Colloquium IV: Modern Literature
HUST 464
Embedded Files
Charles Demuth, Dancing Sailors (1918)
LGBTQ+ & Kushner's Angels in America
LGBTQ+ & Kushner's Angels in America
Ironically, Roy is one of my favorite characters in the book. Despite being a little more than slightly annoying I find him interesting because he seems to displaced in many aspects of the word itself. More specifically, he is displaced morally or what he deems to be morally correct. He also is displaced between the utopia he has in his head and reality. Throughout the play, Roy does not speak of the fact that he has AIDS, but it is through the contrast between his words and actions that the audience sees the displacement Roy feels. Roy checking into the hospital for "liver cancer" is the first time Roy has even acknowledged his status. When Belize goes to visit Roy in the hospital, Roy continues to be racist and Belize threatens to leave, but Roy begs for him to stay. The act of begging is representative of the implicit fear Roy feels with becoming closer to the reality of his AID status. At the beginning of Perestroika, Roy makes the claim "My generation, we had clarity. Unafraid to look deep into the miasma at the hear of the world, what a pit, what a nightmare is there- I have looked, I have searched all my life for absolute bottom, and I found it, believe me.". This claim contradicts how Roy really behaves throughout the play. Roy is feeling displacement with what he knows to be the most politically correct way to live life or out his sexuality v.s what is reality. Kushner's development of Roy as a character accurately portrays what most members of the LGBTQ+ community felt in the 80s. Many members experience extreme oppression for being gay or lesbian. As a result, members of the community hid their sexuality from the world. This is the displacement Roy is experiencing that becomes more clear as the play progress.
Full poem:https://poets.org/poem/tenantry
Tenantry by George Scarborough
Tenantry by George Scarborough
The poem I chose to discuss is titled "Tenantry" by George Scarborough. The poem is suggested to take place in Polk County, Tennessee. I enjoy this poem because it is abstract and highlights forms of displacement we often overlook like internal displacement and displacement that goes on within borderlines. While reading the poem I thought about how resilient and resourceful those who experience displacement are. Scarborough highlights how "no house we ever lived in stood behind a fence, no door we ever opened had a key". This challenges readers' traditional view of housing in the United States. Despite never having a traditional home, Scarbrough finds beauty in his circumstances as he ends the poem with "It was beautiful like that. For a little while". Similar to the short story in The Displaced by Viet Thanh Nguyen titled "Guests of the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa", the poem portrays the impermanence of physical structures like motels, ships, and museums. However, the effects of displacement leave a permanent feeling of internal displacement. The poem repeats "after a while and for a while" which gives the sense of temporary comfort and relief of finding a home. The title of the poem is interesting as tenantry symbolizes conveyance: transporting from one place to another. The larger point of this title serves to show how people remain internally displace and physical structures act as a checkpoint or toll to a particular place or no place at all.
Poems/Books I should explore:
Ocean Vuong's Night Sky with Exit Wounds
Dunya Mikhail The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq
The Displaced, Viet Thanh Nguyen
The Displaced, Viet Thanh Nguyen
Guests of the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa
Ebook pg.37 Lev Golinkin, 75-81
Summary: Father and son from Soviet Ukraine who was forced to find refuge in Vienna,Austria were displaced because of the anti-semitic system of the Soviet. Golinkin starts off by explaining why a museum is a great place for refugees: heat, couches to lounge, and authority do not bother you. He and his father decided to stop at the museum and cruise. Then he goes on to explain what happens once the museum is closed and how that experience is different for a refugee once you are outside the museum.
Some speaking points I found useful:
The gradual process of becoming a refugee and how once you are displaced your morph into a refugee and lose your identity.
“The drastic images which make newsreels create the impression that people turn into refugees overnight. In my family’s experience, that isn’t true. Becoming a refugee is a gradual process, a bleaching out, a transition into a ghostly existence.”
The realization of becoming a refugee and embodying the lifestyle and mindset of a refugee. It forces you to adjust to your circumstances quickly.
“Once you’ve made the transition from When are we eating? to When are they feeding us? you know you’re a refugee.”
The separation of refugee & human beings
How refugees are perceived by Westerners
What does a pulpit & a cypher have in common?
