Final Thoughts On Libra

One of the main things I've taken from Libra is that there is a legitimate reason for those that are obsessed to be obsessed with the assassination of JFK. The shooting presents a legitimate conspiracy that I had not known much about prior to reading the book. All I'd ever heard of was that Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK and that was it. I felt pretty naive when just about everyone knew there was something missing to the case. I liked the idea of writing about the conspiracy from what DeLillo envisioned led to Lee shooting JFK. Conspiracy is always a popular topic to discuss (the one I find most interesting is the Illuminati) and the assassination of JFK provides much discussion. After reading Libra and listening to all of the discussion about the shooting, I am pretty convinced that there is something missing to the story.

I really liked Libra mainly due to the conspiracy part. Hearing everybody's opinions, watching the Zapruder film, reading DeLillo's depiction of the events, and everything else interested me in all of the possible scenarios that could have taken place on that fateful day. The oddest explanation for the shooting was that the driver shot JFK. Well, how would nobody see that or realize it was him? It makes no sense but I guess until we find out what really happened, which I personally doubt will ever happen, no one will ever know for sure. The mystery is what appeals to me and what keeps many of those JFK junkies memorizing and studying frames and coming up with their own theories.

Reaction To The Zapruder Film

While watching the loop of JFK's assassination, I felt like the room got increasingly uncomfortable with the film. There was something about the silence in the room as everyone watched the film that seemed eerie. Everyone expected the shot every single loop and knew exactly when it would happen.

This was actually my first time ever seeing footage of the assassination of JFK. I'd never looked it up before nor been showed it by a teacher or friend. I found it pretty graphic for a cheaply taken film, you could see parts of JFK's head and brain flying around after he had been shot. Watching Kennedy's head get blown open over and over with the film zooming in more and more was very uncomfortable to watch. I don't understand why JFK junkies would want to watch the film over and over to dissect it. I could feel the people around me get uncomfortable with the film as well. They knew what was coming as the vehicle came over the hill and nothing could change it.

I understand the controversy over the shooting of JFK as it did seem like the bullet was coming from a different angle than it should. I even read comments on the video that said the shot might've even came from the car itself, but that's highly doubtful. Overall, I just thought the video being looped over and over was uncomfortable and unnecessary.

Lee Harvey Oswald As A Character

Prior to reading Libra, I knew that Lee Harvey Oswald was a very controversial and polarizing character in American history. I was curious as to how DeLillo would portray Oswald in his book, if he would be seen as a mad man who was destined to commit a heinous crime or if Oswald's portrayal would be humane and unbiased.

In Libra, Oswald,is treated quite fairly. He is not portrayed sympathetically, nor is he portrayed harshly in the novel. He's still a very polarizing character as one would expect and it's hard to attach to him as a character. He does many things that makes the reader uncomfortable with him. He loves his wife, yet beats her and mistreats her. He is an intelligent person but his over the top communist political views keep him from fitting into American society. He also seems to be easily manipulated by others. I think coming into reading Libra, many readers might have their own personal bias against Oswald. After all, he is associated with probably the most famous crime of the 20th century.

Overall, it's very hard to sympathize or relate to Oswald as a character. He doesn't do anything to make him seem like a likeable person in the book, yet I feel like DeLillo's portrayal of him was exactly the type of person that he was in real life. DeLillo didn't sugarcoat anything while writing Oswald's story and he kept it real.

Thoughts On The Short Story Project

I'm just gonna say it: the short story project may have been the most enjoyable assignment I've ever done for an English class, maybe in any class. The project gave us free reign to write about whatever we wanted and it was very fun to just type out your thoughts as they came to you rather than having to research something or following a laid out criteria.

At first, I dreaded the idea of another project. After all, being a second semester senior with only a couple weeks left before you graduate you don't want to do any work whatsoever. But when I finally sat down and wrote, I found it very enjoyable. There's nothing better for a school assignment than being able to just write without having to worry about any restrictions.

My one regret is not starting on my story sooner. When I finished I felt like it was missing something which a couple more days of writing could've fixed. Had I known how enjoyable this assignment actually was earlier, I would've anything to perfect my story.

