Waiting for the Barbarians begins by introducing two very different characters -- Colonel Joll and the narrator, the magistrate. I found both to be portrayed very well and I especially loved the use of the sunglasses to reveal character and the different lifestyles. Not only do the sunglasses keep Colonel Joll hidden and in a veil of mystery, but they represent the technology differences between the capital and the outskirted village. The sunglasses are new to the village; they are an invention that the villagers have never seen before.
I enjoy the writing and content. I find the writing to really connect the readers with the narrator and I find the story interesting.
I found that I don't care for Colonel Joll at all. I find him intimidating and cruel, not to mention superior-feeling. The narrator I like better. I find him to be an easy-going, simple man who finds himself wrapped up in more than he expected because he has a heart. I found his sympathy for the prisoners to be appropriate and appreciated his efforts of kindness and good treatment towards the boy captive. I also found his thoughts on torture and reflections on "clean" and "unclean" men to be very interesting. They were a great representation of the different cultures and the "old school" versus "new school." He seems to be a fair and decent man, and it was very kind of him to bring the blind woman back to the village with him. However, I find the dynamic between them to be very odd and I came to view him as kind of a manipulator some of the time. In conclusion, my views and opinions on the narrator are not fully formed, but he seems decent.
About 270 words
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Heart of Darkness
"Primitivism and The African Woman in Heart of Darkness" pg. 396
- Kurtz has mated with the magnificent black woman, violating British social standards
- Marlow conceives her as a substitute for Kurtz's white "Intended"
- the heads that adorn Kurtz's abode connect the primitivity of Africa with the primitive societies of Scotland (Macbeth time) and England
- Head-hunting practices in primitive societies had specific purposes and goals: "absorption of a slain enemy's courage and power"
- Expressions of virility and masculinity
- Kurtz collected heads to act out a Western fantasy of savagery
- Acephale (European writings) explores the metaphor of headlessness: emblem shows a naked man, headless, with a death's-head in place of where the penis should be, de-emphasizing the European preoccupation with the mind and rationality, and symbolizing a more primitive-driven masculinity, one that is not driven by the mind
- men's need to maintain masculinity through saparation, difference, and control -- seen in Kurtz: isolated from other Europeans, complete control over the Africans
- The Africans and Africa have become a "stage" for Kurtz to play out his fantasies, representing masculinity in his culture's view, borrowing rituals practiced by certain African groups, but "perverting" them to "Western ends"
- primitive Africa contrasts with civilized Europe: "emptiness of modern European life"
The Woman
- prejudiced language: sorrow = "wild"; pain = "dumb"; her resolve = "half-shaped"; her purpose = "inscrutible," she is "fecund and mysterious" "tenebrous and passionate," (like the landscape); "fool nigger" "insolent black head"
- woman = embodiment of Africa, African landscape; African landscape = death, the "white man's grave"
- Kurtz has mated with the magnificent black woman, violating British social standards
- Marlow conceives her as a substitute for Kurtz's white "Intended"
- the heads that adorn Kurtz's abode connect the primitivity of Africa with the primitive societies of Scotland (Macbeth time) and England
- Head-hunting practices in primitive societies had specific purposes and goals: "absorption of a slain enemy's courage and power"
- Expressions of virility and masculinity
- Kurtz collected heads to act out a Western fantasy of savagery
- Acephale (European writings) explores the metaphor of headlessness: emblem shows a naked man, headless, with a death's-head in place of where the penis should be, de-emphasizing the European preoccupation with the mind and rationality, and symbolizing a more primitive-driven masculinity, one that is not driven by the mind
- men's need to maintain masculinity through saparation, difference, and control -- seen in Kurtz: isolated from other Europeans, complete control over the Africans
- The Africans and Africa have become a "stage" for Kurtz to play out his fantasies, representing masculinity in his culture's view, borrowing rituals practiced by certain African groups, but "perverting" them to "Western ends"
- primitive Africa contrasts with civilized Europe: "emptiness of modern European life"
The Woman
- prejudiced language: sorrow = "wild"; pain = "dumb"; her resolve = "half-shaped"; her purpose = "inscrutible," she is "fecund and mysterious" "tenebrous and passionate," (like the landscape); "fool nigger" "insolent black head"
- woman = embodiment of Africa, African landscape; African landscape = death, the "white man's grave"
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Closure in The Sound and the Fury
At the end of The Sound and the Fury, the pear tree blooms on Easter Sunday. This ending scene provides closure for the novel because its characters and images represent hope and forgiveness. The pear tree represents original sin; Caddy's climbing it with her muddy drawers, which represent her loose affairs to come, and Quentin's (number 2) descending it to meet her lovers, etc. connect human sin with the tree, and therefore the tree is a symbol of sin. The pear tree finally blooms on Easter Sunday, now a sign of forgiveness, because of the significance of the day on which it bloomed. Easter Sunday is the day that Jesus rose from the dead after dying for the sins of the world. His resurrection was hope for the world, and so in the blooming of the pear tree, we see the sins of the characters forgiven and hope for the future.
