Masculinity

A topic I found interesting in The Sun Also Rises is the relationship between Jake and his masculinity -- specifically in the context of the gay men he comes across. With the "Iceberg Theory" in mind, I thought it was extremely illuminating how Hemingway shows both Jake's intolerance and the reason behind it. For Jake, masculinity seems to be a very sore subject, of course due to the injuries he has, and I noticed that it was heightened when he was mentioning the gay men. From what I gather from Jake as a character and the time period the novel is set it, I believe that Jake is essentially a homophobe because he finds homosexuality to be like a cruel mockery of his own situation. Jake's circumstances make him feel as though he is less masculine than a normal man and to him, homosexuality could look like men, who have all the "parts" required to be masculine, just throwing away that chance. 

It would be interesting to see how the story changes (or would there even be a story?) if Jake didn't receive the same injuries he has now. Would he be more tolerant and less aggressive? Would he have more confidence in himself and allow love into his life? I guess it isn't really a fair thing to contemplate because so much of Jake's character is based on the scars but does raise some questions about the real world. I feel that everyone does things for a reason, whether they are aware of it or not, and we shouldn't be to quick to judge people.

Mental Health in Mrs. Dalloway

 Mental health is a large aspect of Mrs. Dalloway and is represented by a character who would be much more relatable during the time period that Woolf wrote the novel in: A war veteran. He seems to be inflicted with PTSD and depression, and the reader sees how he is trapped in his own mind. I find Woolf's portrayal of Septimus and his doctor very representative of the initial introduction of mental health as an idea in society. Like Septimus, war veterans who were "shell-shocked" were not taken seriously and doctors had a similar reaction as Septimus's doctor did (Acting like there wasn't much wrong). 

One similarity that we briefly discussed in class was that between Mrs. Dalloway and "The Yellow Wallpaper". Both of these stories discuss the lack of awareness surrounding mental illness and give similar descriptions of the madness that takes over the victims. After reading this novel, I wonder if people were less ignorant about mental illness and more accepting of the fact that the mind must be treated with care, just like the body. 

Hyper-Detailed Narratives in the Quarantine World

Evan Kindley from The New Yorker discusses connections between Mrs. Dalloway's story and our lives under quarantine in this article: [link]

Although we haven't read much of this novel, it's interesting to see the points Kindley makes about the sudden growth in consequence of formerly normal acts like walking to the store or crossing a street. Even in the novel The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker, where the reader is thrust into a hyper-analyzed account of going up an escalator, readers in 2020 can relate deeply with the ironic significance of such a simple deed. However, this does bring up the question of "Are we supposed to relate to these personal accounts?". Did the authors of these novels truly mean for the reader to have a personal connection with their accounts or are the stories enclosed meant more to be a "time-capsule" or snapshot of a single individual's life? 

As we read more of Mrs. Dalloway, I expect that we will continue to make connections with our modern predicament and Mrs. Dalloway's adventure. 

Aurelius and Howie

Arguably the most violent reaction the reader witnesses from Howie in The Mezzanine is the one that occurs after he reads a passage from Marcus Aurelius's Meditations. As a bit of background, Meditations is a collection of 12 books that Aurelius wrote to himself about the "importance of analyzing one's judgment of self and others and the development of a cosmic perspective" (Wikipedia). The specific passage that Howie reads discusses the triviality and the transience of life and during our discussion in class, we spoke a lot about the the aspect of the trivial. Another general consensus our class came to is that Howie inherently disagrees with Aurelius and his beliefs. However, when I reread the passage in The Mezzanine I noticed that the narrative of Howie was very similar to Aurelius's Meditations in the sense that both are very private, "intimate" narrations of each own's life. The only difference is that Howie seems to separate trivial and transient as two separate things. 

For Howie, the "trivial" things in his life enable him to manipulate his flow of time and give a sense of permanence to passing events. The juxtaposition of his deep analysis of his milk and cookies into his analysis of Aurelius's passage further emphasizes this idea. In Howie's life, the most important things are the "trivial" and the things he longs for and remembers the most deeply are the "transient". Aurelius's "definition" of life completely contradicts this belief, which causes this reaction.

Flower by Kim Chun Soo

This is a poem called Flower by a famous Korean poet named Kim Chun Soo, who has won many notable awards.

In Korean:

꽃

내가 그의 이름을 불러 주기 전에는
그는 다만
하나의 몸짓에 지나지 않았다.

내가 그의 이름을 불러 주었을 때
그는 나에게로 와서
꽃이 되었다.

내가 그의 이름을 불러 준 것처럼
나의 이 빛깔과 향기에 알맞은
누가 나의 이름을 불러 다오.
그에게로 가서 나도
그의 꽃이 되고 싶다.

우리들은 모두
무엇이 되고싶다.
너는 나에게 나는 너에게
잊혀지지 않는 하나의 눈짓이 되고 싶다.

My rough English translation:

Flower

Before I had spoken her name,
She was nothing but a gesture.

When I spoke her name,
She came to me and became a flower.

Just like I spoke her name,
Who will speak mine,
Which fits with my color and scent.
I, too, want to go to her
And become her flower.

We all desire becoming something.
You to me, I to you,
Yearn to become an unforgettable glance.



I found this poem very interesting because it blended together aspects of one's identity and the meanings of one person to another. In the first two stanzas, the author is describing how when he called a person's name, she became something valuable and beautiful. I think in this context, what he means by "calling her name" is not referring to saying her name but showing her what her best qualities are. This interpretation is further reinforced by the next stanza in which the speaker asks for someone to call his name, which fits his scent and color. I think what he is asking for is for someone to recognize his appealing qualities so that he can understand what they are and bloom into a flower as well. The last stanza is one I find very beautiful because the phrase "We all desire becoming something" is so powerful and it is one that many people can relate to. Also the last line where the author says that they want to be unforgettable even in quick glances is simple but also relatable. One thing that I feel is up to interpretation is whether this is depicting a sort of one-sided love. If you have a different perspective on this poem, please let me know in the comments!

