The Third and Final Continent- by Lahiri

The Third and Final Continent By Jhumpa Lahiri

This story by Lahiri is about one man's journey from India to London and to America. As he travels to new places he has to transition to get used to life in a new country. This story is one about change and all of its forms. The man changes as he travels from India to London to be on his own, studying at university and living with many bachelors with very little money. He then is offered a good job in America and travels first to India to marry and then goes to Boston. 

Every time that that he goes somewhere new, he tries his best to observe and learn how to survive in the foreign city. After arriving in Boston the narrator starts to feel more comfortable there. " In a week or so I adjusted, more or less." He stays first at the YMCA and then with an older widow in a quieter neighborhood. Each time he comes home, he goes through a ritual with the woman, which involves her telling him that there is a flag on the moon, and he replies with "Splenid!". The narrator respects the old woman, and when he hands in his first week's rent, he hands it to her personally. She calls him a true gentleman. Once he finds out that she is over 100 years old, he begins to worry about her, and he almost watches over her.

The narrator and his wife Mala have been married for some time, and once she has received her green card they live together permanently in an apartment. It takes time, but eventually they go out and the narrator takes her to see the old woman. Once there, the woman tells the narrator she has broken her hip, and he replies with "Splendid!", which makes Mala laugh. The narrator is caught off guard by her laugh and genuine smile, which is something he has never seen or heard before. The old woman describes Mala saying "She is a perfect lady!", which makes the narrator laugh and smile. That moment between the husband and wife was a starting point for their love. The couple come across the old woman's obituary a couple months after their visit with her, and Mala comforts the narrator as he mourns his first death in America.

I loved this story because it shows how people who come from other countries have to adjust and transition when they move somewhere different. Everything is new and strange and different, and it takes time for things to feel as they should. This story also highlights change in human character, seen in the narrator as he goes from being on his own as a bachelor, to being a caretaker of his mother and the old woman, to being a husband, and to being a father. It also showcases change in love and how little things can really create a connection between people and spark something bigger. The old woman had seen and experienced so much change in her long life, and she had helped change the lives of others for the better. This story goes to show that life is ever-changing.

Picture Bride by Cathy Song

The Picture Bride

The Picture Bride is a poem in which a young woman tries to empathize with her grandmother and her experiences. When her grandmother was a year younger than she was, she left her home in Korea to move to an island she had never been to before. There waited an older man, her newly arranged husband, with nothing but a picture to show him what she looked like. She wonders what belongings her grandmother took with her, and how she left her family in Korea. She wishes to know how her grandmother reacted when meeting her strange new husband. " And when she arrived to look into the face of the stranger who was her husband, thirteen years older than she, did she politely untie the silk bow of her jacket, her tent-shaped dress filling with the dry wind that blew from the surrounding fields where the men were burning the cane?" I think the narrator wonders if her grandmother untied the silk tie on her dress to welcome the wind of the her new home.

The narrator of the story tries to put herself in the shoes of her grandmother to see what her perspective would've been like. I think this poem is an attempt for the narrator to connect with her grandmother and the way she may have felt at that time in her life. It also compares the two women and the way that their lives are similar or different. We do not know how the narrators life differs, but she is making an effort to try and understand the way her grandmother lived.

Diving into the Wreck

Diving into the Wreck- By Adrienne Rich

I interpreted Rich's poem and her dive into the wreck as her describing a very personal experience of some kind. She writes "I am having to do this not like Cousteau with his assiduous team aboard the sun-flooded schooner but here alone", and she goes into the ocean on her own, which makes it more personal and meaningful. I think that the ladder represents her memory, and it is ever present "the ladder is always there hanging innocently"She is going to revisit a past event in her memory, which is the ship wreck. Once there, she observes and remembers it all. The lines"I came to see the damage that was done, and the treasures that prevail"can represent the treasure as a lesson learned or positive outcome in the face of pain and destruction. Rich ends the poem with " We are, I am, you are by cowardice or courage the one who find our way back to this scene carrying a knife, a camera, a book of myths in which our names do not appear." Her memory of the past has been revisited, whether due to her fear or courage we do not know, but now she has no reason to hold on to that memory. I think the poem deals with acceptance of the past along with embracing change and letting things go in order to move forward. The wreckage is a place of death and destruction, one must move on elsewhere to thrive and flourish.

