STEREOTYPING

Living my whole life in a situation where Colombia was thought to be a country less important than others like the US, I can completely relate to what Chimamanda claims in her story. Of course in a lower degree to what happened to her, I can see how when other people think of Colombia, they look at Hollywood’s version of it; being bombed, drowned in poverty and a lot of drugs. And the thing that impacted me about Chimamanda´s story is when she says that stereotypes are not a fake image of a society, they´re just very incomplete stories of what that society is really like. And that the sad part of it all is that after a stereotype is introduced and repeated a couple of time, it becomes the identity of a society. Like for example the image of a society like Mexico seen as a dry country filled with rebels, bad insurance and a large border dividing it to the United States. But when someone like Chimamanda visits Mexico for the first time, she feels shame in what image she thought she would have to encounter, because the fact is Mexico is a very beautiful country with amazing people and experiences. It´s just that the stereotype has completely drowned it into being what it is in a large part of society’s minds. 

All that Can be Said Without Truly Saying Anything

One thing I have learned during the many years I’ve spent on art is that there is a big thing most people miss when trying to make something perfect. It´s a simple mistake commonly seen in amateurs; looking at the perfection of the overall picture. The problem is that people become obsessed with detail but don´t really focus on what´s not mentioned in a story.  And when it comes to a novel as important as Heart of Darkness that is full of what is left unsaid, the story is very difficult to grasp if one is constantly looking for details. A very clear and accurate example of this is the main character of the novel, Marlow. Since the beginning of the novel, readers can infer that he is not a very reliable character because he focuses in things that most people don´t even consider important like the darkness in a sunset or the feeling of loss when night comes. This makes characters look at their lives as a whole; like the dreams they had but never pursued. Looking at the picture of whatever your mind is painting as a whole, whether it is the way Marlow describes things or actually painting a picture, the important thing is to see how much of the details are expressed by what is not said.

One thing that is truly vital to look at when reading the novel is noticing the fact that the main character is not the one narrating the story. The reason I say that it´s a significant thing to look at, is because the fact that the identity of the character is unknown, indicates to the reader that things in the story are mysterious and unknown from the beginning. Showing how much of a mystery and in a way how much of a fright was the whole trip to the heart of africa. I can instantly find hidden messages in the reason to the unknown narrator, and think of it as art in a very interesting way. When someone is standing in front of a painting, the first thing they see is how much information they are presented with. Like what is there to interpret, what is the main message the artist is trying to portray, and most importantly, who is telling the story that´s in the painting. For example when I look at this image by Vik Muniz, I come across many things that make me evolve certain feelings inside of me. I not only see a woman that does not look like she owns a million dollars, but also I see the subliminal message of the artwork which is the fact that she is made of trash. Instantly I feel sorry for her, I relate her situation with what might be going on in certain places of the world like Brazil, and I ask myself what Muniz meant by making this artwork. 

Hidden messages have proven themselves to be very important when it comes to literature. Especially novels like these, where the time period in itself was filled with secrets and hidden identities. and once again, that´s what art has come to be about. the amazing talent artists have to leave things unsaid and doors open just a crack for people to interpret what hidden objects lie within the artwork. 

Great Nations of Europe

What examples from the song are ironic? How can you tell?

This song drips out irony from where you look at it, but I believe the most important example is the title in itself. When he says the “great nations of Europe” he’s laughing at the fact that the Europeans in the 16^th century thought of themselves as such saviors and godlike, when al they really did was slaughter the Indians into nothingness therefore showing that Europe at that time showed everything but greatness.

What examples are not ironic?  How can you tell?

“Columbus sailed for India found Salvador instead.
He shook hands with some Indians and soon they all were dead.”

This example is extremely literal, giving the fact that we all know that that statement was very well true. When Columbus arrived to San Salvador, all he wanted was the gold and colonization, but since they gave him the slightest opposition, they were all slaughtered in terrible ways.

TO BE, TO BECOME, TO TRANSFORM

One of the amazing things about characters in novels is that the author can change them any way they want, making everything more credible and lifelike in readers’ heads. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest by Ken Kesey is a clear example of this, because by the end of the novel, pretty much every character has changed in some way. Let’s take McMurphy for example. When he first comes into the ward, he’s laughing, showing off his good mood and superior attitude to the patients, not really seeing how terrible the power Nurse Ratched has over them. And as the story progresses, he sees that he can only make a difference and be remembered, if he dies in the ward. Symbolizing personality and mentality change towards his situation and the one that surrounds him.

When McMurphy first comes in to the ward, he performs an act that not only intimidates superior control, but also makes patients idolize him in the ward; he laughs.  Since he comes in the ward laughing, he preforms an act that has not been seen there is no much time, and by that, making himself an image of change and in some ways hope to the other patients that have been trapped in there for so long. Things start to change when he starts opening his eyes to the enormous level of power the nurse has over the ward; the football game and the change of schedule for example.

