Mao 12-end

  Well, I have accomplished the impossible and finished Mao II.  I guessing I was hoping that it was going to gain some action or interesting story but I feel like it just stayed the same the whole way through.  I guess I'll being with chapter 12 and saying that I'm not really sure what the point of this Omar guy is.  I think he's just a  man that eventually leads Karen into Scott's arms.  Although that part is strange as well because she doesn't actually go to him until Brita tells her to.  And then there's the spoon...I'm not sure if anyone else thought this was weird but she picks up a spoon with old food on it and puts it up on a pedestal.  I'm not really sure of the significance of this gross spoon but maybe I'm not artsy enough to understand the beauty of it.
     Scott seems to be obsessing over organization--I feel like that's all the author tells us when they talk about his part. Honestly, I could take all of Scott's part out in these last couple chapters and the story wouldn't change a bit because of his mundane life--maybe that's the way it's supposed to be.  I mean in the end it seems that he finally gets what he wants which is Brita.  And then they just decide that Bill won't be coming back so they can just have his money and his house.  It just seems strange that over all this time that they should end up together and just to give up on Bill.
     And then there's Bill and his stubborn attitude--I want to yell at him and tell him to just go to the doctor already!  I'm not really sure I understand all of his story.  He's talking with Vets and then he's out partying and finds himself waking up in his hotel.  I feel like the author leaves information out that is important to transition form one thing to another.  He just decides to go to Beirut and then we don't really hear about him. I was hoping the end after the chapters there would be some sort of explanation about Bill and what happens to him and if the hostage actually was let go...or even if he makes it to Beirut.  The book seems to be building up to what is happening to Bill healthwise but then the author never even says what happens to him in the end.  I know a lot of modernist books end without resolution but I'm not sure I like this style especially in this book because it felt like a book that was just a "so what" book.  I guess what I mean by this is that it just seems like background noise that doesn't really make any impact on me--not enjoyable, I didn't really learn much, or change my opinion on anything.  If anything it seemed to make me more confused and angry.  I realize this is not the nicest thing to say but it is my opinion...I hope someone else enjoyed reading the book! It definitely made me appreciate the Hurston book even more.

Mao II Chapters 6-11

         I think I have finally figured out why I don't care for this book, well a couple of reasons.  Firstly, there is no action--the action that does happen in the book feels muted.  For instance, Bill gets hit by a car and he's bleeding and everyone is rushing towards him and he just brushes it off.  It seems unimportant and insignificant.  Even in the earlier chapters when they go on the trip--Scott seems concentrated on having sex with Karen and then she has sex with Bill and then Scott has sex with Brita.  Seems more like a soap opera without the drama.
        There are a few parts that are still confusing to me because the book doesn't explain it or I just missed something.  When Brita is awake the answering machine comes on with a voice and I don't think the book ever mentions his significance or who he is.  Another part that confused me in the book is the part about the connection between Brita and Karen.  I know it mentions that Brita was skeptical about leaving this girl she barely knew at her home but how did Karen find her how and what's the connection?  Another question that I have is why is Bill so eagerly going along with George and completely leaves Charlie.  It seems that Charlie is much more trustworthy than George.  Bill even knows that George is working for the country that took the hostage and Bill knows that they want to take him--it doesn't seem to phase him in the least bit.
In these chapters I have picked up a few themes that seem to be repeating and significant.  The first is the mob or group importance.  Someone is talking to Brita about mass-marriage and the concept of what Bill thinks about it.  "By compressing a million moments of love and touch and courtship into one accelerated mass, you're saying that life must become more anxious, more surreal, more image-bound, more prone to hurrying its own transformation, or what's the point (pg 80).  The next instance of this group/mob theme is when Brita and Scott are talking after they have come back from their trip.  They're talking about how Bill doesn't understand that people want to do these mass marriages but the reason is to survive as a community rather than mastering every complex force (pg. 89)  One of them goes on to talk about how gender doesn't matter and that people should all become Moonies as one large collective group.  The last example that I found was when Karen goes to the community of homeless and walks around and sees this mass of people that are living under tarps and in boxes or sleeping on benches.  They refer to it as "tent city."
            Another theme that I found occurring in these chapters is the influence of the writer and the terrorist.  Bill talks about when a terrorist wins the writer loses--one line inn particular that he says, "the more clearly we see terror, the less impact we feel from art" (pg. 157).  I remember talking about this idea in class on Thursday and about WWII.  We talked about how after the war nobody could make art because it seemed to take the attention away from the concentration camps and what happened to the innocent people--I think specifically it was referring to Aschwitz.

