Literary realism

Literary realism is represented by the following:
-A faithful representation of life
-Humble life
-Center interest in characters
This type of writing can be seen in the works that we have studied in class this far. Through Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin we see a very character based style, and a very humbling atmosphere; nothing is embellished. This style is most likely used for this story because the authors intent is to show the reality of slaves situations and convince others to accept them, and stop harsh behavior towards them.

Extra Credit Blog "Sexy"

In my opinion, Sexy by Jhumpa Lahiri does a great job of warning against false feelings. The example set through Miranda and Dev is perfect, as it demonstrates how we can all can become attracted to things that are outside of our normal everyday lives. Protagonist, Miranda is the victim of allurement in this example.  Dev is Miranda's infatuation; she is drawn to him by his "exotic" self, and his "forbidden fruit" effect. Lahiri takes this story to a close however, and ultimately reveals reality when Dev shows Miranda that he doesn't actually feel the same way for her as she does for him. Often, like Miranda, we all expect more from alluring situations and become disappointed; but as soon as we realize this, we are ready to move on and accept regular life.

The Woman Warrior

Many novelists have tried to capture what it would be like to be trapped between two worlds, they take their characters on amazing adventures and with a swish of pen, have them overcome their hardest struggles. Maxine Hong Kingston does the same thing, however, she does it for real.
Being a first generation to experience America from childhood, no one but Kingston could imagine the confusing situation of being trapped between her traditional Asian family's traditions and expectations, and American culture.
At the very start of puberty the narrator is told by her mother of an aunt she once had. Her aunt, a mystery woman who has been stripped of her name for the disgrace she brought upon her family for becoming pregnant out of wedlock, and as a result threw herself with her newborn child down a well to die.
What does this mean for the narrator?
This is all the information the narrator is allowed by her mother. Their family is private and questions are not encouraged. She is meant to only learn from the story to protect her virtue. But it strikes more than "birds and bees" questions with the narrator, to the narrator it raises questions about her identity. What does it mean to be herself within her family? What does it mean to be herself in America? Who is she?
The narrator begins to relate with her unidentified aunt, as neither of them having an identity. The narrator feels disconnected from everyone around her as she can't totally identify with either culture. Writing about her aunt helps her find herself. Empathizing with her aunt helps the narrator to put to bed any haunted feelings towards her aunts behavior, and what drove her to act the way she did. The narrator identifies what she does not agree with about her native culture, and is able to move on and create who she wants to be.

Synthesis

Clearly both Uncle Toms Cabin  and Beloved have a huge focus on how race has impacted American culture. Both novels are highly recognized, however, are very different in a couple of ways. A major difference regarding the two of these novels is who they were written by; Uncle Toms Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a Caucasian woman. And Beloved by Toni Morrison, a African American woman. Apart from that, both novels were also written in very different time periods, in fact from Stowe's novel to Morrison's there is about a 135 year gap.
From this knowledge comes a very big question; who has more insight to the racial problems that had existed?
Many have criticized that Stowe didn't have any credibility when writing about slaves lives, as she was not black herself. It was thought that one could not simply understand anothers position by simply watching what was going on. However, Stowe does have an advantage over Morrison having lived in the time period that slavery existed.
However, while Morrison has the advantage of having claim to the African race, it can also be criticized that Morrison had no idea of the issues she aimed to address either, because she had not experienced nor observed them first hand.
So why have both these novels influenced our culture so much?
Both novels have become a clear part of American literature because they both understand the impact that slavery has had on America. While addressed in very different styles, both authors have come to understand that in order to understand a cultural issue, one must put themselves into the others shoes. Stowe is able to do so by being sympathetic towards her African American neighbors. As discussed in class, we realize that by being sympathetic to even a situation you may not know much about, you are able to better understand how one is feeling about their situation, thus taking on their burden.
Morrison is also sympathetic, however is more entitled. Because Morrison has black ancestry she is able to relate to the oppressed through a historical background.
While both authors are equitable in their attempts to relate to historical slavery, both authors also have very different intents in how they portray their understanding.
Stowe has an obvious purpose of humanizing slaves to her early American culture through her style of sentiment, whereas Morrison's intent is much more ambiguous, however, ultimately it is realized that the whole novel aims to portray the deep scars that slavery has had on America, as well as the author herself, as her ancestors were the ones who had endured this horrific past.
Ultimately, no matter the intent or the amount of relatability the authors hold, both novels act powerfully today. It is often said that history is important for the lessons it holds, and I believe this to be true. I believe that both authors have given Americans huge insight as to what consequences slavery has, as well as embody the message that all men are created equal, and should be treated as so.

