Garp

I started reading The World According to Garp, and I love it! It's interesting, thought-provoking, and exciting, so obviously just a great book. I also noticed a lot of interesting patterns and points in the novel to this point.

First of all, I am not sure I completely understand why Jenny completely rejects her family and wealth. I understand her desire to break free of society's expectations and what not, but I feel liker her aversion goes even deeper than that. Why does she want to "unknow" her family as is occurring on page 6. I noticed how she never opens the package her parents give her, although it is interesting that the packages reveal her mother's lack of trust in Jenny. I think that is another reason Jenny estranges her family--to escape distrust and misconception.

Furthermore, I think it is very interesting that Jenny desires almost an immaculate birth, without a mate or a "peter" as she calls him. At the same time, the original Garp (her son's father) consistently masturbates, which is in a sense, intercourse without a partner. Thus, it seems that both desire the product of sex without a partner, and thus come together. It's hard to put into words, but it is an interesting connection between them which may be another reason she chose him as the father of her child. However, I am confused in that she rejected many men for their physical deformities when they originally offered to help her make a child. And yet, in this case, she consummated with a fetal, dyeing man--one of the most physically deformed creatures on the planet. Why did she lose her original superficial restrictions for Garp? What made him different? Was it their no-partner sexual drives?

Quotation to consider: “A baby with no strings attached, thought Jenny Fields. An almost virgin birth,” (page 14). Consider Mary, mother of Jesus. Does this make her son Garp a Christ figure?

Moreover, Garp is born in an almost incestuous setting. On page 22, she says about his father Garp, “She knew he was only a baby—he needed some distraction.” Her emotions were both “maternal and sexual,” (page 24). Thus, as she saw father Garp as a child, Jenny wanted to care for him and breast feed him. At the same time, thought, Jenny desires a real child, and this desire overpowers anything else. As a result, she ends up having the child of a man she originally viewed as a child, her own child. The incestuous beginnings of life T.S. Garp suggest that he will suffer from some genetic defect that results from such activities. Furthermore, it is interesting that he is never really given a first name. Why would the author do such a thing? Does it take away the boy’s identity or strengthen it?

Such questions must be considered when reviewing this section of the novel. It is interesting to analyze Garp’s relationship with his mother as well as her opinions which are dispersed throughout the section.

Invisible Man Chapter 5

It’s so interesting going back through Invisible Man and noticing all the crazy things the author does with imagery, symbolism, language, ect.

When I was rereading chapter five, I noticed that Barbee’s white collar separates his black head and black body, symbolizing that white people have cut him off from his head or prevented him from clearly thinking. This is supported by the fact that Barbee is blind, as revealed later in the chapter.

I also noticed that the Founder might be the original invisible man. For one, like the narrator, his name is not revealed in the novel. Furthermore, both have many Christ-like characteristics and seem to be crucified or sacrificed for one reason or another at some point in the novel. The main difference I can’t pinpoint is whether or not the Founder support collectivism or individuality. The novel describes how he brought many people together, but did he believe you should ignore the individual for the collective? Notice that the main point of the narrator’s invisibility is that he felt that individuality was lost in society. Thus, the answer to the question could determine whether or not the Founder was truly the original invisible man.

Another thing I considered was his discussion about Susie Gresham. The discussion is in italics and seems to have a much different tone and attitude than is expressed elsewhere in this section. This shift makes me think that the narrator’s future, invisible-self is speaking at this point in the novel. Considering this never happens again, why does the author choose to implement this method here? What is the importance? What is the significance of Susie Gresham? I think part of the answer lies in the fact that she blindly accepts the white man’s mandates, thus epitomizing the loss of individuality in society. Also, consider the author’s treatment of women. Many times he highlights the mistreatment of women; however, the narrator often expresses his belief that women destroy male success. With these opposing viewpoints, what is the author’s true opinion of the “women question?” Does he believe women prevent success?