As the novel progresses and comes to an end, McMurphy starts to become an image of change in a way he didn’t even imagine it. He has not only become the person everyone talks bout, but also because of his brain removal, he is a symbol of sacrifice and pin for others. This part of the novel is not only important because of the instant image one gets of Jesus when reading that he sacrificed himself for the well being of others, but also because as an analyzer, we can see that he as a character at the beginning of the novel didn’t expect it either. At first he came to the ward because he wanted a place to rest and think for himself without any disturbance from society.  But as he meets the people in the ward, and as his character and leadership is constantly pulled down by the “Big Nurse,” his vision of life and his meaning to be there changes drastically, making him sacrifice his own freedom and life for that matter in order to finish off with the horrid organization of the ward.

So as one closes the last pages of the novel, the feeling of change is something very present that is kept in mind. A character as complex as McMurphy has change written all over him when the novel ends because he does something he never thought he would do when he comes into the ward, he gives in to the control of nurse Ratched, and by that he changes the way the ward works and destroys the feel of manipulation she has had since the novel began. Characters change like people do, and McMurphy is an excellent example of this. 

Time Period Relevance

The process of reading a novel as symbolic as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest brings out a few questions about the way comparisons are made throughout the story. For example, Chief insists in comparing human beings to machines, which brings out questions like what does the time period of the book have to do with this comparison? 

            Time after a war as important and scarring to history as World War II brings out questions of feeling and meaning to the human mind, and perhaps that is what Chief means when comparing human beings to machines is precisely that: what is a person really worth in the long run, and how does something like this war turn us humans into nothing more than machines? A war does nothing much except turn family men into slaughter machines, and hurting the ones close to them when they die. So Chief’s intention to turning people into machines when they are doing a harsh action, or acting robotically might be a way of showing readers how easily a human being that is in fact a feeling organism, can turn into a non-sentimental machine when something like a war, or in this case a mental hospital neglects the world there is outside.  

            In conclusion, Kesey makes Chief in the novel is turn humans into machines because he wants to mirror the actions of men when they are put in extreme circumstances. How they forget who they are, that they have values and things they stand for, and become terrible objects of destruction. Thus, proving that time period in a novel matters, and that the elements of literature that are being compared in the novel must be relevant and precise. The machine example probably wouldn’t have mattered as much in a time like this.

            

THE FOG

Oct. 3, 2012

One of the most important elements of symbolism in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is the fog. It appears in multiple occasions during the progression of the novel, and it is porbably the only element that appears so many times in the story that has the capability to be symbolized as much as it is. When I first read about the fog I thought it was some sort of feeling, like fear or anger. But as I kept reading, I saw that it can symbolize anything... any feeling or situation the reader infers when placed in that situation of suffocation and distress. But since I can't talk about everything, I've decided to compare the fog to power. 

When the Fog is introduced in the story, the Chief begins to hyperventilate and freak out because of a haircut, until nurse Ratched comes in and brings the Fog in with her. Chief becomes silent and calm after breathing in the fog, and wakes up from a dream a couple of hours later not knowing where he is, but technically re-learning his place. he is reminded that he does not have any power in comparison to the nurse, and that he is just a helper that is supposed to be silent and obedient when asked. As a reader, I analyze this and realize that the fog is just a tool of power and control the Nurse uses when she needs to teach a lesson. 

When the "Big Nurse" uses the fog, or so Chief says on page 100, all he can see is her face made of a white and grey cloud that comes out of that machine, which not only brings out the fear of blindness, but also the feeling of sadness and hopelessness, making the patients of the ward so distressful that they only wish the fog gets thick enough that they can g o their own little worlds and forget about the life they live in. 

The fog has become a symbol of many things, power and manipulation being one of them. This comparison also reflects on the society of the time, how politics was all about who gets the final say at everything, and up to what point can power get to a person before self destruction. Kesey makes a great job at mirroring those attitudes with the nurse's fog, and how with further analyzation, we can see how she too drowned herself in the satisfaction of power and control. 

WAITING FOR GODOT

At first when I finished the novel, I felt like I had read a joke. I asked myself repeatedly what is the meaning of the play, what is the purpose of making life look so meaningless, and above all, how can this make it to one of the most important classics in American literature? Then it dawned on me, this classic novel is drowned with symbolism. At first I thought of existentialism, but realized that it is not as broad as the existentialism of The Stranger per say, but it was existentialist in some level.

These men are waiting, for something or someone called Godot during two whole acts, under a tree, doing nothing. And I realized, that the symbolism behind this was not just waiting, but how humanity waits for God, their whole life, a fate every being in humanity is going to go through that, so they just wait for this mystical energy everyone is going to go through, everyone expects to meet, but no one knows what it’s like.

