Living Literature / Documenting Reality

Banana For Thought

2009-12-10T23:08:00.008-05:00

The thing that I find so interesting about Ishmael is that the teacher in the novel is a gorilla. It really makes me wonder, do we ponder his philosophies more because he is an animal? Had the teacher been another human being, would we have considered their thoughts as much? I don't mean to say that we linger on every word that we receive from Ishmael because he is a gorilla, but simply because we have heard so many narrations from people that human philosophy has actually lost some value. I believe that if Ishmael were a person, the audience would point fingers and ask themselves why he is any different: an exception to the rules he creates about mankind. Instead, we give him a greater benefit of the doubt because we know he is not guilty of the same things we are.

I think this is a reflection of Daniel Quinn's narrative ethic. I feel that Quinn understood the implications of making the "teacher" a gorilla, but wanted the audience to remove themselves from their usually judgmental state. It's almost a bit cynical to think that a human wouldn't listen to a fellow human, but that is the impression I get. After all, if words of wisdom are coming from the lips of a gorilla, who are we to second guess?

Arrangement in "The 11th Hour" and Ishmael

2009-12-10T22:01:00.002-05:00

The arrangement in Ishmael and The 11th Hour leave the reader unsatisfied in the former and give the reader a sense of hope in the latter.

The arrangement in “The 11th Hour,” as we discussed in class, has a sense of building. Like the horror movie trailers that we watched, there are quick flashes of scary scenes and foreboding music. The expert testimonies compound from every conceivable field of study, leaving the viewer feeling the full weight of the damage that humans are doing to the earth. But then the tone of the film completely changes. The focus begins to be on hope and how this generation can change things. They can “redefine design” and set an example for all of the generations to come. This arrangement of scenes gives the reader a direction to go in, from chaos to order by changing the cause and effect.

In Ishmael, the arrangement is different. The reader is warned in the beginning that much of what they discuss might not make sense in context. This is true because at times the Parts of Ishmael seem to be disconnected discussions of interesting, but unrelated topics, such as the story of the Takers and the Laws of Nature. Eventually the reader is able to synthesize the information, to the extent that the Takers must enact a different story in order to be subject to the laws of nature. But, there is no clear cause and effect for personal action because of the arrangement of the story. This leaves the reader unsure of how to proceed, although they are now fully conscious of how they are impacting the world.

The arrangement of “The 11th Hour” and Ishmael show how the author must give the reader a plan of action, because although they may realize the problem on their own, they must be led to the solution.

The Socratic Method of Ideological Critique

2009-12-10T21:16:00.001-05:00

In class, we discussed how Ishmael is written in the style of the socratic method. This means that there is a teacher, Ishmael, and a student, the narrator and the reader. Ishmael asks questions and allows the student to answer them, which leads to another question. In Ishmael, the line of questioning involves the ideology of the Takers and helps the reader and the narrator to find the discordant aspects of the ideology in an attempt to overturn it.

For example, Ishmael asks the student if he would be willing to leave the Taker way of life and begin to enact a Leaver story. The student adamantly says no. This happens after he realizes that the Leaver way of life is both more sustainable than the Taker’s way of life and that they are much happier people. This shows how the ideology of the Takers is contradictory. They try to reach happiness and sustain a larger and larger population, but they are neither happy nor sustainable.

The socratic method of the novel helps to overturn the ideology by drawing out ideas from the student, who in turn synthesizes them and realizes that they contradict. The book is a good example of the socratic method because its primary goal is to find the problems with the ideology instead of trying to find a story to replace it with.

Proposal Questions for Takers

2009-12-10T20:42:00.007-05:00

I suppose that John D. Ramage's idea "What should we do about this thing?" would be able to tie in with Ishmael's lecture. In his lecture, the Takers seem to make the world for only one species, humans. If Takers find any difficulties for humans in the world, they improve it and require advantage and benefit for only them. For this statement, I would like to insist that the people's criterion for worth and value is different and depending on the society, the community, the world that they live in. As an example, I introduce one of my experiences in the activities of a Non Profit Organization in the slums in Cambodia.

In fact, the organizations that are active in the slum are not only our organization but also other organizations from several countries. Because our main field is Japan, even though the active slum is in Cambodia, we are always hard to observe the then current situation of the slum. Actually, although our stay is often long, we cannot visit Cambodia more than twice or three times in a year. Anyway, two years ago, when we visited a kind of school in the slum, there was a rebuilt school building from one of the other organizations. Although we already knew the information in Japan, we still could not expect what kind of things would happen in the school because we were apprehensive about the material of building from woods to bricks. Of course, the children seemed to be please with the new one because they always wish to contact any new matters and information which is things from so-called "developed countries".

However, there happened a problem when temperature inside of the school building warmed up, because the building had windows of glass in spite of the material, bricks. Furthermore, it did not have even air-conditioner inside of the building because of the restricted supply of electricity. Of course, the temperature in the country is always really hot. Therefore, there was a problem that every class could not work because the student could not concentrate on the lecture.

Ishmael insists that "So now we have a clearer idea what this story is all about: The world was made for man, and man was made to rule it" (p.72). We would be able to figure out the statement that we tend to consider what the good things for us must be also good for everyone. However, Ramage explains that "That is, ask yourself, For whom is the problem a problem? Who is paying the cost of the problem? Who will benefit from the solution? And who will pay the cost of the solution?" (p.120). That is, I believe that a good thing for some is not always necessarily adaptable for others. Even though our technologies have much advantage for Takers, they could not be adapted to other animals. That is, we should evaluate from not only our point of view but also from other different position.

Finally, I also post the pictures of Today's class. These pictures will introduce new students in my university. Till now, I have really enjoyed this class and learned so many things. I will never forget everything about this class. It became my precious memory in the United States. Thank you to everyone.

Cain & Abel; Murderer & Martyr

2009-12-10T00:20:00.001-05:00

Our discussion last class glazed briefly over the story of Cain and Abel within the pages of “Ishmael”, and it got me to remember something one of my history teachers said about this era in human history. He said something along the lines of that this story may have been based on the Sumerian tale, which represented the conflict between nomadic shepherds and settled farmers. This would make sense within the context of Ishmael’s teachings of Leavers and Takers as real presences within our (the readers’) collective past.

The story of Cain and Abel in relation to Ishmael’s teachings was imperative in leading the narrator to the conclusion that ‘the gods’ preferred a Leaver culture after creating a Taker culture. Cain represents the Takers as an agriculturalist and Abel represents the Leavers as a shepherd. When God (the gods) refused Cain’s offering of produce and crop in favor of Abel’s animal sacrifices, we see Ishmael’s teaching of Takers wiping out those that would be considered a ‘competitor’ take affect. Cain kills his competitor for God’s love and praise, his own brother, and commits the first murder.

Since Abel is the victim within this biblical/analogical story he is often also seen as the first martyr. The fate of the Takers is to eventually wipe out all of the Leavers, for they are competition to land and life. Ishmael explains that the Takers do all of this gladly as well as heartlessly, because they are blinded by their pride, selfishness, and their fundamental ‘truth’ that they are right. They are right to modernize and/or exterminate these primitive nomadic people because their way of life is wrong.

Would that therefore mean that the Leavers, even today, are in effect martyrs for a lost cause to live healthily with the world? What could that mean for Humanity?

Inability to Escape the Teacher, and Human Race

2009-12-09T23:02:00.003-05:00

Unlike The Jungle, Ishmael doesn’t show strong tragic moments constructing the conventional form (dealing with individual character) of tragedy, though the novel deals with the limit of human races which threaten us, and ends with the death of Ishmael. The novel targets whole people in the earth.

When the novel first shows the protagonist, he seems to be tired of the way of the world, and even hates his monotonous life. When he first appears, he chokes and curses to the ad which reads ”Must have an earnest desire to save the world” (Quinn 4). However, once he meets the teacher who is a gorilla, he starts to ask unlimited questions, “why & how?”, and starts to find answers by visiting the teacher’s office in regular basis, with totally changed behavior. In this way, the novel depicts the main character’s desire and happiness to pursue the truth and the knowledge from the teacher he never expected before that a gorilla would give a lesson, and human kills its nest.

Besides, the whole dialogue in the novel shows human’s cruelty about unlimited consumption without fear and the remains what human has left. As the lesson of Ishmael proceeds, the newly gained thoughts and conclusions made by stases seemed to make us feel sorrow by itself, because most results of the conversation gives us our inability to save the earth that we readers are encouraged to feel emptiness. Also the novel highlights the main character’s inability to help his teacher to escape. Likewise, the novel hints readers the problem is that even if we know the reason of problem and the way to solve it, it is a literally huge project which is really difficult to practice. Hence readers are guided to find inability to undo the mistake we made, and impossibility to come back to the time when the takers first appeared.

Who is the Narrator?

2009-12-09T22:59:00.001-05:00

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn has two main characters: Ishmael and the narrator. The narrator is never given a name or a gender. In my opinion, the importance of not giving the narrator a name or gender is to distance the narrator from Ishmael and the reader. By creating distance, the reader is able to engage more on what the narrator is saying rather than who the character is. Ishmael has a Socratic dialogue, which is when an in-depth understanding of moral issues is conveyed in a piece of literature or speech. Since Ishmael is a Socratic dialogue with a distant narrator, the reader is able to understand what dialogue is being discussed and allow the reader to think and reflect on the topics.

As discussed in class, we wondered why the narrator asks Ishmael so many questions and if this plays an effective role in Ishmael. I think that the narrator asks a lot of questions because Quinn wanted his readers to clearly understand the Socratic dialogue within the novel. If the reader better understands the material, this would lead the reader to having another perspective on life. Ishmael is a controversial novel and if the reader has the understanding of Ishmael’s beliefs then the reader can decide how they feel about the topics. In my opinion, this was Quinn’s exigency for the novel, wanting to make sure the objectives for the novel were completed. In today’s world, people often do not know why they think the way they do, but Quinn challenges his readers through Ishmael and the narrator’s relationship. The narrator’s familiarity to the readers play a positive role in distancing the reader and this allows the reader to reflect on their own beliefs rather than Ishmael telling the narrator what to believe.

What We Miss in Daily Life

2009-12-08T23:40:00.004-05:00

In chapter 8, Ishmael uses a metaphor -- the jungle and an animal’s way to live in the jungle. Quinn uses this image as an ideal type of society, and expresses the importance of having limits to process one’s own game and to share the resources by explaining how the jungle is sustained. Quinn highlights that the animals don’t reach beyond what is required to survive: ”The lion defends its kill as its own, but it doesn’t defend the herds as its own” (Quinn 127). However, how human races differ from the wild animal is that we don’t have the custom of saving foods and resources for others so that we come to start destroying the balance of system we live in and threatening the portions of other people’s foods and resources. Moreover, in chapter 9, Quinn provides the reason of human’s customs reminding us the notion of takers and leavers. According to what he constructed in chapters 8 and 9, the main reason of denying others to access to foods and continuing to belong to takers is that [we] “had to be forced to live like the Takers, because the Takers had the one right way” which is forced us to live like everyone in the world to do (Quinn 167).

The novel uses Socratic dialogue to keep asking questions to a pupil and to reach to the point way to miss its importance in our daily life. By using this type of narration, what he achieves is helping readers to re-think about the issue which is very easy to ignore and deny because we are so familiar with. Rather than constructing a new concept, Quinn applies the image of jungle as a metaphor that he helps us to reflect ourselves comparing what we don’t see and have forgotten for longtime.

Tragic Ending?

2009-12-08T21:55:00.001-05:00

Was the death of Ishmael a tragedy? After reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, that question was posed in class today and I would like to suggest that the death of Ishmael was not a tragedy but a hopeful ending. As Ishmael states, “I mean only that I’ve finished what I set out to do. As a teacher, I have nothing more to give you” (Quinn 254). Ishmael had taught the narrator all he could learn and when he died it was a symbol of the end of a chapter. When the narrator found out that Ishmael had died from pneumonia, his expression was that he, “stood there blinking at him (gentlemen at the carnival), unable to fathom what he was getting at” (Quinn 260). When the narrator first found out about Ishmael’s death, he was shocked and in disbelief, not knowing what to do next. When he gathered Ishmael’s belongings and went home he, “discovered there were messages on both sides [of the poster]” (Quinn 262). For the narrator to find the two messages, this was a start of a new chapter, signifying that he had hope. “With gorilla gone, will there be hope for man?” the readings of these words gave the narrator a hope that he could go forward with what Ishmael had taught him. Ishmael had once told him, “What you do is to teach a hundred what I’ve taught you, and inspire each of them to teach a hundred” this was told to the narrator when Ishmael explained that he could save the world, just as it was written in the ad (Quinn 248). Ishmael’s death was not a tragedy but an example that we are supposing to move forward and to hold onto the knowledge we have been given or discovered on our own.

Ishmael: Altering our Habitual Culture for Sense of Value

2009-12-08T19:51:00.004-05:00

In Ishmael, Daniel Quinn suggests that we alter our fixed idea for our (Takers') sense of value in order to save the world of Takers. In my statement, the sense of value means what we make important for us when we desire to live comfortably in this world. At first sight, whenever Ishmael mentions the view of Takers (us) and implies a comment that we should improve our behavior with consciousness of saving the world, we would encounter difficulties with actually making this happen. For instance, in part 8, Ishmael explains about storing food that "In the wild, the lion kills a gazelle to save for tomorrow. The deer eats the grass that's there. It doesn't cut the grass down and save it for the winter. But these are things the Takers do" (p. 128). In these statements, I believe there is the implied message by Ishmael that if we (Takers) ingest our minimum sources that we need to live, we never compete with others. If we never had the idea that we are forced to ingest extra sources, then we could reject the idea that it must be better for us that we always have advantage to others by extra sources.

In the above opinion, we are captives in terms of the fixed idea that is habitual culture. As Dr. Graban said in today's class, the following of Ishmael's statements explains our state so well that "There's nothing fundamentally wrong with people. Given a story enact that puts them in accord with the world, they will live in accord with the world. But given a story to enact that puts them at odds with the world, as your does, they will live at odds with the world. Given a story to enact in which they are the lords of the world, they will act like lords of the world. And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now" (p. 84). That is, because we believe that our fixed images and the status quo are our right way, we would not be able to see a matter from different point of view.

In fact, when we consider Ishmael's lesson regardless of the reality, all of his suggestions seem to be realized easily by our own hands because most of the suggestions are based on our way to think, consider, and believe. Because we believe that the right way is always one in spite of the fact that the way is just habitual culture from the past, we tend to reject different opinions and tend to consider that different opinions are strange. Therefore, we would still be captives by the only one way of sense of values.

Different Ways to Construct Stases

2009-12-03T23:10:00.004-05:00

Ramage’s article "Rhetoric and Persuasion II" helps us to compare how the 11th hour and Ishmael construct stasis and what different persuasive compositions result.

First of all, 11th hour does not construct elements of the stasis in order from simplest to most complex, but the film tends to mix the elements of the stasis in a scene or in an interview. In the beginning of the film, when environment specialists explain about the earth life support system which is now severely damaged, they not just express the image of the earth and human race but also partially show the tragic truth and the cause of the catastrophic results. Though, in the big picture the beginning of the film seems to construct “definitional questions” for the film to progress the argument, it also seems to contain “Resemblance questions”, “Causal questions”, “evaluative questions”, “ethical questions”, and “proposal questions” (Ramage).

However, compared to 11th hour, Ishmael seems to construct stasis elements which Ramage introduced in order, and Quinn seems to mix together less. The definition of myth as “definitional questions” connects to the current society, and we are more clearly guided to the concept what Ishmael tries to teach the pupil. But the content of the lesson seems apparently less clear compared to 11th hour because the stasis is delivered to the readers by dialogue and the lesson always ends when readers reach to the most curious point.

The film and the novel have a different way to construct stases that might me be based on the characteristic of the two different genres, and the strategy to appeal to the audience, whether showing combination of numerous elements of stases early or develop final arguments step by step.

Tropes in "The 11th Hour"

2009-12-03T22:00:00.006-05:00

“The 11th Hour” uses tropes as an appeal.

The first chapter sets up a metaphor. The ratio is that humans are to the earth as an infection is to the body. This relates to the “tendency of all metaphors to connect the world to the body, to relate unfamiliar things to the familiar experience of physical existence” (Killingsworth 124). Therefore, this trope draws the reader closer to the importance and danger that humans have in their relationship to the earth.

A similar appeal occurs when pollution is blamed for the increase in asthma. This appeal forms a causal relationship between human activity and human illness. This once again makes “an appeal to the body that ultimately supports the key theme” (Killingsworth 124).Humans are hastening their own demise.

These appeals emphasize our responsibility for our own physical existence in order to make the viewer feel like part of the problem. This sets us up to be empowered as part of the solution.

The idea of captivity in the world of Takers

2009-12-03T22:00:00.005-05:00

I would like to add more information to my comment of today's class. As I commented in today's class about the story Ishmael, the idea of "captivity" is really important. I believe that the reason why the people who are categorized into the world of Takers cannot escape the world is because they are in the captivity without their consciousness. According to Ishmael, the gorilla, "Even if you privately thought the whole thing was madness, you had to play your part, you had to take your place in the place. The only way to avoid that was to escape from Germany entirely" (p.35). I figured out this statement by Ishmael that the people are forced to play their role by their world, especially in the competitive society. Takers who indicate us in fact seem to enact their role. For instance, all teachers are considered that they should behave as "teachers". Furthermore, when people are forced to suit their role, it happens that they are going to compete their best as the role in the society. Therefore, I believe that the Taker is always bound to engage playing its role.

Ishmael and The 11th Hour Compared

2009-12-03T19:10:00.002-05:00

In “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn, Ishmael informs us how people treat their world carelessly through “the deterioration of the ozone layer, the pollution of the oceans, the destruction of the rain forests, and even human extinction and it pacifies them” (Quinn 44). We are able to relate this information from Ishmael to “The 11th Hour” because we are told multiple times that humans tend to not care about their environment or they are uneducated therefore they do not seek information. As Ishmael continues, he shares that, “they put their shoulders to the wheel during the day, stupefy themselves with drugs and television at night, and try not to think too searchingly about the world they’re leaving their children to cope with” (Quinn 44). “Ishmael” can be directly related to what “The 11th Hour” was trying to convey to the audience. We, as citizens of this world, have a tendency to overlook the importance of our environmental issues which leads to us being consumed in materialistic things. What is interesting about Ishmael’s insight is that “Ishmael” was published in 1992, seventeen years ago. Even though this novel was published in 1992 and “The 11th hour” was released in 2007, this just proves that environment issues what be evident for quite some time. Although the issues have been there, citizens have been uneducated about the environment and even did not have the interest to find out. Ishmael gives the reader a great point to ponder and hopefully his thoughts have constructed the readers react positively because the issues are real and need attention before it gets too late.

Expository Story Telling

2009-12-03T14:22:00.003-05:00

I feel that a great similarity between Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and the film The 11th Hour is that their intensions are to shock, inform and persuade. The author's have a valuable story to tell and they must present it in a way that makes the audience feel obligated to bring change.

In The Jungle, Sinclair's purpose is to expose the dangerous and unhealthy ways of the meat packing industry, while also exposing the difficulties immigrants have while reaching for a romanticized "American Dream." Sinclair persuades the audience by using catharsis and constructing the audience to feel badly for the characters. He is able to "win over" the audience by avoiding sentimentalism, and instead uses ambiguity in order to make us analyze further.

