I thoroughly enjoyed this short story. Hurston's writing is so poetic in its descriptions---
"Her stiff young breasts thrust forward aggressively like broad-based cones with tips lacquered in black". "Big pitcher of buttermilk beaded with pale drops of butter from the churn".
"The shapeless enemies of humanity that live in the hours of Time had waylaid Joe".
I love how Hurston blends these eloquent descriptions with the vernacular. While reading the dialogue between Joe and Missie May, I found myself pulled away from the descriptive poetry and thrust into a shabby, southern, black neighborhood house where collards are cookin-up on the stove and love is in the air.
I was also drawn into Joe and Missie's relationship. I found myself thinking how wonderfully playful and loving they were with each other: a happy, young couple still in the honeymoon phase of their marriage. I was literally heartbroken when the story finds Missie cheating on Joe with Slemmons. I was furious at Missie for lying to me and I found myself wanting to kick Slemmons in his 'twig and berries"!!! My reactions surprised me and I realized that Hurston ROCKS!! Through her lovely descriptions and her dialogue, she allowed me to become a part of this story in only 8 pages!! I am somewhat happy that Joe and Missie stayed together. I think that their relationship will be forever stained by Missie's infidelity. The baby boy will grow up in a house that will never again have the sense of playfulness and love that it once did. And all because Missie wanted some "gold money". Tramp!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Eugene O'Neill
I just have to start off by saying this is the FIRST time I have read O'Neill and it won't be the last!! I loved this play. The fact that it takes place in one room (the LIVING room) is genius! The "living" room. That is a wonderful contradiction as to what really goes on in there. The Tyrones aren't busy "living", they are busy dying!
Every member of this family is dependent upon each other for re-assurance as to who they are. Mary is so concerned about her hair that it is almost comical (ya' know, since she's a dope head). "What is it? What are you looking at? Is my hair-?" She says this several times throughout the play and it leads me to believe she is lacking in confidence. She relies on her family to build her confidence. But.... to no avail! She's hooked on "the dope" and she won't be back soon!
Mary's addiction plays out as an addiction to comfort. She lacks comfort in her "home"; she lacks social comforts, like friends; and she lacks comfort in herself.
Tyrone Sr. is played as an "old codger" of sorts. He sort of reminded me of my grandfather. He's an older man who is given to claiming he's "poor" (land poor) and he likes his whiskey! He treats Mary in a way that both endears me to him ("None of that, my lady! You're just right. We'll have no talk of reducing."), and also makes me dislike him with his backhanded compliments to Mary. He seems to be a good father and it is obvious he has no problem letting the truth slip out when it comes to Jamie.
Jamie is like the black sheep of the family. His drinking and whoring are practically accepted by his family. It's like they just say, "Oh! That's sooo Jamie!" Jamie is very dependent upon his parents for money and a place to stay. He tries to do his part (trimming the hedge) to earn his keep but he is more concerned about "fat" hookers and whiskey than he is about himself. He genuinely loves his brother but, at the same time, I don't think he would lose too much sleep if Edmund died.
Edmund is the shining example of this dysfunctional family. He has consumption. Or is it, he's being "consumed". I love that the "frail" and sickly Edmund is also the one who appears to be the strongest and most independent of the Tyrones. He has ventured outside of this family to try and find himself---only to find that he's anchored to a sinking ship (his family).
I have rambled to the point of boredom!! The final picture of this family is one of sorrow, loss, co-dependency, addiction (to both alcohol and drugs), and love. It's a beautiful train wreck of a family!! They continue to look at each other without SEEING each other. Tyrone Sr. sums it up best with this line: "Yes, forget! Forget everything and face nothing! It's a convenient philosophy if you've no ambition in life except to....." Well said, sir! Well said!
Every member of this family is dependent upon each other for re-assurance as to who they are. Mary is so concerned about her hair that it is almost comical (ya' know, since she's a dope head). "What is it? What are you looking at? Is my hair-?" She says this several times throughout the play and it leads me to believe she is lacking in confidence. She relies on her family to build her confidence. But.... to no avail! She's hooked on "the dope" and she won't be back soon!
Mary's addiction plays out as an addiction to comfort. She lacks comfort in her "home"; she lacks social comforts, like friends; and she lacks comfort in herself.
