Final Blog, 18-20, William Currey

First of all, I see a clear parallel in the trains of Jews during the holocaust and the train that The Silent One sends off the edge of a cliff.  Do you agree? What is the significance of this comparison?  Would he be justified to do this if he did kill the vendor he meant to?

"Every one of us stood alone, and the sooner a man realized that all the Gavrilas, Mitkas, and Silent Ones were expendable, the better for him.  It mattered little if one was mute; people did not understand one another anyway" (233).  What do you think of this statement?  What changes our narrator’s mind and pushes him to speak?  Also, if you want, who is the man on the other end of the phone?

Last but not least, here's John's last blog question of the year:
Finally, something from Thrower's class playbook. I would like you to acknowledge one or two (but no more) of your classmates for something she/he/they did this semester or this year that you appreciated, or learned from, or enjoyed, or helped make the class better.  Something you would feel comfortable in acknowledging and thanking a classmate for.

Jake blog chapter16-17

1, Our boy goes from someone who incessantly prays with the hope of amassing the greatest number of Days of Indulgence possible, to someone who wants to harness the powers of evil, to someone who does not believe in a God or the supernatural. Gavrila teaches him that he has the power to dictate the events in his life, and this is a powerful and at first foreign idea for the boy. So what do you make of the way the communist system is depicted here? Do you see it as an improvement of the religious system, more of the same, something worse, or something entirely different that cannot be compared?

2. Why do you think Mitka is able to shoot the villagers but not the dog? Is this Kosinski drawing a line between humans and animals?

THROUGH 15 -Alice

1.  "Now I understood everything.  I realized why God would not listen to my prayers, why I was hung from hooks, why Garbos beat me, why I lost my speech.  I was black.  Why hair and eyes were as black as these Kalmuks'.  Evidently I belonged with them in another world.  There would be no mercy for such as me.  A dreadful fate had sentenced me to have black hair and eyes in common with this horde of savages."  This reading included many a horror.  We saw a five year old girl raped.  We saw countless women abused in the most deprived ways, and we saw an eleven year old boy lose hope.  What I want to hear, though, is what you think he's trying to say hear.  Is it better to be a Kalmuk or a village person?  He seems to consider the Kalmuks far worse than Garbos and the townspeople who raped and murdered Ludmilla.  Is there a difference other than their coloring?  Who do you think is more evil?  Can evil be quantified?  Where's the line between forgivable and unforgivable?

2.  "So that's what love was: savage as a bull prodded with a spike; brutal, smelly, sweaty.  This love was like the brawl in which man and woman wrested pleasure from each other, fighting, incapable of thought, half stunned, wheezing, less than human." That last question was a bit of a doozy so for this one I just want to ask if you think love exists in this world.  Or in general.

Questionable Blog Post Jaliwa? (Ch. 11)

This isn't exactly the position our boy hung in, but it's pretty close. Imagine how ripped he must've gotten. It's a shame really. Our boy obviously has talent; he probably could've gotten Hitler a medal in gymnastics at some point. If only he wasn't racist ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm only going to ask once broad, multi-faceted question.

1: A quote that stood out to me this chapter: "God had no reason to inflict such terrible punishment on me. I had probably incurred the wrath of some other forces, which spread their tentacles over those God had abandoned for some reason or other."
Reading this quote, and the entire chapter for that matter, I feel so bad for our boy as he seeks savior in a God that either doesn't exist or really doesn't like him. It becomes obvious to us that there will be no divine intervention to save him. Yet, even as he's hanging in the air, 10 feet away from his death, he prays and prays and prays. It's not as if he is the only one that seeks assistance from a religious force even after he's been ignored. It's also not as if this is only a problem in these poor villages. Millions of struggling christians around the world do the same thing, and millions of other well-off Christians struggle to justify or simply turn a blind eye to the evil done on people of seemingly good faith. So my question: What makes our boy and the peasants so attracted to religion? What makes them keep going back to the church, even as their prayers are ignored? Connect this to the superstitions of all the villages our boy has traveled through as well. What makes village poeople continually use grinded horse bones and lice as a medicine when they can see it is literally making them sicker? Finally, is Kosinski trying to make a point about religion and superstitions by having our boy so easily believe in all of them? Is this a comment on humanity in general, like so much of this story is?

Blog 12: through chapter 10

Violence in this book is undoubtably prevalent and although terrible, becomes sort of expected as the novel progresses. One thing however still surprises me in its prevalence and affect on the world around the boy. That thing being superstition which is cultural, yes, but to me it seems to fit into the story almost too well.

1. So are the superstitions just there to add to the culture of the setting or do they add to the overall narrative? If so, how? And what themes (if any) do they play into? Give an example or two.

