Ralph Ellison-Comment Under This Post

This richly symbolic, ironic, and often surreal novel describes a quest much like Ellison’s own to invent an identity independent of that imposed by society. Winner of the 1953 National Book Award, Invisible Man thrust Ellison not only into prominence but also into the vortex of the battles raging over the role of literature and art in politics, and specifically over Ellison's rejection of the "protest novel."

Symbols Exercise - Responses

Humankind Need for Symbols

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  I wouldn't alter the commandments or the pledge...they are original ideas to be observed. It would be like changing the Cantebury Tales or Shakespeare's texts--dirtyrugby shirt.

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  All symbols change over time--Taylor Rich

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  Symbols define us and they define the meaning of what they are a symbol to...Nobody should be able to change the ten commandments because that is what God gave to his people so they can obey him and do good for his kingdom--Brittany Henderson

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  Christ tried to changed the law and was crucified for it--the professor

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  Why mess with perfection. If it ain't broken don't fix it. Tradition should mean something. This is something that is the pillar of life, life's foundation why would anyone want to mess with that or even consider it?--Jim Wilkerson

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  About the commandments--I was raised in a Christian home and I've decided to follow in that faith. The Ten Commandments are God's law. It's biblical. However, the conservatives often expect everyone to respect and follow the commandments because they're supposed to. However, right or wrong--not everyone agrees that the commandments deserve respect. Christians shouldn't be daunted by this though. Personal faith isn't decided by culture--Rachael Nicholson

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  ...Symbols should be permanent and never change. This is our culturel background given to us by God and our nation. I do believe in change, but not changing something that deals with our culture and we have believed in it forever. If these symbols were changed, it would be like what we were believing in was wrong all along. Things do change, but your culture and how you were raised will always stay with you--Brook

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  These symbols are important and probably will be around forever, but that doesn't mean that they should be taken as literally as they sometimes are. I am not saying there is anything wrong with these symbols, I am just showing another point of view.

A few examples:

Commandment: You shall not bow down to them or worship them for I am a jealous God,

But some worship and bow to the nation, the ideas and behaviors that make up society, capable of good and evil. In protecting the good, the protect the evil in society. There's nothing wrong with believing in the nation and in society. I don't want people to misunderstand my point.

Pledge--liberty and justice by whose standard?

The symbols should not be taken so literally. The thoughts and intentions behind them are more important--K-Dub

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  Defiling them (symbols) by making up other things in their place is wrong--Christopher Currie

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  I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, Oh say can you see by the dawn's early light. What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's las gleaming light. Why is this not day why is this not night, why is this not good bad wrong right--Daniel O. Wise

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  These things (symbols) are sacred. They have been in practice and should remain. Even though often defied, God's commandments should govern your life andthe choices you make. With people losing their lives everyday for the U.S. you should respect. I don't necessarily care for the U.S. and it's feeling of superiority, but I do live here. So it should be respected--Chiante.

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  I would not like to change them (the commandments) because they are the words of God; or messages and teachings from God--Pheurbel

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  The commandments should be left alone...the word of God is God inspired--meaning God himself told Moses what the commandments were--and if God says not to (change them) I will not.--VC-Guitarist

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  There is no reason to change these symbols. The Ten Commandments, Pledge of Allegiance, & National Anthem were all created to show honor and respect to God & our country, respectively. Yo may not fully agree with any or all of these things, but they should still be respected--Maggaly 0326

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  The Commandments, Bible & Cross are symbols of Christ's sovereignty--Shanna Meadows.

• They shouldn't be messed with or defaced. The pledge of allegiance is a symbol of patriotism. Whether you agree with administrations or not, you should be patriotic...Brett

• Middle View

These symbols are not only meaningful but also historically important. These symbols should not be attacked and viewed as a bridge to the past. These do not necessirly have to be your belief and should be able to coexist with emergent cultue as long as neither view is imposed on the other. America is supposed to be a place where different cultures coincide. Even though it may not always happen, that is the goal we should strive for.--Nathalie Mena

Powerhouse -- Respond Under This Post

Eudora Welty Plays Jazz with Words


Powerhouse is a riff on racism, power and signifyin(g).
This shortstory told by an unreliable/white narrator delineates cultral strata:

• Reactionary Culture
• Conservative Culture
• Emergent Culture

Billy Collins - Respond Under This Post

Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The House

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.

He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark

that he barks every time they leave the house.

They must switch him on their way out.

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.

I close all the windows in the house

and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast

but I can still hear him muffled under the music,

barking, barking, barking,

and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,

his head raised confidently as if Beethoven

had included a part for barking dog.

