Week 17 Reading Notes Part A & B

ReadingNotes

Week 17

Part A &B 

Last Week

• Mahasweta Devi in the text is said to be one of the "most important fiction and prose writer in the Bengali language since India's decolonization in 1947". Devi was born 1926 into a Hindu family that was very well educated and many people in her family had careers mostly in literature. 
• As she was being educated it came to a halt when she married Bijon Bhattcharya who was also know for his work in plays like "Nabanna" that depicted the 1942 Bengal famine. His work was said to "reform modern indian drama". He also was an activist like Devi but specifically in the Communist Part in India before it was officially banned in 1949. A side note in a different class I was just talking about something similar to this and being thankful that the US doesn't go as far as violating our rights and blatantly say you can't believe in whatever you choose. 
• They both had a son in 1948 but thing became rocky when it came to the  finical aspect of raising a family for Bijon being overwhelmed by theater work and barley coming home at times and without an income this forced Devi to live in poverty at a time and struggle with malnutrition. 
• She eventually was able to feed herself as income came in when she began to work and Bijon and Devi divorced and this allowed Devi to finish her graduate studies and this started her back on the path of literature were she would soon write some powerful material. 
• On being "Giribala" a story of a women seeming similar to Devi life just because her life seemed to pause when she became married and both of their marriages affected their lives drastically at one point in time. 
• Although there are many things different between Giribala and Devi because in the story the young women is involved in an arranged marriage with a man that wasn't who he seemed to be at first and head an addiction to weed.  

Week 16 Literary Blog Post

Literary Analysis 

Week 16

Close reading

This week for my literary analysis I wanted to focus on "Recitatif" a narrative written by author Toni Morrison. This narrative attracted my attention because of the topic of race discussed or in other words exposed by this whole piece of text. The section I wanted to focus on was on pg. 1174 at the very bottom of the page were they discuss how Roberta and our narrator become friends and the reason they were teases constantly at their orphanage. This section was also very eye opening because it highlights the aspect of bullying from an author that is older than the young generations and how bullying in the past is still so similar to now. Both in the narrator and Roberta were teased for multiple things that in reality weren't an issue but to a child could be devastating. Morrison explains "We didn't like each other all that much at first, but nobody else wanted to play with us because we weren't real orphans with beautiful dead parents in the sky. We were dumped.(pg.1174)". In this quote you can see how they were teased just because their parents didn't die and they became orphans but just because they were given up they were rejected by their peers. This is a common story when children are different they are excluded and teased for their differences but on a good note the narrator and Roberta stayed together. "we looked like salt and pepper standing there and thats what the other kids called us sometimes.(pg.1174)". Since they were rejected for the same things they became friends and this made them create something positive from the negativity they were presented with and that fact was interesting in the first place. Although it was a small section I believe it was important because it was the start of a relationship and helped both girls through tough times. 

Project Action Plan Week 14

Project Action Plan 

Week 14 

Anna Akhmatova 

• For this final project I was going to do my project on the poems from author Anna Akhmatova and use the topic of exploring the relationships between certain elements. The example they gave that I can also use is how does the setting influence character development and the setting plays a huge part in the development of the character throughout all the poems. 
• In the poem I will focus on is Requiem and it is a big poem that consist of separated parts named like Dedication and prologue and etc. Anna was effected by her setting immensely because she lived in Russia during the second world war and experienced many tragedies in her family and even her friends fell victim to the destruction of the country at the time. 
• I will explain how accompanied by some back ground information Anna is the perfect example of her setting influencing her because in the poems she was character in reality. Then I will explain how in an even more deep conclusion that this tragedy was not only happening to her but to women all over her country so it was important for her to explain the character in the poems was just a general sorrowful mother. 
• The whole page is the quotes I will use and then explain how those back up the claim to show how the setting influenced the sorrowful mother in the poems. And for my luck the poem is flooded with examples of this because Anna is such a poet that uses imagery and tone to help readers feel. One great example I will use first is "Mountains bow down to this grief, Mighty rivers cease to flow, But the prison gates hold firm" There are many of these so I am set and juts have to stay focused and used evidence and back it up with clear analysis and plan a success. 

Literary Analysis Week 14

Literary Analysis 

Week 14

This week for my analysis I chose to focus on the poem from the author Leopold Sedar Senghor ,"Black Women". This was a poem that caught my attention because of the imagery it gave from the descriptions of black women and just how beautiful they are. Just from the depth that Senghor goes into saying "And your beauty strikes my heart like an eagle's lightning flash"(pg.680). This comparison of how black women's beauty is so powerful it is compared to lightening and helps me as a reader understand how much the beauty affected the narrator in the poem. I wonder why the author related "Naked women black women or dark women" because was it to magnify how he believed black women were disrespected and just subjected to their beauty only. The tone it also is giving off with the repeating of those lines is black women beauty is the way to determine their value and also the poem continues to show the degrading actions happening to these "black women". Senghor writes, "Moaning under the hands of the conqueror, Your deep contralto voice is the spiritual song of the Beloved, Naked women, dark woman"(pg.680-681). The poem goes on to explaining how the "black woman" had to experience being raped by her conqueror and he wasn't able to resist her beauty. Making it even more clear how all of this imagery of how beautiful "black woman" are is true and they get even more credit for being strong by being able to bear all of these trails being made transparent in this poem. Senghor poem had me interested the whole time and the shortness of the poem made me want me especially because I don't understand fully of how it ended. For example
"I sing your passing beauty and fix it for all Eternity, before jealous Fate reduces you to ashes to nourish the roots of life". In my opinion it sounds like the "black woman" losers since it says she was reduced to ashes but I hope I am wrong on my guess. 

