The Abstract and The Avalanche!

I apologize for the sloppy abstract but I have an upset tummy (too much lactose intake) and I just purchase HP and the Half Blood Prince on DVD so I'm a little distracted. Here is a brief idea of what my final paper will consist of starting with a fairly unpolished thesis and just a couple of my arguing points. Due to the uncomfortable topic I'm dealing with I will save the really juicy stuff for our dear professor eyes only. Sorry guys.

My main argument will focus on Ralph of The Mimic Men and Rochester in Wide Sargasso Sea and the alienation they feel. I am claiming that the negative affects of colonization and imperialism directly impacts their sexual relationships and behaviors.

In relation to the lust based sexual relationship between Rochester and Antoinette, his dialogue makes it very clear that he does not love her, he is just “thirsty” for her. He finds her alienating and renames her Bertha to prove his mastery over her. This renaming Kimmey states “renders explicit the imperialis impulses involved in the politics of naming. Similarly Spivak argues “that so intimate a thing as personal and human identity might be determined by the politics of imperialism. The character of Rochester remains unnamed and is never given a physical description. Instead, Rhys uses actions, such as his sexual exploitations of female servants and his disdain for his own wife, to show that he fit’s into Raiskin’s idea that there is a “displacement Jean Rhys’s characters experience under British cultural and political domination” and that “her work adds the crucial variable of gender to the relationship of colonialism, capitalism, etc.” The unnamed character proves his capitalist superiority by sexually manipulating women he has obvious distastes for.

Ralph, according to Hemenway, fits Naipauls writing style as one who “consistently laments the mental, physical, and economic destruction imposed on the Third World by colonialism.” He goes on to say that “In Naipauls world the sexual contract-the bond which symbolizes the social contract-brings no mutual benefit. There are no successful love affairs, no successful marriages in all his work. Women appear repulsive, and sex becomes either boring, violent, or abhorrent.” This can be seen in Ralphs sexual relationships with woman such as his wife and the prostitute he is unable to perform with. In The Mimic Men Ralph Singh says “Intimacy; the word holds the horror.”

In conclusion, both of these authors link political associations to sexual behaviors be it control, confusion or impotence. Sexual relations illustrate political positions.

Now for the fun stuff...and hopefully the extra credit points are still applicable. Amy, Heather, Stephanie and I (along with two of my dearest) tackled the nine lbs of chocolate brownie, cookies, ice cream and massive amounts of whipped cream, caramel syrup and peanuts. Pretty effing fabulous if you ask me.

I'm writing about Sex, can I get a "Hells Yay?!"

For all of you over-achievers in class that are pulling together insanely awesome project/paper ideas, thanks a lot. I was feeling beyond insecure regarding my topic already and couldn't come up with a polished argument and then I made the mistake of perusing some blogs to get some inspiration and I felt like I got punched in the face. Video projects, Nietzche, and Fried Chicken are seriously brilliant ideas and I really don't want to post this blog, hence the massive delay. But here goes:

I'm writing about Sex! Yay! It is a common theme throughout every text we've studied, except the required readings in Ha Jin which I have yet to finish. As a wise instructor once said "Sex sells." Perhaps this topic will be enough to hold my own with all of the brainiacs in class. We'll see.

I'm planning on arguing that the sexual relationships between some of the characters is a small scale representation/metaphor for the outcome of a post-colonial world and the negative effects it has on the sub-missives. I was going to concentrate with our Caribbean texts and discuss my thoughts regarding Rochester/Antoinette and Ralph/Chubby nameless prostitute.

And that's what I'm writing about.

My final works cited list is probably going to be a little ridiculous and much too long. As of now I have no books that link sex with post-colonialism (feel free to suggest anything) but for now I've found interesting literature regarding globalization and since my little brain is just getting to understand the whole concept I figured I could use all the supplemental publications that I could find to help support my argument.

