Here are some analysis questions that we may explore in class discussion or in an in-class writing. You may also use them in blogging:
1)The genre of this piece of literature is drama, meaning that Ensler wrote these monologues to be performed. Why do you think she wants vaginas to be publicly performed? Why does she want vaginas to be physically embodied? What effect does this have on the way we see and think of vaginas?
2)For Ensler, language is important? Why? What does it matter what we call body parts? What is the importance of language in defining sexuality, bodies, etc.? Why do you think she asks those questions about what vaginas would wear, etc? What is she trying to do with that?
3)Ensler seems to have two purposes in this text: to celebrate vaginas and to raise awareness of violence against women? Does she achieve both of these goals equally? Do they contradict each other at all? What is the effect of reading all the monologues as one large piece?
4)Emotion plays a huge role in what Ensler is trying to accomplish. Why is this? How does she use emotions like humor as a strategy? How does she move us from laughter to embarrassment to sadness to other emotional reactions and why do you think she is doing this?
5)Audience reaction is crucial to Ensler’s overall project. Why? Why won’t she allow us to simply read without having a reaction, whether positive or negative? Why do you think she wants to push us out of our comfort zones? Which monologues resonate most strongly (positively or negatively) with you and why?
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
How much do you know of Haiti's history?
The title of the second story in Danticat's collection, "1937" signifies how much the writing is steeped in Haitian history. You need to know a little about this history to truly understand the images and references in the collection, especially this story, especially the title of the story, and especially the third story, "A Wall of Fire Rising." When reading these two pieces (or before you read or re-read them), look up some information on Haiti and its history. Learn a little about the significance of the folowing things:
1937
voodoo religion
Massacre River
Boukman
Toussaint Louverture
Duvalier (Papa Doc)
tonton macoutes (from 1st story)
1937
voodoo religion
Massacre River
Boukman
Toussaint Louverture
Duvalier (Papa Doc)
tonton macoutes (from 1st story)
Language and Story in Krik? Krak!
Edwidge Danticat, the author of Krik? Krak!, is a Haitian-American writer. Unlike Naomi Shihab Nye who was born in the United States, Danticat was born in Haiti and came here at the age of 12. Like Nye, however, Danticat writes to pass on stories, to reaffirm history, identity, cultural memory. The title of her book comes from a tradition of storytelling passed down from elders in the Haitian community: "We tell the stories so that the young ones will know what came before them. They ask Krik? we say Krak!" This tradition preserves the stories in a collective, communal, memory: "Our stories are kept in our hearts."
This theme of story, speech, writing, and communication are found throughout the book. In the first story, for example, there are two narrators, writing in separate journals (although ostensibly writing to each other as well.) The male narrator is wanted by the government as a traitor because he spoke his mind on the radio. That results in his current situation where all communication is hidden from public view. In fictionalizing these two diary writers, though, Danticat reinstates their intended correspondence as public language -- writing to resist silences placed on them by outside forces. (The author talks more about the importance of voicing these silenced voices in the epilogue, which we are reading for next week.) Language is seen in this first story as dangerous, but also powerful. Think about the relation of language to other forces of power in the story like government, violence, love, family, etc. What part does language play? What can it accomplish?
In the first story, also pay attention to the two speakers, their different writing styles, and the stories they tell (for themselves and for others). Also, consider why Danticat begins her collection with this specific story, putting her own voice somewhat in the background by foregrounding the two 1st-person narrators. Why give us a glimpse of their private and personal communication? At the same time, the individual narrators are also somewhat depersonalized as they are unnamed, anonymous. Why is this? What is the effect of that tactic? Is there a connection to the comment on page 3 that there are "lots of people in this world whose names don't matter to anyone but themselves"? How does that statement relate to Danticat's purpose in writing?
