One of the things that I first noticed when reading and talking about this book is that Macon shares the same name with another character which most likely many of you have also seen and either noticed as well or didn't: Macon Dead of the book Song of Solomon, a reading from last semester's 20th Century Novel.
Macon Dead (or Milkman, as I will call him to distinguish) is similar to Macon Detornay in that they both take physical journeys throughout their books. While Milkman's journey is much longer than Macon's, they both share some interesting characteristics. For example, they both came out of more privileged scenarios: Macon is white and Milkman was rich. They also, while trying to live in and amongst the black people around them, got into trouble that forced them to jump ship. For Milkman, this was just many piling issues with family and girlfriends trying to murder him and an overall increasing sense of his own worth over the others. For Macon, this was the ensuing race riot after his failed attempt to host a Day of Apology.
For both of them, as they adventure out on this journey away from it all, they both change their views on everything around them. While Milkman's change is more stark and consists of more of the book, his is still genuine and represents a more "coming of age" type story, with also many different hero narrative aspects as well. Macon's story is right up near the end, and while I haven't finished the book yet, there is already a sense where Macon is realizing everything he did was insane, and starts to change, though his change is probably not constructive.
One thing is certain though. They both have a greater sense of the black community around them. Milkman certainly turns to see those around him as more equals, without the shadow of his father always on him to distort that, and Macon comes to terms with the way that whites and blacks "deal" with each other, like Dr. Donner describes their relationship, for better or for worse. They both have a very similar arc of mind over a similar topic, despite being very different in many other ways.
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Saturday, April 20, 2019
Later On
Jack has been through a whole lot just in his first five years. He began inside a 11x11 area, completely cut off from everyone else, only really communicating with Ma. Then, when he hit 5, he escaped and dramatically shifted his frame of reference from Room being the world to Clinic being the world to only barely grasping where he now is. How will he cope later on?
One thing that will certainly happen is that Jack's social skills will be lacking. He has only ever needed to talk to one person before, and needs to adopt a different way to talk to everyone else. His vocabulary certainly has not been affected, in fact his vocabulary is higher up than most other kids this age, as shown by Bronwyn, when Jack says "She doesn't talk right yet." This may be both to his benefit and to his detriment, as some kids his age may not be able to understand him.
Jack's pace of learning seems to be at a higher level than most kids, and that plays into his favor. He recently had his entire worldview turned on its head, and he was able to cope, think through it, and develop a more structured and true worldview over the course of a couple of days. Even in the place in the book where we are, Jack is learning something new every day and is able to add it to his worldview. This will allow him to more quickly adapt to society, and while he might not be able to grasp the whole idea now, he certainly will soon.
Finally, there is school. Jack will probably in the very beginning of his time in Outside be unable to go to school due to his fame. However, after that has died down, I think that he will do fine at school. In fact, school is most likely be where he learns the most about the world he lives in, because it will be able to correct him and teach him and his quick learning will make it all the faster. He will probably not have many friends in the beginning due to his lack of social skills, but no doubt he will acquire them before he is done.
One last thing to wonder: is he going to remember Room? The doctors have mentioned that it will be forgotten later on in his life, and that the memories are already being forgotten through nightmares, but I think that instead he will at least have a fleeting remembrance of his time there. He will remember the general idea of Room, will probably remember some things, most notably the Great Escape, but will forget most of it. As for the nightmares, I wouldn't be surprised that they all stem from his new memories instead of his old ones, as those seem to be the most scary for him, but since they do not pertain to Room, I believe they will also pass.
One thing that will certainly happen is that Jack's social skills will be lacking. He has only ever needed to talk to one person before, and needs to adopt a different way to talk to everyone else. His vocabulary certainly has not been affected, in fact his vocabulary is higher up than most other kids this age, as shown by Bronwyn, when Jack says "She doesn't talk right yet." This may be both to his benefit and to his detriment, as some kids his age may not be able to understand him.
Jack's pace of learning seems to be at a higher level than most kids, and that plays into his favor. He recently had his entire worldview turned on its head, and he was able to cope, think through it, and develop a more structured and true worldview over the course of a couple of days. Even in the place in the book where we are, Jack is learning something new every day and is able to add it to his worldview. This will allow him to more quickly adapt to society, and while he might not be able to grasp the whole idea now, he certainly will soon.
