WEEK 14

Week 14

Flannery O’Connor

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Flannery O’Connor had a really short life.  Our intro stated she often wrote about violence, evil and and not the typical traditional forms to write about. I did enjoy reading “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” What started out as what seemed like a happy story of a little southern family going on vacation turns tragic.  The family consisted the Grandmother, her son Bailey, his wife and three children.  They family is going on vacation. They are disagreeing on where to go.  Bailey wishes to go down from Georgia to Florida while his mother wants to go up north to Tennessee. The Grandmother is afraid of some misfit on the loose who is a escaped criminal.  They decide on Florida and on the way the Grandmother gets to thinking about an old house and wishes to see it again. After some arguing and persuading Bailey decides they can do.  They end up having an accident and roll their car over. Everyone is ok but shaken up.  Luckily a car happens upon them and I was relieved for the family.  But it turns out it was the Misfit.  He seems like a nice guy so I thought he just was using them for an escape or needed clothing.  The request Bailey to follow the two other boys out into the woods for no reason and they all hear a gunshot.  This really shocked me.  How horrible, just a family trying to have a vacation and now Bailey is shot dead or for sure dying alone in the woods.  Next they ask if the Mother and children wish to go and they do and bang bang bang they are also shot.  What did they ever do to deserve this? I guess this story follows along the writings of Flannery O’Connor with writing about violence and evil. I just don’t know why someone with talent to really write would choose such horrid topics.

Tillie Olsen

I Stand Here Ironing

Ok this was a sort of weird story.  But overall a good read interesting read. Tillie Olsen only completed the 11^th grade but has continued to educate herself through the public library.  By her early twenties she had already begun to make a name for herself.  Her career was interrupted to raise a get married and raise a family.  She continued on her writing journey later on.  I am not sure if this is a story about her own life or maybe her own child.  It sounds as if she is reflecting what could have gone wrong.  Very sad as her husband left her before Emily was a year old. She had no choice but to find work in a hard time of the depression.  She often had to send Emily away to other family members to keep her until she could get her back. Very sad to think what Emily went through!  She probably always felt like she could just be shipped off easily.  And then to add more brothers and sisters to the family probably only made it worse in her eyes.  It sounds like the mother often tried to make her feel special by allowing her to stay home and play as a family but I think the trust was already broken at this point.  She never had anyone to lean on and cry to, instead she was shipped off to strangers and even a convalescent hospital.  I cannot imagine having to do that or even choosing to do so. It sounds like Emily had found a way to be happy through her comedy.  It brought her attention she always wanted and needed.  I am not sure what is happening in the beginning with her on the phone talking about someone wanting her to talk to Emily.  I think her mother feels bad and possibly responsible for how her Emily has turned out.

Nikki Giovanni’s Poetry

Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1943.  She was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio but often visited Knoxville during the summer with her sister to stay with her grandparents. She currently works at Virginia Tech as a Distinguished Professor.  I did enjoy her poems somewhat.  They were easy reads which helps me a lot. The first poem Nikki-Rosa I think she is trying to say you cannot assume every black child had a hard rough life while growing up.  Just because she didn’t have all the fancy luxuries as some she was still a happy child.  I am not sure if she is just imagine what it is like for others or experiencing it herself. She was born in 1943 so it wasn’t that very long ago like the 1800’s during a time of slavery and all.

          I’m Not Lonely was a good point of view of someone worrying about what their life would be like if they were alone and here it happens and she is just fine.  There is no need to worry about her having nightmares because she is doing great. She can hog the entire bed at night without having to share.  That must be nice J I bet she felt sort of free. Instead of constant worry of what it would be like, she now knows and is doing great.

          Poem for Black Boys is a little unclear to me.  It sounds as if she is writing to say they should stick to their own thing, but I am not sure.  They should not act like they are something they are not and to stick to what they know like runaway slave.  That sounds really bad and racist to me.   Why cant little boys play what they want?  They can be the the sheriff if they wish instead of always the bad guy. I think this poem would make a little kid into a stereotype instead of shooting higher for a dream. 

Week 13

Week 13

Kathryn Stockett

The Help

What do you think motivated Hilly? On one hand she’s so unpleasant to Aibileen and her own help, as well as to Skeeter once she realizes she can’t control her. But she’s a wonderful mother. Do you think you can be a good mother but at the same time a deeply flawed person?

How much of a person’s character do you think is shaped by the times in which they live? 

        I really enjoyed reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  I was really impressed with her first novel.  The story takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962.  I guess me be raised in California it was very different. My brother and sister were both born in the early 60’s and I have never heard stories of maids and such.  Maybe it was more of the   richer families versus middle class.  I also think out west was very different with slavery than living in the south.

        I definitely think a person’s character is shaped by the times in which they live.  It was acceptable in those days to have help with black maids.  I could just never imagine it.  I guess you can say it’s the same today with anyone being a maid, but now it’s a choice not the only job they can find.  I think you grow up and do as you were taught so all these new young moms are only replicating what they saw their entire lives and what they were taught by living with their mothers and fathers. Just like today it would not be acceptable at all to be so cruel to a maid just because she is a black woman.

