english

Chapter 11 starts out a little crazy and it opens with the narrator being in the hospital and he has not one clue to how he has gotten there or what has happened to him. He cant even remember his own name when asked. As I continued to read, I realized that the doctors racism gets in the way of their professional duty (which is to help the victim, no matter what race they may be). The doctors argue over how to treat the narrator and even talk about castration at a point. After some arguing they finally agree to continue to electrically shock the narrator (which brought me back to the beginning of the novel when the narrator was electrically shocked on the rug for the white man’s amusement). Also it is here that the characters in the novel show just how racist they are, even as the “professional doctor.” One of the characters in the operating room state as they are in the process of electrically shocking the poor narrator, “They really do have rhythm” and the man states this as in the sense that “all black people have rhythm.” It really is so sick that the narrator is in the hospital, getting electrically shocked to probably help save his life and all the doctors can do is make a racist comment like that. Its just so unnecessary and makes me sick to know that someone your suppose to trust with your life is joking around at such a crucial time in the novel. Racism comes up constantly throughout this novel, whether it is just casually mentioned or if it is turning your stomach upside down to the point that you cannot believe that people feel the ignorance to treat other human beings in such a horrible manner. It is just so unbelievable at times.

Another part in the novel that immediately caught my attention was during Chapter 13 when the narrator is walking down the street and stumbles upon the eviction of an elderly black couple by white men (even though the white men explain to the lady that they don’t want to do the evicting, but they have to). She keeps crying and hollering to the crowd. They were just tossing and throwing the couples life belonging onto the pavement like they are pieces of garbage. As the narrator sees this he just gets an adrenaline rush in a way and starts speaking out to the crowd , he states, “ Black men, Brothers, that’s not the way, we’re law abiding we’re law abiding people and a slow to anger people.” From this statement the narrator continues to spurt out more inspirational information to the crowd which draws their attention and triggers them to grab a couple of the old couples things and run them back into the building.

Another part of the novel that I found to be really interesting, that kind of jumps away from my idea about racism is the fact that the narrator joins “the brotherhood,” and they tell him upon joining that he has to change his name and move to an apartment that is owned by the brotherhood. The narrator agrees and is handed a piece of paper that holds his new name. I just found it totally weird that we still don’t know his name. Not his “old” or “new” name. He is just referred to as the narrator. I feel as though its eventually going to be stated its just kind of annoying that we still aren’t given his name. He even switches his name and we still don’t have a clue to what it is or was.

So we have finally moved on to the non-canonical novels of the course and I couldn’t be any happier. From the novel I read with my group and the novel we are currently reading “Invisible Man,” I feel as though these pieces of literature have so much more to offer then those that belong to the canon. So far each novel has something that more realistically relates to the average american then the canonical books we have read so far. Its more real life to me, in “their eyes are watching god” the main character struggles for independence, she also deals with emotional abuse from one of her husbands and has to deal with a death of a loved one.

Now in Invisible Man, its quite a different story. The main character who is nameless so far has to deal with the struggle of being black in a “pro-white society.” From the start of the novel, his grandfathers dieing words were to basically do anything to please the white people. Well not exactly “anything,” but just don’t go against what they have to say. Basically what we talked about in class “kill them with kindness” The rest of the chapters are really sickening that follow, especially the battle scene, where the blacks were forced to fight one another with blindfolds and then fight for money(which we later find out is fake) while being electrocuted. The narrator gets kicked out of college without him even knowing it over something that wasn’t his fault entirely (the whole true blood incident where Norton goes into shock about the incest and Bledsloe blames it entirely on the narrator) and then Bledsloe forces the narrator to leave the college to work and if he does so he is welcomed back. Little does the narrator know that he wont be welcomed back and the letters of recommendation that he was sent away with reveal this to the readers.

So, we are kind of half way into this novel and I find it to be really interesting, and to be a much easier read then past pieces of canonical literature we have read such as “the sound and the fury.” Although at points, I just want to shut the book and we like “ew gross” I still find it really intriguing to read, especially because I feel as though some Americans can relate to it.(well maybe older Americans that have possibly experienced the cruel treatment that used to happen way back in the day).Its way more realistic then “the great Gatsby.” And thus far, am enjoying reading the book.

Upon ending our group work with all the wiki’s, I would have to say that I very much enjoyed it. I feel as though working with others on a webpage about the novel gave you a more in depth look into each piece of literature. My group members pointed things out that I necessarily wouldn’t of if I were to have done the wiki page all on my own.

The novel that my group concentrated on was, “Their Eyes were Watching God.” Together as a group we discussed the various themes that were floating around the pages of this piece of literature. We all agreed that this novel includes both canonical themes and non- canonical themes. Which I think make this piece of literature that much more interesting to read. Some non-canonical themes we picked up upon were: Speech v. Silence (which talks about Janie‘s choice of silence against her husbands verbal abuse), Control and Liberation (which represents Janie throughout the book, she basically is controlled all her life by everyone that surrounds her until the very end when she is alone in the world, this is where she finally reaches liberation from control), and self-representation (is something that Janie seeks throughout the novel). Now, there were also many many other themes throughout this novel that are considered canonical, such as forced marriage, death, materialistic values, Not loving your husband/wife, loving/loosing, etc. However, I feel as though the non-canonical themes were the most important in the novel and were what made it that much more interesting.

Compared to the Hemingway stories, The Great Gatsby, and The Sound and the Fury, the non-canonical literature that we have read in groups was way less stressful and boring. Personally with the novel my group read, I didn’t spend the whole time wanting to tear my hair out with confusion.

After reading the books that were assigned to our groups, I was definitely happy to find it more pleasurable to read than the two previous books that we have read as a class. The book that was assigned to my group was “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston. This book was about an African American woman named Janie who tells her life story. The book opens with a couple jealous neighbors gossiping false information to each other. One of them being Janie’s true friend tells Janie what they are saying about her and Janie sits her friend down and tells her the real truth to the story of her life from start to finish. While Janie was growing up her grandmother filled her head with all of these materialistic values, and about how she should marry rich, and it doesn’t matter if you really love the man or not, as long as you have everything you need. Throughout the course of the novel Janie’s goes through two marriages where she was the most unhappy women ever all because she married for money over happiness. She leaves her first husband for the second one, and after the second one dies, she swears to herself that she will never marry again according to her grandmothers materialistic values. Upon meeting the next man in her life, he isn’t wealthy what-so-ever and Janie finds comfort in that. She likes being her spouse’s equal..not feeling as though she is below him in any way shape or form. She eventually marries her third husband and is happier then ever..until he gets rabies and she ends up killing him before he kills her. It is some what of an unhappy ending. But Janie realizes the importance of marrying for your happiness over materialistic things. After her third husband dies, she likes her new found independence and doesn’t seek to find another man to put into her life.

In my opinion I liked this book so much more than “The Sound and The Fury.” This book wasn’t too difficult to read yet wasn’t the easiest either. It actually kept me wanting to read more and more whenever I picked it up. Unlike the previous novel that I dreaded reading every time a new section was due. To me, there should be more books like this involved in the canon not books like “The Sound and The Fury.” Yeah “The Sound and The Fury” may have some hidden meaning that I haven’t discovered yet but in my opinion, “Their Eyes were Watching God” is a more reader friendly book that I believe more people would enjoy reading.