Honor 313 Midterm
"Her nose was Mayan, flat, with large nostrils. Her lips were heavily rouged, with the thickness of a negress' lips. She was a racial type, and as such she was beautiful, but she was too strange for me. Her eyes were at a high slant, her skin was dark but not black, and as she walked her breasts moved in a way that showed their firmness." (p. 34-35)
Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)- -Chapter four, Arturo Bandini describing Camilla Lopez for the first time at the bar she worked at as a waitress -He was drinking a cup of bad coffee at the bar with the last nickel he had
"Dear Mother, I used to write home in Colorado, Dear Mother, things are definitely looking up. A big editor was in town and I had lunch with him and we have signed a contract for a number of short stories, but I won't try to bore you with all the details, dear mother, because I know you are not interested in writing and I know Papa isn't, but it levels down to a swell contract, only it does not begin for a couple of months. So send me ten dollars, mother, send me five, mother dear, because the editor (I'd tell you his name only I know you're not interested in such things) is all set to start me out on the biggest project he's got." (p. 16)
Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)- -This is Arturo Bandini writing to his mother asking for money while his contract kicks in and gets money of his own from the story he just sold. -He is in his hotel room sitting in front of his typewriter and the window that looks out to the green hillside of Bunker Hill
"One night I was sitting on the bed in my hotel room on Bunker Hill, down in the very middle of Los Angeles. It was an important night in my life, because I had to make a decision about the hotel. Either I paid up or I got out: that was what the note said, the note the landlady had put under my door. A great problem, deserving acute attention. I solved it by turning out the lights and going to bed." (p. 11)
Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)- -This is Arturo Bandini's POV on the very first page/paragraph -He is five weeks overdue on the payments of the Alta Loma Hotel on Bunker Hill, waiting for the money that was sure to come from his recently sold story The Little Dog Laughed
"The thought of your father before you, lash across your back, hot fire in your skull, that you are not to blame: this is your thought, that you were born poor, fled from your Colorado town because you were poor, rambling the gutters of Los Angeles because you are poor, hoping to write a book to get rich, because those who hated you back there in Colorado will not hate you if you write a book." (20)
Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)- -This is Bandini's POV, his own thoughts to himself -Chapter 2 the night the money his mom sent him arrives, Bandini climbs out the window of his room to go for a walk. He is feeling sorry for himself as he drowns in a sea of nasty thoughts and thinks it would be better if he dies.
"Dear Ragged Shoes, You may not know it, but last night you insulted the author of this story. Can you read? If so, invest fifteen minutes of your time and treat yourself to a masterpiece. And next time, be careful. Not everyone that comes into this dive is a bum." (p. 39)
Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)- After Bandini insulted Camilla about her shoes and her hatred towards him grew, he purposely spilled the coffee so she could clean it and left. The next morning, Bandini went to the Columbia Buffet looking for her to give her a copy of The Little Dog Laughed hoping if she read it she would think of him differently. She was not there, so he left the magazine with the old man who was mopping the floors and wrote the above note on it.
"I am an American, and god*damn proud of it. This great city, these mighty pavements and proud buildings, they were the voice of my America. From sand and cactus we Americans had carved an empire. [Her] people had had their chance. They had failed. We Americans had turned the trick. Thank God for my country. Thank God I had been born an American!" (p. 44)
Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)- At the end of Chapter 5, after insulting Camilla once again and calling her a "filthy little Greaser" because of the huaraches she was wearing Bandini walked away with pleasure feeling proud of what he did and of being an "American" → This is when italians start being assimilated with the privileges that come with being white.
"I had committed a mortal sin. I could figure it mathematically, philosophically, psychologically: I could prove it a dozen ways, but I was wrong, for there was no denying the warm even rhythm of my guilt. (96)"
Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)- Chapter 11 when Bandini visits Vera in Long Beach and pretends she is Camilla as they sleep together. He feels immediate regret and thinks to himself that he is a sinner who committed adultery
"But I am poor, and my name ends with a soft vowel, and they hate me and my father, and my father's father, and they would have my blood and put me down, but they are old now, dying in the sun and in the hot dust of the road, and I am young and full of hope and love for my country and my times, and when I say Greaser to you it is not my heart that speaks, but the quivering of an old wound, and I am ashamed of the terrible thing I have done." (47)
Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)- Chapter six, Bandini is lying in bed full of regret for the way he had acted toward Camilla. He remembered when he was a kid back in Colorado and he would be called Wop, Dago, and Greaser. He says that this is the reason why he is mean to her.
