Last Post

End of the year and here we go, the last impressive post of the semester. The Crying of Lot 49!!! This is probably my favorite book of the year because it was both humorous and it went against the literary establishment, my two favorite things. Most of the time I feel like some of the interpretations given in English are pretty much B.S. and Pynchon speaks out in his book about searching for something where there is nothing to be found. Now I'm not saying that there never is more meaning and even most of the time there is, but reading too much into something is pointless and bad. Oedipa was a bored housewife who's paranoia fed by the fear of the could war looked for meaning in the meaningless throughout her life. While looking at a radio or the factories in the city she thought they were trying to tell her something more. Her paranoia was even more effected by the sighting of a secret society symbol throughout her adventures that lead her further and further down the road of craziness. One of the points I believe Pynchon was trying to make was that paranoia can leave you alone in this world and always leave you looking for something else. For Oedipa she lost everyone and never found what she was looking for.

The Brooch

The Brooch by Faulkner is a story of the relationship between a mother, son and his wife. The relationship dynamic between the three is what stuck out to me most in this story. First of all, the mother/son relationship is very strong and they are very close. When he went to college she went with him, the story says, making it so they never have to be apart. In class it was suggested that it might be an "unnatural" relationship, possibly even sexual. I don't really get that from the story. She definitely has a control over his life as is made evident by the fact that he never really went out with anyone, and he hung his head when walking by the pretty girls. She doesn't ever expressly forbid him though and he eventually does fall in love with Amy and he marries her. He can't leave the house because she is his mother and he feels he owes it to her and she is too sick to take care of herself. The mother doesn't like it because of Amy's reputation though. Amy and the mother's relationship is a strained one that only exists because of her son's wishes. She is kind enough to give Amy a Brooch that is worth alot and is a family heirloom. The mother holds no love for her however and as soon as Amy cheats she is ready to give up on her and force her out. Boyd and Amy were in love when they got married and had a descent relationship other than him being angry at her for dancing and drinking with other men. After their baby died they grew apart and he couldn't help her in her grieving so he allowed her to go dancing alone, something he knew one day would lead to her cheating. He felt useless and so he always just hoped it wouldn't happen, but when she did cheat he could no longer go with her and reject his mother or let his mother rule his life anymore. It was just too much to bear and he had to end his own life.

The Queen

There was a Queen by William Faulkner is a story about a woman who marries into this proud family, all the men die, so that it is only her, her aunt in law, her son, and the help left. She had received letters that would embarrass the family earlier in life and they were found by a Jewish man who she then slept with in order to retrieve them. The old woman then dies and the story ends. Basically this story seems to have to themes, that of pride and race. First of all, Narcissa is too prideful to tell the uncle to go after the man who wrote the letters and too prideful to burn them, so later she has to have sex with another man to get them back. This hurts the pride of the Aunt to the point that she becomes so upset she dies. Pride is also related to race in that the maid Elnora feels that she is better than Narcissa because she has more high class blood in her and the fact that she is part black doesn't diminish that fact. Obviously to the white people however it does diminish it. This story also shows a anti-semitic sentiment when the old woman tells the Jewish investigator to leave just because he is a Jew.

William Carlos Williams

William Carlos William's biography says it all when it calls him a "no nonsense voice of the social man". His poetry also contains vivid imagery and subtleties that could be missed if one didn't read carefully. His poem The Young Housewife at its surface is about a man who drives by a house and sees a woman and later he sees her with various delivery men and he just drives by. One has to wonder how the man knows that the wife would be in a negligee at that time of day when she is inside. It actually seems like he has had a sexual relationship with this woman and as he drives by one day he thinks of her fondly and sexually. He then compares her to a fallen leaf and then says he drives over dried leaves crushing them. So perhaps the car is him sexually and he is a man that has had sex many times with wives and enjoys thinking about it. The Portrait of a Lady I did not really get at all. Finally there was The Descent. Carl Rapp wrote "Williams reaches a point at which the external world no longer seems to provide an adequate correlative for his desires and expectations. Williams finds a similar way of looking at defeat and loss that enables him to see those negative experiences as positive ones with implications not yet "realized."" I think these are great comments about Williams' s poem. In this poem he seems to be speaking about death but how it isn't really the end. He seems to believe that even after we die our memories still live on and that memory is the greatest thing we have from life. For instance "no whiteness is so white as the memory of whiteness" is saying that nothing is as good as our memory makes it. He is also saying that in death we realize the love is not moral and it will remain after life forever "endless and indestructible". Throughout this poem he is trying to say this that "no defeat is made up entirely of defeat" and even in death good can come.

