Junot Diaz

Stephanie Harrison

Reflection on The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

I very much enjoyed the first readings assigned for this book so far.  I especially enjoy the culture and Spanish that is used in the book because I can understand it and it is nice to relate to some of the words and ideas of the Hispanic heritage.  The book is very fun to read and one of the things I like most about it is the fact that you forget Oscar is not a real person.  Although this piece is fiction, it is so well thought out, so detailed, and uses so many real life places and references so that it feels like nonfiction.  Oscar is a likeable character and as the reader I feel bad for him when he is unlucky in love.  At first the long footnotes threw me off, I did not feel like reading them and normally I would have skipped over them to be honest, but then I realized these footnotes were more interesting than most.  The footnotes in the book are actually very helpful in helping the reader understand some of the cultural things that may remain unknown if the author assumed we knew what he was talking about or if he relied on the reader to look them up.  The reader is also exposed not only to a cultural world that I’m sure most are unfamiliar with but also a world of science fiction and nerdy-ness for lack of a better word.  The first 30 pages of the book are also interesting because they are told by the narrator, Oscars friend, and he is very manly, and speaks almost aggressively.  This speaking style is different than how you would imagine Oscar talking.  The excessive cursing and vulgar language work for the narrator, it makes the book quirky and interesting to read in this section.

Tarot Cards and Voodoo Dolls

In Holloway’s text the African American culture is examined and we see some of the patterns within it when it comes to certain things such as mourning and death.  There are definitely patterns that allow us to create these understandings of different cultures.  In Holloway’s text she tells stories about certain brutalities and other events taken against African Americans and how the culture as a whole tended to deal with them in a very public way.  There are certain aspects about every culture that categorize them in some way, shape or form.  Patterns are made and this is how we often define a specific culture.  For example I come from two very strong cultural backgrounds.  On my mom’s side, I am Peruvian and our family comes from a strong Hispanic background with many interesting traditions and ways of viewing life.  On my dads side I am a mix of heritages, but recent generations have always been rooted in the south, Tennessee in particular.  These two cultures couldn’t be more opposite and I find it very interesting to compare the two and to have grown up experiencing both of these cultural patterns. 

For example, on my mother’s side something I have noticed that is very prevalent is religion and superstition.  Not only did my mom grow up going to strict nun schools her whole life; superstitions, curses, and voodoo were all something she grew up with as well and passed on to my siblings and I.  I have memories as a young child of my mom sitting in our living room reading tarot cards or on new years eve us burning slips of paper with things written on it that we wanted in our past, such as bad memories, situations etc. I was always taught to keep a rosary nearby for protection and in addition was taught the many staple prayers I needed to know, all in Spanish of course even though I am not fluent whatsoever.  I heard stories of voodoo dolls made of older family members back in Peru, and how they were allegedly cursed after that.  I was taught many superstitious beliefs all throughout my childhood, such as the bad omen of seeing a dead bird or the good fortune that is supposed to be bestowed on you when certain incents are released in your home.  I wouldn’t necessarily say I strongly believe in all of these things, but at the same time they always intrigued me even to this day and I will admit I feel better following them rather than not.  My mom still constantly reads me my horoscope and other fortune telling techniques.  This mysticism and religion combined into a type of pattern is often seen in Hispanic families and has become something our family has become closer over.  We are not witches, or voodoo doctors, but we are a bit superstitious because that’s the way we were raised, and I like it, it gives me a feeling of identity in a strange way.  It is something that my family and my heritage has that is different than my friends.  

Response to Wideman

Within popular culture prisoners are constructed with a very negative image.  They are viewed not really as people but solely stamped as criminal, as if a different breed of people.  They are often assumed to have little education and people assume they are violent.  Everyone thinks prisoner and thinks killer.  People also hear the word prisoner and think bad person, this is just how we are taught growing up to think of prisoners but this is most certainly not always the case.  Everyone has a story for how and why they ended up in the system and things like race, education, and religion all play a role in this story.  For example Robby from the reading at first glance would simply look like a black man who got involved with the drug scene and ended up in jail.  Only at a closer glance would someone realize there is much more to his story along with every other person in prison.  Even his own family had trouble truly hearing his story until he was already behind bars.  Robby felt as if to make a name for himself, to stand out in his family he had to blaze a different trail than the one of academics his brothers and sister had already succeeded in.    By being kept away from other black people as a young child his curiosity for their community and culture grew stronger and stronger to the point where when he was finally exposed to it he was fascinated and wanted to feel like he belonged, a feeling he had not experienced before.  This may have been the original reason for why he dove head first into the world of selling drugs.  In the end he could not be the successful person he had hoped and instead ended up in jail.  Expectations for a young, poor,  black male are not high in a lot of cases but for Robby they were, he was expected to be smart and follow in his sibling’s footsteps but this expectation instead drove him in a complete opposite direction. 