What does a pulpit & a cypher have in common?
Baldwin and Coates write about the same themes: race, religion, segregation, and the American Dream. However, how they choose to write about these themes differ. I think these differences can be attributed to the time period, audience, and mediums. Being that James Baldwin enjoys preaching and is writing a book, his book The Fire Next Time exhibits more of a preacher style while Coates has more of a poetic nature to it. His use of words that link the previous sentence to the next in Between the World and Me demonstrates the rap style writing Coates embodies. He writes, "I came to see the streets and the schools as arms of the same beast. One enjoyed the official power of the state the other enjoyed its implicit sanction. But fear and violence were the weaponry of both. Fail in the streets and the crews would catch you slipping and take your body"(33). On the other hand, Baldwin embodied a more persuasive preacher writing style. He wants there to be mutual respect of races. He also appears to be asking while Coates appears to be speaking from recent experiences. Baldwin writes in The Fire Next Time, " I know that what I am asking is impossible. But in our time, as in every time, the impossible is the least that one can demand"(104). Baldwin appears to be writing for White Americans so they realize the extreme and harmful impact racism has had on Black Americans. Coates is more so using recent experience to write that had a more poetic tone to it v.s a narrative or sermon tone. Coates' writing is more aggressive compared to Baldwin'swritng possible because of Coates' primary audience. His audience is more so toward Millenials and Gen X. In fact, considering Coates and Baldwin are writing about the same themes but to a younger audience could be a theme in itself.
New vocab words: kleptocracy: A kleptocracy is a form of government in which the rulers use the power of their positions to steal from the people.
Camus Is On To Something?
Camus Is On To Something?
Camus Close Reading 4/8
"The monks in the two monasteries of the town had been evacuated and lodged for the time being with religious-minded families. In the same way…small bodies of men had been moved out of barracks and billeted in schools or public buildings. Thus the disease, which apparently had forced on us the solidarity of a beleaguered town, disrupted at the same time long-established communities and sent men out to live, as individuals, in relative isolation.” (III. 170)
I found this quote to be very intriguing and compact because it forced me to think about our current situation with the Covid-19 pandemic in a larger frame. Like our pandemic, everything the people in Oran once knew has been altered. The prison is forced to change administrative procedures that once were influenced by religion. I appreciate this quote because Camus offers readers a glimpse into how the jail administration is impacted by "the plague"; he offers insight into the jail population which is often forgotten during times difficult times. This is reflected at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic when individuals in jail were infected and dying at an increased rate compared to those who are not in jail. In addition, this quote is able to shine a light on just how monstrous and destructive "the plague" is as it is able to destroy long-standing religious traditions and administrative policies. Furthermore, it speaks to the ability of the power of government.
Here is the link for Prison Policy Initiative that focuses on detailing how criminal policies have changed due to COVID-19! There is a lot of similarities between how America is currently handling the pandemic to how Oran dealt with the plague.
A Night in the Virtual Museum
A Night in the Virtual Museum
The Yellow Dress is a painting by French artist Henri Matisse from 1931. From a first glance, you see a woman in a yellow dress and hat standing or sitting. Her face is stoic and her hands are folded in her lap. I assume "The Yellow Dress" has some connection with Woolf's The Yellow Wallpaper. The face of the woman seems to depict she is uneasy or uncomfortable; however, her lavish appearance makes it appear she is attending an important occasion like a party or dance. The yellow dress is front and center which focuses the viewer's eyes on that. In connection to Mrs. Dalloway's, the woman can act as a representation of Clarissa, except in the painting "Clarissa" can't help but show her emotions. In the novel, Clarissa manages to always appear at her best despite experiencing social insecurity. Furthermore, the isolation of the woman in the yellow dress also represents the disconnect Clarissa and Septimus experience.
The Yellow Dress (1931) by Henri Matisse
Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway
11 March 2021
The notion of time is a vital aspect of Mrs. Dalloway's. Clarrisa mentions "Big Ben" multiple times throughout the novel. While reading the book it feels as if it is never-ending and time is infinite. However, Mrs.Dalloway's is written over a very short period of time, and Big Ben functions as a reference of the past( WW1), past lovers( Peter Walsh), and tradition( the physical presence of Big Ben). All of the characters in the novel make a reference to Big Ben in different contexts. For example, one of the first times Big Ben is mentioned is when Clarissa is describing the atmosphere of Westminster. Woolf writes "... a suspense (but that might be her heart, affected, they said by influenza) before Big Ben strikes. There! Out it boomed"(4). Although appearing confusing, this is the message and tone Woolf wants to create. She wants readers to understand the presence of time and its power to toss people back and forth between reality and memory.
