The Road

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

To begin simply, the book was alright at first...just alright. I knew the book, this Pulitzer Prize winning book, was about a father and son journeying through an America seen through ash colored lenses. I then learned that it's cold in this new world because the sun is never out, and rain and snow dominate the weather patterns. 

Sentences were not complete. Lots of fragments. Drove. Me. Insane. However, I suppose McCarthy can do that all he wants because, hey, he does have a bit of recognition about his name. Even Oprah likes him! And after getting through the book a bit more, it becomes apparent that McCarthy is evolving from the writing style of a child to the writing style of a well-learned man, much like the two characters in the novel.

The story seemed to grow old quite fast in the first section of the book. It was cold. They were walking. They found some food. They slept by fire. They kept walking. After several days of this routine, I was really anticipating something exciting. In my taste, it took a bit too long to happen. I guess I'm one of those movie-goers we talk about that needs a thematic sequence every 10 minutes or so. 

Once the story got rolling, the characters became a bit more exciting. The father keeps asking himself if "when the time comes, will you be able to do it?" I believe I was having a slow day when I read this book because it took me forever to figure out what "it" truly was. "It" is not shooting his son to live. That is what the "bad guys" would resort  to. "It" meant suicide. Although, would the "good guys" resort to that either?

The "good guys" were symbolized by the young boy. He aimed to help all that he could, assuming they were "good guys" as well. He wanted to keep the dog. He wanted to share their food with the small boy he claimed to have seen. He wanted to help the old man, Ely. Good guys did not eat people, did not steal from the living, and did not put good people in harm's way. But the boy was the good guy. He was even called God in the book. He carried the fire.

The fire, the only color that appears in the book, could symbolize light, hope, good, morals, sanity. It could also symbolize the old ways. No matter what obstacle the father and son came upon, they continued to carry the fire and have some humanity. They would keep the old way of life with them, with morals held at a high priority. They kept their sanity eating foods like mushrooms, not eating people like the others, "bad guys," had resorted to. Part of trucking on in the fashions of the older life that was no more was difficult for the young boy to understand. He was born into the world of ash and gray, where a coca-cola can was unknown to him.

Not knowing that there was a better life before him was probably best for the boy. His mother committed suicide shortly after the disaster. It may have been to escape a life of chains and forced breeding for the source of food. And it may have been that living a life that horrid while still remembering a good time was not conducive to moving forward with her life. 

The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Having quite a bit of family in the military, you wonder what it's like. You wonder how different people are in the field than when they are at home. At the beginning of this story, the description of their daily tasks seem so...nonchalant. They had to wear jungle boots and those weighed 2.1 pounds. Their special jackets weighed in at 6.7 pounds. 

And the priorities change drastically when you have this occupation, apparently. Personal belongings ranged from a bible to premium dope. But underwear was not considered a necessity. That would probably just be another pound of weight in their minds. When it was down to how much they could carry, they carried the important things in life. Or shall I say they were humping the important things in life? 

It's interesting to use the word "hump," which obviously has more than one connotation in this story, when the Lieutenant believes Martha to be a virgin. 

"What they carried varied by mission." I think, however, that some things they carried remained constant, and that was the memories they kept with them. Lieutenant Cross kept the memories of Martha, accurate or not, to help him through. If he had to pretend to get through, he would.  And with that, they carried the hardships (what they had to get through) of the average day. They carried sadness and fear and resentment. They carried sadness with death of a team member. They carried fear of being next. And they carried resentment toward the less-than-glamourous tasks they were required to perform. Having to kill chickens and dogs and men while they were still urinating....killing everything in sight...was resented. 

Lieutenant Cross carries the good memories of Martha. He remembers high school and the day he should have been more brave. And he wonders endlessly to distract his mind from the bad memories that he also carries. The bad memories weighed the most of all of their posessions, even the 6.7 pound jacket.

Everything Is Illuminated - FILM VERSION

I am a firm believer in a story being better in book format than on screen. And though I hold that belief for this story, that doesn't take away from the fact that I do like the movie. 

As far as character casting goes, it was a bit odd. I could see that portrayal of Alex when I read the book, and the Adidas track suit just made it even funnier to see. Known as Eli in the book, "Baruch," Alex's grandfather, looked worn and tired, as the description was given. The character that looked a bit odd to me was actually Jonathan. I pictured Jonathan being a bit more confident than meek, and for that matter, I took him to be a writer, not a collector.

Differences in the story always occur between book and film because, let's face it, sometimes it just doesn't flow right when everything is left the same between types of media. A big difference would be the fact that "Baruch" is a JEW. That is a pretty significant change considering Eli, from the book, "despised" Jews. Instead of the story being that he had his friend killed for being a Jew, the story was unravelled as Baruch being a Jewish survivor of the war. 

