Genre Blog Post 2: Lady Lazarus

            For this blog post, I am going to be analyzing the poem Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath, and focus on the theme of death.

            Death is a very prominent theme in this poem. Several times it is mentioned, but the line “Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well.” (Plath, Lines 43-45, Page 1419) I think this sums up the poem very well for just two sentences. I literally felt my heart drop when I read this line because it was just so powerful. “Dying Is an art,” is a great line in itself. It alludes that death isn’t involuntary for this narrator, but more of a goal. It also suggests that while many people think of death as a one-time thing, the narrator has already escaped death twice, according to this poem, so for them it’s probably more like a game or a hobby. One would think that dying wouldn’t be that hard, in some cases it can be quick and painless. But for our narrator, they’ve already escaped death twice. “The first time it happened I was ten. It was an accident. The second time I meant to last it out and not come back at all.” (Plath, Lines 35-38). Obviously, our narrator wants to die, because they write, “There is a charge for the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge for the hearing of my heart- It really goes.” (Plath, Lines 57-60) and they’re truly unhappy in their life. For them, their goal is to die. But so far, that has been unachievable. According to Dictionary.com, art is defined as “The quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.” For our narrator, death is something they haven’t been able to achieve, but they find it as their own type of expression of what is appealing, and it’s certainly has more than ordinary significance. So I believe, for our narrator, “Dying is an art” is a symbol of their goals, and almost like their final “masterpiece.”

            Everyone has had to deal with death in their lives in one way or another. And if you haven’t yet, you’re very lucky, but it will come. Whether your first death was your childhood hamster dying, or your grandma, or maybe even someone closer to you, it’s never easy. I’ve had my grandpa, my great-grandma, and my aunt pass away. A teacher whom I was close with also passed away from cancer, and the neighbor I used to babysit for committed suicide. A girl in my grade passed away at the age of 14. I didn’t even know her that well, but her passing really messed me up, because it forced my little 14 year old mind to consider how short life really is. I myself have struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts before, so it was very easy for me to relate to this poem. While I am in a better place in my life now, the memories of my “bad times” still do haunt me, and always will. But the ending stanza is where I can relate to this poem the most, “Out of the ash I rise with my red hair and I eat men like air.” (Plath, Lines 82-84). Not particularly the eating men part, because I’ve never eaten a man before, but more the part of rising out of ashes. Depression is an unruly, uncontrollable, relentless thing to cope with. But eventually, one day you’ll wake up feeling like you have a purpose again, and it truly does feel like you’re a phoenix, rising from your own mistakes and hardships into something beautiful and powerful. 

Genre Blog Post 1: A Streetcar Named Desire

       For this blog post, I will focus on the theme of gender, in A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams. “[The “Blue Piano” goes softly. She turns confusedly and makes a faint gesture. The inhuman jungle voices rise up. He takes a step toward her, biting his tongue which protrudes between his lips.]” (Williams, 1170).

            In this novel, we see may scenes of abuse and patriarchy involved with Stanley. On page 1125 Stanley says to Stella, “How about my supper, huh? I’m not going to no Galatoire’s for supper!”. Even after she tells him that she made him a “cold plate on ice” he gives a sarcastic reply back. He’s not grateful for all that she does for him already, and can’t let Stella have one night alone with her sister, whom she was only taking out to dinner to be out of their way while Stanley had his poker game, which in my opinion, was a nice thought to avoid conflict, but of course there is still a problem with Stanley.

            The scene I want to mostly analyze though, is the one where Stanley rapes Blanche. First of all, it’s incredible messed up that Stanley even wants to have sex with his wife’s sister, another complete disregard for Stella’s feelings. Not to mention that Stella is also pregnant with his child. Also, Blanche is clearly unstable. She has many underlying issues with her deceased husband and the affairs she had after his death. Anyone with some type of heart, would probably avoid raping someone like that. You should probably avoid raping someone in any sort of manner though.

            One could argue though, that with Blanche’s past with her seventeen-year-old lover, and countless others, that she may have been open to having sexual relations with Stanley. But in my opinion, I think Blanche is uneasy about Stanley, as we see in their first meeting, “[drawing involuntarily back from his stare] You must be Stanley, I’m Blanche.” (1124).