Another symbol in the novel is the dependence of Vladimir and Estragon of each other. They mention repeatedly how they can’t stand each other, but at the same time how they can’t live without clinging themselves one to the other, and that shows the human custom of attaching ourselves to things we know someday we will lose, and anyway we want them, because we feel the need to attach ourselves to something that will make us happy, even though it is certain that either way we will die alone and we can’t do anything about it.

The tree is something completely different regarding symbolism. For one thing, the tree changes drastically (having or not having leaves) from one act to the other, so we can infer that it also has to do with the loss of track of time. When someone is about 7 years old, they feel that one hour is an eternity, and one year is practically a lifetime. But as that kid starts getting older, hours are faster, years turn into minutes, and days turn into seconds, making us feel that when we turn 50, a lifetime has gone by, and we don’t even notice it. In the novel, the tree is always there, but the leaves change, so we can infer that the book is not a couple of days long, actually it’s years, but the characters feel it like days, proving my point, that humans after a while, lose track of time.

THE STRANGER #3

“Everybody is here; everybody exists, but there is no reason as to why.”

Well, this is a quote that can pretty much summarize the entire novel. It is exactly what Meursault lives by, and how he goes through his day-by-day life. But since I wanted to write something rather interesting and different for this prompt, and not actually summarize Meursault‘s life, I figured to use this quote either way. You see the fascinating thing about this quote, and the reason why I actually wanted to write about it, is because despite everything that happened to Meursault during the end of the novel, he has been in absolute denial to turn to god, unlike most of humanity would when it comes to the proximity of the end of one’s life on earth.

Since we all know the existentialist way that Meursault’s brain functions there is no need for me to repeat it. But what is really strange about the last few chapters of The Stranger, and what I have come to realize after a few moments of thinking about it, is that the way this quote acts upon Meursault during the last few chapters of the novel is absolutely controversial. You see, when Meursault had nothing to worry about in his life except for the heat of summer and the thought of having to go back to work on Monday, he would live by that quote, and proving himself repeatedly with comments like “Maman was buried… and really, nothing had changed” (pg.24). But after the Arab’s murder, and the proposal of the prosecutor to penalize Meursault with death, everything pretty much turned around for him. He realized that there were things he actually enjoyed to a point of love, as much as things that he hated with his gut and couldn’t resist them. And as he realized that he did have something to care for, he actually hung on to the quote even more. Because he somehow felt that if he actually cared about something, if he tried to hold on to something more than his thoughts, he would become merely another lost soul that dies and has really so much to lose and no choice in surviving what every living thing goes through, death.

In fact, coming to analyze this reaction even further, I believe that this is a very natural but rare way of reacting towards death. Every person, animal, plant, or other living thing in existence knows that there is going to be a point in their life, when they are going to die, and in fact never come back.  So most people rationalize and decide to life to the fullest, be the best they can be and make sure there is nothing they regret doing or not doing when they are in their death bed. And when it comes to that, they hold on to the one invisible thing they know or at least trust to know is real, God. But in the rare case of an existentialist, they do exactly the opposite. Meursault proves that he does not need anything, because there is no point in holding on to something, get attached to anything, if in the long run, nothing really matters. In the long run, nobody really matters, or has a reason to exist, so why get caught up in things a silly as material objects, and other people? Meursault’s answer is simple. There just isn’t, and nobody really matters. 

THE STRANGER #2

Life as an existentialist can be full of gaps. In Meursault’s case, this is one of the things that are very present during the novel. You see, as an existentialist, he just lets things in life pass him by and just doesn’t take any feeling, moment, or situation in, precisely because like he says, there is no reason for him to do so, making his life, after analyzing it really deeply, so much more meaningful than what it looks like from a simple overview of the story.

 One of the main, and most important examples of these gaps or things unsaid, is the way Meursault talks about his mother. The beginning of the book is about her, and her death, which makes the readers see right away how much he ignores her. And we also see that as things start happening to him, his Maman seems to appear everywhere he goes. And even though he says in many occasions that he doesn’t really care, and that he sees her death as a natural and pointless thing to mourn for, he gives us readers certain clues that suggest otherwise.   I say this taking reference on page 65, where Meursault is being asked by his lawyer whether he felt any sort of sadness during the day of Maman’s funeral. “The question caught me by surprise and it seemed to me that I would have been very embarrassed if I’d had to ask it. Nevertheless I answered that I had pretty much lost the habit of analyzing myself and that it was hard for me to tell him what he wanted to know. I probably did love Maman, but that didn’t mean anything.”

