Humanities Lit 121

Invisible Man and Racial Issues

2005-04-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

The racial issues in Invisible Man are present at almost all times, even if we dont see it. I think the first issue that really struck me as ironic was at the paint factory. They were trying to emphasize the "perfect" white, but it did not get that way without the black element in it. While the black is what made it perfect, the factory denies this fact. It is like that in society. Many blacks have helped make our society the way it is today, but many have not recieved credit for it, as the narrator felt. The other major racial issue is within the Brotherhood, where the IM is used for only his exterior, and not for what ideas he has. In fact, the Brotherhood is so bent on shaping him as they want that he forgets who he is, and so becomes invisible. By the end, thankfully, the narrator decides to throw off racial roles and become himself, and by doing so he will no longer be "invisible" because he will force others to see and hear him.
The IM is not the only one succumbing to racial stereotypes. While it is obvious that the whites of the Brotherhood have obvious intentions, even some of the blacks who are against stereotypes are in fact stereotyping themselves. Take, for instance, Ras the Exhorter. He preaches about how other blacks such as the IM are treacherous by going against their own people, and how they have a certain role they must play by being proud of being black. To me this shows stereotyping because he is saying that the blacks must act in a certain way just as the whites do. Sure the way the whites express it is different, but it seems to be the same ideology. By even putting themselves in the catergory of "black" or "white" was giving a stereotype, therefore all characters of the book, even IM's grandfather, were subjecting themselves to stereotype.

Ideology and The House of the Spirits

2005-04-02T12:32:00.001-08:00

Ideology is said to be a group of intertwining beliefs that makes pissible certain cultural knowledge, but because it is everywhere and nowhere, ideology tends to disappear Nealon & Giroux, 2003). This seems to be going on throughout the whole book. Almost all of the characters in this book are raised and adhere to certain cultural rights and wrongs., but after so long, they forget why. Upon their ideas disappearing, the characters start to deviate. For example, Clara knows she is “supposed” to love and dote on her husband, but there is no actual reasonable proof as to why she should, since the man is a mean tyrant. Blanca and Alba also both know that they should marry within their own classes, but the hard fact of love prevents them from doing so, and in this way dooming them.
Esteban Trueba denied “ideology” but perhaps engaged in it the worst. As the hard headed politician, he states he speaks the voice of reason by accusing others of politics and false ideas. In this way, he avoided really doing his job, and invested in ideology the most. He hated all Marxist because they were radicals, went against the way it always was, and worst of all, they had new IDEAS. Although he had never met many of these people, he despised them because he was “supposed” to—the rights had always hated the lefts. Trueba was also the worst ideologist because he was so set in his ways. He hated Pedro Tercero because of his leftist views and his love for his daughter. Trueba even stated later that he couldn’t think of why he hated him, he just did.
This book enforces my look on ideologies. There are so many subjects out there that are so absurd it is almost impossible to believe that we accept them so readily. We have just always known them to be here, and since it seems to work, we accept it. Questioning ideology is like questioning existence. If we see it there, and there seems to be irrefutable proof it exists, even though we don’t have a clear question as to why, then why worry about it?

Questions for the poet

2005-03-02T15:18:00.000-08:00

Since our latest issues are dealing with culture, I would have to ask the guess poet what kind of cultural influences helped to shape her work. Most poets have a certain style that reflects their values and beliefs of their cultures, so this is what I would like to ask her.

Antigone

2005-03-02T14:49:00.000-08:00

Upon reading Antigone, we are forced to look at cultural differences between the original and this remade version. This version seems to focus more upon the conflict of war and how it changes people, especially those in power. Kreon is the man in question here, and it is quite evident that he is a tyrant. It seems that he got this way, as most do in his position by accumulating power and wealth. I don't know if it is cultural or more worldwide that it is thought that power makes the man. It seems that throughout history, the more power we are sitting on, the bigger the tyrant. Take Hitler for example. He is the most recent, but it has gone on for many years, even today (if you take the whole United States as an example of tyrany in a way). How much destruction and chaos do we have to see before we learn to use power and wealth for the good of people. Even we, as Americans, hold the authority to help others, which is what our officials say that we are doing. I see it more as meddling in other people's affairs, and its starting to piss a lot of people off!
When relating to the choices Antigone made, those were definitely cultural issues of her time. People at that time strongly believed that good deeds we do in life would send us to the underworld to live in harmony for eternity. While it is true that Antigone wanted her brother to go to the underworld even though he abandoned his army, it was clear that by burying him that she would ensure her entrance as well. She thought that by burying him, she would make "freinds" with those of importance in the underworld. If she were to bury her brother only out of compassion for him I would see her as heroic but also as foolish. By showing her concern for herself, however, I can relate to the actions that she took.

