Engl121 George's Blog

Invisible Man, Racial Tension

2005-04-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

In the Invisible Man, there is a lot of racial tension. In the novel people tended to be more open about their beliefs about different races, than people are today. However, in the novel people still held back their feelings, and beliefs.
The narrator is a black man and seems to almost honor successful white people at the beginning of the novel. It seems to me he almost feels they are better people than they are, partly because they are white. This was surprising for me because I would think he would distrust and not like white people at all. However, after the situation that got him kicked out of college, he seemed to change his beliefs a little. The narrator tended to not put as much trust in white people anymore.
When the narrator joined the Brotherhood, you got to see a better view of the racial tension in the novel. To me it seemed like white people had one idea of what a black person was and vise versa. It seemed like the different races did not like each other much and distrusted them. However, they held in their emotions most of the time. Although, when the confrontations did take place they tended to be extreme. A perfect example is when two police men shoot and kill a man for selling dolls on the street. This was a friend of the narrator and a fellow member of the brotherhood. To me it seemed like the police usually did not give black people a rough time, but if they did anything remotely wrong they would take extreme measures due to their feelings, and beliefs about them.
This novel has a lot in common with today's racial tension. In today's society race is a very touchy subject. A prime example of this is, during class when Dr. Sherwood asked about racial tension nobody really said anything. This is obviously not because no one had any views on the subject. People just didn't want to say anything that would possibly offend someone else or get themselves into trouble. This is just like in the novel, because everyone had views, but they were almost made to feel ashamed to feel the way they do, unless it was the "right" way. There is still a lot of racial tension in today's society if you ask me. If you walk into the caff and look around, you usually see white students sitting together, and then you see black students sitting together. This is the same as peoples friends, it seems that your friends are the people with the same skin color. However, there are obviously people of different color that are friends, I am just talking about the majority, and what I see.
I think the reason why we have racial tension is because of the people that say you have to act a certain way. It makes you feel like you have to feel this certain way about this subject or you are a horrible person. People hold a lot in, in today's society just to make sure it doesn't cause a problem too. As I am writing this paper, I am hesitant on writing things as well. I do not want to state my point of view, and possibly upset anyone. This is probably how everyone feels, and I think that is the problem and that's why we still have racial tension. Without getting into my personal beliefs on the subject of racial tension, this is as much as I can say. We still have racial tension in our society just like in the novel Invisible man. We just tend to ignore it and stay away from the subject, and we do that to avoid conflicts and to save ourselves from possible lectures on our "wrong" ideas of the subject.

House of Spirits, Ideology

2005-04-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

Esteban send Nicholas away because of his religious group and the effect it had on Alba. I definitely agree with his actions. He is using and ideological concept of "common sense". He obviously sees Nicholas's actions how I see them as a "cult". The signs are obvious, from the weird chants to the shaving of heads. Esteban gets pushed over the edge when Alba shaves her head and Nicholas forms a protest in front of the Senate. He sends Nicholas away for good. Esteban's embarrassment may have been a part of his actions. However, I feel his actions were for Alba's sake. He did not want his granddaughter to be part of this weird cult. I would have done the same things have I been in Esteban's place.

Question for Rachel Duplessis

2005-03-13T19:16:00.000-08:00

Where do you come up with ideas for your poems? Do certain things inspire you? Also, what is your favorite poem you have written?

Antigone

2005-03-03T15:59:00.000-08:00

Bertolt Brecht's version of Antigone is a very interesting story. Brecht's version is similar to the other various versions. In this story Antigone is considered a self. Kreon is in charge of everything and ends up destroying and ruining everything he knows.
Antigone's brother is condiderd a coward for running off the battle field. He is killed and is left unburied to rot. Kreon's law is no one can bury him or they will be punished. However, Antigone does not stand for this. She asks here sister Ismene to help her bury him, but she does not want any part of it. Ismene is a subject since she does what all of the other citizens of that society do, which is nothing. People have problems with this law but no one has the courage to do anything about it, that is until Antigone. Antigone is caught and takes full responsibility of the actions. She is not afraid of Kreon. Ismene wants Antigone to Tell Kreon she was also in on the burial of their brother. Antigone does not agree since she did not actually help her do the deed. Why should Ismene get credit for something she did, even if the credit will only get her in a lot of trouble. Antigone's free spirit and "self" help her to do the right thing and take responsibility of her actions.
Kreon is the King of Thebes, and is a horrible one. He only does what he wants for his own advancement. His son is engaged to Antigone, but this fact has no say in what happens to her. He pushes his son away. Kreons army is eventually over run by the opposing force and soon Thebes will be taken over by them. At this time he gets word of his two sons deaths. At the end Kreon is left with no one beside him except the elders. The elders are also subjects. They agree with nothing Kreon does yet they still follow him. This is a great story, with good examples of subjects and selfs.

