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Thursday, May 15, 2014
Postmodernism and Social Justice
Postmodernist literature is often associated with the era of civil rights that have transformed American society. Although important problems remain to be resolved, these movements achieved major advances in social justice and economic opportunity during the twentieth century. What themes, ideas, and conflicts are present in the postmodernist poetry presented in class?
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In "Ending Poem", Rosario Morales and Aurora Levins Morales present a major concept that reflects not just an individual, but their roots and ethnicity as well. The overarching theme in the poem is the defining of one's own identity. "Ending Poem" is rich with diversity as the narrators goes from being a Puerto Rican to a Jew to a European. During the Post-Modernist writing era, it was a time when many were open to embracing the multicultural backgrounds as the diversity of the U. S. was indeed growing. As one keeps reading the poem, there is realization of the vast differences of the characters but at the same time, they share commonalities. Together, the narrators state they "will not eat [themselves] up inside anymore" (1339). By "eating [themselves] up inside", they mean that they will not allow for themselves to be labeled and defined by simply being Haitian or Jewish. Instead, it is their history, their ancestors, their mixed blood which truly makes them whole.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis of the diversity of the characters. The poem had a sound of strength which does show the embracing of multiple cultures. Especially the part on how their mixed blood makes up who they are today. It has a nice flow of "I am made of different cultures but those cultures don't define me. "
DeleteSosna, I think your analysis is great! Rosario and Aurora do not want to be labeled Haitian or Jewish because they believe that the most multi-cultural an individual is, the more advantages they have.
DeleteI agree 100%. The ideals that ancestors pass down from generation to generation truly makes everyone who they are today.
DeleteI agree cometary because the roots of a person define who they are. Without your ancestors, you carry no true values and your morals may be out of wack because there are no foretold lessons.
DeleteLaurice Skinner
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In “I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey's Version of ‘Three Blind Mice’” by Billy Collins, the narrator is chopping vegetables while listening to music. When the song comes on he slips into thoughts of the mice “And I start wondering how they came to be blind. If it was congenital, they could be brothers and sister,” (Collins). Although at first thought it may seem as if the poet is simply questioning the rationale behind the classic English nursery rhyme, Collins is really referencing the obscurity of those who are exploited. As a child you typically accept that the mice are blind and you don’t wonder why, but as an adult you question this. The blind mice are symbolic of those who are exploited and do not realize it. Written in the late 1990s, a time during which the gap of inequality grew greater in America between races is reflected in this poem. Collins uses the narrator as a guilty cynic who, reasons that “Just so she could cut off their tails, with a carving knife, is the cynic's answer” (Collins). A cynic is one who believes in selfishness as the motivation of human actions and disbelieves in selflessness. The cynic who recognizes that these individuals are being mistreated and feels sorry for them while the blind mice do not.
Carolina Vallin
DeleteI agree with your interpretation of the narrator's cynicism, but I would go as far as to say that the narrator recognized the mistreatment and felt sorry for the mice, but deliberately chose to ignore it because that is what is expected of him from his environment.
Aurora Morales and Rosario Morales presents the conflicts faced by people with multicultural backgrounds through their poem "Ending Poem." The poem is clearly explicit of their backgrounds, ranging from Africa to Puerto Rico. Even though the author herself believes she's "a child of America" (Morales), she's seen as a minority and judged by her historical roots. The stereotypes of Europeans, Africans, and immigrants shapes a false identity given to her by her surroundings. However, the Morales are embracing their own identity saying "I am who I am" (Morales), without letting the judgements of others "eat [them] up inside" (Morales). In post modernist literature, there's a fight for adaption to a more accepting world. Here, the two authors are also arguing for the same acceptance of multi cultures.
ReplyDeleteYes, I definitely do agree that the narrator(s) in the poem have embraced their residency as they consider themselves as "a child of America". The back-and-forth between being American and of another nationality was partially confusing. Though the narrator exihibted the embracing of their nationality, there was self-doubt within the poem. The self-doubt surrounded the idea of truly being "American". At the beginning of the poem, there was not a solid argument whereas the end of the poem, the narrotor(s) constructs a solid argument towards not only how they feel about their "American-ness" but who they are in the midst of their various cultures.
DeleteI agree with you Lina and when I saw it being performed i thought it being clearly tied with immigration and how there is a struggle as you said of the acceptance of multi cultures
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ReplyDeleteIn “Ending Poem”, Rosario Morales and Aurora Levins Morales present the problem of self-definition for immigrants. The authors try to define their female identity through an analysis of their two cultures. While considering themselves “a child of the Americas,” (Morales 1338) and not just Puerto Rican, Aurora and Rosario apply in their writings the cultural icons of their country, and their childhood memories of the Puerto Rican countryside. The word America usually relates to a single country, however in this poem the Morales’s define America as the United States and Latin America. During this post-modernistic time period, immigration and the embracement of multicultural backgrounds was very prevailing. The authors write, “We are new. They gave us life, brought us to where we are” (Morales 1338). For Aurora and her mother, diversity is a source of power and for multi-cultural individuals, home is everywhere. Even though ancestry is very important in shaping an individual’s life, it does not shape an identity. The authors write, “Africa water the roots of my tree, but I cannot return” (Morales 1338). The authors cannot completely identify themselves with their origin, therefore they created their own culture- a culture that truly define them as individuals.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your interpretation of Morales and Levins' poem. It was also beautifully written. Your analysis completely represents the performance your group did in class, which I enjoyed! The ideas presented in "Ending Poem" were very controversial during the postmodern era. You did a great job explaining how ancestry plays a role in an individual's life without defining who they are.
