Last Blog

Oh the bittersweet end... I have learned and observed many new things this year. I learned how to analyze literature in a way that makes sense to me. I made countless connections between stories relayed through writing, movies, tv, plays/theatre and stories I have heard by way of mouth. I have began to explore organizing my thoughts through writing them down. It can be very comforting and informational to spill your guts and thoughts onto a page and then sift through them. Being in this class this semester I have also learned a lot about people that I otherwise would have just walked passed on campus like two trains in the night. And that is a sneak peak into a crazy variety of personalities and interests. Another thing I have learned about myself is that I have a very pathetic attention span. I need to continue reading and writing in my free time not only to improve my attention span but to become more interesting as well. I think overall I took a lot away from this class and as well as the people in it.

Raglan's Hero Pattern...

1. Hero's mother is a royal virgin;
2. His father is a king, and
3. Often a near relative of his mother, but
4. The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and
5. He is also reputed to be the son of a god.
6. At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grand father to kill him, but
7. he is spirited away, and
8. Reared by foster -parents in a far country.
9. We are told nothing of his childhood, but
10. On reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future Kingdom.
11. After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast,
12. He marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor and
13. And becomes king.
14. For a time he reigns uneventfully and
15. Prescribes laws, but
16. Later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and
17. Is driven from the throne and city, after which
18. He meets with a mysterious death,
19. Often at the top of a hill,
20. His children, if any do not succeed him.
21. His body is not buried, but nevertheless
22. He has one or more holy sepulchres.

Although each hero is different all of them probably posses at least 10 of these traits or goes through a similar path. I think this is a very accurate way to identify a hero because the hero archetype follows this pattern quite exactly in most literature and mythology that I have read.

Favorite poem: One Inch Tall

f you were only one inch tall, you'd ride a worm to school.
The teardrop of a crying ant would be your swimming pool.
A crumb of cake would be a feast
And last you seven days at least,
A flea would be a frightening beast
If you were one inch tall.

If you were only one inch tall, you'd walk beneath the door,
And it would take about a month to get down to the store.
A bit of fluff would be your bed,
You'd swing upon a spider's thread,
And wear a thimble on your head
If you were one inch tall.

You'd surf across the kitchen sink upon a stick of gum.
You couldn't hug your mama, you'd just have to hug her thumb.
You'd run from people's feet in fright,
To move a pen would take all night,
(This poem took fourteen years to write--
'Cause I'm just one inch tall).

Shel Silverstein

Thesis...

My focus for this paper is the female archetypes of the temptress, the Sophia, the villain and the fool. I'm going to pull examples from "To His Coy Mistress" , "Araby", and "Where Are You Going and Where Have You Been?".

Final Paper

For my final paper this year I chose the generic topic of what I know now that I did not know before taking this class. When I started thinking about what I can write on, nothing stood out as a new topic in itself. After many drafts of papers I realized what I learned that I did not know before was how I liked to analyze stories. This literature class is the first one that forced me to make connections between different stories, no matter if they were told through novel, children’s book, or major motion picture. After coming to this realization, narrowing down a topic was a much less daunting task. I want to talk about stories in literature, but even more I want to talk about how the male and female roles are portrayed in literature. I skimmed through our text for the class and settled on three pieces, “To His Coy Mistress”, “ Where Are You Going And Where Have You Been”, and “Araby”. I chose these three particular stories because each role is conveyed a bit differently in each story. My focus when looking at the difference between roles is going to be on the role of the female. Being a female I have a different opinion on each feminine character.

In Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” the female takes on the role of the villain or the trickster. She is a woman living in sin, committing crimes of passion and only being selfish in doing so, yet she is spoken of so fondly? My immediate thoughts on this “mistress” after reading the poem is that this women is a misunderstood fool . Yes, she is doing something wrong as most aware mistresses are, but if it has turned into love with her “mister” is it maliciousness or foolishness that keeps her? I am going to play the devil’s advocate part and say that is ignorance that keeps her falling into the bed of a married man. Not that I am trying t make excuses for this mistress, but in this story I do not believe that she is the real trickster seeing as to our knowledge, she is not the one breaking an oath. My thought is that in this particular story, the man plays the trickster and women takes the role of the fool. She is spoken of so fondly it is almost easy for me as the reader to like her, which makes me think that the author speaks of her and to her with kindness and love and therefore is playing both sides. Some could see her as a temptress, but I know a story with a better temptress.

