Extra credit film festival W.A.R.

After looking over the list of movies being presented at the film festival I decided to attend the movie, Women Art Revolution on April 28, 2011.  It was a film that featured women artist from around the world. It focused on current and past issues in the art world. The film interviewed over a dozen women artists who were involved in the art revolution. It was interesting to hear a lot of their facts. For example, they explained how at one point over one hundred percent of the art in an art museum was created by men artist. The only time a woman was featured in a museum was if she was posing naked. Another interesting fact was that at the time you could purchase 100 different women’s art work for the price of one male’s piece of art. Examples like   that helped create a group known as the Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla girls were a group of women feminist who originated in New York City. They were known as the Guerrilla girls because they would wear gorilla masks to hide their identity. “Reinventing the f word: Feminism” was very important to them and women all across the world. The Guerrilla Girls have produced posters, stickers, books, printed projects, and actions that expose sexism and racism in politics, the art world, film and of course culture. Although this seems to be a very serious group of women they do use humor to convey information and show that feminist can indeed be funny.

After thinking about the movie after it ended, I realized there were a few things that caught my attention. For one the point of view in which the movie was created is very creative. They had many point of views throughout the movie about people’s opinions and thought on the Art Revolution. It helped viewers understand what was going on and the thought processes of individuals. One of the creative aspects of the movie was the use of setting. They filmed the movie in many libraries, museums, and art museums. It helped make the movie come to life. Seeing the type of environment these artists live in and work in helps the viewer really understand where and when the actions of the art revolution took place.

Delight in Disorder

When I first read Delight in Disorder, I figured Robert Herrick was speaking of a woman who seemed to be out of sorts, yet trying to fit in to society. Upon reading it a few times more, I realized, at least to me, it seemed to have a double meaning. Herrick is describing a woman who tries to fit into the molds of society, but has a free and wild spirit and seems to slip up on occasion. The references to her clothes being disheveled with an out of place ribbon, and tempetuous petticoat, and many other imperfections, seem to suggest her "wild civility" as he called it. I also saw from reading this poem that Herrick is suggesting as a whole, that society is beginning to lose its civility because of the rigid standards everyone was placed under during that time period. He seems to marvel in society's slip ups and wants them to occur. He likes the untamed nature of people that naturally occurs and feels that it should be let loose.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Prufrock is the poems speaker and it seems to me that he is addressing someone that he loves a lot or significant other, with whom he would like to get to know better by somehow consummating their relationship. But Prufrock is smart and is nervous about approaching this woman he is talking about. In his mind he hears comments that people are saying about how he is not good enough for the woman he is after, and he is almost embarrassed that he thought he had any chance with that woman or emotional interaction could be possible at all. The poem moves from a scene of concrete physical settings a cityscape and several interiors like women’s arms in the lamplight, coffee spoons, fireplaces to a series of not clear ocean images conveying Prufrock’s emotional distance from the world as he comes to recognize his second rate status. Prufrock is powerful for its range of intellectual reference and also for the vividness of character achieved.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Although we haven't finished going over this piece in class yet, I really enjoyed reading this. The first time I read it I didn't pick up on too many things, but after going over the first part in class and getting some ideas of what this poem was all about, I went back and reread it looking for more. After rereading it I realized how much is really going on in this poem and how many different ways it could be interpreted. The first thing I noticed in the first line, "Let us go then, you and I," was that the 'you' the speaker is referring to is the reader. However, it could be used as a significant other of the speaker. The most interesting part of this poem to me was some of the sexual references. The first part that had me thinking of sexual references was the "restless nights in one-night cheap hotels." When I hear that line I just think of what typically happens in one-night cheap hotels, and the fact that this is a love song of J. Alfred Prufrock. The other part of this poem that stood out to me more than anything else was the repetition of the the lines, "In the room the women come and go/ Talking of Michelangelo." Not only are these lines interesting and somewhat separate from the other stanzas in the poem, but it is the only section that is repeated. After going over the first half of the piece in class I am really interested to see what everyone will have to say about the rest of the poem.

Delight in Disorder

The first time i read Delight I Disorder I was very interested in the poem.The descriptions really made me think of a dress, clothes, lace, cuff, ribbons, and a petticoat. I then started to think about why is he naming all of these articles of clothing kind of in a negative light. After rereading the poem it as if Robert believes beauty is at its most alluring when it is in disarray. The more confusion and less perfection that is going on the better and more attractive one is. It is interesting because we don't normally think of confusion as beautiful. It adds to the fact that imperfection and inconsistencies can enhance appeal to a person, place, or even thing. I also thought it has a very interesting rhyme scheme. I figured that if i noticed the rhyme scheme maybe it had something to do with the poem as a whole. Personally, the inconsistent rhyme scheme is just like imperfection with art. Which then relates back to the poem as a whole and how when beauty is imperfect it is most appealing.

excerpt from commentary on "Prufrock"

 This is an excerpt from Eric McMillan's commentary.

