Thursday, December 9, 2010
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://overbookedlibrarian.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/room-by-emma-donoghue.jpg&imgrefurl=http://overbookedlibrarian.wordpress.com/&usg=__7lGtNUAEKD64esz7m4o9jrirm5s=&h=602&w=388&sz=167&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=ZHgZoyVOmrXDIM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3Droom%2Bemma%2Bdonoghue%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1276%26bih%3D683%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=369&ei=lOcATbKyCcKmnAfF16XoDQ&oei=lOcATbKyCcKmnAfF16XoDQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=34&ty=22
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Room by Emma Donoghue. By Spencer Barton
Published 2010 by Harper Collins
ISBN: 9781554688319
Price: $29.99
Emma Donoghue’s ROOM introduces you into the world of a six year old who is held prisoner in a garden shed. It is his room. And it will take you for a turn. It will reimburse you into childish naiveté and intrigue. Home for Jack is a ten by twelve reinforced structure. It’s where he was born and, for all him and his mother know, will die despite their attempts to escape. Donoghue has used a child's voice to very skillfully craft room and create an experience for her readers that is just as harrowing as Jack’s experience.
Spencer Barton is a grade 12 student and an amateur writer. He has a keen interest in filmmaking (@HardBoiledPulp)
ISBN: 9781554688319
Price: $29.99
Emma Donoghue’s ROOM introduces you into the world of a six year old who is held prisoner in a garden shed. It is his room. And it will take you for a turn. It will reimburse you into childish naiveté and intrigue. Home for Jack is a ten by twelve reinforced structure. It’s where he was born and, for all him and his mother know, will die despite their attempts to escape. Donoghue has used a child's voice to very skillfully craft room and create an experience for her readers that is just as harrowing as Jack’s experience.
Spencer Barton is a grade 12 student and an amateur writer. He has a keen interest in filmmaking (@HardBoiledPulp)
Monday, December 6, 2010
Character Development In ROOM
Saying
By the end of the book Jack is as independent as he could be. We see this when he is saying goodbye to all of the things in Room. He would usually ask Ma if he could say goodbye to things but instead he does it on his own. “‘Good-bye, Wall.’ Then I say it to the other three walls, then ‘Good-bye, floor.’ I pat bed, ‘Good-bye, Bed’...” (320) Ma is standing in the doorway this whole time and with these “good-byes” Jack has begun to accept the real world.
Doing
When Jack is in the police car with Officer Oh and the man police he thinks to himself, “Outsiders don’t understand anything, I wonder do they watch too much TV.” (152) This is at a midpoint in the book (right before After) and shows both Jack’s way of coping with the real world and his complete and utter ignorance to it.
Others
During one of Jack’s in-closet encounters of Old Nick, Old Nick sees Jack’s eyes through the cracks in the wardrobe and asks Ma why she’s never let him see Jack. “‘I figure there must be something wrong,’ he’s saying to Ma, ‘you’ve never let me get a good look since the day he was born. Poor little freak’s got two heads or something?’” Jack doesn’t know what a “little freak” is and asks Ma. He knows it’s not a good thing and this gets him thinking about Old Nick more. He knows Old Nick is bad because he’s beaten Ma before but Jack has never been insulted by him personally. This gives Jack more reason to hate Old Nick and consequently break free of Room.
By the end of the book Jack is as independent as he could be. We see this when he is saying goodbye to all of the things in Room. He would usually ask Ma if he could say goodbye to things but instead he does it on his own. “‘Good-bye, Wall.’ Then I say it to the other three walls, then ‘Good-bye, floor.’ I pat bed, ‘Good-bye, Bed’...” (320) Ma is standing in the doorway this whole time and with these “good-byes” Jack has begun to accept the real world.
Doing
When Jack is in the police car with Officer Oh and the man police he thinks to himself, “Outsiders don’t understand anything, I wonder do they watch too much TV.” (152) This is at a midpoint in the book (right before After) and shows both Jack’s way of coping with the real world and his complete and utter ignorance to it.
Others
During one of Jack’s in-closet encounters of Old Nick, Old Nick sees Jack’s eyes through the cracks in the wardrobe and asks Ma why she’s never let him see Jack. “‘I figure there must be something wrong,’ he’s saying to Ma, ‘you’ve never let me get a good look since the day he was born. Poor little freak’s got two heads or something?’” Jack doesn’t know what a “little freak” is and asks Ma. He knows it’s not a good thing and this gets him thinking about Old Nick more. He knows Old Nick is bad because he’s beaten Ma before but Jack has never been insulted by him personally. This gives Jack more reason to hate Old Nick and consequently break free of Room.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Richard Ford WRITING LIFE
In 1982 Ford got into sports writing. He had trouble making it anywhere so he wrote his first novel in his trilogy, “The Sportswriter”. Far before that he started writing short stories but never successfully finished any of them. In the 1970’s he was friends with a number of good short story writers and feels he honed his craft through them.
“...maybe it is I grew into being a short story writer around some people who were really good short story writers Anne Beatty, Ray Carver and Toby Wolfe and we were all pals back in the 70’s but prior to that I hadn’t been able to write short stories at all. When I started trying to be a writer that was the thing that I really set my sights on and I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t. Whatever a short story was I was incapable of writing one.”
“...maybe it is I grew into being a short story writer around some people who were really good short story writers Anne Beatty, Ray Carver and Toby Wolfe and we were all pals back in the 70’s but prior to that I hadn’t been able to write short stories at all. When I started trying to be a writer that was the thing that I really set my sights on and I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t. Whatever a short story was I was incapable of writing one.”
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Richard Ford DIRTY REALISM
DIRTY REALISM
Ford strives for realism in his writing and most of the time it’s dirty. He makes unfavorable comments, gives his thoughts, and critiques American society but he’s being truthful. His novels and short stories are portals for his commentary on subjects that irk him, like any writer. But Ford’s are harder subjects to tackle. They present themselves in a very grey light. I’m reminded of Michael Winter talking about describing the darkness of the night by describing the light of a cigarette. The vastness of something can only be explained piece by piece. Ford wants to find a real natural place for his characters and readers to exist.
(about setting scene’s in cars)
“There is a way in which T think about writing novels having to do with where they take place in which you just simply look around you. I’m a realistic novelist. I’m trying to find places that are plausible for events to occur and relationships to go forward and you look around and you see a lot of people doing a lot of things in cars so it seems perfectly natural and not weird at all.”
He also speaks about the harshness of the human condition. He finds it hard to come up with completely original, horrible things to happen to his character but he writes them anyways.
“The truth about novels is you cannot keep up with reality. There’s nothing you can dream up or nightmarishly realize in the night and write down on a piece of paper that isn’t happening somewhere.”
Ford speaks on writing as a craft as well. He says that a good way to be natural and have eb and flow to your writing is to involve things that don’t make sense. Unexplained things. And that since you are a writer you will be able to sort it all out in the end. “Put things that don’t make sense in and then use your ability as a novelist to make them make sense.”
