Whose Children Are These?

(posted by Erin Sells on the behalf of Terrinae and Patrice)

(posted by Erin Sells on the behalf of Terrinae & Patrice)

The main theme in this section seems to be about both the beauty of raising children and the pain of raising them in the world that we live in. Many of the poems speak of how hard it is being African American and raising your children against the stereotypical expectations that others prejudge them with. We see the beauty of raising children in such poems as "Black Cryptogram" by Michael S. Harper, short and simply he proclaims, "When God created the black child He was showing off." This depicts the sense of pride that African Americans have for their children (pg. 237).

This section also shows the negative reality of bringing a child into this world. In Georgia Johnson's poem "Motherhood", she is telling a child not to come through her, because "you do not know what a world this is of cruelty and sin." (pg 239). In a sense she is trying to warn and protect the child that she has not yet brought into this earth. We feel like she is justifying having an abortion which is not very uncommon for any period within African American history. For instance, In the movie Beloved or The Amistad, the women would rather murder their own child than to have them suffer the hardships and prejudices of this world.

She Is Flat On Her Back

The poem "She Is Flat On Her Back," written by E. Ethelbert Miller, illustrates a woman's experience with a sexual encounter in which she is uncomfortable with. The poem's assumed male narrator, proceeds through an account in which the female expresses that she is uneasy about having unprotected sex.

The female character expresses that she wants to be protected before her and the narrator proceed in their encounter. The narrator expresses that by her saying that she wants to be protected first causes him to feel like she is not interested in him and that she does not trust him. The reader is able to see that he feels a sense of guilt when he states, "the terrible thing i must be," when he is trying to figure out the reason why she is so hesistant to be "unprotected" when she is with him. However, he feels that she is not afraid of the possibility of having children, but afraid of him. What is it that she wants to be protected from if it is not the fear of having children?

The narrator pays extremely close attention to the actions that the female character does while she is away from him. He notices that she fumbles around in the bathroom with different things. He accounts for her every move until she is back with him in the bed. After she is with him in the bed, he says,

"and I am vulnerable

to love

i am not protected

i am vulnerable to love

to love"

What do you think is the significance of writing "to love" twice? What do you think is the significance in the title of the poem and what perception do you gather about the poem as a whole?

Closure for Oskar Schell

In the last section of Jonathan Safran Foer's, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close the character's secrets are revealed, and as the reader's we are allowed to sit back and analyze their own individual realities. The majority of the novel consists of Oskar's expedition's throughout New York searching for the lock to the key that belonged to his deceased father Thomas. The mystery behind the key became Oskar's purpose in life. Not only is this novel about a little boy who looses his father in the 9/11 attacts but also about a family torn apart and reassembled through deaths.
Grandfather Thomas was brought back to his wife because of Anna and Thomas Jr's death. Grandfather Thomas was also introduced to Oskar, who he would've never met if his own son hadn't died, as well as Mr. Black. The mother was introduced to Ron because she'd become a widow and the grandmother would've never married grandfather Thomas if Anna hadn't died in the Attacks on Dresden.
The novel is abstract and has many layers of depth. The ways the characters interact and their reasons for interacting are unusual. Oskar is extremely intelligent therefore he doesn't need much assisstance when he formulates his ideas, which he calls "inventing." Oskar is wel aware of situations around him and can't be easily convinced. Many of the things that Oskar knows he learned from his intuitive father Thomas. Oskar's father played a major role in the novel even in his absence and that proves how powerful the concept of death played in the entire novel. When Thomas was killed the entire novel took a turn and it's up too each reader to determine whether the turn was good or bad.
If you were Oskar what would you need in order to accept Thomas' death? Can closure be reached and if so, does Oskar ever recieve it?

What about a teakettle?

