Film Society: Fur

Fur was my favorite movie out of all the Film Society movies. The plot was so interesting. Nicole Kidman was fantastic in this movie they was she portrayed Diane Arbus was amazing. Arbus was an amazing person she had so many ideas she was finally able to make a reality. She turned her back to her stable life with her husband and kids to pursue what she really wanted. Arbus was the cookie cutter wife until Lionel moved in. She became the total opposite of what a good wife was supposed to be. Lionel turns out to be a human werewolf who makes wigs with his hair. Arbus becomes enthralled with him. Once she starts hanging out with Lionel Arbus's inner freak really comes out. She starts meeting Lionel's circus friends which are all "freaks." Soon she starts forgetting about her family and spending all her time with Lionel. Lionel is able to let Arbus live the life she really wants. Arbus falls in love with Lionel. She soon finds out he is about to die, his lungs are slowly disintegrating. Lionel really helps Arbus become reborn again. She is not held back by the rules of society any longer. One part in the film I enjoyed was when her husband grew a beard to try and compete with Lionel for Arbus. The ending was very sad, it was nice that Lionel was able to go out how he wanted to.

April 22 Readings

It was a nice change to go from all the poems to these short stories. I really enjoyed all the poems but the readings this week was a very nice change. I enjoyed all the authors and their writing styles. I really enjoyed Thomas Pynchon's story. He included a lot of detail in his writing about everything. It allowed me to feel as if I was where he was writing about. All of the details added to the fullness of the story.
Raymond Carver's story Cathedral was very interesting to me. The ending was perfect I really like how the blind man was able to teach Robert not to feel smothered by his surroundings. The blind man was able to teach Robert how to enjoy his life more.
All the readings were very in depth and touching. Each one had a point to make. It amazed me at how much detail each had. When a story has a lot of detail I am able to make a clearer picture of what the author is trying to portray in my mind. My favorite story from the reading was Lullaby by Leslie Marmon Silko. It was a very touching story and I really enjoyed how she ended the story with the song that had been passed down.

Irish Folk Music Concert

Mairtin de Cogain and Jimmy Crowley were great! I really enjoyed the music they played. I really could not understand what they were saying half the time though. They were both very entertaining. Mairtin's story about the car was very humorous. My favorite song they played was the one about the Titanic. I enjoyed the music that went along with the story they were telling. Crowley was very talented in playing the instruments he did. They both were very good entertainers. I am going to put The Wind That Shakes the Barley on my Netflix queue because I enjoyed de Cogain so much.

Spoken Word Poet Mike McGee

I LOVED Mike McGee. His way of interacting with the crowd and laid back personality made it a relaxed atmosphere. Every single one of his poems was amazing. My favorite was about death and McGee having an eating contest to see who would win McGee's soul. He was also very funny almost all of the poems he performed contained weird comparisons and humorous word choices. He performed from 8-10:30 it did not feel like I was there for that long. Time flew by as he told amazing poem after poem. I thought he had a much lighter subject base than the last poet. I'm glad I got to see him perform.

April 15 Readings

I enjoyed reading all of the authors this week. Each had their own special quality that made their writings peak my interest.
Adrienne Rich's Storm Warnings really appealed to me. The way she described the situation was very relatable to me. I have seen many hurricanes and road them through waiting to survey the damage outside. The last line is so true " These are the things that we have learned to do who live in troubled regions" it becomes second nature to close up the house when bad weather comes. At the beginning she even talks about knowing the weather better than the barometer. The words she uses to describe the weather create strong images in my mind. In her other poem Snapshots of a Daughter-in- Law she is kind of like a contemporary Plath. The last stanza was bittersweet it alluded that there were changes to come but one is always being reborn into new ideas and identities. The poem had a strong feminist air to it. Rich explores the advancement of women through time. She ends with the beginning in a way. With women being reborn through out their life it creates a stronger connection with their past. My favorite poem of hers was Diving Through the Wreck. Rich acknowledges women's fight for civil rights in the past as well as the present. There is a strong tie to the unconscious embedded into diving into the unknown. She also creates a since of problems with the images of the wreck, knife, and being below the surface. By her finding the wreck it creates a sense of recovery which could be linked to the recovery of women's rights. Rich creates a myth for women to look upon when needing a sign of hope.
Micheal S. Harper has a writing style that infuses the jazz structure with writing. He is very spontaneous in his writing with a rhythmic and music openness. He also writes a lot about past events. Harper celebrates African American culture in all of his writings. In American History Harper uses lots of history to create a tragic poem. He speaks of slaves coming to American to be sold and little girls being killed. All of his poems were very interesting and created a different view point of situations.
Komunyakaa like Harper had a jazz like structure to his poems. His writings were very personal and in a way confessional. The structure was not like other writers during that time. He had a very unique way of looking at things.
Li- Young Lee had an emphasis on material things with specific pin points. He was able to make me hungry when I was reading Eating Alone and Eating Together. Like Hemingway he uses sensual imagery to grab your attention and switch from one thing to another. Lee uses the "icy metal spigot" to change from present to past. He is also a lot like Bishop, he writes about things and starts with things in his poetry.