He goes on to talk about intention and how things from his life get into his writing and how his writing get into his life. He humorously talks about accidents and intentions and how writers don’t make accidents.
“Ff your a novelist everything you do you do intentionally. You don’t do anything by accident. At least after doing it by accident you have to finally take credit for doing it by accident and then it’s part of your intention.”
Ford strives for realism in his writing and most of the time it’s dirty. He makes unfavorable comments, gives his thoughts, and critiques American society but he’s being truthful. His novels and short stories are portals for his commentary on subjects that irk him, like any writer. But Ford’s are harder subjects to tackle. They present themselves in a very grey light. I’m reminded of Michael Winter talking about describing the darkness of the night by describing the light of a cigarette. The vastness of something can only be explained piece by piece. Ford wants to find a real natural place for his characters and readers to exist.
(about setting scene’s in cars)
“There is a way in which T think about writing novels having to do with where they take place in which you just simply look around you. I’m a realistic novelist. I’m trying to find places that are plausible for events to occur and relationships to go forward and you look around and you see a lot of people doing a lot of things in cars so it seems perfectly natural and not weird at all.”
He also speaks about the harshness of the human condition. He finds it hard to come up with completely original, horrible things to happen to his character but he writes them anyways.
“The truth about novels is you cannot keep up with reality. There’s nothing you can dream up or nightmarishly realize in the night and write down on a piece of paper that isn’t happening somewhere.”
Ford speaks on writing as a craft as well. He says that a good way to be natural and have eb and flow to your writing is to involve things that don’t make sense. Unexplained things. And that since you are a writer you will be able to sort it all out in the end. “Put things that don’t make sense in and then use your ability as a novelist to make them make sense.”
He goes on to talk about intention and how things from his life get into his writing and how his writing get into his life. He humorously talks about accidents and intentions and how writers don’t make accidents.
“Ff your a novelist everything you do you do intentionally. You don’t do anything by accident. At least after doing it by accident you have to finally take credit for doing it by accident and then it’s part of your intention.”
Richard Ford GOVERNMENT
Politics
Ford, like most political writers wanted some kind of social breakthrough and revelation to occur with the publishing of his new novel “Lay of the Land”. More than anything he wanted political consequences. He felt (rightly so) that it made no sense that a party could come into power simply by rigging the election. But he knew that this was inevitable he feels voting is a forgotten responsibility, “To Americans, politics is a TV show every night between six thirty and seven. And we’re promised by our constitution the privilege of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness... but [for Americans] politics falls into a sort of forgotten responsibility which is taken care of by a highly polished political class...” Ford thought that setting his newest novel in that tender time of political confusion during the 2000 election would bring people back to what happened. To make them remember and make them upset again.
“I thought if I set this book in that interregnum period between when we American’s voted when the Republican via the Supreme Court stole the election, I thought I could draw attention to something that American’s slept through, which is our civic responsibility, our franchise, when we didn’t rise and revolt, when we didn’t do more than almost just sheepishly vote. There was a time in that particular period of weeks, and Vice President Gore was particularly egregiously lax in this, when we as citizens, and I count myself as culpable here, should have done more than we did to [connect] to the people who were deciding the election, ‘Hey, a lot of people voted for Vice President Gore. In fact more voted for him than this moron who became the President.’ and I just thought that it was a time that America needed to come, through the agency of my book, back to.”
In Ford’s recent commentary “Gov’t on our Minds” he remarks on similar topics as he did in the Frye Festival interviews but with a slightly different twist. He still thinks Americans (himself included) don’t like voting but he now says they never think of politics when in reality they can’t think of anything but politics simply because American’s are bombarded with it left right and center.
“The midterm election, however—the constitutionally mandated annoyance whereby all of the Congress and a third of the Senate (plus eight jillion local likelies) have to stand before us once again—pretty much insures that we can’t get government out of our minds, lives, hair, dreams, and just be satisfied being “the governed.”
That goes back to the analogy of the TV show. American’s are just observers of a terrible soap opera that they are addicted to (eg. Ms. Kaye and Coronation Street). The TV show becomes a lifestyle or a fad (think Team Edward/ Team Jacob but with political candidates).
Ford also has bad news for anyone who tries to speak out against politics and those involved in it.
“Writers don’t have a platform in America today, you can’t do what you can do today which is write into the Globe and Mail if you know something and Peggy Atwood can write to the Globe and Mail have something on her mind and see it published. You can’t do that with the New York Times. You probably can’t even do it with the ‘Des Moines Register’. Can‘t do it with the ‘Sacramento Bee’...but you can write a novel whose intention is to get at something that hasn’t been got at before,”
Although Canada’s government is unfathomably boring at least we have the ability to comment on it in a public forum. A lot of work has to be done to say something about the situation now. By the time it takes to write and publish a novel, the political situation could have completely cooled off. No one would be interested. I feel Ford must feel this way sometimes. He’s used to writing about things that happened though and uses fiction as a vehicle for it. An essay on the 2000 election doesn’t exactly tantalize readers in bookstores across America. Lay of the Land does.
Ford, like most political writers wanted some kind of social breakthrough and revelation to occur with the publishing of his new novel “Lay of the Land”. More than anything he wanted political consequences. He felt (rightly so) that it made no sense that a party could come into power simply by rigging the election. But he knew that this was inevitable he feels voting is a forgotten responsibility, “To Americans, politics is a TV show every night between six thirty and seven. And we’re promised by our constitution the privilege of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness... but [for Americans] politics falls into a sort of forgotten responsibility which is taken care of by a highly polished political class...” Ford thought that setting his newest novel in that tender time of political confusion during the 2000 election would bring people back to what happened. To make them remember and make them upset again.
“I thought if I set this book in that interregnum period between when we American’s voted when the Republican via the Supreme Court stole the election, I thought I could draw attention to something that American’s slept through, which is our civic responsibility, our franchise, when we didn’t rise and revolt, when we didn’t do more than almost just sheepishly vote. There was a time in that particular period of weeks, and Vice President Gore was particularly egregiously lax in this, when we as citizens, and I count myself as culpable here, should have done more than we did to [connect] to the people who were deciding the election, ‘Hey, a lot of people voted for Vice President Gore. In fact more voted for him than this moron who became the President.’ and I just thought that it was a time that America needed to come, through the agency of my book, back to.”
In Ford’s recent commentary “Gov’t on our Minds” he remarks on similar topics as he did in the Frye Festival interviews but with a slightly different twist. He still thinks Americans (himself included) don’t like voting but he now says they never think of politics when in reality they can’t think of anything but politics simply because American’s are bombarded with it left right and center.
“The midterm election, however—the constitutionally mandated annoyance whereby all of the Congress and a third of the Senate (plus eight jillion local likelies) have to stand before us once again—pretty much insures that we can’t get government out of our minds, lives, hair, dreams, and just be satisfied being “the governed.”
