alfisher’s Blog

Loyalty is tragic in this play because it is something that is i guess you could say “broken” even though it is something of great importance within everyone involved. Loyalty is something that is important in the community because they all look out for each other as if they are all family, and if someone is unloyal then its as if they are turning their backs on their family. It’s especially important within this community of Italians and immigrants because by a handful of them being there illegally, its loyalty within others that they are seeking to keep them in America. If one opens their mouth and word leaks out of them being there then they could not only be sent back home, but break the bond that they have with their friends and family as well because the loyalty and trust is something that the pride most. With Eddie in particular loyalty is an issue because he has been betrayed before as well as having been the betrayer which makes him a hypocrite for feeling the way that he did once he found out he was betrayed. But it is a difficult value for him because he expects it from others but has difficulty staying try to it himself.

Looking at the 1950′s and Miller, loyalty could have been an issue due to the ideas of communists and how people were being exposed as such during that time. And just taking a stab at it but could be completely wrong, but loyalty could have been an issue for him as well within his personal life. Being involved with one of the biggest names at the time, Monroe, he could have questioned her loyalty to him seeing how she led the life and career that she did.

My notion of loyalty has not been tested in such ways as Eddie but I have come across situations where friends made me feel the need to choose between them. My loyalty to both was tested…but to handle the situation I chose to have neither if i could not have both. I personally see myself as a very loyal person; once you are in good with me, i am going to stick by you ’til the very end, even if someone does me dirty i still seem to find the best of them and keep them around. I personally see this as one of my many weaknesses as a person because there are those who expect you to do right by them but wont do the same for you.

Even outside of personal life and issues, loyalty is something you should have towards something like your job. It could lead to many opportunities for you such as raises and promotions. As well its nice to be loyal to things that you invest your time and money into such as your bank and cell phone carrier, because they too give out rewards for having loyalty within them. Showing others that you are loyal too shows them that you can be trusted and being trusted is something that we all need in life to get by.

Madness is the motif in my mind in the sense that it includes everything else as well (starvation, geography, the drugs, the body, and suicide are all caused by or lead to madness). The poem starts off by stating that madness is the reason why the best minds were destroyed. All of the chaos geographically going on at the time as well as domestically for some, led to madness which included people wanting their “quick fix” from the drugs and having thoughts of suicide and overall just losing it.

 ”who burned cigarette holes in their arms protesting
              the narcotic tobacco haze of Capitalism,
       who distributed Supercommunist pamphlets in Union
              Square weeping and undressing while the sirens
              of Los Alamos wailed them down, and wailed
              down Wall, and the Staten Island ferry also
              wailed,
       who broke down crying in white gymnasiums naked
              and trembling before the machinery of other
              skeletons,
       who bit detectives in the neck and shrieked with delight
              in police cars for committing no crime but their
              own wild cooking pederasty and intoxication,
       who howled on their knees in the subway and were
              dragged off the roof waving genitals and manu-
              scripts,
       who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly
              motorcyclists, and screamed with joy”

this chunk alone shows madness.. yelling and protesting to breaking down and crying, biting and howling and screaming with joy… all sounds like madness to me. Madness in the sense that nothing can be done to alleviate the issue, and madness simply because of the issue. Over the course of the poem i do not feel as if the motif changes; its still madness just maybe mentioned in different ways throughout. I feel like he uses madness as a motif because of the anger and frustration that people feel towards the situation at hand. Maybe he is just trying to say how f’d up our culture is and how f’d up the history of our nation is even though we hide behind this veil trying to come off to the rest of the world that we are great and free of impurities… like our nation is perfect and has not and cannot do anything wrong. Maybe he is saying that all of the lies and all of the cover-ups and internal corruption within every system and form of government or corporation with power, has caused many to go mad because they are being denied the truth even though they know that there is some there. Then again he could be referring to those who have fought to make this country a great place but yet still are feeling restricted and frustrated because of the inability for the nation to live up to it’s promise. In the last few lines he talks of how he is in “Rockland” reflecting on the ugliness hidden within America  which is why i think that maybe the entire poem is talking of this idea. Another idea that came to mind is that he could be talking of how as a nation we are constantly being deceived by our leaders and tricked into believing what they tell us on things like war, and power, how to live life and what to believe and not to believe; its like he is showing the need to rebel and think for yourself so you aren’t led to madness from the lies and deception.

Because I could not stop for Death –

(reading this i think of how no one knows when it’s their time to go and because you cant prevent death you just have to make the best of the time that you have. What i think she is getting at in this line is some sort of introduction to events that took place within her life before death came to take her)

He kindly stopped for me –

(it’s like she was given a chance to make the best of her life or maybe fulfill something she has always wanted to do, or maybe even needs to do before she dies)

The Carriage held but just Ourselves –

(its just her and death… like time stopped in a sense or maybe even there going back in time)

And Immortality.

