Chris' Blog

The Invisible Man

2005-04-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Invisible Man was by far my favorite book of the year. There is no topic that sparks a more passionate reaction then that of RACE. Through a combination of race and identity this book provides for an endless array of analysis and critique.

Throughout the entire book, the narrator goes through his life trying to live as he is expected. From his "battle royal" to his acceptance into the brotherhood, his actions were almost solely based on others' perceptions of who he is, highlighted by a few moments of individualism. By doing this, he completely denies everything that he embodies and he becomes a "chameleon" constantly changing his identity to fit the given circumstance. After reading this, I realized that almost all of our actions are based on other people's perception of who we are. There are many situations daily where we change our identity to fit into social norms. For example a teacher may act a certain way in class and may act completely different outside of class. This doesn't surprise anyone so why does the narrators situation seem surprising.

I believe that because society so tightly intertwines identity with race and because life is so dominated by social categories (race being the most prevalent), race has become the main aspect of who we are instead of just one aspect. I don't know how many times I've heard some one saying, "They are acting black." What exactly is acting black? People don't fully understand that there is a difference between one's culture, race, and Identity. Culture and race are just two minor factors of countless parts that make up our identity.

The other major theme of this book is this idea of Invisibility. On page 575 the narrator states, "You go along for years knowing something is wrong, then suddenly you discover that you're as transparent as air. At first you tell yourself that its all a dirty joke, or that its due to the "political situation." But deep down you come to suspect that you're yourself to blame..." This passage says that invisibility is a self applied circumstance. One can never be invisible as long as she or he refuses to be so. We all have something to contribute to this is world in one way or another and our ability to do so depends on rather or not we decide to make our voices heard. The narrator realizes this at the duration of the book on page 581, "Perhaps that's my greatest social crime, I've overstayed my hibernation, since there's a possibility that even an invisible man has a socially responsible role to pay." We all go through or times where we are invisible. Anytime that we witness an injustice and do nothing because "It doesn't affect me." Anytime that we jeopardize who we are and what we stand for because we are afraid of what people think, we to become "invisible."

Antigone

2005-04-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

Overall I found Antigone to be one the best readings of this year. Personally, I viewed the main theme in Antigone as a conflict in interest amongst the characters. Antigone's, attempts to bury Polynieces conflicted with the Kings decisions not to. Antigone fully understood the situation and decided to bury him regardless of the her consequences. To fully grasp the her reasoning, one must understand the importance of a burial. During these times it was thought that without the proper burial one's soul would be damned to an eternity of hell. Because of these beliefs Antigone felt an obligations to bury Polynieces even if it meant sacrificing her own life. The conflict in interest is obvious in this example. Of course Antigone does not have a death wish, however she will do whatever deemed necessary to prevent her brother's damnation.

The most profound example of "conflict in interest" is Creons decision to follow his threat of killing whoever violates his decision to not bury Polynieces. After finding out that it was Antigone he decided to shield this event from the public and ordered a cover up. He did what he could to protect her and assured her safety if she stopped her actions. However she refused to stop burying Polynieces and as result he felt that he had no choice but to follow his word as King.

Most people viewed Creon as a power hungry king who was willing to do whatever it took to exert his power. However, I viewed his character as a victim, a victim of his position. He did not desire to have Antigone killed and gave her every chance to save her own life, but she refused. In order not the risk public scrutiny and appearing as a weak King, he decided to follow up on his threat in the best interest of the thrown, just as Antigone felt that she was forced to bury Polynieces, in his best interest. Both characters felt that they had their best interest at hands, however in the pursuit of those interest both became victims of their circumstances. Although this play is extremely dated, its still relevant in today's times. Throughout life there will be many instances where our own personal beliefs will differ from others and we must do the best we can to see things from everyone's point of view. Being blinded by our own personal views will only prevent personal growth and result in problems.

House of the Spirits

2005-04-13T15:51:00.000-07:00

In class we discussed ideology as mystifying or a hidden truth. Due to certain social conditions Alba learned to live two different lives. At home she was the daughter of a hardcore conservative and at school she was the girlfriend of a hardcore revolutionary. As she grew up her own beliefs strongly conflicted with her family’s, which led to her double lifestyle. Its amazing to me her ability to break away from her upbringing. In most cases those views of your family, especially when those views are so prevalent, tend to blind the child from the entire truth. As a result most children grow up supporting their family’s views with blind faith. This somewhat makes me questions my own views. How much of what I believe in were derived from my own personal analysis and how of it was predetermined by my family’s views?

After understanding that her conservative views (which she broke away from) were shaped by her parents, I then started to question how much her shift to a revolutionary views were shaped by Miguel. Does she really support those ideas or does the love for Miguel provide her with a "false consciousness." After analyzing this, I started to question whether we as individuals have total control of our thoughts and views. It seems almost impossible to for our thoughts to be completely unbias in one way or another. As human beings we are to self conscious of others and ourselves. We strive everyday in life to fit into some social group that we can feel part of. We need a support and in many cases we will alter our own views to do so.

Duplesis Question

2005-04-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

Because you have sort of a sporadic style, people may ignorantly compare your works to anyone's random thoughts with an explanation. How would you explain your style to them?

Cortez

2005-04-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

Cortez was a very interesting read. It was fun to read a story from many different point of views. Its amazing how stories are altered depending on the audience. This is just one of those "be proud of your heritage" stories. As Americans we have a quite a few. Also this story kind of reminds me of the movie Desperado, a story of legend who like Cortez was invincible.