When the record finally ends he is still barking,

sitting there in the oboe section barking,

his eyes fixed on the conductor who is

entreating him with his baton

while the other musicians listen in respectful

silence to the famous barking dog solo,

that endless coda that first established

Beethoven as an innovative genius.

Cathedral - Respond Under This Post

In addition to your regular response, answer the following question regarding Raymond Carver's short story Cathedral.







The term "epiphany," coined by James Joyce, has been used frequently in 20th century fiction to describe moments of "revelation" in a story where "everything becomes clear" to a character. The critic Malcolm Cowley defines epiphany as "that sudden reaching out of two characters through walls of inarticulateness and misunderstanding."

To what extent does "Cathedral" end in an epiphany? How do you know?



Please do not forget to use headings:

• A Title for your response "Be Creative"
• Basic Passage
• Correlation
• Difficulties

I am looking for complexity in the correlation--a surprising or new angle.

Please separate each section.

For example:

Title: Diet Coke Is The Reason

Intro to author: We, as readers, know very little about Billy Collins from the small amount of information the book entails. Billy Collins was born in 1941 in a New York City hospital he claims William Carlos Williams worked as a pediatric resident. He earned a Ph.D. at the University of California at Riverside in which he specialized in the Romantic Period. Now, he teaches at Lehman College of the City University.

Basic Passage: “and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.”

Correlation: I can definitely relate to this! I believe I am the one person out of all my friends around me who has the shortest memory. I feel like I am on the same level as my grandmother who is in the later stages of Alzheimer’s disease. No, I don’t forget my name or the names of my family and friends I see often. But as it says in the passage, I believe I forget a piece of information or a memory every time I study, learn something new, or create a new memory. I believe this “forgetfulness” of mine is related to my obsessed addiction to Diet Coke. Maybe if I start taking Gingko Biloba, it’ll counteract the Nutrasweet that leads to memory loss. But all joking aside, this poem demonstrates how valuable the present moment is. The knowledge that we will forget make "now" all that more important. We must surrender to this knowledge, this loss. This poem is bittersweet. It is about both
loss and life in the guise of forgetfulness.

Difficulties: I had no problem reading or understanding this poem.

Required questions:

Identify the cause of human suffering—Tragedy
How can the tragedy be turned into a comedy?
Identify the cause of joy or happiness—comedy

Baraka -- Comment Under This Post

A photograph of Amiri Baraka, activist, poet, (Racist?) and the photograph that spurred Abel Meeropol to write the poem "Strange Fruit" which was later song by Billie Holiday.



Notes on "Biography"

Another look at "Strange Fruit"Below are the lyrics to Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit, 1939, written by Abel Meeropol, New Yorker, Jewish schoolteacher, American Communist:

Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
for the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
for the sun to rot, for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop


In Walked Bud
(Listened to CD in-Class)

Audio File of "In Walked Bud"
When you go to Salon type the title of the poem in the search window.

http://www.salon.com/ent/audiofile/index.html?item=/ent/audiofile/2005/10/31/listens/index.html



Backstory on the Theolonius Monk Piece "In walked Bud " "As the musicians were packing up their instruments after the show, the police stormed the club and went after Monk. He refused to show his identification, and was forcibly arrested. A fan barred the door and challenged the officers. They tried to push him aside, but he wouldn't budge. 'Stop,' he yelled. 'You don't know what you're doing. You're mistreating the greatest pianist in the world!' At this point a nightstick came down on his head like a lightening bolt. The young fan was Monk's best friend, Bud Powell. He was dragged along with Monk, and thrown into jail after his injury was superficially treated at the hospital. After his release Powell complained of alarming headaches. He eventually checked into Bellevue Hospital, then spent three months in Creedmore Hospital. There he was treated with various psychoactive drugs and shock therapy. His artistic career had barely started, but henceforth he would be bedeviled by psychological problems. Monk was aware that Powell's intervention had saved him from a similar fate. For his ill-starred protege, he wrote 'In Walked Bud', '52nd Street Theme', and 'Broadway Theme', otherwise simply known as 'The Theme.' The numbers were intended to be Bud's property alone, and Monk never recorded them."

KINCAID "Post One" Respond under this post.

Key points:

• Jamaica Kincaid often writes about the longing for maternal love and a childish bewilderment with the adult world.

• She seems to hold resentment toward her mother and her homeland.

• Kincaid is outspoken.

• Girl's voice only appears twice within an enormous list of "how-to's"

What is the effect of the list?

• Some of the instructions involve social mores. One big question you might tackle is whether or not you think these mores are essential.

In addition to your own correlation, please relate/synthesize the following into a paragraph of at least 50 words:

1) Kincaid's unforgiving rage at both her mother and homeland
and
2) "Everything passes through the self"