Monday, December 10, 2012

Literary Analysis #7

1. The Joy Luck Club is about a club Suyuan Woo creates during the Chinese war. The club is established during the war but continues in America long after all the warring has stopped. The joy luck club, consists of four Chinese women and there daughters as members. At these meetings they talk, eat, and gamble. The women grow old together until Suyuan the founder dies. Her daughter June Woo 37 at the time struggles with the idea of replacing the place a mother should hold.All of the girls struggle with their relationships with there mothers. Eventually June discovers that her mother had more children in china and that her sisters have been found, the book concludes with the other girls sending June to meet her sisters.
 2. The general theme of this novel is the relationship between mother and daughter and the ultimate sacrifice a mother will make for her own. In the novel all the daughters struggle with there overall relationship and emotional connections with their mothers, feeling overall sadness, joy, and discovery.
3. Tan's tone through out the novel is very serious which is appropriate considering the topics that are being addressed. There are even times where the tone and mood of the book are slow moving and depressing.
“Then you must teach my daughter this same lesson. How to lose your innocence but not your hope. How to laugh forever.”
 “Now you see,' said the turtle, drifting back into the pond, 'why it is useless to cry. Your tears do not wash away your sorrows. They feed someone else's joy. And that is why you must learn to swallow your own tears.”
  “Because sometimes that is the only way to remember what is in your bones. You must peel off your skin, and that of your mother, and her mother. Until there is nothing. No scar, no skin, no flesh.
4. Tan takes advantage of many literary devices when writing the novel The Joy Luck Club, some of which are foreshadowing, simile, metaphor, allusion, rhetorical questions, theme, motifs, symbolism, tone, and symbolism.
 "Over the years, she told me the same story, except for the ending, which grew darker, casting long shadows into her life, and eventually into mine."
 "Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the worth of the pain."
 "After the gold was removed from my body I felt lighter, more free. They say this is what happens if you lack metal. You begin to think as an independent person."
 "And now I also see what part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in our blood."
 "Why are you attracted only to Chinese nonsense?"
 "I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these things do not mix?"
"In my mother's case, this would be the first day of the lunar new year. And because it is the new year, all debts must be paid, or disaster and misfortune will follow."
 "That bad crab, only you tried to take it. Everybody else want best quality. You, your thinking different. Waverly took best-quality crab. You took worst, because you have best-quality heart. You have style no one can teach. Must be born this way. I see you."
 “Isn't hate merely the result of wounded love?”
 “And I think now that fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention. But somehow, when you lose something you love, faith takes over."
 “So this is what I will do. I will gather together my past and look. I will see a thing that has already happened. the pain that cut my spirit loose. I will hold that pain in my hand until it becomes hard and shiny, more clear. And then my fierceness can come back, my golden side, my black side. I will use this sharp pain to penetrate my daughter's tough skin and cut her tiger spirit loose. She will fight me, because this is the nature of two tigers. But I will win and giver her my spirit, because this is the way a mother loves her daughter.”
 “In two years' time, my scar became pale and shiny and I had no memory of my mother. That is the way it is with a wound. The wound begins to close in on itself, to protect what is hurting so much. And once it is closed, you no longer see what is underneath, what started the pain."
 “A girl is like a young tree, she said. You must stand tall and listen to your mother standing next to you. That is the only way to grow strong and straight. But if you bend to listen to other people, you will grow crooked and weak. You will fall to the ground with the first strong wind. And then you will be like a weed, growing wild in any direction, running along the ground until someone pulls you out and throws you away. ”
 “There's no hope. There's no reason to keep trying.
Because you must. This is not hope. Not reason. This is your fate. This is your life, what you must do.”

Characterization:
1.Tan uses a combination of both indirect and direct characterization to add a higher quality to her characters. An example of indirect characterization would he the way the other girls react to the things that are shared at their club meetings or when the story telling is in play. And some examples of when she uses direct characterization would be when she reveals June's true feelings and struggles she faces when approaching her relationship with her mother or in other words the lack of one.
2. The author's syntax and diction does change when switching the focus from character to character and this is because the characters speak in first person throughout the novel when they give their testimonies to the reader therefore they must in order for it to make sense, because each girl is different and facing different struggles and situations. 
3. The protagonist of the story, June, is dynamic in my eyes because after she discovers her sisters in china she has a whole new look on life and is much less bitter about her situation. She is also a round character because she has many qualities about her.
4. Overall when looking back on my reading of the book I do feel as if I've actually met these people and think that is partly because of my experiences speaking with other minorities here in Santa Maria and the troubles they faced. The story is not just a cultural story but a story of family in which we can ultimately all relate to.

