Topic Brainstorm - Final Project

My final project must discuss at least two texts since I have not yet written a project with more than one text. With this in mind, these are the three projects I am pondering:

 

1.       Compare and contrast elements of two different texts. For example, explore the similarities and differences between two characters in the texts, or examine how one theme is handled in similar and dissimilar ways in two different texts.

 

You may choose from any of the readings we have done this semester including poetry, short fiction, and drama. You may also choose two texts from two different genres to write about (a poem and a short story, for example).

 

The two stories I would like to compare and contrast would be Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon  and Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep.  With them both being murder mysteries, there is a great deal to be analyzed between the two.

 

2.       Pick a subject: love, work, freedom, etc. Then choose two selections and discuss how that subject is discussed in those selections. Use literary devices to help frame your discussion.

 

I am considering writing a project on the subject of freedom. I am thinking of using the Four Poems of Angel Island and Chinatown, Edith Maud Eaton’s In the Land of the Free, and Ambrose Bierce’s Moxon’s Master as my literary focus.

 

3.       Think about a theme you see running through your life (failure is the best lesson, love is eternal, etc). Choose a reading that you think also discusses this theme (even if it reaches different conclusions about it). Explore connections between how the theme plays out in your life, and how the theme gets played out in the reading.

 

For this option, I would like to write analyzing the writings of John Muir from The Mountains of California  and Gertrude Atherton’s The Californians or possibly Georgoe Sterling’s Beyond the Breakers.

Week 13 Analysis: Close Reading The Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler writes the most eloquent and descriptive lines, it is hard to choose one small section to focus on. I literally fanned through the book and blindly chose the following section for a Close Reading:

                  "...I had a bellyfull of the Sternwood family.
                   I read all three of the morning papers over my eggs and bacon the next morning. Their accounts of the affair came as close to the truth as newspaper stories usually come -- as close as Mars is to Saturn." (pg. 118).

Chandler's style of writing gives the speaker an addictive personality which draws the reader in. I love the crass, nonchalant,  and direct disposition of the narrator. He has a dry, but clever sense of humor. I also love the way he transitions from one paragraph to another or from one chapter to another. In this excerpt he moves from speaking figuratively about having a "bellyfull of the Sternwood family" to describing his breakfast the following morning.
In this piece the narrator is looking through the morning newspapers to see if either of them have put these connected murders together only to find that each has been "solved" with very simple and far from the truth explanations.

The narrator describes the newspaper's accounts of the stories to be as close to the truth "as Mars is to Saturn"(pg. 118). The satire here is that while the two planets may only be separated by one other planet, the planet which separates them happens to be the largest (by far) planet in the solar system, Jupiter which places them more than three "earths" apart.



Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep. First Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Edition, 1992.

Week 13 Reading Notes: Part B - The Big Sleep

notes on chapters 11 - 17

Marlowe returns to Geiger's house. He quickly realizes Carmen is also there. She has little memory of the night before. Can't recall how, but Marlowe has a key to Geiger's house and lets himself and Carmen inside. She tells him Joe Brody killed Geiger. He then tells her that the photo from that night was gone -- the photo I'm guessing Geiger was taking of her.
Someone new is arriving.

Guy at the door lets himself in and finds Marlowe and Carmen inside. He turns out to be Eddie Mars. Mars is the landlord. He questions Marlowe and why the two of them are there if Geiger is not. questions quickly escalate as Mars pulls out a gun and points it at Marlowe. Mars is highly suspicious of the situation, but Marlowe is able to smooth talk his way out and leaves.

He goes to Joe Brody's place. or the place the kid had followed the trucks with the boxes from a previous chapter... Marlowe throws out a bunch of information to Brody trying to get him to slip on something. He insists Brody killed Geiger to take over his porn rental business. ...Brody has a gun to and it is soon pointed at Marlowe. Marlowe calls out the girl from behind the curtain who turns out to be the girl from Geiger's bookstore... more dots connected... at some point Brody hands Agnes (bookstore girl) the gun.

In comes Carmen Sternwood with a gun pointed at Brody's face demanding the pictures and claiming she saw him shoot Geiger. Sure enough Brody had the photos and gives them to Marlowe.

Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep. First Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Edition, 1992.

Week 13 Reading Notes: Part A - The Big Sleep

I have never been much of a reader so I am not sure if the vivid and articulate descriptions of every little detail is common or if it is just a part of what makes reading Raymond Chandler's writing so special.

I think my notes here entail chapters 8 - 11ish...

Marlowe has discovered Geiger's dead body in his Geiger's home with a naked (with the exception of a pair of jade earrings) Carmen Sternwood sitting on a chair in from of Geiger seemingly unconscious or possibly deep in thought... definitely in a different state of mind. 