"I carried the book a hundred yard into the desolation, toward the southeast. With all my might I threw it far out in the direction she had gone. Then I got into the car, started the engine, and drove back to Los Angeles." (p. 165)
Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)- Very last paragraph of the book, Camilla escaped the mental institution she was in to go to Sammy in the Mojave Desert but he kicked her out and she left toward the desert hills. Once Bandini got there, he was three days late and could not find her. So he gave up the search, went back to his car, wrote a note on the first book he ever wrote, and threw it into the desert for Camilla.
"I thought of home, of spaghetti swimming in rich tomato sauce, smothered in Parmesan cheese, of Mamma's lemon pies, of lamb roasts and hot bread, and I was so miserable that I deliberately sank my fingernails into the flesh of my arm until a spot of blood appeared. It gave me great satisfaction. I was God's miserable creature, forced even to torturing myself. Surely upon this earth no grief was greater than mine." (p. 28)
Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)- Chapter 3 Bandini was in his room, had just come back from buying fruit and ate it, but he was still thinking of his mom's cooking. Felt miserable as he sat in front of his typewriter and no ideas came to him.
"Tarantell - New World - Tarantell her young motherhood in the English-tongued America so hard so ungracious - Tarantell gray striving Tarantell in Tenement America in and about polyglot worker poor as they laugh and scream and moan and weep their cheated fragment selves and she turns twists Tarantell respectfully effortfully from their paths - Tarantell! - She Tarantells in sudden airless gloom" (p. 224)
Christ In Concrete by Pietro Di Donato (1939)- -This is a scene where Paul and Annuzia are together right as she is about to die -The narrator is speaking about her
"Geremio. The month you have been on this job, you have not spoken a word about the work . . . And I have felt that I am walking into a dream. Is the work dangerous? Why don't you answer ...?" (p. 7).
Christ In Concrete by Pietro Di Donato (1939)- Annunziata is speaking (Geremio's wife); she fears his job is dangerous since Geremio is not telling her all the details
"Twenty years he had helped to mold the New World. And now he was to have a house of his own! What mattered that it was no more than a wooden shack? It was his own" (p. 6).
Christ In Concrete by Pietro Di Donato (1939)- Geremio but in third person; this is about how Geremio is finally able to own his own house after years of hard work
"Yes, the day is cold, cold . . . but who am I to complain when the good Christ Himself was crucified?" (p. 4).
Christ In Concrete by Pietro Di Donato (1939)- Geremio speaking in response to everyone complaining; why should he complain when Jesus laid his life down so he could be saved
"Is it possible to breathe God's air without fear dominating with the pall of unemployment? And the terror of production for Boss, Boss and Job? To rebel is to lose all the very little. To be obedient is to choke. O dear Lord, guide my path" (p. 13).
Christ In Concrete by Pietro Di Donato (1939)- Geremio's inner thoughts right before the building collapses and he is buried under concrete
"He who works, eats. He who does not work eats, drinks, and dances. Come, we who work with our hands can live a thousand centuries, and yet will we have to work" (p. 205)
Christ In Concrete by Pietro Di Donato (1939)- Nazone (Paul's uncle) to Paul about blowing off work and letting loose to have fun
"Work! Sure! For America beautiful will eat you and spit your bones into the earth's hole! Work!" (p. 3)
Christ In Concrete by Pietro Di Donato (1939)- The Lean is speaking; complaining about having to work so hard to get to America where they will have to work even harder
"The scaffolds are not safe, for the rich must ever profit more. The men are driven. And they prefer death or injury to loss of work. Work and die. Today I did not die. I have been let to live today and must be thankful that tomorrow I may return to work - to die." (p. 218)
Christ In Concrete by Pietro Di Donato (1939)- This is about Paul (third person) right around the time he is beginning to lose his faith and reject Christ
"He wondered away, fearing to turn. On the clean sunbathed sidewalk he saw his bloodied crushed father.[...] He turned and saw Job. It pressed upon him and choked him. He held out his hands and gazed at them. That was he. Those were the limbs that stretched their life force against brick. This was the world, that spun and sickened, making him sit on a doorstep, making him want to clasp the earth and shout for it to stop, the world that would crumple him like his father and Nazone! Everywhere were their violated selves, helpless, appealing to him in awful dignity. He got to his feet and ran (p. 210)"
Christ In Concrete by Pietro Di Donato (1939)- This is about Paul; Nazone had just been murdered and Paul begins to lose hope; he is having flashbacks of his deceased father
"Lissenyawopbastard! If you don't like it, you know what you can do!" (p. 9).
