Just reading Jack London's To Build A Fire made me cold! Also a little depressed. It was such a sad story. I remember thinking at the beginning of the piece that this probably isn't going to end well. And then the man started getting a little overconfident in his ability to stay alive - that's when I knew he was going to die. Although there were only two characters in the story (and one of them was a dog), I really enjoyed London's style of writing. As a reader, I found it very easy to comprehend and follow unlike Crane's The Open Boat piece. Surprisingly, I found To Build a Fire similar to Dreiser's Sister Carrie in that both main characters made repeatedly dumb choices. Although London's main guy was overconfident and Sister Carrie was innocently naive, these characters strangely reminded me of each other.
I also really liked the way London contrasted the man's human intelligence with the dog's natural instinct. I thought it was a very creative and subtle way to show that although humans may have more intelligence, sometimes our "smartness" gets in the way. When we start to become overconfident in our knowledge, we often end up looking dumb and having to pay for it - like dying while traveling on foot in Alaska without a partner.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
A Boating Adventure
Stephen Crane's, The Open Boat, was a very interesting read. I liked knowing that it was based on Crane's own experience. However, I think I would have liked his exact account of the incident better than this fictional telling. I had a really hard time following what was going on sometimes. I would often find myself lost with what was happening or which character Crane was talking about. This made it difficult for me to get into the story because I was constantly wondering what was going on.
However, there was one part of the story that I really connected with - when the crew had to finally jump out of the boat because it was sinking and they had to swim to shore. Crane describes how cold the water was and how hard it was to swim in. When I was in Alaska for a mission trip, we decided to go swimming in one of the lakes. Although it was the middle of June, the air and water temperature were only in the low fifties. However, this didn't stop us, so we jumped in. Obviously it was very cold but I also found that I couldn't swim. The water was so cold that I had trouble breathing much less moving my arms and legs to keep me afloat. When Crane described this part, my experience in Alaska immediately popped in my head and it made their struggle much more vivid for me - oh how hard and scary that must have been!
In class we talked about Crane's story being the only one of the three pieces that we read for naturalism that had a sense of teamwork involved in surviving. The way the crew worked together in staying afloat played a huge role in keeping them all alive for the majority of the story. What I find funny, as well as encouraging, is that The Open Boat was also the only one that was based on a true story.
However, there was one part of the story that I really connected with - when the crew had to finally jump out of the boat because it was sinking and they had to swim to shore. Crane describes how cold the water was and how hard it was to swim in. When I was in Alaska for a mission trip, we decided to go swimming in one of the lakes. Although it was the middle of June, the air and water temperature were only in the low fifties. However, this didn't stop us, so we jumped in. Obviously it was very cold but I also found that I couldn't swim. The water was so cold that I had trouble breathing much less moving my arms and legs to keep me afloat. When Crane described this part, my experience in Alaska immediately popped in my head and it made their struggle much more vivid for me - oh how hard and scary that must have been!
In class we talked about Crane's story being the only one of the three pieces that we read for naturalism that had a sense of teamwork involved in surviving. The way the crew worked together in staying afloat played a huge role in keeping them all alive for the majority of the story. What I find funny, as well as encouraging, is that The Open Boat was also the only one that was based on a true story.
Dear Sister Carrie...
I'm not going to lie, reading through two chapters of Dreiser's novel, Sister Carrie, was challenging. When I first started reading, I found it really distracting that Dreiser kept pulling back to narrate what was happening in the story. It was a very strange type of writing, and it reminded me a lot of watching a movie with the director's commentary on. Dreiser would give readers extra details about Sister Carrie's background and comment on scenes as they were playing out. At first I thought it was kinda cool but then I just got really annoyed at jumping back and forth.
Also with this novel, I really wanted to shake Sister Carrie for being so naive! That or write her a letter and tell her to get off of the train and go back home, cause she was so not ready for what was ahead - she couldn't even make it to the city before getting into trouble! When I began reading, I almost pitied her for being so innocent, but then I just became irritated that she was being so dumb. Growing up in a very small town myself, I was hoping she would represent the country life a little better. However, I was severely disappointed because Dreiser lets us know pretty quickly in the novel that Sister Carrie has zero street smarts when she gives out her new address to a complete stranger who also happens to be a complete creep.
