Final Critical Thinking Blog

So I've decided to do my final blog on Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People." The story is a classic case of appearences being decieving. The mother of the family believes that good country people are the salt of the earth. She wants to make herself look good by hiring people who are poor to work in her household. On the other hand she considers them stupid and beneath her. The bible salesman is who she immediately connects with because who doesn't think a bible salesman who is poor is the ultimate man of trust? The man ends up being more evil than normal since he hurts the daughter and steals her leg. The theme of the story seems to be that while people may have limited means they are just as capable of evil and turning on those who trust them. Even the servant woman who works in the house pushes the daughter's buttons because she can. She immediately sees through the bible salesman since she isn't blinded by wealth or poverty. The bigger idea of deception runs throughout and shows that everyone can be blind to what's in front of them no matter what.

Critical Thinking Question: What other themes do you see in this story? How do both parties come across, do you see a positive to their actions?

Critical Thinking Blog #11

I decided to look at Sylvia Plath's poem "Morning Song" because it seemed the most cold. In comparision to Ariel which went a bit over my head, Morning Song seems very detached and cold. The woman is talking about having a child, yet feels no connection to her offspring, "I am no more your mother/Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow/Effacement at the wind's hand." She seems to be saying the child is merely a reflection of the mother, much like a mirror, but has no real depth or personality of its own. She also seems to show the burden of childrearing, "...I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral" yet still just seems to be stringing pretty words along. The last lines were the most confusing to me, "Whitens and swallows its dull stars. And now you try/Your handful of notes;/The clear vowels rise like balloons." To me it just seems like the child is crying but it also conveys the image of maybe putting something new out in the world. Balloons tend to symbolize belief, change, freedom. Maybe with this child comes freedom of some kind. It just seems kind of symbolic that Plath killed herself with her children in the house and this poem seems to have a detachment to children.

Critical Question: What do you think is the meaning of Plath's poem? Does it say something different about motherhood, or is it even about motherhood at all?

Critical Thinking Blog #10 - Going to Meet the Man

In the story Going to Meet the Man you follow Jesse as he recounts his racist thoughts and the story of how he witnessed a black man killed and tortured by his father and the townspeople. Throughout Jesse maintains that what he is doing is just and right. While racism is condemned far and wide the story forces you to look at how a racist justifies their actions. Jesse himself even wonders at times whether he is a good person. I think the most powerful indictor of Jesse's racist thoughts come from his tale of watching the black man killed. The townspeople make a big specatcle of going, much like a party, and Jesse eventually considers it a thing of honor to be trusted with watching this event. It boils down to a case of nature vs. nurture. Jesse is raised in a racist enviornment and the racism trickles down to him. His father, being the sheriff, instills in Jesse a sense of pride and eventually Jesse himself becomes the sheriff as well. He takes pride in his father's job, wants to be him, and decides to follow his thoughts wholeheartedly. If Jesse's parents had been against racism things might not have changed at all since the town was behind the decisions as well. When a person is drenched completely in a particular viewpoint it's hard to change and be different. The fact that Jesse has moments of questioning shows that possibly the enviornment is changing and he's being given different views. This concept could also be applied to The Adventures of Augie March since Augie's grandmother is racist, which could cause him to be one as well.

Critical Question: Does enviornment play a big role in Jesse's personality? How does this compare/contrast with the character in Adventures of Augie March?

Critical Thinking Blog #9 - The Swimmer

I had an extremely hard time understanding The Swimmer because of the almost whimsical nature of it. The hero tries to swim through everyone's pool in order to get back home. In discussing the story it becomes apparent that this is a pilgrimage in which to seek redemption. In applying that I came to see it as the man was an alcoholic and the water symbolized him coming to grips with that. He swims through the pools of the rich noticing how they're all fake and pretending to be happy and the water (alcohol) allows him to mingle with them. Eventually he discovers one of the neighbors does not drink anymore and that his family has fallen into harsh time. Apparently his drinking has caused things to move on without him and he seeks to swim, free of alcohol, in order to win back his family sober. The most interesting scene is when he's at the public pool. He's uncomfortable because he's thrust into situations with normal people, unlike the "fake" people who live in a nice community away from prying eyes. His dirty laundry is aired for normal people to see. When he finally gets home the house is up for sale and is disarray with his family missing. The message I ended up getting is that, since this is written after WWII, we may have nothing to fear from enemies outside our country, the greatest fear is losing everything over something stupid. The hero loses his family because he could not get past his drunken haze. All he has is this never ending journey to find them and the memories of what they used to be. The fact that he only has a few scattered memories of his family shows he is starting to forget who they even were.