That goes back to the analogy of the TV show. American’s are just observers of a terrible soap opera that they are addicted to (eg. Ms. Kaye and Coronation Street). The TV show becomes a lifestyle or a fad (think Team Edward/ Team Jacob but with political candidates).
Ford also has bad news for anyone who tries to speak out against politics and those involved in it.
“Writers don’t have a platform in America today, you can’t do what you can do today which is write into the Globe and Mail if you know something and Peggy Atwood can write to the Globe and Mail have something on her mind and see it published. You can’t do that with the New York Times. You probably can’t even do it with the ‘Des Moines Register’. Can‘t do it with the ‘Sacramento Bee’...but you can write a novel whose intention is to get at something that hasn’t been got at before,”
Although Canada’s government is unfathomably boring at least we have the ability to comment on it in a public forum. A lot of work has to be done to say something about the situation now. By the time it takes to write and publish a novel, the political situation could have completely cooled off. No one would be interested. I feel Ford must feel this way sometimes. He’s used to writing about things that happened though and uses fiction as a vehicle for it. An essay on the 2000 election doesn’t exactly tantalize readers in bookstores across America. Lay of the Land does.
Richard Ford POST KATRINA
New Orleans post-Katrina
Ford’s thoughts on the situation in New Orleans are based mostly on the unspoken tension between the black Democratic population of the city and the Republican party in power at the time. He thought that since the population of New Orleans wasn’t (and still isn’t) Republican the Government saw no benefit to making a presence.
“I was writing about this as you know right from the get go, we saw, those of us who were sort of watching new orleans, that all of these African American people were not Republicans. And so they weren’t a voting block that the Republican party had much of an investment in. They could come down here and Bush could come down to New Orleans and make a speech on Jackson Square and grab the sympathy vote of the rest of the country but he didn’t do very much for the people who were actually washed out of their homes.”
These are not light points Ford is making. He offers a reasonable and very shocking explanation to why nothing happened in the days, months and weeks after Katrina struck. He does not hold punches and although he has made these frightening revelations, he treats it like nothing. He goes on to speak about the dire conditions New Orleans residence are faced with.
“They have not been rescued. To this day they have not been rescued. They’ve just been told ‘Come back if you want to and if you come back and you build a house on this land that was inundateable and is inundateable now, if you do that and enough of your friends do that we will begin to restore city services to you but we’re not going to say how many have to come back for that to happen and we’re not going to do much for you.’”
Ford knows the devastation that New Orleans and its citizens have faced first hand, which makes his statements on the matter all the more viable. These are awful truths he presents his readers (and in this case listeners) but the question arises; why was he the only one talking about it? Perhaps the answer is in that quotation. Since the government never made major steps in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane it didn’t make big news beyond the week or so following and the reassurance of a government spokesperson. And since it didn’t make big news after that did people stop caring? Is that possible? It reminds me of a youtube video where a man is trying to stop a robbery but ends up getting beaten by two other men in broad daylight with people standing around watching. The three involved get into a scuffle and still the ones watching do nothing. Finally someone runs in to intervene he lands one kick but slips in a puddle before he can do much good. The muggers decide they’re finished with the man so they begin to run away and a man in a suit who has been closest to the encounter the whole time simply sticks his foot out in an attempt to look useful. It didn’t work. The muggers are Katrina, the good Samaritan is the local and international aid that tried to help but was swamped by the storm and the man in the suit is government who was closest the whole time and made no effort but tried to look like they cared. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJnaDg8MYVI&feature=related (ignore the ridiculous audio)
Ford also writes about New Orleans pre and post Katrina in Leaving for Kenosha. He talks about how some people used the storm as an excuse for their poor behaviour.
“Betsy explained to him during the divorce that she’d read a book in college at Hollins, about some children who were caught in a cyclone on a South Sea island. All the animals on the island—birds and lizards and furry creatures—went crazy before the storm came. Which didn’t explain anything. It had become fashionable to blame bad things on the hurricane—things that would’ve certainly happened anyway—failures, misdeeds, infirmities of character that the hurricane could’ve had nothing to do with. As if life weren’t its own personalized storm.”
This also speaks to the looting that was going on after Katrina hit. There was news footage of people stealing food and tents and gasoline played before footage of people stealing televisions and cars and microwaves. In a situation like that both people could use the excuse of “the storm” but one would hold more merit than the other. We need to steal to live or we are alive so we might as well steal. Ford speaks about a neighbourhood near the parish line in Leaving for Kenosha that was devastated more than the rest of the city because of its proximity to the levee’s and it being below the sea level. He talked about the markings on the door of houses declaring the number of dead or missing and the detritus left throughout the area.
“Charbonnet Street was a long street of wreckages. Where the floodwater had hurtled through, houses had been flattened, others moved off their foundations, others had their roofs floated away. Though others—the compact, sturdy brick ones—had simply been ruined in a way that left them seeming almost whole.”
Ford creates such an image with this passage. In the story, Walter and Louise are driving through the neighbourhood described and you can picture the ghost of the water hurtling past them.
Ford’s thoughts on the situation in New Orleans are based mostly on the unspoken tension between the black Democratic population of the city and the Republican party in power at the time. He thought that since the population of New Orleans wasn’t (and still isn’t) Republican the Government saw no benefit to making a presence.
“I was writing about this as you know right from the get go, we saw, those of us who were sort of watching new orleans, that all of these African American people were not Republicans. And so they weren’t a voting block that the Republican party had much of an investment in. They could come down here and Bush could come down to New Orleans and make a speech on Jackson Square and grab the sympathy vote of the rest of the country but he didn’t do very much for the people who were actually washed out of their homes.”
These are not light points Ford is making. He offers a reasonable and very shocking explanation to why nothing happened in the days, months and weeks after Katrina struck. He does not hold punches and although he has made these frightening revelations, he treats it like nothing. He goes on to speak about the dire conditions New Orleans residence are faced with.
“They have not been rescued. To this day they have not been rescued. They’ve just been told ‘Come back if you want to and if you come back and you build a house on this land that was inundateable and is inundateable now, if you do that and enough of your friends do that we will begin to restore city services to you but we’re not going to say how many have to come back for that to happen and we’re not going to do much for you.’”
Ford knows the devastation that New Orleans and its citizens have faced first hand, which makes his statements on the matter all the more viable. These are awful truths he presents his readers (and in this case listeners) but the question arises; why was he the only one talking about it? Perhaps the answer is in that quotation. Since the government never made major steps in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane it didn’t make big news beyond the week or so following and the reassurance of a government spokesperson. And since it didn’t make big news after that did people stop caring? Is that possible? It reminds me of a youtube video where a man is trying to stop a robbery but ends up getting beaten by two other men in broad daylight with people standing around watching. The three involved get into a scuffle and still the ones watching do nothing. Finally someone runs in to intervene he lands one kick but slips in a puddle before he can do much good. The muggers decide they’re finished with the man so they begin to run away and a man in a suit who has been closest to the encounter the whole time simply sticks his foot out in an attempt to look useful. It didn’t work. The muggers are Katrina, the good Samaritan is the local and international aid that tried to help but was swamped by the storm and the man in the suit is government who was closest the whole time and made no effort but tried to look like they cared. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJnaDg8MYVI&feature=related (ignore the ridiculous audio)
Ford also writes about New Orleans pre and post Katrina in Leaving for Kenosha. He talks about how some people used the storm as an excuse for their poor behaviour.