At one point Carmen actually giggles and Marlowe has to slap her in the face to get her to snap out of it (unsuccessfully as she giggled again when he showed her Geiger's dead body, she thought he was "cute"). He is able to get her into her car. He took her home and dropped her off in the care of the butler and the maid. 

Marlowe goes back to Geiger's house where he discovers Geiger's body is no longer there. Everything else was exactly as it had been before. It was clearly not the police, but who?

The next morning Bernie Ohls from the DA's office checks in with Marlowe on his developments with General Sternwood. Aparently Ohls sent Marlowe the lead for the Sternwood case. Really though, he was asking Marlowe to join him to a crime scene involving Owen Taylor, the Sternwood's chauffeur. Throughout the trip to the crime scene, Ohls seems to be probing Marlowe for information on the Sternwood case he is working on. -- really pressing Marlowe in Regan, the missing son-in-law.

Marlowe is dropped off and heads back to Geiger's bookstore. Business seems normal... /marlowe tries to get the blonde at the counter to give him some information ,but she insists Geiger is out of town and wouldn't be back until the following day. When he leaves, he sees a truck across the alley with boxes in it and pays a kid to tail the truck. 

Marlowe had a client waiting for him. while it never specifically states her name until the end of the chapter), it is Vivian Sternwood. She is still trying to get information on what her father has Marlowe working on... seemingly hoping he is looking for her missing husband. 

She passes Marlowe an envelope with her name and address typed on it. inside, a photo of Carmen in her jade earrings. She told him the blackmail (a woman had called) amount was $5000 by end of day.  Vivian does not know exactly what the blackmail in regarding but knows it involves something criminal. She believed Carmen was home all night. Through the conversation she states she could borrow the $5000 from Eddie Mars...

Week 12: Weekly Review: The Final Count Down

I have enjoyed reading many of my classmates’ reading notes and analysis. I can see a difference in their writing as it seems folks are connecting with these readings a little more. Maybe this is because they had a choice in what they wanted to read which makes reading a tiny bit easier… or maybe that is just me!

I am working hard to make sure I can accumulate enough points to have earned an “A” in this class. I greatly appreciate all of the extra credit options. I feel like this has been one of my most consistently busy classes, but over the past few weeks, I have grown to appreciate the consistency. I am learning quite a bit from peer reviews/peer input.

This past week was busy with preparing for the Easter holiday – two little ones do not care if you have homework when they are on Spring Break, they want to dye eggs, go see the Easter Bunny, find EVERY community egg hunt possible, and eat non-stop from the moment they wake up and tear in to their Easter baskets on Sunday morning! It has been fun, but I am glad to get back to a regular routine this week.

My main struggle has been making sure I complete each assignment by taking the declaration quizzes! I don’t know why I make it so complicated, but so many times I have actually completed the work, but MISSED the time to complete my declaration! For the final weeks of this class, I am determined to keep on top of my stuff and get all of my declarations in the night they are due and not depend on the extended 12-noon cutoff time.

I am excited to be turning the corner to the final few weeks of class! Best of luck to everyone!

Week 12 Analysis: Analysis featuring Chapters 1 - 5 The Big Sleep

not published :(

Week 12 Notes Part B - The Big Sleep

Marlowe is on a mission to figure out that Geiger has going on at his bookstore. He visits the store where he sees a suspicious man and pursues him on his way out of the store. The man drops the book he had been concealing and Marlowe later reveals the book was pornographic which revealed the other business of the bookstore, Geiger is running a secondary business of renting/lending porn from the back room. 

Marlowe is able to get more information about Geiger from another woman from a different bookstore nearby. The woman is able to give Marlow a description of Geiger which Marlow is able to use to recognize a man who he believes to be Geiger and begins following him. Marlow follows him to a house. A woman arrives. Marlowe runs her plates and finds the car belongs to Carmen (the General's daughter). It grows late as Marlowe is still staked outside when he hears gun shots and screams. He climbs through a window into the house to find Carmen sitting (naked) in a chair, seemingly drugged and  Geiger shot dead .

Week 12 Reading Notes: Part A - The Big Sleep

I chose to read "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler

The book has 32 chapters so I will break it down into reading 10 - 11 chapters a week.
.

Character development:

Detective Philip Marlowe aka "Doghouse Reilly" ( or at least to the General's daughter)
General Sternwood (oil / wealthy / is being blackmailed, not the first time)
Norris (General's butler)
Carmen Sternwood - (General's younger daughter)
Joe Brody (Previously blackmailed the General)
Arthur Geiger (blackmailing General with his daughters gambling problem, $1,000)
Rusty Regan (General's missing son-in-law)
Vivian Sternwood (General's oldest daughter)

Rusty just randomly drove away one day without saying anything. His car was found in a garage.