What makes "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" a great poem though, in my opinion, is not the commentary on woeful humanity but the style and technique. It's one lively poem. Nothing in it is like anything in any poetry before. This may not be so apparent today because much poetry since then has been in imitation of this. You have to read earlier poetry to understand what an exciting, novel vision of poetry was being introduced by Eliot and the other imagists of this time.

"Prufrock" dispenses with sentimentality and romanticism, which had previously governed poetry. No grand, rolling phrases here except for satirical effect. No fine sentiments about finding all Truth in a single flower petal. No set verse form into which all vocabulary and grammar are contorted to fit. Line lengths and metres vary according to the rhythms of natural speech. Rhyme is thrown in sporadically for almost humourous effect. Poetic and colloquial language are mixed. High and low culture swirl together in a collage—references to Hamlet and Michelangelo alongside discussion of how one parts one's hair. Questions of mortality next to consideration of whether to eat a peach. Irony takes over as the aesthetic of the twentieth century.

Text for Tomorrow's Presentation

Hi y'all,

I'll be doing my presentation on a traditional folk chant

Here's a variation of the lyrics:

Soloist- Mighty cooty fiyo
All -Indian red
Indian red
Here comes my spy boy
Spy boy
Spy boy
Spy boy from the nation
The whole wild creation
Soloist-He won’t bow down
Back up singers:(He won’t bow down)
Soloist: He won’t bow down
Backup singers: He won’t bow down
Soloist: Down on that ground
Soloist: Down on that ground)
All: You know I love to hear you call
My Indian Red

[Other verses]:
Here comes my flag boy
Here come my big queen
Here comes my big chief

Thanks,
ashley nobis

Storyteller

In this narrative I really liked how the author tells the stories so that they intertwine in an apparently nonsensical way towards the beginning, but slowly begin to mesh together in unity at the end. I thought it was clever that Silko chose to begin the story at the end of the narrative's timeline and then played back pieces of the past so that it all slowly pieces together. In between these are also fragments of the great bear story, which is an interesting metaphor for the current Gussucks vs Eskimo relationship going on in the main narrative. One of the things I found most surprising at the end was the sort of strange emphasis placed on the "truth" and how she "will not lie". This philosophy is taken so far as to convict the protagonist of murder-one that is seemingly portrayed as a clear accident in the story. However, this sense of honesty is what truly defines the character- one whom not only stays true to her own conscience but also in a broader aspect-to her nationality, her family and her land.

Text for tomorrow

Over The Hills And Far Away

[a Gary Moore cover tune]

They came for him one winter's night.
Arrested, he was bound.
They said there'd been a robbery,
his pistol had been found.

They marched him to the station house,
he waited for the dawn.
And as they led him to the dock,
he knew that he'd been wronged.
"You stand accused of robbery,"
he heard the bailiff say.
He knew without an alibi,
tomorrow's light would mourn his freedom.

Over the hills and far away,
for ten long years he'll count the days.
Over the mountains and the seas,
a prisoner's life for him there'll be.

He knew that it would cost him dear,
but yet he dare not say.
Where he had been that fateful night,
a secret it must stay.
He had to fight back tears of rage.
His heart beat like a drum.
For with the wife of his best friend,
he spent his final night of freedom.

Over the hills and far away,
he swears he will return one day.
Far from the mountains and the seas,
back in her arms he swears he'll be.
Over the hills and far away.

Over the hills and,
over the hills and,
over the hills and far away.

Each night within his prison cell,
he looks out through the bars.
He reads the letters that she wrote.
One day he'll know the taste of freedom.

Over the hills and far away,
she prays he will return one day.
As sure as the rivers reach the seas,
back in his arms he swears she'll be.

Over the hills and far away,
he swears he will return one day.
Far from the mountains and the seas,
back in her arms he swears he'll be.

Over the hills and far away,
she prays he will return one day.
As sure as the rivers reach the seas,
back in his arms is where she'll be.

Over the hills,
over the hills and far away.

Over the hills,
over the hills and far away.