“Betsy explained to him during the divorce that she’d read a book in college at Hollins, about some children who were caught in a cyclone on a South Sea island. All the animals on the island—birds and lizards and furry creatures—went crazy before the storm came. Which didn’t explain anything. It had become fashionable to blame bad things on the hurricane—things that would’ve certainly happened anyway—failures, misdeeds, infirmities of character that the hurricane could’ve had nothing to do with. As if life weren’t its own personalized storm.”
This also speaks to the looting that was going on after Katrina hit. There was news footage of people stealing food and tents and gasoline played before footage of people stealing televisions and cars and microwaves. In a situation like that both people could use the excuse of “the storm” but one would hold more merit than the other. We need to steal to live or we are alive so we might as well steal. Ford speaks about a neighbourhood near the parish line in Leaving for Kenosha that was devastated more than the rest of the city because of its proximity to the levee’s and it being below the sea level. He talked about the markings on the door of houses declaring the number of dead or missing and the detritus left throughout the area.
“Charbonnet Street was a long street of wreckages. Where the floodwater had hurtled through, houses had been flattened, others moved off their foundations, others had their roofs floated away. Though others—the compact, sturdy brick ones—had simply been ruined in a way that left them seeming almost whole.”
Ford creates such an image with this passage. In the story, Walter and Louise are driving through the neighbourhood described and you can picture the ghost of the water hurtling past them.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Excerpt From "Cities of Refuge"
I put my money on Michael Helm for the Writers trust but probably because I can find comfort in his writing style. It's very different from Michael Winter's in that it hands you the layout of an image that you get to toy with. His writing is cinematic at a base level. He writes about seeing a woman through a security camera but my guess is that he thinks of things that way. Through a camera. I would love to be able to write a clear and precise 100 words of the things that I see on a day to day basis and I try to when I write shorts but helm is very, very good at it. He can give something as simple as "A clutch of Arab men speaking at once in a cigar shop on the verges of Chinatown." And we instantly have an image in our heads. Goes back to King's idea that writing is telepathy. The Arab men may look different and your edge of Chinatown may look different but Helm is sharing a moment with us.
Excerpt From "Death of Donna Whalen"
I've got a lot of respect for Winter and I think everyone should. It's damn hard writing like people speak or talk and he's got it down to an art. His use of fragments and run on's just add that layer of "human" to the story, even though it's true. He could have just sat down and made five feet of paper into two or three hundred pages of cold fact but he got into peoples head speaks through them. This excerpt isn't terribly different from any of the others I've read or heard but it shows that you can still tell a fantastic descriptive story without using a lot of adjectives, clear direct speech or trying to force feed what something or place looked like into the readers brain. I'm going to start fiddling around with his kind of style. Through the formats and rules out the window and just kind of write.
Cathy's Visit
Blog about Cathy Gildiner's visit to class today. Write a paragraph-long personal response. What did you learn from her about the writing life? Did her discussion raise any new questions for you?
Cathy's visit was pretty informative. She was honest about her experiences with writing and how much work was involved not only on her part but on an array of others. The glamour that a lot of writers present as their life isn't the case for Cathy, or probably the writers themselves. The process she described of going through lawyer after lawyer to settle on the names and occupations of some of the characters in her book was really interesting because it shows how much easier it is to write fiction than fact. Yet she was committed. I have still been thinking about charting out a memoir and how brutally difficult it would be to cut out parts of your own life. The only questions I have for Cathy have to do with the identities of some of the characters. I know I won't be satisfied.
Cathy's visit was pretty informative. She was honest about her experiences with writing and how much work was involved not only on her part but on an array of others. The glamour that a lot of writers present as their life isn't the case for Cathy, or probably the writers themselves. The process she described of going through lawyer after lawyer to settle on the names and occupations of some of the characters in her book was really interesting because it shows how much easier it is to write fiction than fact. Yet she was committed. I have still been thinking about charting out a memoir and how brutally difficult it would be to cut out parts of your own life. The only questions I have for Cathy have to do with the identities of some of the characters. I know I won't be satisfied.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
The influence of popular culture (e.g. fashion, music, entertainment, the arts, advertising, political events, athletics)
Cathy, like most girls, speaks frequently about clothing choices, her own and others. She decides that the only way to fit in with the cool crowd is to wear what they’re wearing.
“After my first day of school, I told my mother I had to find those matching outfits that the popular blonde girls wore. Some of the girls wore little ladybug pins on their collars that were the exact same size as a real ladybug. I had discovered that this pin represented the Ladybug brand. I found Villager floral dresses and Ladybug blouses in a lady’s golf store.” (pg.36)
When she moves to Ohio U in chapter eleven the talk of fashion continues; as does a reference to singer Billy Holiday. ‘…there were several varieties of southern magnolia that would bloom in the springtime with huge white flowers like the kind Billy Holiday wore in her hair on her album covers.”(pg.170) “I had four London Fog trench coats, all in slightly different shades of khaki with my initials monogrammed on the collars, and boxes and boxes of matching Pappagallo shoes.” (170)
When Cathy visits New York City she is paired for work with Laurie Coal whom she assumes upon arrival is a white girl but instead is a six foot black man. In their time in the city they attend an “off-off Broadway” show called Dutchman. The plot is written to draw sympathy from the primary black audience for the black main character who is killed at the end of the play. Cathy finds herself semi emerged in the black culture of New York through her meeting Laurie and her feelings for him. “Not exactly what I bargained for. However, it was totally believable and on the spot for that moment in history. James Merideth, the first black student at the University of Mississippi, had been shot earlier in the summer while on a peaceful freedom march. I had never before heard black anger. I had heard Martin Luther King say things like ‘I have a dream…’ but this was new.” (224)
Gildiner finds it necessary to blatantly state the brand or brands to which she’s referring. If I had one criticism it would be her tendency to do that. I find it doesn’t make a sentence or the image created any more meaningful if she points out that it was a Tareyton cigarette that she was smoking. “’Jesus Christ, let’s have a cigarette.’ She opened a Band-Aid can that held her cigarettes. ‘Amazing case,’ I said, taking a Tareyton she offered.” (pg. 175) It seems like she was paid by someone to include all of these name drops. “Whe we got back from Arby’s, I put on my thick ski jacket and went out to the garage with my Lark cigarettes.” (pg. 165) I don’t understand why it can’t just be a cigarette, not a Lark or a Tareyton. She sounds like a new smoker inserting which brand of cigarette she smokes even though it doesn’t add anything to the conversation.
