Week 5, question 11
“Legal Alien” fits the literary text perfectly because the words in the title are a great representation of what the author is communicating in her poem. Her emotions are clearly depicted when she says she feels like she is "An American to Mexicans [and] a Mexican to Americans"(976) Like many who are bi-racial, she feels like she’s floating between cultures and consequently fails to be a part of any particular group. Her perception of herself is that of an alien because she isn’t fully accepted by either racial group due to her bi-racial background. The author is able to fluently communicate in both English and Spanish and is therefore considered an outcast as a result of it. The “Anglos” view her as perhaps inferior or different and the Mexicans perceive her an alien which highlight the author’s sentiments. “Legal Alien” represents how the author is permitted by law to be in the United States yet feels like she’s estranged and excluded.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
week 2 blogs
Week 2 question 3
What do you think Chopin is saying about marriage in "Desiree's Baby"? Do you think Chopin is commenting on how a child affects/changes marriage? Why or why not?
Marriage is an everlasting bond between two people which also is a building block for a family and a healthy relationship. Marriage is based on love; it goes past the physical attraction and can overcome any instability in a relationship. In “Desiree’s Baby” the author starts off by describing Armand Aubigny’s attraction towards Desiree’s beauty, mesmerized with her charm he falls in love and marries her. Chopin illustrates how their marriage is based on a romantic love because Armand fell in love with Desiree’s superficial characteristics. Race playing a greater toll in the setting described in the short story, Chopin conveys that bloodlines and social status are more important than the bond that the couple holds. He easily discards the love for his wife and child over the need to have “blood purity”. In “Desiree’s Baby” marriage is portrayed more as an identity for Armand and his wife and baby as reflections upon himself. He married for a status in the community rather than the love of his family.
According to Chopin the child does affect their marriage because due to the child’s African decent, Armand compromised his love for his wife for the sake of his beliefs and social status. Blinded by the society’s negativity towards dark skin and a woman’s lower social standing, Desiree is automatically blamed for the child’s African decent. If he truly loved his wife for the person she was, he would not have put her in such disparity causing her to leave. The child affects marriage in a sense that he was proud to have a son because he had someone to carry his name after his death. Desiree exclaims “Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I believe, chiefly because it is a boy, to bear his name”(663) He cared for the child merely because it benefitted his standing in society. The child represents the parents; any negativity upon the child communicates a fault on the parents’ behalf. Learning that his child was bi-racial was a mark on his status which he couldn’t accept and therefore was easily able to detach himself from his wife and child.
Week 2 Question 1
Sylvia Plath's poetry is considered "confessional poetry". Do a bit of investigation, find out what you can about confessional poetry and its roots, and explain how this poem conforms to that genre.
Confessional poetry originated in the mid-twentieth century and it is an autobiographical type poetry; private experiences and feelings about death, trauma, depression and relationships were addressed in this type of poetry. Sylvia Path was among the few best known confessional poets. Her writing falls in this category primarily because she writes exactly what she feels. In her poem “Daddy”, Sylvia addresses her father and relating her childhood memories to the Holocaust. She reflects hatred and conflicts with her father by comparing him to the Nazi’s in Germany. Her feelings towards her father are complicated as a result of the lack of freedom she was given for being a female. Oppressed by her father’s authority as a child and later by her husband as an adult, Sylvia’s poem is indignation of the lack of power she had as a child. The path of struggle that she had to endure due to her fathers’ young death is what stems her anger and resentment of the male figures in her life. As the poem reaches an end, it describes a period in her life where she is finally free from her husband and her father and is ultimately able to show an attitude of power. Sylvia is at last able to resolve her conflicts and end on a note that reflects her independent and peaceful self.
What do you think Chopin is saying about marriage in "Desiree's Baby"? Do you think Chopin is commenting on how a child affects/changes marriage? Why or why not?
Marriage is an everlasting bond between two people which also is a building block for a family and a healthy relationship. Marriage is based on love; it goes past the physical attraction and can overcome any instability in a relationship. In “Desiree’s Baby” the author starts off by describing Armand Aubigny’s attraction towards Desiree’s beauty, mesmerized with her charm he falls in love and marries her. Chopin illustrates how their marriage is based on a romantic love because Armand fell in love with Desiree’s superficial characteristics. Race playing a greater toll in the setting described in the short story, Chopin conveys that bloodlines and social status are more important than the bond that the couple holds. He easily discards the love for his wife and child over the need to have “blood purity”. In “Desiree’s Baby” marriage is portrayed more as an identity for Armand and his wife and baby as reflections upon himself. He married for a status in the community rather than the love of his family.
According to Chopin the child does affect their marriage because due to the child’s African decent, Armand compromised his love for his wife for the sake of his beliefs and social status. Blinded by the society’s negativity towards dark skin and a woman’s lower social standing, Desiree is automatically blamed for the child’s African decent. If he truly loved his wife for the person she was, he would not have put her in such disparity causing her to leave. The child affects marriage in a sense that he was proud to have a son because he had someone to carry his name after his death. Desiree exclaims “Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I believe, chiefly because it is a boy, to bear his name”(663) He cared for the child merely because it benefitted his standing in society. The child represents the parents; any negativity upon the child communicates a fault on the parents’ behalf. Learning that his child was bi-racial was a mark on his status which he couldn’t accept and therefore was easily able to detach himself from his wife and child.
Week 2 Question 1
Sylvia Plath's poetry is considered "confessional poetry". Do a bit of investigation, find out what you can about confessional poetry and its roots, and explain how this poem conforms to that genre.
Confessional poetry originated in the mid-twentieth century and it is an autobiographical type poetry; private experiences and feelings about death, trauma, depression and relationships were addressed in this type of poetry. Sylvia Path was among the few best known confessional poets. Her writing falls in this category primarily because she writes exactly what she feels. In her poem “Daddy”, Sylvia addresses her father and relating her childhood memories to the Holocaust. She reflects hatred and conflicts with her father by comparing him to the Nazi’s in Germany. Her feelings towards her father are complicated as a result of the lack of freedom she was given for being a female. Oppressed by her father’s authority as a child and later by her husband as an adult, Sylvia’s poem is indignation of the lack of power she had as a child. The path of struggle that she had to endure due to her fathers’ young death is what stems her anger and resentment of the male figures in her life. As the poem reaches an end, it describes a period in her life where she is finally free from her husband and her father and is ultimately able to show an attitude of power. Sylvia is at last able to resolve her conflicts and end on a note that reflects her independent and peaceful self.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
In James Joyce’s “Araby”, the narrator depicts what love ideally meant to the main character and what it was in actuality. The boy in the story is overcome with sensual desire for this young girl; he’s straying away from everything around his life as he undergoes the pain of love. Emotional desire to be with his “true love” prevailed over him and he wanted nothing but to be with her. But soon enough reality hits and he realizes that his love only truly existed in his mind. For the reason that romantic love is treated as a mere thought that exists in one’s mind rather than a reality. The narrator’s main character depicts the inevitable disappointment and realization of the true nature of love in this world. “Observing me the young lady came over and asked me did I wish to buy anything. The tone of her voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty […] the young lady changed the position of one of the vases and went back to the two young men.”(599) The boy’s sense of love was destroyed at the bazaar when the young lady showed more interest in the two men flirting with her than him.
“Araby” portrays the difference amid the real and ideal love through the emotions felt by the boy before and after the bazaar.
“Araby” portrays the difference amid the real and ideal love through the emotions felt by the boy before and after the bazaar.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)