Continuing with the discussion in class about how the boy is being affected and changed by his experiences, I think chapter 10 highlights a clear indication of this very change. One moment specifically stood out to me and that was when the boy describes an officer: “his face was in the sunshine now, and it had a sheer and compelling beauty, the skin almost wax like, with flaxen hair as smooth as a baby’s. Once before in a church, I had seen such a delicate face. It was painted on a wall, bathed in organ music, and touched only by light from the stained-glass Windows”.

2. What do you make of this description? Is it significant to the boy’s development and how he sees people as well as himself? Is it surprising that this would be his outlook on race especially pertaining to his own given what he's gone through?

Blog 11. The Painted Bird, ch3+4. Erin

On page xiii in the front of the book, Kosinski details how he chose the title of his book:
"Aristophane's symbolic use of birds, which allowed him to deal with actual events and characters without the restrictions which the writing of history imposes, seemed particularly appropriate, as I associated it with a peasant custom I had witnessed during my childhood. One of the villagers' favorite entertainments was trapping birds, painting their feathers, then releasing them to rejoin their flock. As these brightly colored creatures sought the safety of their fellows, the other birds, seeing them as threatening aliens, attacked and tore at the outcasts until they killed them. I decided I too would set my work in a mythic domain, in the timeless fictive present, unrestrained by geography or history. My novel would be called The Painted Bird."


               "and only God,
                                      omnipotent indeed,
                 knew they were mammals
                                                        of a different breed."
                                                                               MAYAKOVSKI



1) Animal imagery plays a big part in the book thus far. Pick an instance of animal imagery and discuss its significance, or just how it impacted you.

2) There's a lot of horrific stuff in this story - instances of absurd and terrible violence, like the villagers whipping our protagonist (who, remember, is around 6 or 7 years old), or the miller gouging out the boy's eyes, and the cats batting the severed organs about the floor. What is your reaction to these? What do you think these scenes add to the narrative?

You can draw from chapters 1-4 for this blog.

Blog 10. Agasha's Post. "Untitled" ("Almost Famous")

These are Agasha's questions, but I am going to modify them just a little.  Everyone please do number 4: and pick two from 1-3 to answer.  Look too at the information post that I posted on Thursday night.  Nothing to answer, just some info and clips. 
 
1. William's mother's parenting was slightly extreme and freaked some characters out after interactions with her over the phone. Do you think her behavior is justified? Too mellow? Too extreme? And where does this behavior stem from? Losing her daughter? Losing her husband?

2. We hear multiple characters declare: "It's all happening." But what's all happening? In the midst of the lives of rock stars where lots of things are happening, this sentence is pretty vague. So what all is happening and what does this mean for their futures?

3. What is this realness that Russell yearns for so badly? What's so "real" about William that Russell notices?

4.  This was obviously a movie with a happy resolution. But it doesn't give much insight as to what happens in the future for William. Is he still uncool? Having written for an extremely popular publication, his life doesn't seem to have changed much afterword when we see him eating at the table with his sister and mother. And while the relationship is better between the two of them, how they finally came to this conclusion doesn't apply the same way to the other problems within the film. Is the resolution of this movie having to do with becoming more mature and realizing what really matters? Is it realizing that it doesn't mater whether or not your cool? What was it that the movie was trying to get us to see?

Here's Cameron Crowe accepting his Best Screenplay Oscar for Almost Famous.

And finally Russell Hammond proclaiming he is a golden god.

See you all on Monday.  If you want to get a head start on the reading, you can read Chapters 1 and 2 of The Painted Bird that will be due on Tuesday. 

Information for "Unititled" ("Almost Famous"). Please Read Before You Answer Agasha's Questions.

Before Agasha gets her blog up, I wanted you to have some resources to refer back to you when you're answering her questions and for when we discuss the film tomorrow. 

First is the "Tiny Dancer" scene.  Some critics (and viewers) hated it.  I can see why: it's "cheesy" to use a contemporary term.  But I tend to think you have to buy this moment to buy the whole movie, which romanticizes rock music while questioning and critiquing the "circus," as Russell calls it, that exists around it.  

Second is the "The Wind" scene, totally unnecessary to the narrative but clearly important to the movie as it occurs after Dennis Hope and his mercenary view of rock-music-as-business is adopted by Stillwater.  It also highlights Penny Lane's character as a potential "manic pixie dreamgirl" figure, one that Cameron Crowe has used in many of his films.  I think she's more than the trope.

Here is "Stillwater"performing.  Mark Kozelek who plays bassist Larry Fellows and John Fedevich who plays drummer Ed Vallencourt are professional musicians. Billy Crudup and Jason Lee, the Mick and Keith, Page and Plant, of the band, are not: they took lessons from Crowe's wife Nancy Wilson of Heart and Peter Frampton (who for many years had the biggest selling album in pop music, 1976's "Frampton Comes Alive"; he plays a roadie for Humble Pie in the movie—after having really played guitar and singing for Humble Pie in the time the movie takes place).  They look like a real band.

Finally,  here's an earlier version of the screenplay and some trivia and information about the film from Cameron Crowe's website.