Moisi, Domique. Geopolitics of Emotion: How Cultures of Fear, Humiliation, and Hope are Reshaping the World. New York. Doubleday, 2009
Moisi's argues that the emotional impact of globalization is just as important as geopolitics and that hope is the best response to the challenges we face in our world. Chapters 2-4 will be particularly helpful in my argument as they discuss the cultures of hope, humiliation, and fear.

Stiglitz, Joseph. Making Globalization Work. New York. Norton, 2006
Stiglitz states that in a continuing developing world we need to change the way we think. He examines the "change that has occurred" and "makes a compelling case that treating developing countries more fairly is not only morally right but is ultimately to the advantage of the developed world too." Several segments of this book will contribute to my conclusion.

Mailer, Norman & John Buffalo. The Big Empty: Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker and Bad Conscience in America. New York. Nation Books, 2006
I admit that this book might be a little self-indulgent but I'm sure that the dialogues and "meditations on history, culture and politics" will definitely be pertinent to my topic. The segment on Courage, Morality, and Sexual Pleasure will be found as intriguing and helpful.

James is all alone and I need something happy to read.

With the first two short stories of Joyce I had a lot of trouble not just in relating to the characters of Joyce's "Araby" and "Eveline" but it was near impossible for me to comprehend what I was reading. I found the notes far from helpful and more distracting and interuptive to the stories. I still have no idea what I read and I'm pretty sure I read it while I was sober and awake. I could be wrong though.

When I started reading "A Painful Case" I decided to ignore the notes and just read the story and do my best to understand what was taking place. It must have made a huge difference because I finally began to somewhat enjoy Joyce's work. "The Dead" was interesting too but I mostly want to talk about Mr. James Duffy. This guy was so terribly alone and I found it heart breaking. For a seemingly financially stable man he really was one of the poorest creatures we've read about this semester. I say poor in the sense that he was a man of routine and nothing else. He had very little emotion and I'm pretty sure he kept himself alienated from even his family, unless there was a holiday or someone died. I was thrilled to see him develop a relationship with Emily, even if they had inappropriately gotten down he would have finally connected to someone. Let me make one thing clear, I am not an advocate for infidelity! But I do think if you have absolutely no emotion please by all means do something to make yourself more human.

Emily and James' connection reminded me of ScarJo and Bill Murray in Lost in Translation. They had a completely sexless affair and managed to connect in a foreign setting where the feeling of isolation was what essentially brought them together. I feel that Emily and James were also victims of isolation but they were strangers in their natural habitats. Joyce goes into great detail describing the setting and layout of James' home. I found it interesting that the first two pages of this story describes James' home and illustrating his reading habits then moves on to his facial descriptions and then in just one line states that "He had neither companions nor friends, church nor creed." Aaah, so depressing!

When Emily is introduced I didn't even care that she threw in the fact that she was married and obviously had children, I just wanted this lonely man to connect with something living. Of course they go about their new friendship in a sketchy manner by being secretive and hanging out in really bizarre places so that in itself foreshadowed the horribly "painful" death of Emily in the end. I was left feeling really distraught with the ending of this because when James realizes that he is alone and Emily is gone I feel that he too died and what little bit of humanity she brought to him was gone.

If anyone can recommend some ridiculously light and HAPPY reading for me to engulf myself in over Christmas please by all means send me some suggestions. Four literature classes and absolutely no happy books can certainly do some damage to a reader.

Lahiri the Interpreter

Lahiri writes in such a way that any reader with even the slightest human emotions can engulf themselves in her writing and relate in some way. Someone brought up the fact that Lahiri’s shorts stories are global scenarios. I responded to the short answer question in class in the same way. Feelings are universal. Certainly each environment and culture will differ with each scenario in their own way but it is easy to take out specifics such as background and location and apply them to our own lives. Love, heartache, loneliness and joy are felt throughout our world and Lahiri breaks through cultural confinements. Matt says in his blog that “The topics in the chapters are things that might actually happen in really life. A man struggling to identify with his wife, a woman unable to find love, all of these things most likely happen on a daily basis.” I concur.

