LitHum II Midterm

Notebook of a Return to the Native Land

- Aime Cesaire Themes - notebook-> journal, revision, less formal, documents his charges, revision, own consciousness - passivity vs. agency, individual vs. collective - cultural identity, - generational trauma - Pg. 32 unworthiness-> POC feel need to prove themselves as worthy Acknowledgement of the trauma ancestors been through, hard to Passive voice, depiction of black people being acted upon Implicates all of Europe with pg. 43 "I accept it all.." Passivity vs. agency, individual vs. collective Pg. 34-more triumphant reclamation aspect of negritude, growing, rubber tree symbolic of growth, but also brutal exploitation Title: - Notebook - emphasizes revision, the possibility of a "journal" which one revisits to chart evolution/growth in person and thinking. Relatedly, it opens the possibility of unlearning earlier habits, such as internalized racial/colonial ideology. - Return - A conceptual return to Africa, despite the dislocation figured by colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade. The possibility of land and environment - both prominent features in Césaire's work - returning to a pre-colonial, less altered state. The return to the tradition of pre-colonized literature and language, as Césaire breaks with linguistic conventions often. Chronological return to Césaire's childhood. A return of sovereignty and power to colonized people. - "Native Land", or in original French, "Pays Natal" - the French translation was particularly generative for us, as we imagined "Natal" as relating the simultaneity of Césaire's literal birth in Martinique and the conceptual birth of his ideas in France. We also considered pays as, like the word país in Spanish, denoting a country or formal state entity rather than just "land," which might hint at the fact that Césaire can only return to "Montainique," itself an entity that is a colonial fiction/byproduct, rather than the original lands of the area as they were cared for and related to by their formerly indigenous inhabitants. Overview: - Césaire begins by describing a bit about the communal life in Montinique. For instance, he delves into the rituals of the fall season on pages 7-8, talking about different traditions and seasonal/agricultural developments across the months, especially the celebration of Christmas in December and its many components. - He then progresses to focus a bit more narrowly on his own family and domestic life. He details his mother's tireless work at a Singer sewing machine, all done in an effort to abate his family's hunger and poverty (10). - There is, shortly after this, a transitory moment where Césaire writes, "At the end of daybreak, the wind of long ago - of betrayed trusts, of uncertain evasive duty and that other dawn in Europe - arises..." (11). Césaire's "dawn in Europe" is useful figuratively, as this moment represents the dawn of a new analytical direction in the poem, one which focuses on the crimes of Europe and Europe's relationship to Blackness and Black Martinicians in particular .- Césaire describes his return to Martinique and the natural landscape he finds once there. His description, however, is not totally romanticizing, and includes elements which begin to hint at the troubles and inequalities of Martinician society. He writes: "- me on a road, a child, chewing sugar cane root / -a dragged man on a bloodspattered road a rope around his neck / -standing in the center of a huge circus, on my black forehead a crown of daturas" (20). Césaire embarks on a length, winding journey of investigating the egotism of Europe which "proudly overrates itself," before examining what he appears to see as reactionary anti-colonial impulses (24). - In a key moment in the text, Césaire, apparently describing Africans, writes, "Those who invented neither powder nor compass / those who could harness neither steam nor electricity / those who explored neither the seas nor the sky / but who know in its most minute corners the land of suffering..." (32). - almost provokes the reader to protest this portrait of Africans as impotent and unimaginative, taunting them to rattle off Africans' accomplishments. - Césaire, however, insists on the lack of invention and discovery in Africa as a means of questioning a colonial paradigm of what Siena referenced as "worthiness politics," crimes of Europe and Europe's relationship to - Césaire's imagination of an Africa and Black diaspora deserving of respect and protection despite its possible lack of scientific contribution similar to Europe's is a rejection of colonialism's narrow humanity. - Césaire adds another transitory pause, writing, "But what strange pride suddenly illuminates me?" (33). - explores the power and capability of Black people the world over. He uses the word "Negr*tude," derivative of a French slur, to reclaim a Blackness dejected by the white world, writing, (35). - explores the resilience of Blackness, and its compatibility with natural features such as the "ardent flesh of the sky". - showcases both a resilience and an appreciation, unlike Europe, for beautiful but non-material entities. - Césaire is quite unlike those who subscribe to respectability politics, who he says will, "...never get over not being made in the likeness of God but of the devil, those who believe that being a [N-word] is like being a second-class clerk...who say to Europe... 'pay no attention to my black skin: the sun did it'" (45). - Césaire seems to argue that paradoxically, this ideology understands race as a sociological myth ("the sun did it"), yet also accepts the ascription of negative value - the "devil" and "being a second-class clerk" - to black skin. It is, in Césaire's view, a terrible permutation, the foil to his liberating imagination of Blackness.

