O Solomon don't leave me here

From the very beginning, themes of flight have recurred in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. The opening scene is of Robert Smith promising to fly off of the roof of Mercy Hospital. Milkman as a young boy all he wants to do is fly. When he learns that humans cannot fly like birds can, he loses interest in everything and begins selfish patterns in life. He gets wrapped up in his family's tumultuous history, a boring relationship, a potentially dangerous friendship and all he wants to do is run away -- to fly away.

In Part II of the novel that's exactly what he does. He travels from Michigan to Pennsylvania to Virginia in search of a bag of gold and some answers about his past. In a quasi-heroic quest, Milkman establishes his individuality and discovers the Dead family legend. The people of Shalimar still sing songs about them. Most remarkable is Milkman's great-grandfather, Solomon. What Solomon wanted more than anything was to return to Africa, his homeland. So one day he decides to fly there and take his son Jake with him. But as soon as he takes off, Solomon drops Jake, leaving a total of 21 children and a wife behind in Shalimar. While Solomon has his great achievement of flight, his wife, Ryna, is left behind to raise 21 children and work cotton fields without her love and she goes insane. 

This is echoed in Milkman's relationship with Hagar. When Milkman goes to Virginia he leaves Hagar lost and heartbroken. While Milkman learns to "fly" Hagar dies because of lost love. Again and again Morrison presents the reader with these themes of flight and abandonment. Jake/Macon was abandoned by his father and in turn abandons his children while dying trying to protect his land. Macon Jr. abandons his sister Pilate in order to become a successful businessman. It seems that none of the characters can "fly" without stepping on someone on their way.

At the end of the story, Milkman changes as a character. He seems to be the first in this long line of Macon Deads to understand that he has been selfish in the past and to try to make up for it. When Guitar kills Pilate something clicks inside Milkman and he is no longer afraid. He may or may not die trying to right things with Guitar in Pilate's name but the idea is that for once he is "flying" without selfish motive. 

Relationship Fail

It's clear to see that Antoinette and Rochester's marriage is a failure. It came crashing down in flames (literally?). In the end Antoinette's insanity is responsible for their total separation. But one could argue that their relationship was doomed from the start.

Throughout the whole novel there are themes of being displaced. The first part of the book, narrated by Antoinette, shows how much Antoinette feels like a stranger in her own home. The black Jamaicans hate her family because they are ex-slave-owners. The white people hate her family because they are left extremely poor after Antoinette's father dies. Her childhood is tormented with rumors of her mothers madness and names like "white cockroach". Antoinette is left an extremely lonely character.

The second part is mostly narrated by Rochester, Antoinette's new husband. We learn that Rochester lives in the shadow of his older brother and by the English laws of primogeniture is left without a share of his father's fortune. He resents his brother as well as his father for picking favorites. He has come to Jamaica to attain a rich wife so he can not only sustain himself but prove to his family that he is worth something.

Antoinette and Rochester's marriage stands on the extremely rocky foundation of two people that are uncomfortable with their situation. This is where the title of the book comes in. The Sargasso Sea lies in the Atlantic Ocean between the West Indies and Europe. It is known for its tumultuous waters. This represents the attempt at a connection between Antoinette and Rochester. Rhys suggests that the Sea is too wide for their relationship to work. Their backgrounds are just too different. Antoinette has money but is respected by no one. She needs an actual friend. Rochester comes from a respected family but has no money on which to stake his claim. He finds Antoinette and uses her to fill in the holes that will allow him to maintain his position in society. The only thing they have in common is that they each have a troubled past. And that is nothing to stand on.

Sociopaths and Heros

This might be a bit of a stretch but just hear me out.

We've discussed in class the obvious lack of emotion in Meursault's character. The other characters mention it multiple times and even he admits that the things that everyone else finds important hardly matters to him. We attributed his antisocial behavior and apparent lack of a conscience to him being a sociopath.

The term sociopath strikes fear in many people. Sociopaths are known for being dangerous and unpredictable people. However, at the beginning of the novel, Meursault doesn't show much violent behavior. In fact, he is incredibly passive and that is what eventually leads him to commit the murder. He seems to wake up to a nightmare, finding that he is holding a gun and just killed a man.

Meusault is then put on trial. The facts are very clear: Meursault is the one who committed the murder. Meursault admits that he is the one who did it and that he doesn't really feel any remorse. If it is not his guilt that is being decided then what? The lawyers, the magistrate, and then the court are all puzzled by Meursault's behavior. The trial seems to be judging Meursault's character rather than his conviction.

