Rushdie Magic Realism 7/31/13

In the story “The Perforated Sheet,” Salman Rushdie sets the premise for his novel Midnight's Children. In the novel, all of the children born at midnight on August 15, 1947, the date of India's independence from British rule, have a special connection. The children can telepathically communicate with each other and their destinies are intertwined with India and Pakistan. As with any story written with a magic realism theme, the special powers and abilities of the characters do not seem out of place or overly mystical.

In “The Perforated Sheet,” Rushdie introduces the grandfather of the main character, Saleem, from Midnight's Children. In this flashback, Saleem provides back story for his grandfather, Aadam Aziz, and his experiences as a young doctor with a particularly unique patient. The story begins with Aziz and a boatman, and the boatman's age is a particular mystery throughout the story. Even his wife admits that he was “already leathery when they married” (Rushdie 1715). The mystery of the boatman's age continues on, with no answer ever given. This implication that the man was very old, even older than would be possible, is a good example of the use of magic realism that Rushdie utilizes. Rather than give the man a set age, he allows the reader to wonder whether or not the character is mystical or special.

The description of Aziz's nose is another use of this magic realism. Saleem describes Aziz's nose as “nostrils flaring, curvaceous as dancers. Between them swells the nose's triumphal arch, first up and out, then down and under, sweeping in to his upper lip with a superb and at present red-tipped flick” (1715). This description could also be used to describe the curves of the country of India. Given the main character's destiny later in the novel, it is fitting that his grandfather has such a shape for his nose, especially since Saleem mentions inheriting this oddly-shaped nose.

Although “The Perforated Sheet” could be rewritten with a more realistic tone and with the elimination of these elements, it is precisely this hint of mysticism in the work that gives it much of its charm. The characters are endearing and memorable because they have each been given these slight augmentations, while the lack of focus on these traits allow them to add to the story rather than detract from it.

Works Cited

Rushdie, Salman. "The Perforated Sheet." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 1711-23. Print.

Death 7/28/13

Paul Celan was one of the most influential poets who took a chance writing about the holocaust. Although many critics were very negative about such a topic, Celan wrote very moving poetry centering around death and dying. In “Shibboleth,” he writes about the movement of the chosen people in the afterlife. The “twin reddenings / in Vienna and Madrid” represent two extremely influential and violent events in which there was much death (“Shibboleth” 12-13). He goes on to emphasize this with the next verse, which begins with “Set your flag at half mast,” symbolizing the death at these events (14). The emphasis of death during political struggles is one that resonates well with his holocaust experiences as well, as Celan survived but saw both parents killed in Nazi prison camps. He had first hand experience with the impact that so much death and destruction can have on a person, their livelihood, and even their culture. In the situations at both Vienna and Madrid, the devastation was intense enough to reshape their cultures just as the Jewish culture was reshaped by the Nazis.

Possibly the most famous work by Celan is “Deathfugue,” which offers a comparison between a Jewish woman and a German woman at a prison camp during World War II. In this poem, the Jewish girl, Shulamith, is repeatedly reminded of the death around her. In the first verse, the Jews have been told to “shovel a grave in the ground” (“Deathfugue” 8). In the next verse, her hair is described as “ashen,” which symbolizes the cremation of the Jewish prisoners after they were killed (14). The comparison between the golden hair of the German girl and the ashen hair of Shulamith is repeated throughout the poem, emphasizing the eventual death of the Jewish people by the hands of the Germans. The passion within this work and the emotion Celan is able to express regarding the death around them is palatable. Paul Celan committed suicide after bouts of paranoia related to anti-Semitism. Reading the emotions he expressed after his experiences with the prison camps, it is easy to see how much of an impact the experiences of his youth and the death of so many around him had on both his work and his life.

Works Cited

Celan, Paul. "Deathfugue." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 1469-70. Print.

- - -. "Shibboleth." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 1471-72. Print.

Borges 7/16/13

In “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges, the reader is exposed to the concept of alternative time lines. The way that this is presented begins in a very subtle way, as the beginning of the story implies that it is a simple crime story. Although the crime elements continue throughout the work, the main character begins to give back story that expands it into the representation of alternative time lines as he meets Albert, a man who admired his ancestor, Ts'ui Pen, who was “governor of his native providence, learned in astronomy, in astrology and in the tireless interpretation of all the canonical books, chess player, famous poet and calligrapher” (Borges 1341). This very learned man had created a book where the events changed from chapter to chapter, creating a type of labyrinth of time in which alternate time lines are certainly possible.

