At the beginning of section three, with Jason as the narrator, we are able to observe the relationship between Jason and Mother. Through Quentin’s thoughts in the previous section, I believed that Jason and Mother’s relationship would be much different. From Quentin’s narrative we assume that the relationship between Mother and Jason is ideal—Jason is, by far, her favorite child and has never caused her any grief. This is shown when Quentin recalls a conversation with Mother and Father when Mother says, “I must go away you keep the others I’ll take Jason” and later, “Jason, he has never given me one moment’s sorrow since I first held him in my arms I knew that he was to be my joy and my salvation” (102, 103).
After our first look at Mother and Jason’s relationship, we see that Jason is not the perfect, compatible child we pictured. Rather, he is constantly arguing with Mother and Quentin about what should be done with Quentin. Perhaps mother continues to love Jason without question because he is the only one willing to stay at home and, essentially, raise Quentin for her. We later learn that Jason is also stealing money and lying about it.
Mother appears to be blind to the fact that Jason is stealing money, but many of his other undesirable actions toward her are obvious. Jason is clearly annoyed by her dramatic and emotional personality, but she is so blind with her love for him that she does not care or does not notice. So, why does Mother love Jason so much? Is Mother really blind to all of Jason’s actions? If not, why does she continue to love him? (270)
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Parallel Icebergs
JSTOR Article: “Faulkner’s Benjy, Hemingway’s Jake” by Merritt Moseley
The JSTOR article I read was “Faulkner’s Benjy, Hemingway’s Jake” by Merritt Moseley. Thumbing through articles to choose, the title of this one stuck out. Since we read Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises in English last year, I felt I could understand the comparison between Jake and Benjy that this author makes. I usually enjoy hearing people’s opinions about how a character in one novel relates to a character in another novel, especially when I am familiar with both characters. This article was no exception.
Moseley focuses on the fact that Jake’s mental process is very similar to Benjy’s mental process. Hemingway’s “minimalism, leaving everything possible unstated,” often makes his characters appear dumb. Jake’s train of thought, for example, frequently consists of short, staccato statements that are initially unintelligible. While it is the nature of Hemingway’s style to be restrictive and use simple language, Jake’s original resemblance to Benjy can also be attributed to the fact that Jake is often drunk. The alcohol makes his thoughts and words slower and dumber. Because of this, Jake as a narrator is similar to Benjy because, although the language is simple in both cases, the reader must dig and work to connect the dots to understand what is happening.
Both Benjy and Jake serve to strengthen Hemingway’s iceberg principle. As narrators, these two characters simply state what they observe and let the readers figure out the rest. Besides their similar narrating techniques, Benjy and Jake don’t have much else in common—they have completely different personalities, desires, etc. The connection between the two in nonetheless fascinating. (265)
The JSTOR article I read was “Faulkner’s Benjy, Hemingway’s Jake” by Merritt Moseley. Thumbing through articles to choose, the title of this one stuck out. Since we read Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises in English last year, I felt I could understand the comparison between Jake and Benjy that this author makes. I usually enjoy hearing people’s opinions about how a character in one novel relates to a character in another novel, especially when I am familiar with both characters. This article was no exception.
Moseley focuses on the fact that Jake’s mental process is very similar to Benjy’s mental process. Hemingway’s “minimalism, leaving everything possible unstated,” often makes his characters appear dumb. Jake’s train of thought, for example, frequently consists of short, staccato statements that are initially unintelligible. While it is the nature of Hemingway’s style to be restrictive and use simple language, Jake’s original resemblance to Benjy can also be attributed to the fact that Jake is often drunk. The alcohol makes his thoughts and words slower and dumber. Because of this, Jake as a narrator is similar to Benjy because, although the language is simple in both cases, the reader must dig and work to connect the dots to understand what is happening.
Both Benjy and Jake serve to strengthen Hemingway’s iceberg principle. As narrators, these two characters simply state what they observe and let the readers figure out the rest. Besides their similar narrating techniques, Benjy and Jake don’t have much else in common—they have completely different personalities, desires, etc. The connection between the two in nonetheless fascinating. (265)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
1/2bLOg
So far, I’ve read the following stories:
“Eraser” by Ben Stroud
“Nawabdin Electrician” by Daniyal Mueenuddin
“Closely Held” by Allegra Goodman
These three stories are all very different. I enjoyed reading them, but I’m not sure that I’ve found the one I want to write about. I might right about “Nawabdin Electrician” because I found some interesting themes in the story that I’d like to think about more. The story focuses on the life of an electrician and explores his personality, his journey to where he is today, and his job. The main reason I liked the story is because it takes a simple subject, like the life of an electrician, and makes intriguing and close-to-brilliant observations that I would never have thought of.
