Impressions of Blogging

At the beginning of the year when I found out that we would have to be writing journals, I was dreading having to keep up something like that and constantly remember to write about something, but as the year went on, I started to enjoy the writing. It's a chance to see what other classmates think about certain parts of the book, presentations, or other random stuff that might fascinate us! It's also a good opportunity for people who don't like to speak up in class to state their opinion.

I definitely prefer typing an online journal to having a handwritten one. It goes a lot faster ,it's much easier to correct mistakes, and no matter how bad your handwriting is, a typed version is always really organized and easy for others to read.

All in all, I guess that I support the idea of having a blog as a good way to share ideas and see what each other is thinking. And I definitely feel that an online blog is a much better idea that a handwritten journal!

Themes in Song of Solomon

While reading Song of Solomon, there were several recurring themes that I noticed throughout. These were a couple that I found.
 
Allusions in Name: Names hold a special significance in regards to each character. Pilate, a biblical reference to the Roman governor who allowed the execution of Jesus Christ, shares some similar traits with her namesake, such as strength and power. Although she is not cruel in her authority, Pilate is a male name suggesting that she bears the stereotypical characteristics of a man, at least as perceived by society at the time. Circe's name bears homage to the enchantress in Homer's Odyssey, who provides Odysseus with crucial information on how to end his voyage. In Song of Solomon, Circe supplies Milkman with segments of his family history, so that he may end his search for his family heritage. Hagar, a biblical name, is a direct explanation of her strained and desperate relationship with Milkman, who abandons her, as can be predicted through the Bible.

The family surname of Dead is a spiritual wordplay. Milkman's family accidentally received the name from white oppressors, thus suggesting that their real name died, and at that point, so did their family history. The importance of names relates to a sense of belonging, to being able to trace one's roots through the ages. Throughout the entire novel, there are continuous references to Milkman being Dead, both in terms of name and character. Upon Milkman's rebirth, he no longer can be called Dead, neither by name nor by personality.

Singing: The theme of singing and song is a reference not only to the African oral tradition but also to the days of slavery. Slaves, as means of getting through their work on the plantation, sang spirituals. Such songs talked of faith and hope, and how to live with the spirit of God. Singing was a way in which slaves could express their personal feelings, and it was also a means of cheering one another up. Many songs also contained "secret messages," for instance making indirect references to the Underground Railroad.

The act of singing communicates the importance of the oral tradition, demonstrated through Pilate's "Oh Sugarman done fly away..." The song, originally a reference to Solomon, tells the tale of Milkman's great-grandfather. It is this song that transmits Milkman's family history, and steers him towards his spiritual rebirth. Overall, songs underline the rebuilding of a spiritual and emotional bond. In the novel, Pilate, Hagar and Reba all bond through the act of singing. And, after Hagar's death, Reba and Pilate comfort one another through a song.

Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre: Read Together or Alone

While doing a presentation comparing the symbolism in Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre, there was one quote from the article that became a strong discussion point for the majority of the students: “The novels must be read together in order to fully appreciate how they complement each other, and how each is also a novel in its own right, with distinct character and plot.” A lot of people disagreed about whether or not you would necessarily need to read one in order to read the other. Some people thought that Wide Sargasso Sea works well on its own, while others thought that you need to read Jane Eyre before in order to get a deeper understanding for other characters such as Rochester. 

Personally, since I read Jane Eyre before Wide Sargasso Sea, I think that it if you are only reading Wide Sargasso Sea, you wouldn’t need to read Jane Eyre because it easily stands alone as a good book. However, when reading Jane Eyre, the reader doesn’t meet Bertha Mason/Antoinette Cosway almost until the end of the novel. She is such a mysterious character, and we hardly get to meet her, that it makes the reader want to know more about her and know what made her become the way she did.

Rochester

Since I know the story of Jane Eyre very well, and now having read Wide Sargasso Sea, I have two very different views of Edward Rochester. In Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, Rochester plays a very crucial role. Although it is hard to like him at first, as the story goes on and we learn more about his story, Rochester becomes more and more likeable to the reader. However, in Wide Sargasso Sea, the reader gets a very different view of his personality. He is a very difficult person to admire. He is self-centered and arrogant. Eventually he is unfaithful to Bertha (known as Antoinette at the time).

