Violence Makes It Real

            While discussing Kindred during class we spoke about the role of violence in the narrative. We brought up the point that violence makes things real. As I sat in class this point made more and more sense as the discussion progressed. I noticed that violence towards characters solidified status, power, hatred, pain, and things of that nature. It also explains why Dana was unable to return to the present as easily as she did in the beginning of the novel.

            Dana as a character was introduced as a strong and righteous woman during the 1960’s but as she spent more time in the past she began to really own the role she was forced to play. Because of the times, she had no other choice than to pretend she was an enslaved African American and this grew on Dana. Of course, it can be deduced that a character like Dana would never believe herself to be an actual slave. Dana began falling for her role once she began to be physically abused. Violence towards her made the experience of time travel a reality because the possibility of it all being a dream is defeated. One cannot dream of going back in time and wake up with the authentic pain of the whip. It is when she is hurt that her position of a strong woman is diminished into a slave.

            The same goes for the man who whips Dana. Dana is merely an outsider coming into a world long before her time. She isn’t truly a part of the society, therefore the laws should be void. The men of this society should not have power over Dana, and they don’t until she is violated. The whipping symbolizes the validation of power this man has over Dana. The whipping transforms Dana into the slave she appears to be in the eyes of the society. This ties into why Dana has trouble returning to her life as the story proceeds.

            As mentioned, violence makes the experience genuine for Dana. During her first visit to the past she returns to her home after having a shotgun pointed at her face. In an instant of the gun appearing in front of her the physics of time travel kick in and she is safe once again. But the next time she visits she is abused substantially until these physics apply again. Each consecutive visit lasts longer until it seems as if though she can’t return. The more the experience became real the less of the true Dana existed. It was violence and exposure that was converting Dana into a woman of the era and slowly it consumed her. This is why it was harder for her to return. The physics were applying less and less to Dana.

            I really enjoyed Kindred. It was refreshing from what was read prior, but still very similar at the same time. The idea of time travel was certainly different, yet the theme of identity was a common one as earlier reads. I find it interested to interpret how vital violence is for not only character development, but also development of the entire plot.

Time Travel through Centuries

     Kindred is the story of a young woman named Dana that is able to time-travel through centuries to help a young man named Rufus, who she soon discovers is a distanced grandfather (either great- great or great).  Whenever Dana begins to time-travel, she becomes very nauseous and experiences dizziness.  When she arrives in the 1800s, Rufus seems to be in some kind of trouble.  The first time Dana arrived, Rufus was drowning.  The second time he had caught his drapes on fire in his room and broken his leg in the third instance.  The concept of time-travel absolutely drives me insane because it can be very mind blowing at times!  It can go two ways: Dana can help form the family they are during a difficult time or she can try and help and do something incredibly wrong and doom her family’s history, leading to her disappearance. 

     If the time-travel was not enough, I could not help but notice that in the first chapter, Kevin brings up the possibility of hallucinations.  I cannot help but wonder if that is where the story is leading to, Dana developing some kind of mental illness that causes hallucinations.  The rest of the stories we have read this semester have all led us to use the dreaded word, “crazy”.  I hope that the story is actually about time-traveling and not another story where we all question everything we just read!

     The first sentence of the first chapter says, “The trouble began long before June 9, 1976, when I became aware of it, but June 9 is the day I remember” (Butler, p. 12).  At least up to the third chapter, there is no description of any time-travel that occurred before meeting Rufus.  This was something I did not catch the first time reading it, but now it is a questionable statement.  What kind of trouble was Dana talking about? If she had experienced time-travel before meeting Rufus, then she would not have been so surprised when it happened.  Another interesting part of Dana’s time-travel experiences is that she is never aware of how long she is out.  What feels like hours to her might be only a few minutes for Kevin as he waits for her return.  Obviously time-travel is a questionable concept, but the effect it comes with is also very interesting.  The fact that Kevin was able to travel back in time by just holding on to her makes time traveling sound so easy! But he did not feel any nausea or dizziness, so maybe that is a side effect to whatever has happened to Dana that has given her the ability to travel through time.

     Aside from the question of if Dana is “crazy” and the idea of time-travel as a whole, the story has powerful imagery that makes it that more interesting.  I made the mistake of reading the story before I went to bed and I actually felt uneasy throughout the night and woke up at one time wondering if I was in the right time period.  Now that can just be me losing my mind over a lack of sleep, but it goes to show how easy Butler makes it to imagine what is going on with Dana and the people she encounters in her travels.  The scene where Dana is getting beat by the patroller who was at Alice’s house was extremely difficult to get through because of the imagery used.  Dana describes the attack from the patroller: “Having him catch and hold me was bad enough.  Now he meant to turn me in as a runaway… I dug the nails of my free hand into his arm and tore the flesh from elbow to wrist” (Butler, p. 41).  The scenes described in the story show what it was like even for “free slaves” during that brutal time in US history.  You cannot help but wonder why Dana travels back to a time that is so detrimental to her well-being and quite honestly, her chance of survival.   

