Milkman's Long Term Thinking

As the drunkard fell asleep with a shotgun in his arms and a fist full of money:

"Go get my money," Macon said.
"Me?" Freddie said. "Suppose he..."
"Go get me my money."

Milkman's worst nightmare is to become like his father; concerned about money and neglecting the people close to him. However, as we discussed in class on 12/12/13, Milkman is sort of becoming his father by pursuing the gold in a cave near Danville. However, I think there is another motive for Milkman to get the gold, apart from gaining financial independence from his father or finding a goal to excel at for once or just physically getting away from home: Proving to everyone that he can get rich, fast, without wasting his life being stingy like his father.

Milkman has been described by Guitar as being "not a serious person" (Morrison 104). Milkman becomes very resigned when Lena scolds him at the end of Part I, and doesn't argue back very much. I see this as a sign of laziness on his part, an unwillingness to put himself out there and make a path for himself. By stealing gold, Milkman won't need to worry about choosing a career, or keeping up Sonny's Shop with his father and eventually himself.

Going out to Danville would seem like a daunting task for someone as lazy as Milkman. Finding Reverend Cooper, hitching a ride to and from the Butler farm, and trekking through a rough wilderness seems like too much work. But in comparison to working at Sonny's Shop for the rest of his life, or making an honest living doing some other job, a few days of rough travel is a great trade-off.

Perhaps this is a sign that Milkman's mind is maturing into that of an adult. He's making choices that have long term benefits even if they are unpleasant at the moment. And yet, at the same time, Milkman is following in his father's footsteps, even though he is trying to one-up his father.

Realizing the Epigraph

The fathers may soar, 
And the children may know their names

Addressing the first part of this epigraph, The fathers may soar, apart from Macon I being blasted five feet of the fence defending his property, we see this in Chapter 8. Milkman spots a white peacock on the roof of the Neslon Buick headquarters. At first, Milkman is talking to Guitar about robbing Pilate, but this catches his attention instead. " "Look—she's flying down." Milkman felt again his unrestrained joy at anything that could fly. "Some jive flying, but look at her strut." (Morrison 178).

I was a bit confused as to why a male peacock was flying, but Milkman described it as "jive flying", and jive, when used as an adjective, means deceitful or worthless. I'm guessing the peacock did some sort of glide down to the ground.

Then Milkman asks a question about the white peacock that is asking a question about himself and his father:

                "How come it can't fly no better than a chicken?" Milkman asked.

                "Too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can't nobody fly with all that shit. Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down." 

Guitar's answer brings to the surface one of the biggest problems about the Dead household. Macon II, Milkman's father, is so concerned about his money and property that he is rendered immobile, and to an extent makes Milkman immobile as well. Macon doesn't want Milkman to leave him, and wants him to stay and help with the real estate business.

The second part of the epigraph, And the children may know their names, is addressed in Chapter 9 by First Corinthians. After she snapped at Porter, and while she is desperately knocking on Porter's car window, she realizes who she is in terms of names:

                 "She was First Corinthians Dead, daughter of a wealthy property owner and the elegant Ruth Foster, granddaughter of the magnificent and worshipped Dr. Foster, who had been the second man in the city to have a two-horse carriage, and a woman who had turned heads on every deck of the Queen Mary and had Frenchmen salivating all over Paris." (Morrison 197). 

As far as titles go, First Corinthians Dead and Macon Dead III have great opportunities open for them. However, by the way they're raised by an oppressive father and weak mother, they can't really use these names to any great effect. 

Rochester's suspicion

Seeing Rochester's stay in Granbois slowly turning into a disaster, I longed for the feeling of true vacation, which I had experienced while reading The Sun Also Rises. Man, did Jake and Bill know how to have a good time. Rochester did not sit back, prop up his feet, and relax like I expected him to. One aspect of Granbois that was disconcerting to him was the presence of black servants.

The first part of this problem is that Rochester sees the servants as primitive. He talks about them like he's examining a new species of animal, especially when he takes interest in the blacks' physical features: "(Peering at me. (Do their eyes get smaller as they grow older? Smaller, beadier, more inquisitive?) After that I thought I saw the same expression on all their faces" (Rhys 77). The last sentence gave me the feeling that Rochester had the "they're all the same" mentality. This same mentality comes up again when he comments on Baptiste's facial expression, and how Rochester uses the phrase "these people". I understand this aspect of Rochester's reaction to Granbois; when one is an outsider and being bombarded by new sights and smells, it helps to simplify some parts of the overwhelming experience.