I think that we has students in the US sometimes forget that although there are many cultures both inside and outside the country that are different, the people in those communities come to the same conclusions about emotions, especially love. I picked this poem because I think it's a great representation of how people who might write or speak in a different language still feel the same way about yearning and companionship.

First Blog Post - Poem I like

Welcome to the end of my posts about African American Literature and the beginning of our journey through the rest of my Poetry unit.

I am supposed to write about a favorite poem, which I currently don't have right now, so instead I'll share a couple poems that I've read before that kept me interested in Poetry and showed me the connections between expressing an idea, conveying humor, and making the listener think within a single poem. The poems I found come from a TED talk (linked here) by Harry Baker, the Poetry Slam World Cup winner in 2012, who shares a couple poems he wrote. I'll only be talking about one called "59" but the others are great too and you should check them out.

"59" by Harry Baker

59 wakes up on the wrong side of the bed.
Realizes all his hair is on one side of his head.
Takes just under a minute to work out that it’s because of the way that he slept.
He finds some clothes and gets dressed.
He can’t help but look in the mirror and be subtly impressed
How he looks rough around the edges and yet casually messed.
And as he glances out the window, he sees the sight that he gets blessed with of 60 from
across the street.
Now 60 was beautiful.
With perfectly trimmed cuticles,
dressed in something suitable.
Never rude or crude at all.
Unimprovable, right on time as usual, more on cue than a snooker ball but liked to play it super cool.
59 wanted to tell her that he knew her favorite flower.
He thought of her every second, every minute, every hour.
But he knew it wouldn’t work, he’d never get the girl.
Because although she lived across the street they came from different worlds.
While 59 admired 60’s perfectly round figure, 60 thought 59 was odd.
One of his favorite films was "101 Dalmatians."
She preferred the sequel.
He romanticized the idea they were star-crossed lovers.
They could overcome the odds and evens because they had each other.
While she maintained the strict views imposed on her by her mother
That separate could not be equal.
And though at the time he felt stupid and dumb
For trying to love a girl controlled by her stupid mum,
He should have been comforted by the simple sum.
Take 59 away from 60, and you’re left with the one.
Sure enough after two months of moping around,
61 days later, 61 was who he found,
He had lost his keys and his parents were out.
So one day after school he went into a house
As he noticed the slightly wonky numbers on the door,
He wondered why he’d never introduced himself before,
As she let him in, his jaw dropped in awe.
61 was like 60, but a little bit more.
She had prettier eyes, and an approachable smile,
And like him, rough around the edges, casual style,
And like him, everything was in disorganized piles,
And like him, her mum didn’t mind if friends stayed a while.
Because she was like him, and he liked her.
He reckoned she would like him if she knew he was like her,
And it was different this time. I mean, this girl was wicked,
So he plucked up the courage and asked for her digits.
She said, "I'm 61."
He grinned, said, "I'm 59."
Today I’ve had a really nice time,
So tomorrow if you wanted you could come over to mine?
She said, "Sure."
She loved talking to someone just as quirky,
She agreed to this unofficial first date.
In the end he was only ready one minute early,
But it didn’t matter because she arrived one minute late.
And from that moment on there was nonstop chatter,
How they loved "X Factor," how they had two factors,
How that did not matter, distinctiveness made them better,
By the end of the night they knew they were meant together.
And one day she was talking about stuck-up 60,
She noticed that 59 looked a bit shifty.
He blushed, told her of his crush:
“The best thing that never happened because it led to us.”
61 was clever, see, not prone to jealousy,
She looked him in the eyes and told him quite tenderly,
"You’re 59, I’m 61, together we combine to become twice what 60 could ever be."
At this point 59 had tears in his eyes,
Was so glad to have this one-of-a-kind girl in his life.
He told her the very definition of being prime
Was that with only one and himself could his heart divide,
And she was the one he wanted to give his heart to,
She said she felt the same and now she knew the films were half true.
Because that wasn't real love, that love was just a sample,
When it came to real love, they were a prime example.

I think this poem interests me because of it's wit and the way he is able to make this huge poem seem simple when he reads it out loud.

If you have the time (or motivation), try to write your own poem incorporating numbers or math in "sum" way.

America and White Boy Shuffle

When we discussed the ending of White Boy Shuffle in class, I realized that the topics we were covering consistently overlapped with the themes of the poem, "America", we talked about previously. One main discussion topic was the aspect of perspective and how the eagle looked free and appeared to be flying but in reality was trapped and unable to be independent. Similarly, Gunnar seems to have everything anyone would want (Literary genius, fame, prodigy basketball player, etc.) but still feels confined to the suffocating views of the White people. Because of this, he feels that the only course of action left is to drop a bomb on the entire Black population as a final Black movement. Another interesting aspect is the idea of dependency. For example, in order for the eagle to even appear like it's flying, someone, presumably a white person, would have to flip the coin off their finger. In White Man Shuffle, most of Gunnar's unwanted fame and glory stems from the attention of white spectators who use him as a source of their entertainment and "generosity". I think the author does an amazing job of showcasing this sense of inevitability and traps their reader into the exact perspective that Gunnar fights to get rid of at the end, which is a sense of loss and disappointment of Gunnar's waste of his talents.

This novel has kept me hooked throughout each chapter and I feel that it's fitting, in regard to the theme of amusing yet uncomfortable irony, that the solution the genius Gunnar Kaufman comes up with to finally free the Blacks from the views of society is such a simple one, yet no one left on the Earth would be able to understand.