Blog #9. Chapter 81-92. Mira

Blog Eight. Through Chapter 69. Moey.

"This book came to her like an olive branch. It assured her of God's love for man, of man's love of God: in the ever-lengthening shadow of Hitler and Mussolini her faith was restored, and the comfortable mediations of her minister found lodging" (84)

"Once and a while she would be on the point of questioning her husband, but, after thinking it over, she realized she would be asking silly questions, and he was so overburdened with business problems that she did not want to distract him. Besides, there was not much she herself could not accomplish" (86)

"There's so much scandal and fraud everywhere you turn, and I suppose the papers only print what they want us to know" (86)

"In fact, now that there was no danger involved she had trouble finishing the book; she thought it would be better in a magazine digest" (87)

"And when the moment finally came she pulled the lever recording her wish for the world to remain as it was" (88)

"Unanimity was so gratifying" (89)

"She wondered if he had wept when he learned what had happened, and if he tried to apologize for having allowed her to go home alone that night, or whether he had been with her and had been frightened away by the man's gun. Or had he been struck over the head? Did he still respect her?" (91)

"...she clothed Leda in a flower dressmaker bathing suit not unlike her own" (93)

"She never forgot this moment when she had almost apprehended the very meaning of life, and of the stars and planets, yes, and the flight of the earth" (94)

"To be afraid is, I tell you, Madame, the most terrible thing in the world" (96)

"'Well,' observed Mrs. Bridge the moment the story ended, 'I'm certainly grateful times have changed'" (103)

"'No name,' said Harriet, 'and he looks suspicious'" (103)

"...then she snatched the comb and broke it in half" (113)

"...and wondered if, as a chaperon, she could flatly order one of the stags to dance with Naomi. She had a feeling there would be trouble if she attempted this." (118)

"...consciously beyond the limit: Mrs. Bridge knew it immediately from the girl's apprehensive eyes...the horrifying part of it had been that the girl's back was turned to her partner" (120)

"but because she wanted Carolyn to learn to judge people she said nothing" (120)

"but a moment afterward she thought of the night some twenty years ago when she had barely resisted the pleas of a boy whose very name she had long forgotten" (122)

"I believe not until next week on the customary evening" (125)

"Is my daughter mine?" (134)

"He laughed, and his laughter rang out odd and bold, the laughter of a different man, a free and happy man" (139)

A ridiculous amount of quotes, I know. But there were so many important ones in this chapter. Anyways.

1. I think at this point, it is well established that Mrs. Bridge, to some degree, has internalized sexism. We are now seeing constant allusions to her innate fear of rape, and a sense that sexism limits her personal agency; she doesn't believe she can do anything because of how linked she is with her husband. Yet, I think more in this chapter we see the issue of sexuality emerge for her children; we see Carolyn's argument with Jay, and Ruth's -- propensity -- for Chippendale's dancers. Chippendale's, by the way, is male strip club. Just for fun, I put in the description on their website below... Anyways. A quote that particularly jumped out at me was when Ruth was reading her mother's letter, describing it as "guidance of another era" (140). One might argue that Ruth and Carolyn's problems are fundamentally different than Mrs. Bridge's -- not only because of the time change, but because of how they handle it -- Carolyn with maturity, Ruth simply bypassing the problem altogether by embracing sexuality. Yet, at the same time they seem similar, all women fearing for themselves. So question one: can you compare the issues with sexuality that Mrs. Bridge faces to the ones that her children face? Are they the same? Are there fundamental differences? And the real question: if there are differences (and I think they are), can you blame them all on the time difference and cultural shifts? Or is there something innately fearful about Mrs. Bridge that her children lack, allowing her to handle the situation differently?


"Chippendales Las Vegas is a mantastic, sex-god, abs party that will make you lose your damn mind… in the best way of course! "

A complicated question, I know, but I think it gets at the heart of the text -- is this simply a cultural issue, with Mrs. Bridge being the victim of her society or is there something deeper about her?
2. What do you make of Tarquin's fate? It was incredibly disconcerting to me, particularly because it so closely mirrors Ruth getting ready to punch her mother. Can you compare these two incidences? How do you think Mrs. Bridge can gain the respect of her kids back? Was Tarquin's fate inevitable?

3. The last quote I put up, the one about Mr. Bridge: can y'all get to the bottom of this? Why was he so happy, and free? Is it because he got rid of a child? Why do you think he cares so much more about where Carolyn goes than where Ruth goes?

And dobermans!!!!!

Blog 7. Stuart Duffield. 25-35

“...there was one morning when she appeared for breakfast in Mexican huaraches, Japanese silk pajamas with the sleeves rolled up--displaying a piece of adhesive tape where she had cut herself shaving her forearms--blue horn-rimmed reading glasses, and for earrings a cluster of tiny golden bells that tinkled whenever she moved. She might have gotten by this morning except for the fact that as she ate she steadily relaxed and contracted her feet so the huaraches creaked.