Chestnut

Chestnut's short stories The Passing of Grandison and The Wife of His Youth both deal with the African American condition in both the pre and post civil war era. In The Passing of Grandison it was interesting how Grandison was set up throughout the novel as a simple servant who no matter what was loyal to his master above all else. However, his true motivation was that of keeping his family together. He was in love with Betty the maid and he just could not leave her behind as well as the rest of his family. The reader is lead to believe throughout this story that Grandison is a simpleton who doesn't understand the value of freedom, but he is smart enough to set up his families escape to freedom without getting caught proving he was very intelligent. Also in this story it was interesting how Dick set about freeing Grandison and just couldn't figure out why he refused to go free. This misunderstanding of African Americans by whites is indicative of how whites viewed blacks as selfish stupid creatures, where in reality they are intelligent and selfless. It was also interesting how Dick set out to free one slave but because of his attempt to free just Grandison he paved the way for eight to escape together. This theme of importance of family is also evident in the second story, The Wife of His Youth. This story once again shows the selflessness of an African American as she waited for 25 years to find the husband she had when she was still a slave. She wandered America to find this man and he too chose his old bride to the one he was about to make advances toward. This is the type of love that is rare and beautiful and is great that Chestnut set it up between two older African Americans instead of the usual young people that most stories revolve around. It should also be pointed out that just because Mr. Ryder had planned on furthering his courtship of Mrs. Dixon. He too had waited a very long time before even considering another woman and like most people after 25 years he must have assumed she was dead.

Huck Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a wonderfully rich novel by Mark Twain. I greatly enjoyed the usage of different dialects throughout the novel. Each one designated a different social class with the wealthier class of people having a more fluent way of speaking, what would be called proper English. The next class is the lower or working man's class which is often spelled wrong but when sounding it out it still comes across as fairly close to proper English without the use of big words or rhetoric. Finally the African American class is completely misspelled and words run together so that it seems they are almost speaking a different language to be interpreted at times. These three modes of speaking add color and add to the appeal of the novel. It brings the reader into the story to the point that one feels like they are a part of the story, plus it gives even more personality development to the characters.
Also important throughout this novel is the interplay between religion, superstition and Huck Finn. Huck Finn begins thinking that both superstition and religion are nothing real and unimportant. Huck needs proof of everything and he finds both to be lacking in the proof area. Of the two he believes in superstition more because he has seen evidence of the bad luck that follows touching a snake skin for instance. However he doesn't believe in all superstitions and still is more of a rationalist. Religion he finds complete fault in because he has no proof of it at all. In fact he feels like he has evidence against it in that during the feuding section of the book they go to church and the sermon is about brotherly love and everyone says how good the sermon was but very soon afterwards they are almost all dead because of the feud. So Huck's reliance on reason is also how he decides what is morally right. As long as it doesn't hurt anybody and it helps him it is ok to do it.

Three Poems

The Three Poems for today were "After A Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes"; "I LIKE a look of agony"; and "It Sifts From Leaden Sieves". There is an interesting progression in these three poems that I liked when reading. In the "Agony" poem the focus is on liking pain because it is the only true emotion, the second "Pain" poem is about the pain of dying in the snow, and the third is about the beauty of the snow. However with the background theme of pain and snow being together may mean there is something more to the third poem then it seems. In "It Sifts From Leaden Sieves" the surface reading of the poem is that the snow falls from gray clouds and it covers all the trees, fills in the cracks of the road, makes everything flat and even in every direction, it covers fences and stumps and fields all alike, and fills all the area summer had been making it like it had never existed, so there is no record of life and even people don't move. If one looks at this from a different vantage snow could very easily represent death in this poem. Death comes and covers everything. All things will die eventually and it is the great equalizer just like it says about it flattening everything, mountains and valleys alike. It also covers and eliminates any evidence that the living had ever been, especially with time. And it also stops people from moving about because once one dies time is spent in morning.