            In consideration to Stanley’s personality, “[Branching out from this complete and satisfying center are all the auxiliary channels of his life, such as his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humor, his love of good drink and food and games, his car, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer. He sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining that way he smiles at them.]” (1124) one can clearly see what kind of man Stanley is. He diminishes women based on how they can sexually please him, and that then determines how he treats a woman. I do think it’s interesting though how he victimizes himself, “’Pig-Polack-disgusting-vulgar-greasy!’- them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister’s too much around here!” (1160) for having to endure racial slurs from Stella and Blanche, but they have to put up with all of his disrespect towards them.

          The gender roles in this play are very clear. Stanley expects complete respect from Stella, and Blanche now that she is living with them, with no consideration of how he treats them, and their feelings. Stanley’s whole reason in the play as to why he doesn’t like Blanche is because of her “shady past” but has no problem contributing to the reason of why she is unfit to be married. 

Literary Analysis

       One of the main themes of Uncle Tom’s Cabin is women in slavery, and how they were treated. In that day and age, of course slavery was bad, but women in slavery sometimes had to endure much more physical, and mental abuse. “So speaks the poor soul, in sore discouragement; for she knows that to-morrow any man, however vile and brutal, however godless and merciless, if he only has money to pay for her, may become owner of her daughter, body and soul; and then, how is the child to be faithful?” (302). Emmeline, being sold to a different master, is at risk simply because she’s attractive. It’s truly heartbreaking that she has no control over this situation and is being punished because of the life she was born in to. “The curls may make a hundred dollars difference in the sale of her.” (303). Even Emmeline’s mother’s efforts to try and protect her in the only way she could, failed.        “When Legree scolded and stormed, Emmeline was terrified; but when he laid his hand on her, and spoke as he now did, she felt as if she had rather he would strike her. The expression of his eyes made her soul sick, and her flesh creep.” (313). Here, we see Emmeline being terrified of her new master, Legree, for just touching her shoulder. It’s also clear how messed up it is that she would rather have him hit her, instead of having him touch her shoulder. This was how it was for many young women in slavery.          

         According to the scholarly article “On Slaveholders Sexual Abuse of Slaves” published by The National Humanities Center, it was not uncommon for slave women to be sexually abused by their masters. Often times, children would be the outcome of these abuses, then leaving the child to be very mistreated and most likely eventually separated from their mother. Sometimes, slaves would even be used to ‘breed’ as one would breed cattle, “Durin’ slavery if one marster had a big boy en ’nuther had a big gal de marsters made dem libe tergedder. Ef’n de ’oman didn’t hab any chilluns, she wuz put on de block en sold en ’nuther ’oman bought. You see dey raised de chilluns ter mek money on jes lak we raise pigs ter sell.” (Sylvia Watkins, enslaved in Tennessee, interviewed ca. 1937). This was not only hard on the slaves, but for the Master’s wife as well, as she was not allowed to say anything about her husband’s affairs with a slave girl, even though everyone knew what was going on. And this role reverses too, in that sometimes the Master’s wife would have chosen her own slave to satisfy her sexual desires too.

         It is completely unimaginable that something this awful went on for so long. Slavery by itself is bad, but once going in depth to Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the scholarly article “On Slaveholders Sexual Abuse of Slaves”, one has to ask themselves, is this really that far-fetched, considering the living conditions, beatings, treatments, and the type of work slaves had to go through. In my opinion though, the sexual abuse of women (and men) in slavery, is the worst. 

Critical Commentary

        Jane P. Tompkins’ “Sentimental Power: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the Politics of Literary History” criticizes Uncle Tom’s Cabin saying that it’s sentimental fiction is what discredits it. “Expressive of and responsible for the values of its time, it also belongs to a genre, the sentimental novel, whose chief characteristic is that it is written by, for, and about women.” (541). Here, the impression that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is only popular because of the way it was written, is given. This statement does seem to give some credit to the novel for being so influential during its time period, but almost seems to accuse Stowe of using the controversial topic of slavery to give this book attention in the first place, and then continues to hold the reader’s attention with drama.

“Consequently, works whose stated purpose is to influence the course of history, and which therefore employ a language that is not only not unique but common and accessible to everyone, do not qualify as works of art. Literary texts such as the sentimental novel, which make continual and obvious appeals to the reader’s emotions and use technical devices that are distinguished by their utter conventionality, epitomize the opposite of everything that good literature is supposed to be.”

         In a sense, Tompkins’ explanation here makes sense. This novel has been considered a political, ground-breaking novel, but we forget that it is indeed a fiction book. Where as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was based mostly on statistics, facts, and scientific theories, this novel is not. Carson did have a small excerpt where she gave a scenario of what would happen if we didn’t take care of our planet, but she had facts to back those scenarios up and to prove that they actually could happen.

