So, I was looking through my blog to make sure I had all my posts and saw that I didn't have my review of the short stories I read for my paper. (I guess they didn't go through? Gah, I hate technology. So much.) But anyway, I'm going to try this again:
It is coming down to either writing about "What Is The Cure For Meanness" by Brock Clarke or "This Is Not Your City" by Caitlin Horrocks.
"What Is The Cure For Meanness" has a really dark, biting humor that I enjoy. Basically, after the dad leaves the mom, the son tries to make her feel better by giving her gifts. Each gift, in turn, dies or backfires. It's actually quite sad. I don't know what I'd write about this one, but I think I'd analyze the Clarke's style for the narrator's voice. It's very run-ony and fluid, the way someone talks when they're angry or nervous, where they just keep going until something stops them. To me, that's the main draw of this short story. I can really hear the narrator in my head--and he's a person I can relate to, to some extent.
"This Is Not Your City" is also pretty dark. Mother and husband split. Mother and daughter don't get along. Mother sells herself as a mail-order bride. Daughter gets new boyfriend. New boyfriend dies while with daughter. Mother and daughter bond. If I write about this one, I'm definitely going to be writing about language. It's hard to explain without actually writing down everything I thought about language when reading this, but the mom and the daughter have to learn a new language and there's definitely a theme about lacking a way to communicate. But I'd really want to tie it in to the last scene--the daughter has just told the mom that the boyfriend is dead. And then they sit in silence--and they're so much closer and communicating so much more in that silence than any other time. I really liked that.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Marlowistrate
Heart of Darkness and Waiting For The Barbarians are both tales of a character's recognition and rejection of a corrupt community.
In Heart of Darkness, Marlow joins "The Company" because his unbridled curiosity naturally makes him want to explore the unexplored and, more pragmatically, he needs a job. Shortly after accepting his position in the company, Marlow begins to recognize the darkness and corruption of what is actually a brutal, imperialistic, racist, and dishonest organization. When Marlow tries to reject this corruption, he is regarded as "unsound" and company members, who initially tried to ally themselves with Marlow (because they believed Marlow to be allied with Kurtz, and the company is, above all else, ruled by self-serving political alliance and desire for power and control)became wary of their interactions with him. Marlow seems to be inherently independent-minded. He recognizes inconsistencies (the brick layer with no bricks, etc) and is able to form conclusions about the lack of integrity in the company. He has no massive illusions of idealism he has to dispel beforehand (he even mocks his aunt's readiness to accept the idealist propaganda).
The Magistrate is different in this respect. He has been a tool of the Empire for decades. He believes in and, also significantly, WANTS to believe in the integrity of the Empire that provides him with his title and relatively worry-free lifestyle. He has ties to the Empire and is not inclined to oppose it. His character, therefore, undergoes more of a transformation than Marlow, though they both walk the same path of rejecting a corrupt power. The Magistrate's opposition to The Empire starts unintentionally. When he picks up the lantern, he never expected to see the dead, beaten old man and the tortured little boy. He even thinks of how he wishes he had never seen it, he doesn't want to be a part of any conflict, he simply wants to return to his normal life, but he sees too much and is not able to sit idly by. By the end of the novel, the Magistrate labels himself an enemy of The Empire and wishes to see no similarities between himself and The Empires agents (mainly Colonel Joll).
In Heart of Darkness, Marlow joins "The Company" because his unbridled curiosity naturally makes him want to explore the unexplored and, more pragmatically, he needs a job. Shortly after accepting his position in the company, Marlow begins to recognize the darkness and corruption of what is actually a brutal, imperialistic, racist, and dishonest organization. When Marlow tries to reject this corruption, he is regarded as "unsound" and company members, who initially tried to ally themselves with Marlow (because they believed Marlow to be allied with Kurtz, and the company is, above all else, ruled by self-serving political alliance and desire for power and control)became wary of their interactions with him. Marlow seems to be inherently independent-minded. He recognizes inconsistencies (the brick layer with no bricks, etc) and is able to form conclusions about the lack of integrity in the company. He has no massive illusions of idealism he has to dispel beforehand (he even mocks his aunt's readiness to accept the idealist propaganda).
The Magistrate is different in this respect. He has been a tool of the Empire for decades. He believes in and, also significantly, WANTS to believe in the integrity of the Empire that provides him with his title and relatively worry-free lifestyle. He has ties to the Empire and is not inclined to oppose it. His character, therefore, undergoes more of a transformation than Marlow, though they both walk the same path of rejecting a corrupt power. The Magistrate's opposition to The Empire starts unintentionally. When he picks up the lantern, he never expected to see the dead, beaten old man and the tortured little boy. He even thinks of how he wishes he had never seen it, he doesn't want to be a part of any conflict, he simply wants to return to his normal life, but he sees too much and is not able to sit idly by. By the end of the novel, the Magistrate labels himself an enemy of The Empire and wishes to see no similarities between himself and The Empires agents (mainly Colonel Joll).
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Snow and Dreams and Children and Stuff
In WFTB, the Magistrate has a recurring dream about the children in the snow:
“In the night the dream comes back. I am trudging across the snow of an endless plain towards a group of tiny figures playing around a snowcastle. As I approach the children sidle away or melt into the air. Only one figure remains, a hooded child sitting with its back to me. I circle around the child, who continues to pat snow on the sides of the castle, till I can peer under the hood. The face I see is blank, featureless; it is the face of an embryo or a tiny whale; it is not a face at all but another part of the human body that bulges under the skin; it is white; it is the snow itself. Between numb fingers I hold out a coin.”
Why is the Magistrate haunted by this dream? What is its significance? What does snow symbolize in WFTB?
“In the night the dream comes back. I am trudging across the snow of an endless plain towards a group of tiny figures playing around a snowcastle. As I approach the children sidle away or melt into the air. Only one figure remains, a hooded child sitting with its back to me. I circle around the child, who continues to pat snow on the sides of the castle, till I can peer under the hood. The face I see is blank, featureless; it is the face of an embryo or a tiny whale; it is not a face at all but another part of the human body that bulges under the skin; it is white; it is the snow itself. Between numb fingers I hold out a coin.”
Why is the Magistrate haunted by this dream? What is its significance? What does snow symbolize in WFTB?
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