Mao II Chapters 1-5

          Well, I guess I am going to be completely honest and say that this is going to be a struggle to finish this novel, personally.  I was very confused the first time I began reading this novel.  I was confused with the tie between the prologue and chapter 1 then there's the random conversations that the characters have.  I feel like some of the novel is written with a stream of consciousness because the narrator begins talking about walking on the street and then a thought comes to mind and then something else comes up.  And then I feel like the narrator gives us information without describing it like when one of the characters says she grabs a cigarette even though she hadn't smoked in years...like why?how come?what's the significance?
         I thought the whole wedding cult thing was really weird and I know we talked about the possibility of the wedding being "communist".  I would have to agree with this idea because these couples are giving themselves completely to this "Master" just like in a communist country the people give themselves to the leader.  The people have no control in both situations and someone else is in power over the other.  These couples barely know each other after a few days and are already getting married and being completely separated from each other.  Call me a romantic but there's something to the dating period and getting to know one another.  A wedding should be something intimate--you are bonding one family to another.  The fact that there are thousands of people at this same wedding just make it more cultish and creepy.
     After discussing these first few chapters I feel like I can understand the chapters a little more; I guess I'm not picking up on their humor--especially Bill's.  I realize that we decided that the book was written in the "modern age" but I feel like it's confusing to find this true.  I guess I am still trying to figure out who everyone is and how they are all connected.  I feel like it would be beneficial to have some kind of timeline or summary to look at for each chapter just to help with knowing what's going on.

Wright, Carver, Collins, Lee

            I would like to begin by saying that my favorite poet of all these men was Billy Collins.  I thought his writing was easy to relate to and it was also easy to connect with.  My favorite poem was Forgetfulness because it rings so true for myself.  His observation about forgetting the quadratic equation was humorous because I can remember studying and memorizing it.  Today, I am not sure I could come up with any parts of it.  Or the part about forgetting capitals, order of the planets, or authors of books was also quite humorous.  It seems these were so important to memorize growing up but now we cannot even remember them.  I like his word play with “oblivion” because it seems that a lot of this information will escape from our minds and will not be there—but then he ends the poem with the character rising at night to look up this random information that he had forgotten.  Another one of his poems about the Three Blind Mice was also very humorous.  Even the title of this poem uttered a chuckle from me at least.  I can just imagine him chopping up parsley and he hears this song and begins to micoranalyze where these mice came from and how they became blind.  The one explanation I liked most was “a searing explosion, a firework”.

            I thought James Wright’s poems reminded me a little of William Blake’s style.  They both observed nature and explore their relationship in accordance to nature.  Wright’s poems are definitely based on the Midwest, writing about football games and the prairie.  One thing I noticed about Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio was the oxymoron in line 9 “suicidally beautiful”.  I thought this was a strange play on words and I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on it?  In his poem To the Evening Star I loved his imagery of a star being a light that comes on in the sky like a lamp in the prairie.  His last poem of the last line in A Blessing was a very “Blake” line about how he would step out of his body and break into blossom.  Any thoughts?

            Li-Young Lee Persimmons was strange because I felt like it was written in a stream of consciousness.  It seemed to jump around, but I did like that he included bits about himself and his background culture in it.  I thought it was interesting that in many of his poems he included his father as an important part—unlike Sylvia Plath it was a much more positive note.  He writes about missing him and recalling him and his love which I think is beautiful, especially since it is a son and father relationship.

