Evaluation

Which section of the course did you find most valuable?

I thought that the first inquiry was the most beneficial to myself as a writer and most enjoyable. I had never done a close-reading before until this semester and I am thankful it was assigned. This inquiry taught me how to deeper analyze the text and come to an understanding of why the author says what and what the author wants you to think about while reading and after. I really enjoyed the short story that I picked and had pride in truly understanding all of the small details and insight the text had to offer and being able to grasp it.

Which section of the course did you find least valuable?

I thought that weekly presentations by two students every Wednesday was least valuable to myself. They never really had anything to do with the book or a theme we were discussing in class. On Mondays, when we would answer a wiki question, they kept everyone in tune with the story line. However, the presentations over Making Literature Matter did not boost my writing skills or help me become a better writer/analyzer, therefore it was useless to me. Although the presentations were interesting, I wish we could have been doing something that could have academically helped me.

Reader-Response Inquiry 3

The last inquiry we were given was more of an overall reflection regarding the book we’ve been reading all semester, The Human Stain, written by Philip Roth and used scenes in the novel to give an analysis of the connection between the reader and literary text. Using theories and critiques from Bressler’s chapter, I was able to explain my own personal experiences in life to support my argument that people read and interpret based on their own past and experiences.

You + Life = Meaning

The novel The Human Stain, written by Philip Roth, can be compared with Bressler’s chapter on many different reader-response theories. This novel is about an older man, Coleman Silk’s complicated life in which he was forced to leave his job at Athena College as a professor due to a complicated racial slur, and had an affair with a female janitor, Faunia Farley, who was a third of his age. After reading about the complex life that almost every character endured during their lifetime, many different opinions and thoughts can be formulated about the storyline by any reader. In class, a portion in Bressler’s chapter was discussed that said “Reader + Text = Poem” referencing that a reader can find meaning from the text depending on if the reader is interested in what the text is about. This also explains that the meaning of the text will differ depending on the reader’s past and views. Similarly, Bressler’s chapter also discusses thorough explanations of how readers can understand and connect to literature, in which it is clear that the reader’s own experiences direct how they read or interpret text.

The reaction, understand and what the reader takes away from the literature is the sole purpose for an author to write at all. Therefore, the thoughts that the reader has after reading is highly important. Although the author would hope that the reader would take away the same idea that they had while writing, that is not always the case, which makes for a better story. If a group of people all read the same book, chances are not every reader will have the same interpretation of what they just read. This is because of every reader’s “identity theme” (Bressler, 67). Norman Holland, a psychological critic, suggested that through your own life experiences, you create your own identity, your own identity theme, which is how you interpret and see the world around you. Thus, based on one’s own fears, desires, and needs, the reader will view a piece of literature different from anyone else. The relationship between the reader and the text is also greatly important because it depends on if the reader feels a connection the words and if they can or cannot relate to a person or situation. However, even if they cannot relate to anything, this could hopefully intrigue the reader to learn about something new. Not all books are for everyone, but everyone can take something away from anything.

Holland’s theory and critique that finding our own identities and relating to other’s identities occurs while reading, applies to The Human Stain very well. Firstly, the scene where Faunia is reminiscing on her sad past of working as a waitress for two years in Florida when she was sixteen and seventeen years old after leaving her broken family three years prior. She claimed that she was hit on by retired businessmen over and over again, and asked if she’d want to live a materialistic and luxurious life in return for prostituting herself to the men. Although this does not physically relate to my own life, being only a couple years older than she was, I connect to Faunia age-wise, however I could never imagine being in that situation. Like all of my peers, I am a student and was her age a few years ago, so I can relate to being a younger girl and at times, being hit on by older men. This does support my argument though because even though I couldn’t not relate, I was amazed and interested to see how some people in the world do live their life. Some teenagers do work to make ends meat, and are living on their own. With that, many people who have experienced a life like hers, where she was offered easy money, can relate to the tough hardships Faunia had to tolerate. Another aspect of Faunia’s situation when living in Florida was that she turned down a job of making more money for moral reasons. Every reader, every person can relate to wanting to take the easier way out of a bad or hard situation. Whether it is getting someone else to do your homework or asking your parents for money instead of getting a job yourself, any reader could relate and feel a strong connection to a good persons hard work ethic, which gives Faunia more respect and compassion as a character. People read to feel a connection and feel less alone, therefore, Holland is accurate when claiming that people’s needs, in this case for money, shape the way someone reads and finds meaning in literature.

