At the start of the month we finished Ceremony and commenced analysis! Our discussion was pretty fruitful, but I liked 1st hour's theme statement best, because it focused on balance and accepting new ideas. The part that seemed tricky for me was avoiding a contradicting thesis, with the importance of adapting with new influences, but also maintaining your original culture foundation. It's hard to achieve both, since they're opposite beliefs. Yet they both seemed to fit Ceremony's message.
After Ceremony we did the weebly assignment. This was a lot like a research paper, but was tough to find information on! I was grateful for the in-class time we got. I liked working with other people, but sometimes I simply didn't like the direction they were taking. It's great to be able to divvy up work and review each others' writing, but there are certainly some frustrations when working with other people. Nonetheless, we came up with a very professional-seeming product, I think!
With that assignment behind us, we are now making our way through the final parts of Fifth Business. Admittedly, I'm a little behind because of being out of town for a week, but it's under control. So far, the novel is interesting and pleasant to read! The narrator's voice is entertaining, kind of sarcastic, which I like! So far, though, I don't see why Ms. Holmes selected it for the class. Not that it isn't a great story, and I'm sure that in discussion we'll explore the literary amazement that was snuck in there, but as of now, I don't find myself as impressed as I was with Ceremony. I bet that once I finish it and think on it more it will come to me.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Open Prompt Practice
2009, Form B. Many works of literature deal with political or social issues. Choose a novel or
play that focuses on a political or social issue. Then write an essay in which you analyze how
the author uses literary elements to explore this issue and explain how the issue contributes to
the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.
In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck travels along the Mississippi River with an escaped slave, and along the way he begins to question the way blacks are treated in his society. Twain's piece speaks against the social injustice of slavery in the southern United States through his characterization of Jim, the slave, and also by satirical humor aimed at southern people. These literary elements show how years of exposure to one way of life can cloud one's ability to recognize injustices when they are widely accepted as the social norm.
The character Jim is shown to be very considerate and mature. This is evident when he and Huck discover something floating down the river, and realize it's a dead body. Jim refuses to let Huck see the face and leads him away, despite Huck's curiosity. Jim does this to protect Huck, demonstrating mature morals and consideration. Jim is presented to be a very upstanding man later as well, when he is later caught and locked in a cabin. Huck and his friend Tom help Jim escape, but Tom gets shot in the get-away. Knowing it will blow his chance of escape, Jim stops running to care for Tom and his injury. This selfless act demonstrates how kind hearted Jim is, which highlights the cruelty of how he is treated because of his skin color.
Twain also utilizes humor in a satirical way to emphasize the ignorance of a racist system. As Huck and Jim make their way deeper South, the people become sillier and sillier. They encounter a family called the Grangerfords, who are at war with another family, the Shepherdsons. When Huck asks why the two families hate each other, the Grangerford daughter confesses that no one really remembers how it started anymore. This illustrates Twain's idea that antebellum Southern society held on to grudges that don't have bearing any longer. The people don't know when it's time to let old ways go and allow for a more peaceful existence. Also, Jim and Huck wind up traveling with two scammers, known as the Duke and the Dauphin. They pull all kinds of far-fetched schemes and easily dupe the townspeople wherever they go. Their outlandish antics are framed humorously, but also satirically because they poke fun at the idea of Southerners being ignorant, or slow to catch on.
Twain's portrayal of Jim's good nature, and of Southern society's inability to recognize that and adapt their ways, point out the social injustices that happened for so many years in the Southern U.S. The novel exposed the need for social reform, particularly in the South, where the social norms were rooted so deeply, and were harder to change. Huck encounters this first hand, as he gains a true companion in Jim and can trust him more than any of his white friends despite the way society treats him like property. Even though he sees this, Huck is not very alarmed by this social issue. That is because he has grown up where that treatment of blacks is acceptable. He develops doubts about the system, but shows no signs of taking up the cause. By this, Twain illustrates how difficult it is to identify a problem when one simply doesn't know anything different.
play that focuses on a political or social issue. Then write an essay in which you analyze how
the author uses literary elements to explore this issue and explain how the issue contributes to
the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.