Storyteller

This story was very interesting and difficult to understand at first. The first time that i read this it took me awhile to understand what was happening. The story reminded me of "Pulp Fiction" because if the way the whole story started. The story started at the end of the story and then went back and forth throughout her whole life story. The bouncing back and forth really confused me at first because I had no idea what I was in for and what to expect. I went into the story not knowing anything about it and came out really confused about what I just read. Going through the second time though I recognized what was happening and understood the story a lot more. The stories from the old man were really good and ended up saving the girls life at the end. This is what I think about the story.

Storyteller

This was probably one of the more confusing narratives I have ever read, but it was also one of the most interesting to me. The first time through I was pretty confused due to all of the jumping around and different stories. After rereading the text, various parts of the story became more clear. Out of the three stories being told throughout this narrative, my favorite story was of the woman and the store owner. It was really interesting to read her story. The most shocking part of her story was the fact that she could have gotten out of her jail sentence and not served any time for murdering the store owner, but she chose not to. She wanted to serve the time for the crime she committed, but it wasn't because she felt that she deserved the punishment for her actions, but because she had no remorse for what she had done and wanted it to be clear that she meant what she had done. Typically when people are accused of murder they will find any way to get out of serving time for their crime but she refused to. This was my favorite part of the narrative and she was my favorite character because she seemed so complex and hard to figure out. She isn't a typical character and it took reading a few times to even understand what she was doing and why she would do the things she did. Although I still may not understand fully what went on in her head, it is more clear after further reading. Out of all of the stories told within this one narrative, her story of the murder of the store owner was the most interesting and possibly the most confusing, but it really caught my attention and got me thinking.

Storyteller

In all honesty the first time i read through the narrative i was very confused. I was not sure is I was reading it correctly or if there was indeed three stories going on. After i reread some of the narrative it became clear to me that there were indeed three stories going on and that the beginning of the passage was actually the end.

What i thought was very interesting were two stories in particular. The one the old man told about the polar bear and the hunter and also the woman as the story teller about her murder of the store owner. I thought they both had a lot of similarities to each other and in a way played off of each other. Also what was very interesting was the way her story ended about the murder of the store owner. The simple fact that she could have gotten out of the murder but didn't interested me. instead of saying it was an accident, she said she murdered him because that is exactly what she wanted to happen whether or not it was her fault or not. It was a way to get inside of her head and see that whether or not she caused the death she wanted it to happen and to her that was enough to be put in jail.

Storyteller

As I progressed through my first read of Leslie Marmon Silko's "Storyteller," I was a little confused as to where the story was actually headed. It seemed like quite the jumbled narrative because of how much jumping around there was between the different settings, plots, and characters. Silko goes between the boarding school, the house where the old man lives, the store, the jail, along with a couple other settings that really made it seem like this story contained several different plots. As i neared the end, I expected the old man's story to somehow coincide with that of the girl, our main character, who was running from the storeman. Those two aspects of the story never really seemed to come together, but rather after the storeman fell through the ice, died, and the girl admitted to "murdering" him, that section of this full narrative actually came to a finite end. However, the old man's story of the bear hunting the man ended as more or less of a cliffhanger after the man dropped the knife and the bear looked his way. It's almost as if the reader is kind of supposed to know what happens next, as I imagined that was the man's last few moments before the bear makes him a meal. All the different stories within the story and plots within plots made it all seem kind of unorganized to me, but after doing some research about Leslie Marmon Silko, I found out why the story was written this way.

Silko and most of her stories come from a Native American community called Laguna Pueblo, which, from what I understand, is somewhere in the New Mexico/Arizona region. Storytelling in this particular Native American culture is much different from that of our Anglo-style of storytelling. While the traditional western style of storytelling is often associated with individual authorship and linear stories that are written by one and meant to be read by many, the storytelling style of the Pueblo people involves many different contributors and a lot of their stories are simply oral tradition. A big part of their oral tradition is that a story can only develop through several different accounts of it because each new person to tell the story brings something new to the narrative.

So after seeing all of that, I came to the conclusion that "Storyteller" was not meant to be a straightforward narrative, but rather a story about the essence of the storytelling style of Silko's fellow people. The reason that the story seems so chaotic in the way of organization is because it's exemplifying the many different ways a story can be told. I'm not sold on the fact that all of the different sections of the story are different takes on the same narrative, but I can see how someone could take that stance. All in all it was quite confusing upon the first read, but a little research on the author kind of brought it back around for me to where I can at least grasp what Silko was setting out to do.