The judgement of Meursault's sociopathic behavior immediately reminded of Sherlock, the BBC TV show. While Sherlock Holmes is a genius, he is also antisocial, impulsive, and has a general disregard for other people; all signs point to sociopath. In one of the stories, people start to realize how potentially dangerous he is, to the point that they accuse him of having made up all the murder cases just so he can solve them.

Their argument has sound logic, and yet, as an audience we feel for Sherlock. He is the hero of the stories and we want him to win even if he is crazy. Meursault is similar. As readers, we have followed him through the whole story. Meursault is the narrator and we can see his reactions to everything he experiences. Camus asks us to weigh Meursault's potential threat against his value as a compelling character. I think Meursault's simplistic philosophy of honesty counts for more than his sociopathic murder in terms of being the hero of the story.

The Metamorphosis Is Really About Grete

With a title like "The Metamorphosis" you would expect the biggest change would occur in the main character. And it's true that physically Gregor Samsa's transformation into a "monstrous insect" is the most drastic. However, his sister Grete's change, although more subtle, calls for our attention.

We discussed as a class how Gregor was already bug-like before he turned into one. Gregor's main aspect of his life was his work. He had not missed a single day in all those five years at his job as a salesman. His diligence echoes that of a worker bee or ant. Like bees and ants work for their queen, Gregor's work is for the benefit of his family as a whole. He rarely entertains thoughts of rebellion despite the seemingly unfairness of his situation. After his transformation, Gregor's main concern is how his family is going to get along without him. To his surprise, they do just fine.

He is especially surprised by his sister's change. The first time Grete is introduced, she is presented as timid. Gregor justifies all of the work he has to do on the inability of his younger sister. He repeatedly excuses her from things because she is only seventeen. Grete's only real sense of personality comes from her love of the violin. But only then, Gregor describes it as a sort of secret talent. He plans to surprise her by using the money he has saved up to send her to school at the conservatory. His plans sound like Grete is completely dependent on Gregor's benevolence.

But, when Gregor becomes a bug, Grete is the first to take matters into her own hands. She is the first to approach the giant insect and leave him food. When he rejects it, she exchanges it for something she thinks he might like more. After that, Gregor become dependent of Grete in order to eat. Soon, Grete also starts supporting the rest of her family by working as a sales clerk. She shows more ambition and studies French and shorthand so that she might get promoted. When her parents ask her to play her violin she doesn't shy away. After the whole lodger incident, Grete asserts herself and states that they have to do something about the giant insect living in their house. She suggest that it would be best if it were dead and Gregor follows her advice and dies.

At the end of the story, Kafka uses insect imagery again to describe how much Grete has grown up. The last line is of Grete stretching her young body, much like a butterfly would do after emerging from a cocoon. It could be that "the metamorphosis" refers, not to Gregor's, but to Grete's insect transformation.

Jake the Narrator

In preparing to write my pastiche, I was looking closely at all of the little quirks of Hemingway's writing style. Apart from the "slapstick" dialogue, Hemingway's distinctive feature is his tip-of-the-iceberg narration. Throughout the entire novel, Hemingway gives the reader flat descriptions that require many inferences to fully understand the story. This "less is more" approach works well for Jake as a narrator.

Jake Barnes is the kind of person that mostly likes to observe and stay out of the action. He describes those around him rather than talks about himself. Like we've discussed, he seems almost like a third wheel in many situations. In chapter V, Robert Cohn and his wife get into an argument during dinner. In chapter VII, Brett and the count discuss the events of the previous evening. During these two conversations, Jake fades into the background and assumes only the narrator position and we forget that he also has opinions.

Though he doesn't blatantly state anything, Jake's selectively detailed descriptions reveal many of his thoughts and feelings. On page 232, Jake describes the morning after the fiesta. We're given flat descriptions and dialogues of Bill and Jake cleaning up and making plans.

"Let's get a car and all go as far as Bayonne. You can get the train up from there to-night."

"Good. Let's go after lunch."

"All right. I'll get the car."

We had lunch and paid the bill. Montoya did not come near us. One of the maids brought the bill. The car was outside.

