just to go and sit behind the garage. I think the descriptions of the cricket as being vanished and the maple leaf floating tell the readers that the woman would like to describe herself that way. These images create the idea that the woman would like to escape from her life, if only for an hour, and I think that this is a central image and theme of the poem.

A Pair of Silk Stockings

…she had sometimes caught glimpses of spotless damask and shining crystal, and soft-stepping waiters serving people of fashion.

It was like a dream ended.

This story ties into Daystar because it is about a woman temporarily escaping her life, which has become dull and unsatisfactorily plain. I wonder if these are feelings that everyone has at some point, that they have a need to do something extravagant that they used to do, but are now limited by other responsibilities. The first set of images interested me because the woman is describing this restaurant with certain attention to detail. It is also such a quite description of the restaurant and after having worked in that industry for many years I know that it is never as peaceful as she describes.

The second simile, although in context it is only describing how the woman feels after the play ends, very succinctly tells us the woman’s mindset. For her, this day of luxuries is part of the past that she is not completely willing to relinquish and I think that the entire story is written like a dream sequence and at the end of it, she does not want to wake up.

Why I Want A Wife

I belong to that classification of people known as wives.

I found this opening interesting because I think that today, I would not consider being a wife a classification, but more of a title. I do think that there is still an older way of thinking that would include all of the listed attributes as things a wife should have, but I also get more of an impression in modern society that wives are thought of more like partners and this changes as more and more men are exercising what were the traditional duties of a wife. This statement is a good introduction to the essay because the author sees a wife as someone who must fulfill all of the tasks mentioned and then, since the expectations are so preposterous, she concludes that anyone, male or female, should want a wife because a wife will take all of the burden out of your life. She is taking a role that should consist of the female counterpart in a marriage and saying that it has escalated to a position with a classification, essentially a gender determined name for a slave.

Assignment 2

2007-07-11T22:37:00.000-05:00

Daystar

"Other days she stared until she was assured when she closed her eyes she'd see only her own vivid blood"

This stood out to me because I do something somewhat similar to this. At the end of a long day, after answering phone call from people you don't even want to talk to, dealing with customers at work, and also interacting with my boyfriend I definitely need a couple of minutes where I just close my eyes (or eat chocolate/ice cream) when I don't think of anything or anyone but myself and how i'm feeling. I think at the end of the day it's most important to make sure you're making yourself happy. This line is what the whole poem is about, and the calmness and peacefulness about it is felt throughout the whole thing.

A Pair of Silk Stockings

"While waiting to be served she removed her gloves very leisurely and laid them beside her"

For some reason when I read this I felt awkward, like the character felt awkward or something. I felt like she felt out of place and uncomfortable even though she never says this.

"There were quiet ladies and gentlemen, who did not notice her, lunching at the small tables like her own."

I feel like this line sort of reassures my previous thought. As if she was checking to see if anyone was watching. Although it was also sort of endearing to me because she felt so elegant and proper for the first, and probably one of the only, times in her life. However the whole time I only saw it ending in disappointment. Disappointment that the day is over, disappointment when her garments aren't new anymore, and disappointment that the money did not go to her family. Even though it's never said and ends on a somewhat happy note I didn't find it to be a very uplifting story.

Why I Want a Wife

"I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife's duties. But I want a wife who will listen to me when I feel the need to explain a rather difficult point I have come across in my course of studies."

This line stood out to me because she's pretty much saying she needs someone who isn't emotional, even though women are emotional by nature, but they need to be supportive for when ever she feels like being emotional. It was just a very typical male thought that i've dealt with before. Every time we get upset, guys just blame it on PMS or get mad because it happens to often, however whether they admit it or not guys get emotional too and we are expected to deal with it how they expect us to deal with it, in a way that doesn't annoy them. This is like the rest of the poem in the way that it's full of double standards.

quoting and function of images - assignment 2

2007-07-11T17:51:00.000-05:00

Chopin “A Pair of Silk Stockings”
“She herself indulged in no such morbid retrospection. She had no time -- no second of time to devote to the past. The needs of the present absorbed her every faculty. A vision of the future like some dim, gaunt monster sometimes appalled her, but luckily to-morrow never comes.”