Confessions 1-4, 6, 8, 9

- Augustine of Hippo Themes: Christianity, Sin, morality - Characters: Augustine - about his own life in 397 C.E. - It starts with Augustine as a young boy in Thagaste, near Carthage, and he discusses learning Latin literature which he enjoyed as well as Greek language and literature, which he found difficult. His mother raised him as a Christian, but as a young man he moved to Carthage to study, and he started practicing Manichaeism. At that time he developed an interest in Roman and Greek philosophers and thinkers. He was very promiscuous at this time and even had a long term relationship, which resulted in a son, Adeodatus. He eventually moved to Carthage and began teaching grammar and rhetoric. That job eventually took him to Rome and then Milan. At 31, he converted to Christianity, and eventually decided to become a priest. - An autobiography ... The first 9 chapters relate Augustine's life, from infancy up to his baptism in his 30s (which occurred a decade or so before he wrote the book). Chapters 10-13 are primarily works of Biblical exegesis; these are often skipped by readers because they're so different from what came earlier, and we're skipping them, too — A prayer ... The addressee for most of the work is not Augustine's implied reader, but rather God. Consequently, Confessions has been described as "the longest prayer in Western history." NB: The title of the book doesn't necessarily indicate that Augustine is "admitting to bad deeds" on these pages; it can also mean something like, "a public testimony of faith"— A mediation on Biblical scripture ... Augustine constantly quotes passages from the Bible, reflects on them, and evaluates his own life experiences in light of them. It often becomes hard to figure out just where the language of the Bible ends and the language of Augustine begins; it's as though Augustine needed holy scripture in order to talk about himself, and thought that his life story was repeating ones from the ancient past. The rich, intertextual dialogue that Augustine establishes between the Bible and his life narrative gives the Confessions a stately, careful, distinctively slow rhythm: a quality of turning ideas over again and again — A work of religious philosophy ... Long sections of Confessions are given over the spiritual debates and questions that perplexed Augustine in his youth. He spent a great deal of his early life thinking about Jesus, and about what it meant for the son of God to have been embodied, and about the relationship that Jesus had established between God and humanity (issues that were of course at the heart of Luke and John, and that might be worth reviewing before you start reading Confessions) - —He's torn between two bodies of literature: the works of Greco-Roman writers, and Biblical scripture. Augustine is excited by the rhetorical sophistication and intellectual fireworks of the classical tradition, but he's also troubled that it doesn't have any Christian content/isn't motivated by Christian values. He's drawn to the Bible for several reasons (first and foremost because his mother is devout) but he sometimes finds it too basic/simple. Please be attentive to how and why Augustine's allegiances to both literatures shift over the course of the Confessions — He's torn between different moral impulses. Again and again, Augustine finds himself in the perverse position of wanting to be good, but nevertheless committing what he thinks of as evil acts. Perhaps his most persistent moral dilemma is his struggle with his sexual impulses: he believes that he's sexually depraved, and wants to renounce carnality and lust, but finds himself unable to give it all up. (NB: There wasn't anything especially unusual about Augustine's sex life, at least not by the standards of the time ... but the important thing is that he believes he behaved wickedly) — He's torn between different methods of reading, analyzing, and interpreting the Bible. In particular, he wavers between an approach to the Bible that mostly takes it literally and an approach that mostly takes it metaphorically. When taking the former approach, he gets caught up in the details and truth-claims of the Bible, concerning himself with what he eventually comes to regard as nitpicky questions about the physical extent of God's dimensions, the materiality of Jesus, and so on. But when he takes the latter approach, he finds himself regarding the Bible with a sense of reverential mystery: receiving it as a metaphorical narrative makes him realize how hard it is to plumb its depths, and the experience of reading the Bible in this fashion humbles him, because it suggests that humanity can never fully comprehend the ways of God - unique blend of classical and Biblical influences. - Augustine joins a pseudo-Christian sect called the "Manichees," and you should know something in advance about who they were/what they believed. It's system of belief that Augustine is initially attracted to, but will eventually reject. - — God as a creator, Augustine as his creation: this is the jumping-off point for a claim that Augustine makes several times, which is that humans persistently make the mistake of loving the things God makes rather than loving the maker himself (see 39 for one instance of this) — God as an enslaver and Augustine as the enslaved: Augustine repeatedly figures God as a mighty, imperious figure who enjoys absolute authority over his creations, and he repeatedly tells us that the correct relationship between God and humanity is one of enslavement. Consequently, Augustine describes the earlier, wayfaring version of himself as a "runaway slave" (55) who deserves to be pursued and excruciatingly punished — God as a spouse: straying from God is akin to violating marriage vows. "I cheated on you like a true slut ... A 'loving' attachment to this world is cheating on you" (22). Note also that Augustine frequently conflates the institution of marriage and the institution of slavery The stealing of the pear - As a child he and his peers stole some pears. He describes that he did it for the sake of sinning more so than for the pear itself. - By Augustine's logic, this difference made the sin so much worse. Romantic Relationship - as a young adult he had a relationship with a woman for many years, and they had a child out of wedlock. - He describes the relationship as purely lustful and unlike a marriage. Nebridius's death - At one point, his close friend dies, and he grapples with this greatly. - He decides that if he had faith in God, he would have dealt with it better, and this is proved later when his mom dies and he mourns much less. His mother Monica's death - When his mother is on her deathbed she expresses that she wants to be entombed with her husband, but eventually she comes to the conclusion that since God is everywhere, wanting to be buried somewhere specific is vain. - The body is just a home for the soul and doesn't matter once the soul is gone. In comparison to Genesis: Jacob wants to be buried with all his family, and that specific land was sacred. - Mourning: He initially doesn't let himself cry because he thinks it's pointless to lament that she's gone since there's nothing to be done. He's dealing with his human loss and a heavenly loss His conversion - At age 31, Augustine reported that he heard a child say "take up and read," so he picks up a book and reads a passage from Romans - "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof" and he is converted. Important Topics Marriage for Augustine - Monica wants him married to tame his lust and because it will correct his behavior - There is a notion that the sexless companionless christianity of Paul is something she can't understand as a woman, however, she does accept him later without marriage for his faith. Questions about faith - The Holy spirit's form, and the holy trinity - Augustine frames people as gifts from God to himself, which raises questions about autonomy - Augustine frames the desire to sin as a desire to be closer to God - The difference between having a will and having the power to enforce that will His description of babies - The human condition is lonely, primal, and unable to communicate - They are not pure and innocent as other texts would indicate - Desires are internal while good things and gifts from God are external - His parents are the "parents of his flesh" while God made his soul Books - Books are very important throughout his life: In his early life, he loves Latin and experiences the world through literature, he eventually teaches rhetoric - Holy books specifically are important to him - Over the course of his life he derives his ideals from the holy texts more than from philosophical writing. - Books play a major role in his conversion Fruit trees/Gardens - Relationship between figs and pears - possible relation to Genesis. Stolen pear vs. conversion fig. - Pear scene: as a boy, Augustine steals some pears with friends - Expecting things from nature/receiving them versus taking them - Humility is a large point of question here, is nature a gift from God to Augustine? - Parallels the fall, represents going away from God, but he sees his action as the result of a desire to come closer to God - Deep shame and eventually a moment of relief/understanding Monica - She often has visions and accepts immediately what God/religious figure has told her - Her death is also something she accepts wholly, which is a marker of her faith - She is the example of will and self-control working in concert- Unusual for her faith as a woman, at one point described as "strong in faith as a man" Lust/Sexual morality - Centrality of lust as the barrier to faith (ex. his father Patrick's affairs) both for Augustine and in a wider sense—Adam and Eve - Lust as motivation to stall his conversion, before his conversion he says "Give me chastity and continence but not yet. For I was afraid that you would answer my prayer at once and cure me too soon of the disease of lust, which I wanted satisfied, not quelled." - Differentiation of love and lust, yet also love as a temptation (but true love is the love directed towards God/received from God) - Rejection of lust is only possible through grace—human will isn't present until God grants grace through Jesus - He "Rescued" Adam and Eve from obscurity and formed the concept of original sin Friends - Augustine is very dependent on friendships throughout - Friendships transcend pre and post conversion - Friendships exist in contrast to the lustful relationships that he has - His one friend who gets married is disabled in his faith compared to the unmarried Augustine, God is better served single - Augustine's ultimate conclusion: he's not able to do as he wills because his mind is in conflict with itself. It's not that his body has overcome his will, and it's not that the forces of Evil have stopped him from doing what he wants. The problem is with the will itself; the problem is with the mind itself.

Citizen

- Claudia Rankine Themes - Concept of whiteness/blackness not possess w/o whiteness how maintain whiteness Inescapability of racism, people playing by different set of rules - Experience vs. history influence who you are - Black on white background, white people and the ways whiteness, constantly reminded of race - Thrown inescapable and involuntary way black Americans must be aware of race and how it affects them Sports - Similar to characteristics of legal system, supposed to be "fair" - Tennis predem. White sports, especially emblematic of Zora quote because she literally is being thrown against the overwhelming white background of the whiteness of tennis, sports are but also not equal - Enforce stereotypes involuntarily, also visibility, vulnerable because as POC, everything you - Black on white is so stark emp. Lack of whiteness/privacy also amplifies any mistakes you make Hoodie - The cover can be recognized as a literary allusion to the hoodie, which has emerged as a symbol of racialized violence. It is often used as a justification for violence against colored people since they are perceived as dangerous if wearing a hoodie. - For instance, Treyvon Martin was murdered because his hoodie was seen as a threat by the correctional officer. The cover also references one of the quotations in the book that speaks to "feeling the most colored when thrown against a stark white background". - The cover capitalizes on this notion since it presents black text and a black hoodie over a white background. - Moreover, the fact that the hoodie is torn off connotes violence and the disembodiment of the hoodie speaks to an idea that runs through the book -- anyone can be in the hoodie and African Americans are often grouped into a single racial identity that defines them by their blackness.