Ballad of Gregorio Cortez

2005-02-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

The story of Gregorio Cortez is a fun exciting story. I can understand why this story has survived over the years, especially for the people who live close to the border where it allegedly took place. There are different variations of the story, yet they are all relatively the same. Cortez is not made into a subject in any variation. He is characterized as being great at everything he does. he works the fields faster than anyone, shoot better than anyone, rides horses better than anyone, etc. This were all common things for people in that time period. People can associate their lives somewhat to Cortez since he did they same jobs as them. Even though they can associate with Cortez no one really sees themselves as great as he was.
The different variations of the story also seem to point out the fact that Cortez only killed because he had to, not because he wanted to. He killed because he was forced to do so. The variations also say that Cortez surrenderd himself. People that helped Cortez we getting hurt because of him. He took it upon himself to surrender, so that his friends and family would not get hurt. The readers of the story get a feeling of honor from Cortez. Some people would only care about themselves and keep running, however Cortez surrenders so they are safe.
Some of the variations leave out a lot of the story. If you never heard the story before and read a variation that is missing certain parts you would be very confused. However, this story seems to be one that is learned early on in life and is passed down from generation to generation.
I think this story is so appealing to people because they want to be like Cortez. They want to be as great, compassionate, and honorable as he was. This is a great story alone, but when people close to the border can relate their lives to Cortez's story it is an even more powerful story for them.

Blood Wedding

2005-02-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

Lorcas blood wedding is a true tragedy. In the end Leonardo and the bridegroom are killed and nothing gets resolved. The tragedy in this play highlights the importance of family bloodlines and also the importance of marriage in this time period. The bride is from a family that is related to the murderer of the bridegrooms father and brother. The mother is skeptical of her because of the name. Marriage was until death in this time period. You could not voluntarily get out of a marriage. Male superiority was also very prominent. It is shown throughout the play especially when Leonardo is sneaking of to see the bride and the wife just lets him do it. It may be that she thinks after the wedding Leonardo will stop these improper actions, or she may know if she says anything she may get hurt.
Lorca uses many poetic lines in this play. I enjoyed poetic form because it lightened up this tragedy. "Running, running, running, the thread runs to here. All covered with clay I feel them draw near. Bodies stretched stiffly in ivory sheets!" (pg.92) This passage is very poetic, if it were not it would just be sad. However, even though the words are expressing death, you can still find beauty in them.
I also sense that the mother has a somewhat unnatural attachment with her son. It seems that she is using the bridegroom to replace her husband. Since her husband was killed she will think of her son as her "man" now. I may be reading to much into this, but in the movie the dances were showing a love of husband and wife, not mother and son.
I enjoyed this play mostly because of the gracefulness of Lorca's words. She made such a tragedy into a beautiful piece of art.

The Awakening, Chopin

2005-01-31T13:00:00.000-08:00

Chopin's main character in this book is Edna. She is married to a husband that expects everything he tells her to do, to be done. He is hardly ever home, he is either at work or with his friends. Edna has a good friend at their summer home, Robert. Edna soon falls in love with him. The title of the story refers to Edna "waking up" to the fact that she is being oppressed and she should not be held to conformity.

Chopin makes many references to the sea. One of the first events which show Edna "waking up" is when she swims out further than she has ever before. "A feeling of exulation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul".(pg. 27) This line implies something has made her feel important and that she can now control what her inner self, her soul, wants to do. The end of the book ends at the sea also. She loves Robert not her husband, which would be highly unacceptable at that time. She also knew this would have quite an effect on her children. Due to Edna "waking up" she has put herself into a situation. She decided the only way to resolve the circumstances is to kill herself. She swam out into the sea until she was exhausted and then she drowned. I like how Chopin started Edna's transformation in the sea, and she also ended it there.

Chopin's writing style was very interesting. She made you feel sorry for Edna and you wanted her to be happy. However, if written differently you would feel the complete opposite. You would feel that Edna is horrible for not listening to her husband, not loving him, cheating on him, and not giving proper attention to her children.

The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman

2005-01-22T16:06:00.000-08:00

Gilman's Yellow Wallpaper is a some what disturbing story. Throughout the story you really sense the mental problem that the main character has. Through extreme detail in somepart, mainly referring to the wallpaper really expresses this point. She is completely overcome by the wallpaper. She was taken to this house to get better, however the house usually the wallpaper only contributed to her metal illness. You get a great sense of how much she was obsessed with the wallpaper when she gets jealous of her husband and his sister for just looking at it. When Gilman wrote of darkness I felt she was implying the darkness which fell upon the main character. This was great, you can already feel the empowering of the wallpaper, then Gilman expresses points of the story with darkness. If I could summarize this story it would be a woman was overcome with darkness due to yellow wallpaper. The Yellow Wallpaper was a very intense story.

Narrative, Douglass

2005-01-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

Douglass's narrative of his life is a powerful story. Knowing that Douglass experienced this story first hand really heightened the effect it had on me. The contrast of good and bad is prominent. Douglass goes into great detail when writing of the hardships he went through. Likewise, he also goes into great detail when writing about his accomplishments. This makes for a strong contrast highlighting both his good times and bad times of his life. From the beginning Douglass takes control in his writing style. He does not leave much for you the reader to interprets. He writes what he wants us to know. In most books there is a decent bit of information that you can make your own assumptions on. In the narrative though you must take Douglass's point of view on everything. The fact that you knew what your reading was his life really made you think of how horrible slavery was. Douglass definitely knew what he was doing when he wrote his narrative. He took control at the beginning and never let go. He also makes many powerful statements throughout his story. I really enjoyed Douglass's writing.