Misanthrope Life

Reaction... (not so eloquent as I would wish) to the last chapter of The Bluest Eye by Tony Morrison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOdNOU-J4Xk

VLOG: The Woe of Child Reality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoImEpn6eRg&feature=youtu.be

Watch Andressa's blog.

Valentino's Red Dress

From page 40 on there is a clear change in narration. Claudia our narrator is omniscient. She knows what happens in Pecola's house and gives us a faithful description. Her narration becomes less childish as we move further into the book. By page 51 it is clear that she knows the thoughts of characters such as Pecola. 

babushkas: An Anglicised term for a woman's headscarf tied below the chin, originally worn by Russian elderly women, but now Europe-wide.

Jaundiced: is a yellowish pigmentation of the skin, the conjunctival membranes over the sclerae (whites of the eyes), and other mucous membranes caused by hyperbilirubinemia (increased levels of bilirubin in the blood). 

How people perceive is an important topic in The Bluest Eye. Staring with Pecola's desire to have blue eyes. Pecola is being constantly bombarded by images on blonde, blue-eyed, and white girls. Her deduction is that those physical attributes can determine your beauty. The narrator explains how Pecola thought people wouldn't do nasty things infront of pretty blue eyes. During the chapter, Pecola buys three candies, Marie Jane's candy, with three cents. The candy wrapping has a little girl in it. Pecola sees her beautiful eyes and her white skin and feels as if eating the candy was eating those "superior" physical traits. That process of owning, at least for that moment, a piece of that comfort gave her pleasure: "Three pennies had brought her nine lovely orgasms with Mary Jane." (p. 50)

(Not blonde but definitely blue-eyed.)

It is amazing how the products we consumed and those that we still do affect the way we see and understand things. Pecola is subject of a society that thought her to feel ugly with the way she looked. A society that told her it was wrong. What are we being told now a days? 

Fat is ugly
Poor is ugly
Weak is ugly
Generosity is foolish
Have.
Take.
Buy.

After Pecola, we find the three whores in the building and how they don't care about much. Yet, the narrator those take great interest in both the accessories the women wore, the makeup and the hair styles. Women have found the way to enhance or transform their appearance since ancient Egypt or even before. If these women hate men and women alike and wish nothing but what they have. Why are they concerned with fixing their hair and doing their makeup? 

It is hard to criticize those ideals of Beauty. I abide them daily. I as Pecola couldn't fight the images which I grew up with. I guess I wouldn't marry my maids son. I can't explain why it feels wrong. I know that it is wrong to feel wrong about loving someone that is from a lower social class. As it wrong the Pecola feels shame of her racial traits. 

PHYSICS

Also just for the curious, one of the whores compares Marie's story about turning a bad boy to the FBI to: "the Lady in Red that told on Dillinger." (p. 54) John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American bank robber in the Depression-era United States. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations. Dillinger escaped from jail twice. Dillinger was also charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana, police officer who shot Dillinger in his bullet proof vest during a shoot-out, prompting him to return fire. It was Dillinger's only homicide charge.


A woman gave them the final information on were to find him. She wore a red dress to the theater well they would have found him. Find the whole story here. There's also a movie with Johnny Deep. 

Quarreled Prayers

Special word :
Martyrdom: The suffering of death on account of adherence to a cause and especially to one's religious faith.

In the third chapter of The Bluest Eye the author continues using characteristic African-American lexicon such as:

"Leave me 'lone" 

"Sure you ain't bringin' in nothing."

"Your whiskey ass wouldn't feel hellfire, but I'm cold." (p. 40-41) 

ATTITUDE 

We can see a lot of portrait description, (description of a person physically or emotionally), Claudia starts by explaining how the Breedlove family was ugly physically and in attitude. They had a sort of mysterious ugliness because they all believed they were ugly. Pecola Breedlove hid behind her ugliness; "concealed, veiled, eclipsed- peeping out from behind the shroud very seldom, and then only to yearn for the return of her mask. ( p. 39). We have all had an ugly classmate once. From what I know I could have been the ugly classmate for someone. Each person regards beauty differently as many cliche phrases say. But it is a fact that if the person believes he/she is ugly they look even worst. Claudia describes the unharmonious build of the Breedlove's facial features. She does so in a way I imagined monsters. 

