Final Blog Reflection

Throughout this semester I have used these blog posts to help me more fully understand the texts we’ve worked with. Throughout all of these posts I have experimented with my voice, going from a much more personal one to a primarily academic, to something mostly in between. In many of my first few posts, much of my content consists of my reactions to the readings. These reactions serve as my starting off point for understanding them. Once I have evaluated my experience, I can then interpret these as to see the implications of each text along with getting at the author’s intentions. I continue noting these reactions but my analysis also became more focused throughout these posts on specific ideas and scenes, and I spend a good portion of my writing to this. Especially in my Steinbeck posts, I analyze specific scenes and questions in detail. Regarding the poetry books, I take some time to focus on individual poems. By focusing on these specific elements of individual aspects of certain poems or certain ideas presented in a text, I am able to see more clearly broader ideas of the works. If I do end up summarizing the readings I try to do so in order to better understand these readings and to summarize in a way that expresses my own unique interpretation.

As I was experimenting with this style of writing, I used it as an opportunity to read more fully. In many of my posts—especially the Steinbeck, Himes, Didion, and Hillman ones—I note how I was struggling to understand the texts. I used my writings here to process through what I had just read. After my writing session, I felt like I had a much better understanding and appreciation for what I had just read. I would begin my posts with my experience of reading, then if it was especially confusing I would first address the form (like for the poetry books). Once I had taken the time to break down these elements, I could then begin to notice larger themes in the text. Like how in my Steinbeck posts I start with all of these questions my reading experience has generated, and then explore the explanations to these questions in order to reach a conclusion about the theme. I have found these conclusions to be very useful for class discussion, as I would bring them up and examine them in more detail as a group. These posts were also helpful in noticing overarching themes. For instance, after blogging about If He Hollers and Sunset Boulevard I began to note in my writing and class discussions how the idea of the California Dream could be helpful and harmful to its believers. By analyzing the form, tone, characters, and then themes of each reading in my posts, I have been able to more clearly see similarities among California literature.

Over the course of the semester I have tried to incorporate more media and visually stimulating elements to my posts. By including images pertinent to the post I hope to make the website more appealing to viewers. I also experimented with the formatting of the blog itself. I kept in mind an artistic eye of what would be aesthetically valuable and pertinent to my writings. Thus, I have included images representing the California landscape and stuck with natural colors that would be relevant to many texts heavy in natural California imagery like Steinbeck, Coolbrith, and Muir. I have also been religious with adding plenty of tags, which I believe has been helpful at getting the public to like and follow my posts and blog. Overall I believe all elements of creating this blog has been helpful—in its opportunities it has given me for exploring my writing voice, my own understandings of each texts, and for continuing a broader discussion of the California literature genre.

Zapruder’s Sun Bear Reflection

From my understanding, I see that Sun Bear seems to follow the speaker’s daily life for a period of time—maybe a year. These poems cover a sense of observation and contemplation both from the daily life of the speaker, and then from something much bigger and emotional. Many of them seem to be searching for truth. Regarding the form, I observed hardly any punctuation, making the writing feel very personal and stream of consciousness. However, each thought is easily distinguished, making the poems flow nicely. One poem that particularly stood out to is “How Do You Like the Underworld” in part one. Here is where we are introduced to the space where the speaker’s computer lays. The speaker reflects on many aspects of this small setting, going from remembering assembling a desk to reflecting on the making of a computer at a factory where, “workers / wear white dustproof suits.” Then going a bit deeper than this mundane assembly, the speaker begins to reflect on the experience of using the computer and communicating with people online, and says, “it makes me so dizzy.” This statement seems to be critiquing the digital form of interaction. The topic shifts then to beyond the initial setting and continues to observe the progression of the ages in what feels like a negative light. The concluding line, “All children’s books are now about death” leaves a feeling of dissatisfaction with the present—moving this poem from its somewhat neutral beginning and leaving it in sadness.

Thoughts on Practical Waters

Reading Hillman’s poetry is certainly a strange, confusing, yet beautiful experience. In her poems she breaks away from the rules of syntax and language in general—like how she makes the habit of assigning noun-functioning words to be used as adjectives. In “Anthem For Aquifers” for instance, she repeats the phrase “mineral calm,” or “vinegar shadows” in “May Moon.” This bizarre re-styling of language adds to the aesthetical value of hearing the poem—it is new and makes one engage in creative thought, trying to piece together what this poem is saying all the while generating interesting images. Reading her poems also feels like an especially personal experience, as if we the readers are literally inside the speaker’s head, before her thoughts have been transformed into understandable sentences. In part three of Practical Waters, the themes of time and experience add to this personality. By naming these poems after the months, the poems seem like journal entries throughout a person’s year. With the addition of casual images on the page, one may feel like they are scrolling through a person’s camera roll and seeing directly into that person’s daily experience. This personal feeling of time passing seems to be a pressing concern of the speaker. The last poems of this section (“August Moon” and “September Moon”) consist of a marriage, almost as if the entire year has been building up to this moment. The line “& hesitant before eternity” addresses the fear the described groom possesses about the concept of forever (probably in regards to marriage), and then is reminded to focus on the present moment with the line from its paired poem, “you are here.”