“Eraser” is a rather interesting story. I decided to read this story because the title intrigued me. The story is divided into different sections with subtitles. I have never read a short story organized this way, but it made it easy to follow the narrator’s thoughts. I also really liked that it was told from the perspective of a twelve-year-old boy. The kid has a great voice throughout the story. It reminded me of reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time several years ago because of the narrator’s youth.
“Closely Held” is a slightly depressing story. It illustrates the dissolving of a relationship. I don’t think I will do this story for my paper. However, I tend to enjoy and understand stories more the second time I read them, so we will see!
Hopefully, I will have the chance to read several more short stories before I decide which one to write about. I’m a fan of short stories =). (287)
“Eraser” by Ben Stroud
“Nawabdin Electrician” by Daniyal Mueenuddin
“Closely Held” by Allegra Goodman
These three stories are all very different. I enjoyed reading them, but I’m not sure that I’ve found the one I want to write about. I might right about “Nawabdin Electrician” because I found some interesting themes in the story that I’d like to think about more. The story focuses on the life of an electrician and explores his personality, his journey to where he is today, and his job. The main reason I liked the story is because it takes a simple subject, like the life of an electrician, and makes intriguing and close-to-brilliant observations that I would never have thought of.
“Eraser” is a rather interesting story. I decided to read this story because the title intrigued me. The story is divided into different sections with subtitles. I have never read a short story organized this way, but it made it easy to follow the narrator’s thoughts. I also really liked that it was told from the perspective of a twelve-year-old boy. The kid has a great voice throughout the story. It reminded me of reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time several years ago because of the narrator’s youth.
“Closely Held” is a slightly depressing story. It illustrates the dissolving of a relationship. I don’t think I will do this story for my paper. However, I tend to enjoy and understand stories more the second time I read them, so we will see!
Hopefully, I will have the chance to read several more short stories before I decide which one to write about. I’m a fan of short stories =). (287)
Friday, October 2, 2009
Physical and Emotional Burdens
“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien explores the innermost desires and worries of a unit of soldiers in the Vietnam War by listing what each man carries. With a focus on the group’s lieutenant, Jimmy Cross, this story reveals the physical, emotional, and psychological weight the soldiers “humped” (626). Physically, the soldiers carry, among many things, food, clothing, and artillery. Psychologically, the soldiers carry “the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing…” (634). It is by looking closely at this “emotional baggage” that the reader can fully understand the complex mentality of these soldiers.
At the beginning of the story, Lieutenant Cross spends a significant portion of his time obsessing over Martha. He reads and re-reads her letters every night, delicately holding the letters with the “tips of his fingers” (625). He frequently pulls out two pictures of Martha, which make him think about “new things he should’ve done” when he was with her. Lastly, he becomes fixated with a pebble she sent him, turning it over in his mouth during long marches and fantasizing about spending time with her. Lieutenant Cross carries the weight of his imagination. Day after day during the war, Lieutenant Cross spends more time with Martha than he spends protecting and guiding his men, which ultimately leads to him blaming himself for the death of his fellow soldier, Ted Lavender. At the end of the story, he realizes that he is in a situation where “men died because of carelessness and gross stupidity…Boom-down, and you were dead…” (636). His mistake is reiterated when he says, “he had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead” (632). After this realization, he makes a concerted effort to end his daydreaming, telling himself, “no more fantasies,” and starts to become “realistic” (636). Through this, a significant weight—the weight of his emotional baggage—begins to fall.
Throughout the story, the physical weight of each item is specifically noted. While ammunition, food, and other survival necessities make up the majority of this physical weight, the lighter items, such as Lieutenant Cross’s letters, are significantly heavier in emotional weight. O’Brien effectively sets up this contrast between heavy and light, between something seemingly unimportant, like a pebble weighing no more than an ounce, and something vital to the soldiers, like the PRC-25 radio weighing 26 pounds. The radio served as protection—a means of communicating and evaluating danger. The pebble served as a distraction; it took Lieutenant Cross’s mind away from his duty, “his mind wandered,” and “he had difficulty keeping his attention on the war” (628).