Christ In Concrete by Pietro Di Donato (1939)- Wop = Derogatory term against Italians, stands for "without papers" Mr. Murdin talking to Geremio about the safety of the building he is working on-if he doesn't like it, he can leave
"These miserable fishermen! These wretched Italians! How could they call themselves Italians, much less Catholics?" (74, 1959; 107, 2011)
Confetti for Gino by Lorenzo Madalena (1959)- -Father Abruzzio -Upset that the people of his church did not donate a much as he wanted and that they rarely came to the church except for special occasions and holidays (narrator??)
"You know how us Wops are. We're just funny some ways like that. So don't worry about the divorce. We can't get married, that's all." (246, 1959; 375, 2011)
Confetti for Gino by Lorenzo Madalena (1959)- -Gino to Vicky -He was oddly calm and this was a turning point when he realized some traditional Italian values were still there and he could not marry Vicky when she did the same thing he scolded his sister for
"She's not one of us, that's all. Sure she is nice. But her ways aren't like us. Not when you come right down to it. You're used to a lot of our old ways. Maybe they are old-fashioned, but they are still good way." (250, 1959; 382, 2011)
Confetti for Gino by Lorenzo Madalena (1959)- -Marco trying to open Gino's eyes that he needs to let Vicky go because she is too different -No matter how hard Gino tries, he will always be Italian and he will always be a fisherman because that's what he's good at
"Five years ago she thought she'd left the home for the last time; yet here she was, still cleaning up after the evening meal the same as before." (122, 1959; 182, 2011)
Confetti for Gino by Lorenzo Madalena (1959)- -about Anna as she reflects on her life -Her husband left her with two daughters forcing her to move back home and deal with her nagging mother
"He hated struggling through math and science classes, but he actually dreaded English and the complexities of unraveling a language which he seldom spoke at home" (12, 1959; 11, 2011).
Confetti for Gino by Lorenzo Madalena (1959)- -about Gino's -He is aware of his social and educational poverty & dropped out of high school
"To her the promised land of America was hardly one where she could continue to spend fifteen hours a day as maid and part-time cook in a boarding house. But at twenty-five her logical mind decided that she had best find a husband who would be a steady provider, reasonably faithful and not too bright" (36, 1959; 50, 2011).
Confetti for Gino by Lorenzo Madalena (1959)- -about Mamma DeMarino -She decided she wanted to run her household and just needed to find someone who would be able to provide
"You're a fine one to get holy all of a sudden!" She crossed her arms. "Do you think just because you are a man, you are the only one in this family that wants to be loved?" (186, 1959; 282, 2011)
Confetti for Gino by Lorenzo Madalena (1959)- Anna defending herself when Gino called her a wh*ore about her affair with Marco
"Sure, she wanted it. It meant nothing to him, but it would be her first time. Why not him? He'd be doing her a favor." (151, 1959; 227, 2011).
Confetti for Gino by Lorenzo Madalena (1959)- Gino thinking to himself about how he could prove that Teresa is not the good Italian girl that everyone makes her out to be
"He would study the souvenirs and pretend he was his brother and dream wonderful dreams of what they meant and how they had come to be there." (137, 1959; 205, 2011).