“After my first day of school, I told my mother I had to find those matching outfits that the popular blonde girls wore. Some of the girls wore little ladybug pins on their collars that were the exact same size as a real ladybug. I had discovered that this pin represented the Ladybug brand. I found Villager floral dresses and Ladybug blouses in a lady’s golf store.” (pg.36)
When she moves to Ohio U in chapter eleven the talk of fashion continues; as does a reference to singer Billy Holiday. ‘…there were several varieties of southern magnolia that would bloom in the springtime with huge white flowers like the kind Billy Holiday wore in her hair on her album covers.”(pg.170) “I had four London Fog trench coats, all in slightly different shades of khaki with my initials monogrammed on the collars, and boxes and boxes of matching Pappagallo shoes.” (170)
When Cathy visits New York City she is paired for work with Laurie Coal whom she assumes upon arrival is a white girl but instead is a six foot black man. In their time in the city they attend an “off-off Broadway” show called Dutchman. The plot is written to draw sympathy from the primary black audience for the black main character who is killed at the end of the play. Cathy finds herself semi emerged in the black culture of New York through her meeting Laurie and her feelings for him. “Not exactly what I bargained for. However, it was totally believable and on the spot for that moment in history. James Merideth, the first black student at the University of Mississippi, had been shot earlier in the summer while on a peaceful freedom march. I had never before heard black anger. I had heard Martin Luther King say things like ‘I have a dream…’ but this was new.” (224)
Gildiner finds it necessary to blatantly state the brand or brands to which she’s referring. If I had one criticism it would be her tendency to do that. I find it doesn’t make a sentence or the image created any more meaningful if she points out that it was a Tareyton cigarette that she was smoking. “’Jesus Christ, let’s have a cigarette.’ She opened a Band-Aid can that held her cigarettes. ‘Amazing case,’ I said, taking a Tareyton she offered.” (pg. 175) It seems like she was paid by someone to include all of these name drops. “Whe we got back from Arby’s, I put on my thick ski jacket and went out to the garage with my Lark cigarettes.” (pg. 165) I don’t understand why it can’t just be a cigarette, not a Lark or a Tareyton. She sounds like a new smoker inserting which brand of cigarette she smokes even though it doesn’t add anything to the conversation.
Cathy's Relationship with her Mom and Dad
Early life
Gildiner makes it clear at the beginning of her memoir that she has had a strong but unusual relationship with her parents. In her early years, when Cathy worked at McClure’s drug store, her father was her employer. Her mother on the other hand was a very loving mystery to her. “Why my mother had not been included in the house hunt was a mystery to me. It wasn’t like she was busy. She’d never in my memory cooked, cleaned or held a job.”(Pg. 9) Both of her parents seemed out of place to her. “…I realized how much my parents, who were in their forties when they had me, had aged. They looked more like grandparents than parents.” (Pg. 5) During and after the move however things began to change for Cathy and her parents. With her father it was particularly noticeable. When the moving van arrived and told the McClure’s they wouldn’t be able to fit their “French armoires and early American dressers” into the house Cathy saw a difference in her father. “I had never seen him look as though he was not in charge”(pg. 10) “Since there was nothing else to look at I went back to the living room, where my mother stood looking lost while my father was in the bathroom. Even with the door closed we heard everything, as though we were standing right next to him.” (pg.11)
Later Life
After the incident with Rhonda and the boys Cathy found herself being irritated immensely by almost anything her father said. Her mother began reassuring her that at some point in everyone’s teenage years they began to hate one or both of their parents. “She really didn’t get that my father was not just annoying- everything he did sent me into orbit.” (pg.144) She told her mother about her father’s bizarre behavior but her mother dismissed it as teenage angst towards parental figures. Cathy also buys into that theory shortly after the discovery of her father’s brain tumor. “What was I going to say? Since the age of fourteen I had found him unbearable, but that had just been teenage stuff. However hard it was, I had to separate abnormal behaviour from teenage loathing.” (pg.152. In reference to her father’s tumor.) From this point until her father’s death Cathy’s relationship with her father changes very drastically. Cathy’s mother seems almost unresponsive to the news that her husband is going to die and does almost nothing to help Cathy control her father. “ I ran out into the backyard where my mother was on a chaise longue, reading. ‘Why didn’t you stop him?’ I cried./’He isn’t going to listen to me.’/’Do you have suggestions about what we should do?’ I asked, since she was clearly taking no responsibility and had gone back to reading the paper.” (pg. 155) This realization of her mother’s passiveness in the situation makes Cathy mature at a surprising rate for a teen. At the same time her responsibility is now at an unfair level for any teen.
Gildiner makes it clear at the beginning of her memoir that she has had a strong but unusual relationship with her parents. In her early years, when Cathy worked at McClure’s drug store, her father was her employer. Her mother on the other hand was a very loving mystery to her. “Why my mother had not been included in the house hunt was a mystery to me. It wasn’t like she was busy. She’d never in my memory cooked, cleaned or held a job.”(Pg. 9) Both of her parents seemed out of place to her. “…I realized how much my parents, who were in their forties when they had me, had aged. They looked more like grandparents than parents.” (Pg. 5) During and after the move however things began to change for Cathy and her parents. With her father it was particularly noticeable. When the moving van arrived and told the McClure’s they wouldn’t be able to fit their “French armoires and early American dressers” into the house Cathy saw a difference in her father. “I had never seen him look as though he was not in charge”(pg. 10) “Since there was nothing else to look at I went back to the living room, where my mother stood looking lost while my father was in the bathroom. Even with the door closed we heard everything, as though we were standing right next to him.” (pg.11)
Later Life
After the incident with Rhonda and the boys Cathy found herself being irritated immensely by almost anything her father said. Her mother began reassuring her that at some point in everyone’s teenage years they began to hate one or both of their parents. “She really didn’t get that my father was not just annoying- everything he did sent me into orbit.” (pg.144) She told her mother about her father’s bizarre behavior but her mother dismissed it as teenage angst towards parental figures. Cathy also buys into that theory shortly after the discovery of her father’s brain tumor. “What was I going to say? Since the age of fourteen I had found him unbearable, but that had just been teenage stuff. However hard it was, I had to separate abnormal behaviour from teenage loathing.” (pg.152. In reference to her father’s tumor.) From this point until her father’s death Cathy’s relationship with her father changes very drastically. Cathy’s mother seems almost unresponsive to the news that her husband is going to die and does almost nothing to help Cathy control her father. “ I ran out into the backyard where my mother was on a chaise longue, reading. ‘Why didn’t you stop him?’ I cried./’He isn’t going to listen to me.’/’Do you have suggestions about what we should do?’ I asked, since she was clearly taking no responsibility and had gone back to reading the paper.” (pg. 155) This realization of her mother’s passiveness in the situation makes Cathy mature at a surprising rate for a teen. At the same time her responsibility is now at an unfair level for any teen.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Truth and Beauty
““The flames jumped,” She said. She didn’t seem alarmed. No one did. The waiter looked at us suspiciously and I promised him that we had no intention of skipping out on the check.”