BEAT BEAT DRUMS!!!!!!!!!

As a side not: First of all the Emancipation Proclamation really did not have an impact on American society. Before jumping all over this assertion hear me out as I have been told this on numerous occasions by my history professors. While hailed by abolitionists as a wonderful thing and we can all agree ending slavery is a wonderful thing, it had little real impact. The nation was at war and in the places that Lincoln had control over there were already no slaves because they had been freed. The places that did have slaves were in revolt and obviously wouldn’t obey a proclamation from what they considered a foreign government. On top of this, slaves were already being freed in the places that the union was taking over during the war so it was really just putting down on paper what was already in practice. The really important document was the amendment to the constitution outlawing the practice of slavery which was passed after the war. All of that is necessary to understand why it is the Whitman would not have made a big deal out of the Emancipation Proclamation because the war was really about maintaining the Union and not to free slaves. Freeing slaves resulted because the North won not because the North was freeing slaves and the south didn’t like it.

As a democratic nationalist it is natural for him to focus on the real importance of the war of maintaining the Union in his poetry. He was an ardent supporter of the abolitionist cause and was certainly happy that freedom was going to be assured but the uncertainty of war was still upon the nation and that is what the nations bard needed to speak out about, which is exactly what Beat! Beat! Drums! is about.

As can be seen before hand I do agree with Neely that Whitman did see the war as mainly a war for Unification of the states. Three main points about the war are made in this peace including intensity, the disruption, and the uncertainty of the war. To begin with, the intensity of the war can be seen in the language and the structure of the poem. Throughout the poem, Whitman uses language that portrays the strength and destructiveness of the war. For instance he speaks of the sound of the drums and bugles bursting with ruthless force and the shrillness of the blowing bugles. He speaks of the war making no apology or stopping for no reasoning and just how terrible the sound of the drums is. The drums and the bugles represent the war and are interesting choices as each represents a different part of battle, drums for army and bugle for the cavalry. Each of these musical instruments is beautiful in the music they create but they have been turned into weapons of war for they signal attacks on the battlefield. This is just like the people in the war who are beautiful in themselves but have become destructive as they fight against one another. The exclamation at the beginning of each stanza helps to continue this theme of intensity but also to the sense of disruptiveness that is presented. It seems to break of the first line and make it not flow like the rest of the stanza. Disruptiveness can also be seen in the daily lives of citizens in this poem because of the war. All life has come to a stand still as no one can do what they are supposed to. Husbands can’t be with wives, farmers can’t be peaceful, and no commerce can commence because of this war. Happiness has stopped and it is presented here that no normalcy can return until the end of this war has been reached. Whitman then encourages the army to fight harder and better than ever before. May the fight be so loud that even the dead are awakened is on sentiment he presents and wishes for. In the last stanza especially it is seen how even though the civil war has changed everything it is important for it to be fought and won for the union to remain.

Trading Life for Perfection

Hawthorne's "The Birth Mark" is a well written tale about husband and wife. The wife has a birthmark on her face that is in the shape of a hand that makes her husband not find her as beautiful as he once did. The more he was around it the more he wanted to get rid of it because as he said it was the one mark of imperfection on an otherwise perfect woman. He tries to get rid of it by using science but as the mark fades she loses her life and she dies as a result so that she is perfect but dead. This story has many lessons to be learned whether one does a deep reading or a surface reading. On the surface it is a story about the desire for protection ruining a woman many would be completely satisfied with, including his assistant, this showing that one should be happy with what you have. Slightly deeper still one could see how his view of her beauty drove him and her insane. His constant disparaging remarks about the birthmark ruined his ability to love her as she was and stopped her from ever finding herself beautiful or worthy of his love again, even to the point that she would rather be dead than have him shutter when he looks at her. Deeper still is a commentary about science itself. Science can manipulate the world but it can't improve upon what God has created without serious consequences. Alchemist tried to turn lead into gold and give everlasting life, but only God can create or determine how long a person should live. By trying to improve upon her nature and remove what some thought was the touch of an angel, Aylmer was trying to change God's will and she died as a result. Science's best work that is thought of as diamonds are only worth pebbles as Georgiana implied and most of their best works are failures because they show what can't be done. By always striving for something better or the impossible, no one can ever be happy.

