Jennifer Tabasco 11-2
English III
Mr. Fiorini
March 2, 2009
My Journal Blog - Willa Cather
While reading Willa Cather’s two short stories during the course of this week, I noticed that the American Romantics and the American Realists were very different to each other in their writing styles and intentions. As for the American Romanticism period, these authors focused on feeling and intuition over logic. They expressed their deep devotion to nature, feeling, and truth throughout their writings. For the American Realism period, I think that these authors told their stories normally, and then the authors placed flashbacks for certain characters in order for the reader to understand those character’s mindsets. It was sort of like being brought into a character’s mind and then experiencing what that character thought, felt, and saw during that certain situation. Willa Cather’s Consequences and A Wagner Matinee are two of the stories that use this flashback technique seen throughout the American Realism period.
In Willa Cather’s, A Wagner Matinee, Clark and his Aunt Georgiana go to see a symphony performance of Richard Wagner. Aunt Georgiana lives in Nebraska, and she has blocked out of her mind all of the musical things that she once loved. After reading this short story, I think that one of the main themes used in this story is a supporting system between family members. Clark and the musical world are two of the crutches that Aunt Georgiana uses to try to overcome the boring, dull life that she’s lived back on her farm in Nebraska. Without Clark, Aunt Georgiana wouldn’t have been able to become retouched by the musical world again. By attending this musical performance, Aunt Georgiana really expresses her love of the music world by telling Clark that she doesn’t want to leave. Her deep devotion to music really prevented her from leaving that door back into the world where she once blocked out all of her love to music. For this certain story, I think that Willa Cather is writing to people out there who want to see others emerge from their shell and to let the rest of the world know who that particular person is inside and out. In other words, this short story is written for all “Clarks” out there who want to support their “Aunt Georgiana’s” by expressing the true “Aunt Georgiana” for everyone to see. In addition to this, I think that Willa Cather wrote this story to show to people that if you really love someone in your family, you can develop all of the strength to bring out the real, true person inside of them that may have been hidden from the rest of the world over many years. This story was very touching because of how much love the reader can see Clark gave to his Aunt Georgiana just by bringing her to the symphony performance of Richard Wagner.
As for Willa Cather’s, Consequences, Henry Eastman and Kier Cavenaugh are apartment neighbors, who sort of have this “father-son” relationship occurring. Both of these men tell each other of previous events that happened to them. Out of nowhere, Kier Cavenaugh commits suicide, and Henry Eastman is stunned by this random act of violence. Throughout the story, it seemed as if Cavenaugh always wanted to tell Eastman something important, but Cavenaugh didn’t know how to tell him the right way. Why would Cather just spontaneously write an event of suicide? To answer this question, I think that Kier Cavenaugh seemed a little eerie from the very beginning because of his responses and of the numerous times he tried to invite Henry Eastman over to his apartment with other guests there. By Cavenuagh not having the chance to really tell Eastman what was happening to him internally, I think that Cavenaugh felt as if he had nobody else to turn to about his situation with “the ghost” and of his internal feelings, and the only way to vent or get rid of those emotions was to commit suicide. The title, ‘Consequences’, makes sense in a lot of ways throughout this story because Henry Eastman didn’t really address, listen, or even understand Cavenaugh’s issues, which caused Cavenaugh to take away his own life. For this particular story, I think that Willa Cather was writing to people who enjoy mysterious endings. This short story ends with a mysterious turn with Cavenaugh’s suicide, and I don’t really enjoy story endings with a lot of unanswered questions: What happened to Henry Eastman after Kier Cavenaugh’s suicide? Did Kier Cavenaugh leave any missing clues behind to explain his motive for suicide? These questions are just some of the questions that I felt as if were unanswered because of this mysterious ending Willa Cather chose to write about. In addition to this, I think that Willa Cather wrote this for people to pay more close attention to others who may be having difficulties in their lives psychologically, mentally, and even physically. These people need all of the support that they can receive from their loved ones, and if people aren’t willing to support them throughout those difficult times, a suicide or any type of violence is most likely to occur.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed reading Willa Cather’s two short stories, A Wagner Matinee and even Consequences. These two stories had two totally different messages being sent towards the reader, and I think that these two stories go together in some way because of the particular structure that they were written. I really enjoyed Willa Cather’s writings for some reason because of how she structures her stories, beginning with a regular story and then bringing up previous events in the character’s lives to go through the minds of the fictional characters. A Wagner Matinee had a more positive message being expressed through Clark and Aunt Georgiana’s time whereas Consequences sent a more dark and troubling message through Kier Cavenaugh’s character. If I could, I would probably read another one of Willa Cather’s stories just to see if there are any similarities throughout her various writings, depending on these two stories.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Writing and Social Change
