Hands down my favorite reading in this class was Tim O’Brien’s, The Things They Carried. I had read the book several years ago, and just love the way he writes. I recommend anyone else that liked the short story to go out and get the book, you won’t be disappointed.
Another thing that struck me is how much I liked Edgar Allan Poe, both of the readings for this class I had read in high school, which was too long ago to want to admit, but I never ‘pondered weak and weary, about how dark and dreary he was.’ I not only would read The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Heart again, but ordered a collection of Poe’s work just the other day, in order to read more.
As far as things I could use a deeper understanding of, or just plain didn’t like, was most of the assigned poetry, I just don’t get enough pleasure out of it in exchange for all of the work required to decipher it. Call me unrefined, but where poetry is concerned, I will stick to Shel Silverstien and dirty limericks.
The other reading that I found disturbing was Flannery O’Conner’s; A Good Man is Hard to Find. It isn’t that I didn’t understand it, and I found her story telling to be quite captivating, but I was completely upended by the cruelty of it. I know that this kind of cruelty exists in life, but I would like to avoid it in literature. That said, it was great for a class like this, because it requires a reaction, which I would say is true of most of the assigned readings for this class. Nothing allowed you to passively read a story, everything invoked an opinion, such as in A Good Man is Hard to Find or the Tell-Tale Heart, or to pick a side, like in Everyday Use or Oleanna.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Last Blog
This blog is a collection of your impressions about the literature you’ve read over the course of the semester. Do you have favorites? Those texts about which you feel you could still use a deeper understanding? Those that you would consider reading again? Discuss
There were many pieces that we were assigned this semestor that I enjoyed. The one piece of literature that really stood out to me was the short story The Things They Carried. I really enjoyed reading the entire piece. It kept me entertained all the way until the end. I am a big fan of war stories, and this one fulfilled all aspects of a good story. There were some poems here and there that I enjoyed, such as Legal Alien which portrays the struggle that immigrants have in the U.S. All together there were many enjoyable texts and pieces that I would read again. For an English course these pieces correlated very well with what we were learning, and I enjoyed most of the pieces we read.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
LAST BLOG!
This blog is a collection of your impressions about the literature you’ve read over the course of the semester. Do you have favorites? Those texts about which you feel you could still use a deeper understanding? Those that you would consider reading again? Discuss
In my own opinion, this class was by far the best English class I have had in that the literature the assigned was always very intriguing and it allowed for the class to discuss it in a matter that was not structured. The blogs allowed for me to express my opinions on material that, it seemed that, everyone had something to say. I don’t believe there was one individual who did not want to voice their opinions about the assigned readings.
I believe that my favorite, by far, was Oleanna! Although it took for me to rent the movie (the play was verbatim) because I just could not visualize the meaning of the interactions between John and Carol. But once I understood the characters and had a full on discussion with my husband about it, I felt I was right there in the story. At first I wanted to defend Carol, but as the play ends my merciful emotions went to John and I wanted give Carol a piece of my mind. It was actions like the ones she took that make it impossible for women to be taken serious in a matter such as what happened between her and John. I believe a good piece of literature should stir up the emotions inside the reader or observer because then it shows that there is some personal meaning behind it. I believe that when a reader can identify on a personal level with the characters, the story and the meaning behind become that much more intriguing. Another one of my favorites was the play by Henrik Ibsen “A Doll House.” I found this one to be intriguing on a personal level. Although there were some major differences in how I handled the similar situation, I still found that I identified with Nora. Reading this play in a time when women have endlessly fought to be viewed as a human being just as important as a man and believing females have come quite far, did I realized that the battle will never end. There were will always be those who do not feel females are capable of pursuing a life outside the kitchen but as long as everyone remembers that our world needs both males and females to survive I believe the struggle will diminish.
There were a few poems I had a hard time trying to imagine and decipher but there was only one story that I just could not grasp the intensity of – “Killings,” by Andre Dubus. I found it hard to follow and visualize just what was going on. Maybe this was one of those stories I needed to see instead of read and possibly the visualization would have helped me to better understand the story. The poems I had a hard time with as well, were: “Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds,” “Somewhere I have never traveled,” and “Wild Nights – Wild Nights!” These were poems I just could not understand and I feel that it was that I could not identify them on a personal level or on any level for that matter. I would have liked to have read more on others opinions or view of these and maybe then I would have seen the meaning or significance behind them.
