The Motorcycle Diaries

Throughout high school, I had the privilege of watching "The Motorcycle Diaries" twice in two different Spanish classes. When I saw on the course calendar that we would be watching this movie in class I was very excited! I genuinely enjoyed this movie in high school, and still enjoyed it today in college. I think what I enjoy most about this movie is that it is a true story. What I find even more interesting is the fact that the main character, "Ernesto" (or Che), became a radical and the right hand man of Fidel Castro. The movie shows his earlier days as a gentle and kind young man with a bright future. However, he grows to become a violent man who is dangerous to the public. Not everyone would agree with that statement because many people look to him as a hero. In my eyes, I think that he became a very different and bad person from what he was. With this mindset, whenever I watch "The Motorcycle Diaries", my mind is boggled as to how he changed so much. It is hard for me to comprehend how he was (or how he was portrayed in the movie) to what he became. Although the story of his life is tragic, it is one that is worth knowing about.

"The Namesake" but Jhumpa Lahiri

"The Namesake" tells the story of a boy's life and his struggle with his name and Bengali culture. "The Namesake" is also the story of a mother and her struggle with adapting to American culture. Although in class there was some disagreement over whether the story was about just Gogol or Ashima or both, I believe that the story is about both. Gogol and Ashima are very different characters going through very similar things. "The Namesake" contrasts between both characters' struggle with their culture. Gogol, who is American born, struggles to accept and be proud of his Bengali heritage. He is ashamed and embarrassed by it. He is most of all ashamed of his name. Ashima, however, is Indian born and has a very hard time adapting to American culture. I do not think that she every fully accepts American culture for what it is. She is constantly ashamed of how her children act (even though she loves them very much). Ashima does not like that Americans are less family oriented. Gogol does not like the fact that Bengali's are so extremely family oriented. However, we see both characters go through significant changes, especially when Ashoke passes away. This is the point when Gogol realizes that he must embrace his Bengali roots, even if it is just in memory of his father. For Ashima, this is when she truly accepts her children for who they are and realizes that she can be okay on her own. I think that "The Namesake" sends a powerful message that you should always be accepting, no matter how hard it might be.

"Yellow Woman" by Leslie Marmon Silko

"Yellow Woman" is the story of a woman who has run off with a tribesman. We come into the story seeing a woman who is having a love affair with a man. Throughout the story, the woman talks and thinks as if she has been kidnapped; however, it seems as though she wants to be there. We learn that the woman has a husband, mother, and kids at home, and that's when it clicks: she is using the "kidnapping" story as her way of not feeling guilty for running off with another man. We then here the story of the mythical "Yellow Woman". She believes that she is this mythical character in order to further justify what she is doing. I do not believe that she is the yellow woman because she does not show the characteristics of her. I think that she is being cowardly and using the whole "yellow woman" story has her excuse and way to get out of feeling guilty. In the end, when she basically has no other choice but to go back home, he family is going along as if she was never there. I think that this signifies that she was never a great mother to begin with, and that this affair with the Navajo was her chance to get away.

"A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

In this story, we are immediately introduced to a seaside land with a dying child and the man with enormous wings. As the story goes on, Pelayo and Elisenda (husband and wife) keep the "angel" and use him as a way of making money. Once he is no longer good for that, they become tired of him and see him as a bother. When the "angel" finally flies away, Elisenda is overcome with joy and relief. I believe that this story is trying to show how being selfish can only get you so far. It shows the audience how people can be so overcome by greed that they lose who they truly are to begin with. The couple grows so annoyed with the man that made them rich that they describe it as "living in a hell full of angels." When the angel begins to fly away, Elisenda "kept on watching until it was no longer possible for her to see him, because then he was no longer an annoyance in her life but an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea." That ending quote shows that people can truly be very selfish and ungrateful. I think the moral of the story is to appreciate what you have and to never overcome yourself with greed.