When telling stories its only natural for us as humans to exaggerate. It is what makes stories worth listening and the primary foundation of what we call entertainment. Would we go see Batman if he couldn't fight 15 bad guys and still be victorious? Would we go see Spiderman if he couldn't climb walls and shoot web? NO!!!!!!!!

The Blood Wedding

2005-04-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

Lorcas the Blood Wedding, another story of the common struggle of love and marriage. Over all I found this play pretty interesting, however very common. To me its just seems to be another interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. "To deny thy father and to refuse thy name!" Excuse my irritation but I am little tired of these reads. This story in itself is such a cliche of fate and forbidden love. The bride wants to marry Leonardo, however do to certain circumstances she is urged not to (so original). Regardless of my irritation it did spur me to question how much outside factors play a part in determining who we marry.

In our lifetime we were all told that marriage is suppose to be based on love and it never dawned on me that it was done any other way. However, I began to question how much outside influences contribute, not so much on who we marry but who we fall in love. As a avid believer that there is that one special person out there for everyone, I wonder how many people settle for what's seems comfortable. By "comfortable" I mean that, the families like each other or even financial security. How many married couples are truly in love and how many are "groomed" into it?

The Awakening

2005-01-31T17:15:00.000-08:00

Although "The Awakening" was some what drawn out, I still found it pretty interesting. This was a time when women where nothing but wives and mothers expected to do nothing but completely abide by those duties. The society at this time struck me as strange. They almost seemed liberal in their conservatism. For example Roberts presence with Edna was rarely ever questioned. They were allowed to go off on day long trips without anyone, including her husbabnd questioning their intentions, however she was criticized by her husband for taking a walk. By today's standards this doesn't make too much sense. Inevitably this strangely constructed society would lead to her suicide.

Edna lived her life as society expected. She married a successful man that adored her, then had a family. It seemed to me that she grew up unconsciously accepting this common idea that love and marriage were irelevant. However, as time went on she began to rebel societies views and follow her own. There is a moment in particular that seemed to trigure these string of events which is when she first learned how to swim. Robert told her a story about a ghost that would walk the shores looking someone worthy of its presence and it found her. Following that incident she seemed to become more independent in her actions and views which at that time were considered rebellious.

As she developed these feelings for Robert, she started to realize that her desires were not accepted by society. After realizing that she could not do what she wanted and be herself, she decided that suicide was her only way out. Well the next question I asked myself was why suicide? If you think about it the conclusion was set up earlier in the book. During her conversation with Madamme Ratignolle she mentioned that she would die for her kids, however she would never sacrifice herself for her children, or anyone. While reading at first, I was kind of unsure about what she meant, but by the end of the book. She would never sacrifice who she is and what she wanted to do not even if it meant ending her life.

The Yellow Wallpaper

2005-01-31T16:19:00.000-08:00

I have always been a person who enjoyed thought provoking literature. Needless to say "The Yellow Wallpaper" is exactly that, thought provoking. After every page my opinion on what the wallpaper stood for change. I eventually came to the conclusion that wallpaper possibly symbolized her life. Just as her life, the wallpaper was hectic and confusing. As the story continues the similarities only began to grow.

In a sense she was stricken with a sickness that she didn't have. Her situation and her depression were real however to other people it didn't make sense. The same goes for the wallpaper as explained by her. It was created in a way which followed no rules of design, in other words according to those rules it didn't makes sense. She begins to find comfort in the wallpapers confusion, beacuse it is the only thing that she can relate too. On page 6 she says, "There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will." Then on page 7 she says, "On a pattern like this, by daylight, there is a lack of sequence, a defiance of law, that is a constant irritant to a normal mind." This once again links the wallpaper and herself, as both her postpartum depression and the wallpaper seem to be an irritant to the normal mind however both made sense to her.

As the story continues she slips even more into a state illusion. She begins to rely on the wallpaper more and unconsciously views herself in the wallpaper from a 3rd person perspective. I came to this conclusion after her constant vision of the women behind the wallpaper. The women behing the wallpaper and her have several things in common including the way they both creep during the day and the way they both seemed to be trapped by the wallpaper. There are many more similarities between herself and the woman being the wallpaper, which if I discussed them all, this would turn into a five page essay. Anyway, overall I enjoyed the story. I did become a little irritated with the lack of a closure at the duration of the story, however that is also what sparked my interest.

Frederick Douglas

2005-01-31T14:32:00.000-08:00

I'm am sure that my feelings of disgust in regards to slavery are not at all unique. Douglas' acconts of these times do bring to the surface these feelings. The most heart wrenching parts of this passage were his descritptions of seeing slaves brutally beaten and murdered. However being considerately knowledgable on this subject, I can't states that this passage trigured any emotions that I have not already felt. Slavery has always stirred up a broad array of feelings from hatred to sadness and Douglas' point af view does the same. This passage does serves its purpose as a reminder that all Americans should acknowledge slavery as what it truely was. Slavery was more than just years and years of barbarity and oppression. In order for us as Americans to fully honor those who have lived and died for this struggle, we must view slavery as a success story, not in a sense that slavery was positive, because in no way shape or form should it ever be seen in such a light, but in a time when an entire race was stripped from every right that today we consider annate, they were able to overcome the most extreme of oppressions. If this idea alone does not inspire us to take on every obstacle that life has to offer, then what will? How can I say that life is getting to hard to go on when the people that endured slavery died for what I have? If Douglas was able to escape the graspe of slavery and teach himself how to read and write, then how could I disrespect him by not taking full advantage of my oppurtunity and studying.
On another note, my only problem with doing assignment that pertains to an event like slavery is that as soon as the assignment is over our feelings subside and then we spit in his face and the face of all the others who fought for freedom and only acknowledge their accomplishements during the month of February each year.