Week 11: Taking Stock

I have backed up my blog to my computer.
I have confirmed that I have posted my declarations due by 4/14 as well as checked my progress in canvas up to this point.
I have reviewed announcements and I am current!

I have not found anything notable in this week's edition of taking stock :)

Week 11 Analysis: Close Reading - David Henderson

Growing up in Southern California and living my adult life in Northern California, I really enjoyed reading each section of David Henderson's "California 13". I connected with so many lines because I have experienced these places personally and in a very similar way.  We enter David Henderson's "California 13" in the Berkeley hills then continue to travel south down the coast of California.

I chose to write my close reading on the following section:

Santa Monica and Venice Beach
weekenders biking walking jogging skating
disco-skaters rocking backwards
tank tops halter tops and shorts
cradling boom boxes like babies
rolling sand and surf
the horizon above our heads
the Far East due West
beach blondes frolic
topless surf
white noise of Malibu

We land in Santa Monica near the middle of the writing . It is not necessarily written in order of direction or location. Henderson jumps around a bit. The stanza here is written as one would see people and experience the surroundings of Venice Beach. You really would see people all around you (weekend or weekday). Jogging, skating, biking, walking... everyone is moving . There is non stop action in any direction you look. The section ends with "white noise of Malibu". I had never thought of it as white noise, but if you were to show me a clip of the above description, I would immediately connect it with Venice Beach. It is interesting though, because I initially read it as a silent film, but I can also see how my image of a silent film could also translate into white noise. I just really loved this stanza of "California 13".

Week 11 Reading Notes: Part B - Henderson

David Henderson
born in New York
1942 - present
co-founder of Black Art Movement
helped establish the Society of Umbra
arrived in Berkeley in 1968

"California 13"

Project 2 Final Submission

    Stories: Underestimated Artifacts

            Stories are written with a certain purpose in mind. Ramona was written by Helen Hunt Jackson after she had been introduced to California tribal cultural and experienced the lowliness Native American Indians had been subjected to. Jackson wrote this story to bring awareness to the inhumanity shown towards American Indians. Within this essay, I am going to explain how Ramona can be considered and artifact of history as well as explore a few things this story teaches us about history and how it does so in a different way than you would experience through a history book.

             The story of Ramona was written in the year 1884. At this time in American history, American Indians were forced, against their will, to either conform with general society or stay on designated Indian reservations. Their entire standard of living had been reconstructed in a far from positive way. Jackson attempted to elicit an emotional response from the reader to view American Indians in a different way; to humanize them, by showing an interpersonal connection between the reader and the characters, through a love story. By Google definition, an artifact is “an object made by a human being, typically an item of cultural or historical interest” (Google). By this simple definition, it is clear and obvious to see the story of Ramona as an artifact of history.

            The content of the story is deeper than a forbidden romance. For the purpose of this essay, I will contain my analysis on the short excerpt of Ramona which concludes just as Alessandro, Ramona’s forbidden love, first lays eyes on Ramona. The history the reader absorbs from the small portion of Chapter 4 is that of the negative feelings towards Native Americans, from the Catholic population in Southern California, the social status among households and ethnicities, as well how as simple things such as transportation were a luxury.

           An elderly priest was traveling a day’s journey by foot. He was thinking to himself about the sadness he felt over losing his Missions. “He had lost heart; stretched out wearily as he brooded over sad memories and still sadder anticipations, -- the downfall of the Missions, the loss of their vast estates, and the growing power of the ungodly in the land.” (pg. 269, 270). Our history books teach us very one-sided “facts”. With the help of this story, we can unravel a different side of the facts. Through researching “the downfall of the California Missions”, I was directed to the California Missions Resource Center and found that “in 1831-32 the missions were “secularized” by the Mexican government. Land was distributed to the Indians (most of who were quickly hoodwinked out of their holdings.)” (Why Did the Mission System End). With this knowledge, I am now able to understand the priest’s frustration toward the Indians and why he held them responsible for the Missions demise. He felt he had been robbed by the Indians as well as the government who granted “the ungodly” the land; however, he did not know that many of these tribes had lost their designated land just as quickly as they had been granted it (pg. 270). The Indians, too, were hit with a terrible blow.

             It is also important to address the idea of beauty expressed within chapter four. Ramona was of Indian and Caucasian ancestry and was fostered in a Mexican culture. She describes the character Felipe, the full Mexican son of her foster mother, by exclaiming to herself, “How beautiful Felipe is!” “How much handsomer brown eyes are than blue! I wish my eyes were the color of Felipe’s!” (pg. 273). She would compare his favorable features to her “ugly” ones. All the while the author describes Ramona as “unconscious of her own beauty”, furthermore, Felipe is equally infatuated with her beauty (pg. 273). It is apparent that Ramona has been raised within a culture of anger and dislike towards Indians that has cultivated a level of self-loathing towards the part of herself that resembles Indian characteristics. She is unable to find the beauty within herself and feels that others could not love her or could not love her as much as they might love someone who is not of Indian descent.

