Life for African-Americans has never been a simple one. The beginning of their roots in America was one of harsh slavery, predictably heading to a struggle to find identity while still being regarded as property. Post-Civil War Era, African-Americans continued their struggle to find a home in a society that still did not recognize them as equal; even with rights, they were still regarded in a legal standpoint as 3/5ths a vote. Throughout many trials to find an appropriate place in a culture that did not accept them in the early 20th Century, different communities and mindsets of African-Americans began to form around the country. One of the most recognizable communities for African-Americans, even post revolutionary times in the 1960s, is the heart of Harlem set inside New York City.
Harlem-life has been retold throughout many pieces of African-American literature, ranging from voices expressed in 1925 publication of “The New Negro” to James Baldwin’s fictional short story “Sonny’s Blues,” published in 1957. Echoing throughout different pieces are the words and visions of “a dream deferred,” challenging readers to place themselves into the harsh culture that African-Americans have to wake up to every morning. In “Sonny’s Blues,” a character offers this account of Harlem: “All that hatred down there… all that hatred and misery and love. It’s a wonder it doesn’t blow the avenue apart,” (Baldwin 1886). By the personal tale of two very different brothers, each reaching to establish and come to terms with their identities in Harlem, Baldwin created a riveting piece of fiction.
Throughout “Sonny’s Blues,” both the narrator and his brother, Sonny, are beginning to establish a new relationship with each other after a nearly a year of silence. Both men are layered with complexities that their environment has woven into their personalities; the narrator struggles with a need to control his surroundings, while Sonny prefers to simply attempt to control himself. The brothers have chosen two different paths in life, yet near the end of the story, both men recognize that they are similarly struggling and coping with the suffering that the hardships of their community has brought them.
In order to advance his life, the narrator chose to join the Army when he was out of high school, marrying young, and furthering his education. Now, as a high school algebra teacher in his local community, he is facing the news that his younger brother, Sonny, is imprisoned for “peddling and using heroin,” (Baldwin 1868). The reader is then absorbed into a world of the narrator’s psyche; he struggles with a sense of responsibility for his Sonny’s downfalls. Through a series of flashbacks, Baldwin exposes the narrator’s shame by revealing a conversation he had with his mother when she was still alive. The boys’ mother pleaded, “You got to hold on to your brother… and don’t let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you gets with him. You going to be evil with him many a time. But don’t you forget… You may not be able to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let him know you’s there” (Baldwin 1876). Through this memory, the narrator’s necessity for being so controlling/judgmental over his younger brother is easily justified- caring was the only thing his mother asked of him. The older brother reacts in a protective way when discussing Sonny’s future of joining the military, recalling how “I got mad. It was because I was so scared,” (Baldwin 1879). In an act to fulfill his mother’s wishes after her death, the narrator sends Sonny to live with his Isabel’s, his wife’s, family instead of allowing Sonny to choose his path for himself.
Sonny recognizes he had become a burden while living with Isabel’s family, and rejecting the control that was placed over him, Sonny runs off to the Navy for refuge at a mere seventeen years of age. Though his hopes of becoming a jazz pianist never stray, Sonny sought to be self-reliant and resists the control and aid of his older brother. The narrator notes in one memory how similar Sonny is to his father: “…Sonny was the apple of his father’s eye… It doesn’t do any good to fight with Sonny. Sonny just moves back, inside himself, where he can’t be reached… Daddy was big and rough and loud-talking, just the opposite of Sonny, but they both had- that same privacy,” (Baldwin 1874). Once Sonny returns home in New York, he begins to mix with an eclectic group of friends and veers more into the temptations of his lifestyle. The rift between the two brothers grows, and after hearing his older brother condemn his lifestyle, Sonny shuts him out. It took Sonny’s arrest for the brothers to begin to lean on each other, and finally begin to understand each other’s mindsets.
The conclusion both the brothers come to is one of such similarity considering the different lifestyles they chose to lead. Even after an education and a steady job, the narrator finds himself living in a housing project “just like the houses in which Sonny and I grew up. The same things happen, [his children] will have the same things to remember,” (Baldwin 1873). When Sonny and his brother finally begin discussing the reasons for Sonny’s turn to heroin, Sonny recalls how low he had allowed himself to get before going to jail. Sonny states, “I was all by myself at the bottom of something, stinking and sweating and crying and shaking, and I smelled it, you know? My stink, and I thought I’d die if I couldn’t get away from it and yet, all the same, I knew that everything I was doing was just locking me in with it. And I didn’t know,” (Baldwin 1885). The narrator listens, struck with the same feelings of guilt and responsibility for letting his brother fall so far into the hardships of Harlem. Yet later, when Sonny is playing the blues on the piano at the club, the narrator gathers a sense of understanding what Sonny meant when he stated this, for the narrator finally begins to recognize his own “stink.” Swarmed with the memories of the hardships of his deceased mother, uncle and little girl, the narrator distinguishes his own blues. Through the playing, the narrator realizes, “For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in this darkness,” (Baldwin 1888). The conclusion both men come to is to release their sufferings, and to “[understand], at last, that [Sonny] could help us to be free if we would listen, [and] that he would never be free until we did,” (Baldwin 1888).