Another example of how people understand books or any text based on their own past and views is of Prince, a crow raised by people, “hand-raised” (Roth, 242). Prince is a crow that cannot live among other crows because “that’s what comes of hanging around all his life with people like us” (Roth, 242), claims Faunia, who enjoys visiting Price at the Audubon Society. For me personally, I can relate to this situation regarding Prince because my entire life, I never hung out with kids that were exactly like me. Having older siblings, I always hung out with their friends over my own grade. With that, I grew up faster and matured faster, thus I preferred maturity. Consequently, my own experiences with social group helped me connect, relate and understand the situation better.

All in all, I believe that Bressler’s argument was strong, thorough, and truthful when it comes to how a reader interprets literature. Everyone’s past, beliefs and personal experiences follow them whenever and wherever they go, growing as the person does. Evidently, if someone was to read a book when they are ten and then read it again when they are sixty, their perception of the book will most likely be different due to the fifty years of experience they have engaged in. For that reason, through my own personal experience in life and by reading this novel, The Human Stain is a vivid and precise example of Bressler’s chapter on reader-response criticism. Everyone has their own opinions, biases and feelings, through Bressler’s chapter and Holland’s theories; we can now explain how all of those shape our world and how it work

Wiki Response

Question #19: These poems by Robert Frost involve journeys. Write an essay (200-350w) that compares the three journeys in terms of purpose, mood, and meaning.
Answer: The first poem, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (1922) illustrates someone who must not stop traveling regardless of being tired, needing anything or the bad weather conditions. The person’s journey is strong, persistent and eager; eager to complete their journey because others are relying on him. The second poem The Road Not Taken (1915) is very different from the first. It does not have the sense of relentless passion to travel through woods to get to his destination. The second poem shows optimism and curiosity. It is clear that there is no set destination or direction and they are more whimsical about their voyage. The purpose and meaning of this poem is that having no limits, no set itinerary and being less directed in life can turn out for the better. It means that having fewer plans and playing life by ear can “make all the difference” in life. However, this poem also represents optimism for the future. By wandering through life, making each decision as they come sets your life up for problems, but the lesson that the author is trying to teach is that taking chances and making risks can be worth it. The last poem is the most different. The poem Acquainted with the Night (1928) is more of a dark poem in that it doesn’t show passion for a destination nor does it show passion for having no intention of a destination. This poem illustrates more of a personal independence, not relying on anyone else and accepting being alone. He hears other people, cries and footsteps, but they don’t affect him. He is a loner in the night.

Question #22: Write a paragraph in which you explain: what role you would play if you were able to insert yourself as character in The Human Stain.
Answer: If I were able to insert myself as a character in The Human Stain, I would want to be the closest person in Faunia’s life, next to Coleman. Being Faunia’s sister or best girl friend, or anyone that she would be open with, I think, would be very interesting. If I could be put in this spot then I could hear everything about Coleman but from a completely different perspective. Since this book is firstly written by a man, it would be told differently if explained by a woman. More importantly, hearing Faunia’s thoughts and feelings about Coleman more thoroughly besides just through Coleman’s words, but also hearing about all of their times together from a woman who truly was in love with him but at the same time held him in the palm of her fist, would be more interesting to experience. I think she (this made up character) is the only person who could discover a different side to Coleman without having to know him personally. Since Coleman seemed like a handful, casually calling boys “spooks” and doing whatever pleased him, this would be an interesting way to get a first hand look at the real Coleman. Plus, since not everyone got to see the true Coleman besides Faunia, it would be a good way to get the whole story.

A Mother’s Legacy Inquiry 2

The second inquiry asked us to do some historical and cultural research behind a short story in the Making Literature Matter book. After choosing the story I Stand Here Ironing written by Tillie Olsen, I analyzed the cultural theme of women at that time period and the hardships they went through.

A Mother’s Legacy

The story I Stand Here Ironing written by the feminist author, Tillie Olsen, was published in 1961 and depicts the life and tribulations of a young mother during the 1930s. The main character narrates the story as a woman who had her first child, Emily, at age nineteen and reminisces on her life with her children. All in all it is a sad tale because the pages are filled with more of regrets, rather than good memories. Setting in the 1930s, women at that time had a hard time regarding respect and equality. This is evident in Olsen’s story and obvious to the reader that the time setting adjusts and justifies the viewpoint. Olsen also portrays her own feminist views through her words throughout this piece, which adds a thicker sense of historical support for the women during this time period. The main theme is the hardships of working class women, laying a large role in the narrator’s life and coincides with why her life played out the way it did. I Stand Here Ironing incorporates different aspects of women’s roles at the time period that relate to the theme including jobs, contraception, responsibility and regret. Olsen’s imagery of the young woman’s life is just a smaller picture of the rest of “[her] tales [that] show the shortchanged lives of gifted women from the working poor: unable to at once make a living, make art, and meet the needs of their families” (Comninos, 2010).

