Cheever and O'Conner

In Cheever's story "The Swimmer" I in a lot of ways am lost. He wrote it in a narrative point of view, but yet then also from Ned's also. Ned seems to be lost in his own little world through out the piece. He swims and swims through everyone's pools, and waters, but yet he still does not remember things. He does not understand what the people he comes in contact with while swimming say such things to him as " if you are coming here for more money I will not give you another cent". It seems as though Ned is lost in his own world, buried in confusion. When he finds his house empty he does not understand what happened. All of the things the people had told him on his journey were true, but he then and still does not understand what is going on. To me it seems like a huge dream one that he can't even translate himself.
In O'Conners' " Good country people", there are many aspects that fit well with "The Swimmer". Hulga in this story was very sheltered by her mother because of her conditions. Although she was this way she let life take her where it leaded her. Even though she was careful how she did this, she made a mistake. She allowed her self to fall for the bible sales man. Because of this he took off with her leg. This fits well with "The Swimmer" because in the end of the story Ned realizes he has nothing left, his life is empty. Hulga finds this out also after her leg is taken away, and all she is left with is her education, in which did not get her very far with the man tricking her. O'Conner wrote this story through a narrator, but yet still had a lot of dialog especially from the mother. In both cases, the person takes great lengths to make it to their goals in life or at the moment their goals, but in return they are left empty, with the end not appearing as though their vision had set in their own minds.

hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

In the novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” women were treated very differently than women today are treated. It was inflected in the beginning how Janie’s grandmother was a slave woman, who was forced to have a child with her slave owner, (Janie’s mom). This situation was followed by Janie’s mother, whom also was raped, except this time it was by her own school teacher. This to me shows that women meant nothing to guys of that earlier time, because they just would rape them and abandon the child they left behind. As the novel progressed, we saw how Janie’s grandmother disapproved of her kissing the boy at the fence. Women of this time period could not randomly kiss a guy unless they were married to them. I guess you can say that in reality these women were just pieces of property passed along to the next caretaker.
Being a piece of property was shown very well when Janie was forced to marry Logan Killicks by her grandmother. Her life of being a man’s property started with this marriage. Logan first pampered her and as he said “spoiled” her at the beginning of their marriage. Towards the end, he figured she should start helping with things like cutting wood and carrying it in the house, as well as plowing fields. “Naw, Ah needs two mules dis yea. Taters is going’ tuh be taters in de fall. Bringin’ big prices. Ah aims tuh run two plows, and dis man Ah’m talkin’ ‘bout is got uh mule all gentled up so een uh woman kin handle ‘im.” Although he doesn’t come out and say “ Janie you’re going to start plowing fields with me” he does tell her that she is going to in an odd way.
As Janie got tired of that life she did end up running away with Joe Starks. This life seemed at first to also give her a great deal of freedom. That changed as you’d think it would during this time period. He would tell her always that she should be proud to be the mayor’s wife and she needed to start acting like it. He was often very jealous of other men in the town also, because they would stare at his wife’s hair. Because of this, he made her put a bandana on her head to cover her hair’s beauty.
Soon after Joe died Janie’s life changed once again , and this time it was in a totally different aspect. She met tea cake, who treated her wonderfully. Although tea cake was much younger than her he would tell her that age didn’t matter and that no body would know because she looked as though she were his own age. Tea cake did everything he could to please Janie. To him, she was far from a piece of property, but rather a gift from god. The other women in the town having no knowledge of being treated so wonderfully made it obvious that they did not approve. Often times the women would just tell her that he was going to run off with her money and that is all that he wants. They would do this to her because as she was previously, they were pieces of property set out to only please their husband, but yet not be happy in their life. Janie although had found a happyness. Tea cake only once had hit her, and that was to prove ownership as though he thought he had to in order to not lose her. But unlike the other men of the area, he did not treat Janie as though she was just there to please him and him only. He was caring and compassionate to her, which made her happy in her life.
Although Janie’s life went from persay owner to owner, in the end she was no longer treated as though she was property. Tea cake treated her as something special, which most men in this time period by far did not treat their wives like this. In all it was a progression through time, when women started to show their strengths leading to their freedom. It was not until much later that they were no longer property, but this book showed the starting of it. Hurston is trying to show how the women were treated poorly, and how some of them led their own way into happyness.

Stevens and Moore

in the poem The Idea of Order At Key WEst had a rhythem to it in which made it sound as though it were a song. The poem What are years?, also shares this rhythem. Both pieces of work express how the person in them sings a song. Stevens expresses this in great depth with the girl singing a song and when the sound stops everything apears to be different, but Moore uses this as the bird sings and the more it sings the better it becomes and the larger it becomes. Stevens poem was made long with lots of description of its surroundings. Moore's had fragments that just lead you to an end. Sound is used in each to help apeal you to read it as well as sound as in singing has a meaning in both pieces. in all I'm not quite sure to be honest where they are divergent and all, but I do know these 2 pieces of poetry do compair because of sound.

The Wast Land

The Waste Land is quite different from most of the other modernist pieces of work that we have already read. In The Waste Land T.S. Eliot used pieces of different languages to throw you off a bit in the reading. It was a free verse narrative as most of the other modernist pieces of work were, but it was in a sense different. It was hard to follow personally for me, but I did take in that there was a conflict. As many of the other modernist pieces of work had, it talked about blood and surrendering. I think because it was written during the war time also this is what made it a modernist piece of work. Eliot uses the role of a woman as well as many of the other authors did during this time period for example Parker and Taggard also did in many of their poems. Through out most of Eliot's work it did not have a rhyme scheme.. some parts essentially did but not all. I have to admit that I did not understand most of Eliot's piece of work. I understood parts but not totally. I do know it was in a time of battle and that the modernists show parts of their earth of what they see at the moment as Eliot did, but they did not explain it in detail to let you know their surroundings. In all Eliots piece in many ways associates with the modernists that we have already read in a few ways such as free verse, no rhyme scheme, and showing a conflict but not telling in great detail what it is.

