Critical Thinking Blog #11

Hmm, I'm not entirely sure if there is prompt for this week or not, so I suppose I will just ramble a bit about Kerouac. I have always struggled with Kerouac's writing and subject manner. At times, I think he is sheer brilliance and others I am just bored and his loose, stream of conscious style becomes unappealing. Kerouac's hedonistic lifestyle easily lends itself toward a compelling, albeit plot less, narrative. In rereading this section Big Sur, the nonchanlantness of Kerouac's depictions jumped out at me. When he describes the setting around him at Big Sur there is an effortless and natural quality to it and the depiction of his dinner of spaghetti with tomato sauce, apple relishe, and oil and vinegar salad seems necessary, despite its tendency toward minutia. With Ginsberg, on the hand, I relish in his structure. While he also exhibits this effortlessness and free flowing writing, it is through his structure that this accomplished. There is ease in his poetry through the syntax and flow that makes it honest and compelling. Ginsberg was obviously influenced by Walt Whitman, and was able to break down Whitman's structure and openness into his own subject matter to create powerful and thought-provoking works, such as Howl.

Critical Thinking Blog #10

Throughout “Going to Meet the Man,” Jesse’s grappling with morality holds the most prominence to me. He shifts from being absolutely ruthless and cutthroat in regard to his views and actions toward blacks, but he exhibits momentary flashes of opposition to the socially accepted racist behavior, which he and others act on, despite never outright expressing this dissonance. While reminiscing about his childhood, Jesse’s naiveté allows him to disregard color, which allows him to be so close to Otis. However, once provided the example of the man who is lynched, Jesse instantaneously distinguishes himself from Otis. Even though he is able to force his innocent and unaware viewpoints of his childhood away, they reappear in this moment of weakness and exhaustion. As he becomes older and ultimately more close-minded, his racism increases fervently. Even as a young man he still had a rapport with the children and the people whose bills he collected. However, through his time with in the force and his hatred stewing, he becomes a brutal, heartless animal. This uncertainty and internal struggle for the quest for justice is a commonality that is not as readily expressed as extreme, fundamentalist racism. To not even consider the humanity in slaves and colored people is animalistic, which Jesse showcases as well, and I highly doubt that even the most intense racist has never had a moment of doubt. As a result, it is more difficult to discern one’s emotions toward a character instead of wholeheartedly loving or hating them.

Critical Thinking Blog #9

While Cheever’s “The Swimmer” does include a plethora of references about alcohol, its message is not about alcoholism and addiction. The usage of alcohol is merely a nod to the mundane commonality it is within the social scene of the bourgeoisie, suburban lifestyle that Neddy exists in. It is far too simplistic to blame Neddy’s drinking for the occurrences that happen. Neddy’s problems are rooted deep with in his psyche and his denial is displaced within the journey he believes he is taking across his neighbors’ pools. Instead, it symbolizes the passage of time and Neddy’s inability to cope with the misfortunes of his life. He takes on this pilgrimage in an effort to delay his realization that he no longer lives a lavish lifestyle due to his financial follies. Neddy’s journey is metaphorically illustrated through the methods of swimming and, slowly, Neddy begins to drown throughout his life and the culmination of his struggle derives from the ending in which he finds his house empty and abandoned. While Neddy starts out strong and swims vigorously, eventually he swims too far out and becomes winded and downtrodden. Similar to Edna in The Awakening, Neddy is searching for something. While their reasoning and outcomes differ, they both swim out of reach for detachment. Neddy detaches himself from the reality of his decreasing financial and societal standpoint.

Critical Thinking Blog #8

I totally forgot that we are supposed to write about "A Streetcar Named Desire." How could I forget Brando and his shirtlessness? Never again shall I make such a folly. The first time I read "Streetcar" it was difficult for me to really picture Stanley beyond his fictionalized characterization. But, oh my, Brando and his dreaminess just epitomized Stanley. The first time I saw the movie at USF I hated the scene where he is just stuffing his face with food for a multitude of reasons. Everyone else in my class laughed, like our class did, and I just sat there so annoyed. One reason is I hate when someone is stuffing their face and talking, especially if they are talking to me. However, the main reason was that if I was Stella I would have felt really disrespected and, at the time, this scene disturbed me more than the scene in which Stanley hits Stella even though the play evoked more emotion from me in the latter scene. It's probably because I was just naturally even more of bitch, having to deal with a ridiculous roommate, and just took that scene and dwelled upon it. When we watched it on Tuesday I actually laughed. This time, I felt more disdain for Blanche than before. I have never cared for Blanche Dubois, but Vivien Leigh just amplifies my disdain. She hones in on Blanche's victimization of herself and, even though I have always thought that Blanche has a flair for the dramatics, Leigh's portrayal made her seem like a joke. I've always associated her to the mother, Amanda, in "The Glass Menagerie" ("My glass!--menagerie. . .") with her traditional Southern values and lack of connection with reality. Similar to Williams' mother, but that is another blog. . .

