Monthly Archives: October 2016

The Dead Clue

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The snapshot I chose from “The Dead” was the speech that Gabriel gave after they had eaten dinner at the party. As Gabriel delivered the lengthy speech, the text stated “A hearty murmur of assent ran around the table. It shot through Gabriel’s mind that Miss Ivors was not there and that she had gone away discourteously: and he said with confidence in himself”. From the quote was see a newfound confidence that we had not seen from Gabriel up until this point. The question that I thought this moment helped to clarify was would the character Gabriel change during the story. It was clear from his very introduction of the story that Gabriel did not do very well in social settings. When his character entered the story, the first social interaction that he had with another character Lily was awkward and he invaded her personal space with questions about her love life which resulted in her being offended. Another poor social experience that he had at the party was with the character Miss Ivors. During his conversation with her, he was constantly defensive as she asked him questions about his culture and how he has a lack of interest in it. As she continues to interrogate him, he eventually loses is composure and tells her that he was sick of Ireland. From these two examples it was clear that there was a change in Gabriel’s character to the point where he was confident enough to deliver a speech to all the people who attended the party.

The Connect Snapshot of Rip Van Winkle and The Dead

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The two snapshot that I have chosen from both stories of Rip Van Winkle and The Dead are the problems between Rip and his wife, and the argument  with Gabriel and Miss. Ivors. The snapshot of Rip Van Winkle is at the beginning of page six when the author states ” Rip Van Winkle, however was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound. if left to himself, he would have whistled life, in perfect contentment; but his wife kept continually dinning his ears about his idleness, his carelessness and the ruin he was bringing on the family.” The snapshot of The Dead is at end of page 62  with the conversation of Gabriel and Miss. Ivors starts off  ” O innocent Amy! I have found out that you write for The Daily Express. Now aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Why should I be ashamed of myself? Well I’m ashamed of you, To say you’d write for a paper like that. I didn’t think you were a West Briton. It was true that he wrote a literary column every Wednesday in The Daily Express, for which he was paid fifteen shillings. But that did not make him a West Briton.” In both of these snapshot it show how both Rip and Gabriel are being treated unfairly of the things that love to do by these two ladies. Rip love to be free, love to do what ever he want and love to help people. In his wife eyes she think of him being careless and lazy of the of the work that he has to do at home which is the farm but Rip know that the farm is useless and that their no point working on it. She also think that he doesn’t care about his family and wants nothing to do with them but Rip care for his children but hates his wife. Gabriel, he love to write his literary column every Wednesday, that was his way of show his love for literature but Miss. Ivors just makes funny of him and called a West Briton( is a derogatory term for an Irish person who is perceived as being too anglophilic in matters of culture or politics) in front of everyone at the party and then try to say that she was joking but we all know that she meant it. Gabriel being a nice person that he is doesn’t say anything that would offend her because they are friends but deep down he said “literature was above politics.” So those are the two close comparison that I have chosen for these stories.

HW for October 17 (Joyce)

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Dear class,

Thanks for your work today.  Next week we have no class (hurrah!), so we’ll reconvene on October 17th. For that date, you should prepare the following:

-Finish reading and annotating “The Dead” (45 mins-1 hr)

-Pick one snapshot from Joyce’s story and one from Mukherjee’s story that you think deserve close comparison.  Perhaps they feature a common setting, or a similar relationship dynamic between characters, or a similar symbolic act/object.  Come prepared to discuss why those snapshots might merit comparison. (15 mins)

-Blog (if you’re in Group 3) or comment (if you’re not). (20-30 mins)

-Review class notes (remainder of prep time)

-Bring your in-class writing exercise AND the Mukherjee story to class, as we will do some work with both

Blog group 3 is slated to post by 5 pm on Sunday, 10/16.  Group 3: as usual, you have a choice of Clue, Connect, or Create posts, with the expectation that you should do a different category than you did in the first round of blogging.  Using notes from class + our own guiding questions, write a post that does any of the following:

-focuses on one “snapshot” from pp.70-85 of “The Dead,” explaining how it offers a clue to addressing any of our guiding questions (remember, these aren’t just questions about information but questions seeking interpretation!)

–Compares/connects any “snapshot” from pp. 70-85 of “The Dead” to any snapshot from our American Literature selections (NOT Mukherjee).  Try to make one claim about why these snapshots deserve close comparison.

–Create a paragraph-long monologue from the perspective of one minor character from “The Dead.”  In a second paragraph, briefly explain how your monologue offers insight into that character, based on your reading of pp.70-85 of “The Dead.”

As usual, commenters should take care to post by the beginning of class Monday.

Have a great holiday!

best,

Professor Kwong

Connect “Management of Grief”

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In this story “ Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee the main character (Mrs. Bhave) has an unusual reaction to the crash of Air India flight 182 on which her husband and 2 sons were on board .She doesn’t react to the situation like a normal person would . She is pretty calm through out not in shock which the author of the story showed that she didn’t wanted to accept the fact that they have died she was still hoping that she would find them. Once she did found their bodies in Ireland she was later on able to accept the fact that she has to move on because she heard a voice of her husband saying, “You must finish alone what we started together.” And “Your time has come, . . . Go, be brave.” There fore she accepted the death of her husband and kids and is able to move on. The author basically shows how she went through her grief by first rejecting the fact that they have died, then she kind of went in to depression because she was remembering everything about her kids and husband having flashbacks, then by accepting the fact that her kids and husband have died in the plane crash and last but not the least her reconstruction which was her moving on after the acceptance of the tragedy.We can connect this story to the “Story of an hour” by Kate Chopin because in this story the author uses the same kind of style, tone and symbolism to show Louisie unusual reaction to the news of her husband death she didn’t get shocked at all . She just cried a little bit and then went to the room by herself in to her fantasies imagining her life without her husband and all the time she will have for herself now. When she told herself “Free.. Free.. Free” she got over her husband death and accepted the fact that she has to live by herself and for herself now. So here the author also used those concepts of rejection, depression, acceptance and reconstruction but at the end of the story Mrs Mallard dies of shock of seen her husband back because in her mind she had reconstructed her life ahead of her without her husband and got over his death .

The management of grief

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As I was reading “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee, it focuses more on its effects on women. This story give credit to all the people who forget enough of their roots to start over, to have a new life, but it also represents the ones who do not forget their own roots and how to survive their fates. Judith Templeton represents how she has taken a degree in managing grief, and her job. The way that some survivals had front can also be interpreted as a grief. Templeton had made some assumptions about the management of grief but their assumptions are not accurate and cannot be applied to the survivors. Finally, she also states that even though the people that she is helping most of them are lovely but they also drive her crazy.