Liberal Blogging

The following blog entry is less conventional compared to the ones I have previously written. While I read I highlight phrases, excerpts words among other things I find interesting along the text. These may be words I’ve never seen before or quotes I believe are esthetically well written that may have some literal value.

“Look around you. Ever is a long time.

But the boy knew what he knew. That ever is no time at all.” (pg 14)

This particular phrase uses time to evoke the kid and dad’s emotions in The Road. The boy is afraid of their undecided future and possible death in the post apocalyptic scenario. It is very interesting that “ever” is infinite and cannot be determined by time. His father being the “wise” figure in the story is wrong, and the boy serves a juxtaposing character.

“The faintly lit hatchway lay in the dark of the yard like a grave

yawning at judgment day in some old apocalyptic painting.”(pg 79)

McCarthy presents to us the use of imagery by using a simile. He compares the hatchway in the dark to a grave at judgment day. I consider this comparison to be a more interesting approach to portray The Road’s scenario. It is almost a type of meta-fiction in a sense that they are referring to an apocalyptic setting while being in one.

“Then they set out along the blacktop in the gun-metal light, shuffling

through the ash, each the other's world entire” (pg 3)

This phrase is ethically good and portrays The Road’s theme completely. They are together in a vast world in which death is their nearest friend. The rough description of the “gun-metal light” suites perfectly the idea of McCarthy’s story.

Blues And Greys

The Road by Cormac McCarthy portrays the nothingness and lack of hope in society. The view of a destructor World is an universal theme. His novel incorporates “hope” as a major idea in which the boy and father struggle to survive. McCarthy says, “Barren, silent, godless” (pg 2) alluding to the common fear people feel when being lonely and uncertain, usually associated to the lack of a deity. This, is often used as a critic to search for a higher being in moments of destruction. How humans feel tiny when they realize that nature or modernism are stronger forces than us.

The Road is a painting done by pen, crayon, chalk, blues and greys. It has a strong use of emotions evoked by the kid’s questions answered by his father with negative and yet positive predictions. McCarthy says, “Are we going to die? Sometime. Not now” (page 5).

Carts Moving Along The Road= Humans Coping With Existance

As I read McCarthy’s novel I couldn’t forget Mr. Tangen’s words: “ this is a pretty easy book, you’ll read it fast.” And so far I couldn’t agree more, however, the novel has various interesting elements such as strong symbolism. The kid walking with his dad in a post-apocalyptic scenario isn’t my favorite plot to read. Despite this, McCarthy has strong character development throughout his novel and is able to use symbols to portray stronger ideas aside from a stereotypical theme.

The evident symbol in the novel is the road itself but asides from this I consider the kid’s cart to be as important. It is a more “subtle” incorporation to his text and yet reflects a deeper idea. The cart is a symbol of humanity, if the road is our life then the cart represents ourselves. McCarthy says, “One of the

front wheels of the cart had gone wonky. What to do about it? Nothing” (pg 7). This quote shows the harsh situation the boy and his dad had to face in McCarthy’s novel. The cart has one of the wheels “wonky” representing their inability to move smoothly through the road, or in their particular case: life. The cart is the only possession they have throughout the novel and it is an agent of assistance or destruction. The boy and his dad carry the cart everywhere, and they deposit their goods and the gun. Portraying how humanity has both benign and negative aspects as they live. Despite the cart’s damaged condition the boy is able to fix it. This shows how sometimes we (humans) encounter adverse situations in our road (life) and must fix our cart (step up) in order to continue moving. An example of this is the boys reaction when he is able to repair the cart and enjoy life for a short period of time. The omniscient narrator states, “It was the first that he'd seen the boy smile in a long time” (pg 9).

Stylish Road

When Redding Cormac Mcarthys novel The Road we see his style directly portrayed in his writing. Two key aspects drag my attention as i read: variation of sentence length (structure) and liberal use of grammar. Here is where one as an active reader should analyze “why” and “how McCarthy is using this particular form of wiring.

The “why” is a more complex question to deal with compared to the “how”. We must read carefully and draw connections on The Roads theme, characters, plot symbolism, setting to McCarthy’s style. Defining “why” he used a certain sentence structure or omit the use of apostrophes is a very risky task. And based on this, our hypothesis must be open to other approaches concerning “why” McCarthy uses these techniques.

Here is the “how “ must be taken into consideration. McCarthy mentions, “A dead perch lolling belly up in the clear water. Yellow leaves” (pg 7). As a example of this particular sentence structure. He gives a long description and its followed by the incorporation of a short one. The juxtaposition of these different lengths transcends esthetics, they contribute to the essence of the Road. I believe this sentence introduces us the description, the second one emphasizes the importance of this description. If we recall, “In the morning they went on. Desolate country” (pg 8)we see the same form of writing. McCarthy uses adjectives and nouns like “visual colons” in the road. By this I mean his evident contrast on a previous paragraph and the next one serve as means to highlight information. This is obviously used instead of consistent sentence structure, which would be less interesting.