“Emily’s father, who could no longer endure” (Olsen 282) being with Emily’s mother, chose to leave them before Emily lived her first year of life. Realizing that life is hard and difficult, Emily’s mother was forced to get a job so that she could support the two of them. However, taking place when it did, “it was the pre-relief, pre-WPA world of the depression.” (Olsen, 282) This meant that with the lack of money she already had, finding a job was necessary but almost impossible. At that time, even though women’s rights were attempting to grow stronger, jobs were still not as available to them as they were to men. With money so tight and being busy with the jobs she could obtain, she had no time to take care of Emily. This was a typical hardship for women because normally the men would be out working and being the breadwinner while the women stayed at home with the children. Although, with Emily’s father out of the picture, this was a difficult bump in the road that Emily’s mother had to make due with. Sending Emily to relatives so that she could work was a painful decision that she regretted later on in life. This proves that due to the Great Depression and the horrible economic status she was living through, her life was made more difficult than it could have been.

It is evident in this short story that regret plays a large role; however, having Emily never seemed to be the problem. Although, the problem that did affect many other women during this time was, in fact, having children. Going back to March 3, 1873, the Comstock Law was approved that stated in section 148 that “no obscene, lewd, or lascivious book, pamphlet, picture, paper, print, or other publication of an indecent character, or any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion…” (United States Statues, Sect. 148) Therefore, for women who didn’t want to have children at that point in time was barely an option. With contraception basically not an option, it was popular for women to use Lysol Disinfectant between the 1930s-1960s. Thus, being nineteen years old and having to have a child was the only option for Emily’s mother.

Another aspect of women’s hardship in the 1930s was childrearing. Back in the day, mostly men were the ones who were out working, so the women stayed home to parents the children. Although, in Emily’s mothers situation, the father was out of the picture so she was the one who had to go out to work. This was tough for her mother because at the beginning, she brought Emily downstairs to stay with a neighbor while she worked. However, realizing it was a bad environment for Emily, Emily was sent away to live with relatives. The downfall of this was that when Emily returned home a while later, she was no longer the happy child she used to be. Even later in life, Emily’s mother remarried but still had no extra help with parenting Emily because now there was another baby to be cared for. In turn, if Emily’s father stayed in the picture or if she could have afforded to pay for daycare, Emily and her mother’s relationship would have remained strong. Instead, growing up, Emily was forced to grow up and be an adult early on because “there were four smaller ones now… she had to help be a mother, and a housekeeper, and a shopper.” (Olsen, 287)

Lastly, the most prevalent part to Emily’s mother’s difficult role as a mother was regret. Between not being able to support her daughter in the early years and having to work rather than to stay home with Emily was very hard for her. Later on, Emily was later sent to a convalescent home, another thing that Emily’s mother regretted. The feeling of despair and weakness when it came to hold up her responsibilities as a mother was a dark cloud always following her. In addition to that, she admitted to being bad with juggling Susan (Emily’s younger sister) and Emily’s needs, claiming that “[she was] a distracted mother” (Olsen, 287). This was the main upset in her mother’s life, which added to the stress of being a mother during the 1930s.

It is clear through Olsen’s words that she had a strong feminist perspective about the women’s role in the 1930’s. Evidently, women had harder lifestyles back then and it was more difficult for them to have easy roles as mothers. The story, I Stand Here Ironing validates their hardships through means of employment during the Great Depression, 1930’s contraception, parenting and personal regret. Between the strong words in the short story that makes the reader feel compelled to feel sorrow for Emily’ mother, and the deeper understanding that the reader receives after reading and comprehending the importance of the setting, many would agree that Olsen’s “depictions of modern American working-class life are some of the most powerful in American literary history.” (Dawahare, 1998)

Wiki Response

Question: Pages 161-170 show an obvious symbolic shift in narrative voice. It seems that in talking about the “kid who cannot read” and the “crow,” the speaker aims to communicate more than a surface meaning. Why do you think he refers to “kid” and “crow”? What are some symbolic meanings that you can suggest for each? Write a paragraph and support your ideas by quoting the text.

