Inside the mind of Kristin

And on I go with the series of journal stories or as I called it in my last post, the Monkey-Novel Chronology of evolution (I don’t know I was tired). I’m still not quite getting into this novel as much as I had with the past 3, but I am starting to relate to it a bit more.  I don’t mean that I relate in the sense that I have experienced the same thing but the language is a lot easier to read.  Also, I have to say that everytime the name Sixsmith comes up I think of Sixo and it sometimes confuses me.

Anyways,  I did enjoy the Luisa Rey chapter since it was very mystery like and I thought I was trying to discover something.  I am understanding a bit more of the connection between the stories or chapters since they following at least one string of the previous one.  In terms of the character Luisa, she again showed me how easily it is for people to take on another identity. Even thought I wrote in my exploratory paper that people form false identities in order to gain attention, I don’t think that in the case of Luisa.  She is simply trying to figure out the whole plant thing and get to the bottom of the Sixsmith murder.

And just for anyone that is still confused (mostly for me) I wiki’d the plot and here it is:

The book consists of six nested stories that take us from the remote South Pacific in the nineteenth century to the far future after a nuclear apocalypse. Each tale is revealed to be a story that is read (or watched) by the main character in the next.

The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing

Pacific Ocean, circa 1850. Adam Ewing, an American notary‘s account of a voyage home from the remote Chatham Islands, east of New Zealand. The next character discovers this story as a diary on his patron’s bookshelf.

Letters from Zedelghem

Zedelgem, Belgium, 1931. Robert Frobisher, a penniless young English musician, finds work as an amanuensis to a composer living in Belgium. This story is saved in the form of letters to his friend (and implied lover) Rufus Sixsmith, which the next character discovers after meeting Sixsmith.

Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery.

Buenas Yerbas, California, 1975. Luisa Rey, a journalist, investigates reports of corruption and murder at a nuclear power plant. The next character is sent this story in the mail, in the form of a manuscript for a novel .

The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish

United Kingdom, early 21st century. Timothy Cavendish, a vanity press publisher, flees the brothers of his gangster client. The next character watches a movie dramatisation of this story.

An Orison of Sonmi~451

Nea So Copros (Korea), dystopian near future. Sonmi~451, a genetically-engineered fabricant (clone) server at Papa Song’s diner, is interviewed before her execution after she rebels against the society that created and exploited her kind. The next character sees this story projected holographically in an “orison,” a futuristic recording device.

Sloosha’s Crossin’ an’ Ev’rythin’ After

Hawaii, post-apocalyptic distant future. Zach’ry, a tribesman living a primitive life after most of humanity dies during “the fall,” is visited by Meronym, a member of the last remnants of technologically-advanced civilisation. This story is told when the protagonist is an old man, to seemingly random strangers around a camp-fire.

I apologize if this may have ruined the connecting bits of the novel for anyone, however, it might be quite necessary to see how the rest of the novel plays out.

I suppose I should begin by talking about the form of this novel.  I like it and hate it all at the same time.  As I had mentioned in class, I know that even if I am reading something that does not interest me in the least, I know that in a few pages it will be over and onto the next “mini story”.  I also have to say that I’m quite intrigued by the fact that someone has sat down to write an evolution of novel writing in a compact 509 pages.  I must say, however, that even if some of these pages might be hard to read,  you have to give Mitchell credit for staying true to the era in which he is writing about and the characters that he creates.

On the other hand, it makes me a bit upset that he hides behind this mask of journal entries.  It’s here that I agree with Brandon in the sense that you don’t have to make everything connect, since the next journal entry can be however long away from the previous one.  I like the journal entry set up in Myra because you were hit with so much fucked up brilliance, that it was nearly a relief to have a few days pass before Myra’s next conquest.  Ewing does not have this sense of …well anything entertaining…that we either need to not have such long boring entries or we need an actual fluid novel where we learn about problems and issues (not just the idiots guide to tooth hunting).

As we trod through the rest of the novel, there is something quite ingenious about this whole monkey-to-novel chronology that is going on.  I think that it is a good opportunity to really see how things have changed and formed throughout the history of literature, possibly giving us a key to who we are as readers (which is what Dr. Middleton said).  Also, I kind of like how it is forcing us to look elsewhere for information, prior to reading a section, just so we know how to approach it.  Never before have I really had to do this for a novel, and while it might be more work, I feel as if I may get more out of the novel as a whole.

I must say that I have a much better sense of not only what the novel is, but also the theories that apply (thanks for the abstracts everyone!) Outside of my own piece, Frederic Jameson, I am very interested in reading more about Bahktin, Lukacs and Armstrong.  Bahktin really got my interest when we first began discussing the idea of heteroglossia in class.  I never knew there was a concept for the notion that the novel can be interpreted in multiple ways based on its own language content.  I also love how Bahktin expresses that the novel has no cannon and that it stands alone instead (I find to be one of the most unique things about being a great novel).  As I have said I like to think that I am reading an up and coming novel that is absolutely wonderful, that no one knows how to classify and yet everyone must read it at some point.  This is what I’m looking for in particular to write my final paper on.  Any ideas anyone?