‘Now see here, you lady,’ Mrs. Bridge said with more authority than she felt, as she dropped a slice of bread into the automatic toaster. ‘In the morning one doesn’t wear earrings that dangle. People will think you’re something from another world.’

‘So?’ said Ruth without looking up from the newspaper.

‘Just what do you mean by that?’

‘So who cares?’

‘I care, that’s who!’ Mrs. Bridge cried, suddenly very close to hysteria. ‘I care very much.’” (58)

“‘Think what would happen if it fell over ker-plunk and hit you square on the head,’ she continued, ruffling his hair, and reflecting automatically that he needed another haircut.’ (61)

“..the hour was approaching  when she must begin to reason with him as an adult, and this idea disturbed her. She was not certain she was equal to it.” (62)

“All her life she had been accustomed to responding immediately when anyone spoke to her.” (63)

“Mrs. Bridge understood now that she would never see very much of him. They had started off together to explore something that promised to be wonderful, and, of course, there had been wonderful times. And yet, thought Mrs. Bridge, why is it that we haven’t--that nothing has--that whatever we--?” (64)

“‘Why on earth do you think I’m here if I don’t love you? Why aren’t I somewhere else? What in the world has got into you?’” (69)

Mrs. Bridge responds habitually to everything around her. She does not think when she confronts Douglas about the guest towels and Ruth about her eccentric outfit, rather, she reacts intensely and emotionally. She is juxtaposed with an automatic toaster. She is scared with the prospect of trying to reason with Douglas. Why is Mrs. Bridge so averse to thinking for herself? Is she too conditioned by society, by her parents? Does she not have the capacity to really think for herself? Why is it, when she feels doubts about her marriage, she cannot even form coherent questions?

Mrs. Bridge’s family is central to her life, but she seems often unable to control her children and communicate with her husband. So, does her husband really love her? Does Mrs. Bridge really love her kids? Alternatively, answer this: why do you think she married Walter Bridge? She thought she could get away without marriage before, what did the “unremarkable” Walter Bridge have to offer her that changed her mind? Answer both questions if you want to.

Also, small excerpt from the plot synopsis of Tobacco Road (the novel) shamelessly taken from Wikipedia: "Possibly they realize that their way of life is already dead; thus their primary concern becomes not the preservation of that life but its appearance during burial."

Best Blog Ever #6: Mrs. Bridge Ch.10-17 (Jay)

1) RACISM. That's one way to start a blog. Considering we have so little direct insight into Mrs. Bridge’s mind, it's hard to make a definite decision on her stance on race. So, based on Mrs. Bridge’s actions and the little commentary Connell give us, is Mrs. Bridge racist? Is she just complacent? Does she have any opinions on race at all?
2) We haven't talked about Walter Bridge much, but I think he's a fascinating character, though he may be the most bland and static character you ever read about. He managed to be present for the entirety of chapter 12, the longest chapter we've read so far, and somehow say almost nothing. It's obvious that neither one of them like the Van Meters, but there's a stark difference in the way Mrs. Bridge handles their outing and the way Walter does. Instead of going silent, Mrs. Bridge entertains Mr. Van Meters antics. What does this interaction say about Mrs. Bridge’s character, Walter’s character, and the dynamic of their marriage?
3) “You should say the cleaning ‘woman.’ A lady is someone like Mrs. Arlen or Mrs. Montgomery.” I'm going to abuse my power as the blog writer to ask you guys: What the hell does this mean? Is this a race comment? Does it strictly have to do with socio-economic class? I have no idea, so I'd love to hear what you guys think of this quote.

Blog Five. Emma's Post: Where the Boys Are

“Experience! That’s what separates the girls from the girl scouts.” - Ryder

“Girls like me weren't built to be educated. We were made to have children. That's my ambition: to be a walking, talking baby factory. Legal, of course. And with union labor.” - Tuggle

“What can be more interpersonal than Backseat Bingo?” - Merritt 

“Dean Caldwell, I-I'd say there were probably a half a million co-eds in this country. I imagine 98% of them are overly concerned with that problem. So in that respect I guess I'm fairly normal.” - Merritt 

Merritt: "A little, yes. No girl enjoys being considered promiscuous, even those who might be."

George: "Now that's a pretty old-fangled notion, Merritt. Sex is no longer a matter of morals. That idea went out with the raccoon coat. Sex is part of personal relations."

1. Clearly, the gender roles in this movie are very defined and somewhat antiquated. One of the characters expresses her wish to be a “walking, talking baby factory,” and the boys in the film constantly gripe about girls. There’s a clear dichotomy between “good girls” and “promiscuous” ones, which is reiterated throughout the film. Despite this portrayal of women, however, there are parts of the movie that are arguably very feminist. Merritt’s speech at the beginning of the movie, while humorous, touches on some deep issues regarding female sexuality. Conversations throughout the film reexamine these questions very candidly, and we see the girls exploring their notions of sex and sexuality as the plot unravels. Do you see this movie as mostly sexist? Feminist? Neither?