This passage seems particularly relevant, because it demonstrates how even the most pragmatic of individuals can occasionally become blinded by materialism. Perhaps my reaction to this passage was so strong, because I realized what a pervasive force materialism continues to be in society (and was in the 19th century). The image of a "dim, gaunt monster" Chopin uses to reference the future emphasises the discrepancy between transitory, material pleasures and the consequences of indulging in such pleasures that are often ignored. Thus, the passage functions as a metaphor for the underlying consequences of the protagonist's actions.

Styfers “Why I Want A Wife”
“I want a wife who will remain sexually faithful to me so that I do not have to clutter up my intellectual life with jealousies. And I want a wife who understands that my sexual needs may entail more than strict adherence to monogamy. I must, after all, be able to relate to people as fully as possible.”

This passage initially aroused my disdain, because of the difference in how males and females relate to others. Males, as Styfers sarcastically suggests, often cannot relate to another woman in a way that is not sexual. Females tend to relate emotively, rather than physically. Even though I rationally believe that males today are more able to relate to women on a non-sexual level, the author's choice of words still evoked a knee-jerk reaction, making this passage more significant for me than any other. I believe this passage functions as Styfer's method of addressing the sexual politics of the era in which she was writing.

Dove “Daystar”
“she would open her eyes
and think of the place that was hers
for an hour—where
she was nothing,
pure nothing, in the middle of the day”

This passage evoked a strong feeling of serenity, but given its placement at the end of the poem, also a feeling of complacency. The emotional appeal comes from the universal desire to be completely free of expectations, even if just for a moment. Dove's choice to end the poem with these lines suggest that she wanted them to serve a very particular function. Perhaps she felt the need to emphasize that women can never escape the traditional roles of wife and mother, nor do some of them wish to. Are the alternating tones of longing and complacency throughout the poem...in a sense mediated and kept in check by the precious hour of serenity she experiences each day?

Women's Lit

2007-07-11T13:32:00.000-05:00

In the "Daystar," one quote that I had a reaction to the most was; "She wanted a little room for thinking: but she saw diapers steaming on the line, a doll slumped behind the door." My reaction to this is that this woman wanted some time to herself and she was not getting it. It seams that maybe this woman is a mother and she needs a break from the children. I can relate being a mother myself and just wanting that time alone just to relax. This image has a function in this poem because it sets off the whole point of the poem. It seems that she just does not want anything to do the whole day but just be alone with her thoughts.

In the "A Pair of Silk Stockings," the passage that I had a strong reaction to is; "Her stockings, and boots and well fitting gloves had worked marvels in her bearing-- had given her a feeling of assurance, a sense of belonging to the well-dressed multitude." My reaction to this that this women is very happy that she has some money to splurge on herself. It is not much money but she finally had money to buy her something nice and she is elated by that. I know I would feel the same way if I did not get the chance to buy me something nice. It fits with the whole poem as a whole because she is excited about finally having some money to buy really nice things. For once she feels like she is fitting in with people who have money by being able to buy a nice pair of stockings.

From "Why I Want a Wife," The passage that I had a strong reaction to is; "I want a wife who will work and send me to school." My reaction to this is that this person is quite selfish. This person is awfully lazy and wants the wife to basically do everything. I feel that this is wrong and how this quote relates to the whole passage is that this person wants the wife to have all the responsibility. This person wants the wife to be a mother to them as well as to the children. The person is telling the wife would he/she would like her role to be. So this quote fits very well to the whole text.