Crime and Punishment

- Fyodor Dostoyevsky Characters: Raskolnikov, Luzhin, Dunya, Sonya, Razumikhin, Svidrigailov, Marmeladov/Katerina Ivanovna, Lizaveta/Alyona, Petrovitch, Lebezyatnikov Themes: - hyperdetails - Blending of Internal/External World: - Raskolnikov's interactions with the outside world are, in some ways, only interactions with himself - That is, they contribute only to his internal monologue seemingly without recognition of the other person in the interaction - **Related conflicts include the tension between physical sensation and rational thought and the blending of public and private life: - Raskolnikov tries to reason that he is a Napoleon or that he could be, prevailing physical illness and feelings of guilt contradict this - Public vs. Private Life: - apartment is essentially a passageway, means that private/domestic life is constantly perceived - St. Petersburg: many people in a very small space, gives sense of being surrounded by people without intimacy or community, complete dissolution of social bonds - Compare to Raskolnikov's space: - Raskolnikov has a far greater amount of privacy (although he is still often intruded upon by housekeeper) - This privacy allows for the kind of intense self-examination that marks Raskolnikov's character - The sense of being watched extends to Porfiry's looming presence, Svidrigailov's voyeurism, and even the fact that Porfiry's informal interrogation of Raskolnikov is being watched by the tradesman Women - Attitude is centered around money, women should be reliant on men for money, he must provide, no one else must provide - Uninteresting misogyny, very familiar misogyny, just wants women to be dumb, subservient, power dynamic, focuses on having power over women, wants to be master of dunya, but fixation implies insecurity and desperation for someone to worship him - Plays himself up/gets power from benefactor position, in this he frames Sonya - Show-off, try-hard, shallow Justice: - Raskolnikov has an obviously warped sense of justice - His misplaced generosity throughout the novel shows a mostly unsuccessful attempt to rectify injustices and something of a self-sacrificing urge (he doesn't really have the money that he spends) - Awareness of injustice seems to be coupled with feelings of powerlessness - Ex: When Raskolnikov attempts to help a woman who has just been assaulted but eventually changes his mind saying "Who am I to help anyone? Do I have any right to help?" (53). - Raskolnikov often feels like he is the only one who acts in the face of injustice, suggests a possible motive for the murder → wants to see if he will be held accountable for his own unjust acts - Restorative Justice: Throughout the novel people are almost unduly forgiving of Raskolnikov, from his friends and family to Porfiry himself - This suggests the importance of real human connection - People care for Raskolnikov even when he doesn't want them to and even when he returns their care with cruelty - Their willingness to consider his state of mind and other extenuating circumstances ultimately allows for his redemption Humanism: - Interiority: people's character is revealed in interactions with other people? - Stability is found in human connection - Svidrigailov is looking to be anchored to "the real world" and doesn't find it - Importance of not being alone (and that the dissolution of public/private life is no substitute for true connection) - Possible role of women → essential to community and interpersonal connection, stabilizing factor for men Depiction of St. Petersburg: - Extreme depictions of poverty and decay - Representative of: Conflict between new money and old money at this time in Russia ; Decline of nobility; Raskolnikov's internal and moral decay Raskolnikov's Character: - introduced unnamed-Contributes to sense of dissociation and depersonalization - Gives impression that Raskolnikov could be anyone, "just some guy" - This depiction counters Raskolnikov's continued attempts to be extraordinary/to be somehow more than human - Makes character more compelling through suspense What class is Raskolnikov a part of? - Seems accustomed to poverty - Family is not incredibly wealthy, but has knowledge of wealth - Working class? - Solipsism/the privilege of interiority and hypochondria would say no - Can we separate material wealth from an attitude of nobility? - The family's wealth almost doesn't really matter... they are relatively well off with a sense of having fallen from somewhere greater, representative of a kind of economic nostalgia Possible Motives for the Murder: - Napoleon Complex i.e. the Great Man theory of history → the idea that a few extraordinary men are allowed to transgress the law and commit crimes without feelings of guilt or reproach from others - Extreme dislike of humanity - Utilitarianism/Robin Hood - Alyona Ivanova is not a good person, the world is better off without her - Raskolnikov briefly thinks about using her wealth for the betterment of society - Providence/Destiny: Use of coincidences to further the plot contributes to this sense - Shepherd of the family's destiny - Twisted and poor attempt at saving Dunya and his mother from making sacrifices on his account - Nihilism - Antisemitism - Patriarchy - Material motivation/robbery - Sense of justice → testing whether or not he will be held accountable by a world that Raskolnikov thinks is failing to hold anyone accountable Raskolnikov and Sonya: - How is the scene set up to be scandalous? - Woman and a man alone at 11pm - Sonya is a prostitute, making it scandalous for Raskolnikov - Equation of sins/comparing prostitution to murder makes it scandalous for Sonya - **Made less scandalous by Raskolnikov's physical difficulty navigating Sonya's room, the fact that she helps him implies a level of consent when it would presumably be fairly easy to get him to leave - Moral dialogue between Sonya and Raskolnikov: Depravity (pg. 339) - Raskolnikov is overly concerned with her sin and sanity though they hardly know each other - Displays a kind of over familiarity: draws a comparison between the two of them - Sonya's is a madness of belief - His is a madness over the state of reality, manifests in black and white thinking - Projection: Raskolnikov sees himself in Sonya - Raskolnikov questions Sonya in an attempt to understand her & Sonya's reading of the story of Lazarus (pg. 340-44) - The story of Lazarus is a major conversion event, Jesus' greatest miracle - Like in the story of Lazarus, Sonya's believes that with God anything is possible - At this point, Raskolnikov is dead in spirit and looking for resurrection - Sonya's demeanor while reading is ecstatic/feverish, almost divine or prophetic - Casts Sonya as Jesus and Raskolnikov as Martha - However, Raskolnikov thinks of himself as the Jesus-type, as sacrificial - Comes to Sonya's seemingly with the intent of acting as an authoritative figure, but it is Sonya who offers insight - Raskolnikov wants a miracle from Sonya, Sonya wants a miracle from God - Raskolnikov is focused on what people "deserve," but Sonya knows that what's given is based on faith or chance - This scene shows that Raskolnikov's nihilism "craves faith" - And, in some ways, Sonya's faith craves realism - How does gender function in the scene? - Women are both the target of Raskolnikov's violence and the ones who have the potential to save him - Sonya, acting as Jesus figure, holds a position that is traditionally held by men - Mirrors depiction of women in John → women are revelatory - Svidrigailov's voyeurism: - Rekindles the sense of scandal that had mostly dissipated throughout the scene - Aligns readers with Svidrigailov and all other "spectators" in the novel, begs the question of whether empathy can be found in witnessing others' lives and if so, how? - Contributes to the sense that nothing is actually private and legitimizes some of Raskolnikov's paranoia Epilogue: How does it function in relation to the larger work? - Relationship with Sonya: Reflection of Raskolnikov's character - Improvement in character - Too much time spanned by epilogue? - Ties everything up too neatly - Seems to be starting something new with the ending - In contrast, ending with the confession could've re-emphasized the significance of a moment that Dostoyevsky highlights throughout the rest of the novel - Stylistically different from the rest of the text - Chapter 1, in particular, told in a very matter of fact way - About the stories that we tell ourselves to survive, epilogue does not provide a definitive answer for why Raskolnikov commits the murder but instead reveals how he lives with himself - Also evidenced by the story that Raskolnikov's mother tells herself about where he is - Its inclusion changes the way that we read the rest of the book - No sympathy for nihilism - Quasi-Christian redemption - Epilogue loses nuance of Raskolnikov's character brought out by nihilism - Attempts to answer questions that there are no answers to - The rest of the book underscores that the purpose is to question not to answer - What does the lack of coincidences in the epilogue indicate? - Novel is ultimately about redemption, coincidences are merely a way of making people stick to God's plan - Therefore they are no longer necessary after Raskolnikov has chosen Sonya (and God) - Irony → shows that Raskolnikov is not a Great Man Svidrigailov: - Negative mirror of Raskolnikov - Random generosity - Demonstrates a potential future for Raskolnikov - Time leading up to Svidrigailov's death mirrors Raskolnikov's mental state leading up to his confession - Restorative justice: for better or for worse, people insist on seeing Raskolnikov in his full humanity, this is never done for Svidrigailov - Svidrigailov kills himself because no one cares for him? - Emphasizes importance of community and human connection ADD PHOTO