Finally, there is school. Jack will probably in the very beginning of his time in Outside be unable to go to school due to his fame. However, after that has died down, I think that he will do fine at school. In fact, school is most likely be where he learns the most about the world he lives in, because it will be able to correct him and teach him and his quick learning will make it all the faster. He will probably not have many friends in the beginning due to his lack of social skills, but no doubt he will acquire them before he is done.
One last thing to wonder: is he going to remember Room? The doctors have mentioned that it will be forgotten later on in his life, and that the memories are already being forgotten through nightmares, but I think that instead he will at least have a fleeting remembrance of his time there. He will remember the general idea of Room, will probably remember some things, most notably the Great Escape, but will forget most of it. As for the nightmares, I wouldn't be surprised that they all stem from his new memories instead of his old ones, as those seem to be the most scary for him, but since they do not pertain to Room, I believe they will also pass.
Friday, April 5, 2019
Jefferson and His Relationship With Food
There seems to be a fairly straight connection between Jefferson's feelings about eating food from other people and his feelings of self worth. He starts the book by refusing all food given to him, and by the end he has changed to eating full meals made by his nanan. In general, there were three stages to this progression.
The first stage of Jefferson's progression is of him thinking of himself as a hog and eating like a hog. While Ms. Emma is there, Jefferson refuses to eat anything and hardly speaks. Later when grant comes in alone, he asks for corn rather than the food that Grant brought. When prompted, he eats straight out of the basket without hands, explaining that that's how hogs eat. This stage defines him as being a hog, potentially turning slightly human.
The second stage comes a while later soon after Jefferson learns of his date of execution. Grant talks to him about it and Jefferson mentions that he wanted an entire gallon of ice cream to eat with a pot spoon. This stage also shows him reluctantly eating the food given to him by his nanan because "it would make her happy." These things are attributes that a child would exhibit: dreams of eating lots of junk food and squeamishness towards anything not junk food. This is important, as it represents a shift in Jefferson's perspective, from hog to human.
The final stage occurs right before and during Jefferson's own narration through his notebook. Jefferson goes back on his claim to eat a gallon of ice cream and instead requests that his nanan make a large meal of all his favorite foods for him. Also, right before this he offers to share food with Grant: a generous and human thing to do. This represents Jefferson's change from child to man, as he is more levelheaded and down-to-earth, and recognizes the people in his surroundings. While this is in its simplest form, a child would rarely give food willingly to someone unless they or the recipient hated said food, and a hog wouldn't care in the slightest.
This change from hog to child to man can be seen in other aspects of the book as well, however Jefferson's relationship with food while he is on death row most accurately represents the changes being made inside himself as he "grows up" in the months that he is there.
Friday, March 8, 2019
Darl
Darl is known as the character that everyone is unsettled by, that everyone sees as weird, disturbing, queer (as in strange) and potentially dangerous to himself and everyone else. At the end of the book, we see him be carried away "to Jackson" on a train, narrated not from the point of view of Darl, but from the point of view of Darl as he sees himself being looked at from a nearby onlooker. This strange viewpoint is not the first strange view we get from Darl. Throughout the book, we get points in his narration in which he narrates from the viewpoint of other characters, and he just acts as the main omniscient narrator for the entire journey. On top of this, we get several times when people are able to communicate with him without actually talking to him, and we get times when Darl says he "knows" something without anyone telling him, or really without him obtaining any evidence.
These occurrences are interesting, but they all tie to an important idea: Darl does not seem to act within his own body. Darl does not speak from his own body, he speaks from higher up, looking down and choosing who to narrate from next. From this vantage point, Darl can't help but know things that he was never told, hear things no one else heard, and speak things that no one hears, but still comprehends. However, earlier before this story, Darl doesn't realize this is happening, and so can't use it to its full extent. The times when he "just knows" something, they are always based in the past. Conversely to that Darl seems very knowledgeable about what his dead mother wants (ending the journey) and is able to pull it off with ease (burning the barn).
From this vantage point as well, Darl can describe the actions of others and what they are thinking just as good as they can. For people who don't necessarily know they should be narrating, the rest of the family is very good at describing what they are doing, not only in the least complex way, but also in kind of a stream-of-consciousness way, describing in detail what is happening in their minds. The best person to put all this together into a cohesive piece would be Darl, sitting high above everyone, aiming to narrate, with access to everyone's minds. In other words, this is not being narrated by anyone other than Darl.