After This By: Alice McDermott

I did not really enjoy After This. I read Child of My Heart prior to reading After this and enjoyed it a lot more. After this seemed to be a bunch of short stories linked together by the same characters. Each "short story" was very good but it made the book disjointed. The storied jumped from decades creating a burr of time. There was a lack of structure during the story I felt as if there was no high point to the story. I did enjoy the repetition of the piano player she used. The tone was bittersweet. The intermixing of sweetness and sorrow created hope and possibility. With hope there is a twist of a sadder but wiser view that is taken. This most defiantly is an anti-war novel. Along with the anti-war theme the American Dream is put into question. McDermott hints towards the American Dream just being a mythical creature never meant to be caught. The main theme I got from After This was to always have hope.

Readings for 4/1

Sylvia Plath sparked my interest this week. Her poems were a revealing peep into her life. She used the Holocaust a lot in both of her poems. I thought that was very interesting. She is able to create a strong image in readers mind's with her strong wording. I really enjoyed Child! The way she starts off with a kind of innocence then at the end BAM the real world is there. She makes the world feel so empty when she says "Not this troublous wringing of hands, this dark ceiling without a star." I hate when I cannot see stars in the sky. I get excited when I am able to see a constellation in the sky. With that one line she is able to take a certain part of life away. In Daddy Plath shows that she has serious issues with her father. It was interesting to read how she expressed her feelings about her father.
James Baldwin's story Good Country People was really entertaining. It paralleled with The Confidence Man by having a con artist. The last paragraph of the story where the guy takes her leg and tells her "one time I got a woman's glass eye this way" made me crack up. She ended up getting taken advantage of instead of her taking advantage of the guy. Things just went down hill for her. She lost her leg and her man friend.
Elizabeth Bishops poem Fish was very entertaining. She was able to admire every detail of a fish like he was a god. She describe everything on the fish with dramatic wording that lets the reader feel as if they are seeing the fish for themselves. I enjoyed how she described all the hooks as "a five- haired beard of wisdom" it was a very intriguing way to describe past escapes from being caught.
All-in-all I enjoyed this weeks reading very much they were are similar but different in big ways.

The Perfect Crime- Film Society 3/27

This dark comedy was very enjoyable. It kept me laughing the whole time..at things I shouldn't have been. The main guy character accidentally kills his department store nemesis which become floor manager, the job the main guy wanted. When the main guy tries to get rid of the body he leaves it in the basement to get a butcher knife to chop up the body to burn it. When he gets back the body is gone. The next day the police come to question everyone at the store. The main guy finds out Lourdes one of the ugliest employees has hid the body. The main guy is used to getting the hottest and perfect girls. When Lourdes starts to blackmail him into a relationship he must go along with it. His life ends up being a living hell. He has become a "normal" person, the kind of person he despises. Lourdes ends up being a crazy b***h who will run to the police and tell them everything if the main guy does not do everything she says. The boss that the main guy killed ends up coming back as a ghost and giving him advice of what to do with Lourdes. They come to the conclusion she needs to be killed. The main guy rents movies to try and find a way to kill Lourdes. He comes up with an excellent plan of how to comment the perfect crime.