Although I wasn't very fond of that change, I did like an element of the movie that you don't quite get with the book. Driving through the greenest fields in the country, Baruch stops to examine something he sees in the tall grass. As he sees debris scattered around, he has a flashback to the time of the war, and the viewer gets a little bit more information than the grandfather actually cares to share verbally.

The music in the movie sounds fairly light-hearted, and makes the severity of the situations seem a little bit easier to deal with. In the book, we discussed how Jonathan Safran Foer lets a deep meaningful conversation get covered with raunchy "potty humor." I think the music is one of those elements that just covers the surface. The deeper meanings that come out during the movie are in scenes without the festive music.

A Clean Well-Lighted Place and Cathedral

A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway

Cathedral by Raymond Carver

These stories both show how assumptions and ignorance get the better of us as we judge strangers for their characteristic differences. In Hemingway's story, the gap between the customer and the waiter is caused by a handicap of being deaf and an age difference. In Cathedral, another handicap is introduced, as a blind man seems to see more about the fine parts of life than a normal man, eyesight in tact. 

The approach taken toward the old man in a well-lighted cafe was very immature. The first words uttered about him were "Last week he tried to commit suicide." This reminded me of all the girls chatting about the neighborhood gossip of the past week. It had no concern in the tone, but merely a negative connotation and suggestion that he was less of a person for the attempt on his life.  When asked "why?" the waiter decides that the old man was in despair for "nothing." And in explaining "nothing," we see a common opinion of our society emerge. 

If you have plenty of money, you will be fine.

Having said the old man was in despair, the young waiter ignores that notion and writes the man off as an old drunkard who wants to waste time and keep him from shutting down the cafe and going home early. As the older waiter defends the old man, the younger waiter reminds him that "there are bodegas open all night long." Once again, the young waiter has written the man and others like him off as lowly individuals that must settle for the dim and dirty corners of the city. 

Ignorance blocks the young waiter's ability to see that the older waiter and the old man are of a different kind than himself. "It is not only a question of youth and confidence although those things are very beautiful." The idea that youth, confidence, and a job make the man is very wide spread, but very ignorant as well. Even in a fallen state, in a handicapped state, the old man managed to show more depth to his soul than someone who seemed pleased with the way his life was going. 

Carver's ignorant character is  a man who spends his time watching television and smoking marijuana in his free time. He is slightly crass and very close minded to new things and new people. With the help of a blind man, we see some insecurities surface from a man who does not let his emotions show. 

His wife took a job helping a blind man organize his things and reading to him. A simple job became a connection for the two, for the intimacy of sharing ideas and stories together brought them closer. As a man who was oblivious to his wife's activities and most everything else in his surroundings, it was a very important moment when the husband started to notice this intimacy grow between his wife, and a man he didn't know.

When that man entered his home, an attitude surfaced as he became more and more uncomfortable. Being close-minded, and being put into a situation to meet a man that has been seeing your wife proved very difficult for the man. Upon seeing his blindness, the feelings intensified. After some time, the feelings calmed and the man became nonchalant about the situation, just as he had done with everything else in his life. To light up a joint in front of new company is an unexpected twist, to say the least. 

Like a numbing agent, the marijuana was used as an ice breaker for the husband, as the blind man sampled the cannabis. But the husband was already so numb, for when his wife walked around in an open robe, he did nothing to acknowledge her. He was dead to intimacy. He could not understand the relationship between his wife and this man. He preferred tv to human interaction. He focused more on marijuana than his wife's exposed leg before him. 

And after calmed and relaxed, the husband lets himself open enough to learn something from the blind man. He let himself open up to a person, he let himself find some intimacy. Interaction and involvement in life, sharing experiences with people, had been put into a higher priority level now.  Helping a blind man see a cathedral had, in turn, helped him see the importance of opening is mind and letting others in for some personal growth.

Metamorphosis/The Moths

Metamorphosis by Kafka

The Moths by Viramontes

I read Metamorphosis in high school and believe me, it is no less weird than the first time I read it. But Kafka makes several good points about our societies with the reactions of Gregor, his family, and his boss to this rather disgusting transformation. The fact that Gregor turns into a bug is disgusting in itself, but the more revolting transformation is the underlying changes Gregor has made in his life. He goes to work to earn money for other people that are too lazy to work for themselves, he does not enjoy his job that requires a lot of travel, and he closes himself in his room when he is not traveling. A lot of what we do in our every day lives is done for a monetary purpose, and that realization is somewhat sad.

Transforming from a human being to an animal is obviously a lower connotation in this sense, but the transformation in The Moths is a different meaning for a beloved grandmother that is passing on.

So often we think of the funerial processes as someone else's business. We send our loved ones to an embalmer to prepare the bodies. We let a funeral home make them look nice in their surroundings. In this story, Viramontes shows a loved one bathing and preparing the old woman herself. And in the last moment, moths fly from her body. The last life in the woman flew from her body and was the last sign of the narrator being with her Abuelita.