Also, there was a lot of seasonal and Biblical imagery in this chapter. At the very beginning of the chapter, the author uses the difference between summer and winter to distinguish between the birth and death of Christ. Thus seasons bare a large importance at this point in the novel. Furthermore, the author depicts the Founder as a Christ figure who leads a large group of people and is eventually crucified. He also references Saul, a group of men who survived after being thrown into a fire, Moses, and in general, religious tendencies, visions, and profits important to the Christian faith.

Barbee is also described as a Buddha character, which is ironic because Buddha means “the enlightened one” and Barbee is both physically and figuratively blind. The irony might dramatize this difference, although it could also highlight a more knowledgeable side to Barbee that most do not see when initially reading the novel.

Sonnet Paper and Museum Project

I have started thinking about my museum project for Invisible Man, and I am seriously considering doing a food medium, i.e. baking some type of cake, muffins, ect. That would represent the book. I like the idea of doing a baking medium because the book is focuses on the battle between the group and the individual, and a cake or cookie could represent these differences. For example, a bunch of different ingredients comprise a cake/cookie just like many individuals create a society. The difference could help highlight the struggle between individual and society in the novel.

When reading the book, I felt that this struggle encompassed many of the themes throughout the story. For example, many stereotypes demeaned the value of an individual, instead forcing all women or all black people to conform to one group. Thus, entities such as the Brotherhood and the narrator’s school didn’t see individuals, but rather large groups of people. In the end, the narrator’s choice to become invisible and live in a hole is his way of trying to escape such thinking. He wants to celebrate his individuality; however, society doesn’t see individuals so he is invisible.

In creating my project, I might try to contrast the final cake with the many ingredients used to create the cake, presenting both in a relevant and symbolic manner. The cake would be decorated in a manner that would reflect smaller themes in the book related to the demeaning of the individual, and the individual ingredients would be represented in a way that reflects the narrator’s final individualistic thinking. Such a presentation will also present the narrator’s final point that you can’t completely avoid society. In the final pages of the novel, he says that he would like to reenter society. Society isn’t all bad, just as the cake is delicious. However, you cannot create the cake without the ingredients, and the narrator wants to enforce this thinking around Harlem and elsewhere.

This weekend, I also worked on my sonnet paper but am having trouble organizing my ideas. I wrote my rough draft as kind of an idea splurge, just putting on paper everything I was thinking. Now I want to organize these ideas in a logical manner that is analytical and connects to the so-what of the poem.

Some things I noticed about the poem:
I did Shakespeare’s sixtieth sonnet, which appropriately is about time (60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute). I noticed that he uses a lot of dualities. For example, the “Wave” imagery at the beginning of the poem can reference a hand motion that could signal either hello or goodbye. Furthermore, he describes Time as the creator and the destroyer. Finally, he contrasts the infinite nature of time with finite moments in time (final couplet). However, I am not quite sure what these dualities represent or how they connect to the so-what of the poem. I know that time is the couplet tie, and he uses both the finite and infinite reference of time, but to what end, I am not sure. If you have any suggestions on how I should proceed with this paper, please let me know.

Invisible Man Observations

While I definitely see the literary value of Invisible Man, it is nonetheless a very difficult book to get through. There are a lot of images to notice, and frankly, the plot moves relatively slowly. Thus, in the midst of attempting to index/annotate everything important while also attempting to stay awake, the reading process is slow. Although, I have discovered a process that really helps me get through the book quicker. If I sit down with the book and force myself not to annotate, only highlight words to index, and read for an hour, I get through the book much quicker. Then, for about 15 minutes, I go back and annotate the sections I read. This helps me read the book quicker while also covering the necessary material. It’s a good tip for anyone struggling with the same thing that I am.

On a side note with Invisible Man, it is interesting that the narrator introduces a lot of blood imagery and Biblical references. With these images, I cannot help but think that the narrator is, in a sense, a Christ figure and maybe even a tragic hero. Of course, I have not read enough of the story to speculate, but from the prologue, it appears that he sacrifices his personal freedom and desires in order to infiltrate white society, and basically destroy it from the inside-out. This is similar to the sacrifice Christ made on the cross. However, while many doubted Christ’s holiness, he was a well-known figure in his area, far from invisible. Thus, that slightly breaks his connection with the Invisible Man. Also, the man’s irrational act of violence during the prologue seems far from Christ-like, although he makes it sound like this loss of control is an anomaly, not a regularity.