It's not perfect, and Darl certainly messes it up from time to time. In the beginning of the book we see Darl begin to narrate, in his chapter, Jewel's experience with the horse, only to quickly shift perspective into Jewel's mind, giving us the only insight we have into Jewel. With Cash as well, we see that Darl has difficulty maintaining contact, and is pushed out before much can be said. The largest failure, however, is that Darl begins to invest too much time looking at other characters and forgetting to reinforce is own connection to himself. When a suddenly large amount of mental stress is placed on Darl (the authorities coming to take him away), he is off in Cash's mind and can only narrate from that point of view. He begins talking to himself through Cash, and it snaps any connection he has to his own body. The next narration we get from Darl is of him talking to himself out side of his own body, and we never see him again.
Darl is certainly a character in this book, but while he acts as a functioning entity, we have at the same time his mind jumping around from consciousness to consciousness, providing a broad view of what's happening on the journey. This brings new meaning to the idea "his eyes are full of the land:" he isn't in his own mind, he's surveying everything, looking down at the land from above, and narrating it all.
It's not perfect, and Darl certainly messes it up from time to time. In the beginning of the book we see Darl begin to narrate, in his chapter, Jewel's experience with the horse, only to quickly shift perspective into Jewel's mind, giving us the only insight we have into Jewel. With Cash as well, we see that Darl has difficulty maintaining contact, and is pushed out before much can be said. The largest failure, however, is that Darl begins to invest too much time looking at other characters and forgetting to reinforce is own connection to himself. When a suddenly large amount of mental stress is placed on Darl (the authorities coming to take him away), he is off in Cash's mind and can only narrate from that point of view. He begins talking to himself through Cash, and it snaps any connection he has to his own body. The next narration we get from Darl is of him talking to himself out side of his own body, and we never see him again.
Darl is certainly a character in this book, but while he acts as a functioning entity, we have at the same time his mind jumping around from consciousness to consciousness, providing a broad view of what's happening on the journey. This brings new meaning to the idea "his eyes are full of the land:" he isn't in his own mind, he's surveying everything, looking down at the land from above, and narrating it all.
Friday, February 15, 2019
Athena
There are a lot of posts on what happens during Odysseus' wandering state, and I'm guessing there are (or will be) a lot of posts on how Athena works in the story, but what about where Athena doesn't work in The Odyssey? This might sound weird, but the entire wandering section of the novel does not feature Athena in the slightest. She never appears anywhere in that story, though it is obvious she is watching by her remarks toward him at the beginning of the epic. Odysseus seems to be entirely alone in his struggle to find his way home, up until the beginning of the story.
There are several reasons for this. First, we are told that after the Greeks finished fighting in Troy, they angered Athena by accident, which caused much of the heartache that many of the kings Telemachus talks to experience. It makes sense that Odysseus also was affected by this, losing his way and getting sent into exile without anyone but Calypso could be seen as consequences of this thing toward her.
Another reason, a logical one, is that the reason Athena doesn't seem to help him is that this is a different view than we've seen the entire rest of the epic. The entire epic is from the viewpoint of the gods looking down upon to world, making things happen as they see, and we get the same view. However, if this is the case, Athena didn't do much to help him. She didn't keep Odysseus from calling his name or staying in the cave of the cyclops, she didn't warn him of all his men being eaten by the giants in Lastrygonia, she didn't help guide him past Scylla. These might be explained by Athena wanting to watch a good story, but she doesn't seem to hesitate from getting Odysseus out of other situations. Furthermore, Odysseus stays on Ogygia for years, ad she doesn't do anything. Finally, Athena laments that Odysseus was stuck with Calypso. If she's been helping him all this time, why does she need permission now?
My explanation is that Athena was enjoying watching Odysseus, but then made a mistake. Athena was not helping Odysseus through this first part because it was interesting as it was. Athena didn't see a reason to interfere, the story was good enough. However, she watched also as Odysseus, instead of continuing his story, "selfishly" gets himself stuck and stops being interesting. She waits for a little bit (the gods are immortal, years isn't that much time), and as it started to seem that not much was going to happen, she got the go-ahead to step in and make things happen. However, in the process of doing this, she got herself roped into the story. To keep Odysseus from wandering again, she needed to keep on helping him, but that made the story less interesting. Over time, however, she tries to pull away, first by scheming with Odysseus rather than for Odysseus, then letting him get in to attack the suitors, only interfering to keep him alive, and then actually ending the whole upcoming war.
That last part is confusing as well, why would the goddess of battle strategy not want to see a war? I think that is a result of the story no longer being interesting to her. She, by playing an active role, has ruined it for herself, kind of like putting cheats on in a game whenever you get to a really hard part. You start cheating more and more, and now the game isn't fun. Similarly, Athena had "cheated" and now the story was just getting annoying. This way, she could end the adventure and see if another, more interesting one would show up.
