Final Paper

America Described Through Words

The English 219 class started the semester with the task of making a list of words that created an image of America. The words were supposed to describe "who we are" and "what we are" as a country or simply just the first word that came to mind when thinking about America. This list included words such as innocent, cowboy, apple pie, rock music, land, rebel, French fries, liberty, assimilation, Wal-Mart, freedom, hypocrisy, quilts, young, new, opportunities, growth, envy, pride, melting pot, honor, education, greed, and eagle. As the semester continued and progressed, the English 219 class examined, read and watched several different pieces of works as a way of learning new ways to describe what America is and means. At the end of the semester, several new insights have been created through the different works. Along with the original list, I have added two new words. These two new words, blindness and invisibility, have continually been revealed to me through the readings. These words are my own interpretation which leads me to keep in mind the phrase "trust the tale and not the teller." Wallace Stevens, in "The House Was Quiet And The World Was Calm," explains how the reader becomes the book. The only way this can happen is if the reader allows themselves to be carried away by the book on their own terms. This paper is about how the following works have revealed themselves to me according to my two new terms. Citizen Kane, Wizard of Oz, Dead Man, Wise Blood, Invisible Man, and Lolita along with the poetry of Wallace Stevens each represents how people are blind and or invisible to others or themselves.

The first film viewed in class was Citizen Kane. The movie was based on the blindness of the society and reporters which caused the invisibility of Charles Foster Kane. The reporters were determined to find out who or what "Rosebud" was, but they wouldn’t allow themselves to see beyond their own beliefs. Rosebud ended up being a sled. The sled was merely an item representing Kane’s past. Charles Foster Kane was seen as what others wanted him to be. He didn’t take much effort in trying to change his image in society, instead he just fell for it. He did a few things he wanted to do, like running a newspaper, but he really just followed the lead of others around him. It wasn’t until the end of his life when he was alone that he went back to recall the time in his life that made him the happiest. The true identity of Charles Foster Kane was invisible to everyone around him because they were all too blind to look within him. The reporters were never going to figure out what Rosebud was because Charles Foster Kane didn’t exist as a little boy playing with a sled.

The Wizard of Oz also shows the effects of being blind. One difference between this film and the previous is that the invisibility and blindness is created within each character in the Wizard of Oz. All of the main characters are searching for something: Dorothy wants to find a way to get home, the Scarecrow wants a brain, the Tin Man wants a heart, and the Lion wants courage. They spend the length of the film on a mission down the Yellow Brick Road to reach Emerald City and have the Wizard of Oz fix their weakness. They are determined to meet the wizard because they don’t believe they have what it takes to get what they want. It isn’t until the end of the film when the true identity of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is revealed that the characters become aware of their blindness. All of the characters were searching for something they held within themselves. Unlike Citizen Kane this movie ends with the characters realizing that their truth lies within themselves. The characters all learned that everything they wanted was within their reach the whole time. All they had to do was open their eyes and realize. After the turning point the characters were no longer blind and the reality of each character became known.
Wallace Stevens guided our class through the semester. It is only fitting that my two new words can also be interpreted through his poetry. The poem that best highlights this idea is "Notes Towards a Supreme Fiction." At first I was preparing to use the line urging us to look again at the sun with an ignorant eye, but then I found a new more fitting stanza . I never understood these lines until I looked at them in the context of this paper. "Not be realized because not to / Be seen, not to be loved or hated because / Not to be realized" (163). When people are blind to who a person is, the individual becomes invisible. A person cannot be truly loved or hated when they are not truly seen. This even holds true for people who believe in something they don’t truly know or understand.

In Wise Blood, Flannery O’Connor is suggesting that people are blind to what they believe. People are blind to their faith. Hazel Motes is trying to wake people up and get them to see what they are putting their faith in. Hazel Motes name even suggests blindness. By accident I came across the verse Matthew 7: 3 while writing this paper. "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" (Holy Bible). Mote means speck. This verse is talking about why people worry about the speck in another man’s eye, a speck that makes them unable to see clearly, when they have a beam in their own eye. This verse not only fits the theme of this paper, but it also sheds a new light on the name of the character. People are so worried about how others are looking at the world when they are not seeing the world clearly themselves. Hazel also has a reference of blindness. A haze is something that clouds visibility. The name Hazel Motes means blindness. Unfortunately the novel ends with the same theme. Motes can no longer view the world as it is, so he blinds himself with lemons so the world can become invisible to him. With the world invisible to Hazel Motes he can, like the rest of society, make it what he wants and thinks it should be.