DeleteI liked your ending sentence, I think it summarized your argument really well and was prefect for the ending.
DeleteIn the two voice poem "Ending Poem" by Aurora and Rosario Morales, the voices of the two authors showcase the ideal that even if you come to America from a different country, you keep the culture that was passed down from generation to generation. At the beginning of the poem, the two authors describe their cultural backgrounds. The first author states that "Spanish is in (her) flesh" while the second author reveals that she is "rooted in the history" of Latino America (Morales). They both bring this cultural background to light because they embrace that background from which they came from. Near the end of the poem the idea of culture being passed down from generation to generation is put to light. The authors explain that they "are new" and that the ancestors "gave (them life" and that they "brought (them) to where (they) are" (Morales). The embracing of cultures is seen throughout postmodernism in the fact that people would write about embracing their cultures even when cultures were being put down all over the world.
ReplyDeleteZoe,I completely agree that the narrators have embraced their cultures in American culture,instead of assimilating into American culture.
DeleteLaurice
I like the idea you presented of immagrants having the duty to spread their history from generation to generation. think you did a good of incorporating the text into your argument.
DeleteIn "My Father and The Figtree" by Naomi Shihab Nye the conflict of immigration and keeping your culture in a new environment is being presented by the father role in the poem. In the first stanza the father simply misses the figtrees from his homeland by stating that he wishes the cherry trees "were figs"(Nye). As the years progress it is shown that there were still no figtrees and he did not want to plant one. This could be associated with the fear that many immigrants were already out of place at the time because they immigrated here and were not born here so the father did not want to be even more outcasted from society. Then after they moved once again there was a figtree in their backyard. "There, in the middle of Dallas, Texas a tree with the largest, fattest, sweetest figs."(Nye). This shows that even though they were so far away from their homeland that they still were able to find their culture and now are able to secure it so they wont feel out of place.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you're saying but I'm a little confused by what you mean when you wrote "This could be associated with the fear that many immigrants were already out of place at the time because they immigrated here and were not born here so the father did not want to be even more outcasted from society". Also another important theme to remember from this poem is the idea of cultural preservation and the religious relevance of the figs shown.
DeleteI agree with most of your analysis, but I'm not so sure the absence of the fig tree was an attempt at fitting in so much as it was a lack of integration of culture into American society. I think that the father planted the fig tree, not to fulfill expectation, but to symbolize his pride for his heritage.
DeleteThis can also be a symbol of taking your culture wherever you go and it can thrive wherever you are. The fig tree, not being in the narrator's native country is still able to grow and produce good fruit in a foreign land, symbolic of the narrator's cultural self.
DeleteIn "I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey's Version of 'Three Blind Mice,'" Billy Collins presents the opression seen in postmodern America, and how it has effected minorities. The blind mice represent oppressed people which at the time included blacks, Lation'Americans, and other minorities. Whites had sole authority in America. In order to maintain thier power, whites did not encourage minorities to dream big. Whites made the fight against oppression "a common accident, all three [mice] caught in a searing explosion" (Collins). They were "blind" to what life could have been like if they were not discriminated against. The mice's blindness represents the ignorance oppression produces. Minorities have been enculturated to believe they are second class citizens. Collins feels pity for the oppressed peoples, and suggests to his postmodern audience to stop ignoring the issue because it "cannot be said to be making matters any better"(Collins).
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Teya. People choose to ignore problems around America. It makes sense to have these blind mice represent this kind of ignorance. In the poem, the mice had their tails cut off, which represents their dream and their cultures being taken away from them as they were made to become more American. This could relate to Bob Dylan's song when he was trying to tell people to conform in order to fit into society.
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ReplyDeleteCarolina Vallin
ReplyDeleteIn “The Man with the Saxophone”, an unidentified individual walks down Fifth Avenue, meditating in order to free themselves from their society. Through this person, Ai shows a post-modernist’s struggle to isolate their individuality in a crowded urban city like New York. In the poem, the speaker believes that if they clear their head “like the Buddhists tell you is possible if only you don’t try” (Ai 1333) they can turn themselves “into a bird like the shaman [they] were meant to be” (1333). This shows the speaker’s desire to fly away from the industrialized city in order to become their own entity. The speaker is able to feel transform into “the unencumbered bird of [their] imagination” (1334) when they do what comes natural to them, in this case it is playing the saxophone. Ai argues that not enough people in the post-modern era realize that they are losing themselves in their urban atmosphere, and encourages these people to find that distinctive desire that separates them from the other city-dwellers.
Carolina, this is a great response! I completely agree with the conflict of individual vs. urban landscape. I like how you extended the conflict into the idea of isolation, and how the narrator sought meditation through isolation. The poem shows how isolation can be reached despite the busy, corrupt influence of an urban landscape. I also think it would be important to consider how the narrator ultimately reached a sense of meditation and self awareness not through complete isolation, but through connection with another person.
DeleteI completely agree with you on how Ai struggled to isolate her individuality. This shows how people tend to loose their individuality without realizing it. You did a good job explaining it.
DeleteIn "The Man with the Saxophone," Ai presents the conflict of poverty in urban settings and resolves it by introducing the theme of diversity in culture. Throughout the piece, language is used to describe the restraining boundaries by which the streets of New York enforce on its inhabitants; "if only I could turn into a bird...but I can't, I'm earthbound;" "His fingerless gloves caked with grime" (Ai). However, as these two characters interact and exchange music, their problems seem to be relieved by the intermingling of culture, represented in both their actions and their instruments; "he steps backwards, to let me know I'm welcome...for that one moment, I'm the unencumbered bird of my imagination" (Ai). Reflective of post-modernist conflicts and progressions, "The Man with the Saxophone" aims address a relevant issue (poverty) with the all-accepting nature of American culture.
