Take Stock Week 17

I have backed up everything. I have declared every assignment except for one that I did late. I am caught up on every announcement.

Weekly Review: Week 17

            For this week, I feel a little relieved getting all this work done. It was honestly a lot to do but I somehow managed to get it done. Looking back at this past semester, I can see how all this work has helped me because I have learned many ways of editing, looking at readings, analyzing texts and changing how I write my essays. I feel that I have improved throughout the semester with each and every work that I did. I learned from both my own work and others work because I got to keep an open mind. By that, I mean I learned how to look at readings in different ways by seeing what they wrote and applying that to mine. I have even noticed that I take what I learned from this class and apply it to other classes, especially when it comes to looking at readings, studying and even writing. Looking at my writing today compared to my past work, I definitely see a change in how I word things. Therefore, I can officially say that I have learned from this class and even my other classes because I try to take all I have learned and use it on everyday life and things I do. I really enjoyed seeing other’s work honestly. This is because it is really fun and interesting getting to see others work and seeing how they progressed throughout the semester. Overall, everyone did such an amazing job on their work and I really learned from them. Getting both my online classes done is honestly very relieving because now I can just focus on my last two finals, thus lowering my stress a bit. I hope everyone had a great time this semester and I hope everyone has a great summer. I wish you all good luck on your future endeavors!

Project Submission #3 Revision Week 17

1)      Slow down and read out loud when you proofread.

·         I fixed some minor mistakes with this one, like wording.

2)      Answer the Question with a Clear, Debatable Thesis.

·         I fixed my thesis again to make more sense.

3)      Weed out extra commas.

·         I got rid of some commas while changing sentences around.

Revised Project Submission: https://sites.google.com/view/kitkatstull/project-3

Week 17 Analysis: A Literary Analysis

Mahasweta Devi, “Giribala” (1147-1165)

            In “Giribala” by Mahasweta Devi, the character Giribala is average looking, had lovely eyes, and “nobody ever imagined that she could think on her own, let alone act on her own thought” (1149). She is stuck in this desperate world with this awful, deceitful husband that she must fully adjust to. I feel that the theme of this story is feminism because of the many struggles this woman must face against the social standards of women.  For example, She knew that although the groom had to pay a bride-price in their community, still a girl was only a girl. She had heard so many times the old saying ‘A daughter born, to husband or death, She’s already gone.’ She realized that her life in her home and village was over, and her life of suffering was going to begin” (1151). Women of this time were basically involved in this “transaction” of marriage where the groom pays the bride’s family and this was traditional in the West Bengal region.  There is a huge emphasis on woman in this story, where woman are to be obedient to their husbands. We see hints of feminism in this woman’s journey and adjustment to new lifestyles (or a suffering lifestyle).  We see a look into the north-central region of West Bengal in this story where we see many looks into the cultural practices like arranged marriages, bride-price, and the deceit and viciousness required to survive in a resource-suffering society. We see an example of this viciousness and deceit in the husband when he lies about his living condition and more. The cultural practices seem to be a reoccurring presence in this story. For example, “What kind of woman would leave her husband of many years just like that? Now, they all felt certain that the really bad one was not Aulchand, but Giribala. And arriving at this conclusion seemed to produce some kind of relief for their troubled minds” (1164). We see the social standards of women in West Bengal again. Therefore, the emphasis of feminism is in Giribala’s fight against social standards and bad living conditions with a terrible husband.

Reading Notes W17: Mo Yan, Part X

Mo Yan, “The Old Gun” (1188-1198)

Mo Yan:

·         Born 1955

·         Burst onto China’s literary scene in 1986

·         “Much of Mo Yan’s fiction is set in his native Gaomi County, in Shandong Province-a real place, albeit one that Mo Yan’s fictions enhance and transform almost into myth” (1188).

·         “Roots Seeking”: “This movement arose in the 1980s, one of many waves of response in China to the collective experience of swift modernization in the preceding decades” (1188).

·         An anxiety over China’s eroding cultural identity, technological and economic lag.

·         The writers: “sought to turn from grand models of the future and instead to look for Chinese selfhood in the intimate, local, and rooted places around them: in the rural past, in family lines, in small-h history” (1188).

·         Roots school favor: masculine aesthetic, celebration of raw potency, toughness, and bravado.

The Story:

·         Younger generation trying to connect with their ancestors.

·         A boy and his relation to his dead father through the “old gun”.

·         “The story is typical of the movement, too, in its masculine emphases, narrating a young male’s relationship with the spirit of a lost, primitive, masculine past” (1188).

