Milkman growing up?

Song of Solomon follows Milkman from birth to when he is 31. Recently in class, we talked about whether or not Milkman's fight in Chapter 11 with Saul was an example of Milkman improving or regressing. This was very similar to Milkman standing up to his father in Chapter 3, it is unclear whether or not Milkman is really growing as a character. Compared to other protagonists in other novels, Milkman remains pretty stagnant. There are plenty of moments when Milkman is pretty mature age-wise, yet his reactions and situation resembles that of an adolescent. In fact, if Milkman's age hadn't been explicitly stated that Milkman was no longer a teenager, I wouldn't have realized that this novel encompassed so much of his life because of the lack of growth in part 1.

Qualities such as commitment and being independent are things that Milkman lacked greatly throughout the novel. From his childhood he was always taken care of. His sisters picked up after him, and he never sees things as they really are. His executive decisions are next to none, the only one being when he hit Macon Jr. Guitar also starts to get annoyed with Milkman's disregard for the racist issues around him. These all add to the adolescent feeling that Milkman gives out in part 1.

The first time that Milkman makes a serious decision is when he decides to leave his hometown in search of some answers about his family and the cave that occurs at the start of part 2. Even Guitar is surprised that Milkman has decided to do something on his own. This journey proves to help Guitar grow up and mature (although a good 15 years late). Eventually Milkman learns how to actually interact with people other than those that acted just like him. This journey physically and mentally changed Milkman greatly.

However, when Milkman picks the unnecessary fight with Saul in Chapter 11, I don't believe that was a huge step forward. While he was starting to have his own thoughts, these thoughts didn't really benefit him for the better, or make him more mature. The biggest difference from the beginning of the novel to the end is that he became more adult-like, however picking a fight with Saul over some pretty trivial affairs isn't really a step in the right direction in my opinion.

It wasn't until the second part that Milkman seemed to being making executive decisions, his final one being attacking Guitar after Guitar shot and killed Pilate. This is probably the most decisive Milkman has been, making the decision to fight Guitar, even though Guitar had the advantage of being armed, Milkman musters up the courage to charge at Guitar. 

Sincere or Dishonest?

In part two of Wide Sargasso Sea Antoinette's husband, Mr. Rochester takes on the majority of the narration, and throughout the entire section, he realizes that something isn't quite right. Mr. Rochester always notices that the maids look like they are secretly laughing at him behind his back and that theres something about Antoinette that he doesn't know. And there is always a strong theme of alienation between Antoinette and Rochester, between Antoinette and the towns people, and between Rochester and the towns people. The only person that was willing to talk to Rochester about this issue was Daniel Cosway, supposedly Antoinette's half-brother, who wrote Rochester a letter that basically confirmed all of Rochester's fears about his marriage to Antoinette and what she's been hiding, and eventually Rochester goes to meet Daniel after he threatens Rochester.

The first letter that Daniel seemed sincere at first. It was a nice gesture because he was the only person that was finally letting Rochester know that there was actually something going on, but at the same time, I don't think Daniel's intentions were the most sincere. It almost seems like he was getting revenge on his father (Alexander Cosway) by messing with Antoinette's life. "You ask what proof I have and why I mix myself up with your affairs. I will answer. I am your wife's brother by another lady, half-way house as we say. Her father and mine was a shameless man and of all his illegitimates I am the most unfortunate and poverty stricken" (96). Daniel seems to really dislike his father, and the fact that he was the "most unfortunate" of the off-spring probably makes him even more jealous of the rest. While this probably isn't the only reason, I think it might be a important part. It was also stated that Alexander Cosway had many illegitimate children, but none of them seem to make an appearance into Antoinette's life.

Then after Rochester doesn't respond, Daniel continues to pursue this issue. In my opinion, if he had sincere intentions of just letting Rochester know what was going on, the first letter would've been more than enough. Rochester learned from the first letter that Antoinette had a mother that went mad. Then Daniel begins to threaten Rochester in the second letter, and this is where I became even more convinced that he had a more malicious intent. "You want me to come to your house and bowl out your business before everybody?" (119). This threat gets Rochester to go to Daniel's house, and after Daniel vehemently tells Rochester about how he was rejected by his father and about Antoinette's past, he urges Rochester to ask Antoinette about herself. "Ask her and she tell you. But not everything I think" (125). Upon Rochester leaving, Daniel can already tell that Rochester sort of believes him, in the sense  that he really thinks that he should be wary of his wife now. Immediately after Daniel sees this, he demands 500 pounds, which to Daniel is his life. This transition from finishing his deed to demanding money can be seen as Daniel knowing that he's thoroughly convinced Rochester, and now he wants to get some gain out of this. It seems to me like he's let Rochester know what information he should be afraid of getting out, and used it as a threat to get money. However, Daniel doesn't ever get the money, and he doesn't seem to cause much problem after that, which once again makes me question his intent. 

