To Kill A Mockingbird ~ 'Maycomb' Photograph

Prompt:  Incorporating the different criteria from the Visual Literacy Guide, write a thoughtful, thorough, and well constructed response relating the photograph to Maycomb, AL.

Pages read: 0-41 

Photograph used:  "Birdhouse and Landscape at an old plantation home near Eutaw, Alabama".  Published May, 1941.  Photographed by Delano, Jack.

First Observations:  Not staged.  Most likely in the moderate South.  Vegetation is growing, it is unkempt and organic looking.  The trees are high and point towards the sun.  Benches are set up, so this might be a park.  The trees are spread apart, but the area is not at all barren.  There is quite literally a treehouse atop the stump of a former tree; where vines and other plants are growing.  Someone might describe this area as meadow, though it is not flat enough to be a prairie. Lots of shady regions, and sun is prevalent.  There also appears to be a slight breeze.

Reflection:  Even if I hadn't seen the title, "Birdhouse and Landscape at an old plantation home near Eutaw, Alabama", I would've presumed this to be a southern town.  From the scenery shown and previously described, I can infer this town experiences that kind of hazy heat that makes life move slowly.  The park benches can be used to prove that point.   The benches also show the viewer the lifestyle in their area, or at least what their residents do in their spare time.  With the placement of the benches, I can tell the pace of life is slow and at times leisurely.  The tall grass shows this area was not "high-end", and that agriculture is important to its owners.  The tree-house, or bird house, can show many things about Eutaw's citizens.  Maybe there are a lot of children, and the adults might not have the busiest of schedules.  Perhaps the birds attracted to the bird house affect the agriculture.

Questions:  Who built and placed the bird house?   Is this a park?  And if so, who takes care of it?  Is this place frequently visited, or out of the public eye?  Who comes here more, children and teens or adults?  How long does this open land stretch?  What kinds of animals live in the underbrush and wooded area?  What is the population of this town?

Could this be Maycomb County?  The rest of Eutaw may not resemble Harper Lee's description of Maycomb, but I believe this real-life setting parallels the fictional setting.  With both having characteristics of a "tired, old town" and their people leading quiet but social lives, I think this landscape could serve as a backdrop for Maycomb.  The time periods are also very similar, so both portray an accurate rural 30's setting.  We can infer from the picture that it was taken in the time of the Great Depression, and so happens to be Maycomb.   I also think Scout, Jem, and Dill would enjoy to perform their many skits in a place like this.  

Week of 17/11/14: Labyrinths (and a bit of reflection)

Prompt:  Do you agree with the author's beliefs?  Which do you prefer, the writing or the ideas?  And what would you like the author to explore more?  (Because I can't focus on just one prompt, ever)
Pages read:  About five stories and a few essays, totaling an approximate 80 pages.

If you've been reading my blogs for say, the past couple of months; then you know I've been reading many, many books on existentialism and nihilistic philosophy.  Through this reading, all I can come across is more paradoxes and conflicting opinions on the universe (in general).  This is (obviously) to be expected, and it only fuels my fascination; although a break from all these self-pitying streams of conscience is in store.  While I don't always agree with anything an author of these fictions states as universal truth, I feel Borges does a good job of making an ambiguous point and leaving its meaning to the reader.  Therefore, there is no agreeing or disagreeing; more of accepting a possible cause and effect.  Which I do.  Borges theories on metaphysical thought could hold truth, at least to myself.  His domino effect of the slightest happenings becoming large calamities could be happening, and is, at any and every moment.  The important 'rule of thumb' for enveloping yourself in this type of thought is to remember there isn't any scientific evidence behind an of the statements made.  Which doesn't legitimatize or delegitimize anything; something I agree with Borges on.

Now usually writing shapes itself around presented ideas, though this is not the case with Borges.  This aspect of his writing I find... difficult to relate to?  It's as if the author knows his talent and is proving a point, rather than writing his mind/soul out.  This is not a check in the negative column, however; and I'm sure this is far from the truth.  This is simply my impression of Borges' writing.  See, the writing overshadows the ideas which leads to inconsistent points of interest.  To say that in a clearer phrase: when one part of a story is all adjectives and descriptions and set up, and (usually the end) is all deep statements and dread and messages of human condition/suffering it makes reading simultaneously riveting and drab. Its a bit like reading The Dead, you would never expect the ending to destroy your perspective.

