Interpreter of Maladies

Jhumpa Lahiri

Interpreter of Maladies, is a short story written by Jhumpa Lahiri. It really stuck out to me, because of the fact that the other poems and the other short story, that told an actual story, were all about African Americans. This story, however; is about an Indian American family. They in India to visit family. The literary technique I found central to this story is that of the style of narration. The story is told in a third person limited point of view. This allows the third party to watch the Das family, and to make observations about them, observations normal people would make. For instance, Lahiri writes, referring to Mr. Das "He had a sapphire blue visor, and was dressed in shorts, sneakers and a T-shirt" (Lahiri). This goes along well with the theme of identity. Even though Mr. Das is of Indian descent, and is even in India, he is still wearing very American clothing. Mr. Das's identity is not that of his parents, Indian, it is very different. I can only imagine in India, many people wearing traditional clothing, with a man wearing a bright blue visor. You can imagine he would stick out like a thumb. Had it not been for the point of view, this observation would not have been made. We would not hear about Mrs. Das's affair, in nearly the same way. The third person limited point of view is crucial to the telling of this story, and the effect of identity it puts forth.

Everyday Use

Alice Walker

Every day use is a short story by Alice Walker, that recounts a story about a mother and her two daughters. The technique I found most useful in this story is diction. The way the narrator speaks in this story, really makes the story come alive. It is as if we are reading the mother's diary, on what happened that day. The whole story feels very personal, and makes the reader feel as if he is in the story, watching the story as it unfolds. The mother says "He flew to marry a cheap city girl of ignorant flash people." (Walker) This quote shows that the mother thinks poorly of herself. This continues throughout the entire story. Mama seems to always think of herself as subpar, and not good enough. She sees Dee, educated, and dating an educated man. The thing I saw that really stood out to me was at the end, when Dee says that mama doesn't understand her heritage. I found this to be false. Mama is aware of her humble heritage. Her family, and the things they'd made, the life they'd lived. Mama focuses on the humble life her family has maintained. Dee has grander aspirations. She is not interested in any quilts except for those made by her grandmother with civil war scraps. She cares not for her own history, but for history itself. Mama cares about where she came from, Dee is interested only in the part of her family that has moved her forward.

Hazel Tells Laverne

Hazel Tells Laverne by Katherine Howd Machan, is a very different story. It is told in a very odd way, and has no punctuation. The poem is riddled with literary techniques. The many I noted include personification, motif, anecdote, ballad, allusion, and colloquialism. The ones I found most important are motif and colloquialism. The colloquialism gives insight into the identity of the narrator. Machan writes, "well i screams' ya little green pervert an i hitsm with my mop an has ta lush the toilet down three times" (Machan).  This shows that the narrator is uneducated. My guess is that she is African American, due to the fact that the other poems that I have profiled, have been about African Americans.  The other important literary technique is motif. Machan repeats the phrase "me a princess" (Machan) twice. This shows that Hazel doesn't think much of herself. She doesn't believe she can be a princess. She believes she couldn't possibly be chosen to be the frog prince's princess. The poem shows that importance of even the uneducated, and the poor. It is not simply the classic snow white, Cinderella character that can become a princess. Even Hazel, an uneducated person can be chosen by the frog. We all have importance, and are all of great value.

Mr. Z

M. Carl Holman

The next poem I read, was "Mr. Z", by M. Carl Holman. The first things I noticed were that the poem is split into 4 stanzas, doesn't give the character a specific name, and has an ironic tone. I think the reason Mr. Z isn't given a name is in order to not reveal any thing about the character. The author wants the reader to be free of preconceptions while reading the poem. The reader is forced to figure out who Mr. Z is through text alone, with little help from the title. It seems to me that Mr. Z is a man who rejected his African American heritage. I came to this conclusion through multiple lines throughout the poem. The poem reads "His palate shrank from cornbread, yams and collars" (Holman). This shows that he is going away from the traditionally thought of African American stapes, and moving on to a more Caucasian cuisine. The irony comes into play with the last line. Holman writes "One of the most distinguished members of his race" (Holman). Him being called the greatest member of his race is highly ironic, because he doesn't live his race, and it's culture, instead, he shunned it, moving away from it, choosing instead a more white way of acting.