In addition to writing the novel, Sinclair follows up with several speeches and essays about his cause and is successful in bringing change. In his case, his biggest desire is to have his audience informed, and he himself brought about a great change because of it.

In the case of The 11th Hour, the audience must be persuaded in order to do the work. The film uses appeals to logic and reasoning and shows us the facts. They instill hope in the audience by reminding them they can completely change the world. Therefore, by exposing the harsh reality that our biosphere is ill, the audience feels an obligation to change it.

"Redesign Design Itself"

2009-12-02T23:28:00.004-05:00

For one reason or another, the quote "We must resign design itself" in the film The 11th Hour has really stuck with me. I feel that this is the most obvious appeal to young adults and teens because it seems exciting to be able to revolutionize the world in such a significant way. The film is instructing us to make change by rethinking everything we have ever thought about. This reminds me of so many of the books we have read because we have so greatly discussed bringing social change. Though bringing a change in our universe is on a much larger scale, it still requires the same steps that take place in any revolution. We must rethink what we already know. In the case of "The Mole People", redefining the word "homeless" actually led people to thinking they were no longer homeless. Their tunnel became their new community and suddenly a large issue was no longer one at all. It was not the situation that changed, but their outlook, and suddenly other improvements in their life occurred. I feel that the movie is urging us to redefine conserving, reusing and most importantly, revolutionizing. One might feel that cutting back on consumerism would be roughing it, but if they simply redefined their sacrifices, they might be more driven to bring change.

11th Hour's Concepts and Literature

2009-12-01T23:23:00.000-05:00

The 11th Hour brought forth many different concepts that could be looked at through many different perspectives. One of these statements resonates that “the deterioration of the environment is an outward mirror of an inner condition; like inside like outside.” The inner human condition was mentioned earlier in the film in a theory that consisted of a deep engrained “loss of beauty” which holds that we are disconnected from reality. Reality being the real and natural world and the theory consisting that deep in our psyche the reason we work and focus so hard on materialistic and artificial desires is because we’ve lost sight of the fragile and free beauty of nature because of civilization and the influence of the concrete jungle. Our society has been structured to consider wealth over public opinion, mostly silencing those who would fight this theory. This inner chasm of lost direction and alienation from the earth itself has led to this social separation that “man is king of nature” and is thus segregated and more powerful. Of course this is not true. The earth will always regenerate whether we are there or not, because the earth has all the time in the world, and we don’t. This idea of “loss of beauty” has driven the human race to this dire pivotal point to decide our future course of action, now. So far we haven’t been making the best decisions, and the suffering “loss of beauty” of the “inner condition” mirrors the outward affect of our actions against the environment.

How is this concept relevant in other literature we’ve looked at? How about “The Jungle”? We can see the deterioration of the environment and the people in it of Packingtown based on this idea of wealth over public opinion. Or how about “Mole People”? How does the inner condition of the tunnel people reflect into their reality?
Not only does this film critique and educate audiences about our environmental crisis, it also presents universal concepts that shouldn’t be ignored lest a domino effect should befall another area of human concentration.

Relief in "The 11th Hour"

2009-12-01T23:17:00.000-05:00

Our discussion of catharsis in class brought us to an interesting point, how do we move beyond the grief of catharsis into relief. This principle of catharsis is well illustrated in “The 11th Hour.”
Catharsis is supposed to have an emotional, intellectual, and physical aspect. The emotional aspect of catharsis in “The 11th Hour” is satisfied by many of the emotional and self-interest appeals. For example, there was a quote from the UN of the over 100,000 environmental refugees that they expect in the coming years. This highlights the possibility of danger to one’s self, the human suffering, and the potential economic toll of the the environmental disasters.
The intellectual aspect of catharsis is satisfied by the appeals to authority and logic. For example, scientists from many different fields and politicians were called upon to narrate the film. This adds legitimacy and an intellectual aspect to the conclusions of the film. The many sequences of shocking and juxtaposed images also causes an intellectual paradigm shift, particularly in the way the we view ourselves in relation to the rest of the world.
Finally, the film’s catharsis has a physical aspect with its discussion of the health effects of environmental destruction. For example, the asthma in school children is shown to be a recent phenomenon cause by air pollution. Also, environmental problems are cited for causing childhood cancers, heavy metal poisonings, colon cancer, breast cancer, and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. This fear of physical harm is very personal to many of the intended audience.
“The 11th Hour” obviously has a strong intended catharsis designed to effect change through the viewer. But, in order to effect that change, relief from the catharsis must be brought, so that the audience doesn’t just wallow in grief and hopelessness. This relief from catharsis, I believe, must relieve the emotional, intellectual, and physical assaults of the argument in order to be complete. This can help to explain some of the rhetoric in “The 11th Hour.” For example, the scene depicting the release of the penguins was described in class as random, but hopeful. This though serves the specific purpose of relieving the emotional catharsis. The intellectual catharsis is relieved by showing that there are other paradigms under which we can operate that will keep the human race in balance with the Earth, as shown by the faith healers. Physical relief comes from the specific solutions that individuals can enact that were given in the film, such as recycling or voting with your dollars. This complete relief in “The 11th Hour” provides an example for the complex requirements of rhetoric in order to demonstrate catharsis.

Why the Intended Audience is the Younger Generation

2009-12-01T21:38:00.000-05:00

When viewing the 11th Hour, the audience is told that all of the research is to test humankind. We are quickly constructed by shocking facts, photographs, but given hope for our future. We are shown and given hope because everyone can do something to help our environment. Although the implied audience is everyone that is living on the planet Earth, I think that the intended audience is the younger generation because of new technology and new ideas that our generation has to offer. Younger generations are young and the future leaders of America and the world. As it was mentioned, technology has taken over our world and that is an element that the younger generations have had their entire lives. Since the younger generations of people are still young, they are able to make a difference in our world. Although they are the younger generation, the older adults can still help structure our change in action. It seemed that the narrator and the many speakers put their hope in the younger generation by offering their ideas to us

To me, when the speakers and narrator shared their new ideas, I felt as if they were educating the younger generations so that they can expand their mind and start thinking of other things that this world could benefit. The younger generations, including college students, young adults and younger people, can be a great asset to where technology and innovations are going in our future.

The 11th Hour: Why Do Things Happen? Causal Questons

2009-12-01T20:32:00.005-05:00

After watching the movie The 11th Hour, we have an urgency that it is time to do any effort for the earth because the scenes which show the current states of the earth and human's behavior appeal to our motivation to act. Although I was shocked by the content and had an idea of urgency about doing something for the earth, I also thought that I had already experienced the same thought many times in my life, even though I lived in Japan. That is, of course, this movie The 11th Hour is not first movie which makes an argument that we have to think about saving the earth as soon as possible seriously. In the article Rhetoric and Persuasion II, John D. Ramage explains that "In asking why something happened, we are asking what caused it to happen or what motivated its occurrence. Causal questions are important because once we understand why things happen, we are better able to predict consequences and shape policy so as to prevent bad things from recurring and encourage good things to keep on flourishing"(p.110). However, according to Ramage, his explanation also implies an ironic fact that most of us do not make any effort so far to save the earth in spite of the fact that we have already known the argument like as the story of The 11th Hour. That is, repeating messages that it is time to save the earth indicates the meaning of not only emergency, but also of humans still breaking the environment of the earth, unfortunately.

However, while some of us never stop the behavior to break the environment, it seems a fact that the population which started to contribute is increasing. In chapter 15 of the movie, we can see many figures of people who suggests how to contribute the earth and already practiced the contribution, for instance the scene of penguin. Actually, Ramage also explains that "We can use our understanding of how bad things came about to reverse a trend, solve a problem, or cure a disease" (p.110). Furthermore, Kenny Ausubel says in the movie that "You made the first choice because you know you have to do something". That is, we must know how to contribute the earth in order to regenerate its environment by watching this movie. Therefore, the statements of Ramage and Ausubel would mean that the action whether people improve their mind and behavior and attempt to start an individual effort or not, is finally depending on our each own decision because we also already knew how to stop the trend that people not act but only listen and receive the message that it is time to save the earth.

"The 11th Hour" Through the Eyes of John Ramage

2009-12-01T19:21:00.003-05:00

"The 11th Hour" written by Nadia Conners, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Leila Conners Petersen and directed by Conners and Petersen utilizes several appraoches to guide its audience to its core question. Using John Ramage's "Rhetoric and Persuasion II" we can see a meshing of questions that must be asked in relation to the film to achieve the full potential it has to impact humans. Ramage mentions five categories of questions, ending with the 'proposal question', with the idea that it often encompasses the other arguments. I believe that "The 11th Hour" follows this trend.

Ramage says that the 'proposal question' may start out as "a [definition of] the class of things to which the problematic element belongs" (Ramage 119). DiCaprio and the Conners', along with numerous notables, highlight such a problematic element early on in the film, noting that the human ecological footprint has gone up several sizes of late. However the 'class' of things' may refer, in this situation, to the set of actions that humans perform. This conclusion may be reached in looking at the ways that the film encourages humans to change their habits, to navigate themselves and their earth away from 'problematic' and towards higher "standards of its class" that can be reached (Ramage 119).

The film indicates what seems to be put forth as quite a sound solution to the problem. Ramage writes that the "proposal's benefits mayb be insuffieent to justify its risks" however "The 11th Hour" seems to lead its audience to the opposite conclusion -- that the risks of not following the proposal will be far too great (Ramage 120).

Upon hearing such possible results, Ramage reminds readers to also take things with a grain of salt, or what he calls "the old Watergate adage: Follow the money" (Ramage 120). This bit of advice may curb what we, viewers think of the film, as it definitely highlights an aspect that those who view it may not realize. Obviously we are led to believe that it will be to our benefit to follow the ideas of those involved with the film. Fingers are also pointed at governments and economic giants as some of the main offenders and hindrances. However, this may be a very watered down form of the reality of the situation. Surely, as Ramage tells us it is important to remember that we as humans are not "unfamiliar with the law of unintended consequences and what was touted... as progress has not always worked in [our] favor" (Ramage 120). Curiosity may be piqued as to what sort of effect the things that are discussed in the film may have on everyday life.

The Role of Narrator in 11th Hour

2009-12-01T12:30:00.003-05:00

The documentary film, 11th Hour featured numerous experts, and offered various ideas coherently. Though the claim of the people is not completely same and the claims may disturb each other (because of multiple value claims and scientific truth), the film overcomes with a world-wide famous Hollywood actor, Leonardo Decaprio who participates into the film as a narrator.

In the beginning of the film, the audience is guided to recognize what the problem is with a bunch of experts. They commonly say we have a problem in terms of environment of the earth which is very urgent that we need to react to the happening. However, the length of the time to interview those experts is quite short and also the scenes depicting specialists announcing claims tend to change quickly that the audience might be lost or lose the attention. To this characteristic of the interview film genre, the film mixed its type with a narrator who is not scientist or chairman at all.

Until the time, 19 minute and 41 seconds, the film defines that what we were and are in the ecosystem what we are currently facing, how we will struggle in the planet, by borrowing the words of specialists. And right after the time, the narrator appears. Decaprio squeezes out what experts said before, and asks a question for the climate change in order to progress the debate. At this moment, the role of the narrator is similar to a bridge because he highlights the focus we need to see and the relations between the cause and the result of the climate change.

Besides, the narrator constructs a strong pathos in this scene because to most people his image is reliable. We can extend the concept what we learned in Booth’s Types of Narration to the film. Though the film doesn’t construct the reliability of the audience in the tone of narration as same as the novels do delicately, Decaprio stands with a reliable image and believable character which is based on what he has done before and how he shows himself in the film.

The film controls the tension and develops the broad topic into the specific issue by changing the figures in the film. The director achieved to extract strong ethos by forming powerful images of narrator that the film comes close to the audience with a narrowed distance between the implied author and the audience.

The American Dream in The Jungle

2009-11-19T23:01:00.003-05:00

In the beginning of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Jurgis shows us his perspective of the "American Dream." He comes to America thinking he can be a big asset in the system of labor and that he can thrive on it. In chapter 2, he is described as someone that every boss wants to get their hands on. Because of this, he has pride and faith in himself, as does his family, and he is hopeful in accomplishing the "American Dream."

To me, what is so sad about the novel is that I got the feeling this dream is never really achievable. If you can't attain it by working hard, how do you attain it? Luck? I feel that in addition to Sinclair's exposing of the wrongs in the meat packing industry, he exposed the unfortunate fate of it's victims. Jurgis' story is a common one and the ending is usually the same. A family succumbs to prostitution or begging because their jobs, if they attain one, are not looking for their best interest.

Regardless, I left with a feeling that this dream is unattainable for most immigrants. I am developing my understanding of the term catharsis, but perhaps this is it.

Catharsis in "The Jungle"

2009-11-19T22:53:00.000-05:00

Today in class Gi Hyun introduced the concept of catharsis. He explained that when considering catharsis it is very important to realize that cathartic writing should not only arouse pity and fear, but use these feelings to "leave an audience feeling not depressed but relieved". Intrinsic to this idea is the stereotype.

In "The Jungle" we are introduced to several very broad stereotypes, for example 'the hobo', 'the prostitute', and 'the boss'. Many variations of the saying 'Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes' summarize what this book seems to promote. This phrase encourages those who hear it to re-examine possibly very established personal views and to evoke perhaps empathetic emotion, in a nutshell, explaining one aspect of catharsis.

Catharsis also deals with the purging or purification however, which can work in different ways. Sometimes the 'purging' applies to the audience while in other situations, it seems we are shown the purification of a character. "Oedipus Rex", as Gi Hyun said, is very good example of this. The audience is first made to feel quite relieved that such horrors have not befallen them, helping to purge them of unhappiness over (perhaps) lesser events in their own lives. As Oedipus gouges his eyes out with Jocasta's pins, he symbolically cleanses himself of the things he has seen. The loss of his eyesight rids Oedipus of all the evil he has seen and committed, however unwittingly.

Jurgis has his own cathartic realization as he travels the country as a hobo. He is a another good example of a character who experiences catharsis as well as displays it in his own life. Jurgis is a strong, young man, who talks "lightly about work" and cannot "imagine how it would feel to be beaten" (Sinclair 17). However by the end of the book we are following a very different man, one whose efforts to care for his family have landed him a two year sentence in a state prison (Sinclair 335). Getting from page 17 to page 335 involves the astounding journey that Jurgis takes. Starting with his family in Packingtown, he encounters much by way of loss (the family's home, Ona, their child). During the time that he lives as a hobo, Jurgis goes through a transition. He at first feels that the hobos are

Just as Jurgis functions as a character that inspires catharsis in readers, he also experiences it, himself. While he lives as a tramp, Jurgis is careful to keep some money for himself, because he feels "terror...at the thought of being out of work in... the wintertime"(Sinclair 201). The fear that Jurgis has of facing the winter and becoming like the others that he travels with is what 'purifies' him. It is what moves him to come back to the city and to try his luck at the factories again.

Emotion in an Anti-Sentimentalist Novel

2009-11-19T22:22:00.002-05:00

The discussion in class today about the heart-breaking and emotionally charged scenes from The Jungle made me question the anti-sentimentalist nature of the novel. The definition of anti-sentimentalism based on the hand-out is “build[ing] stories and characters by utilizing a style of language and stating events without unnecessary detail, and by stressing reason over emotional attachment.” This was summarized as focusing a story on the situations, not the characters. This is true of The Jungle because the focus was not on the specific personalities and feelings of the characters; it was on the roles that they play in society. So, my question is how the emotions in the novel that don’t seem to fit with the anti-sentimentalist style fit into The Jungle. I think that the answer has to do with the idea of catharsis.

We discussed how catharsis has an emotional, intellectual, and physical component. In The Jungle, the intellectual component is satisfied by the conclusion’s showing that regardless of their ideals, no political system is safe from corruption. The physical component is the disgusting revelations about the meat that people were eating. The emotional component fits in with this because Sinclair wants the reader to conclude that there is an imminent need for change. This is accomplished by the intellectual and especially the physical component of the catharsis. The emotional anecdotes about the working class feed off of this intellectual and physical catharsis to accomplish Sinclair’s purpose of better conditions for the working class. This purpose of better conditions for the working class is also aided by the anti-sentimentalist portrayal of the uniform oppression of the worker. So, the emotion and anti-sentimentalism work together to achieve Sinclair’s purpose.

Metaphor in the Jungle

2009-11-19T22:14:00.004-05:00

In the story The Jungle, whenever Jugris is exhausted by the work in the fertilizer factory, he seems to be supported with alcohol in order to forget the severe labor. I believe an element such as alcohol could be considered a metaphor that it leads the readers into the idea of catharsis. In Gi Hyun's presentation today, he introduced one of the meanings of catharsis is that it "leaves an audience feeling not depressed but relieved".

In chapter 14, Upton Sinclair depicts that "They might drink together, and escape from the horror---escape for a while, come what would" (p.129). At first sight for this statement, it is capable of making the audience (the readers) depressed because they may consider the situation that Jugris only depends on the agency of alcohol in order to escape his real life. However, for laborers at that time, this statement would have another interpretation because this statement must be shared as same experience for them. This interpretation is based on this story's scrupulosity of the truth on the laborers. Because one of the characters of this story is considered muckraker, this story would be believed not only just tragedy but also the opportunity which the situation of the laborers is overturned from poverty and capitalism. Therefore, the element of alcohol would be considered not the means to escape from the reality but the object which people can share their experience as common information against capitalism, and finally they are relieved. Therefore, I believe the reason why the element of alcohol is used in the chapter is because alcohol contains not only the association of purification, but also the means which it is shared as common information for the laborers.

Two Different Tragic Constructions

2009-11-19T21:08:00.006-05:00

I think The Jungle deals with numerous characters and also various heartbreaking plots. When I read first page, the novel started to describe the dream of immigrants and their hope for comfortable life. However, as the story goes by, all characters are falling down and down, and I felt deep sorrow because the result was too different from their belief for the future.

First, when the family moves to the U.S., I thought it was a kind of huge project. The asset they had was limited and their life was at stake. Though Jurgis, the protagonist of The Jungle, can not 100% assure that they are going to make a success, he thinks he can get a job and run his family with Ona. Then their hopefulness starts to disappear and change to despair and pain. The house rent makes them cry. The town makes them cry. And the cold weather and the change of people’s relationship makes them cry. Especially when I found out Ona is selling her body for the health of her family, I felt extreme sorrow. The whole family is getting corrupted by the environment of capitalism which is opposed to what they firmly believed. To the gap between two conditions, I felt inability to control my sense and to accept the result of the characters.

On the other hand, Our Nig starts its story with already sad circumstance. Frado is thrown away to the white house and starts to work as an indentured servant. Once the author introduces how Frado is abused, and what kind of pain she felt (because it is based on her own life) with inserting numbers of painful scenes. Though the end of the story raised my emotion with understanding to her (moreover, people like her), and also Hattie adorned the story not just with tragic factors but also the social issues at that time and the racism in order to progress the story to achieve her goal of the novel. Besides, not like The Jungle, the difference between two conditions existed in the nature of the characters. Mrs. B makes Frado’s life miserable and deteriorates her health. And Jack and Susan gives hope to Frado and this is the main force and hope for Frado to extend her life. Unfortunately, they don’t fully help her. Probably the reason is based on the limited freedom to Frado and the circumstance of the family.

One interesting thing is that two novels seem to evoke the readers’ emotion, sorrow, pity and fear for the different purpose, but their ways to construct the heartbreaking plot seem also different. The different goals of the novel, making understanding of the readers and creating effect to the society, might be the reason for different construction of tragic literature.