ReplyDeleteMolly, I really like your explanation of "The Man with the Saxophone." For the most part, your ideas are very well thought out and clearly explained. But I am a little confused with the first quote. "I'm earthbound;" "His fingerless gloves caked with grime." I am aware that these two statements are separate in the poem, but I think a little more explanation is needed. Otherwise, I thought your interpretation was very well done!
Delete"My father and the Figtree" by Naomi Shihab Nye presents the conflict of cultural preservation, as narrator's Palestinian father desires to maintain an authentic connection to his Palestinian roots. The fig, a staple in Palestinian cuisine, becomes representative of the father's homeland and the traditions that he grew up with. His search for "a fig straight from the earth -gift of Allah!" (Nye 1) ultimately represents a connection to tradition, religion, and culture - all the elements that Nye's father hopes to preserve within himself and his daughter. When Nye tries store-bought dried figs, her father's rejection of them also shows his rejection of Americanized conformity and his desire to protect his daughter from losing her heritage to a mass-produced, watered-down version of Palestinian culture. The poem represents a resurgence of cultural pride in the 1960s and 70s as a result of decades of American cultural conformity preceding this postmodernist revolution.
ReplyDeleteJessica, I don't know why I am continually surprised at how consistently good your writing is! Your response is extremely clear and concise, but is also able to maintain a very thoughtful analysis. In fact I used it as a model for me response to the question, as I have a difficult time editing my ideas. That being said, I still believe you could have added just a few more details to your analysis. I also wished you had put a longer evaluation to really bring all of thoughts together and make your response as powerful as it can possibly be! Once you've done that your writing highlight even more the sophistication that is in your interpretation.
DeleteIn "El Olvido" Judith Ortiz Cofer represents how immigrants who have children born in American tend to forget and reject their culture. Cofer says "choke out the voices of dead relatives when in dreams they call you by your secret name" the children are no longer paying attention to the ways their ancestors used to live, they are forgetting their culture. "It is dangerous to spurn the clothes you were born to wear for the sake of fashion"(Cofer) they are stripping their lives from all the tradition and the clothes they would wear that corresponded with their culture. The children of many immigrants children during postmodernism would forget their history and culture to "survive in the place you [they] have chosen to live" (Colfer).
ReplyDeleteIn your response you make it seem that only immigrants who have children forget their culture but cultural genocide was an issue that affected everyone. All Americans are being assimilated into this dominate culture and forgetting their own history and those of their ancestors. You also do not really develop your idea and you are almost just restating the same thing over and over again.
DeleteIn Traveling Through the Dark, William Stafford uses his encounter with a deceased doe blocking the road the poet was traveling on as a statement about human nature. The doe was still impregnated with a young fawn still alive within the womb but “never to be born” (Stafford). The poet was traveling down his chosen path, also could symbolize the journey one makes of life, and finds a deer, symbolic of another human being whose dreams were destroyed by another’s traveling down this same “path of life”. The deer, symbolizing another human being, also had a life with a future, such as a baby on the way, but due to being run over this individuals dream will never be achieved. The individual who hit the deer kept on moving without paying attention to who or what it had hurt, because they left the corpse on the road where it could also become a hazard for future oncoming travelers, such as the narrator. The poet, being selfless decides to speak out against the human tendency to forget about others and focus only on oneself and to move forward in life and achieve things at the expense of others. The narrator, however, decides it best to move the dead animals body because,” that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead” and so taking part in an act of selflessness and taking into consideration other travelers as the last line states ,‘I thought hard for us all-my only swerving”, this small act diverts the narrator from his/her present course for a small amount of time but in the end pays off (Stafford).
ReplyDeleteI agree with your response. Stafford suggests society veers off and hurts others' futures. However, I don't think the deer symbolizes a person more than it symbolizes the outcome of being socially unconscious. If an individual does not pay attention to their environment they will hurt others and someone else will end up cleaning their mess. The deer is more than a person, it is the post-modern structural policies that are hurt because of the socially unconscious.
DeleteIn " Traveling through the Dark" Stafford addresses the theme of life and death in this poem. Post modernism are the trends in art, architecture, literature, and music created after World War 2. Lives were lost during the war and this poem represents the ideas of how death was a result, and ideas of an American dream were damaged. Immigrants had their own American dream but were not accepted in society. The baby deer that was still alive inside of it's dead mother represents these people. The dead mother is the dead American dream that "American" people have destroyed. These immigrants were not accepted or were pushed "over the edge into the river"(18) Both ideas being destroyed when he pushes the mother and its unborn baby into the water and the United States begins to rebuild itself with different ideas, cultures, music, and technology, getting rid of old traditions.
ReplyDeleteYour connection to World War 2 was really well added. It clears up the connection of life and death to the time period. Your response is really well done!
DeleteI found your connection of the baby deer inside of it's dead mother and the immigrants very interesting and I agree with it. I think that the idea of immigrants having a dream which became tarnished was a reality and something that was mentioned in not just this poem but in some of the songs we discussed in class.
DeleteI think this response is really awesome Bethany. I never even realized how the poem could be connected like this to WW II casualties and those connections to life and death. The comment about how immigrants' dreams are crushed by societal pressures to is very sad but makes a lot of sense when you make reference to it in the poem.