Critical Question: If this is not the message of the story then what is? What clues and scenes can be used to come up with an alternative theme?

Critical Thinking Blog #8 - Streetcar Named Desire

In watching the movie and reading the play they were both incredibly similar. I've read The Glass Menagerie and for me I saw several similarities in how the women are portrayed in both versions. In the film version of Streetcar Named Desire Stella is utterly in love with Stanley, her passion for him is so intense he could probably murder someone and she'd be fine with it. It isn't until Blanche reveals that Stanley raped her that she leaves him. I prefer the play version because it shows Stella's need and dependence on Stanley, in the movie she just seems to do it because it is "the right thing" (as deemed by the Hayes Code of Hollywood at the time). In Blanche you see a character who wishes to return to the old days of the Southern belle, something often seen in Williams' plays. Blanche wants romantic love with someone who can protect her and finds Stanley's brute nature a sign that he's beneath her. She considers him and Stella's baby as "diluting the bloodline" in a way but finds it a necessary fact of life in the current time. Stella lives in reality while Blanche dreams of an old world sensebility with manly chivalry. And I'm not gonna lie...Marlon Brando's pretty hot throughout the movie even though he's an ass.

Critical Thinking Question: How is the rape of Blanche the final break in her worldvie, eventually driving her to madness? Would she have gone mad without the rape? And just how hot is Marlon Brando?

Critical Thinking Blog #7

So since there's only one reading this week I wanted to talk about the age barrier in Steinbeck's Leader of the People. Throughout the novel you have the four male characters who represent various age groups. There's the young Jody, the impressionable boy with his childhood innocence, who enjoys hearing about all these great people doing great things and envisioning he might do them someday. Then you have Billy Buck, the young adult ranch hand who seems to be the living incarnation of the grandfather in his younger days to Jody. Carl, the father, is the responsible family man who lives in the here and now and doesn't dwell on things past and then there's Grandfather who constantly talks about his days of former glory. Steinbeck shows all the different generations and the way they interact shows how society views the different stages of life. Jody reveres his grandfather and finds his stories a source of comfort while Carl thinks they're annoying and just the wild tales of an old man who has nothing left in life. Billy seems to go about things with no opinion but it's implied that he find the grandfather someone worthy of looking up to and respecting. The Grandfather is the most heartwrenching character since all he has left in life are his stories. The theme seems to be, when your sole purpose in life is over what is left to do? The Grandfather is shuffled to different areas and unfortunatley his son-in-law can't stand him and it stresses his daughter out to keep everyone happy, the man has to know he's a burden. The only one he makes happy is Jody and even then there's a sadness in the Grandfather's stories because he knows he's nothing in this new and fast paced world.

Critical Question: What does Steinbeck intend to say with all these different men, how do their interactions uncover the main theme of the story?

Critical Thinking Blog #6

I noticed many similarities with Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and Faulkner's "Barn Burning." The main issue I noticed was the main male characters who seemed like incredibly bitter and selfish men. In Kilimanjaro, Harry is constantly belitting his wife, drinking when she asks him not to and flat out saying he doesn't love her, "I don't think so. I never have" (1985). I never felt anything for Harry except his regret about never writing about the things he should have and his impending death. In "Barn Burning" Colonel Snope's father has bitterness against the upper class and torches their wealth whenever he's taken advantage of. Colonel could also be seen as the wife in Kilimanjaro because they both try to help their significant other and end up being the worse for wear. The wife in Hemingway's story is no wilting flower, capable of hunting and such, but is in a loveless one-sided marriage. Colonel in Burn Burning loves his father and wants to help but is constantly torn between familial duty and doing the right thing. Both of the characters have this sense of regret and hatred, more expressly stated in Kilimanjaro than in Faulkner's story. Both stories focus on fear and also that the men are in powerless positions, the father is lower class and Harry is dying. Both are unable to do anything about their situation, yet have family trying to support and reassure them.