Ballad of Gregorio Cortez

2005-02-22T14:10:00.000-08:00

The story of Cortez did not really affect me in subjectivity until reading the variations of the story. It is amazing how such a insignificant, everyday peasant farmer was turned into the hero of their times for being more like what we would call the anti hero these days. If it were turned around in our culture today, since we are the white people that Cortez fought against, we might see him as the money grubbing border jumper that so many people veiw Mexicans as today. It is just all based on what side of the fence you are on. However, when we as the Americans read this, we can not help but have a sense of liking for Cortez. This seems to be because he almost seems to have a little bit of ourselves in him, no matter who you are.
I do find it amusing that Cortez has been imortalized in so many different ways, depending on who is telling the story. It's interesting to find that in the original story he is found to be neither short, tall, fat or skinny. It seemed that he was actually ALL of them at one time or another. It is also interesting that throughout the story Cortez goes from a normal person to somewhat of a legend. I find it hard to believe myself that he took on 3oo men repeatedly and left unharmed each time, and scoffed in their faces.
Why is Cortez made out to be a hero anyway? Is it because in that culture it is considered a gift to be able to shoot well, was it because he avenged his brothers death, or was it maybe because he killed so many of the white men? I think the answer to this also lies in cultural differences.

Blood Wedding

2005-02-09T16:57:00.000-08:00

The play "Blood Wedding" was my favorite yet. I thought it flowed smoothly and there was never a dull moment. Also, I am a romantic at heart and love those stories of fate and love gone wrong. The best thing about this play was just the power the author exuded, especially with foreshadowing. I am that type of reader that loves to pick up those little cues left by the author as to what was going to happen next. With Lorca, he let us know just enough right from the beginning that all was not going to end well. I love just the title of the play itself. Blood Wedding seems so exciting and intriguing, kind of like an old Harlequin romance or Danielle Steele book. In a way, it kind of is, just with cultural differences and a different time setting. As for the foreshadowing, we see it all through the book. First, we learn of the Groom's family history with Leo. Next is all the talk of the knife, and how the Bride was "tainted." It was just so exciting to learn what would happen next.
While we have discussed the term "love" in class and how it doesn't pertain to this story, I think it does, in a big way. We see it so often these days, and no matter what culture or time period, love is a powerful expression and it has gotten many people in trouble since the dawn of time. Lorca actually made me feel bad for all the characters, which I rarely do. I usually always side with one or the other. The mother lost her son, the groom lost his bride, the bride lost her lover, Leonardo's wife lost her husband and father to her child. It is just overall powerfully written and it is so hard to do to make each character seem so human with all their flaws.
It's easy to overanalyze what we read, and to interpret it in our own individual ways. Sometimes, thought, the answer is simpler, and not to be pondered so much. This just seems like an old fashioned whirlwind love story. To me, the point was that not one of the characters had any power at all over what was going to happen that day, fate and death seemed to have broken a deal. They just seemed to have thrown some poweful emotions; love, hate, revenge, and sorrow into the mix to get what they wanted.