Also, there is a lot of fruit imagery, connecting the story to Adam and Eve and the fall of man. This connection would make sense considering the book focuses on many of man’s faults including discriminatory attitudes.

As I have read the book, I have begun to question the purpose of the school the narrator attends. It appears, as the narrator seems to slowly discover, that the school is enslaving it’s students in yet another manner. It is forcing them to believe the white man’s views, thus enslaving the students in their minds. As a result, the students feel inferior to the white men and are thus emotionally enslaved.

With this idea, one must consider the purpose of the headmaster. He seems to have power, but puts on the appearance of inferiority when white guests come to visit. This seems similar to the narrator idea to infiltrate white society wearing a cloak of invisibility. Thus, is the headmaster the initial invisible man? Did he give the narrator the idea to live apart from society?

One other question I have is when does the narrator become invisible? It appears that, at the start of his life at college, that he is not invisible, but rather one of the favored students. What changes this?

Working on Poem Presentation

Today I worked on my poetry presentation for William Carlos Williams’s “This is Just to Say.”

I started by completely annihilating a tri-fold board in my living room. I tore both of the side pieces off so I could use the center as my platform. It’s kind of ironic that the poem is about the destruction of relationships/the fall of mankind, and in order to make the project, I had to destroy a board. I see a common theme here. Just a little AP Lit irony for you.

I then drew a leafless tree (to the best of my abilities) using a printed picture of a dead tree. Much to my surprise, the picture actually came out decently, which is good considering the tree is central to my entire project. The tree connects the poem to the Garden of Eden and the fall of man. Furthermore, the death of the tree references the death of relationships and the coolness referenced in the poem.

Then, much to my mother’s and the environment’s chagrin, I tore up a bunch of brown construction paper so I could color the tree with various shades of paper. The fragmentation of the tree further references the gap between the narrator and whomever he is referencing. The many different colors of construction paper come together to form a tree just as the narrator and the center of his interest, whom are very different according to the poem, come together in a relationship. Similarly, the tree then dies just as does their relationship.

Hanging from each branch is a torn heart that replaces the leaves that would normally hang from the tree’s branches. Again, the broken hearts correspond to the broken relationship. Moreover, the hearts replace the leaves, and thus the tree takes on an unnatural form, as it becomes adorned with a foreign substance. Similarly, the narrator alienates his lover/friend/relative by destroying their sense of communion (eating their plum) and continuing to demand (not ask for) forgiveness, demonstrating that they show little to no remorse for their actions.

I also picture a leaf falling to demonstrate the fall of man, and I have some leaves lining the bottom of the poster as another reminder of the replacement of leaves with hearts as well as of the death of the tree.

Although I have yet to add these features to the poster, I also want to depict a snake wrapped around the tree, referencing the form Satan took in the Garden of Eden and thus referencing the fall of man. Furthermore, as plums are the center of the original poem, I want to depict some rotting or eaten plums at the base of the tree with the leaves, although I do not know how I am going to do that yet. The eaten plums will demonstrate the many layers of a human being—one being sweet (like the meat of the plum) and the other very cold and heartless (like the pit of a plum).

On a really quick English language side note: Today, I was reading my history text book, and I noticed that the author used “till” instead of “until” numerous times. Also, one of my newspaper writers tried to get away with a similar feat. So sad. If texting lingo takes over this planet, I’m moving to Mars.

Poem Presentation

I began planning my poem presentation last week for the poem, “This is just to say.” Although the poem only discusses the narrator eating someone else’s poem, various poetic and structural devises demonstrate that he is actually talking about the coldness and lack of communication in his relationship with the unnamed person. In order to communicate this coldness and pain, I decided to center my presentation around a leaf-less plum tree.