My critical thinking question is what do you think Hemingway and Faulkner were trying to say with their main characters? How does regret and loss come into the plot of both characters and create their actions?

Critical Thinking Blog #5

Fitzgerald's "Winter Dreams" was an interesting read because it seemed so straight forward that maybe I've missed the deeper meaning. The descriptive imagery was something I noticed right off the bat with Fitzgerald's work, especially in the line "the long Minnesota winter shut down like the wite lid of a box" (1823) almost trying to show how confining and depressing Dexter's life is. To escape this death-like grip he becomes smart with money and seeks fame, "He wanted not associations with glittering things and glittering people - he wanted the glittering things themselves" (1826). To Dexter the ultimate "glittering thing" is Judy Jones, a shallow girl who plays men like puppets. Judy seemed a lot like "Daisy Miller" to me in how she plays with men and isn't aware of her effect. Dexter is also incredibly reminiscent of Winterbourne in that he wants to posess Judy, yet doesn't really know anything about who she is as a person. Judy is easily distracted by men, "When a new man came to town everyone dropped out-dates were automatically canceled" (1832) yet Dexter doesn't care. He throws aside a woman who truly loves him, knowing what he knows about Judy, to be with her anyway. It seems that Fitzgerald is making some type of statement about women being the downfall of men or how women are easily exploited. I keep coming back to the line in the story, "She would have been soiled long since had there been anything to soil her, - except herself" (1835) which I think is Fitzgerald's way of saying anyone can be the cause of their own downfall. Judy cannot be touched no matter what she does or what men do to her, only she can be the cause of her own destruction.

My critical question that I give to everyone is what is Fitzgerald trying to say about the Judy character and/or women in general? Are people really the cause of their own doom or are outside influences the factor?

Critical Thinking Blog 4

To me the poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" seemed to discuss a man who was slowly dying from not living his life to the fullest. His talk of the yellow smoke that "slides along the street" (1577) seems to imply that some type of doom is coming to him. In all the poems we've looked at there seems to be this theme of the unlived life. It seems to be summed up the best in the lines, "I am no prophe - and here's no great matter;/I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker" (1579). I think that the war aspect (mind you I'm not sure when this poem was penned) played a hand in this poem. Prufrock is discussing how he hasn't done anything with his life and how he wasn't born into greatness, "I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be" (1579) and he seems to believe that if he was born into greatness things might have been more positively skewed for him. He also says that he was almost "the Fool" (1580) almost as if everyone is making fun of him and he is an idiot for not doing more. His view of modern culture and his life is that he should have risen above who he was made to be, and when he didn't he deserved the things that happened to him. My question is, do you see the theme of the unlived life here? And what are his thoughts on destiny and fate in terms of position in life?

Critical Thinking Blog #3

Out of all the Frost poems the one that I was interested with the most was "Mending Wall." I would see Frost as a modernist because he constructs a very simple world in his poetry, especially in "Mending Wall," that doesn't focus on materialism. The concept of the "wall" in the poem is meant to keep people and objects separated, "My apple trees will never get across/And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him" and the theme of "Good fences make good neighbors" is an incredibly modern concept. He's saying that fences, meant to divide, also keep us from connecting with our community and a support system that is supposed to be involved in our lives. A good neighbor is defined, according to Frost, as someone who keeps to themselves and doesn't meddle. The person that Frost has as the protaganist asks, "Before I built a wall I'd ask to know/What I was walling in or walling out,/And to whom I was like to give offense." Nowadays we have all sorts of barriers keeping us separate from the outside world and we don't even notice how untrusting we are of people around us. I think that Frost has this type of growing community dealing with this makes us look at our own community. His themes are new and relevant because they are inherent in our world today. The question I pose to other is what else could the fences in "Mending Fences" symbolize and why does the character feel the need to question the use of fences?

