Well, overall, the experience of writing a blog has been pretty good. I've certainly enjoyed writing a lot of the things I wrote, even if they didn't net me great grades, but even if the structure is a little more formal and the standards a little higher than I initially thought, I've enjoyed the blog because doing unedited writing on whatever I feel like is a great time. I've always been a little pressed for posts, and a little personal responsibility might have helped it be even more fun; I think my parents would be a little astounded if they saw the time of night I posted most of my entries.
Frankly, I'd still much rather this than a written journal, because even if the expectations here are necessarily much harsher, I'd rather write semi-polished things with a keyboard than non-polished things with pencil and paper. It's hard to explain just how much I hate long periods of pencil-writing. My hand starts to hurt and my pencil gets dull and my handwriting gets sloppier and sloppier and terrible things happen.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Milkman's upbringing
So Milkman's presented as almost fatally unsavvy in this latest chapter; he comes into the town, insults all of the poor country folk with his city-slicker shtick, and gets cut up for his trouble. Sheltered upbringing, we're told. He doesn't know how to handle himself. But I'd like to point out that he kind of hulks out here. It takes courage--maybe not the poetic kind of courage that Morrison would like to see, but still courage--to go toe-to-toe with a guy who has a knife like that. I mean, the man does not miss a beat. He straight launches into the fight, and takes his cuts. Sheltered upbringing and all, a little respect is in order here, to Milkman, and also to Morrison for playing it straight; I don't think I've ever seen this dynamic portrayed in a way at once favorable and unfavorable to our outsider protagonist.
Monday, December 5, 2011
An interesting theme which I believe is present in Song of Solomon
We're all smart englishy people, so I don't have to explain to you what an archetype is, nor do I have to explain the importance of archetypes to a complete understanding of the narrative. After all, a number of you spent a great deal of time poring over theories far less concrete and evidenced in text than the one I'm about to present.
Essentially, I'm pretty sure that Hagar, Reba, and Pilate are Morrison's modernization and interpretation of the classic archetype of the three witches or three fates. I'm not going to organize my thoughts in any super-serious way here, but basically:
-The first time we meet them, they're grouped around a cauldron, singing beautifully. Granted, their potion is moonshine, but any literary aficionados will recall similar scenes in any number of works; most famously Macbeth, but also, off the top of my head, The Black Cauldron, all those Discworld books, Sandman, and lord knows what else; reach a little farther from center and you find whatever the Norns or the Fates are in, i.e. everything.
-There are three of them: the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. This triple-generational female dealio thingamajiggy (I believe "triple goddess" is the term these days) is a central figure of Wicca (ew ew ew did I just say that like it was a real religion EWWWW) and other witchcrafty traditions, and, according to wikipedia, "it continues to be an influence on feminism,literature, Jungian psychology and literary criticism."
-They're definitely mad occult. Check out Pilate's focus on names, her chats with her dead father, the far-out biblical names, the whole "liberated women living on the edge of town in poverty" thing (which, according to Mr. Butler, is how witchcraft myths started in the first place), and the bag of bones hanging from the ceiling. The free-love attitude towards sex is one often attributed to witches (fun fact: broomsticks are phallic symbols in the context of witchcraft. You will never think of halloween in the same way again).
What do we do with this? What, exactly, does it add to our understanding of their characters? I don't know, man, but I just hit you with some knowledge.
Essentially, I'm pretty sure that Hagar, Reba, and Pilate are Morrison's modernization and interpretation of the classic archetype of the three witches or three fates. I'm not going to organize my thoughts in any super-serious way here, but basically:
-The first time we meet them, they're grouped around a cauldron, singing beautifully. Granted, their potion is moonshine, but any literary aficionados will recall similar scenes in any number of works; most famously Macbeth, but also, off the top of my head, The Black Cauldron, all those Discworld books, Sandman, and lord knows what else; reach a little farther from center and you find whatever the Norns or the Fates are in, i.e. everything.
-There are three of them: the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. This triple-generational female dealio thingamajiggy (I believe "triple goddess" is the term these days) is a central figure of Wicca (ew ew ew did I just say that like it was a real religion EWWWW) and other witchcrafty traditions, and, according to wikipedia, "it continues to be an influence on feminism,literature, Jungian psychology and literary criticism."
-They're definitely mad occult. Check out Pilate's focus on names, her chats with her dead father, the far-out biblical names, the whole "liberated women living on the edge of town in poverty" thing (which, according to Mr. Butler, is how witchcraft myths started in the first place), and the bag of bones hanging from the ceiling. The free-love attitude towards sex is one often attributed to witches (fun fact: broomsticks are phallic symbols in the context of witchcraft. You will never think of halloween in the same way again).
What do we do with this? What, exactly, does it add to our understanding of their characters? I don't know, man, but I just hit you with some knowledge.
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