Confetti for Gino by Lorenzo Madalena (1959)- Nino as he goes through Gino's belongings, admiring his brother and all his accomplishments
"She had always admired this fisherman with his black curly hair and his warm brown eyes that made her feel embarrassed and oddly guilty whenever she looked at him directly." (144, 1959; 216, 2011)
Confetti for Gino by Lorenzo Madalena (1959)- Teresa admiring Gino when their two families had a beach day
"He'd met the soldier, become his friend. He'd broken though the invisible glass that separated Negro and white worlds only to find another invisible glass still separated them. Not as Negro against white. But as man against man. An invisible glass that could never be cracked." (225)
The Invisible Glass by Loren Wahl (1950)- -After Chick rejects La Cava and decides he hates him, La Cava realizes that he will never be accepted as a gay man and so the invisible glass is still between him and the world -He is getting drunk and these are the final scenes before he shoots himself
"As Du Bois says, it's plate glass. Tough and hard, but not shatterproof. All it takes is one person to make a crack and break the glass, and others will follow." (179)
The Invisible Glass by Loren Wahl (1950)- -Chick speaking to La Cava about the invisible glass -"We can see each other, see what we're doing and yet never get to know one another" (178)
"He wanted to shout at the top of his voice and yell. He wanted to scream at the altar and cry out his rage and curse God for letting him be queer... That was it by God! Too much religion! What a dirty trick had been pulled on him!" (217)
The Invisible Glass by Loren Wahl (1950)- -Right after La Cava goes to the church to confess his sins, he runs out and asks what am I doing here -He has always rejected the church and wanted to "curse God for allowing him to be a queer" -He blames God, the church, religion, and his upbringing for his sexuality
"What I'd really like to know, I suspect, is what it feels like to be a Negro. I can let my imagination go to work and picture myself riding in a segregated street car, or being careful not to brush against white men and women on the sidewalk, or finding I couldn't enter certain theaters or restaurants, and all that. But it must go much deeper. It must affect you some way that we whites can't possibly realize." (177)
The Invisible Glass by Loren Wahl (1950)- -Steve and Chick are talking about how they have never encountered people quite like each other- people who don't discriminate based on the color of one's skin -Chick responds by telling Steve about "the invisible glass"
"Chick and his strong hands with slender fingers. Except for the color they were exactly like those of someone he'd known... A nameless panic seemed to well from deep inside the pit of his stomach and flood swiftly upward until he could feel himself stifling." (46)
The Invisible Glass by Loren Wahl (1950)- -Steve wants to take Chick under his wing because he reminds him of someone -This is the beginning stages of La Cava's attraction to Chick and Chick reminding him of Phil
"But for a decision of his mother he might have been born in a tiny farming village in Italy. He might have fought against Americans in North Africa. Or been forced into a German labor camp. Or would he have joined Angelo and his Alpine-capped partisans?" (191)
The Invisible Glass by Loren Wahl (1950)- -Zio Tony tells the Lieutenant that "his mother was much wiser than he" -La Cava reflects on how he could have been born in Italy if it wasn't for his mother and could have had a completely different life
"He'd almost forgotten what it was like to talk visually with someone from his home state - and a white man, at that." (43)
The Invisible Glass by Loren Wahl (1950)- Chick thinking to himself about La Cava when he talks to him about California and college
"He studied the soldier's features. A good-looking colored lad. His nose and his lips weren't as broad and large as with most Negroes he had seen. Slender, not particularly tall, and solidly built. He could tell from the way the soldier's sweat-soaked woolen shirt clung to his arms and chest." (25)
The Invisible Glass by Loren Wahl (1950)- Steve La Cava sizing Chick up when he first meets him and they begin the drive together
"Hell, maybe he could even work it to take off someday and see the relatives. They were somewhere up north here. Zio Tony was the only one he knew, though." (22)
The Invisible Glass by Loren Wahl (1950)- Steve La Cava thinking to himself
"Ever since I returned I have regretted it!" The Italian shook his hands expressively. "Now that you are in Italy and see for yourself the wretched condition of its people, how much more you must appreciate your country." (190)
The Invisible Glass by Loren Wahl (1950)- Zio Tony talking about how we wished he stayed in SF instead of returning to Italy where the condition of the people and the cities are terrible