·         The boy being emasculated is a metaphor for unmanning of Chinese people by Confucian and Maoist pasts. Desire to perform an act like firing a gun, symbolizes compensation for wrongs done to him in the past and desire for control and power.

·         A World lost.

·         Search for something lost.

Quotes:

·         “He felt starving, his whole body limp. He snapped a piece of grass from the ground, rubbed the mud from it, put it in his mouth and began to chew on it, but this only made his hunger worse…” (1191). This only happened once he put the third measure of gunpowder and the third handful of shot into the barrel.

·         “In the days of the republic none of the three countries controlled these parts-there were more bandits round here than hairs on a cow’s back; men, women, they’d all turn violent at the drop of a hat, they’d kill a man as calmly as slicing a melon” (1197).

Reading Notes W17: Devi, Part B

Mahasweta Devi, “Giribala” (1147-1165)

Mahasweta Devi:

·         Born 1926

·         Most important fiction and prose writer in the Bengali language

·         She is a premier social activist in Asia for aboriginal peoples

·         “Her unflinching novels, stories, plays, and essays about these and other disenfranchised people provided the literary foundations for what would later be called ‘subaltern studies’: the rigorous documentation of the lives of the powerless and the critical examination of how and why society marginalizes them” (1147).

·         Born into a high caste family in Dhaka

·         “The truth of literature lies chiefly in its commitment to people, actions, events, situations, and objects outside language, rather than to the literary language such topics are captured in” (1148).

·         Her beauty in writing serves a higher moral, social, or political purpose

The Story:

·         “The story offers a sharply etched picture of rural life in the north-central region of West Bengal around 1975, and a meticulous representation of the impact of its social organization, cultural practices, and economic problems on the life of an illiterate, vulnerable girl barely past puberty” (1148).

·         Arranged marriages in this region involve bride-price.

·         The girl’s father arranges her marriage without checking into (investigating) the groom.

·         Desperate world

·         Bonding between fictional character and reader

Some Quotes:

·         “She knew that although the groom had to pay a bride-price in their community, still a girl was only a girl. She had heard so many times the old saying ‘A daughter born, to husband or death, She’s already gone.’ She realized that her life in her home and village was over, and her life of suffering was going to begin” (1151).

·         “What kind of heartless parents would give attender young girl to a no-good ganja addict? How can he feed you? He has nothing.” (1152).

·         “Bangshi Dhamali happened to be in the village that day, and he too remarked on how Giri’s health and appearance had deteriorated since she went to live with that no-good husband of hers” (1155).

·         “The night wind soothed her raging despair, as it blew her matted hair, uncombed for how long she did not remember” (1158).

·         “What kind of woman would leave her husband of many years just like that? Now, they all felt certain that the really bad one was not Aulchand, but Giribala. And arriving at this conclusion seemed to produce some kind of relief for their troubled minds” (1164).

Reading Notes W17: Rushdie, Part A

Salman Rushdie, “The Perforated Sheet” (1129-1143)

Salman Rushdie:

·         Born 1947

·         Born into a wealthy Muslim business family in Bombay 1947

·         Spoke his mind freely in his works

·         His works are more of “Novels of Ideas”

·         Magic realism writer

·         “Rushdie’s goal is to bring the reader closer to reality, which has its rational or rationally explicable features (as described by science) but is also irrational, unpredictable, and bizarre” (1130).

·         Many of his characters are allegorical or personifications of ideas

·         “Rushdie builds his narratives around conflicting ideas and fantastic characters and events with wit and playfulness, and with precise attention to the sensuous details of everyday life” (1130).

·         Writer on: migration, immigrant communities, Diasporas, cultural mixing, and hybridity.

The story:

·         Protagonist and narrator: Saleem Sinai

·         Protean narrative

·         Sinai is born August 14 and 15 1947: “The moment at which India and Pakistan became separate nations; as a “child” of that historic hour, he finds that his destiny is entwined with India’s fate as a nation, so that his life unfolds as a precise parallel to the country’s collective history thereafter” (1130).

·         Histories of India/Hinduism and Pakistan/Islam.

·         Babies are switched: Sinai grows up thinking he’s Muslim when he is actually biologically Hindu. This story is the beginning of a story that is comical and tragic.

Some Quotes:

·         “Oh, spell it out, spell it out: at the precise instant of India’s arrival at independence, I tumbled forth into the world” (1131).

·         “It’s the place where the outside world meets the world inside you. If they don’t get on, you feel it here. Then you rub your nose with embarrassment to make the itch go away. A nose like that, little idiot, is a great gift. I say: trust it. When it warns you, look out or you’ll be finished. Follow your nose and you’ll go far” (1138). Uses his nose to teach a lesson.