Literary Analysis #6

1. For my sixth literary analysis I chose Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. This novel is a fictional story based on the historical dust bowl event that took place in the United States during the 1930's. In the story a family, called the Joad family, is kicked out of their home by the banks and forced to travel around California working various low paying jobs including field workers. Through out the course of the story the family cases many tragedies including financial hardships, depression, and death.
2. The main theme of the novel is the importance of family despite all the hardships the Joad's are forced to face they remain strong due to each others physical and emotion support. They prove that family is all that you really need in this world.
3. Steinbeck's tone within the novel is strong willed and persistent. He continual brings up topics and relationships relating those back to previous analogies. Through this repetition he makes Tom Joad, the main character, experience my experience in a literary sense.
4. Steinbeck incorporates numerous literary devices into the novel Grapes of Wrath including tone, imagery, figurative language, symbolism, allegory, allusions, similes, hyperbole, motif, and personification.
"Sure - I seen it. But sometimes a guy'll be a good guy even if some rich bastard makes him carry a sticker." Chapter 2, pg. 9
  "sleeping life waiting to be spread and dispersed." Chapter 3, pg. 17
 "Muley's got a-holt of somepin, an' it's too big for him, an' it's too big for me." Chapter 6 , pg. 61
"He'd come to our house in the night sometimes, an' we knowed he come 'cause jus' as sure as he come there'd be a pack of gum in the bed right beside ever' one of us. We thought he was Jesus Christ Awmighty." Chapter 8, pg. 87
  "It ain't kin we? It's will we... As far as 'kin.' We can't do nothin', not go to California or nothin'; but as far as "will,' why, we'll do what we will." Chapter 10, pg. 130
 "66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land, from the thunder of tractors and invasion, from the twisting winds that howl up out of Texas, from floods that bring no richness to the lnad and steal what little richness is there." Chapter 12, pg. 150
  "refire the faith forever." Chapter 12, pg. 155
"the quality of owning freezes you forever into 'I,' and cuts you off forever from the 'we.'" Chapter 14, pg. 193
"Now look-a-here, fella. You got that eye wide open. An' ya dirty, ya stink. Ya jus' askin' for it. Ya like it. Lets ya feel sorry for yaself. 'Course ya can't get no woman with that empty eye flappin' aroun'. Put somepin over it an' wash ya face." Chapter 16, pg. 229 
"They hate you 'cause they're scairt. They know a hungry fella gonna get food even if he got to take it. They know that fallow lan' s a sin an' somebody' gonna take it." Chapter 18, pg. 262
"The cop was right. A crop raised - why, that makes ownership. Land howed and carrots eaten - a man might fight for land he's taken food from." Chapter 19, pg. 302
 "And now the great owners and the companies invented a new method. A great owner bought a cannery. And when the peaches and the pears were ripe he cut the price of fruit below the price of raising it. And as cannery owner he paid himself a low price for the fruit and kept the price of canned goods up and took his profit." Chapter 21, pg. 363
 "Wisht I knowed what all the sins was, so I could do 'em. The migrants looked humbly for pleasure on the roads." Chapter 23, pg. 421
 "Goin' away ain't gona ease us. It's gonna bear us down...They was the time when we was on the lan'. They was a boundary to us then. Ol' folks dies off, an' little fellas come, an' we was one thing - we was the fambly - kinda whole and clear. An' we ain't clear no more." Chapter 26, pg. 500
  "Well, this fella don' want no hangin', 'cause he'd do it again. An' same time, he don't aim to bring trouble down on his folks. Ma - I got to go." Chapter 26, pg. 509
 "Use' ta be the fambly was fust. It ain't so now. It's anybody. Worse off we get, the more we got to do." Chapter 30, pg. 566

 Characterization:
1. Steinbeck uses both direct and indirect characterization when establishing his characters and relationships. A few examples of indirect characterization would be when the family responds to seeing Tom after his stay in prison or when they arrive in California. He uses direct characterization when depicting Tom's inner feeling and emotions which lead to his physical actions.
2. Yes the authors syntax and diction definitely changes when he switches the focus from character to character. Especially between the two main characters Tom and Jim. His use of this technique better defines the characters and their personalities.
3. After reading the book I do feel as if I've met some of these people rather than just read about them. In my opinion I think this is due to the author's repetition of facts and topics that truly drills the concepts of sorrow and sadness into my mind.