Erin goes on to say “Lahiri has characters and situations that are relatable. “ I agree wholeheartedly. I have never lost a child, nor have I been married and desperate to learn who my husband is, and I certainly am not afflicted with Epilepsy but I am sympathetic to these characters that the author has created for us. As Heather was so kind to point out in class, I did have an opinion regarding Mrs. Croft in “The Third and Final Continent.” Perhaps she was senile and a little controlling but all it took was one awkward situation and one small giggle from Mala reacting to this bizarre, foreign woman and her husbands dynamic for our Narrator to realize that his wife was a “perfect lady!”

Marriage is a specific global event that all cultures seem to have adapted in some form over the centuries and this union is represented in all of the stories we have been discussing. Alex begins her blog by saying “I for one think it is very interesting that Lahiri's collection of short stories that we have read thus far all seem to revolve around the idea of marriage, the sanctity of marriage, the art of getting married, and, briefly, the consequences of not getting/being married.” Lahiri captures the intensity and the uniqueness of marriage. I especially felt the disconnection between Shoba and Shukumar in “A Temporary Matter.” It was interesting that when the lights were out only then could they really communicate. It’s easy to identify with that. We are a spoiled generation. We have a plethora of communication outlets; email, cellular phones and text messaging, facebook, twitter, the media, etc. are all important parts of our culture. Even with all of these benefits and the technology we are gifted with people still struggle to communicate. Maybe we should all take Lahiri’s advice and turn off the lights and just listen.

PS-Has anyone seen The Namesake? I only saw bits and pieces but I found it off-putting. Kumar belongs in White Castle, not in serious character roles created by an exceptional writer.

PPS-Professor Julie, did you happen to relate “A Temporary Matter” to the BtVS episode “Hush,” or was that just me and my massive Joss Whedon obsession?

Halloween and Cowboy Chicken

This blog post is kicking my ass and I have yet to begun writing anything substantial. In my defense: I’m sleep deprived, I just received some big family news and I have a massive Halloween party that begins in a mere 19 hours so Ha Jin is not really on my list of priorities. But don’t get me wrong, I have thoroughly enjoyed the required readings and plan to read the entire collection when time allows.

So as for problems relating to writing in Chinese for the Chinese vs. writing in English the biggest issue Ha Jin seemed to run into is the censoring in China. After a little time spent with Google I came across a few articles in which Ha Jin describes working with Chinese publishers and separate departments that concentrate on monitoring artistic works. He never seemed to have much luck getting his work out to the Chinese audiences he was focused on. In an online article I stumbled upon he discusses the difficulty within the Chinese film industry:

“In the West, contemporary Chinese movies are quite popular, but not many of us know that the movies we can see are not always available to the Chinese. The list of banned movies is long: To Live, The Blue Kite, Farewell to My Concubine, Bitter Love, Devils on the Doorstep. Even Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain is classified as unsuitable for the general audience in China. His new film, Lust, Caution, has been criticized by some officials, but thanks to Ang Lee’s international reputation, few of them have condemned him publicly. Instead, Tang Wei, the leading actress in the movie, has been prohibited from making public appearances and from joining the casts of new movies. For filmmakers, a banned movie means a huge business loss and more difficulties in finding sponsorship for their next project. It would be suicidal to make two banned movies in a row, so filmmakers have to toe the line. This is the main reason most Chinese movies lack depth and complexity—they’re hamstrung at the outset by directors and producers having to worry about whether the final product will pass the censors.” (the entire article can be found at http://www.theamericanscholar.org/the-censor-in-the-mirror/)

He then goes on to stay that “the authorities are more subtle in controlling book publishing.” He illustrates with an example of the banning of Yan Lianke’s Serve the People! “The authorities criticized the novella as “vilifying Chairman Mao, the People’s Liberation Army, and the revolution through excessive sexual descriptions,” so “it confuses people’s minds and disseminates Western ideas.”