To My Classmates: Thank you for doing your part in making this class enjoyable and interesting. Your thoughts and opinions were, in my mind, not underestimated. Your responses to the questions and to my comments were thoughtfully respected and I thank you for voicing them! Good luck in your future! Kind Regards, Your Classmate, Stephanie Lamkin
In my own opinion, this class was by far the best English class I have had in that the literature the assigned was always very intriguing and it allowed for the class to discuss it in a matter that was not structured. The blogs allowed for me to express my opinions on material that, it seemed that, everyone had something to say. I don’t believe there was one individual who did not want to voice their opinions about the assigned readings.
I believe that my favorite, by far, was Oleanna! Although it took for me to rent the movie (the play was verbatim) because I just could not visualize the meaning of the interactions between John and Carol. But once I understood the characters and had a full on discussion with my husband about it, I felt I was right there in the story. At first I wanted to defend Carol, but as the play ends my merciful emotions went to John and I wanted give Carol a piece of my mind. It was actions like the ones she took that make it impossible for women to be taken serious in a matter such as what happened between her and John. I believe a good piece of literature should stir up the emotions inside the reader or observer because then it shows that there is some personal meaning behind it. I believe that when a reader can identify on a personal level with the characters, the story and the meaning behind become that much more intriguing. Another one of my favorites was the play by Henrik Ibsen “A Doll House.” I found this one to be intriguing on a personal level. Although there were some major differences in how I handled the similar situation, I still found that I identified with Nora. Reading this play in a time when women have endlessly fought to be viewed as a human being just as important as a man and believing females have come quite far, did I realized that the battle will never end. There were will always be those who do not feel females are capable of pursuing a life outside the kitchen but as long as everyone remembers that our world needs both males and females to survive I believe the struggle will diminish.
There were a few poems I had a hard time trying to imagine and decipher but there was only one story that I just could not grasp the intensity of – “Killings,” by Andre Dubus. I found it hard to follow and visualize just what was going on. Maybe this was one of those stories I needed to see instead of read and possibly the visualization would have helped me to better understand the story. The poems I had a hard time with as well, were: “Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds,” “Somewhere I have never traveled,” and “Wild Nights – Wild Nights!” These were poems I just could not understand and I feel that it was that I could not identify them on a personal level or on any level for that matter. I would have liked to have read more on others opinions or view of these and maybe then I would have seen the meaning or significance behind them.
To My Classmates: Thank you for doing your part in making this class enjoyable and interesting. Your thoughts and opinions were, in my mind, not underestimated. Your responses to the questions and to my comments were thoughtfully respected and I thank you for voicing them! Good luck in your future! Kind Regards, Your Classmate, Stephanie Lamkin
Friday, May 21, 2010
Last Blog
This blog is a collection of your impressions about the literature you've read over the course of the semester. Do you have favorites? Those texts about which you feel you could still use a deeper understanding? Those that you would consider reading again?
Discuss.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Blog 6
Question #1
There were many parts in “The Tell-Tale Heart” that lends itself well to the concept of repression. In the opening lines, the narrator is talking about how he is not crazy, when clearly he is. He believes that whatever is going on with him is making him better, more aware, and that this is a good thing.
In the lecture on psychoanalytic criticism, it talks about “the ego being split between urges and repression so that one part of the mind indulges while the other retains a strict sense of rectitude.” This is where I see the clearest signs of repression in the story. First when the narrator is talking about the week before the attack, and his being really nice to the old man while he is at the same time planning his attack. I also saw repression in the way he drew things out, every night exhibiting control with his entering of the room at night, inch by inch, in total darkness, spending hours in this process. He could have just gone in and killed the man at any other time; it was clearly just the two of them in the house. He was repressing that urge to kill him every night, while at the same time cultivating it.
He also used rationalization in his reason for wanting the man dead, granted they were the rationalizations of a mad man, because no reasonable person could convince themselves that a hawk eye warrants murder.
Question #4
In Richard Benton’s critique on “The Cask of Amontillado” he uses historical research and analysis to help give more meaning to the story. He pinpoints when in history this story would have likely taken place, based on the bones in the catacombs, the sword that Montresor carried, and his style of dress. Benton explains that this murder may have taken place the way it did because Montresor had no other way to respond against whatever insult he believed Fortunato committed against him. “The honor of an aristocrat could not be satisfied in the performance of a duel, however, unless the impugner was a social equal.” Fortunato was a man of power, “since Fortunato has power, Montresor resorts to murder.”