The Exploitation of Men in Advertisements

In the three above advertisements we see an uncommon trend.  Normally in magazines advertisements for clothing and other products we see women depicted as the docile or submissive character.  We see women looking shy and powerless often while we see men in positions of dominance.  But lately every so often we have been seeing the opposite.  We now see some ads where woman are the powerful ones and men are the ones being objectified or put in a spot where they are seen as lower than the woman.  Dolce and Gabbana recently came out with a line of advertisements where woman are portrayed as dominatrix-type characters controlling men.  We see this illustrated in the two Dolce and Gabbana ads I have attached.  In one a man is at his knees while all of the women are standing, putting him below them.  The man is also the only one who is nude while the women wear clothes.  The woman who is next to the man is also holding him by his neck, which is not an affectionate grip, but one of control.  In the other Dolce and Gabbana ad (the first one) we see similar things.  Again, the women are clothed and the men naked.  Also in this ad the woman are posed in a way where they are controlling the men.  They are either holding them in a pose where restraint is implied or in the case of the man to the right he is bent over covering his head while the woman leans over him holding a whip.  This is a very clear picture of female dominance.  The middle ad is one by Gucci.  In this ad the woman is facing the camera straight on looking into the lens with her eyes.  She is squared foreword, which is a position of control, and also stands up very straight again implying control.  The man in this picture is slumped into the woman’s body and is not even looking at the camera.  He is in a much more submissive and vulnerable stance.  The woman has her arm wrapped around him as if she is holding him up and supporting him.  These ads all demonstrate the change in culture where men are now too being objectified and put in place of women.  These ads are changing the common understanding of men’s sexuality as dominant and always the one in control.  I however have a problem with these ads and ones that objectify women too.  Just because they are now doing it to men does not make it somehow equal and acceptable, it just means more wrongdoings are being put into print.  When it comes to ads like these an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.  We need to eliminate the extreme role that sex plays in advertisements.

Art and its Many Interpretations

This weeks readings both hit on interesting topics.  I would like to focus on Ways of Seeing by John Berger, which raised many interesting questions and arguments that I had not thought about before when it comes to art, visualization, and seeing in general.  I found this reading to be similar to Eagelton’s in the way that they both play on the idea of creating ones own meaning when approaching things vs. going along with the accepted definition of a particular piece or thing.  The article explores in depth the idea of mystification which as we have come to know it is the opposite of doxa.  Doxa is described as the accepted meaning of something or common assumption therefore, mystification is described as removing or not allowing an assumption to be made.  Mystification involves keeping in mind that there are always different ways to read anything.  The reading also expanded on ideas from Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, which spoke about the modern context that is created when a painting or piece of art is replicated.  The argument is made that this process of modern replication severs the original meaning from the painting or artwork, but as we discussed in class I feel that this is not completely true.  When looking at a replicated painting you are in some aspects still seeing the original meaning in many ways, perhaps you cannot see each individual brush stroke but one comes to understand the general image and therefore I think the context of how you might interpret the painting is what really changes.  Another topic that is touched on in the article is the idea that we do not simply just see things as they are as solely individual objects or beings.  We see things in relation to other things.  We are constantly forming relationships between objects to better understand each object.  This is why context changes but meaning does not as much in my mind.  Because each time you see a painting you are seeing it in a different environment.  The time, the place, and the people you are with, etc. all affects how you interpret something.  Whether it is text, paintings or anything, the past and our environment are constantly playing a role in our interpretation of every thing on this earth.

Is Individuality Really Just Picking and Choosing What You Let Influence You?