Slouching Towards Bethlehem: A Response

The most noticeable aspect of part one of this essay is its form. As I began reading, I kept expecting a story. However, Didion simply gives us a series of snapshots of life in the Haight. The manner in which she depicts the life is so straightforward and list-like that it can be hard to tell how she wants us to feel about this strange place.

At three-thirty that afternoon Max, Tom, and Sharon placed tabs under their tongues and sat down together in the living room to wait for the flash. Barbara stayed in the bedroom, smoking hash. During the next four hours a window banged once in Barbara’s room, an about five-thirty some children had a fight on the street. A curtain billowed in the afternoon wind. A cat scratched a beagle in Sharon’s lap. Except for the sitar music on the stereo there was no other sound or movement until seven-thirty, when Max said “Wow.”

The matter-of-fact voice she uses makes me wonder at the nature of this strangeness. Should I not question the fact that nearly every person here is always intoxicated? Is this phenomenon something that should produce extreme concern or condemnation? Or perhaps instead of saying drugs are overly and very dangerously used in this setting, we ought to conclude these runaway junkies are seriously misunderstood and that they are simply living their lives the way they truly want to? While this simple journaling of daily events may seem so mundane, it is at the same time quite poetic. Her piece finds beauty in the mundane. Its beauty is in its removed judgment and contrasts between events. She removes her judgment of Haight life by telling it and not describing it—generating a calmness that mimics what the dwellers of Haight seek through their highs. The contrasts in events—from the taboo but gripping nature of people taking drugs, the extreme action of kids getting into a fight, and the simplicity of a curtain moving in the wind—all take the reader on a kind of detached roller coaster ride. The simplicity of the events also makes them relatable, Didion is not dreaming up any abstract story to capture our attention; rather she is creating a familiar space in which the life she depicts is one that has a predictable pattern.

“I Am Waiting”- Ferlinghetti Response

Ferlinghetti’s “I Am Waiting” poem really questions our society. By at the poem’s end saying they are, “awaiting / perpetually and forever”, this speaker is suggesting that this perfect world that would contain a “rebirth of wonder” is impossible, giving it a very painful end. However, by pointing out elements of the bad in a hopeful light, this poem is both painful and empowering. This speaker acknowledges the hypocrisy of the American Dream, and the generally similar dreams that involve goodness to be apparent. Like how the speaker is still waiting for a new reconstructed Mayflower to arrive, hinting at regret for the real thing and all of the destruction it brought. The structuring of this poem also adds pain in the fact that it builds. Every few lines begin with “I am waiting,” and the repetition makes the reader feel a sense of anticipation, as if what we are waiting for will happen. Therefore, when the poem ends beginning with that same “I am awaiting” line, the reader is left feeling unfulfilled. However by pointing out the specifics of everything that could have gone right but went wrong, this poem serves the function of getting readers to fully understand how these things, like war (“the war to be fought / which will make the world safe”) are sold as good really may have darker implications.

If He Hollers Let Him Go (mid book response)

Chester Himes’s novel If He Hollers Let Him Go brings up many important themes and topics that need to be discussed. Here I will focus on the parallels between racism experienced by Himes’s characters and the war going on outside. Bob’s daily experience can easily be compared to that of a soldier, as he is always “waking up scared every morning” and is always on edge and ready to pounce at anyone who may attack him (with racism). One morning after he has a big fight with Alice he says, “I had to get ready to die before I could get out of the house,” exemplifying how this tension causes him to feel like he is dying when he goes out into the world. Not to mention, he is plagued by nightmares that are mimicking his painful reality, like how a soldier may experience recurring nightmares of war. His daily pain paralleling one of a soldier raises the question of whether or not he is justified in being so angry (and willing to fight) all of the time. He may be calling out insults left and right or purposely spooking white people in his car (while indifferently thinking about running them over), but one can argue doing these things keeps him from falling apart. It is a defense mechanism similar to a soldier defending his life with his military force; in this case Bob is a soldier in the battle between black and white (white being on the offensive).

A Note on Sunset Boulevard

Right off of the bat the viewer of Sunset Boulevard is immersed in the creepy and melancholic genre that is film noir. From the trembling, shrilly music and the dizzyingly lengthy shot of the famous street, Wilder makes sure that we the viewers are in an uneasy state. With the entrance of the screeching sirens and the mention of the iconic setting, we know something very important must be going on in the lives of this city’s rich and famous dwellers. The movie maintains this melancholic mood in Norma’s longing for the past and her decaying mansion, and critiques our excitement of the famous setting by shedding light on the dangers of the California Dream. These dangers are apparent in Norma, Joe, and the media. Joe and Norma are the embodiments of the common individual wishing to obtain fame and thrill in Sunny California: Joe in his aspirations to make something of his name as a writer, and Norma to reclaim hers as an (ageless) star. Their obstacle is the media, influenced by bored broken-hearted potential stars, who hungrily seeks exciting news. As these ill-fated individuals are driven to their demises, a truth is noted on how high expectations for riches and happiness in a ‘promised land’ are unrealistic and destructive. As opposed to feeding into the media’s hunger for fake and packaged drama, we ought to be truthful in our pursuits for happiness.