Critique of Corruption

2009-11-19T11:10:00.000-05:00

The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, is set in the meatpacking district of Chicago. The story follows Jurgis Rudkos and his family on their quest for “the American Dream”. After several job failures and numerous family catastrophes, Jurgis exchanges his honest, hard-working personality for a lifestyle of crime. He quickly becomes involved with a vote-buying scheme to land certain political figures in office. Regarding the plot, Sinclair writes, "All of these agencies of corruption were banded together, and leagued in blood brotherhood with the politician and the police; more often than not they were one and the same person,--the police captain would own the brothel he pretended to raid, and the politician would open his headquarters in his saloon” (Sinclair 303). Because Jurigs and his family were immigrants, they had faith in America and that it would bring them happiness. They thought that capitalism would make them successful; this was not the case. Irony “turns standard meanings and expectations upside down. It often involves saying one thing and meaning another” (Killingsworth 131). In this particular situation, Jurgis believes in capitalism and the potential happiness it could bring him. However, it is ironic because, in reality, his expectation of the government form was essentially the opposite of what was promised or foreseen. In order to survive, he was forced into the dishonesty of politics. Sinclair is able to clearly present the levels of corruption in the government through his use of irony; this allows for the audience to see the true happenings of the political parties at the time.

Irony in The Mole People

2009-11-19T11:09:00.000-05:00

In Jennifer Toth’s ethnography, The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City, she performs an in-depth study of the people living beneath the New York City subway and have been forced to make those tunnels their home. She meets a variety of people from different demographics such as age, gender and race. Although living on, and beneath, the streets of the dangerous city is a rough life, those forced into the lifestyle choose it, without hesitation, over city shelters. One of Toth’s characters mentioned his experience at shelter and states, “two nights ago a man tried to rape him at a city shelter where he hoped for sleep” (Toth 8). These state funded institutions fail to achieve their intended goal. Instead of providing a secure place of rest for those less fortunate, they instill fear in those without a home. This fact is ironic on several levels; however, it is mainly portrayed because, “the ironic tone is conveyed by setting up a condition of unequal knowledge” (Killingsworth 132). In this case, the government appears to be supplying homeless people with safe places to stay, sleep and eat. Yet, those intended to use this resource refuse because of the poor quality and increased risk. Therefore, the unequal knowledge is that government knows of the mistreatment in homeless city shelters where as the remainder of the public does not. Toth is able to present the irony in this situation to her readers and therefore heighten their awareness of the happenings of New York’s homeless.

The Impetus for Writing "The Jungle"

2009-11-17T23:45:00.005-05:00

Today in class I discussed what I thought could have been Upton Sinclair's motivation for writing The Jungle. Though the article I was assigned to read was about Sinclair's fervor towards socialism, I did not feel that socialism itself was the impetus for the novel. The article discusses all that can go wrong with socialism as there are many intricies that go into developing that form of government. Because it is such a complicated system, much can go wrong, and I feel that these wrongs are what drove Sinclair to write this novel.

Upton Sinclair mentions "evils of present-day society" and the contradiction that lies within society. He refers to capital as a "democratic administration for the equal benefit of all", which I can sense is sarcastic after reading the novel. I therefore feel that the Sinclair's reason for writing The Jungle was not his disliking towards the concept socialism or capitalism, but the outcome for not facilitating correctly.

Reveal to explain

2009-11-17T23:41:00.004-05:00

The Jungle mainly depicts the family members, and the meatpacking industry. By revealing hidden truths, Sinclair shows his own ideology against the ideology of the two groups. On page 73, when the family sets up the foundation condition for living in the city, a voice of the implied author defines the characteristic of the world at that time: “the world was divided into two groups” (Sinclair 73). One group is apparently people who like Jurgis’ family members and the other one is the owners who are possessing and running inhumane business. As the story goes on, the author seems to try to giving new knowledge with revealing the truth he witnessed actually before, as a muckraker.

The first group of the world is the people who want to find new place, and try to escape from reality expecting another world. However, their belief and faith for economic happiness is frustrated by the people who take benefits, and the environment of the city. Once, they start to earn money, they find all systems require paying money with unjust contract, and it seems that there is no option for practicing what they dreamed. Moreover, there is another drawback which is a bunch of saloons around the company. “There was only one condition”, the author points out with reporting the meaning of drinking to the working class. People should drink to forget the painful memory and to get closer with other workers. If not, they are not welcomed in the society and have to feel what he feels during the work hour.

The second group is the owners who run the company in immoral way only for taking profits. In the process of making products, they not just broke the dream of the working class but also the rule of the world. They don’t consider what is right and valuable to the people but pursue what makes money. Especially, on p88 in the text, the author reveals one of the company’s illegal custom: “they had recouped themselves by putting out imitations of German meat for home markets”.

Showing unknown truth of the society, the author tries to let readers focus on customs and habits of the two groups.

Being Bold Pays Off

2009-11-17T22:40:00.000-05:00

In the Foreword of The Jungle, we are informed of what the history of the novel, The Jungle, is and what Upton Sinclair went through to get the novel published. We are informed that “Sinclair was sent to Chicago to do research on the meatpacking industry by the editors of the Socialist newspaper for $500” (Sinclair i). When Sinclair witnessed the unsanitary practices of the meatpacking industry, he quickly started writing a novel, modeled by the plot of Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. In efforts of getting The Jungle published, Macmillan published the novel half way through then resisted and gave Sinclair a long list of things to change due to the graphic descriptions. Macmillan agreed to publish the novel if Sinclair would rewrite a sanitized version but Macmillan declined to publish at all, for reasons that are unknown. It is questioned whether or not that Macmillan was, ”persuaded to drop publication because of pressure from the meatpacking industry” (Sinclair ii). Sinclair felt that it was important to state the facts, rather than what people wanted to hear, so he continued looking for a publisher.

Sinclair finally was given the opportunity to have Doubleday, Page publishing company publish The Jungle. Learning from experience, “Sinclair cut numerous scenes from the book” that would still convey the importance of the novel without some of the other graphic descriptions (Sinclair ii). The Jungle came out in 1906 and Theodore Roosevelt was given a copy of the novel. Roosevelt responded in a negative manner, not believing what he was reading. Roosevelt asked Doubleday to show him proof that The Jungle was portraying true facts. Once Roosevelt came to the realization that The Jungle was true, he started his own investigation with the Bureau of Commerce and Labor. Due to the popularity and the help of Roosevelt’s investigation, “Upton Sinclair became famous, and his novel helped push the federal government to pass its first comprehensive Pure Food and Drug laws” (Sinclair iii).

This is an example of how things can be overlooked because people are told what they want to hear. If it wasn’t for Sinclair being bold and standing firm for what he was “reporting”, who knows when Pure Food and Drug laws would have been passed.

Jurgis is a Person who cannot Adapt to the Environment

2009-11-17T22:30:00.006-05:00

In the book The Jungle, Upton Sinclair depicts a tremendous truth that how people are treated, their state, is a part of the process of factory in capitalism. I believe Sinclair wants to claim that capitalism considers a laborer not as a person but disposable products through the figure of Jurgis. After Jurgis injured his leg and returns to his job, Sinclair describes that "They had got the best out of him, there was the truth---they had worn him out, with their speeding up and their damned carelessness, and now they had thrown him away! And Jugris would make the acquaintance of some of these unemployed men; he would stroll away with them . . . . and he found that they had all had the same experience" (p.114). This experience must indicate the real situation that people are treated as a disposable product by capitalists in order to make productivity without the view of humanity. Therefore, Jugris is forced to engage the worst job in the factory of fertilizer.

However, I believe the reason why Jurgis feels torture and mental anguish is because of not only the fertilizer factory but also his character that he cannot adapt to the environment at all. In the beginning of story, he is described as a man who has a confidence his power and ability for labor. In spite of the fact, the real situation always conflicts with him against his belief. Therefore, the real deprives his confidence gradually through the chapters. However, he cannot adapt to the environment that he has to be at the mercy of the factory and capitalism, because he has a free will that he has to protect his family, especially children and his wife, Ona. His free will would always give him doubt and question about the situation that people are treated as a part of the process, like as machine. Therefore, he finally hits his boss because he has to protect his injured wife from the insistence of sex in chapter 15. In addition to the truth that this novel exposes the true states of laborers, furthermore, I believe that this novel also indicates the conflict between naturalism and free will.

Sinclair and Toth: Continuity in Society

2009-11-17T21:49:00.004-05:00

The last two books that our class has studied, "The Mole People" and "The Jungle", by Jennifer Toth and Upton Sinclair respectively, deal with similar aspects of humanity's suffering. Despite almost a 90 year gap between their publications, they both describe the way in which whole groups of people can be trampled by society. The two authors, however, take very different issues to heart and present their ideas in quite different ways.

I believe part of the reason for this is the level of removal of the author. Toth is initially further removed from the people she studies but proceeds to delve so deeply into their lives that leaving them becomes quite difficult. Sinclair also gets first hand experience with the evils of society that he writes about but leads a life that is less removed in comparison, prior to success with "The Jungle" having been raised in a poor family. Toth spent a year investigating the tunnels, letting them slowly become more and more a part of her life. In contrast to this, Sinclair spent seven weeks within Chicago's meatpacking industry in order to write "The Jungle" on the payroll of journal owner.

Despite these differences, in both novels the audience is introduced to the idea that there are those who fall through the cracks of society and although they work hard cannot gain a footing with which to improve their situations. While the chapters of "The Mole People" each focus on different characters and aspects of tunnel life, "The Jungle" focuses on the plight of Jurgis Rudkos' family. Although no less influential (but perhaps more so) than "The Mole People", the subject matter of "The Jungle" is innately different from that of Toth's ethnography. We are able to see examples of the idea of 'exigency' by comparing these two writers and on what or how they choose to carry their points and critiques. The time periods that each take place in dictate the novelty that they hold for an audience. While far reaching effects of Sinclair's writing such as the passing of the laws such as the Pure Food and Drugs Act (1906) and the Meat Inspection Act (1906) helped quench some of the fears that assaulted the "public's... stomach" in his novel, many aspects, such as the plight of the immigrant were largely forgotten about. This is why the work of Toth is still necessary and even exigent -- because as Sinclair says in "What Life Means to Me", "the sheer horror" of some literature that "[makes] it true" also is what "[kills] it" (What Life Means To Me, Sinclair, 351). An uproar may occur in response to a writing, says Sinclair but without the inclusion of "human anguish" an audience receives nothing more than "sugar-coated sentimentality".

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jupton.htm

The American Dream in the Jungle

2009-11-17T19:22:00.000-05:00

The portrayal of the American Dream in Sinclair’s The Jungle creates an ideological critique. The two parts of our definition of an ideology were the beliefs and the customs and traditions that went along with the beliefs. In The Jungle, the primary motivation of the immigrant characters was “The American Dream,” “the wonderful dreams of wealth that had been haunting Jurgis” (Sinclair 22). This is the belief portrayed in The Jungle, that capitalism would bring happiness and economic prosperity. The traditions and customs of the ideology though are less admirable. To gain the wealth that they desired, men become greedy, such as the captains of industry that ran the inhumane stockyards. Poor men also were victim, such as Jurgis in his endeavor to quickly purchase a house. This system of greed is the underlying idea of capitalism that is supposed to end up providing the most efficient and substantial wealth for the most people. But, the ideology breaks down when the greed begins to hurt everybody, not only with the horrible working conditions, but the horrible products. For example Kristoforas died supposedly of “tuberculosis pork” in his “smoked sausage he had eaten that morning” (Sinclair 117). No one, not even the very rich, were able to obtain safe meat. So, the greed’s taking over everything had very negative consequences. This lack of providing for the well being of most people is contradictory to the basic tenets of capitalism, and therefore is used as a critique of the ideology of capitalism.

Ch 7 in The Mole People

2009-11-12T23:40:00.004-05:00

Ch7 mainly deals with Sergeant Henry who has to capture homeless people in the tunnel. The story narrates his past memory, as if it is happening now, quoting hi swearing much of the time, how he starts the job and how he accepts it. Though the author and sergeant Henry know much of the condition of the people in the tunnel now, the narrator (Toth) portrays a time when Henry doesn’t know fully about the “ploy” (Toth 60).

In the middle of the Ch7, the narrator inserts a dialogue between J.C and Sergeant Henry. Interestingly, it was hard to figure out that J.C and Sergeant Henry are saying at the same place with facing each other. The reason is the narrator manipulates the dialogue without giving clear sense about the distance and also the narrator never mentioned until the author changes from telling story to showing their conversation. As I read further I could figure out they might interview in the same place because the author hinted us providing much of common knowledge between two characters.

Suggesting how should we accept the law in this harsh condition, the author intentionally manipulate the time and the distance between two characters in the dialogue.

Rollercoaster of Chapters

2009-11-12T22:49:00.000-05:00

As we were questioned in class, how are the chapters in The Mole People arranged and why were they arranged in such a manner. As I looked at the chapters and reviewed what was shared in class about the certain chapters that we were assigned, I was able to see a pattern in the chapters. When I am looking at the chapters from chapter 1 to 24, I see that pattern of a roller coaster. How I have come to this conclusion is that looking throughout the chapters and how classmates summarized their chapters we see a pattern of good and bad and hope and hopelessness. It starts with chapter 2, Seville’s Story, as it was explained in class, this chapter can be seen as a bad chapter because it is about a kid that runs away but no one tries to help the family get their soon back. As we go further into the novel, I would consider chapter 7, about Henry as a hopeful chapter because he sheds some light in what he has done and is doing for the tunnels. In chapter 9 and 10, I would consider these hope chapters because the children still have connections with the life above ground and they do not consider themselves “houseless”. Chapter 11 is a good chapter because Bernard’s Tunnel is educated and has great pasts before there came to the tunnels. Chapter 14 and 15 are hopeful chapter because the many characters had a lot of street smarts and they knew they would survive and having outreach programs that help people in the tunnels. In chapter 20 and 21, I consider these chapters good because we see that they are about community and that the people within the tunnel have a system and it works well for them. In chapter 22, the women seem hopeless, as Josh explained because they are unhappy and “done” with life. In chapter 24 I conclude my analysis of chapters with this chapter being a bad chapter. In this chapter, Jennifer Toth, fears for her life and leaves the tunnels forever.

As we can see, the chapters go from bad to good then bad again. We always see that some chapters are hopeful and others have hopelessness. I see this roller coaster of chapters as a way to explain the tunnels in a mixed way because we see good and bad intermixed within the novel. I think the Toth does this well and that the novel is presented well. I like that The Mole People ends on a bad chapter because it keeps us reminded that, no matter how much you try to understand a sub-culture, sometimes it never works. It also reminds us that not every situation is great and sometimes when you try, you end up having a roller coaster experience.

Audience-Construction in Mole People

2009-11-12T19:54:00.005-05:00

When I consider the audience-construction which is based on my theory in Mole People, it would be difficult to see how we are lead into the same field of the genre by reading this story in terms of discussion and argument, even though the audience-construction exists absolutely. Because the contents about people who live in the tunnel underground are really unfamiliar for us, it is difficult to bring up any specific mental images in our mind. The field of the genre is broad. Although we might be able to consider ambiguous themes, it would have a difference to the time when we read, for example, the novel Our Nig. At the time, it was really clear what kinds of the genre we should be lead into because the story has a logical development that starts from poverty, through discrimination and violence, to Frado's death. However, in Mole People, the story has not a fluid development but an intermittent development because each chapter has many characters and they seem to introduce their situation and explain what things happen in the tunnel on people.

That is, the process by which we are lead gradually into the field to the genre is hard to be found in this story. Furthermore, because the characters sometimes refer to any specific impression, our position may be not as an audience who discusses but as an observer who receives the facts about mole people.

However, as I wrote above, even though the story is unfamiliar for us, we are created as audience because we can compare some ideas between the fact of mole people and our life in above ground, their past state in above ground, and their current state in the tunnel. Although each chapter seems to be an intermittent development, the developments have any specific message that we can receive it immediately much stronger than the mental images. Therefore, we would be also constructed as audience by not the author but the characters who are mole people.

Jamall's Story

2009-11-12T19:47:00.002-05:00

I believe Jamall's Story, or chapter 23, is very significant to the book. While the whole story seems as if there is no hope, and it seems as if he has given up, there is more to it. The underlying purpose of this chapter is to show how the tunnels can be a place of healing. Jamall even says so at the end of the chapter. He emphasizes this when he talks about the different places and communities within the tunnels, and how there is no need to evict the people in the tunnels, because they are using abandoned places as places to heal. There is something for anyone who wants to or is forced to go down into the tunnels. Furthermore his relationship with Cher helps this idea that the tunnels can help heal. The fact that he would stop drinking for Cher's sake is a huge indicator of this idea. He finally found something he cared for enough to begin to heal. When she dies however, Jamall gives up because he has lost his healing aide. He leaves the tunnels because he has lost the one aspect of the tunnels that can help him. However Cher still provided him with a way out with her story of the light taking her away. He continues to look for the beam of light to take him away, back to Cher. In Cher he found a way to heal, but when it is taken away, he tries to find this healing agent that he once found in the tunnels. Just as he found his Cher, anyone who enters the tunnels can find something to help them heal.

2009-11-11T18:50:00.001-05:00

Levels, Distance, and Light

2009-11-11T18:32:00.001-05:00

The use of light is seen as a metaphor in both “Maggie” and “Mole People” as a symbol of hope (brightness) and degradation (darkness). One of the first things I noticed when reading “Mole People” was that the lower the levels underground got, the darker and more hopeless and lost the people were. This descent reminded me of how in “Maggie” Maggie walks away from the light of the city and further into the darker outskirts to her eventual death. Both texts show the decline of self with the heaviness of darkness.

“She passed more glittering avenues and went into darker blocks…” (52) Light continually slips away as readers begin to realize that this girl is Maggie after all and this is what she has become. Crane shows Maggie’s journey into the darkness, walking swiftly and looking into the faces of possible customers. “She went into the blackness of the final block. The shutters of the tall buildings were closed like grim lips. The structures seemed to have eyes that looked over her, beyond her, at other things.” (53) This image can sufficiently portray that of society towards Maggie, pursed lips taught with disgust and contempt, avoiding eye contact and looking away, making her feel small, dismal, insignificant and as if she doesn’t exist. Her own mother and brother threw her out, why not the rest of society as well? “Afar off the lights of the avenues glittered as if from an impossible distance.” (53) These twinkling lights of splendid luxury are far out of reach for Maggie, and are positioned here to show that happiness and love will forever be unattainable.

These quotes from Maggie, specifically the ‘buildings of society’ imagery and far off glittering lights have a real place in “Mole People” as well. Many feel scorned by society, and that’s why they hide in the tunnels unable to accept daylight without shame; “it is not uncommon to find homeless who have gone a week or more without seeing sunlight” (192). However, unlike Maggie herself, a lot of the people interviewed by Toth would rather stay in the tunnels and eventually go deeper instead of wistfully staring at the “glittering avenues”. These homeless, in my opinion, have been adversely affected by the darkness in both good and bad ways. Good for their sense of community and belonging, but bad because in many ways they have lost parts of themselves and have chosen to accept the life below. For some its perfect, for others I wish a happier outcome. The deeper the people go however, the more prevalent this idea of ‘losing yourself’ or ‘a lost soul’ seems to become. No longer a member of sunlight and fresh air, the tunnel has turned some of these people into creatures.