A White Heron

In this story, Sylvia is forced to choose between persevering the purity of nature or exchanging it for a chance at a more social urban lifestyle. The story begins by subtly suggesting that Sylvia has a deep connection with the pastoral setting in which she resides by depicting the way she interacts with nature. She has a comfortable sense of serenity surrounded by the trees and water and is instinctively frightened only when the sight of a man sends her scampering for cover in the brush. However, her timidness fades quickly with this city sportsman as she develops an affinity for his new and interesting lifestyle-one that is very different from her quiet life in the fields. She is so intrigued by him that she convinces herself she must find the white heron's nest to help him extend his rare bird collection. The story's climax comes when she decides to climb the largest and most sacred tree in the area in hopes of finding the bird's allusive hideaway. It is only at the very top, when she spots the white heron that Sylvia realizes she cannot giveaway the bird's location to the hunter. The girl's strong ties to the land keep her from exploiting it. She is pure and innocent at heart and knows she cannot betray the nature that she not only lives in but is actually a part of. She is a creature of the woods just like the heron and though solitude may be a part of this choice, it is a peaceful solitude that begets a perfect happiness- one that extends far beyond the limits of trophy hunting or any treasure bought with currency.

The White Heron

Sylvia, the protagonist, is a young and innocent child that complimented the theme of innocence throughout the story. She was a city girl, taken to live in the country with the elderly Mrs. Tilley. She found when she arrived that she loved the simple living and beauty she found in the wilderness. She knew the animals and the surroundings well, which is why when the hunting stranger arrived in the woods, he asked her about the birds, specifically the white heron. He wanted to hunt and kill the bird, to keep in his collection of preserved creatures. Sylvia knew of the bird, but refused to tell the charming and handsome stranger of it's whereabouts. She kept the birds "secret", at the price of much needed money for her family. Her innocence and pure heart saved the pure white bird's life.

A White Heron

After I read "A White Heron", I noticed the thing that stood out to me the most was Silvia's character. I feel that she defines and adds so much to the story. Yes, she is the main character, but her decisions she makes throughout the story and how much she grows even as a nine year old little girl, show how important her character really is. Silvia chooses to protect the beauty and innocence of nature over money. The young man, who she seemed to fall a little in love with, offered her money for the knowledge as to where the white heron was. However, even though Silvia and her grandmother could have used the money, Silvia felt the need to protect the white heron, and let it live in peace. She had horror-filled images of the white heron dying and having blood all over it from a gun shot and she realized within herself she must protect the heron at all costs. Although Silvia had only lived in the country with her grandmother for about a year, she has completely and totally fallen in love with nature and animals. She enjoys the sounds and feels of the nature around her. Ultimately, this new life she has found is more important to her than any amount of money or childish feeling of love for the man with the gun.

A White Heron

"As for Sylvia herself, it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm. She thought often with wistful compassion of a wretched geranium that belonged to a town neighbor." What a strong point for the young girl, she had never been alive at all in her city life before. I see the mention of a sad potted plant as a comparison of the girl bound by the city compared to the boundful nature that surrounds her in new country home. Slyvia is in awe of what is around her, after admiring the young cat she says to herseself "that this was a beautiful place to live in, and she never should wish to go home".In these idyllic surroundings these three docile ladies (Slyvia, Mistress Moolly, and Mrs. Tilley) are living a life in a lovley wooded home.
The whistling of the Hunter disrupts the calm of the night Sylvia has become accustomed to. All that Slyvia has seen in her time living in the woods, she knows the existence of the White Heron the Hunter seeks, but her loyality to her beautiful new home prevents her from taking the Hunter's money.
"No amount of thought, that night, could decide how many wished-for treasures the ten dollars, so lightly spoken of, would buy." The treasures Slyvia cherishes and preserves are now that of the lives of the birds she so admires. She cannot bear the thought of seeing a creature she so admires being shot out of the sky, never to float in the morning sun again by this gun toteing intruder to her quite life. The third person omnisient pleads on Sylvia's behalf "Whatever treasures were lost to her, woodlands and summer-time, remember! Bring your gifts and graces and tell your secrets to this lonely country child!"