“The Things They Carried” illustrates that much can be learned through the things a soldier carries. From the objects Lieutenant Cross carries, he is portrayed as a leader, “carrying the responsibility” of the lives of his men, and as an idealistic thinker, imagining Martha loves him and hoping for more chances to be with her (627). Ted Lavender carries tranquilizers, which demonstrate his scared nature. Rat Kiley carries medical supplies and comic books showing his profession as a medic in conjunction with a desire to stay light-hearted in spirit. Like looking into someone’s closet, investigating the things these soldiers carried reveals essential information about their characters.
The dramatic burning of the letters and photographs toward the end of the story exemplifies the importance of the things they carried—even the small, seemingly unimportant things—and their powerful effects. The grim war added with a longing of the impossible makes for a heavy load. By burning these mementos, Lieutenant Cross is eliminating their physical weight and beginning a journey to eliminate their emotional weight.
While the emotional weight of Martha on Lieutenant Cross will begin to disappear, a new emotional weight is added to Lieutenant Cross’s load, the death of Lavender, “something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (632). The soldiers will always carry “the burden of being alive,” the immense sorrow in loss, and the longing for a more peaceful time (633). The narrator states toward the end of the story, “there was at least the single abiding certainty that they would never be at loss for things to carry” (632). (703)
At the beginning of the story, Lieutenant Cross spends a significant portion of his time obsessing over Martha. He reads and re-reads her letters every night, delicately holding the letters with the “tips of his fingers” (625). He frequently pulls out two pictures of Martha, which make him think about “new things he should’ve done” when he was with her. Lastly, he becomes fixated with a pebble she sent him, turning it over in his mouth during long marches and fantasizing about spending time with her. Lieutenant Cross carries the weight of his imagination. Day after day during the war, Lieutenant Cross spends more time with Martha than he spends protecting and guiding his men, which ultimately leads to him blaming himself for the death of his fellow soldier, Ted Lavender. At the end of the story, he realizes that he is in a situation where “men died because of carelessness and gross stupidity…Boom-down, and you were dead…” (636). His mistake is reiterated when he says, “he had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead” (632). After this realization, he makes a concerted effort to end his daydreaming, telling himself, “no more fantasies,” and starts to become “realistic” (636). Through this, a significant weight—the weight of his emotional baggage—begins to fall.
Throughout the story, the physical weight of each item is specifically noted. While ammunition, food, and other survival necessities make up the majority of this physical weight, the lighter items, such as Lieutenant Cross’s letters, are significantly heavier in emotional weight. O’Brien effectively sets up this contrast between heavy and light, between something seemingly unimportant, like a pebble weighing no more than an ounce, and something vital to the soldiers, like the PRC-25 radio weighing 26 pounds. The radio served as protection—a means of communicating and evaluating danger. The pebble served as a distraction; it took Lieutenant Cross’s mind away from his duty, “his mind wandered,” and “he had difficulty keeping his attention on the war” (628).
“The Things They Carried” illustrates that much can be learned through the things a soldier carries. From the objects Lieutenant Cross carries, he is portrayed as a leader, “carrying the responsibility” of the lives of his men, and as an idealistic thinker, imagining Martha loves him and hoping for more chances to be with her (627). Ted Lavender carries tranquilizers, which demonstrate his scared nature. Rat Kiley carries medical supplies and comic books showing his profession as a medic in conjunction with a desire to stay light-hearted in spirit. Like looking into someone’s closet, investigating the things these soldiers carried reveals essential information about their characters.
The dramatic burning of the letters and photographs toward the end of the story exemplifies the importance of the things they carried—even the small, seemingly unimportant things—and their powerful effects. The grim war added with a longing of the impossible makes for a heavy load. By burning these mementos, Lieutenant Cross is eliminating their physical weight and beginning a journey to eliminate their emotional weight.
While the emotional weight of Martha on Lieutenant Cross will begin to disappear, a new emotional weight is added to Lieutenant Cross’s load, the death of Lavender, “something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (632). The soldiers will always carry “the burden of being alive,” the immense sorrow in loss, and the longing for a more peaceful time (633). The narrator states toward the end of the story, “there was at least the single abiding certainty that they would never be at loss for things to carry” (632). (703)
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