Zitkala Sa

Zitkala Sa was a young indian girl. She had an innocence about her that was shown through most of her passage. Her mother warned her of paleface's like the one's who had taken the life of her sister and uncle. Her mother also told her that when she was as tall as her cousin (sunflower) she also could do certain things. In her mothers' eyes she was the best thing the world could offer, she was her entertainment, and also her reason of being. In reality I believe this passage sent the message of how indian life really was. Bonnin was raised in a family at this point in time that consisted of only her mother. I mean yes they were a very close community in which the older generation called the children their grandchildren, but in reality it was just her and her mother sent off to survive in a wilderness full of hardships. This passage showed the struggle of how indians lived, and how their only way to give their children an education was to send them off with white people, whom they disliked strongly. The tribe believed strongly in spirits, and everything had a reason. For example, the growing of the plum tree was not just because of the planting of seeds, but rather it was because of the man burried beneath it that the bush grew so strong. The mother never wanted to send her daughter off, with everything she had she wanted to keep her dear and close to her. But in the same sence she knew that was the only way to better her future, was to send her off to a strange land offered to them by the people that took so much away from indians.

Washington and Du Bois

Through reading Washington's address I learned that he was very interested in the freedom and equality of colored to whites. He states that Blacks should be treated equally in education, jobs, politics, voting, and every mannor possible to whites. Du Bois admitts in the beginning of his passage that Washington is dedicated to helping the southern blacks, and instead of letting them follow a path he formed a way of life. In many different parts of Du Bois's article he states how Washington is a successful man, but yet there are parts where he differs with his opinion.

Du Bois seems to pick appart every aspect of Washington, his views, actions and way of life. For example, he talks about how Washington makes a fool of himself persay while at dinners and such events with important people, by bringing race and other non-necessary conversation to hand. It is also stated that some of the blacks regret learning his theories, and forgive him which to me proves they respect him, just have learned from him to learn more about the culture they live in. He also feels that Washingtons ideas led to the hault of higher education for blacks, the giving up of insisting civil rights and political power. But if you look at Washingtons' veiw point it doesn't seem to be what he's asking for at all. Maybe that's just me. Du Bois seems to feel that all Washington wants out of this whole mess is to strive for business accomplishment. He believes that Washington will deprive the blacks of everything they have to become noble with business.. This is where their views differ a lot.

In all I was kind of confused by Du Bois because he seems to agree with Washingtons intentions, but yet he totally dissagree's with them in the same aspects. Washingtons sides seem to want to help the blacks of the south to gain prosperity, noblty jobs and such other higher status things than they had previously had since being free, but Du Bois looks at all of this as a hinder to them because they must give up many things like higher education to recieve an effect that is way down the road. So in everything I feel that Du Bois agrees that the blacks should be helped but he finds the ways that Washington does them is the wrong way to go about it. I hope this answers it well enough.

Regionalism

An annoying noise woke her from her sound sleep. It was 6:15 am, and the cold draft and loud alarm awoke her. Maggie, a college student dreaded this hour, she pushed snooze to get her fifteen more minutes of sleep she could not live with out. When the alarm went off for a second time she thought she’d better get up before she was late.
She found her cloths and then looked out her window to see if the winter weather had brought more snow than what was previously there the night before. As always, it did, and as always her lazy town had not plowed her road again.
She began getting ready, while becoming worried if she could make the long adventure to class. She bundled up as much as she could to not look ridiculous, and started out the door. As Maggie walked to her car she quickly covered her head with her hood and ran, in hope of not becoming totally covered in snow, since the wind was quickly throwing it in her face.
She began driving very slowly due to living in a very wooded and secluded area, where not many cars had previously gone to make a path for her. The snow caused her to slow her car frequently as she watched large drifts stream across the road, while she though “ is this even possible?”
Maggie looked all around her as to wonder if maybe there were things she’d never seen before while driving in this area. Of course not thinking it is possibly the worst time to ever find new things while driving in a snow storm! But never the less she did. As she passed the farms near her she noticed how the animals, mostly horses, were cuddled together in hopes to stay warm. She also saw dogs hiding under porches to keep the snow off of them, but to still hold their guard. As she looked on deeper into the woods she noticed the trees branches hanging low from all the weight that was put upon them, and how the sides of the roads were piled high with mounds of snow. The mounds so high it almost would cover her car to the top.
The snow slightly lets up, and she begins to think the long drive just might turn out ok, but it is not the luck of a western New Yorker. As she becomes closer to the lake the snow becomes heavier, and almost making it impossible to see in front of the car. She sees children off to the side shivering while they wait for that buss that can’t come soon enough even though they had hoped for a snow day all night. Half way to college she thought of turning back wondering if she could really make it any further, but she kept going with hope of being able to make it all the way. The heavily sanded roads did not even stop cars from spinning out of control and landing in strangers yards. But she just reduced her speed and knew she was a good driver.
When she finally arrived at the college she found that the paths were formed where the side walks should be, but it had snowed so much they could not keep them clear. She trudged her way to class while watching the squirls that are always there to great people in the morning, fluttering up the tree as normal. Her adventure was finally complete, and her worry was over. She, unlike most made it all the way to class, while others gave up before even starting. Maggie felt proud of herself, and knew that made her a better student, and used to the snow belt that she did live in.