Time is often mentioned in connection with death throughout Mrs. Dalloway's. They are often coupled in the same paragraph or the notion of death is looming as time continues to pass. On page 94, "it was precisely twelve by Big Ben; whose stroke was wafted over the northern part of London; blent with that of other clocks, mixed in a thin ethereal way with the clouds and wisps of smoke, and died up there among the seagulls-twelve o'clock struct as Clarissa laid her green dress on her bed..."(94). Here we can see how the notions of death, life, and time are colliding. This paragraph is also a representation of how time is used throughout the novel. Big Ben is used as a central way to move a long the reader into Septimus', Clarissa's, and Peter's lives.
The Heart of Darkness
The Heart of Darkness
18 Feb 2021
The Heart of Darkness describes the “journey” up the Congo River to Africa. Marlow is the narrator of the piece, and as he narrates many complex themes and symbolism is noted throughout the Heart of Darkness. Themes of religion, imperialism, and why it’s problematic, as well as ethical and moral dilemmas. Language is vital to exploring these themes. Marlow's descriptions of the people and land imply Europeans are better people than African people. Conrad writes, they were drying slowly...they were nothing Earthly now... while I stood horror- struck, one of the creatures rose"( Conrad 14). This othering language exemplifies how African people are viewed in comparison to European people. Once Marlow encounters the station, his description of the white man is vastly different. The white man has "a high starched collar, with white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket"(Conrad 15). Marlow continues and says "I respect this fellow". Marlow had not been introduced to the white man before establishing respect for him while his respect for the African people had never been established because of their appearance. Prejudices were established based on the appearance of the African people just like in Frankenstein when the judgment was already established because of Frankenstein's " creature- like appearance". The word creature is used both in The Heart of Darkness and Frankenstein. By examining the language throughout The Heart of Darkness we can understand that there's a racial component to imperialism and the intense racial discourse and the difference(or lack of difference) between those deem civilized and those theme savage-like or primitive. Exploring the notion of differences is Marlow's way of critiquing imperialism. In other words, he is saying if we look deeper into imperialism, it says more about the moral character and nature of the imperialist than the imperialized.
Click The Washington Post article about the Black Panther movie and African colonization history to imagine what Africa would be like today had it NOT been colonized! Also enjoy the comical piece of other parts of the world fighting to conquer the Africa continent.
Shelley's Frankenstein
Shelley's Frankenstein
11 Feb 2021
Notions of displacement are heavy throughout Shelley's book Frankenstein. When we speak of displacement we can speak about it in terms of physical space or other various forms of displacement like childhood displacement, racial displacement, gender displacement, or displacement of desire. From readers' first encounter with Victor, we observe how dissatisfied he is with life and how he navigates the consequences of his creation. After Frankenstein kills Victor's brother, William, Victor grapples with how his emotions play out. He says, " I should have been the first to hide my grief, and console my friends, if remorse had not mingled its bitterness with my other sensations. "( V2 C1). Victor grapples with his feelings from the beginning of Frankenstein to the end. Feelings of defeat, loneliness, and grief still possess Victor. These feelings all stem from his displacement of knowledge and emotions.
Should Victor feel any kind of remorse? Is his remorse for the loss of his brother or his greed to achieve without acknowledging the potential flaws in his achievement?
The displacement of gender roles in Frankenstein is a theme worth exploring. After the death of Victor's brother, Justine is found guilty of his murder; however, Victor knows Justine is NOT guilty of killing William. To be frank ( no pun intended), Victor is responsible for his brother's death because his scientific creation is what killed him. Victor's inability to set his pride aside for the sake of another's life is quite a male-gendered characteristic. While Elizabeth knows Justine did not kill William, she has no way of taking action herself to ensure the true killer is uncovered. She is unable to act because she is a woman.
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