Answer: I think the words “kid” and “crow” are referred to because they both revolve around Faunia. I think that when Lisa is talking to her dad about her, clearly Faunia is not a child, however she relates her to one since she is not as intelligent as her age. Stating that she is at a reading level of a first grader, that makes her a kid, her immature and irresponsible actions can make her out to be a child. The reality of her reading ability though, is that Faunia can in fact read better than she is letting on. She is faking that she cannot read, which is abnormal. “Crow” is referred to in the story because the book says that Faunia would choose a crow to relate to herself, which is odd since crows are not pretty or happy birds compared to others. This proves that Faunia is a little different than other but at the same time, would want to understandably be free like a crow.

 

The Human Stain Criticism Table

Burnt Reality Inquiry 1

This first inquiry was to teach us as writers to find a theme that is continually used throughout a narrative. After creating a solid theme, we were to justify it with examples from the short story that prove how the theme has been portrayed. For my inquiry, the themes that I found were family, heritage and race.

Burnt Reality

            In the short story, Everyday Use (1973), the author, Alicia Walker, tells a tale about an African American family of a mother and her two daughters in the mid-twentieth century. Like all families, they have their own struggles that tear them apart, yet bring them together. Anchoring around the main scene where Dee, one of the daughters, comes back home after being away at college with a man, the story alters between that point (being present time) and drifts back to the past. In previous years, their home tragically burnt down, leaving Mama’s other daughter, Maggie, with brutal scars on her arms and hands and their family to live outside for a period of time. This unfortunate catastrophe yielded an emotional hardship for each of them: Maggie’s grudge for her sister’s easy life, Dee’s desire for a better life, and Mama’s realization that it’s reality. By examining the significance of the terms, “dream”, “extended living room”, “quilts”, “everyday use”, and “burn scars”, this essay argues that the deep family tensions between Mama, Dee, and Maggie are caused by heritage and race.

The word “dream” used only once or twice but plays a large role in Mama’s life and implies one of the overall themes of the short story. This word signifies the aspiration Mama has for a different life. Going hand in hand with her idealistic image of life and how things could be, Mama “dreams a dream” (Walker, p. 298) in which she wishes to see herself on television, happily and coming out of a limousine. To Mama, this is a fantasy because she somewhat unintentionally dreams of being on TV, like white people, along with her happy, burden-free family, wealthy enough to be getting out of a limousine. Just like Mama, Dee has higher hopes for Mama. Hoping Mama would be thinner, not as “large” as she is, to have lighter skin and glistening hair. Coming back to reality, Mama accepts that she is “a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands” but she keeps dreaming about having an ideal life. It seems as if most of these physical features are supposed to make life better or easier for Mama, thus, for her dreaming and thinking about all of these idealistic thoughts, allows her to escape from her unremarkable and unhappy reality.

“It is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room.” (297) After their house burnt down, living outside for a little while was their way of trying to hold on to their homely foundation. This upsetting event signifies how badly their family was torn apart. Through the burn scars across Maggie’s limbs, everyone was hurt. Mama feeling as if she can’t provide for her family and Dee leaving to go away to school, Mama calling their lack of a home an “extended living room” proves that they were struggling to keep it together. Moreover, since everyone was there to experience the flames that burnt their safe shelter down, their life after the event showed drastic changesthem. For example, when Dee comes back for a visit she explains that she no longer is called Dee, and wants to be called “Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo.” (p. 300) This confirms that change was the only way to cope since “[Dee’s] dead.” (p. 300) As a turning point for their family, this symbolizes the lowest part of their life.

Upon Wangero’s (Dee) arrival, her new fixation on her Grandmother’s “quilts” (p. 302) shocked everyone. Made up of Grandma Dee’s old clothing before she died, these handmade quilts suddenly impressed Wangero. Stitched by Grandma Dee herself, Dee wanted that piece of her family that represented her heritage. This was a very important part in the short story due to the fact that Dee wants to change a lot from her past, such as her name and being more pleasant to her family. This shows that she too wants to hold on to family and her family values. Compared to the older quilts that belonged to Mama, for the first time, Dee wanted something that could belong to her, only her. This yet again proves that after dealing with a horrible situation like your house burning down, with time, she chose to hold onto her roots.