Darkness, oppression, and hopelessness will be the end of many Mole People just as it was the end of Maggie. Gwen, a woman in Chapter 22, shows strength I wish was in every person introduced. She fought the darkness and is pulling her life back together, while Maggie accepted her course of action as fate, leading to her death. In both texts, light offers hope, but in both texts likewise, there is evidence that the further one moves away from it, the more lost and destitute one becomes… perhaps to the point of insanity, or death. Levels or distance, darkness is waiting.

I Bet Maggie Is...

2009-11-10T23:53:00.003-05:00

The end of Maggie’s life is questionable because we are not sure what happened to her. Though the author doesn’t depict clearly her death, Jimmie and Mary seem to accept her death in the next chapter. In the class, my mates said it is related to the purpose of degradation and devalue; to guess her character more; to make it more realistic for giving long impact (which is mine). After coming back to dorm and sleeping quite a lot, I re-thought about the effect of the way in Ch XVII (1893 edition) and how does it affect to the goal of pragmatism.

First, the readers are naturally tempted to guess the result of her condition, once they read ChXVII and XVIII. Living prostitute and wandering the sullen part of the city, is she dead at last or worse than dead? If readers don’t catch the clear answer same as me, they might ask and then about the cause of her wandering which made us guess, let alone whether she’s dead or alive. It’s just like passing to the next question when we are faced a difficult and ambiguous question in the math exam.

Second of all, by not showing her clear result, we can substitute the environment around us to Maggie. It is kind of making Maggie just like a white sketchbook and start to paint the color on it. Because Crane sketches the structure of her life path and her background, it is we, the readers that read and make independent and creative response ourselves.

Third, we simply assume and expect Maggie’s future. If she’s dead, then where goes her body? If not, Jimmie’s lying to her mother which shows more severe malfunction of a family. Not saying makes more questions to her existence and this is continued to the most ironic chapter. Not making it close to the tragedy or melodrama or Cinderella types or Pamela styles which generally show clear result of the plots, it emphasizes the importance of family in economic tragedy season, rather than showing an individual's tragic end.

Light as a Metaphor in The Mole People

2009-11-10T23:35:00.003-05:00

Light acts as a metaphor in The Mole People by Jennifer Toth as the more hopeful tenants of the tunnels seem to live closer to the top. The more that light is represented in their description, the more hopeful and proud they seem to be. For example, Bernard lives very close to the surface as every time he creates a fire, he lets the smoke out onto the streets. I feel that the fire he creates can also be considered a metaphorai as is he the character who has the greatest passion for creating an orderly community in the tunnel. Aside from the fire, when Bernard is introduced, it is with a flashlight in a tunnel of darkness. To me, this was a very obvious metaphorai that Bernard creates a "light at the end of the tunnel" for those who live in his community. He creates order and looks over the people living there. Though not all of the character's in Bernard's Tunnel are as proud or hopeful as he is, he tries to show them that they should be thankful for running water and good food. In this sense, Bernard acts as a sense of hope, or a shining light, amongst his community.

However, the light fades as you go deeper down into the layers of the tunnel. Flip, for example, lives where he can mind his own business as he "doesn't care for himself." When he is introduced, it is with a metaphor to darkness. The area in which he lives is a dark abyss, and he feels no need to make anything of himself down there. Therefore, the darkness is a metaphorai for his hopelessness and numbness.

Why are Chapter 15 and 16 needed in The Mole People?

2009-11-10T22:50:00.002-05:00

In chapter 15 of The Mole People by Jennifer Toth, we learned that there are outreach programs to help the homeless in the tunnels. The outreach programs are ADAPT which stands for, Association for Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment and HELP which stands for Homeless Emergency Liaison Project. ADAPT is a nonprofit organization that is funded by the New York Health Department to provide the outreach programs for the homeless. HELP is a service to aid the mentally ill homeless people in the tunnels (Toth 151). HELP is the only organization that “can forcibly eject the homeless from the tunnels on grounds of mental illness and commit them to hospitals” (Toth 152). Chapter 15 is important to include in The Mole People because ADAPT and HELP aid to keep people safe down in the tunnels as much as they possibly can. By having these programs, this allows the homeless to get out, of course only if that was a wish of theirs to seek help. This chapter shows hope for the homeless in the tunnels because people outside of the tunnel care about them and want them to be safe.

In chapter 16, we are introduced to Dark Angel; he is five foot seven with a slim body type, white with brown slicked-back hair and bloodshot eyes. As Henry explains, “’He is a dangerous individual,’ he says. ‘Very dangerous’” (Toth 167). The name, Dark Angel, could be referring to not only that he is evil but also a symbol of how deep he is within the tunnels. Chapter 16 is important to include because the Dark Angel is the ruler of the underground tunnels. Everyone fears him and they do whatever he wants for him. He has set a standard for himself, which is to be feared and avoided. Dark Angel created the most unsafe aspect for Jennifer. She had gotten use to the mole people but the Dark Angel made her fear the tunnels. She resulted to talking to others about him, the Dark Angel, to get information about him. Another reason why this chapter is a vital aspect to The Mole People is to explain that regardless how comfortable you get in the tunnels, there is always going to be something dangerous and Dark Angel allows us to witness this.

Thinning The Tightrope

2009-11-10T20:04:00.005-05:00

The ordering of chapters that Jennifer Toth uses in "The Mole People" gives insight, perhaps, into her own ideas on the culture she has studied. The chapter that Toth places last is entitled "Blade's Piece". This story seems to me to build up the crux of the book's purpose. Blade says that the people of the tunnels are "just like people topside" only with "a different part in them" brought out (Toth 238). Blade notes that this part that is visible in the tunnel people is present in everyone, although the "topside people" do not agree. Toth calls Blade an "dangerously unstable person" but in the same breath says that she does not "believe him dangerous" (Toth 238). This sentence seems to contradict itself, but upon exploration, perhaps, can offer a new light with which to view each of the other stories, as well as those who are not the focus of the book, "the topside people in fancy suits" who include Toth, herself.

Blade's chapter is prefaced with a quote by William Saroyan, which implores its reader, "Remember that every man is a variation of yourself. No man's guilt is not yours, nor is any man's innocence a thing apart" (Toth 237). Toth's inclusion of this quote gives insight into her view of the people of the tunnels as well as those people who live in the comfort above them. In using this quote to possibly indicate the relationship between both sorts of people, Toth's ethnography becomes not only an exploration of tunnel culture but also of the entire culture of New York City.

Toth gives her audience two important ideas. First she uses Saroyan's quote, to note the community that every person functions in and the similarities that exist between us all, merely because we live and act, with "ungodliness or evil" but also in "kindly and gentle" ways (Toth 237). Toth furthers this idea by bringing attention to Blade; a character that she "never really understood". Blade, however confusing, seems to infatuate her. He, himself seems to have an odd relationship with her, because she reminds him of a classmate who stood up for him when he was young. This does not stop Blade from later threatening Toth, eventually causing her to leave the city, and although not explicitly said, seemingly to end her tunnel work. Toth seems to want to indicate the duality of humanity, the sides of a person that may be turned on and off, so easily. Blade tells Toth that she will "never understand [the tunnel people] because [she is] not one of them" (Toth 242). And indeed, Toth does not understand the people she studies. She constantly under or over estimates those she encounters, including Blade. However, in Blade's chapter Toth has her realization. After arousing Blade's wrath, Toth is faced with the question of whether she could kill Blade or not. Upon pondering this, she learns that she could, indeed kill him (Toth 246). Interestingly, Blade himself tells her earlier in the chapter that the main difference between the two of them is the ability to kill. Blade helps Toth explore the tunnels but also helps her explore the part of herself that is inside him, "inside everyone" (Toth 238). In the end it seems that Toth's realization comes from herself, and not those she studies. She sees that in herself there is the ability to kill someone she "still [can] remember only with a smile". In this instance Toth lets her reader see that she has straddled the "tightrope" between under and above ground. She knows the thin line between surface and tunnel too well at this point and can only just escape it. Sadly to do this, she must sever her ties with the tunnels and hope that others will as well.

The Difference between the Adults and Children in The Mole People

2009-11-10T17:11:00.008-05:00

I would like to add more explanation to today's role playing statement. In "Children," chapter 9 of the book The Mole People, Toth describes how difficult it is for children to live and survive in the tunnel from the point of view of many adults and of a girl who is called Julie. For instance, there is a description about Teresa, a young mother domestically abused by her husband, who says that "She wants to get out of the tunnels before Dara is old enough to remember them.'I don't want her to remember this. . . . I want her to know I always loved her and took care of my children'" (p.86). This would mean that, generally speaking, many people consider that living in tunnel and being mole people is a kind of blot for them, even mole people themselves. Therefore, they must believe that they should not bring up any children in the tunnel, not only because of the filthy public hygiene but also because of the societal label about mole people. They already know so well how far is the distance between themselves and "above ground" in terms of social class. Most of them would have already experienced any disfavor because of that distance.

However, as I also said today, a girl who is named Julie has an ambition that "Everything I wish for I'm going to have because I've been such a good girl. And I'll grow up beautiful" (p.83). In spite of the fact that she also came to the tunnel from above ground, she can keep her motivation because she adapts to the environment of the tunnel. Because she does not have enough knowledge about mole people, she can adopt the circumstance and keep the motivation regardless of minding any prejudice from people even though she also knows that the environment of the tunnel is really bad.

Then, there is a difference between the fixed idea of the adults and the ignorance of Julie. it is really true that children who do not know about the above ground life can adopt much better in the tunnels than the adults. Most of them must throw away their hope for future. However, in spite of Julie's ignorance about the tunnel, she would be much happier than the adults. This situation is like a contradiction. The contradiction happens between ignorance and prejudice against mole people. Therefore, I believe that the root of all evil against mole people is based on the fixed image and prejudice that people cannot overturn in terms of the fact that mole people are forced to an uncomfortable life beyond the environment.

Love & Downfall

2009-11-05T20:44:00.003-05:00

The idea was put forth today in class that women are, perhaps, seen as more pure than men in Charles Loring Brace's "The Dangerous Classes of New York" in relation to "Maggie: Girl of the Streets" by Stephen Crane. This is why, some speculated that Maggie's downfall is so awful. During the discussion, the phrase 'the bigger they are, the harder they fall' came to my mind. Maggie features, at first as a very standout presence in the midst of the dark and downtrodden inhabitants of the Bowery, referred to as a "most rare and wonderful production of a tenement district" (Crane Ch 5).

Prior to meeting Pete, Maggie lives in her imagination, "lands where... the little hills sing together in the morning" (Crane Ch 5). Maggie's purity is almost entirely absolute, especially when compared to that of her mother and brother. Her downfall is her desire for love, which she does not receive from the family members that she has. This ties into another idea discussed in our class, the necessity of the family unit. The desire for the love that she is not receiving is the chink in the armor of innocence that Maggie wears. This desire seems to directly correlate to the ease with which Pete is able to win her over. Her mother's rejection sends her into the arm's of Pete. Clearly if Maggie's home environment were a bit different, Maggie's sexual liaison with Pete would not have taken place (at least at this point in the novel).

However sad it is to see Maggie lose her purity, Crane's audience is only exposed to the horror of her accelerated slide down the moral scale. While her actions with Pete are unfortunate, an audience might at first believe that she at least will be able to fare as well as her mother. Sadly, the reactions of her family members are to reject and denounce. Maggie is pushed further down by this, displaying the link between loss of support (of family, friends, etc.) and the lowering of social status.

How light is portrayed in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

2009-11-04T23:17:00.003-05:00

Chapter seventeen of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane, has a great example of metaphorai; light. In the beginning of the chapter a girl, assuming to be Maggie, is explained to be painted (Crane 52). As the chapter develops, we are presented with the element of light, “She passed more glittering avenues and went into darker blocks than those where the crowd travelled” (Crane 52). The next stage of darkness is when, “the girl went into gloomy districts near the river, where the tall black factories shut in the street and only occasional broad beams of light fell across the pavements from saloons” (Crane 53). “Further on in the darkness she met a ragged being…she went into the blackness of the final block,” this is the progression of the light in the chapter (Crane 53). As the chapter comes to a close, the girl sees from “afar off the lights of the avenues glittered as if from an impossible distance” (Crane 53). At the end of the chapter it is explained that, “at their feet the river appeared a deathly black hue” (Crane 53).

Metaphorai is evident in this chapter through the object of light. Light serves as a journey through Maggie’s last day on Earth. In the beginning of the chapter the light is bright as it is explained to be “painted,” in other words, bright. When we first see that she is going into darkness, it is illustrated that Maggie or “the girl” goes from “glittering avenues into darker blocks” (Crane 52). The next evidence comes with more information. Not only is the girl going towards the darkness, she is also going towards the river. Also knowing about the river we are also informed that the black factories sometimes let off “beams of light,” symbolizing that her life is getting darker but she also has some good in her. That this “new self” isn’t completely who she wants to be, but she thinks it’s too late to change the innate nature she has taken on. As the girl gets more and more into the darkness she meets a “huge fat man in torn and greasy garments,” which could symbolize the degrading factor of where her life has led her (Crane 53). The audience is told that the girl sees lights from afar but that they seem to have “an impossible distance,” this distance could be explained that she remembers “the light” in her past life but that she is too far off the beaten path to regain that life (Crane 53). She sees the once she reaches the river of a “deathly black hue” that she has reached the end of her journey (Crane 53). Light can be used as the metaphorai in the novel, Maggie and the light can help us understand the journey that Maggie, the girl, went through during her last day before her tragic and sudden death.

Breaking Assumptions in Realism

2009-11-04T23:10:00.000-05:00

Frankly, I’m still confused about the concept that I wrote on last week, between ‘witness to self-identify’ and ‘self-identify to witness’, even though I wrote the post about the film, Children of Invention. Hence, I put more time into thinking about the sequence of recognition and I think I found what’s different in terms of literal effect to the readers and audience.

First of all, I think ‘witness to self-identify’ in the film has a role of showing the deep-deep stories. Probably, I venture to guess, most audiences definitely know how an individual’s life would be ruined by pyramid schemes. However most audiences who do not have friends or family members ruined by the pyramid schemes or by the fake company promising quick economic rewards, may not know specifics about their daily life and the process of selling their house and meeting mothers asking for rescue. The film provides the frames the audience has probably heard before but may not have any knowledge about. To make the audience understand and align to the protagonist, it unravels the plots full of specific and objective details.

This viewpoint is also found in Maggie. The novel deals with the consequent events, though the gaps between two incidents seem inconsistent. Why tragedy happens and what kinds of stories are hidden at the NY slum in 1890s. From showing a child who delivers beers to a saloon to depicting a girl in the end to be a prostitute, the novel gives an opportunity to break our assumption which is constructed by media or the common sense.

Unlike Children of Invention, the novel seems to pay attention to the viewpoint of ‘witness to self-identify’, rather than using both of them. Say to experience the personal events, this really happened around the people in the slum (and in the pyramid scheme), and then to evaluate our personal identity compared to the people in the novel, and judge our society from that experience.

Maggie & Frado / Crane & Wilson: Similarity & Contrast

2009-11-04T22:46:00.004-05:00

"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" by Stephen Crane and "Our Nig" by Harriet Wilson contrast one another in several interesting ways. The two novels have different functions in our curriculum and feature great difference between author and context. However, the two novels also show much by way of similarity in storyline.

"Our Nig" is placed in the Uplift section of this course curriculum while Crane's novel is featured in the Critique portion. These sections "represent different purposes and contexts for documentary literature" and thus should factor into the reader's view. These two words may shed some light on author purpose for writing. Uplift can be looked at as elevation of something, be it spiritual, or social, or intellectual. Giving "Our Nig" this type of heading or context poses its audience (or this class) to view the work in, perhaps, a positive or more revolutionary light. We see the writing as something that edifies and supports.

"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" is part of the Critique section of this course. Crane's writing seems to be quite critical of the social situation that he uses as the setting for the novel. However, the inclusion of this novel in this section intrigues me because the things that take place in Wilson's and Crane's work seem to showcase similar things. Both feature female protagonists in negative environments that seem to eventually be cause for their demise. Although the ending of Wilson's novel is slightly more positive than that of Crane's, they both feature the downtrodden and highlight the horrible actions of those people who should be concerned for them.

Each protagonist seems to begin with a fair amount of strength, both Maggie and Frado show character that helps to keep them apart or emotionally above their negative settings. Both girls are submitted to much degradation and neither really overcomes it. However similar the women of the stories are, the authors of each are quite different. Perhaps Crane and Wilson provide the context that differentiates their writing. The more socially mobile Crane is able to write a novel to critique circumstance while Wilson's novel is a symbol of progress for a people, as it was the first novel written by an African American in the new Americas.

2009-11-04T22:18:00.001-05:00

The Importance of Outcome

2009-11-04T22:17:00.004-05:00

As we discussed in class on Tuesday, what is most important about "Maggie, A Girl of the Streets" is the outcome of the story. Maggie makes a valiant effort to escape poverty and support her family, but the outcome is not as positive. She ultimately fails in doing so as she succumbs to prostitution and ends up killing herself. Though, at first, Maggie takes the position of strength in her family, we see later on that they feel she is "gone teh deh devil."

Though her fate is obviously a sad one, I couldn't help but think back to other feminist novels we have read, seeing as her weaknesses are only slowly unveiled to the audience. The audience may have hope for her because she takes a "blue collar" position and becomes involved with Pete, who might support her financially. However, we find in the end that Maggie does not succeed in finding happiness or money.

In "Revolt of "Mother"" by Mary E. Wilkens Freeman, the reader gets a sense of strength and wisdom from the mother figure because she succeeds in proving to her husband that she knows what's best for her family. Therefore, the outcome is positive and our feelings of admiration for the woman's character is strengthened.

This makes me wonder... Can we still consider "Maggie" a strong, female character and therefore overlook her outcome? Throughout the novel, I felt constructed to respond this way towards Maggie and personally still might consider this a feminist novel because of her efforts.

Distance as a Reflection of Determinism

2009-11-04T16:25:00.002-05:00

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane uses increasing distance between the narrator and the characters to emphasize the increasing determinism in the characters’ lives.

Booth says “the narrator...may be more or less distant from the characters in the story he tells” (Booth 156). In the beginning of Maggie, the narrator is very close to the characters. The narrator even describes their feelings like an omniscient narrator. “[The boy] felt that it was degradation for one who aimed to be some vague soldier, or a man of blood with a sort of sublime license, to be taken home by a father” (Crane 6). This is describing when Jimmie is dragged home by his father. When Pete comes to visit Maggie, “her heart is warmed as she reflect[s] upon his condescension” (Crane 23). The narrator gives an up-close view of the characters to the reader. This changes though in later chapters.

“A girl of the painted cohorts of the city went along the street. She threw changing glances at men who passed her” (Crane 52). The reader is left to assume that this mysterious girl is Maggie as a prostitute. Then later in her walking the streets, after meeting a customer, “the varied sounds of life, made joyous by distance and seeming unapproachableness, came faintly and died away to a silence.” This is the readers only clue that Maggie either was murdered or committed suicide. This distant and unclear reference to Maggie causes her character to fade into the background of her surroundings and for the reader to focus on them. Maggie becomes merely a part of her environment, that Crane so poignantly says is “joyous by distance”, instead of the individual that she originally was.

This use of changing distance between the characters and the narrator is parallel to the chronological order of the story. Also, the distancing reflects the slow losing of control over the characters’ lives and their succumbing to the deterministic factors at work.