The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas

- Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis Characters: Bras Cubras, Marcela, Eugenia, Virgilia, Bras Cubras' father, Quincas Borba Themes - racism - death - societal class = Chapter 1 - Funny, subvert expectations, not know what to look for/expect - Know what's going to happen - Ind. to us narrative momentum, no plot unfolding - Death emphasizes ordinariness - Relatable, not special - Memoir lack of of plot momentum, not important - Withholding of 3rd woman's name - Intimacy, pay attention Chapter 24 - Very self-aware, no matter how your words affect others - Depressing, depends on what you view death as, wait for death to be free - Image of death can be funny - Take self too seriously - Liberation in that no response to anyone else False promise-> no white moment after death Pg. 47-50 - w/o chapter break at chapter 16, seems like less self-aware, original formal, reflecting much later on, when he is telling story and dead is only when he realizes Marcela only loved him for money - Chapter break clearly implies Chapter 16 is him narrating from grave - Transition of chapter 16-17-> like journal, sentence split between end of 16 and start of 17 Humanitism Chapter XVIII - Pain is illusion - Slow process of evolution - No individuals, only humanities - War and conflict is every-present - Good = birth - Poor copy of Buddhism - Exploitation of non-human others - Envy, vices good - Discount suffering by philosophizing too much - Discount individual agency and morality - Encourages apathy, assumes and promotes hierarchy - Works on civilizational level-assumes high level of evolution Pg. 91, 289, Eugenia - Lame and sad->cruel-> world is tragic place, fate - Marcela, Eugenia, Quincas Garca, role/function not be determined - Reducing people to role inherently humanizing, life is absurd Pg. 148 - Explains why you don't want to be perceived as black - physical brutality and stripping of ID - Shows inescapable reality and brutality of slavery Rooted in personal experience, especially know it because he is black

Lais

- Lais of Marie de France Themes: - Silence/concealment vs. when to speak/who speaks - Gives speaking roles to women characters - Possessive language (all poems) - love-she warns of the power love can give women over men, punishing not only power-hungry women who maliciously use their authority to inflict suffering on others, but also the men that fall prey to these women, thus implying that women should be subservient to men. - Who has a good story and who has a bad story: - Struggle against fate? - Passivity as a marker of moral character? - How the narrator sets up the characters (e.g. difference in characterization between Guigemar and Equitan) Equitan: - Equitan and Seneschal's wife plot to murder the Seneschal because love and he must marry, wife's plot of boiling seneschal to death fails, cautionary tale of falling under influence of woman - Equitan: unkind, greedy, unable to control impulses - - Once murder plot is revealed it is easy to think that he deserves a bad ending - Man's conception of love: hierarchy - Woman's conception of love: marriage/love is the only valuable if it's based on equality - Droit du seigneur: "right of the lord" to sleep with vassals' wives - Covetousness is not prized the way loyalty is Discipline of unfettered love - - Pres. female side of lovers hypocrisy-> multiple mentions of loyalty Love is based on equal for her, power structure is concern - Always some sort of power imbalance - Love is uncontrollable - Who is good, bad depends on the narrator Guigemar: - arrow fired at deer goes back at him, deer curses him that he will be wounded until he finds a woman who will not only suffer for him, but for whom he himself will suffer. - then comes across deserted ship, takes nap on it, and ship - Guigemar: good, noble, well-liked, deserves a happy ending - Reluctance to have too much (woman untying shirt) - takes him to a walled-off port city where the wife of a jealous old night is imprisoned to keep her safe from the advances of other men Guigemar and the woman fall in love with each other - The woman suspects that they are going to be discovered for their affair, so they make promises to each other that if someone new can untie their shirt (man) or belt (woman) they are allowed to love them. Otherwise, they will stay faithful to each other. - he is sad and refuses to marry, then POV shifts to lady, who is stuck in tower for 2 years, then escapes - ship Guigemar sailed on is at shore, sends her to Meriaduc, who she rejects, he asks Guigemar for help, they untie each others' knots, Meriaduc refuses to give up woman, so he goes to Meriaduc's enemy and starves Meriaduc's town and kills him Lanval: - unpopular member of King Arthur's court, goes to meadow, met by two damsels who lead him to head damsel who is sugar mommy, but must be secret - starts flashing money, queen then tries to seduce him, fails and reveals sugar mommy, insulted queen accuses him - Arthur holds a trial, trial split, damsel appears, convinces them Lanval is innocent, happy ever after - Difference in treatment between Arthur and the woman: - Arthur: indifferent to him, favors other knights more, angered by accusations of bullying his wife, cares more about barons/their decisions than his own feelings towards Lanval (characterizations of Arthur as a fair ruler) - Woman: sugar mommy to Lanval, makes him rich and consequently more popular, increases his pride, fills the gaps that Arthur leaves - Is private love at odds with feudal duty to king? - Are there things about Lanval that only the beloved understands? Does this create a rift between the knight and the king? - Woman "speaking up" for Lanval > her beauty is testament enough to his story and proves his innocence - Emphasis on her lack of actual words - (Sometimes missing) Relationship to Christianity: - Give in to love or die - Perfect women (beautiful, noble, intelligent) unable to overcome love > makes stories more entertaining - Reference to Adam eating and creating original sin parallels the knight-bird-man eating the eucharist and then committing adultery - Similarities between Dido-Cupid story and getting struck by an arrow of love in Marie de France's Lais - Under what conditions can someone be blamed for their actions? - Appearance of medieval indulgences (like preemptive eucharist) - Conceptions of pagan vs. Christian love - Ideas surrounding original sin To what extent should we read these stories as an intentional whole? - Creates different narrative if you see the stories as a whole vs. as individual - Competing histories coming together: value in not trying to pin something down with a certain moral compass - Arthur-indifferent to wife, cares about barons, not lanval, contrast between treatment of Lanval and other knights - Beloved-anything he desires, sugar mettler, gold, clothing, holds parties, goes on hunting trip-> largest precursor to invitation, pride, filling gaps Arthur leaves Prologues: What do these tell us about Marie's goals/processes? - Recorded vs. author - More fluid ideas of authorship Tied to fleeting nature of performance - Responsibility of author God's gift of storytelling Avenge herself against criticism - Writing for herself, not just her audience - Writing for the king, distribution of her work What do they suggest about the role of literature in Anglo-Norman Britain? - New tradition of wilderness vs. civilization - Memorialize old ideas, narratives "Bisclavret," - Bisclavret is werewolf, wife loves him but gets nosy and presses him to reveal secret, but then she doesn't love him - she gets knight to hide his clothes and prevent him from turning back into human, and they marry - king finds him when hunting, brings him back, when knight and wife appear, he attacks him, and then wife - wife reveals via knights' torture of her plot, forces her to give his clothes back and he changes back into human - wife and knight banished and have noseless children - In "Bisclavret," Marie de France uses Bisclavret's manipulation of men who are in love with her to warn again of women weaponizing men's love for them against them. "Yonec," - old man needs kids, marries woman that is full package, sad, stuck in tower for 7 years - hawk visits, turns into man, said has loved her for 7 years - Love is uncontrollable, that pious ladies don't resist love, gets put into you, love is an arrow, externally motivated image - Love original sin, how continue up to you, but resists until he promises he believes in god - he pretends to be her and ill so he will take communion, which works when old woman checks in on him - suspicious bc she regains beauty, old woman hides and watches transformation, husband puts up razors that kill him - their son called yonec, follows him to town, he is rich, he predicts yonec will kill husband and gives her ring so husband forgets everything and sword - son becomes knight, feast of st aaron, go to abbey, see tomb of knight, lady remembers, gives yonec sword and story, then dies on tomb - yonec kills dad - about the sorrow and grief that they suffered for love." "Chevrefoil," - Tristam: nephew of King Mark, in love with the queen, banished to South Wales to stay away from her. - Tristam sneaks into Cornwall to be near the queen. Overhears about the king's Pentecoste party. - Tristam carves out a knife with his name on it and places it so that the queen can see it and recognize that her beloved is near. - Honeysuckle and hazel branch simile: intertwined, unable to live without each other - The queen and Tristam reunite. Then Tristam has to wait until his uncle calls him back home to see the queen regularly. - The result of his joy at seeing her is what Marie de France translated into a lay. "Eliduc" - Although similar to "Equitan and Bisclavret," the central plan is conceived by women, "Equitan" has a relatively happy ending because Guildeleuc and Guilliadun's plan main beneficiary is Equitan, reinforcing societal gender norms and power dynamics. - Eliduc is knight goes service abroad, wife is sad but lets him, so good king retains him for 1 year, falls in love with Guilliadun, Princess reciprocates, but he remembers wife Guildalec - he tells Guilliadun must go back, he promises give him day he will come back - goes home and sad boi hours, then goes back, gets Guilliadun, sailor reveals during storm he has wife, Guillliadun faints - she seems to be dead on arrival, so he takes him to convent, wife is curious, discovers her, uses herb used by weasal t revive her, Guilliadun thinks she has been abandoned by Eliduc - Guildeluec sees they are in love becomes nun so they can marry - happy ending bc of god