Zhang Ailing, in her “Sealed Off,” possibly took this even further. Rather than presenting the time lines and the labyrinth directly, she implies it several times throughout the story. Her story depicts a girl on a tramcar during a war. The tramcar must be stopped as the city is sealed off during an air raid. The world of the characters on the tramcar is vastly different when the car is stopped, and the reader is introduced to a possible alternate reality in which the situations of the stopped car are the actual reality of the characters. A romantic possibility arises between two characters and begins to evolve, yet when the car begins again at the end of the story, the two characters simply resume their lives, almost as if the situation was a dream. Although it isn't clear whether Ailing was actually attempting to write alternate time lines in this work, the way in which the characters attitudes change relative to the motion of the tramcar certainly lends itself well to this type of interpretation. For example, when the tram stops, a beggar begins to sing “Sad, sad, sad! No money do I have!” and the driver joins in with the song (Ailing 1347). When the tram starts up again at the end of the story and the beggar sings yet again, the driver responds with “You swine!” rather than joining in with the song (Ailing 1354). These vast differences in character are a clear shift between the stop and start of the tramcar and highlight this change in perception.

Works Cited

Ailing, Zhang. "Sealed Off." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 1337-44. Print.

Borges, Jorge Luis. "The Garden of Forking Paths." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 1337-44. Print.

Gender 7/14/13

In “The Rod of Justice,” Brazillian author Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, better known as just Machado, writes about a boy who is meant to be enrolled in a seminary. The boy had left the seminary, determined to follow a different path with his life. He was scared to return home, as his father would send him back to the seminary to return to his studies immediately. He finally settled on seeking refuge with the sweetheart of his godfather, Sinha Rita. She was a seamstress and not only oversaw her own slaves but the slaves of others in the neighborhood. The boy, Damiao, arrived at her home and she took pity on him, contacting his godfather, Joao. Sinha Rita stood her ground against Joao, threatening her own relationship with him as a bargaining chip.

In this work, the gender and power are constantly conflicting. At first, it seems as though Sinha Rita maintains much of the power in the story. She is able to control the slaves with an iron fist and although she takes pity on Damaio, she does so on her own ground. When she wrote to Joao, the line “either you rescue the boy, or we never see each other again” clearly expresses the power lines between the couple (de Assis 916). She was able to hold her relationship over him in order to achieve the goal she needed. However, there is a twist at the end of the story as Sinha Rita asked Damaio to pass a rod in order to beat one of the slave girls. For a moment, Damaio realized that he held the power to hand over the rod and that he could protect the girl if he did not hand it over. His internal struggle causes the reader to question Sinha Rita's power in regards to gender. This young boy is given the opportunity to stop her abuse, yet after the brief moment, he gives in to her request and hands over the rod, reaffirming her power over the men in the story.

Works Cited

De Assis, Joaquim Maria Machado. "The Rod of Justice." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 911-16. Print.

Marti and Dario 7/6/13

Walt Whitman utilized a revolutionary style in his poetry. Before his poems, poetry generally followed fairly strict rules. Meter, rhythm, lines, and rhyme were all important and often followed very rigid structures. Whitman wrote poetry that focused on the emotions and imagery of poetry, ignoring the strict structural rules that were usually included in poetry of the time. Although his early critics balked at the way his poetry was composed, he became instrumental in the way that poetry has been constructed since Leaves of Grass was published. His choice of passionate imagery and deep emotion overcame the need for tight rhyme and structure.

Many poets have been inspired by Whitman to write intense poetry of their own. In many cases, his works have transcended the globe, inspiring international writers to invent their own ways to compose poetry in their own languages. One such poet is Jose Marti, a Cuban writer, possibly best known for the poem “Guantanamera.” In this work, Marti reflects on his life and the way in which he has found the simple things to be the most important, writing “And before I die I wish / To fling my verses from my soul” (Marti 4-5). This is similar to Whitman's opening line from “Song of Myself,” in which he wrote “I celebrate myself, and sing myself” (Whitman 1). Even from the beginning of the two works, this is a striking similarity between the two poems. Both poets go on to write about finding simplicity and comfort in all of the things around them and what they have experienced.

The Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario was also heavily influenced by Whitman, to the point that he even named him in his poem “To Roosevelt.” In the poem “Blazon,” Dario describes a swan in detail, then describes the swan as a poet, “who, dying, rhymes the soul in his song” (“Blazon” 24). The swan is reminiscent of much of the nature imagery in Whitman's work, especially the hawk in “Song of Myself”. The hawk “swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my loitering” (Whitman 1-2). Both birds have been personified by the authors and reflect the poets and these birds reflect the poets themselves.