The readings for this week that questioned and discussed primarily individuality were a nice change of pace.  I enjoyed these readings as opposed to some of the denser ones from previous weeks.  The fiction pieces were both very different and enjoyable and touched on interesting topics.  The key word this week I think is individuality.  In The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara we are introduced to Sylvia the narrator who is a young African American girl with quite an attitude.  She prides herself on being tough and not listening to Miss Moore a neighborhood lady who tries to educate the children.  Sylvia in the story is exposed to the extreme prices at a toy store and is shocked because the value of a dollar she knows is much higher coming from a poor ghetto upbringing.  At the end of the story she leaves 4 dollars richer and with a lesson even though she is trying to resist one as much as possible.  This story was an example of how even though she prides herself as being an individual and rebelling from authority and teachings; other people and your surroundings are constantly shaping your individuality.  Even though Sylvia did not want Miss Moore’s trip to the toy store to have an impact on her, it did.  It made her think.  This idea ties into the basic concept of Appiah’s piece in the book.  Although this piece was a very different style of writing the two works go hand in hand when it comes to theme.  Appiah also argues how individuality is a combination of outside influences.  Individuality can only be valued if you have relationships with other people.  Therefore, some people’s basic understanding of individuality as a “lone wolf” type is really far off base.  Without bonds and relationships with other humans we could not be free beings he states.  I strongly agree with this and I also agree with the fact that our individuality comes from a combination of all other people in our lives.  For example when asked to write five “I am” statements in class I wrote, “I am a twitter fanatic, a shopaholic, philosophical, determined, and lucky” One could argue that these traits are what make me my own individual, the combination creating a unique being.  But the truth is without other people influencing me a lot of these traits would not be true to myself.  For example without the influence of my friends and celebrities on twitter I myself never would have gotten one.  Without the influence of my mom being stylish and smart I would not be a philosophical shopaholic.  Without the influence of the schools I went to growing up I would not be determined.  And finally, without the influences of my parents their jobs, my town, etc. I might not consider myself lucky.  Individuality is a wonderful thing, but without sharing a bit of yourself with others and in turn receiving from them we wouldn’t have any individuality at all!

Is Individuality Really Just Picking and Choosing What You Let Influence You?

The readings for this week that questioned and discussed primarily individuality were a nice change of pace.  I enjoyed these readings as opposed to some of the denser ones from previous weeks.  The fiction pieces were both very different and enjoyable and touched on interesting topics.  The key word this week I think is individuality.  In The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara we are introduced to Sylvia the narrator who is a young African American girl with quite an attitude.  She prides herself on being tough and not listening to Miss Moore a neighborhood lady who tries to educate the children.  Sylvia in the story is exposed to the extreme prices at a toy store and is shocked because the value of a dollar she knows is much higher coming from a poor ghetto upbringing.  At the end of the story she leaves 4 dollars richer and with a lesson even though she is trying to resist one as much as possible.  This story was an example of how even though she prides herself as being an individual and rebelling from authority and teachings; other people and your surroundings are constantly shaping your individuality.  Even though Sylvia did not want Miss Moore’s trip to the toy store to have an impact on her, it did.  It made her think.  This idea ties into the basic concept of Appiah’s piece in the book.  Although this piece was a very different style of writing the two works go hand in hand when it comes to theme.  Appiah also argues how individuality is a combination of outside influences.  Individuality can only be valued if you have relationships with other people.  Therefore, some people’s basic understanding of individuality as a “lone wolf” type is really far off base.  Without bonds and relationships with other humans we could not be free beings he states.  I strongly agree with this and I also agree with the fact that our individuality comes from a combination of all other people in our lives.  For example when asked to write five “I am” statements in class I wrote, “I am a twitter fanatic, a shopaholic, philosophical, determined, and lucky” One could argue that these traits are what make me my own individual, the combination creating a unique being.  But the truth is without other people influencing me a lot of these traits would not be true to myself.  For example without the influence of my friends and celebrities on twitter I myself never would have gotten one.  Without the influence of my mom being stylish and smart I would not be a philosophical shopaholic.  Without the influence of the schools I went to growing up I would not be determined.  And finally, without the influences of my parents their jobs, my town, etc. I might not consider myself lucky.  Individuality is a wonderful thing, but without sharing a bit of yourself with others and in turn receiving from them we wouldn’t have any individuality at all!