Anything else that confuses me.  I know what it's like to ponder the meaning of life alone in your room, in the dark.  And I want something more than that, it has become a perpetual search.  So far, I'm impressed with Borges in his ability to write in detail and not focus on the "big questions".  You know, the ones you ask yourself when your standing under the stars in silence, wishing desperately either to be immortal or to have your meaningless life end right then and there.  I wish (and perhaps this will be granted, I'm still exploring Labyrinths) that Borges would explore what thought means and what is does to the grand psyche.  If these volumes have taught me anything, it's that all we can do is wish, and presume, and dream.  Time may be meaningless, life likewise; but if there's one thing our species will be infamous for, it's our curiosity and meddling.  We all have to find a balance between between apathy and passion and what we should spend thought on, and that's what life is about.

Week of 13/11/14: Labyrinths

Prompt: 1- Analyze the impact word choice has on the meaning or tone of a text.
2- Analyze how dialogue or specific incidents reveal information about characters. Make sure to include textual evidence.
Pages read:  Skipped around over many of the short-stories, so approx. 80 pages of nonstop existentialism and related philosophy

This will be a good challenge I suppose.  I mean, it's almost as if I pick some of the worst books for every assigned prompt.  Oh well, at least they are short stories; if you can call these "selected works" that term.  And, as we all know quite well: short stories require astute word choice.  The way the author chooses to execute this is a factor that really sets apart this book, making it really interesting to examine under this "lens", but also very horribly complex.  Although I wouldn't call the narrator necessarily unreliable, large aspects of these pieces are neither fiction nor nonfiction and all are opinion.  As Borges says in one of these vague stories, "every philosophy is by definition a dialectical game ".  So as you can see, everything pertaining to this is just meaningless words; but the words also hold out-of-wordly meanings.

As is the author's intention, nothing really impacts anything but anything impacts everything.  This man is worse than Oscar Wilde with the paradoxes... So, as to not confuse neither I nor yourself, I'll keep these instances of impact simple and explicit.   Seemingly the most obvious occurrence of clever word choice happens repeatedly during "The Lottery Of Babylon".  Although we never are told explicitly (anything) if the system is validly corrupt or not, the author's repetition of the word "interpolated" not only tells the reader of the nature of these drawings, but of the little-described beings of power.  Thus, impacting the reader and the meaning more than the outcome of the story.  To interpolate (in this context) means to insert false/misleading information.  In the case of life-altering and life-taking Lotteries, this is obviously a malevolent force taking place revealed to us through a simple word.  Because these stories are so short, and if not interpreted fully, vague; one words possible meaning enforces many possible outcomes and feelings.

100+ pages and not one single instance of external dialogue.  I think I'm in love.  In all seriousness, dialogue is something I find to be a necessary evil in many circumstances.  Maybe that's why I like philosophy and psychology so much ~ self examination and internal dialogues reveal the most to me as a reader.  One very notable instance of this  revealing is in L the story of "The Circular Ruins".  In summary, a man seemingly stranded on a deserted island begins hallucinating, dreaming.  Through the doubts of his thoughts his character is shown, as well as the basic human nature/desire to have control over another.  And on yet a deeper, metaphysical level, the mans' doubts of existence.  However, the latter is shown through mainly the authors diction (and probably the best situational irony I have ever read).  The most fitting examples I can give you of the former are, "each night he perceived it with greater clarity... he perceived it, lived it, from many different angles... the examination satisfied him".  From these lines we can infer the nature of the mans character: benevolent and determined.  As for a specific event, when the nameless man finds out of his metaphysical's sons success', he feels extreme grief for what he has put on the child.  Thus, giving the reader one of the (surprisingly) minor themes and more on the mysterious mystic man's character.

