Drugs for Poetry

            According to this video, the Romantics were a movement of writers that embarked in a voyage of discovering the meaning of a life without God; they were quite a radical movement, in my eyes, because of the way through which they first manifested their search for this meaning. By spreading a pamphlet throughout all of the parishes titled “The Importance of Atheism, I think that they were seeking not only to make a statement but also to create a commotion, and this is exactly what thy did.

            We kickoff with a poet who finds a less than conventional way to create his poetry in a faster way. Samuel Taylor Coleridge stumbled upon the drug Opium when sick but found that when he took it he would traveled to a “different level of consciousness an create what same to be one od the best lines ever written in the English language,

            This piece of information, the whole “best lines ever written in the English language” only reinforces the widely known cliché that artists, writers and philosophers are able to do what they do because they drug themselves and go to other realms of consciousness.

Word From a Crazy Man

In the scene of the “Golden Day”, our protagonist runs into some trouble, he has taken Mr. Norton to the most despicable bar in town. He found himself unable to convince the bartender Haley to permit him to take whiskey outside of the bar to feed a sick Mr. Norton waiting in the car and is forced to bring him inside.

Mr. Norton is looking quite dead, which only adds up to our characters nervousness of having one of the universities trustees up to a bar full of crazy war veterans. As the scene develops, our protagonist is aided by the mass of crazy vets in order to get whiskey into Mr. Norton but things go astray and a full on fight begins. Consequently, the protagonist is forced to drag Mr. Norton upstairs to the balcony with the help of a “doctor” and lay him down to rest.

When Mr. Norton finally comes to his senses, they have a very interesting talk. In this talk the doctor has some very meaningful but rude things to say to Mr. Norton in order to make him understand the racial differences that are inside a man’s head. He says:” He believes in you as he believes in the beat of his heart. He believes in that great false wisdom taught slave and pragmatism alike, that white is right.” The point made by the doctor is one that I find quite interesting, he is the first person to state out loud what we all know, that due to the things that whites have been making blacks believe they now consider it to be true. The doctor says, “To you he is a mark on the scorecard of your achievements, a thing and not a man; a child or even less a black amorphous thing. And you, for all your power, are not a man but a God to him.”  With this he is leaving clear how blacks feel toward whites, not only this particular pair, what he is saying is sustained by the thoughts that the protagonist has been having throughout his whole car ride with Mr. Norton about how incredible it was that he would take interest in his life or how they couldn’t treat him like any other man because he was “white and rich”.

This words all came from a man committed to an insane asylum but who claims he isn’t crazy and demonstrates being in control of himself until his sudden outburst. The fact that it takes a crazy man to see the truth and voice it out loud and to an influential white man demonstrates the level of repression that blacks suffer from that it takes craziness for them to understand what is being done to them.

A Personal Point of View

This book is written in first person, the man living through the situation is the same man telling it. this is what makes the readers sympathize with him, what makes us like him. the wording of the book turns this man into an amiable character, a friend if you may, every time he gets hurt we get mad and every time he gets rewarded we are happy for him. I believe that this is the reason why people fall in love with this book, we want to see our friend through this tough times of his life.

Consequently the subject of slavery and racism is one that has marked world history deeply since it began and many people have suffered from it, or their family has suffered from it, but absolutely everyone in the world knows about it. This is why people can relate to it in diferent levles. Some people who have been ensalved or who's family has sffered from slavery will identify with the book and imideatley form an attatchement to it. But, people who only know about slavery from text books will get a fel of what it really feels like through the character in the book "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

Like a Bucket of Cold Water

Our character attends the towns meeting and is quite anxious and looking forward to giving his speech to all this important people. Therefore, while looking forward to this opportunity he never takes into account that white men despise black men and like to make fun of and mistreat them. He gets reminded of this cold truth when he is forced to participate in the "battle royal", an activity that consists of throwing several blind folded black men into a ring and make them beet each other up while the white men observe and insult them. It is when he is forced to participate in this violent activity that his tone turns from optimistic to gloomy, he goes from having an intellectual future to being a dog.

Nevertheless, he does as he is told because that is what he has been told to do all his life. But, as the reader we get an inside look into the deception that he feels to see the tables turn on him in such a way, he goes from a hopeful optimistic to a gloomy mistreated dog. 

Straight from the heart

Ralph Ellison's novel "Invisible Man" talks about slavery in its worst moments. The main character is an optimist man, a black man, who is recently graduating school and looking for a place in the world. being the optimist that he is the first few pages of the book are written in an optimistic tone, the character believes that he has struck the chance of his life when he gets invited to give his graduation speech "at a gathering of the leading white citizens". The prospect of being able to give his speech to all of the important men of the town made him feel as though he had cut a break, like he would be able to impress him with his abilities and move up in the world.

Goodbye Esplande Street

Revelations

Breaking Free

A Doctor's Observations

It's Too Early for me to be Awake on a Saturday

Response

I agree with Juliana Castro's It’s Just PMS (In Fancier Language), as a woman we take a personal stand when reading this book and are quite sympathetic towards Mrs. Pontellier and her present situation 

 Edna Pontellier is a woman trapped in a society that doesn't recognize her as an individual, and in a love-less marriage which gives her less recognition than the rest of society. she has had enough and wants her rights and individuality recognized, this is why she has been acting so disagreeable towards her husband. she begins to act upon this feelings of hers and the first thing that her husband thinks is that she is going "crazy"just because she acts differently from what is expected from the Creole women of society. This observation from her husband could also be understood as unobservant because this wasn't the first time that se began acting against him, she began this behavior at Grand Isle when she refused to go inside even when her husband tried to make her.