I read through this excerpt a couple of times trying to find a line or two that moved me emotionally. There were a few. Not many but a few. I think that this is one of the only ones that both moves me and serves as a thumbnail of the emotions that were reflected for months after the attack. Mainly suspicion and awe. When I was reading this I could just imagine the waiter’s look, but it isn’t the check he’s worried about. He’s worried that he’s got two terrorists in his restaurant.
“History is strangely incomprehensible when you’re standing in the middle.”
I’ve never been part of a major historical event, but I think everyone has seen some really weird stuff happen on the street, or on airplanes or wherever it may be and, when things like that happen, they are always out of context. I won’t get into the details of the story but I thought I was about to witness a rape on the subway and it turns out the two people involved were life long friends. There is a human tendency to watch or hear things occur and try and piece it together after the fact. Doing it in the moment would be next to impossible. Especially with something as traumatic and world changing as 9/11. Try to reason through why planes are crashing into buildings would be like standing on train tracks trying to figure out why the approaching car is honking at you. Your blinded and wondering, “why it doesn’t just stop.”
““The flames jumped,” She said. She didn’t seem alarmed. No one did. The waiter looked at us suspiciously and I promised him that we had no intention of skipping out on the check.”
I read through this excerpt a couple of times trying to find a line or two that moved me emotionally. There were a few. Not many but a few. I think that this is one of the only ones that both moves me and serves as a thumbnail of the emotions that were reflected for months after the attack. Mainly suspicion and awe. When I was reading this I could just imagine the waiter’s look, but it isn’t the check he’s worried about. He’s worried that he’s got two terrorists in his restaurant.
“History is strangely incomprehensible when you’re standing in the middle.”
I’ve never been part of a major historical event, but I think everyone has seen some really weird stuff happen on the street, or on airplanes or wherever it may be and, when things like that happen, they are always out of context. I won’t get into the details of the story but I thought I was about to witness a rape on the subway and it turns out the two people involved were life long friends. There is a human tendency to watch or hear things occur and try and piece it together after the fact. Doing it in the moment would be next to impossible. Especially with something as traumatic and world changing as 9/11. Try to reason through why planes are crashing into buildings would be like standing on train tracks trying to figure out why the approaching car is honking at you. Your blinded and wondering, “why it doesn’t just stop.”
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Paddy Clarke ha ha ha - Roddy Doyle
Copy a passage that you believe is especially good writing. (It should be about 1-2 paragraphs long.)
My ma warned us about the mangle, to stay away from it, to not mess with it. The rolls were hard but only rubber. I scratched a mark on the bottom one with the bread-knife. I loved it in the kitchen- the steam and the heat- when my ma was putting the sheets through the mangle, and my da's shirts. The sheets were shiny with huge wet bubbles and my ma put a corner up to the mangle and turned the handle and the sheet rose out of the water like a whale being caught. The water ran down the sheet and the bubbles were crushed as the sheet was pulled through the rolls and came out flat, looking like material again, the shininess all gone. Another sheet, the rubber creaked and groaned, then the rest slid through easily. She wouldn't let me help. She only let me stand behind the washing machine and guide the sheet into the red basin. The sheet was warm and kind of solid and hard. My fingers were safe on that side. The smaller clothes came through and I caught them and put them on top of the sheets. The basin was full. She had to empty the machine now and fill it again for the nappies. The steam in the kitchen is what I really liked, and the wet on the walls. PG(121)
In a clearly supported paragraph or two, explain why you believe that passage is especially good writing. Provide specific examples that you quote.
All of the writing in Paddy Clarke is fantastic but I chose this example because it shows how good Doyle is at writing through the eyes of a child. Children speak and think in ways that don't make sense grammatically but perfectly capture what they see or feel. They also have an alarming attention to detail and relationship with their environment and Doyle brings both out in his writing.
"She only let me stand behind the washing machine and guide the sheet into the red basin. The sheet was warm and kind of solid and hard. My fingers were safe on that side."
Doyle also describes action and images so well. A wet sheet being pulled through and old fashioned washer must look exactly like Doyle's description to a child. Doyle is able to capture the imagination of a child thoughts.
"The sheets were shiny with huge wet bubbles and my ma put a corner up to the mangle and turned the handle and the sheet rose out of the water like a whale being caught."
Re-write the passage from another narrative perspective, paying attention to tone and diction. (1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person)
Paddy walked into the kitchen. It was warm and damp and his mother was doing the laundry near the door. The shirts and sheets were being cleaned first with the washing mangle. Paddy’s mother had spent some time explaining to him the dangers of the washer. With its rubber rollers a misplaced finger could be crushed in seconds. Once, out of curiosity, Paddy had carved a small bit of rubber out of the lowest roller. Paddy would watch with amazement when his mother put a sheet in the rollers. It would come out wet and with a shine to it. Paddy imagined a whale being towed in by the rollers.
“Ma, can I help?” Paddy asked.
“No Paddy. “ His Mother replied.
He turned, looking defeated.
“Just make sure the sheet gets in the bin, love.”
Paddy turned back and looked as though nothing had been said. He would stand on the opposite side of the washer from his mother where there was no risk to his fingers. As the sheets would push their way out of the rollers Paddy would let them flow over his hands to feel the warmth and odd texture. Once the basin was full his mother would have to empty the machine and refill it for Sinbad’s Diapers.
My ma warned us about the mangle, to stay away from it, to not mess with it. The rolls were hard but only rubber. I scratched a mark on the bottom one with the bread-knife. I loved it in the kitchen- the steam and the heat- when my ma was putting the sheets through the mangle, and my da's shirts. The sheets were shiny with huge wet bubbles and my ma put a corner up to the mangle and turned the handle and the sheet rose out of the water like a whale being caught. The water ran down the sheet and the bubbles were crushed as the sheet was pulled through the rolls and came out flat, looking like material again, the shininess all gone. Another sheet, the rubber creaked and groaned, then the rest slid through easily. She wouldn't let me help. She only let me stand behind the washing machine and guide the sheet into the red basin. The sheet was warm and kind of solid and hard. My fingers were safe on that side. The smaller clothes came through and I caught them and put them on top of the sheets. The basin was full. She had to empty the machine now and fill it again for the nappies. The steam in the kitchen is what I really liked, and the wet on the walls. PG(121)
In a clearly supported paragraph or two, explain why you believe that passage is especially good writing. Provide specific examples that you quote.
All of the writing in Paddy Clarke is fantastic but I chose this example because it shows how good Doyle is at writing through the eyes of a child. Children speak and think in ways that don't make sense grammatically but perfectly capture what they see or feel. They also have an alarming attention to detail and relationship with their environment and Doyle brings both out in his writing.
"She only let me stand behind the washing machine and guide the sheet into the red basin. The sheet was warm and kind of solid and hard. My fingers were safe on that side."