In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck travels along the Mississippi River with an escaped slave, and along the way he begins to question the way blacks are treated in his society. Twain's piece speaks against the social injustice of slavery in the southern United States through his characterization of Jim, the slave, and also by satirical humor aimed at southern people. These literary elements show how years of exposure to one way of life can cloud one's ability to recognize injustices when they are widely accepted as the social norm.
The character Jim is shown to be very considerate and mature. This is evident when he and Huck discover something floating down the river, and realize it's a dead body. Jim refuses to let Huck see the face and leads him away, despite Huck's curiosity. Jim does this to protect Huck, demonstrating mature morals and consideration. Jim is presented to be a very upstanding man later as well, when he is later caught and locked in a cabin. Huck and his friend Tom help Jim escape, but Tom gets shot in the get-away. Knowing it will blow his chance of escape, Jim stops running to care for Tom and his injury. This selfless act demonstrates how kind hearted Jim is, which highlights the cruelty of how he is treated because of his skin color.
Twain also utilizes humor in a satirical way to emphasize the ignorance of a racist system. As Huck and Jim make their way deeper South, the people become sillier and sillier. They encounter a family called the Grangerfords, who are at war with another family, the Shepherdsons. When Huck asks why the two families hate each other, the Grangerford daughter confesses that no one really remembers how it started anymore. This illustrates Twain's idea that antebellum Southern society held on to grudges that don't have bearing any longer. The people don't know when it's time to let old ways go and allow for a more peaceful existence. Also, Jim and Huck wind up traveling with two scammers, known as the Duke and the Dauphin. They pull all kinds of far-fetched schemes and easily dupe the townspeople wherever they go. Their outlandish antics are framed humorously, but also satirically because they poke fun at the idea of Southerners being ignorant, or slow to catch on.
Twain's portrayal of Jim's good nature, and of Southern society's inability to recognize that and adapt their ways, point out the social injustices that happened for so many years in the Southern U.S. The novel exposed the need for social reform, particularly in the South, where the social norms were rooted so deeply, and were harder to change. Huck encounters this first hand, as he gains a true companion in Jim and can trust him more than any of his white friends despite the way society treats him like property. Even though he sees this, Huck is not very alarmed by this social issue. That is because he has grown up where that treatment of blacks is acceptable. He develops doubts about the system, but shows no signs of taking up the cause. By this, Twain illustrates how difficult it is to identify a problem when one simply doesn't know anything different.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Ceremony
~Author~
Leslie Marmon Silko is of Native American descent, of the Laguna Pueblo tribe just like her characters in Ceremony. She is actually mixed race, with some Mexican and some White mixed in. Because mixed race identity issues are a motif of Ceremony, this should be noted.
~Setting~
Primarily around the Laguna reservation and the neighboring desert or woodsy mountain. Also a bit overseas when Tayo fights the Japanese in WWII, and occasional visits to neighboring towns (such as where Night Swan lived.)
~Plot~
*I'm going to go chronological, not necessarily in story sequence.