            While referencing the beauty of Felipe, Ramona states, “If I had been beautiful like that, she would have liked me better.” (273). She then continued to list distinguishable characteristics of her Indian genetics, such as her thick, dark eyebrows to his delicate eyebrows. Ramona believed that her foster mother would have been able to love her if she was not part Indian. While her foster mother still provided the same accommodations as Felipe, Ramona could feel the lack of love from her. Ramona was still known as a “Señorita” of the house, but there is a difference between status and love. Ramona had made herself believe this lack of love stemmed from the fact that Ramona was of Indian descent. Because of this Ramona resented her heritage and viewed her physical features as ugly.

             The relationship between Ramona, who was a Señorita of the household, and Margarita, the maid, gives the reader a sense of the expectations of the house maids of this time and of this culture. Margarita had been responsible to care for an altar-cloth which she had badly torn. Margarita was terrified to admit this to the lady of the house; Señora Moreno, Ramona’s foster mother. It is unclear if Margarita is afraid of a physical punishment, but it is clear that she did not want to disappoint Señora Moreno. Ramona sees her terror and immediately tries to help the maid and mend the cloth which was to be used for mass the next morning. Even though Ramona is treated as one of the Señora’s own children, Ramona still sees herself as an outsider and is compelled out of compassion to help Margarita in her time of desperation. This segment regarding the alter-cloth also gives the reader insight of the importance to the maids of maintaining favor with the head of the household, or in this situation Señora Moreno. “I prayed to the Virgin to let me die. The Señora will never forgive me.” (pg. 274). Stated by Margarita to Ramona when she felt she had completely ruined a handmade cloth sewn by Señora Moreno many years ago. The thought of losing Señora Moreno’s favor was crippling to Margarita.

               The story of Ramona is truly filled with historical artifacts. These artifacts are hidden within the character’s expressions and feelings of themselves and of others. Their expressions and feelings divulge truths of how history affected them and how it may have affected other people like them. This story, while fiction, was written from plausible experiences of a difficult time in our country’s history. This story was written to bring awareness to an otherwise disregarded and deteriorating quality of life for Native American Indians. It is important to read about history and learn of it through the eyes of someone who has experienced it directly. Personal experience is not something you can learn from a history book, but it truly is a priceless artifact that we should treasure.

Works Cited

Hicks, Jack, and James D. Houston. “Helen Hunt Jackson” The Literature of California,             University of California Press, 2000, pp. 268–278.

“Why Did the Mission System End?”. California Missions Resource Center,                                        www.missionscalifornia.com/ate/why-mission-system-end.html.

Week 10 Reading Notes Part A: Jade Wong

Jade Snow Wong
1922-2006

I chose this of the two readings for tonight first because my daughter's middle name is Jade and second, I was intrigued with a more recent author. She was an author alive within my own lifetime and I wanted to learn more about her as well as read a portion of one of her writings; this one happened to be an autobiography so even better!

Jade Snow Wong was born from immigrant parents in San Francisco. Raised in Chinatown. Graduate of Mills College. Her book, "Fifth Chinese Daughter" was the first written by an Asian American female and receive national recognition (pg. 593).

She chose to work away from her family factory. Worked in 7 different homes. she received referrals and added more clientele. She named the families by category and not of family names:

• horsy family - elderly father (quiet), tense mother, 2 daughters needing to be "smart"; they took family photos in "horsy poses"
• the apartment-house family - one 3 year old daughter; center of their world;
• the political couple - middle aged. dinners in honor of young Californian political figures ; mostly men
• bridge-playing group - The Gilberts' - big, beautiful home. played bridge every Sunday, no matter what. "The girls" middle aged, 35 - 50, wore hats.

All of this was prior to her graduating high school and beginning her studies at Mills College.
Her father preached that education was the path to freedom. (pg. 596). She had to beg her father to help support her through college. He was insistent that the family's financial support would go to the men in the family first as they are who carries the family name..."she was trapped in a mesh of tradition woven thousands of miles away by ancestors who had had no knowledge that someday one generation of their own progeny might be raised in another culture."(pg. 597) However, she was conflicted by knowing she was also the person she is now because of these Chinese traditions.

Jade is able to attend Mills College through scholarships as well as working directly for the dean. She is challenged by new ways of learning and not only adapts, but thrives from it.

as a part of a course, the professor asks Jade if they may be able to tour her father's factory and compare/contrast the visit to a larger American factory. She noticed a few drastic differences:

• size (20 times larger)
• the workers did not talk amongst themselves
• it would not have satisfied the happiness of a baby
• there was no personalization or significance for the employees