Saturday, January 26, 2008

Player Piano- Analysis & thoughts



I found the broken headlight on Paul's car to be of importance to the novel. Headlights are meant to help you see at night by illuminating the area around you, yet Paul only had one. In the beginning of the novel, the broken headlight seemed to represent how Paul only saw one side to life, he only had half-vision. Paul only saw his side of the river, only his side of life, the 'successful and educated' side. Paul did not have any connections to the other side of the river and was in fact afraid of the people living on the other side. Because Paul refused to see the other side for what it was worth, he only knows half truths about life beyond machines. Paul has gone through life without question. His blinders have been up to the rest of the world, ignoring what he does not understand and only seeing what society perceives to be acceptable.

Paul also has other cars. It is hinted at that he has cars which are much nicer than the one that he drives around, yet he continues to choose to drive his old, rusty, loud car. This shows that although Paul works on the mechanised side of the river, he is still reluctant to let go of the past. This one fact sets up the idea in the reader that Paul might be able to overcome this societal barrier and bring the two sides together.

In the end, Paul doesn't even have a car, symbolizing how he is now going blindly throughout the rest of the novel. He has left all that he is accustomed to behind and has stepped outside of his box and now has to follow his heart, and believe that it will guide him to do the right thing. Paul has left behind the last of the machines, the start of peoples dependency on machines- his old and rusty car, and is attempting to bring back the human element that was lost to the industrialization of the city. (and to think this all started with a broken headlight)

I found this book to be shockingly representative of life today. People are becoming more and more dependent on machines, and we aren't even looking at the consequences. We are already seeing less industrialized people/countries as beneath us and people that are not as mechanically savvy as stuck in the past, outdated. This book seems to be a foreshadowing of what is to become of our society if we continue down the path we are going. Although there were many similarities between this novel and our lives today, I did not enjoy reading it. Maybe it was because it was so close to the life that we have now that i found it frightening... Truthfully, I just did not enjoy this novel. I am not sure if there is one specific thing that I can point out that I didn't like, I just didn't enjoy it in general.

Invisible Man- Analysis and thoughts


One of the most intriguing characters in this novel is Mary Rambo. Mary Rambo stood for so much. She was a motherly figure to the narrator, providing him with food, shelter, acceptance, and pushing him to strive to be the best he could be.
Mary was the first person that the narrator felt a connection to. She seemed to like him for who he was, and even if she did not always understand him and his ways, she was always there to support him. Mary trusts the narrator, and expects him to make something of himself. She never expects anything from him, and even lets him stay in her house when he is not able to pay the rent. Mary would rather see to it that he is kept warm, dry and full, than out in the streets cold and hungry.
Mary Rambo is also an allusion to the Virgin Mary. While the most obvious connection is their names, the tie goes further. They both showed kindness to others and the ability to put the wants and needs of people before their own. Mary Rambo and the Virgin Mary were both extremely trusting people, for they both trusted other people and believed in the help of angels. Another similarity between these two women is their want to help, but their inability to fully understand the extent of the situation around them. Mary Rambo wanted to help the narrator, but she was incapable of doing so because she did not see the world the same light as he did. She could not comprehend, or did not want to comprehend, the problems that their race was facing. Because she could not do this, he was unable to fully communicate with her and bond on a deeper level and so had to leave her before he ruined the innocence that she had. The Virgin Mary, on the other hand, did not always understand the actions of her son, Jesus. She could not see the bigger picture and wanted him to remain her son forever. She did not want him to travel off and leave her behind, she wanted to be there and protect him, like every mother should. She could not see that her son was part of a bigger plan, and when he left her, she could not understand. But he had to leave, he had to continue the course that he was destined to take, much like the narrator, and he had to learn to leave some people behind in order to help the people as a whole.
Mary's last name is also important Rambo=Sambo. Sambo was the doll that Clifton had at the end of the novel, representing prejudice and degrading stereotypes of the black race. The doll represents a stereotypes power to control the actions of others, manipulating the movements and range of motion of the person. Mary was manipulated by society. She was made to believe that nothing was wrong, but if she was just to throw away this veil, she would have seen that everything as not OK and that something had to be done. While Mary was very courteous and friendly to the narrator, she was controlled by society and so could never understand his actions and so was of no help to him. If anything, his presence was a risk for her, since he was involved in so many 'battles' with other speakers in the city.
I found the Invisible Man to be a very long book. Now don't get me wrong, I am a fan of large books, but this one was just so bogged down by motifs, symbols and allusions that reading it became much like a chore to me. Overall I did like the book, it wasn't that hard to follow which made dealing with all the symbols a bit easier. To me, it just seemed like so many symbols were packed into this novel that it was very hard to discuss because everything could be picked apart and you could spend one period going over half a page. Getting past these things, the novel itself was not bad. Although this is probably not a book that i would pick out for a read on my own time, i believe that it has a good message and deserves to be read.