After these speed bumps in Ha Jin’s writing career in China it would only make sense that he would use the Western world as an outlet to get his works out there. Quite fortunately for us English speakers, we are introduced to his ways of thinking and expressing. I couldn’t help but notice the way his characters hit fairly close to home. The Tiger Fighter to me seemed like any of our reality tv stars that will do anything for their 15 minutes of fame. The employees of Cowboy Chicken weren’t too different from many over here, they wanted compensation for work they weren’t doing.

I feel that if both Conrad and Ha Jin had written in their native languages we wouldn’t have been exposed to them at all. At least not the way they were originally meant to have been presented. Take the Bible for instance, so much has been lost in translation that everyone has their own interpretation. But since Joseph Conrad and Ha Jin so kindly wrote for an English speaking audience we get a faint glimpse of the world they knew and those that take advantage of this privilege are all the wiser for it.

Now for some self indulgent advertising: Halloween Party/Charity Event takes place on October 30th at approximately 9:00 PM. Prizes for best costumes: male, female, duo and group. Loads of food and beverages all in the name of Charity. (Trick or Treat for UNICEF program) Should be fun. If anyone has interest in attending feel free to email me @ kristinadawn27@gmail.com

Halloween and Cowboy Chicken

This blog post is kicking my ass and I have yet to begun writing anything substantial. In my defense: I’m sleep deprived, I just received some big family news and I have a massive Halloween party that begins in a mere 19 hours so Ha Jin is not really on my list of priorities. But don’t get me wrong, I have thoroughly enjoyed the required readings and plan to read the entire collection when time allows.

So as for problems relating to writing in Chinese for the Chinese vs. writing in English the biggest issue Ha Jin seemed to run into is the censoring in China. After a little time spent with Google I came across a few articles in which Ha Jin describes working with Chinese publishers and separate departments that concentrate on monitoring artistic works. He never seemed to have much luck getting his work out to the Chinese audiences he was focused on. In an online article I stumbled upon he discusses the difficulty within the Chinese film industry:

“In the West, contemporary Chinese movies are quite popular, but not many of us know that the movies we can see are not always available to the Chinese. The list of banned movies is long: To Live, The Blue Kite, Farewell to My Concubine, Bitter Love, Devils on the Doorstep. Even Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain is classified as unsuitable for the general audience in China. His new film, Lust, Caution, has been criticized by some officials, but thanks to Ang Lee’s international reputation, few of them have condemned him publicly. Instead, Tang Wei, the leading actress in the movie, has been prohibited from making public appearances and from joining the casts of new movies. For filmmakers, a banned movie means a huge business loss and more difficulties in finding sponsorship for their next project. It would be suicidal to make two banned movies in a row, so filmmakers have to toe the line. This is the main reason most Chinese movies lack depth and complexity—they’re hamstrung at the outset by directors and producers having to worry about whether the final product will pass the censors.” (the entire article can be found at http://www.theamericanscholar.org/the-censor-in-the-mirror/)

He then goes on to stay that “the authorities are more subtle in controlling book publishing.” He illustrates with an example of the banning of Yan Lianke’s Serve the People! “The authorities criticized the novella as “vilifying Chairman Mao, the People’s Liberation Army, and the revolution through excessive sexual descriptions,” so “it confuses people’s minds and disseminates Western ideas.”

After these speed bumps in Ha Jin’s writing career in China it would only make sense that he would use the Western world as an outlet to get his works out there. Quite fortunately for us English speakers, we are introduced to his ways of thinking and expressing. I couldn’t help but notice the way his characters hit fairly close to home. The Tiger Fighter to me seemed like any of our reality tv stars that will do anything for their 15 minutes of fame. The employees of Cowboy Chicken weren’t too different from many over here, they wanted compensation for work they weren’t doing.

I feel that if both Conrad and Ha Jin had written in their native languages we wouldn’t have been exposed to them at all. At least not the way they were originally meant to have been presented. Take the Bible for instance, so much has been lost in translation that everyone has their own interpretation. But since Joseph Conrad and Ha Jin so kindly wrote for an English speaking audience we get a faint glimpse of the world they knew and those that take advantage of this privilege are all the wiser for it.