The second part of his problem, which is closely related to the first point, is that Rochester does not trust the black servants. He does not trust the locals like Jake and Bill trusted the Basques. I don't think Rochester explicitly says that he distrusts these servants, but there are some clues: "She gave me a bulky envelope addressed in careful copperplate... Then I saw Baptiste standing near the veranda steps, put the letter in my pocket and forgot it" (Rhys 95). No wonder Rochester is having a miserable time; he feels like he doesn't have enough privacy. He begins to feel like people are watching him, which shows when he thinks Hilda and Amelie are laughing at him.

After writing this, I now realize that Rochester's situation is much different than Jake and Bill's. Rochester is playing the role of the second-born son, and cannot just relax. He is letting these servants mess with his mind. All the time spent worrying about the servants could be used to connect with Antionette.

Meursault and "natural"

In Albert Camus' The Stranger, Meursault sees the plausibility of the prosecutor's argument that the murder of the Arab was premeditated:
               The gist of what he was saying, if I understood him correctly, was that my crime was  premeditated. . . . I thought his way of viewing the events had a certain consistency. What he was saying was plausible. I had agreed with Raymond to write the letter in order to lure his mistress . . . I had gone back alone intending to use it. I had shot the Arab as I planned. I had waited. And to make sure I had done the job right, I fired four more shots, calmly, point-blank—thoughtfully, as it were. (Camus 99)

While reading this passage I was struck by how objective Meursault is when describing what the prosecutor was saying. In the passages following, Meursault still does not reveal too much emotional response to the prosecutor's harsh judgement of him. This formed a "go with the flow" type of Meursault in my mind, one that isn't exactly apathetic, but one that sees everything as having a reason.

One example I have that shows Meursault as avoiding conflict by coping with distress is his use of the word "natural" to describe things that normal people don't think of as that.
1). Meursault sees the initial hearing as natural:
        As the magistrate had put it, my case was taking its course. And then sometimes, when the conversation was of a general nature, I would be included. I started to breathe more freely. No one, in any of these meetings, was rough on me. Everything was so natural, so well handled, and so calmly acted out that I had the ridiculous impression of being "one of the family." (Camus 70)

2). Meursault finds a Czechoslovakian newspaper scrap under his jail mattress:
       The mother hanged herself. The sister threw herself down a well. I must have read that story a thousand times. On the one hand it wasn't very likely. On the other, it was perfectly natural. (Camus 80)

In both cases, Meursault does not have normal-people feelings towards things like his own trial and a family-death story. He labels them as natural instead.

Natural. It carries a similar meaning as "I thought his way of viewing the events had a certain consistency. What he was saying was plausible" (Camus 99), in that it praises something's smoothness when that something isn't normally thought of as smooth. This changes Meursult as a character for me, because now I can see a reason for the sun for having such a big effect on him. I can just picture him thinking: The sun was hot on my face. Pulling the trigger was a disgusting act, but it felt natural...

Surrealistic Themes

The Metamorphasis by Franz Kafka has been shrouded in a haze of surrealism ever since the idea was introduced the first day we started reading the novel. Because events in the book are absurd and bizarre, there is a nightmarish quality about the story; I half-expect Gregor to be having a rather detailed and prolonged dream, wake up, kiss the ground, then get back to the usual grind. One reason I think this is because Gregor seems pretty calm when he realizes that he's transformed, which gives the entire story a dream-like quality.

 First of all, the family doesn't call police and there's no media attention; they're poor, but I'd expect more of a reaction out of them.

Second, Gregor goes into great detail and length when explaining to manager his faults; giving such a long explanation in a heated moment seems unrealistic, but since it's necessary for plot explanation, it fits as well.

Third, the family knows him as Gregor, then reject this idea. Gregor also repeatedly tries to get on good terms with his family, even though he is going to fail each time; these repeated attempts seem to serve to illustrate a point (Gregor misses his human life) rather than be a realistic portrayal of a difficult circumstance (I would think he'd realize what he's causing and give up eventually).

The surrealistic tones of the short novel made me less sympathetic to Gregor's plight. I wouldn't be surprised if a dragon broke through the roof and carried Gregor away to Middle-earth.  But the emotions that the family goes through make the novel truly gripping; even though I don't really care what happens to Gregor eventually, his family's situation has me fully invested in the book.

Cohntrary to Jake's Opinion

"I want to go to South America."
He had a hard, Jewish, stubborn streak. (18)

I saw Cohn coming over across the square.
"Here he comes."
"Well, let him not get superior and Jewish." (102)

"That Cohn gets me," Bill said. "He's got this Jewish superiority so strong that he thinks the only emotion he'll
get out of the fight will be being bored." (166)

This bias against Cohn's Jewishness doesn't seem to merit all of the hate he gets throughout the book. So why does everyone hate Cohn?