Growing Up

In the Richard Rodriguez article assigned this week we were exposed to a different style of writing.  Instead of an essay format we were given an in depth view of Rodriguez’s life and childhood.  I preferred this piece to the others as I found the autobiographical style more personal and interesting to read.  I could also relate to this piece for the fact that my mother is Spanish, from Peru, and although my feelings were never as intense as Rodriguez’s, I too understand where he is coming from when it comes to things such as a word pronounced incorrectly and how something so small can really irritate you.  My mother however has made a wonderful life for herself and is very successful much like Rodriguez himself,  driven and intelligent.  Rodriguez faced much aversion, not only did he feel his parents were inadequate when it came to understanding his desire to learn and read and excel, but his peers he also felt did not want him to succeed.  As a result he felt alienated both at home and in the classroom leaving him sad and frustrated.  What Rodriguez lacked in self-confidence he gained by mimicking his teachers.  This is a good example of the banking concept of education, he was very much an empty vessel waiting and eager to be filled with knowledge as a student.  Although this way of learning is looked down upon in some eyes, clearly it can be successful for Rodriguez is an example of how learning from others can cause you to develop intelligently.  Rodriguez says himself that he doesn’t think imitation will always work in becoming successful but it was one of his keys to success.  After effectively completing college and spending time abroad Rodriguez felt he had completed himself academically but somehow something was still missing.  With this realization he came to the conclusion that his family was not something he should run from or be ashamed of.  He regained the appreciation of family and this for him was the most important thing he had learned.  The Rodriguez article was one that hit close to home for me and I enjoyed very much.  Rodriguez demonstrates how anyone with drive and a desire to succeed, can.  

Picking Apart Education

The readings from this week played very nicely off of each other.  It was interesting to see how they both made similar points while at the same time in some ways had very different ideas, almost contrasting each other completely.  “The Banking Concept” by Paulo Freire introduced an interesting way of looking at and criticizing education today.  I found it interesting and partially agreed with his argument that classroom learning has become very monotonous in some places of learning and less interactive.  It is true that often time’s classes are taught where students are looked at as empty vessels where it is the teacher’s job to fill their minds with facts.  The argument he makes, saying that when this is taking place students are not truly learning but just remembering is a valid one in my mind.  There are many instances where students can score well on a test because they have memorized the material, but do they actually understand it?  It is a difficult question to answer.  Giroux’s reading, “Higher Education Under Siege”, overlaps with Freire’s ideas in this light.  He argues that the only purpose teachers have these days is to get kids into a small percentage of the job market.  Teachers are now only creating students for the corporate world.  The problem is that there is only space for so many people to operate at the high level jobs that they are being prepared for leaving public service jobs unfulfilled.  The fact of the matter is that only 30% of jobs require a college degree, leaving many students over qualified and out of work.  Giroux uses the term public intellectual, defined often as a college professor of some sort well educated in a certain topic that gives speeches and presentations.  He makes the argument that not all teachers must fit this mold and that there is a need for a different kind of educator.  Giroux believes that our countries practice of democracy is one that needs to be changed.  Instead of resting solely on a few people when it comes to decision-making, the population as a whole needs to have more say and be more involved.  The articles that we read for class this week bring up interesting points, although I do not completely agree with them both all the way, they make valid points and interesting suggestions as to how we could change our education system.

Weekly Blog #1

The two readings assigned for this week, while a little difficult to understand if not fully engaged, were both very in depth and interesting pieces that played off of each other nicely.  The general question arising from these works and trying to be answered all somehow fell around defining certain aspects of literature, English, and English theory.  We come to learn that there is much more to the practice of studying English than simply reading the words on the page before you.  Over time English as a study has developed and blossomed into a whole array of different studies if you will.  We learn in the first reading, “The Study of English” by Terry Engelton, that literature has evolved in so many ways through the years.  Not only has literature made its way through all classes and types of people it has created a way of life much more rich than the dull structured English that was only available in the beginning.  Another point that is brought up in this article is the idea of ideology.  Ideology as I have come to understand it when pertaining to the study of English and literature is how one understands the study of English and the philosophy you have come to possess which helps you mold your opinions around.  It is your general knowledge about an idea and is often a shared or common understanding with other people or groups.  Ideology is interesting to study because you can see where all of these ideas and understandings came from.  Each writer, each reader, giving and taking a bit of the next persons thoughts and creating their own set of ideas.  These assumptions circulate within our culture through more literature and discourse and this is how new ideologies are formed; it is a never-ending trade circle.  The second article focuses primarily on the idea of theory.  This is a common word we hear in our everyday life but when it pertains to the study of literature it has a much more in depth and vast meaning.  Yes, theory can simply mean a speculation but within the study of English most theories must have a certain complexity to them to be truly significant.  People argue that Literature has taken on too much theory that deals with non-literary matters but the truth of the matter is, this is why English has become such a rich area of study.  Careful analyzing and in depth discourse revolves around literature theory these days.  All in all theory is difficult to describe because it is such a large body of thinking.  The limits of literary theory are ever expanding but it seems that a fairly simple definition is about as close as we will come to truly defining theory.  All in all, the article describes theory as works whose effects expand beyond their original field.  Theory introduces us to all different kinds of thinking and all different kinds of genres.  It is a complex topic, but without it the study of literature would be non-existent.