Interesting factoid: This is not the first time that a pear tree (specifically) has been connected with Jesus or his dying, etc. The song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," was written back in a time when Christians were persecuted and not allowed to practice their faith as a way to teach their children about the religion without actually speaking of it. "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree," in this line, the partridge in the pear tree represents Jesus on the cross. So, in this song the pear tree also acts as a symbol of sin and forgiveness, just as in The Sound and the Fury.
word count: 268
Closure in The Sound and The Fury
At the end of The Sound and the Fury, the pear tree blooms on Easter Sunday. This ending scene provides closure for the novel because its characters and images represent hope and forgiveness. The pear tree represents original sin; Caddy's climbing it with her muddy drawers, which represent her loose affairs to come, and Quentin's (number 2) descending it to meet her lovers, etc. connect human sin with the tree, and therefore the tree is a symbol of sin. The pear tree finally blooms on Easter Sunday, now a sign of forgiveness, because of the significance of the day on which it bloomed. Easter Sunday is the day that Jesus rose from the dead after dying for the sins of the world. His resurrection was hope for the world, and so in the blooming of the pear tree, we see the sins of the characters forgiven and hope for the future.
Interesting factoid: This is not the first time that a pear tree (specifically) has been connected with Jesus or his dying, etc. The song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," was written back in a time when Christians were persecuted and not allowed to practice their faith as a way to teach their children about the religion without actually speaking of it. "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree," in this line, the partridge in the pear tree represents Jesus on the cross. So, in this song the pear tree also acts as a symbol of sin and forgiveness, just as in The Sound and the Fury.
Interesting factoid: This is not the first time that a pear tree (specifically) has been connected with Jesus or his dying, etc. The song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," was written back in a time when Christians were persecuted and not allowed to practice their faith as a way to teach their children about the religion without actually speaking of it. "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree," in this line, the partridge in the pear tree represents Jesus on the cross. So, in this song the pear tree also acts as a symbol of sin and forgiveness, just as in The Sound and the Fury.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Meaningful Images
In Eben Bass’s article “Meaningful Images in The Sound and the Fury,” she (or maybe it’s a he…. I don’t know if Eben is a guy or girl’s name! I’ll look it up later!) comments on Caddy’s slipper, the pear tree, the mirror and the fire. Out of these images I found the pear tree to be the most interesting. Bass points out how the tree connects Caddy and Quentin (her daughter). Caddy ascends the pear tree to observe Grandmother’s wake, but Quentin descends from it to meet with her lovers. In this way the tree connects mother and daughter, but Bass connects them through the tree on an even deeper level saying that Caddy’s muddy drawers offend Quentin (her brother) and foreshadow Caddy’s love affair, which results in the birth of Quentin (her daughter) who then uses the tree for her own love affairs. In addition, Benjy always associates Caddy with the smell of trees. These are all very good points that Bass makes and I agree with her.
She (or he) also says, however, that Caddy, metaphorically, becomes Quentin’s (her brother) wife through his “jealous incest-fantasy” and that his suicide is because of his “shame and remorse” and jealousy that he has had to “share” her with other men. Since Caddy’s muddy drawers, which offend Quentin, connect her to the tree and foreshadow her love affairs, Quentin and his death, in turn, are also connected to the tree. However, I disagree with Bass on these conclusions about Quentin’s suicide. Although it is a clever, well thought-out, and not without evidence, I think that Quentin’s suicide is motivated more by his feelings of disgrace and embarrassment about the family honor. It is not so much that he has incestuous fantasies and is angry about sharing her, but more that he wishes that everything could be simple like it was when they were kids. Caddy is, after all, his best friend, and it pains him to see her (and the family) disgraced. He loves her, has her on a pedestool, and despises the fact that she is now a “loose” girl, no longer the same little girl that she was when they were children. He feels trapped in life and in his situation and powerless to change Caddy and their circumstances, and he would rather die than lead his tormented life. In this way I disagree with Bass’s conclusions about the motive of Quentin’s suicide. I do, however, like her acknowledgement of the tree as a central image connecting Caddy and Quentin (her daughter), and ultimately all of the children.
Word count: 431
She (or he) also says, however, that Caddy, metaphorically, becomes Quentin’s (her brother) wife through his “jealous incest-fantasy” and that his suicide is because of his “shame and remorse” and jealousy that he has had to “share” her with other men. Since Caddy’s muddy drawers, which offend Quentin, connect her to the tree and foreshadow her love affairs, Quentin and his death, in turn, are also connected to the tree. However, I disagree with Bass on these conclusions about Quentin’s suicide. Although it is a clever, well thought-out, and not without evidence, I think that Quentin’s suicide is motivated more by his feelings of disgrace and embarrassment about the family honor. It is not so much that he has incestuous fantasies and is angry about sharing her, but more that he wishes that everything could be simple like it was when they were kids. Caddy is, after all, his best friend, and it pains him to see her (and the family) disgraced. He loves her, has her on a pedestool, and despises the fact that she is now a “loose” girl, no longer the same little girl that she was when they were children. He feels trapped in life and in his situation and powerless to change Caddy and their circumstances, and he would rather die than lead his tormented life. In this way I disagree with Bass’s conclusions about the motive of Quentin’s suicide. I do, however, like her acknowledgement of the tree as a central image connecting Caddy and Quentin (her daughter), and ultimately all of the children.
Word count: 431
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