The amount of suffering African-Americans endured throughout Harlem in the 20th Century took a toll on their culture, dividing it into different classes of the frustrated and the outraged. Along with Baldwin, other authors sought to express their accounts of the lifestyle throughout poetry. Langston Hughes’ “Theme For English B” reiterates the frustrations of being a black man in Harlem through the lines 30-40. “You are white-/yet a part of me, as I am a part of you./ That’s American./ Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me./ Not do I often way to be a part of you./ But we are, that’s true!/ As I learn from you,/ I guess you learn from me-/ although you’re older-and white-/ and somewhat more free,” (Hughes 1567). Countee Cullen, like Baldwin, incorporates the importance for the musical outlet in his poem “Harlem Wine.” Cullen describes Harlem as a miserable setting, where “This is not water running here,/ These thick rebellious streams/ That hurtle flesh and bone past fear/ Down alleyways of dreams,” (Cullen 1443). Yet, with the aid of music, Cullen’s poem captures in the last stanza how “an artful flue/ With loose, elastic lips,/ Its measurement of joy compute/ With blithe, ecstatic hips,” (Cullen 1443). Undoubtedly, Harlem’s hardships shaped the environment in which men and women became even more confused of their identities; they sought to establish themselves by measuring how well they coped with their suffering. And as Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” demonstrates, no matter what direction either men took in their lives, they were still hindered by the confinements of a city of struggle.
Bibliography:
Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” 1868-89.
Cullen, Countee. “Harlem Wine.” McMichael 1443.
Hughes, Langston. “Theme For English B.” McMichael 1567.
McMichael, George, et al., eds. Anthology of American Literature. 2 vols. 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007. Vol. II.
10.5.10
Spring Semester (The Sufjan Stevens Essay) Explanation
*Preface*- This is an explanation to the experimental essay written a few entries below.
The essay paired with this justification is indeed experimental, for I worked through different styles to explain my two working theses. I approached this essay by explaining how my semester has been trying in two ways: emotionally and mentally. I decided to break these two apart and have them juxtaposed for the reader (and myself) to see. My first working thesis is that while academics are important, the emotional side of one’s life can be more daunting. My second working thesis is that the English language rules are constantly in question, thus anyone from an author to an ESOL student will be challenged. I separated the two theses by styles: the first in prose, the second in academic language. In order to have the readers transition from one style to the next, I divided the piece by my class schedule.
I worked through the grieving process of my friend’s cancer diagnosis through this essay. Through prose, I sorted through the difficult emotional discourses I encountered over the past four months. I first began the prose with guilt being the underlying emotion, for one normally feels guilt quickly into the grieving process. The lines, “chain smoking outside of Classroom One, and the Business Academy, and just about everywhere. Cancer of the mouth should have been me,” are enough to bring me back down into that grieving phase.
I then worked through the emotions of solitude and anger, for those are the next two that follow in a grieving process. I again set the scene on campus, for I wanted the reader to keep being reminded that I was on school with these emotions. I wanted the anger to represent something more than anger at myself, for I know it is not my fault that Kate has cancer. I have never been a believer in God, but the moment I found out she had cancer, I decided He deserved the blame. It’s been the strangest emotion for me, for I never believed in Him initially, yet now that she’s sick, I almost do. I almost need that someone to blame, and I wanted that to show through the second and third stanza.
By the third stanza, I knew the grieving process explained in my prose was going well. I decided to take the route of depression and sadness in this stanza, for those are the next to follow. I wrote about my boyfriend at the time (“God” bless his heart), and how he traveled so much during this difficult time for me. I chose to write about “lonely birthdays” for he was in Montreal on his birthday and was in San Francisco on mine. I thought that image would be a nice way to relate to the reader, for they can picture a lonely birthday in their minds (unlike trying to identify the radiation machine I know so well).
I concluded the last stanza of prose with a bit of frustration and anger again. I have not reached the acceptance and hope stage of grieving yet, and I did not want to lie to my reader. I also included the “writing about writing (which is redundant as it seems)” to place the academic and emotional sides together. I wanted to show the struggle of school and emotional hardships and I think that line ties it all together nicely.