Plath, Roth, Rich

                Sylvia Plath’s poetry was insightful and graphic.  I actually enjoyed it even though I have never read any of her works.  I found her references to the WWII intriguing and questioning to know more about her.  While I did read the bibliography note in the beginning, it doesn’t really talk about her connection to Jews or Germans.  I know that her father died when she was young and was one of the reasons that drew her to an attempt at suicide which she mentions in Daddy.  She talks about how she tried to get back at her dad by killing herself but then being put together by others.  She describes her father as a vampire and having a “fat black heart”.   She talks about getting revenge to her father—by killing herself?  I am not really sure how that would be revenge…any thoughts?  Her other poem “Lady Lazarus” was interesting—particularly the title.  I didn’t understand the title until the end of the poem.  I know that Lazarus was a man that was raised from the dead.  In my opinion, I think she is referring to the Jews especially in the last stanza with the line “out of the ash”.  The footnote talks about the mythical creature called the phoenix which is reborn out of the ashes similar to Lazarus.  Although I’m still not sure why the title includes the word “lady”.  I didn’t know about the Natzi gold fillings being made out of corpses and lampshades being made of victims’ skin.  It makes me sick to think about these images—but I am glad that they are brought to the surface.

                Call me a romantic but I loved the first line in “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning” which is “My swirling wants.  Your frozen lips.”  It reminds me of something in a cheesy chick flick—but I don’t care it’s poetic!  I want more explanation of this poem because while I can pick up bits and pieces I would like to have some more opinions.  It seems someone is trying to forget something bad, but then at the same time it talks about writing and grammar.  I also like the last line—I feel like it’s highly individualized and a modernized notion.  The message of being independent and being living life in a personal choice and not letting others chose it for you.

Synder, Ginsberg, Kerouac

I would like to begin by commenting on Howl by Allen Ginsberg.  This poem or short story or whatever this is seems to remind me of a modern version of Edgar Allen Poe.  After reading this my mind was very disturbed by the images that he has created.  In my opinion it seems that he is either trying to critique America or the world/humanity in general.  Throughout he mentions various states which I think is interesting and noteworthy—perhaps he is trying to focus more on the United States.  He talks about people chaining themselves to subways and the failing law enforcement system.  While this short story does seem to present some grotesque images they are certainly poetic.  One in particular that stood out to me was “returning years later truly bald except for a wig of blood, tears and fingers” (pg.1360).  While this is a disturbing image it is also I guess lack of a better word—beautiful.  I am slightly worried about my comment I just made, nevertheless, it’s an image that sticks in my brain and I can picture it clearly on a canvas.  I wonder if anyone else thought about this image and has any insight into it further.  I thought the second part was interesting with the speaker crying out to “Moloch” who is stated in the footnotes as a fire god.  This cannot be a coincidence.  My own interpretation seems to say that this fire god should destroy all of the filth in the world that humanity has created.  Like the speaker says “Mad Generation” (pg.1362).  Maybe we have become so corrupt that the speaker wishes to show his audience what we have become.  And then what’s with “Rockland”?  Another image that stood out to me is “where we hug and kiss the United States under our bedsheets the United States that coughs all night and won’t let us sleep” (pg. 1363).  I was hoping for some opinions or other insights into this imagery.

On a less disturbing yet sad note is Snyder in August on Sourdough, A Visit from Dick Brewer.  I’m not sure if these two are lovers or friends but at any rate the one must bid a goodbye to the other after spending a night reminiscing and enjoying each other’s company.  

Ellison, Baraka, Lorde, Walker

The Invisible Man short story I did not find particularly fascinating; it just didn’t really seem to resonate for me.  It was somewhat interesting at parts but to be honest I found it dull and boring.  I hope I am not offending anyone by saying this, I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion.  I mean I thought the ending was clever because he wakes up to his grandfather’s laugh ringing in his ears—creepy yet symbolic.  He’s wrestling with conforming and fighting the norm. 

I wanted to do a small cheer when I read that the mother took the quilts away from Dee because as a character I did not like her.  The author, in my opinion, did a wonderful job of painting the picture of each character in a short amount of pages.  I think especially with short stories it can be difficult to develop characters because of the limited space.  I actually can identify with Dee because it felt like when I was younger I didn’t appreciate a lot of things about my heritage and past.  I think this is a more modern idea—taking old, traditional style and using it as decoration.  Last time I went home to Iowa I asked my mom for some of her mason jars that she keeps in the basement to use as decoration—similar to the quilt I didn’t really care about them until I got to college.  I guess you could say the author is making fun of the educated that go off to school and come back and realize how different their lives are.  Maggie just seems so different from Dee—she seems naïve but appreciative of her heritage and past.  The fact that she tells Dee that she can take the quilts because she can still remember her grandmother regardless was inspiring.