DeleteIn Judith Ortiz Cofer's, "El Olvido", Cofer discusses the cultural genocide related to immigration in the late 20th century and alludes to Christianity through the poem. Cofer wrote in the poem, "It is a dangerous thing to forget the climate of your birthplace, to choke out the voices of dead relatives, when in dreams they call you by your secret name" (Cofer) with this quote representing a loss of culture. Cofer is trying to put across the idea that so easily we lose and disregard things of importance that we learned growing up, especially immigrants who are trying to just find their place and fit into societal norms. Forgetting your true identity, whether it be shaped by your race, or your religion, as given here, "dangerous to disdain the plaster saints before which your mother kneels praying with embarrassing fervor" (Cofer) can lead to a lonely existence. Cofer suggests that, "it is a dangerous to spurn the clothes you were born to wear for the sake of fashion" (Cofer) which means that you should not allow anyone to tell you how you have to live your life or that you need to lose your culture to truly fit in. Cofer battles many issues that are still prevalent to people today-immigrants and U.S. citizens alike.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your analysis of this poem. I agree with your view how Ortiz Cofer is alluding to Christianity, but especially with your analysis with cultural genocide. The quotes you used were very consistent with your thoughts. Nice response!
Delete-Brennan
Luis Almanza
ReplyDeleteEnglish 8th period
May 18th 2014
In a piece written by Judith Colfer "El Olvido" presents a everlasting theme of cultural genocide. The poem presents the issues brought with the suppressing cultures and having only one main culture which many associate as being "white". As ridiculous as that spends it was believed by many which post modernism is used to expose the flaws and enable change. Which Colfer does by relating historical when the poem was written with the many Latino struggles in which Cesar Chavez fought for in obtaining a better (1980's) life for Latino immigrants. Which Colfer sates "El Olvido is a dangerous thing", in forgetting your culture you are forgetting your identity what you are in relation to allowing you to become another just another American.
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DeleteI do believe there is a form of suppressing cultures within the poem but the having of only one main culture being "white", is too direct. Cofer was looking at a more broader spectrum. The newly inherited culture many desired overlooked the culture that now appeared to be inferior was one that carried with them the sense of identity. Despite what race, or ethnic group assumed the role of the dominant culture, they all like you mentioned helped forget their culture and in doing so forget their identity.
DeleteLuis, I agree with your analysis that the theme of the poem is cultural genocide because Colfer talks about forgetting ones culture and identity trying to become American. I agree with Nick that having only one main culture being white was too direct and Colfer wasn't only targeting whites but he had a broader view.
DeleteIn “My Father and the Figtree” Naomi Shihab Nye presents the struggle of cultural preservation. Nye’s father who is from Palestine does not want to lose his culture and want to remember where he is from. Her father always loved figs and searched for “a fig straight from the earth-gift of Allah” (Nye 1). This shows that figs have a religious connection for him and represents and are very important to him. For him they represent his religion, heritage, and culture. When Nye was young she ate a dried fig that was a bought from a store but her father did not accept it as a true fig and states “That's not what I'm talking about” (Nye 1). His rejection of the fig represents his rejection of American conformity and shows how he is trying to preserve his culture in his family. This poem is representative of the cultural pride shown during the era of civil rights.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your first sentence of how it is a struggle for the father and many other individuals in America to preserve their culture. This juxtaposes with Judith Colfer's "El Olvido" which has a theme of cultural genocide, and I find the relationship interesting. I believe that both authors were referencing the Dawes Act and Homestead Act that the early U.S. government placed on Native Americans in the 19th century so they can assimilate and in order to destroy the culture and land of natives for further westward expansion (as manifest destiny was an essential ideology at the time). This event represents how most Natives assimilated (cultural genocide), and how some did not and struggled to preserve their culture (cultural preservation) for future generation. This event correlates to that of Naomi Shihab Nye and Judith Colfer's pieces.
DeleteAdriana Amador
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In "El Olvido by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the idea is that often times children who grow up with more than one culture, turn their back on the one that is not American. The theme is cultural genocide which is shown through the main character, who does not embrace his/her culture despite his mother's begging and praying. When the poem mentions the character's dead relatives calling him in a "secret name" while he sleeps, it proves that this person has decided to turn away from his second culture and push it into his subconsciousness. The mother, begging for this character to remember, is symbolizing the urge for any immigrant or person who has roots somewhere other than America to not only recognize their various cultures, but to embrace them. The idea stresses being proud of the foreign places that one's own ancestors may have come from.
You really helped my understanding of the "secret name" line in the poem, because I was never really sure what the author meant by that. It also could be called "secret" to show that the child could be embarassed of their culture, and are trying to hide it from their outward identity. However, they cannot escape that part of their identity inwardly, as the narrator shows that it comes back to haunt them in their dreams.
DeleteLuis Almanza
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This idea and concept of cultural identity helps add meaning to understanding the piece and it's then, being cultural genocide. The concept of the mother turning away from her child adds a sense of dissipiontment and shame brought upon her. This comes from her child neglecting her identity and in turn neglecting her as a person. The analysis is very well done and helps answer the question clearly and consisely.
William Stafford's "Traveling Through the Dark" presents the effects from the socially unconscious in a post-modern society. The narrator traveling in the dark finds a dead deer by the road. Post-modern society is industrialized, the car “with its exhaust turning red” (Stafford) became the killer of a natural animal in the wilderness. Suggesting industrialization destroys the nature in society because Individuals have become unaware of their environment. Throwing the deer into the river because “the road is too narrow; to swerve might make more dead” (Stafford). He prevents possible deaths of individuals and more animals in the wild. The narrator “thought hard for [them] all” (Stafford). He becomes socially considerate and conscious of the problems in front of him, doing so because many others lack these skills. However, he suggests the resolution to these problems is to keep going. He “then pushed her over the edge into the river” (Stafford). Instead of mourning over the conflicts in present society, the narrator cleans up the effects of the post-modern world; moving on with life. Similar to the ideals of many post-modern poets.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, I feel like the last two sentences really sum up the poem nicely and clearly. The narrator moved on and kept going instead of lagging behind and sticking to one conflict.