I want to point out that Cohn isn't such a bad person. Robert Cohn is just portrayed as an antagonist by the "gang" of Jake, Brett, Mike, and Bill, because he is so different from them.
1). Cohn has values that he defends, which is why he stands up for Brett's honor. These values also make him made when Brett goes off with Romero, because she isn't "absolutely fine and straight" (46). 
2) Cohn has passions and ambitions that the rest of the gang lack. For example, he wants to go to South America right after reading "The Purple Land" by W. H. Hudson. No one else in the expat gang has a passion to go anywhere or do anything.

I actually know Cohn's personality, satisfactions, and fears from Jake's description of him in the first chapter. This makes him a multidimensional character. I don't feel like I know Brett, Jake, Mike, or Bill in the same way. These characters seem to perform only a couple of actions throughout the novel and don't seem to exhibit any growth. Even though they marginalize Cohn towards the end of the novel, Cohn plays a bigger role than the gang thinks he plays. He serves as a moral benchmark that the rest of the characters do not meet.

Midnight in Paris

Before reading The Sun Also Rises, I had watched "Midnight in Paris" by Woody Allen at least twice. The movie portrays Gil (Owen Wilson), modern day writer, on a vacation in Paris. He's a little spacey, and he somehow finds a way to travel back in time to Paris in the 1920s. He meets all of the famous writers of that time, Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein, and they humble him. But Gil also meets Hemingway, who is much different from the different writers. As I read The Sun Also Rises, I always had the following two scenes in my mind; the plain yet descriptive prose of Hemingway's reminded me of these two clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw9spMYA-XU 
In this clip, Gil is talking to Hemingway about writing, and Hemingway's masculinity and aggressiveness comes on very strong in this scene. I can really see Hemingway knocking out critics with his attitude in this scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1P1m5gNQuo  This long monologue by Hemingway really fits his prose style. He uses simple words that paint clear images and uses the word "and" a lot. At 1:36 in this clip, Hemingway begins to describe the passion in truly brave people, which reminds me of Jake's (and Hemingway's) deep respect for bullfighters. I think the filmmakers did a really great job with Hemingway in this movie.

Other than a portrayal of Hemingway, "Midnight in Paris" also  paints a complete picture of 1920s Paris for me. Gil, while following these famous writers, goes from cafe to cafe, just like Jake does. Also like Jake, Gil is part of an in crowd, the crowd of writers (who are like the expats in the book).



"Midnight in Paris" really shaped my view of Jake's Paris throughout The Sun Also Rises. As Jake ambled along the river, I could only picture Gil, with his hands in his pockets, staring off into the starry sky.

Multiple Points of View

Woolf made Clarissa very realistic for me because I got to experience multiple parts of her personality. With Howie in The Mezzanine, I was getting one person's point of view of Howie as a person, so I felt like I didn't get the whole picture. Clarissa was described by a multitude of characters in Mrs. Dalloway in addition to herself,  giving me a more balanced view of Clarissa. However, the biggest aspect that drew me into Clarissa's character is her flaws.

Clarissa's flaws are mentioned throughout the book by herself and other characters. Not only her old age, but her physical oldness as well.

"“Peter! Peter!” cried Clarissa, following him out on to the landing. “My party to-night! Remember my party to-night!” she cried, having to raise her voice against the roar of the open air, and, overwhelmed by the traffic and the sound of all the clocks striking, her voice crying “Remember my party to-night!” sounded frail and thin and very far away as Peter Walsh shut the door." (54)

Clarissa's physical descriptions by many different people, especially in the very beginning of the book as she was observed by Scrope Purvis, gives me a clear image of Clarissa's physical image.
"A charming woman, Scrope Purvis thought her (knowing her as one does know people who live next door to one in Westminster); a touch of the bird about her, of the jay, blue-green, light, vivacious, though she was over fifty, and grown very white since her illness. There she perched, never seeing him, waiting to cross, very upright."(6)
Howie gives us fleeting descriptions of his appearance. I know he has a beard and is middle aged, but other than that I'm not sure how he looks like (I assume he looks like Nicholson Baker).

Another one of Clarissa's flaws is that she lives in the past, regretting her momentous decisions that she made at Bourton, or imagining what her life could have been if she had married Peter Walsh instead of Richard. Clarissa is also often described as being shallow and superficial, especially by Peter, who is critical of her tendency to throw many useless parties. Clarissa seems to have real life problems, while Howie seems to be in his own world, and not in any real trouble. Most of the time, readers don't care for a character like that. 