In “Araby” by James Joyce, our temptress takes form in a nameless beauty. Mangan’s sister plays the role of the seducing temptress without ever really knowing. The main character in Araby is a young boy with a very large crush on a friend’s sister. He claims that “ … her name is like a summons for his fools blood”. In this story the women plays a very natural role. She is simply the love interest of the hero. In the very beginning she is tempting him by simply just going along with her everyday life. The second she becomes distressed (Sophia character) our hero rushes into action. Mangan’s sister is not able to visit Araby and becomes incredibly upset; our hero catches wind of the problem s of his love and immediately saves the day. He goes to Araby late at night, he walks courageously and determined into the dark, unfamiliar streets. He only goes in search of a gift to bring Mangan’s sister and put a smile on her face. Although in the story Mangan’s sister is supposedly unaware of the boy’s large crush on her. My bet is that she is fully aware that this boy lusts for her, otherwise I don’t believe she would bring up her disappointments about missing the bazaar to a boy she has only shared a few words with in the whole time they have known each other. I am not trying to add any evil or manipulation to her character because she fills both the temptress and the Sophia role beautifully, however it is sometimes hard to think of characters in a short story in much depth compared to watching them develop in a longer story or even a novel.

A story where we got a little better chance to get to know the characters was in Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “ Where are you Going and Where Have you Been?” . The feminine character I am looking at in this story goes by the name of Connie, a fifteen year old beauty with an outgoing personality in a scary world. As Connie innocently flirts at the mall like all fifteen year old girls do, she encounters a stranger that is barely even a blip on her radar. This character is the villain and the trickster and any other scary archetype that exists. He is bad news! Being innocent and naïve Connie does not react defensively when this character reappears at her home. She is now playing the role of the sweet innocent Sophia. The true and actual dangers don’t scare Connie because of her sweet trusting nature. The day Arnold Friend came into her life was the day she should have started running for the hills. This story takes a sad turn when we realize that there is no hero to save our sweet Sophia, and Connie is whisked away to an unsettling unsure future.

In all these stories the women fit into the Sophia, the temptress, or the villain. Society has a strange outlook on the female species and we are typically stuck in those three archetypes in life as well. Some may think it is degrading that women only play the bad guy, the innocent one, or the slut. But what people fail to realize is that each of these roles posses a power that many underestimate. A women as a combination temptress and villain have incredible powers over the male hero, the female hero however will not fall for her lusty tricks. A Sophia character has the power of numbers. Not only is a hero going to want to save her but odds are, because of her sweet charm that there are many others on her side as well. Everyone wants to help the nice girl. I had a lot of fun and could make a lot of personal connections after writing this paper. It made me more confident in trusting in my own powers as a women.

Groundhogs Day...

Today was one of those days where I tried to be productive but at the end of it felt like I had gotten nothing done. Laundry, vacuuming and multiple attempts at reading and homework. On days like this where I don't have classes and recently became unemployed (my place of business went out of business) I find myself bored and lazy. When I'm busy I feel as if I am forced to get all my required tasks done in a timely matter. I am much less likely to fill my day with pointless busywork and tv when my schedule is tight. I know what days I'm able to to waste time and which ones I have to put the petal to the metal. Being an extremely uneventful day I have picked up my room, vacuumed, put the dishes away, and did about 3 loads of laundry. All of these things are pretty out of the ordinary for me since I am a pretty messy person but man, they beat homework any time! Now I am gonna paint my nails and continue to procrastinate anything pressing.

Where Are You Going Vs. Small Talk

It is pretty commonly known that the book is always better than the movie. This is true in the case of Where Are You Going and Where Have You Been vs. Small Talk. The reason I think the written version by Joyce Carol Oates is better is because the ending is unknown. The reader does not know for sure what happened to Connie after being seduced and leaving with Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend is a very unsettling character in both the story and the film. His character in Small Talk is a lot like what I imagined him being like in Where are you Going. His lurking presence and creepy way of talking made me feel dirty and nervous in both story and film. Connie too was a lot like I imagined from the story. Curious but uneasy she questioned Arnold Friend leading herself deeper and deeper into a trap. I guess she probably should have gone to that barbecue.

Eavesdropping...

First of all I love this assignment because I eavesdrop any way. School is my favorite place to people watch and eavesdrop. I have a hard time studying in the library or sub because I get so distracted by other people's conversations.

In the sub:

2 girls sitting directly behind me.

girl 1: She is not happy because she had to stay home sick all weekend

girl2: She is not happy because her boyfriend got drunk and they got in a fight at a party and broke up for the night. Ugh she is soooo sick of drama!

4boys sitting next to me:

I actually have no clue what they are talking about. They must be in engineering or something.

2girls and 1boy:

Talking about the girls weekend trip to Great Falls to watch a little sis play highschool basketball. Boy went home for the weekend. Don't know where home is or who won.