Critical Thinking Blog #7

Let me just preface my blog with the fact that I am honestly not a fan at all of John Steinbeck. He is wordy and most of the time extremely dull. Also, what is his deal with mice? Anyways, I did slightly enjoy The Leader of the People, mainly because of the Grandfather character, which made this story redeemable to me because it is easy to relate to and the characterizations are interesting. My Grandpa is the same way--telling the same stories and with the same rhythm and tone. In fact, the last time I saw him a couple weeks ago he told some story about NYU because my sister just got in and my Dad's side of the family hails from the Bronx, which led into some other story about where they used to live there and something about the area around NYU being turned into a haven for liberals (which, of course, we should avoid at all costs. God forbid he ever discovers our political viewpoints). I enjoyed his optimistic depiction of Jody and the willingness he has to help those around him. When Jody replies to his Grandfather that, "Maybe I could lead the people some day" (Steinbeck 2059), his naivete and positive outlook are revealed. While this is status quo for most children, I liked that Steinbeck depicts it fairly accurately and doesn't look down upon this childish view, but rather values it and is the factor that cheers the Grandfather u[. In the end, Jody tries to cheer up his Grandfather with lemonade showing his desire to help. He is cognisant of his Grandfather's disappointment because of what his father has said, which shows his maturity and the ability to recognize the feelings of others.

Critical Thinking Blog #6

Throughout The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Hemingway portrays Helen as emasculating Harry because of her independence and strength. Since he has to depend on her financially in outright neglect of societal norm, he is not the provider and therefore loses his sense of masculinity in the relationship. As a result, their relationship crumbles despite her fervent love for him. When Helen asks them what they have done in their lives to deserve their fate he responds,

I suppose what I did was forget to put iodine on it when I first scratched it. Then
I didn’t pay any attention to it because I never infect. Then, later, when it got bad, it was probably using that weak carbolic solution when the other antiseptics ran out
that paralyzed the minute blood vessels and started the gangrene (Hemingway 1985).

Even though he thinks he is not answering her question, Harry describes metaphorically the corruption of their relationship due to his inability to accept her as the supporter of their family financially. Overtime, the emasculating nature of their relationship cripples Harry leaving him devoid of any love toward her. Since his career as a writer has ultimately not been as successful as he had hoped, he not only feels like a failure, but also has to rely on his wife to remain afloat. Also, Helen is able to sustain an intelligent repartee with Harry and does “masculine” actives better than he does and therefore unintentionally reduces his masculinity even more so. She is able to quickly become adept at hunting, an action overly deemed manly by society, which makes him feel inferior.

Critical Thinking Blog #5

After careful revision of the end of “Winter Dreams,” it was difficult for me to find any sort of pleasure lurking in his nostalgia. While there was a tinge of optimism in his reminiscing, the overwhelming sense of loss overpowered said tinge. His longing to be the one to have married Judy and seen her become not-so pretty is apparent. To discover that she is no longer beautiful and leads a fairly unhappy life makes his desirous of what his life could have been with her. However, in the end, there is a sense of closure and that he is finally to get over her. Since he is extremely inquisitive as to her whereabouts and situation, he is somewhat comforted, even though he longs to be the one she ended up with, due to her current state of affairs. He is finally able to take a more individualistic stance rather than just immersing himself in his work to busy himself and instead of morning his loss of Judy is relishes in himself and stops crying about the life he could have had. Therefore, in the end, there is a sense of closure, which does garner a fairly optimism and pleasurable element. He is finally free from the trance Judy put him in and is able to move on instead of letting her dictate his life. Since he would usually drop everything after one mention of Judy, his dismissal of his urge to reconnect with her shows his growth and that he is poised to live for himself, which makes the ending more optimistic, but not necessarily pleasurable per se.