The lengthy parts of my essay are placed strategically throughout the prose. I placed the “concept attainment” section first for two reasons. “Concept attainment” is the hardest idea to grasp in this essay, and I wanted the reader to be greeted with a difficult idea backed with supportive resources. Secondly, I wanted the reader to use “concept attainment” when reading my prose. In my eyes, the reader should identify the grieving process without me stating, “I’M GRIEVING” in bold font for them. By being shown these different emotions, if the reader applies concept attainment, they will understand the reasoning for the prose.
I then wrote about ESOL students and situations they deal with for that has been a giant bulk of my semester’s academic requirements. This subject is not necessarily entertaining, but it serves a purpose in this essay because it provides examples of how ridiculous the English language actually is. I then wrote about the use of “I” in an academic essay, and how scholarly sources cannot decide if it is okay or not. I felt like this carried the situations of the ESOL students further, for it offered the idea that the English language has too many rules for anyone to learn. I then went on to show why an audience will retract from an essay if the rules are broken. Writing, in English, is a Catch-22, and I feel like my essay shows this nicely.
If my readers catch on to either of my theses or the grieving process through my prose, I will be pleased. I recognize that there is a vague element to my piece, for I did not want the reader to know exactly what I meant; that’s too personal for me to even share. Instead, if the reader cannot identify any of my intentions, I hope they feel the pull that I do when I read this again and again. The struggle of sadness and academic responsibility has become so daunting; I want the reader to feel that, too. The biggest struggle I encountered when writing this piece was retracting obvious statements. I so badly wanted to write, “I’m Sad. School Sucks. English is Hard,” but I knew I could produce something much more challenging. I’m awfully pleased with the result of this paper, although I know too well that I will be the only reader who understands the situation I am in.
9.5.10
Spring Semester: Sufjan Stevens
It was the semester of Sufjan Stevens[1] and carcinoma,
Chemotherapy consultations
and panic attacks in the radiation machine.
I am crying in the bathroom.[2]
It was the semester of Sufjan Stevens and chain smoking
outside of Classroom One,
and the Business Academy, and just about everywhere.
Cancer of the mouth should have been me.
EDG 4410; SECTION 08; MONDAYS 10:30-1:20
Jerome Bruner’s creation of the “concept attainment” model of teaching has opened new, productive ways to teach elements of literature to students, for it allows the readers to search through information to draw conclusions about a subject. “Concept attainment” is the search for and identification of attributes that can be used to distinguish examples of a given group or category from non-examples (“Instructional Strategies Online”). Because definitions of literary terms are often infused, students usually have a misunderstanding of what a term means. “Students and even, at times, educators think that if you know what something is called, you understand the meaning of the word. Vygotsky (1986) commented, ‘A word does not refer to a single object, but to a group or to a class of objects. Each word is therefore already a generalization’ (p. 6)” (Boulware 492). The best way to establish new meaning to a previously determined word is to apply “concept attainment.”
To use the “concept attainment” model of teaching when describing the word ‘metaphor,’ the students must search through examples and non examples of a metaphor. After the class agrees on the attributes of a metaphor, they create a definition. Once the word is again defined, the students create examples of a metaphor to show their grasp of new knowledge. Rather than being told another definition, “concept attainment” gives the students the opportunity to create their own meaning based on logic and relationships of words and abstracts. This not only creates a clearer image of a metaphor for the students, but also enhances their critical thinking skills.
“The three phases of this strategy allow students to follow an inductive sequence, drawing conclusions through a group exploration of the concept presented. In phase 1 of the strategy, the students examine the concept and form a hypothesis about its attributes. During phase 2, students test and confirm their idea and learn the name of the concept presented. Finally, in phase 3, the students analyze the thinking strategies they used to derive the new concept (Holt & Kysilka, 2006; Joyce et al., 2004)” (Boulware).
It was the semester of Sufjan Stevens and singularity.
Melodies while walking to class, head hung low[3];
Maintaining the rhythm while shielding from
the steps of strangers who have other places to be.
It was the semester of Sufjan Stevens and godliness,
and godlessness, and, “Oh, God, where are you now?”[4]
We wished in the waiting room,
(Where He was never witnessed).
TSL 4240; SECTION 02; TUESDAYS/ THURSDAYS 9:00-10:15
One of the trickiest things for an English Language Learner (ELL) is prepositions, for they are often not heard in common conversation. A Native English Speaker (NES) produces sentences quickly, and often does not enunciate the preposition in between words. For example, a NES does not place emphasis on the bold word in the sentence, “I’m placing creamer in my coffee.” Instead, a NES says, “I’m placing creamer ‘n my coffee.” Often time, an ELL will substitute a preposition for another because of this fallacy. Then, when facing an English comprehension test, an ELL student will not be able to clearly identify which preposition works for said sentence, for “on” or “in” might have been heard. This greatly affects an ELL’s writing ability for they are limited by their hearing of casual conversation.
