literature

I do consider Alan Moore’s, Light of Thy Countenance, a literary text. To me, literature is any written piece of work and this graphic novel falls into that category. Light of Thy Countenance is a fictional story about a TV star Maureen Cooper. But then that story seems to disappear and Moore focuses on how the world revolves around the television. This strange series of events portrayed into a comic book is literary work. Instead of being a just book with filled with words, it also includes illustrations to help the reader picture the bizarre and complicated story line.

The point of this story is to illustrate the negative influences of the television. As new media and technology are emerging every day, they seem to take over people’s lives causing them to forget about reality. Moore is trying to get this thought across to his audience by stating examples like man being so hypnotized by the characters on television that he does not even care for his loved one anymore. I believe that Moore is being a bit harsh and exaggerated with his point of view on televisions. The way he portrays televisions make them seem powerful with the ability to have power over their viewers. But in reality, we all know that this is not possible.

Even though this graphic novel was a hard read, it has a lot to offer. Stories written from a television’s perspective are not very common so when Moore personifies the television, a different aspect of imagination is created for the readers. This story is also relevant to average people because it provides insight about the history of television and also the effect televisions have on people. Moore’s anti-technology perspective is bluntly illustrated in this graphic novel. But after reading this story, my thought on televisions have not changed because I still believe that they are good source for providing entertainment and relieving stress.

m butterfly

 The play “M Butterfly”, by David Henry Hwang, is about the love relationship between a French diplomat, Rene Gallimard and Song Liling, a male Peking opera singer. Throughout the story, themes of Western vs. Eastern culture, race/ethnicity, and gender are illustrated.

Song compares Western men to Chinese men by stating that “one of the exciting things about loving a Western man… [is that he is not] threatened by a woman’s education” (43). This comparison of different cultures gives Gallimard the impression that Chinese women tend to be more attracted to Western men due to the fact that men like him are more accepting and open minded to women. When song stated that Western men are not threatened by a woman’s education, she implied that Chinese men are. Back then, Chinese people were very traditional and believed that men should always be the strongest and most powerful figure in a relationship. Unlike the Easter cultures, Westerners were more understanding of equality between the genders.

When Song wondered why the roles of women in Peking operas were always played by men, he came the conclusion that this was “because only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act” (63).  The mindset that Song had was sexism against women. He believes that only a man would know how a woman should behave because women should always behave how men want them to. By playing a woman in his opera performances, Song showed his audiences how women should act in society. Decades ago, when the time frame for this play was set, it was highly likely that women were inferior to men. The power that the men had gave them the idea that they were allowed to have control over women and expected women to behave accordingly. Those men probably already created an image of the ideal woman in their minds which they expect all women should conform to.  

social networks

The novel, Pattern Recognition, was heavily influenced by the ease of communication and retrieving information through the internet and social networks. From the start of the novel, Cayce established that “the forum has become one of the most consistent places in her life…” (4). The forum, F:F:F: was the center of Cayce’s life. On that site, she was able to see all of the uploaded video segments and posts by other users. Cayce herself frequently posted her thoughts onto that forum and through there was where she befriended Parkaboy. Without the internet, it would have been impossible to find the makers of the videos.

It seemed like Parkaboy was already one of Cayce’s good friends even though they have only talked through the web. They constantly emailed each other about the videos but have never met face to face. How much could she have known about Parkaboy without having met him? But nonetheless, Cayce trusted Parkaboy enough to fly him to Moscow. When Parkaboy tells Cayce that his name is Peter Gilbert, his “name feels strange on her tongue” (279). After knowing Peter as Parkaboy for so long, it was weird calling him some other name. Cayce most likely tried to give Parkaboy a face to go with his name, but when his name changed, the image of him also changed in her head. Cayce finally met Peter in reality when he found her wandering around somewhere in Russia. Being a true friend that he was, he found her and saved her from death.

While Peter was only Cayce’s online friend, Boone was her partner in trying to uncover the makers of the footage. It would be logical that Cayce should have been able to have complete trust in Boone because they were working side by side but that was not the case. Boone ended up as “the guy who’s been hacking [Cayce’s] hotmail for Bigend” (328). Bigend knew that Cayce was good at doing her job so he used Boone to steal information from Cayce. It is not difficult to understand why it seemed like Cayce had no other friends. There was so much going on in her life that it was hard for her to trust many people.

Although the relationship Cayce formed with Peter was through emails, their friendship lasted longer than Boone and Cayce’s did. It is possible that meeting someone online is not as scary as many people conclude it to be. There is nothing to hide when talking to a random stranger because the chance of meeting is minute.

brainstorm

Internet and the prospects of online social networks

In the novel, Pattern Recognition, the internet is an essential part of the storyline because it is how Cayce gets her inside information about the video clips. Through chains of email and messages from web forum F:F:F:, Cayce is able to keep in contact with Parkaboy, Damien, and her mother from around the world. Even though Cayce has never met Parkaboy before, she feels that she can trust him more than she can with the people around her. Having the technology to be able to communicate with so many people that are each so distant from one another gives off the impression that the world is smaller than it seems. Cayce’s daily life revolves around the videos posted on the forum and her messages from Parkaboy. So without the internet, her life would most likely have no meaning. In the future, it is probable that everyone will become extremely dependent on the internet and online social networks that it would be impossible to live without a computer.