Translator of Desires (Poems 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 14, 20, 24; Appendix 1; Appendix 2)

- Muhyiddin Ibn' Arabi CHECK Themes: love, Characters: - treks and pilgrimages and journeys with "stations" - ritual circlings and turnings - the transmission of messages from person to person or generation to generation - Components: doves (1-12); "passing away" (16); journey (21-24); the speaker's heart as the Ka`ba (25-8); meditation on the beloved/beloveds (29-40); famous analogy of the heart to several forms, most of them religious (41-52); final invocation of historical archetypes - With the beloved's departure, the poet's thought moves in two directions First, the poet analogizes his love for the beloved to religious and spiritual devotion (17-36). Second, the poet evokes the experience of fanā-esque death (lines 13-16 and 45-50). - Pursuit of the beloved; the beloved's constant alteration Ridwa - The speaker's selfhood is split into parts, and manifests in several different places and forms. Where are the moments of change and alteration in the speaker? What distinguishes one version of the speaker's self from the others? Are these selves discrete, or continuous? Is the speaker the same person at the end of the poem as they are at the beginning? Chimera - The poet attempts to describe something that is indescribable, using words to say that the beloved cannot be captured in words. When does the poem most succeed in making the beloved seem ineffable - i.e. something we can't grasp or conceive of? Conversely, what do we know about this supposedly unknowable presence? Release - With the beloved's departure, the poet's thought moves in two directions that we'll return to in our second class. First, the poet analogizes his love for the beloved to religious and spiritual devotion - to what end, and to what effect? Second, the poet evokes the something like the experience of fanā (i.e. the passing away of / annihilation of / death of the self). Fanā is a key concept in Sufi mysticism, and we should talk about how this poem characterizes it (particularly via the violence on display in lines 13-16 and 45-50).

Song of Solomon

- Toni Morrison Characters: Macon Dead III(milkman) and Jr., Pilate, Ruth, Guitar, Hagar Themes: names: - Biblical names, business' previous owner still on shop - Pilate-not like him, not positive connotations - Macon, doesn't really care about names - Legacy of history-didn't scrub Sonny's shop off genealogy/ancestry - Repurpose capitalism to own ends Magical realism-Pilate's lack of navel - Wine-difficult to make - Pilate, figure of resistance, magical, isolated figure, relies to people with so little hope - Name is gender-less - Name means she carries general trauma, mistake generational trauma: - Part of what Milkman comes to learn in Song of Solomon is that his family's heritage, and the earlier historical eras they lived through, are integral parts of who he is today, even though he never experienced any of it directly.-> creation coming out of privation: - how new cultures, new societies, and new opportunities emerge from experiences of loss, exclusion, disfranchisement, and pain. The world of Song of Solomon is circumscribed by racism and political subordination and economic inequality, but it isn't exclusively defined by it, and Morrison's novel frequently indicates that privation can also be a spur to creativity, invention, expression, and resilience. A few examples: — "Not Doctor Street": a new black vernacular name is born from the white government's erasure of an old black vernacular name (4)— Multiple names in the Dead family: "Milkman" sticks regardless of Macon's "refusal to use it or acknowledge it" (15); meanwhile, "Dead" is the result of a white clerical error, but the people who have to live with the name like it and embrace it (53-4) — The "shadow economy" that Pilate participates in: she has no role to play in the legitimate, aboveboard business of the town (of the sort that Macon participates in) but she runs a thriving enterprise on the margins flight (and falling) — The theme of flight in Morrison is something like the theme of pride in Austen: a much-alluded- to concept that takes on several meanings and resonances over the course of the book. For example: — It's the first act that's performed in the novel: the "flight" of Mr. Smith's - cuts away from the scene while he's in the air and hasn't yet fallen; — It's an experience Milkman has always yearned for: as a child, his realization that "only birds and airplanes" can do this "left his imagination so bereft that he appeared dull" (9) It's an all-purpose solution for many of Milkman's problems: asked what he'd do if the racism in his hometown became too much to bear, he responds, - "Buy a plane ticket" (104) — It's the first line of a children's song, which we'll hear recurring throughout the book (6) Pilate - Tie to family, places carry significance - Made up of individual people - Experiential knowledge, built on travel - Contrast w/Guitar lack of understanding of individual - Migrant workers root worker going home: - Flying home/away-implies home is not where you are-> home is Africa? - Triumph+untethered, flying, human, joy - Flying away and flying home - Idea of slight is crossing genres - sugarmen/implies some finality, juxtaposes by - - Milkman's birth, also generational trauma being hounded down - Flight also metaphor for escaping oppression - Sets up one person escaping system, Milkman born into this aggression Milkman - Different experiences with different people of north and south, different people and places - Exposes class divides, north traditionally wealthy, experiences lack of camaraderie - Evolution of character-reading people - Reverse great migration - urban-> rural more pronounced in north - Going home to family home, in a way fulfillment of circumstances of his birth, song at beginning, life starts with someone taking flight and "going home," fitting he ends book in ancestral home gender - Ruth and her father - Different scope-one incident versus whole life - Gender charged - Macon-possession - Ruth-fear, desperate for connection - Emphasis on smallness, victimhood, Macon asc. more/culpability than she does - Hagar-The trauma behind the crazy ex girlfriend trope, humanizes caricature of an emotional woman - Both make self victim to child - Tension-emphasizes humanity - Trauma-biases, revision shows omission in archive revenge - Abstract conception of humanity, violence concreteness-> numbers method - Love to justify violence, love as motivating factor, effects love, very horrible - Elevation of commonality> individual - Effect more on black, rather than white community, traumatic effect on people trying to rectify it - History is repeating-violence is endless cycle - Seven days-> buys into system that oppresses you, looking at black vs. white vs. individual - Tools you know, best way to hurt, tit for tat - No power in silence? No other option - All you can do is keep it level, not they know ay other way but tools of oppressors, like the whole part of 7 days is know justice - Takes place in Michigan - Testament to racism in America, born out of lack of better options, KKK act of racism, - Depressing that this hopelessness drives them to kill, not a good thing - Guitar 113-114: - Defined by relationship, not absolute - Drink of tea is political charged - Caring vs. knowing - Antagonistic btw. Whiteness and blackness - Intervention of social id. Calcifies - Guitar rejects north/south divides - Heading towards us. Vs them binary, view of race to see world - Framework still being formed to view world - Continuity of race/class, rather than geography