Benton then goes on to talk about the method of the murder, the word play used between the two men as duel in itself. Then he offers a variety of explanations of who Montresor might be recounting the story to, believing “the listener seems to be a woman, for clever women are good listeners to men’s words.”
The information in this critique definitely follows with my opinion of what was happening in the story, and the historical context helped with putting things in perspective. When I read the story, I kept thinking that Fortunato had to know something was coming, but his pride would not have let him back down. When Benton talks about the “duel of words”, that sat very well with my interpretation. It was as if the same pride that was driving Montresor to commit the murder, also kept Fortunato from fleeing it.
I don’t know if I agree with Benton that the story was being told to a woman, I can see the possibility. I always (having read this years ago, as well) saw the listener as a being a son or grandson. He told the story with pride, as though he was passing down a piece of family history, as his contribution in upholding the family name.
There were many parts in “The Tell-Tale Heart” that lends itself well to the concept of repression. In the opening lines, the narrator is talking about how he is not crazy, when clearly he is. He believes that whatever is going on with him is making him better, more aware, and that this is a good thing.
In the lecture on psychoanalytic criticism, it talks about “the ego being split between urges and repression so that one part of the mind indulges while the other retains a strict sense of rectitude.” This is where I see the clearest signs of repression in the story. First when the narrator is talking about the week before the attack, and his being really nice to the old man while he is at the same time planning his attack. I also saw repression in the way he drew things out, every night exhibiting control with his entering of the room at night, inch by inch, in total darkness, spending hours in this process. He could have just gone in and killed the man at any other time; it was clearly just the two of them in the house. He was repressing that urge to kill him every night, while at the same time cultivating it.
He also used rationalization in his reason for wanting the man dead, granted they were the rationalizations of a mad man, because no reasonable person could convince themselves that a hawk eye warrants murder.
Question #4
In Richard Benton’s critique on “The Cask of Amontillado” he uses historical research and analysis to help give more meaning to the story. He pinpoints when in history this story would have likely taken place, based on the bones in the catacombs, the sword that Montresor carried, and his style of dress. Benton explains that this murder may have taken place the way it did because Montresor had no other way to respond against whatever insult he believed Fortunato committed against him. “The honor of an aristocrat could not be satisfied in the performance of a duel, however, unless the impugner was a social equal.” Fortunato was a man of power, “since Fortunato has power, Montresor resorts to murder.”
Benton then goes on to talk about the method of the murder, the word play used between the two men as duel in itself. Then he offers a variety of explanations of who Montresor might be recounting the story to, believing “the listener seems to be a woman, for clever women are good listeners to men’s words.”
The information in this critique definitely follows with my opinion of what was happening in the story, and the historical context helped with putting things in perspective. When I read the story, I kept thinking that Fortunato had to know something was coming, but his pride would not have let him back down. When Benton talks about the “duel of words”, that sat very well with my interpretation. It was as if the same pride that was driving Montresor to commit the murder, also kept Fortunato from fleeing it.
I don’t know if I agree with Benton that the story was being told to a woman, I can see the possibility. I always (having read this years ago, as well) saw the listener as a being a son or grandson. He told the story with pride, as though he was passing down a piece of family history, as his contribution in upholding the family name.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Blog #6
Question 1:
In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe seems to use his writings to unleash his repressed feelings of darkness and death. Poe has experienced a large amount of death throughout his life with his family and loved ones, so he was probably angry for losing everyone that he cared for and being able to write about death and killing innocent people was his way to release his anger. In the story “The Tell-Tale Heart” the character feels that he must get rid of an evil eye, which belongs to an apparently blind old man. When the character ends up killing the old man he instantly feels relief, but after a while he begins to feel guilty and tells on himself, suggesting that even though he felt temporarily relieved from his actions, the secret that he was trying to hold made him feel worse, and it felt better for him to just tell on himself.
Question 2:
After doing some research on Edgar Allan Poe, I definitely think that his personal life influenced his writings, as well as the events in both “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”.