The White Heron

As the story begins we are taken to the place where Sylvia grows up. As the author describes the dimly lit woods and her friend Mistress Moolly, her cow, I could already feel a connection between me and Sylvia. Growing up in a place where there are no children your age makes your imagination run wild and when Sylvia plays hide and seek with the cow it shows that she has always had to entertain herself in ways most children couldn't. When Sylvia was younger she grew up in an industrial city and now that she has the luxury of living the slow life she is taking everything in. When walking down the path to get back to her grandmothers house she is stopped by a man. She is taken aback when the man asks to stay at her house, knowing that her grandmother wouldn't be too pleased she leads the man to the house. As the night goes on and the man starts to tell stories about where he has traveled and the horrific things he has seen, Sylvia becomes awed by this mans presence. When the man learns about Sylvia's knowledge of the birds his interests shift towards the young girl. As the story proceeds the man and Sylvia spend more time together and the young woman starts to think about love. Her thoughts make me think of young love and how naive children can be. She does not know this man but he is nice to her and pays attention to her so she thinks she is in love with him. It almost seems as if she does not lead to the hunter to the heron so she has more time to spend with him. I think a big turning point in the story is when Sylvia climbs the tree and becomes one with nature. She notices how big and rough the tree is, how loud the birds are singing and how beautiful the morning sky looks; so when she sees the white heron she knows she will never tell the hunter, no matter how much money he offers. For a young girl she realizes something most of us do not; there are more important things than money.

A White Heron

The main character of the story is Sylvia and she was originally a city girl. Sylvia was then forced to move in with her grandmother all the way in the New England country side. What I got out of the story was that it had a lot of symbolism throughout the entire story. The bottom line of the story was that Sylvia had a really intense connection with nature and would rather have the white heron live then receive the cash reward. The symbolism in the A White Heron happens when they talk about the actual white heron. The white symbolizes purity like a dove and the innocence was also represented. Also represented as purity would be the cows milk "Moolly" which was also white to symbolize purity. The hunter was always mentioned as a dark and mysterious character. He would represent the so called "dark side" of the story by wanting to pay the girl to show him where the heron was so he could have killed the bird. This was my interpretation of the story.

A White Heron

The one thing that I found to be the most interesting after reading this story was Sylvia and her feelings toward the hunter throughout the story. In the beginning she is frightened by him and doesn't want to speak to him. After he is accepted into her home, she doesn't really want anything to do with him. She pays him no attention as he is in her home and converses with her grandmother. After he offers to pay her ten dollars to help him find the white heron, she suddenly becomes more interested in him. She becomes infatuated with him and studies his every move. Although she has a strong interest in the man, in the end she chooses not to tell him of the white heron's whereabouts. I enjoyed watching Sylvia's changing feelings toward the strange gentleman. She wanted nothing to with him in the beginning, then wanted all he could give her, and then suddenly she chooses that he instincts are best. She would rather save the white heron and keep peace with herself and her love for nature than give it up to a stranger willing to pay her money.

A White Heron

One of the many ideas and people that stand out to me throughout the story is Sylvia. Yes, she is a main character but she is more then a simple character who is just a child. In many ways you see her growing and maturing as a young lady throughout the sequence of time. Not only is she maturing she is showing how she is not selfish. She could have easily taken the money from the hunter instead of protecting nature and the heron. She grew up in the city and its interesting to see how within one short year of living with her parents she has become so passionate for the nature and world around her. She learns to put other before herself which seems to be a hard lesson to learn at such a young age. Last but not least you see her having a deeper connection to nature and the heron ahead of anyone and anything else. It is interesting how she receives more satisfaction out of being connected to nature rather then human life as a whole.

Bullet in the Brain

6) Anders is not a sympathetic character from the exposition to the climax. Does your sense of him shift over the rest of the story? Does he become more sympathetic to you? If yes, account for this.

Right off the bat, Anders appears to be somewhat of a cocky, sarcastic guy who has no problem with everyone knowing that he is this way. For instance, in the conversation in line with the random woman who he has likely never talked to in his life, he blatantly comes out with a wave of sarcasm and kind of ridicules the woman's comment about the tellers closing their positions. He isn't making fun of this woman's concern out of anger because of the inconvenience it's causing him, but rather he is simply just being a dick because that's how he is.

As the story progresses, my sense of him definitely shifts because before the robbery commences, my perception of the guy is that he is an asshole with whom I would never want to have a conversation. However, once the robbery kicks off I found myself kind of liking the guy because of how he viewed the entire situation. The expected layman reaction to being in a bank during a stick-up is panic and extreme concern for making it out alive. Anders takes in the whole situation as a big joke from the start and actually makes it known to everyone in the bank, especially the masked man with the gun to his head. When he is told to look at the ceiling, his apathy for the gravity of the situation is portrayed through his analysis of the artwork on the ceiling. So I would say that at this point, I took a small liking to his character because I've always enjoyed the characters who have the confidence to downplay a critical moment that could potentially end his or her life.

