Representing America - American Literature AP - Blog

New Age Grapes

I do really enjoy John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and so far I have been completely on board with all of its intricate themes and unique literary styles. But until recently the one thing I haven't been able to wrap my head around --and ironically the one thing Mr. Heidkamp seems to be most convinced of-- is this book's connection to our day and age. Sure i get how the banks destroyed the farmers' lives and how today the "little guy" still seems to get pushed down, but the book was a little slow at giving me a strikingly personal example of how it carries through the ages... until page 321.

This page is the point in the book where Ma (Mrs. Joad) has just cursed out Lisbeth Sandry, the overzealous, Christian woman who scares Rosasharn. The camp manager comes over to the place of the conflict and gets rid of the religious intruder. He then proceeds to tell Ma that Sandry was an unfortunate nuisance to the camp but that she won't be bothering Ma anymore on account that she is a "sinner." Ma then says "Well, I am." and the manager says "Sure. Everybody is, but not the way she means." This line in particular is what made the connection to today in my mind. This was the trigger because it shows how whatever society looked like on the surface (pious, clean, ect.), the people really knew better. But even so, it didn't bother them, which is much like today. America now is majorly made up of good but not perfect people who don't let their flaws control them, and it has a minority of those who desperately try to rid it of "sin."

Stick to your Roots

In John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, he continuously returns to the ideas that tradition is important and that change is dangerous.

The Joads seemed to be a fairly prosperous family when they were carrying out their business as they had for years. They had food, money, work, a home, and a dependable family structure. This all begins to disintegrate when things changed. Their land was taken by banks that thought it would be more profitable to use newly invented tractors to work the land. Soon after the Joads were forced to leave, and they subsequently lost their home and work. After just a short while on the road, the family structure began to erode as they lost family members, some to death and some who simply left. After even longer on the road, they started to run out of both money and food.

Even when the Joads themselves tried to change and find a new life in California, they suffered, and all because they were forced to change and abandon their roots.

Shedding Light On Twilight

Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series has been best selling and blockbusting around the world for more than five years, appealing mostly to young girls. At the time of its release, my sister and some of my friends were included in the tidal wave with which it swept the nation. For a while I just aimlessly complained about it with the other tween boys, all of us secretly jealous that some book character could be more entertaining to the girls than we could. Then I took it upon myself to actually read this newly sworn enemy, and found it quite bearable. It was your average love story that everyone inwardly enjoys. But it hardly blew me away, so I left the series to its own devices until my sister brought home one of the movies a few years later. It was then that I began to realize what a disturbed light Twilight really cast on gender.

The first time I read the book, the main character Bella seemed pretty normal. Just a small town girl living in a lonely world. Nothing stood out about her or made it easy to categorize her as one of the usual female stereotypes (nurturer, seductress, ect.). Then I realized she belonged to much more original category-- the damsel in distress. She is a shy girl who moves to the rainy town of Forks with her father because of a divorce. Soon after her arrival, she is almost squished by a car, but the "sexy" vampire Edward saves her life. This begins a romance between the two that I originally viewed as cute and or sweet. But after rereading the first book, I realized just how obsessed Bella becomes with Edwards. Since the book is the first person account of Bella, we know her thoughts, and almost ever thing that goes through her head has to do with Edward, before they even kiss. By the ninth chapter she reveals that she is "unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him." Also, just the fact that she is a human in a world of vampires and werewolves, makes her much weaker than the men, such as Edward, who continually need to protect and save her from various perils. Bella even almost kills herself several times because it will bring her closer to Edward. These factors combine to make an incredibly dependant female character and reinforce the patriarchal structure of society.

Up next on the Twilight naughty-list is the rampant shirtlessness of young men. Throughout the movies, but the later ones especially, Jacob Black (the werewolf) is continuously topless. Apparently the directors thought his toned body would make for his pitiful acting skills. Even Edward ends up shirtless by the end of the second movie (there are rumors that he had muscles airbrushed on so he would look more attractive) while Bella is often found in sweatshirts. These facts are a twist on the usual gaze and objectification of people, because in this case it is men who portrayed as sexual commodities. Even though that may seem like a victory for feminism, in actually it is just another instance of inequality, this time towards men.

Last, and most important, is how these troubling ideas are planted in the minds of such a vulnerable audience: the tweens. During those years of life, boys and girls no longer want to look to their parents or teachers for role models, they want to look to the cool characters in the media they greedily wolf down. America cannot count on its next generation if the role models for every 12 year old girl teach her to be helpless and just wait for the perfect guy to scoop her up. And in the reverse of the misogynistic social norm, women should not be taught that men can just be sexual objects or eye candy.

Although Twilight does not fit in with most other socially hurtful aspects of American culture, it does leave a significant and new amount of destruction in its path. Feminism could suffer a very heavy blow if these ideas are contually allowed into our society.

 (Notice the bare chests and how helpess Bella is.. and this is just the trailer!)

Cyber Cold War

We all knew what we were getting into when our entire web of social lives went online with sites like Facebook. Everyone figured that the crude and sexist ideas would eventually make it up there next to our "Spring Break Pictures '08!" and an article on fbomb adresses this growing epidemic.