Fences

Fences by August Wilson

Wilson's play is one that toys with change, family, and dreams. The play is about Troy, his wife Rose, and the lives of their children: Lyons, Cory, and Raynell. Troy's mentally handicapped younger brother is also a main character in the story, along with Bono, Troys best friend. Troy and Bono have been friends for years, and they met while they were in prison. They now work together and every Friday (payday) they have drinks together. The men talk of their childhoods and Troy ends up getting drunk and telling stories while "eyeing" other women. Though Troy thinks of himself as an accurate moral compass, Bono seems to keep Troy in line and offers advice that is aimed to steer Troy in the right direction.

Troy's son Lyons is aspiring to be a musician, and he stops by on Fridays to borrow money from his father. Troy always makes a big deal about it but ends up lending the money to Lyons anyway. Cory is busy with football, which angers Troy because he never finishes his chores and he has stopped working at the A & P. Cory has been recruited by a college in North Carolina, but Tory refuses to sign papers that will allow Cory to attend and play football. He insists that Cory must get his job back at the A &P, and this is where the conflict builds between Cory and his father. 

 

Rose has always been a loyal wife to Troy, and though he knows she is the best thing to ever happen to him, he still manages to get another woman pregnant. He tells Rose and explains that "after eighteen years I wanted to steal second". Troy felt stuck on first base for eighteen years, and this woman became his escape, and she inspired Troy's desire to go for second base. Rose is hurt and explains that all those years she had dreams too, but she remained loyal to Troy and hoped that one day things would change. Rose agrees to raise Troy's daughter after her mother dies in childbirth, but she is no longer Troy's woman. Cory and his father get into a fight and Troy kicks Cory out of the house after he proves he's the strongest.

Everyone returns back to the house for Troy's funeral, and Cory is now a marine corporal, while Lyons is serving time for stealing money. He quotes his father saying " You got to take the crookeds with the straights" to describe that with every positive thing comes something negative, and vice versa. Though the boys are different, they both are very much like their father. Rose tells Cory "Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn't... and at the same time he tried to make you into everything he was. I don't know if he was right or wrong... but I do know he meant to do more good than he meant to do harm. He wasn't always right. Sometimes when he touched he bruised. And sometimes when he took me in his arms he cut." In my opinion, this quote wraps up the whole story. 

In many ways, this story is one about regret and lost dreams, seen in Rose and her regrets in giving all of herself to Troy, and letting him swallow up her identity. It is also seen in Troy, who missed out on a baseball career because he was in prison for all of his "crooked deeds". Cory surely resents his father for not letting him attend college in North Carolina, and he never really lets go of the anger that resulted from his father holding him back from his dream. Wilson also toys with history and change in time and culture, with the African American population becoming more integrated in sports in Cory's generation than in Troy's. This is what causes much of the conflict between them; they cannot understand one another. The family that Troy grew up with, an evil father and an absent mother, also affects his parenting and views on life. Bono talked of his father being absent from his life, and he decides not to father any children so that they are never abandoned the way he was. He remains loyal to his wife and all throughout the story he is the character that is most morally sound.

"Lady Lazarus"

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tvSDw84ArQ

Sylvia Plath’s poem “Lady Lazarus” is one about about her close encounters with death through her numerous suicide attempts. She starts off with, “I have done it again./ One year in every ten/ I manage it-“ to convey that she has a breakdown and attempts suicide once in every decade. She explains that this current attempt is “Number Three” out of her “nine times to die”. Plath’s first encounter was at the age of ten, and it was an accident.  She writes “ They had to call and call/ And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls” to describe how her second attempt was nearly successful.