Literary Analysis #5

1. For my last literary analysis I chose No Exit. The piece is about a group of people who are sent down to hell for eternity and forced to live in a room together due to there bad decisions while they were alive. Against popular demand the three characters were no tortured or hurt but forced to endure each others company. The three characters Inez, Estelle, and Garcin for a majority of the play fail to understand the severity of their actions and deny why they are really there until finally they explain their mistakes to one another.
2.The message behind the story is to be careful what you do while your alive because in the end you can never take it back.
3.The authors tone in the story is both cynical and didactic. Through out different scenes in the play it is apparently that many of the characters opinions and speeches are influenced by Sartre, in particular with Inez's numerous lessons and snarky remarks.
"There...you know the way the catch larks - with a mirror? I'm your lark-mirror,my dear, and you can't escape me...There isn't any pimple, not a trace of one. So what about it? Suppose the mirror started telling lies? Or suppose I covered my eyes - as he is doing - and refused to look at you, all that loveliness of yours would be wasted on the desert air. No, don't be afraid, I can't help looking at you. I shan't turn my eyes away. And I'll be nice to you, ever so nice. Only you must be nice to me too.”
"Prove it. Prove it was no dream. It’s what one does, and nothing else, that shows the stuff one's made of."
"One always dies too soon - or too late. And yet one's whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are - your life, and nothing else.”
4. There are a number of literary devices that Sartre takes advantage of in order to establish a central meaning and overall tone within the writing some are, allegory, simile, symbolism, imagery, diction, syntax, theme, tone, setting, characterization.
"I'm going to smile, and my smile will sink down into your pupils, and heaven knows what it will become.”
“Hell is—other people!”
“So this is hell. I'd never have believed it. You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the "burning marl." Old wives' tales!There's no need for red-hot pokers. HELL IS--OTHER PEOPLE!”
“As for me, I am mean: that means that I need the suffering of others to exist. A flame. A flame in their hearts. When I am all alone, I am extinguished.”
"You are -- your life, and nothing else.”
“So it comes to this; one doesn’t need rest. Why bother about sleep if one isn’t sleepy? That stands to reason, doesn’t it? Wait a minute, there’s a snag somewhere; something disagreeable. Why, now, should it be disagreeable? …Ah, I see; it’s life without a break.”
“Anything, anything would be better than this agony of mind, this creeping pain that gnaws and fumbles and caresses one and never hurts quite enough.”
"I feel so queer. Don't you ever get taken that way? When I can't see myself I begin to wonder if I really and truly exist. I pat myself just to make sure, but it doesn't help much.”
“Remember you're not alone; you've no right to inflict the sight of your fear on me.”
“Your scare me rather. My reflection in the glass never did that; of course, I knew it so well. Like something I had tamed...I'm going to smile, and my smile will sink down into your pupils, and heaven knows what it will become.”
“There were days when you peered into yourself, into the secret places of your heart, and what you saw there made you faint with horror. And then, next day, you didn't know what to make of it,you couldn't interpret the horror you had glimpsed the day before. Yes, you know what evil costs.”
“Oh, what a nuisance you are! I'm giving you my mouth, my arms, my whole body - and everything could be so simple...My trust! I haven't any to give, I'm afraid, and you're making me terribly embarrassed. You must have something pretty ghastly on your conscience to make such a fuss about my trusting you.”

Characterization
1. A good example of indirect characterization in No Exit is the way the room is depicted with out much detail but that we come upon viewing it as ugly and cruel due to the characters reactions and feelings towards it. Another example would be the way Sartre uses the three characters to help characterize each other through thoughts, feelings, and reactions. Sartre also uses direct characterization in some cases for instance when the characters have their confessions or when the characters express their emotions through body language.
2. The authors diction definitely changes among characters. Inez speaks with a very critical and cruel context whereas Estelle speaks with a soft innocence in attempts to appear good hearted and finally Garcin's tone is very unsure and questionably.
3. The characters in the play appear to be flat and static characters, they never really change who they are throughout the play in fact even after they confess their sins they don't seem even the slightest remorseful.
4. After reading the play I don't feel as if I've met actual people and I think this is because of the length and large amounts of indirect characterization with in the plot. However after performing the play the analyzing the characters and their choices I believe now it does feel as if I've met these characters.