Meursault feels hot

The sun and also the temperature/weather itself have been a constant yet underlying issue that seems to really affect Meursault. Immediately at the beginning of the novel, Meursault complains about the heat and the sun during Maman's  funeral. "The glare from the sun was unbearable" (16). While I was first reading the novel, I didn't think too much about this. Yeah ok, he's bothered by the sun. But while continuing to read, I noticed this theme coming up multiple times. And most importantly the reason he shot the Arab on the beach was because the sun was in his eyes.

I think the sun and the weather's impact on Meursault is a big example of how he really uses impulses to determine what he will do. Both during and after the funeral for Maman, Meursault really wants to go to bed, and thats really the only thing on his mind. This seems to be a result of the burning sun. "The room was filled with beautiful late-afternoon sunlight. Two hornets were buzzing against the glass roof. I could feel myself getting sleepy" (7). To some extent getting tired in a warm room is understandable, but knowing that Meursault is probably the least emotional character we've encountered, the affect the sun has on him is pretty huge.

Looking to the passage where Meursault kills the Arab, we can see once again where the sun plays a role in Meursault's actions, however now there are much bigger consequences. "It was this burning, which I couldn't stand anymore, that made me move forward. I knew that it was stupid, that I wouldn't be able to get the sun off of me by stepping forward" (59). That's when the Arab draws the knife. "The light shot off the steel and it was like a long flashing blade cutting at my forehead" (59). To Meursault, the sun basically caused the murder, which he also states during his trial. This is what makes figuring out Meursault's actions and reasons so confusing, because even though I knew that he was extremely passive and basically did what he felt like doing, I didn't expect something as natural as the sun in his eyes to cause him to pull the trigger. However, this just further enforces Meursault's impulsive actions that he basically bases on his unrestrained passions. While there might be another underlying reason that Meursault kills the Arab, to him it was only "because of the sun" (103).

*Today during the panel presentation in class, we touched on whether or not the sun was some higher authority that made Meursault do all these things. While I don't think the sun had any intent at all, I do think it exemplified Meursault's behavior to act in the present.

Kafka and Murakami

Last year I read a book called Kafka on the Shore, written by Haruki Murakami. I immediately like his style of writing, and it wasn't until I started reading Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis this year that I realized the direct connection (other than the obvious reference to Franz Kafka in the title): dream-like. If you haven't heard of or read any of Murakami's books, he is a Japanese writer (so his books are also all translated) who writes about crazy dream like worlds, and he was recognized with the Franz Kafka Award in 2006. So obviously you can guess that his books are probably pretty similar to Franz Kafka's in its ability to create these dream-like situations and the weird logic. Kafka on the Shore was filled with creepy men who killed cats, talking cats, and a 15 year old's (he calls himself Kafka) journey running away from home. All in which time seems to be irrelevant. This description of the book definitely seems a lot more mystical than The Metamorphosis, who's plot seems at first glance pretty realistic with the change of one single variable (that Gregor became a bug) rather than a bunch of different variables. However, I found one really interesting thing about these two stories.

We touched on in class recently, that the end of The Metamorphosis was sort of like a reverse metamorphosis. In the last line of the novel, Grete (Gregor's sister) "lifted herself up and stretched her young body (110)." Which shows the family undergoing their own metamorphosis, but in the opposite sense that Gregor underwent. They were finally getting to actually live their lives, and riding themselves of the alienation that Gregor caused them. I'm sure plenty of people would love to see a continuation of The Metamorphosis in this sense or another story where a bug wakes up as a human. Which is the way Murakami writes his novel.

In Murakami's novel, he really addresses this situation. Murakami takes the idea of a bug waking up as a human rather than the other way around, although much more symbolically. Kafka (the character in Kafka on the Shore) basically interacts with everything as if he's just been made into a human and in some way's there's the "clean background" trick that Baker uses in The Mezzanine. But it's not that easy to spot, because the main character doesn't physically change from bug to human, he is discovering so much that could be tied with this reverse metamorphosis. 

It was really interesting to read Kafka after reading Kafka on the Shore, and if anyone really enjoyed Kafka, I would highly recommend Haruki Murakami books.

Brett and Jake's Relationship

Towards the beginning of reading The Sun Also Rises, we established that this novel could be seen as a sort of unrequited love. However, Brett and Jake's relationship seems pretty interesting and different from what I usually thought. Unlike the normal star crossed lovers, Brett and Jake actually do spend quite a lot of time together. And really the only thing that stops them from being together is Jake's war wound. 

