Open Prompt #4

1973. An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

      The end of a literary work is often the most critical component of the piece, where the author attempts to leave their mark and crystallize their ideas in the mind of the reader. Its hard to imagine Romeo and Juliet without the fate of the star crossed lovers being realized or Harry Potter with a Voldemort still living. In the American Dream the author, Edward Albee, uses the ending to further the readers understanding of his message: the replacement of the old American Dream with a less substantive, more glamorous, newer one. 

     Albee's play uses few characters, each representing very broad things. Grandma, the physically unappealing elder that she is, represents traditional american values and is said to be of "pioneer stock." She is constantly at odds with Mommy, who represents the new breed of Americans who value aesthetics over function. Grandma is the oldest and wisest character in the novel, turns out to be somewhat omniscient. This is confirmed in the last lines of the play, in which she directly addresses the audience to inform them that the play was indeed "a comedy", and they shouldn't go any further because the characters had clearly reached satisfaction. However, its clear that Grandma knows they haven't and she was making quite a strong point. Albee's use of this ending  makes  Grandma's true function clear, Albee's puppet master. She alone shares the authors viewpoint and is by far the wittiest character. She is constantly manipulating the other characters, guiding to them to their places and making their shortcomings painfully obvious. In the beginning of the novel Grandma is someone to be pitied, but at the end she reveals some shred of dignity, something the other characters sorely lack. Albee made this all apparent with his ending, making it highly effective. 

      Albee's purpose for this piece was to make the public aware of what he saw as a shift from traditional values to newer ones that devalued genuine emotion and emphasized material wealth. He shows us the build up to the arrival of Young Man, the character who represents the new American Dream, and the immediate sense of "satisfaction" achieved by Mommy and Daddy, but fails to show us the aftermath. This was intentional, he leaves the audience to ponder the ramifications of a emotionless, superficial, status driven society. This is also appropriate for the play, which is very absurd, because nothing is clear in the play until all the loose ends are tied in the conclusion. Albee was trying to make the point that hindsight is twenty twenty, and if the fate of his messed up family is to be avoided, the Grandmas of the world need to recognize the problem before they are disregarded. 

     The ending to The American Dream by Edward Albee was highly appropriate because it shed new light on the mechanisms of the play and implores the audience to imagine the consequences of the abandonment of traditional values and challenges them to do something about it.

   

Response to Course Material #3

The past couple of weeks have been focused on Edward Albee's The American Dream. Its an amazing play. Albee layers meaning on meaning, without his message being overwhelming. On the surface it appears that he is just disillusioned with the new consumption based society. However the truth is much more complicated than that. Careful consideration of Mommy's characterization makes it plain to see that Albee is an anti-feminist.  He sees Mommy's domination of the relationship as toxic, it has robbed Daddy of his masculinity and made it impossible for him too achieve satisfaction. However, this also makes it impossible for Mommy to be content because she desires a firm, manly, figure in her life, and leads her to achieve satisfaction through superficial commercial means, like shopping. Albee makes this evident through sexually charged dialogue, something that your average american would quickly recognize the significance of. Everyone understands the feeling of being "frustrated".

Close Reading #3

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/hard-sell/?ref=opinion

      A brush with celebrity is often well remembered. However, substitute "celebrity" with "publicly adored, eccentric, genius" and the encounter would surely be locked in ones head forever. This is the case for the author of this article, Dick Cavett, when he works with Steve Jobs. His use of language, imagery, and syntax help establish his voice as he describes his relationship with the apple computers icon and the meaning he derived from it.
     Cavett starts the piece the kind of short, choppy, sentences that are oft used by authors to place emphasis on the sentence's subject. He simply states "The “guy” was named Steve Jobs. Turned out he was reasonably bright." While these were two short simple sentences, they also serve as a microcosm of the entire article. Everything that can be gleaned from this article can be seen in those sentences, and Cavett showed us that through his use of syntax. He also has a habit of putting his most important sentences at the end of his paragraphs,  like when he poses the rhetorical question " Could I have invented the apple computer?" while exploring the thought that maybe " the right stimulus awaken previously dormant skills in us all".
     The next literary technique that Cavett uses to breathe life into this piece is his language. He skillfully and simply uses rhyme in a detail to evoke the classic image of an Mac computer, describing it as "White, upright". His mix of conversation between him and Jobs, self reflection, and related details seamlessly blended together help establish his voice through language, even if he does strike me as someone seeking to ride Jobs' coattails, seeking to boost his own reputation through his association with Jobs.
     Detail is used superbly throughout this piece, especially in the form of anecdotes. He references his dream to live an arboreal life style in order to establish a perceived connection between himself and Apple's other found, Steve Wozniak. The whole article itself relies on details, little things that the author remembers about his now long passed encounters with the mythical man. He takes these details, including little bits of his conversation with Jobs, or Jobs sending him the newest apple product whenever it was released to, to support this argument that Jobs was a essentially good man, and doesn't deserved to be cast as a man who had a  "dark, nasty, tyrannical side." 
     Dick Cavett recalls his interactions with Steve Jobs, writing that he believed him to be a good man, using the literary techniques of diction, imagery, and language.