Perhaps I would have to read the novel in its entirety to completely understand the story Dreiser was trying to tell. However, from what I got from the reading we had to do, I'm not so sure. Maybe if Sister Carrie grew a brain...
Also with this novel, I really wanted to shake Sister Carrie for being so naive! That or write her a letter and tell her to get off of the train and go back home, cause she was so not ready for what was ahead - she couldn't even make it to the city before getting into trouble! When I began reading, I almost pitied her for being so innocent, but then I just became irritated that she was being so dumb. Growing up in a very small town myself, I was hoping she would represent the country life a little better. However, I was severely disappointed because Dreiser lets us know pretty quickly in the novel that Sister Carrie has zero street smarts when she gives out her new address to a complete stranger who also happens to be a complete creep.
Perhaps I would have to read the novel in its entirety to completely understand the story Dreiser was trying to tell. However, from what I got from the reading we had to do, I'm not so sure. Maybe if Sister Carrie grew a brain...
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Washington vs. Du Bois
This past week in class we were asked to choose between Booker T. Washington's approach to African American equality and W. E. B. Du Bois's tactics. After reading both of their pieces in our anthology, I felt more inclined towards Washington's ideas. Although I think Washington's subtle approach as well as Du Bois' more aggressive methods were both essential in the process of African American equality, I connected more with Washington's humble character and his views on unity.
I think Washington recognized that equality wasn't something that was going to happen quickly. Although he wanted it just as much as any other African American, he was selfless in his understanding that he would probably only play a part in its long journey. Du Bois however, aggressively fought for African American equality and expected to see it happen in his lifetime. While he had every right to expect this, I don't think he was seeing things very realistically. From my experience with change, it is always painfully slow and never seams to happen they way we want it to. However, does this mean we should move along with the speed of change or fight against it hoping to quicken its pace? Would African American equality be where it is today if thinkers like Du Bois didn't fight hard for it for their own generation?
I think Washington recognized that equality wasn't something that was going to happen quickly. Although he wanted it just as much as any other African American, he was selfless in his understanding that he would probably only play a part in its long journey. Du Bois however, aggressively fought for African American equality and expected to see it happen in his lifetime. While he had every right to expect this, I don't think he was seeing things very realistically. From my experience with change, it is always painfully slow and never seams to happen they way we want it to. However, does this mean we should move along with the speed of change or fight against it hoping to quicken its pace? Would African American equality be where it is today if thinkers like Du Bois didn't fight hard for it for their own generation?
The Promised Land
"The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land." - W. E. B. Du Bois - The Souls of Black Folk
It must have been very frustrating to be an African American in Du Bois's time. Although the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War Amendments had given African Americans their freedom and their rights, most were still discriminated against and seen as second class citizens. I can imagine that this new "freedom" was not as freeing as many were expecting.
I really liked how Du Bois compared their lack of freedom to the Israelite's promised land. Just as the African Americans did not get what they were expecting in their new freedom, the Israelite's promised land was not anything like they were anticipating either. When the Israelite's entered the land of Canaan, there was a massive famine taking place in the land - not exactly a land flowing with milk and honey. It took many years for the Israelite's to take over their promised land and as frustrating as it must have been for African Americans during the late eighteen hundreds and on, their sense of freedom was a slow process that took many years to come about; and some would say it is still not completely found today.
It must have been very frustrating to be an African American in Du Bois's time. Although the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War Amendments had given African Americans their freedom and their rights, most were still discriminated against and seen as second class citizens. I can imagine that this new "freedom" was not as freeing as many were expecting.
I really liked how Du Bois compared their lack of freedom to the Israelite's promised land. Just as the African Americans did not get what they were expecting in their new freedom, the Israelite's promised land was not anything like they were anticipating either. When the Israelite's entered the land of Canaan, there was a massive famine taking place in the land - not exactly a land flowing with milk and honey. It took many years for the Israelite's to take over their promised land and as frustrating as it must have been for African Americans during the late eighteen hundreds and on, their sense of freedom was a slow process that took many years to come about; and some would say it is still not completely found today.
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