The pairing of Mansfield’s “Miss Brill” with Gilb’s “Love in L.A.” illustrates the authors’ divergent approaches to a similar theme, which might be paraphrased as: how the retreat into private fantasies can distort not only one’s sense of collective realities and perceptions, but impair self-perception as well. Mansfield’s modernist stream-of-consciousness narration, reflexively commenting on its own polished style, as in graf 9 (“Oh, how fascinating it was! How she enjoyed it! . . . Who could believe the sky at the back wasn’t painted?”), builds to a tragic end after the sullen boy’s derisive aside in graf 13, recasting Miss Brill from a harsh new angle as “that stupid old thing . . . [a] silly old mug.” The wounded protagonist slumps home alone, to a “cupboard” suddenly more forlorn than anything at first suggested by her rosy late-Victorian diction.
By contrast Gilb updates the existentialist hell of being trapped on some endless, eternally unmoving freeway for comic purposes, via snappy sitcom dialogue. Jake’s dream of a mobile environment of “crushed velvet . . . a nice warm heater and defroster . . . cruise control [and] mellow speakers” described in the first graf is so enticing only a collision can jar him out of it. Jake’s attraction to Mariana, the motorist, is an “added complication” (graf 4) to an underlying aggression kept at bay through the richly upholstered fantasy, but implicit in the violence of “snuffing out that nasty exterior” in the first graf, and coloring Jake’s words to the notably younger woman; e.g., the threat in graf 5 of not having “to lay my regular b.s. on you,” or the overbearing “You’re not married, are you?” in graf 16. But the story resolves into sly comedy, as the trimmings of Jake’s outlaw self-image foil Mariana’s attempt to hold him responsible for messing up her car. The police can run his plate numbers, but just as Mariana’s Florida plates don’t make her Cuban, Jake’s stolen plates establish no link, either. In lotus-land all is surface, the sky at back is painted. Jake’s possibly delusional self-fashioning, this time at least, shields him from the law even as it hides him from himself.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
thoughts on readings, chapters 6-7
Chekhov’s command of perspective in “The Lady With the Pet Dog,” aligning the narrator’s voice closely with Dmitry’s throughout most of the action, becomes clear toward the story’s end. The acerbic description in graf 58 of “the slightly coarse arrogance of a happy male” troubles our view of the antihero, before the controlled point-of-view is stripped bare by Anna’s meltdown in grafs 97 and 99, her sobs shattering the diction and poise of Chekhov’s refined illusionism. Our identification with Dmitry is conclusively ruptured by his gaze in the mirror in grafs 114-115, catching sight of his aging looks. The image of the couple split across two vertical planes marks the shift into an editorial voice, distancing us from Dmitry’s consciousness and casting judgment on his chronic manipulation of women by asserting, “not one of [his lovers] had been happy with him,” and that “he had never once loved.”
In “Battle Royal” the noxious haze of smoke filling the town burghers’ banquet hall provides a suggestive symbol for the ambient racist sentiment confronting the protagonist when he steps outside the black community. The “agonizing” smoke is one of several figures for blindness or partial vision in the scene. Some of the “tough guys” in the ring with him are “blinded” at beholding the blonde stripper in grafs 7-8 (“[they] stood with lowered heads”; “I saw one boy faint”). With the other combatants, the protagonist is blindfolded by his hosts in graf 10 and warned sharply against trying to nudge it; “a blow to my head” in graf 38 leaves his “right eye popping like a jack-in-the-box.” The poisonous haze must be cleared from the protagonist’s senses, his naiveté must be exorcised, before he can perceive accurately his position with seemingly all of white society ranged against him.