Tayo's mother abandons him at his Aunt's home, where he and Rocky are made to be brothers. Auntie is mean to Tayo, resentful that he is mixed race and evidence of her sister's poor choices and "betrayal" of the tribe. Tayo appreciates the Laguna values, while Rocky deviates and embraces a more 'White' lifestyle. At some point, Tayo visits his uncle Josiah's girlfriend, the mysterious and alluring Night Swan, whom he sleeps with. Josiah buys a cheap herd of cattle. Tayo and Rocky enlist for war and go off to fight the Japanese. Rocky is killed in action, leaving Tayo an emotional (and nauseous) wreck for a while. Simultaneously, Tayo's uncle Josiah dies back at home, and Tayo has visions of his face. Tayo tries to feel better by drinking with his old friends, but gets into a bar fight with Emo when he starts glorifying the war. After that Tayo avoids Emo's crowd, becoming somewhat reclusive. His family encourages him to have a ceremony done to help heal him, and he does it to appease them. As part of his ceremony, he decides to find Josiah's cows, which wandered off without Josiah to watch them. Tayo encounters a woman, Ts'eh, and becomes infatuated with her. He has sex with her and goes off to find the cows. After an encounter with a mountain lion he has to steal the cows back from a rancher. They get caught and penned at Ts'eh's cabin and he inspires Tayo before disappearing. The reservation believes Tayo to be crazy because of rumors spread by Emo. Tayo hitches a ride home with two mutual friends of his and Emo's, but they get him drunk and ditch him and the truck in the desert Tayo wakes up at night and hides before witnessing Emo torture the friend for letting Tayo escape. He nearly jumps out and attacks Emo, but doesn't. Tayo decides not to blame people, but to blame evil. His epiphany is that no group can be classified as evil and everyone is susceptible to witchery. With that, the ceremony is complete and Tayo and the earth are at peace, more or less.
~Characters~
Tayo: protagonist, indian/white, represents Laguna values sun father
Emo: foil to Tayo, evil, all indian
Night Swan, Ts'eh: mixed, reincarnations of corn mother, mysterious, wise, alluring
Rocky: a different foil to Tayo. Wants to join white community, but is all indian.
Josiah: Role model for Tayo, wants to provide for family, community
Betonie: A sort of contemporary blended with tradition medicine man, assigns Tayo the ceremony
Auntie: Bitter, judgmental, hypocrite (looks down on Indians mixing with whtes but practices white religion and acts kind of white and ignores Rocky's white-wannabe act.)
Old Grandma: Tayo's great aunt, blind and weak, but wise and versed with the traditions.
~Style~
Silko weaves the story of Tayo with poetry, broken into pieces and inserted at seemingly random times in the text. The poems tell odd little fables that highlight Tayo's situation. The reader can often identify specific characters in the ambiguous hummingbirds, gamblers, spiders, etc. of the poems. This is a unique technique that adds to the idea of Tayo's own story being legendary or that Tayo is a sort of reincarnation of a legend (i.e., Sun Father.)
The sentences are often fragmented, and fail to identify the objects of the sentence sometimes. This is deliberate to illustrate how all of life and ideas flow together and one often has to work to make sense of nature. Life is ambiguous by nature, and so her writing attempts to mimic that.
There is huge emphasis on color and directions as well, as South is associated with home and tradition and North is intruding influences. Yellow is associated with Tayo, because he is related to Sun Father.
~Motifs~
directions
animals /instincts
vomiting
flashbacks
mixed race guilt, identity issue
stereotyping
drinking (alcohol)
good v evil
~Quotes~
"Here they were, trying to bring back that old feeling, that feeling they belonged to America the way they felt during the war."
Tayo and his community are frequently putting up barriers to separate themselves from others. They pursue a feeling of universal community and belonging.
~Theme~
Silko's Ceremony suggests that one must be receptive to outside influence, and must adapt in order to achieve natural balance and peace.
~Prove it~
The mixed race characters are presented in a better light that most pure race characters. The blend of cultures provides a deeper insight and inner peace for Tayo, Ts'eh, etc.
Leslie Marmon Silko is of Native American descent, of the Laguna Pueblo tribe just like her characters in Ceremony. She is actually mixed race, with some Mexican and some White mixed in. Because mixed race identity issues are a motif of Ceremony, this should be noted.
~Setting~
Primarily around the Laguna reservation and the neighboring desert or woodsy mountain. Also a bit overseas when Tayo fights the Japanese in WWII, and occasional visits to neighboring towns (such as where Night Swan lived.)
~Plot~
*I'm going to go chronological, not necessarily in story sequence.
