Literally "Going Wrong"

I personally feel that if one is to connect two characters, one from Heart of Darkness, the other from Waiting for the Barbarians, they are Mr. Kurtz and Colonel Joll. First and foremost, these two characters occupy the same role in each story; they are antagonistic and still have many parallels to the title character, Marlow and the Magistrate respectively.

Most people would probably draw the connection to Mr. Kurtz and the Magistrate (as well as the Colonel, a sort of reflection of the Magistrate) as Douglas Kerr does in “Three Ways of Going Wrong: Kipling, Conrad, Coetzee.” However just because these are the characters to “go native” does not mean they are both the characters to go wrong. Yet, it is not simply a story of going right versus wrong, cut black and white, across a clear line, in either case. Simply, I disagree with the manner Kerr presents his idea because it puts so much of an emphasis on going native that is wrong; however, presented in both texts, in one case going partially native is what is so wrong and in the other refusing to even pretend to go native was the mistake.

As far as Waiting for the Barbarians is concerned, while we see that the Magistrate is a confused and imperfect being, we do not view him so much as “going wrong” as much just having been wrong. On the other hand, it is easy to see the Colonel as “going wrong.” He refuses to accept the help presented and out of ignorance and misguided or just plain bad values and literally goes wrong with the choices he makes. We watch him torture and kill innocent (or at least helpless) outsiders and lead an army into a dangerous situation for reasons clearly other than those fabricated.

Similarly Kurtz literally “goes wrong” as well. Granted, here Kurtz does go native, it is the retention of his European values and desires (greed, fame) that lead him to his “going wrong” and eventual demise. He accepts native culture in a way mirror to the way the Colonel refuses it. The Colonel won’t accept and makes foolish decisions in the absence of it. Kurtz accepts it but make foolish decisions (different to the Magistrates) in its presence.

While the Magistrate was no saint and did not necessarily go right. He grew from his original wrongness while Kurtz and the Colonel continue to go wrong until both destroy themselves in one way or another. (414)

Opening Thoughts on Waiting for the Barbarians

As far as an initial reaction is concerned, what an interesting opening sentence, right from the get go I was curious to keep reading. “I have never seen anything like it: two little discs of glass suspended in front of his eyes in loops of wire” sets up a comprehendible yet foreign background, and a clear narrative point of view. The narrator captures quite a bit in twenty-two words strung together so elegantly.

The magistrate heavily describes the appearance and attitude of an outsider from the inner parts of the empire with great detail for the first few pages. Which makes one wonder what the intention is and what the effects are of starting the book with someone (something as we will later grow to view him) who is not representative of the narrator or the setting for the novel. Yet as the story progresses seems to clearly show the past and current situations of the compound and the magistrate as succinctly as possible.

Stylistically, I think it was smart to begin the novel with so much conjecture. “The capital,” “home,” and then several more pages until either become associated with the place at large, “the empire.” On top of all of this, there is the gossip as well; first the gossip that Coronal Joll’s bureau is the most important. The conjecture sets up the lens the author wishes us to view the novel through. On of skepticism and questioning, so that we the audience will, like the main character the magistrate, use an inquisitive frame of mind when reading this novel and most likely see parallels he is trying to draw to any number of places and ideas.

The style in which the beginning is writing is one that essentially begs the reader to search for one’s own interpretation of the goings on in the novel, and my associative properties, in ones own world.

(315)

Don't You Hate Titles That Have Nothing To Do With The Content?

Quick summary of Ian Watt's "Impressionism and Symbolism in Heart of Darkness."

Watt spends almost no time discussing his thesis/title; he also fails to answer the questions and propositions he introduces. He spends most of the article talking about other people and other stories which will not help you understand impressionism or symbolism in Heart of Darkness; so I am going to sum up the sparse details that pertain to these ideas here.

Marlow has a very special kind of story telling invoking two distinctive qualities, roughly categorized as symbolist and impressionist.

Impressionism

Mist or haze is a good example of impressionism.

Conrad was called an "impressionistic realist" long before impressionism was widely discussed.

Conrad was known to speak against specifically being an impressionist despite now being categorized as one.

Heart of Darkness essentially impressionist in one "special and yet general way," it accepts and asserts the enigmatic nature of individual understanding. Marlow explores how ones own knowledge of another can change the way he sees the world as a whole mysteriously.