Once the robber finally gets fed up and pulls the trigger, Anders' character begins its transition into a more sympathetic one in my mind. However, he is not sympathetic for all the reasons that the typical character would be in a moment-of-death literary description. Rather, he becomes sympathetic to me in the sense that what "flashes before his eyes" as he is dying is the baseball field and Coyle's cousins grammatical error, which are two things that he apparently has a lot of love for. The typical character would think about his family and everything that a human being would conventionally remember loving. Wolff mentions all of those things but for the sole purpose of showing the reader what Anders doesn't remember. While this technique portrays Anders' character as a heartless, apathetic human being, his "soft side" is brought back around in the memory of the sandlot, the heat, and the misuse of language which he apparently loved to think about on a regular basis.

Bullet in the Brain

6) Anders is portrayed throughout the story as an arrogant and cynical middle aged man. He is sarcastic and frustrating throughout the story, until the final events climax and the reader gets a sense of him as a true character. Through Wolff's narration, the reader finds out about the life of Anders and we learn what is important to him, what has hurt and disturbed him, and finally; what moment he remembers with joy before his last one. He thinks back to a time of boyhood, which promotes imagery of purity, curiosity and excitement. He does not think of the things he once loved (his wife, his job, his child) but of a time when he was alone in a field full of boys, focusing on a trivial few words stated by one of his friends.

During the playing of these flashbacks Anders becomes relatable. We begin to understand the reasons for his jaded attitude which causes the reader to feel sympathy, or possibly empathy, while he is dying. Although the reader cannot feel empathy for Anders' actual death, one can understand how a love can die and how a child can disappoint, and the very real human feelings of disdain for your family that are not generally discussed in society. Having to live with the people you have grown tired or indifferent to would be extremely trying, especially when they are supposed to be of upmost importance to you. It is an uneasy feeling the reader gets from making these relations and it causes a desire to dislike Anders, but by the end of the story the reader feels sorry for him, and also may be thinking of what seemingly trivial moment they might think of right before death.

Bullet in the Brain

6) Anders is portrayed throughout the story as an arrogant and cynical middle aged man. He is sarcastic and frustrating throughout the story, until the final events climax and the reader gets a sense of him as a true character. Through Wolff's narration, the reader finds out about the life of Anders and we learn what is important to him, what has hurt and disturbed him, and finally; what moment he remembers with joy before his last one. He thinks back to a time of boyhood, which promotes imagery of purity, curiosity and excitement. He does not think of the things he once loved (his wife, his job, his child) but of a time when he was alone in a field full of boys, focusing on a trivial few words stated by one of his friends.

During the playing of these flashbacks Anders becomes relatable. We begin to understand the reasons for his jaded attitude which causes the reader to feel sympathy, or possibly empathy, while he is dying. Although the reader cannot feel empathy for Anders' actual death, one can understand how a love can die and how a child can disappoint, and the very real human feelings of disdain for your family that are not generally discussed in society. Having to live with the people you have grown tired or indifferent to would be extremely trying, especially when they are supposed to be of upmost importance to you. It is an uneasy feeling the reader gets from making these relations and it causes a desire to dislike Anders, but by the end of the story the reader feels sorry for him, and also may be thinking of what seemingly trivial moment they might think of right before death.

Bullet in the Brain

 4) Approach the story through Anders as a character.  Who is he? What is his value system? How does Wolfe use different techniques to evoke his character?  (What is Wolff's method of characterization?)  


In the story Bullet in the Brain Anders is a middle aged sarcastic individual whom thinks he is invincible. He believes that he has a right to say whatever he wants when he wants to say it. After Anders is shot in the brain the story describes what he is not thinking about. It talks about how he doesn't think about his family ( so we can assume he doesn't have strong family values) or his daughter. He does not think about his youth and his times he spend in college (there goes his educational values). When Wolfe is talking about Anders youth and all the things he has experienced. This shows what type of person he is and was when he thought his life meant something. At the end when Wolfe describes how Anders felt on a baseball field it shows that he loved the game. It shows that he misses the days when he used to play with his friends were the best days in his life. 


Ps. I know this is kind of rough sorry.