Now for some self indulgent advertising: Halloween Party/Charity Event takes place on October 30th at approximately 9:00 PM. Prizes for best costumes: male, female, duo and group. Loads of food and beverages all in the name of Charity. (Trick or Treat for UNICEF program) Should be fun. If anyone has interest in attending feel free to email me @ kristinadawn27@gmail.com

My sympathy towards Rochester, the animal.

Perhaps it’s the masochist in me, but I find the withholding assholes in literature quite fascinating. The unnamed male narrator/Rochester in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea is no exception. I agree wholeheartedly that he is in fact a “douche” as we discussed in class. But at the same time, I kind of want to get to know him. The last time I was this intrigued with a male character written by a female author was Howard Roark in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, also a bit withholding and opportunistic.

Spivak suggests that “Bertha’s function in Jane Eyre is to render indeterminate the boundary between human and animal.” (WSS 241) I actually find both Rochester and Roark’s characters balancing between the idea of man and animal in these two pieces of fiction. Spivak states that “Critics have remarked that Wide Sargasso Sea treats the Rochester character with understanding and sympathy.” (WSS 243) Perhaps it’s due to the animal personification that these critics, as well as myself, find their actions to be excusable.

I have been exposed to a fascinating article written by Donald Pizer entitled ‘Frank Norris’s McTeague: Naturalism as Popular Myth.” He discusses Norris’s portrayal of his protagonist, McTeague, as a human beast and explains that it was a folk-based “fear of the presence of the animal in man” (Pizer) that led to Naturalistic literature. He touches on four main principles imbedded in naturalistic writings: “the fear of the animal in man because of its destructive force, the fear of sex in its uncontrollable and unselective animalistic form because it drives individuals into harmful relationships, the fear of greed because its mix of animality and sexuality results in uncontrollable obsessions, and the fear of the outsider that leads the animal to protect its turf.” (Pizer) Not all of these principles can be applied to Roark, but I feel that Rochester’s behavior throughout WSS can be linked to all four.

I’ll begin with the idea of the fear of animal in man because of its destructive force. Rochester is opportunistic and he’s on survival mode. He has the idea that marrying a woman with wealth will increase his comforts, not dissimilar to nesting before hibernation. This marriage was also a way to separate himself from, pardon this terrible metaphor, the pack. Obviously, this was not a healthy relationship for Rochester or Antoinette, and I feel comfortable defining it as “destructive.”

Next, the fear of sex in its uncontrollable and unselective animalistic form because it drives individuals into harmful relationships is certainly present.

“’You are safe,’ I’d say. She’d liked that-to be told ’you are safe.” Or I’d touch her face gently and touch tears. Tears-nothing! Words-less than nothing. As for the happiness I gave her, that was worse than nothing. I did not love her. I was thirsty for her, but that is not love. I felt very little tenderness for her, she was a stranger to me, a stranger who did not think or feel as I did.” (WSS 55)

This is a perfect example of a harmful sexual relationship. Later on, Rochester’s physical relationship with Amelie is nothing but animalistic. He refers to her as “another complication” and even displays some thoughts of his disgust (and racism if you ask me) when he says “her skin was darker, her lips thicker than I had thought.” (WSS 84)

The fear of greed and the fear of the outsider are both prominent. Rochester can’t divorce his wife, regardless of her mental state, because it would damage his reputation and he wants her family money. He also fears the islands and the inhabitants. He doesn’t understand his current surroundings and constantly is ready to fight for what he feels is rightfully his. Spivaks reference to Christophine’s interaction with Rochester describes it as an “analysis..powerful enough for the white man to be afraid: “I no longer felt dazed, tired, half hypnotized, but alert and war, ready to defend myself” (WSS 95, 245).

Maybe I’m working too hard to disregard the cruelty in Rochester because of my slight crush on him, but regardless, the naturalistic elements stood out to me so I thought I’d write about them.