        I am not sure what motivated Hilly.  I think she is just a horrid person to everyone but her children.  Some people just have no heart to be kind to anyone.  I would partly blame her parents for allowing her behavior her entire youth. If she saw all that hatred with her mother and father I am sure she finds it normal behavior.  I think she can be nice to her children because they are hers and they haven’t pissed her off just ye. I never read her say anything nice about her white friends children either and I am pretty sure just like Skeeter’s mom if her little white daughter grew up trying to help the black’s she would have turned on her just as fast or try to hide her and persuade her to be like everyone else and be ashamed.  I am glad things have changed for the better.  I cannot imagine having to treat others so badly and it being acceptable.  I would be the one feeling bad. 

Week 12

Randall Jarrell

           Randall Jarrell was born in California, raised by his paternal grandparents and great grandparents. At the age of 12 he moved to Tennessee and finished high school there. He was supposed to go to secretarial school in order to work in his Uncles candy firm.  Instead he ended up at Vanderbilt University.  He later taught English at Kenyon College  and at the University of Texas.  From 1942-1946 he served in the U.S Army Air Force.  He uses his military experience in many of his finest poems.  He last taught at the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina.  He remained here the rest of his life.  I did not find his style of poetry very interesting. They were all a bit hard to follow and understand.  After I read Losses a few times, I could clearly see the poem is about war.   I think it’s an analysis of the soldiers die in any war.  They really don’t   know who they are killing and although this is an underlying reason, it isn’t really always the belief of the soldiers.   If they lasted long enough through the war, they were given medals, but is being rewarded for killing others really that great?  I was not very fond of the poem, The poem A Girl in a Library.  I had a hard time following and finding the meaning.  I can see its about a girl who is studying maybe a subject she doesn’t really like or want to study.  The last poem we read In Montecito. Randall Jarrell seems very disappointed in having to witness the ending of a life.  It sounds as if  a lady has died. After she dies everything is thrown away like it never mattered to anyone.  Someone else is now sitting in her seat at the cricket match.  All his poems were very odd to me.

Sylvia Plath

            Sylvia Plath had a hard life.  She was born in Massachusetts to a German father and Austrain mother who she often wrote about in her poetry.  She was said to be a brilliant and erratic child.  At the age of seventeen she was able to publish her first poem and a short story.   She had severe mental problems which she often wrote about.  After entering Smith College on a scholarship she was filled with apprehension of horror and death and felt obsessed with isolation and entrapment.  How very sad to be so talented yet trapped in your own world suffering.  The first poem The Bee Meeting I am not quite sure what is going on.  I can compare it to her maybe being in a hospital and she is explaining it as a meeting.  But I see possible Doctor’s and nurses coming at her all gloved and  covered, yet she is naked maybe on a Dr’s table. I think maybe she was being put in some sort of protection suit for herself and in solitary confinement.  The Poem Daddy was such a sad read. Her dad died at the age of 10 and I think she couldn’t ever get past that.  It sounds as if he was very strict to her and she hasn’t forgotten it.  Since he was then dead she could not ever question or talk to him to sort out her own feelings. She had a lot of rage toward her father for leaving her.  She compares the Nazis destroying their world and how her father has destroyed hers in a way.  I think she also find her husband and tries to mold him into the father she never had.  And he also leaves her, but this time she is able to control that rage.  All her poems are very sad to me.  I wish she could have gotten proper help to work through her issues.  To take her own life at such a young age is so sad.

James Baldwin

Sonny’s Blues

            James Baldwin was also known as one of the most important American black writers of the twentieth century.  He was the oldest of nine children and was born and raised in Harlem.  He grew up being dominated by his stern father who was the minister of a storefront church.  At 14 Baldwin underwent a spiritual experience and began to preach in competition with his own father. The story we read Sonny’s Blues   turned out to be a pretty good read. It’s basically about two brothers who are 7 years apart and have their differences, but in the end they are family and need each other in their lives and come to terms that they are different and learn to accept that and be a family again. The two boys grow up with their mother in a poor neighborhood.  The oldest brother goes off and joins the army, during that time their mother passes away and Sonny lives with his big brothers wife and family. He ends up with a bad crowd and becomes addicted to heroin.  He realizes his problems and joins the Navy against his brother’s advice.  After a long gap of 7 years with no communication between the brothers they are brought together again because the older brother’s daughter has died and Sonny was in a drug program being rehabilitated.  They exchange letters and upon Sonny’s release he returns to live with his big brother and family.  Sonny always had a  gift and fascination for music which his brother thought was a waste of time. Sonny invites his brother to a nightclub in order to see him play the piano. At this time the big brother finally accepts Sonny for who he is and can understand him a bit more. It was very sad the Sonny had his music taken from him, what he loved most was gone, his mother and his music. Maybe if they had a better relationship and could lean on each other none of the problems with drugs would have happened.