Bullet in the Brain

6.) Anders is not a sympathetic character from the exposition to the climax. Does your sense of him shift over the rest of the story? Does he become more sympathetic to you? If yes, account for this. While reading Bullet in the Brain, I did not find Anders to be a sympathetic person. He said whatever he wanted, when he wanted, without any regard for others. As the story went on, however, I began to feel that Anders was in certain ways, sympathetic. The things that he should be sympathetic towards, such as his family, or the lives of others, doesn't come through as strongly as it should. But, one thing that Anders is completely sympathetic towards, is baseball. Anders used baseball as an escape when he was in trouble. He thought of the smells, the sound of insects buzzing, "himself leaning against the tree as the boys of the neighborhood gather for a pickup game". Baseball was the most important thing in Anders' life, and that is where his sympathy stemmed from and why he thought of it when he needed an escape.

BITB--narative techniques

What stands out to me in repeated readings of this story is the unusual method of revealing character.  Anders appears to be a flat character--stuck in his witty, critical way of distancing himself from others. It seems like he can't help himself.  Even when he stares up at the ceiling, he's a witty critic.  He reacts to the robber's speech as if it is cliched dialogue from a novel he's reviewing (savagely). 

Up until the bullet enters his brain and we go into "brain time," the narrative is 3rd person limited; everything is seen thrugh Anders' sensibility.  But then it shifts to 3rd person 'omniscient.' The narrator now can tell us, God-like, what precisely is occurring, physically and psychologically, in Anders' head.  The narrator also knows what Anders did not remember at that moment.  This method allows the narrator to give us a pretty full sense of what Anders' life was like--his family life as well as work--through a series of touchstones that he does not think of.  Interesting twist. 

The scene he does recall is significant to me because it's a key to his obsession with language.  We know that he memorized hundreds of poems as a teen.  How did this get started?  This scene with his ecstasy at "they is"--notably without judgment or condescension--shows us the pleasure at language that drove him. 

Do you think we are supposed to consider his present orientation to language in contrast to the purity of this moment?

Bullet in the Brain

2) Focus on foreshadowing and flashback, the tension of anticipation, expectation, release etc.

Tobias Wolff starts out “Bullet in the Brain” with a heavy dose of foreshadowing. The opening paragraph alone has three distinct mentions of words that sound harmful. The very first line the speaker’s reaction to the women in front of him in line puts him in the mood of “murderous temper”. The next line contains two examples, Anders is described as a “savage” writer, who “dispatches” almost everything he reviews.

An entire page of this short story is flashback. The flashbacks are densely packed, what the speaker is surprised about is what thoughts do not occur. What is thought to be the moments of he importance in his life is not what he thinks of in his last moment. Instead there is a brief moment of Ander’s childhood. The phrase “they is” is what he spends his last instant thinking about. The moment that gets the attention of his last moment is a simple recollection of his childhood days playing baseball.

Tension of anticipation is brought about by how Anders taunts the robbers. His cavalier attitude offends the adrenaline charged robbers and the tension builds while Anders has a gun pointed at him.

The release occurs with the release of the bullet from the chamber. The story had built to the point where it did not seem that Anders would just walk out of the bank. He’d challenged the robber who is asserting his position of dominance by holding a gun and then by using it.

My expectations when I began reading were right on. I expected Anders to be shot. The foreshadowing was strong. As Anders stares into the eyes of the robber he notices “the man’s left eyelid kept twitching.” It made me think of a twitching trigger finger.

Bullet in the Brain

6) Anders is not a sympathetic character from the exposition to the climax. Does your sense of him shift over the rest of the story? Does he become more sympathetic to you? If yes, account for this.

In the exposition of the story Anders seems like a complete jerk. He was all mad at the women in line at the bank and even hated the clerk that was behind the counter. The part that I hated the most about him was that the whole bank event was his fault because of the way he went right when the bank was closing. If Anders would have went to the bank early on the day or even the night before he would not have had that problem. Even when right before the climax is about to happen Anders was being a complete jerk to the robbers who did not want to shoot him but felt like they had to because he was so loud and annoying. That is not a funny situation and Anders should have obeyed the robbers so the bullet to the brain would have never happened. After the climax, however, Anders really seems to be sympathetic because he can not really do anything. He does not remember his wife and vaguely anything else. The only thing Anders really knows is being on a baseball field years ago with his friends, bugs, and sticky heat. I feel bad for him because even though the guy is a jerk his family may not be and I feel the worst for them having to deal with him. This is how I feel about Anders and if he should be labeled sympathetic.

Bullet in the Brain

1) Trace the structure through plot: “the meaningful fabric of action”—beginning, middle, end—a whole action.

• Exposition (context)
• Rising action (conflict that leads to a decisive point)
• Climax (the decisive point)
• Falling action
• Resolution or denoument

Does the story fit this schema? If not, what sets it off from this and how does that impact your reading of it?