Yeah too cute... something like =

But with dark skin. 

Descriptions are hilarious and it is evident that the author gives them as unscrupulous as a child would give them. When we are kids we tend to exaggerate, but in that exaggeration truth is found. We need to read the chapter as if a child was actually telling us how he/she saw it. 

Regardless of the childish manner the author pin points some complex topics;

"In these violent breaks in routine that were themselves routine..." The Breedlove family was having a rough morning as Claudia tells us. The fights were a pause in the routine yet they were routine. The monotony of life in poverty had gotten the best of them. And it is Monotony itself which feels too elegant for a child to approach. The constant shift between innocent indiscrete descriptions and heavily charged analysis is what keeps the chapter afloat. 

As a young adult (oh the dreaded category), I fear the moment when my reality is one lacking purpose. Routine could be the end of me. Mrs. Breedlove is trapped in her boring reality and Jesus doesn't let her escape it. One of the last descriptions in the chapter is that of Mrs. Breedlove. She is religious and has convinced herself that her destiny is to be the human punishment of her not religious drunken husband. Claudia adult voice says: "If Cholly had 

stopped drinking, she would have never forgiven Jesus. She needed Cholly's sins desperately." (p. 43)

Fels Naphtha and Shirley Something

The description Morrison gives of Claudia's mother's complaints is hilarious. She explains how she would talk about the things people had done to upset her in a particular way, avoiding to name the perpetrator of the "crime" and so on. 

Music also describes her mother. Claudia explains that it can portray her mother's mood and it can make her feel warm inside. 

"... my mother's voice took all of the grief out of the words and left me with a conviction that pain wasn't only endurable, it was sweet." p. 27

Visual memories are something special. Music, smell and taste can take us back in time. There is a trend going around twitter and instagram called #takebacktuesday in which, people post old pictures of themselves every tuesday. It is interesting to see why people find this so amusing. In the chapter Claudia talks about her disinterest on white baby dolls. She says she was more interested in knowing why other people found them alluring. One of those canons society has is the blue-eyed doll desire, every girl wants one and that's how it's supposed to be.

I leave you with some visual quotes:

"The house smelled of Fels Naphtha and the sharp odor of mustard greens cooking." p. 25

 (Fels Naptha® is a heavy duty laundry bar soap that is great for pre-treating stains.) (Brassica juncea, also known as mustard greens, Indian mustard, Chinese mustard, and leaf mustard, is a species of mustard plant. )

"Then we both looked where Pecola was staring. Blood was running down her legs. Some drops were on the steps... That's ministratin'." p. 27

(Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells.) (ministratin= menstruating: is the periodic discharge of blood and mucosal tissue.)

I wasn't going to make the quote more visual. 

"It was a small step to Shirley Temple" p. 23

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fElh8TKLiYM)

17 Outdoors

The book, The Bluest Eye starts with a text written in a simple manner which gives the feeling of a child writing it. As we move into the first chapter, labelled Autumn, we meet Claudia the child writing the story. The book unfolds into a sort of public exposure of a private confidence.

Autumn, the chapter, is narrated by Claudia. She describes the hunger and pain her family suffered daily due to poverty. I found the method of description similar to that of Khaffir Boy.

"We stare at her, wanting her bread, but more than that wanting to poke the arrogance out of her eyes..." P. 9

Yet, The Bluest Eye exhibits a child who is not afraid of the whites although he/she despises them.

School is described as a place they work in rather than study in. Adults are cold and pay no attention to them. I got the feeling of child abuse from Claudia's description of her "school". In addition, Claudia says that not even sick children were taken care of. In the chapter she is sick with a stomach ache.

"Adults do not talk to us- they give us directions." P. 10

Later on, the chapter has a brief dialogue between Claudia's mom and her friends. They start gossiping about Slack Bessie, Henry Washington and Della among others from the neighborhood. The small dialogue uses colloquial diction which portrays the african american culture. Syntax is also unique to achieve this. The scene shocked me because it resembles the scenes of the movie The Help, which we reviewed in class.