Jennifer Tabasco 11-2
English III
Mr. Fiorini
February 23, 2009
Writing and Social Change
Does writing have the power to enact social change? After reading June Jordan’s poem “The Bombing of Baghdad” along with King, Gandhi, and Thoreau’s writings that we read in class this week, I believe that writing really does have the power to enact social change. When I finished reading June Jordan’s piece of writing, I felt as if I had been taken out of my seat and into the country of Iraq. When I was reading June’s description of all of the bombings, each of the phrases in her poem really stuck with me. These weren’t sentences with coordinate conjunctions and commas; these phrases were words that flowed smoothly together as I read them aloud to myself.
Now, back to the question that I mentioned before: Does writing have the power to enact social change? I believe that writing really does have the power to enact social change for a variety of reasons. First off, any statement that an author or writer writes has to have some complete thought placed into it. There has to be a specific purpose made when writing any piece of writing or even reading literature. What other reason would somebody else have for writing a sentence that has no specific thought placed into it? For this reason, this is why certain speeches were so effective in social progress throughout our American history. For example, Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream Speech” was probably one of the most powerful sermons ever spoken by an African American man. Each sentence, each word, and each punctuation mark all combined together to create a piece of writing that still has impact on Americans lives today. Secondly, writing doesn’t necessarily have to be written in paragraph form to be bold enough to change society. For example, look at Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman?” poem. That poem speaks so strongly with so few words that if any additional words would have been made to that poem, I think that that poem would have lost all of its true meaning that Sojourner Truth was trying to express.
My final idea as to why I believe that writing can enact social change is that writing is an expression of creativity and an expression of one’s mind. When writers write about their certain topics, they sometimes express their opinions through their writings in order for people to see their perspectives on that certain topic. For example, June Jordan’s “The Bombing of Baghdad” poem expressed her opinion against the first war in Iraq. She felt as if the whole world was going to end, and that her soul wouldn’t be able to bear with the grief from all of the soldiers who were killed in combat. I think any expression of one’s opinion through writing can definitely enact social change because there may be a lot of people out there who might agree with that writer’s perspective, and they might want others to see the world differently just from their perspective. When I read any piece of writing in class or for my own personal enjoyment, I try to have an open mind about what I’m reading, and then I try to examine the author’s point that he/she may be trying to make. This is an important reading technique for me to use because I don’t want to make any judgments just by reading a couple of paragraphs; I want to read the whole text simultaneously so I can fully examine the author’s perspective all together.
In conclusion, I stand by my reasons in that I do believe that writing does have the power to enact social change. According to dictionary.com, writing is “a literary or musical style, form, quality, technique, etc.” All of these writing components are the building blocks in order for people to have an effective piece of writing. Writing should be an expression of who the author is, and it should have the ability to act as a door that allows the reader to explore inside the author’s mind. If we all look back a couple years later at all of the writing pieces that we have done over the years, we would all want to change some of the statements that were made in our writings. Writing can change the world because of how important it is to our societies, and we, the authors and readers, can change the world too just by changing our writings to make them more effective to societies today.
English III
Mr. Fiorini
February 23, 2009
Writing and Social Change
Does writing have the power to enact social change? After reading June Jordan’s poem “The Bombing of Baghdad” along with King, Gandhi, and Thoreau’s writings that we read in class this week, I believe that writing really does have the power to enact social change. When I finished reading June Jordan’s piece of writing, I felt as if I had been taken out of my seat and into the country of Iraq. When I was reading June’s description of all of the bombings, each of the phrases in her poem really stuck with me. These weren’t sentences with coordinate conjunctions and commas; these phrases were words that flowed smoothly together as I read them aloud to myself.