Readings 3/25

All of the writers in this section wrote about real life situations. Anderson's story dealt with a father being disappointed in his son. Tom Willard ,the father, has a short fuse he thinks he will be big stuff one day. Elizabeth Willard has the role of the defensive mother trying to protect her son. "I will act. There is something threatening my boy and I will ward it off" shows how Elizabeth wanted her son to be safe and she was like a mother bird ready to swoop in and protect. Anderson creates a typical situation that happens among father and son in families. It also portrays a son gaining responsibility. Each character in the story has their own struggle to deal with.
Porter also writes with real life in mind. Flowering Judas deals with politics, lust, and betrayal. Flowering Judas was enjoying to read it had interesting ideas embedded throughout the story. Laura during the story says "it is monstrous to confuse love with revolution, night with day, life with death" she is comparing complete opposites which creates strong imagery. Laura's life begins to become consumed with war. She has a dream where Eugenio tries to feed her flowers and when she eats them he calls her a murderer and cannibal. Laura is deeply effected by the war.
I enjoyed reading Hurston's writings. She was able to write about the problems blacks faced without shoving it in the reader's face. She had a positive attitude and did not feel as if her race needed to be uplifted by her writing. The way Hurston writes allows the reader to feel like they are in the moment with her. Hurston writes " Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past." She is able to reject others' opinions and keep pride in herself even though people try to keep her down. At one point Hurston says " At certain times I have no race, I am me" She is able to keep her head above and try to create a race free world. Hurston takes a kind of sarcastic approach when she says " Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonished me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me" That is my favorite quote from Hurton's stories. In The Gilded Six-Bits Hurston uses a certain dialect to impose the story on the reader. It makes the story more realistic. Once again this story deals with everyday life.
Hemingway writes about the darker side of human nature. He takes negative situations in real life and puts them in writing. Hemingway's writing had an negative image of women in it. The story ends abruptly with Helen and the hyena outside the tent.
Fitzgerald's writings deal with real life. It is easy for the reader to get through the story and relate to characters. Winter Dreams includes love like most of the stories.
Faulkner like the other writers in this section creates a story that a certain group of people can relate to in some way.
Wright's story contain certain dialect like Hurston. It also deals with problems blacks faced in the past. It is a down home kind of story about issues. The story contains a lot of local color. Dave gets caught up in some bad business. Dave is able to run away to some where he feels he will have a better chance.
In all of the readings there is some kind of conflict but they are all realistic to a certain group of people. Certain stories included a certain local flavor with dialect and actions happening in the stories. I enjoyed all of the readings but, Hurstons were most enjoyable.

Terror's Advocate- Film Society

This film was an excellent glimpse into a criminal lawyers life. Barbet Schroeder is able to create a documentary of Verges most controversial trials. At the Beginning of the film it says this is Barbet Schroeder take on Verges, at the end of the film I did not really get a clear vision of Schroeder's opinion of Verges. Verges seems to me to get caught up in his clients lives. He seems to get possessed with their ideas and strong opinions of government. It was very interesting to know he disappeared for 12 years and was just in Paris, yet no one has the whole story on what he was doing during those years. Verges also was married and had kids with one of his clients he represented early in his career. She was an Algerian "freedom fighter" who bombed a cafe and killed lots of people. Verges thought she had done the right thing and was able to get her and the rest of her group off of death row. Verges ended up leaving her and his kids out of the blue, I think he got bored with her since she was still not doing "terrorist" activities. Verges is able to persuade courts into shorting or recalling sentences on his clients. I won't deny his talent as a lawyer, he is someone who would be able to sell ice to an Eskimo.