Phrasal verbs often intimidate ELLs, although they are extremely common in the English language. Phrasal verbs are a verb + a preposition, which have meaning on their own. An example of a phrasal verb is “She ran up a huge bill,” or “The plane took off the runway.” The girl did not literally run (or swiftly jog) up a bill, but an ELL might think that. Instead, the meaning of the sentence is that she incurred a large bill. The plane did not literally take a runway, but instead, left the runway. This can be very confusing when an ELL sits down to write, for without the context clues in conversation, they can fear they are using the wrong meaning of the phrasal verb.
It was the semester of Sufjan Stevens and the iPod,
the iPhone, the iPad, and the iLove.
Relationship discourse through distance and devices,
when work wanted travel at inopportune times.
It was the semester of Sufjan Stevens and lonely birthdays,
And even lonelier nights.
We lift our hands and pray over your body
But nothing ever happens.[5]
ENC 3311; SECTION 01; TUESDAYS/ THURSDAYS 10:30-11:45
When writing an academic essay, the use of “I” is not recommended, but can be appropriate when a text calls for it. “Some scholarly writers claim that they should not use a first-person subject, because they need to create an objective point of view” (Williams 64). Yet, some academic essays do not want an objective POV from the audience, for they instead seek to gain specific response from the reader. An essay is deemed academic if it exposes something to the reader with a specific goal in mind. Academic essays can explain a concept, share an idea, or offer a story in a perfectly constructed format. “When academics writers do use the first person, however, they use it in certain ways, […] the first person I and we are common in scholarly prose when used with verbs that name actions unique to the writer,” (Williams 67).
The most challenging way to complete an academic essay in the first person has been said to be an experimental academic essay, for the author has to identify which rules to bend, to break, and to adhere to. An author also has to recognize their intended audience, and honor the fact that some of their readers might become lost if the essay is too formal/distant/ personal/ confusing/experimental/racist/sexist/evil/bitchy/breathes the wrong way. Through the use of stylistic elements such as manipulation and coherence, the author can generally predict how their work will be perceived.
It was the semester of Sufjan Stevens and writing about writing
(which is as redundant as it seems),
when a twenty-year-old friend is dying of cancer.
And He takes, and He takes, and He takes.[6]
Work Cited
Boulware, Beverly J., and Mary Lynn Crow. "Using the Concept Attainment Strategy to Enhance Reading Comprehension." The Reading Teacher 61.6 (2008): 491-95. ERIC. Web. 4 Apr. 2010.
"Instructional Strategies Online - Concept Attainment." Online Learning Centre. Ed. Saskatoon Public Schools. 2004. Web. 21 Apr. 2010.
Stevens, Sufjan. "Casimir Pulaski Day." Rec. 2004. Come On, Feel the Illinois. Sufjan Stevens. Sufjan Stevens, 2005. CD.
Williams, Joseph M. "Characters." Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. Ninth ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. 64-67. Print.
[1] American Christian folk writer/singer (1975-?)
[2] Song lyric from Sufjan Stevens’ “Casimir Pulaski Day”
[3] Song lyric from Sufjan Stevens’ “Casimir Pulaski Day”
[4] a Sufjan Stevens’ song
[5] Song lyrics from Sufjan Steven’s “Casimir Pulaski Day”
[6] Song lyric from Sufjan Steven’s “Casimir Pulaski Day”
9.12.09
Alice in Wonderland Analysis Using Literary Critcism
“Alice in Wonderland” Postcolonial Deconstructionist Analysis
Disney’s Alice in Wonderland is a movie adapted from the popular books by Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. The still popular film was created in the early 1950s and tells the story of a young girl and her adventures in a surprising, new world called Wonderland. Through a postcolonial critic’s eyes, the story can be viewed as a clash of two cultures, one young Americans are familiar with, and one in which is left up to the imagination. The two cultures individually have their own ideals and guidelines which differ very much from one another.
Before Alice knows of Wonderland, she is daydreaming while her sister is reading to her as some form of education. Alice makes a tiara out of flowers for her kitty, Diamond, as she ignores her lesson. She sings to herself, “In a world of my own, I could listen to a babbling brook and hear a song that I could understand. I keep wishing it would be that way, because my world would be a wonderland.” Alice is searching for something her culture does not offer, which is one of imagination and talking nature. She is searching for something her culture lacks.