Works Cited

Dario, Ruben. "Blazon." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 692-93. Print.

- -. "To Roosevelt." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 692-93. Print.

Marti, Jose. "Guantanamera." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 681-82. Print.

Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 648-53. Print.

An Essay on Man 6/30/13

In An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope discusses his reasoning behind the negative things happening in the world and in nature, in regards to Man and Heaven. He argues that Nature, if left to its own devices, would be a positive influence on Man. The reason that bad things happen, as far as disasters and catastrophes are concerned, is because humans do bad things and Nature reflects this. God and Heaven are inherently good and wish to extend their positive qualities to the world, but because humans are not always capable of being good, God allows Nature to also cause negative influences back on man to create a balance between the two. This balance is illustrated in the lines “The general ORDER, since the whole began, / Is kept in Nature, and is kept in Man” (Pope 171-172). He does not clearly clarify whether or not Nature would remain positive if Man was able to always do the same, yet it is implied.

This argument attempts to answer one of the great mysteries that most religions strive to answer. The question of “Why do bad things happen to good people?” is asked often by those who are questioning religion or the will of God. In a religious context, Pope's argument is a believable one. The idea that all of mankind is punished for the actions that all of mankind perform is realistic and may have settled the minds of people who were beginning to question religion in light of all of the scientific advancements that were being made during Pope's time. For someone who had already renounced Christianity, however, the argument appears weak. It is as easy to simply say that Nature runs on her own schedule and that things happen because they do rather than attempt to balance these natural disasters with mankind's own negative actions.

Works Cited

Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Man." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 90-97. Print.

Montaigne 6/22/13

In his Essays, Michel de Montaigne discussed the cannibals of Brazil and the ways that they differed, culturally, from the people he was familiar with in Europe. A very poignant statement that he made within this portion of the work was “I am not sorry that we notice the barbarous horror of [cannibalism], but I am heartily sorry that, judging their faults rightly, we should be so blind to our own” (1656). The more time a person spends studying cultures and becoming acquainted with people from other nationalities, the more they grow to understand what he means by these words and how true this statement is.

In America, the bodies of the dead are either buried or they are cremated. The body is honored and is revered as the vessel of the person. Because of this, certain steps are taken to ensure that the body does not look pale and so the decay of the body happens slower than it would naturally. In other countries, this practice is considered barbaric because these chemicals are disrupting the natural order of life and death. In Tibet, the dead are hung on mountaintops, with specific portions of the body cut to make the body easier for animals to reach and consume. To them, there is no need to preserve the body because the spirit has moved on and the body is now nothing more than an empty vessel. This practice is also common because the country is mostly very hard ground, eliminating the possibility of graves, and the fuels used in cremation are very scarce there. Because of these things, these sky burials became the common practice and therefore a very important part of their culture. For Westerners, this practice seems barbaric, as the body only lasts a short time before it has been consumed by nature. For Tibetans, it is a natural way to dispose of the body as well as to honor the spirit that has already moved on.

Works Cited

De Montaigne, Michel. "Essays." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2013. 1650-65. Print.

Sunjata 6/16/13

The evolution of the bride song in Sunjata was reminiscent of other epic stories and their need to explain the origins of traditions. Each description of the bride was accompanied with a song and the explanation that this was the origin of such traditions and portions of the song. In other cultures, such stories explain everything from the change of night into day to the reason that cats wash themselves after they eat instead of before. These origin stories are an important part of a culture, and how the traditions began is a way of separating one culture's history from another. In Sunjata, the description of the ceremony is presented in order, with the reveal of the bride's handicaps and the way that her escort adapts the song and their actions in order to present her to her groom as an eligible woman. The insistence with each piece that the tradition started here is emphasized and important for the cultural considerations of the people to their story and their origins.

Every country has their own wedding traditions. In Russia, rather than presenting the bride to the groom, the family keeps her locked away from him. The groom must arrive at the home and pay a ransom of small trinkets, gifts, and money to be permitted to marry his bride. Sometimes the groom must even go through tests of strength, wisdom, or manliness before the family will agree that he is worthy of receiving his bride. In Sunjata, the bride is presented to the groom after a ceremony of song and presentation. The bride is a gift to the groom. This is a stark contrast to the Russian tradition of the groom purchasing the bride with his own wealth and virtues.

Works Cited

Sunjata. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2013. 1517-76. Print.