In narration, Conrad captures how humans perceive something immediately but then takes time to figure out what it means. Watts calls this delayed decoding and believes it assists the impressionist nature of Heart of Darkness.


Symbolism

Fundamental intellectual mode of symbolism is religion and imagination.

Conrad, though writing about his disconnect with the French Symbolist he also exposed major commonality in between his and their basic attitudes. They can be split into two major categories: ontological (relating to the essence and nature of being) and expressive (vision beyond the work's overt statements).

Conrad asserted that he wrote straight from the heart in an attempt to give a true impression. He wanted to "connect the small world of a ship with the larger world carrying perplexities, affections, rebellions." (360 cited from David R. Smith)

"Conrad is in general accord with the symbolist ontology; as regards to expressive technique the parallels are somewhat closer." 361

"If Conrad belongs to the symbolist tradition, it is only in a limited, eclectic and highly idiosyncratic way." 363

Heart of Darkness however typifies in many respects French Symbolist tendencies. Its plot represents a symbolic quest towards darkness in many different ways. Wants to represent "the infinite in the finite"

(375)

Marlow, A Man of Many Faces (All of Which are White)

In section II of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Marlow dedicates a chunk of his narration to describing the surreal atmosphere of his journey into the prehistoric unknown and the “savages” on the sides of the river (page 35-36). I found this passage particularly interesting because Marlow, a man of a different generation with different social norms, seems to look more kindly upon the natives than most of the other characters do and most people of that day and age would towards a black person. Even with this apparent kindness of perception towards these natives (not enemies and certainly not criminals) there is still clearly as presented in this passage a obvious sense of “looking down” on the “prehistoric [men]” (35). When talking about the setting, how serene and “unknown” the terrain was at night, Marlow recalls how you would just go around a corner and there would be “a glimpse of… hands clapping, of feet stamping, of bodies swaying, of eyes rolling under the droop of heavy and motionless foliage…. Of a black and incomprehensible frenzy” (35). The way he recalls the natives in the night is almost like aliens, how they are like “phantoms” floating by this world unknown. Almost as if they were not both human, though often elsewhere he insists on stating their inherent humanity. Marlow seems to be a man torn between the views of his time and his own personal understandings (his own understandings seems to be torn in multiple directions as well), telling a tale about problems of imperialism.

I am not sure myself if Marlow’s disparity in his views of the natives adds, subtracts or does neither to the text, what do you think?

(283)

The Disorder of Things

The article I picked is called “Faulkner: Technique of "The Sound and the Fury."” This article analyzes Faulkner’s technique, arrangement of sections, purpose and effectiveness of the novel. I personally enjoy that Bowling takes into account the importance of the order of the novel. He states that many people believe the novel would be more effective if presented in a different manner, most specifically putting Benji’s section at the end because it is impossible to fully understand without the knowledge of the following sections. Bowling argues that the point of the novel, beyond showing the happenings of Caddy, is to show the utter lack of perspective present in the Compson family (symbolic of the social “disorder”). If one agrees with that being the second most important theme, presenting a section that not only lacks perspective but a narrator who is completely unable to have a perspective is a great way to begin the novel!

I think my favorite part of this article is where Bowling says “Although such capriciousness makes Quentin’s mental processes difficult to follow, this is no mere personal whim on the part of the author to make the section unduly perplexing. Even in the most complex and realistic passages, Faulkner has greatly simplified Quentin’s mental processes in order that the reader may be able to understand them.” The idea that Quentin’s section is probably the hardest to understand (Benji’s was harder to follow, but Quentin, since he is so deeply troubled and intellectual, is much harder to comprehend in entirety) and yet, it is simplified from what his character, had he been real would have really thought. With that in mind, just trying to expand upon what is already presented in Quentin’s section gives me a headache.

I think it is some great food for though! (299)

Bowling, Lawrence E. "Faulkner: Technique of "The Sound and the Fury"" The Kenyon Review 10.4 (1948): 552-56. JSTOR. Web. 29 Oct. 2009. .

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Why does Quentin break the watch?

I mean he doesn’t even break the watch fully! He crushes the glass, twists off the hands and yet the watch still ticks and the face is presumably still remains. I highly doubt that he was unable to make the swatch stop ticking entirely; so, why on the last day break the watch only sort of?