            Plath asks the reader, “Peel off the napkin/O my enemy./Do I terrify?-“ , and she knows that she does spark fear in the reader. Her mere escapes from death are seen as miracles and are put on as a show for an audience to gawk at. She mocks the show and the audience for their interest in her miracle. “For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge/for the hearing of my heart-/ it really goes.”

            At the end of the poem Plath describes herself as something of value, somebody’s “pure gold baby” that melts and shrieks and turns. This could be referring to her father, who she referenced in many of her other poems. She ends the poem by telling all beware, that out of the ashes of her successful death she will rise and defeat her men, “eating them like air”. Plath uses many metaphors and similes to create a mood and express her emotions, which are dark, raw, and sarcastic all wrapped in one.

Sonny's Blues

Sonny's Blues - James Baldwin

      Sonny's Blues is a story about two brothers and how their relationship has changed over time. The narrator's younger brother Sonny has been arrested for heroin use and is sent to prison. The narrator teaches algebra in Harlem, and he reminisces on how his brother used to be as a child, not so different from his students that he has now. The narrator feels icy towards his brother, not understanding why he has turned to drugs and crime. The narrator and his brother were not speaking terms, and the narrator does not contact his brother until after his daughter Gracie has died. Sonny replies back with a heartfelt letter to his brother trying to explain his struggle and how his life has become the way it is now. 

     As the brothers continue to communicate and as Sonny visits the narrator and his wife Isabel, old memories of the past are brought to light. The narrator has flashbacks of his late father and mother, and how he learns that his father once had a brother that was killed. The narrator's mother makes him promise to always hold on to his brother and look out for him, even when they disagree. She says "You may not be able to to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let him know you's there." His mother's advice suggests that he should be responsible for being a good brother, as well as a friend or someone who will provide Sonny with love and support. 

     The narrator and his brother don't interact again until after the death of their mother, and he is surprised to see that Sonny is a grown up. Sonny confesses his dream of being a musician, and the narrator disregards his future plans because he doesn't think they are good enough. Sonny skips school and runs away to go into the navy. The brothers meet in New York after Sonny returns and get into an argument that leaves them dead to each other. The narrator leaves saying that Sonny will need him someday. 

      When Sonny is released from prison after his arrest, he lives with his brother for a few weeks and the narrator starts to connect more with his brother. The brothers talk about struggle and suffering together, both adding their insight. "But nobody just takes it, Sonny cried, That's what I'm telling you. Everybody tries not to. You're just hung up on the way some people try- its not your way!" Sonny takes the narrator to a club to hear him play, and the narrator sees a whole different side to his brother. The narrator sees Sonny's struggle and pain while he plays his song, and starts to understand the way that music tells the musicians personal story and gives others a chance to really "hear" it.

      I personally loved this story, and I think that it brings to light the suffering and struggle that comes with drug addiction and how it impacts family members. It also uses time as a motif, going back and forth between the past and the present and contrasting how things are different at different points in life. The importance of supporting your family and being there can really make the difference, and realizing and respecting differences can teach you things that you didn't know before. I also loved that Baldwin connected listening and hearing on an emotional level through music to stir up feeling and emotions in the reader. Overall great read!

Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

Babylon Revisited- F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitgerald starts off the story as Charlie comes back to Paris to see his daughter. The city is vastly different from what he remembers it being like. The once full and lively streets are empty and quiet. Americans that used to overcrowd this area are nowhere to be found, and nearly all people in the area are from Paris. Charlie and his wife came over from America to party and they spent their newly acquired fortune until it bottomed out after the stock market crash in 1929. Charlie’s daughter Honoria lives with her aunt and uncle, and there is pliable tension between them and Charlie. We later learn that after the death of her mother Helen, Honoria was sent to live with them because Charlie was recovering from alcohol addiction in a sanatorium.  He is sober now and wants his daughter to be a part of his life, and he struggles to gain the trust of her aunt and uncle.