Written by New York Times bestselling author, Jonathan Safran, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is the tale a precocious nine-year old boy named Oskar, who is in search of the lock to a key found in his father’s closet. From the very beginning, it is apparent that sound is an inevitable and recurring theme within the novel. Because sound is incredibly powerful and expressive, I can understand why the author chose to begin the story with an assortment of noises. Although the primary sounds Oskar mentions appear arbitrary, they are actually filled with meaning, as we later find out. On the first page of the novel, Oskar envisions a teakettle that has the ability to create different sounds including, recite Shakespeare, read in his father’s voice, and chant The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine”. Following our discovery that he admires Hamlet and is currently in a play, his thoughts about the Shakespeare-reciting teakettle do not seem so random. As mentioned earlier, he also considers if the teakettle could read in his father’s voice. Not only is his father dear to his heart, but his voice is extremely important and influential within the novel as well. As we find out later, Oskar secretly hides the answering machine that contains the voicemails that his father leaves hours before his death. As discussed in class on Wednesday with Ms. Sells, Oskar says, "That secret was a hole in the middle of me that every happy thing fell into" (71). His assertion discloses the gravity of this secret on his life.

In addition to revealing his interests and foreshadowing the story, I believe that these sounds demonstrate Oskar’s thought process and brilliance. For instance, he thinks about the teakettle singing “Yellow Submarine,” a song performed by the Beatles, the musical band. This thought triggers the idea of actual beetles and his love for entomology, the study of insects, which illustrates both his outlook and genius. In addition, although he has not even celebrated a double digit birthday yet, he knows about the Hall of Mirrors and its exact location in France as well as a variety of French phrases. Oskar also begins to speculate if people’s heartbeats can beat in synchronization, which he compares to female roommates who menstruate simultaneously. These unusual thoughts and facts reveal his uncanny knowledge and curiosity.

Based on the evidence above, I believe that the initial sounds used within the novel are present to lightly foreshadow and reveal various characteristics about the main character, Oskar. Do you think sound is significant in “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”? Why or why not? Also, why do you feel that Oskar begins narrating the novel with various sounds from lovely harmonies to racing heartbeats? What do you believe these sounds signify?

Zero Hour mentions the fact that many of those who would become great musicians were young survivors of World War Two. Today, we hear music from artists who have been similarly changed by trauma, and more often than not, their music has an impact on us. Do you think that a person with an amazing inborn talent for music could ever have the same impact on our ears as a person who was a survivor of war or other trauma?

I'm not sure which would be better. It seems like a person with a talent for music would be a better musician, but would that person have the same...heart, if you will? Something to make the music just that much more expressive? What's the difference between a trained musician and one who expresses themselves solely through their own created works?

Also mentioned was the censorship imposed by Americans on post-war German music. After all that had happened during the war, do you think it was right that America decided to do this? I'm not sure. For one, it seems all well and good to try to keep a lid on overtly Nazi-supporting aspects of a half-ruined culture, but, after the war, Germany was occupied by at least four countries, reeling from the loss of their leader, and struggling to rebuild towns and cities destroyed by bombing. I'm not sure that they really had the power to make such threats--especially through music.

Section 6

(posted on the behalf of Amber Sherer by Erin Sells)
Section 6 was about honoring people who have passed and had a major influence on people. This section was entitled "This Man Shall Be Remembered". Some people who were honored were Satchell Paige a baseball player,Malcom X, Frederick Douglass. These were powerful men that should be honored. Also, in this section there are two poems about Harriet Tubman. One entitled "harriet" the other "Harriet Tubman". Why do you think the Harriet Tubman is mentioned in this section under "This Man Shall Be Remembered"?

In "harriet" other women are alluded to Isabell, Sojourner Truth, and a Grandmother. Both of these poems are powerful and gravitas. "Harriet Tubman" is split up into two sections #1 and #2. The first section is about the relationship between Harriet and her mother. "I think she knows the I live her life. What passes from the mother kills the child before death" The second section is about the struggle Harriet had being dark skinned and the pain society made dark skinned people feel.

The Question of Identity by Kristin Lattany

In this poem the speaker's identity, or race, is being questioned. She is recognized as French, from Bombay, Japanese, from Guadeloupe, Peruvian, Ecuadorian, and Pakistani. Even when she tells the people that she is American, that she is black, it is almost as if her words mean nothing because they still challenge her by asking her more questions about where she is from.

Something that I found very interesting was the last sentence of the poem.

They could paint
The martyrdom of living with a face
Whose only label was the human race.

