Monday, October 3, 2011
What You Learned from Re-reading the Story
First re-read what you have written for this essay so far:
a) your common ground interpretation paragraph
b) your two complicating rows
Then re-read the story you're writing about, keeping in mind what you've written.
If all goes well, you will have some new thoughts that bear on what you've been writing.
Write a paragraph describing what you learned and include it here as a comment.
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What I've learned from re reading the material on the story, "Chrysanthemum" by John Steinbeck is that Elisa's trapped in her own home and environment. She is trapped for three reasons; her interested in getting a job overlooked, she has no children, and her desire to travel the world is also not taken seriously. Elisa has interest in the buisness side of Henry's ranch however it is shrugged off and she is asked to consider tending to the apples. Elisa agrees to this because she is interesed in having a change of scenary. Elisa also has no children so she spends time perfecting her house and making it in a good order, and control it. Lastly, Elisa notes how she is capeable of doing the job a tinker does, and seeing the world. However, due to her being a woman this is a difficult task to complete. Due to Elisa's lack of opportunity she becomes obsessed with planting. Her thumb is green but the question is whether she cultivated it to be green or she was born with it.
ReplyDeleteRe-reading "The Upheaval," I was able to notice the corruption within the household. When I read it the first time, for some reason, I thought Mashenka was just immature and didn't realize that horrible things happen and it's hard to trust everybody. But this time, I took more note of the things Fedosya and Nikolay did, especially to the slaves working in the house. Mashenka was certainly justified in her actions and leaving was the best thing she could do for herself, even if it meant going back to live with her parents where life wasn't that great. I also took more note of the "complications." I found a few more places were Mashenka questions herself or seems to hesitate with her action of leaving.
ReplyDeleteWhat I learned from re-reading "The Garden Party" and the material I have written about it is that Laura is a much more complicated character than I originally thought. She is not simply a bright and empathetic youth, she is someone who struggles with a sense of self. She questions class distinctions and often feels out of place with "her people". This feeling of being different isn't what caught my eye the first go around and I liked finding it hidden amongst Laura's childlike wonder, compassion, and easy distraction on my second read-through. In all of my writing I have been focusing on Laura's preoccupation, or lack of preoccupation, regarding the death of her neighbor. I have spent time looking at how Laura views beauty in the world and through making discoveries about Laura I have noticed how "frighteningly alive" Laura is. She uses all of her senses when viewing the world and interacting with people. I think this sensory detail is what makes Laura so different. She picks up on the smallest of things and has an impressively gentile presence.
ReplyDeleteWhat I learned after re-reading "An Upheaval" was that the whole meaning of the story can change if you see it from the different points of views of the different characters. If you see it from Fedoysias point of view you can understand why she invaded Mashenkas privacy. you can understand that her morals lead her to do anything to find the thieve in her house, that she was not going to allow to stay under any circumstance. In the other hand if you see it under Mashenkas point of view you feel she has the reason for leaving the house and that there is no excuse for someone to invade your privacy. The third point of view in which you can interpret the story is nikolay's. if you see it from his eyes you will feel sorry for him, understanding why he started this huge commotion in his own house.
ReplyDeleteOne can interpret the story in many ways, but as said before it depends which side you chose to take from the beginning of the story. The first time I read it, i unconsciously saw everything from Mashenkas eyes. Now I did the exercise of reading the story two more times ( in fedosyas side and nikolays) and the story changed completely in my eyes.
Reading Chrysanthemums again I realized how emotionally confused Elisa is. I believe her outer shell of a hard-working and independent woman is only a cover for a worried inner self. Evidence of this includes her breakdown in the car at the very end of the story. Also, I think along with her strong personality comes a want to take charge of her household, but Henry is supposed to do that. At one point in the story, they realize they are running late for town and she gets his clothing ready. The fact that she cannot do anything as he is the one who decides when they leave troubles her greatly.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the first time I read the story, the mums seem to be a distraction from her daily life, but as I read it completely over I see now that they are a sort of home for them. She needs something she can control and grow herself, and I think that her garden serves this purpose very well. For Elisa, a troubled mind is eased by her love for planting.
After re-reading "Chrysanthemums", I learned that I need to think outside the box a bit more for my essay. So far, I had discovered that Elisa is confident on the outside, but not on the inside. I noted that her statements were very bold when speaking the tinker, however they were not very strong at the times when she was thinking about herself within her mind. Something I did not realize before re-reading is that the moments when Elisa is talking to the mysterious tinker, the best of her is brought out. The things she brings up seem almost poetic, and her words are a lot more free than her conversations with her husband. The tinker himself could even symbolize Elisa's desired life, or even her missing other half.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the story "Paul's Case" once again, i picked up some minor details that i hadn't before. To begin with, i noticed that there is little dialogue in the whole story. The author uses dialogue only when Paul vaguely describes his bad behavior, when his mothers death is brought up, and when the clerk describes his boss.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, i think that the author, Cather, uses each passage and/or groups of passages to expand on Paul's motivation for his suicide. By the end of the story, i have a lot of evidence as to why Paul may have made the initial decision to leap out in front of the oncoming train. Paul's Case is truly a dramatic story, that i feel the author uses to build curiosity and wonder about what truly goes through Paul's mind and what is actually wrong with him. The truth is unfortunately that we can infer why Paul committed suicide but we will actually never truly know why he did it.