·         “Doctor Aziz’s fall was complete. And Naseem burst out, ‘But Doctor, my God, what a nose…” (1143). He had fallen in love with her even though he has never seen her face. We see the nose pop up again: referring to quote from page 1138.

Project submission #3 revision Week 16

1)      Answer the Question with  a Clear, Debatable Thesis

·         I changed my thesis to hopefully fit my project submission better.

2)      Start strong; end strong

·         I wanted to make sure my conclusion matched my introduction a bit.

3)      Slow down and read out loud when you proofread

·         I went back and fixed minor mistakes in block quotes and sentences.

https://sites.google.com/view/kitkatstull/project-3

Week 16 Analysis: A Close Reading

Isabel Allende, “And of Clay Are We Created” (1223-1231)

            I really enjoyed the extra credit reading so I chose to write about this piece of work in my analysis. One such passage from this essay I really like is “She had a first communion name, Azucena. Lily. In that vast cemetery where the odor of death was already attracting vultures from far away, and where the weeping of orphans and wails of the injured filled the air, the little girl obstinately clinging to life became the symbol of the tragedy” (1225). I really like this passage because of its link to a volcanic eruption and how relatable this story is. This passage has a feeling of sadness and desperation that drags the audience in. The fact that she has a communion name connects the story to religion since when it comes to a "First Communion Name" it  often revolves around being a name of a saint. They are really emphasizing her being a symbol of tragedy by connecting her to that of a saint. Therefore, we readers can see the importance of this character in this story. The feelings of sadness and desperation help connect the audience to a set of feelings most would feel in a tragedy, like the Nevado Del Ruiz in Columbia 1985. We get the since of importance in ways of tragedy’s bringing unification, like the people’s attempts to rescue the little girl in the story. For example, her being a "symbol of the tragedy". However, tragedies bring hopelessness that is a feeling often known to many, like how they realize at the end that they cannot save the poor little girl who is trapped in a mud slide or in the words: "Clinging to life", "Odor of Death", "Weeping", and "wails". From these words, we get the sense of desperation, hopelessness, yet still a sense of unification from the girls attempts of "clinging to life" that make people want to take action and help. Not only do we get feelings of hopelessness, sadness, desperation, and unification from this passage, but the passage also connects us readers to the rest of the story by being an introduction to the rest of the telling of this tragedy. Lastly, I want to point out the connection of this story to the title “And of Clay Are We Created” because it links to the biblical passage that states we are made of earth. Therefore, this girl being taken by this mudslide is like she is being taken back to the earth where she was made, like all the other thousands of victims. Therefore, she is a symbol of the tragedy just like she is the symbol of the title (or biblical passage).

"And of Clay Are We Made". The Norton Anthology World Literature, Third Edition, Vol. D. Martin Puchner. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. Pages 1223-1231. Fairfield Medium with the display set in Aperto.

Reading Notes W16: Allende, Part X

Isabel Allende, “And of Clay Are We Created” (1223-1231)

Isabel Allende:

·         Born 1942

·         One of the known contemporary Latin American writers

·         Chilean novelist

·         Brought the tradition of magic realism to bear on women’s experience

·         “Allende has portrayed women’s spiritual lives in the context of the political world of her childhood and youth, adding a dimension to magic realism while bringing her a wide international audience” (1224).

·         Born in Peru

The Story:

·         Stage of her career where she chose more realism than magic

·         The title refers to a biblical passage that humans are said to be created of clay or earth.

·         This story reminds us of our shared humanity and our mortality.

·         Awareness of the poor and disenfranchised.

·         “Allende’s works provide a feminist perspective on the complex history of twentieth-century Latin America” (1225).

Some Quotes:

·         She had a first communion name, Azucena. Lily. In that vast cemetery where the odor of death was already attracting vultures from far away, and where the weeping of orphans and wails of the injured filled the air, the little girl obstinately clinging to life became the symbol of the tragedy” (1225). Azucena is a type of lilly (Madonna lilly or white lilly). A first communion name is a name that is often of a saint that is given at the first confirmation in the Catholic Church. The tragedy is possibly the eruption of Nevado Del Ruiz, in Columbia in 1985. The child is trapped in a mud slide caused by this eruption (mixed with roaring waters). It is a difficult situation.

·         “He added that it was impossible to remove all the corpses or count the thousands who had disappeared; the entire valley would be declared holy ground, and bishops would come to celebrate a solemn mass for the souls of the victims” (1231).

·         “He was Azucena; he was buried in the clayey mud; his terror was not the distant emotion of an almost forgotten childhood, it was a claw sunk in his throat” (1230). He felt helpless, stuck.