DeleteElizabeth, first of all, I really enjoyed your presentation of this poem in class. Your response really breaks down this piece of writing and really explains the meaning behind the dead deer and the man pushing it aside. Well done!
DeleteIn "Courage" by Anne Sexton, Sexton expresses the development of courage throughout life and how an individual develops it. Sexton uses many metaphors to compare how something mundane like a "child's first step" (Sexton 1) is hard to take like in an "earthquake" (Sexton 1). Sexton also uses the repetition of later in each of her stanzas following the first to represent different stages of life where courage is utilized to conquer different challenges within life. Some ideas in "Courage" include accepting pain and loss, which is exemplified in Sexton's third stanza. In the third stanza Sexton expresses how individuals who "have endured a great despair.... did it alone" (Sexton 1) by having the courage and braveness to even attempt something that would most likely be a failure. However this failure is accepted as having the courage to attempt it in the first place is a success at that. “Courage” by Anne Sexton, utilizes different situations, milestones, stages of life to show how an individual at any time or age uses braveness and courage to attempt and/or accomplish a specific occasion.
ReplyDeleteGreat job Malakye. I feel like you explained the poem briefly, but still added enough detail to give the main ideas and explain the true meaning of the poem. Good job
DeleteGood Job Malakye, I loved how you chose to explain different literary devices and their effect instead of just one, they tied in together very well and gave an overall view of the poem.
DeleteAshley I agree with your analysis that Americans in order to survive had to become socially unconcsious and didn't think of how their actions would affect others while trying to achieve their goals. I would've liked to seen more direct evidence to further support your analysis particularly for the deer being hit and left behind representing the people that were blindly reaching for their goals. I also am a little confused about your last sentance. Do you believe that the people who are blindly reaching for their dreams are immigrants or not? Great job!
DeleteIn El Olvido, the narrator presents conflicting cultural identities, and the struggle of disregarding the culture of one’s history. She depicts two different cultures throughout the poem, one that has “…the climate of your birthplace…” (Cofer, lines 3-4), “… the clothes you were born to wear...” (Cofer lines 7-8), and “… the plaster saints before which your mother kneels praying for you…” (Cofer lines 11-12). This part of a person’s identity seems to incorporate the traditions of their blood family and ethnicity, because it mentions this idea of birth and ancestry. However, this part of them is impeded on by “el olvido” (the forgetting), which accounts for the new culture they are influenced by. “El Olvido” is shown throughout the poem as a counterculture to the language, fashion, religion, climate, and memories of the original culture. It is “… a forgetting place where… you might die of exposure.” (Cofer lines 14-15). It seems that this new culture does not only conflict the old one, but it threatens to dispose of it as well. The author conveys that too much emphasis on new traditions and customs can diminish respect and recognition for a person’s roots.
ReplyDeleteIn “Three Blind Mice” by Bill Collins, Collins presents through his postmodernist poetry the theme of how a person develops a disability in their life and how people can be very harsh when they judge the disabled people when speculating where their disability came from and how they live their life. Collins is able to introduce this conflict when he simply says “And I start wondering how they came to be blind” (Collins 1) which leads on to an assortment of different theories and assumptions on the source of the mice’s blindness. Some such as “all three caught in a searing explosion” or if they were born that way which then leads to an assumption of how they even are able to live their life like finding other mice like them (Collins 9-10). This inconsiderate idea of the disabled not being able to interact because of their disabilities along with some outrageous speculation of how they became blind creates a great picture for the reader of the life of people with disabilities every day. Whether it is people trying to help them for simple task they assume they can’t handle or it be them judging the disabled on their disability without even getting to know them is a harsh conflict that Collins is able to present through his postmodernist poetry.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your response and I liked your use of quotes and how you explained that the poem represents the struggle for disabled people and the way people are quick to judge them without thinking about the harsh conditions they might go through.
DeleteIn "Courage" by Anne Sexton, Sexton describes the development of courage from the beginning to the end of an individual's life, in order to show that valor is not an attribute reserved solely for mythic heroes, but is present in every person's character. Courage is a powerful influence on an individual's character, and has the ability to insight deep emotion. Actions that society perceives to be the bravest are often those done in battle, but these are acts "not [of] courage [but] love" (Sexton). The ability to love another person is an act of bravery because it is an individual making themselves vulnerable to another. When a person gives up their life to the life of someone else, it is an act of both love and courage because it is done without fear of death, but with the greater fear of losing someone who is cared for. Courage is therefore, a very personal attribute, and Sexton reinforces this idea by narrating the poem in second person, so the emotions and events are described as a direct part of the readers life. The experiences in the piece are commonplace in society, including that of childhood bullying. Bullying is a painful action for any individual to endure, but if an individual reacts by, "[drinking] the acid and conceal[ing] it" (Sexton), than they can grow from it. The ability to remain resolute and strong during adversity is key an individual's survival. An individual cannot be successful in their lives if the define themselves by the pain of an experience. To achieve, an individual must have the takes courage to accept pain and failure and then persevere. Sexton asserts throughout the poem that courage is a very personal concept, but one that is an innate part of every person's character. Yet, many people view bravery as a trait that only certain individuals have, rather than a capability that they themselves have. Groups had not had the courage to join together to fight against injustice than, reforms would never have been achieved. Both the women's rights and civil rights movements required individuals to have the determination to create change and brave massive opposition from society. Each movement had to let go of fears of speaking against what the majority excepted, and endure ostracism and sometimes even physical attacks. These movements each had leaders, but neither would have succeeded without the strength and determination of the groups supporting them. Courage is an ability held by every person to make a change not only for themselves but for the greater good.
