One More Time (Well, not really) [Reading Assignment 7]

     I actually had multiple possible interpretations of what is signified in The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield such as the ignorance of the Upper Class to the Lower and even the Middle class, the irresponsibility of the Upper class (which reminds me of The Great Gatsby), and how the world goes on despite personal tragedies.  However, I think that I settled on the idea that Mansfield is saying that there just may be a glimpse of passion among those higher than we normal people.  I say this because I couldn't shake the feeling of a Christ figure in this story (I think I just like relating that for some reason).  There are a few reasons that I felt this way however.  When the workmen come to set up the marquee, Laura later questions why she couldn't have "workmen for her friends."  The workmen even show a kind of worldly association when the tallest sniffs up the smell of lavender.  In other words, she wishes to be among the worldly of her own  free will and she even sees the good in those earthly beings.  Later, when Laura hears of the death of the father of a poor family, she shows great compassion for the low people.  She even goes so far as to try to call off the party (which would be a big ordeal in the time, I believe).  After the party, Laura shows even greater compassion when she brings life (or food since: person - food = no life) to the grieving family.  She travels into the heart of the low, sick, and grieving to give new life.  If it's explained in that way, seems a little like a Christ figure, maybe?  When Laura sees the deceased young man, she finds something she did not expect, a sort of peace.  She finds a kind of resolution and peace in the death she encounters at the end of her journey.

     Well.  I feel as though I made a kind of glancing blow at underlying ideas of the story.  Foster did mention biblical references (which I'm glad for since my whole text was just about the biblical part).  I felt that we went in different directions in our biblical associations, but that's ok I think.

     Relating the story to Persephone opened my eyes more to the idea of relating sex and death.  It also made me remember Laura's mother since I pretty much completely forgot her in my writing.  Relating the stories also tied up some lose ends in my thoughts about certain objects such as the flowers and the ideas of floating among the family.  I had the feeling they were especially important, but I could not seem to find what I had meant to say.

Christ figure, wishes to be among the normal, gives life (food), finds resolution in death

One Story to Rule Them All (Sixth Reading Assignment)

     Somehow I thought of houses when I first read the word archetype.  I would be thinking of architecture however.  The two are not that dissimilar if one thinks about it.  The definition of an architecture would be close to "the design of buildings" and so the definition of an archetype may be similar to "the design of stories."  Perhaps to clarify what I mean I could add that an archetype serves as a kind of base model from which every story originates.
     An example of a strong archetypal story that comes to mind would be J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit."  12 dwarves you say?  A wise, old man dressed in white carrying a staff?  A journey?  To me that sounds a little like 12 disciples, the white garbed shepherd with his flock, and the journey for that valuable (in)tangible object.

Baptisms and Broken Bones (Fifth Reading Assignment)

     A baptism is defined as a "trying or purifying experience or initiation" (as according to Dictionary.com).  Even though it is not completely true to form, the main protagonist of 1984 goes through a sort of "baptism".  However, fists, boots, truncheons, and torture are employed instead of the conventional use of water in this baptism.

Down, Down, Down to My English Cafe (Fourth Reading Assignment)

     Flight may signify freedom in most stories, but not all freedoms result in a better livelihood for those newly free people .  In William Golding's Lord of the Flies a group of young schoolboys become stranded on an adultless, uninhabited island after their plane is shot down.  As time passes on the island, the organization among the newly free boys breaks down and they slowly turn from civil to savage.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meat- I Mean Symbolism (Third Reading Assignment)

     During a scene in The Cloud Chamber by Joyce Maynard, the protagonist and his sister (Nate and Junie respectively) drive out through the snow to meet their father.  There are a few things to know before this is thought up to be a simple visit by a son and daughter to visit their father in a hospital.  First of all, their father attempted to commit suicide because of the failing state of the family business in farming.  Also, the rifle used could not be found and one of the police officers casts suspicion on Nate's mother by suggesting that she may have pulled the trigger.  One other thing.  The snow that Nate drives through in his mother's (who doesn't know he's taken it out for a drive) small, non 4-wheel drive car is actually a blizzard on slopping hills.