His father gave him the watch to keep track of time and so “that [he] might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it” (76). That must have been too much to ask of him because we see what he does to the watch. I thought maybe Quentin saw it as his path to breaking time. And that was essentially what the whole day was about, was it not? He is out to create order in his life before he stops time. He utilized the time on his last day to prepare to break it and kill himself. The watch breaking may have been preparation for suicide; it was a family heirloom that he was ruining, something valuable that has history. He is something more valuable, has a similar history to the watch and he is going to do more than just sort of break himself later. I know many may think it is breaking time, but if he were to really do that, wouldn’t he stop it from ticking? I really think he was breaking from his family and practicing for the moment when he going to break with time forever more.

Independent Short Stories

I have read three stories and believe I have found the one for my paper. The first story I read was "Modern Lovers" by Rick Moody in The American Scholar. I didn't particularly like this story; it started out very interestingly describing a man’s head in completely abstract terms but went severely downhill from there. The second story was "Poe Posthumous; Or, The Light-House" by Joyce Carol Oates from her book of compiled stories Wild Nights! I found this story to be rather enjoyable. I really like the concept and the execution. Fictional Poe documenting the horrid effects of excessive isolation on man, it somehow seems very appropriate. And solely the man who writes of decent into madness poetically and disturbingly documents his own descent to madness and death; it is creepy and interesting to read but not overwhelmingly impressive in the way I would hope my chosen story would strike me.

And it did! the last story I read seems to be the one I am going to write about. “The Dreaming Jaw, The Salivating Ear” by Jonathan Lethem published in Harper’s Magazine is awesome. It is so weird and convoluted. It is a story about a blog, written in the weirdest way that seems to be so perfectly about a blog but also so perfectly about something more. The style itself will be subject enough for a very interesting paper. I really like this story! (237)

Consistently and Appropriately Unreliable

I really liked "The Yellow Wallpaper." It reminds me of Poe, an author whom I particularly enjoy so that bodes well for my reception.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman creates the complicated and inconsistent narrator beautifully, a difficult feat to say the least. Gilman does more than just create this narrator she utilizes it wisely. Throughout the story the reader is kept on his or her toes trying to figure out what perspective the story is being written from and, later on, who it is that is doing the writing.

The concept of an inconsistent narrator seems to be a bit of a contradiction. The narrator is the tour guide, the conductor; he or she will direct you from point A to point B. Now some narrators get a bit confused, may make a wrong turn here and there, or maybe there is construction and a detour needs to be taken; however the inconsistent, ever changing narrator seems to not understand the concepts of a path, maybe they are on it sometimes but it isn’t really a path to be followed, it is just a destination to go from and get to (and when the rare occasion that there are no destinations, well than it is just anarchy and pandemonium—still awesome). Regardless the contradiction in the concept, it breeds some insane yet perfectly logical journey. There is some unexplainable beauty in the progressive manner of inconsistent narration, a mix of biased and unbiased, rehearsed and free form, clean and messy. This mix allows for some of the most enlightened story telling free to many more interpretations than a simple straightforward narrator would allow.

My personal favorite book is in the form of an inconsistent narrator so it may be that I personally am just partial to this form but something about the freedom of the narrator and the interpretation speak to me and I feel can speak to anyone.

The best part of this story is when the narration breaks. Gilman has the narrator jump from first person narrative in the form of journal entries to a sort of deranged (or possibly not) omniscient multi-person direct narrator and you can’t tell where it happens. And even if you just read it and flip through the pages and you can’t tell where it happens, the progression is so slow and subtle.
The narrator states “I am getting a little afraid of John” halfway through the story, one may begin to see the possibility of her personality being more than just one person, far earlier than realized on a first read through (431).

The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is well played out and interesting. It may not be the most complicated of unreliable narrators, but it gives the story some sort of intangible edge and that twisted flare.

I think it is most important when considering an unreliable narrator to consider that the narration itself is completely reliable—if it were not how could the story convey anything, the narration has to say what needs to be said—it is just the narrator himself or herself or itself or ourself or noself that lacks the structure needed to be considered reliable. (525)

A Good Story Is Hard to Find

The title “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is enticing, intriguing and interesting. With a title like this, expectations are set high; yet unfortunately, within a matter of paragraphs, it becomes apparent that the story will not live up to its title. Read a few more paragraphs, and it becomes clear that the title is a trap, a red herring of sorts. With a lack of purpose and an overall deficit of any overarching ideas, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is bereft of any meaning at all.