Doyle also describes action and images so well. A wet sheet being pulled through and old fashioned washer must look exactly like Doyle's description to a child. Doyle is able to capture the imagination of a child thoughts.
"The sheets were shiny with huge wet bubbles and my ma put a corner up to the mangle and turned the handle and the sheet rose out of the water like a whale being caught."
Re-write the passage from another narrative perspective, paying attention to tone and diction. (1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person)
Paddy walked into the kitchen. It was warm and damp and his mother was doing the laundry near the door. The shirts and sheets were being cleaned first with the washing mangle. Paddy’s mother had spent some time explaining to him the dangers of the washer. With its rubber rollers a misplaced finger could be crushed in seconds. Once, out of curiosity, Paddy had carved a small bit of rubber out of the lowest roller. Paddy would watch with amazement when his mother put a sheet in the rollers. It would come out wet and with a shine to it. Paddy imagined a whale being towed in by the rollers.
“Ma, can I help?” Paddy asked.
“No Paddy. “ His Mother replied.
He turned, looking defeated.
“Just make sure the sheet gets in the bin, love.”
Paddy turned back and looked as though nothing had been said. He would stand on the opposite side of the washer from his mother where there was no risk to his fingers. As the sheets would push their way out of the rollers Paddy would let them flow over his hands to feel the warmth and odd texture. Once the basin was full his mother would have to empty the machine and refill it for Sinbad’s Diapers.
Monday, September 13, 2010
A) Comment on Hitchens' attitude about his diagnosis and quote him directly.
B) Comment on the emotional appeal of both pieces. How does Hitchens connect to the audience?
Hitchens guilefully slinks through both his interview and his latest report on his health. He is rather clearly, like most cancer/chemo patients, in a state of extreme discomfort but he is able to put a kind of charm behind his condition and it's threat to his life. He connects with the audience by not only sharing his experiences and making them comfortable to read. He avoids the route of most well known people who get cancer, the well used "Thanks everyone. I'm really suffering but I love you all. I'm going to die soon...". Instead he addresses the ways in which his ailment has affected his life for the better. What he's learned about himself and the things he has done in his life are more important than telling everyone about his fast approaching demise.
C) Copy a short excerpt from "Topic of Cancer" that is especially good writing and explain why you think so.
"The bargaining stage, though. Maybe there’s a loophole here. The oncology bargain is that, in return for at least the chance of a few more useful years, you agree to submit to chemotherapy and then, if you are lucky with that, to radiation or even surgery. So here’s the wager: you stick around for a bit, but in return we are going to need some things from you. These things may include your taste buds, your ability to concentrate, your ability to digest, and the hair on your head. This certainly appears to be a reasonable trade."
I like this excerpt a lot because of how Hitchens puts the reader in his shoes for a moment. It immediately changes from speaking about peoples struggle to understand why they have cancer to a commentary on what people are willing to give up for a few more years of life. He connects directly with the reader for the first time in the piece as well.
B) Comment on the emotional appeal of both pieces. How does Hitchens connect to the audience?
Hitchens guilefully slinks through both his interview and his latest report on his health. He is rather clearly, like most cancer/chemo patients, in a state of extreme discomfort but he is able to put a kind of charm behind his condition and it's threat to his life. He connects with the audience by not only sharing his experiences and making them comfortable to read. He avoids the route of most well known people who get cancer, the well used "Thanks everyone. I'm really suffering but I love you all. I'm going to die soon...". Instead he addresses the ways in which his ailment has affected his life for the better. What he's learned about himself and the things he has done in his life are more important than telling everyone about his fast approaching demise.
C) Copy a short excerpt from "Topic of Cancer" that is especially good writing and explain why you think so.
"The bargaining stage, though. Maybe there’s a loophole here. The oncology bargain is that, in return for at least the chance of a few more useful years, you agree to submit to chemotherapy and then, if you are lucky with that, to radiation or even surgery. So here’s the wager: you stick around for a bit, but in return we are going to need some things from you. These things may include your taste buds, your ability to concentrate, your ability to digest, and the hair on your head. This certainly appears to be a reasonable trade."
I like this excerpt a lot because of how Hitchens puts the reader in his shoes for a moment. It immediately changes from speaking about peoples struggle to understand why they have cancer to a commentary on what people are willing to give up for a few more years of life. He connects directly with the reader for the first time in the piece as well.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Green Grass Running Water
King uses multiple pop culture and biblical refecnes to enhance the plot. The first of these references is when Babo and Dr. Hovah are driving in Dr. Hovah’s Karmen Ghia in search of the escaped Indians when Babo, in an act of old time explorer nature, uses a star in the sky to direct them. This is a biblical reference to the star of Bethlehem used by the three kings to find their way across the desert to the manger in which Jesus was born. Dr. Hovah’s car could also be a very vague reference to the Karmen Ghia used in “The Graduate”. “In the distance, at the edge of the horizon, Babo could see a point of light, a star in the morning sky.” (pg.235).
The second pop culture allusion is when Lionel wakes up on his birthday and wants to change his life. Lionel is a big fan of westerns, as are many characters in the novel, so he uses John Wayne as a kind of model. Instead of what would Jesus Lionel refers to Wayne’s “man of mystery” personality. “That’s what you do when you begin again. That’s what John Wayne would do.” (pg.243) Lionel has little care for his people’s culture to begin with so it seems appropriate that he is using a white man as a model. It also fits very well because he receives, as a gift from the Indians, the jacket John Wayne was wearing in one of his films.
The next biblical allusion is when Thought Woman arrives on an island in the middle of a seemingly endless ocean that she has been swimming in and meets a man named The Archangel Gabriel who introduces himself as A.A. Gabriel. Gabriel tells her that she is going to be a mother. This is a referene to the to the annunciation of Mary, in which the Archangel Gabriel comes to Mary in a dream and gives her the same news. Alberta becomes pregnant at the same time as thought woman
Another biblical allusion is when Coyote is shown holding a bible-like book. “I read a book,’ says Coyote. ‘Forget the book,’ I says. ‘We’ve got a story to tell. And here’s how it goes.” (pg.349) The quote refers to the Bible as some book. Coyote mocks First Woman’s observations of Earth and compares them to bible stories. The other Indians shun coyote and they try and summarize the native creation story for the umpteenth time in the book.
The second pop culture allusion is when Lionel wakes up on his birthday and wants to change his life. Lionel is a big fan of westerns, as are many characters in the novel, so he uses John Wayne as a kind of model. Instead of what would Jesus Lionel refers to Wayne’s “man of mystery” personality. “That’s what you do when you begin again. That’s what John Wayne would do.” (pg.243) Lionel has little care for his people’s culture to begin with so it seems appropriate that he is using a white man as a model. It also fits very well because he receives, as a gift from the Indians, the jacket John Wayne was wearing in one of his films.