To The Lighthouse

- Virginia Woolf Characters: Mr. Ramsay, Ms. Ramsay, Lily Briscoe, James, Mr. Tansley, Camilla Themes - leisurely pace of novel-leisure of people in book, long sentences and lots of commas - observation of their thoughts from an omniscient perspective - time passing - men vs. women - brackets-time - She focuses on exploring the inner lives of the characters during reasonably normal everyday family scenes. - Focusing more on the emotion of life than the different events. - She jumps between the thoughts of different characters. - Her description of their thoughts is not always in their face (eg. James). - Blurry line between Virginia Woolf's interpretation of their feelings and what the characters themselves are thinking. - She rejects the strict plot template. Plot Overview The Window - James tells wants to go to the Lighthouse the next day but his father says he won't be able too. Mr Bankes and Lily discuss her painting. Mrs Ramsey wants Lily and Mr Bankes to get married. Paul, Minta, Andrew and Cam go on a walk together . Paul and Minta Doyle get engaged. Mrs Ramsey hosts a dinner party. Mr and Mrs Ramsey sit and read together. Time Passes World War I starts. Mrs Ramsey dies. Andrew is killed in the war. Prue dies during childbirth. The house begins to fall apart. Mrs McNab and a team of women restore the house. The Lighthouse Mr Ramsey decides that him, Cam and James will go the Lighthouse. Mr Ramsey and Lily speak, but she realises she is unable to offer the sympathy which Mrs Ramsey gave to Mr Ramsey. Cam and James decide to be united against 'tyranny', and they start the journey to the Lighthouse with their father. Lily continues the painting she left the last time she was at the house. James sails the boat to the Lighthouse. Lily finishes her painting. Time Passes - Pg. 139-141-encroachment of other life into space, suppression of color, zooming out in time passes - Brackets emphasize passage of time in Time Passes section, life comes at you fast, contrasts with previous parts in brackets, life slowly, then comes at you fast, how you remember big life events - Core memories, looking back on 10-15 years, remember big events, but also small moments/random core memories - Uses WWI to talk about personal, instead of personal being used to talk about major events/commentary on world, reflects hyperealization - WWI being represented in Time Passes as disruptive, old guard being represented by new guard, disruption of WWI, short but upending transition and now dying as well Role of Sir Walter Scott: - Represent idealization of manliness - Pg. 34-> Mr. Ramsawy wants to see self as brave explorer when he is actually antithesis, a philosopher - Pg. 120-after dinner party, reads Sir Walter Scott - Pg. 164-condescending view of Scotland, idealizes it, vision explicitly not political - Pg. 90-dinner part-> French is metaphor for social customs Class Discussion - Comparing Virginia Woolf's writing to her sister, Vanessa Bell's, paintings. They both aim to show the essence of life rather than focusing on imitating real life detail. - Lily Briscoe at the centre of the narrative, especially as her voice becomes more prevalent in 'The Lighthouse' section. - Fragmented narrative style allows for more nuance in power dynamics, as we hear the thoughts of characters who do not necessarily voice their opinions. - Performance v Internal Identity. - Female Power in composition. Mrs Ramsey in curating the home. Lily with her painting. - Philosophy v the Political. - How has privilege influenced both the thoughts of the characters & Virginia Woolf's writing style. - Lack of prominent Scottish characters. - The 'language' of manners and privilege. Who can speak it and who chooses not to?

Inferno 1-5,7-8, 11-13, 15, 18-25, 26, 28, 32-4

- by Dante Alighieri Themes: - who deserves to go to hell (sin), piety, justice, evil, situates self in classical literature(vergil is his guide), - geography - actually technically a comedy, subverting expectations, low elements Characters: Vergil, Dante, Beatrice - Terza rime-> third rhyme, created by Dante-> 3 every other rhymes, flow, like him descending into hell - 21-demons-> subauthority reinforcing rules that can be broken after death Demons rep. Different modes of writing/genres in hell What are the key criteria for being damned in the Inferno? If I'm in Hell, why? — You've chosen evil over good, and failed to use your God-given ability to make moral choices — You were attached to worldly things rather than heavenly values. Sometimes, Dante's characters are condemned because they spent their lives pursuing material objects, like wealth or food. Others are condemned for their overinvestment in social affairs: politics, vendettas, reputation-making. — You're not repentant, and you won't turn to God for forgiveness. While "Dante" does occasionally meet people in Hell who recognize their wickedness and regret it, most of them want to justify and excuse themselves. And none of them praise God or make an effort to be with him: — You didn't believe in Christianity, either because you rejected it, or followed another faith, or lived in a time/place when you had no access to it: — You weren't worthy of being rescued by Jesus, who descended into Hell after his crucifixion and freed a host of souls who had initially been damned. The people who Jesus saved (in what has come to be known as the "harrowing" of Hell) were "paragons" of the Hebrew Bible, but had had the misfortune of living before Jesus was born Cantos 1: - The first canto sets Inferno up as something like a supernatural quest story, with a tonally mixed atmosphere: at once despairing and hopeful， gloomy, -Dante loses his way on the true path, and begins his journey in the dark woods -See's three angry beasts a leopard, a lion, and she wolf that force him to stay in the dark valley -He meets his spirit guide Virgil, based off a great roman poet. -Virgil warns hui he must pass the place of eternal punishment and then a place of lesser punishment, so hell and purgatory, and then finally reach god's city and lays out the journey. Cantos 2 -Dante feels discouraged when approaching the mouth of hell of Virgil reassures him based off the fact that a woman named Beatrice asked him to guide Dante. -Beatrice gets introduced for first time and become motivation for Dante -in conclusion cantos 1 and 2 mostly lay the framework and motive for the journey itself and suggest the overall broader subject, which is the trail of the human soul and its struggle to find unity within god and get to heaven. Cantos 3 -they make it to the gates of hell where they greeted by purgatory, which is where the souls that did not commit good or evil reside this called the "Ante-Inferno".-Fly's and wasps bite them in this purgatory-The neutral angels in the war against god also reside -They pass the river of hell called Acheron which is the border of hell.-Dante is terrified crossing and faints Cantos 4- Hell is described as a city (medieval in nature) likely reflecting Dante the author's distain for large cities -A general physical layout of hell presented, the rings and punishment are in correlation their "level" of sin per say -Dante notes his feelings toward the "justice" these souls are receiving. He often feels pitty but not always. Cantos 5 -Second circle of hell is entered, where punishment is worse -The monster Minos assigns people to their punishments -The lustful sinners are swirled around in wind almost like a tornado -Points out Helen from the trojan war as one of the souls. Cantos 7 -Fourth circle of hell is entered-This circle has corrupt politicians and popes, the common theme is greed and finances(humanly possesions) Cantos 8 -Fifth circle of hell-the fallen angels do not let them gain entrance into what is described as "lower hell" -This is where the worst people reside in hell. Cantos 11-Seventh circle of hell -This contains violent people -people who are violent against their neighbor, themselves, and god are here. -the eight circle punishes fraud-the ninth punishes betrayal -Virgil refers to Aristotle teachings to explain why hell is broken down like this. Cantos 12 -the souls are forced into a fire river -The river is guarded by centaurs who shoot arrows at the soul who try and climb out -Nessus is a centaur that leads them through safely and says that Alexander the great is here. Cantos 13-The seventh circle of hell -The souls here are turned to trees -these are people who were violent against themselves -They are eaten by half bird, half women creatures that pick away at their now physical limbs. Cantos 15-second layer of the seventh circle. -Those who are violent against nature are here -must continuously be rained on by fire rain. Cantos 18-eighth circle of hell, organized by "pouches" -This is for panders and seducers pretty much anyone who deceives women -the flatterers are also here -demons whip them Cantos 19-Punishes simoniacs (those who sell indulgences, etc.) -flames burn their bare feet at all times-pope Nicholas the third is here, he is guilty of simony Cantos 20 -in this fourth pouch there is endless punishment - marching like they are in church expect their necks are broken and they cry onto their butts. -This is astrologers, diviners, and magicians-Dante feels pity, but Virgil tells him not to. Cantos 21-Fifth pouch still 8th circle of hell - There is a demon named Malebranche who throws sinner into a pit of black tar Cantos 22-This pouch contains the Barters-a demon tortures them by stabbing into them while they are tied up - a soul kind of escapes and gets chased by the demons. Cantos 23-Sixth pouch -demons chase them after provoking them, Dante and Virgil escape -This is where the Hypocrites live-all of them trample a crucified hypocrite on the ground Cantos 24 -Seventh pouch-navigate a broken bridge-masses of serpents and naked sinners -People see Dante he knew on earth -This is where people who robbed and stole went Cantos 25-A soul & the snake merge in a way -providing symbolism to these people being "snakes" -likely because the people here were the ones who defeated Dante's religious movement and stole the city. Cantos 26-Eighth Pouch -the sinners are stuck within a flame Cantos 28-Ninth pouch -lines of souls circling-the souls have wounds; a demon cuts them with a sword as they walk past. -See's Muhammad the profit of Muslims-for the "sowers of scandal and schism" Cantos 32-souls are frozen it is cold in this ring of hell - First ring of the Ninth circle is call Caina (based off of Cane form the biblical story .-Traitors to their kin receive punishment here -Dante kicks a soul, loses his composure and compassion. Cantos 33-Ninth circle third ring -Souls are frozen in a lake with only their heads popping out -People who betrayed their house guests. Cantos 34-Ninth circle fourth ring -Lucifer is here -Satan stands on an icy lake, he eats the greatest sinners in human history but never kills them just chews on them constantly while he cries. -Lucifer seems to be in agony in this punishment as well (as discussed in class) - j