Tyrone Sr. is played as an "old codger" of sorts. He sort of reminded me of my grandfather. He's an older man who is given to claiming he's "poor" (land poor) and he likes his whiskey! He treats Mary in a way that both endears me to him ("None of that, my lady! You're just right. We'll have no talk of reducing."), and also makes me dislike him with his backhanded compliments to Mary. He seems to be a good father and it is obvious he has no problem letting the truth slip out when it comes to Jamie.
Jamie is like the black sheep of the family. His drinking and whoring are practically accepted by his family. It's like they just say, "Oh! That's sooo Jamie!" Jamie is very dependent upon his parents for money and a place to stay. He tries to do his part (trimming the hedge) to earn his keep but he is more concerned about "fat" hookers and whiskey than he is about himself. He genuinely loves his brother but, at the same time, I don't think he would lose too much sleep if Edmund died.
Edmund is the shining example of this dysfunctional family. He has consumption. Or is it, he's being "consumed". I love that the "frail" and sickly Edmund is also the one who appears to be the strongest and most independent of the Tyrones. He has ventured outside of this family to try and find himself---only to find that he's anchored to a sinking ship (his family).
I have rambled to the point of boredom!! The final picture of this family is one of sorrow, loss, co-dependency, addiction (to both alcohol and drugs), and love. It's a beautiful train wreck of a family!! They continue to look at each other without SEEING each other. Tyrone Sr. sums it up best with this line: "Yes, forget! Forget everything and face nothing! It's a convenient philosophy if you've no ambition in life except to....." Well said, sir! Well said!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Stevens/Sunday Morning
"She says, "I am content when wakened birds,
Before they fly, test the reality
Of misty fields, by their sweet questionings;
But when the birds are gone, and their warm fields
Return no more, where, then, is paradise?"
The woman in this poem is happy right where she is. She's wearing her robe and having a lazy Sunday while contemplating life and death. Sounds like my Sunday mornings!! Seriously though, she seems to be perfectly pleased with her surroundings and she also seems to feel that she is already in paradise.
Steven's paints a vibrant picture of the "here and now" of this woman. The opening stanza creates the idyllic setting of this woman's life. She is in her robe, drinking coffee, and eating oranges while gazing at the "green freedom of a cockatoo". The darker side of this woman's life is that she fully knows she is going to die.
"She says, "But in contentment I still feel
The need of some imperishable bliss."
Death is the mother of beauty; hence from her,
Alone, shall come fulfillment to our dreams
And our desires. Although she strews the leaves
Of sure obliteration on our paths,
The path sick sorrow took, the many paths......"
I think the woman wants her current life and surroundings to be her paradise AFTER she dies. She questions the Christian view of paradise. I think this poem speaks on the pleasure of being content with ones' life and being confident enough to question religion. I am a Christian woman, but I continuously question certain aspects of faith. I find the answers on my own. I think the woman in the poem is questioning these things to ultimately come to an acceptance of death. Death is inevitable and how a person deals with it is part of the journey of life.
Before they fly, test the reality
Of misty fields, by their sweet questionings;
But when the birds are gone, and their warm fields
Return no more, where, then, is paradise?"
The woman in this poem is happy right where she is. She's wearing her robe and having a lazy Sunday while contemplating life and death. Sounds like my Sunday mornings!! Seriously though, she seems to be perfectly pleased with her surroundings and she also seems to feel that she is already in paradise.
Steven's paints a vibrant picture of the "here and now" of this woman. The opening stanza creates the idyllic setting of this woman's life. She is in her robe, drinking coffee, and eating oranges while gazing at the "green freedom of a cockatoo". The darker side of this woman's life is that she fully knows she is going to die.
"She says, "But in contentment I still feel
The need of some imperishable bliss."
Death is the mother of beauty; hence from her,
Alone, shall come fulfillment to our dreams
And our desires. Although she strews the leaves
Of sure obliteration on our paths,
The path sick sorrow took, the many paths......"
I think the woman wants her current life and surroundings to be her paradise AFTER she dies. She questions the Christian view of paradise. I think this poem speaks on the pleasure of being content with ones' life and being confident enough to question religion. I am a Christian woman, but I continuously question certain aspects of faith. I find the answers on my own. I think the woman in the poem is questioning these things to ultimately come to an acceptance of death. Death is inevitable and how a person deals with it is part of the journey of life.
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