When the speaker relates her ambiguity, as it relates to her race, to martyrdom it made the poem so much more powerful to me. I could tell how much this affected her. She was unable to convince anyone of where she was from and what race she was, and it was killing her inside. Personally, I can identify with this poem. I love that I am Dominican and German, but I often times get questioned about my ethnicity. Many times people do not believe that I am a Latina, mainly because I am so light skinned. I feel as though the situation is similar between me and the speaker.

In the speaker's third stanza, she describes fleeing through every boulevard and bar. While she is fleeing she is denying all the "dim, exotic lands" the people are accusing her of being from. She then packs up and runs away. How do you think this affects her, and others like her? Are you one of these people?

Identity Crisis

In the short story "No Face", we are drawn deeper into the life of the character whom we assume is Ysrael. Diaz shows us the many hardships he has face and is still facing in his life. He is always the outsider and the center of someones joke. In the story, there is a scene when No Face is jumped by four boys. They ask him if he has ever been a girl before which is basically a threat to castrate him. In class we discussed how No Face is a similar character to Bengy from The Sound and Fury. Bengy to was the one character in the story who everyone made fun of and picked on, but the ironic thing is he was the one who survived and remained sane unlike the rest of the family.

No Face, like Benjy, doesn't sit around feeling sorry for himself. Instead, he carries on living his life as a super hero. While exploring deeper into No Face's life, you begin to see his true Identity. He posses all the characteristics of a great hero which are, strength, speed, invisibility, he's a helper to others and he has a mask. His super powers give him the ability to withstand the torture and cruelness of the world that he lives in. But like all superheros, No Face is also vulnerable. No Face is only picked on because he doesn't have a face. He gave himself super powers as a defense mechanism to face the taunting that he is approached with daily. If or when his face is fixed what will become of him? Will he still be a superhero or will he just be a regular kid? All his life he has been No Face, its all he has known. So to me when his face is fixed he looses his identity. He is no longer the center of every ones joke and he no longer has to defend himself. He will be able to walk around and be a normal kid. My Question is will he be a true superhero and survive?

Cause and Effect

In Ysrael we witnessed a long string of cause and effects. Starting with, the pig that ate Ysrael’s face off when he was a baby. The repercussions of this accident caused Ysrael to be a victim of verbal and physical abuse throughout his life. One incident of this abuse was with Rafa and Yunior. The reasons why this attack happened are also connected. The boys were sent to the country so their mother could work. The boys were allowed to wander in the country because, they finished all of their chores.
Even in the story Aurora, many events were connected in different ways. Aurora was sent to juvie for using drugs, which she sometimes received from Lucero. Even though Lucero did not agree with her drug abuse he still kept their relationship intact. By keeping their relationship intact Lucero and Aurora continued with their abuse of each other. Their constant abuse will eventually lead them to their final goodbye, or perhaps a normal relationship.
In class we discussed other connections and cycles in these two short stories. The amount of causes and effects in these stories seemed very evident to me. This reoccurring theme makes me wonder if it is just a coincidence that cause and effect plays such a big part in the stories, or if it plays a larger role in the message the novel tells? I have had many ideas as to what it might mean. Such as, one event being able to construct the rest of a person’s life like the instance of Ysrael, and the pig. My question for you is what role, if any, you believe cause and effect plays in these short stories?