The next biblical allusion is when Thought Woman arrives on an island in the middle of a seemingly endless ocean that she has been swimming in and meets a man named The Archangel Gabriel who introduces himself as A.A. Gabriel. Gabriel tells her that she is going to be a mother. This is a referene to the to the annunciation of Mary, in which the Archangel Gabriel comes to Mary in a dream and gives her the same news. Alberta becomes pregnant at the same time as thought woman
Another biblical allusion is when Coyote is shown holding a bible-like book. “I read a book,’ says Coyote. ‘Forget the book,’ I says. ‘We’ve got a story to tell. And here’s how it goes.” (pg.349) The quote refers to the Bible as some book. Coyote mocks First Woman’s observations of Earth and compares them to bible stories. The other Indians shun coyote and they try and summarize the native creation story for the umpteenth time in the book.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Three Day Road Blog
Ever since she was very young, she has lived a less than desirable life. A number of awful events occur on a regular basis but she is resilient and strong spirited. The worst of these events would be when the French trapper rapes her in the Church. This act, although atrocious, could be compared the treatment of Natives in this book and in Canada. Rape is rarely about someone's sexual urges taking hold of them, it is more about overpowering and shaming the other person. Niska was raped in a church, by a white French man, while she was drunk. This represents the overpowering of Canadian Natives by European settlers. First they gave them religion, then liquor and then claimed the Native's land as their own. Natives were taken advantage of as Niska was. All her powers stripped from her as the Natives powers over their land was taken. This scene is one of a handful in the book that are alluding to the Native struggle as a whole, but this is the most cut and dry example of that allusion.
This scene connects with the rest of the book through the idea of white dominance over Natives. Elijah putting on a British accent and trying hard to fit in with the rest of the regiment is an example of how submitted Natives felt. So much so that they had to change who they were fundamentally so that the whites wouldn't see them as just Natives.
"'No more,' I said to him, standing up and walking out so suddenly that i surprised even myself. My legs left like a new calf's, loose and long under me so that i had to grab the door frame as i passed through it...""...'this is a good place, a holy place,' he whispered, biting at my ear.'You are a holy Indian, no?' he whispered 'The other Indians say you are very holy, very strong.' His lean body pushed against me. I could feel his hardness. I did not answer him but kissed him back instead...""...He laughed. 'I fucked you in a church,' he said, and smiled. I smiled back at him. "I fucked the heathen Indian out of you in this church,' he said, but this time the smile was not so happy. 'i took your ahcahk,' he said to me, the smile gone now. 'Do you understand? I fucked your ahcahk, your spirit. Do you understand that?' He stared down at me, his eyes wide with a look that made me feel ill. I pushed him away with my legs and covered myself up. 'It's too late.' he said 'Your nothing special, just another squaw whore. I took your power away in this place and sent it to burn in hell where it belongs'" (Pgs- 159-161)
This scene connects with the rest of the book through the idea of white dominance over Natives. Elijah putting on a British accent and trying hard to fit in with the rest of the regiment is an example of how submitted Natives felt. So much so that they had to change who they were fundamentally so that the whites wouldn't see them as just Natives.
"'No more,' I said to him, standing up and walking out so suddenly that i surprised even myself. My legs left like a new calf's, loose and long under me so that i had to grab the door frame as i passed through it...""...'this is a good place, a holy place,' he whispered, biting at my ear.'You are a holy Indian, no?' he whispered 'The other Indians say you are very holy, very strong.' His lean body pushed against me. I could feel his hardness. I did not answer him but kissed him back instead...""...He laughed. 'I fucked you in a church,' he said, and smiled. I smiled back at him. "I fucked the heathen Indian out of you in this church,' he said, but this time the smile was not so happy. 'i took your ahcahk,' he said to me, the smile gone now. 'Do you understand? I fucked your ahcahk, your spirit. Do you understand that?' He stared down at me, his eyes wide with a look that made me feel ill. I pushed him away with my legs and covered myself up. 'It's too late.' he said 'Your nothing special, just another squaw whore. I took your power away in this place and sent it to burn in hell where it belongs'" (Pgs- 159-161)
Friday, February 5, 2010
My EXTREMELY late "Dead Cold" Blog
Chief inspector Gamache has one of the hardest jobs anyone could be submitted to. In his position one would have to both show empathy towards the victims of his crimes and at the same time be completely focused on the murderer him/her self. Gamache walks perfectly down this line. He is motivated by his love of people. In the book he barely ever speaks or thinks poorly of someone. “’You mean he didn’t look for her?’ asked Reine-Marie, her fork stopped partway to her mouth in astonishment. Gamache shook his head. ‘odious man,’ said Reine-Marie. It was hard not to agree, and Gamache was left to wonder why he was trying so hard not to.” (122 in reference to CC) As anyone that has read Dead Cold knows, CC is by far the most repulsive form of person imaginable, and yet Gamache is still able to sympathize with her.
Humour is used throughout the book and in most crime novels. 99.9% of the time it is extremely dark humour and the quotations I found fall nicely into that percentage. “It was almost impossible to electrocute someone these days, unless you were the governor of Texas.” (p.77) This is the guileful thought that Gamache had after talking to Lemieux on the phone about C.C.’s shocking death. It works in the scene to both bring uncertainty as to how the killer killed C.C. and to let the readers know how Gamache thinks.
Humour is used throughout the book and in most crime novels. 99.9% of the time it is extremely dark humour and the quotations I found fall nicely into that percentage. “It was almost impossible to electrocute someone these days, unless you were the governor of Texas.” (p.77) This is the guileful thought that Gamache had after talking to Lemieux on the phone about C.C.’s shocking death. It works in the scene to both bring uncertainty as to how the killer killed C.C. and to let the readers know how Gamache thinks.
My late Boy in the Moon blog
1. Is there any other place you would rather see Walker?
2. If you were at gunpoint and someone asked you to express your time as Walker’s father in one word, what would you say?
3. Your book is titled “Boy in the Moon: a father’s search for his disabled son”. What made you want to call it a search instead of a memoir?
Ian Brown’s impressions of L’Arche are completely honest and are good enough. His perfect society is where people with disabilities can live in a productive, supportive environment with a professional staff but also the feeling of being home. He describes L’Arche as, “the outline of the unthinkable community I was looking for”. (p.187) in Brown’s opinion, L’Arche is as close to a perfect community as anyone can get for Walker or anyone with disabilities.
2. If you were at gunpoint and someone asked you to express your time as Walker’s father in one word, what would you say?
3. Your book is titled “Boy in the Moon: a father’s search for his disabled son”. What made you want to call it a search instead of a memoir?
Ian Brown’s impressions of L’Arche are completely honest and are good enough. His perfect society is where people with disabilities can live in a productive, supportive environment with a professional staff but also the feeling of being home. He describes L’Arche as, “the outline of the unthinkable community I was looking for”. (p.187) in Brown’s opinion, L’Arche is as close to a perfect community as anyone can get for Walker or anyone with disabilities.
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