In “Battle Royal” the noxious haze of smoke filling the town burghers’ banquet hall provides a suggestive symbol for the ambient racist sentiment confronting the protagonist when he steps outside the black community. The “agonizing” smoke is one of several figures for blindness or partial vision in the scene. Some of the “tough guys” in the ring with him are “blinded” at beholding the blonde stripper in grafs 7-8 (“[they] stood with lowered heads”; “I saw one boy faint”). With the other combatants, the protagonist is blindfolded by his hosts in graf 10 and warned sharply against trying to nudge it; “a blow to my head” in graf 38 leaves his “right eye popping like a jack-in-the-box.” The poisonous haze must be cleared from the protagonist’s senses, his naiveté must be exorcised, before he can perceive accurately his position with seemingly all of white society ranged against him.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Setting and Point of View in The Yellow Wallpaper
I very much enjoyed The Yellow Wallpaper. It held for me many of the points that were made in the BIL about the strength of a good setting and point of view by a character. The first person narrative taken in the story by Gilman really allows for the reader to understand the condition of the character in the story. Her usage of the yellow wallpaper to represent the deteriorating mindset of the woman as she slowly crept into her mental illness allowed for the setting itself to be an important character as well. This was my favorite story for this particular assignment because I feel that Gilman was able to invoke so much from her characters and setting, giving both a key role in how her story played itself out. In reading from one of the earlier blogs that she suffered from a similar illness makes sense since the mindset of that person comes through so strongly in the work.
Setting
The significance of the use of setting is very powerful. Readers normally skim through the setting of the story. After we know where the when the story takes place, usually at the beginning of the book, we normally pay little attention to the additional information of setting that come after. However keeping setting in mind while reading is a plus. Setting creates the story to come into life. The more details the reader gets aquainted with, the more focused and interested the reader becomes. In addition, setting provides meaning in greater depth. According to Godwin, "A Sorrowful Woman occurs in the spring, an ironic time for the action to be set because instead of rebirth for the protagonist there is only death." Setting definitely causes the reader to think deeper.
The Yellow Wallpaper
The way that the woman talks about her husband it shows that he loves her and decides everything for her. She probably feels guilty that her husband does so much for her that she does not disagree with him. I think there is a communication gap between them and that may be one reason for her depression. The ending leaves some questions such as did the husband faint or did he die? This story reminded me somewhat of A Sorrowful Woman because of the situation and the characters.
I found it really interesting how Chekhov and Oates had compleatly different views in the short story "The Lady With the Pet dog". At first I was looking for a reference in the book to an actual dog, but then I relized that the dog reference was actually to a man. Because of Annas insecurities she looked to men to fufill her own satisfactions eventhough she was married. At the same time her lover was a dog because he was married and proceeded to have a relationship with her. I also found it interesting how he played a double roll because he talked so badly about women calling them "the inferior race" but then proceeded to fall inlove with a woman and treat her with the most respect. I found Oates point of view on this story to be the complete opposite of Chekhov. Being that Oates re wrote this in the 1970's, she made Anna feel really repressed and less of a woman because of her affairs. I also like how both authors portraied the same type of story into different parts of the world. This really shows that all women are expected to be loyal and faithful to their husbands and feel bad about it but on the other hand the men who are unfaithful to their wives dont live with any regreat or remorce. The scenery in both storys really affected the mood and the tone of the story.
Chekhov: Lady With the Pet Dog
The story displays a rendezvous romance between two unhappily married individuals. Dmitry was placed into an arranged marriage during his second year of school. Anna is unhappily married to a so called "flunkey." Anna was only twenty when she married her husband. This left her mind wondering and "tormented by curiosity." Anna wanted a better half than what she settled for. The narrator writes in the third person in order to allow the reader to get a chance of stepping into the characters mind. In Lady With the Pet Dog, the narrator allows us to realize that Anna and Dmitry are two unhappily married people, that seek happiness and concealed love.
In my opinion I think that the affair was something special for both Anna and Dmitry. They were never able to experience the kind of love and affection that they recieved during their affair within their marriages. They both were happy but took it a little to far. They should have came to an agreement of both starting their own lives by starting with todays common divorce. With this method they propably wouldn't have lived life so miserably.