ReplyDeleteIn Traveling Through The Dark, Stafford portrays life and death through the deer and it's unborn fawn which is reflective if the postmodernism world. In a postmodernist world, old ideas are the seed in which a new idea grows from. Just like the fawn was birthed from the deer, although it never was born. The fawn never being born reflects how some ideals that we're created during the postmodernist world never fully developed such as the acceptance of immigrants. The deer being rolled off the road represents how this new postmodern society was getting rid of those old ideals of unacceptance and attempting to renew and refresh the standards of American society.
ReplyDeleteIn “I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey's Version of “‘Three Blind Mice’” by Billy Collins, the narrator asks himself various different questions pondering the life of the blind mice in the story. The narrator wonders “how they came to be blind...I think of the poor mother brooding over her sightless young triplets.” (Collins). The narrator seems as if he is just trying to find out how they got to be blind, but then he judges the three mice as being poor and helpless,showing how he looks down upon the mice. He goes on to talk about how the mice live their everyday lives with their hinderance, acting as if they don't even know it was there. The mice represent the people who who are discriminated and outcasted. The mice being blind represents the ignorance to their oppression, they expect people to treat them that way as a norm, they do not realize they are being discriminated against. Collins depict the narrator as a cynic thinks the mice chased the wife “so she could cut off their tails with a carving knife.” (Collins) which shows how people look down upon the mice and the mice still do not feel any type of disrespect, moving on with their everyday lives as if nothing happened.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your response. I think you did an excellent job of breaking down and analyzing the poem, even though it is quite complex. There are a few lines i feel could have used a bit more explination to someone who hadn't read the poem, but since i haven't read it i don't quite know specifically how to fix that. Otherwise, great analysis, keep up the good work.
Delete~Vic
Victor Iturralde
ReplyDeleteMr. Saldivar
American Lit 8th
5.18.14
In “Ending Poem”, Rosario Morales and Aurora Levins Morales display the various problems attached to being a non-white American person in this Post-Modern America in the 50s and 60s. The constriction of the poem, using two different voices in the same stanza to speak on the experiences and labels of each of their cultures, is reflective of the idea in the poem that the culture and history of an individual contributes to their uniqueness and indivisuality. The poem says how one specific culture doesn’t define an individual, but it is rather a blend of cultures and experiences that can define an individual. The authors are among many immigrants at the time, who are likely experiencing the same fears and thoughts on whether to include their ethnicity in defining him or herself in America, or to forget about their historic culture and it’s prides and faults. The authors instead believe that the only way to have a true culture and be a true individual is to incorporate and all of their cultures within them throughout their American experiences in order to truly be “whole”.
In William Stafford's "Traveling Through the Dark" (1361), he uses environmentalism in a way that incorporates consciousness of others while in the blind pursuit of an individual's own aspirations as well as preservation. The title refers to people traveling on the path to their own goals. The dark refers to the aspect of path being seen singularly, rather than one shared with other around them. Stafford refers to the road being driven on as "narrow" supporting that there are many trying to reach the same goal sharing the same place. The pregnant dead deer on the road is symbolic of those ignored in the pursuit of an individual's dreams and the doe inside represents the future aspirations that were irrelevant to the driver that initially hit the deer. Stafford moves the dead deer to demonstrate consciousness of greater good symbolically and for environmentalism more literally. Before finally pushing the deer into the river, Stafford writes, "I thought hard for us all," meaning that everyone is in danger because of the slow disconnect amongst the nation.
ReplyDeleteSophie Brooks
ReplyDeleteEnglish 2 Pd 8
In "The Man with the Saxophone," Ai reflects ideas of individuality with the narration of a speaker walking through the streets of New York. New York is described as being filled with "Last week's snow, brittle now and unrecognizable as the soft, white hair that bearded the face of the city (Ai). Not only does this describe the conditions of the streets, but it also describes the people (referred to as the snow) that make up New York, conformed and indistinguishable. Despite this, Ai shows how the speaker is able to avoid being enculturated through their ability to block out the influence of the city by meditating. Even in a "heartland of pure noise," the speaker is able to escape into "the unencumbered bird of [their] imagination (Ai). This shows the importance of maintaining your personality even in the more enculturated areas of America.
I also had the poem "the man with the saxophone" and i do not think he blocked out the influence of this city, I saw his interaction with the man with the saxophone as him interacting with the city. I thought that it tied into post-modernism because he is becoming influenced by his surroundings and culture around him .
DeleteIn Judith Ortiz Cofer's, "El Olvido", she illustrates conflicts amongst cultural genocides that relate to challenges immigrants faced as newcomers in America, such as the welcoming of a new culture while staying rooted to the one you were born in to. Cofer explains that "the forgetting" of your past embraces a sense of loss, not only to your culture but the impact it leaves on your cultural identity and how that is reflective of you. It is, "dangerous to spurn the clothes you were born to wear for the sake of fashion" (Cofer 6-8) the desire to assimilate to these new found customs in order to feel accepted creates a lack of authenticity within yourself and despises of your previous cultural values. The battle between, who you were and who you think you are only pulls you further from the culture initially embedded into you. Cofer emphasizes on, "El Olvido" being "a dangerous thing" (Cofer 19) because the loss of where you came from to adapt to the role you think society has given to you will jeopardize your identity. Judith's main point is that despite where you are today, your past is what made you as you now stand so it shall never be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteBrennan Quinn
ReplyDeleteIn “I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey's Version of ‘Three Blind Mice’,” Billy Collins alludes to classism, racism, and sexism, through his portrayal of the mice. He uses the mice to represent the poor and oppressed people of our American society. Collins does this through his character of the cynic. The cynic represents the common American man who perceives people as what they are on the outside. This common perception of “they must have done something to deserve that,” is reversed when the cynic sees the mice together and happy even after all of their misfortune. After this sighting of the mice, the cynic realizes that the oppression of the blind mice is so far embedded within them that they are completely oblivious to their misfortunes. The blind mice are symbolic of those who are exploited and are not able to see it.