Anti-Sentimentalism vs. Children of Invention

2009-11-04T10:46:00.000-05:00

As Melissa presented today, anti-sentimentalism is when the literature is portrayed by stressing reason over emotion and sentimentalism is when the literature is portrayed by emotion not reason. By knowing the definitions of both anti-sentimentalism and sentimentalism we are able to determine that Children of Invention directed by Tze Chun is in fact a sentimentalist film. Some examples and justifications of this are that we were attached to Tina and Raymond throughout most of the film. When Tina thinks about the old house or when she realizes that she no longer going to live there, she becomes sad and the audience feels sympathy with her. When Elaine gets frustrated with the kids and ends up slapping Tina, we see Tina’s reaction and feel as if we are standing nearby witnessing the entire event. Although Raymond stays neutral most of the film, we still see that he has feelings about what is going on with the family and his mother’s struggles. When Tina and Raymond go through the events of looking for the bank and finding food they can afford, we see that Raymond takes the role of being the bigger brother and the burdens of the role, through his emotions. Although most of Raymond’s emotion is frustration we, as the audience, still feel pity for Raymond and Tina.

Elaine’s feelings and emotions center around her having to provide for children when there is no money. She goes at all lengths to achieve success. As we see Elaine going into the trap of the pyramid scheme, we see that the end does not look promising for Elaine. She does not see the signs of failure because she is naïve.

A Style Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

2009-11-03T23:48:00.007-05:00

As Gullason points out in his suggestion, Stephan Crane shows his philosophy to the literature in his novel, dramatized realism, which was strongly influenced by his father and Riis. His goal, I think, for the novel is, namely, changing the world. He had to enjoy listening to what his father said for the cruel truth of the world, and he perceived the difference between fantasy romantic novels and the real happenings in the slums.

As he grew up and extended his interests to the dark side of society, he must consider how he can devote to “encourage [citizens] to take an active role” for sharing the economic equality and reducing living tragedies. Probably, he wanted to deliver a shocking account to the readers of what he saw and heard which is definitely a real part of our world. And his conclusion might be not to exaggerate or adore too much what he saw, but to deliver the image as raw as when he heard first from Riis, his father’s writing, and the world itself. Because his goal was close to making readers experience realism, he seemed to try to literally show us with presenting objective discussion.

If we see a part in Maggie, which assumes that Crane referred to what Riis complained about in the world, it would be a boy delivering beer. "He saw two hands let down the filled pail, and he left" (Crane). In this part, the author tries to have the readers put on a mask, and help us to feel what it's like to be a boy wandering to sell beer for making a living on slums. He shows the boy's viewpoints and makes it more real to the readers: "Straining up on his toes he raised the pail and pennies as big as his arms would let him" (Crane).

Naturalism and Free Will in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

2009-11-03T22:13:00.005-05:00

In Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Stephen Crane includes the idea of Naturalism into the story and the figure of the characters. I believe it must be seen in some specific remarkable chapters, especially from chapter I to IV because these scenes indicate how Maggie and Jimmie are constructed in their figures as children of poverty and violence. In these scenes, it is really clear that they are living a hard life against their will. They are involved in a villainous circumstance, including not only the slum alley but also the domestic violence by their parents. In order to live through the worst circumstance, they have no choice but to decide their own way and the way of life without obeying the circumstance. That is, they just adopt the situation to survive. I cannot see the idea of Free Will in their behavior because they have to not consider but obey the circumstance.

However, I believe that Maggie uses her free will into the only scene which she decides to commit suicide. Of course, it might be said that she has to die even though she wants to survive because of her circumstance, especially her mother's violence. That is, if the circumstance around her had been totally different from her birth to death, her tragic ending might be changed. However, even though it is true that she died against her original will, the decision to commit suicide is decided by Maggie's will absolutely. In other words, she would decide herself in order to be liberated from the worst circumstance. In spite of the fact that she has been cornered into death by the circumstance, her death overturns that the circumstance let her obey the power forcibly. Therefore, I believe there are two ideas, namely Naturalism and Free Will, in this story.

Nature and Nurture

2009-11-03T21:46:00.003-05:00

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane tells the story of a family living in the slums of New York City. He clearly depicts the events of their daily lives and presents the challenges they face because of their living situation. In his autobiography, Jacob Riis discusses his ideas regarding the conflict of nature and nurture.

Riis states that, "moral citizens, regardless of their economic status, should be given a chance to improve their lives" (Documenting the Other Half). In Crane's realistic story, Maggie and her family are products of the environment in which they live; their home was referred to as "a mud puddle" (Crane 16). Because of the destructive environment, the characters are doomed to live hectic lives strained by poverty. This disagrees with Riis statement. Through the story of Maggie, Crane argues that the development of character is dependent on both nature and nurture. Maggie and her siblings get trapped in a circle of depression; they live in a particular environment because their parents were not nurtured and do not know any other way. In return, the parents are only capable of providing unstable living situations for their children, without the knowledge of how to properly treat members of their family.

Capturing an Audience through Religious Appeal

2009-11-03T18:26:00.002-05:00

“Maggie, A Girl of the Streets” by Stephen Crane was about the life and times of the impoverished in the slums of New York City, 1893. Written around or before this time, Crane’s audience was obviously the literate, implying the middle to upper classes. During this time period, his novel was considered shocking and was severely censored and edited and was only printed by a private company. If this is the case, how would Crane have had to fashion his audience immediately in the first chapter of the book to keep their interest and support? The answer, I feel, has to do with his appeal to religious cues and morals.

The first image we see is the show down between the children of Rum Alley and Devil’s Row, names chosen for symbolic importance. Jimmie represents the children from Rum Alley, a perfect title for his own home full of raging alcoholics. The children from Devil’s Row also are presented with a likeness to their street; “Howls of renewed wrath went up from Devil’s Row throats” (3). In this single sentence the reader already envisions these children as demons. Jimmie is then described as having the “look of a tiny, insane demon”(3), and the reader now perceives that this intersection is more then a pinpoint of behavior, but is prevalent beyond and throughout the novel. Other references to the children like “assassins” and “barbaric” further reflect the nightmarish reality of the slum world, creating a living hell. For the assumingly religiously inclined and educated readers of the 1890’s, this corner where the two alleys intersect shows a parallel to certain audacity concerning the Devil and blasphemous over consumption of alcohol. This vision of raging vicious demonic children fighting is powerful enough to cause awareness within the reader of the unfolding setting and story.

Religious cues are used again throughout the novel, but this instantly came to my attention when reading Chapter 1, especially since they were primarily on the first page. This scene immediately stirs up moral values and captures the audience’s attention when given these cues more then just saying ‘some savage kids were fighting in a dirty street’. Could this have been Crane’s purpose in engaging his audience?

Pragmatism vs. Determinism

2009-11-03T16:17:00.001-05:00

Although pragmatism and determinism may seem like opposing forces, they are in fact part of one another. Determinism is the idea that outside factors determine the fate of characters. Pragmatism is the idea that actions predict effects, and therefore the characters can control their actions and therefore their fate. But, like in “Children of Invention,” these can work together to promote change.

The mother and her children in “Children of Invention” were in many ways victims of their situation. The woman was a single mother with very little money, and she needed money to support her children. She could have waited the several months that it would have taken for her to get her realtor’s license, but she needed the money quickly. This led her to search for other options, such as the dangerous pyramid schemes that she ran into. But, this led to the unpleasant consequence of going to jail. So, the mother learned at the end of the movie that it was a better idea to wait and look for a slower way to make money. This shows that although characters are limited greatly by their situation, there are multiple ways to act with varying levels of success.

This idea of multiple options for action is also reflected in Maggie. The different ways to react to a situation are shown in Maggie and her brother Jimmie. Maggie is dreamy and naive. Jimmie is violent and accepting of his situation. Jimmie in the end fairs better. This shows again that situations are largely deterministic, as is shown by the lack of truly desirable fates in Maggie. But, there are options.

These two examples show that pragmatism, although it doesn’t overcome determinism, can help to decide on a better individual option in the situation. Pragmatism doesn’t help us to moralize, but it does help us to learn.

The Fused Role of Voice in Children of Invention

2009-10-29T22:30:00.004-04:00

In understanding the documentary movie Children of Invention, I believe that the movie includes two principles of voice from James Phelan article's "The Concept of Voice: Some Rhetorical Principles". I would like to combine the principle (1) "Voice is as much a social phenomenon as it is as individual one" (p.44) with other principles (2) "Voice is the fusion of style, tone, and values" (p.45). Furthermore, I see both principles in the same scene simultaneously. They are shown in the end of story when the family meets again and sees a bunch of advertisements of the pyramid scheme.

Phelan explains that "We recognize that voice not because we recognize the author to us the letter but because as social beings we have heard that voice speaks to us on other occasions" (p.45). That is, even though the letters do not have real voice as a vehicle, they are not "voiceless" by the fact that their voicelessness influences people much more than the voiced sound. For instance, when the family sees the bunch of advertisement, we can see a message through the letters of the advertisement that "the pyramid scheme is vice" because it represents the evil side of money marketing.

Furthermore, Phelan also explains that "There are markets of voice in diction and syntax, but the perception of voice also depends on inferences that we make about a speaker's attitude toward subject matter and audience. . . . and about the speaker's values" (p.45). This would mean that even though the statement which is presented by other people is same, the way to represent is totally different because the representation depends on the speaker's personality, the way to speak, and his then temper. When we encounter the advertisement before the mother's arrest, it would imply the risk and danger of the attempted multilevel marketing. However, after her arrest, the advertisement is implied differently as the symbol which brought ruin on the family.

Therefore, I believe the movie Children of Invention indicated us that voice can play several roles on people.

Witness to Self-Identify or Self-Identify to Witness?

2009-10-28T23:45:00.017-04:00

#12 in thriteen questions in Children of Invention

Are we more equipped to self-identify or to witness/observe with narrator/characters?

Children of Invention tried to make audience "witness to self-identify" and "self-identify to witness". First of all, the film starts with a scene in which Elaine’s son, Raymond sneaks into the door and watches how people deceive each other for money and people are blindly agreed to join to the fake company. Just like Raymond we are designed to see the company as questionable and our witness starts without any knowledge. Though Elaine comes back to the place to earn profit, she doesn’t get any profit and even she faces an economic tragedy to sell her house and get out with their children. When she drives her car to home, she seems to know her fault. However, she tries another fake marketing job to overcome the situation. The director of the film, Chun said in his interview that he wrote the scenario based on his actual memory when he was young. Because it is not just dramatized imagination but most parts of the incidents in the film is originated from one’s past experience, was really prevailed in 1990s, the film specifically expose what happened to the people who are involved the notorious organizations and why they had to blindly choose the way. But when the film accuses the society and the people who are involved to illegal history as a particular phenomenon, the director also emphasizes their painful economic situation and desire to easily resolve as soon as possible. In this way, the director underlined people’s common emotions - fear and hope, which we may understand and feel if we assume we were in the same condition Elaine is now struggling. So we witness to self-identify.

However, the film starts to use another way of recognition after the beginning of the film. Because two young characters start to appear as main character, it provides to the audience familiar memory and thought most people used to have when they were around 10. For example, when Tina and Raymond wake up, they always see their mother hurry to go work. And they worry when Elaine doesn’t come early at night with feeling hunger. Though they fully don’t understand what she is doing and what actually it is, they perceive her job is related to the reason why they leave the home with wandering and why have to eat instant food all day, if they are left home. Suddenly, mom doesn’t come back, they are remained alone. In this time, they find out their home is sold and there is no one who can help them. Once we feel empathy to Tina and Raymond with familiar images and common memory, we start to see the world with a mask of two kids. Hence we may get an opportunity to feel how tragic episodes started to come to the member of family and how do they respond to the world which made their father or mother to participate into the pyramid schemes constantly. This approach tries to describe about what it’s like actually to live in a family which is involved into the fake marketing rather than explain or define the trend. So we identify to witness.

Two different viewpoints naturally change their turns and help to deliver the mixed viewpoints, the pyramid scheme threatening the family, and living in the family ruined by pyramid schemes. This composition helped me to think not just about the past social issue, but also individual's life within the issue.

Appearances of Apologia throughout "A Modest Proposal"

2009-10-28T22:59:00.002-04:00

From Lyndsay's presentation, we were able to gather a sufficient understanding of the term apologia. Stated generally, apologia means a dramatization, or outstanding exaggeration. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word as, "A written defense or justification of the opinions or conduct of a writer, speaker, etc" (Oxford English Dictionary). Authors are able to utilize this literary technique in their writing in order to make their pieces more interesting, and appeal to a wider audience.

In A Modest Proposal by Dr. Johnathan Swift, he analyzes the current economic standing of Ireland and offers a solution to help solve the poverty which has struck the country. He briefly describes the struggles that a person might face whilst living in the lower class, these struggles include: homelessness, lack of money, and starvation. Mr. Swift then states in a well-developed proposal, that the best way for Ireland to solve its problems and rise out of poverty would be for children, "at a year old, to be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune, through the kingdom" (Swift 10). The proposal continues to provide techniques on how to correctly consume children, as well as multiple pieces of support.

After reading through A Modest Proposal, it is clear that there is a significant amount of dramatization throughout the piece. When read in depth, it is clear that this outlandish statement is meant to serve a greater purpose to the country in general. Swift mentions how his plan would, "greatly lessen the number of Papists, with whom we are yearly over-run, being the principal breeders of the nation" (Swift 21). This draws the attention of the audience to the bigger situation, not so much poverty, but how the country is being ran.

This piece is a political example of apologia. In a sense, it is ironic, and Johnathan Swift may be trying to point out the failed attempts of the Irish government concerning the country's economic status. Not only does it relate to readers in terms most people can understand, but it makes a clear criticism of Ireland and it's political leaders.

"Double Voicing" in "Children of Invention"

2009-10-28T20:30:00.001-04:00

Tze Chun describes his movie, “Children of Invention,” as largely autobiographical and reflective of his childhood. But, the movie itself is fictional. This creates an interesting dynamic, which I think is best described in Phelan’s essay. “The voice of a narrator can be contained within the voice of an author, creating what Bakhtin calls the situation of “double-voiced” discourse” (Phelan 46). The hope that Elaine feels when she is at the meeting for the pyramid scheme is false. The viewer gets a feeling that something is not right about the scheme and has knowledge that Elaine does not share without “be[ing] signaled by any direct statement.” Instead, the viewer picks up on “nonlinguistic clues as the structure of the action” (Phelan 46). The instance of the meeting characterizes the author because the viewer picks up on his skepticism of the scheme. This “double-voice” mirrors the relationship between the director, Tze Chun, and his childhood self, so that the viewer can learn from his experiences and critique the situations he is depicting.

http://www.childrenofinvention.com/dirstatement.htm

#3 How does Tze Chun “construct” us as an audience?

2009-10-28T18:38:00.000-04:00

As Ryosuke demonstrated in class, he showed us a graph illustrating how audience construction occurs. It starts with the sender then the process continues with the receiver, the frame of the genre then how we, as the audience, perceive the information presented. The “sender” is the narrator of the film, Children of Invention, and the immediate relationship is that the media is presented as a film. As the audience watches the film we instantly start thinking about the imagery outside of what we see on the screen. The audience is constructed in such a manner that we can relate and connect with the characters in the film through watching their body language, emotions and their reactions. As we watch the film, we relate their emotions with ours in our own lives. As the audience, we are able to connect with the characters because we see their struggle and relate emotionally. Tze presents his film in such a way that we witness the families’ lives day to day. The audience engages with the characters as if we were living their lives with them. Tze constructs his audience by showing the characters emotions and feelings, because he does this we are able to feel like the characters

Epistolary and Uplift

2009-10-27T23:45:00.001-04:00

Pamela as an epistolary novel consists of countless letters written by Pamela and her parents. Once we open the cover, we can clearly assume how long her parents couldn’t see their daughter and how they miss each other borrowing Pamela’s letters. Because direct conversation is impossible that they deliver their regards with paper and we as readers observe it. Therefore, the narration tells her story not to us but her parents that it raises an aesthetic distance between the narrator and the readers. Besides, there are more novels which accepted this narration style. Alice Walker’s novel, the Color Purple, is drawing a girl who extremely abused by her father that she writes letters to the God because what she suffered was beyond her control that she had to find someone to reveal her inner heart and share the truth. From these two examples, I found a common characteristic. They both have special reasons for writing letters to tell the story and actually this does not seem that they have intention of telling the stroy for readers.

Innocence in "Children of Invention"

2009-10-27T23:40:00.002-04:00

Innocence plays a large role in the movie "Children of Invention." Elaine is a single mother who is trying her best to raise her children while also supporting all of them financially. As an immigrant to America, she is unaware of the dangers of pyramid schemes and gets involved with them very quickly. It is because of her naivete that Elaine puts her and her family in danger, as the children are often left alone and hungry.

The children, too, are very innocent as they are hopeful enough to think that they could earn a million dollars by selling toy inventions that they created. They too put themselves in danger by leaving their apartment and traveling to Boston alone.

Though innocence is portrayed throughout the entire movie, I feel that the author tried to convey the differences between naivete and innocence. Though both the children and Elaine do not know any better when it comes the situations they enter and are dealt with poor living conditions, the audience will likely feel more empathy for the children. I feel that this is because more is expected of an adult, especially when they have the responsibility of raising a family. However, this is why I feel the author showed the scene of Elaine in the jail cell. I feel that much of her innocence was portrayed as we come to realize that she was sincerely fooled. It is this moment, for me, that I felt as much empathy for Elaine as I felt for her children.

2009-10-27T22:12:00.002-04:00

In "Narrative as Rhetoric" James Phelan makes four main points, as well as two other statements about the term 'voice'. Of these six ideas, says Phelan, three move the concept of voice "away from style and toward character", while two "move the concept back toward style" (Phelan 48). The left over point states that "voice exists in the space between style and character", putting this point into the middle ground, merely near style (Phelan 47).

Phelan's first three rules set the tone for the rest of the essay. If audience is to take the order of rules to rank significance, then the fact that voice moves toward character would be most important. However, Phelan states that the two points that move voice back towards style are the consequence of all the other points he makes, thus making an interesting claim: In showing the distance between voice and style, Phelan says, one also connects the two back together.

An explanation for this almost paradoxical idea might be made in Phelan's fourth point. Voice "exists as a trait of the speaker". This relates to style in that the style is also a trait of the speaker. Neither is possible without the speaker who is the instigator and maker of both. However the speaker is also what differentiates the style and voice, deciding what is pertinent in each situation.

#4 "Metaphorai" in Children of Invention

2009-10-27T22:02:00.000-04:00

# 4) How can we use “metaphorai” (Schirato/Web 82) help explain this film (Children of Invention)?

In “Visual Narratives” by Tony Schirato and Jenn Web, Michel de Certeau defines metaphorai, root word: Metaphor, as “a bus or a train, stories could also take this noble name: everyday, they traverse and organize places; they select and link them together” (Schirato/Web 81). In Children of Invention directed by Tze Chun, metaphorai can help explain this film by allowing us to see the journey the characters are on. In the beginning of the film we see that Elaine, the mother, loses her job with Vitafuture, while losing a lot of money in the process. In result of losing her job, she can no longer pay for her house which leads the mother, Raymond and Tina to live in a vacant apartment complex. This living situation is completely secret because they complex are not open to the public yet. After moving to the apartment we witness the hardships of taking care of children and not having a lot money to take care of them. Elaine calls many companies, in hopes of getting another job to support her family but nothing comes from it. Until Elaine goes to an informational party, with her children, she gets involved with a pyramid scheme job.

