The Final Post

Despite my like for the beginning of the book, I am unsure about how I feel about it as a whole. For the most part, I enjoy Delillo’s writing style. He really makes every sentence count. Each sentence is jam packed with information and it makes for a slower read. I found that I had a hard time staying focused while reading. Part of it may just be the overwhelming amount of things to complete before the semester is over.

Because of my inattention, I feel that I don’t appreciate the book as much as others. From the class discussions, I can see that most people really enjoy it. For this reason, I suspect that I have missed something during my reading. Perhaps I will reread it when I have more time and not so many other things to worry about!

I have put Delillo’s other book White Noise on my summer reading list!

The Crowd

I really liked the beginning of Mao II. I thought the whole idea of the wedding in the stadium was interesting. Even though it made for a good read, I can’t say I liked how the wedding was set up. I cannot imagine that any of the people were truly happy. Weddings are supposed to be one of the best days of a person’s life and are meant for family and friends. To be a bride surrounded by many others and not having that intimate feeling would be hard.

I liked how the parent’s perspective was included. The emotions and feelings they had were spot on to what I would imagine someone would really be experiencing in that situation. The fact that they were the “fans” in this scenario made for an interesting comparison between sports. I’ve never really felt that fans in stadiums resembled a cult until now. I can see how they are very similar.

The notion of the crowd gave me an overwhelming feeling as I read the beginning of the book. To me, crowds are claustrophobic and often problematic. There is rarely a time when a crowd is under control. It’s not that I’m afraid of being in a crowd, but I am often uneasy. With that many people in one place, something could go wrong. Maybe I just have a apprehension for people. ;)

American History

I thoroughly enjoyed Michael Harper’s “American History”. I am not a history buff by any means, but I have a great appreciation for the growth and development of our country. The way I see it, there is so much more than what is taught in a history class and what is read in a textbook. Accounts for an event may differ depending on the person and situation.

I think most can agree that African Americans had it tough. Sadly, they were not appreciated as they are today. We have come a long way. The fact that history hides African American’s importance and influence shows just how they were treated not so long ago. Our country chose to be blind and to ignore its own citizens. I can’t even wrap my mind around living during such a time.

Things have certainly changed. We have an African American president, writers, actors, teachers, and doctors. The list could go on. I think it is fair to say that we are no longer hiding African Americans in our history. I just wish the same could be said about the past.   

Great confusion

I have to admit, I struggled with “Persimmons” when I first read it. I’m not sure that I completely got it after class discussion. There is just something about the poem (I’m not entirely sure what) that I just didn’t like. I’m not saying it was a bad poem, but there is something that doesn’t strike me as others have.

It wasn’t until class that I even put some of the basic concepts together. I liked how two very different cultures were approached by Li-Young Lee. I thought the use of Mrs. Walker’s class was brilliant. It applied the situation to a real life circumstance. I can only imagine how many times a teacher, or anyone for that matter, thinks they have knowledge over something when in fact, they don’t. Mrs. Walker’s mistake didn’t necessarily show her as incompetent, but it did show her as having a cultural flaw.

The notion of loss of language intrigued me. I can’t imagine being submersed in another culture with another language. English is hard enough for native speakers; it must be unbearable for those who don’t have it as their first language.

I think this poem hit some great points. It was like some of the others that we have encountered in the sense that it addressed cultural and family history. Where a person comes from and the family they grow up in shape what kind of person they become.

LOVE IT!

The references to the Holocaust were apparent in Sylvia Plath’s writing. There was no way to avoid it. As someone who has always been intrigued by the Holocaust, I LOVED Plath. “Daddy” was my favorite of them all. I was glad that we discussed this one during class to hear what everyone thought about it.

My favorite line of the poem was when the speaker said her dad had died before she had the change to kill him off. I took this as meaning not literally kill him, but find closure with him. The speaker had this resentment for her father which appeared rightfully so. I felt as if she really wanted to let go of her past and get this closure with her dad (not necessarily forgiving and forgetting type deal). Death is a tricky thing. There is never really a right time for someone to die, but there is clearly a wrong time. For the speaker, this was the wrong time. Her father had made her feel trapped and scared. This is something no child should ever feel from his or her parent. I can’t even imagine what she went through as a child to feel the way she does.

I also liked the comparison of the husband. He didn’t appear to be much different from the dad and was even referred to as a vampire. I immediately imagined someone sucking the life out of her. I assume that is what the father did as well. I think everyone can relate to that feeling even if it doesn’t stem from an actual person. I know for me, there are times when I have felt school or work sucking the life out of me. Exhaustion builds and frustration grows. This is how I think the speaker must have been feeling but on a much larger scale.

All I can really say is that I loved Sylvia Plath and want to read more!

Diving In....

This was the first time I have been exposed to Adrienne Rich. “Diving into the Wreck” was a poem that really stuck out to me. For me, the poem signified someone, especially a woman, diving into life. This whole notion of it being a “wreck” made it make sense in my mind. Rich’s use of black water was quite interesting. When I think of black water, I think of coldness, death, and something terrifying. These are all feelings that come up throughout the struggles of life.

Even if my interpretation isn’t spot on, I still made a deep connection with this particular poem. In my life, I have often felt as if I was “diving into the wreck”. There are so many things I am unsure about and so many trials I have had to overcome. It’s scary and often feels like being in black water. I liked how Rich used the flippers as something negative. The speaker said they crippled her. I can relate the flippers to many different things in life. Flippers are a necessity when diving, but they also had a way of impacting the situation in a negative way. One connection for me with this might be my goals in life. As necessary as they are, they can also cripple me in a way that is self-defeating. That is just one of the many ways I have interpreted the meaning.

I may have babbled a bit and not made much sense, but in a nutshell, Adrienne Rich’s poem drew me in and allowed me to make real-life connections from my own experiences.

A little bit of everything.....

“Howl” is probably one of the most interesting pieces of work I have read thus far. I enjoyed Allen Ginsberg’s style and thought it was interesting how he used some real life experience within “Howl”. The fact that Ginsberg was in an asylum didn’t shock me. I thought it made total sense when reading what he wrote. He certainly strikes me as being a little crazy.

I also enjoyed Gary Snyder’s “Axe Handles”. It was a pretty straightforward poem, unlike many that have been covered so far. In class, we talked about how it defined culture on a more intimate level. Culture is what we produce as we shape the next generation. This definition of culture isn’t the “norm”, but I think it is more realistic and is more applicable in real-life.

Flannery O’Connor told an interesting story. I literally laughed out-loud when the name Hulga came into play. There is just something about this name that gives me an image of an overweight, unattractive woman with a big mole on her face. I’m not sure why, but that is the image I get. The whole story was full of interesting things. A wooden leg? What made O’Connor think of that? The whole idea of the story would have been greatly altered if there wasn’t this wooden leg, but I question what made her decide to put it in there. I liked how there were two contrasting sides to the phrase “good country people”. For me, I naturally put a good connotation behind it. This quickly changed, and I was forced to challenge my thoughts on who really are “good country people”.

I think the best thing a writer can do is make the reader question their thoughts and feelings during and after reading their work.