Monthly Archives: March 2014

…and starting The Bell Jar

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For this week, we’re starting to read Sylvia Plath’s novel, The Bell Jar. I’ve assigned Chapters 1-10. Please try to get through as much of that reading as you can. We’ll begin our discussion of the novel by examining the first few paragraphs very closely, so you should read with pencil in hand and mark up your text with as much information you can get from reading. Include definitions to words you needed to look up, observations you make, connections to other readings, or other aspects of the text you think are important. We’ll then continue our conversation beyond the first chapter as time permits.

I mentioned in my announcement post that you’ll write comments instead of posts this week. Write a commentā€“roughly 150-200 wordsā€“in which you consider one of the following issues related to The Bell Jar:

* Think about the style of narration. What kind of narrator does the novel have, and how does that shape what you know about the protagonist?

* What do you know about the setting? Remember, setting is time and place. How does the setting shape your understanding of the protagonist?

* We spoke about round and flat characters at the start of the semester. Identify a round or a flat character and consider what role he or she plays in the story.

* In what ways is the protagonist of The Bell Jar like Helga Crane in Quicksand? What does that comparison do for your understanding of the protagonist?

* In what ways is the protagonist of The Bell Jar like another character we encountered this semester. What does that comparison do for your understanding of the protagonist?

Then comment on one other comment, roughly 100-150 words.

Finishing Quicksand…

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For our final discussion on Quicksand, let’s think about Helga’s life after she leaves New York. Write a comment–roughly 150-200 words–in which you consider one of the following issues:

*what motivates Helga to leave New York?

*why does she leave the way she does?

*what’s different about her life in her new locale?

*do you think Helga will again repeat her pattern of enjoying a place, tiring of it, and then leaving it? Why or why not?

*what message do you think the novel conveys overall through its ending?

Then comment on one other comment, roughly 100-150 words.

Announcements for blogging and events

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For homework this week, I’m asking you to NOT WRITE A POST!

Instead, I’m asking that you write comments in reply to my post about Quicksand, and comments in reply to my post about The Bell Jar. These comments will serve as a conversation to help us wrap up our discussion of Quicksand, and to get us started with The Bell Jar.

In class on Thursday, we’ll split the time between the two novels. We’ll also talk briefly about two upcoming events:

*the Literature Roundtable, which is an event designed to bring together students and faculty to discuss a shared reading, Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel. It’s on Wednesday, April 9, at 11:30am in N119. Anyone who attends and blogs about it on our site will receive extra credit.

and

*the Literary Arts Festival, which is on Thursday, April 10, at 5:30pm, in the Midway Auditorium, 240 Jay Street (the entrance next to where you go for our class), featuring poet Cornelius Eady and his band, Rough Magic. As with the Literature Roundtable, anyone who attends and blogs about it on our site will receive extra credit.

 

MIDTERM PREP

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“And lots of other things,” said he. “But you haven’t done half as much of your lovely work since you started this kitchen business, and you’ll will forgive me, dear it hasn’t been as good. Your work is quite too good to lose; it is a beautiful and distinctive art, and I don’t want you to let it go.”

1. The Cottagette

2. Charlotte Perkins Gilman

3. In this passage, Ford Matthews is explaining to Malda that even though he still grew to love her even after she started cooking and cleaning, he insist that she lets it go for her own sake. He knows how talented she is and he feels it would be a waste to let cooking and cleaning get in the way of her art.

4. This passage relates to the bigger issue of how society views women. Maldas love for Matthews was so strong that she didn’t realize how she was slowly becoming a house wife. Nowadays it is very common to have house wifes that stay home, clean and cook. This passage is important because it shows us that they are men who don’t think every wife needs to be a house wife, that she can be whoever she wants and the man will still love her unconditionally.

Midterm Exam

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1) “Writing was a reputable and harmless occupation. The family peace was not broken by the scratching of a pen. No demand was made upon the family purse. For ten and sixpence one can buy paper enough to write all the plays of Shakespeare–if one has a mind that way.”

Text: Professions for women

Author: Virginia Wolf

What is happening in the passage is that the narrator is saying that being a writer is a good job because its harmless and its not costly.