Although we have not finished the movie, we see the journey Elaine and her children are on. The process that she goes through, including the emotion and frustration, is obvious for the audience to see and be effected by. Metaphorai can help us explain and understand the film to us because we see where the family has been and how they are dealing with day to day hardships. When a film practices “metaphorai”, the audience is more involved and easily constructed that way.

How the Movie "Children of Invention" Construct us as Audience.

2009-10-27T21:12:00.003-04:00

Although we have not finished watching the movie Children of Invention yet, I would like to describe how we are constructed as audience by this movie. Furthermore, I am going to connect my Audience-Construction theory and today's part of the movie which is supported by the director's statement of on-line website.

In this movie, any specific narrator does not exist like as the movie Up the Yangtze. Therefore, it would be able to say that the characters do not send any messages to us observably. In spite of the fact, we are leaded into same field of the genre, namely "poverty" and "loneliness". This movie would be composed that we are easy to be received the impression of the both genres because some scenes are composed to emphasize the genre of poverty and loneliness. For instance, it must be clear that their poverty are shown obviously by these scenes which they do not have a steady and secure housing and which two young children eat a convenience food because of hungry. Furthermore, the loneliness of two young children would be shown by the scene that the children are appeared alone with expressionless, for example the brother is playing video game so long time in a toy's store. While we are watching this movie casually, I believe we are leaded into these genres unconsciously.

The director says that "When I wrote the film, I was writing a personal story about the world I grew up in - a subculture of American trying to get-rich-quick in order to get themselves out of a financial hole" on website. That is, most of the audience of this movie would develop their discussion which is based on the character's financial situation and "moral". For instance, some of the audience may argue for and against the mother's behavior that she takes part in "a pyramid scheme" in spite of the fact that she has precious children, even if she does for unwittingly.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman does NOT want to be a man, actually...

2009-10-27T00:15:00.000-04:00

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short narrative “If I Were a Man…” is a perfect example of a few of James Phelan’s rules in “The Concept of Voice”, in that Phelan’s narrative gives structure to the voice of Mollie Mathews through Gerald. Basically, Gilman may offer the audience a beautifully wrapped treat but, when unwrapped, it gives a sharp bite. I would like to look at this narrative’s peculiar voice with only Phelan’s first two rules.

Phelan’s 4 Rules:

1) Voice is as much a social phenomenon as it is an individual one.

2) Voice is the fusion of style, tone, and values.

3) The presence of the author’s voice need not be signaled by any direct statements on his or her part but through some device in the narrator’s language – or indeed through such nonlinguistic clues as the structure of the action – for conveying a discrepancy in values or judgments between author and narrator.

4) ~~Voice exists in the space between style and character.~~

Rule number 1 states that Voice is prevalent throughout a piece of literature and isn’t always tacked to one phenomenon within the script. Phelan states that “wherever there is discourse there is voice”(44), so what he means is that in any form of communication, whether its between characters or the audience and author, there is always the style and utterance of the author’s influence. In Gilman’s narrative, her voice’s style is acutely charming sarcasm. At first the audience is swayed with the sweetness of it, but as lines reveal themselves, it is harder and harder to consider these statements as valid and innocent. For example, Mollie’s character description, “Little, of course—no true woman may be big. Pretty, of course—no true woman could possibly be plain” (170). What seem like compliments are merely demoralizing degradations of women as a whole. ‘Little’ can mean anything from inferior, weak, and vulnerable, to no-intelligence, powerless, and cowardly. ‘Pretty’ may seem like a legitimate compliment until one sees the pressure and stress presented with the word; you are not a woman unless you are beautiful in the eyes of a man. Her words are manipulative in a half-conscious way, writing in a smooth delightful style but throwing in these contrasting comparisons. In fact, Gilman’s voice likes to curl slyly about her word choices and careful syntax, subtly creating a conflict in ideals. Men are “erect and square-shouldered” with always the “last word” in their ears, and “the right size” with good feet that were “firm and solid on the ground” (170-171) while women are presented in the light above as little, foolish, and silly. This flaunting of masculinity as a form of superiority illustrates the chasm between the ideal man and the ideal woman, where the man is powerful and reasoned and the woman is weak and whimsical. This contrast offers the conflict within the narrative some principle, and through her voice Gilman reveals this depth of interaction.

Rule 2 is closely hand-in-hand with Rule 1, as in the description of voice. Rule 1 focuses on prevalence of the voice, while Rule 2 focuses on the character of the voice. The voice is a fusion of the author’s intent, what does he/she setting out to show or prove? How will he/she pursue that goal? “Style will reveal the register of a voice” (45) and through Gilman’s personal style she charms as well as educates her audience. Tone will sway the audience to her angle, she sets the voice to a specific influx and the audience responds to that stimulus. When Mollie as Gerald begins speaking about the hats of the people on the train, Gilman gets us to see the men’s hats as “sensible” and “dignified”, while the women’s hats are “foolish” and “tipped, twisted, [and] tortured into every crooked shape” (172). What we perhaps would previously have perceived as a ‘boring man hat’ or an ‘extravagant woman hat’ has now been flipped and shaped into a whole new perception due to Gilman’s purpose of literary code switching. The voice persuades our views as the story continues when Gerald is talking to the other men on the train. Each offers their belittling understandings of women, such as “They haven’t much mind to make up, you know”, “The real danger is that they’ll overstep the limits of their God appointed sphere”, “Their natural limits ought to hold ‘em… you can’t get around physiology”, and my personal favorite “[they] brought evil into the world” (174-175). Each of these comments is presented to show the values of men who are blind in superiority, and Mollie/Gerald’s next statements cut them back down to size. Here is where Gilman gives her voice a clear ringing, no longer hiding in the cloud of charming sarcasm. Mollie/Gerald’s statements are Gilman’s entire purpose of writing the narrative, flashing about her feminism and oppression through the mouth of a perceived man. She touches on the smarts of a woman as well as athletic endurance, saying how both have the ability to surpass any man. But here is the overall point she makes, “women are pretty much people,” (175) and she explains that women are trapped in a system that men make and how any form of trying to be sensible has them tabooed and alienated, for as she says, “if a woman is courageous enough to wear common-sense clothes… [what man] wants to dance with her?” (175). In the society presented where all these men have enlarged egotistical superiority complexes, I would imagine none. This inference shows that in order for a woman to be loved, she must become that whimsical, charming fool, and nothing more ambitious. Gilman also retorts to the (not-so-holy-ever-loving) clergyman that even if women brought evil into the world, men are the ones who “keep it going” (175) and therefore are capable of much evil themselves.

This strong presentation of voice through style, values, tone, and discourse, encompass “If I Were a Man…” quite passionately. Here is where I find the most emotional connection between the audience and the narrative, which just happen to also be Phelan’s first two rules. This glue that holds the story to perception and meaning is critical to Gilman’s (and countless other women’s) purpose between 1900 and 1930, which was women’s suffrage and other equal rights. Emotion triggers a reaction that can lead to a response in the form of action, Phelan helped define these triggers while Gilman pushed for the right reaction.

Naturalism in Lynch Law

2009-10-26T23:26:00.002-04:00

Though Ida B. Wells-Barnett writes from the perspective of a woman who is clearly affected disturbed by lynchings, I feel that "Lynch Law" might still be considered a naturalist piece. Wells-Barnett's intentions is to inform while also instilling a sense of logic and patriotism, therefore her mode of presentation seems detached because she is trying to present facts. Her description is also vividly detailed as to persuade her audience.

Though one might say it seems that she is too affected by lynchings to call this a naturalist piece, I feel that it actually is because of the author's intention and use of logic of factual evidence.

Class Discussion about Construction Diagram

2009-10-21T23:26:00.000-04:00

Professor Graban asked us if there was any novel or literature piece that doesn’t follow the diagram of audience construction. I think that every literature piece has to follow this diagram. I think that every piece does because, at least for me, I always visualize what I perceive, regardless if I am reading, listening or looking at literature. I found this lecture interesting because in a lot of ways, current media corrupts viewers in such a way of wanting to be just like what they see and read about. Every aspect of what individuals take in as information is processed and is usually acted upon. This can be a good but also a bad thing because it would inflict positive behavior but also maybe negative behavior. Overall, I do not think that there is any type of media such as novels and literature that does not follow Ryosuke’s diagram.

"Our Nig" as an Anti-Sentimentalist Novel

2009-10-21T23:13:00.002-04:00

As we discussed in class, "Our Nig" can be considered an Anti-Sentimentalist novel. However, it is important to read the background information provided with the novel as it can play a large role on how one would characterize the genre.

Freeman chooses not to dwell on her short-lived marriage in the story as she focuses on issues that can be considered more difficult, or issues that men could handle. In this sense, we can label the story anti-sentimentalist because she constructs the audience to view her in a more masculine role by leaving minimal room for attachment. To dwell on her emotional ties with her husband would be less convincing to the audience of her tough interior.

The audience could say the same about the death of her son, however, this is why it is important to read the background information that comes with the story. We learn that only a year later her son died and that is why his death is not included in the story. Had we not realized his death came after, we might think she purposely excluded this from the novel.

2009-10-21T22:19:00.001-04:00

Metaphorical Identification and Experience as Exigency

2009-10-21T22:14:00.005-04:00

When we encounter the description of metaphor, how do we understand the implied meaning as metaphor? When I consider this question, the idea of exigency occurred in my mind because it seems to work like the mental image for understanding an icon. We can understand the meaning of an icon in spite of the fact that the icon is not the meaning itself because we use the mental images which are already present in our way of thinking to figure out the relationships between the icon and the meaning. In other words, the mental images are our exigency.

According to Killingsworth, we also use our experience as exigency to figure out the meaning of metaphor. Killingsworth explains that "Along these lines we can also suggest that appeals to the body, built upon a network of metaphorical identifications, form the foundation for most of the other appeals

• Appeals to time link metaphorically with the experience of the aging body.
• Appeals to place link with the spatial experience of the living body, including the perception of natural phenomena such as gravity, weather, topography, and the seasons. The body is the place of places, where the self resides.
• Appeals to gender link with the bodily experience of maleness or femaleness, including the awareness of bodily features and functions such as hormonal fluctuations as well as societal injunctions and limits on behavior.
. . . . Because of its power to invoke the aid of the body in understanding, metaphor deserves close attention in the crafting and analysis of rhetorical appeals" (p. 126). In terms of the interpretation of the meaning, if we believe the statement as it is, we cannot see the implied meaning because it is hidden on purpose.

Just like we understand the icon, the metaphor would not be present without our experience learned through life. Therefore, we have to use our experience as exigency unconsciously in order to identify the implied meaning in the metaphor as real meaning.

Allegorical impact

2009-10-21T21:51:00.001-04:00

After reading Freeman’s short story, the revolt of mother, I felt that the story is not just simply about the new barn but it represents more hidden messages in a certain perspective and draws another story from outside of the novel. The reason is that the narrator excessively focused on an object and its surrounding at many times which provided me additional extended relations with the building.

Hence I came to feel this phenomenon hold a kind of allegorical effect: the “turn of thought” Right away, I tried to analyze the barn as tropes. First, I think Mrs. Penn’s preoccupancy to the barn stands as a metaphor for women’s effort to get back equality over men in patriarchal background. Mrs. Penn wants her husband to build a new house but Mr. Penn turns his back constantly to her wife and rigorously ignores her opinion as he had done for long, long time. This conventional stubborn attitude, I think, may be applied to many women in past days, because it reflects common pain (or anger) and inner responds, though Mrs. Penn is not the one directly related to or represents others. “I’m going to talk real plain to you; I never have sence I married you, but I’m going to now” (Freeman 1349). This dialogue, I thought it provides not just Mr. Penn’s anger but also other women’s emotion (who victimized by the other gender), because it’s so appealing and constructing “common ground”. I would say an image of a woman’s pain and effort to take equality helped me to identify broader images.

However, I think whether accepting metaphor or not depend on the context and personal understanding that it may differ person to person. And also it depends on the specific view point- How the one sees the barn in the novel. Repeatedly, the barn was mentioned, I think it could be regarded as another trope, metonymy. Just like in Moby Dick Ahab associates the whale as his entire problem, Mrs. Penn in the revolt of mother tends to react excessively to an object as if it made her obey to her husband. The barn itself is not the only one crucial factor which made Mrs. Penn serve to her huseband without gaining any response. The barn was an only part of the entire problem. In the revolt of the mother, I tried to think about tropes in the novel. Finding different kinds of tropes at the same time, I found it’s hard to define as one trope because it may differ by the view point of the reader and the context.

Pamelastic Instruction

2009-10-21T21:46:00.008-04:00

In introduction of Our Nig, the editor pointed out the novel’s similarity to Pamela in terms of seduction novel. Hence, I decided to look up what kinds of common characteristics are found in the beginning of the two novels.

First of all, in the preface of Pamela, it says that the novel’s purpose is not only to “entertain” but also “instruct” and “improve” young people. In its seduction plot, material and sexual allurement is provided by Mr. B, Pamela’s new master, right after her mother died. As he first approaches to her, he didn’t show his plot to possess her sexually, but with merely mentioning his died mother as an excuse and giving to her a dress, and helping to stay in the house. At this point, the young poor servant girl sees him an angel as if he is giving deliverance. “These good things to us both with such a graciousness, that I thought he looked like an angel.”(Pamela p11) “O this angel of a master! This fine gentleman!”(Pamela p16)

However several days after the day giving her the presents, surprisingly, the gentle master threatens Pamela with sexual approach promising her social elevation. This sudden change in Mr. B not only shocked her but also shocked her readers. And the novel’s fast twist seemed to help readers think about moral values effectively, while watching Pamela who resists very strongly. Even though she was in a desperate situation, she didn’t choose an easy way – she sold herself by giving up her conscience.

Likewise, Our Nig shows that the temptation is too hard to overcome, when it comes, by listening to Mag’s experience, we are taught how difficult it is to notice and practice it. “It seemed like an angel’s alluring her upward and onward. She thought she could ascend to him and become an equal.” (Wilson 5) Though Mag repeatedly violates her moral conscience, it definitely sends a message how hard to resist the temptation to keep social (and self) virtues for keeping herself when she was in hard times. While Pamela, as an epistolary novel, indirectly instruct readers with a voice saying to her parents which includes her strong determination, Our Nig shows a part in which the author directly require readers’ moral decisions directly. “You can philosophize, gentle reader, upon the impropriety of such unions, and preach dozens of sermons on the evils of amalgamation.”(Wilson 9)

Both novels tried to instruct readers with showing the character’s two possible choices which are morally opposed to each other. Living easily with accepting the false love, or living miserable with keeping social and personal norms. However the structure of the novels and the way to tell the story somewhat are different and also the characters’ decision to the trouble were different.

I used Pamela by Richardson, the revised text of 1801

Garland Publishing, Inc., New york & London

Audience Construction- Our Nig

2009-10-21T20:33:00.001-04:00

As we just learn from Ryosuke, an audience is being constructed with any type of media that we are exposed to. After reading “Our Nig” and learning about audience construction, I think that anyone that reads “Our Nig” will be constructed in some way. As Harriet Wilson tells her story, the reader begins to feel sad or angry for Frado. With all of the detail that Wilson includes in her book, she connects with her readers on an emotional level. Wilson’s main goal was not to make you feel bad for her but to pass on her story and make it known. Although her main goal was for people to buy her book, she also achieved the control of the reader’s reaction. I think that Wilson does this through her words and how she arranges them. As Ryosuke was saying on Tuesday, regardless the time that the piece of literature was written, that the author and the reader are not in the same century, we can still receive our reaction by reading the book. Therefore, Wilson did well at constructing the reader to feel that way she wanted in this book to be portrayed. The agency of the book would be the genre section, which is that “Our Nig” is about a free black being treated let she was never free and the exigency was how we connected with the author and whether or not we related to the book.

Gender and Metonymy

2009-10-21T20:27:00.002-04:00

In Charlotte Gilman's "If I Were a Man" we can see the sort of environment that could bring about the use of metonymy, as described in Jimmie Killingsworth's "Appeal Through Tropes". Killingsworth says that metonymy "works by substituting a thing for a closely associated... thing" (Killingsworth 127). Several displayed attitudes in "If I Were a Man" demonstrate the "tendency of metonymy to objectify and depersonalize people" (Killingsworth 128).

Mollie as Gerald focuses on the frivolous hats of the women that she passes but she does not give them any more concern than Gerald might. She notices women's hats, "on that hair...at every angle, in all colors, tipped, twisted, tortured" (Gilman 172). It is apparent that she and the men that she associates with feel that the ridiculousness of the hats characterize the actions of women, in general.

One many that Gerald rides with mentions the limits that physiology naturally puts on women. However another man disputes this, saying that women are not hampered when it comes to "what they want" (Gilman 174). It seems that men characterize the women that they know based on one attribute; the female focus on what is desirable. The men believe that this feature is innate in every woman. This is similar to the idea of metonymy and easily brings to light the idea of substituting one associated thing for the entirety.

It is important to note that Gilman's writing also shows the ease with which metonymy is applied to men by women. Through Gerald's eyes, Mollie notes that she had always distinguished men by one certain fact, such as who they were married to or how wealthy they were. As Mollie talks to the men though, she is surprised by the amount knowledge that it take to "[know] men" (173). It seems that through her flip-flop of bodies, Mollie is able to break down a bit of her own metonymy, as well as work on that of the men she meets.

Irony as a Trope in Our Nig

2009-10-21T20:03:00.001-04:00

In class we discussed the relationship between Our Nig and our unit of “Uplift” and the and Wilson’s moralistic message. The situational irony of the entire novel, acts as a trope to show the reader the moral of the novel.
Killingsworth describes several steps that novelists use with irony to bring moralistic messages to light. The first step is “creating an inner circle of a first and second persona --”I” and “you” (Killingsworth 132). This happens in Our Nig as Frado and her past are introduced. There is distance in time between Frado and the modern reader and distance in class between Frado and the original reader. These are the personas, “I” and “you.”
The second step is “to bring “I” and “you” into alignment under the banner of a shared values --or in the case of the appeal to gender, a shared situation of struggle or oppression -- to create a plural first persona, a “we” --and then to designate a third persona, “them” (Killingsworth 132). This “struggle” takes place in a northern house, the ironic aspect. The reader comes to sympathize with Frado, and they are set against her oppressors, including those that let it happen.
The third step is to “stand against “them,” the oppressors or their accomplices” (Killingsworth 132). This is the moral in Our Nig. Not only is the reader supposed to support Wilson by buying the book, he or she is supposed to take action to fix the oppression.
So, based on Killingsworth’s steps, Our Nig is an example of the use of irony as a trope.

The Skeptical Attitude for Understanding

2009-10-21T20:01:00.005-04:00

I think the readers tend to easily believe that statement of any literature works directly. In other words, they do not doubt the author's point of view, in spite of the fact that it is possible that the text has many other points of view. Although it is natural that people consider the interpretation from what is intended by the author, the way to read any text would take away the opportunity that the reader can obtain other information in same time. Therefore, I agree with Killingsworth in his article Appeal Through Tropes when he mentions about the skeptical attitude.