Throughout the novel, we see Jake attempting to forget about Brett and his war wound. He really enjoys the company of Bill, because Bill's dramatic demeanor really helps Jake forget about other things. In addition, Jakes time spent in Spain away from Brett (both when he first gets there and afterwards when he is there alone) is probably the most relaxing part of the book. Also seen towards the beginning of the novel, Jake states "It is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime, but at night it is another thing" (42). This shows that he is constantly focusing on something else and distracting himself during the day so he doesn't have any opportunity to think about Brett. 

Many times in the novel Brett also confesses her love to Jake. However, on the outside, she seems like she doesn't actually love Jake and is simply using him. For example, when Brett asked Jake if he loved her and then proceeded to confess her sudden love for another man. I believe that is her way of forgetting about her love for Jake, by constantly engaging herself in trivial affairs. While I don't think that is the only reason she does this, I think that is an important factor in her reasons. In the same way that Jake distracts himself, Brett does the same. 

We also find that throughout the novel whenever Brett is in trouble she will always ask for Jake. This might seem like another time that Brett is taking advantage of Jake, however she seems genuinely happy around him. And because both Brett and Jake seemed to have already accepted their fate, their relationship can have this honesty that might seem exploitative to others. Nothing is stopping them from spending time together, so their love is constantly being re-sparked, however, I think over time, this love isn't as intense as when they first met. And in some ways, their love has transformed into a very valuable friendship. Putting their relationship into words is incredibly complex with all their history, circumstances and culture. 

The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway

While watching The Hours, my brain immediately began linking the characters in the movie to characters in the book. In many characters in The Hours I noticed many aspects from each character in Mrs. Dalloway. For example, within Richard, I could identify the obvious connections with Septimus (the suicide and his "insane" attitude), but also with Peter (his history with Clarissa) and Virginia Woolf herself. While there were minor differences in details such as Clarissa being married to Sally rather than Richard, I found the most shocking difference to me was the tone of The Hours versus Mrs. Dalloway. In the novel, Clarissa seemed reminiscing on that particular day, but she didn't seem sad. She was merely thinking about the past how different her life might've ended up, and throughout her day she went through ups and downs. However, in The Hours, by incorporating Virginia Woolf's own experiences, I think the movie took a more obvious look at the meaninglessness of life (also a theme of Mrs. Dalloway and portrayed their lives in a more lonely way.

One big aspect that the movie used to develop this more bleak look at life was through the suicidal thoughts of more than just one character. In the novel, the only character that has a huge yearning for death was Septimus, and at the end Clarissa. However, in the movie, Richard, his mother Laura, and Virginia Woolf all either committed suicide or came very close. I think that fact that the three plots inside of The Hours were mainly connected by this fact really tied in the notion of the meaninglessness of life, and showed how certain people started to feel alienated by everyone around them because they just couldn't bear to be alone in the world. Not alone in the physical sense (because Virginia, Laura, and Richard all had someone who really loved them), but that no one understood them. The Hours really made me think about this and I think that fact that I knew a background of both Woolf and the novel, made me really enjoy the movie. 

Holmes vs Bradshaw

While reading Mrs. Dalloway, I found the two doctors very interesting. The two doctors in Mrs. Dalloway both represent two aspects of society. On one hand Holmes clearly represented the evil in humanity while Bradshaw clearly represented the rich upper class oppression, as perceived by Septimus. However, both Dr. Holmes and Sir Bradshaw had basically the same effect on Septimus.

Dr. Holmes began with saying that there was nothing wrong with Septimus, while there clearly was. Even though the idea of shell-shock was relatively new during the 1920s, Holmes simply told Septimus' wife, Lucrezia, that he needed to become a bit more manly. I think that Holmes' views represented the rest of societies views on this matter (the war veterans returning and the veterans unseen damage). In fact, in the end, Holmes was the person who ultimately pushed Septimus to the edge and Septimus jumped out of the window because he felt overcome with pressure from what "they" wanted. In this case, I think that "they" mainly refers to Holmes who as a whole represents the evil of human nature, however Bradshaw was also a big factor in this.

Sir William Bradshaw acknowledged that there was in fact something wrong with Septimus, but he used the common "medicine" at that time, by sending Septimus to an oppressive home in the country to fix him. Woolf herself also suffered from these facilities, and in Mrs. Dalloway she really critiques this in Septimus' reaction and view on Bradshaw. For example, Septimus states that "Sir Bradshaw was not a nice man" (156), and Septimus' was distraught when he learned that he would be separated from his wife. However, Sir Bradshaw is different from Dr. Holmes in that he has a much higher status, and his views were more scientific in comparison.

Then, I noticed while looking over the book that while Septimus was first meeting with Bradshaw, Woolf stated "Once you fall, Septimus repeated to himself, human nature is on you. Holmes and Bradshaw are on you" (155). This really shows that both Holmes and Bradshaw represent a big part of British society at that time, and both of these parts are the groups bent on repressing anything that deviated from what they thought was normal.