Post 9/11 social commentary

The tragic incident on 9/11 changed America as a whole. Because it was sudden and unexpected, we Americans began to live in a world of uncertainty. This uncertainty of everyday life turned to fear of the unknown. It is difficult knowing that there is something out in the world that cannot be comprehended. This applies to the mysterious footage that is all over the web. The whole world seems to be obsessed over these one hundred video clips because of its puzzling scenes. After which seems a year, still, no one knows who is uploading all of these clips, which makes the people even more compelled to solve the mystery. After 9/11, everyone wanted life to return to normal and wished that something like that would never happen again. People feel safer living life day by day the exact same way, needing to know what is coming next.  Because if something does not fit into that already existing pattern, then chaos is everywhere until a way is found to make the problem fit.

pov

The short story, “A Rose for Emily” was narrated in a first person plural point of view. If the story was to be retold from Tobe’s point of view, the way Emily Grierson was portrayed would be completely different.

Emily was described through the eyes of the narrator, a combined voice of the townspeople. From that perspective, the reader was limited to seeing only what the others saw. But since Tobe was Emily’s personal servant, he would be able to tell Emily’s story in much greater detail. A noticeable change would be a deeper development on Emily’s character. With Tobe narrating the story, the reader would be able to understand the reason behind Emily actions, especially why she murdered Homer. Without Tobe’s inside perspective on these events, only assumptions can be made about Emily’s life.

But if Tobe was shifted to be the narrator, most of the mysteriousness and eeriness would be gone. When Emily’s life was told from the first person plural point of view, it seemed like the narrator and the townspeople were spying on her. Doing things they were not supposed to do, like peeking in her windows and monitoring her nonexistent social life. Not knowing what was really happening in Emily’s house added to the intensity of the disturbing ending.

The theme of death would remain, even if the narration shifted. Every man that Emily has ever loved always ended up dead. If Tobe narrated the story, there would be a more accurate understanding about the relationship between Homer and Emily, and why she killed him and kept his body. Nevertheless, in the end, Emily herself dies too.

machines

When Brautigan wrote this poem several decades ago, computers have just been invented and were extremely rare. In this poem, he expresses his anticipation of the impact computers and future technology would have on society and nature. The tone of this can be interpreted in two ways, either as anti-technology, or as pro-technology.

Back then, it would have been easy to imagine that computers would change the world for the worse. Having organisms like “flowers with spinning blossoms” (15-16) in the forest would be bizarre. This makes it seem like technology has taken over nature and is replacing the organics. Instead of having technology and nature live together mutually, they have to be “programming harmony” (6), being forced to live together. The word programming is too technological and not natural. It is impossible and wrong to try train or instruct nature to become something it is not meant to be. Technology should always be under control and should never be left to take over society.

Brautigan sounds confident that one day “mammals and computers [will] live together mutually” (4-5). Unlike the current situation the world is in right now, where technology is eating away at the environment, there will soon be a happy median where nature and machinery is balanced. We will be “free of our labors and joined back to nature” (20-21). The benefits technology will have on us are so great that we would not have to work in the future. Nature and technology will be able to coexist where one does not overpower the other, giving us more time to enjoy the things we like.

I like to think of this poem as pro-technology because the title, “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace” makes it apparent that Brautigan sees technology as a savior to humans. There is a reason why he titled it this and not “All Destroyed by Machines of Controlling Power”. The overall mood of this poem is optimistic of the future and I would agree with Brautigan that one day, the advances in technology will allow humans to have more freedom and not be restricted by work.

design

-dimpled spider

-heal-all flower

-moth

-rigid satin cloth

-paper kite

A reoccurring theme that the images had was the color white. White was how Frost described all of the central subjects in the poem; the “I found a dimpled spider, fat and white/on a white heal-all, holding up a moth/Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth”. In our culture, white represents pure and innocence and Frost portrayed them that way to contradict what was happening.

In the first four lines, the spider was said to be dimpled, the flower was a one of a kind heal-all, and the moth was like a paper kite. These descriptions gave off the impression that everything was virtuous and that each item was special. Frost purposefully chose the heal-all flower because the name was symbolic to the theme of white and being healthy. But in lines 5-8, the purity was suddenly cut off and words such as “witches’ broth and dead wings” were used. This drastic transition illustrated the gruesome death of the moth. Even though there is a negative tone, Frost mixes in “snow-drop spider and a flower like a froth” to imply that the spider and the flower were still innocent.

In lines 9-12, Frost began to question this strange incident. Why was this flower white, “what brought the kindred spider to that height/then steered the white moth thither in the night?” The white heal-all flower added to the uniqueness of this event because it is not normally white. A white spider and a white moth is not that commonly found either. All three of these different aspects put together created an out of the ordinary moment in nature.

In this poem, Frost is letting the reader think about whether these events are all a string of coincidences, or if it was planned by a higher power. He wondered how this rare coincidence of a white moth and white spider on a white flower occurred. There is a possibility that everything in our life has already been determined by a God. Frost used this rare moment in time as the example to show that God has planned out everything, no matter how small and insignificant. No matter what we do, everything will always have the same outcome. But there is also the possibility that all this was just fate and each creature was just exercising its free will.