Tayo's mother abandons him at his Aunt's home, where he and Rocky are made to be brothers. Auntie is mean to Tayo, resentful that he is mixed race and evidence of her sister's poor choices and "betrayal" of the tribe. Tayo appreciates the Laguna values, while Rocky deviates and embraces a more 'White' lifestyle. At some point, Tayo visits his uncle Josiah's girlfriend, the mysterious and alluring Night Swan, whom he sleeps with. Josiah buys a cheap herd of cattle. Tayo and Rocky enlist for war and go off to fight the Japanese. Rocky is killed in action, leaving Tayo an emotional (and nauseous) wreck for a while. Simultaneously, Tayo's uncle Josiah dies back at home, and Tayo has visions of his face. Tayo tries to feel better by drinking with his old friends, but gets into a bar fight with Emo when he starts glorifying the war. After that Tayo avoids Emo's crowd, becoming somewhat reclusive. His family encourages him to have a ceremony done to help heal him, and he does it to appease them. As part of his ceremony, he decides to find Josiah's cows, which wandered off without Josiah to watch them. Tayo encounters a woman, Ts'eh, and becomes infatuated with her. He has sex with her and goes off to find the cows. After an encounter with a mountain lion he has to steal the cows back from a rancher. They get caught and penned at Ts'eh's cabin and he inspires Tayo before disappearing. The reservation believes Tayo to be crazy because of rumors spread by Emo. Tayo hitches a ride home with two mutual friends of his and Emo's, but they get him drunk and ditch him and the truck in the desert Tayo wakes up at night and hides before witnessing Emo torture the friend for letting Tayo escape. He nearly jumps out and attacks Emo, but doesn't. Tayo decides not to blame people, but to blame evil. His epiphany is that no group can be classified as evil and everyone is susceptible to witchery. With that, the ceremony is complete and Tayo and the earth are at peace, more or less.
~Characters~
Tayo: protagonist, indian/white, represents Laguna values sun father
Emo: foil to Tayo, evil, all indian
Night Swan, Ts'eh: mixed, reincarnations of corn mother, mysterious, wise, alluring
Rocky: a different foil to Tayo. Wants to join white community, but is all indian.
Josiah: Role model for Tayo, wants to provide for family, community
Betonie: A sort of contemporary blended with tradition medicine man, assigns Tayo the ceremony
Auntie: Bitter, judgmental, hypocrite (looks down on Indians mixing with whtes but practices white religion and acts kind of white and ignores Rocky's white-wannabe act.)
Old Grandma: Tayo's great aunt, blind and weak, but wise and versed with the traditions.
~Style~
Silko weaves the story of Tayo with poetry, broken into pieces and inserted at seemingly random times in the text. The poems tell odd little fables that highlight Tayo's situation. The reader can often identify specific characters in the ambiguous hummingbirds, gamblers, spiders, etc. of the poems. This is a unique technique that adds to the idea of Tayo's own story being legendary or that Tayo is a sort of reincarnation of a legend (i.e., Sun Father.)
The sentences are often fragmented, and fail to identify the objects of the sentence sometimes. This is deliberate to illustrate how all of life and ideas flow together and one often has to work to make sense of nature. Life is ambiguous by nature, and so her writing attempts to mimic that.
There is huge emphasis on color and directions as well, as South is associated with home and tradition and North is intruding influences. Yellow is associated with Tayo, because he is related to Sun Father.
~Motifs~
directions
animals /instincts
vomiting
flashbacks
mixed race guilt, identity issue
stereotyping
drinking (alcohol)
good v evil
~Quotes~
"Here they were, trying to bring back that old feeling, that feeling they belonged to America the way they felt during the war."
Tayo and his community are frequently putting up barriers to separate themselves from others. They pursue a feeling of universal community and belonging.
~Theme~
Silko's Ceremony suggests that one must be receptive to outside influence, and must adapt in order to achieve natural balance and peace.
~Prove it~
The mixed race characters are presented in a better light that most pure race characters. The blend of cultures provides a deeper insight and inner peace for Tayo, Ts'eh, etc.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)