2. In a conversation with Merritt, Ryder claims, “Experience! That’s what separates the girls from the girl scouts.” Do you think Esther would agree with this quote after her affair with Irwin?

3. Based on your own observations, what has changed in the past 57 years in terms of the way we teenagers talk about and think about sex? Are 98% of us still overly concerned with the problem of sex? Is promiscuity “an old-fangled notion,” or still a common epithet assigned to women?

Also, while finding these quotes, I found out that Dolores Hart, who portrays Merritt Andrews, later went on to become a nun and cut off contact with the outside world. Just a fun fact. 

Blog Four. Marisa's Post. End of The Bell Jar.

1. “My head ached. Why did I attract these weird old women? There was the famous poet, and Philomena Guinea, and Jay Cee, and the Christian Scientist lady and lord knows who, and they all wanted to adopt me in some way, and, for the price for their care and influence, have me resemble them” (My 263, probably around your 215-216).
This quote really struck me because it sounds like Esther is describing a role model. Jay Cee and the famous poet all differ from other girls Esther interacts with. Do you think any of these women (or any other character we see throughout the book) served as a role model for Esther? Someone to emulate and respect? Or do you think these characters only provide another source for negativity that Esther feeds off of?

2. What was it about Irwin that drew Esther to him specifically? Do you think Esther freed herself of a weight when she lost her virginity and why/why not?

3. How do you think Esther’s mental state has improved over the last chapters of the book? What changes do you see in Esther from when she spent that summer in New York to when she steps in for the interview and what do you think brought about these changes?

I am going to add to Marisa's questions with this, as a way to look at Plath's novel as a whole. The Guardian asked several writers to reflect on the novel four years ago, on its 50th anniversary.  Go ahead and take a look at what they said here.  I am particularly struck by what Lena Dunham, creator, writer, and star of Girls on HBO and writer/director of the film Tiny Furniture, wrote. 

I wonder if Plath would have been saved had she been born in a different time: in a time when psycho-pharmacologists are no more shameful to visit than hairdressers and women write celebrated personal essays about being bad mothers and cutters and are reclaiming the word slut. Would she have been a riot grrrl, embracing an angry feminist aesthetic? Addicted to Xanax? A blogger for Slate? Would she, like me, have found a cosy coffeehouse environment on the internet, a way to connect with people who understood her aesthetic and validated her experience? Would she have been less dependent on the approval of viewers and critics and more aware of the positive effect her book was having on splintered psyches and girls with short bangs everywhere? Or would that kind of connectedness and access to unmitigated and misspelled negativity have driven her even madder?

Feel free to comment on what Dunham or any of the writers wrote—I'm interested in what you think of their views, whether you comment here or if this comes up in class.  But first, address what Marisa's asks.  See you all tomorrow.  

Blog Three. Nell's Post. The Bell Jar. Chapters 12-14.

“But when it came right down to it, the skin of my wrist looked so white and defenseless that I couldn’t do it. It was as if what I wanted to kill wasn’t in that skin or the thin blue pulse that jumped under my thumb, but some there else, deeper, more secret, and a whole lot harder to get.” (147)

1. What is this thing she is trying to kill? Where does it come from?

2. Chapters 12, 13, and 14 show Esther’s rapid descent deeper and deeper into her illness. The writing has become a choppy stream-of-consciousness of nonsensical thoughts strung together. She seems to be withdrawing farther into her own mind, or perhaps her sickness is growing and consuming her; either way the world has become a blurry mess of colors and shapes and people who aren’t really human. She is angry and violent and cruel—breaking the mirror, kicking the “negro”, smashing the thermometers. The Esther of chapter 14 seems nothing like the Esther at the beginning of the novel. Is there a way out? Do you see a path towards recovery for Esther or is she too far gone? Will her life end in a successful suicide or will she continue to live in an institution or will she make it out? And why? What have we read about her past, what do we know about her personality, that leads you to your conclusion?

3. Which moment from the reading struck you as the apotheosis of Esther’s devolution, as the epitome of her insanity as we see it so far? (a quote would be nice)

Just because I'm posting this for Nell (thank you, Nell): here is an image of the first edition of the novel, attributed to Victoria Lucas.

Blog Two. The Bell Jar. "The Silence Depressed Me. It Wasn't The Silence of Silence. It Was My Own Silence" (18).