After re-reading "Pauls Case" I realize that I had Paul all figured out wrong. He was trapped being someone so he could please those around him, not being himself. When he received notice about his father coming to after him, he panicked not because he was afraid of the punishment but because he realized he couldn't be himself. For when his father would arrive he would be punished and forced back home to work doing a job he that didn't suit his true self. I now realize Paul killed himself to be free of this burden, One which he had been carrying all his life.
ReplyDeleteAfter re-reading "Paul's Case", and also going back and reading my initial blog post about "Paul's Case" from the very first time I read it, I realized how much my view of Paul has changed. In my initial blog post I discussed mainly how unsympathetic Paul's character was, and how I couldn't feel the least bit sorry for him because he was a liar, and he didn't respect anyone around him. As I'm writing my essay, however, I am taking a stance from a much more neutral place. Instead of talking about Paul's character, I talk about the factors that went into his decision to commit suicide, and how he interacted on a regular basis with the world around him. Spending more time "with Paul" has made my view of his life more sympathetic.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading and re reeading what I wrote, I think that I learned something new the next time that I read "Ivy Day in the Committee Room." Usually, when I read, I think I tend to latch onto a point, and read to find details to support that initial idea. I subconsciously support my own thesis. I think that by doing this assignment, I've learned how important it is to keep an open mind while reading. I think even more important than keeping an open mind is actively searching for contradictions to my own thesis. This deepens understanding. For example, when I first read Ivy Day, I thought it was relatively straightforward. All Irish wanted a united Ireland with no interference from England. But when reading, I saw that were many more points of view than this, and contemplated that maybe Parnell's memory is not as strong as i had believed.
ReplyDeleteWhat I've learned from re-reading Chrysanthemums is that Elisa is deprived in every area of her life. It doesn't appear that she and her husband have a very strong connection in any way. She doesn't have a real job or anything to devote herself to other than her flowers. She is childless so that is not something to fill up her life either. With a life that doesn't have very much love or purpose she feels very empty inside and is searching for something to hold onto. She doesn't want to feel trapped anymore.
ReplyDeleteOriginally, my claim was this:
ReplyDeleteElisa feels she is one with the Chrysanthemums, which mirror herself as lovely, strong, and thriving; she also longs to be seen for who she is and escape her confined life and the restrictions on women’s roles. Elisa envies the life of men and wishes to be one herself so that she can show others her true potential and live a free, blossoming, and fulfilling life.
I feel that one of my paragraphs supporting this claim is strangely off topic or it doesn't belong. Here is what I wrote:
It is interesting how she is described in her garden. She is described as wearing a (gardening costume, a man’s black hat pulled low down over her eyes), suggesting that she is only pretending to garden. The fact that she is wearing a (costume) shows that she is covering up the feelings she has inside her, and the fact that she is wearing men’s clothes further reveals her gender insecurity issues.
I am not sure if I made an accurate discovery using this quote to support my claim. Also, My improved claim is a mess. I am unsure how to revise it after the two complications. :(
Elisa feels she is one with the Chrysanthemums, which mirror herself as lovely, strong, and thriving. Elisa occasionally visions herself living life as a free man, but changes her mind often, showing no signs of change; she is only beginning to question her boundaries as a woman.
I feel that this improved claim is accurate, but lacks the true meaning of the story. I think I will come in and see if I can revise this with you, Mr. Durning. The claim seems all over the place, and I would like to focus it on one important theme than going all over the place. Maybe I can fit my ideas better or re-arrange the claim.
As i wrote my common ground paragraph and my two contradictory rows i never really put much of the background of our characters that we learned about into consideration. In the early parts of the story we learn that Mrs. Tilley has lost many of her children, but Sylvia's uncle Dan and mother still are alive. A quotation from Mrs. TIlley also suggests that Dan and her husband had had a falling out and that is why he left home. There is definitely room for analyzing here. Could these family problems effect Sylvia as a person? Perhaps this is partly why she seems to have problems socializing with other people. What was her life like with her mother? It must be hard for her being away from her for so long. Perhaps these ideas could add to Sylvia's potential infatuation with nature due to her lack of social skills and socialization.
ReplyDeleteFrom re-reading "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather, I've realized that Paul is not as much of an obvious person as I thought he was.
ReplyDeleteHe does not solely focus on the good and bad things that occur in his life, he also has a tendency to show signs of an internal struggle. He wants to show his true self to the world, but he is also very frightened and concerned about how people will judge him, and their opinions about him. I will never know if the real Paul is a guy who is very flamboyant,fake, smiley, proper, patient, and "out there" in public,or if he's a guy that is very arrogant, separated socially, paranoid, suspicious, and unsympathetic to other people's reactions to his obscene behaviors.
I don't believe he even knows which kind of a person he is either. I don't think he knows himself well enough, because so far he hasn't allowed himself to accept his true identity and embrace it.