The title “Everyday Use” was not only in the short story but also used as the title. This expression is communicating the comparison between everyday uses that are just an object versus what makes something symbolic. In this instance, the main object that relates to this contrast is the quilt. To Dee, it is a symbol for heritage. Thus, when arguing over the quilts, Maggie is expected to actually use the old quilts like any other normal quilt, use it for warmth. However, Dee claimed she would only hang it on the wall and admire it because it was heritage, not something to be made into a rag. Therefore, Maggie sees it only as an object and the extra bonus is that their Grandmother made it. Digging even deeper, this goes into Maggie and Dee’s underlying rivalry, regarding education. Unlike Maggie, Dee went away to school to get a better education. Coming back from school with a deeper understanding of her heritage and how important it is, she sees the bigger picture of the world and what in her world is significant. Additionally, Mama states that since Dee has lighter skin; opportunities were made more available for her. Education alone was something more available to Dee, therefore, in her eyes, she was always one step ahead of Maggie. Uneducated Maggie is considered as simple in Dee’s eyes and as one who doesn’t understand the value of everything. Dee’s mindset on objects also applies to her Grandma Dee’s churn top. Subsequent to Dee asking for it, she added that she would only use it as a “centerpiece for the alcove table.” (p. 302) This shows that Dee is turning everyday objects into art on the wall or centerpieces on the table. Coming back from school, Dee seems privileged to use objects not practically: quilts not for warmth, churn top not for butter. All in all, this term is significant because it distinguishes Dee’s longing for heritage but also her uncontrolled superior feelings towards Maggie.

Covering Maggie’s arms and hands are the “burn scars” (p. 297) that are a nonstop reminder of a past vivid memory. It’s obvious that these scars confirm how ashamed Maggie is of herself and it reflects her lower self-esteem compared to Dee. This leads to another reason for her envy of her older sister; for Dee, she “held life always in the palm of one hand… [and] ‘no’ is a word the world never learned to say to her.” (p. 297). In comparison, nothing comes as easy, Maggie is “used to never winning anything” (p. 303) With her battle against the flames, she lost. Regarding the whole family, Maggie’s burn scars are a physical manifestation that holds her and her family in the past, a reminding label of life with a burden.

Walker’s short story reiterates over and over again how important family is to each of Mama, Maggie and Dee, but also how their heritage and race ties their bond together. The flames transform the life of each forever; their family is forced to hold on to each other for hope. While Maggie and Mama try to preserve the past, Dee embraces the change to cope with the loss and move on. Understanding the key words of the story, “dream”, “extended living room”, “quilts”, “everyday use”, and “burn scars”, the reader gets a better appreciation for the characters and their difficulties through life.

Two In-Class Writing Assignments

Blackboard: Visual (Characterization)
Question: How can you see one or some of the authors’ ideas about character development appear(s) in the text which you analyzed in your first inquiry paper? Answer:   In the second video, he discusses characterization and character development, and how it can come from a character longing for something or even trying to belong to something. This is evident in my own first inquiry paper because the main character in my story, Mama, longs for her family to get back to the way things used to be. After a terrible tragedy occurred, both of her daughters were burdened and have a hard time recovering from what they had experienced. She tries to get the girls to act the way they used to, so that they would all belong to and be apart of the same type of family they used to before the accident, and act less detached from each other like they are now. The other authors in the videos didn’t really apply as well as the second author.

Wiki Response
Question: On page 41 while Coleman, talking to Nathan, accuses himself of being an “idiot” for taking Faunia to dinner at Vermont while her husband was probably chasing them, Nathan gives his longest lecture to convince Coleman that he is not an “idiot.” Bring parts of his monologue which is significant for you in revealing his personality and why do you think he feels the necessity of convincing Coleman that he is not an “idiot”?
Answer: Nathan tries to convince Coleman that he is not an “idiot” for taking Faunia to dinner, which in turn showed what kind of person Nathan really is. I think that by claiming that it was “Coleman’s last fling”, Nathan feels that Coleman had a long life and he deserves to be able to do whatever he pleases. His lecture also shows that he is a realist and isn’t cookie cutting Coleman’s experience and feelings when he says, “At seventy-one, there is Faunia, in 1998, there is Viagra, there once again is the all-but-forgotten thing. The enormous comfort. The crude power. The disorienting intensity.” By Nathan saying all of this to Coleman, he is showing to him that he doesn’t care about what happened and he doesn’t critique him or think he was in the wrong or should feel bad for wanting to take Faunia to Vermont. Throughout his lecture, he also shows how he is accepting of Coleman and does not judge him for his actions.

He feels the necessity to convince Coleman he isn’t an “idiot” because Nathan feels that his actions are not important. At this point in Coleman’s life, after the many years he gave to the world the gift of knowledge, Coleman no longer owes anyone anything. He does this to convince Coleman that he shouldn’t care or listen to how other people think or judge his life because he is “a free and independent old man” enough now where the small or silly things in life don’t matter.