Killingworth says that "The skeptical attitude suggested in the practice of irony hints toward a critical method that goes back to Plato and that took on new force in the early modern treatment of wit and judgment. In the tradition of the English philosopher John Locke, wit involves the recognition of similarities, sometimes surprising similarities, judgment involves the recognition of difference. . . . We can expand this skeptical practice into a simple critical method for testing the robustness of tropes. Apply this general rule: If someone says that two things are similar to one another, try thinking of their difference. If someone says that two things are different, try thinking of them as similar" (p. 134). That is, when the reader uses this method to read any text, they might be able to obtain other interpretations of the text. For instance, when we read the novel Our Nig by Harriet E. Wilson, it seems to be clear that Frado's nature and character is totally different from Mrs.Bellmont's because the relationship is also really clear that Mrs. Bellmont rules everything. However, when the readers use the skeptical attitude, they would be able to see that Frado is in loneliness and a tragic state because of the discrimination and the prejudice. She is really afraid of being a minority in this story.

However, I think Mrs. Bellmont would be also afraid to be the minority. Of course, one of the reasons why she attacks Frado cruelly is based on the idea of discord. Furthermore, I believe that other reason is based on her human nature. Generally speaking, people are afraid of being minority in terms of the power of number. Then this information can be evidence of her fear that when the members of her family treat Frado kindly, she is angry and tries to make an ally of Mary in her side. Even though the relationship between both of them is really separate, I believe that their nature as human is similar.

I could only discover this idea after reading with a "skeptical attitude". Using the attitude would mean that the readers can see the works objectively.

If I Were a Man related to She’s the Man, the movie

2009-10-21T12:38:00.001-04:00

When I started reading If I Were a Man, I instantly thought about one of my favorite movies, She’s the Man. She’s the Man is about a girl’s soccer team that is cut for the season due to financial issues within the school; since she, Viola, has such a passion for soccer she searches many avenues to play soccer that school year. Viola proves that girls can do anything guys can do by disguising herself as her twin brother to play soccer. She goes on to making the boys teams and winning against their biggest rival. When reading If I Were a Man, about Mollie Mathew turning into Gerald Mathewson, I think about what such a passion she must have had about being a woman and making it known. In the beginning of the article, we experience this transition with Mollie as she is understanding the norms for being a male (p 171). One day Mollie, Gerald at the moment, starts talking to her neighbors. A discussion about women verses men begins and Gerald states the question, “Haven’t we known girls in school and college just as smart as we were?” (p 175). As the conversation starts to heat up, the debate goes back and forth between whether or not women can play football or not and as well as what the woman’s role is. Gerald says, “Women are pretty much people, seems to me?” meaning that there is no difference between men and women and who they are in general (p 175).

After reviewing both, the article and the movie, it is true that when people, women for example, what to make a point, they go after their intentions. The intentions of these two women were to prove a point to the men that they are worthy of being equal to men. They had such a passion of defending their beliefs and they went to great heights in defending themselves and proving to others that women are not inferior but an equal to men.

Persepolis the Autobiography?

2009-10-14T23:28:00.003-04:00

I wanted to pose the question of whether or not Persepolis would be considered an autobiography. There are many things throughout Satrapi's story that indicate that it could be considered an autobiography.We can obviously see how Persepolis might be considered an autobiography. First of all Satrapi is recalling events in her life in chronological order. She also characterizes her childhood memories in Marji. Pascal says that it's important to do this in trying to seperate an autobiography from a diary entry. Further more Satrapi recites historical facts, giving her memories more credit. Finally, autobiographies "offer an unparalleled insight into the mode of consciousness of other men." Satrapi's narrative style helps us connect her childhood memories (Marji) with her personality. All these things help the arguement for Persepolis being an autobigoraphy.

A Difference in Purpose

2009-10-14T23:12:00.004-04:00

I feel that the author's purpose in "Our Nig" and "Lynch Laws" differ greatly.

In my opinion, Ida B. Wells-Barnett wrote "Lynch Laws" with a purpose of informing as well as driving people to action in order to stop lynching. She uses words such as "uncontrolled" and "uncivilized" as to appeal to people's emotions so that they can understand the barbaric ways of lynching. She also instructs her audience on how they can take action by speaking to large groups. She advocates by using statements such as "for the betterment of the country." Though she uses many stories of African Americans being lynch as to appeal to a sense of empathy, she also uses facts and logics so that all audiences could understand the depth of the tragedy.

When I read "Our Nig", I felt that Harriet Wilson did have the intentions of informing, but that was not her sole purpose. Wilson pleads for the support of her story simply by asking them to read it and pass along her story. I think the reason why she is so effective in doing so is because after dealing with several abandonments and tremendous torture, it is difficult for the audience to feel untouched by her story. However, there I do not sense that she writes with as much exigency as Wells- Barnett does. When reading "Our Nig", I did not sense what I could do as a reader that would benefit her cause. Though I was still deeply empathetic as a reader, I was left unsure of how I should have been meant to feel other than that.

Lynch Laws Resisting Progress

2009-10-14T22:57:00.005-04:00

"Lynch Laws", by Ida B. Wells, is enhanced when applied to description of one of Jimmie Killingsworth's "Appeals to Time", the theory of resisting progress. When discussing the injustice of racial prejudice, Wells states "Our country should be speedily above the plane of confessing herself a failure at self-government" (16). Because the United States took part in such biased and prejudiced actions, a "reactive rhetoric has evolved in competition with the progressive trend of democratic politics and culture' (Killingsworth 48). However, the American society can never truly move forward with their political standing if they do not develop and grant equal rights to all of its' citizens. In essence, the American "self government" fails because it neglects equality to the people, and can therefore never truly get ahead in the progress of the world.

The Difference Between a Diary and an Autobiography

2009-10-14T22:31:00.004-04:00

"What is an Autobiography" by Roy Pascal highlights the differences between an autobiography and a diary. I had never thought of the differences before, but I think that it is important to understand when reading the stories that we have in class. "Persepolis", "Lynch Laws", "Letters to John Adams, and "Our Nig" all are written from a narrative that can be seen as similar to a diary or autobiography because the narrative is very personal and true to the author's life.

According to Pascal, the difference between an autobiography and a diary is that "The latter is a reivew of life from a particular moment in time, while the diary, however reflective it may be, moves through a series of moments in time." I think this helps us understand the difference in exigency between Wilson and Adams when reading their two stories. Wells has had time to reflect on the adversity in her life and has thoughtfully decided how to approach and construct her audience. Adams, however, had no idea that her letters to John would make history. She is writing in a state of urgency with raw emotions. Not to mention, she is describing to John what is happening nearly as it is happening.

It makes me wonder which is more powerful... To write in the moment, or to reflect on how the audience should be constructed. I feel that both ways of writing have their benefits. Writing in the moment can be much more real and simple, stating only what is happening and what is being felt while also showing growth. To write in form of a reflection such as in "Persepolis" or "Our Nig" can show us a greater depth to the story as it can construct the audience to see from several different perspectives.

I found, especially in "Persepolis" that I was able to understand more about the story when I was shown a narrative from her childhood paralleled with her current perspective. Likewise in "Our Nig" I feel that the author chose to show a growing intensity and state of exigency in the story.

Chronology I (pp. vii-xvii)

2009-10-14T21:33:00.000-04:00

I noted eighteen moves and abandonments made between the years of 1830-1900. If we make the connection, Harriet was born in 1825; therefore she has been abandoned and has moved most of her life. We may be able to make the connection that she is never in one area too long. Harriet moved a lot within Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In 1851, Harriet married Thomas Wilson and in 1851 their son, George Wilson is born. Within one year, the family moves twice. The second move was because Thomas made them move and then he quickly returned to his duties out at sea. Because Thomas left George and Harriet, Harriet was abandoned by her own husband. In his absence, Thomas died at sea, permanently leaving Harriet to take care of her son by herself. In result, Harriet did not have enough money to take care of George, so George was placed in foster care as a pauper. During this time, George had to stay six weeks at Hillsborough County Poor Farm in New Hampshire, while Harriet was ill in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1860, George dies; he was only seven years and eight months old. Again, Harriet lost another person dear to her heart, which may have felt like being abandoned. In 1870, ten years after George died; Harriet married her second husband John Robinson. In 1900, Harriet died of inanition, which, according to dictionary.com, is that state of being empty or the absence having social, moral or intellectual connections with people.
Evaluating Harriet’s life, it seems like she moved a lot and never settled for long. As we know, through the book, “Our Nig” we know that Harriet or Frado was beaten and abused often. We could make an analysis of the connection between abuse and the absence of settling down. Because Harriet was abandoned by her mother as a child then treated so badly, it is plausible to consider the reasons why she acts the way she does. It is possible that Harriet did not want to be treated unfairly anymore, yet there were always disappointments, such as, deaths of her husband and son. It seems to me that once Harriet was settled, something would happen, making her life turn upside down. Harriet has had a hard life and some may explain her life as sad, but most importantly, it is important to note that depending on how you are constructed as a child, it will hinder or help your lifestyle as you grow older. Harriet or Frado was corrupted as a child by the Bellmont family; they would beat her and treat her differently because she was black. Therefore, Harriet’s life reflects what type of life she lived: lonely and empty.

Mental Images of Word as Exigency

2009-10-14T19:36:00.005-04:00

I believe we use the mental images of words as exigency when we read novels because we interpret the story and imagine the world view of the book with our unconscious intention. Although we can easily interpret the world view of comics because of the imagery and background scenes, novels represent reality differently from the way of comics. In reading novels, we assume and imagine the world view in our mind unconsciously because novels are composed by the enumeration of letters. In other words, we have to use the mental images as exigency to interpret and imagine the development of the story. However, why can we imagine the story in our mind in spite of the fact that novels are composed by only the enumeration of letters?

In the article Understanding Comics, McCloud explains that "Now, the word Icon means many things. . . . The sorts of images we usually call symbols are one category of icon, however. These are images we use to represent concepts, ideas and philosophies. Then there are the icons of Language Science and Communication icons of the practical realm" (p. 27). That is, according to McCloud, the letters which we usually see in our daily life and in any literature works is merely an icon because the word itself is not the meaning itself. For instance, although the word of "novel" provides us the impression of any literature works and any stories into our mind, the word "novel" itself is not a novel. That is, even the word which provides us the meaning, the word cannot be an object itself. Because we understand the meaning of the word in advance, the image and meaning of the word is floated through our mind. Because of this process, we can read novels in spite of the fact that novels are lacking of image such as comics.

However, we do not use the process as the conscious method. When we encounter the letters and the sentences, these icons of word are transformed into the meaning of the word in our mind unconsciously. That is, our consciousness understands to transform automatically because the instant transformation from icons to mental images is required for interpretation as exigency. Therefore, we can read novels with imagination of the world view of the story.

The Narration in "Lynch Law" and Our Nig

2009-10-14T19:09:00.002-04:00

In order to compare “Lynch Law” and Our Nig, I would like to use Booth’s idea of “variations of distance” (Booth 155). Both “Lynch Law” and Our Nig have an author and a narrator that are essentially the same. But the “implied dialogue among author, narrator, the other characters, and the reader” is different (Booth 155).
Ida Wells-Barnett of “Lynch Law” is distant from the characters and close to the reader. Wells-Barnett is distant from the characters because she is reporting on activities and commenting on their implication. The majority of her rhetoric is synthesis of what she sees and what is in the past and her opinion on it. She uses her writing to sway the reader. She is not directly interacting with the people that she is discussing, those that lynch or are lynched. But, she is directly interacting with her audience, such as when she says “our watchword has been “the land of the free and the home of the brave” (Wells-Barnett Paragraph 13). She includes the audience in “our.” The only separation Wells-Barnett has from the audience is the boundary of time. Lynchings are uncommon in the lives of the current reader.
Wilson uses a different rhetorical situation in Our Nig. She has a close relationship with the characters in the story because of her direct interaction with them. The chapter titles, such as “Mag Smith, My Mother” (Wilson 1) and “My Father’s Death” (Wilson 14), reveal this closeness with the characters. Wilson shares the separation with the audience that Wells-Barnett has because of time. But, she has an additional level of separation because of what Booth calls “differences of social class or conventions of speech or dress” (Booth 156). She is in a lower social class than the reader because ideally in the modern world the social class that she was a part of doesn’t exist anymore. Also, the patois that she uses separates her from the audience.
These differences in rhetorical situation are interesting because they are applied to two pieces of documentary literature that are from a similar time period with similar purposes. They are also both written by women, in a time where female writers were more uncommon, but they have different effects. In “Lynch Law,” the tone is very harsh at times. Wells-Barnett reprimands the reader almost for not acting and for allowing such things to happen. She is very critical of America’s inability to control its own people. Our Nig is more subtly critical, though. It starts from the perspective of a child, and it certainly doesn’t fail to illustrate the unfairness of the servitude that Frado experiences, but it allows the reader to come to their own conclusion.
So, based on these two peices, a close relationship with the reader forces the author to directly appeal to the reader for her purpose, while a close relationship with the characters may cause a more varied response from the readers because they come to their own conclusions.

The Third-Person Narration in "Our Nig".

2009-10-14T18:06:00.004-04:00

In "Our Nig", we can consider Frado different character from the author Harriet Wilson in spite of the fact that it is mentioned that "In writing Frado's heartbreaking story, Harriet Wilson recounts her own experiences while combing and subverting multiple literary styles" in the back of this novel. Why can we consider that Frado is independent character who differs from the author? I believe the reason why is based on that Wilson uses the third person as a narrator in this story.

It is true that Wilson reflects her own experience and the circumstance at that time into the figure of Frado. In the introduction of this book, we can see the fact that "Sleeping in alternately stifling and freezing quarters, being overworked to the point of exhaustion, and enduring depressing isolation were the norms in service. As a young black child indentured to a white family in a town that only a handful of blacks called home, Wilson experienced a fate even worse than the typical northern indenture" (p. xxvii). Like these statements, Wilson reflects her own experience exactly in this book's world view and into the figure of Frado. However, even after we read these statements, we can consider that Frado is separate from Wilson in terms of the view of independence as a character, and a woman.

The way to narrate in this book is clearly by the third person. Furthermore, it cannot be considered by Wilson herself such as Marji in Persepolis. That is, although it is the fact that she reflects her own experience in the story, nobody in the book cannot be identified as Wilson even the narrator of third person and Frado. Then we can use the interpretation of "Variations of Distance" by Wayne C. Booth. In Types of Narration, Booth explains that "The narrator may be more or less distant from the implied author" and "most authors are distant from even the most knowing narrator in that they presumably know how "everything turns out in the end" (p. 156). That is, the method of narration by the third person causes a distance from Wilson to Frado, and the narrator. The narrator in this story is also written as if the third person knows every development of the story. However, although the development of the story is similar to Wilson's experience, the entire story is different exactly from the Wilson's life, especially the end of main character, Frado. Then, the difference would cause the distance between the author and the character. Because of the distance, I believe that we can consider Frado is independent character from the author, Wilson.

Harriet Wilson, a Memoirist

2009-10-14T15:37:00.002-04:00

The autobiography, says Roy Pascal, author of the article "What Is an Autobiography?", evokes the "realisation that that the individual is 'ineffabile'... and yet may be grasped in his successive collisions with circumstance" (Pascal 2). It seems that the subject of the autobiography is like an difficult idea; one that can be just grasped, but not thoroughly understood. The writing of Harriet E. Wilson, "Our Nig" seems to fit this description. Wilson talks of her troubles and successes but the sum of chapters in no way sum Wilson. This is made doubly clear upon examination of the appendix in "Our Nig" which allows insight into the character and further history of Frado or, perhaps Wilson (Wilson 73-80).

As Pascal states, an autobiography "is a review of a life from a particular moment in time" (Pascal 3). However, Wilson's writing begins not within her own life, but in the young adulthood of her presumed mother's. Wilson becomes Mag Smith's biographer for those pages, introducing readers to the character pf Frado and that of the influential Bellmonts. What could be Wilson's autobiography seems to begin upon her entry into the Bellmont house which is also her introduction to true conflict. It continues until Wilson's career of selling hair tonic is under way (Wilson 14). However, Wilson includes dramatically less detail upon leaving the Bellmont house. It seems that her writing truly only examines this part of her life. For example, of her marriage and child, she says little, but on the subject of her beatings by Mrs. B, she recounts several tales. It seems impossible that Wilson wants to give a composite expression of her life story.

Debunking the idea of "Our Nig" as a true autobiography may be in order. I feel that Wilson's writing belongs in the category of memoir. The protagonist, Frado is very aware of her social class, and that of those around her. She therefore has her own "personal slant" (Pascal 7). Frado is no better off than a slave living in the South during her time with the Bellmonts. In Pascal's writing he quotes a reviewer of Yeats' "Autobiographies", saying they are "a record of the people and things he thought important". Surely in the life of Frado, what seems most important is the injustice done to her, early on in her life.

The Revolt of a Genre

2009-10-13T16:39:00.001-04:00

After reading What is Autobiography? I sighed deeply, half with satisfaction to the understanding of one genre, and half with anger to a bunch of options and factors that determine whether it is autobiography or not. In Visual Narratives, Schirato and Web tell us that the role of genre is “interaction” between the medium and readers to make sense of it and enjoy it (Schirato and Web 92). However, the notion contains so many features in its definition as varieties of the people that individual readers may not agree with each other when they read the same pieces, just like I do.

While I was reading the article, I couldn’t erase a masterpiece from one of my favorite lists, that is Robinson Crusoe. I can’t remember exactly who it was, but I remember one critic pointed out Robinson Crusoe’s autobiographical features. He (or she--not sure) explained its beneficial effect to make readers grab the book and cry. I agree that it effectively helped us believe. The reason is simple. It sounds so real, though originally Defoe heard it from a prisoner when he was jailed. Even if the motive of the story was not from the prisoner or not 100% real, it to a certain degree reflects story teller’s judgment to his or someone’s life. From this point of view, to me Robinson Crusoe appealed its reality and true personality so strongly that I thought it was autobiographical rather than fictional.

Of course, it doesn’t fit well with all the factors mentioned in "What is Autobiography"? But it describes external life as much, makes readers think about deliverance, and moreover, possesses outstanding viewpoint related to the problem of religious conversion. It may not be an autobiographical novel, but to me it is more than autobiographical. (I don’t know why I adhere to this novel so much. Because I love travel so much and read Robinson Crusoe recently?) Even if someone argues that Robinson Crusoe is not autobiographical at last, in multiple choices, someone’s mind may think Robinson is the prototypical of autobiography.

Is She a Boss or Novelist?

2009-10-13T14:14:00.005-04:00

We were not sure about the author, Harriet E. Wilson that American literature readers were delayed to catch the precious meaning of the first African-American novel and the autobiography of the antebellum era’s freewoman in North, Forman and Pitts point out in the Introduction. Because she partly selected her life moments as writing and hints that may reveal her identity were not fully exposed, I think we couldn’t say who she was 100%.

To her identity and prestige in 1850s, Foreman (the editor of Our Nig, Penguin Classics) and Flynn suggest one debatable issue in an article on a website. Their new research revealed Hattie was “surprisingly successful entrepreneur”. She became a boss with selling hair-care products which restore and recover hair’s quality. According to the survey 1,500 advertisements were appeared in a score of News papers from New England to New Jersey. This fact made me much harder to follow Hattie’s picture with the novel as an autobiography which should reflect part of her true past and deliver a message for us politically or socially. Whatever it is, I thought the author should be on the same line with the narrator or the character in the autobiographical novel.