Reader Response

 "We study them, we hear them, we even feel them, but we never are them."

This quote says it all when we consider Beloved. Just as we are about to understand something, the scene is gone. Just like Just as Paul D, Sethe, and Denver are about to bond, Beloved walks into their lives. Maybe Morrison writes this way because it conveys just how the characters feel about themselves. With the theme of forbidden knowledge present in the book, it more clearly shows us why we are never able to "become" our characters, because they have also been robbed of that by their white owners. Maybe it is also a technique that is used so that only those who have any inkling of what the characters are going through are able to experience it. Perhaps this insight provided by the reader perfectly sums up what Morrison was trying to convey; the idea that slaves were robbed of their identity. That the black community is not able to understand themselves because their culture has been lost to them. They are not even hybrids, they are people who have been granted the right to be human by Americans who so long ago had robbed them of their culture. I find this to be most insightful. But at the same time, I want to point out that anybody in America except for native Americans has a mixture of cultures. However I still understand the point that African Americans might feel robbed of theirs. 

Lots of comments say that this book is something that you can't put down; a book that provokes much conversation. 

There is nothing to be disagreed with in these comments, and they make up most of them.

Contemporary Connections

An article from the Huffington post titled, "Don't feed the Race Trolls," attacks white's who hide behind social media in order to send hateful messages and comments to their fellow black neighbors. It calls those who are not racist not to feed the "race trolls". If you ask me, this person who is asking us not to "feed" those who categorize, is categorizing even now by banding themselves against those how are obviously uniformed, instead of trying to find a way to peacefully show them that we are supposed to be a community. It is absolutely amazing to me, how we are a nation and a community who claim to be banded together as one, however, cannot seem to get over the act of categorizing. Categorizing is for files, and libraries; not people.
As a nation and as a world, we have so much history, and somehow only the horror stories survive, and the worst part about it is we let it fester and bleed into 2015. I thought by now we would realize that if you treat others how you would like them to act, they are more likely to take on that role. If you have confidence in your neighbor to do the right thing, they will have more reason to do the right thing, if you treat your nations leader like a leader then they will do their best for you.
Beloved has many levels to it, however, it's commentary on race is unignorable. The struggle for equality is present today, but I believe that if we moved past the problems of yesterday and tried to understand that we are a community of humanity, that we might move past the current uprisings that seem to have attached themselves to everyday news. Reading Beloved provokes these thoughts, that hopefully we can find a way in which peace can be made.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/torraine-walker/dont-feed-the-race-trolls_1_b_7091716.html
"Don't Feed the Race Trolls"
Walker, Torraine 

Part 1 Beloved project

White people are dragons and black people are beasts. Since the beginning of time it has been good vs evil, tribe against tribe, and nation against nation. We've come up with this idea that because one group of people at one time entitled themselves to become supreme, that their future sons will be born with the same agenda. We fail to realize that we are all human, and that all of humanity is capable of committing the horrors that are very much a part of our history, and are bleeding into our society today.
David Cosca writes in his article "Is Hell a Pretty Place?", that Morrison captures a garden of Eden theme, where knowledge is the forbidden fruit to blacks, "about words having the ability to create, and about deception and manipulation"(9) Cosca explores the deep set allusions of knowledge made by Morrison and believes that she pinpoints the exact problem of which society faces today. He believes that society robs us of the truth of the past, and that problems of racism still remain. He even goes as far as to say that "jingoist doctrinal systems seek to obscure; and, through various measures, that same "dragon" persistendy endeavors to obstruct the propagation of stories and facts that reflect shameful and humiliating aspects of the history of our society)', but which are easier or more comforting for many people to dismiss, ignore, repress, or revise."(10) jingoist, or jingo, originates from a euphemism for Jesus. I disagree with this statement on many levels. First by using the term jingo, Cosca offends a christian community of which early slaves were very dedicated to. While it is true that there are many horrors that we don't often discuss in detail of slavery, this doesn't mean that they are being repressed, or hidden, in fact as far as I can see, more and more literature is bringing these horrors to light, and often being read within our schools. The fact is that many horrors have become a part of the worlds history, such as the holocaust, and even before that. But why is it okay to try and suggest that the story of slaves is the only one to seem "repressed". After all it is arguable that Jewish slaves living under Egyptian rule had it much worse, but we don't see much controversy over that much anymore. Apart from that, Cosca's claim that history has even been revised in this area is even more outrageous. If he really believes that history has been rewritten in that aspect on a great enough level to be called out and shamed for, then he ought to look at the work of Joseph Stalin; a man who literally erased people from pictures to frame history. The fact is, is that such uproar is unnecessary about this specific subject, and it is unfair to make so many hateful statements about it when history has done the same horrific acts over and over again. History is meant to inform, and to educate, and to warn. History is not meant to enrage, or to turn man against man because of something that happened a hundred years ago. While Cosca's article was well written and delved into many literary geniuses made by Morrison, the conclusions were very poor in that it failed to see how far society has come.