A transformation from human to animal is very significant in both of these stories, but in different ways. Metamorphosis is about the bad transformations that we let ourselves fall into. The Moths is about a transformation that we must face in order to see the full experience of life.

A Rose For Emily

A Rose For Emily by William Faulkner

A Rose For Emily is a very dark, but sad story about a woman that spent a very long time searching for something to hold onto, and once she found that, she could not let go. 

Miss Emily was the last of her kind in an old town. Her father being a generous person for the town many years ago, Miss Emily's house was paid for and her taxes had been paid for by the government officials presiding nearly after her father's death. The only problem with this agreement was that there was no record of it, and Miss Emily had not paid taxes in years, despite the notices the city began to send her in this new age. 

As it normally goes in small towns, stories down to the smallest details can be told by anyone living in the town. Everything is known by everyone, and there are not any secrets. Homer Barron, a construction worker from the north was sent to do repaving and Miss Emily found herself attached to the man, as did the whole town.  The townspeople saw Miss Emily purchasing a men's suit and nightshirt, assuming without complete assurance, that Miss Emily had finally been married. After Barron entered Emily's home one night, he was no longer seen in the town. Neighbors said nothing, but in the theatre aspect of it all, were disappointed not to see a huge scene of pain at the news of him leaving her for his job. He had to have left for his job, being a traveling construction worker. 

After years and years of not seeing Miss Emily, the town grew curious about the old woman. When the notices kept coming from the newer generation of city officials, Miss Emily quickly stated that her father was a generous man and the city takes care of her taxes, and sent the officials along their way. 

It was not until the day Miss Emily's negro servant announced Miss Emily's death that the town knew the true story of Miss Emily. With the last woman of the old world gone, the house was inspected and it was finally understood why Miss Emily didn't leave her house. Barron was keeping her company.

Barron never returned to his job. He never left Miss Emily's home. Miss Emily did not want to let go of the only man who ever loved her. It had taken her many years to find a connection with somebody, and once Barron was dead, she kept him in that same bed she slept in. She bought him a nightshirt and left everything as it was.

She lived the same old way.

She kept the house the same.

She kept herself the same.

She kept him the same.

The last piece of the old generation was gone after many years of trying to preserve an old way of life by preserving everything in that life.

A time 

Everyday Use

Everyday Use by Alice Walker

In the first read-through of this story, I kind of laughed that the good child got what she deserved, and stuck it to the bratty sister. I mainly laughed because it reminded me of my relationship with my sister; however, there is more to this story than who gets the blanket in the end.

Walker paints the picture of the characters when she recreates the event of the house burning. Maggie, burned by the flames, seemed to have a closer connection with the house. Dee came out unscathed; however, in Dee's opinion, living in that hell hole of a house was punishment enough. Everything about that house disgusted Dee and she wanted nothing more than to leave it. But it was the way things were, and those things would not change. The mother's hands that could kill dinner and have it hanging that same night would always be the same, having the quality of a man's hands.

Upon the arrival of Dee, who is surprisingly now known as "Wangero Leewankia Kemanjo" Maggie fled to hide behind her mother, while the newly named and newly fashioned Dee took snapshots of the quaint house and the old world style of her family. Every picture had that damned house in it. After a short while of being in the house again, Dee starts to find small things and notifies her mother that she will be taking them back with her to cherish. Items like her grandmother's butter dish, the planks on the bences that you could "feel the rump prints" in absolutely astounded her. Why Wangero needed the churn top was not for use, but for decoration, as was the need for the butter dish and the benches.

As Dee came upon the old quilts made by Grandma Dee, she asked again for something from the house. "Can I have these old quilts?" Wangero would not use them.  She would not keep herself warm. She would not share them with guests. She would hang them upon a wall because they were "priceless." The idea that Maggie, her younger sister, would be allowed to actually use those quilts. 

After being rejected, Dee returned to her car and insisted that her mother and sister really try to understand their "heritage" a bit better. This is a very funny suggestion from Dee. It is very apparent that going to college and being a bit more worldly does not necessarily make you a better person than the others who still live the way they used to. College was Dee's way of "making something of [her]self" and believed that getting a new life would be the way for Maggie to make something of herself as well. 

When Dee stopped being proud of where she came from and the way she lived, she stopped being proud of her heritage. She stopped understanding the realities of her life when she let her studies and worldly outside opinions cloud her judgement, and when she let her life become a display case for others to admire. It was just another source of attention for Dee, but using her family was no longer an option. 

The everyday use of the old quilts was a much better option than hanging on a wall. Keeping a life style alive is embracing the traditions and continuing them, not displaying them on a wall to preserve one thing and ending it at that generation.