Now, back to the question that I mentioned before: Does writing have the power to enact social change? I believe that writing really does have the power to enact social change for a variety of reasons. First off, any statement that an author or writer writes has to have some complete thought placed into it. There has to be a specific purpose made when writing any piece of writing or even reading literature. What other reason would somebody else have for writing a sentence that has no specific thought placed into it? For this reason, this is why certain speeches were so effective in social progress throughout our American history. For example, Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream Speech” was probably one of the most powerful sermons ever spoken by an African American man. Each sentence, each word, and each punctuation mark all combined together to create a piece of writing that still has impact on Americans lives today. Secondly, writing doesn’t necessarily have to be written in paragraph form to be bold enough to change society. For example, look at Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman?” poem. That poem speaks so strongly with so few words that if any additional words would have been made to that poem, I think that that poem would have lost all of its true meaning that Sojourner Truth was trying to express.
My final idea as to why I believe that writing can enact social change is that writing is an expression of creativity and an expression of one’s mind. When writers write about their certain topics, they sometimes express their opinions through their writings in order for people to see their perspectives on that certain topic. For example, June Jordan’s “The Bombing of Baghdad” poem expressed her opinion against the first war in Iraq. She felt as if the whole world was going to end, and that her soul wouldn’t be able to bear with the grief from all of the soldiers who were killed in combat. I think any expression of one’s opinion through writing can definitely enact social change because there may be a lot of people out there who might agree with that writer’s perspective, and they might want others to see the world differently just from their perspective. When I read any piece of writing in class or for my own personal enjoyment, I try to have an open mind about what I’m reading, and then I try to examine the author’s point that he/she may be trying to make. This is an important reading technique for me to use because I don’t want to make any judgments just by reading a couple of paragraphs; I want to read the whole text simultaneously so I can fully examine the author’s perspective all together.
In conclusion, I stand by my reasons in that I do believe that writing does have the power to enact social change. According to dictionary.com, writing is “a literary or musical style, form, quality, technique, etc.” All of these writing components are the building blocks in order for people to have an effective piece of writing. Writing should be an expression of who the author is, and it should have the ability to act as a door that allows the reader to explore inside the author’s mind. If we all look back a couple years later at all of the writing pieces that we have done over the years, we would all want to change some of the statements that were made in our writings. Writing can change the world because of how important it is to our societies, and we, the authors and readers, can change the world too just by changing our writings to make them more effective to societies today.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Price of A Child Analysis
Jennifer Tabasco 11-2
English III
Mr. Fiorini
January 30, 2009
Mercer Gray: A Phenomenal Speaker
In Lorene Cary’s, The Price of a Child, a strong, independent mother named Ginnie Pryor takes the bold initiative of instituting her freedom and the chance to begin a new life as a free woman. For this analysis, my paper will be mainly focused on Chapter 11 titled “Her Father’s Tooth.” I want to focus my discussion on the emotional impact that Chapter 11 exuberated on me.
As Ginnie Pryor, or also known as Mercer Gray, took bold steps on stating her perspective on various political issues on subjects like the complicated webs of slavery, her personal experiences as a slave woman in the South, and the concept of an actual freedom, it really dawned on to me that this African American woman not only has so much to say on these certain issues, but that she is expressing her world opinions to the middle-class citizens who already own half of what she has in her possession. Mercer Gray had the dignity, strength, and courage to stand up to the white middle-class people and tell them her personal opinions as an African woman. This fictional main character really inspired me not only because of how intellectual her choice of diction was, but because of who she was representing as apart of an African culture, beaten and demolished over the centuries of American history.