"Is Hell a Pretty Place"
Cosca, David
Cornell

Sylvia Plath

Although I can honestly say I do not fully comprehend Sylvia Plath's, Lady Lazarus, I know why it is that I can't. Plath's life experience is something that I'll never have, as well as her struggle with severe depression. Through Lady Lazarus, Plath tries to convey some personal point; however,  reveals one simple one that can be seen on the surface throughout all her poems. Plath is dissatisfied with life. She is skilled in near death experiences, "like a cat with nine lives". While it appears that she is conflicted by the constant pull of death, she also seems to take comfort in it. It makes her feel alive, in fact she does it so "it feels like hell... so it feels real." Plath conveys that life is nothing without death. Maybe that death is even the most important thing, as it gives some peace, and some justice. For Sylvia however, death is her escape, as she makes it clear through much imagery that life is her hell, so it wouldn't matter what death would be like.

P.S.
Sylvia tried to slit her throat at age ten 
Her son committed suicide by hanging himself due to depression 

A streetcar named desire

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams doesn't directly hold a "moral to the story", however, many different insights to societies customs and their flaws. Through main characters, Blanche and Stanley , Williams reveals the social struggle for men and women. Blanche, a high class southern bell, foils charachter Stanley who seemingly has just as many struggles as Blanche, however, differs in his social standing and manners. Both seek security and acceptance from society, but struggle to attain it. Having lost everything Blanche seeks to hold her social power and dignity by looking down upon Stanely, making fun of him for his polish decent and his blue collar job. Blanche also takes advantage of Stanely's weak masculine nature by holding her sexuality over his head. Stanely, just as lost and confused in his life, as he cannot live up to societies definition of a man, is infuriated by Blanche. Her hypocrisy eats at him and forces him to develop a deep hatred of her. Stanely knows Blanche technically has no real social advance on him since she lost her plantation, and seeks to destroy her further for acting above him. Ultimately, despite Stanely being married to Blanche's sister, Stanely rapes Blanche. Through this act Stanely takes any power Blanche had had over him. Through these charachters, Williams reveals the flaws of traditional men/women roles, and what can happen when they cannot be lived up to. 

Personal Synthesis

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe ultimately embodies one major message, that slavery is wrong. While many disagree with her methods of interpretation to her audience, I believe Stowe is clever in her strategies of swaying her audience to believe her.
In class we frequently discussed how religion played a major role in Stowe's novel. As a class we came to the conclusion that religion played such a major part in the novel because it bonded 1800's society together and played on their conscience's. Although this method may seem outdated and unrelatable today, Stowe was cleverly aware of of it's influence and frequently utilized it through her character Mrs. Bird. Because Stowe's audience was primarily women, and women were seen as the "moral compass", Mrs. Bird was the perfect way to appeal to women, she appeals to their womanly power over their husbands when Mrs. Bird shames her politician husband, "Now John, I want to know if you think such a law as that is right and christian?...You ought to be ashamed, John!"(72) by giving them Mrs. Bird she inspiring women to speak to their husbands sensitive sides on the topic of slavery. Stowe should be commended on her strategies in speaking to her target audience in such a clever way.
Stowe also appeals to her audience by making her characters relatable. While reality in 1800's didn't allow for much input or daily talk from slaves,  Stowe makes dialogue for her negro characters, thus making it easier for readers to identify personally with the them. The fact that the title of the book is dedicated to a negro character is a huge stride in making slaves seem human to society.
Overall for the time it was written for, Stowe was extremely proactive in her novel, using every connection she could to bind whites to blacks in a way that wasn't offensive to think about. While her methods may seem inappropriate and offensive today, it is important to remind ourselves that Stowe came from a very different time. It isn't fair to judge her novel based on today's standards, just as it wouldn't be fair for her to judge today's society on, say, the issue of gay marriage. We have developed with different ideas throughout the years, and the important thing to remember is what is right at the core, and in this case it still stands true, that every human being is created equal.

Critical Commentary

James Baldwin's critical commentary has a very negative view on Stowe's method in her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. He points out that each slave character is given some "white" quality that deems them socially aknowledegeable; that is except for Uncle Tom, who has no white qualities at all. Eliza is described as being partially white, and although her husband George is black he is given the ability to be an excellent mechanic, thus socially "humanizing" him. Baldwin argues that Stowe further demeans blacks by making the only true black character, Tom, illiterate and submissive.