Dead Man is also filled with invisibility and blindness. Bill Blake most commonly is labeled as being innocent or ignorant. However, in the theme of this paper, he is labeled as being blind. Bill Blake does not see the world clearly around him.. He is so absorbed in himself and his own reality that he can’t see. Bill Blake is blind. Blake’s travel companion is not blind but he is invisible. His name, Nobody, represent his reality. Nobody is able to see the world but because of his difference he is not seen. Nobody throughout the movie gives a lot of insight and wisdom, but Bill Blake explains that he hasn’t understood a word he’s said. Nobody talks clearly but because of Bill Blake’s blindness Nobody is invisible. Nobody could also be given the name "Invisible Man."

Ralph Waldo Ellison wrote a book about an invisible man. Invisible Man is about the journey of a man that in the end finds himself to be invisible to society. This book is not only about an invisible man but about a blind society. Ellison portrays the society as not being able or willing to view and accept people as they are. This blindness creates the invisibility. People are not being seen because they are not doing anything to be seen. The society creates new images for people and sees them as they want to see them. So as Wallace Stevens suggests in his poem, if people are not looking at someone’s true identity, then they are not even being seen. Their true self becomes invisible. The "battle royal" also shows the idea of being blind. The young men are ushered into a rink for a fight and then blindfolded. They are fighting blindly, they don’t know who they are fighting. If people are fighting but they aren’t fighting against a true enemy, then the fight can never be worthwhile. People need to open their eyes and clearly see the true identity of people.

Lolita, written en Vladimir Nabokov, was the last novel read for class. In Lolita, we as readers, are not privileged to see the true identity of Lolita. Humbert Humbert blinds us to who Lolita is through his poetic words and his obsession of her. Humbert Humbert has made Lolita invisible, not only to us but also to himself, through his own blindness of her. He gives us her story through his obsession. His view and ideals taint her identity. Her reality is not true because his reality of her is not true.

The list of words that describe America can be endless, but the two terms, blindness and invisibility, can be identified in several of the works examined in English 219. The creators of these works may not have intended for the reader or viewer to see these themes, but I have learned to trust the tale and not the teller. This class has encouraged me to feel comfortable to interpret books, movies, music or anything, in my own way. I am free to put my own emotions and ideas on works that I examine.

The Last of the Class Notes

Reading Lolita in Tehran
-A reading group in the Middle East that gets together and reads "banned" books from the West. It is an all women group...mostly consisting of professors and students. A few of the books on their reading list include: Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatasby, Lolita and Daisy Miller.
-These books create women characters that are strong. This group of women are reading the texts politically

We read Lolita linguistically

On the trip of lolita and HH, the first room they stayed at in the enchanted hunter was #342 and the total number of hotels they stayed at during their trip was 342.

Clare Quilty is HH's Doppelganger

Vivian Darkbloom is an anagram for VLADIMER NABOKOV
-This name was a way for Nabokov to get his name into the story. Hitchcock also likes to put himself in his works by making an appearance. You can see a glimps of him in all his movies.

Music - Patterns and repetitions, it is not meaningful of feelings.... Aesthet
Whistler's mother, "Not about my mother, but about the study of shapes and patterns."

HH is reconstructing everything from memory... this means that we don't know if we can truly trust the reality of his story, what he remembers is colored by his obsession

Take a look at "Ash Wednesday" by T.S. Eliot and compare with HH's poem at the end

MADELEINEA LOLITA and PSEUDOLUCIA HUMBERT
These are both a type of butterfly

Lolita is like the game of chess, it is about the abduction of the queen

Lolita - the novel is a discovery of style

The seven aspects in Nabokov's novel - p. 27
-Parody
-Coincidence
-Patterning
-Illusions
-The Work within the Work
-Staging of the Novel
-Authorial Voice

Dolores means sorrow

Psyche - mind (originally soul)... the historical image was a butterfly

Nymph - an immature stage of a grasshopper
Nymphet - an immature but sexually attractive girl
Nabokov created the word nymphet but he is not always given the credit

other people obsessed with little girls
Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll, and Charles Dickons was obsessed with Little Red Riding Hood