March 11 Readings

Ezra Pound used images that were not necessarily literal. He was included in the imagism movement. His use of clear language helped convey images stronger. His writings are able to evoke more than a literal image. In his poem In a Station of the Metro he was able to create a contrast between the apparition (ghostliness) of the faces in the crowd and the concrete image of the petals. There is an interesting tension made by having the face not seem like they are there. But when he creates the solid image of "petals on a black bough" saying that is what the faces are like. Pound also uses fragmentation in his writings. He creates a collage of images that connect in some way.
William Carlos Williams is able to look inside a different world in his poem The Young Housewife. The man in the car seems to be some kind of peeping tom. Williams is able to capture this moment in time of the man driving by and the woman doing her daily routine. He creates images that could be displayed in a piece of art. He is also able to capture the young housewife not made up. He speaks of how her hair is falling and she is not corseted. It is interesting how Williams starts with the young housewife and then compares her to a fallen leaf. Towards the end of the poem he mentions dried leaves. He could be saying the young housewife will eventually be one of the dried leaves. The poem leads the reader to believe the man in the car is not totally innocent. The fact that he mentions the exact time of 10 A.M. leads people to believe this is not the first time he has driven by her house. There is much more than what is exposed on the surface of this poem. Many ideas can be created form the images Williams' creates.
The Red Wheelbarrow does not give the reader very much. The poem starts out with "so much depends on." This could mean that poetry, art, or the world depends on his creation. There is a contrast between the white of the chickens and the red of the wheelbarrow.
This is Just to Say; in this poem there is a statement of eating a plum. The speaker is letting someone know they enjoyed a plum and it was delicious. It is a moment of recognition, it goes along with every day activities.
The Dance; this poem involves a lot of movement and feeling. Williams was able to express a painting in words. He used very loose words and simple language to express the painting. There is very little illusion in this poem. Williams is able to write ideas that are opposite from Eliot. The poem tries to capture the "American breath."
T.S. Eliot goes along with the idea that art can re-invent a fragmented world. He is able to take fragments from different worlds and put them together to create a new piece of art. Eliot believed in re-creating whatever was fragmented. He was able to appeal to all and bring people back together.
Wallace Stevens- The Emperor of Ice- Cream
This poem is able to embodies a funeral in a creative style. He uses ice-cream which creates a sort of light childhood state of mind. He takes parts of a funeral and writes them how his mind sees. He tries to express the idea it is bad to be dead because you're not alive. He has the conscience of making life worth living. There are no ideas but in things in this poem. Stevens wants poetry to help people come alive in their every day life.
Anecdote of the Jar conveys the idea that wilderness is living in its own way but when an outside man made object appears it changes wilderness. The jar can be compared to art, art can change anything it is around.
Langston Hughes was very intense in his writings. It does not really fit in with the other authors of his time. He was pushing the envelope with his poetry about being black. His poems were written from experience not his imagination. He uses time and movement to allow his poems to flow. His poems were very political and prophetic. He was able to write about the civil rights movement with a great deal of feeling that he wanted to put out into the world. His poems read very similar to song lyrics. He was not bound by what others thought he should write about even though most of his writings did not get published due to their content.
I enjoyed the readings in this section and how they were able to convey their ideas through as little words as possible but creating very intense imagery.

No Country For Old Men (Film)

I did not think I would enjoy this movie. After seeing previews for it on TV I never really grasped what it was about. I finally was talked into going to it with a friend. I really enjoyed the way the movie was filmed. When Ed Bell (sheriff) sets up the contrast between the old days and the present it hints at the violence that will be shown in the movie. I enjoy Tommy Lee Jones as an actor, one of my favorite movies is Men in Black. Jones was able to keep a collected tone throughout the whole movie. He never acted very surprised at anything Anton (the killer) did. When Anton killed the officer at the beginning I knew it could only get better. The casualness in which Anton killed the officer set him up as a conscienceless killer.
When Llewelyn is out hunting and he stumbles upon the bloody scene of a bad drug deal and the Mexican is asking for water I wish Llewelyn would have just gotten the heck out of there. When he finds the money and takes it home I enjoyed how he hid it under his trailer with his guns. He was like a little kid hiding all his treasures. There is a connection between Llewelyn and Anton, Llewelyn has a conscience while Anton does not. Llewelyn's conscience gets him in trouble when he returns to the place where the Mexican asked for water. He was trying to do a good thing by bringing the Mexican some water but ended up getting in trouble for it.
When Llewelyn realizes he is being tracked by someone he gets worried. If I was Llewelyn and I had the money the first thing I would have done was checked for a tracking device. Llewelyn's luck only gets worse from there.
Through out the entire movie there are indications to how chance can affect someones life. Anton wonders into a gas station in the middle of nowhere and ask the cashier to call a coin, heads or tails. The cashier had chance on his side and Anton left. Another theme in the movie is free-will, Llewelyn did not have to take the money he found but he did. His decision to take the money was his own. It could have been chance that lead him there or it was already destined for him to find the money.
I enjoy the movie very much. I thought Tommy Lee Jones did an excellent job and so did Javier Bardem. Javier did a very good job of playing a conscienceless killer who would go through anything to get what was his. I enjoyed the realness of 1980 that was captured in the film.