Overall, I loved this assignment and it was a great way to end the semester. What I thought would just be another project that I'd have to get out of the way to graduate ended up being a very enjoyable experience. I definitely think Mr. Mitchell should continue to assign these sort of projects in the future. The assignment was not only beneficial to me as a writer but allowed me to explore my creativity.

First Thoughts on Libra

Don Dellilo's "Libra" seems like a very promising book. The story revolving around a postmodernist view on the assassination of JFK makes for a potentially extremely interesting read. I've always been interested in conspiracy theories which makes the whole conspiracy theory involving the CIA particularly intriguing to me. I'm usually skeptical about conspiracy theories but in the case of Libra's plot I definitely think it was a great possibility that there was a conspiracy. It'll be nice to see how Dellilo interprets these theories and how he portrays Lee as a character.

So far the book hasn't been as confusing as some of the other books we've read (Mumbo Jumbo...) which always is important to keep me engaged. There are definitely post-modernist aspects to the book but they aren't so "Look at me! I'm post-modernist" as it was like in Mumbo Jumbo. It's subtle yet you notice them and appreciate them, rather than Reed making them so obvious that it gets kind of bothering. I think my interest in the plot as well will keep me motivated to read the book thoroughly. I look forward to reading the rest of Libra, so far it has not disappointed.

Lyndon

The short story "Lyndon" by David Foster Wallace is a look at the Lyndon B. Johnson's life through the eyes of a member of his staff. It is a lot different from what one would expect from someone who would become the most powerful man in the United States of America.

First of all, the first line, "'My name is Lyndon Baines Johnson. I own the fucking floor you stand on, boy.'l speaks for itself. It is definitely a very in-depth look at Lyndon that people would not normally read about. The way he is portrayed is very vulgar and sometimes downright disgusting. I did not like Lyndon as a character at all. I found him to be quite an asshole which one wouldn't expect from someone with such power. His always calling people "boy" and "son" really bothered me. It made him sound like he always talked down to people.

I didn't think Wallace could think of this much to write about Johnson. Like why pick Lyndon B. Johnson over any other president to write about? There were a lot of more interesting presidents he could've written about that would have made a more interesting read. Overall I didn't really like reading the short story. Although it is very interesting that he was sworn in as the president right after the assassination of JFK which is probably why we read this before starting Libra.

Thoughts On Kindred

After reading the blurb at the back of the book that explains the plot a little bit, my first impression of Kindred was that it would be very interesting. I really liked the whole idea of two modern people being able to go back in time and experience what life was like back then. Readers would be able to see what it was like to be a slave in the early 19th century through Dana's eyes. When Kevin and Dana decide to pretend that Kevin is Dana's master I thought it was really interesting because if they were actually from that time that could have been a reality.

As the story progressed I became more and more interested in Dana's interactions with Rufus. Since Rufus is one of Dana's ancestors and has to have a child named Hagar for Dana to exist, it is pivotal that Dana subtly coax Rufus into having Hagar. This is all complicated by Rufus' questionable character. He rapes Alice and even tells Dana that he has feelings for her. Hagar ends up being born though and Dana is now sure that when she returns to the 20th century that she'll exist. I believe that Dana was sent back in time to save Rufus from his injury and if she'd failed she would not have been able to go back to her own time.

Overall I enjoyed reading Kindred because of its interesting plot. I'd never read a book set in the antebellum South before and I found it a good read. The kind of sci-fi aspect of time traveling was also something that sparked my interest. I honestly don't think there was much controversy or intensely thought-provoking theme surrounding the story, just a well-written and interesting book.

Garden of Eden Reference in SF

Before I'm completely done with talking about Slaughterhouse Five, I wanted to revisit an interesting point that came up in the panel presentations yesterday. During the presentation, the point that Billy Pilgrim and Montana Wildhack were like Adam and Eve and planet Tralfamadore was like the Garden of Eden came up. I thought this was quite the fitting comparison because Billy and Montana were the first humans on Tralfamadore just like Adam and Eve were the first humans on Earth. Billy and Montana become like Adam and Eve to start the human race over again. Billy, like Adam, is not ashamed of his nakedness and is also given Montana after she is kidnapped kind of like God creating Eve for Adam to have a mate.

