Post #20: Cloud Atlas (end – thank God!!!)

I am so happy to have finished Cloud Atlas.  Although there were some sections that I enjoyed, overall i was disappointed.  I thought the second half of the chapters were going to leave me with some comfort, give me something i was looking for with the unfinished first half.  This did not happen, but i kind of feel like this what Mitchell’s purpose with this novel.

The way the novel was set up, we (the readers) are given the first half of a story.  In this first half, we are given clues, topics and themes from other stories, but it does not end with closure.  When i was reading the first half, knowing that the second part was in the end of the novel, i kept an open mind.  I kept this open mind because i knew that the story was not over, and we would finish it in the end.  After reading the second half of all the stories, i was dissatisfied.  I did not have closure, and the story did not end the way i think Mitchell led us to believe.  With the first half of the stories, Mitchell led us in a certain direction, so we could guess what was going to happen, but this was never the outcome.  I feel he wanted to trick his readers, and still leave the stories open ended.  This is how i felt after finishing the novel.  I think the novel as a whole (especially the second halves and their endings) are represented in the last couple of pages.  I felt tricked, as to reading something i thought was something else.  I think this was his main point, because this is a novel that is geared for a specific audience, and without an audience this novel would have absolutely no point and the concept would be ruined.

As we talked about in class, i feel the main theme in this novel is what is natural to humans, and how civilization acts as a whole.  I feel there are two separate ways to look at it through this novel, either humans take advantage of others to better themselves or humans try to make the world a better place.  I feel this works both ways, but you can’t have one without the other.  For example, in Luisa Rey’s case, she tried to better the world by making the public aware of the harm of the plant that was being built, but because she was trying to do good, another person (people) felt this was a bad things towards them so they had to destroy her to better themselves.

I feel with any good story, you need both sides to make a compelling argument and create an interesting story line.

Post #19: Cloud Atlas (part IV) & research ideas

After today’s discussion of the novel, there are two points that were made in class that i would like to expand on.  The first point was the theme of the colonizer and the colonized.  I feel that this is a theme that is evident throughout all of the sections.  For example, in the Luisa Rey piece Sixsmith is killed because he has power that the colonizer feels he should not have.  This power scares the colonizers because this information can over power them.  In the Timothy Cavendish piece, he is stuck in this old persons home which acts as an institution where people are held against their will by these colonizers.  It is extremely in the Sonmi piece, considering how the entire thing is about people as slaves and empowered by a larger source.  I wonder why Mitchell uses these constant themes throughout, and what maybe this reflects on society.

My second idea, that somebody greatly pointed out in class was how the novel has an “Us versus Them” theme.  This is entirely true, and is shown through the theme of colonizer and colonized.  I do agree, and feel this battle will always (unfortunatly) be a factor that people have to fight against.  In life, it is getting better of course, but in literature, this always seems to be an issue.  I feel this is here, because it is why people read, to learn about these problems that are reflected in society.

Okay, as for my paper.  I have figured out what novel i am going to write about, but still need to narrow in and get more details on a concrete point.  I am going to be working with Uses of Enchantment.  In this novel, i will be studying the aspects of memory and obsession.  I feel in this novel, Mary’s memory has led to her obsession, with many things.  Each of the things she is obsessed with comes from her memory about the “abduction”, school, her mother, Bettina, case studies, etc.  Her obsession with these aspects sparks her memory of what happen with each of them.  After Kim mentioned, i will also use other things in the novel that are obsessed over, including the school, mirror, and the community as a whole.  I am really interested in searching through theories about the monument obsessions, and relate this to things in the novel.  I have not started researching yet (over the weekend this is my plan), but i am going to go back through the novel to find specific details that i need, then begin to branch off and research for sources.

Post #18: Cloud Atlas (part III)

After today’s class, there are many points that i would like to make about this novel so far.  In class, we discussed “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery”, “The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish”, “An Orison of Sonmi~451″, and “Sloosha’s Crossin’ an’ Ev’rythin’ After”.  In my previous post, i already spoke about the first two sections that i just mentioned, but after today’s class i have a few more comments to add, and also speak about the remaining two sections.

I know many people today felt that the Luisa Rey sections were not as well written as some of the other sections.  I enjoyed this section basically because it was easier to read, but mainly because i felt i was a great connection piece between most of the other sections.  I really enjoyed this transition.  I know it is a “typical” mystery piece, but i feel there is more to it than just that.  In this piece, as well as the other 3 sections that i mentioned before all have a common underlining message.  This message is how civilization and society is represented as a whole. I would like to explore this concept further.