This goes with the main theme of the story because the story has to do with a group of women trying to work where men are the main people working. It shows that woman writers have to go through many struggles because they are seen as conservative. It takes some time for Virginia to change her mentality, but does. She then sees that women can be as successful as men in this profession.

2)”If I had your good looks I’d raise a bit of dust myself. Ain’t nobody down there interested in me.”

Text: Intimate Apparel

Author: Lynn Nottage

This passage shows how insecure Ester is and how desperate she is for love and attention.

The passage goes with the main ideas of the story because what Ester wants so desperately is love and when she finds love with George its an issue because she needs to get other people to help her read and write the letters since she cant herself. Their relationship is amazing in letters, but when the meet in person and get married, the marriage is not what she expected. Her dreams were also compromised throughout this play.

Double Meanings

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Helen Furr had quite a pleasant home. Mrs. Furr was quite a pleasant woman. Mr. Furr was quite a pleasant
man. Helen Furr had quite a pleasant voice a voice quite worth cultivating. She did not mind working. She
worked to cultivate her voice. She did not find it gay living in the same place where she had always been
living. She went to a place where some were cultivating something, voices and other things needing
cultivating. She met Georgine Skeene there who was cultivating her voice which some thought was quite a
pleasant one. Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene lived together then. Georgine Skeene liked travelling. Helen
Furr did not care about travelling, she liked to stay in one place and be gay there. They were together then and
travelled to another place and stayed there and were gay there.

This first paragraph talks about a woman, Helen Furr who leaves her husband, Mr. Furr, so she can be “gay” and live with Georgine Skeene. Although Helen had a “quite pleasant home” she couldn’t live in a house where she couldn’t cultivate her voice. She met Georgine Skeene at a place where they both were cultivating their voices. The first paragraph ends with Helen moving out , leaving Mr. Furr, and moving in with Georgine Skeene. Evidence of Mrs. Furr leaving Mr. Furr other then “Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene lived together then”, notice how in the beginning of the poem Gertrude Stein refers to Helen as Mrs. Furr, but after she meets Georgine, she’s referred to as Miss. Furr.Ā These two lived with each other for a long time The obvious motif is this passage is the word gay. Gay expresses the relationship between Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene, but also expresses and glorifies the happiness shared between the two. Stein uses repetition on the word gay so readers can focus on the different meanings of the word gay. Since they lived gay for so long, their lifestyle became very gay, everything they did and say was gay, gayer then the day before. Another motif was the word cultivating, meaning to improve growth. The lesbian couple both started cultivating on their voices, then they grew to cultivate their relationship. Eventually they ended up parting ways due to their different desires. Although these two women grew to accept themselves and grew to help each other to be who they really wanted to be, their seperation wasn’t at all heartbreaking since they both benefited from the relationship.

Midterm Quotations

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“I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulusā€”but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house.”

Title:The Yellow Wallpaper

Author:Charlotte Perkins Gilman

This quotation is explaining when the narrator is interrupting her thoughts by recalling her husbands instructions for the rest cure. John has left his wife no choice but to internalized all the demands he has ask her to follow. She can’t help but to think about the way her husband treats her. To escape from feeling unhappy she simply decides to take about the house. This quotation relates to the entire theme of the story because this marks the point where the wife slides to madness with the house including the wallpaper and herself.

 

“But there,was,she knew,something else.Happiness,she supposed.Whatever that might be.What,exactly,she wondered,was happiness.Very positively she wanted it”

Title: Quicksand

Author: Nella Larsen

This quotation is explaining what Helga wants in her life, which is to be completly happy internally and externally. Happiness is something she never had in her life. She can’t seem to get a hold of being joyful because she is constantly running away from it. This quote relates to the entire theme of the story because throughout the course of the story Helga struggles with race and being accepted among Ā blacks and whites. This relates to her content search for happiness.

Doctor or Husband?

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Choose three quotations from ā€œThe Yellow Wall-Paperā€ that present the married coupleā€™s relationship, and explain what you understand about John as a character, and about the protagonist as a narrator for the way she depicts John.

Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a very interesting story about a Doctor, and husband, named John, who is convinced that his wife is sick. To be specific, John is a Physician, a very practical guy and a nonbeliever of faith. He believes that under his wing, and his brother in laws’ who’s also a physician, his wifes’ condition can be healed. Throughout this story there are numerous quotations that present the married couple’s relationship and explain John as a character.

Ā  Ā  Ā “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” This quote describes the relationship between John and his wife. When the wife says “of course” , it symbolizes that it’s a common occurrence of John laughing at her. This shows how naive and simpleminded John thinks of his wife. Laughing at her like how a parent would laugh at their kid when they say something idiotic. But at the same time when she says “But one expects that in marriage” , Ā it shows how accepting she is of John.

Ā  Ā  Ā Another quote that describes their relationship is when John calls her ” Blessed Little Goose”. Once again, showing how little John thinks of his wife, belittling and patronizing her. Instead of being a husband, without realizing it, John is acting like her father. “He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction.” This quote also shows John as a father figure. Just like how a father is very loving and caring, he also guides his children in the right direction. “I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day, he takes all care from me, and so i feel basely ungrateful not to value it more.” Once again this quote depicts John as a father, making sure his wife takes all of her medicine according to schedule, mimicking the same responsibilities a father would have for his child. This is what happens when a spouse is also a doctor. They tend to mix their emotions and feelings with their expertise options, as a result, clouding their judgement. John is in love with his wife, but his professional opinions get in the way of their relationship.

Quicksand

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” Incited. That was it, the guiding principle of her life in Copenhagen. She was incited to make an Ā impression. She was incited to inflame attention and admiration. She was dressed for it, subtly schooled for it. And after a while she gave herself up wholly to the fascinating business of being seen, gaped at, desired. “

Helga had been several places before she made it back to Denmark. She was finally now in Copenhagen. Though she was originally from this place she had Vague memories. Helga was influenced by her aunt and convinced that she was to be and dress in a certain fashion. Being in Denmark shaped Helga Cranes personality in various ways. Denmark was unlike Harlem, where race was of great importance, or from Chicago where she had previously been also. In Denmark the men were different, white for that matter. It just seemed that in the beginning of her quest back to Denmark she was looking for a piece of herself that maybe she had never encountered.

In Copenhagen she was aggravated with the impression that was to be made. This impression didn’t seem to be a racial one, like of that everywhere else it seemed, but more of an impression of class. Helga seemed to become more accepting of herself after a few minor changes to her wardrobe. Every place that Helga had been was a contribution to the development of her character, but none similar to Copenhagen. Helga was able to get in touch with her white side, but was actually able in Denmark to be proud of her dark skin. Ā Being back in Denmark helped, her sense of fashion and gave her the attention that she thought she desired. Turns out that after all of the happiness she had found, and the feeling of acceptance, there was still something about this place that Helga was not satisfied with. Though. Denmark, Copenhagen was, yet another temporary venture it helped Helga to learn things about herself that she never knew.

 

Midterm prep

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” Incited. That was it, the guiding principle of her life in Copenhagen. She was incited to make an Ā impression. She was incited to inflame attention and admiration. She was dressed for it, subtly schooled for it. And after a while she gave herself up wholly to the fascinating business of being seen, gaped and desired. ”

1.Quicksand

2.Nella Larsen

3.In this passage Helga was provoked by the opinion of others in Copenhagen. She was convinced that her expensive clothes would make an impression on others , especially men in Denmark. Helen was provoked to expect attention due to the amount of care she had already begun to receive. Being back in Denmark she had began to notice that she would be praised In some sort and desired, she gave up her original style to take on a style that had been provoked by the people of Copenhagen and the way they treated her.

4.To me this passage helps to represent the inconsistency of Helga. It connects to the bigger picture In this text because it proves as just another one of the escapades on the journey of finding herself. This passage helps me to notice that Helga does not really accept herself besides Ā what makes her acceptable to others. It is justification that who she is , or was before she came back to Denmark was not something or someone that she was satisfied with. Helga spent a lot of time criticizing herself, and when others did not criticize her, she felt a sense if belonging. I think the bigger picture here is identity.