 The first and most egregious of all the problems is the overwhelming use of foreshadowing. Generally the use of literary devices in aid a story's development , but in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” O’Connor takes foreshadowing to a new dimension. Within the first two paragraphs the imminent encounter with The Misfit is literally spelled out to the readers. The narrator tells the reader that the grandmother “was seizing every chance” to change her son’s mind on their trip’s destination. Yet, the reader is only previewed to two examples, both happen to be about the same factor, and the first takes up half of the opening paragraph (358-1). If these examples were not enough to clue the reader in, O’Connor makes sure there will not be one ounce of surprise when, unprovoked, too late to change any minds about the destination of their trip—and after a long stretch of time without even a thought about it—the grandmother asks a restaurant owner, “Did you read about that criminal, The Misfit, that’s escaped?” (361-41). It could be argued that the grandmother was just adding to the conversation; however, the dialogue was forced in that direction by Red Sam, the restaurant owner, for no presently appropriate reason other than to foreshadow The Misfit again.

Another massive issue with the story is the utter lack of character continuity. Bailey, a very premeditated type, unaffected by the obnoxiousness of his children as presented in previous scenes, is suddenly rattled by their absolute lack of decorum and decides to do something on a whim the “one and only time” (362-53). Aside from this statement’s inappropriately sadistic irony, it is absolutely out of character. Secondly, and the absolute most outrageous, The Misfit sends Bailey and his son into the forest with his henchmen, a shot is heard, the henchmen return to the site of the wreck alone, The Misfit asks if “ [the mother] and that little girl would like to step off yonder… and join [her] husband” and the mother simply, faintly replies “yes” (366-125). Who would do that; just reply yes? It is overwhelmingly apparent to everyone reading and in the story that death is upon this family and yet the mother simply, faintly says yes and walks her daughter and baby child to death without any other remark from the narrator. Under the extreme pressure and circumstances such a calm answer seems out of character for any conceivable “real-life” character one can come up with. There is nothing that can excuse such a disregard for keeping the characters consistent in such a gratuitously violent story if there is any intent beyond excessive violence.

Even in what appears to be an insightful statement, the most profound assertion in the story looses much of its strength and effect in the manner it is introduced. “She would have been a good woman, … if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life,” is not enough to fix the meaningless carnage that is the rest of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (368-140). When the statement is read into, it could imply that in the face of death the grandmother was a better person; however, even if that is the message, that some people are only decent when forced to face their own gruesome death, it brings up a line of questions—are they good at that moment to get into heaven, to save themselves, to guilt their killer (mostly selfish reasons)—that egg on the morally lacking nature of the story as opposed to concluding a profound train of thought. There are no rules that say a dark story has to be insightful, impart knowledge on its audience, or have some redeemable value, but if a dark story is going to be so poorly constructed it should have some sort of redeemable value that is more than just a passing thought at the very end to justify a overwhelmingly violent story.

 In a story that has little to no contextual merit, and one disenchanted, fleeting, questionable nugget of insight at the end, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” wholly lacks consequence. And many, many paragraphs later the title still remains to be the only redeemable quality of this story. (800)

Self-worth?

Self-worth seems to be a hot topic in “Teenage Wasteland” by Anne Tyler. Daisy lays awake pondering it, the psychologist says that Donny needs a “better sense” of it and Cal lectures Daisy about her parenting destroying Donny’s self-esteem (37). Yet something is not quite right in all of this. Every character in this story is damaged or broken in some way or another, not a single one of these characters seems to have really mastered the concept of self-worth, none of them; the question is why?

The first step to answering that is to figure out what exactly is self-worth anyway? A laundry list might include good feelings towards oneself, being confident in oneself, and respecting oneself, which is all fine and good except have you ever noticed it is always someone else who talks about a person’s self-worth so how does the idea of self worth really apply. We all define it differently and it is often not about what we would initially list to define it. Unlike the list above it is less about one’s actually “worth” and is really about proficiency in socially acceptable and admirably field. To some it involves religion, or maybe an adherence to the idea of morals, or being physically attractive, or being sexually competent, or being intellectual, but it is really our own, personal opinions of how a person sizes up in these fields that define someone else’s self worth. We may ponder what self-worth is like Daisy does, but she doesn’t try to define it, and she definitely doesn’t apply the measurements to herself. In fact, in what the narrator lets us as readers know, Daisy doesn’t even really deal the self-worth directly, she focuses on if she in praised her son enough to instill in him a sense of self-worth but not self-worth itself. Would self-worth have fixed everything?