The Awakening

Kate Chopin was able to write a story about how society shapes people's lives and the devastating effects. She was a realist and wrote in the local color style. Chopin wrote about feminist issues and gender issues, analyzing male roles as well. She played with different types of people in her story. She analyzed the roles women were expected to fit in and the roles males take, like trying to control women.
Edna's voice was trapped by the constraints that society put on her. She was unable to break free from the pressure that was thrust upon her to be the perfect wife, mother, and socialite. Robert provided an illusion of freedom for Edna. She was never able to find who she really wanted to be, after trying to be a painter and the other things she tried. When Edna went into the ocean she felt a relief from her life. She returned to a natural state where she could release tension and pressure. The sea was able to speak a languages she wanted to hear rather than the outside language she heard. She longed for the voice of nature. She thought of nature as a maternal figure that was welcoming her back home. In a way Edna wanted to be like the sea, she did not want to be controlled or silenced. The sea was able to seducing her into returning home. In that part of the story it was a positive thing for Edna being seducing by the sea. While Edna is swimming and being over whelmed by the sea she does not think twice about her children. Edna had begun to centralized on her life and what she thought it should be. Edna talked a lot of her childhood, in a way she gave up and tried to return to being a child again. She wanted to return back to childhood due to the fact she had not failed yet. By the end of the story Edna has failed at her life. She is not a good mother, socialite, or wife. The main things in her life. Edna tries to be an individual and tries to distance her self from the rest of society. She stops going to the Tuesday social events. The social expectations are too much for Edna and cause her to become depressed and constantly questioning her life. Edna lacked the courage to try and turn her life around. She ran away from her responsibilities. Edna thinks her life should be like the Romantic style of writing. She doesn't believe she should have expectation put upon her. Edna has a hole that cannot be filled by hobbies or social gatherings. She ends up getting stuck in a pessimistic world, she cannot gather the courage to look forward she always looks back. Edna felt like drowning was the only way out. She had failed at her life, she had nothing more to live for. At least she killed herself doing something she enjoyed. Edna killing herself shows how cowardly she really was.

Film Society 3/4/08- Rocket Science

I really enjoyed this movie. It kind of reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite due to the music and the goofy way Hal acted. Hal trying to be on the debate team with a stutter was funny. It was sad how Ginny tried to make him believe he could overcome his stutter. Hal's brother was very interesting with always having to have an agenda. Hal was surrounded by failing things. His parents relationship did not last. His mother's relationship with new boyfriend did not work out either. This movie shows how sometimes the hardest times in life can lead you in the right direction. When Hal goes to find Ben (Ginny's old debate partner) I found that very crafty on Hal's part. Hal realized what could hurt Ginny like Ginny hurt him. The movie was a comical view on the unusual years of high school. Hal was able to find himself in the end. He had no need to try and be someone else. He embraces his stutter.

Readings for Feb 26

Gilded Age, trying to achieve "culture"
Jack London- To Build a Fire
Realist version he expresses the thought of humans not being the only ones on earth. There is a lesson to be learned in this story. There are relationships formed. He also gives human beings "agency". The human action matters, humans have freedom and intelligence to make decisions and change the world. Self still matters. In Call of the Wild the story shifts back and forth between two worlds. Returning to the wild is a good thing in a way buck is returning to his true self/ body. It conveys a naturalistic feeling of the north. Again there are relationships formed. It explores the connections formed between animals and humans in certain ways. It was a positive thing for Buck to return home (the wild). Buck does not go back the same, one cannot return to "the wild" the same. There is a question of having a platonic relationship and returning to a primitive state. The story conveys learning the truth about one's self. It ends on an ironically positive note. Nature is all in both stories. Both stories read the way the world really is opposed to the way we want it to be. Natural death= cycle of life. The puritans believe in 3 stages when someone dies. This story does not go through the 3 stages. Buck comes out of the cave into a better world. The rise of science had a large impact on London's writing.
A White Heron- Sarah Orne Jewett
Jewett roots her stories in places she is familiar with. She was an early feminist and was very interested in examing force an how it impacted a women's life. The White Heron has a romantic tone with sentimental tradition. She sets up the white heron as a symbol very quickly. If this story was a realist story the bird would die. There is tension between the heart and heart. She finds herself deciding what is right and what she wants to do. This is a coming of age story, she must choose the bird or the man. She explores whether she wants to grow up or stay in the innocent childhood stage. She rejects the money (growing up) and picks innocence. She picks the ethical thing to do by allowing the bird to die of natural causes. The man stands for the opposite of what she love (nature). She would be betraying herself if she told him where the bird was. The age of the girl has a very big impact on the story. She ends up being a mother earth figure. The story ends up being a kind of romantic mythical story. It is very different from the tone of naturalist stories. This story could also be a story about the nation at that time. It was in between two stages.
Daisy Miller- Henry James
This story shows how class effects ones life. Class shapes the life of humans and their characteristics. Daisy is flirty, forth right, and just wants to live life to the fullest. She is the opposite of Winterborn. His class determines the way he acts. Daisy is not concerned with what is expected of her, she enjoys being with people. She cares more about socializing than rules, standards, or regulations put on her. Daisy wants to experience life without the artificial bonds of society on her. Winterborn is attracted to Daisy but does not know how to approach her. Daisy ends up being a tragic figure due to her adventitious ways. Daisy does not take advantage of other people's knowledge. Daisy is truly naive and ignorant. She would end up doing the same actions if she knew the outcome. She had willful disobedience with an unconcern for consequences. Daisy was scolded for not following the European ways and that cost her her life. Daisy does not effect Winterborn at all it is ironic he is left with none of Daisy's tendencies. This story was realist in its tone due to Daisy dying. This story critiques the power of society to challenge human desire.
Chesnutt & Twain
Both of these writers celebrate American culture. Both produced light cautionary tales. Chesnutt's had deeper meaning. His had bits that can compare to O'Connor's writing. There is a radical shift and surprise ending.
Roosevelt major writer and environmentalist. He was very progressive and conservative.