This theme of story, speech, writing, and communication are found throughout the book. In the first story, for example, there are two narrators, writing in separate journals (although ostensibly writing to each other as well.) The male narrator is wanted by the government as a traitor because he spoke his mind on the radio. That results in his current situation where all communication is hidden from public view. In fictionalizing these two diary writers, though, Danticat reinstates their intended correspondence as public language -- writing to resist silences placed on them by outside forces. (The author talks more about the importance of voicing these silenced voices in the epilogue, which we are reading for next week.) Language is seen in this first story as dangerous, but also powerful. Think about the relation of language to other forces of power in the story like government, violence, love, family, etc. What part does language play? What can it accomplish?
In the first story, also pay attention to the two speakers, their different writing styles, and the stories they tell (for themselves and for others). Also, consider why Danticat begins her collection with this specific story, putting her own voice somewhat in the background by foregrounding the two 1st-person narrators. Why give us a glimpse of their private and personal communication? At the same time, the individual narrators are also somewhat depersonalized as they are unnamed, anonymous. Why is this? What is the effect of that tactic? Is there a connection to the comment on page 3 that there are "lots of people in this world whose names don't matter to anyone but themselves"? How does that statement relate to Danticat's purpose in writing?
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Exploring Humanity in Naomi Shihab Nye’s Poetry
In class on Monday, we began to identify a few prominent themes in Nye’s poetry and examine some of her purposes for writing. Our discussion only scratched the surface and did close reading of a few poems. In your blogs, you can go further with what we discussed and apply some of those ideas to other poems in the collection. What are these poems suggesting about humanity, connection, knowledges, perception, stereotypes, etc.? What is Nye painting a picture of as important and why that and not something else? How is she trying to shape what we are seeing and how we are seeing it?
The introduction to her book also provides some excellent starting points for writing. Taking a point she makes there and trying to see how and where it plays out in the poetry one way to do literary analysis of this work.
For example, on pg. xii, she talks of people as “disconnected dust.” How might that compare to the way she writes about connection in poems like “Two Countries” or “How Long Peace Takes” and others? She also describes children as sheltered, tended “birds.” Contrast that image with some of the stories of schoolchildren or images of young people found in various poems. What is she showing in these contrasts?
We touched briefly on the theme of hope in class, how her writing in response to 9/11 nevertheless has a hopeful feeling often. Where does that hopefulness come from? Where do we see it in the poems? In the Intro, she talks of “gazelles” that are “leaping toward the horizon with hope” (xii). This image seems especially important because of the title of the book. Try to examine these gazelles a bit more. What do they represent in the poem “19 Varieties of Gazelle”? Why name the book after them?
In another piece of Nye’s writing, she claims that “poetry humanizes us.” What do you think that means and how does it play out in this collection? How might this connect to her ideas of what “a true Arab” is or is not? Nye writes in the Intro of feeling as if she and others are “writing parts of a great collective poem” helping her to feel “rooted and connected” (xiv). What does she mean by that? What role is writing/storytelling playing in her work in general? And why is that important? Why extend that connection to us as readers?
Go deeper into this theme. Nye says that she writes so she “could think over” things (xiii), that “poetry slows us down, cherishes small details” (xvi), that “writers believe in words” (xvi). All of these phrases seem to connect to the idea that she seeks to mend a gap that exists between people. She finds healing in a variety of places and people, like her Grandmother: “What wisdom did she know that all these men can’t figure out?” (xviii). What underlying meanings is Nye exploring in these passages and in the poems that connect back to these passages.
Finally, if you want, try to place this poetry in its larger context. In the Intro, she talks about unbalanced media representation of the Middle East following 9/11 and the “sorrowful headlines in the background to carry around like sad weights” (xiv). How is her poetry a response to all of that? Go further and look at the long history of war and violence in the Middle East, especially between Israel and the Palestinians. What happened, for example, in 1948? How does the poetry weigh in on that conflict and its historical complexities?
As I said before, this is just a start if you need it. You may have questions and ideas and connections of your own to explore, and that’s fine too. Think through these points as you consider what to write but also as you continue to read. We will hopefully come back to some of these questions in Friday’s class as well.
The introduction to her book also provides some excellent starting points for writing. Taking a point she makes there and trying to see how and where it plays out in the poetry one way to do literary analysis of this work.