I feel like Billy Pilgrim is a Christ-like character in the regard that he was an innocent individual who was tainted by society and the evils of humanity. This makes his character even more useful because more people can read Slaughterhouse Five and follow his story. I can't really think of any other significance in the comparisons to Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden but whatever other underlying meanings there are, I'm sure they're meant to be there. Vonnegut makes them too obvious for them to be just a mere coincidence.

Final Thoughts on SF and Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse Five was definitely deserving of all of the accolades and attention that it has received. It was a well-written book that really had me thinking about the carnage and animosity of war to another level. I only vaguely knew about what happened in Dresden during WWII and after finding out more about it I couldn't help but think about how meaningless the bombing was. The very fact that Vonnegut himself was apart of it and even had to gather bodies as a POW makes the book that much more powerful.

I feel like Vonnegut was meant to write Slaughterhouse Five to expose just how mentally destroyed one becomes after witnessing such an atrocity. Since he has first hand experience, he can truly capture the essence of the matter and put it on paper better than someone that was merely writing on the topic. He expertly explores the thoughts and actions of someone so severely affected by the war because he knows exactly what Billy Pilgrim must've went through. I truly respect Vonnegut for being able to write on such a sensitive subject to him.

All in all, the book was a very good read that really held my interest. Vonnegut was a much more reliable source on anti-war efforts than anything I've ever read before. I was drawn to his writing because of his experiences and I wanted to know what he had to say about them through Billy Pilgrim.

Tralfamadore's Impact on Slaughterhouse Five

Before reading the book, I had an idea that Vonnegut's writing style or ideas would be a little different from conventional authors since this is a class about postmodernist writing after all. Since the book is "one of the world's great antiwar book" you would expect there to be a made up planet that the main character of the book gets abducted to, right? Wrong. What a curveball that Vonnegut threw at the readers. Even though this is an odd idea to me, it actually worked pretty well in portraying what war could do to one's mind.

Following World War II, Billy Pilgrim doesn't show very many signs of a mental collapse other than a mild nervous collapse in which he was given shock treatments. He lives a normal life and even enjoys great success in becoming rich. But after the plane crash in 1968 in which he is the only survivor, everything goes for the worse. He claims to be abducted to the planet Tralfamadore and has all of these experiences on the planet. I believe that Billy goes through this because he is so torn from all the what he witnessed at Dresden that he tries to escape from a world that would allow such a thing to happen by hallucinating.

Tralfamadore and their theory on death is just a coping mechanism for Billy to try to come to terms with his experiences. In the end although it is a strange tactic that I would never expect, it is an effective way to show the horrors of war and demonstrate how thoroughly traumatized a soldier becomes after experiencing the cruelty of war.

The Portrayal of Death in Slaughterhouse Five

Early in the book "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, we are introduced to Billy Pilgrim and the planet Tralfamadore. During my encounter with Tralfamadore, I found out that death is viewed much differently on the planet than on Earth. When one dies, they only appear to die and is alive in the past. "When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in the particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is 'So it goes.'" Billy Pilgrim says.

So it goes. Such a nonchalant phrase to say when you see someone die. It's pretty much like shrugging off that someone has died and carrying on like it's nothing big. Throughout the book whenever someone dies, the same recurring phrase, "So it goes" appears. The very use of this phrase seems to desensitize the harsh reality of what just happened and provide reassurance. When someone dies is seen dying in the war, the phrase is there to let the reader know that everything will go on and the Tralfamadorian thought of them still living in the past is there.

Death is not as big of a deal in Slaughterhouse Five as it would be in other anti-war novels. The reader relates with the Tralfamadorian mindset that life can exist through moments and memories which makes death not as significant as they would expect. If someone dies in the story, so it goes. Life goes on and they will live on in moments in the past.

The Unconventional Writing Style of Ishmael Reed

As I previously mentioned in my last blog post, Ishmael Reed brings to the table a very unconventional style of writing that I've never encountered before. As I've progressed further into the book, I have come upon countless cases of this unique style that would not be found in any other works of literature. Although there are many other examples, here are a few:

1) Unlike every book I've ever read, the start of a chapter isn't placed on another page, rather he just starts the next chapter as soon as the previous one ends. 2) Dialogue is not placed in quotation marks. This could potentially become quite confusing. 3)Reed doesn't write out numbers. "One" is 1 and "thousands" is 1000s in the book. This kind of throws me off since I'm used to authors writing out numbers, I get distracted by the fact that numbers frequently appear where they're not supposed to. 4) There are portions of writing with altered font, font size, and bolded words. Once again, this distracts me as I'm not used to seeing such writing. The last thing I'll address is 5) There are random pictures placed in the book. I honestly dot find them helpful in the least, it's usually just a picture of something vague that was mentioned a little bit. A caption describing the picture would help, but then again this is Reed's writing, as confusing as possible.