Dream Deferred

Langston Hughes

While reading "Dream Deferred", by Langton Hughes, there were a a few things that struck me. First, I noticed repetition in the layout. There was repeated use of question marks and similes. Another thing I noticed is that the last like of the poem: "Or does it explode?" (Hughes), is a metaphor rather than a simile. While I initially did not understand this poem, after talking it over with some peers, I came to the conclusion that the poem was about The Civil Rights Movement. The dream is the African American dream of equality. They have been set aside, and treated poorly for so long, that they finally explode, and fight for their rights. After a bit of research into the poem, it appears it is also named "Harlem". This seems to show that the poem is about the oppression of the African American population, coming up to the Civil Rights Movement.

Perrine Blog Post

I have to say that I feel enlightened after reading the Perrine article. While I was reading the poems for class earlier, I had no idea what was going on in these poems. I did my best, and came up with what I thought were some good ideas, but they were not "correct". While reading this article, I found myself agreeing with the ideas about poems. I agree that while more than one poem interpretation may not be completely wrong, a small amount always is more correct than the others. The idea that those which rely on the least assumptions makes complete sense, and I agree one hundred percent. The idea about symbols, I also thought was correct, where rather than being metaphors for other things, they are actually the things that are mentioned, but simultaneously represent something greater than themselves. This makes sense to me, rather than being just one representing another, one thing can actually represent both.

While reading this, I found the actual meanings of the poems that we read in class very interesting. I initially thought Dickinson's poem was about flowers and bees, and while I was right in a way, Perrine showed that a representation of a sunset actually makes sense. I suspect those who said the poem was about a sunset for homework, however looked up the poem and gained that knowledge through the internet. While reading about the poems by Melville and Whitman, I thought I already knew everything about these poems. I thought they were about war, and that was it. Little did I know that Melville's poem was actually about the stars. After rereading the poem, I thought that was definitely fitting, and had I thought to look past the soldiers, I probably would have seen the stars. The poem by William blake was about corruption and good, I figured that much. I didn't figure though, that it could have so many meanings, and that they all could be correct. Overall, I feel I have gained a deeper insight into the world of poetry through this article.

The Great Gatsby Pgs. 169-180

I just finished reading The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. While there were times, I wondered the points of the book, at the end I must say, it was a great story. Even though Gatsby wasn't even in the first parts of the story, and we didn't really, truly meet Gatsby until the ending parts of the book, I now know why the book is called the Great Gatsby. Even though Gatsby threw lavish parties, and was nothing but nice to all those he met, and was a great host to the many who were in attendance at his parties, there were only three men in attendance at his funeral. I felt extremely sad for Gatsby, that no one bothered to come to the funeral. When I read "What I called about was a pair of shoes I left there. I wonder if it'd be too much trouble to have the butler send them on. You see, they're tenis shoes, and I'm sort of helpless without them" (Fitzgerald 169), I found myself furious. Nick had just told this man that Gatsby had died, and asked him to come to the funeral, when the man responded that he'd try to come, but he had a picnic he had to go to instead. It truly puts the value of the human life in perspective. Even though Gatsby was a good man, and had met many, he still only had three at his funeral. None of the many people he met were truly his friends, only Nick opened himself up to be a friend. While I hoped Gatsby would end up happy with Daisy, I see now why he had to die. In death, he is immortalized. He made something great of his life, and in death, he I see him as the man who died tragically due to the words and actions of a rich man who cared for no one but himself, Tom Buchanan. I hated him from the beginning, and hate him ever so much more now, for getting The Great Gatsby killed.