Hawthorne and Melville

Our reading for Friday of this week was Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown and Melville's review of that story. To begin with Hawthorne sets his character, Goodman Brown, on a journey that we know from the start is "evil" but for some reason he must go anyways. This is the start of a theme that all people will sin even if they don't want to. Brown even says that after tonight he will never do evil again and that he wants to be at home with his wife who is the embodiment of youth and innocence. As he continues his journey he meets up with a man who it turns out to be is Satan. The settings being at night and on a path are clearly symbolic as darkness signifying the sinister journey ahead. Paths are mentioned throughout the Bible and they determine where you go in life, by following Satan's path he is going to hell, which is how his life turns out to be. On the path he learns that everyone is sinful and in the service of the devil no matter how good they seem to be and even his wife is shown to be bad. He seems to wake up out of a dream but the rest of his life is influenced by this journey, never can he trust or be with someone again like he used to. He dies not alone but unhappy and in this way his life was truly his hell. This story presents a depressing view on life that all are sinners in life, but it also serves as a warning that worrying about sin can't be what matters most to a person. Goodman Brown saw that all were sinners and it consumed him. It is more important to live well and accept that people have faults.

Melville praised Hawthorne's work as equal to or better than Shakespeare's works. Page after page of laudatory words appear to give Hawthorne high honors. However, once one looks closely at Melville's work it shows its true intent is to prove that American authors are every bit as good as British or French authors. He says that if America would be patrons of American authors they soon would be better than the best of contemporary or past authors in the world. He also instructs American authors to be the best writers they can be and not to worry about criticisms about being imitators or failing in originality. It is clearly a work of a man trying to prove to the world that there are American authors that are great and he has found one named Hawthorne.

The Group By Mercy Otis Warren

Mercy Otis Warren wrote this wonderful play called “The Group”. Her depiction of the people in this play was extremely positive of those loyal to the revolution and negative of those opposed to it. The revolutionists were all lovers of freedom and defenders of the natural rights people should have. She drew parallels between these Patriots with those of Britons when they were throwing off Roman rule. Those loyal to the crown had a mixture of personalities; some wanted everyone to die in battle and to leave the country in ruin while others thought that they had no chance of ever defeating the “honorable revolutionaries.” Those who were American and supported the crown were seen as traitors and having fallen under the spell of no good Rapatio.

These of course were the feelings of many Americans at the time, but the way she was able to set up the play was quite ingenious. It has a very epic or heroic quality to it with the constant allusions to ancient Rome. George Washington is seen as a Brutus who killed Caesar so that the senate could rule. Those who fought for freedom fought with the gods on their side:

“No all is over unless the sword decides,
Which cuts down Kings, and kingdoms often divides.
By that appeal I think we can't prevail,
Their valor's great, and justice holds the scale.
They fight for freedom, while we stab the breast
Of every man, who is her friend professed.
They fight in virtue's ever sacred cause,
While we tread on divine and human laws.
Glory and victory, and lasting fame,
Will crown their arms and bless each Hero's name!”

This epic of the 18^th century praised the valor of the Patriotic and condemned the actions of many more. Loyalty to the crown was always promoted by vice (such as bribery or maintaining a high position) where as loyalty to America is result of virtue. Like Hector or Achilles who died as heroes, so would many American men but their blood would anoint the ground as holy and even more deserving of being free. With this play she condemned Tories and extolled patriotic sentiment to encourage the continuing battle against tyranny.

