After Images - Emmett Till Poem

I am so glad that we can write about this poem. When Dr. Hollingsworth read it aloud in class I new that I wanted to write my final paper for this class on this poem. I read it a second time after class and think it is such a powerful poem on many different levels. The poet does such a great job of relaying what is going through their mind, and I think that writing a paper analyzing this poem would work great. What happened to Emmett Till was absolutely horrible and sad on every level, and this poem captures the sadness pretty well. We are being exposed to the poets reactions to these horrible events from the very start: "However the image enters its force remains within my eyes." This is very saddening, but powerful poem, and I am so glad that I got to read it.

My...Decompression

I feel as if I should decompress in a sense, after finishing that Kate Chopin deconstruction. I had never written a deconstruction before this paper, therefore I was so afraid of doing so. I used the notes we took in class and focused on binaries and did exactly what my Approaches to Lit. textbook told me too. I have that class currently, so it is actually kind of neat to be taking them at the same time. I use the text book for that class a lot when it comes to writing papers. I was difficult at first to wrap my head around the idea of just writing about the things that I did (binaries and gaps). I felt sometimes like I wasn't being clear, but other times, I did, and this feeling flip-flopped often. I liked writing the paper though, and I think the things I learned in the story wouldn't have come about if I hadn't taken this approach. I liked this writing style, though it was quit taxing, it was rewarding just the same.

Hegemony

I decided to do a little bit of research on the word "hegemony" after it came up in class last Tuesday. When i searched the word on Wikipedia, I got an eye-full that I didn't realize I was asking for. The whole page was based on history and hop hegemony relates to history. To those of you who already knew what hegemony was, forgive me. I then searched hegemony in literature and liked what I saw. I also understood it a bit more. The definition I got was this, "The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others." So, is it fair to say hegemony can be both a good or a bad thing? It can be good for someone who likes to be a part of the influence and is fine with going along with it, but it is not good for those that they are trying to influence? For instance, let's say that there are a group of men in some town who hang out. They expect "their women" to do everything fo them, and generally the women go along with it. This is just fine for the men, and even the ladies that do these things because it's just simply what they do. But of a women who doesn't feel that this is ok, but also lives in the tiwn, it is not ok, because the men will expect her to be like all the other women. I hope I'm understanding hegemony correctly...

Deconstruction

I am really glad we discussed deconstruction in class yesterday. I have never written a paper using this method, so we shall see how well (or not well) I do. I think I'm going to write about the binary of imprisonment and freedom in "Story of an Hour." I think there are some great example, for instance she feels free when she is next to the window, yet as soon as she goes back down the staircase (stairs, surrounded by a case? A case is like a prison...hmmm) and it is after she leaves her window that she becomes back to being imprisoned. She sees her husband and her whole new outlook has been shattered.She then escapes imprisonment, this time by way of death. Dr. Hollingsworth did a great job explaining it yesterday, and my ENG 205 book gives some tips on deconstruction papers. I'll be looking for a few more binaries to throw in too.

Chopin - Symbols in "Story of an Hour"

What a well written story to say it mildly. There is so much to unpack from this story. Like her story "Ripe Figs," it is short in length but not in content. "Blue sky" and "delicious" are words used to describe the things around here when she is looking out the window. They help the reader see that she sees good things ahead, and do a great job of relaying her emotion. I like the subtle hints that pass along an emotion that Louise feels. Like all of Chopin's stories, there are so many symbols, enough it would seem that if you read it everyday you would find more than the day before.

I meant to post this last week...as well - Professions for Women

I loved this article by Virginia Woolf. I idea of killing the Angel in the house is so wonderful, and I have honestly been thinking differently since reading it. I have always had this "wild and crazy" feminist streak running through my veins, but it is flourishing lately. When I watch television and I see a woman tell her husband to leave so she can do housework I scream and bitch at the poor thing, saying "Are you seriously going to live up to what your genetics and the historians tell you to do?" You are genetically a woman, and because of this you are going to do what is typically asked or expected of a woman? My poor boyfriend..bless his soul for loving me, but I am on his tail lately. Two nights ago I couldn't sleep, and I woke him up to ask him when it all started and how. How did women become inferior? Why were we ever suppressed? And so on. He talked to me and I talked to him...He's a great guy, and agrees with me when I talk about women being oppressed. He knows there is still a problem with even today's society and how it views women, especially wherever the media is concerned. I give him my opinion and he gives me his. I sure am not ready to sleep now, so I turn on the television and yell even more at the media for portraying women as "BOOBS." Women = BOOBS. Go to hell. What's with that? At any rate, I just wanted to thank Virginia Woolf for her article, and for killing the Angel in the house. I have killed the Angel in mine as well :)

Meant to submit this last week - Chopin

I was really excited to learn that we get to write a paper about Chopin. I know that it is not one of the stories linked on this page, but one of my favorite Chopin stories is "Ripe Figs." It has so much to delve into, especially considering how short it is. We have a girl who is maturing, and an older woman who has already done so. I think this story does a fantastic job with symbolism: The ripe fig being the girl who has matured, and is in the early stages of adulthood, and the knife in which the older woman uses to cut the fig. The knife I fell, represents man, and is symbolic of how they two will come together at another time now that she has matured, be it in a romantic way, or a sad way (he will hurt her and break her heart perhaps?) Regardless of how the knife symbolizes man, it is a symbol and it is put to work nicely in this short but fantastic piece. Just thought it was cool how symbolism IS the story here...nice.