Although Baldwin makes a good point in criticizing Stowe's writing on a deeper level, I believe that he altogether misses her intention. His point of view is limited as he is able to only understand slavery from today's views (or at least he is only acknowledging today's views) and not looking at it from where people in the 1800's would have. I believe Stowe was thinking very intelligently when she thought about her target audience in order to influence their views on slavery. Stowe had to be very clever when describing her negro characters to white society. By giving certain negores "white" qualities, she made it easier for readers to sympathize and relate with them. Also by tying religion into her novel she did not make "God and salvation become her personal property(535), however cleverly used it to bind all of 1800's humanity together.

In conclusion, I believe that Baldwin overlooks the true intentions behind Stowe's literary strategies, by allowing himself to be blinded by his current knowledge. To be fair, he does make excellent points, however, only in light of the social opinions of today. If Uncle Tom's Cabin was meant to become a "timeless" novel his critical analysis would be very relevant, however, it is a book of a time that has long passed.

Texual Background and Context

Images are worth a thousand words, especially historical images. It's amazing to see how propoganda worked in the 1800's and realize how much our world has changed today. Headlined "Great Sale of SLAVES", this article reveals how african americans were dehumanized and treated like cattle. Listed off by gender, age, and skill ability, the description also holds a paragraph about the plantation the family is coming from.

The description of the past slave owners is especially interesting as it runs parallel to the text. Beecher Stowe reveals how slaves from different slave owners may have different attitudes. An example may be from where Tom is traded to his last master who is cruel and has raised some of his own slaves to feel superior to others, in fact these slaves "Sambo and Quimbo...hate[ed] each other, [but] were joined in one mind by no less cordial hatred of Tom "(375). Ultimately a result of their owners encouragment, this ends up with Tom being beated to death by them after refusing to give away the location of the women slaves who have run away.

This image also calls to memory the very first scene is Uncle Toms Cabin where Shelby calls Jim "Come here, Jim Crow...show this gentleman how you can dance and sing"(3) This shows how slaves were seen as products rather than humans, and had to have qualities that were of use to the slave owners.

Ultimately, this image represents the whole reason behind why abolotionists felt the way they did towards slavery. It's interesting to think about what would have happened if society would have treated their slaves more humanely all around. Maybe slavery would have lasted longer.

"The Yellow Wallpaper" Absolute Control

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" holds many ambiguous themes, however, one of the most intruiging is the theory that the woman in the bedroom is completely insane. While the story holds many instances when it seems as if sanity is intact, for example when her husband comes to vivist the room, the majority of the story revolves around her solitude, which allows for her her mind to be exposed through the narrorator. One of the most interesting examples that contribute to the idea of her complete insanity is the mention of multiple names. While the woman in the room herself is nameless, there are three other women mentioned. Jennie is mentioned as being Johns sister, a woman named Mary who takes care of the baby, and then most interestingly at the end, a woman named Jane mentioned. Jane has no actual role in the story, but acts as something so pause on. My question is, has the woman become this woman named Jane? Or is Jane the woman she has seen in the wallpaper? The woman says "I've got out at last,"... "in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!". To me this suggests that Jane is the woman she has seen inside the wallpaper, and that she has felt trapped by her, and this is why she felt she needed to tear it down. By tearing down the wallpaper she frees herself spiting Jane and spiting her husband. Although she does this act and is somewhat "freed", I believe that the woman at this point has receded into her own mind. Maybe this is her freedom, because her mind is the only place she can have absolute control.

The Bond Of Christianity

Christianity is a strong theme throughout the beginning of the novel. While we may consider that this is merely a sign of the times, we must also consider its greater influence. Beecher Stowe seems to be trying to influence her readers into believing that slavery shouldn't be socially acceptable, and by using a theme of christianity, she draws all members of society towards her beliefs, as christianity is a shared value between balck men and white men alike. Although a woman, Ms. Bird appeals to her husband's choice as a politician by telling him, "I don't know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfor the desolate; and that Bible I mean to follow."(72) Later protagonist Tom tries to comfort his wife saying "I'm in the Lord's hands,"(85) This isn't merely a connection within the novel, however, a suggested bond that is shared by all of humanity. Perhaps it is even suggested by Beecher Stowe that those who do not posses salvation are inhumane, and therefore is why they insist that slavery is acceptable. Despite Beecher Stowe's underlying tone, there is no doubt that she uses christianity as a bond to sway her readers.