"The Awakening"

2005-02-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

To me, "The Awakening" could not have been a better title. From the very beginning it was evident that Edna was going to struggle with her inner self with what she wanted out of life. It is so strange to see such a well off woman for her time to be so unhappy. I commend her on her ability to be herself and not worry about other's opinions of her as so many did in that era, and still in fact do now. However, I also pity Edna, because she could have been a lot happier than she ended up being. She was so strong throughout the story and it shocked me that she just gave up at the end because she did not find what she was looking for. I believe she was so close to finding herself, having experienced some of what life had to offer. Had she only kept her head above water (no pun intended) for a little longer, I believe she would have found herself.
While some say this is not a story about love, I think it has a little bit to do with it. I'm sure that most people out there have been with someone, and regardless of whether they are happy or not, have had thoughts of infidelity. It is our choice to act upon those thoughts, and they can sometimes drive us mad. Edna seemed that Robert's absence distracted her in a lot of ways, and I believe her feelings for him drove her to do some of the things she did, for trying to fill the void. One of these was her brief affair with Alcee. He did not mean anything to her, but was a companion who made her feel young and beautiful again.
Of course, Edna's longing for Robert did not attribute to nearly all of her unease. It was apparent she yearned for life that she could never, and would never, have. In this respect, I believe she was a selfish person. Once she stepped outside of conformity she just wanted more and more, until nothing could fill her void, and in this respect, I suppose I can relate to why she killed herself. I just don't think she is the "hero" that some people in the class thought she was. I see her for what she was, even through the narrator trying to romanticize her. I see her as a common woman who hit a rut with her everyday life and needed more to satisfy her. This happens to a lot of young, married mothers. I just see her as weak and selfish for doing what she did instead of having the strength to go for what she wanted.

"the Yellow Wallpaper"

2005-01-25T08:37:00.000-08:00

Upon reading Gillman's "The Yellow Wallpaper, I felt a number of different things. At first, I felt confused. What was this story about? ALl this woman seemed to be doing was describing her husband and her mysterious "condition" in a very short, choppy, and nervous way, with all the exclamations and short sentences. Then, halfway through the story I started to become really amused by this woman's story. It seemed to me like she was the typical upper class, refined, confined woman of the early 1900's except for one thing: she was apparently crazy. I don't know why I found this story so amusing because I probably shouldn't have, but it just seemed very surreal to me, as if she were playing a game with us that no one else could figure out but her.
Of course, that is the intention of the author many times in fictional writing. It was hard to distinguish exactly what purpose she had in composing "The Yellow Wallpaper" except for to confuse, and in my case, entertain the reader. Did the purpose have to do with her husband, who kept her confined to bed without hobbies due to her condition? Did it have to do with her as a writer? Did it really have anything at all to do with the wallpaper? It is very hard to answer those questions unless we ask Gillman herself.
This is why Gillman has so much "authority" as a writer. She has the ability to keep us wondering what the hell it was all about. She can leave us thinking completely different things, and some of us, thinking way too hard about it. This is what some of us seemed to do in the class discussion. We were coming up with crazy reasons why she wrote the way she did. Upon discussing why she wrote the story, it seemed much simpler. I believe that had we not known exactly why Gillman wrote it, she could have kept much more of her authority, because once we cracked the mystery she didn't seem as intriguing at all.

The Narrative

2005-01-22T11:46:00.000-08:00

"The Narrative", by Fredrick Douglass is one of those rare non-fiction texts that is so vivid in detail and forceful in nature that it seems that it could only be fiction. Most books out there that are non-fiction are to me, rather dry, stick-to-the-fact types. Douglass, however, has a way of working his readers into almost feeling every emotion he felt. It was as if he was the hero in our favorite novel and at any moment we were expecting him to save the world from the atrocities he spoke of about slavery. The way Douglass describes each and every important situation in his life seems to impact the reader. While sometimes the reader wonders why every minute detail of the encouters is recorded, its clear to see that Douglass wants us to be there with him every step of the way, to see it exactly how it was. Even though the story is coming from him and him alone, it seems to be fairly unbiased. Its as though it has every making of a fictional life journey but it still keeps the honesty and truth of non-fiction. Parts of Douglass's story never ceased to amaze me, and one line in particular grabbed me. It was after he told of how his mistress was berated by her husband for teaching Fredrick to read. The master expressed his anger saying that "if you give a nigger an inch, he'll take the ell." Later, after Fredrick tells of his long and excrutiating journey learning to read and write, he says, "Mistress gave me the inch--and nothing could prevent me from taking the ell." He took something that was supposed to be so bad and stereotypical about slaves and turned it into an incredible story of perseverence. Not only that, but it seems that Douglass adds a little bit of humor without even meaning it.