To begin with the tree will be bear. In the poem, the narrator discusses how the plum is both sweet and cold. The contrasting images demonstrate how his companion appears sweet and caring on the outside (like the tender meat of a plum) however actually has a cruel, cold soul (like the pit of a plum). Similarly, when a tree is covered in leaves, it appears beautiful and gentle. But it’s true, cold core appears when fall rolls around and all the leaves fall off. Thus, the bear tree demonstrates the same idea of a cold inner core as does the image of a plum.

Furthermore, the poem has a lot of references to the fall of man. By focusing the presentation around a tree, the presentation will indirectly reference this fall of man, as Eve ate from a fruit tree, as the story goes. To further draw this connection with the fall of man, I will have a snake slithering up the trunk of the tree, referencing the form the Devil took in order to trick Eve.

Burned, wilting love letters will be hanging from the bear tree limbs. The outdated, destroyed nature of these letters will demonstrate the loss of love and inability to communication in the narrator and his companion’s relationship. I also might hang a few divorce papers from the limbs of the tree, as divorce is obviously the epitome of a destroyed relationship. Although, in both of these cases, I will have to stress the fact that the narrator does not specify the type of relationship he is speaking of. While he may, very well, be referring to his lover, he could simply be referencing a friend or a family member. No evidence exists either way, and thus no assumptions should be made.

Dead leaves and squashed plums will be lying at the base of the tree. The dead leaves will symbolize the death of the relationship, or the death of the life of the relationship just as the leaves died. Furthermore, the fact that the leaves fell from the tree references the fall of man. On top of this, the leaves fell away from the tree as the narrator falls away from his companion. Thus, the fallen leaves demonstrate the destruction of the relationship. Similarly, the dead plums, or maybe I will do eaten plumbs, will represent the death of the relationship. If I do eaten plumbs, I can have the pits resting at the base of the tree, demonstrating that the narrator has seen through his companions fluffy exterior to her cold soul, thus the pit of the plum is exposed.

Women in Invisible Man

I have noticed a very interesting trend in Invisible Man involving women. I guess it started with the title, which, among other things, speaks of a man’s inability to be recognized by society, primarily because of his race. However, in the title, as elsewhere in the story, the fight for recognition and dignity does not involve women. The author generally depicts them as battered souls or distant entities, making their wants and desires appear both unimportant and unexpressed.

It all begins with the narrator’s dream (another interesting image!) in the prologue, where, while high on drugs, he meets a woman who fathered the children of her slave master who, as a result of these births, both hates and loves the man. Like the women introduced later in the novel, she is sexually abused by men. The female’s connection with sexual abuse in this novel is no coincidence. Although the author could be highlighting their plight, the fact that he gives them little voice in the novel, as of yet, evidences the women’s lower societal position during the time period.

Another sexually abused women is the stripping-dancer in chapter one, in whose eyes the narrator saw “terror and disgust.” Even as a white woman, she is victimized by the watching men, who chase her around until she runs from the room. This episode demonstrates that, during that time period, women were faced with sexual pressure and indecency, no matter their color. Again, the author seems to high light the problems in their life, but gives them little voice, in an effort to symbolize the fact that women had no say in the social or political world at that time. Their mouths were effectively taped shut.

The third female introduced, the beautiful daughter of the school’s founder, appears different than the other female characters; however, evidence exists that her father may have sexually abused her as well. He seems obsessed with her beauty and her memory, and when Trueblood explains how he rapes his daughter, the founder is engrossed and even excited about the story. He asks Trueblood if there is anything he can do for him, suggesting that the founder feels compassion and understanding for the rapist. This affinity could possibly arise from the founder’s undiscussed relationship with his daughter who, if this is the case, is as much a victim of the male-dominated world as the other female counterparts.

Possibly the two most victimized women are Trueblood’s wife and daughter, as evidenced by the fact that he impregnated his daughter. However, despite his horrific act, the white men protect Trueblood, and even send men to study him. Throughout this time, they take little care to ensure the safety of the victimized daughter and wife. Even when the founder comes to visit, he ignores the daughter, listening to only Trueblood’s side of the tale. This story is probably the best evidence of the victimization of women in Ellison’s society, which he symbolizes by giving the women no voice and a sad story in his novel.