Technology expands Education

At the beginning of the semester I was a little hesitantabout the use of the blogs. I had never used them before...I had never even looked at one before. I didn't really know what to expect. Now that the semester is coming to a close, I am so happy that as a class we were able to use blogs instead of some form of note cards or journals. The blogs are really open to expressing feelings and thoughts. Also, I loved having the opportunity of looking at other classmates blogs. If I missed a class or didn't understand a subject I new right where to go. Or even if i wanted a differet perspective on an idea i could go and see what other had to say. I hope that as my college experience continues I have more opportunities to use this type of writing experience.

Another form of technology that I was really nervous about was the podcast....but once again it turned out to be better than the "old fashion way". Instead of getting up in front of the class and making a short presentation the podcast became more of a conversation. It was really laid back and free. The ideas seemed to be presented more clearly and comfortably than when each student takes turns getting up in front of class. I am really excited to see the final presentation!

The last way that I was able to use technology to make my learning experience better was in the form of an audio book. I chose to listen to Lolita on my ipod as opposed to reading it...as stated in my blog about Lolita....this really helped to create Humbert Humbert as a real person. My experience of Lolita was escalated because of my ability to listen to Jeremy Irons create the words into a song.

I am really happy with the way that all the uses of technonlgy have created a really free and relaxed learning experience. I can't way to see the ways that technonlgy continue to make a better learning environment in both school and at home.

Lolita

I really wanted to hate this book, but instead it really captured me. Nabokov is an amazing artist. However I think I am getting a little better experience of it by listening to it. I started reading it and after a few chapters I decided it might be better listened to. I downloaded it and Jeremy Irons really takes the character and makes him real. Humbert Humbert has become a real man to me and because of how he tells his story, I have a hard time hating him. Before starting the book I really didn't want to read it because I wasn't comfortable with the subject. I am so glad that I have read and experienced this book. Nabokov, for me at least, is the best author that I have ever been exposed to. His words are like poetry. Art for Arts sake...this book is for beauty's sake. I still can't say that I am comfortable with the subject of the book but really after awhile I forgot about how this book was disturbing and just fell into the words. I am so happy I decided to listen to this book on my ipod because the voice or Jeremy Irons really sets the character. To me, he was Humbert Humbert. I would start to forget that this was just a story about a ficticious man. I never thought I would ever want to suggest this book to someone because of the subject but after finishing the book I would say it is probably one of the best written books of all time. I just can't get over how amazing the language flows and captures. One of the passages that I really was captivated by was...

"Friday. Saw her going somewhere with a dark girl called Rose. Why does the way she walk-a child, mind you, a mere child!-excite me so abominably ? Analyze it. A faint suggestion of turned toes. A kind of wiggly looseness below the knee prolonged to the end of each footfall. The ghost of a drag. Very infantile, infinitely meretricious. Humbert Humbert is also infinitely moved by the little one's slangly speech, bu her harsh high voice."

Reading it again doesn't have the same effect as being immersed in the words for awhile...but I still think it gives a glimps into the genius of Nabokov.
The end of the semester is always so hard to say focused and motivaed but finishing with Lolita was a treat and I had no problem each time picking up the novel to immerse myself again in the life of Humbert Humbert.

The Bear

The Bear, by William Falukner, I would have to say was one of the hardest books I have ever had to get through. I started about 3 differnt times and then quit. It really helped in class one day when someone said to just read it and keep reading it, just go through the part you don't understand and keep reading. For me that was the key to reading William Faulkner. After i got into the rythum of the book i actually didn't mind reading it. I still didn't really understand everything but the story started to come out in a way that it didn't before. I guess just like Ike had to leave his compass and rifle and watch behind, I had to leave behind my preconceved idea before i could really get into the book. Faulkner really tries to caputure people with his stories and his word use. He uses his long sentences to create a flow and rythum. But for me the long sentences at first were making it too hard. I would like to say that after i finished the book i really liked it and loved Faulkner's style but that would be a lie. I don't think I will pick up a book by Faulkner for awhile, but if I have to read him again for another class this time I will know how to read it and what to expect.