Reading Notes Week 14 Part A&B

Reading Notes 

Week 14

 Part A&B

• James Baldwin was an African American novelist that lead the rest with his prose stylists during the twentieth century. His most famous work included poetry laced with "the classics of English literature and the tones of biblical prophecy, combine personal reflection with a wider view of social justice"(pg.735). 
• As a youth Baldwins stepfather was a preacher and he was very involved in the church at a young age and was some way shunned because of his later involvement in secular literature. Although he did stay in close relationship with several churches over time and even preached when he was still a young man. 
• Also don't let me forget he was one of the icons of the civil rights movement. 
• In 1943 he was expected to go take care of his mother and siblings when he received the news of his fathers death but instead he moved to Greenwich Village in lower Manhattan to work as a writer and met other older writers and here in the place he "became aware of his homosexuality"(pg.735). 
• Leopold Sedar Senghor a poet who was also the founder of the movement Negritude and the first ever president of independent Senegal. His main subject was the personal and social conflicts between Europe and Africa. 
• A part of the poem "Black Women" is you could feel the pain in the words of the poem and the repeating of" naked black women" was used to further the point of the disrespect shown to black women and how they were subjected to that image only being naked. "Moaning under the hands of the conqueror, Your deep contralto voice is the spiritual song of the Beloved, Naked woman, dark woman"(pg. 680-681). 
• Very moving line because it showed how the black woman was the strongest through this whole poem because of the trails told. Also the disgust of the imagery of someone who conquered you and your people and they take advantage of you because they see you as "a black woman and beautiful" 

Topic Brainstorm Week 13

Topic Brainstorm 

Week 13

Project Work 

For my first topic I could use this question: Choose a reading selection. Explore the relationship between elements of the selection. For example: how does setting influence character development?   With this question I would use the poetry from Anna Akhmatova and explain how her poetry was influenced very much by the setting she was in at the time. She was writing during the second World War and inner country many things were going wrong for her family and she points this out specifically in her poetry. Anna's husband and son were arrested and her friends were thrown into prison camps to die. Further into the poetry we understand the character is not specified but Anna is though to be the character she is focusing on central but truly the character is a grieving mother that is only separated from the other mothers because of her poetic skill. 

For my second topic I could use the question: How does the work reflect the period in which it was written?  With this question I could use the same poem and then just look at how doe Anna's poetry reflect on the time she was in. I would say it reflected pain and a sense of helplessness since her family and friends were being either killed or locked in prison and her government was the one doing it. 

For a final topic I could use the question: How are class differences presented in the work? Are characters aware or unaware of the economic and social forces that affect their lives?  In using this question I could talk about a lot especially since the economic factors of war and the social forces of her country leading the war cared nothing about their citizens and had harsh rules for them also. For example in the introduction of Anna it explains how she had to at a time suppress her books because "they didn't fit the government approval of literature" and also in1921 her ex husband was executed by the government because of his "Counterrevolutionary activities" and that clearly shows the dictatorship Anna was under and her poetry expresses this. 

Literary Analysis Blog Post Week 13 Close Reading

Literary Blog Post

Close Reading 

Week 13 

For my close reading I chose to do Anna Akhmatova "Requiem" and focus mostly on the first and second page because the imagery she uses is amazing to give insight. Through her words alone you knew the danger she was in her country and how the conflict going on during the 1930's was ripping apart the country. It is interesting reading the introduction then connecting that to the reading and seeing how Anna had to overcome her husband and son being arrested and also friends dying in prison camps. Anna delivers imagery that just helps readers see the oppression that her poems conveyed by saying "Mountains bow down to this grief, Mighty rivers ceded to flow, But the prison gates hold firm, And behind them are the "prisoners burrows" And mortal woe"(pg.598). Right away the main topic is given to readers the feeling of grief so much that "mountains bow down" a metaphor that helps readers understand the superfluous amount of stress. Also referring to both her son and husband being behind bars that Anna describes as "firm" which shows the hope she had for them getting out soon. It is also hard to ignore all of the times Anna compared her situation to those in other parts of the world who are living it up. Anna explains "For someone the sunset luxuriate, We wouldn't know, we are those who everywhere, Hear only the rasp of the hateful key"(pg.568). The author is in a country in shambles and it is hard to be in such distress when you know there are people living in peace. In the text I also sense a feeling of tiredness of all of the violence and the mistreatment of the citizens over the country's chaos was wrong and her family and friends suffering in result.