McCarthy also appeals the use of a liberal employment t of grammar. When having dialogue between the boy and his father apostrophes are absent and therefore show McCarthy’s style. Most writers would incorporate them in order to note importance to their characters thoughts. I believe it is also an approach to a figurative purpose when writing. I interpret this as another way to communicate the value of nothingness. These are unnecessary standards used when facing harsh situations.

Pros and Cons of a clever, ambitious woman

As I finished reading the Wife of bath I associated various works in which women are viewed similarly. I mentality searched for allusions to powerful female characters with cynic attitude. Among these the first two that popped into my head were Lady Macbeth and the character of Hitchcock’s Psycho. These women are ambitious and represent the dark, feminist, dominant stereotype. And I must say I’m not sure if women should be proud of characters like these. Even though I share the idea of equal rights, I consider that regardless of sex an unethical character should not be praised. Have a look into these quotes:

Eek wel I woot he seyde, myn housbonde

Sholde lete fader and moder, and take me;

But of no nombre mencioun made he,

Of bigamye or of octogamye;

Why sholde men speke of it vileinye?

For hadde God comanded maydenhede,

Thanne hadde he dampned wedding with the dede;

And certes, if ther were no seed y-sowe,

Virginitee, wher-of than sholde it growe?

She questions why someone would judge her about her several marriages and not look down to a polygamous man. The second quote questions how could judge advocate for virginity if without intercourse life would cease to exist. And here I must highlight my admiration to such sharp and logical inquiries. She is making her point constantly with disdain throughout the tale and show consistent thoughts. This proves to us, men, that women are capable of being an authority when using the right methods. People tend to underestimate women and disrespect them. And based on the Wife of Bath I see how respect is different from authority. One may obtain authority through unethical means while respect is based on morality. The Wife of Bath, however portrays an intricate character in which both aspects are seen. And I must leave you with the following question: does she obtain respect or authority? These are definitely the pros and cons of clever, ambitious women.

Parody of Courtly Love

The Miller’s Tale is a parody of courtly love, elaborately written using various techniques to ridicule “The Knight’s Tale.” The social status of the narrator and characters is indeed a way to literally and figuratively “lower” the elegance and grace of the story. The drunken narrator, lacking of manners, begins “The Miller’s tale” in a more informal fashion. This continues throughout the story as reflected by its characters and the plot itself. Chaucer alludes to “The Knight’s tale” in the story, establishing a relationship that provides the reader with further information on what’s going to be parodied.

Evidently, The Miller’s tale view on love isn’t romantic and idealized as the one seen in “ The Knight’s Tale”. This is seen in Alisoun’s adultery, demoralizing completely what courtly love. Her description of bein an average woman says, “She was a prymerole, a pigges-nye

For any lord to leggen in his bedde,

Or yet for any good yeman to wedde.” (Millers Tale) portraying a deglamorized version of women. This juxtaposes clearly the view on women seen in “The Knight’s” and “Miller’s” tale. Similarly to this, the male characters are parodied in this tale. Having a naïve man, being cheated on depicts an image completely opposite to what Arcite, Palamon and Theseus have in “The Knight’s tale.”

The most evident trait of parody created by Chaucer is the absurd ending in the story. Alisoun’s and Nicolas’s plan to see each other works initially and ends in a different manner to what they expected and yet, they are successful. John is being made fun of by the town as he tries to explain Nicolas’s lie. One can think of various lessons learned from this tell such as:

1. Never trust women

2. Do not try to explain yourself when being in ridicule, it makes it worst

3. A Knights tale will be always more interesting but less humorous to that of a carpenter´s.

“The Knight’s Tale”

The Raven: symbol (grief) as "Nevermore" : ellipsis

After Mr. Tangen’s surprised facial expression caused by the AP Literature students´ignorance on symbols, we were assigned to read The Raven. The poem’s obvious symbol is the raven, yet the difficult aspect of the task is comprehending what it represents. In order to do execute close-reading on the poem I followed the five steps a reader must perform when analyzing literature.

The Main characteristics one must have:

Rigorous – do not skip any fragment of the text. Reading is a discipline.

Fastidious- be attentive to detail. Be attentive to the authors writing in a keen manner.

Optimistic- Consider the piece was completely done thoughtfully. Believe that patterns on structure among other literary techniques and devices were intentionally created.