To me, Hattie was an image of indentured servant, abandoned human, and a woman couldn’t look the world same as her neighbors in the north and east of the U.S. But it is hard to take she changed her life hugely from the girl depicted in the novel (whipped and starved) to the first generation, black American businessman. She sold the products right after her work about writing the novel and the success at the time was not the literature but the commercial. But If I consider one of the themes in Our Nig, I think I can understand how she wrote before expanding the national level business. The severely damaged and ignored protagonist, Frado didn’t have any basic rights other close characters all had. It had to be same agony on the field of the business at that time as both critics assume in the article. She as an interracial must be hard to overcome the unfair barriers to sell the hair-care to white people.

I venture to guess partly, as an autobiographic novelist, she wrote the novel out of her exigency that could be black people’s limited life which is determined even before they were born, and the clear ceiling rigorously had blocked and distinguished freemen in North and South.

I gained some sources from this web site
www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/02/15/mrs_he_wilson_mogul/

Wilson as a Narrator as Defined by Booth

2009-10-12T22:54:00.004-04:00

Harriet E. Wilson has been one of the more emotive and complex narrators I have encountered in literature. Her style, in many ways, reminded me of C.S. Lewis in terms of voice and integration within the story. Classifying her, according to Booth’s “Types of Narration” however, has proved tricky and tedious with the various parts that apply to “Our Nig”.

Wilson’s voice is clear but her directive is spun like a tale, she creates a second persona or “second self” (Booth 151) through Frado and masks her own life story by making it Frado’s. There is a distinct difference however between the two ‘selves’ and this is what led to the conclusion of Wilson being part “Undramaticized Narrator”. She’s within the scenes of her pages, both telling and showing the story. She is not officially a character herself but is passing along the novel to us “gentle readers” (Wilson 72) via her consciousness. “…we are often as much interested in the effect on the narrator’s own mind and heart as we are in learning what else the author has to tell us.” (Booth 151) This excerpt straight from Booth is a prime explanation of Wilson as an author as defined by her personal tones as well as the characters in the story. There are many times when we can hear her own voice within the lines of text; for example the second paragraph on page 52 where there is evident sorrow and hopelessness, or the last few sentences in the last paragraph on page 14 where we find clear anger and regret. Another curious thing is how every chapter title is written in 1st person but the actual story is relatively 3rd person, this also shows her personal influence and masking as an "Undramaticized Narrator".

She also can be classified as a “Self-Conscious Narrator”, according to Booth this is qualified by an author being aware of him/herself as a writer… Wilson fully knows she's thinking, speaking, and reflecting upon her own work. There is even a part where she breaks through and reveals herself in personal 1st person before slipping back into 3rd; “A few years ago, within the compass of my narrative… Such a one appeared in the new home of Frado…” (Wilson 70). She addresses the audience as well in terms of “we”, and often creates a stage for a scene or scenario to take place.

Wilson also employs the concepts of “Privilege” and “Inside View” presented within Booth. As the author and narrator Wilson has much control over how her story is to be presented through the lens of Frado, provoking emotions and reliving experiences that no one else could know of or express. For “Privilege”, the knowledge of the narrator establishes a dynamic roundness to the story, drawing on real life supplements to satiate the hunger of complexity. For “Inside View”, Wilson provides a deep understanding of Frado’s mindset and emotional toil. There is one problem the reader must consider however, with the "Inside View" and "Privilege" concepts… We should remind ourselves that with any privilege of seeing into the mind of a character there is an increase in subjectivity without question, or how Booth puts it, “Generally speaking, the deeper our plunge, the more unreliability we will accept without loss of sympathy” (Booth 164). This basically states that the narrator can become extremely unreliable… and Wilson consequently supports this theory with her ending statements, “Refuse not, because some part of her history is unknown, save by the Omniscient God. Enough has been unrolled to demand your sympathy and aid” (Wilson 72). Simplified she says that she personally has with held some information to better her purposes.

Wilson becomes more and more complex the further we read into her work. At first it does seem like she’s just pleading for mercy and outputting her trials and emotions, but upon these theories above we can see there is a more dynamically equipped author before us. Undramaticized but Self-Conscious, with Privilege and Inside Views, along with this new understanding that she is clearly toeing the line of being unreliable to a fault. How are we to place her now? Throughout “Our Nig” Wilson was on a crusade to dispel the stereotypes and labels of African-Americans, but now as an author she is also refusing the label of a defined narrator… What are we to perceive about this new insight and awareness? Where does she fall into our understandings of narration?

Forms of Appeal in Lynch Law

2009-10-08T11:53:00.005-04:00

Ida B. Wells Barnett writes "Lynch Law in America" with a sense of agency and deliberation as she wishes to open the eyes of Americans. As we had discussed in class, she writes this speech with the expectations of having all races and genders hear it as she read this speech for large audiences.

She expresses her sense of agency when she says that it "is not just the creature of the hour." Had she felt it was just a phase in America's progression than she wouldn't have made a comment such as this. She understood that change had to be made in order for America to progress and that people had to realize that lynching had been an "unwritten law" for much too long.

Wells Barnett also writes with a sense of exigency and logos as she tries to appeal to American nationalism with a shared logic in American identity. She uses terms such as "moral and philanthropic forces of the country" as to persuade Americans almost with a sense of guilt. She also uses many facts throughout her speech, such as the fact that 10,000 people were killed in lynches, to appeal to the audience's moral reasoning.

I feel that her purpose for writing this piece was that Americans would no longer stay quiet about the issue that they are all well aware of. As we discussed in class, she felt that a mob mentality was stronger than the government which can create chaos in the country. Most of all, she wanted to inform Americans as to prevent lynching from continuing in the future.

Race In Our Nig

2009-10-08T11:28:00.003-04:00

Throughout the first 34 pages of Our Nig, there are many clues the reader can use to assume what role race played in the time of the author. It is clear that African-american people were looked down upon or valued less than white-americans. Because of this distinction most African-americans were poor and hopeless.

African-americans were property. Mrs Bellmost indicates this when she talks about "keep[ing]" a servent on page 16, and again when Jack refers to Mag as "our nig," which is on the same page. Since these people are viewed as property, they are treated like dogs. There are many examples of this idea on page 17. Mag forced to sleep where the hot sun penetrates her room and a cool breeze can blow past. Just as a dog, Mag sleeps outdoors. Mag is also punished with raw-hide and "allowed" to eat her breakfast away from where the family is eating. This view and treatement leads to destitue and hopelessness.

"She had never known plenty." When one is viewed as property and unable to make decisions for one's self, one has only what is given. This obviously leaves African-americans towards poverty. Afterall, children were sometimes given up in order for the parents to get by. Furthermore, when one is used to "the great brotherhood of man" ignoring them, then one loses hope for a change. These people make "no effort to escape." (All quotes can be found on pages six and seven.)

Exercise in Class

2009-10-08T11:11:00.001-04:00

By picking apart “Lynch Law” in class, it allowed me to better understand that reading. I was in Professor Graban’s group and we concluded what different parts of the text were. We found that the text was an example of resisting progress because, although the article explains what is currently happening, it does not solve or help the problem. I also learned what the difference between agency and journalistic agency was. Agency, as Lexi explained in class, refers to the one who acts or has the capacity to act, often a representation of someone or something else. Although Wells is trying to make the problem known and wanting to make changes, this article can be explained to have journalistic agency because it is an article with facts. Journalistic agency is the fact that the article is stating cultural trends or facts to show us or the reader where we are headed next. I would define journalistic agency as not only is it when a subject is acting upon the object but the author does so through statistics and trends that the author presents. This is different than agency because journalistic agency persuades the reader through facts rather than how the text is put together.

Our Nig as an Archival Study in Class, gender, and Race

2009-10-08T10:23:00.014-04:00

2) Look up 2 unfamiliar terms

On 18p in Our Nig, third paragraph, there is a word, “utility”.

Mrs. Bellmont was in doubt about the utility of attempting to educate people of color, who were incapable of elevation. (Wilson 18)

To this word, Oxford English Dictionary Online provides several definitions. And I picked up some meanings below.

1. a. The fact, character, or quality of being useful or serviceable; fitness for some desirable purpose or valuable end; usefulness, serviceableness.
c. Philos. The ability, capacity, or power of a person, action, or thing to satisfy the needs or gratify the desires of the majority, or of the human race as a whole.
2. The quality of being advantageous or profitable, profit, advantage, use. Freq. const. of (a person, etc.). Obs.
3. a. A useful, advantageous, or profitable thing, feature, etc.; a use. Chiefly in pl.

My definition to the word utility is that the efficiency for life in terms of social elevation. It sounds that Frado is like an object in the narration and deserve to be educated only for elevation in society to overcome her colored skin.

My next word is “kind” on p19 of Our Nig.

“She looks like a good girl; I think I shall love her, so lay aside all prejudice, and vie with each other in shewing kindness and good-will to one who seems different from you,” were the closing remarks of the kind lady. Those kind words! (Wilson 19)

Very familiar word to us, kind is defined in Oxford Dictionary as below.

5. Of persons: Naturally well-disposed; having a gentle, sympathetic, or benevolent nature; ready to assist, or show consideration for, others; generous, liberal, courteous (obs.). Also of disposition. (This (with c and d) is now the main sense.)

One interesting thing in the sentence is that the dialogue doesn’t finish clearly with a period and it was continued to the narration. Narrator defines teacher’s attitude was kind which is usually used for sympathetic nature, but here it includes the ironic, paradoxical and satirical meaning. I would like to define the word as a limit of kind people that is related to the social context 19th century.

3) Study the title page

The subtitle “Sketches from the life of a free black” easily hints to us that it is a story about black people which is described realistically based on one’s picture in the mind and remembrance. But the sentence, “In a Two-Story White House, North” conflicts to the subtitle, because the white color is opposite to the black. In this way, the house could be a place in which the protagonist or the author suffered and took exigency in stark white place in the end. In addition the white directly gives us information about the house hold was occupied by white people and it was an agony for “the free black”.

Discussion Question:

Our Nig, draws a girl who was left into the Bellmont family. She is mulatto and thrown away by her mother, Mag because of her economic and social background. Mag gave up Frado. While she is adopted and then learning how to serve to the household errands, she is regarded as an inferior existence compared to people around her in and out of the white house.

When family member noticed that Frado was dumped into their house, they started arguing whether they should keep her or send her to County House. Mary denies Jack’s suggestion to take her for her safety because [she] [doesn’t] “want to take a nigger around her.” (Wilson 16) Finally, she starts to stay and work with staying in the household. Feeding the hens and washing dishes. And if she looks a trouble to the family, Frado is punished with whipping by Mrs. Bellmont. To Mary and her mother, Frado is not important one, doesn’t have any right to feel delight, but is a servant in order to pay back to the family. This is drawn by Mrs. Bellmont’s thought in which she thinks Frado doesn’t need education because of her inferiority. She defined education’s purpose for social elevation and also thought it’s not a good way for Frado. In this way Our Nig implies that colored people were hard to go to the school, because they couldn’t elevate their standing with black skin.

I think, Frado’s miserable condition, looked down severely, represents black people’s hardship in the U.S, partly. In the white house, except Frado, all blood members are white. Some of them help her and some of them disregard. I can’t simplify how Jack and others think equally Frado as a house member and a student, until reading to the last page of the novel, but it seems that there is a limit. Mr. Bellmont who has dignity in the house, tries to protect and respect her, but she is harmed and damaged when he is not around her. Also, the school teacher insists that school mates should compete to be good to her. However it doesn’t seem to come out of her inner truth. The scholar thinks Frado is a good girl and at the same time, she is different and induces prejudices. (Wilson 19) The anecdote in the school and the white house makes readers think about the depth of our sympathy and its sincerity.

The first page of the novel, there is a poem which supports the idea how Frado is sacrificed. It mentions “Calvaries” everywhere. (Wilson 1) Frado as a young girl is a guiltless and pure innocent. However, the world turns back against her. There is no reason but her difference. It is a story which shows about how a society limits to the human’s equality and makes her a tool to serve for others’ benefit.

An Archival Study Leading to the Role of Women in "Our Nig"

2009-10-08T10:15:00.001-04:00

Mag says that “she had a feeling of degradation oppressing her; but she resolved to be circumspect, and try to regain in a measure what she had lost” (Wilson 7). Circumspect in this context means that she is trying to be aware of everything that is going on around her. She wants to use that knowledge for her advantage.

Mag “return[s] her work to her employer, and thus provide[s] herself with the means of subsistence. In two years many hands craved the same avocation” (Wilson 8). Avocation means a distraction or the act of being pulled away from something. This is interesting because she describes her job as being an avocation, and an avocation can specifically mean being pulled away from employment. But, instead her employment is pulling her away from something else, probably her pain.

The title page has two different titles. First is “Our Nig,” and the second is “Sketches from the Life of a Free Black.” The fonts for these two titles is different. The first title is written in a fairly standard font, similar to the one used throughout the book. The second title is written in an elaborate font, unlike the font used in the book. This is important because Harriet Wilson, the author, relates more to “Our Nig” which is evidenced by her use of a similar font throughout the book. “Sketches from the Life of a Free Black” is more of a definition that was superimposed upon her book at a later date with an unusual font. This helps the reader to be aware of the possibility of alternative interpretations’ lurking throughout the book that may not be a reflection of the author.
The title page also tells us that the majority of the story is set in a northern house. This is followed by a disclaimer saying the the book is “showing that slaver’s shadows fall even there,” meaning a northern house. This is important to the reader because there is the perception that slavery was incomparable in the North in the south, and this disclaimer prepares the reader to reconsider their assumptions.
There is a poem on the page in very small lettering. It is a statement that the author knows about care and virtue and sorrow and other emotions. They are called “hell’s temptation, clan in heavenly guise. This is a warning to the reader to not get too caught up in the sadness or momentary happiness of the novel, but to stay on the straight and narrow path toward the overall purpose of the work.

Mag is an example of how women are viewed in “Our Nig.” It was said that as “[Mag] merged into womanhood, unprotected, uncherished, uncared for there fell on her ear the music of love, awakening an intensity of emotion long dormant.” This gives the impression of Mag’s needing to be cared for. This is reiterated when she marries Jim because “[he] can give [her] a better home than this, and not let [her] suffer so.” This description is similar to the description of Jane as the “invalid daughter, the eldest of those at home.” Both are described as being helpless.
This description is starkly contrasted though by the description of Mrs. Bellmont as “a whirlwind charged with fire, daggers and spikes” and as “self-willed, haughty, undisciplined, arbitrary and severe.” This description has a much more negative tone though, as if Mrs. Bellmont shouldn’t be that way.
So the tone used to describe Mag and Jane as helpless is pitiful, while the tone used to describe Mrs. Bellmont as strong willed and mean is very negative. This shows that women who cannot take care of themselves are seen as deserving to be pitied when they have no one to care for them, but that a strong-willed woman is absolutely undesirable. This shows the assumption that women are less able than men to take care of themselves.

Class Exercise (#2, #3 & Discussion Question)

2009-10-08T10:14:00.001-04:00

2. Succor “assistance and support in times of hardship and distress” Oxford English Dictionary
“The child’s desertion by her mother appealed to his sympathy, and he felt inclined to succor her. To do this in opposition to Mrs. Bellmont’s wishes, would be like encountering a whirlwind charged with fire, daggers’ and spikes.”
Page 15, paragraph 1

Succor is being used to explain how Mr. Bellmont will treat or react to Frado. This is important to note because Frado is not well liked and hated by many, including his wife. By knowing how Mr. Bellmont feels towards Frado, the audience is able to understand his connection with her. I included the second sentence because it is important to note that the word, succor, is going against how Mrs. Bellmont feels towards Frado, but until we understand the definition we do not know how Mr. and Mrs. Bellmont feel towards Frado.

Merriment “gaiety (the state or quality of being light-hearted and cheerful) and fun” Oxford English Dictionary

“Day by day there was a manifest change of deportment towards “Nig.” Her speeches often drew merriment from the children; no one could do more to enliven their favorite pastimes than Frado.”
Page 19, paragraph 2

Merriment describes what feeling or emotion she is causing the other classmate to have. The classmates started to love Frado during their school day. By knowing how the classmates felt towards Frado is important because, like I stated before, most people hated Frado. It is important to know what the term “merriment” means, so that we understand how the classmates feel towards and we, as the audience, connect with Frado and her experience at school.

3. By studying the title page I noticed that there are texts that are bigger than others, bolder than others and different types of fonts. If a reader would skim over this page, “OUR NIG” would be the first and maybe the only gathered information from this page. By only noticing the phrase “Our Nig” the reader may assume the book was about a black slave, by the context, but also disguising whether the character is a male or female. The subtitle is written in a bold but elegant font, “Sketches from the Life of a free Black.” The reader would get another opinion of the book because the first assumed meaning of the subtitle is that the character is not a slave but a free black that contradicts the first initial meaning of the first title. Thus far in analyzing the title page, we have two different assumptions of what this book may be about, a black slave or a free black and not knowing the gender of the character, which it is often assumed that slaves are male. By analyzing the titles alone the audience is already drawn into the book because there are contradicting titles that state two different stories. By assuming two different stories the next line below the subtitle, in even smaller font, it states, “in a two-story white house, north,” which could prove that there are two parts or two perspectives to this story.
These observations are significant to the reader because it allows our mindset to be set back and have our knowledge of slavery be the lens while reading this book. To have our mindset in this position allows us to understand and identify with the characters because, rather than having a mindset of the 21st century, without slavery as a normal behavior, we can understand and relate to the characters better.

Discussion Question:

The evidence of race is a major subject throughout the first thirty-four pages of “Our Nig.” African-American differences are magnified within these pages and we are able to have a perspective of a young girl experiencing these accounts first hand. Frado, a young girl born of a white woman and a black man is abandoned by her mother to be a slave for the Bellmont family. The mother of Frado, Mag, was unable to care for her daughter due to the hardships of a black woman.

The first occurrence witnessed by the audience of the difference between races is shared by Mag. “Folks seem as afraid to come here as if they expected to get some awful disease,” the black race was often perceived as dirty (Wilson 7). The context allows the audience to witness how the blacks viewed themselves and how hard it was to be African-American during these times of segregated feelings towards each other. This passage sets the tone for the audience that blacks were not equal to whites, which may already be assumed by the audience, but this text proves this notion through the explanation of a black woman.

When Frado was abandoned by her mother, Frado was still very young and she was very stubborn. At first Frado did not understand what was happening to her. She did not make the connection that her mother was never coming back. Within moments of Frado’s arrival to the Bellmont residence, Mary, a daughter in the Bellmont family questioned her mother, “I don’t want a nigger ‘round me , do you, mother?” (Wilson 16). The audience, at this point, can be connection with Frado because within moments of being abandoned by her own mother, she realizes that she is hated by “her new family”. Frado is now all alone and has no one because she is black in a racist community. Race is profoundly illustrated because we. The audience, now get a feel from what it is like to be African-American in this time of segregation.

The audience’s critical assumptions of race are going to be expressed through emotion. The audience may be angry or sad for Frado, or depending on the audience, they may agree with the treatment of African-Americans. Regardless the audience, through Frado, we are able to see first-hand how it was like and how the minority race felt about their treatment. The treatment of blacks verses whites are heavily witnessed while reading the text, this is important for the audience so they have the understanding of what it was like, regardless the audience’s background or knowledge of blacks in this time. Using the lens of consideration for this time, is crucial because if we do not allow ourselves at the audience to understand Frado, we may not be able to connect with the main character, which in result would cause misunderstanding and purpose of the text.