Edgar Allan Poe was born to Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and David Poe Jr. David Poe Jr. was supposed to inherit money from his wealthy father, David Poe Sr. but because David Jr. decided to pursue a career in acting with his wife, Elizabeth, his father abandoned David, because he preferred that David Jr. become a lawyer instead. David Poe Jr. did not have any acting skills and was not a very good actor so it was hard for him to find work and he became very depressed and turned to alcohol. After a while David Poe Jr. abandoned his wife and three children when Edgar Allen Poe was just an infant. Elizabeth, Edgar’s mother took any role that she could get on stage, but died a few months after Davis Jr. left from tuberculosis. According to reports on the death of Edgar’s mother, all three of her children were found laying next to her dead body. The living conditions of the family were very poor; they lived in a very cold and drafty boarding room, and slept on a pile of straw on the floor.
All three of the children were separated and sent to live in different locations. Thereafter, practically everyone that Edgar grew to be fond of died from tuberculosis, including the wife of a Richmond importer that took him in as a child. Edgar married his 13 year old cousin Virginia, but she became very ill with tuberculosis, causing her to hemorrhage, and Poe became deeply depressed because of her condition. Virginia began to waste away, losing lots of weight at the age of sixteen. When Virginia was 20 years old she was sitting at a piano singing and trying to entertain her husband when a vein in her neck burst causing blood to pour from her mouth, she died ten days later. Poe was distraught and died several years later from his addiction to alcohol and opiates.
I think that Poe’s experiences with his loved ones and witnessing such violent deaths has to do with his dark writings. A lot of his experiences seems to be scenes from horror movies. As I read through Poe’s biography, it seemed that he had more bad life experiences than good ones, which explains why he writes about killing people and death in both stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”.
Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: a Literary Reference to His Life and WorkFacts on File Library of American Literature
by Sova, Dawn B.Publication: New York Facts on File, Inc., 2007.
In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe seems to use his writings to unleash his repressed feelings of darkness and death. Poe has experienced a large amount of death throughout his life with his family and loved ones, so he was probably angry for losing everyone that he cared for and being able to write about death and killing innocent people was his way to release his anger. In the story “The Tell-Tale Heart” the character feels that he must get rid of an evil eye, which belongs to an apparently blind old man. When the character ends up killing the old man he instantly feels relief, but after a while he begins to feel guilty and tells on himself, suggesting that even though he felt temporarily relieved from his actions, the secret that he was trying to hold made him feel worse, and it felt better for him to just tell on himself.
Question 2:
After doing some research on Edgar Allan Poe, I definitely think that his personal life influenced his writings, as well as the events in both “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”.
Edgar Allan Poe was born to Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and David Poe Jr. David Poe Jr. was supposed to inherit money from his wealthy father, David Poe Sr. but because David Jr. decided to pursue a career in acting with his wife, Elizabeth, his father abandoned David, because he preferred that David Jr. become a lawyer instead. David Poe Jr. did not have any acting skills and was not a very good actor so it was hard for him to find work and he became very depressed and turned to alcohol. After a while David Poe Jr. abandoned his wife and three children when Edgar Allen Poe was just an infant. Elizabeth, Edgar’s mother took any role that she could get on stage, but died a few months after Davis Jr. left from tuberculosis. According to reports on the death of Edgar’s mother, all three of her children were found laying next to her dead body. The living conditions of the family were very poor; they lived in a very cold and drafty boarding room, and slept on a pile of straw on the floor.
All three of the children were separated and sent to live in different locations. Thereafter, practically everyone that Edgar grew to be fond of died from tuberculosis, including the wife of a Richmond importer that took him in as a child. Edgar married his 13 year old cousin Virginia, but she became very ill with tuberculosis, causing her to hemorrhage, and Poe became deeply depressed because of her condition. Virginia began to waste away, losing lots of weight at the age of sixteen. When Virginia was 20 years old she was sitting at a piano singing and trying to entertain her husband when a vein in her neck burst causing blood to pour from her mouth, she died ten days later. Poe was distraught and died several years later from his addiction to alcohol and opiates.
I think that Poe’s experiences with his loved ones and witnessing such violent deaths has to do with his dark writings. A lot of his experiences seems to be scenes from horror movies. As I read through Poe’s biography, it seemed that he had more bad life experiences than good ones, which explains why he writes about killing people and death in both stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”.
Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: a Literary Reference to His Life and WorkFacts on File Library of American Literature
by Sova, Dawn B.Publication: New York Facts on File, Inc., 2007.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Blog 6
Question 2:
Poe’s father abandoned the family in 1810 and his mother died shortly after from consumption. He was then taken into the home of John Allen who served him as a foster family and gave him the name Edgar Allen Poe, though they never formally adopted them. When he got older, in an effort to support himself, he enlisted in the US military, lying about his age and his name. In 1830 he married his second wife, Louis Patterson. In Baltimore in 1835, he secretly married Virginia Clemm, his 13 year old cousin. Two years after he published, The Raven, his wife died from tuberculosis. During her illness, he began to drink more from the stress of it all. Critics often believe the constant theme of death of beautiful women in his poetry and works of writing are because of the many women he lost in his life time. He was very unstable after his wife’s death and attempted to court Sarah Helen Whitman. Their engagement failed due to his heavy drinking and behavior (Wikipedia).
His life was pretty down in the dumps. Of course he would be depressed and angry about all the things that happened in his life. I believe all that pent up anger caused him to write such great and famous works. Instead of acting upon his feelings, he used them to write, channeling all of his negative energy on the page instead of someone else. It’s actually brilliant really. Because in a story you can become anything you want, design a character and live vicariously through them, almost as if you’re living with an alter ego. Fascinating really.
Question 4:
I chose the Critical Article The tell Tale Heart and in this article, the author tries to explain every aspect as to why the narrator used the language he used and why he committed the murder. The author talks about the sexual language he uses in the poem, to which I agree there were some parts that I questioned what Poe was trying to get across. He uses words like, Ejaculation and I thrust in my head and with the action of watching the old man while he slept and the fact that the whole setting was in the bedroom. I agree with what the narrator is talking about her. Poe even goes as far to admit that he loves the old man. I’ve read some other people’s blogs and some did not agree with the opinion of use of sexual tones used in the poem, but when I read this poem, I questioned why he would use descriptions rather than something else. Maybe it wasn’t the eye that caused this man’s death. The eye could have been an excuse. Maybe, the main character feared his love for this man since in the time period Poe wrote this, it wasn’t common for men to love men. So, in order to stop the love for him, he kills them and when the man is gone, his love for the man continues on and he can’t forgive what he had done to the man and won’t allow himself to get away with the murder.
Poe’s father abandoned the family in 1810 and his mother died shortly after from consumption. He was then taken into the home of John Allen who served him as a foster family and gave him the name Edgar Allen Poe, though they never formally adopted them. When he got older, in an effort to support himself, he enlisted in the US military, lying about his age and his name. In 1830 he married his second wife, Louis Patterson. In Baltimore in 1835, he secretly married Virginia Clemm, his 13 year old cousin. Two years after he published, The Raven, his wife died from tuberculosis. During her illness, he began to drink more from the stress of it all. Critics often believe the constant theme of death of beautiful women in his poetry and works of writing are because of the many women he lost in his life time. He was very unstable after his wife’s death and attempted to court Sarah Helen Whitman. Their engagement failed due to his heavy drinking and behavior (Wikipedia).
His life was pretty down in the dumps. Of course he would be depressed and angry about all the things that happened in his life. I believe all that pent up anger caused him to write such great and famous works. Instead of acting upon his feelings, he used them to write, channeling all of his negative energy on the page instead of someone else. It’s actually brilliant really. Because in a story you can become anything you want, design a character and live vicariously through them, almost as if you’re living with an alter ego. Fascinating really.
Question 4:
I chose the Critical Article The tell Tale Heart and in this article, the author tries to explain every aspect as to why the narrator used the language he used and why he committed the murder. The author talks about the sexual language he uses in the poem, to which I agree there were some parts that I questioned what Poe was trying to get across. He uses words like, Ejaculation and I thrust in my head and with the action of watching the old man while he slept and the fact that the whole setting was in the bedroom. I agree with what the narrator is talking about her. Poe even goes as far to admit that he loves the old man. I’ve read some other people’s blogs and some did not agree with the opinion of use of sexual tones used in the poem, but when I read this poem, I questioned why he would use descriptions rather than something else. Maybe it wasn’t the eye that caused this man’s death. The eye could have been an excuse. Maybe, the main character feared his love for this man since in the time period Poe wrote this, it wasn’t common for men to love men. So, in order to stop the love for him, he kills them and when the man is gone, his love for the man continues on and he can’t forgive what he had done to the man and won’t allow himself to get away with the murder.
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