Today's Assignment

2007-07-11T11:57:00.000-05:00

From "The Yellow Wallpaper," the quote that I had a strong reaction to was; "The outside pattern is a florid arabesque, reminding one of a fungus." My reaction to this is that this wall paper is so terrible that it reminds her of bacteria. I feel that why does she stay in a room that she can barely stand to look at? My reaction is that she should have changed it immediately. The closet image that I can think to relate to is if someone lived in a house that was never cleaned and the viruses and bacteria just over grown in this place from being so dirty. Again why would someone want to live in that place where obviously there could be several problems health wise?

From "Ain't I a Woman?," The quote that I had a strong reaction to was; " If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?" My reaction to this is that it is a good question to ask. She is showing that she is very intellectual and she knows if you are sharing are not. From that I feel like she is say ing that even though she is an African American she has a lot of knowledge. Another image I can perceive from a text is to see a cup as a skillet that many women have used to share many meals with. What comes to mind is that if someone does not have any food wouldn't it be selfish not to share some of the food you have if you have enough to feed an army?

From "Lady Lazarus," The quote that stood out to me was; "And I a smiling woman. I am only thirty. And like the cat I have nine times to die." My reaction was that I was surprised that she thought she has nine lives like a cat. I also realized that that saying is a myth because just like any other living thing it will die the first time. When I compare this to another text it brings up Maya Angelou's poem "Mourning Grace," where she states that going down the path of death is going down it's trackless wastes. That conveys to me that what we do on earth does not matter that it is all a waste of time. That when we die we can not take all of our accomplishments with us.

From "When I was Growing up," The quote that got an reaction from me is; when I was growing up and a white man wanted to take me out, I thought I was special, an exotic gardenia, anxious to fit the stereotype of an oriental chick." My reaction to this what that she felt maybe that she was exotic because she is not white. What I mean is that because she is a foreigner the white guy is stepping out of the norm which makes this exotic. More like they are both trying something new. This is familiar to the "Queen Anne's Lace" because they are being compared to a flower.

From "The Thirty Eighth Year," the passage that stood out for me is; "i have taken the bones you hardened and built daughters and they blossom and promise fruit like Afrikan trees." My reaction is that she is describing having very beautiful girls that have a lot to offer in life. The image that really comes to mind is the fruit tree in the bible. Why I use this is because the tree gives nourishment but the tree is forbidden. I feel that in a way that symbolizes women, we are here to be nurturers but sometimes society put up laws. rules, and obligations that women and men must follow.

Assignment 1

2007-07-11T10:20:00.000-05:00

The Yellow Wall-

PaperI found this story so amusing! I absolutely loved the main character, she reminds me so much of myself. The descriptions were so great, like "There is a delicious garden!" I immediately thought of very bright vibrate colors. It was actually the only time I pictured color. "One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin." I believe this showed how talented and artistic she was deep down, she was just being oppressed. I love the whole story as metaphor for how she felt stuck behind the wall paper, how she felt ugly and like she was hiding from everyone.

Ain't I a woman

I really liked how strong and sassy she is in this poem. She makes valid pionts! The most powerful line I think is "...and when I cried out with my mothers greif,". It showing how far back this oppression has gone in her life. She hasn't just dealt with it since she has grown up, but even when she was little she veiwed her mother going through the same thing. I also like how she uses the world as a metaphor and says if it turns upside down its us women who are going to turn it right side up! Sometimes how she phrased things and how it ryhmed at times it reminded me also of scenes in movies where the people are all in the feild working together and singing hymns or songs of slavery.

Lady Lazarus

Plath uses mostly imagery to describe her phsyical attributes or body parts. "A paperwheight, my face a featureless, fine Jew linen" is a comical way to describe how every girl feels sometime or another, like no matter what we just don't feel attractive, our head is just a paperwheight holding down our bodies. The reference to the seashell reminds me of the of the famous picture of Aphrodite emerging from a seashell after being created from a castraded penis's contact with the ocean. "Out of the ash, I rise with my red hair" Red heads have always been thought of as tempermental or angry in nature. Also I think of the Pheonix that arises (I can't remember the mythology story of this. Sadely enough i've learned this from all of the Harry Potter books) which is also represtented with red.