In class, we discussed who we felt more sympathetic for in Wide Sargasso Sea and, not surprisingly, most people definitely feel much more for Antoinette because they know her story and how much she has been through. Although I am sympathetic towards Antoinette, I also feel a lot of sorrow for Rochester. He is basically being forced into a marriage that he doesn’t completely want to be a part of, although he eventually comes to appreciate Antoinette. In Jane Eyre, the reader can’t help but feel sorry for him. He is such an unhappy and lonely person and it is clear that his heart is full of the pain of his past, but it is understandable why it would be hard for people who have only known him from Wide Sargasso Sea to feel this sympathy towards him.

The Intricacies of Racial Interaction

Subtleties of race and the intricacies of Jamaica’s social hierarchy play an important role in the development of the novel’s main themes. Whites born in England are distinguished from the white Creoles, descendants of Europeans who have lived in the West Indies for one or more generations. Further complicating the social structure is the population of black ex-slaves who maintain their own kinds of social rank. Christophine, for instance, stands apart from the Jamaican servants because she is originally from the French Caribbean island of Martinique. Furthermore, there is a large mixed-race population, as white slave owners throughout the Caribbean and the Americas were notorious for raping and impregnating female slaves. Sandi and Daniel Cosway, two of Alexander Cosway’s illegitimate children, both occupy this middle ground between black and white society.

Interaction between these racial groups is often negative. Antoinette and her mother, however, do not share the purely racist views of other whites on the island. Both women recognize their dependence on the black servants who care for them, feeling a respect that often borders on fear and resentment. In this manner, power structures based on race always seem to be turning in the other direction.

Wide Sargasso Sea vs. Jane Eyre

The most impressive difference between Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea is that the latter transforms Rochester's first wife from Bertha Mason, the infamous "madwoman in the attic," to the lively yet vulnerable Antoinette Cosway. She is no longer a cliche or a "foreign," possibly lunatic, but a real woman with her own hopes, fears, and desires. Wide Sargasso Sea tells her side of the story as well as Rochester's, detailing how she ended up alone and raving in the attic of Thornfield Hall. It gives a voice not only to her, but to the black people in the West Indies whom Rochester regards with such hatred. In Rhys' version of events, Antoinette's insanity, infidelity, and drunkenness are the result of Rochester's misguided belief that madness is in her blood and that she was part of the scheme to have him married blindly.

The characters of Jane Eyre and Antoinette are very similar. They are both independent, vivacious, imaginative young women with troubled childhoods, educated in religious establishments and looked down on by the upper classes — and, of course, they both marry Mr. Rochester. However, Antoinette is more rebellious than Jane and less mentally stable, possibly because she has had to live through even more distressing circumstances. She displays a deep vein of morbidity verging on a death wish  and, in contrast with Jane's overt Christianity, holds a cynical viewpoint of both God and religion in general.

Themes in The Stranger

In the first half of The Stranger, by Albert Camus, Meursault, the protagonist, is clearly an unreflecting, unapologetic person. He is moved only by sensory experiences. Thus, Meursault kills the Arab because of his response to the glaring sun, which beats down upon him as he moves toward the Arab on the beach. The Arab’s death isn't particularly meaningful in itself, it's merely something else that happens to Meursault. The significance of this episode is that it forces his life and its meaning as he contemplates his impending execution. Only by being tried and sentenced to death is Meursault forced to acknowledge his own mortality and the responsibility he has for his own life.

Truth is another motif in the book. Meursault, despite being judged as amoral, is consistently honest and direct. In his unyielding candor, he never displays emotions that he does not feel. Neither does he participate in social conventions calling for dishonesty. Although grief is considered the socially acceptable or "normal" response, Meursault does not exhibit grief at his mother's funeral. This incorruptible honesty takes on a naïve dimension when he goes through the trial process; he questions the need for a lawyer, claiming that the truth should speak for itself. Much of the second half of the book involves this theme of the arbitrariness of "justice". A public official compiling the details of the case tells Meursault he will be saved if he repents and turns to Christianity, but Meursault refuses to pretend he has found religion. More generally, Meursault's honesty overrides his self-preservation instinct; he ultimately accepts punishment for his actions, and refuses to try put off justice.

       A main theme in the novel is the absurd, and it is a theme that at times throughout the book seems to override the responsibility aspect of the powerful ending. The ending seems to reflect that Meursault is in fact satisfied with his demise, to the extent that one can be satisfied with death, while also of course being terrified. It seems that, in facing death, he's found revelation and happiness. But even that revelation was in the "gentle indifference of the world". A central contributor to this theme was that of the pause after he shot the Arab for the first time. In one key moment, while being interviewed by the magistrate, he mentions how it did not matter that he waited and shot four more times. In this incident, Meursault thinks completely objectively, and truly there is no difference in tangible results: the Arab died in one shot, and four more shots did not make him any "more" dead.