(she cant die because she is with death and he is holding off on taking her out to do whatever it is she has to do)

We slowly drove — He knew no haste

(they were in no rush to reach their destination. maybe death wanted to show her something of importance that she may have missed in the past)

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility –

(she dropped everything of importance to her for the sake of death and wherever it was he was taking her and whatever it is he wanted to show her)

We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess — in the Ring –

(gives me the impression that they went through her childhood)

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –

(the feilds of gazing grain could be the years of her adulthood.. working and taking part in the normal routines of  “adulthood”)

We passed the Setting Sun –

(the setting sun is her reaching her older years and nearing death)

Or rather — He passed Us –

(he passed them because since she is with death and has “paused for her” she cant die… she is in a place of immortality)

The Dews drew quivering and chill –

(at the place they are visiting now, she is dead. The dew is quivering and chill.. as death os cold)

For only Gossamer, my Gown –

My Tippet — only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground –

The Roof was scarcely visible –

The Cornice — in the Ground –

(swelling of the ground would be the place where she shall be put to rest… for the ground that is swollen would be that which is covering her casket which is the cornice in the ground. she is dead and has been buried in the image death has shown her though she is still immortal and only seeing this from the carriage in which her and death are riding in)

Since then — ‘tis Centuries — and yet

Feels shorter than the Day

(its been years now since her ride with death and she still has not felt as if its her time to go.. for the days dont feel any shorter)

I first surmised the Horses’ Heads

Were toward Eternity –

(upon her first encounter with death and the carriage ride she initially assumed it was her ride to heaven but instead she is now still sitting and waiting for that day to come)

Now looking back on what i wrote i initially said that maybe death wanted to take her on a ride and maybe show her something that she missed in life or failed to achieve, but now i look at it as she is taking a mental journey herself and as far as death she is maybe picturing what it may be like as she sits and waits for that day to come. Why she would sit and wait for death to come, i do not know. Maybe she cant wait to be in a place of Eternity where she will not have to worry about the realities of life and the fact that we must die; once she is dead, death wont be a concern or something to worry about. But she can only sit and wait because death is in no “haste” to come and take her life away.

My opinion towards Jig is that she is a person who has a hard time expressing her wants, and gives in to the whims and wants of others. She isn’t completely selfless as some have mentioned, because in the tone that came across to me in the reading, she does feel for herself and would like to be happy within her wants as well, she just doesn’t stand up for herself. “Doesn’t it mean anything to you? We could get along”, shows her kind of standing up for maybe wanting to not go through with the operation but in the same sense it doesn’t seem strong enough in context to maybe express that she is standing up for herself versus maybe just trying to make the American feel bad before completely giving into his request. In the line where she states, “Oh yes. But I don’t care about me. And I’ll do it and then everything will be fine”, I get a sense of sarcasm and resentment towards the American while trying to make him feel bad because he is being selfish about the whole situation, but she doesn’t really stand up for herself in any other way. “But I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want anyone else”, shows how selfish the American is being about it all. 

Taking the word feel into account, i don’t think it really has a HUGE significance, but it does play off of both characters differently in the sense that they both feel different about the situation. Jig wants to do whats best for both her and the American but at the same time doesn’t want to go through with the operation. The American is really only interested in what’s best for him. He speaks of concern for Jig’s feelings in the end, but to me that’s just typical of anyone who is trying to get what they want out of someone. He will accommodate to her feelings and say whatever it takes to make her feel like he does care about her well being and outtake towards it all; but in the end he still just wants to see Jig go through with it regardless of how she may really feel about it simply because he does not want to deal with the consequenses of his actions. Plain and simple, the American does not want the kid and somewhere inside her heart and mind, Jig does.  

All of the pieces featured in the Show were beautiful in a unique yet simple way in my eyes. My favorite being Improvisation No. 27 (Garden of Love) in Gallery G. I love the piece mainly for the vibrant colors and the way that they mesh together to form what appears to me as a desert yet somewhat industrialized location. I found it interesting that the artist of this painting, Kandinsky, had a significant influence on some of American artists in the show simply because his painting is nothing like the others shown in my opinion. His painting made my mind question what it was trying to depict/ show the audience as well as why he painted it that way; where as the rest of the paintings shown, mainly the American ones, presented actual objects and clear images, leaving you with nothing more to do but wonder why the artist decided to paint it.

Looking at the sculptures, I like the Mademoiselle Pogany in Gallery H. Though the critics viewed it as “a hard boiled egg balanced on a cube of sugar”, i think its beautiful. Every inch of it says “modern”, from the texture, to the shape and overall design. Though it does seem quite comical after reading what the critics had to say, i still enjoyed this piece.