In Luisa Rey, the society is conrolled by people who are in charge, and forms of large corporations.  This upper level of power, ultimatley causes two accidents; one death and one possible death.  When the large corporations found out Sixsmith had something that could interfer with their money, they had to kill him; and when they found out Luisa was inspecting these suspicions, they tried to kill her as well.

In the Timothy Cavendish section, people are also being controlled by the society.  They are controlled to the point where Cavendish is stuck in an old person’s home and cannot escape.  Corporal greed and a facist aspect are represented in this piece, reflecting the Luisa Rey section.

The Orison section i feel is the representation of the two pieces before it, to show how badly a controlled society can turn out.  This world represented in this piece is in total distopia.  It is a totally different world, and undermined by all corporations.  All individualism is stripped, and people are cloned and only known by a number that they are given.  It is a type of slavery, especially for the women.  They are drugged at night and treated like slaves. Even though this section is supposed to represent the future, it is as if total power of a controlled society and corporation overthrow has caused society to go back in time to, unfortunately, having owning slaves being legal.  This goal of consumerism to an extreme degree is a representation of what can happen to a society, as reflected in the other sections.

Another connection that i would like to quickly mention, that we only briefly spoke about in class, was the birthmark.  While reading the beginning of this novel, i noticed the mention of the birthmark, then once i kept seeing it throughout the characters, i began to wonder what it all means.  I still cannot find the connection  and am eager to find out what it means.  So far the people that have the birthmark include Adam, Forisher, Luisa, Somni, and Meronymn.  the only person left out is Sixsmith, and this has to mean something important.  The last mention of the birthmark we have is at the end of the Sloosha section, and reads, “…was his presh b’loved Sonmi, yay, he ’sisted it, he said he knowed it all by birthmarks an’ comets’n'all.”

On last quick thing I would like to mention include a few paragraphs at the end of the Sloosha reading, when there is talk of the clouds and the “atlas o’ clouds”.  This is the first time that we are hearing about the clouds and atlas together, the title.

Post #17: Cloud Atlas (part II)

After reading this second part of the novel, i am only slightly more interested; but i am still not loving it.  I really enjoyed the Luisa Rey Mystery chapters, but then it ended and i was pissed.  I enjoyed this chapter because the language was much easier to comprehend and i liked the mystery aspect.  I finally found a connection, which is what i was searching for.  Luisa ran into Sixsmith, and started to uncover his mystery.  Unfortunately, the same thing that happened to him, happened to her.  Now, i am waiting for somebody else to pick up this story and go with it.

I thought this was going to happen with Tim Cavendish, but then he wound up in this strange “home”.  He did however, start to read the novel of Luisa Rey.  I’m thinking maybe there is a possibility that somebody found out he had Luisa’s mystery, and this is why he wound up in this home rather than dead like the rest.

There are many questions that i am wondering, and hopefully they will be in the reading to come.  I did a small amount of googling this novel, and Wikipedia said that the book’s style was inspired by Italo Calvio’s , If On a Winter’s Night A Traveller.  This makes a lot of sense to me, because i’ve read that and cannot stand that either!  I think the main reason why i cant stand it, is the “interrupted narratives”.  I enjoy reading something in full, and getting the answer at the end of my reading.  I feel this is my main frustration with this novel.

Post #16: Cloud Atlas (part I)

After reading the first part of this book, i am continually losing interest.  In the first section with the journal entries, i didn’t like it mainly because of the language.  I tried to read it slow, and do a close reading to make sure i wasn’t missing anything, but after i read a few pages i would look back and say to myself, “what did i just read?”  I couldn’t retain any of the information that i have already read.  I felt as if i was reading a history book, but in a strange narrative.  I feel if these entries were revised with modern day English, i would enjoy the story.  Even though i did not enjoy the opening of the book, i did pick up on the basic premise and what is going on.

I enjoyed the second part much more, but still did not love it.  What i enjoyed about these letters, other than the language being easier to read, was i felt there was a story starting to develop.  First off we have Forisher, this music composer who is trying to make something great of himself.  I enjoy his arrogance, in that he has no doubt we will be something great and already is.  Because of this glimpse of his personality, i feel that something is going to happen.  I enjoy how i am picking up slight hints of mystery within these letters.  For example, when he is writing to the Sixsmith, there is obviously something going on in his home life where he doesn’t want any of his family members to know his whereabouts or what he is doing on this trip.

Also, with the characters of Eva and Jocasta, it is obvious that something is going to happen.  In Eva’s case, i feel there may be a connection between the two of them down the road, because they seem to have a love hate relationship, and she is just like him.  As for Jocasta; this is a bad situation.  She is falling in love with Frobisher, and she already has a husband.  This cannot end well, especially in these close quarters.