Bashō 6/8/13

Japan is a fantastic place. It seems that many of the depictions of Japanese culture in America center on the electronics and technology of the country, and the stereotypes of the Japanese schoolgirls that watch anime and the businessmen who read comics on the bus are rampant. Websites tell about the vending machines on every street corner and singing toilets in every bathroom. In fact, Japan seems to be an old world country in most aspects, rather than the cutting-edge world that Americans imagine when they think of Tokyo. Much of the country is farmland and traditions are old and die hard. Families have had the same home for many generations and prepare to pass it on to their children or grandchildren before they have even been born.

The video below really does a fantastic job of emphasizing the history of Japan. The silkscreen prints shown depict life as it was and how it still is for much of the rural area of the country. The landscapes, filled with forested hills rising out of the sea, despite the unnatural qualities that they possess, are true to life and dot much of the coast of the country even today. The imagery of the sakura (cherry blossoms) is a sacred one for many people in Japan, and families will travel far and wide to the most well known orchards to see the trees when they are in full bloom. The koto music is iconic for Westerners and to the Japanese as well, because the instrument (along with the Shamisen and the Taiko Drum) is native to the country and is deeply ingrained in the culture.

All of this imagery is interspersed with quotations from Matsuo Basho's poetry. The works chosen for the video are snapshots of daily life for the people of Japan. The poetry is beautiful and the imagery reads as though Basho is observing and writing throughout the daily activities of the people and animals around him. The combination of Basho's works and the imagery of the silkscreens and the music really are able to create a solid image of Japan. Although Basho's works and the silkscreens utilized are hundreds of years old, they are able to show the viewer where Japan was as a country and who the Japanese people of the time were. In many cases, the imagery and the poetry are able to show the viewer what rural Japan still is and show that the traditions that the people still follow are much older than one may initially believe.

Classic of Poetry 6/2/13

In the poem “Boat of Cypress” from the Ancient Chinese works Classic of Poetry, the speaker of the work is traveling to a new place and leaving her home. This poem teaches important accepted morals of the time, as the girl describes the way she is feeling as she is traveling. She is upset about the way she is forced to leave her home and travel, as she expressed to her brothers (“Boat” 9-12). She has these doubts and frustrations about what she is doing and her path, yet she is still on the boat traveling away from her home. This woman was upset and showed her feelings, but she still went through what was expected of her. In Ancient China, women were expected to do as they were told. If they had reservations about it, they were expected to be seen and not heard. This woman, by the fact that she was on the boat at all, showed that she did as she was told. However, she describes her misery with the lines “This heart of mine is no mat; / I cannot roll it up within” (“Boat 15-16). Unlike most women of the time, she does not feel as though she can be expected to keep her reservations inside. She describes the woes that she has felt and those that she is still expecting to feel.

By continuing to travel even though she does not agree with the decision, she is showing that she is a virtuous woman. However, she is not willing to remain quiet about her reservations about the situation. Because of this, she is not as virtuous as women were expected to be in Ancient China.

Works Cited

"Boat of Cypress." Trans. Stephen Owen. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2013. 761-62. Print.

Somadeva 5/26/13

In Somadeva, Devasmita and her husband, Guhasena, are to be separated while he handles business abroad. Both of them are concerned about each others' faithfulness during their separation, and they are each granted a red lotus that will wilt if the other is unfaithful. Guhasena makes the mistake of telling some of the other merchants about this arrangement, and it follows that these men take it upon themselves to render Devasmita unfaithful.

In this story, Devasmita is presented as the heroine. She is cunning and logical and is able to determine exactly how these events play out. Throughout the story, she wears disguises to allow the men to believe she is playing into their hands. In reality, they are playing into hers. Devasmita's ability to use the intentions of the men against them with a simple disguise is clever and creative. In this story, the way in which Devasmita is able to correctly assume the steps in which the situation took place is an insight into the relationships of men and women. She tells her servants, secretly, “I am sure that some merchant's sons have seen the never-fading lotus which my husband carries in his hand, and out of curiosity they have asked him about it when he was drinking. Now the scoundrels have come here from their island to seduce me and have engaged that depraved nun as their go-between” (Somadeva 1277). With this statement, she has assumed every detail of the plot against herself and Guhasena exactly. Guhasena is the one who reveals the situation to others, undermining the agreement that the two of them had. Devasmita, on the other hand, is not only able to keep their secret but is able to know exactly what her husband's actions would be, showing her devotion to him. She then uses the disguises in order to keep her faithfulness and also to expose the men who were trying to gain her interest. Her disguises, then, become a way of keeping the relationship strong between Guhasena and Devasmita as well as a way to reunite them later in the story. Her intentions throughout the story are merely to maintain the relationship between the two of them and to keep it strong.

Works Cited

Somadeva. “The Red Lotus of Chastity.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3^rd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2013.1274-1279. Print.