Then there is Armstrong, whom I would love to use if I did do a novel by Jane Austen or one of the Bronte sisters.  I like the idea of looking at the “new woman” and what it means then and now.  I agree with Maegan in the sense that although this new woman is not the new woman in the sense of Myra, it is still quite empowering for women in general.  I find it interesting to see how the typical woman’s role has evolved and how it possibly has not changed at all.  In terms of a novel, such as Jane Eyre, it would be good to look at sexuality through this perspective.  Lucaks is interesting because I would be able to get a sense of the form of the novel and whether or not it helped or hindered the final product.  I love the use of transcendental homelessness and how it directly relates to the form as well.  The example given in class about Myra was perfect to because could we really deal without the Buck Loner Reports?  I’m not so sure.

Thinking back about English 330, I’m not even sure how I got through it.  But I suppose the more that you are exposed to theory the easier it gets?  I know that I, much like Lauren had said in class, have a difficult time in reading theory.  I think it’s best to make sure and get some background research (even wikipedia) so that it’s easier to understand what the hell we are reading.  When I began to read Jameson, I was completely dumbfounded, mostly due to the vernacular that I have never heard, learned or read.  After I looked up the words, this became a little bit easier.  It is quite true, however, that you must read a theory piece many times before you can extract the information that the author is trying to convey.  I found myself not only resourcing wikipedia, but a couple of other college resources and JSTOR.  I suppose I also would have had an easier time in reading this article if I read it solely with the novel in mind the first time, rather than realizing that’s what I should have done the 3rd time through.  Silly me.

1.  A Novel should make the reader:

• not want to become an Arsonist (until quite recently and mostly thanks to Myra)
• look at the world in a different perspective (such as seeing how a young girl can fabricate a fabrication of a story…good going Mary).
• want to keep reading (determination to figure out the plot of the story, or who is lying or telling the truth).
• want to go back and read portions of the novel again (I’m curious to go back and read Uses of Enchantment to see any clues that I may have missed that would lead to such an ending).

2.  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.

In response to John Gardner’s quote, I have to agree that the novel is much like a symphony in the sense that they are never the same and like the music you get so intertwined and involved with the words that you become apart of it.  Naturally, this would create anxiety until you reach the end of the novel where you will be able to figure out what was going on, and how it happened.  Gardner says that this part is where it “echoes and resounds with all that has gone before”. As a reader you tend to go back (no matter how annoying or painful it may be) to look at places in the text that could have helped for foreshadow the impending closure.  It’s here that you realize that you may have read the novel without noticing these things completely, creating the notion that you really knew what was going on in the novel.  By noticing these things at the end, however, it gives you an opportunity to go back and re read the novel and then form a whole new understanding of it (one of the reasons I think helps to make a great novel).

Gardner then goes on to say that “the universe reveals itself” and “responsibility of free will”.  This alludes to the idea where after reading such a novel you become less oblivious to things outside of your personal world.  Its as if you are finally seeing the bigger picture and everything finally makes sense.  I’d have to say that I see this in that you begin to see how teenage girls can create stories or incidents in order for attention, love, sexuality or some combination.  Not that it makes sense to allow yourself to get abducted or lie about it, but you can better understand why someone would.

Summary: I decided to look at the paragraph on page 3.  This paragraph is when Mary has returned to her locker, even though she is supposed to be going to the bathroom (like she told her coach).  The majority of the paragraph then goes into describing a painting on the wall entitled The Disappearing Women. It shows how women were being chased by Indians and then beaten, killed and put on stakes.  Mary makes note that the students of Semmering do not call it the real title, but rather The Grin and Bear It Mural.  One of the most important lines of this paragraph then comes at the end “…taught to approach the world by parents and teachers: to keep their sadness to themselves even as they were materially spoiled in this suburban enclave with its lurid history of torment.”(3)

Analysis: As for that last line in the paragraph, I must say that this was a bit of a turning point in not only the paragraph, but for the rest of the chapter.  The words “keep their sadness to themselves” indicates that these girls were miserable and would probably do anything to escape and get some kind of attention.  Then there is “materially spoiled” which is just another ploy to shut them up and make them happy.  But what if getting everything you wanted in life (materially) is not going to make things any better.  What if the reality of it all is that these girls are simply not getting enough love to begin with and are being taught to be little adults and emotionless. How damaging.  The fact that she acknowledges a painting (that one can assume she has seen nearly everyday of her life) for so long, might allude to the idea that she is wishing for some kind of attention, even if it’s as bad as what is happening in the painting, and even if she has to make it up.  Then there is the whole grin and bear it idea.  This is just another way of taping the mouths of the girls who wish to speak their mind, but instead are told to smile and act pretty.  These girls, however, DONT” SURVIVE IN THE REAL WORLD.  This might even be related to Mary’s mother and the notion that she has just smiled and dealt with her daughter’s incident (whether it happened or not).

Synthesis: This paragraph brings to the novel the scene where it supposedly all began.  Or maybe it was beginning all the while that the painting was hanging on the wall; poor women begging to be acknowledged.  As it said in the paragraph, the faces of those that were watching had very little imagination.  This is would seem that Mary is trying to find a way to be recognized.  How can she no longer be the average student, the middle child, the okay looking one.  When will it be her turn to be seen by all? This might then be one of the reasons that young girls make up such stories (as bad as it is to create a lie like this).  It could be that a girl who feels that she is being neglected in some way, shape or form, she may look to drastic measures in order to not only get attention but make up for the time that was lost in not getting attention.  The girl may be looking for the thing that will get her sympathy, empathy, love and affection all at the same time.  Or, the girl could be crazy and selfish and just a bitch for doing this. Who knows.