When analyzing this piece with post-colonialism theory in mind, I recognize that there is a switch in the binaries of colonized/colonizer. Usually, in post-colonial theory, the colonizer is the one who inhabits in the new land and exerts power, while the colonized are the people oppressed by the new power and are viewed as “the Other.” However, when Alice accidentally stumbles into Wonderland, her own culture beliefs take a shift as she becomes oppressed by existing standards regarded in Wonderland, thus making this a deconstructionist post-colonial piece of analysis since the colonizer (Alice) becomes the oppressed.
When Alice initially enters Wonderland, she becomes the lost colonizer who is demanding answers from the colonized. She questions the White Rabbit about what he is late for, but he refuses to pay her any attention because he views her as less than him. The White Rabbit only states, “Oh, my ears and whiskers, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.” By not acknowledging Alice, the White Rabbit implies that Alice is “the Other” for she is not seen as equal or above him.
A clash of cultures is exhibited when Alice finds her way to the flower garden in “The Golden Afternoon” scene. The beautiful flowers sing a proud song about their culture, including lyrics such as, “There are dog and caterpillars and a copper centipede, where the lazy daisies love the very peaceful life they lead… You can learn a lot of things from the flowers, for especially in the month of June. There's a wealth of happiness and romance, all in the golden afternoon.” When the flowers imply for Alice to sing along with them, she chimes in a misses a note. Because she faults when singing, they begin to question her and her presence, poking fun of her physical state of being with phrases like “Did you notice her petals? What a peculiar color. And no fragrance. And just look at those stems. Rather scrawny, I'd say…” They declare her a “weed,” even though she refutes them and states she is a girl. They state, “We don’t want weeds in our garden,” and shoo her out of their land. By doing this, the flowers enforce the idea that Alice is indeed “the Other” and will never equal the social class of them.
One would think that after this scene, Alice would be much more hostile to the relationship she has built with the colonized’s culture (Wonderland). However, in her frustration, she exerts still the same curiosity which brought her to this land in the first place, resulting in her questioning the caterpillar soon to follow. Thus, she exemplifies Bhabha’s use of ambivalence in post-colonial terms for she has a “simultaneous attraction toward and repulsion in the context of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized” (notes).
The caterpillar is a very pivotal character in “Alice in Wonderland,” for he is the first character to truly search for Alice’s identity and waits for an answer. He questions, “Who are you?” to Alice upon first meeting her, in which she responds, “Why, I hardly know, sir. I've changed so much since this morning, you see… I'm afraid I can't explain myself, you see, because I'm not myself, you know.” At this moment, Alice recognizes that the colonized culture of Wonderland has changed her identity. Post-colonial critics recognize this as mimicry, in which the oppressed subject begins to mimic the oppressing culture.
The hegemony of Wonderland is contrived of a few important ideals: time is imperative, respect for the Queen a necessity, and the understanding that “we’re all mad here.” Alice, as the colonizer, rejects the notions of the oppressive culture’s hegemony continuously throughout the movie. She is consistently wandering about, never able to find her way or to manage her time. At the end of the movie, she shows a great disregard of respect for the Queen, even though she is the most powerful lady in Wonderland with the option of another’s execution placed directly in her hands. And lastly, at the tea- party, Alice deduces that everything is just ridiculous and that she does “doesn’t want to go among mad people.” This superior culture’s hegemony affects the oppressed Alice throughout the story, yet she demonstrates sheer resistance in trying to maintain her own separate identity from those of the Wonderland culture.
Alice, as the oppressed colonizer (when viewing this movie from a deconstruction post- colonial critics eyes), is silenced in the colonized land of Wonderland for her continual inability to be able to communicate with those there. The language is one of the same, but the mindset in which the two cultures communicate in is one wholly different. The colonizers are used to “being mad” while Alice’s familiar culture is one of structure and education. Throughout her search home, Alice often finds herself in frustration by her inability to receive proper instruction from the mad people of Wonderland. Thus, the language of the colonized is one of oppression, for if one does not communicate in this format, they will forever remain “the Other” and consequently never find their way home.
“Alice in Wonderland” is a movie which exemplifies the culture conflicts which occur when the colonized/colonizer meet and interact. However, when looking at this story from a post- colonial critics viewpoint, one is better to understand the characters’ struggles by flipping the binaries of colonized/ colonizer and viewing Wonderland as the oppressor and Alice as the oppressed. By Alice’s recognition that her culture lacks something, and her desire to seek and find what it is lacking, she is sent into a whirlwind of a world which meets her wishes at the extreme. By the end of the text, the oppressed colonizer (Alice) wants nothing more but then to return to her previous culture in which she understands the hegemony and can communicate her ideas clearly.