After reading Bullet in the Brain I definitely think that it fits the beginning, middle, end plot schema. After I read the story through the first time, I went back and read it a second time to try and find what I thought were the different parts of the plots. I considered the entire beginning bank scenario to be the exposition. From the time we are told Anders is waiting in line at the bank to the point where he sees the men in ski masks at the door. The rising action would be the bank robbers entering the bank and demanding the money from all of the tellers, while Anders snickers comments under his breath. The climax is when the man with the shotgun addresses Anders about his comment and begins to threaten him. Anders then begins laughing while the man is still holding a gun to him threatening to shoot him and he is then shot in the head. The falling action is the whole part about the bullets travel through Anders' brain and the idea of remembering something before death. The resolution is when that author says what Anders actually does remember, which is a surprising memory about a childhood baseball game and the grammatically incorrect phrase, "they is" said by a friends cousin. Those words stuck with Anders, and that was the last thing he thought of before his death. I enjoyed reading this story, especially because it ended differently than I had been expecting. Being able to read through the plot of the story with the beginning, middle, and end also made it easier to follow and understand.

Bullet in the Brain

6) Anders is not a sympathetic character from the exposition to the climax.  Does your sense of him shift over the rest of the story?  Does he become more sympathetic to you?  If yes, account for this. 

It is very true to say that Anders is not a sympathetic character from the exposition to the climax. At the beginning of the short story I viewed Anders as witty, rude and sarcastic. He reminded me of a young boy trying to impress his classmates. He also came off as not being a very dynamic character. I would have described him more as a flat character at the beginning. After the gun shooting however, my sense of Anders does shift over the rest of the story. I think Wolff does an excellent job of displaying Anders now as a dynamic character who is sympathetic and very intriguing to the reader. After reading it multiple times and knowing from the beginning what is going to happen you get a sense that every think that he does and says is just another puzzle piece to his life.

Blog Post Prompt for TH 4/07

Please post this by class time on TH.

For this post, please consider some of the concepts covered in TLE in the reading so far (including the chapter on Character) and apply some of your choosing to the Tobias Wolff short story, "Bullet in the Brain."  Try to be specific in your points and use some evidence from the text to back them up. Here are some possible ideas to consider:


1) Trace the structure through plot: “the meaningful fabric of action”—beginning, middle, end—a whole action. 

• Exposition (context)
• Rising action (conflict that leads to a decisive point)
• Climax (the decisive point)
• Falling action
• Resolution or denoument

  Does the story fit this schema?  If not, what sets it off from this and how does that impact your reading of it?

2) Focus on foreshadowing and flashback, the tension of anticipation, expectation, release etc.  

3)  According to TLE authors, plot has multiple functions.  One is to “communicate a compelling worldview by giving larger shape, meaning, and purpose to action” (12).  Apply this to the story. What "compelling worldview" does this story communicate?  (or fail to?)

 4) Approach the story through Anders as a character.  Who is he? What is his value system? How does Wolfe use different techniques to evoke his character?  (What is Wolff's method of characterization?)  


5) Consider the story from the perspective of interaction of static/dynamic, round/flat, and stock characters. Would you consider Anders to be dynamic and/or round?  Why/why not? 


6) Anders is not a sympathetic character from the exposition to the climax.  Does your sense of him shift over the rest of the story?  Does he become more sympathetic to you?  If yes, account for this. 

Quote from criticism of "She Had Some Horses"

"Joy Harjo's "She Had Some Horses" consists of eight stanzas punctuated by a common refrain with a coda at the end of the work. The poem, written in the form of an American Indian chant, explores a woman's struggle to shape her identity as a modern Native American living in the alien environment of Euro-American culture. The mythic image of the horse, repeated at the beginning of and between every stanza, is juxtaposed with paradoxical images and events from the speaker's life in twentieth century America. These juxtapositions not only sharply define the psychological, spiritual, and cultural conflicts at war in the woman's conscious and subconscious minds, but also build toward the speaker's self-recognition. At the end of the poem, the speaker achieves psychological and spiritual unity by accepting the contradictory sides of her psyche, thereby giving birth to a new and complete being."  


This is the first paragraph of an online essay on the poem by Pegge Bochynski.  You can access the rest of the essay at the above URL. The essay features a well-articulated thesis statement (see above) that is developed throughout the rest.  The author makes some points about the elements/themes of storytelling, American Indian mythology, naming, paradox, and survival in the poem.