Invisble Man- Quote


"Our white is so white you can paint a chunka coal and you'd have to crack it open with a sledge hammer to prove it wasn't white clear through!"(217).
Liberty Paints is a very important symbol in Invisible Man. Even the name is important. Liberty stands for freedom and equality, both physically and mentally, yet Liberty Paints is famous for one specific paint, Optic White. This paint dominates over all others produced and is the pride and joy of the company. The above quote said by Mr. Brockway is a metaphor to how the white race tries to cover up the rightfully earned equality and contributions of the black race. The paint is covering and disguising, removing the essence of the people who created it, much like how society took credit away from the people who deserved it.
The name of the paint also has a very direct meaning. The word 'optic' means clear and seeing, which is quite ironic considering how the paint is rumored to be able to conceal coal. But even more ironic is that the key component of the paint was a black chemical which was once again mixed in and forgotten, only to make the paint a brilliant white. This goes to show that the white race is taking credit for the contributions of the black race, making themselves look so much better than others around them.
Society tried so hard to erase all signs of the the black race. They tried to cover them up within the white culture, and 'brain wash' them into believing that they are insignificant in other people's eyes. Many of the characters in the novel, Supercargo for example, dressed in all white to try and cover up their true color and heritage. By doing so, they have essentially become the coal that Mr. Brockway was talking about.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Heart of Darkness- Analysis- The Congo River



The river plays a vital role in the novel, "Heart of Darkness". The river allows access into the interior of Africa, or more commonly known at this time as the 'dark continent'. The river also acts as a divider, keeping Marlow separated from the natives and the evil ways of Kurtz. The river allows Marlow to see both sides of the continent, but it also allows Marlow to see both sides of a situation.


The river is also very hard to travel up; because of its strong current it is continually pushing back Marlow and his crew, almost as it it is trying to expel them from the interior. The slow progress upstream allows Marlow to get a sense of what the Congo really is. It lets him get a taste of the horrors and contorting power of dark, dense, wilderness.


The color of the river is also important. The brown current is symbolic of the natives that live in the Congo, for as the river pushes back the steamboat back towards civilization, the natives try and chase Marlow out of the Congo. The trip downstream was also much faster and easier than the progress into the Congo, "The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us towards the sea with twice the speed of our upward progress"(151). This makes it seem like the trip back towards civilization was inevitable, as the saying goes, 'what goes up must come down'.


The trip back home was also much easier for Marlow because making his way into the Congo, he had to fight off temptations and evil to choose the person that he wanted to be. The river reflected this because it also pushed back on Marlow, on his boat, and made progress slow and dangerous with its many sangs and traps along the way. While leaving the Congo, the river was much swifter, making travel much smoother and more rapid. This is the same for Marlow's thoughts because he had overcome the temptation and could leave the Congo knowing that he had just conquered his situation and made the right choice, sanity, over the choice of his famed colleague, Kurtz.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Player Piano- quote





"Anybody that competes with a slave becomes a slave" (281).


I found this quote to be a repetitive theme throughout the novel, Player Piano. Throughout the entire novel, people were constantly competing against themselves and against machines, essentially becoming slaves to this race against time. People were competing with machines for their jobs, for their entire way of life. In many cases people were inventing machines which could do their jobs, and since machines could do them faster and more efficiently, the machines quickly replaced the people who invented them.


Also, the people were basically slaves to the machines, constantly fixing, inventing, and upgrading them so that they had the newest and most efficient models. The people's main focus was the care and upkeep of the machines, causing them to lose all connections to how life used to be and enslaving them to the 'machine race'. The machines can also be considered slaves because they cannot think for themselves; they just do as they are programmed and are switched out once they are not running up to par.


Paul becomes a slave to showing people that they can live without machines in their lives. He is constantly competing against time to try and convince people that it is not to late to turn back and refuse this life controlled by machines. Paul loses his wife and his entire way of life to this quest, much like how slaves lost their families and possessions when they were taken. Paul becomes a slave to humanity, while most other people have become slaves to machinery. Either way, they are both competing against something, and are slaves in doing so.






Heart of Darkness- quote & thoughts


"They grabbed what they could get for the sake of what was to be got. it was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind- as it is very proper for hose who tackle a darkness"(70).

This quote can be looked at in so many different ways. Colonialism is the main concern in this passage. Marlow viewed colonialism as evil, destructive, greedy, and degrading, which is clearly shown in this line. Colonialism and its effects on those involved is part of the main theme in Heart of Darkness. Marlow's views are carried throughout the novel as shown in his disapproval of the 'improvements' made on the road and Kurtz's treatment of the natives, especially concerning the heads on the poles. While Kurtz and his followers did not think or seem of care about their actions and the effect that they had on those around them, Marlow was able to look past the bribe of fortune and fame to see the horrible outcome of their actions. (Which may be why Marlow seems to show more respect for the cannibals aboard his ship, or why they seem to respect him more than the other characters met along their journey.)

The use of the word darkness also can have a double meaning. When first reading through this, darkness seems to represent the unknown world within the Congo, the people and the wilderness within, but upon further inspection it means so much more. The darkness that they are tackling does not only refer to the uncivilized world around them, but also to the darkness within themselves. The darkness that is within all humans is one that most people do not take much note of. It lurks in all of us, and even if we refuse to recognize its presence it still there, just waiting to reveal itself. In other words, this darkness that they are tackling is themselves. The crimes that they commit are being driven from the anger and wildness within and their actions are a result as they try to overcome, or give into, this new terror from within.

Blindness is also a common motif in Heart of Darkness. Blindness keeps people from seeing what is really there. Here, it is keeping the people from seeing the true cause and result of their actions. Blindness, in this novel, is chosen over sight. The characters choose not to see the truth in front of them but to cover it up and pretend it is not there. They refuse to see what they are becoming just for the chance of getting their hands on a small fortune.

The scary thing is that this happens to people today. Many people are on that 'every man for himself' mode and do not care about how their actions are clouding their vision and hurting those around them. I found this book to be a difficult read at first. With the page and a half long paragraphs and dense commentary, it was hard to understand in the first read through. The second time we read it is when i really understood and enjoyed it. This book really showed what can happen if we let fame and fortune get into out heads, and let the evil overtake our common sense. This is by far one of my favorite books that we have read thus far and i really believe that everyone would benefit from reading it.