Disney’s Alice in Wonderland is a movie adapted from the popular books by Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. The still popular film was created in the early 1950s and tells the story of a young girl and her adventures in a surprising, new world called Wonderland. Through a postcolonial critic’s eyes, the story can be viewed as a clash of two cultures, one young Americans are familiar with, and one in which is left up to the imagination. The two cultures individually have their own ideals and guidelines which differ very much from one another.
Before Alice knows of Wonderland, she is daydreaming while her sister is reading to her as some form of education. Alice makes a tiara out of flowers for her kitty, Diamond, as she ignores her lesson. She sings to herself, “In a world of my own, I could listen to a babbling brook and hear a song that I could understand. I keep wishing it would be that way, because my world would be a wonderland.” Alice is searching for something her culture does not offer, which is one of imagination and talking nature. She is searching for something her culture lacks.
When analyzing this piece with post-colonialism theory in mind, I recognize that there is a switch in the binaries of colonized/colonizer. Usually, in post-colonial theory, the colonizer is the one who inhabits in the new land and exerts power, while the colonized are the people oppressed by the new power and are viewed as “the Other.” However, when Alice accidentally stumbles into Wonderland, her own culture beliefs take a shift as she becomes oppressed by existing standards regarded in Wonderland, thus making this a deconstructionist post-colonial piece of analysis since the colonizer (Alice) becomes the oppressed.
When Alice initially enters Wonderland, she becomes the lost colonizer who is demanding answers from the colonized. She questions the White Rabbit about what he is late for, but he refuses to pay her any attention because he views her as less than him. The White Rabbit only states, “Oh, my ears and whiskers, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.” By not acknowledging Alice, the White Rabbit implies that Alice is “the Other” for she is not seen as equal or above him.
A clash of cultures is exhibited when Alice finds her way to the flower garden in “The Golden Afternoon” scene. The beautiful flowers sing a proud song about their culture, including lyrics such as, “There are dog and caterpillars and a copper centipede, where the lazy daisies love the very peaceful life they lead… You can learn a lot of things from the flowers, for especially in the month of June. There's a wealth of happiness and romance, all in the golden afternoon.” When the flowers imply for Alice to sing along with them, she chimes in a misses a note. Because she faults when singing, they begin to question her and her presence, poking fun of her physical state of being with phrases like “Did you notice her petals? What a peculiar color. And no fragrance. And just look at those stems. Rather scrawny, I'd say…” They declare her a “weed,” even though she refutes them and states she is a girl. They state, “We don’t want weeds in our garden,” and shoo her out of their land. By doing this, the flowers enforce the idea that Alice is indeed “the Other” and will never equal the social class of them.
One would think that after this scene, Alice would be much more hostile to the relationship she has built with the colonized’s culture (Wonderland). However, in her frustration, she exerts still the same curiosity which brought her to this land in the first place, resulting in her questioning the caterpillar soon to follow. Thus, she exemplifies Bhabha’s use of ambivalence in post-colonial terms for she has a “simultaneous attraction toward and repulsion in the context of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized” (notes).
The caterpillar is a very pivotal character in “Alice in Wonderland,” for he is the first character to truly search for Alice’s identity and waits for an answer. He questions, “Who are you?” to Alice upon first meeting her, in which she responds, “Why, I hardly know, sir. I've changed so much since this morning, you see… I'm afraid I can't explain myself, you see, because I'm not myself, you know.” At this moment, Alice recognizes that the colonized culture of Wonderland has changed her identity. Post-colonial critics recognize this as mimicry, in which the oppressed subject begins to mimic the oppressing culture.
The hegemony of Wonderland is contrived of a few important ideals: time is imperative, respect for the Queen a necessity, and the understanding that “we’re all mad here.” Alice, as the colonizer, rejects the notions of the oppressive culture’s hegemony continuously throughout the movie. She is consistently wandering about, never able to find her way or to manage her time. At the end of the movie, she shows a great disregard of respect for the Queen, even though she is the most powerful lady in Wonderland with the option of another’s execution placed directly in her hands. And lastly, at the tea- party, Alice deduces that everything is just ridiculous and that she does “doesn’t want to go among mad people.” This superior culture’s hegemony affects the oppressed Alice throughout the story, yet she demonstrates sheer resistance in trying to maintain her own separate identity from those of the Wonderland culture.
Alice, as the oppressed colonizer (when viewing this movie from a deconstruction post- colonial critics eyes), is silenced in the colonized land of Wonderland for her continual inability to be able to communicate with those there. The language is one of the same, but the mindset in which the two cultures communicate in is one wholly different. The colonizers are used to “being mad” while Alice’s familiar culture is one of structure and education. Throughout her search home, Alice often finds herself in frustration by her inability to receive proper instruction from the mad people of Wonderland. Thus, the language of the colonized is one of oppression, for if one does not communicate in this format, they will forever remain “the Other” and consequently never find their way home.