There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them.  Whenever I'm sad I'm going to die, or so nervous I can't sleep, or in love with somebody I won't be seeing for a week, I slump down just so far and then I say:  'I'll go take a hot bath. (19)

Under cover of the clinking of water goblets and silverware and bone china, I paved my plate with chicken slices.  Then I covered the chicken slices with caviar thickly spread as if I were spreading peanut butter on a piece of bread.  Then I picked up the chicken slices in my fingers one by one, rolled them so the caviar wouldn't ooze off and ate them. (27)

Of course, I would never have succeeded with this scheme if I hadn't made that A in the first place.  And if my Class Dean had known how scared and depressed I was, and how I seriously contemplated desperate remedies such as getting a doctor's certificate that I was unfit to study chemistry, the formulas made me dizzy and so on, I'm sure she wouldn't have listened to me for a minute, but would have made me take the course regardless. (36)

"I don't really know," I heard myself say.  I felt a deep shock, hearing myself say that, because the minute I said it, I knew it was true.  (32)

I felt myself shrinking to a small black dot against all those red and white rugs and that pine paneling.  I felt like a hole in the ground.  (16)

This is, I think, maybe my fifth or sixth time I've taught this book, and it's become a harder read for me this time than it has been the five or six previous times.  This world inside Esther's head and the world that surrounds her are, for me, a sad, sometimes terrifying, place; and yet, it never fails, there are students reading it, girls almost exclusively, who say "I get it totally," or "This is my story."  I'm thinking too, about what Agasha and Jaliwa said when we read Black Ice last semester: "I'm reading about my own life."  There's a powerful responsibility that comes with books that touch people so closely, so deeply; a responsibility to be honest and analytical, as we always are in this class, but also to be sensitive and respectful to the experiences that people may share that connect their lives to the life we see in the book.  I'm thinking this now because some students have already revealed their connections to Esther's experiences in one of the other classes that is reading this.  There's a courage and strength there—and a risk that they are assuming.  I don't know what will happen as we move through this book,  but let's be what we have been so far: honest, analytical, challenging, attentive, non-judgemental, and sensitive, kind, and gracious to each other.

1. Three chapters into the book:  what's it like being Esther?  Quote a couple times in your response.

2.  Esther is clearly—I think—being drawn deeper and deeper into the bell jar (if you don't know what a bell jar is...)

And: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_jar
For you, where do you see in the reading her illness most displaying itself?  And how so? Quote once in your response. 

3.  One of the striking parts of the novel for me is how Plath presents a young woman falling into mental illness...and at the same time—in my opinion—showing how in the world she lives in, mental illness may be a reasonable, perhaps logical, response to this world.  Again—just my opinion.  What do you think of that? 

See you all tomorrow.

Blog One, Spring 2017. The Bell Jar. "I Knew Something Was Wrong With Me That Summer..."

...because all I could think about was the Rosenbergs and how stupid I'd been to buy all those uncomfortable, expensive clothes, hanging limp as fish in my closet, and how all the little successes I'd totted up so happily at college fizzled to nothing outside the slick marble and plate-glass fonts along Madison Avenue" (2).

"I wasn't steering anything, not even myself.  I just bumped from my hotel to work  and to parties and from parties to my hotel and back to work like a numb trolleybus" (3).  

"I was supposed to be the envy of thousands of other college girls like me all over American who wanted nothing more than to be tripping about in those same size-seven patent leather shoes I'd bought in Bloomingdale's one lunch hour with a black patent leather pocketbook to match" (2).

Sylvia Plath. She was played in a movie by Gwyneth Paltrow. People who have never read either her poetry or her novel are familiar with her tragic, romanticized life—and death.  A storied college career at Smith College.   Marries an older well-known British poet, Ted Hughes.  Publishes two heralded poetry collections before her suicide at the age of 30.  The Bell Jar published posthumously under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas.  She experienced a success after her death that she never had in her short 30 years of life. Her life becomes an example of the difficulties of being a modern woman and an artist in the years after World War Two.   Here is a brief biography of her.  

I admire The Bell Jar for many reasons—and I'm not alone. The writing is, in my opinion, gorgeous. Plath is known, rightly, for her rigorously crafted poetry. But she has crafted a tight narrative in this, her only novel, that manages to communicate the inner being of Esther Greenwood.  Few books in my reading experience come close to this book in portraying the terror of, as Olivia Babuka Black termed it two years ago, "spiraling out."  Esther's first person narrative puts us right in the middle of the tornado that is her life at this moment. We know that she will have a child in the future, and with that, the possible assurance that she has put her life back in order. But other than that detail, the narrative keeps us firmly in the moment. And the moment, given no commentary from the future Esther, leaves us living Esther's life with her as it teeters toward a terrible spiral.

So:

1. Reaction to the book so far? Like? Dislike? Neutral? What particular moment or line or scene stays with you? Quote from the novel in your answer (but avoid the quotes I've used above).

2. How do we see Esther struggling here in this first chapter?  Pick one example of this—and how it shows her as a young woman struggling.

 3. The fact is, as we will discover, Esther suffers from a mental illness. At the same time, Plath presents a world that Esther exists in that is terribly unhealthy, confusing, and destructive (I would argue) for her.  From what we see in this chapter, how is this world conspiring against Esther?  Name one way we see it as a unhealthy, confusing, or maybe even destructive force?  And if you find yourself in agreement with someone else's assessment (perfectly possible), do your best to add to that classmate's argument. That would be the same for any of the questions above.