Essays

- by Michel de Montaigne Themes: - Montaigne works by: reason, judgment [metric with which he judges everything] as ssen in Of Democritus and Heraclitus - sprezzatura-studied casualness, release himself from tradition writing form; wiping self of responsibility of pleasing reader "To the Reader," - sprezzatura, false humbleness, not writing for others', but also publishing this "Of Wearing Clothes" - -stream of consciousness, clothes are stupid "On idleness", - need to keep mind busy "Of the power of the imagination", - proves the power of imagination to interfere with reality - review the relationship of fiction with imagination - dead from fear of execution, woman pain from thinking eaten a pin in bread, animals who die of grief from masters' death - imagination as psychological issue, maybe bc it often lacks reason "Of Democritus and Heraclitus", - Acknowledges not going to be carvin up entire subject - No claim to be making judgment for everyone, ramble for himself - Value in questioning something you'll never know the answer to reco. Contradiction btw. Creating essay, collection and humility - Luxury is having published/writing it down "Of repentance", - He next begins his discussion of conscience and repentance.After saying that he rarel yrepents and is comfortable with his own conscience, - each person's vice troubles that person and his virtue makes him feel good.In addition, one's opinion of himself and his own actions is worth infinitely more than that of someone else - One's conscience is most clear in how one acts in his home, where no one can see him because when no one can see them, people are more likely to give in to their habitual vices "Of cannibals" - Criticizing use of/definition of barbarism, whatever not own practice, criticizing own society, relative, not home definitely here - Critique of people's use of barbarism - Lookin at Europeans, calling them barbarous, as well as Europeans - Difficulty on translator-> mission trips

Don Quixote (Prologue-Part 1: Chapter 11), (Part 1: Chapters 12-32, 47-52), (Part 2: Prologue-Chapter 3, Chapters 8-10, 30, 45, 72-74)

- by Miguel de Cervantes Themes: - body - imagination vs. reality- - honor- Important Characters: Don Quixote, Sancho, Marcela, Dulcinea 1-12: censorship-> book burning, significance of book burning, unclear position against censorship 94-7 Gristomo's Song-imply her unreason made him suicidal - Blaming her for misery, she's rejoicing for her misery, mythologizing her - Not really about her, about himself - After depict it as totally inaccurate Physical body - Resilience of the body, body enhances delusion-> delusion> materiality - Enhancement scene-> delusion so great it impedes his freedom - Sheep as army - Body as form of agency-> treatment of body-> agency, teeth, refutation of chivalric romances, metric of delusion, grounds DW in reality

Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen Characters: Catherine Morland, Henry Tilney, General Tilney, John Thorpe, Isabella Thorpe, Mr./Ms. Allen, Eleanor Tilney Themes - what character reads represents reader - what Thorpe reads suggests he is dumb and does not value women( ), violence, scary, Austen emphasizes violence inflicted on horses - Gothic novel tropes used to highlight the importance of not using books/fantasy to guide your real-world behavior/actions, important to live in real world, don't think your life will follow that of books, don't expect life to be like novels/fit life into mold of novels to Catherine, not great, relative weight of these things - No reason, forbidden, not see her, probably what worse things to her - Free indirect discourse-line blurred between narrator and character's thoughts/words - especially present in the second half of the novel, in which the novel's setting and cast of characters has contracted from the city and people of Bath to Northanger Abbey, Catherine, and the Tilneys - imagination vs. reality Introduction - Lots of negating words-all the things she's not Constructs sense of gothic heroine using negation-apophasis, shows constraints of gender - Relatable-women valued for these things Catherine is not, valve - Standards by women judged at the time - Not perfect sym. Girl is annoying, literacy rates - Standards by which women are judged - Much more blunt, about, much more self-aware, in terms of societal norms - Not fully flushed out, always waiting for other people to tell her what to do/think/act - Not that make her relatable, relies on others' opinions ○ Catherine and Henry Tilney's relationship dynamics - Darcy's proposal, wore him down, makes it seem like Henry is in power, "born out of gratitude," should feel grateful/thankful he is proposing to her ○ What is a heroine? How does Catherine fit/not fit the expectations of one? ● Masculinity in Northanger Abbey: ○ General Tilney's trust in John Thorpe's word about Catherine, both in and against her favour, regardless of her behaviour - Kicked Catherine out-exposes her to danger, misreads Thorpe and Catherine Danger of unknown, threat of outside, unknown, new recognition of world being bigger than expected, growing recognition of internal crime ○ General Tilney's effect on the mood at the Abbey ● Austenian irony: how does Austen use irony to make fun of society and characters? ○ Eg. consider how use of irony shapes our view of Isabella Thorpe

Qur'an Suras (Selections from the Qur'an in English. Suras from Penguin: 12 (Joseph), 19 (Mary), 22 (Pilgrimage), 47 (Muhammad), 55 (The Merciful). Suras from Sells: 1, 53 (Star), 81 (Overturning), 90 (Ground), 98 (Testament), 105 (Elephant), 109 (Those who Reject the Faith), 111 (Palm Rope), 112 (Unity))

