Bastard Out of Carolina

This is by far my favorite piece that we have read in this class. I am really glad that this is how we get to end the class. There are so many themes in this book that we have encountered throughout the course of this class. Through all of the abuse that Bone deals with, both sexually; physically; and emotionally, I am really glad that Allison decided to incorperate the idea of family bonding as a security net for her.
From the very beginning of the story, even before the abuse began, Bone felt safe around her family, and really valued that time. "We lived on one porch or another all summer long, laughing at Little Earle, teasing the boys and picking over beans, listening to stories, or to the crickets beating out thier own soft songs. When I think of that summer-...-I always feel safe again" (22). Throughout the story we realize how important this sense of family, story, and security means to Bone.
Another source of bonding that seems especially important to Bone is that which she has with her mother. "If I got a permanent, I would lose those hours on Mama's lap sitting in the curve of her arm while she brushed and smoothed my hair and talked soft above me... I would have cut off my head before I let them cut my hair and lost the unspeakable pleasure of being drawn up onto Mama's lap every evening" (31). Here the reader can see how much Bone values her relationship with her mother. As the reader sees this bond build, it becomes harder to read the parts where Anney chooses not to believe how abusive Glen is with Bone. I wish that Anney would have left Glen for good in the hospital parking lot. She knew the extent of the abuse, and still took him back. I wondered while I was reading if Anney understood how important the mother/daughter bond was to Bone. If she did, why did she send Bone off to live with Ruth?
While living with her Aunt Ruth, we see Bone develop yet another family bond. This bond becomes really obvious when they are listening to music and singing together. "Every time the chorous came onb, she'd pound her hand on the couch and sing along, waving at me to join in with her. We's yell it out" (138). Bone really cares about Ruth, and Ruth decides that she is going to do whatever she can to protect Bone. So far in the story, Ruth is the closest that Bone has come to telling anyone of the abuse, and as the readers, we can see that she really wants to tell her everything. I personally think that Bone did not have to tell Ruth about the sexual abuse. She either already knew, or it didn't matter to her. The physical abuse was enough that she would tell Anney that she needed Bone's help as long as she could have it just to keep her out of that house and away from Glen. I wonder if Bone will ever tell anyone everything once she understands what is exactly going on with Glen? If she does, I think that there is a good chance that it would be her Aunt Ruth that she tells.

Cherrylog Road

I think this poem stuck out to me because it was different from the rest of them in the way that it really was as simple as it looked. The other poems by Dickey seemed to take more decoding to understand. I liked how this poem just said what it had to say, and was therefore a little easier to understand.
The tone in this poem changed a few times throughout the poem. It started out as fun. The boy was playing in the cars, pretending to be the people that once owned the cars. He was doing this while waiting for Doris to meet him. The poem also starts to build up anticipation as he waits for her.
I liked the part where Doris first arrived. She was loosening the screws, and getting car scraps to bring home to show her father that she had went to the junkyard to get things (not to meet a boy). "Through dust where the blacksnake dies
Of boredom, and the beetle knows The compost has no more life." I really liked this description. It made Doris appear really strong, and did not even notice the dust, dirt, or animals. She was definitely not being portrayed as a "typical" southern bell. She was not going to wait around, and did not need any help from a man and she was IN A JUNKYARD!
The other description that I really liked was the last stanza. "Restored, a bicycle fleshed With power, and tore off Up Highway 106, continually Drunk on the wind in my mouth, Wringing the handlebar for speed, Wild to be wreckage forever." This description really represents the freedom of adolescence. It just makes us realize that Doris and the guy were not in a romantic relationship. They were just kids celebrating their adolescence and the freedom that goes along with it.

Walking on Water

I found this collection of poems to be a bit confusing. We have not done any poetry in this class yet, and it has been quite a while since I have done poetry at all. For this week's blog, I decided to write about "Walking on Water" (or at least try to.

"Walking on Water" kind of reminded me of the ending of O'Connor's "Revelation." It seemed to have some sort of religious background. Dickey talks about Heaven, and I think people (and maybe sharks) that are going there. Also the title seems to hold some sort of religious meaning. The bible talks a lot about water. Jesus walked on the water, so maybe he thinks that he is choosing who goes to heaven like he thinks he is Jesus.

The beginning of the poem seems to imply peace and serenity which is what heaven is supposed to be like. The part "the shark Lay buried and followed" also implies death. There is also the part that talks about the burning deck, reminds me of the burning bush in the bible. Altogether, I think that this poem has a very religious meaning to it, much like "Revelation." As it probably appears, I do not really know for sure what is going on in this poem, but this is my best guess.

A Streetcar Named Desire

Watching the film really gave me a much better insight as to how Williams intended to portray the characters. Blanche for example was really crazy in the film. When I was reading the play, I did not think that she was all that crazy. Just watching her eyes and the way they would roll and look like they came out of her head made her look like a mass murderer.