“Alice in Wonderland” is a movie which exemplifies the culture conflicts which occur when the colonized/colonizer meet and interact. However, when looking at this story from a post- colonial critics viewpoint, one is better to understand the characters’ struggles by flipping the binaries of colonized/ colonizer and viewing Wonderland as the oppressor and Alice as the oppressed. By Alice’s recognition that her culture lacks something, and her desire to seek and find what it is lacking, she is sent into a whirlwind of a world which meets her wishes at the extreme. By the end of the text, the oppressed colonizer (Alice) wants nothing more but then to return to her previous culture in which she understands the hegemony and can communicate her ideas clearly.
30.9.09
New Criticism Applied to My Father’s Hats
New criticism involves the concept of analyzing literary works based entirely on the content of the text, disregarding the intention of the author or the reader’s subjective interpretations. In order to properly analyze a text using the new criticism format, the text must be broken down via diction, denotations and connotations. Heavily relying on hidden metaphors and self produced diction appropriate for the poem, My Father’s Hats depicts an idea of a narrator searching through the old collections of his/her deceased father’s belongings while struggling with their new doubts in religion. In using new criticism theory, we attempted to be educated readers to essentially fulfill the roles of the ideal audience (definition: a reader who is capable of understanding every intention, thought and idea written in the text). Being careful to ignore both intentional and affective fallacies, and leaving our preconceived notions behind, this is our attempt to apply the new criticism theory to this poem.
Religion acts as a dominant theme throughout this poem, with metaphors acting as the vehicle for the underlying theme. At the beginning of the poem, the narrator is searching through his religion for answers to his father’s death. This is implied by different metaphors, such as the reference to “Sunday mornings” which instills the idea of the seventh, or Sabbath, day as a Biblical reference. The narrator, while standing in the father’s dark closet, reaches higher into an unknown realm, grasping for something tangible. This metaphor continues with the idea that the narrator is searching for something real and pertinent, like a god. Another easily identified reference towards religion would be when the narrator describes “touching the yellow fruit”, which alludes to the Genesis chapter in the Bible, when Adam and Eve doubted their God and took the forbidden fruit.
The text also supports the idea for new words to be incorporated into the poem without seeming out of place. With such a strong sense of underlying religious tones, the two words solely found in this poem, “hymning” and “godsome”, un-phase the reader. Fabricated to fit their role, “hymning” is used as a verb for the wind, and also works as a metaphor for both the hymns sung at church and the natural hum of life. “Godsome” features later in the poem, and is used as an adjective to describe the air of the narrator’s memory, while also implies the religious draft of the Heavenly spirit.
The narrator’s father is only defined in the title. However, throughout the poem, his/her father is eluded to in four places by the use of possession form. The term “his” extends to his closet, scent, hair and fabulous sleep. The initial three references towards the father are physical references, which spark memories from the narrator. These memories are shaped with the religious metaphors. The final reference to the father is not physical; “his fabulous sleep” near the end of the poem alludes to the narrator’s father’s death.
The text supports that the narrator is losing his faith in God after the death of his/her father. The poem mostly consists of memories until the last three lines.
“…as now, thinking of his fabulous
sleep, I stand on this canyon floor
and watch light slowly close
on water I’m not sure is there.”
Instead of continuing to be fueled with strong Biblical metaphors, the last three lines close with a sense of doubt and disappointment from the narrator. The metaphor of a canyon floor differs extremely with the metaphor of reaching and climbing a tree like initially expressed in the beginning of the poem. Instead, the canyon floor is used as a metaphor to describe the narrator being more grounded and lonely, not searching and reaching for something higher than him/her. The text suggests that the narrator has hit a low point, and is beginning to lose his faith in religion, or “water”, which the narrator is not sure exists anymore. After feeling the comfort of the “godsome air” from peeling through memories, the text supports that at the end of the poem, the narrator is confronted with the fact that his/her father is no longer there. The narrator is expressively viewing his comfort of religion fade away with the light since his/her father’s death.
The theme of My Father’s Hats is the narrator is coping with death, both his/her father’s death and the narrator’s questioning of faith. The tone of this poem is reminiscent and sullen. The narrator’s voice is filled with grace and acceptance, but yet at the same time, can be defined as confused. He/She is on a metaphorical journey to understanding why religion no longer makes sense after the death of his/her father. The text in the poem is comprised of metaphors and symbolism to allude to both religion and the father, and to the narrator’s true inner conflict at the end.
