an incredibly impersonal wedding

The wedding scene in Mao II was effectively disturbing. DeLillo took a wedding and made it impersonal. Weddings are supposed to be intimate and personal, a celebration of two people joining their lives together in the presence of friends and family. The mass wedding was the exact opposite. The men wore the same suit and the women wore the same dress in the same design. The couples didn't even know each other and were married in the presence of family...and thousands of strangers. Family members had nothing to do with the planning of the wedding, found out about the wedding last-minute, and even needed binoculars to find their sons or daughters. The couples were married in the Yankee Stadium, which isn't exactly the most romantic place in the world. The wedding definitely presented the tension between crowds and the individual. Within the setting of the wedding, the individual was essentially non-existant; the event was taken over by the crowd. In class, we compared the wedding to an American sporting event. I agree that DeLillo was probably going for this comparison by placing the wedding in the Yankee Stadium. It makes sense: everyone is gathered in one place, for one reason, wearing essentially the same thing, and viewing the event through binoculars. Sounds like a sporting event to me.

American History

For being so short, "American History" is pretty powerful. I learned about the bombings in Alabama in my history class. I didn't learn anything about slaves being hidden under water from the British. Especially with the title "American History," realizing that hit me pretty hard. Obviously, this is part of American history, but it's not something we talk about. The word "redcoats" refers to the British during the American Revolution. A person would have to know American History to know this. Americans were supressing the freedom of a people group while fighting for their own freedom; this is particularly tragic. The last line reads like a slap in the face. "Can't find what you can't see can you?" I think this refers not only to the Africans under the ships but also to parts of American history that aren't discussed. Leaving the poem off with that line is really effective; it's unnerving and makes the reader stop and ponder.

Entropy

"Entropy" was super weird but i kind of liked it. I thought the contrast between the two apartments in the building was interesting. The people in the upper apartment are obsessed with control and calm while anything goes in the lower apartment. I personally preferred the lower apartment; it was more humerous. Just reading about the upper apartment made me feel tense. In the lower apartment, people are yelling in multiple languages, almost drowning in the shower, passing out everywhere, and climbing in windows. Random groups of people keep bursting into the party. I appreciated Pynchon's humor. My favorite lines were: " 'Somebody is trying to come in the windows. A burglar, I think. A second-story man.' 'What are you worried about,' Meatball said. 'We're on the third floor.' "

So, I really liked Adrienne Rich

I know I've already blogged about Rich once, but I'm really loving her poetry. My roommate says i'm on a "feminist kick" lately, so that may have something to do with it. "Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law" intrigued me, and I read through it a couple times. I wanted to do my analysis paper on it, but there's so much going on in the poem that I didn't even know where to start.I think i would have a better grasp on the poem if i better understood the references to other literary works within the poem.  Rich takes "snapshots" of traditional/ socially acceptable womanhood and kind of mocks them. In the first two stanzas, Rich uses molding wedding cake as a comparison to the more old-fashioned expectations of women to be musically talented, beautiful, and non-thinking, more entertainment than human. The first two stanzas (is that the right term?) made me think of a scene in the move Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Darcy, Miss Bingley, and Elizabeth Bennet are discussing the skills a well-rounded young lady should have. The list was something along the lines of drawing, singing, playing piano, painting, speaking multiple languages, and sewing. Elizabeth makes some remark suggesting that such a young lady probably doesn't even exist. I don't think any of those things are bad; i think having such talents are great, but insufficient in themselves. Lines 40-49 present the struggle to integrate brain-stimulating activities into mediocrity of everyday life, full of cleaning and other "womanly duties" like canning. I thought lines 51-52 were wonderful and a little unnerving, as they compared the constant upkeep of outward beauty to something dead. Lines 60-61 present the fear to break out of the mold and make waves. I think the attitude presented in lines 70-76 is pretty accurate at times. For example, Dannika and I discussed the way the word "feminist" is almost tossed around like a swear word or, at least, an insult. I could keep going, but i feel like i'm rambling now. Those are just some of my thoughts.

Sylvia Plath

I read through Sylvia Plath's poetry a second time today. I'm discovering that reading through poetry a couple times helps me process it more fully. "Lady Lazarus" and "Daddy" were really dark. It's evident that she was wrestling with some huge personal demons. She threw a lot of Nazi Germany references into her poetry, which I thought was really interesting. I'm curious as to what her reasoning was. Such references in "Daddy" make her father seem like an awful, evil man. It seems like Plath hated her father, but then she talks about wanting to die to get back to him. I stumbled upon a poem by Anne Sexton called "Sylvia's Death" that could almost be the sequal to "Lady Lazarus". "Sylvia's Death" helped me understand "Lady Lazarus" better because it referenced Plath's struggle with depression/suicide from the eyes of one of her friends. It sounds like Sexton and Plath talked about death a lot and "drank to" it. Sexton sounds really sad and angry and hurt and left behind, which are probably common of those close to a suicide victim. I thought the line "with two children, two meteors wandering loose in the tiny playroom" was really sad. It made me picture two little kids absolutely lost and confused in the wake of their mother's death.

Adrienne Rich

I really loved "Storm Warnings." We can predict a storm and prepare for a storm, but we can't stop it. We can measure time, but we can't control it, reverse it, or make it move faster. Rich compared storms to emotions a little bit in line 12-14, suggesting that even our own feelings are somewhat out of our control:

"...Weather abroad
And weather in the heart alike come on
Regardless of prediction."

Generally, the poem reminds us that life is always out of our complete control. Even now, as Rich's barometer has been taken over by all kinds of crazy weather predicting technology that normal people don't even understand and we prepare for weather through whole disaster kits instead of candles, we still can't control life. It's a scary thought. Personally, I like to know that things are under control and probably struggle with trying to make sure things go according to my plans. This poem reminds me that it's not possible to control life and plans won't always go as I want them to. For me, it's also a reminder that I have to trust God to take care of life and fall in line with His plans, not mine. Storms (literal and emotional) may come and do damage, but God is my rock and He always carries His children through the storms. The poem itself doesn't lead in that direction at all, but that's just where my thoughts took me.

Howl

I really didn't like Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" when I first read it. I actually gave up halfway through the poem because it reads like I imagine a written drug trip would read. I'm glad we read the poem in class though. I appreciated it a bit more, even if i still think it's pretty weird. The poem is kind of beautiful (in a really twisted way) but sad. It has such a searching, hopeless feel to it. Some parts made me really uncomfortable (I'm glad I didn't end up reading the R-rated sections), but I suppose Ginsberg wasn't necessarily aiming to make people comfortable. I found it interesting that he put together words that really don't seem to go together, such as "screamed with joy" and "shrieked with delight". The phrases made me cringe a little, but they were effective. i really loved phrasing he used like "the drunken taxicabs of Absolute Reality" and "protesting the narcotic tobacco haze of Capitalism."