When I read the play, I felt bad for Blanche after her sister made her out to be a liar and sent her to an institution. After watching the film, I do not really care if Blanche was raped or not, she needed to be sent to an asylum. However, I think that Stella, Stanley, and Mitch needed to join her there. All four characters were made to appear insane in the film. I did not find that to be the case while reading the play.

The reading made the situations and characters seem more realistic and natural. The film however really showed the characters "acting." Everything we saw seemed forced and very fake. I think that this took away from the play. Mitch for example played a very fake role. When he danced up to the door, it just did not seem to fit the situation. If a guy I had just met was coming to take me out for the first time and he came dancing up to the door like some sort of clown, I would close the door in his face. When I read the play, I did not think that Mitch was crazy or as immature as he was portrayed to be in the film. He seemed very responsible and mature in the reading.

One good thing that the film did as far as portraying characters was with Stanley. He was a pig, and Blanche had every right to compare him to an animal. The only times we ever saw him without food in his mouth was when he was fighting, or being abusive. When I read the play, I thought that Blanche was just trying to make herself look better than him by putting Stanley down. After watching the film, I would agree that Stanley is a pig in every sense of the word.

blinded by the darkness

I thought that a really interesting theme from "A Streetcar Named Desire" was light. It seemed to show up at so many points and really signify an eye opener. Blanche was especially sensitive to light, and she was thus afraid of seeing the truth.
Throughout the story we see many examples of how afraid Blanche is of the truth, and of what is here and now. She is very stuck in the past. She always uses light covers, never goes out in the day time, and if she does it is only to dimly lit places. Blanche is very afraid that the light will allow someone to see that she is "putting on a front." This happened when Mitch saw her. He realized how old she was. At this point when the lights were revealed, Blanche's promiscuous past was also revealed. She can not come to the present and realize that the past is over. "I don't want realism, I want magic."
At the end of the play, we find out that Blanche was not the only one hiding in the darkness. Stella was also really irrational and couldn't believe her sister even though she kind of knew it was true on the inside. She knew that if she did believe Blanche then she couldn't go on living with Stanley.

Tennessee Williams

This piece touches upon several of the common themes that we have discovered in earlier readings. Female sexuality and gender roles seem very important thus far in the reading of "A Streetcar Named Desire." I think that Blanche is a really interesting and controversial character.

Blanche has had a very sexual life, and seems to have been shunned from society for having lived such a life. I think that she has been made to feel very subconscious about herself because of this. She constantly needs to clean herself as if "washing away her sins." When she first sees Stella in Scene one, Blanche does not want her to look at her until she has bathed and showered. When I first read this I thought it was a little strange, but did not think that much of it (maybe she was just dirty and tired from making her travel). As the play went on though, It meant more to me. She is bathing very often. Then we learn of her exploited sexuality. I read a book in high school that had a similiar theme with water and trying to wash away the "sins of one's sexuality." This made the excessive themes seem a bit more noticeable and meaningful to me.

Blanche also brings evidence of gender roles. Also in Scene One, she is looking for a drink. She reassures Stella that she "hasn't turned into a drunkard. She's just all shaken up and hot and tired and dirty!" Women were not supposed to crave alcohol (much like today). Drinking is something for men. This also raises question to Blanche's character and what kind of past she has had.
Stanley and Stella are also a good example of southern gender roles. When Stanley thinks that Blanche has taken the money that was rightfully Stella's, he feels as though he has been cheated. This is because at that time, a woman's money and state belong to her husband. We also say this in Porter's stories. The grandmother had to let her husband make all the decisions with her money even though she knew he was making poor decisions. It just was not the female role to handle money.

Hurston

Hurston has an interesting take on southern life. Her writing is very different than anything else we have read. "How it Feels to be Colored Me" shows that Hurston thinks of people as individuals, not colors. That is obvious right from the title. She is not colored black, she is colored by her individualism. This is something that has not been a common theme in the readings we have done. For example, Wright shows the differences between blacks and whites. According to Hurston, the only difference between blacks and whites was that the whites only "rode through town and never lived there" (416).

The main thing that I got from reading "How it Feels To Be Colored Me" was that Hurston did not want to define herself as "colored." She felt that this was the least important aspect that makes up a person. She would rather be defined as a woman, or an American. "I belong to no race nor time. I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads" (418). Hurston has a really interesting way of describing people as "paper bags." The things that make up a person are the things inside the bag.

Another interesting thing that Hurston does in this piece is kind of mock other writers of the time. "But I am not tragically colored... I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them the lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it... No, I do not weep at the world- I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife" (417). I think that Hurston is taking away from writers such as Wright. She believes that the real way to make change is to overcome hardships and raise above one's race, not write about the problems. Her piece is very optimistic in the sense that everyone is in control of their own destiny.