Centenary Film Society- Vitus 2/26/07

I enjoyed this movie very much. It was an interesting look into the life of Vitus the 6 year old piano prodigy. Vitus had a lot of pressure thrust upon him at an early age. I believe he was able to take him self away from the world in order to stay grounded. His parents especially his mother was very controlling of his talent. His mother wanted him to practice every hour of the day and spend all his time playing the piano. Vitus just wanted to be a normal kid. I thought it was interesting how Vitus in order to change the way his mother treated him had to jump off his balcony. After his accident he pretended to be just a normal kid. The way it affected his mother shows how dependent she was on his talent. She broke down and started watching videos of the past. I think that said a lot about the mother and how her life depended on Vitus being an expert piano player. Vitus' grandfather plays a big role in the movie. He enables Vitus to think for himself. The grandfather is the only one that allows Vitus to decide what he wants to do on his own. I think he provides what Vitus needs, an escape from the pressure of his mother. I am glad that Vitus made the decision he did in the end. I think it was the right thing for him to do he just needed to make the choice on his own. My favorite line in the movie was at the end in the grandfather's letter to the family. The grandfather wrote "Vitus continue to follow your star". This shows how the grandfather would support any decision Vitus made. The message I got from the movie was that your family is your main support. They will always love you no matter your decisions.

Readings for the week of Feb 19

This weeks readings centered around slavery and race. Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virgina was a far cry from The Deceleration of Independence. It was kind of the oppsite of what he was fighting for in D.O.I. Also, regarding Jefferson's relationships with his slaves it was ironic that he would have those feelings toward slaves.
I throughly enjoyed Margaret Fuller's The Great Lawsuit: Man vs. Men. Woman vs. Women. I liked how she goes through the four different types of "equality". My favorite is when she talks about "men engaging in public life" but, "in the course of things the intellectual development of woman has spread wider and risen higher". The husband and wife can work together to form a "harmony of mind". Another quote from Fuller I enjoy is from The Great Radical Dualism is where she speaks about the writer from the New York Pathfinder. She says "he views woman truly from the soul, and not from society" this shows how women can be viewed in a non worker/servant way.
In the Harriet Beecher Stowe reading I was surprised to see that she was a white women abolitionist writing about a slave escaping. Uncle Tom's Cabin was an interesting story of a mother trying to save her son from being sold to a different family. All the things Eliza had to go through to keep out of reach of the slave hunters was intense. The descriptive narrative of Eliza journey added to the story. Uncle Tom's religious belief is a big part of this story.
Fanny Fern's "Fresh Leaves, by Fanny Fern" was a very refreshing read. I enjoyed how she was able to show her critics how idiotic they would sound when they critique her work. My favorite line in the reading was "We imagine her, from her writings, to be a muscular, black-browed, grenadier- looking female, who would be more at home in a boxing gallery than in a parlor." I think it is good she can laugh at her self but at the same time prove a point. Another quote I like is " She should be oil upon the troubled waters of manhood" I think this shows how she is pushing limits with her writing . I also think it shows how others are worried about her ideas being published for others to read and think about.
In the Harriet Jacobs passages I enjoyed the glimpse into a slaves life. I liked how it started out with background information about her life. I liked how she pushed what she knew she should not and ended up getting what she wanted. I think this story shows how strong willed women are and also what women slaves went through. I loved how she hid in her grandmothers attic while her owner searched every where for her and she was right under his nose. It was very intelligent of her to take the risk and hid there. The ending to this story was perfect I enjoyed it very much.
I enjoyed the theme of women writers taking a stand in what they believed in. My favorite readings were Fanny Fern's .