One interesting, cheeky, and ingenious fact I noticed about page 17 was that the author writes 17 times the word outdoors in page 17. Coincidence perhaps, but still worth mentioning.

Day of property: dream (page 18)

The chapter was intriguing made me want to read further. Sadly, my chemistry homework sat unfinished on my lap. Oh the sciences!

Test

So got a 60% on the mock test. Meaning a D- ... Not very happy

Non-Fiction Soup

K: Reality shows

M: Abbreviate 

N: Readers and Readings

1. American Idol

American Idol is the No.1 television show beaming on American television right now; in fact it is the only program in American television history to have enjoyed No.1 status over six consecutive seasons. Fitting into the genre of reality shows as a television competition to discover new solo singing talent, it has surpassed extremely popular shows like 'All in the Family' and 'The Cosby Show' in the race to the top. Created as a spin-off of the hugely popular British television show Pop Idol by Simon Fuller it debuted in 2002on the Fox Network. 2. Biggest Loser Just when we think we've seen it all, here comes a reality show that's unique in concept and hits the bull's eye as far as the average American family goes. The Biggest Loser is a contest centered on overweight people competing with each other to lose weight and win a cash prize. There are many variants of the show beamed around the world in different countries; the goal is the same however, the Biggest Loser is the one contestant who loses most weight or the highest percentage of weight. I do like reality shows I analyze the things people are willing to do for money or fame. It is effortless entertainment and that's what I need sometimes. Although I don't watch much television I have seen all of the shows Shields mentions. Essays need to convince their audience that their content is important. They usually try to persuade the reader into thinking or doing something. Reality shows try to capture people likewise. Memoirs depict the life of people. We have learned that every genre has a purpose and memoirs have their own. It depends on the audience they target. Reality shows have this same ability to capture different audiences through "reality". What puzzles me is why we so interested in watching other people do things we wouldn't do? Why are we interested in other people's life? Because we are tired of our own life. We are dull. We want to see action. Fast, immediate action. To be brief about chapter m I would rip many chapters of life like Darwin ripped uninteresting chapters out of books. Books can mirror life, and there is so much about life that could be ripped away. For the sake of briefness of course.  The End

Mosaics

 How To Deal With Wholes When Parts Are Abundant

(Free interpretation)

Response Response

I did struggle with the MLA format. I keep having trouble proof reading myself before turning in assignments. I understand why it hurt my grade. After all, I did like the topic very much and learned a lot about language creation.
Yes, language is culture. But it reflects itself as personality reflects how a person is, so it may be a reflection of culture as well. I understand the correction though.
The woman that marries Drogo and her story, are important to point out how the directors had helped the audience transition into the new language through her. Plus she made it possible to emphasize the differences of complexity between the Dothraki language and English.
Like you said she experiences things with the show's audience.
Thank you for your feedback. I will work on the things that I failed at.

Composing is Inventing

David Shields born in Los Angeles in 1956, graduated from Brown University in 1978, Honors in English Literature, magna cum laude, phi beta kappa. In 1980 he received an MFA in Fiction with honors from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, (Wikipedia). In chapter A of his book "Reality Hunger"  he tries to transmit what the book will be. He talks about finding a reality through art. From what I understand he uses fragments that are not originally his to do so. All the fragments in chapter A involve art and it's capacity to be rebellious and free. Art is also used to convey emotion which is one of the things humans think as real. Perhaps Shields wants us to connect the purpose of his work and the power of art to explain why he did what he did. The why to the what.

This is what Wikipedia says the book will be about: "Reality Hunger: A Manifesto" (Knopf, 2010), argues for the obliteration of distinctions between genres, the overturning of laws regarding appropriation, and the creation of new forms for a new millennium.

In a 40 minute video you can find on youtube Shields talks about his book. He explains this dilemma with appropriation and plagiarism that his book discusses. He goes deep into the tesis of the book, reality can't be plagiarist. The video also explains his desire to find a more sophisticated type of non-fiction. One, I understood, based on an ancient tradition of creative liberty.