Analysis by: Ashley Nelson and Amanda Hankins
"My Father's Hats"
Mark Irwin
Sunday mornings I would reach
high into his dark closet while standing
on a chair and tiptoeing reach
higher, touching, sometimes fumbling
the soft crowns and imagine
I was in a forest, wind hymning
through pines, where the musky scent
of rain clinging to damp earth was
his scent I loved, lingering on
bands, leather, and on the inner silk
crowns where I would smell his
hair and almost think I was being
held, or climbing a tree, touching
the yellow fruit, leaves whose scent
was that of clove in the godsome
air, as now, thinking of his fabulous
sleep, I stand on this canyon floor
and watch light slowly close
on water I can't be sure is there.
Religion acts as a dominant theme throughout this poem, with metaphors acting as the vehicle for the underlying theme. At the beginning of the poem, the narrator is searching through his religion for answers to his father’s death. This is implied by different metaphors, such as the reference to “Sunday mornings” which instills the idea of the seventh, or Sabbath, day as a Biblical reference. The narrator, while standing in the father’s dark closet, reaches higher into an unknown realm, grasping for something tangible. This metaphor continues with the idea that the narrator is searching for something real and pertinent, like a god. Another easily identified reference towards religion would be when the narrator describes “touching the yellow fruit”, which alludes to the Genesis chapter in the Bible, when Adam and Eve doubted their God and took the forbidden fruit.
The text also supports the idea for new words to be incorporated into the poem without seeming out of place. With such a strong sense of underlying religious tones, the two words solely found in this poem, “hymning” and “godsome”, un-phase the reader. Fabricated to fit their role, “hymning” is used as a verb for the wind, and also works as a metaphor for both the hymns sung at church and the natural hum of life. “Godsome” features later in the poem, and is used as an adjective to describe the air of the narrator’s memory, while also implies the religious draft of the Heavenly spirit.
The narrator’s father is only defined in the title. However, throughout the poem, his/her father is eluded to in four places by the use of possession form. The term “his” extends to his closet, scent, hair and fabulous sleep. The initial three references towards the father are physical references, which spark memories from the narrator. These memories are shaped with the religious metaphors. The final reference to the father is not physical; “his fabulous sleep” near the end of the poem alludes to the narrator’s father’s death.
The text supports that the narrator is losing his faith in God after the death of his/her father. The poem mostly consists of memories until the last three lines.
“…as now, thinking of his fabulous
sleep, I stand on this canyon floor
and watch light slowly close
on water I’m not sure is there.”
Instead of continuing to be fueled with strong Biblical metaphors, the last three lines close with a sense of doubt and disappointment from the narrator. The metaphor of a canyon floor differs extremely with the metaphor of reaching and climbing a tree like initially expressed in the beginning of the poem. Instead, the canyon floor is used as a metaphor to describe the narrator being more grounded and lonely, not searching and reaching for something higher than him/her. The text suggests that the narrator has hit a low point, and is beginning to lose his faith in religion, or “water”, which the narrator is not sure exists anymore. After feeling the comfort of the “godsome air” from peeling through memories, the text supports that at the end of the poem, the narrator is confronted with the fact that his/her father is no longer there. The narrator is expressively viewing his comfort of religion fade away with the light since his/her father’s death.
The theme of My Father’s Hats is the narrator is coping with death, both his/her father’s death and the narrator’s questioning of faith. The tone of this poem is reminiscent and sullen. The narrator’s voice is filled with grace and acceptance, but yet at the same time, can be defined as confused. He/She is on a metaphorical journey to understanding why religion no longer makes sense after the death of his/her father. The text in the poem is comprised of metaphors and symbolism to allude to both religion and the father, and to the narrator’s true inner conflict at the end.
Analysis by: Ashley Nelson and Amanda Hankins
"My Father's Hats"
Mark Irwin
Sunday mornings I would reach
high into his dark closet while standing
on a chair and tiptoeing reach
higher, touching, sometimes fumbling
the soft crowns and imagine
I was in a forest, wind hymning
through pines, where the musky scent
of rain clinging to damp earth was
his scent I loved, lingering on
bands, leather, and on the inner silk
crowns where I would smell his
hair and almost think I was being
held, or climbing a tree, touching
the yellow fruit, leaves whose scent
was that of clove in the godsome
air, as now, thinking of his fabulous
sleep, I stand on this canyon floor
and watch light slowly close
on water I can't be sure is there.
from New Letters, Volume 66, Number 3, 2000 New Letters
Copyright 2000 by The Curators of the University of Missouri.
Copyright 2000 by The Curators of the University of Missouri.
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