Benjamin Franklin part three

Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography seems to follow the same progression as how he would desire someone to live their life. His first part begins by saying he isn’t perfect and tells tales of both triumphs and defeats in Franklin’s life. He is honest in his assessment of his own life, and though he does some cushioning of his faults by using beautiful prose, he is still open with his faults. Even admitting to going after his good friend’s love interest. This very much like the youthful stage in life, where mistakes are made and knowledge is gained through them. The second part of his autobiography goes on to work on his virtues and attempt to perfect himself, at least in the eyes of others. Young adulthood shines through with the development of morals and “character”. Each of the stages has less and less faults than the previous. Finally, in his third section of his autobiography Franklin comes across as almost faultless. He shows not one instance of his making any real mistakes. The entire section is a continuous praising of himself and all the wonderful accomplishments he did. He always knows better than the common man and even better than those who should know more than him, such as a general. Nothing gets done without him and he is placed in positions of power without asking or showing any interest in power, is what he is trying to show. However, this simply does not happen. Without some show of a desire to be in power, no one would try to put you into power because without desire you may not perform well in your position. His complete lack of faults in the third section is unrealistic and shows Benjamin Franklin completing his outward appearance of perfection.

William Byrd

I enjoyed William Byrd's story on How the Dividing Line between North Carolina and Virginia was established. As the editor said it seemed that he wrote with the idea that just he and his family would be reading it so the style was very straightforward but also included jokes and funny stories. I also liked the fact that it educated me on something I used to take for granted, namely how the states gained their borders.

His comments on the differences between North Carolina and Virginia were both humorous and enlightening. Virginia was described as beautiful and had an industrious people. But North Carolina was shown to be lazy and backwards. However an interesting bit of human nature was uncovered when he said that while surveying the land most people preferred that they would be in North Carolina instead of Virginia. The desire to not be told what to do by the government was evident and foreshadowed the Colonist desire to eventually be freed from English or any other rule. Byrd also made the comment that someday maybe even a great nation could rise out of North Carolina. I see this as a very interesting predictor of what has happened in N.C. since it has emerged as a premier state in the last twenty or so years.

Finally, Byrd’s commentary on the American Indians was interesting in that he saw little difference between them and the settlers in their attitudes and social life. He even criticized Britain’s lack of encouragement to interbreed with these Native Americans as a way to both convert them and gain land from the natives.

Jonathan Edwards

To begin with Edwards cited a scripture and then explicated it and the implications of it on the disciples. Then he continued with how it was relevant to all believers in his section on doctrine. The rest of this piece seems to deal with proving how there are two types of wisdom/knowledge; a natural wisdom that even unbelievers can know or feel and a spiritual knowledge that is imparted directly from God. He calls this the divine light.
He then proceeds to state what divine light is and is not. Just having a guilty conscience does not mean you have learned something from God any man can have that. Secondly, being is not just a feeling it’s a true sense or knowledge that without a doubt this is true and it feels true too. Thirdly, it is not some new idea or thought it is something that comes from the bible and is just brought to understanding by God.
Finally, He tries to show how it comes straight from God and not by man. First of all the source of the divine light must be from the bible. No natural thing can produce it. And there should be joy found in the knowledge of the truth and there should be a change of heart.
I found this piece to be rather dry and wordy and ineffective in explaining the complexities of “the divine light”. For even his base scripture was not directly related to the topic and could have been interpreted to mean something different if not at least more specific than what Jonathan Edwards tries to argue. Most of the ideas were his and he only used scripture in one part of the argument. In the end I found it to be boring and even a little snobbish that somehow he was the one to know what came from God.

May I introduce myself?

My name is Jonathan Holly and I'm a Senior Psychology Major at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I'm from Waxhaw, NC and I hope to be married within the next few years to my wonderful girlfriend Angela. I'm taking an American Literature Class for fun this year and this is my blog for the class. Hopefully I will have some good insights and any comments are welcome. Carolina basketball is also my life so if you ever get any tickets you know who to call.