Thinking of Athena in this way makes them seem very childish. I've already seen this posted, but the idea that the gods are like toddlers shows up here as well. Here is a kid watching some kind of game, but then after a while starts to get bored, and so a twist is added. The child then starts to complain that it isn't fun, so the game gets put away, and another is taken out. This is the entire life of the gods: millions of games trying to keep up with the attention span of a child.
There are several reasons for this. First, we are told that after the Greeks finished fighting in Troy, they angered Athena by accident, which caused much of the heartache that many of the kings Telemachus talks to experience. It makes sense that Odysseus also was affected by this, losing his way and getting sent into exile without anyone but Calypso could be seen as consequences of this thing toward her.
Another reason, a logical one, is that the reason Athena doesn't seem to help him is that this is a different view than we've seen the entire rest of the epic. The entire epic is from the viewpoint of the gods looking down upon to world, making things happen as they see, and we get the same view. However, if this is the case, Athena didn't do much to help him. She didn't keep Odysseus from calling his name or staying in the cave of the cyclops, she didn't warn him of all his men being eaten by the giants in Lastrygonia, she didn't help guide him past Scylla. These might be explained by Athena wanting to watch a good story, but she doesn't seem to hesitate from getting Odysseus out of other situations. Furthermore, Odysseus stays on Ogygia for years, ad she doesn't do anything. Finally, Athena laments that Odysseus was stuck with Calypso. If she's been helping him all this time, why does she need permission now?
My explanation is that Athena was enjoying watching Odysseus, but then made a mistake. Athena was not helping Odysseus through this first part because it was interesting as it was. Athena didn't see a reason to interfere, the story was good enough. However, she watched also as Odysseus, instead of continuing his story, "selfishly" gets himself stuck and stops being interesting. She waits for a little bit (the gods are immortal, years isn't that much time), and as it started to seem that not much was going to happen, she got the go-ahead to step in and make things happen. However, in the process of doing this, she got herself roped into the story. To keep Odysseus from wandering again, she needed to keep on helping him, but that made the story less interesting. Over time, however, she tries to pull away, first by scheming with Odysseus rather than for Odysseus, then letting him get in to attack the suitors, only interfering to keep him alive, and then actually ending the whole upcoming war.
That last part is confusing as well, why would the goddess of battle strategy not want to see a war? I think that is a result of the story no longer being interesting to her. She, by playing an active role, has ruined it for herself, kind of like putting cheats on in a game whenever you get to a really hard part. You start cheating more and more, and now the game isn't fun. Similarly, Athena had "cheated" and now the story was just getting annoying. This way, she could end the adventure and see if another, more interesting one would show up.
Thinking of Athena in this way makes them seem very childish. I've already seen this posted, but the idea that the gods are like toddlers shows up here as well. Here is a kid watching some kind of game, but then after a while starts to get bored, and so a twist is added. The child then starts to complain that it isn't fun, so the game gets put away, and another is taken out. This is the entire life of the gods: millions of games trying to keep up with the attention span of a child.
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Leadership
Throughout the Wanderings of Odysseus, we see various displays of Odysseus' leadership skills, but also (and more importantly) how he doesn't act like a hero. The very first thing they come across - the Cyclops - Odysseus leads them in bravely, and when they become stuck and are being killed off, Odysseus organizes them and blinds the Cyclops, escaping on the belly of the sheep. However, in that same event, Odysseus tries to abuse Xenia and obtain gifts from the Cyclops, keeping everyone there who tried to leave. When they are leaving, Odysseus can't help but call out his name and taunt the Cyclops, which causes him to curse their voyage and ultimately lose all their men.
When Odysseus lands on Circe's island, he sends out men to scout - a leader-like thing to do. However later, when one of his men disagrees with accepting the offer Circe makes to feast with her, Odysseus needs to be kept back from cutting his head off. Finally, Odysseus ignores the advice of Circe to not arm himself against Scylla, he does so anyway while also deciding not to tell his men of their six upcoming casualties, because it would not help and only put the rest of them in danger.