As for now, i am still going to be open to this novel, but i just hope something happens that interests be so i don’t fall asleep while reading.

Post #15: Theory review

Looking back on today’s conversations and presentations, i still feel i can relate more with our article, Mikhail Bakhtin.  I enjoyed how straight foward it was, and right to the point.  Even though we related our piece with Myra Breckinridge, i feel it can conincide with many other novels, and also other novels that we have read in class.  For example, one of Bakhtin’s main points was point of view.  After viewing at all of our blog posts, with every novel we’ve read so far, each individual person comes away with a different view point, and this is exactly why Bakhtin puts the novel in its own genre.  It is special in this retrospect.

Another theory that i enjoyed, and felt most closely connected to Bakhtin was Armstrong’s theory.  I know Armstrong’s main points dealt with feminism, but she also talked about the novel and where the feminist perspective lands within the genre.  From the presentation, this is one of the theories that i would definitely read, and become more educated in her theory.

Post #14: Writing Prompts

I.  “A novel should make the reader…”  I feel a novel should make the reader figure out the story.  The reader should act as a detective, and figure out the clues to the story.  Personally, i feel this is what makes the novel interesting, and if all the clues are handed out for you from the author, the novel is boring and dull.  I appreciate ‘The Uses of Enchantment’ because Julavits does not hand feed the reader.  In many chapters for example, she does not even give names.  Instead she just says, “he”, “she”, and the reader has to figure out who exactly she is talking about.

II.

John Gardner’s:

A novel is like a symphony in that its closing movement echoes and resounds with all that has gone before. . . . Toward the close of a novel. . . . unexpected connections begin to surface; hidden causes become plain; life becomes, however briefly and unstably, organized; the universe reveals itself, if only for the moment, as inexorably moral; the outcome of the various characters’ actions is at last manifest; and we see the responsibility of free will.

I agree with this statement.  I really enjoy how explains at the end of the novel, you notice the connections that did  not surface in the beginning.  This goes back to my statement about what i enjoy best about the novel; finding out everything at the end, and trying to figure it out through the reading process.  I also agree how he describes the character, and their “free will”.  Characters are free in novels, and considering how the way the author represents their characters, this is represented well.

Post #13: Where is the truth??

In this third section of the novel, i still find myself in the same position; i sympathsize for Mary and all of the other characters bother me.  Whether or not Mary is lying about this whole abduction, there is a reason behind it, and i want to know the truth.  At the same time while i think Mary is lying, i still feel sorry for her.  She is a lost girl with the whole world working against her.  Even if she is telling the truth nobody will believe her anyway, so what is the difference really??

In this section, i sympathize with Mary more because once again the subject of invisibility resurfaces again.  When Regina and Mary are in the car, Mary  gets out to motion the sensor light outside of their garage.  She does everything she can to make it come on, and it just doesn’t go.  All it takes Regina is a slight movement; i feel she really is invisible! Not only does her family look at her as invisible, but now electronics are doing the same.  It is as if she has no Ora, and there is no being to her.  It is odd, and early, like in a ghostly way. 

She even refers to herself, in the notes section, as a character in a story: “I’m a character in a story.  I’m a real person but I’m not a real person.  The things that I’ve done aren’t the things that I’ve done.” She contradicts herself, and just further establishes how she is a lost girl.  I feel sorry for her, and even more so because i feel that Dr. Hammer is only trying to make money off of her as a “character”.  He even explains, after the findings of the cigarette case how we wishes he could get rid of it, just so this story is a story and there is no proof of it being truth.  In his mind Mary is a liar, and he already defined this case as fiction.  With his trying to define her type of person as “hyper radiant”, he wants his new term to be coined, but with this little objects and proof popping up, it sends him in a panic. 

I know this is a stretch, but earlier in the novel (the last section we had to read), we finally are introduced to Dr. Hammers name, for the one and only time, as Dr. E. Karl Hammer.  His name starts with a K.  Then on page 279, at the end of the chapter, Mary (as an adult) is at Dr. Hammer’s doorstep, and when he comes to the door he refers to her as “Scheherazade”, the same nick name that the “man” in the chapters of ‘What Might Have Happened’ calls the girl.  I was shocked when i saw this.  So far, this was the first time that somebody other than “the man” has said this nick name, so it is possibly to say that this “man” and Dr. Hammer are on in the same???