For a person that just reads this quote, it’s very probable that the person will think of Meursault as insensitive cold hearted or greedy. But when I looked over the quote and truly analyzed what it might have meant, I understood a little more of this man’s way of being, I know that there is definitely a story behind that part of the novel. I saw there must be some gap that actually has a meaning to him, and that for some reason he is not revealing it, not even to the readers. So this is where someone like me, that actually believes that everything has a meaning, and that there are no coincidences, comes in and makes up a big melodramatic story of Meursault and his mom, loving each other without a care in the world, but after years of hard work she is getting old and his job’s salary is not enough to keep her satisfied, so they slowly start losing topics to talk about, and after a while, all they talk about are complaints about one another, they split apart. And as an act for care and compassion he puts her in a home, because what he earns is not enough to give her what she deserves. To support this absolutely fairytale-like story, I have this part of the quote as support. ‘…it was hard for me to tell him what he wanted to know…” the thing is, he doesn’t say why. He just sates the fact that it is hard for him to share that part of his past, and I can see as a reader that it brings him pain to think about it.

And that is the amazing thing about the novel. Camus leaves things unsaid, little mysteries so that the reader is forced to think more about these little stories, create things inside their heads, and that way making the process of reading the novel so much more meaningful for the reader. 

THE STRANGER #1

    Existentialism by meaning, is mainly the big question of what matters? Does anything really matter? This is something that I personally would answer like everything matters. I am one of those people that believe that there are no coincidences and that everything is happening to a person for a meaning. Camus on the other hand, writes this novel creating a character that disagrees completely with me. His character is a complete existentialist and it is proved almost in every page I have read so far. Although Camus claimed many times that he was not an existentialist, he did portray a big share of it in this novel, and what I’ve come to understand, most of his work. The main character in this novel has been showing us readers what a simple life he lives, and what argument he has for not caring about things like love or death, among other elements. When I say love, I mean marriage. He expresses the fact that he doesn’t care about getting married, even though he is sexually attracted to Marie, which in this case, is more than what he feels for any other person in his life. And by death, I mean that he did not reflect anything more that supposing he loved his mom, weeks after she died, and because somebody had to push him to admit it. There are a couple of quotes that demonstrate exactly what I mean by stating this.   
“It occurred to me that anyway, one more Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed.” Pg. 24   
 In this small piece of evidence, Meursault shows exactly what I mean. He takes in his life like a non-stopping train stuck on a railroad track. He still works, eats, sleeps, goes for walks, like a normal life, but when things happen to him, for instance his mother passing away, he just stares out the window. He doesn’t take things in, even though he is involved in them. The quote has something very moving about it, that’s the last part. When Meursault says that ‘really, nothing has changed’, he demonstrates to the readers multiple things, like the fact that he has been living a dull life without his mother for a while now, and the fact that she is dead changes nothing about it. He shows that he feels that death is something that happens to everyone, and somehow, the fact that even though he cries and mourns for her, she is not going to come back, and he is fine with or without her in his life. So there was really no point in being sad. That is existentialism. Not caring. When Meursault asks himself the famous question of ‘Does anything really matter?’ he simple answers no. nothing does. And therefore, why would I cry over something as pathetic as my mom dying, if it is in fact, something that every human being is going to go through.

    “That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her.” Pg. 41

    This piece of evidence must be taken in by parts. ‘I said it didn’t make any difference to me…’ existentialism is clear in this part of the quote. Meursault doesn’t love Marie; he is just sexually attracted to her. He practically asks himself our golden question every day, and answers it every day with the same word, No. when he is presented with the opportunity of love, marriage, a family, etc. he just thinks of how meaningless everything in life is, and how pointless it is to work hard at a relationship, when either way, it’s going to end up with death, and pain. The second part of the quote, (‘Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything…’) shows pretty much the same attitude. He is turning his back on love, and the fact that someone other than his mother might be willing to share her life with him, but he just sees no point in it because there is no point in life, nothing really matters, and nothing ever will, because nothing lasts. And that’s the way Meursault thinks about life. 

THE GREAT GATSBY

“...and, as far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far way, that might have been the end of a dock.” pg.20,21

As we already know, one of the most important symbols in the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the distant green light that is visible from Mr. Gatsby’s house. In class, we have discussed how green can mean multiple things like wealth, hope, progress, and so on. But after a while of thinking of other meanings, I realized that green can also mean envy. Jealousy, and the constant crave of East Egg to need more than what they have, is a big part of why the novel does not have a happy ending. In Gatsby’s case, envy is a big part of this green light. His heart has been broken by Daisy, the love of his life, and all he wanted to do since he met her was to have enough money to have her. Now he lived with an envy cloud in his head because she was married to Tom, man who she had learned to love in a way, and there was nothing he could do about it. So in conclusion, it is obvious that during the book, Gatsby has been constantly hurting himself, but keeps that light as a way of consolation. Like a second to forget everything and just stare at the light, stare at Daisy. The thing is, every time he looks at the light, he’s reminded of his mistakes in the past and how much he envies Tom for having the girl of his dreams and not even appreciating it.