The Steps

1. Read it more than once

2. Mark it up- love-what?-

3. Read last part

4. Go back to the beginning

5. Scheme for final picture

I began the journey on Poe’s writing with a dictionary by my side, I knew his vocabulary is key to understand the poem better. I was restrained from reading the stanzas fluidly, however, I wanted to be rigorous on my analysis.

Example # 1: Rigorous reading

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.” (the raven)

In order to recognize the poem’s figurative meaning of the raven I had to read it several times looking up for the definition of every unknown word I found on the way. I underlined these words throughout the whole piece and read poem several times.

Example # 2: being “fastidious”

When I finished the poem I had clearly identified it’s structure was divided into two parts: the narrators tale and description of the night and the conversation he has with the raven. This was a proof of how detailed one should be when analyzing literature. This characteristic is evidently linked with “being optimistic” while reading.

Example # 3: Optimistic readers

As previously stated The Raven is divided structurally speaking into two parts: the narrator’s description of the setting and later, his encounter with the raven. This emphasizes the importance of the raven and proves to us its symbolic meaning: grief. To argument the meaning of the raven one could support it with the desperate tone and mysterious mood Poe stresses in the poem. Another example could be the narrator’s “irrational” conversation with a bird, portraying his desperation and constant need of answers for Lenore’s death. Lenore being his lover or someone he cares for, constantly mentioned throughout the poem. The “nevermore” repetition serves as an ellipsis to the poem or aposiopesis in terms of what the narrator’s soliloquy portrays as mourning vehemently. Therefore, one can conclude the raven symbolizes grief and it was intentionally created to portray this idea.

The following link provides a similar analysis. It is more informal but I consider it another interesting approach to The Raven.

http://www.gotpoetry.com/News/article/sid=1518.html

“Boys Don’t Cry” and “Fortune’s Fool”, phrases of love and fate

As I finished reading Chaucer’s first and second part of “The Knights Tale” two phrases came to my mind: “boys don’t cry” and “ O, I am fortune’s fool.” This citations link “The Knights Tale” with other works, emphasizing that themes are universal. In Chaucer’s story we find that love and fate are related and are characterized by Arcite and Palamon´s reactions towards their lives. Theseus has imprisoned them after conquering Thebes. This being a negative event to them turns out to be their opportunity to fall in love with Emelye, Theseus´s sister in law. One can note that destiny could be seen as negative or positive showing the subjective and idealized love described in “The Knight’s Tale”. These miserable prisoners soon fall in love with Emelye, and portray their courtly love with vehement dismay: “‘Cosin myn, what eyleth thee,

That art so pale and deedly on to see?

Why crydestow? who hath thee doon offence?

For Goddes love, tak al in pacience

Our prisoun, for it may non other be;

Fortune hath yeven us this adversitee.

Som wikke aspect or disposicioun

Of Saturne, by sum constellacioun,

Hath yeven us this, al-though we hadde it sworn;

So stood the heven whan that we were born;

We moste endure it: this is the short and pleyn.’ ” (lines 223-233) Arcite asks Palamon about his cry, while thinking it was related to their misfortune and imprisonment. Arcite´s guess was not completely wrong, fortune was their adversary but Palamon´s cry came from his passionate “first sight love”, not from anger due to his lack of freedom. The story continues with Arcite falling in love with Emelye and creating tension among them. Destiny interferes with the expected outcome of the story (or at least first part) by Chaucer’s appeal to a peripety, including Perotheus into the story. Perotheus intercedes for Palamon´s liberty and Theseus agrees under the condition that Palamon never returns back. Despite of this apparent positive fortune’s favor, Theseus posses an important question: Who’s less fortunate, a free man without seeing the woman he loves or the captive man with her close by?

Hence, I associate “The Knights tale” with “boys don’t cry” and that particular sentence in Romeo and Juliet. The Cure´s song expresses accurately the feeling of an impotent man whos in love. Yet, different in context, the man described on the song committed mistakes that lead to his misfortune. While Palamon´s and Arcite´s situation was given by fortune itself: external factors. Despite this, ¨boys don’t cry” says: So I try to laugh about it

Cover it all up with lies

I try to

laugh about it

Hiding the tears in my eyes

'cause boys don't cry”, resembling the same passionate feeling regardless of context. This might be a modern way to express helplessness of a man’s grief when faced an unfortunate event. Romeo`s quotation “O, I am fortune’s fool” reflect how courtly love deals with the men’s suffering and affection. When Romeo slains Tybalt, eventually leading to his banishment from Verona, consequently creating an unfavorable end as said in:“ For never was a story of more woe
/Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

From three different pieces of art I see how grief and love are related and how fortune drastically affects men. It could be interpreted as: individual actions lead to misfortune, one’s life is ruled my fortune, or men’s future being determined by both personal and external factors.