Post #12: Middle of Uses of Enchantment

Today in class we mentioned a topic that i never thought about until it was mentioned.  That is, the whole idea of the title of the novel; especially the term “Enchantment”.  There are so many instances in this novel where it seems as if it is a fairy tale, or the girls wish they were in some kind of tale.  I feel not only does Mary try to persuade everybody and enchants them in a way, but this whole concept of her trying to escape to a different place; like some kind of fairy tale place.  I feel this is just another way to look at the motivation to want to escape, and get away from this entrapment that the girls are in.

I mentioned this in class already, but i really do enjoy this novel, the characters in it just bother me in a way.  I feel Mary (as a child and adult) is the smartest person in this novel.  First, she constantly out smarts and out wits her therapist Dr. Hammer.  When he asks her questions, she turns it right around and asks him a question.  She even comes right out and say to him, that he should take a look at the Dora case.  HELLO!!!, is this guy a total idiot.  The story she is telling him, is the same as the case study.  He is supposed to be the therapist with the “Ph.D”, yet Mary knows more than he does.  I feel it goes along the same lines with Roz.  She constantly preaches how she is a feminist, and is for feminist rights; even though she does not let Mary tell her story.  She wants Mary to open up, and basically tell ‘the truth’, but when Mary starts to tell her story, Roz tells her that Mary really doesn’t feel this way.  She will not let Mary speak, and is basically closing her off; just as she was at the Semmering School.

One last thing i would like to talk about.  I am a little confused, but is Kurt actually the “K” person?  Is it too early to assume this?… im not sure.  I am starting to get a little lost, and it is hard for me to follow the story for what is true and what isn’t.  Hopefully soon i will figure all of it out, but for now i am interested in “K”.  Also, i noticed that Dr. Hammer’s full name is listed in the novel as, Dr. E. Karl Hammer.  Is it just a coincidence that his name also starts with a K? … just something to talk about.

Post #11: Close Reading Response

In The Uses of Enchantment, i chose to close read the first option passage on page three.  This is located in the first “What Might Have Happened” section.

Summary: In this passage, it is basically about a mural that is hanging in the lobby of the field house of the Semmering private School.  The girl stops to look at the mirror right before she leaves the field house.  The mural was purchased by Miss Pym and the Semmering trustees, from funds used towards the new field house. This mural is supposed to represent, the triumphs of the New England woman, but the picture tells otherwise.  The mural shows woman being chased by Indians, and they are tied to stakes, some are on fire at the bottom of their dresses.  The clouds are described hovering over the women’s heads, as they are going to be burned by the scalps. The women’s faces show hardly any imagination, expressions, or enthusiasm.  The passage goes on to say, how most of the women at Semmering are feminists, and this goes against everything they believe in.  It just proves how Miss Pym and the trustees, do not care how it makes the faculty feel.  It represents how the pupils are taught to live in this world; by listening to only their teachers and parents and bottle up their emotions and sadness inside and act as they are supposed to, represented by their history.  Also, the mural is titled The Disappearing Women.

Analyze: Here are some of the key terms that i have chosen from this passage:  mural dominating – the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of New England women – actively feminist – The Disappearing Women – enclave – lurid history – torment.

I feel these terms have many important meanings towards the passage in itself, and the novel (so far).  “Mural dominating”, this proves how dominating not only the mural is, but how the school dominates the girls, and make them act a certain way.  I feel the terms of enclave, and torment would be aligned with this same meaning under the schools hardships.  “Trials, tribulations, and triumphs of New England women” i feel represents how the school represents the women of New England.  they are supposed to act a certain way, and not otherwise.  This goes along with the “lurid history”.  It is obvious that New England has a specific history, especially with women and the object of witchcraft.  Even though this is a part of their history, i feel the school tries to tell the girls that this history was “wrong”, in the fact that these women were in the wrong, with being witches.  With the term of “actively feminist”, i feel this is in total opposition.  I think the principal, of the Semmering school says she wants her students to be feminist and strong, but in actuality she is creating a mold for them, and do not want them to be their own women, but act a certain way.  This is all shown through the mural.  The mural proves what happens when you do not follow this cookie cutter mold, and literally go out of line.

Synthesize: After close reading this passage, i totally see the motivation behind the girls of Semmering and other girls in these institutions to lie about their own abduction.  This analysis proves how the Semmering women are forcefully being pushed by administration and trustees, to become something they may not want to be.  The girls that are faking their own abduction are trying to make a statement, but every time another case comes around, the administration and staff try to hide it as if it never happen, because things like this “aren’t” supposed to happen.  It is all a mold that the girls are trying to break, and their only way out is escaping and creating a scene.  I just thought of one last note, i think they are also faking their abduction to prove how the Semmering school isn’t creating the “perfect” girls, like they prove they are supposed to be making.