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. 

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. 

Literary Analysis Close Reading Week 11

Literary Blog Post

Week 11

Close Reading 

The section I chose to do for a close reading was from the story "Hedda Gabler", on pg. 790 in the middle of the first paragraph there is writing in italics that is describing Mrs.Elvsted. This section is rememberable because Ibsen describes in a style that makes me as a reader see the actors acting out the scene in my head. Ibsen says things like "Her eyes are light blue, large, round and slightly protruding"(pg. 790).  This sentence is so descriptive I can picture the ladies eyes just by reading this and makes reading the theater script even better. I can also imagine that this from the actors perspective is greatly appreciated because the scene is described in so much detail, that it makes it easier for them as actors to do their job. The section describes even the characters expression calling it "one of alarm" given more context into how this scene will look and feel as a reader or actor. This section all around is so attractive to me because it describes a women and makes me think how I would describe my girlfriend pointing out every beautiful feature. I really appreciate the part where it say's "Her hair is remarkably, almost a white gold and exceptionally rich and full". Bring the words to life and making the image of the theater spectacle is given also through reading Ibsen's work which makes it easy to understand he was one of the legendary writers. Especially when the novel was losing interest he applied his writing to theater and made a new lane which he dominated through his imagery and special effects. I understand that this section was necessary to give insight on the scene making his work not only for actors to read but for fans of Ibsen to read his script for the amazing theater they just witnessed making his work immortal. 

Week 8 Literary Analysis: Close Reading

Literary Analysis 

Close Reading 

Week 8

On pg. 465 the last poem in Walt Whitman's collection was very interesting to me. Most of his poems left me puzzled a little just trying to follow the topic of the poem. However this last poem "O Captain! My Captain" grabbed my attention because it was clear and towards the beginning the poem rhymed which was pleasing for me as a reader. And after rhyming for a while Whitman began painting a picture of the ship these sailors where aboard and how the Captain was dead. Ironically the trip they went on as a crew was difficult, prolonged, and the Captain dies right when the ship arrives to shore. "he has no pulse nor will, The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done"pg. 465. Even after going through so much on their voyage the Captain was dead and the unnamed character narrating is heart broken that the Captain is no longer with him. "But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead". This crew member was close to the Captain and was not taking his death well. Reading this poem felt more like a homage monologue for the Captain explaining their voyage and the way their dead Captain looked. This poem also was very interesting to me because it has my name is incorporated in one of the stanzas "From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won". My name means winner so their ship was the victor and after all of there travels and victory their Captain dies at the home stretch. The imagery and descriptiveness of this section of writing make reading this easy and it could also have a different meaning. This voyage and Captain could be a symbolic meaning for something different like something meaningful to Whitman and is letting his readers interpret their own meaning of his poem. After reading this I looked at the very bottom of the page and it say's that this was paying respect to Whitman's favorite public figure Abraham Lincoln who was assassinated. Making a huge connection to my last point of Whitman having a different meaning for this  poem. And honestly writing this close reading I looked back at the poem and is the only reason I saw the note on the bottom telling who the Captain signified. 

Week 7 Analysis: Close Reading

Close Reading

Week 7

I wanted to focus my close reading on the bottom of pg. 98 the last paragraph of the section of text. This short paragraph grabbed my attention by how the words brought the act of reading to life with the language used. "And I had a great curiosity to talk to the book, as I though they did". Reading this made me wonder if this section the writers point of view is from one of a person first approaching learning how to read. The word curiosity shows how the experience with books was a new one and seeing "master" and "Dick" read it had our writer interested with the skill of reading. This section is profound in my opinion from the mystery it creates while reading, making readers puzzled on this odd ending of the chapter. Imagery helps this section stand out also causing slight glimpses into the reading forcing your mind to imagine just what the character was doing or how he did it. "And then put it to my ears to, when alone, in hopes it would answer me". After reading this made me wonder the movement the character in this scene and the faces he made waiting for the book to somehow speak to him. Allowing him to indulge in reading just like his "master" would do in his downtime. Or another way of thinking about this section is it could be used not literally and showing someone who can read but not as well as "master" and "Dick" in the story. This could be a short section of someone trying to understand a book but in being perplexed chose to listen to the book in hopes it would speak the words from the page "And I have been very much concerned when I found it remained silent". I interpreted this thinking it meant when the books made sense they would talk but the concern came about when they were silent or in other words hard to understand. Lastly I believe my first suggestion is more correct because of the newest of the language given in this section when it comes to reading books. 

Week 5 Analysis: Close Reading

Close Reading 

Week 5

Matsuo Basho 

  The part of the poems I want to focus my close reading the beginning paragraph of pg.617 "From the Narrow Road to the Deep North", this first poem in my opinion mark the genius of Basho's travel to the Northwest. This was a section where he pondered deeply on his journey and in words making sense of this five month journey by sea. I am intrigued by the use of the word "wanderlust" in the reading just putting the exclamation on the future voyage. Also Basho uses the vocabulary that of wanderlust to explain what he meant in the sentence before where he stated ,"Many, too, are the ancients who perished on the road", explains why he choose to cruise the sea instead of continuing  to depart on road. Then Basho began to paint a picture for us in the poem by explaining the length of the journey. "Floating away their lives on boats", or in other words a metaphor to mark the beginnings of a long journey. Although all of this evidence might make me think that this section was written at the beginning of the journey in the informational section of the text it say's these writings were an idealized version of the travel and not a diary. So this start of the story might not have been from the beginning but a start of writing at any point of the joinery describing when they first sailed off on this travel. Anyway, I might be thinking to hard so the reality that this is from the begging of this challenge ahead of Basho and he began this writing when it actually started to be finish by the end. Basho used this section to begin his story telling through poems to mark the start of a journey that him and his companion Sora was about to embark on and used imagery to grab his readers early. In other words, the author used the introduction to show of his skillful poetry skills which gave readers the interest of continuing the story. 

Week 4 Analysis: Close Reading

Analysis 

Week4

Close Reading 

On pg. 424 there began a story "From The Journey to the West", and it was very intriguing given that most of the characters were animals. Also the stone monkey who was the main character came to life in a very unique way. Or in other words a very confusing way because he was basically born from a stone egg but the way the stone egg was even created had me mind boggled. I understand that this is fictional and this story has a way deeper meaning. In my opinion I believe that this story is history just told in a more creative way with animal characters and the confusing ways of how things come to life in the story has an actual meaning given the context of the history. I notice that the author uses imagery the most given the highest  detailed information on the smallest of information and uses this to probably turn this story which may be history into a fun story anyone no matter the age would understand. Looking deeper into the reading helps me realize that this is not just any story but history told from the early modern Chinese vernacular. Also the animals are not just used as characters but metaphorically used to describe an actual figure in history. For example the stone monkey could actually be a person in history who was brought to this earth in a special way as an infant but later saved his people by doing a heroic act just as the stone monkey did in this piece of text. The most interesting thing about this text has to be the fact that history is hidden in a fiction story and given the time period where the public was looking for more everyday vernacular instead of scholarly literature. Given this fact to input the supply where the public's demand was located instead of telling straight history the scholarly way instead put it into a fictional story with different characters to appeal to everyone no matter their class or education level.