The Confidence Man

The Confidence Man By: Herman Melville
This text is a moderate text that broke certain conventions when it was written. It is a very interesting moral novel with psychological aspects. It ends up being an argument that goes around in circles. Melville satires human optimism. In The Norton book in Emerson's bio it says that "At one extreme, Melville reacted so hostilely to the optimistic side of Emerson's thought that he satirized him in The Confidence Man as a great American philosophical con man." Melville saw the world as a bad dark place. He did not want to see the good side of things. There was always something that could go wrong. Melville says "To do, is to act; so all doers are actors." He is saying every person is essentially playing a different role in life. No one is immune to being behind a sort of mask during their life. He is using philosophy as a negative thing in society but he ends up conveying his message in a very philosophical way. The way Melville wrote this book it ends up being self reflexive it ends up exploring its own making. The Confidence Man is a very shocking book for this time period Melville was writing in. A confusing part of this book is distinguishing who is speaking and which character the "confidence man" is at one time. There are many symbols that point to the "confidence man" being a devil figure. During one or two characters he is carrying a black book in which he records names. This to me is a parallel to people selling their souls to the devil in a way. The "confidence man" quotes a lot of sculptures which is ironic due to him being a Satan like character. He ends up finding each of his victims weakness if not the first time he eventually does. There are many times the "confidence man" refers to confidence one example is "did you never observe how little, very little, confidence, there is? I mean between man and man- more particular between stranger and stranger. In a sad world it is the saddest fact. Confidence!...by way of experiment, simply have confidence in me?" The "confidence man" ends up conning his victims into feeling safe with him. He ends up gaining their confidence when in reality he is lying through his teeth. An interesting name he gives one of his past characters is "Mr. Truman" = true man which he certainly is not. One character that questions the "confidence man" is Pitch. He does not trust the CM he refuses to have trust or sympathy for another human. Pitch ends up being tricked by "the devil". This trickery leads to the "confidence man" being seen as a "trickster". If one never trust another human they end up not having human connections. This leads to Alfred Lord Tennyson's quote "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." I would rather have human connections and take the risk of trusting someone rather than not having a human bond.

Jan 29 Readings

American Romanticism- Idealism, fantasy, imaginary, Puritan
Transcendentalism- Above and beyond natural world. Puritans traditions, states of mind beyond physical and natural.
Gothic- Reaction to Age of Reason, logical, dark underside of reason, unconscious, impulse to leave mind, investigate body and mind. The Gothic period moved beyond logic.

Post Colonial Position
There were concerns dealing with creating an American since of culture. What does it mean to be an American? Another concern was individualism. There was stress on being your own person along with what is your value, or self worth. The writing of the time was a tidal wave of defining what it is to be American.

Puritan writings dealt with feelings, faith, imagination, hearts and mind, beyond the mind, platonic tradition, and not dealing with the entire body.

Hawthorne- “The greatest sin is to violate the human heart.”
He wrote before the revolution. He was an extremely moral writer His two writings were about trying to achieve a goal/ the main characters were “seekers” of perfection. Robin and Aylmer were all about the utopia idea. They both had the fatly flaw of pride.

In My Kinsman, Major Molineux Robin is freed of his obligation to get a job due to his relative being run out of town. When Robin laughs while watching his relative get taken out of town it signifies his freedom, and his chance to do as he wants. Robin is able to realize this due to the traumatic experience he went through. He final rejected the artificial connection he had with Major Molineux and made a connection with the community.