In "The Man With The Saxophone", Ai describes a man walking down the streets of New York along with his thoughts and what he sees. New York was known for Ellis Island, the gateway for many newcomers to America and as many people stayed in New York, its cultural diversity increased. Ai portrays the theme of cultural diversity in contrast to the conflict of poverty within a man’s individuality in an urban, populated setting where men are supposed to be “free”. As the man walks down fifth avenue, he “wishes he could turn into a bird, as he was meant to be, but he can’t because he is earthbound and solitude is his only companion” (Ai 1333). Later on, he met another man on the street who played a saxophone, then they started to play the saxophone together, “and for a moment he became an unencumbered bird of his imagination, rising only to fall back on concrete” (Ai 1334). On his own, this man had no say in who he wanted to be or what he did, but when he was influenced by another person’s culture and/or music, he received a sense of freedom and self awareness that he could not receive before. “The Man with the Saxophone” represents the progression in post- modernism because many people in urban settings seem to lose their sense of individuality, but by having different cultures and people intertwined in one place lets people “find themselves” and create a better atmosphere within America. Therefore, many cultures living alongside each other and mixing together makes America a better place.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your response. I found it interesting how you stated that people do not necessarily have to speak to each other in order to be influenced by culture. I would also add that in addition to poverty, unfulfillment plagues the urban setting. There are many opportunities in the city, as shown when the narrator looks through many shop windows. However, there are just as many opportunities to be broken, as shown through the imagery of the cold and dark city setting.
DeleteIn, “I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey’s Version of “Three Blind Mice” by Billy Collins, the narrator, who is cutting onion, continuously asks himself questions. He is thinking of the story of the folktale “Three Blind Mice.” He asks himself, “how they came to be blind...if each came to his or her blindness separately…” (Collins 1293). The narrator comes off as this very curious person who is thinking deeply about life and what surrounds him. The three blind mice are symbolizing the ignorant, oppressed people at the time. The people who were viewed as “less than” others. In the context, the three blind mices are inferior rather than superior to the people who are not blind. The mice lack knowledge towards what they should be treated like but maybe because of their color, they are discriminated and thought of as “less than.” The narrator then asks himself how these mice have been able to find each other. This symbolizes the ignorant people who are being oppressed still manage to work through their discrimination by going on with their life. They surround themselves by people who are just like them - the “less than” people. Collins presents the idea of people living their life ignorant to what they could be, but because they are, for example, black they lack the opportunities that whites had at the start postmodernism. They continue to make life out of what they have rather than what they could have had.
ReplyDeleteIn “I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey's Version of ‘Three Blind Mice’” by Billy Collins, the narrator is questioning the story of the three blind mice and how they found each other with their disabilities. The poem ultimately represents the struggle for disabled people and how people are quick to judge but no one ever wonders their side of the story.
ReplyDeleteKelly Acevedo
DeleteManny, I agree with your explanation of how people are quick to judge without knowing their story. However, if you would have added a quote or explained how these people were cynics, your response would have been better.
In Traveling Through the Dark, by William Stafford the theme of life and death is used to represent the broken dreams due to a socially unconscious post modernist U.S. The deer that the poet encounters dead, has a baby deer in her since she is impregnated, this represents the U.S going through rough times and dream becoming dead while the baby deer represents that there is still life and hope. The poet chooses to move the dead deer off the road to stop the death from being in the way, this represents the consciousness American people should have on their environment. If Stafford would've left the deer untouched “more dead” would of continued.
ReplyDeleteKelly Acevedo
ReplyDeleteMr. Saldivar
American Lit, Pd 5
05-19-14
In “I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey's Version of ‘Three Blind Mice’” by Billy Collins, Collins is thinking about this old English nursery rhyme when he is listening to the song while chopping vegetables. He questions the story by wondering about "how they came to be blind"(Collins 1293). Billy Collins alludes to people with disabilities by showing how the mice were able to thrive and live together despite their blindness and struggles they faced. The mice represent the oppressed people of this American society and Collins shows how they were being affected in the post modernist society by people who judged them. In the poem, this refers to the cynic as he or she believes that "they must have done something to deserve that" (Collins 1294). The cynic portrays the Americans who have thought themselves to be greater than those with disabilities throughout the postmodernist societyof America.
"I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey's Version of 'Three Blind Mice,'" by Billy Collins, the conflict of living with a disability is brought up in two ways. being born blind or choosing to be blind. In the poem, the mice represent immigrants moving to America to try to achieve their dream. Their blindness represents the inability to see the truth behind achieving the American Dream. The truth of being oppressed and looked down upon “Just so she could cut off their tails; with a carving knife, is the cynic’s answer,; but the thought of them without eyes; and now without tails to trail through the moist grass; or slip around the corner of a baseboard; has the cynic who always lounges within me; trying to hide the rising softness that he feels.” (Collins 1294) The cynic represents the ignorant Americans that try to stop the immigrants from achieving their dream of greatness by cutting off their tails, or their hope, leaving them blind to the oppression and hopeless.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis of the poem. Although I did not have your poem, I am able to understand your perspective because of your groups interpretation. I like how you further developed and explained the cynics. This poem can also be a metaphor for immigrants coming to America and not knowing a lot about America; therefore, getting taken advantage of.