As Mercer Gray began crossing the country expressing her personal viewpoints, she became much more confident in her words and in her presence as a speaker to the white public. “Slavery is to be feared. The misery of millions of people is to be feared. Their unanswered prayers are to be feared. The soul sickness of a country that allows murder and mayhem and pretends not to notice is to be feared. Rich and powerful men will tell you to fear my people free. I tell you, I fear for all of us so long as we are not.” The following statements made by Mercer Grave struck a powerful chord to me because through these demanding statements, Mercer really showed her true colors to the white society and that she wasn’t afraid to fully show herself because of how much stronger her speech became as she spoke each and every word eloquently. When Mercer placed herself in front of the audience, both Mercer and the white society felt the immediate tension simmering between them because for Mercer, she was very anxious on how her well-written speech would go and if things with her audience would be well-handled, and as for the white audience, the audience probably made assumptions on Mercer based on her race in that she wasn't literate at all, and that this was just some African woman saying words whenever she pleased. The white audience would consider Mercer to be a worthless woman so her words automatically must be worthless, too because of her outer racial background.
In conclusion, Mercer Gray should be recognized as a fictional character who never backed down on her specific word choices and who always knew what to say at the right moment in time. Mercer became progressively stronger not only in her academic studies as a reader and a writer but also in her social abilities to freely express to others her personal viewpoints on situations that really made an impact on herself. Mercer transformed the white’s perspectives on how to view slavery from her personal standpoint because of how extremely precise her words were in explaining her feelings and emotions and how immensely powerful Mercer’s word choices affected the reader.
English III
Mr. Fiorini
January 30, 2009
Mercer Gray: A Phenomenal Speaker
In Lorene Cary’s, The Price of a Child, a strong, independent mother named Ginnie Pryor takes the bold initiative of instituting her freedom and the chance to begin a new life as a free woman. For this analysis, my paper will be mainly focused on Chapter 11 titled “Her Father’s Tooth.” I want to focus my discussion on the emotional impact that Chapter 11 exuberated on me.
As Ginnie Pryor, or also known as Mercer Gray, took bold steps on stating her perspective on various political issues on subjects like the complicated webs of slavery, her personal experiences as a slave woman in the South, and the concept of an actual freedom, it really dawned on to me that this African American woman not only has so much to say on these certain issues, but that she is expressing her world opinions to the middle-class citizens who already own half of what she has in her possession. Mercer Gray had the dignity, strength, and courage to stand up to the white middle-class people and tell them her personal opinions as an African woman. This fictional main character really inspired me not only because of how intellectual her choice of diction was, but because of who she was representing as apart of an African culture, beaten and demolished over the centuries of American history.
As Mercer Gray began crossing the country expressing her personal viewpoints, she became much more confident in her words and in her presence as a speaker to the white public. “Slavery is to be feared. The misery of millions of people is to be feared. Their unanswered prayers are to be feared. The soul sickness of a country that allows murder and mayhem and pretends not to notice is to be feared. Rich and powerful men will tell you to fear my people free. I tell you, I fear for all of us so long as we are not.” The following statements made by Mercer Grave struck a powerful chord to me because through these demanding statements, Mercer really showed her true colors to the white society and that she wasn’t afraid to fully show herself because of how much stronger her speech became as she spoke each and every word eloquently. When Mercer placed herself in front of the audience, both Mercer and the white society felt the immediate tension simmering between them because for Mercer, she was very anxious on how her well-written speech would go and if things with her audience would be well-handled, and as for the white audience, the audience probably made assumptions on Mercer based on her race in that she wasn't literate at all, and that this was just some African woman saying words whenever she pleased. The white audience would consider Mercer to be a worthless woman so her words automatically must be worthless, too because of her outer racial background.
In conclusion, Mercer Gray should be recognized as a fictional character who never backed down on her specific word choices and who always knew what to say at the right moment in time. Mercer became progressively stronger not only in her academic studies as a reader and a writer but also in her social abilities to freely express to others her personal viewpoints on situations that really made an impact on herself. Mercer transformed the white’s perspectives on how to view slavery from her personal standpoint because of how extremely precise her words were in explaining her feelings and emotions and how immensely powerful Mercer’s word choices affected the reader.
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