Fate Prevails

The last chapter in The Sound and the Fury had to do with fate. Everything that happened at the end needed to happen in order for justice to be established. As we discussed in class on Wednesday, the Compson family is ending, and it is ending in shame. Jason, the last Compson of the family, is a disgrace to his entire family and everyone knows that but no one can truly stop him. He is so evil that even his mother does everything she can to keep him happy. However, both Miss Quentin and Dilsey see that it is not right for him to be treated with such respect because he neither deserves it nor demonstrates it towards others. That is why Miss Quentin runs away and why Dilsey says “I’ve seed de first en de last…I seed de beginnin, en now I sees de endin,” (Faulkner 297) while she walks home crying from church. Both women realize that the Compson family is being destroyed and they are going to get all they deserve.
As the novel ended, fate came into play. Jason and Mrs. Compson had to be the only remaining people, besides Benjy, in the Compson home because they were the only two that could live with each other. They are the “Bascombs” of the family and so they will be together and miserable until the end. Miss Quentin, like Caddy, needed to escape from the Compson family because she was not like them. She wanted to be free and happy and she only found that happiness with a man. In that time, it was uncommon for women to live on their own, therefore she needed to give up some of her freedom and give herself to another man (after Jason) in order to be happy. Benjy could not escape his family. He would forever be with his unloving family with the only care from Dilsey and Luster. Dilsey will remain with the Compsons till the end. As she said, she saw their beginning and will be there to see their ending.
The last evidence of fate is the money. Miss Quentin deserved that money to begin with and that is why in the end, she had her way. Although she did not retrieve all of her lost money, she did retrieve a decent amount and was able to keep it for herself. Jason believed he had everything under control, but just as Macbeth lost control through his thirst for power, so did Jason. He became so blind-sighted by his control that he did not see his family slowly dissolving. In the end, everything was as it should have been; those people who were evil remained unhappy and those who deserved happiness and justice finally received it.

Time changeover

Time changeover is the most typical characteristic in the first section. This section is narrated by Benjy, a speechless idiot who can only express his feeling by moaning and crying. The story skips back and forth 34 times in all to demonstrate how disorderly his brain is. The title “April 7, 1928” shows the present time, which is also Benjy’s 33 years old birthday. In the whole section, time jumps eleven times back to the day of Dumuddy’s death in 1898, five times back to Caddy’s depravation and her Wedding in 1910, four times back to the days of Quentin, Mr. Compson and Roskus’s death and 14 times back to other impressive events.

The signal of the time changeover is the similar things that Benjy has met both in the past and at present. He always mistakes what he sees now to what happened before. For instance, the first jump in time is when Luster goes to many places in order to find his quarter and takes Benjy with him. A caddie’s crying causes Benjy recall his sister Caddy owing to the same pronunciations of “caddie” and “Caddy”. One way to identify the time of Benjy’s memory is to see who his caretaker is. Versh takes care of him before 1905, T.P. doing after 1905, and now is Luster. Another way is to see who the “Quentin” and “Jason” represent. His brother Quentin died in 1910 while his niece Quentin had not born. His father Jason died in 1912 while his brother Jason still lives.

One of the significances of the frequent time changeover is to reappear the rich and carefree Compson family in the past, just like old people always say “Once upon a time, when I was young……” when talking to others about the current situation. Because of his poor intelligence, Benjy, like a three years old child, is not able to understand the surrounding world. On the other hand, he has such exquisite sensitivity and witness the Compson family’s declining. The previously harmonious family in his memory is in sharp contrast to the present situation. Benjy recalls many interesting things in his childhood, such as he played with his brothers and sisters and he helped Uncle Maury deliver a love letter. Then with his growth, what he memorized turns grey. His sister Caddy became depraved and married with a man she did not love. His brother Quentin killed himself. His father died. Roskus died. In other words, by means of time changeover, the writer tells us the brief story through Benjy’s memory.

The Importance of Magic in Macbeth

Magic has a dominant affect on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. This dark, eerie play becomes tragic when the supernatural is introduced. Untraditional in Shakespeare’s work, magic sets the tone in this tell tale of prophecy, ambition, and betrayal. Hallucinations, spells, witches, and prophecy, all associated with a dark higher power, affect the outcome of Macbeth when he tries to outsmart the powerful in his ruthless aspirations to attain power and immortality. Because Macbeth recklessly associates with the supernatural, his life takes a turn for the worse as he gambles with it to his ultimate downfall.

The witches bring a new unheard of quality to Shakespeare’s play. Not only does Macbeth meddle with their foretelling but he tries to order them to tell him his future in order to manipulate it as if he has power over them and his destiny. In act I, he doesn’t question their prophecy, but aspires to its fulfillment and later in Act II and III he begins to see the consequences of his role in it. In Act IV, the scene begins with the cauldron, the witches filling it with parts of animals and nothing that is ever whole. These parts could signify brokenness, separation, an unsettled table of events. These supernatural plays a huge role in the foreshadowing of the play from the darkness, to the blood, to the three apparitions. The spell in Act IV scene I, the most magical scene of the play, creates a dark mysteriousness for the events to come. Because these unexpected charms are unsettling and uneasy to make out, there is a certain sense of fear associated with them.