In comparison to the American sculptures, Mademoiselle Pogany  seems far more modern in its appearance. Though White Slavein Gallery A is quite modern in appearance, the rest of the American sculptures that were shown did not seem so modern at a first glance, though they did after looking at them for a while. The American sculptures are modern more in what they are depicting versus in their actual appearance alone. Except for White Slavewhich is modern in both aspects in my opinion. This piece to me appears as a successful man looking towards opportunity and perhaps showing the girl the way, but the girl is afraid to look forward as well maybe because at the same time she is being oppressed by this man, maybe both physically and emotionally. I can see how critics viewed it as a portrayal of greed and lust but it is not too provocative in my eyes to be seen also as inappropriate for sculpture.

The watercolors and drawings portion of the show was one of my favorites as well. All of the pieces seemed quite modern from the appearance to what they were portraying. Of these paintings and drawings i enjoyed Reclining Woman in Gallery L. Moving on to Gallery M, the Sunday, Women Drying Their Hair piece grabbed my attention the most simply because it was a drawing of just that. Looking further into it I thought of how women up until a certain point in history couldn’t be a part of the work force, or so care-free and self-indulgent as shown in the painting. Both of these pieces made me somewhat appreciate where the world is today, and glad that women have it better now than they did back in the “good ‘ol days” as some like to call them.

I guess i could conclude from my experience with the show, that what makes art modern is not only its appearance or the time frame in which it was created, but more so in what the piece has to say when you view it; the purpose and meaning behind the art is what makes it modern.

“Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!” This last scene represents both victory and defeat for the narrator as she looks at the body in the nursery. This represents victory because she is now free from the control her husband had over her; but this too represents defeat because she will continue to face the same mental problems she has had from the very beginning. She is free but at the same time she is not truly “free”, thus she is victorious but also defeated.

Emerson: “Colleges and books only copy the language which the field and the work-yard made” (8)

What i think Emerson means by this is that books and institutions such as colleges don’t acquire or present knowledge of their own, but the knowledge of something or someone else who has gained it through experience and recorded it to share. A man can go out and do something then write about the experience and what he learned from it into a book then share it with the rest of the world; but it is his own, and who is to say that everyone will learn the same things as he if they were to go through the same experiences. And for colleges, they “copy the language” because they institutionalize students through these books and dont encourage seeking personal knowledge over reading about someone else’s ideas. It is important to understand that they only copy the language because they dont sit and present you with the information with much critical or original thought. In order to really acquire knowledge from these books and institutions you must apply critical thought and gather your own ideas and opinions towards the information being presented to you. This goes off of Emerson’s idea of creation and imitation as well, because if you simply accept the copied language, you will in the end do the same, imitate that of which the field and work-yard made, rather than applying critical thought to create your own outlook towards the presented material.

Because the narrator seems to order and categorize things, and the fact that the man of the crowd seems hard to categorize, is why the narrator is so intrigued by him. Everyone that he sees and speaks of has some sort of place in which they belong in society but this old wandering man doesnt seem to.. not until the end of the story where he calls him simply the “man of the crowd” does the narrator seem to put him in some sort of category in his mind.

I would like to consider crooked cops and corrupt politicians and leaders in power to be some sort of “pollution” that as a society we dont neccessarily fear but wrongfully accept. We know that there are those out there who use their job for “evil doing” but we dont do much to prevent it or cease it from happening. I’d like to believe that those within the system tend to accept it out of fear because if they were to try and rid the court houses and police stations, etc. of these crooked people their job is at a high risk of being taken away from them simply becasue there are so many of these corrupt people and they are capable of making the system work in their favor.

As far as a “pollution” that we embrace and accept, i cant think of any. This is simply because a pollution is something that brings together things that should be kept apart. If they should be kept apart then personally i wouldn’t like to embrace. In the early history of this country it was thought that blacks should not “mix” with whites for blacks were thought of as inferior and un-pure, but give and take they “mixed” anyway. But that cant be used as an example of an acceptable pollution because naturally we are all humans and you cant rule that people of different races and ethnicites dont belong together.

During class last Friday we talked about ”Young Goodman Brown”, and the idea of in-betweens was brought to my attention. From something as simple as the setting, to the ribbons Goodman Brown’s wife wore in her hair, the idea of being in-between something was portrayed. I found this very interesting and in another way I saw it as something I myslef could relate to. I am at an “in-between’ point in my life as well, transitioning from the responsibility of my parents into an adult who must be responsible for herself and able to independently function in society.

I also like how nature is playing such a huge role in both stories that we have read thus far, as well as how nature shows to be the place of change for both characters from the stories. Relating the usage of nature in the stories to how I personally see it now, quite a few people that I know today who have gone into nature either for work or vacation also have had some sort of personal transformation once they’ve returned back. In most cases they have gone in with one set of ideals and have come out with either altered ideals or completely new ones. Like we have mentioned in class, when in nature we are one with ourselves and don’t have to worry about the things we would outside of nature, which in a way makes nature a place to escape from reality to be yourself or whoever else you want to be; and once you return home you either come back as the same person just in a “refreshed” manner, or you come back as someone completely new.