Bastard Out Of Carolina

We didn't discuss it in class and I thought the following passage was very interesting...on page 73-74 Anney tells Glen, "I was never gonna have my kids know what it was like. Never was gonna have them hungry or cold or scared. Never, you hear me? Never!" ..."Mama put on a clean bra and one of the sleeveless red pullover sweaters she'd gotten from her friend Mab down at the diner-the one Mab joked was made to show just how high her tits could point" Bone goes on to describe Anney putting on "bold red lipstick" and "shiny black patent- leather high heels." Later,around midnight, she picks the girls up at Alma's, takes them home and cooks for them. Allison doesn't really say that she prostitutes herself in order to feed her children, but the implication is clearly made. I thought this part of the book was especially interesting, given the end. She puts her children first early on in her marriage to Glen. I don't know if she just gets defeated by the end, or what but I was so disgusted with her at the end. I know that Dr. Wells said that we are not meant to hate her at the end but I find myself doing just that. Did anyone else notice this passage in the story? What do you think...did she prostitute herself?

Dickey Poems

We didn't get to the poem "Sun" in class. It's about two people who are badly sunburned making love. As in other Dickey poems we read, he does a lot of contrasting...light/dark, heat/cool, brutality/gentleness, sun/moon. He writes this in the first person and I definitely get the feeling that this really happened to him. You can almost picture the couple having spent the day at the beach and tending to one another at the end of the day and ending up having sex. My favorite line is "a smeared suffering woman came merging her flame-shaken body halo with mine." One very notable difference between this poem and those we read in class, is the absence of animals. Also, there are no children mentioned in this poem and nature only in the power of the sun and moon. This poem has a rather intense tone, starting with "O lord, it was all night consuming me." This wasn't my favorite poem we read by him but we discussed my two favorites..."A Dog Sleeping OnMy Feet" and "Cherrylog Road." Overall, I thought this was a nice departure from the other things we have done in class.

Revelation

The O'Connor readings are so bizarre. I find it interesting that she makes the characters who are "doing God's work," so strange. The Misfit, the Displaced Person, and Mary Grace are all characters who are out of place and not obeying society's conventions. They are all flawed characters who lead to the redemption of the protaganist(who is also very flawed in each story). Not that I've read much religious fiction, but it seems to me that the characters who God is usually portrayed through are much more angelic. I wonder why O'Connor chose to structure her stories the way she did. Maybe the whole "God works in mysterious ways" argument applies. I thought Mrs. Turpin's vision of Judgement Day was quite interesting. "A visionary light settled in her eyes. She saw the streak as a vast swinging bridge extending upward from the earth through a field of living fire. Upon it a vast horde of souls were rumbling toward heaven. There were whole companies of white-trash, clean for the first time in their lives, and bands of black niggers in white robes, and batallions of freaks and lunatics shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs." She sees that these people are leading the procession and "people like her" are at the end.

Presentations

I think everyone did a wonderful job. Unfortunately, I was not in class today, so I can't comment on those. However, based on those I saw, the one on Maya Angelou and Rosewood were my favorites. I liked the personal comments on Angelou's life and her effect on the presenters. I felt like their impressions of her and the impression she made on them really made the presentation. The other I found most interesting was the one on the film Rosewood. While it was presented well, I found it so interesting because I had really never heard anything about it. Isn't it amazing that something like that could happen and be forgotten? I am going to watch the whole movie at some point. I found it very interesting. It was evident that everyone put a great deal of work into their topics and I learned so much. It was nice to hear about some contemporary Southern things (family and religion) after spending so much time talking about the past. It was also interesting to see the themes we've been discussing in class, repeated in films and other works. All in all, I felt like the presentations were a very effective way to learn more about the South.

Flannery O'Connor Readings

I really enjoyed the story "The Displaced Person." I found the character of the priest very interesting. I was raised Catholic but have not practiced in years. The fact that O'Connor was a Catholic is sort of surprising, given her portrayl of the priest. He is senile and she says "the old man was in his second childhood." Maybe this was supposed to show his child-like wonder (think the peacocks) but to me, he just seemed ineffectual. Throughout the story he is more taken with the birds than with the people. On page 211, Mrs. McIntyre askes him for advice but he responds "indifferently" and "pays more attention to the turkeys than to her." Is this how O'Connor wants us to see this man, or is she just showing him to the reader through Mrs. McIntyre's eyes? Is it because he's a foreigner that it is okay to portray him this way? I realize, through our class discussions, that O'Connor's thing is showing God's grace through unlikely characters. Yet, even though I realize this, I can't quite get past the priest being a bumbling, senile old man obsessed with peacocks. I would think her Catholic readers would be offended by this portrayl. Even at the end of the story, where the priest is the only one who visits her, it is made clear that he is there mostly for the birds. Does anyone else see this as problematic, or it it just me?

Play vs. Film

I have read this play and seen this film before. However, what struck me this time was how drastically the film differed from the play in Scene One, where Stanley takes off his shirt in front of Blanche. The scene in the movie is so charged with sexual tension. However, Williams puts none of that into the stage directions. Stanley says: My clothes're stickin' to me. Do you mind if I make myself comfortable? ( He starts to remove his shirt) Blanche replies : Please, please do.
There are no directions as to her reaction. It really is up to the director to interpret her reaction in this scene. I think Kazan complicates this situation even more by having her appear attracted to him. It is easier to think of Blanche viewing Stanley as an animal and being disgusted by him. By adding this element of extreme sexual awareness, Kazan is making a hypocrite of Blanche somewhat. Blanch professes to not notice Stanley's "animal magnetism" several times when questioned by Stella. By setting their relationship up in this way when they first meet, Kazan complicates the story line further. It's interesting to see how the decisions made by the director color the story in unique ways. Can you think of other instances where the director changes the story somewhat with his interpretation?

Streetcar

I am late posting this! I have read this play (and seen the movie) many times before. However,
I found myself looking at Blanche and Stella's relationship in a very different light this time around. Any woman who has a sister can appreciate the complex relationship between Stella and Blanche. It sort of makes me wonder if Williams patterned their relationship on one he was very close to. He writes their dialogue and interaction so well. We've all talked about the ability of someone to write about something they don't know firsthand. Williams does this very convincingly. While the characters are all sort of "stock characters" (the Southern belle, the dumb Polack, the mama's boy, the permissive housewife...) the sentiment and tension between the two sisters is very convincing. I think we especially see this when Blanche makes Stella leave the apartment after Stanley hits her. It's that sort of universal feeling, I can be rude(mean, petty etc. etc.) to my sister but no one else better try it!!