Finally, Clarissa is caught in a social web that is laced with relationships and complicated people. With Peter, Richard, and Sally, Clarissa has a romantic history. With Kilman, an uneasy one. But Howie's interactions with his lunch-bound co-workers and shop check-out workers seem insubstantial in comparison. He briefly interacts with other people, and therefore he seems unrealistically shut-out of the world. Because Howie isn't described by other people in his world, I don't know how he actually looks like. And I'm not sure I can trust Howie's opinion of himself (if he even has one). In Mrs. Dalloway, I'm bombarded with images and perceptions of Clarissa that are realistically complex, making her a very convincing character.

Significance of Flowers in Mrs. Dalloway

The beginning of The Hours highlighted the emphasis on flowers in Mrs. Dalloway. It really struck me in the beginning of the movie, as I watched three different stories being tied together by people arranging flowers in vases. I know for certain that my family isn't that big on flowers, especially because they are expensive. But also, they don't really mean anything to my family. We all know that roses stand for love, because from the movies, rose petals cue romantic music. But what do other flowers mean? Like the hyacinths that are mentioned in Mrs. Dalloway a number of times? And the hydrangeas that reminded Clarissa of Sally Seton?

                                                                                    Hydrangea---->



Just like roses say "I love you", hyacinths mean "I am sorry", and hydrangeas express gratitude. Perhaps these flower meanings cannot be translated literally into Mrs. Dalloway, but nature still plays a big part in the book. Especially when Sally Seton is involved. Here are two examples of Sally's relationship with flowers:

1). Sally Seton offers Clarissa a flower and kisses her at Bourton:

"Then came the most exquisite moment of her whole life passing a stone urn with flowers in it. Sally stopped; picked a flower; kissed her on the lips. The whole world might have turned upside down! (40)"<--but I have the wrong version of the book.

2). Sally's personality is demonstrated in a short anecdote about her flower arranging skills:

" Sally's power was amazing, her gift, her personality. There was her way with flowers, for instance. At Bourton they always had stiff little vases all the way down the table. Sally went out, picked hollyhocks, dahlias--all sorts of flowers that had never been seen together--cut their heads off, and made them swim on top of water in bowls. The effect was extraordinary..(38)"

Richard and Mrs. Dalloway also exhibit proclivities toward buying flowers. Other than the obvious first line, "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.", Richard buys flowers for Clarissa later in the book, to show his love for her after he hears Clarissa's name mentioned during lunch with Hugh. The lunch inspires such love in Richard that he goes to buy "any number of flowers, roses, orchids, to celebrate what was, reckoning things as you will, an event; this feeling about her when they spoke of Peter Walsh at luncheon.. (127). " Richard stated that he trusted his taste in flowers more than his taste in gold. What a love of flowers!

And finally, the comparing of actual people to flowers in Mrs. Dalloway. 
"As a child, she had had a perfect sense of humour; but now at seventeen, why, Clarissa could not in the least understand, she had become very serious; like a hyacinth, sheathed in glossy green, with buds just tinted, a hyacinth which has had no sun. (135)" 

                                                                                                  Hyacinth----->

Flowers must have played a much bigger role in Victorian England than it does in my world. Reading Mrs. Dalloway, I got a sense of how important flowers are to the characters, but perhaps I'll never really understand their love of floral arrangements.

Character Realism

In class, we assumed that Howie was a reflection of Nicholson Baker himself (for example, Mr. Mitchell referenced Baker's beard on the back cover when talking about Howie's beard in the book). There are plenty of other similarities between Baker and Howie. This brought me to ask the question: How often do authors insert themselves into their own novels as main characters?

One author that I can think of that writes about the same type of character, himself, book after book, is Haruki Murakami. Two of his books in particular:  The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore. I thought that the main characters from each book could have been easily swapped. Toru Okada from The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka Tamura from Kafka on the Shore are both strong-willed men who set out on adventures for quirky but personal reasons. They are also both very introspective, and I know Murakami is as well. The main connection between them is that they both enjoy lemons and/or lemon drops and delve into the details of cooking for themselves.  These two recurring habits in Murakami's novels lead me to believe that Murakami portrays himself as other characters.

There are obvious examples of authors writing about themselves in their own novels. Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five writes about his experiences during World War II through the story of Billy Pilgrim, the book's main character. This gives the book an autobiographic feel, which was different from The Mezzanine (cause who writes an autobiography like that?).
 

Authors also can gift their characters with their personal beliefs. In class discussion on Mrs. Dalloway, we said that Virginia Woolf values solitary experiences (while talking about Septimus's pre-war life) which matches with Clarissa's enjoyment of spending time alone. I think this is a great way to give a character realistic traits; what is more realistic than your own real feelings?