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.

Reading spark notes for Brother's K is like...

Leaving a party at 10:30

Closing your eyes in pitch darkness

Staying in your hotel room on vacation

Paying for the gym and watching buns of steal while eating

Washing your car in a rain storm

Found Poem...

I recently went to visit the pre school I used to be employed with and found lot's of cute little poems. Here are some of my favorites

When using glue: dot dot not a lot

When sitting down: sit down criss cross applesauce

When saying good morning: good morning to you

good morning to you

we're all in our places

with sun shining faces

good morning to you

Female Archetypes...

Archetypes are my favorite topic because every story contains archetypes that create conflict. It is just the characters that portray the different archetypes that change. My focus for analyzing stories was on analyzing the archetypes and how the characters portrayed them since that is consistent throughout literature. My favorite archetype is the heroine ( pretty obvious since I'm female). The heroine is brave and strong, she is the kind of badass chick that little tomboys idolize. Her fearlessness fills the reader with excitement and ambition. The sweet Sophia archetype protrays the damsel in distress whom the hero battles to save. She is a lovable character who makes the reader like her as much as the hero does. The temptress/ villain is a beautifully nasty person. Her physical looks are stunning and sexual, she entices the hero in hopes of his demise. She is either the villain herself or works directly with or for the villain. The reader feels uneasy whenever the temptress comes onto the scene.

Antigone...

I really don't know how I feel about Antigone as a story but I very much like and respect Antigone as a character. She is brave and bold and driven in her mission. I think she is a strong women but maybe a little too impulsive. If she would have thought things through and more carefully planned her execution of the burial, more lives could have probably been salvaged. The reason I did not like the story is because of all the pointless deaths and dying. Suicide to me is very selfish and when it is glorified in stories it makes me feel very uncomfortable.

OMELAS...

Could I remain in a city that is founded on a secret as well as the torture of an innocent child?

After repeatedly asking myself and pondering the question, I just can't decide. Of course I say that I would do anything in my power to endure a wonderful life for all the people that I love and care about. Keeping and living with a terrible secret would be an easy way to make this possible in the situation in OMELAS, however I have always thought it equally important to protect the inncoent and advocate for youth. After going around and around with this in my head, I came to the conclusion that I hope I would stand by if I ever really had to. I would NOT support the torturing of an innocent child. I would try to take care of and support the people I love without the unjust suffering of and horrible treatment of a child.

Tragic Sense of Life...

I have always tried to avoid obsessing over reasons and purpose in life. I personally believe that each person has a different purpose and are all after individual deeper meanings. What I personally feel is the purpose of life is to live comfortably, happily, and productively, I think I am meant to be a mother at some point and to teach. Whether I am teaching my own children or a class full of first graders I want to give knowledge. I also do not fear death I can only hope to fulfill my dreams and goals before it is my time.

Googled meaning: A new approach is based on a view of tragedy as a mod of expirience a particular way of viewing life.

My Dream...

My dream took place at my parents house where my younger sister and I grew up. I overheard a conversation between my mother and my grandma about getting me tested for the disease my sister had. I was very freaked out especially because I had woken up with a huge lump on my neck. My sister had a similar lump, when I got my X-Ray I could see what looked like a cobra snake fused to my spinal cord. I freaked out and looked to my younger sister for advice since she had the same problem. She told me that surgery to remove the snake was too dangerous until the snake head popped out of my neck. I was mortified and fought for the immediate removal of this horrible invertebrate taking over my spine. I pleaded and cried and when I woke up I still had damp cheeks from my eyes watering in real life.

Collective Unconscious...

When I googled I got: Term of analytical psychology coined by Carl Jung. It is part of the unconscious mind, expressed in humanity and all life forms with nervous systems, and describes how the structure for the psyche autonomously organizes experience.

What I think: This particular definition is pretty confusing to me. What I think Jung is talking about is human nature. Although what triggers us to feel a certain way as individuals is different, all humans are equipped to have the same emotions. It is normal to feel guilt, anger, sadness, excitement. The difference is purely what triggers it.