When I Was Growing Up

I'm sure as most people who read this did, I thought of Marylin Monroe when she descibes the blond movie stars with white skin and sensuous lips. Its funny to me that this is what she aimed to be this "desirable woman" who behind the scenes had a terribley sad life that I highely doubt anyone would lust after. This poem reminded me of Queen Ann's Lace with all it's refrences to white. However in this context white was seen as pure and good, where as in Queen Ann's Lace that is not was I got from that poem because of the purple that was left in the middle.

The Thirty Eighth Year

In this poem I noticed the word blossom just because we've been talking about the comparisons to women and flowers in class so much but this one seemed to fit better than the others we've read because it's refering to children. Children are going to grow up and expand their intelligence, culture, socially, and many other ways. In the first four lines she sets the tone for the entire poem. She describes herself "as plain as bread and round as a cake" and the rest of lines follow in suit. It goes on to explain how she always expected much more from her self and her life.

imagery

2007-07-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

1. "The yellow Wallpaper" by Charolette Perkins Gilman- in reference to the house, "It was the most beautiful place! It is quite alone....it makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock and lots of separate little houses fo gardeners and people"(42).

This quote stood out to me because it reminded me of being locked in or locked out. I felt like the mansion or the house rather could symbolize the woman. It is "alone" it is "quiet" and there are gates and things that separate it from the outside world as well as inside world because of the separate houses for different people. This reminds me of a story (can't remember author but he was an American who went to live in Europe) called Daisy Miller (?). She was a young girl chastized by society around her for not fitting to the social norms of women. She spoke to men and she did not behave according to society. Eventually by the end of the story she dies because she is finally shut down into the woman she is supposed to be. She dies because she is at a loss for what she was.

2. "...If my cup won't hold but a pint and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?"-Sojourner Truth, "Ain't I a Woman?"

I thought this was a very interestiing image or saying because it really stands out, not just for African american women but for all minorities and all women. It seems to illude to the idea that just because i may not have or be the best in your eyes i am still worth something and i am entiled to be acknowledged that much. it is interesting because she is saying just because she is black woman doesn't mean she is not a woman. She needs to be given her bit of respect as well as a white woman.
This reminds me of "Leda and the Swan" because Leda is not being given her rights and respect deserved as a human not just a woman. She is litterally raped by Zeus, the swan, because he can. He is a god and she is mere mortal. that is alot like what Truth is saying about not getting the little'st bit of respect for just being a human being and a woman.

3. "...I read magazines/ and saw movies, blonde movie stars, white skin,/sensuous lips and to be elevated, to become/ a woman, a desirable woman, I began to wear/imaginary pale skin"-Nellie Wong "When i was Growing up"

This quote popped out to me because it is still the same today. not just for different ethnicites, but white little girls who may not fit the standard of being beautiful blond bombshell are taking all kind of measures to try and be that girl. It is sad that all female role models for young girls have been formed by society to fit such standards.
this quote reminds me of the poem"Queen Anne's Lace" because the whole poem tallks about the woman being this beautiful person or body. It is athe only thing that is focused on and it seems that way in Wong's poem as well. A woman is not praised for her mind, just her looks.

4. "Plain as bread/ round as cake/and ordinary woman"-Lucille Clifton, "the Thirty eight Year"

this stood out to me because woman often view themselves in this way. When we look in the mirror we only pick out negative features. she is unhappy with jsut being ordinary. She wants to be taht movie star or super model. She wants to be beautiful and attractive. she wants to be more than just another woman sitting in a house alone following the expectations of society. Seh is unhappy with her outcome.
This reminds me of "the Yellow Wall Paper" because teh woman in that story is also unhappy wiht the life she is leading. she feels as if she is a prisoner in it. that is the same feeling i get from this poem. These women are trapped in a life of expectations and standards that is very lonely adn unfulfilling.