Macbeth tries to manipulate the prophecy and improve his outcome by meddling in supernatural charms. However, gambling with magic and other’s lives still proves fatal. The unknown evils in magic that he chooses to buy into, works against him. Macbeth cannot outrun his fate or continue with his own selfish gains by outsmarting the more powerful supernatural. He believes his life to be charmed, but doesn’t focus on what the apparitions tell him to beware of. The meaninglessness in the magic such as the caution of trees and something not born of woman proves so detrimental to the outcome of the play and implores more meaning that Macbeth needs in order to secure his reign. “Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, For it hath cow’d my better part of man: And be these juggling fiends no more believe’d, that palter with us in double sense….”

Magic which is viewed as the dark evil could not be overpowered for Macbeth’s own benefit but only used for more darkness. All in all, without magic, the intensity of the plot would not be possible and neither would a lot of the events that take place.

Masculinity

In the first two acts of Macbeth, issues of gender, violence, and what it means to the definition of masculinity arises. Lady Macbeth constantly manipulates her husband by belittling and questioning his manhood. She assumes the responsibility of creating a plan to kill Duncan the king, and commanding her husband on his every move. On page twenty-eight she says to Macbeth: “…that I pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round.” The behavior of Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth’s response to her, shows that they equate masculinity with aggression, evilness, and violence.

Even though the men in the play are the only ones who have committed the physical violence, such as war and murder, the aggression and hunger of Lady Macbeth is more outstanding and surprising because it is contradictory to the usual expectation of how a woman should behave. She wishes to be “unsexed”, (30) and have all maternal, nurturing, and traditionally female attributes of her body stripped from her, and have them be replaced with evilness and cruelty. Her ambition for power and royal status is almost stronger and more apparent than her husband’s, as well as the other men in the play.

The other females who have appeared in the play thus far are the three witches. However even they appear manly because of their bearded chins. The witches are the initial spark that encourages violence, because of the prophecy they told Macbeth. Shakespeare has linked violence, and evil with the four prominent female characters in the play, demonstrating that women can be just as masculine and cruel, if not more so, than their male counterparts.

Hurlyburly.

In the first words spoken in Macbeth, the three witches make plans to meet again soon. The thunder and lightning of the impending storm has already begun, but inclement weather seems to only better set the mood for their plotting:

1 Witch. When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

2 Witch. When the hurlyburly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.

3 Witch. That will be ere the set of sun. (Macbeth, 1. 1.1-5.)

Not only has the thunder and lightning already sounded, but one may argue that the “hurlyburly” has already begun as well. The Arden edition of the play helpfully supplies the definition of this unusual word: “uproar, tumult, confusion, esp. the tumult of sedition or insurrection” (3). The “uproar, tumult, confusion” of the battle has already come to an end, with its victors declared, its defeated humiliated, and its heroes proven. The “sedition and insurrection” of the Thane of Cawdor’s treason has also come to light, and his title stripped to reward the heroism of Macbeth. But “ere the set of sun” another “hurlyburly” will be underway, and, one may argue, another battle already lost before it had begun.

The seeds of the “sedition and insurrection” plotted by the Macbeths will end in the murder of a king (among others), and the new Thane of Cawdor will end in much the same way his predecessor did—in the disgrace of treason. But the seeds of this next “hurlyburly” were planted long before this day. In the ruthless ambition and cruel intentions of Lady Macbeth’s heart, the battle for good and honor was lost long before she received her husband’s letter. “Ere the set of sun” not only will the witches meet again, but the bloody results of the Macbeth’s “hurlyburly” will be all but done.

The witches meet to plot, cavort, and do mischief. Although they are analogous to the three Greek furies of vengeance, jealousy and rage, their real mischief isn’t in pronouncing curses or enacting evil and murderous deeds. The “hurlyburly’s done” and the battle for good is already “lost and won”—theirs is only a descriptive commentary on the evil already intended by others. There is little real work for witches or furies amid the hurlyburly of the human heart.