Response to Steinbeck (ending)

After finishing John Steinbeck’s To a God Unknown, questions I thought would be answered after reading it still remain to an extent. I am particularly perplexed about Joseph’s relation to the land and nature. Is his land even separate from the rest of the natural forces or is it its own separate natural entity? One question that I would like to explore here is whether or not the land is helping Joseph, or if Joseph is helping the land. What is the relationship of power between the two? For a while it seems as though Joseph has a great deal of control of the land—he says, “it’s mine” repeatedly once he arrives. It is he who obsessively breeds the land through his passion for fertility, not to mention his feeding of the moss covered rock at the dying stream to prolong its life. One would think because it is Joseph who is taking care of the land it is he who holds the power. On the other hand however, it is the land that seems to be teasing him—making Joseph think that he holds the power when really the stronger (and more omniscient) powers of the natural forces control everything. After all, Joseph even admits that it was, “the rock [that] killed Elizabeth.” The rock does this almost in a teasing response to her wanting to prove her dominance over it—demonstrating its power. Juanito also comes back to reference how in Indian stories the “great misty Spirit” would play jokes on man. This natural force of nature seems to be playing a big joke on man with the drought that generates such dryness and death—an example of how insignificant man is compared to nature. Finally, it is Joseph’s sacrifice that allows the force of nature to finally give back to man. This sacrifice demonstrates the nature of the relationship Joseph and the land share—the natural land being the one receiving the sacrifice means it is the one with significantly more power. This power nature holds over every aspect of life—even for ones with similarities to Christ like Joseph—is proof of how man’s attempts to ‘tame’ it are futile.

To a God Unknown Response (up to ch. 15)

As I have been reading John Steinbeck’s To a God Unknown, one question has been floating around in my mind. I keep wondering how much of the supernatural elements in this story are simply figurative. Because Joseph has behaved many times in such strange ways (always out of the result of the awesome and almost overwhelming landscape) one may think that some other divine force had taken over him—like the time he felt so passionately towards the land that he tore out the grass and “his thighs beat heavily against” the earth. His confusion after this episode leads me to believe he was not in control of his body, however humans have also long done very strange things on their own. Later on however, his confusion ceases—almost as if the soul (or something) of the land is slowly morphing its way together with Joseph. For starters, he has profound perception of the land, like how he could sense something foreboding just by the wind ceasing to blow before he meets Juanito at the blackened rock. Rama even points out she’s not sure he’s human when she tells Elizabeth, “You cannot think of Joseph dying. He is eternal,” and later says he’s “a symbol of the earth’s soul.” Clearly here Joseph’s existence is questioned as being some other force of the land. Elizabeth even jokingly says Joseph’s hair will “sprout weeds” which paints a very literal picture of him becoming one with the land. Here this fusion could simply be a figurative one—in which his body and mind are just adapting to living in such an expansive and incredible land. However if one takes the literal interpretation of the soul of the land fusing with Joseph himself, this would also explain why he is so indifferent to death—particularly of his brother Benjy. For how could a human with the ability to feel, not feel unbearable grief at another loss of family?

Reading Some of John Muir

Being an avid nature enthusiast as well, I deeply enjoyed reading some of John Muir’s works. I find it quite mesmerizing how one’s writing can be made up of solely descriptions of a place. In The Mountains of California, Muir describes the Sierra Nevada Mountains, or as he has more accurately named it—The Range of Light—in such a mystical and magnificent manner that the reader will feel an aching desire to be in this land. How could one not be drawn to this, “mighty Sierra, miles in height, reposing like a smooth, cumulous cloud in the sunny sky, and so gloriously colored, and so luminous, it seems to be not clothed with light but wholly composed of it, like the wall of some celestial city?” In these places free from civilization’s touch, one feels like nothing else exists but the land, they are no longer their name, but rather a fraction of a fraction of a moment in geological time. The vivid images Muir describes with only the most majestic of words—luminous, gloriously, celestial—makes his significantly scientific writings about geological glacier movements seem artistic, depicting beauty so great it’s divine. Even his explanations for these glacial shifts feel like so much more than just the slow movements of the natural forces. “Nature chose for a tool not the earthquake or lightning to rend and split asunder, not the stormy torrent or eroding rain, but the tender snow-flowers noiselessly falling through unnumbered centuries, the offspring of the sun and sea.” Even these incredibly simple acts of snow melting and water moving seem so significant—they are everything to this land. The slow and calm movement itself of the erosion and glacial movements seem to help explain the pure serenity this landscape evokes. With his way of presenting the land it is no wonder that he was able to persuade Roosevelt to federally mandate so much land as a nature preserve, and thank goodness he did.