"The Guest" by Albert Camus

Throughout reading this story, I never knew what was going to happen. I kept thinking that the Arab would either kill Daru or run away. I think Camus wrote the story intending to keep the reader a little on edge. When Camus describes the Arab, we think of a horrific man who murdered someone else very senselessly; immediately we think that this prisoner is going to be a violent man. However, as the story progresses we see that this man is anything but violent, and even likable. When Daru thinks that the Arab is escaping, he is filled with joy; but, the Arab comes back showing his true character. "He didn't know what it was until the Araba again stood framed in the doorway, closed the door carefully, and come back to bed without a sound," (2580). The fact that this man was about to be killed or held in prison for his crime and didn't even try to run away says a lot about the person he is. This was the turning point for me where I shifted my opinion of the Arab. I went from thinking he was a horrendous person to a somewhat gentle man. At the end of the story when we see the Arab take the path to prison, that is when we truly know that he is an honest and good man, despite having committed a murder.

Notes

4 stages in a plot:  
1. exposition: sets story in motion
2. complications (rising action)
3. climax
4. resolution (usually ties up loose ends, if not then it is to show complexity of life)

Modernism: the literary study that has a radical break with literary forms of the past in the experimental style of writing prevalent between WWI and WWII. Traditional forms of art were rejected and the idea of "make it new" resounded with artists and playing with form, language, and self-centrism. (i.e.: lost generation)

Post-Modernism: the literary study that turned away from modernism, emphasizing the lack of profundity - nothing can be recognized as inherently significant. Replacement of high culture for popular culture. Art is a recycling of culture authenticity by audience.

Modernization: industrial process often associated with "westernization"

Scientific Rationalism: end of 19th century belief that scientific knowledge makes the universe more rational and predictable (modernism refutes this).

Dadaism: cultural movement raised during WWI, primarily in visual arts, anti-war, anti art. example: Hannah Hoch-random images in her art, supposed to be confusing (different heads on different bodies, absence of logic and reason).

Realism: literary movement that depicts subjects as they appear in everyday life

Surrealism: feature juxtaposition of elements (element of surprise), developed out of the Dada movement (i.e.: Salvador Dali).

Round Character: well developed, closely involved and responsive to the action in the story
Flat Character: barely developed, stereotypical

Dynamic Character: grow/change throughout the story, developing as they react to events/other characters
Static Character: face same challenges as dynamic characters but remain unchanged

Round=Dynamic, Flat=Static

Foil: supporting character whose role in story is to highlight major character by presenting contrast with him/her

Universal or Archetypal Symbols: such as a circle, storm, heart, means the same to most people
Conventional Symbols: also likely to mean the same thing to people within a common culture (a cross)
Literary Symbols: be universal and conventional however they represent an important point the author is trying to make

Omniscient Narrator: all knowing tellers of story
Objective Narrator: outside of characters minds, do not reveal characters thoughts and attitudes

The Shawl

In Ozick's "The Shawl,"  the shawl is considered "a magic shawl."  How is it magical?  In what ways does it nourish?

The shawl is magical because it is what keeps Magda alive. Since Rosa has no more breast milk to give to Magda, Magda begins to suck on the shawl. “Magda took the corner of the shawl and milked it instead. She sucked and sucked, flooding threads of wetness. The shawl’s good flavor, milk of linen,” (1). This shows that although the shawl does not literally provide Magda with milk, it provides her with a sense of comfort. The comfort of the shawl is nourishment enough for Magda. The shawl protects and keeps Magda safe from many things, such as the cold, other people trying to take her, and the Nazis. “She looked into Magda’s face through a gap in the shawl: a squirrel in a nest, safe, no one could reach her inside the little house of the shawl’s windings,” (1). The shawl is magical because it is what has kept Magda alive. “It was a magic shawl. It could nourish an infant for three days and three nights. Magda did not die, she stayed alive,” (1). Throughout the story we keep seeing how the shawl is what has protected Magda. In the end when Stella takes the shawl, Magda starts to cry out because she no longer has her armor and protection. Because of the loss of her magical shawl, Magda ends up being killed.

Are there ways to celebrate the human spirit and the strength of humans based on Ozick's text?

I think that there are ways to celebrate the human spirit and the strength of humans based on the text because we see how strong Rosa was throughout the story. Rosa never gave up, even though she was struggling to survive. She had a perseverance inside of her that kept her going to help her daughter live as long as she could. Although Rosa is also starving and slowly starting to die, she continues to fight for her young child’s life. This shows how strong  and selfless we as humans can be in dire times.