For example, on pg. xii, she talks of people as “disconnected dust.” How might that compare to the way she writes about connection in poems like “Two Countries” or “How Long Peace Takes” and others? She also describes children as sheltered, tended “birds.” Contrast that image with some of the stories of schoolchildren or images of young people found in various poems. What is she showing in these contrasts?
We touched briefly on the theme of hope in class, how her writing in response to 9/11 nevertheless has a hopeful feeling often. Where does that hopefulness come from? Where do we see it in the poems? In the Intro, she talks of “gazelles” that are “leaping toward the horizon with hope” (xii). This image seems especially important because of the title of the book. Try to examine these gazelles a bit more. What do they represent in the poem “19 Varieties of Gazelle”? Why name the book after them?
In another piece of Nye’s writing, she claims that “poetry humanizes us.” What do you think that means and how does it play out in this collection? How might this connect to her ideas of what “a true Arab” is or is not? Nye writes in the Intro of feeling as if she and others are “writing parts of a great collective poem” helping her to feel “rooted and connected” (xiv). What does she mean by that? What role is writing/storytelling playing in her work in general? And why is that important? Why extend that connection to us as readers?
Go deeper into this theme. Nye says that she writes so she “could think over” things (xiii), that “poetry slows us down, cherishes small details” (xvi), that “writers believe in words” (xvi). All of these phrases seem to connect to the idea that she seeks to mend a gap that exists between people. She finds healing in a variety of places and people, like her Grandmother: “What wisdom did she know that all these men can’t figure out?” (xviii). What underlying meanings is Nye exploring in these passages and in the poems that connect back to these passages.
Finally, if you want, try to place this poetry in its larger context. In the Intro, she talks about unbalanced media representation of the Middle East following 9/11 and the “sorrowful headlines in the background to carry around like sad weights” (xiv). How is her poetry a response to all of that? Go further and look at the long history of war and violence in the Middle East, especially between Israel and the Palestinians. What happened, for example, in 1948? How does the poetry weigh in on that conflict and its historical complexities?
As I said before, this is just a start if you need it. You may have questions and ideas and connections of your own to explore, and that’s fine too. Think through these points as you consider what to write but also as you continue to read. We will hopefully come back to some of these questions in Friday’s class as well.
Writing a “Literary Analysis” Blog
photo © 2009 Markus | more info (via: Wylio)In the syllabus for this course, there is a detailed description of what your blog posts should contain, and I specify that you should be recording some aspect of “literary analysis.” The analysis you bring to the text is part of the way you make meaning when reading a piece of literature. In class, we have started to model how to do this, what to look for, etc. However, if you haven’t done this before or don’t feel very confident in your abilities yet, I have a few ideas that I hope will jumpstart your writing process.
**See my next post for more specific ideas on writing about Naomi Shihab Nye’s poetry.**
Remember that there is no one right way to do literary analysis, but that doesn’t mean that there is no wrong way. You will need to show that you engaged with the text, understood what you read, read closely and carefully, and can support your analysis with specific examples from the text. Each blog post will be graded on the following items:
1) Clear Understanding of the Text and Accurate Summary, Description, etc.: (This shows that you read the book/piece and took time to understand it accurately.)
2) Original Ideas about the Text: (This shows that you are doing some independent thinking and not just summarizing the text or repeating what we said about it in class.)
3) Analysis and Interpretation: (Your post doesn’t just summarize the book or give your opinion on the book, but tries to make meaning of the subtleties presented in the literature.)
4) Direct Quotes to Support Your Ideas: (Every post you write needs to include at least one direct quote that ties in to your analysis. Be sure to also discuss in the post exactly what the quote shows.)
5) Clarity of Your Writing: (Your writing should be clear and easy to follow.)
Each blog post is worth 20 points total. Each one of these 5 items can earn 4 points each: 4=excellent, 3=good, 2=satisfactory, 1=weak, 0=not at all. Of course, you can also lose points if your post is shorter than the required length, and blogs submitted after the deadline will not earn any points.
I think you will get the hang of how this works after the first week, but feel free to ask questions and read other people’s blogs to see how they’re approaching the assignment.
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