The Birthmark deals with Alymer who has the want of Utopia. The desire for American improvement is shown in this story. It also foreshadows today’s need for perfection. It is a classic tale of “excesses of reason”. There is a tragic consequence to Alymer’s actions and his attitude of; I can do what I want.

Emerson
His writing was influenced with self reliance and American having its own mind. He also wrote about how nature affected human life. He wanted Americans to become more intertwined with nature and learn things from it. He believed in hope and possibility. He saw the good side of the human nature.

Typological- Puritans traditions reading the world for God’s word through the acts of nature. Emerson used that idea in his works.

There are a lot of quotes you can pull out of his writing. It is very new age

Thoreau
His writings were about simplifying life and not putting so much meaning on material items. He believed a stronger connection with nature would form stronger communities. He also wrote about how to live a good life. He had an anti-materialist, and anti-consumer mind set. In a way he preaches through his writing.

Poe
Poe’s writing is very shocking and meant to surprise the reader. He wrote what was popular and what people would buy. In a way he was the creator of the horror story. He mostly wrote about obsessions and paranoia. In The Raven he writes of an obsession with Lenora. He takes drastic measures to reach his extreme mental states displayed in his writing. Poe writes in a completely different world/ state of mind.

Whitman
The language used in his writings would be able to pass for writings of today. He was able to push things forward with his writing. In Song of Myself part 24 he pushes the envelope with his words of sex and lust. It was very interesting to see things as he did. He was also a very democratic poet.

Dickinson
She was very modest in her writings. It seemed like she wrote for herself. She withholds a lot in her poems. There is a lot more going on in her poems under the surface. This brings a reader back.

Readings from Jan. 22, 2008

Anne Bradstreet, Poems
Most of Bradstreet's poems consist of life experiences. Not all of the experiences in her poems were pleasant. I enjoyed Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 18th, 1666 I liked the way she expressed her emotions over losing her house. My favorite part of the poem was "under the roof no guest shall sit/ nor at thy table eat a bit./ no pleasant talk shall ere be told/ nor things recounted done of old./ no candle 'ere shall shine in thee./ nor bridegroom's voice ere heard shall bee." She thinks of the future experiences there were to be had in the house that will never happen there.
Another poem of hers I enjoyed was To My Dear and Loving Husband. I liked the way she chose to show how much she loved her husband. When she described her love as something a river could not quench it stressed to me her undying love for her husband. I enjoyed the feelings of love she expressed and how she chose to express them. Also, when she says "Then while we live, in love let's so perservere /That when we live no more, we may live ever." The way she says she will love her husband even in death is romantic and seems very truthful.
Mary Rowlandson, from A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson
Each of the Removes consist of a days happenings. In the First Remove it tells of when the Indians came and attacked where they were staying. Rowlandson tells of how she was separated from her husband and all she had left was her life. The Second Remove has to do with their journey away from their town with the Indians and God helped her persist through the horrible conditions. The rest of the Removes deals with how God helps her all throughout her bad experiences.
Edward Taylor
All of Taylor's poems are about God and how life is centered around his many creations. In Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children the mix of happiness and sadness created a very emotional piece of work. It shows how even though life can be filled with happiness there will always be a low point but everything happens for a reason.
While Taylor's poems deal with God they also deal with his creations. In the two poems dealing with God's creatures (Upon a Wasp Chilled of Cold ,Upon a Spider Catching a Fly) Taylor dives into the lives of a wasp and a spider. His take on a spider catching a fly is most interesting due to a person not thinking very much of a spider's art of catching his dinner.
Jonathan Edwards
His writing deals with his life and how God has affected it. Edwards tells of how he dedicated his life to God and gave up all that he had. He unfortunately did not keep his vow. Through his journey with God Edwards learns much about him self and his religion.
Phillis Wheatley
Wheatley's poems also deal with God and how he was involved in her life experiences. My favorite of her poems was the one to General Washington. The very last stanza in her poem where she says " Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,/Thy ev'ry action let the goddess guide" was my favorite lines from her poems. The way she uses words expresses her want for him to succeed was very moving.

During the Puritan period most all of the writings had to deal with everyday life, dealing with the Indians, and God. All of the works are connected by their mention of nature, God and life. They each have experienced God and how at one point or another he has affected their lives. Reading such a wide variety of writers is interesting due to the different ways they all connect through nature, God, and life.