Invisible Man

Overall I liked The Invisible Man. The more I think about it the more I like the book. It was so long and I read it so fast that I would really love to read it again some time and take the time to notice and appreciate all the details. This book was really in depth and I am still discovering new things each time I go back and think about all the different ideas. I am having a hard time figuring out what to say about this book because there are so many ideas and themes that I can't even begin. I guess the best way to start would be the part in the book that captured me the most. I don't know why but towards the beginning of the book when the Invisible Man takes Mr. Norton on a drive. This section of the book turned into one that I had a hard time stopping, it was a real page turner. The description at the Golden Day really caught my interest.
I guess another part of the book that was really interesting for me was when he was working at the paint factory. This is one of the parts in the book that I never really grasped until I went back and revisited a few of the pages. The paint factory was worked by black men...the crew was all black men but the company was priding themselves with making a "brighter white". I think this is very funny. I don't know if Ellison was alluding to anything with the colors, but I find it something interesting to think about.
I guess that is what I liked about this book...each page gave me something new to think about. Ellison didn't give any answer and he didn't even really ask any questions but my mind couldn't help but to think about each and every idea that was discussed in the book...
This book is going to be the type that each time a read it, it will be a new experience. I will keep this novel on my book shelf and I can't wait to revisit it again and again over the years.

Test Two Review Notes

*a change of style is a change of subject

*what is below myth on the class pyramid?
-music

*What is Nobody's real name and what does it mean
-Xebeche...He who talks loud but says nothing

*William Blake (in Dead Man) takes the blood of a ...... and puts it in his wound
-fawn

*Dr. Sexson want to do to each student as a initiation before they leave college
-physical mutilation

*Three phrases used to examine Dead Man
-poetry is a destructive force
-poetry is the subject of the poem
-all things resemble one another

*In invisible man is a contest of wit known as
-playing with the dozens

*In Ellison's mind democracy is inspired by
-imagination

*Names of the two sheriffs Blake killed with poetry
-Lee and Marvin

*What are the three things that he had to leave behind to kill the bear
-compass
-rifle
-watch

*Two forms of imagination
-creative
-decreative

*The speech in Invisible Man given by after the death of Todd Clifton was mirrored after
-the book of judges
-Julius Caesar

*Who said trust the tale and not the teller
-D. H. Lawrence

*Intention fallacy
-the false idea that the author always know the meaning of the tale

*The character Rinehart represents
-the trickster...he is there to show you change

*What started the race riots in Invisible Man
-The eulogy after Todd Clifton's death

*What song opens Invisible Man that we listened to in class
-What did I do to be so black and blue

*The unnamed poem in the Bear
-Ode of a Grecian Urn by John Keats

*Who did Santa Clause rape?
-Sybil...she is an orb...leads people into the underworld

*Invisible Man is an anti...... novel
-Horatico Alger

*What are the Hindu phrases we learned in class
-TAT TVAM ASI-That thou art (creative)
-NETI NETI- not this, not that (decreative)

*Which novel is a dream novel
-Invisible Man

*Define parataxis
-linking things together with the word "and"

*Who is the demon master of initiation in Dead Man
-Cole Wilson

*What does synaesthesa mean?
-blurring of the senses

*What is epheve
-young boy being initiated
-a student

Class Notes

- Lucas needs to leave behind three things before he can see the bear
1. Rifle
2. Compass
3. Watch
What is the connection...they are all made out of metal. They are mechanical. The idea then is that you need to remove the "trappings" of the society before you are able to see clearly.

a change or style is a change of subject

incantation is a way to describe Faulkner's writing. It means that it is not instructional.

Faulkner is trapping the reader in the moment

TAT TVAM ASI - thou art that

NETI NETI - not this or that

Two Types of Imagination...Wallace Stevens
1. Creative Imagination
-making connections and digging deeper
2. Decreative Imagination
-taking it as it is, not reading into it
-Both of these are important..you shouldn't look past either of them

The class got into a discussion on looking into things, whether it is done to much or whether it is important to do. At first I think that in class some things get way over analyzed and connections get made that I find completely over done...but on the other hand I now think being able to make connections shows intelligence. If a person is able to make connections between things that most people can't, it may just mean that the person has spent a lot more time with the subject and thought about it on all the levels. That said though..just as it says above both the creative and decreative imagination is important.

*Interesting side note that came up in class I thought was worth sharing...What is most often song stuck in ones head...
"If I only had a brain"