If Donny did have better self-worth, would that have been enough to stop the disastrous toll he took on his family, after really dissecting self-worth, would that have made him better? I personally think that self-worth was not the problem or the solution for Donny so why did Cal and the therapist site this as his problem. The easiest assumption would be that they saw him as having low self-worth by their standards, but most likely the reason they said and saw Donny as having low self-worth is because they themselves had the idea of low self-worth projected on them. With Cal you can assume that his divorce labeled him as having low self-worth, so when he then tutors dejected, troubled teenagers who have been told that they too have low self-worth they all drown each other in their apparent lack of self-worth.

It seems to become pretty apparent that, at least in this story, everyone is broken because of another someone else. Until these character can begin to define and create their own self-worth they will be stuck at the mercy of others and remain broken. (501)

7... I Wish I Had More Time To READ!!!

Margarettown by Gabrielle Zevin. In a writing style unique to Zevin and this novel, I was in love before the yarn was tied around Margaret’s left ring finger.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Strong, independently minded, intellectual female characters get me every time! And Mr. Darcy was no less fun to get to know than Elizabeth.

Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman. Funny, funny, funny to no end and its witty! I love sarcastic, satirical social commentary at its finest!

The Traveler (The Fourth Realm Trilogy) by John Twelve Hawks. This book made me think, and then think, and then think some more! And it was an incredible read!

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Such a classic!! So well written and captivating, what a story… I have no words at the moment.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I love dystopian novels, it is not that I am a sadist but other peoples perspectives on the destruction of civilization is always thrilling. Additionally, Bradbury is phenomenal!

Mary Jane by Judith O’Brien. I have always been a Spider-Man fan, so when you combine that plot with a strong female character in the forefront, well I am sold!

This short list makes me wish I had more time to read…. (216).

Beware of the Vast Machine

I read three fabulous books this summer: The Dark River by John Twelve Hawks, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, and last--but not least-- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Most people think George Orwell wrote the terrifying book on dystopian novels and people will always nervously wonder if big brother is watching through a screen in their living room; however, The Dark River by John Twelve Hawks brings terrifying dystopian ideas to new levels. The Dark River, sequel to The Traveler (the first book in the Fourth Realm Trilogy) has something that all classic dystopian novels are missing, the surveillance technology is REAL! What is not already in place is either in production or fighting its way to production. You can literally go onto his website and waste many hours reading articles about the chips to be placed on humans containing medical records so eerily similar to tracking tags in dogs, and the reality of the RFID technology in your credit cards. But it gets creepier, not only is all the technology based off of foreseeable truths, the actual book takes place here, on this planet in this current time frame with places described exactly as they appear. Being an LA native, when he writes about Los Angeles I remember the exact buildings, streets and landmarks he writes off… it is utterly unnerving!

This book is quite possibly one of the most bone chilling books one could ever read! If you love books like I do, you will be up until two a.m. with its gripping plot and captivating characters and then drudge tiredly around the next day wearing dark sunglasses and a baseball cap, dodging any surveillance cameras in sight. These books will make you so paranoid that everyday on your drive home when you pass the closed circuit television cameras hovering on a post next to the road you will shield your face for months to see if you attract any attention… (you don’t in case you were wondering). But the good that comes when the paranoia subsides (or at least temporarily dulls down), at least for me, is that I pay more attention to all the ways we are being tracked and all the places where freedom is being taken away and have created opinions and modified my behaviors to my own benefit (hopefully) within a reasonable means. I have discovered that as much as I may love all the perks of living in the digital age, all the Gattaca-esque technology terrifies and delights me to no end.

But beyond all the paranoia of the vast machine, Twelve Hawks takes you into the reality within our own society and still makes you wonder about what it means to be human, what is love, is there a heaven and hell, and are there realities beyond our own or is this just it, earth, the fourth realm. I, personally, am constantly reevaluate my beliefs and emotions to make sure that, even though I live within the Vast Machine, I can love, breathe and dream below the radar, thanks to the elusive John Twelve Hawks. (524)