     To say that Dana’s travel to the 1800’s is unfortunate would be an understatement.  There could not have been a worse time to travel to, but it could be that she has to travel back to this time to ensure that her family line continues.  I hope at the end of this book, we have more answers about Dana’s mental stability and why this is all happening to her.   

Sympathy is Hard to Find

In A Good Man is Hard to Find it is hard to find sympathy for the family at the end of the story. It is hard to admit that I had no feelings of compassion for some kids, a grandma, and parents dying at the hands of an escaped convict when I read this story for the first time. The way O’Connor builds these characters to be unlikable makes it hard to feel sympathy for the family. I just couldn't connect with them on a level where I liked or enjoyed their characters choices and well being. Between the grandma, children, and parents I had to try to look past their bad qualities in order to find (or not find) sympathy for the family.

            The grandma is a racist untrustworthy woman who believes that the present times are not as good as her younger days. The grandma shows her very colorful vocabulary by using the “N” word when telling stories. She even gets excited when spotting a young black kid in raggedy clothing and calls him a “pickaninny”. The grandma grew up using this language and also surrounded by plantations that have slaves working on them so this type of racism is normal to her, but is no excuse to continue to be racist. Also when facing the Misfit I feel she is only trying to defend her own life and does not try to bargain or show any compassion for her family members’ life. She proves to be selfish in this situation and is not like your typical loving grandma in other stories.

            The children in this story are horrendous brats. The first example of boy being bratty is when we see John disrespect Georgia and Tennessee. John says, “Tennessee is just a hillbilly dumping ground and Georgia is a lousy state too,” (O’Connor 119). At as a young kid I don’t remember having so much dislike for states or for the people that live in them. It is peculiar to me that John does not like them so passionately. The other child June is by far more of a brat than her brother John. The scene when they are in Red Sammy’s restaurant is a great example of how bad June is. Red Sam’s wife gives her a compliment and asks a rhetorical question and is friendly when doing so. In response June says, “I wouldn't live in a broken down place like this for a million bucks!” (O’Connor 121). June is disrespecting the woman’s home and life choice to live there. It was only meant to be a compliment and not to be answered with such a bratty answer. Both kids are terrible and by O’Connor creating these types of characters it is hard to find compassion for them.

            The parents I feel some bad for, but it is because they have to deal with the grandma and the children. While there is nothing they can do to the grandma for punishment, they can discipline their children. Especially when the kids are annoying them to go to the mysterious house, I believe they should not have caved in so easily. This is where I lose sympathy for the parents because they should control where they go for their trip and not give into the horrible children’s demands.

            Even though I say I do not feel sympathy for the family I actually do feel bad for them because no family deserves that kind of fate especially the baby (who defiantly did not deserve to die). Sure they have some major flaws, but that could have been anybody’s family taking the wrong turn and winding up in a convicted felon’s path.  

           

             

"To Honor the Dead, To Warn the Living"

     While I was reading The Shawl, by Cynthia Ozick, I was reminded of my time in Salzburg, Austria this last May Term.  I spent May Term in Salzburg with Chaplain John Walsh where we focused on individuals who made a difference during difficult times in European history, i.e. the Holocaust and Soviet Russia.  During our last full week in Salzburg, we took the train to Dachau to visit the first concentration camp.  When our group was visiting the concentration camp, it was very difficult for me because I knew that if I were alive and in Europe during that period, I would have been sent to a concentration camp for being “Jewish by blood” (my father was born and raised Jewish).  This was truly a surreal experience.

Memorial at Dachau Concentration Camp. May, 2014. Personal Picture.

     While reading The Shawl, I imagined the characters running through Dachau with the barracks still intact. The imagery in the story, though disturbing, was very easy for me to picture in my mind.  When Ozick writes, “her knees were tumors on sticks, her elbows chicken bones”, I referred back to the pictures we saw at Dachau (Ozick, p. 2).  The entire story contained strong imagery that allowed the reader to put themselves in the characters’ shoes and try and understand what they were going through.  Another moment of strong imagery was when the narrator explained the “bad wind with pieces of black in it” (Ozick, p. 6).  The pieces of black in the wind that were causing their eyes to tear up were really pieces of ash that came from the crematorium.  The phrase “tear up” can literally mean that the wind was affecting their eyes and drying them out or it can be interpreted as tears of sorrow for the lost men and women who burned in the crematorium.  This is a very powerful image to think about.  The ashes of the men and women who had suffered through the neglect and torture were now becoming a part of the other victims.