Consequently, Mr. Pontellier cannot be considered as a loving husband who is concerned for his wife's health because he is actually a self-centered man who can't believe that his wife is actually developing a mind of her own and instantly writes her of as crazy.

The Unaffectionate Mother

 Edna Pontellier is not as happy in her marriage as a woman should be. In chapter VII we are permitted a peak inside her mind and we find out that she is not the happiest woman around, and that she feels a little left out in the Creole's society. As said in my previous blog Not a Mother-Woman I said that Edna doesn't quite fit in to her husband's  society group because she doesn't fit the typical Creole woman behavior, "devoted their entire lives to caring for their children and husbands, putting themselves second and idolizing men". In this chapter we lear the reasons why.

Mrs. Pontellier was not accustomed to outward and spoken affections since it wasn't common in her family to be that way, "She and her younger sister, Janet, had quarreled a good deal"(Pg 256), like an normal pair of sisters they used to fight quite a lot but apparently their relationship wasn't good enough in order for them to be friends even though they fought, and, "Her older sister, Margaret, was matronly and dignified"(Pg266) her older sister took up their late mothers  role in the household, "Margaret was not effusive, she was practical"(Pg267) and having had to become such a sober person since such a young age made her little affectionate.

Consequently, Edna did have the occasional girl friend "they seemed to be all of one type--the self-contained"(Pg267) her friendships never actually required for her to become an affective person so she never learned it. Also, "Her most intimate friend at school had been one of rather exceptional intellectual gifts"(Pg267), the closest relationship she ever had with another person was based on intellect and that is one of the principal reasons why she is so awkward towards other peoples affections and she portrays this behavior towards raising her children

It's a Man's World

 Mr. Pontellier is a businessman, he has a beautiful wife and two adorable kids.  He is the man of the house and the least he can expect from his wife is to take care of their children and be aware of their well being at all times, this is why he is furious to get home and find his wife asleep when one on of the kids “has a fever”.  Chopin writes, “Mr. Pontellier was too well acquainted with fever symptoms to be mistaken”(Pg70 Kindle edition). Even though his wife assured him that their son was all right. Mr. Pontellier felt superior enough over her to doubt her observations of the children. He later reproaches,” he reproaches his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children”(Pg 70). Even though his wife is correct and the boy has no fever at all, he feels as though she doesn’t care enough about their kids and probably believes her a slacker because of it since it is her only function in the household. Also, Mr. Pontellier is of the opinion that “If it was not a mothers place to look after her children, whose on Earth was it?”(Pg 70) he believes that it his wife’s duty and no one else’s, including him, to care for the children because that is a woman’s only occupation. He makes his wife feel bad about the marriage, by making her cry, she feels as though she is being underestimated because of her ways to raise the children, and he treates her as though she didn’t care for them as much as she should even though she does it on her own way.

 Nevertheless he keeps up the appearances of a great husband, he is only reprimanding her on her personal duties, while he himself is doing his part in the marriage.  He leaves to work and sends baskets with gifts for her and the kids, but this just isn’t enough for her anymore. This is the beginning of the process through which she will begin to find her place in the world, as an individual not just as somebody’s wife.

Lost in a sea of women

Robert, a boy confused with what he wants in life, dedicates his summer to tail married women whom he finds interesting. His family was quite wealthy in the past, but economical difficulties forced them into converting their luxurious summer home into a summer lodgings for the visitors from the “Quartier Francais”

Robert is a dreamer, he dreams with travelling to Mexico and longs for the old days in which his family, but mostly, he dreams off having certain married women.  At the beginning it is clear that he wants Mrs. Pontellier by how he goes around with her all day, accompanying her to everyone single one of her activities, but further on in the book it is made clear that he is after a different woman every summer, “Since the age of fifteen Robert each summer at Grand Isle had constituted himself the devoted attendant of a fair dame or damsel”(PG 153).  Robert aches for the attentions of women, any woman, and his way of getting it is devoting himself to her completely.

This mans presence in the life of a character like Edna Pontellier will clearly be causing her mixed feelings and probably even problems in his married life.

Not a Mother-Woman

Edna Pontellier is a married woman, and like any married woman she is expected to raise her children and care for her home because that is what women are supposed to do.  But Edna has a different opinion and a different method, she was not a “mother-woman… they were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, , and esteemed a privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels” (pg115- kindle edition). This type of woman was a perfect, well-raised and exemplary society member. They devoted their entire lives to caring for their children and husbands, putting themselves second and idolizing men. Edna was different, her children were raised to be independent,” If one of the Pontellier boys took a tumble whilst a play, he was not apt to rush crying into his mothers arms for comfort; he would more likely pick himself up, wipe the water from his eyes and the sand out of his mouth, and go on playing”. (Pg. 104 kindle version) Mrs. Pontellier was different, she even raised her children differently, and she wouldn’t feel bad about it even though she was looked down by those other women who classified themselves as mother-women.