New posts...

Ok so after some serious tec problems I got it together and am now able to post my blogs. I have been writing all of these in hard copy so in no particular order here they are:

Araby

I thought Araby was a very sweet story. Mangan's sister portrays the sweet sophia archetype. She is also a little bit of a temptress because of her beauty and that she had the ability to turn our hero into a "fool" for her, but she didn't even know it. The story made me smile and brought back memories of young crushes and excitement of a new place. The young boy took quite a risk going out of his comfort zone for a young lady. Araby also reminds me of a young love story like Lady and the Tramp where a young man is so enamored with a young lady when he is a little out of his league.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

This story was not exactly what I expected, I could not get over the fact of what bratty children Bailey Boy had. I did not expect the family to all be murdered but I do agree with the title and the theme of the story. It seems like as generations pass,the world gets tougher and scarier for those living in it. Children are growing up faster and dealing with much more trauma and danger. the Misfit is a terrifying example fo what kind of people are out in this world. Good people are harder to find now then ever. It is sad that you have to be suspicious when a stranger shows you any attention . You would be pretty hard pressed to find someone who will help a stranger for a selfless reason.

In Just Spring

I liked the feel of the poem In Just Spring... It reminded me of being younger on the first warm day of the spring season. I couldn't wait to get home from school, get on my bike and go! I don't really relate to hopscotch or dancing around in the fresh air but I remember coming home those nights very exhausted and very happy. Days like that were the best time to play yourself to death and go home muddy, hungry, and excited!

My mood changed pretty dramatically when I switched my reading from In Just Spring to Because I Could Not Stop For Death. The line "Because I could not stop for death- He kindly stopped for me". It made me think about how death can " kindly" stop for someone and also if someone does not stop for death they can't stop the inevitable. I know there are more humane ways to die than others but if someone is not stopping for death then they are not gonna take to kindly to it.

Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo!

If I had to choose which one of the Cinderella stories I liked the most I would have to say that I really enjoyed the Chinese version of the story. I liked the story cause I felt like it had a lot more of the Chinese culture than the Disney version had American culture or the Grimm version had German culture. It was a story about magic and fantasy but the magic did not come from a fairy godmother or a dead mother but a fish from the natural world. I liked that the story showed how the fish and the natural world was still important. The Chinese calendar revolves around animals and their importance to humans and the story showed this. The thing I didn't really like about the Chinese version is the ending. It was not a fairytale in the end of the story. She did not become a royal princess and live happily ever after but it did teach a good lesson about greed.

What Stuck

When skimming through the Retellings anthology I ran accross a few titles that stuck. The first one was a commentary on The Importance of Perspective. I read through this cause sometimes I feel like the importance of perspective is kind of overlooked by most anthologies and text books. Perspective is key in reading the stories in this book cause they are all written by different authors with different purposes.

I also read through the story called The Fall River Axe Murders. What caught my attention was the children's poem in the beggining.
Lizzie Borden with an axe
gave her father 40 whacks
when she saw what she has done
she gave her mother 41
I could not believe that would ever be considered a childrens poem. I was kinda put off by it and someone brought it to my attention that majority of childrens stories and poems were a lot more violent and disturbing back in the day. It is a pretty good indicator of how literature has changed throughout time.

I really enjoyed reading the poem by AE Housman, To An Athlete Dying Young. As an athlete I agreed with the way the author portrayed the peaks and valleys of a career and outside factors of injury and exhaustion.

The poem called Women in the love and friendships section of the book was about a women dissapointed by a man time and time again. The poem ended so horribly and pointlessly that I could not help but wonder why it would even be published?

When skimming through the Retellings I came accross very familiar stories such as Oedipus, Hamlet, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I didn't spend any time reading or skimming those stories. I feel as though you get forced to read all the same stories in every single literature or english class I have been in since high school. I feel as though I have pushed myself to the limit with attempting to understand any more deeper meaning in this writing after so many years of reading the same stories.