Open Prompt #3

1970. Choose a character from a novel or play of recognized literary merit and write an essay in which you (a) briefly describe the standards of the fictional society in which the character exists and (b) show how the character is affected by and responds to those standards. In your essay do not merely summarize the plot.

     Often times the place a person comes from plays a significant role throughout their life. The life of Dunstan Ramsay in Robertson Davies' The Fifth Business is no exception.His upbringing in the small Canadian village of Deptford and its conservative society greatly influences his thoughts on religion and is a large part of his development into the "Fifth Business" from which the novel gets its name.
     Deptford is a place divided by five christian religions. The main character is a Presbyterian of hardy Scottish stock. His mother and father are both hardworking and honest, yet set in their ways. The people of Deptford look after their own, meaning the Catholics tend the Catholics and the Baptists mind to the affairs of other Baptists, and the town is rife for gossip. Every little event is heavily scrutinized by the townsfolk, and everyone who doesn't conform to the towns narrow standards are criticized. Dunny saw his idol, Mrs. Dempster, become "an exile from a world that saw things her way" when the people didn't understand her. Davies uses excellent imagery to describe Dempster's condition throughout the novel that shows the effect exile has had on her physical and mental condition.Even Mrs. Dempter's husband, Amasa, can't look past his fervent religiosity and ends up permanently damaging his beloved wife. The curious ways of the town of Deptford help explain Dunstan's development.
     Dunstan's experiences in Deptford lead him to develop a very human and personal form of faith. He manages to respect the faith of even the most despicable of human beings, including the man that convinced Mrs. Dempster to sleep with him, forever soiling her social standing and causing her to lose her mind. He also learns that letting people define how you believe is unwise, and his pursuit of hagiology, or the study of saints, a highly eccentric move for a protestant. Davies makes excellent use of detail when describing Dunstan's pursuit of saints, it helps the reader become familiar with a very unusual topic and adds dimension to Dunstan's character. Some of the saintliness he studies then rubs off on him, causing him to care very much about the people around him. His humanistic approach to faith is formed by the things he witnessed in his hometown.
     Dunstan's faith pushes him too be a very benevolent man, open to helping all those in need, contrary to the society in which he left in Deptford. He often actively sought to fix, such as the case of Mrs. Dempster, never leaving her side until her death in an insane asylum, although he didn't owe her nearly as much. He just thought it decent of him to look after her. However he often overlooked the needs of himself for others, and the major turning point in his life comes when he realizes that he was "fifth business" told to him by an atrociously ugly women named Liesl, who seems to represent the ugly truth. "Fifth business" is a clever metaphor used by Davies, relating Dunstan's life to that of a play, with the character being played by Dunstan being of very minor importance, in the play only to assist in someone else's problem. Dunstan realizes that in order to find some sense of fulfillment, he must become a self advocate.
   Dunny's experiences in his hometown set the tone for his feelings on religion and the development of his character later in the novel. His societal norms have a decidedly negative effect on his childhood, and he spends the rest of his life attempting to understand faith and step out of the shadow of Deptford.

response to course material #2

      Put simply, Edward Albee is the man. I had never truly enjoyed a play until we read "The American Dream". His ability to convey message with a small number of characters, simple sentences, and most impressively, comedy, is exceptional. This brings me to comedy. All those packets that were handed out were sort of overwhelming but once I read them they made sense. I've always been curious as to the mechanics of humor, whether in literature or in everyday life. I gathered from the packets that humor created when something or someone defies societal norms in a way that is laughable. For instance, it would be funny if I wore super short shorts to school that revealed my pasty white thighs to all passersby, because society expects me to wear pants to a certain length, one that it is considerably longer than my booty shorts. This leaves the door wide open for comedy, making it a powerful tool to analyze every societal norm. It also tends to give most comedy an expiration date, you must know societal norms in order to get the joke, so most of the humor from the 1940's wouldn't appeal much to me. But comedy is something I look forward to continually exploring.

     Everything else in class we discussed wasn't nearly as interesting. I appreciated learning more about syntax though, and I think the more I learn about one of the DIDLS techniques the better I get with the rest. It really just takes practice. These prompts are flying right over my head, especially the ones involving plays, I really need to get familiar with "The American Dream" because I'm gonna make it my go to for theatrical open prompts, in case one appears on the AP.