In the middle of these simplistic statements, Jake makes an observation that seems a little out of place: "Montoya did not come near us." The syntax of this sentence is very similar to the rest of the passage in the way that it is a straight-forward declaratory statement. It blends in to the rest of the text. However, it isn't an action in the same way that the rest of the sentences are. All the others move forward and with this, Jake pauses to point out that Montoya was avoiding them. This shows that Jake is very much aware of Montoya's resentment. We have to infer that this has to do with him setting up Brett, a woman with a reputation, with Pedro Romero, Montoya's prized bullfighter. The sentence is still ambiguous since we don't know how much this loss of status bothers Jake. We can assume that it was important enough to him to mention it, but not enough to regret helping out Brett.

Hemingway fills pages with short but dense writing. He seems to trust that the reader will fill in the gaps. That's something to keep in mind as I summon my inner Ernest Hemingway.

Masculinity and the Lost Generation

World War I turned people's perspective of the world upside down. Many war veterans were very young. Understandably, all of these people that had just come of age were left disoriented. They became known as the "lost generation". The term became popularized by Ernest Hemingway, who uses a quote from Gertrude Stein in the epigraph of his first novel The Sun Also Rises. The quote reads "You are all a lost generation", recognizing the sense confusion and pointlessness the war-survivors experienced. Hemingway himself was part of the lost generation, having fought in the war and being returned home wounded.

As we discussed in class, Hemingway is known for being the pinnacle of masculinity. His interests included big game hunting, bull-fighting, marlin fishing, picking fights in bars, and the works. In Hemingway's point of view, being a man includes putting up a tough shell, a quality that he passes on to the narrator of The Sun Also Rises, Jacob Barnes. Jake is a very frank person. Like Hemingway, he also likes to drink and seems to have thorough knowledge of all things masculine, like boxing. He acts unimpressed by the feats of others to appear superior. Because he is a man. Or maybe, as has been revealed to us in recent reading, Jake is trying to cover up for his insecurities about his war injury.

It appears that many veterans during this time period could not live up to the ideals of masculinity. In Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway, Septimus Warren Smith, a shell-shocked member of the lost generation, plays a prominent role. Septimus is completely traumatized by the events of the way after having his friend die right before his eyes. He is enormously transformed by the war. He began as a young poet and lover of Shakespeare, two things that are not stereotypically masculine. Even his employer, Mr. Brewer, thinks something is wrong with him and prescribes football as a cure. Impassioned by his love of literature, Septimus signs up to fight for his country and in the trenches Mr. Brewer's wish comes true -- he learns not to feel. He panics and this sends him spiraling down a path to suicide.

Masculinity in the army was defined as having this ability to separate yourself from all emotions. Those who "failed' and were affected by shell-shock were regarded as cowards. It was in the culture of the early 20th century to expect too much of this "lost generation". However, not all were affected equally, boosting the ideals of perfect masculinity. While modern psychiatrists might regard Jake Barnes as someone in need of therapy, Mr. Brewer in the early 1920's would praise him for coming out of the war unscathed, like a real man.

Inside Mrs. Dalloway's head

The plot of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway is fairly simplistic -- Clarissa Dalloway goes through the preparations for the party she is throwing that evening. It's the way that Woolf tells the story that really makes the novel worth reading. Instead of writing in a fourth-wall disconnected manner, Woolf places us as readers inside the heads of the characters. In this way, she can achieve much more than if she was just floating on the surface. She allows us to see everyone's personal reactions to the events that take place, and as an audience I find that some ordinary actions are much more interesting and even relatable.

This way of writing reiterates the point she makes in her essay Modern Fiction. Woolf believes that a story should be driven by the characters instead of having the characters exist to take on specific roles in the plot of the novel. I think this makes the story a lot more life-like since each of the characters have distinct personalities and the ways that they interact are more natural. Their reactions to things are relatable because sometimes have opposing views of what just happened in front of them, much like real people. This effect could not be achieved as effectively if we were not allowed to see inside all of the characters' thoughts since some fourth-wall styles of writing seem to have a pre-existing idea of what the reader's conclusion should be. Thus, allowing the story to be plot driven. Mrs. Dalloway allows for more freedom of interpretation.

Because Woolf's style is so different, I had some trouble following the course of the novel at first, especially keeping track of whose point of view the description of the action was coming from. Her all-knowing narrator transitions so easily from one thought to the next that you almost don't notice it. As we got further in the novel and met more characters, I learned to recognize the vocabulary and tone of specific characters. This is especially noticeable in Septimus' paranoid and poetic view on the world as opposed to Rezia's stressed recounting or Richard's timidity. Overall I find her writing style very intriguing.