     When I first started reading the story, I was not sure of the direction it was going.  I understood quickly that it was pertaining to the Holocaust, but the suggestions of cannibalism were quite confusing.  I am still not aware of the authors intent with the cannibalism, if she literally meant eating the young girl or referring to the desperation victims of the Holocaust were suffering with.  The narrator proclaims, in regards to Rosa, “she was sure that Stella was waiting for Magda to die so she could put her teeth into the little things” (Ozick, p. 5).  Although it was not related to cannibalism, the story takes a turn of events when it states, “Then Stella took the shawl away and made Magda die” (Ozick, p.6).  There seems to be negative feelings towards Stella throughout the story and how Rosa seems to favor Magda more.  Stella did not physically kill Magda, but she did take the shawl away from her, which led her to her death.  Was this part of Stella’s plan? Kill Magda so that she could eat her?  There is no evidence in the story to support the cannibalistic claims, but it is an example of how desperate some had gotten in concentration camps.  Stella was cold, so she took the shawl.  It was about her survival at that moment and no one else.

     Outside of the crematorium and gas chambers at Dachau, there is a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.  It is a small memorial, but the phrase used is extremely powerful: “to honor the dead to warn the living”.   The concentration camps, including the gas chambers and crematorium, are still standing to honor the millions of lives lost in the Holocaust and to warn us nowadays of the evil in the world.  I believe by writing this book, Cynthia Ozick was honoring the dead and warning the living.  She was honoring them by sharing a story that is very deep and shows images through the language that some may not have seen.  This story can act as a warning by explaining the brutality of the Holocaust without explicitly describing all the terrible things that were done.  The images of skin and bones, the electric fence, the desperation in Stella, the skeptic in Rosa; all of these are direct effects of what was being done in concentration camps.

Memorial outside the gas chamber and crematorium at 

Dachau Concentration Camp. 

May, 2014. Personal picture. 

"To honor the dead, to warn the living"

       This story personally “hit home” for me because of the side of my family who are Jewish.  Thinking about what these people went through is always difficult, but it becomes a little more difficult when you realize that could have been you and your family suffering. While I was reading this story, it helped me go back to Dachau and really develop all the feelings that I had there.  This story, along with millions of other stories about the Holocaust, will remain in my imagination and help me honor those that were lost.  

The Good Man

            In the story called A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor we see a family take a trip to east Tennessee. On this trip the audience can see what the grandma thinks is a “good man”. The first person she references as a good man is Red Sammy from the restaurant that they stopped to eat at. Red Sammy begins to describe a situation where these men drove up and Red Sammy let them charge their gas. Red Sammy says “Said they worked at the mill and you know I let them fellers charge the gas they bought? Now why did I do that?” (O’Connor 122). Then the grandma responds “Because you’re a good man!” (O’Connor 122). Why does the grandma believe he is a good man? Apparently the grandma’s definition of a good man is someone that is easily fooled. Just because a person has bad judgment does not make them a good person. Being gullible and letting people take advantage of you is not being a good person. I believe these qualities make a person weak, but do not necessarily make them a bad man. The only reason I would believe the grandma’s definition of a god man in this situation is if she believed that Red Sammy did this out of the goodness of his heart, but by reading the text I do not come to this conclusion.  

            Another person the grandma calls a “good man” is the Misfit, the man who escaped jail and is on the run. To me this is ironic because this is a man who has committed a crime and wanted is what the grandma calls a good man. In context I understand why the grandma calls the Misfit a good man. She does so by saying “I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people,” (O’Connor 127). The Misfit responds to this by acknowledging he did come from “nice people”, but does not agree right away that he is a good man. The Misfit states that “Nome I ain’t a good man, but I ain’t the worst in the world either,” (O’Connor 128). Even the Misfit does not believe he is a good man. If this is so then it proves that the grandma’s belief on what a good man is not right. In the end the grandma’s definition of a good man is changed. She believes that a criminal who is about to kill her family is a good man. The grandma even tries to persuade the Misfit that he should not have this name because he is a good person and she can tell by just looking at him. Faced with death the grandma changes her definition of a good man to try to charm her way out of this situation by complementing the Misfit. The grandma feels the pressure under the gun to try to complement her way out of death, but the Misfit realizes the truth behind her comments. The Misfit states “She would have been a good woman, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life,” (O’Connor 133). Not only is the grandma’s view on what a good man wrong, but is also proven to be a bad woman based on the observation by the Misfit. He realized that without the pressure of death she wouldn’t be handing out compliments so easily. In the end of this story we see how conflicted and wrong the grandma’s view on what a makes a good man.