The Moon Chasers Week of 3/11/14

Prompt:  Predictions on the future of the characters/the story
Pages read: 0-140

File this book's recurring motifs under "subjects I never knew I was interested in until I went out of my comfort zone".  After reading Notes from the Edge Times,  I had a vague premonition that I'd be interested in ancient civilizations and their lore and mysticism, but this novel solidified my increasing want to know what will probably always be unknown.  However, I do wish the author had the style to pull of these esoteric and abstract ideas.  This leads me to falling in and out of interest, in fact, I started this book in the summer and have only begun to read it again last night...  And it wasn't just my procrastination and lack of focus that lead me to selecting this book to blog about, it was the suspense that the author created.  I realized that The Moon Chasers was perfect for making predictions.  Thus, saving me the (not even an exaggeration) 10 minutes of choosing a prompt.

After our discussion in class about 'universal themes', I discovered a parallel between our discussion and the novel.  A basic fact that is known through reading the novel is that of the existence of an ancient Mayan allegory.  Our protagonist, a scholar studying such topics, reads through these illustrated stories and discovers their meaning.  As you might have predicted, the stories are primarily focused on the moral Good vs. Evil battle and the redemption for both.  This is ever increasingly showing itself in the lives of the characters, as (spoiler alert) they are thrown back into time and are at odds with each other.  From the described Mayan texts, I can predict (or rather, infer) that the ultimate good will fall upon the characters.  This can manifest itself in many forms; however, I'm hoping for the appearance of a god or-or-or even better multiple universes.

With that far-fetched statement, which was based upon the topics in the story, I can predict something beyond my wildest predictions is going to happen.  I mean, the author could just end the story right where I'm reading and there, it would be over.  No further imagination needed as far as The Moon Chasers is concerned!  But no, I'm not even halfway through and I find out they've been transported back into time to summon dark magic and this is a series.  I predict that our protagonists (I hate calling main characters that when I have an intense dislike for them) will find themselves stuck in a situation and they must work together to solve it.  However cliché that might seem, it is a universal theme and I'm hoping for more in this story.  Maybe a dramatic misunderstanding with the Mayans; it's perfectly feasible in this plot!

*Just found out the specific genre of The Moon Chasers is "Speculative Fiction".  That's actually really cool.

**And this is my 50th post!

Saints of Augustine (Halloween week)

Prompt: Prompt: List at least two problems the characters faced? Which was the most life changing?
Pages read: All (in one night, three hundred pages, four hours; savage.)  Though I can't remember the character's names...

This book closely resembles Will Grayson, Will Grayson with its alternating narrators and LGBTQ theme.  The main difference is that this novel is way more realistic and better written.  This book is basically just about the two struggles of the almost legal adults, and takes place in a relatively short-amount of time.  Therefore, it is hard to say which character's problem was the most life-changing, as the problem is their lives'.

Sam Findley (the more interesting of the two, and a journalist) ~
His story so far (and the additional basic information): The oldest sibling who has a very impressionable younger sister.  His mother and father are divorced (technically, separated) because of his father's discovery of his sexuality.  This is where the conflict comes into play, because Sam realizes that he is in fact, gay like his father.  While this predicament is hard enough already, Sam's mother has a boyfriend who is extremely homophobic and in Sam's words, "a pig".  Then (in this very troubling time), Sam meets a charming man named Justin.  Out and proud, Justin is like a breath of fresh air to Sam.  Although through Sam's growing feelings toward Justin, we learn of his doubts as well.  Sam wishes to be as confident and clever as Justin, but is afraid of the repercussions.

Charlie Perrin (complex with a simple exterior) ~
His story so far (and the additional basic information):  Your typical high school jock on the outside, your average high school loner on the inside.  Charlie plays on the basketball team, with a group of guys who don't accept sensitivity.  This leads Charlie into trouble after the death of his mom and the falling into despair of his dad.  As an escape, the basketball player turns to pot, leading him into debt and eventual confrontation of all of his problems.  He becomes very lonely with no one to turn to.  Eventually, it takes the reuniting of two former best friends to set their paths straight (well..)

How they converge:  Both come to a consequent breaking down, and they meet in a challenging time for both of them.   By challenging, I mean one was running away from an interrupted make-out session and the other was discovering his car had been smashed by his dealer.  This leads to the powerful, if a bit cliché "troubled boys talking about their feelings" conclusion.  Well actually, the real conclusion is frustrating because I ship Same and Justin so much but then the author thought he was damn clever by putting in a cliff hanger.  Never to be resolved.. To summarize, Charlie Perrin and Sam Findley end up helping each other and reaffirming their friendship.