These three examples each show times when Odysseus is acting like a leader, doing things for the good of his men and taking control of the crew, but also show times when Odysseus doesn't act in his own self interest but rather violently and out of control. He does things both with thinking and without thinking. The reason for these two different parts of him lies in the fact that he is a warrior by trade. His life has been focused around strategically planning what to do in any situation, but then also to completely throw aside thought and reasoning whenever he needs to fight. This can be seen in that the first city he and his portion of the army go to rest they sack and kill all the men, while this same group (albeit considerably smaller) swears not to kill Helios' cows, until they run out of food and are forced to.
Odysseus and his men have all been bred into a society that favors leaders that can construct plans but then can also go haywire on the battlefield. The Iliad also emphasizes this, with some particular heroes dragging their enemies behind chariots, and also rampaging up to the front gates. This society, when crammed into a life-threatening situation on a boat in the middle of nowhere doesn't release itself in a very good form, and while his men are mostly collected throughout the journey, this explains Odysseus' various fits of violence and irrationality.
When Odysseus lands on Circe's island, he sends out men to scout - a leader-like thing to do. However later, when one of his men disagrees with accepting the offer Circe makes to feast with her, Odysseus needs to be kept back from cutting his head off. Finally, Odysseus ignores the advice of Circe to not arm himself against Scylla, he does so anyway while also deciding not to tell his men of their six upcoming casualties, because it would not help and only put the rest of them in danger.
These three examples each show times when Odysseus is acting like a leader, doing things for the good of his men and taking control of the crew, but also show times when Odysseus doesn't act in his own self interest but rather violently and out of control. He does things both with thinking and without thinking. The reason for these two different parts of him lies in the fact that he is a warrior by trade. His life has been focused around strategically planning what to do in any situation, but then also to completely throw aside thought and reasoning whenever he needs to fight. This can be seen in that the first city he and his portion of the army go to rest they sack and kill all the men, while this same group (albeit considerably smaller) swears not to kill Helios' cows, until they run out of food and are forced to.
Odysseus and his men have all been bred into a society that favors leaders that can construct plans but then can also go haywire on the battlefield. The Iliad also emphasizes this, with some particular heroes dragging their enemies behind chariots, and also rampaging up to the front gates. This society, when crammed into a life-threatening situation on a boat in the middle of nowhere doesn't release itself in a very good form, and while his men are mostly collected throughout the journey, this explains Odysseus' various fits of violence and irrationality.
Friday, January 18, 2019
Heroic Reflections
Despite what the title of this post may imply, I do not consider myself a hero. Similarly, the character I have chosen does not believe that he is a hero, and instead sees himself as a person around whom nobody is safe, everything he touches, every person he affects, is destroyed.
Kaladin of the sci-fi fantasy book Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson begins his life as the son of a poor physician on the outskirts of a province in Alethkar, apprenticing in his father's office. By the end of the first book (this is a series, but I will only look at the first one), Kaladin has undergone tremendous change, joining the army, becoming a slave, being forced to join a bridge crew, build up that bridge crew to keep the men alive, save the life of a highprince and thousands of others, and become the honor guard for said highprince.
What I like about this character is that he is able to overcome tremendous mental barriers in order to better himself. One main feature of this series is that the protagonists (the "Knights Radiant") better themselves through adoption of certain Ideals, and the Ideals that Kaladin adopts himself in this first book include the first three: "Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination," but also more importantly include the phrase "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves." This Ideal is an important one, not just in this series, but also a good motto for life in general.
I would like to say I have also adopted this Ideal, but the truth is that it has not majorly had an influence on my life. It is mainly that he embodies symbols that are admirable in a person, and his willingness and determination to keep pushing is something that I admire in this character and would like to see reflected on myself.
Kaladin of the sci-fi fantasy book Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson begins his life as the son of a poor physician on the outskirts of a province in Alethkar, apprenticing in his father's office. By the end of the first book (this is a series, but I will only look at the first one), Kaladin has undergone tremendous change, joining the army, becoming a slave, being forced to join a bridge crew, build up that bridge crew to keep the men alive, save the life of a highprince and thousands of others, and become the honor guard for said highprince.
What I like about this character is that he is able to overcome tremendous mental barriers in order to better himself. One main feature of this series is that the protagonists (the "Knights Radiant") better themselves through adoption of certain Ideals, and the Ideals that Kaladin adopts himself in this first book include the first three: "Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination," but also more importantly include the phrase "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves." This Ideal is an important one, not just in this series, but also a good motto for life in general.
I would like to say I have also adopted this Ideal, but the truth is that it has not majorly had an influence on my life. It is mainly that he embodies symbols that are admirable in a person, and his willingness and determination to keep pushing is something that I admire in this character and would like to see reflected on myself.
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