Overall, although Reed's unconventional writing style is distracting, it also makes the reading more entertaining since you don't know what to expect from him. It makes me want to continue reading the book just to see what crazy bs he can come up with next.

A Whole Bunch of Mumbo Jumbo

As the title suggests, Mumbo Jumbo is a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo. The writing is all over the place! As soon as I opened up the book, I knew I was in for a ride.

Mumbo Jumbo is pretty much the definition of a postmodernist book. The first chapter starts before the title page, there are pictures throughout the book, there are no quotation marks during dialogue, there are a ton of one-page chapters, and I'm sure even more unconventional things will pop up as the book continues.

Through what I've read, I've seen that "jes grew" is some epidemic that makes people go crazy, speak in tongues, and move differenty and people are trying to figure out how it works. But it really isn't actually a disease through my interpretation, perhaps it is just a representation of how people were acting at the time. The first chapter drew my attention and that's always a good sign when I'm reading a book. Overall, I think the plot has a lot of potential to be very interesting and should prove to be very exciting.

The style of writing definitely intrigues me and I'm looking forward to see more of what Ishmael Reed is able to do to make the book his own style of writing. I really like reading his free-flowing, undefined style of writing. It makes the book a lot more interesting since it's no way at all a conventional book. All in all, I feel like this book will be a fun and interesting read for me.

Quick Thoughts On Ragtime

Upon reading Ragtime I was very curious what kind of book it would be like. I'd never read a book that implemented historical figures in a fictional setting and thought it'd be confusing and hard to follow. In the end, I really enjoyed reading the book and it wasn't difficult at all to understand as I had expected.

The story overall was very interesting and I believe that most of the historical figures placed in the story, such as Harry Houdini and Emma Goldman, were used very well in the story. He alters certain details about them and places them into completely out of place situations, creating a fantasy world that they interact in, which I thought worked well for the story. I also really liked the fact that the book had multiple stories going on at once. There was always a different story to follow which kept each chapter refreshing and interesting. The book kind of started off slowly but once the story of Coalhouse Walker was introduced, the book was pretty much non-stop action. That made the book very enjoyable as I tend to like exciting, fast-paced books.

Overall, Ragtime was a very exciting and fun book to read and I definitely enjoyed reading it. The allusions to historical figures throughout the book made it all the more interesting since I'd never encountered a book that did that before. Ragtime has certainly raised my expectations for future books in the curriculum!

The Portrayal of Coalhouse Walker

When I was first introduced to Coalhouse Walker in Ragtime, I thought he was a highly respectable character. He had money, manners, and was taking responsibility for the child he fathered. Characters such as father and mother were shown to be shocked that Coalhouse was so well mannered, as it was not expected of his "social position" as a black man. On pg. 162, Father realizes "that Coalhouse Walker Jr. didn't know he was a Negro. The more he thought about this the more true it seemed. Walker didn't act or talk like a colored man. He seemed to be able to transform the customary deferences practiced by his race so that they reflected to his own dignity rather than the recipient's." Because Coalhouse Walker acts so respectable he feels that he deserves to be treated the same way. When he is disrespected by the volunteers at the thoroughfare, he is adamant that his car be restored and that he is apologized to. Following Sarah's death, Coalhouse soon becomes deranged and decides he is going to kill firemen and destroy firehouses until he gets his demands. Rather than the once respectable and good guy, he becomes exactly what white people would expect from a black man.

Coalhouse Walker is definitely placed in the story to demonstrate racial tensions at the time. The trashing of his Model-T was such an important part of his story. Rather than challenging the norm of how a black man should act, his anger resorts to violence. I thought his story would have a happy ending- he and Sarah would get married, they'd raise their child well and live happily ever after. But when his car was ruined, I knew that his story was taking a turn for the worse. Overall, Coalhouse Walker was a pivotal character in Ragtime who portrayed the race relations in the early 1900s through his encounters.