Did you know that Shields likes to start his speeches by saying he stutters? I bet you didn't.

He links this stutter to "Reality Hunger", saying that the book exhibits that frustration of never being able to reach reality through language.

Question Time

A. What is the mind according to Emerson
B. Define "beatitude" as it is used on page 2
C. On the first paragraph of page 4 why does Emerson employ a parallel structure? Explain.
D. For Emerson how are revelation and creation related
E. Diagram Emerson's explanation of genius
F. What's God's role in all of this? Do you think Emerson's theory is feasible

A. The mind is the opposite of the soul, it is the "scale of the senses and the understanding." The mind is the fact that is "external and fugitive."

B. Beatitude - blessing, happiness

C. Not only does this emphasize these ideas, but it also shows that these are all part of one single idea.

D. "Revelation is the disclosure of the soul," answering the questions about life and, well, "creation"

F. God's role is to provide "a shoulder to cry on;" to be accessible to all who need them. Even if they don't believe they need him. God is in each of our souls. Emerson doesn't talk about the Catholic god himself, but about a miscellaneous God that is inside all of us; a God we are unaware of. He says that the only way to notice him is by living our lives, and we will eventually see his effects on such.

History Of English

John Locke (Wrington, August 29, 1632 - Essex, October 28, 1704), said peace can be achieved by means of a universal definition of  English words. He was part of a rational idealism. He believed order could solve everything. In my opinion wanting to organize everything is what causes chaos. The methodical and perfectionist ways of the world became a flu that only serves to stress us even further. It is even more unreal to think that humans can tolerate all their differences. But isn't that the best option? Either way, Locke's wish didn't come true. Language nowadays is more diverse than what his rational mind could have ever imagined. It is these diversity which builds on the humor of each place and develops trends as time passes.

Some time after Locke, scholars were making there own language. Reframing the words and creating new ones. They had to because their discoveries had no names. They did as we do in school, they created a language only for them. That creation of neologisms, I wouldn't say is a phenomenon. It happens quite often in any type of community that has any sort of innovation.

Later on, Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745), voiced his concern for the growing conflicts with the understanding of English. This English being old but still considered the refined one. The strive for the endurance of the language persisted, and it still pointlessly does (seen in the prescriptivist and descriptivist arguments nowadays).

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [O.S. 7 September] – 13 December 1784), had the brilliant idea of making a dictionary. The English dictionary, which became extremely popular. He, the creator of the dictionary, admitted that nothing would balm a language. The so desired immortality of the language was nothing more than a fantasy. The capacity to evolve would take with it the language. I agree completely with his accidental discovery. Accidental because it penetrated his mind when he finished the dictionary and thus noticed the malleability of language. Language cannot be tamed. Anyone can shape it and make their own arguments with it. After all language is purely political.

William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835), known for his written work, Rural Rights, affirmed  that without understanding grammar you can't expect to do something better than a poor man's work. Writing or speaking "properly" will get you a better life. Yes, as he said, education in the written and spoken word is important. Isn't that the reason why private schools teach english? And, why even though we are latin we put effort into learning the ways of the English culture? I think so. My English will ensure me a better business life and a better college. English also alienates me from the lower class and, as raw as it may sound, that is indeed one of our purposes.

Oh! Johnson also thought that shakespeare had ruined macbeth by using the word knife. Because it was used by the workers and, in his opinion, wasn't worthy of being in the play. For the love of God just because of a word he makes such a comment.

At the end of the 19th century, when women were getting more education opportunities, Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817), wrote her novels. They showed and example of good English and set the norm. With industrialization came a change in language too. The terminology had mutations and new words were again needed.

Language will be forever in transition and it is, as I said before, pointless to desire the sudden stop of this movement.

Justin Unites Them All

The Story of English has finally arrived to American English. After a quick stop in Canadian English, and how there haven't been fights between Canadians and Americans but, there is resentment.  A type of resentment that keeps each one apart via their accents. 