In my opinion I think that the affair was something special for both Anna and Dmitry. They were never able to experience the kind of love and affection that they recieved during their affair within their marriages. They both were happy but took it a little to far. They should have came to an agreement of both starting their own lives by starting with todays common divorce. With this method they propably wouldn't have lived life so miserably.
The Yellow Wallpaper
In The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman uses a pretty obvious metaphoric device to portray the emotional state of her character. In her hallucinationatory state, she perceives a woman trapped behind the wallpaper of her room. Her state is such, that the wallpaper makes her physically ill and she attempts to free this "woman". After some time, she begins to see not only one, but that there were perhaps "a great many women behind".
Gilman's message is blatant. Her main character, as a woman, is trapped in a world from which she cannot escape. She is treated essentially as a child by her husband and all those around her, and is powerless to effect her own life and do as she feels is best. She cannot free herself, and she imagines the woman trapped behind the wallpaper, and attempts to extricate her. Instead of understanding that it is her own confining life which is making her ill, in her hallucinations, she imagines that it is the wallpaper (symbolizing her life) which is making her mad.
I found that Gilman's point, while clear and effective, was somewhat too obviously stated in her story. The metaphor is too apparent, the device too simple, and left very little up to the reader to interpret.
Gilman's message is blatant. Her main character, as a woman, is trapped in a world from which she cannot escape. She is treated essentially as a child by her husband and all those around her, and is powerless to effect her own life and do as she feels is best. She cannot free herself, and she imagines the woman trapped behind the wallpaper, and attempts to extricate her. Instead of understanding that it is her own confining life which is making her ill, in her hallucinations, she imagines that it is the wallpaper (symbolizing her life) which is making her mad.
I found that Gilman's point, while clear and effective, was somewhat too obviously stated in her story. The metaphor is too apparent, the device too simple, and left very little up to the reader to interpret.
Analyzing Plot
Chekhov’s plot in “The lady with the pet dog” is neatly worked-out. It’s orderly well. It begins with exposition of Anna and Gurov’s encounter and developed their lovers’ relationship. Exposition continues their experiences of love when they were together to their parted. Meanwhile, rising action began simultaneous with their parted feelings on each other. Gurov felt he must see her again. So the climax followed with his eagerness to see her. He traveled to his lover’s town to seek her. Resolution followed the last.
Oates’ differentiates of using plot are not sequential. Although she changed her plot’s order, her story still is easy followed to readers. In her “The lady with the pet dog” She didn’t use exposition for her story beginning. Instead, the climax she used first. The story lovers met again in the concert hall. We don’t know what’s happened in their past. Oates so used flashbacked in second her second part to give the exposition. Resolution also followed the last.
Oates’ differentiates of using plot are not sequential. Although she changed her plot’s order, her story still is easy followed to readers. In her “The lady with the pet dog” She didn’t use exposition for her story beginning. Instead, the climax she used first. The story lovers met again in the concert hall. We don’t know what’s happened in their past. Oates so used flashbacked in second her second part to give the exposition. Resolution also followed the last.
The Yellow Wallpaper- Reader and Writer
Charlotte Perkins is clearly trying to portray a character that is in need of self-finding. The main character is informing the reader about her different emotional stages through the story. This technique creates a more solid bond between the reader and the character. Perkins sets a story, in which a woman is found trap in a fantasy that surrounds her husband John, becoming unable to think or act as her free will wanted. Creating an illusionary world that she perhaps is force to maintain and live in. She finds that the only exit from this world is to relay on her ability to express her emotions in writing, and the huge symbolism that comes to play the yellow wallpaper surrounding the room. This symbol planned by Charlotte represent the key to unlock the self-dependent woman that lives within our main character.