Critical Thinking Blog 2 - Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

I didn't see The Awakening or Daisy Miller as particularly depressing but after reading Maggie: A Girl of the Streets I was throughly depressed. I think this stems from the fact that this story is very reminiscent of parts of the US and the world. The Bowery is depicted as a hell-hole for lack of a better world, where children have no opportunities and can only hope to marry a drunk. What's sad is that there are parts of the world like this, where a woman's sole chance is to become a prostitute. I loved Crane's use of religious wording, namely all the references to hell. It's not enough to have all the characters telling poor Maggie "Go teh hell" (978) but there are also more subtle references. Mary washes Jimmie in "an unholy sink" (960), the house has "red hues" and her "face was inflamed" (963). The author does a pretty good job of depicting Mary as the devil incarnate and probably the worst person ever. It's also obvious to see the religious connotations when Jimmie tells Mary that Maggie's "gone teh deh devil" (979) to show she's had premarital sex. It seems almost like the author is showing religion to be the driving force in why people are the way they are. In the end when Mary starts her stream of forgiveness for Maggie it's surrounded by implied God-fearing people and the religion only masks the deciet and illusion of forgiveness. The harsh reality of the Bowery proves that children have no escape from a life of degradation and poverty and hiding behind a religious background doesn't do anything. Jimmie becomes a man who "believed in nothing" (965) and shows remorse for his sister's condition, while still publicly bashing her to Mary. At the end I was just depressed because Maggie had a very idealized, sentimental view of the world and all of that was corrupted and stomped on due to circumstances of birth.

Critical Thinking Blog 1 - Daisy Miller

I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed Henry James and Daisy Miller. The story is incredibly fascinating not just with the double standards in gender, but also the different stereotypes and thoughts of Europeans vs. Americans.

I decided to look at the character of Winterbourne for my first blog entry because as fascinating as Daisy Miller is, with her "fighting" of the manner that is expected of her, Winterbourne masquerade's as a crusader for American virginity (to mess with a quote from A Knight's Tale...you'll notice as many movie references as I can stick in one blog) when at the end he comes off like a man of skewed morals.

His intentions do start out as honorable. He persues Daisy in the way he's been taught and for some strange reason feels the need to "advance further, rather than retreat" (James 394). Daisy challenges him and treats him differently from the girls he's used to and throughout the novel Daisy constantly does things to make the man jealous like telling him flat out "I have always had...a great deal of gentleman society" (396). Winterbourne's character is a man who needs to classify and put people into categories. Since the novel spends all the time making assumptions and judgements of others in the form of gossip Winterbourne needs the stablity of placing people into the categories that is assumed of them, but not Daisy.

He cannot classify Daisy and is constantly going back and forth on whether she is innocent. James says "He was inclined to think Miss Daisy Miller a flirt" (397) and doesn't immediately shed that image of her. He also tries incredibly hard not to notice Eugenio or Giovanelli who also have the same relationship with Daisy as him. It is not until the end that Winterbourne truly shows his true self when he classifies Daisy as a tramp on discovering her and Giovanelli at a monument at night "It was as if a sudden illumination had been flashed upon the ambiguity of Daisy's behavior and the riddle had become easy to read. She was a young lady whom a gentleman need no longer be at pains to respect" (426). It is with that quote that Winterbourne catergorizes and labels Daisy as a woman of ill repute even though after her death Giovanalli continues to proclaim her "the most innocent" (428). This would immediately contradict Winterbourne's assumptions since who better to know her behavior than her rumored lover?

At the end while talking to Mrs. Costello it is revealed that Daisy only cared what Winterbourne thought about her, and upon looking through the story again her agitation when he thinks Giovanelli her lover is a big indicator of her feelings (420). He does say "I was booked to make a mistake" (429) which makes the reader believe that he has missed out on the great love of his life but it is not true. He ends up moving on to a "very clever foreign lady" and is now the subject of gossip, much like his former love. Winterbourne's ability to move on from Daisy and return to his life in Geneva as if nothing had happened proves that this was a passing phase. He has labeled and cast her off, continuing on while she's dead...uplifting huh?

The question I pose to the readers (if you made it this far I applaud you) is whether Winterbourne judged Daisy inappropriately? In looking at their relationship thorughout the story was he quick to judge and what does that reveal about his character?