            Charlie’s past haunts him in this short story, and I think that in some way readers can relate to him and how their past influences their present and future.  Charlie views the city differently when he visits from when he lived there. He thinks to himself, “I spoiled this city for myself. I didn’t realize it, but the days came along one after another and then two years were gone, and everything was gone, and I was gone.” (Fitzgerald 1146) This thought is heart breaking, but also very true. He got caught up in the parties, drinking, drugs, and shenanigans, and before he knew it his marriage was falling apart and he was left with no money. His life is the perfect example of the saying you “don’t know what you’ve got till its gone.

Fitzgerald also plays with the theme of trust, which is something that Charlie must fight to regain from his late wife’s sister and husband.  He must regain their respect and prove that he is a fit father for Honoria in order to start a new life with her.  Marion has issues forgiving Charlie and she has little trust in him after seeing how he locked Helen out in the cold snow when their marriage was on the rocks. After some debate with Marian and Lincoln, it seems as if Charlie will be able to take Honoria to Prague with him. In the end of the story, Charlie’s past haunts him yet again when “old friends” show up drunk looking for a drink at Marian and Lincoln’s home. Charlie had nothing to do with their appearance, but they upset Marian and Charlie must return back to his hotel alone. When all hope seems to be gone, Charlie sits at the bar, devastated from getting his hopes up, but he manages to only have one drink. He has hope for the future, and it leaves the reader with a sliver of hope for Charlie and Honoria.

The Hairy Ape- Eugene O'Neil

The Hairy Ape by Eugene O' Neil

Eugene O'Neil's play The Hairy Ape is one that plays upon class differences and the social divide between the upper class and the working class. In the first few scenes of his work, O'Neil sets the stage describing Yank and the other workers as dirty, half-dressed, strong, and uneducated laborers. Yank stands taller than the others, and he is a man of steel and raw power. Mildred is portrayed as a fragile, delicate,  and clean young woman dressed in white. She lounges on the ship deck with her aunt fighting about her service work and how she wishes to help and connect with the poor. Her elitist aunt replies with "After exhausting the morbid thrills of social service work on New York's East Side- how they must have hated you, by the way, the poor that you made so much poorer in their own eyes!-you are now bent on making your slumming international." (pg 1062-63)

Mildred decides to go under the ship to see the men work, and when she goes down she decides to leave on her white dress. While Yank yells and curses at the whistle blower, Mildred stands horrified in the work room until she nearly faints and is carried away. She says "Take me away! Oh, the filthy beast!" (pg 1067) Yank thought at first that Mildred was a ghost, but he feels insulted, and her comment really makes him "Tink" about who he is and he has somewhat of an identity crisis. O'Neil contrasts the upper class and working class (especially in scene 3) with the stark contrast seen between the artificial Mildred and the animalistic Yank. She dresses in stark white while he is covered head to toe in black coal dust.

Yank wants revenge on Mildred, and he starts a fight with upperclassmen in New York and lands himself in prison. He is confused at first and thinks that he is at the zoo. His fellow inmates tease him but try and tell him that he is in jail. Yanks situation is ironic because he is caged in by what used to be his element: steel. He is infuriated when he also realizes that Mildred's father is a steel tycoon and he gets angry and attempts to escape from prison. He is stopped by guards, but is later released. He is uneducated and lost, and when he asks a man where to go the man answers: "to hell." Yank wanders to the zoo and relates to an ape in his cage, eventually setting him free. The ape kills Yank and puts him into his cage. I think that O'Neil had a purpose ending the play in this way, showing how Yank deteriorated mentally and how the one thing that used to inspire him caged him in the end.

Carl Sandburg’s “Chicago”

Carl Sandburg wrote his most famous poem “Chicago” in 1916 while working for the Chicago Daily News. In the poem, Sandburg transforms the city of Chicago into a living, breathing human being. Through his use of personification he reveals the characteristics and qualities that the city holds: whether good or bad. Sandburg uses many other literary techniques, one in particular being counter arguments. First he reveals the bad qualities that Chicago possesses. “They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.” (6) This line shows the evil and corruption of innocence and the temptation that lies in the city. 