Chekhov & Oates
I was quite intrigued by the two stories of The Lady with the Pet Dog and what they are trying to reveal to the readers. Although both stories are quite similar in their themes of love, passion and adultery, and their conclusions leave the reader in uncertainty of the outcome, the two stories are from two very different viewpoints. In Chekhov's version, the story sheds light on the man's view of an adulterous relationship and the despise he has for his wife. Dmitry "considered her [his wife] of limited intelligence, narrow-minded, dowdy" and was even afraid to go home to her. Throughout his past affairs with other women, the amour started off as a "light and charming adventure" however it usually culminates and "grows into a painful problem of extreme complexity, and in the end a painful situation is created." However, with his new lover, Anna, her image did not flee from him and all those memories came back to him. He sought her out and despite her reluctance, she gave in to her desires. However, the last paragraph gives no indication as to the final conclusion of the story.
In Oates' version of the story, the point of view is from the adulteress and how she feels throughout the affair. She feels sick with her husband and "for years now they had not been comfortable together." During her infidelity, she fights off the urges to be with her lover but she too succumbs to the temptation. She needs reassurance from her lover that he indeeds loves her, however in the end, just as she feels its all over, she comes to the realization that "this man was her husband" in a sense that she had truly loved him, the 'lover' and not her married husband.
In Oates' version of the story, the point of view is from the adulteress and how she feels throughout the affair. She feels sick with her husband and "for years now they had not been comfortable together." During her infidelity, she fights off the urges to be with her lover but she too succumbs to the temptation. She needs reassurance from her lover that he indeeds loves her, however in the end, just as she feels its all over, she comes to the realization that "this man was her husband" in a sense that she had truly loved him, the 'lover' and not her married husband.
The Yellow Wallpaper
The story is basically about a woman that needs some sort of Independence to make herself sane. The fact that her husband treats her like his child and not his wife doesn't help her "temporary nervous depression." We follow the character as she free's herself from her husbands ways. She uses the wallpaper as her guide to find out that she is her own person.
Her mental state leaves her to hallucinate a character behind the wallpaper and once she frees this imaginary character she has freed herself.
Her mental state leaves her to hallucinate a character behind the wallpaper and once she frees this imaginary character she has freed herself.
roselily
The omniscient narrator tells us about a woman on her wedding day. I feel like she is getting married for a second time out of necessity not for love. In the story the narrator tells us that she didn't want to raise her children alone anymore. That she didn't love him, but she loved things about him. But she feels she will be trapped. But she also doesn't know how she quite feels.
Battle Royal
"Battle Royal" is a story that makes us think about the past as well as the present and the future. At first, the story begins with the author over-hearing some news that he wasn't supposed to know about. The information that his grandfather was a spy has now "made" his life. It shaped the way he thought, portrayed himself, and changed the way he evaluated people.
This excerpt was interesting because who would have thought bankers, lawyers, doctors, and other people who have high professions would ever be caught in a place such as this. They covered up fight-fest as a "meeting" where all they did was drink, fight, and watch the young women on the stage. This piece by Ellison contradicts everything the "common people" in the world portray them as. Some may say they are people too and would like to have some fun. Others would say people of high standard should uphold their standards by all means.
I liked this story because it touched many areas. Politics, history, language, and even gymnastics, if you may. It kept me interested because it wasn't set on one particular area.
One question I have, which probably can't be answered is if this still goes on today.
The world is changing day by day. But are the things that need to be changed being changed?
This excerpt was interesting because who would have thought bankers, lawyers, doctors, and other people who have high professions would ever be caught in a place such as this. They covered up fight-fest as a "meeting" where all they did was drink, fight, and watch the young women on the stage. This piece by Ellison contradicts everything the "common people" in the world portray them as. Some may say they are people too and would like to have some fun. Others would say people of high standard should uphold their standards by all means.
I liked this story because it touched many areas. Politics, history, language, and even gymnastics, if you may. It kept me interested because it wasn't set on one particular area.
One question I have, which probably can't be answered is if this still goes on today.
The world is changing day by day. But are the things that need to be changed being changed?
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