The article in question brings up facebook groups such as "Punch a Slut Day" which it says are supporting violence and hate towards women. I certainly do not support either of those, but I fail to see how this is a way of supporting either of those. First of all, not only women are considered sluts. Second, the article talks about how it can't just be considered a joke. I don't see why not. Just because you think physical comedy or something along those lines is funny, it does not mean you think abusing women is a good thing. And third, the idea that this is "violent" is blown out of proportion because someone can be punched without actually hurting them (as in, in a playful way).

Though I was pleased with the end of the post that had an MLK ring to it. It advises that people who were offended by the group should not retaliate in the same way, but rather they should find peaceful means of protest.

Louder Than an F-Bomb

It is impossible to persuade someone who already agrees with you.  Persuading the disbelievers is the only way to advance your ideas.

With respect to the F-Bomb blog, the female writers have fascinating thoughts but they speak to the wrong people.  I am sure that men read this blog, and maybe, on occasion, some chauvinist stumbles upon the website.  I do believe, however, that the majority of people visiting the F-Bomb already support the feminist movement.  

Women need to progress their ideas through the internet, but creating a website that women read, women write on, and women support, does not make enough noise.  Women clearly want equality for women and men.  The only problem is that many men don't.  Therefore, now that women are on board the modern feminist movement, the movement cannot remain exclusively female.  

Rather than post a blog entry on the F-Bomb (which can still be somewhat useful), why not craft and submit a column to The New York Times?  In this morning's paper, The New York Times  featured an article entitled "Girls and Boys Together".  Women should shoot for publishing articles like this.  Millions of people could read about the feminist movement every day if women moved from the blog to the mainstream media.

While sharing ideas on a blog provides a great way to generate thoughts, women need to take a step towards expanding their audience to the people they actually need to convince.

Finding Your Inner Girl

Our recent essay on the treatment of women for once had a seemingly meaningful impact on me. Usually when feminism is brought up, it seems to be some one yelling at my gender for crossing one too many very faintly drawn lines.

But somewhere in really getting introspective on this topic, i realized how they have a point. Popular culture is ripe with sexist ideas that are ingrained into the minds of our increasingly technology-oriented population by television and internet. On a daily basis I witness women being forced into certain social roles while men enjoy a less rigid position in society.

Despite how unacceptable some of this inequality is, there still remains a never ending stream of women willing to be the receivers of those inequalities. It is possible that this is just another hollywood trick, but many women appear to enjoy the attention and popularity that accompany these setbacks. So I think the common feminist position that women are constantly second class citizens does have backing. But not all those who seem to be degraded are stuck in sexism's dismal clutches without the comfort of popular perks.

Ashes to Ashes

It took me through the end of The Great Gatsby to fully understand the first two pages of the second chapter (pages 23-24). This section is the point in which we meet Dr. T. J. Eckleburg for the first time, but we don't really find out until the end what the point of this introduction is. Once we determine that Eckleburg has silently watched all the sinful acts and climactic portions of the story, it becomes apparent that he is meant to symbolize God and his ever-watchful eyes.

Once we understand his purpose, we can understand how a simple billboard can communicate human trends. As the first sentence of chapter 2 says, all of the transportation routes shy away from the ash heaps where Eckleburg is located. This shows how people don't necessarily try to do good in the eyes of God as much as they try to simply avoid his gaze.

Soon after on the next page, the book mentions a draw bridge that sometimes forces people remain in "God's" line of sight (near the ash heaps and Eckleburg). The raised bridge blocking them from escaping the dismal view sybolizes how sometimes people need to accept that God is watching them and make riteous decisions because of it.

Man on Mars: A Dream

Man on Mars

Most fear the dark, the cold, the

Empty.

I long for the historic combination.

 

The dedication must be true,

For no training can ensure the strong survive

In a place so far from the protections I've come to depend on.

 

The numbers must be precisely faithful,

As the clever odds root through my calculations

To find any error that might alter the course, towards hopelessness.

 

The tools must be faultless,

Able to support the delicate burden of humanity

So far from my anxious home.

 

The connections must be severed,

For the human mind has a peculiar obligation

To follow the heart when that which is loved, is lost.

 

The fate must be accepted,

That my goodbyes are truly final

And the last sight I ever see will be one that none have seen before.

 

Most dread the lifetime of drifting nothingness

Only to arrive in a world of red.

I dream of it every night.

Let's Recap

The Crucible was this year's literature that i connected best with. Admittedly this is because i could only stand to read most of the other books only long enough to finish each one. Holden was a jerky prima donna and although i liked Hester, The Scarlet Letter was just a little too hard to read for it to be enjoyable. I respected and felt bad for Frederick Douglass but I've heard so many stories similar to his that it was not the most intersting to me.

I had the easiest time relating to the characters in The Crucible. I think it may have been because it was written as a play, so the author was forced to really capture the human elements of the characters in order to enable them to be portrayed by actors. In the other books, it was usually the main characters that were annoying or helpless. In Arthur Miller's play, he makes the side characters annoying so the reader can sympathize with the main characte- in this case John Proctor- and further enjoy the story because he or she doesn't have to listen to a protagonist complain throughout every chapter. Also, without any excess descriptions so directors can set up the play in their own ways, Miller allowed me to imagine my own details which i prefered to the Nathaniel Hawthorne's ridiculous amount of descriptions.