Close Reading #2

Starting Again After a Brain Injury - Jane Rosett

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/opinion/sunday/brain-injury-and-building-a-new-life-afterwards.html?pagewanted=1&ref=opinion

     It's hard to imagine having all of your experiences, memories, and thoughts being stolen from you. Jane Rosett experiences this after receiving a traumatic brain injury due to a car crash. Her use of literary technique, namely syntax, imagery, and diction, ties her piece together and effectively conveys her message of loss, hope, and renewal. 

     "I didn’t know what she was talking about. 'It’s Trident.' It was delicious." This quote from the beginning of the piece is a good example of how Rosett takes advantage of syntax. The sentences are simple, short, and fragmented. Her syntax compares favorably to her thought processes at the time. She was incapable of complex thought, her memories were broken and lacked continuity. This was excellent syntax for the start of the piece because it shows were she started, and as the syntax gains complexity and flow it clearly shows mental growth and increasing capability. This is important because the author is seeking to show her slow progression from a unsteady, broken existence to a more whole one.
     Diction in this piece is used in an attempt to explain to the reader what having a lifetime of memories erased is like. The Rosett makes use of words like "melting", "evaporation", and "vanished", which are all much stronger than words like "gone" and "lost". It gives you the feeling of something precious just slipping through your fingers, like fine white sand on the beach. However she also uses very strong words to describe her recovery. She needs to "forge neuronal pathways", rather than just "creating" or "making" them. It hints at the tremendous effort required to recover and helps us connect with the author better.
     The use of this detail by Rosett in this piece is tremendous. She utilizes it to bring to light certain elements of herself that show the stark differences between her present and former self. "One woman whom I still don’t recognize told me I used to shred beets into my chocolate cake batter." This detail is great because it is a little whimsical, but in the next sentence Rosett states that she dosen't even remember liking to bake. It frames the harsh reality of her situation nicely and helps us to truly understand the impact of her loss upon her. But the lightness of the detail demonstrates an undercurrent of hope, she seems to have discovered new passions.
      The Jane Rosett expertly utilizes syntax, imagery, and diction in an attempt to describe the impact of losing all of ones memory, and the tremendous emotion and effort it involves.

Open Prompt #2 - The Grapes of Wrath

2006. Many writers use a country setting to establish values within a work of literature. For example, the country may be a place of virtue and peace or one of primitivism and ignorance. Choose a novel or play in which such a setting plays a significant role. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the country setting functions in the work as a whole.

     "Thank god I'm a country boy". These words from John Denver reflect the soft spot that the countryside holds in our collective american heart. In the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck the country functions as a reflection of the human condition, specifically the lush valleys of California represent hope and dust ravaged plains of Oklahoma represent both the greed that causes people harm as well as the goodness Steinbeck believed was inherent in all people.

     The Joads are Oklahoman farmers who migrate west, forced from there longtime home by economic conditions that are no fault of their own. They had to sell almost all their worldly possessions and leave behind the lifestyle enjoyed by Joads generations before them. They are drawn to California in hopes of getting good jobs picking fruit, spurred on by handbills promising jobs for all comers. This hope is evident in the family throughout the novel and represented by the Cali' countryside. The famously fertile valleys causes everything to be green, and seems to offer prosperity to all those who reach out for it. The imagery Steinbeck uses to describe it echoes of the american dream, the ideal that if you work hard, you won't be left wanting. The California countryside serves as a beacon of hope for Steinbeck's characters.

     The Oklahoman countryside represents two contrasting elements of the human condition in the novel. First and foremost it represents the goodness that resides in the hearts of all of us. Throughout the novel the Joads are stripped of every human dignity, yet even in the end of the novel, after a crushing birth of a still born baby, the fragment of the Joad family that still remains donates some food to a homeless man who has even less than them.This goodness was always a part of the Joads, and every other "Okie" who inhabited that Oklahoma country. So, in that way it represents the goodness inherent in human beings. But during the book the landscape is undergoing a crisis. Farmers have stripped the soil of nutrients and drought has created massive dust storms. At the same time farmers are being pushed off their land by banks, who seek to consolidate their land holdings and make their farming operations more profitable. This represented a degradation of human character, greed driving good people away from their homes and land. This was represented in easily by the land, look at what had happened to it in the novel, and that is what Steinbeck suggests has happened to the moral integrity of those who take advantage of others. 

     The Oklahoman country represents both sides of humanity, the good and the bad, while the Californian countryside represents the hope that is necessary to persevere in our less than ideal world.