Th Bone

Okay, so who's read the children's halloween story about the old woman who keeps saying "GIVE ME MY BONE!" Honestly, that all I could think of while reading this story. I liked how the theme was presented at the very beginning. That allows the reader to keep in mind a clear message while reading the entire story. The repetitiveness was also really interesting. It reflected the oral tradition of most african literature. Although the the work is supposed to represent a serious moral issue (greed) it was actually quite comical. The entire scenario just felt absurd. He would rather die and never eat the bone than share it with his best friend! I think the wife was my favorite character because she doesn't lose her patience until he's actually being buried. She just goes along with what he says as if he does stupid things like this all the time. Its was an interesting little story, and reflected its theme of greed and gluttony very well.

Saadawi's In Camera

This was probably one of the most peculiar yet intriguing works we read all year. I loved it! The way it begins in such a confusion. The reader doesn't know what's going on or what the setting is or who the characters are. The scene is unfolded throughout the story. Instead of just telling the reader what was going on, I felt that this method brought the reader into the story much more easily. I felt like I was sitting up in that chair, dazed and confused. As everything becomes clearer in the story, the plot is somewhat revealed. This young woman has spoken out about her government and is now being held captive and being beaten. The title itself i think has multiple meanings. "In camera" is a political term for a hearing that happens without any press. This emphasizes that this girl's story is not really something that is meant to be shared. It hints that there is a lot that goes on behind closed doors. Another way i took it was that political leaders often act differently in front of the camera. When the girl is describing the painting on the wall, she says that political leaders perfect their fake smile for in front of the camera. However, the leader is a horrible tyrant behind closed doors. Such an interesting reading!

What to say about Neruda?

I liked Neruda because each of his poems were different from one another. For example, Tonight I Can Write... is basically a break-up poem. He love this girl, but he wants to get over her. All he can do at night is think of her, and yet at the end of the poem he can't admit that he loved her and vows to never write a poem about her again. Then he has very political poems like I'm Explaining a Few Things and Walking Around. In these poems, Neruda uses imagery to represent ideas, scenes, and people. Much of his political poetry revolved around his hardships through the Spanish Civil War. Finally, there is Neruda's work Ode to the Tomato. I like how in this poem, he takes something so mundane as a tomato, and explains how crucial it is to society in Chile. It's almost comical the imagery he uses. For example, "Too bad we must / assassinate; / a knife / plunges / into its living pulp." That's a great visual! Neruda's poetry, overall, was both intriguing and unique. I loved how much emphasis was put on his cultural background and how he used such vivid imagery to describe it.

The Rooftop Dwellers

I have to say, The Rooftop Dwellers by Anita Desai was one of my favorites of the prose that we studied. I thought it reflected Indian culture to outsiders very well, while at the same time revealing issues that women were experiencing in both India and the western world. I found that even though i did not have much in common with the main character, I found it easy to relate to her.
I also love the image of her cat. It always seemed to come and go, or jump on her lap at specific times. In fact, the entire image of her rooftop apartment was so cool. The awed feeling she got when she first walked in seemed to resonate with me for some reason. With the tree and the open air, it seemed the coolest place to live.
What I took from the story as a whole, was the contrast between old and new, eastern and western, woman and man. There seemed to be quite a few opposites portrayed. For example, this young woman has a job of her own doesn't wish to be married. She is independent, and yet there seems to be no room in society for single women of her age. There is nowhere for her to live except for the rooftop. There aren't a whole lot of single people her age, and there seems to be a general taboo of what a young woman is doing living alone. Her life embodies a huge clash of culture between the west and the traditional Indian way of life. For example, it seems odd that the family gathers around to watch T.V. at night in the setting that they are in, but they do!
One of my favorite parts was at the end, when she hears the servant boy listening to her music in the kitchen. This could mean a few things. First it could just be a revelation that he was the one that had been stealing from her all along. Also it could represent that he was being exposed to a more modern or westernized India. It's an odd yet interesting way to end the story.

I Seek a Form by Ruben Dario

"I seek a form that my styled cannot discover,
a bud of thought that wants to be a rose..."

This poem is brief but meaningful. These first two lines make me think of writers block for some reason. I think he is describing the moment of having a thought on the tip of your tongue, and then you lose it or can't completely grasp it. I love his use of the Venus de Milo in describing an impossible embrace. This statue has no arms. I just love that image. I think he is expressing the imperfection of writing. I feel as though whenever you start writing something, you have certain expectations of how it will turn out. Then the writing process begins and is full of stops and getting stuck along the way. I think the poem embodies this phenomena of knowing what you want to say, but not being able to find the words.

Alfonsina Storni

Looking back through some of Storni's works, I think You Want Me White is my favorite. Storni's imagery is always powerful. One of my favorite parts is when she says,

You in the gardens

Black with Deceit

Dressed in red

Ran to your Ruin.

Her words cut straight to the heart. In this poem especially, I really like how she throws the double-standard back onto men. Why are girls called sluts when they sleep around, and men are studs. It doesn't make much sense. Yet she words it in a way that is much more raw than that. Then at the end she poses an impossible challenge to men to try to cleanse themselves with nature. Only then can they ask women to remain pure. In a lot of poetry, writers tend to beat around the bush and imply meanings. However, in this poem Storni is rather straightforward despite her vivid imagery. I find that refreshing and intriguing. 

Snow Country : Part 2

After reading the second part of Snow Country, I felt as though I didn't even finish the book. The entire first part is a lulling back and forth of a slowly progressing relationship that really isn't going anywhere. It is as Kawabata would say "a useless effort." Then at the very end of part two, when the reader thinks that something is finally going to be resolved, Yoko dies and Komako goes insane. Although Shimamura seems to experience a minor revelation of sorts, the reader is offered nothing. We never find out the relationship between Yoko and Komako. We never understand exactly what their involvement with Yukio was. We aren't aware of any closure in Shimamura's and Komako's relationship. However, I don't think the reading itself was a complete waste of time.
Kawabata obviously intended for the reading itself to be a "useless effort." He didn't want to disclose everything to the reader. In a way, I think Kawabata was making a point that sometimes things with no definite end or goal can be worth it simply in the fact that they happened. Yes, the reading itself is a useless effort because after reading the entire story there is no resolve or conclusion at all. However, there is a point.
After reflecting on it a little more, I think the ending of the story was my favorite part. Personally I grew very tired of Komako's drunken stupidity and indecisiveness. I also became rather annoyed with Shimamura's willingness to encourage Komako to make an ass of herself when he only had a mild affection for her that we all knew he would never act upon whole-heartedly. Their dragging love affair was was both dull and childish. However, by ending it with an up-in-the-air suspense, Kawabata makes the reader stop and think, "maybe this is all just a useless effort". I think there's a certain beauty in that.
Although it had many surreal qualities to it, this may be one of the most realistic readings we have studied, because often time that is the way life works. We go to school, to go to college, to get a job, to support a family, and so on not for a happy ending or a great tragedy, but because we simply do. Life is a useless effort. I may be wrong, but I think that's what Kawabata was getting at. Plus, he ended up committing suicide, so this work could reflect some of his suicidal thoughts about reality. Just a thought!