The Colbert Report: Saving America From America

Steven Colbert, being a comedian, his first priority is probably just that of making people laugh. But a close second seems to be a will to perfect America. With our country being the butt of the majority of his jokes, he finds funny ways to solve it's most pressing issues. One of the ways he does this is by plain ridicule. America seems to generate ridiculous politics by the boatload and Colbert is one of the only people who points it out. His satire provides the popular mode of communicating our problems that the masses need: hilarity. It allows for ideas of reform to be spread in a way that doesn't add stress to our already overstressed existence. And considering the weight of "stress in America," Colbert has probably already made fun of it, and in doing so, made us laugh and reduced our national stress levels.

Race, Racism, and Reason

Race is a social construct, as in humans created it. But humans naturally group things together in order to make information easier to process. For instance, this paragraph is a grouping together of reasons for the invention of races. This setup makes it easier to understand my point than if i put random sentences about race in different places, making my arguments group-less. There is nothing wrong with identifying oneself with others, it is simply a defense mechanism that is used to make the person feel more comfortable. Countries are often considered acceptable boundaries for races, and countries are usually formed on the basis that a group of people has similar ideas that were different from the ideas of people in other countries. According to this fact, race is also a way to better identify oneself with certain ideas he or she believes in.

Racism has similar roots. Naturally, people think that they are the most correct, and anyone else who thinks something different is just not as correct. This self-elevation, coupled with the idea that countries are people with similar ideas and form basic types of races, means that each country thinks it is better than the next. Another way of saying it is that each race may think that it is better than other races. The superiority associated with racism could also have been an early form of protection, used to keep one's country safe by making its citizens wary of dangerous outsiders.

a Romantic romance

The romance between Hester Prynne and Author Dimmesdale is a lonely source of Romance in a strictly Puritan society. But despite its singularity, it creates a great deal of Romance.

The love that Hester and Dimmesdale feel for each other promotes very strong emotions between the two characters. Their love also helps them appreciate little things such as the melancholy passion they shared while just sitting together in the peace of the forest. The appreciation of the solitude they were given by the forest also makes them more Romantic because they understand the importance of nature. Finally, they develop a freedom from society because they plan to run away from the chains of tradition. Hester in particular embraces this idea because she comments on the backward-ness of the a male-dominated world.

Although it is Hester and Dimmesdale who initiated the relationship, Pearl may be the greatest Romantic consequence. She is incredibly in tune with nature and easily amused by simple pleasures. She also seems prone to strong, unpredictable emotions and has an intense imagination. All these factors coupled with the lack of a "normal" upbringing made Pearl even more alienated and wild than the Indians and sailors who visited the small New England town.

She had it commin'..

 Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter was punished with cruelty no doubt, but in some ways she only had herself to blame. Yes she was terribly lonely and more or less abandoned by her husband in a new country before she committed her crime, but a grown woman, even in the seventeenth century, would have known that if she had sex that she would get pregnant. And she could have then predicted that people would notice when her midsection began to grow and certainly when she had a baby in her arms.She was also a devout Puritan and should have known how wrong it was to cheat on your spouse in the eyes of the church.

In a similar vain, the normal punishment was death for a sin of this nature. So in fact, although Hester is put through a terrible ordeal by just leaving her home, she is technically getting let off easy.

The father of the child does get off easiest at least through chapter nine, but this doesn't mean Hester deserves much more sympathy. She does have to go through the ordeal alone, but she is the one choosing to stay and be punished. She names her daughter Pearl because of everything the baby cost her which makes it seem as though Hester is not just a faithful Puritan serving her sentence. She is so far ignorant in staying for the man who will not reveal himself so that he may openly be with her.

Catcher In The Rye: Weak Sauce But A Zestier Finish

Without establishing an obvious plot line or even a likeable character, Catcher in the Rye did not provide a very satisfying read, certainly to begin with. The majority of the book was listening to Holden rant, complain, and transition into every random idea from suitcases to ducks. It felt like a chore to read almost the entire novel, save two parts where i experienced any feelings other than boredom and annoyance. The first situation was when Maurice came back to visit Holden in his hotel room and at that point I felt a bit of fear and pity for the main character, only because i assumed the pimp would beat him to a pulp and leave him for dead. The second instance in which i emotionally connected with the story was when Holden was spending time and interacting with his little sister because I have a little sister and the descriptions of their relationship accurately reminded me of my own.

Although the book did a fantastic job of hiding any personable characteristics of Holden, by the end, a few did manage to leak out. The part where he begins to tell Phoebe what interests him and what he wants to do tell us that Holden maybe had some decency.  His ideas of people were truly convoluted but he did technically want to save them or make them better, as can be pulled from his idea about catching the bodies that would otherwise fall from a cliff. His caring is also hinted at when he is upset by the "f*ck you" signs around New York City, all in all finally adding an enjoyable element to Catcher In The Rye.