Excellent Use of Foreshadowing

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” we witness a family get murdered by an escaped convict and his men. The convict, referred to as The Misfit, is a troubled man who may just be misunderstood. When he and the men kill he family it comes as a shock because it was not something that was expected. Burt was it supposed to be a shock? After reading the short story again as well as consulting sources online, I seems that the deaths should not have been as surprising as they were.

The author, Flannery O’Conner, provides very minute and subtle details that predict the deaths to come. The first is not very subtle, but could have been overseen by the casual reader. This is that the short story mentions The Misfit twice before we actually meet him. Once in the beginning as the grandmother warns her son (117) and another when the grandmother discusses The Misfit to the owner of The Tower (122). The ironic thing is that the person that bring him up The Misfit the most (the grandmother) is the one who is ultimately murdered by him. Another small detail that may have been missed was the name of the town the family passes while driving. The story explains that the grandmother woke up from her nap and recalled an old plantation she used to know as they drove by a town named Toombsboro (123). I looked up Toombsboro to see if it was real and there is indeed a town that goes by that name. However, the real named is spelled TOOMSBORO not TOOMBSBORO. O’Conner added the ‘b’ to make the name of the city sound and look more like the word “tomb”. This is great foreshadowing to the fact that the family is going to die. And will be buried. Perhaps in a tomb. The final great foreshadowed detail is the vehicle that The Misfit drives. He shows up to the crash site in a “hearse-like automobile” (126). This could have been noticed by some, but not everyone knows the purpose of a hearse. A hearse is a long car that carries caskets. Caskets for dead people. Like the family who was shot in the story.

A second or third reading of a story really helps a reader understand a story better. It takes more reading to find those little charms that stories contain. Once they’re found it makes a reader appreciate stories much more.

 

1. O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." A Good Man Is Hard to Find, and Other Stories. New York: Image, 1970. 117-33. Print.

Orange is the New Black: My Year In A Women's Prison

     The University of Redlands was lucky enough to have Piper Kerman speak on February 19^th,  2015.  Piper Kerman is the author of Orange is the New Black: My Year In A Women’s Prison; the memoir that the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black is based off.  She was sentenced to 15 months in a women’s prison in Danbury, Connecticut for money-laundering charges.  Her experiences in prison made her the woman she is today and inspired her to dedicate her life’s work to prison reform. 

     The United States is the most incarcerated country in the world.  The sentence for drug offenses is the sole purpose that there has been a 300% increase in prison population since 1980.  This is an example of how our prison system is flawed in the United States.  Prison reform has become a very important topic and Piper Kerman has contributed to the discussion by publishing her book and sharing her experience and what needs to be done at universities like ours. 

     I was lucky enough to have dinner with Ms. Kerman before her lecture as a member of the Convocations & Lectures committee.  She mostly spoke with the faculty, who were also at the dinner, but she shared with us what she is doing nowadays and how she really feels about the Orange is the New Black series on Netflix (She loves the portrayal of the friendships she gained in prison, by the way).  It was an amazing experience being able to sit with her and hear about how much she has done for prison reform, including her current career as an English teacher in a men’s prison in Ohio.

          Piper’s story is not as relatable to the stories we have read in class, but her experience in prison can be related to Sui Sin Far’s, “In The Land of the Free” and how it questions authority in the United States.  In “In The Land of the Free”, Hom Hing and Lae Choo’s son is taken by the governmental authority because of missing documents, aka their son was not an American citizen.  Although Piper’s experience has nothing to do with citizenship, it does question the government and it’s role in incarceration.  Like citizenship, prison reform is a long process. It is not something that is in the news constantly like other policy issues are, but they remain a prominent issue in our day. The issues with the long citizenship process and the issues with prison reform are issues that cannot be solved over night by ordinary people; it takes policy makers and government authority to improve these areas.  Both Piper Kerman and the couple in “In The Land of the Free” had life changing experiences because of the governments’ policies.  Piper became a new woman after her time in prison and Hom Hing and Lae Choo struggled for 10 months to gain possession of their child. 

     Piper Kerman and Hom Hing and Lae Choo had two very different lives, but the experiences with the government, good and bad, affected how they live their life.  It was amazing meeting and hearing Piper Kerman talk about her experiences and the University of Redlands was so lucky to have her!