Opposing the evil that Sandburg reveals, he goes on to show the redeemable qualities that Chicago holds. “Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and course and strong and cunning” (10) Sandburg is clear that Chicago acts as a live human being. It is in his way of transforming the city into a person that Sandburg captures the audience, turning Chicago into man.

  Sandburg also uses many similes to show connections and similarities between people and Chicago. “Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness” (12)  His style is particularly powerful and is evident in his use of rhythm in both the beginning of the poem and towards the end. He compares Chicago to the hard working common men that work in its city to show the vigor and energy that it encompasses. 

Edgar Lee Masters- Carl Hamblin

Carl Hamblin starts off with the presumably dead narrator explaining that he was tarred and feathered for wrecking the reputation of the Spoon River Clarion by publishing a story on the day that four anarchists were hanged in Chicago. The short work introduces a beautiful woman standing on a marble temple holding a sword in one hand and a scale in the other. Though she has bandaged eyes, she strikes at people in the crowd, and those that get away from her throw gold coins onto the scale. A man in a black gown reads a manuscript saying "She is no respector of persons" while a crowd member rips the bandage from her eyes. The crowd sees that her eyes are oozing with a white mucus and that her eyelashes are all gone and they understand why she keeps her eyes covered.

Masters uses allegory to represent justice, or injustice, through the beautiful woman. The scale that she holds is often used to represent fair, weighed judgement or balance. The sword symbolizes punishment or enforcement of the law. The fact that she is blind can be seen as something positive, implying that justice is equal for all and blinded from bias. As the story progresses, however, we see that she covers her eyes because they are infected and sick, which symbolizes corruption and evil in the judicial system. "In her right hand she held a scale; Into the scale pieces of gold were tossed by those who dodged the strokes of the sword." The woman manages to avoid striking those who have gold to add to her scale. Those that have money seem to get away without any harm. It seems also that the woman seems to strike on those who are the weakest in society: "She was brandishing the sword, sometimes striking a child, again a laborer, again a slinking woman, again a lunatic." I think that Masters is trying to send out a message stating that though the judicial system's facade seems fair and equal, behind the mask lies corruption and evil.

Roman Fever by Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton's Roman Fever begins by introducing two middle aged widowed women, named Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley, that are accompanying their daughters on a tour of Rome. The women sit at a restaurant overlooking the city and both analyze and scrutinize the other as they sit in silence and reminisce on the time they spent in Rome when they were younger.

The two friends remember together of their mother's pleas to keep them in at night in fear of them catching the "Roman Fever", which Mrs. Ansley ended up contracting, and she was ill for many months. Mrs. Slade pries Mrs. Ansley with questions and asks her how she caught the fever, because she secretly knows why. Without any confessions from Mrs. Ansley, Mrs. Slade cracks and tells Mrs. Ansley that she had written the letter inviting her to the Colosseum, pretending to be  her fiance Delphin. Mrs. Ansley, however reveals that Delphin did in fact meet her that night, and Mrs. Slade is caught off guard as she brags that it does not matter to her because Delphin was her husband for 25 years. Just when the reader thinks that the story is over, Mrs. Ansley then reveals that she had Barbara as a result of her night at the Colosseum with Delphin.

I found this story very entertaining, especially with the play on women and competition in friendships. Even though Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley are middle-aged and widowed, they still hold grudges and envious thoughts towards the other. They can no longer compete for a man, so they compare their daughters. Both women know in their hearts that they have betrayed their friend, but it is not until the end of the story that we realize they have both been stabbing each other in the back. I think that the ending of this story is necessary for the whole story to work together, and I love Wharton's use of Mrs. Ansley's illness of Roman Fever as a coverup for her illegitimate pregnancy.