Themes - god Background - Writing of the Quran: Muhammad was illiterate and tradition is that he received visions from the angel Gabriel for ~20 years and followers wrote it down forming the Quran. - Quran is split into surahs, ordered roughly from shortest surah→ longest surah - The Hijrah occurred in the middle of the 20 year period and Surahs can be identified as either Meccan or Medinan - Topics that Meccan Surahs often discuss: earlier prophets, will this religion survive, believers/unbelievers, day of judgement - Topics that Medinan Surahs often discuss: internal struggle/fighting, paganism, pilgrimage, expansion, Laws/Legal system - The Quran is a self aware text, and often makes mention of other religions/peoples - There is a structure of nested narrators within the Quran(Narrator/God→ Gabriel→ Muhammad) and it is important to remember that the main narrator is God Surah 109- Those Who Reject the Faith→ This surah is sometimes used to show religious tolerance. Depending on how you translate the last line this surah (reckoning, religion, way), the surah can take on different meanings We suggested a spectrum of possible interpretations. From least tolerant to most tolerant: - Translate as reckoning: Allah judges us all in the end (and we will see then who is really right....Islam) - Translate as reckoning: We will all be judged, but according to our own ways and what we care about. My reckoning will be different from your reckoning, but there will be a reckoning for us both where we will be held accountable. - Translate as Way/Religion: This surah is recognizing different religions as valid. Sells translates the word as reckoning, possibly to remain consistent with other Surahs (whose messages might not be as consistent with this one were the word translated as religion) The Merciful Repeats the line "So which of your Lord's blessings would you deny?" → what does this line accomplish? - Maybe it is meditative - Maybe a call to action - Maybe a warning as if it is saying "You sure you want to do that?" Gives description of rewards in the afterlife for the righteous (garden, fruit, springs, virgins..) - Places emphasis on your own physical pleasure - The afterlife is a continuation of what exists on earth or it is even better than earth's pleasures → Leads to a more hopeful view of partaking in earth's pleasures (vs Augustine who thinks that earth's pleasures are nothing). - One shouldn't have shame for enjoying life on earth - Validates carnal pleasure. Mary Differences between the account in the Quran and Luke: 1. Jesus is a prophet not the Son of God 2. Mary is the central character, not Jesus 3. Mary is alone 4. Quran includes a depiction of childbirth during which in pain, wishes for death and gives birth under a date-palm tree near a brook 5. Joseph is never mentioned 6. Mary is shamed for her actions by her people afterwards 7. Gabriel not explicitly named but called Our Spirit 8. Less framing to show the importance of the story 9. No historical context given(Roman census, politics in Judea) → Possible implications of these differences 1,4,8→ Jesus is less divine. Creates a more human and relatable story. 8,9→ More universal story, less emphasis on history and jesus being an Isrealite 3→ Maybe being alone is better for connecting to God. 3,4→ God is there when it is difficult for us. 6→ Possible allegory for how to stand against false accusations and persecution. → Whether you view these narratives that have parallels in other religious texts as reverent or combative greatly affects how you view the relationship between Islam and these religions.

Othello

by William Shakespeare Characters: Desdamona, Iago, Othello, Brabantio, Emilia, Cassio, Bianca, Roderigo Big Ideas Racism, Misogyny, Prejudice - The concept of inequality and discrimintation is at the forefront of this story with Othello being a Black man and Desdemona constantly being spoken for, etc (ties into ideas of toxic masculinity. These practices are incredibly normalized throughout the story, which is the product of the time and place in which this story is told and was written (Think of Blackface being used in the earliest productions of this show and the impact that has on the story and the viewer). - Othello being called "the Moor" and not by his name is significant because it is an instance of othering. His existence is being boiled down to one singular aspect of his life and it restricts him from being able to be accepted, truly make connections, etc. - Misogyny is truly prominent when Iago speaks of his wife. He uses words like foolish and foul to describe her and at his core he hates women. He is one of the people who feeds into the idea of Desdemona merely being a pawan and never being able to truly speak for herself as well. - In intro scene, African Xenophobia-perpetual foreingness, focuses on his race, immigrants - Highlight perpetual foreignness-Othello already climbing up hills because of race Iago solely zeroes in on Othello's race as point for criticism, humurous, antihere gets more evil Don't assimilate into whiteness - The Handkerchief - Othello gifted it to Desdemona, as it was given to him by his mom. This is representative of his love and marriage. He becomes upset when she no longer has the handkerchief and when it becomes passed around. This insults it's lineage and significance and demeans Othello's message in giving it to his wife. - Path = Othello to Desdemona to Emillia to Iago to Cassio to Bianca who makes a copy to ? - Though Othello is the one who gifted the handkerchief in the first place, he never holds it in the play. - Symbol of fidelity? - Strawberries on white handkerchief could be representative of virginity and the concept of a marriage bed. - Iago lying that Cassio used hankerchief to wipe beard-sign of masculinity, showing off, cuckolding, all at Othello's masculinity - She regifted sign of intimacy, because not only implying has no love for Ohtello, she actually has affection for someone else, not only giving hima gift, it is regifting one of sings to their relationship - Love as tangible handkerchief, not sign of marriage - Sign of affection, form of care, affection, foreign origin, represents his/acceptance of outsider status, because acc. It rep. - Othello Exoticizes handkerchief, maybe self aware, or he trying to plausibly hype up significance, guilt her into revealing, tell him the truth, by hype up significance in a plausible way - Borne out of insecurity, feeling emasculated - Bianca-not as removed from lower class, as think they are all in same situation, hierarchy, not stand up to scrutiny "Willow" Song - 4.3 - Desdemona speaks of and begins to sing the willow song as Emelia prepares her for bed. This song is significant as it is representative of doom and jealousy. As Desdemona's death approached this song ties into the story she tells of a woman called Barbary who died after singing the song. Jealousy - This story proves the dangers of jealousy, as it quite literally causes Othello to kill his wife. However this is not the only instance of jealousy - Jealousy used as a weapon - Iago is jealous of Othello from the beginning, feeding into his hatred. - Trial Scene (I.iii) - This scene proves that the war at hand between the Turks and Venetians is far less important than the war between Othello and everyone else. Brabanzio dismissing the meeting regarding the Turks in order to address his personal grievances with Othello is selfish and out of line. This is yet another instance of Othello being challenged by those deemed more worthy and powerful, and his actions and intentions are once again in question because of who he loves and what he looks like. - Iago's jealousy is also made clear in this scene. He delivers his first soliloquy (I.iii.372-393). His speech tells us how he thinks of Roderigo as a fool and a "snipe." He then states that he hates the Moor and plans to use his "free and open nature" against him in order to convince him Desdemona has been disloyal. - His daughter will bring dishonor on their home by birthing mixed children - He appeals to the idea that her marrying a Black man will result to him losing property and respect - Dehumanizes Othello (Never calls him Othello, always the Moor) "An old Black ram is tupping your white ewe" (I.i.88-89) - Portrayal of Othello feeds into stereotypes in U.S. history->Hypersexualized Black men preying on young white women (They and he is a threat) - Othello being foreign also feeds into the U.S. fear of immigrants - Idea that they are not one of us, they are threats to our society, etc. - This is shown in the way that Othello is described. (It encites fear in Brabantio) - This language is used to describe Othello, before we even meet him, we feel pity for him. But I think in the past, this would have resulted in many taking the words of Iago and others to heart. By describing him in such a demeaning manner, we meet Othello with preconceived notions, which is incredibly unfair. - Is Iago lying or being manipulative? 2/22 - In the videos of the willow scene, we are focussed on Desdemona, not Emelia - Desdemona and Emelia have very different views on men (Desdemona is so virtuous) - Emelia being a woman of color in the movie accentuates the power dynamic between her and Desdemona. There's already a social inequality with them (as she's her servant/aid) and adding the racial barrier furthers this understanding.