DeleteIn “Courage” by Anne Sexton the development of courage through one’s entire life is shown, and how it develops you as it develops itself. Courage is the underlying cause of an individual's action. For example, a man in battle is seen by society as a brave hero using his personal courage to risk his life for others. However, Anne Sexton believes that the the actions on the battlefield are fueled "not [by] courage-but by- love" (Sexton). The courage was developed into love; and love is a very personal moral. Sexton develops the mood of her poem being personal by narrating the poem in such a way that the reader feels directly affected by the events occurring in the poem. Sexton also argues that if you "have endured a great despair" (Sexton) then you must move on and recover by "getting a transfusion from the fire, [and] picking the scabs off your heart" (Sexton). She is claiming that it takes courage and love to move on and that you must feed of the pain to transform. At the time "Courage" was written the Vietnam War was going on and the people who had lost their loved ones because of the ignorance of the government had to move on and protest for social justice; and protest, change, and evolvement for social justice is what the Post Modernist Era is about.
ReplyDeleteIn "El Oldiva", a theme of multiculturalism is present throughout. The poem is about warnings a mother tells her child of not forgetting one's culture. She warns that forgetting is harmful to one self. The author, Judith Ortiz Cofer, spent part of her life in America, where she felt excluded, and part of her life in Puerto Rico with family who she felt distant from because of her American values. The two different enviornments create a mix of two traditions. The mix is valuable, however, as the poem suggests, it is harmful to forget one's roots.
ReplyDeleteIn "Traveling Through the Dark," Stafford paints a particularly dark and disturbing scene of a dead doe that blocks the road he is traveling on. He comes into a moral conflict as the doe, while laying in the road as a hazard to other drivers, is with fawn that is still alive. Stafford's internal struggle represents the struggle immigrants to America often face coming to America. On their "road" in life, their dead does are conformity and societal acceptance through assimilation. However, their live fawn is their internal and unique cultures that each had and cannot lose even when they seem to be as "American" as possible. While Stafford chooses to roll the deer, fawn and all, into a river, he challenges immigrants during this Post-Modernist time of large demographic movements to not do the same. The moral conflict many face to suppress their cultural differences in order to acclimate to "America" is one Stafford feels is impossible not to have as an immigrant, but requires the right choice that ends with the person doing what they feel is right, be that saving or rolling in the deer.
ReplyDeleteIn "Courage" Anne Sexton presents the theme of how courage develops over the cycle of an individuals life. In the poem Sexton is talking about different life experiences and talks in first person to incorporate the reader into these experiences. Sexton ties in courage and love when she gives an example of how actions on the battlefield are not fueled by "courage but by love" and when you have "endured a great despair" you move on by using that courage and love to heal the pain. Sexton uses the ideas of change and evolution to describe the post modernist era.
ReplyDeleteIn "My Father and the Figtree", the author, Naomi, uses the Figtree as a symbol for the Father's Arabic culture, and childhood. The father came from Arabia where fig trees were valued. The idea of multiculturalism comes into play because although the father is in America, he still wants to keep his Palestinian culture. He does not want to plant a tree because he believes fig trees should be gifts from god, not manmade objects. A conflict in this poem can be the father's longing for a fig tree vs the reality of America. In America, fig trees are rare while in Arabia they are very common. This shows the differences in the environments of different countries.
ReplyDeleteRosario Morales and Aurora Morales, mother and daughter, wrote
ReplyDelete"Ending Poem" about who they are and their ancestors' contributions to their lives. The poets feel that their ancestors' ways of life are part of them, but each poet believes she is also an individual. The poem contains their backgrounds such as from Africa to Europe. Even though the authors say they are a part of America, they are still inferior in American society. This poem goes against the stereotypes and judgments of immigrants because it goes to say the line “I am who I am”. This connects to the postmodernism concept of multiculturalism in which both authors who are Puerto Rican Jews want acceptance.
In “The Man With the Saxophone,” Ai depicts a broken person that hopes of finding fulfillment, but is challenged by an internal conflict of emptiness and solitude. The broken narrator in the poem is depicted wandering aimlessly in New York City’s streets. Although the narrator seems to be lost, they yearn to “turn myself into a bird like the shaman I was meant to be” (Ai), which shows that they want more out of their lives. Shaman aim to alter consciousness in order extend their reach and interact with spirits. The narrator’s desire to be a shaman tells the reader that they are unhappy with their insignificant existence, and wish to fulfill themselves and gain more influence over events. Ai also shows that the broken narrator sees music as an escape from their grim existence, as they ”Waiting for the notes to come, and when they do, for that one moment, I’m the unencumbered bird of my imagination” (Ai). The narrator feels invincible while under the influence of music, and wishes for it to last forever; the person seeks fulfillment through music. The pursuit of improving a meaningless life is challenged by the narrator’s emptiness and solitude. The narrator is “..earthbound and solitude is my companion, the only one you can count on..I’ve had it all and lost it and I never want it back” (Ai), which shows that the narrator has been failed by life and is bitter about it. They find the solution to life’s betrayals is to isolate themselves from everyone, leading to their internal conflict of solitude. Further, when the narrator does feel like ”the unencumbered bird of my imagination, rising only to fall back toward concrete” (Ai), which shows that the narrator cannot find true and permanent happiness. The ideas of fulfillment and the conflicts of emptiness and isolation relate to the postmodernism topic of immigration, because many immigrants come to the United States to fulfill their American Dream, but are sometimes only met with disappointment and exclusion. This poem serves as an example as to why including marginalized groups in society is urgent.
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