Edward Said: "States"

          In "States" Edward Said writes about his own homeland Palestine and how his people were exiled from their homeland. "Exile is a series of portraits without names, without context", it takes peoples pride away from them and they feel like aliens to their own country. This is an awful thing to feel since ones country becomes part of who they are, where they grew up, and means something to them. "The colors of the Palestinian flag are outlawed by Israeli military law". This shows how they were under tight restrictions and being treated as aliens in their own country. Things that these people hope and pray for are things that we take advantage of everyday; like being able to use the colors red white and blue.
            Said uses pictures to show his emotion of how the Palestinians are affected. This relates to Berger's essay "Ways of Seeing". He uses pictures to support his claim because seeing comes before believing, and our sight is affected by our beliefs. These images isolate and preserve a particular moment he is trying to express to us through his essay. "Ways of Seeing" supports the idea of seeing before believing and that our beliefs are affected by what we see.
Question: what does he en exile is a series of portraits without context?

Du Bois: "The Souls of Black Folk"

          Du Bois writes "The Souls of Black Folk" discussing the discrimination still on the black community even though society is "integrated". He describes the black history as a "longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge himself into a better and truer self. He wishes that a man could both be a Negro and an American, because when he tries, he feels put down and cursed upon. However, Du Bois claims that Negro blood has a message for this world and will not bleach their soul to Americanism. He is seeking to be an free individual living in a world who shuts doors in his face. He seeks freedom to love, think, and live.
          This essay is a very enlightenment way of thinking. During the enlightenment people started to think for themselves, and straying from the norm. People also became less oppressed because they took a stand for their own beliefs instead of being told from the priest what to believe. More people became free during the enlightenment. Du Bois is taking a stand for his beliefs weather or not the majority agree with him. He is legally free but is taking a stand against harsh treatment from oppressors.
Question: What was the seventh thing he was talking about?

 

Orwell George: "Shooting an Elephant"

          In the twentieth century, the narrator explains how he is a British police officer in Burma where there Europeans were greatly looked down upon and treated with disrespect. The officer receives a call that an elephant is on the loose and needs to be tamed, so he grabs his gun intentionally for his own protection. He follows where people tell him to go and finds that a man has been killed by the elephant. Soon he runs into the beast and has to make the decision weather or not he is going to shoot the animal. He does not want to look like a fool, so he shoots the elephant, barley making an impact on the large animal, shooting him a few more times till he falls on the ground barely breathing. While walking away he thinks that it was legal to shoot the animal and it made him not look like a fool, however he feels that he has murdered the elephant.
          This story is a metaphor for British imperialism at this time. The elephant was a good example that when he turns tyrant, he destroys his own freedom. tyrant. Wild and untamed is the same way he views imperialism which causes an end to freedom. He uses the British officer to symbolize imperial country, and he uses the elephant to symbolize the victims of imperialist having their freedom taken from them.

Question: Why didn't he stand up for his beliefs?

Stephen Crane: "The Open Boat"

          "The Open Boat" is a short story about four men who whose ship wrecked. The oiler, the captain, the correspondent and the cook where all trying to survive the fierce water on a small life boat. When they see land, they also see a light house and realize that there is civilization up ahead, however the water is so rough that they do not think that they can make it to the shore. They then see people on the shore who signal for the men to come to shore. Finally, after a few weakening days with no attempt of a rescue, the men decide they need to try to get to shore. They swim to shore and the waves become so rough that they are banged around, washed up onto the shore where the people then help them. Once they reached shore, they saw the oilers body washed up face down. Even though the oiler was the strongest man out of the bunch, the sea took his life.
          It is ironic how the sea took the strongest mans life. This shows how powerful nature can be. This relates to the naturalistic belief that man is not better that nature. It shows that nature can in fact conquer man. These men were fighting for their lives against the universe who does not care weather they live or die which is exactly a naturalists view on life.

Question: How closely does this relate to his own shipwreck experience?

Stephen Crane: "A Man Said to the Universe"

          Steven Crane's short poem "A Man Said to the Universe" starts of with a proud man yelling to the universe. He lets the universe know that he is in fact existent. He does this in a forthright manner saying firmly "sir! I exist!". However, in reply the universe says that he is not moved by the fact the the man exists. Untimely, the world does not care that we exist and does not owe us anything. The world shuts down the man and lets the man know that he is not as important as he thinks he is.
          This poem relates to the naturalists thoughts the world, God and life. The would compare the universe to God. Both being huge and powerful, naturalists believe that there is in fact a God that exists who is big and capable of a lot of things. However their deist mindset leads them to believe that God does not care about them at all. The universe is not affected by man, nor does he care, as well as Crane and naturalists believing God not being affected by man and nor does he care.

Question: Why did they think that he didn't care?

          

Kate Chopin: "The Story of an Hour"

           "The Story of an Hour" is a story about a woman who found out that her husband has just died. Her immediate reaction was to cry and grieve over the loss of her husband; and she did this while her friend supported her. However, as time went on, she started to think more about what it meant that her husband was gone and she had a 'light bulb moment'. She yells "free, free, free!" because she realizes that she no longer has to succumb to her husband, instead she can live for herself. He was at peace with her husbands death and very relaxed knowing what her life would now look like. Unfortunately, her husband was not killed in an accident and Mrs. Mallard dies "of the joy that kills her". This short story shows how the women during this time period were being oppressed by their husbands.
          "The Story of an Hour" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" both relate in that wives become unhappy and depressed with their lives because all they can do is listen to society, and obey their husbands orders. Women stayed at home all day and became very depressed even though they had a lot. This is what happened in "The Yellow Wallpaper", the husband thought that his wife was acting very strange and needed help, while the doctor side of him saw nothing seriously wrong with her, she was simply depressed and going crazy from it. Furthermore, I am glad that marriage do not currently strictly operate with the ruling husband and obedient depressed wife.

Question: When did marriage start to change (become less strict).

William Dean Howells: "Critcism and Fiction"

           In William Dean Howell's "Criticism and Fiction", he argues his opinion of good literature. Howells idea of good literature is the honest truth. Simple truthful literature is without sugar coating and without being mystified. He says that authors are conforming to fame, and 'whats hot' instead of being original ."If the truth could become a fad it would be accepted by all their 'smart people', but truth is something rather too large for that; and we must await the gradual advance of civilization among them." He also says that authors are being taught to think that what they think is good instead of first finding the good and thinking it. However, he does commend Jane Austen because she was forthright, honest, and  created "material with entire truthfulness." Furthermore, Howells claims that literature needs to convey the simple truth instead of a distorted truth that looks pleasing to the eye.
          This connects to Annie Dillard and her essay "Total Eclipse", Berger, and Freire. These all explain or show examples of mystification. Mystification is someone telling you what to see. Howell explains that if you are writing while being mystified, then this is bad literature. Meaning that if you write something that someone else already told you is the truth, it is bad literature. Instead you should write your own thoughts and speak the simple straight forward truth.

Question: Hasn't everyone been 'mystified', making everything bad literature?