Below is Plath interviewing writer Elizabeth Bowen at the time in which The Bell Jar is set.

See you all tomorrow.  Just 12 weeks. 

Blog Twenty Seven. 25th Hour. "You Tell Them The Whole Thing. And Then You Ask Them If They Know How Lucky They Are To Be There."

MONTY. I don't want you to visit.

His voice is rough and slurred, his split lips impeding his diction. [Naturelle] opens a bottle of rubbing alcohol, wets a cotton ball, presses the cotton lightly against the gash in his forehead. He shudders, his fingers gripping the edges of the sofa cushions.

MONTY. I don't want you to come see me up there.

Naturelle struggles mightily to keep herself together. She continues cleaning his wounds.

MONTY. Why'd you stay with me? You should have left a long time ago.

NATURELLE. You idiot.

MR. BROGAN. And maybe one day years from, long after I'm dead and gone, you gather your whole family together and you tell them the truth. Why you are and where you came from. You tell them the whole thing. And then you ask them if they know how lucky they are to be there. It all came so close to never happening. This life came close to never happening...

Here's a part of the, for me at least, amazing ending

I loved Nell's reaction to the ending.  "No...No...You're kidding"—or something along those lines.  Well, I felt the same way when I saw it with Clark Cloyd when it first opened.  I totally thought the fantasy was reality.   It's as audacious an ending as there has been in a mainstream studio movie. I know a number of you—Nell definitely—were sucked in by this fantasy, this wish-fulfillment, of Monty (and maybe his father). I've seen this movie several times; and for some reason, this time I found the ending—the fantasy—uncommonly powerful and emotional.  I want Monty so much to make his life "right"—that he will use a second chance to make the world a better place than he left (and had a hand in ruining).  And I love looking at the beautiful children and grandchildren he and Naturelle could have had. 

So, to keep this short and sweet:  And here's the screenplay. 

1. Your reaction to the "ending": from the moment Monty goads Frank into beating him (it didn't take much), through his goodbye (his last, I think) to Naturelle, through the scene above. Along with your reaction, answer the question: what's the meaning of this ending? How does it resolve the conflict(s) of the movie? Do you find it satisfying or not? And why?  

2. Is the movie misogynistic? I ask that because the last time we watched this movie, we spent a good portion of the discussion debating this.  And a couple of you—Agasha?  Nell?—responded to the comment on made about the possible sexist ways the film portrays its women.  So going with this train of thought:  misogynistic—how so or how not? Think about this question before answer it. And think too: is the movie portraying, commenting on, a misogynist mind set that is in the story, or is it reflecting Spike Lee's misogyny.   Remember: Lee did not write the film—David Benioff did (though clearly it stylistically and thematically is consistent with many of his other films).

3.  Finally: do the 9/11 references have a place in this movie?  Do they serve a purpose in it?  If so, how?  If not—how do they, for you, affect the experience of watching the movie?

Finally, fittingly, we end the semester with a rant that most definitely and consciously mirrors the rant in our first text of the year, Do The Right Thing.

This is the last blog of the semester.  Thanks for the effort, thought, and insights you put into it.  Have a good weekend.  Be sure to see me starting Monday if you have questions about the paper.   

Blog Twenty Six. Black Ice. Through the End. "St. Paul's Gave Me New Words Into Which I Must Translate The Old" (237).

Without the stories and the songs, I am mute.  A white American education will never give them to me but it can—if I am graced, if I do not go blind in the white light of self-consciousness, if I have guides before me and the sense to heed them—it can help me see the stories, growing like a vine out of the cane fields, up out of unmarked graves, around me soul.  It can help me search out the very history it did not teach me.  (237)

"I mean, there's so much here, it seems almost like a waste to come back and give more.  It's good for the minority kids, I'm sure...But there's so much to do outside this...bubble.  I wonder if we aren't practically obliged to give it back elsewhere, to people who never got it in the first place..."
    "I do give it back elsewhere," I said.  I was glad that I felt no anger.  I had heard the argument in my mind so many times.  Now there was no anger, and I could smile.  "But I don't feel that there's anything wrong in giving it here, too.  It is like admitting who I am.  I came here, and I went away changed.  I've been fighting that for a long time, to no purpose.  I am a crossover artist, you know, like those jazz musicians who do pop albums too." (232-233)

The faculty that had appeared to my teenaged eyes as a monolith of critical white adulthood now revealed itself as a community of idealists, all trying, each according to his or her ability, to help young people (225).

For the first time that year, I was not ready to leave St. Paul's.  I had had all my time, all my chances. I could never do it again, never made it right.  I had not loved enough (219).