Reading Notes W16: Kenzaburo, Part B

Oe Kenzaburo, “The Clever Rain Tree” (1115-1128)

Oe Kenzaburo:

·         Born 1935

·         He ranks among the most important Japanese writers in the twentieth century (later decades).

·         He is the second Japanese writer to receive the Nobel Prize

·         Grotesque realism

·         His fiction “combines political and psychological themes to explore moral dilemmas in the Cold War, and now post-Cold War, eras” (1115).

·         Born in a rural area on Shikoku, Japan (one the smallest of four main islands).

·         Major themes in his works: threat of nuclear weapons to human survival, compromised innocence of the young, role of individual choice and responsibility in response to overwhelming issues.

The Story:

·         Tradition of autobiographical fiction in Japan

·         Setting: takes place at a seminar on East-West understanding, which is during the mid- 1970s.

·         Human psychology and political behavior

·         Depicts the mystery and sadness of the insane.

·         “The quest for human understanding that the seminar pursues, and the reader’s glimpses behind it of minds in isolation, might be said to represent opposing poles of the narrative” (1116).

·         “Oe would be familiar with such well-intentioned but perhaps naïve efforts to ease international tensions through dialogue, as well as with types likely to take part” (116). South Asians: attempt to communicate using different forms of English; Americans: try to dominate proceedings; South Korea/Iran: fear punishment for free exchange of ideas (both are pro-US dictatorship); Females: throw awkward receptions.

Quotes:

·         “Agatha, like all the American women associated with the conference, was a realist, pragmatist, and activist in every sphere, and she could not restrain herself from infusing even the simple, quiet process of withdrawing from the dark garden with a sense of purpose” (1121).

·         “But some kind of wisdom which makes it possible for seminars and parties like this to proceed peacefully must come into play just one step before a person attempts to scrutinize and pass judgement on such an issue” (1122).

·         “The Iranian warned us that if word that he and the Korean representative were involved in the scandal leaked out to the press, they might find themselves in trouble once they returned home” (1128).

Reading Notes W16: Morrison, Part A

Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” (1172-1187)

Toni Morrison:

·         Born 1931

·         Nobel laureate Toni Morrison

·         “Morrison combined depictions of African American experience with a strong sense of the past’s hold on the present” (1172).

·         She invokes magic or supernatural occurrences in order to convey sensitivity to the power of history.

·         She also addresses the role of racial and gender discrimination

·         She was born as Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Lorain, Ohio

·         “Throughout her works, characters find themselves caught in patterns of violence and prejudice that threaten to destroy them, but a few manage to transcend this history and achieve a measure of freedom and self-worth” (1173).

The Story:

·         Her only published short story

·         It examines a friendship between two girls of different races

·         “In the course of the short story, Morrison effectively presents Twyla’s childlike perspective on events at St. Bonny’s and the maturation of her point of view as she grows up, has children, and looks back on half-forgotten events” (1173).

·         The two girls have much in common but are divided by race.

·         If not specified, readers assume the characters are white. The author tries to challenge this.

·         “Envisions the possibility of transcending racial divisions and embracing a common humanity” (1173).

Some quotes:

·         “It was one thing to be taken out of your own bed early in the morning-it was something else to be stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race” (1174). It is just the beginning and we already see a racial divide.

·         “Things are not right. The wrong food is always with the wrong people. Maybe that’s why I got into waitress work later-to match up the right people with the right food” (1177). What is the right food/wrong food? What is considered the wrong people/right people?

·         “Joseph was on the list of kids to be transferred from the junior high school to another one at some far-out-of-the-way place and I thought it was a good thing until I heard it was a bad thing” (1183). Many students were transferred to schools far away from their neighborhood to desegregate racially segregated public schools. This was called busing.

Reading Notes W15: Saadawi, Part X

Nawal El Saadawi, “In Camera” (1104-1114)

Nawal El Saadawi:

·         Egyptian novelist

·         Born 1931

·         Born in Kafir Tahla, a small village on the banks of the Nile

·         Born to a middle class family with strong connections to the ruling elite

·         “Her acute awareness of the damaging impact of this burden and her sense of solidarity with women around the world have sustained her abundant output-novels, short stories, autobiography, essays, and addresses as well as scientific treatises and sociological studies” (1104-1105).

·         Devoted herself to research on women

·         Worked for a year with the United Nations as an advisor on women’s development in the Middle East and Africa.

·         She founded the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association (AWSA): nongovernmental organization dedicated to informed discussion of women’s issues.