I wonder how Justin Bieber has been so accepted in America. He is Canadian after all. Yeah, it surprised me too. Well he helps Unite, oh what a saint.

Your welcome.

In the video a scene of marines playing poker is captured. The video explains: "A player who had enough [from the game] would say: Deal me out!,"(The Story of English) this small fluctuations in the manner of speaking are what really makes a dialect. In Colombia for example each city has a different dialect. The common language is Spanish, but it has so many variations (just like we are noticing in english) that a citizen from Bogota struggles to understand a fast speaking cartagenero.

In class we we are reading The Stories of English by David Crystal. He explains that during the XIX century some authors called the Romantics used the English people talked in the streets for their works. They printed their own accents into their works, and at the time this was revolutionary. When they talked about Mark twain in the video they stated that he was the first to write a book in American English. Therefore, I would call Twain a late Romantic for the Americans.

Citations:
"“The Story of English episode 6 - An English Speaking World - Part 1 / 7” YouTube. YouTube, Aug 27, 2009. Web. Jan 17, 2013."

IRA

The Irish Republican Army was a Guerrilla which strived for the independence of Ireland from the British. The fourth episode of The Story Of English exhibits the history of English in the Irish territory. The video, talks briefly about this Irish movement that used illegal methods to overthrow the British rule. As a result of this resentment towards the British, they managed to keep their strong oral traditions. Conveniently, I watched a movie called Hunger about the Irish hunger strike that took place on a prison filled with IRA volunteers. The movie serves as a record of the strong accent the documentary (The Story of English) talks about. 

Just for fun I interviewed my Dad. I like to annoy him and my homework pretty much does the trick. 

He was kind enough to respond to only half of my questions:

Me: ¿What was the name of the prisoner that starved?

Dad: It is not only one it is many. But the most famous one is Bobby Sands.

Me: ¿What do you think about the IRA?

Dad: They had a right to seek independence for Northern Ireland but used the wrong method to get it.

Me: ¿Do you think the IRA is similar to las Farc?

Dad: They use similar methods, but their cause was different. The IRA wanted the independence of their country contrary to the Farc's desire to have power in their country. There is another similarity that they both want to be recognized as a political alternative and use terrorism to obtain this. Therefore, they are similar but not the same.

*smoking the Bible*

Th' videos huvnae bin huir uv a interestin'. th' first blog Ah did has a gantin' mistake Ah thooght each chapter was a nine minute video, insteid ay th' seven, nine minute videos, 'at makeup th' episode. weel, noo Ah struggle e'en harder tae fin' a topic fur th' blogs. definitely feel loch a trapped human, in a room filled wi' poop in th' walls (image above).

Tae honur david crystal's book 'at we ur readin' in class:.

One Direction Cookies

After watching Episode 1 of  The Story of English,  I thought about One Direction. One Direction, is an english band which became recently famous after participating on the British show The X Factor. Girls go crazy for the boys that make up the band for various reasons. One very popular reason is their accent. Their elegant yet uninterested form of speaking makes girls go like them. I, for one, like the British accent. How can an accent become a physical quality which depicts beauty? Well like the video footage shows: "The superiority of this accent lingers. Research in britain shows that people using this accent are thought: more intelligent, more trust worthy, even better looking,"(The Story of English episode 1 - An English Speaking World - Part 1 / 7). An accent can become a sort of trend that universally people seek. The video The Story of English shows the English language as a powerful entity that begins to take over the world. The video itself is a type of add for the language. I recognize the global push that English has, yet I don't think of English as the superior language. I think French, Italian or even Hebrew could be equally globalized. Well... maybe not. 

I feel learning English is very important. I want to pronounce everything right, almost to the point of trying to eliminate my accent. This pursuit generates controversy among my family: they say accents are good because they show where you come from, and feeling ashamed about them is just stupid. My argument is that any language should be learned aiming for perfection. We haven't solved the discussion.

Citation:

 "“The Story of English episode 1 - An English Speaking World - Part 1 / 7” YouTube. YouTube, Aug 27, 2009. Web. Jan 12, 2013."