This time Izzy will jump of her own will when her legs have grown strong enough to absorb the shock; she will not lie on the ground, splayed out alone, crippled by distrust.  She will learn how to jump up through life, big, giant steps.  She'll fall, and get up again.  Up, Izzy, up.  Paint, dance, read, sing, skate, write, climb, fly.  Remember it all, and come tell us about it. (237-238).

There you have it.  Lorene: from working class Yeadon to St. Paul's School, two marriages and a child named Laura, a teacher and trustee of St. Paul's, and finally a writer of a story about a fifteen year old "overserious" (232) girl who leaves the comfort of home for a mysterious place in New Hampshire.  She went; she changed.  Here she is in 2013 getting an honorary degree from Swarthmore. She's a literature teacher at her alma mater, Penn.  She's a professional writer.  She's done all right for herself. 

I hope you all had a restful break.  We'll finish our discussion of the book over the next couple days.  I will give you your short paper topic.  Maybe we can watch one more movie.  And you'll have time to work on your big paper in class before it is due on the last day of the semester.

1.  What moment in this last part of the reading stayed with you?  Why?

2.  So what is this book about?  What did you get from it at the end—what was Cary wanting to say in this book about a girl going to prep school (like you are doing)?  Quote 2-3 times in your response.  Think about this, okay?

3.  Your response to this book?  Like?  Dislike?  Why?

See you all tomorrow.  

Blog Twenty Five. Black Ice Through Eleven. "I Spoke Clearly and Precisely..."

"...conscious, as the smell of vomit wafted sweet and sour off Booker's breath through the open window, of the confident speech St. Paul's had given me" (169). 

    "Let me go."
   "You too good?"
   "Get your motherfuckin' hands off of me."
   "Don't talk like that." He gave my torso another squeeze and opened the door.  "You got a nasty mouth sometimes," he said, holding the jar ajar.  "You'd better just make sure to keep it closed." (160)

He asked me whether or not I had messed around with any of the other men.  I did not feel indignant when he asked me these questions, so I intent was I on telling my story and making him listen (161).

    "Next thing you'll be turning us in."
    According the Honor Code, that's what I was supposed to do.  I did not think it would my case to point out that at the present moment I was being lenient.
    "I really didn't think you'd take it this way," said Janie.
    "Neither did I." [...] I didn't want her to think I'd joined the establishment, but the truth was that, in a way, I had. (180)

I learned to think of misbehavior as a symptom rather than a disease (193).

India and I talked often and late into the night after that.  We raged together at St. Paul's School—at its cliques and competitiveness; its ambivalence toward its new female members; its smugness and certainty and power.  We talked about families and boyfriends, girls we liked and girls we didn't.  We laughed at how we had appeared to each other the year before.  Our talk was therapeutic, private, and as intense as romance.  It was for me the first triumph of love over race. (199)

The following is a blog written by a student back in the spring of 2015.  It raises good questions.  Pick one of the two questions the student posed.  And answer the third that I ask. 

In the past two chapters, we have seen Lorene begin to feel as if she finds her place and embraces her positions of authority as a senior at St. Paul’s. Throughout the book previously, Lorene has struggled with feeling separate and cut off from the school’s environment and traditions, but now she begins to embrace them, realizing, as she says, that she has “…brought a whole bunch of new ideas that haven’t been here until now” (195).  

As Lorene begins to fill her new rolls—as a senior, Vice President, tutor, even teacher at one point—she struggles between taking advantage of St. Paul’s and being an active member of the community while maintaining her own identity and her history. She is struggling to do exactly as Mr. Vernon Jordan says, to “…be the best that you can, so that when you come out, you’ll be ready. But you cannot forget where you’ve come from”(202). This point is brought up again with Jimmy and his disciplinary case. On one hand, his experience does him good, but it also subdues him in a way that some may see as not entirely positive. 

1. How do we see Lorene struggle with this difficult balance of assimilation vs. maintaining her identity? What are your opinions on Jimmy’s disciplinary case? Do you think this balance between embracing St. Paul’s and maintaining personal identity is important or even possible?

We also see Lorene continue to find common ground and forge new relationships she never thought she would have, like her new friendship with India. Although this shows her growth, Lorene must begin to grapple with her own changing identity and the privileges she now has that she never previously self-identified with. This is highlighted with Lorene’s conversation with Archibald Cox, his not so sly “Our kind of people” (201) comment.

2.  So, what did you make of Archibald Cox and Lorene’s quick interaction, more specifically, the “our kind of people” comment? Is there a difference between finding common ground, like Lorene and India do, and dividing yourself into groups (especially privileged groups) like the “educated Northeastern establishment” into which both Cox and now Lorene fall? Is there any difference between these groups based on mutual privilege and something like the Third World Coalition?

And for everyone:  

3.  It seems clear to me that St. Paul's has changed Lorene—and in a positive way.  Agree or disagree with that statement.  And offer some support for your opinion. 

Ok, folks.  See you all tomorrow.  And I thought the discussion on Thursday was a good one. Thanks for the honesty, openness, and trust.