·         Known for her political activism

The story:

·         Representative sample of her work

·         “The story criticizes the social system and state machinery in a fictional kingdom, which might be any dictatorial regime” (1105).

·         Political theme

·         Female protagonist is on trial for an act of defiance against the system

·         “Writing about the inner workings of female consciousness is an effort to break the silence that surrounds the culture of abuse and repression of which women are often victims” (1106).

·         Hopes for people to take political action against repressive society.

Quotes:

·         “Above the shoulders appeared the face she’d seen thousands of time in the papers, eyes staring into space filled with more stupidity than simplicity, the nose as straight as though evened out by a hammer, the mouth pursed to betray that artificial sincerity which all rulers and kings master when they sit before a camera. Although his mouth was pinched in arrogance and sincerity, his cheeks were slack, beneath them cynical and comical smile containing chronic corruption and childish petulance” (1107). “Master when they sit before a camera”: a façade, two-faced. The corruption in society.

·         “She saw the deformed face and remembered her father’s words: They only reach the seat of power, my girl, when they are morally deformed and internally corrupt” (1108).

·         “He had told her bitterly: Politics, my girl, is not for women and girls” (1113).

Comment Wall #3

https://sites.google.com/view/kitkatstull/project-3

Week 15 Analysis: A literary Analysis

Seamus Heaney, “Digging, Anahorish, Broagh…” (977-985)

            The poem “punishment” is about the contemplation of a body found in a bog. This body is of a woman who had been drowned for adultery in ancient Scandinavia. In this poem, I seem to come across the themes of death and punishment. We come across death threw the sheer explanation of this dead women and probably the many bodies she lied in that bog with. We then come across the theme punishment because she was explained to be brutally beaten, and the author even goes as far as to state what she would have looked like before the punishment. For example, “Little adulteress, before they punished you…you were flaxen-haired, undernourished, and your tar-black face was beautiful. My poor scapegoat…” (983). The narrator seems to be a man of contemplation who seems to be concerned of whether this punishment was right or wrong. For example, “who would connive in civilized outrage yet understand the exact and tribal, intimate revenge.” (983). Here, the narrator seems to come to understand both sides so this is a good example of the narrator’s contemplation with this situation and real life. This is where the historical context comes in with the obvious sacrifice, which has to do with sacrificial slaughter in the Iron Age society. He also compares the troubles of this time with that of the troubles of Northern Ireland with primitive violence. This could be the author referencing the incident where thirteen unarmed Catholic protesters were killed by British army forces. This event in 1972 is called Bloody Sunday. Therefore, he is stating that the slaughtering, primitive violence is not all that different from that of Northern Ireland’s violence. This poem blatantly connects the issues in Ireland with the British to issues of this past with these violent deaths in the Iron Age society.

"Punishment". The Norton Anthology World Literature, Third Edition, Vol. D. Martin Puchner. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. Pages 977-985. Fairfield Medium with the display set in Aperto.

Reading Notes W15: Kincaid, Part B

Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl” (1144-1146)

Jamaica Kincaid:

·         Born 1949

·         Born and raised among an extended family

·         His family was considered to be ordinary and poor

·         She  is well-known for books and magazine articles about the immigrant experience

·         Born Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson in Antigua

·         “part of the British Leeward Island chain, Antigua was a colony of Britain throughout the writer’s childhood and adolescence; it gained political independence in 1981 and now belongs to the British commonwealth” (1144).

·         “Kincaid learned from them how to protect herself against the evil eye, how to appease local spirits, how to use herbs to conjure and heal-a familiarity with the supernatural that she later incorporated into her fiction” (1144).

·         Her changed names refer to different meanings. Jamaica: referring to the West Indies. Kincaid: referring to a work by the playwright George Bernard Shaw.

“Girl”:

·         The first piece of fiction that Kincaid published.

·         The speaker: a mother giving directions to her daughter on the rules and rites of womanhood.

·         Setting: Antigua

·         Instructions refer to many things. Medicine and obeah, keeping a house, enduring a cruel husband, aborting unwanted pregnancies, maintaining a sense of sexual propriety.

·         Child may be reaching puberty.

Quotes:

·         “On Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming” (1145). This could be one way to tell she is reaching puberty through the words “bent on becoming”, like she hasn’t reached it yet.

·         “This is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming” (1146). This repetition of the words “Slut” and “bent on becoming” indicate the important to this mother of her daughter being a proper woman and not looking like a slut.

·         “This is how to love a man, and if this doesn’t work there are other ways, and if they don’t work don’t feel too bad about giving up” (1146). This is a lot of rules in womanhood for a girl to follow. This definitely reflects the traditional woman and maybe even the time period this is in.