         One could argue though too that although the events written about in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, didn’t necessarily happen exactly like that and in that order, the events most likely did happen at one point or another, and nevertheless, the novel gave people (especially in the North) a real look at what it was like behind the scenes of slavery. 

Reader Response

       Overall, most people enjoyed the book. I’d say about four stars on average. Almost everyone mentioned that they had heard about this book their whole lives, but never got around to reading it until now, which was interesting because that was one of the reasons I was excited to read this book. One person even mentioned how they wished it still was a required novel in schools. Another mentioned how impressed they were that Abraham Lincoln himself praised the book.
      From Goodreads.com, Tammy King Carlton, 12 August, 2008: “This book is one of the most moving, provocative pieces of literature I've ever read, and it's the first time that I can recall being moved to tears from a book. As long as I live, I will never be able to remove from my mind the vision of Eliza, panicked and frenzied, in the dead of the night with her baby boy in her arms, leaping across the frozen ice of the Ohio river to escape the trader her baby had been sold to. And if anyone wants to read a profound and well written narrative for the view of a Black Slave, look to George's monologue on page 127-128, where he is at the Inn with Mr. Wilson, disguised as a white upper-class gentlemen, and explaining to Mr. Wilson how he feels about his country. I was involved in the book up to that point, but after that, this book owned me. This should be required reading of every American Citizen, and it's in my top five of the most important books I have ever read. For whatever the cause of the American people, it all comes down to "When in the course of human events...".”

       I agree very much with this comment from Good Reads because I also found George’s monologue to Mr. Wilson very moving, and a defining point in the novel. It gave a very clear, and deep insight to the life of a slave, and many points of it were relatable, to some degree. Although, I did not cry while reading this book.

       From BarnsandNoble.com: “When I started to read this book, I was crying as the characters were separating. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote this novel in such a fantastic way that I could actually bond and understand what the characters had to go through. Although most of this book is very sad and depressing, she ties it together with more fortunate events which make the novel seem even more real. I think that Harriet Beecher Stowe is one of the only authors who understands that one novel can not just be only morbid or gleeful, and that if you tie those two feelings together (with some more feelings to one side than another to set the tone), more connection and passion can be felt by the reader. Once you read this fantastic novel, you will be amazed at the real connection you feel with the characters and actual slaves.”

       Again, I did not cry while reading this book. Other than that I also very much so agree with this comment as well because for me, when I read books, an important factor that helps me really ‘get in to it’ is when there’s relatable characters. And I’m sure that a lot of other people can agree with that. And the part about the novel being not only morbid and not only gleeful is a good observation that I had not noticed before, that there are some happy moments in the novel.

      From Amazon.com, Michael B. Grant, July 7, 2014: “I have heard about this book my whole life but never understood what it was about. If, like me, you make the assumption that it is a book about a slave that "sells out his own race", which is the definition of Uncle Tom that I gathered by looking at television and hearing the term used, you will surely miss the entire point of this book. Instead, the book is about a slave that is steadfast in his beliefs and principles. A man that holds on to his faith in Jesus. I really don't get the common use of the term after reading this. Every one should read this book. It can be a hard read as it is a glimpse into a dark period in history.”

      This comment is an interesting one, because I had never heard of the term “Uncle Tom” described as a man who “sells out his own race”. But Michael B. Grant is definitely right about how it is a hard read in the sense because it is so dark. It gave me such a close look in to slavery, at times it was quite shocking. As a senior in high school, when we first read about what it was like to be on a slave boat, was the first time I truly captured how horrifying slavery really was. 

Textual Background and Context

          I chose to analyze the essay “The Trials of Girlhood” by Harriet Jacobs. This essay has many different points to it: rape, sexism, and a call “of compassion in your hearts for my sistes who are still in bondage, suffering as I once suffered.” (441).

        The main point of this essay is how Harriet Jacobs’ master, Dr. Flint, sexually assaulted her at the age of 15, “He peopled my young mind with unclean images, such as only a vile monster could think of.” (439). Not only was this young girl born into slavery, but also sexually assaulted at such a young age. This was a reality for many slave women. “If I knelt by my mother’s grave, his dark shadow fell on me even there.” (440). Stalking, and even threatening her, “But Dr. Flint swore he would kill me, if I was not as silent as the grave.” (440). What kind of life is it to forcefully work for the man that threatens your life, every day, with absolutely no kindness.

        Harriet Jacobs also touches on the topic of the North in this situation, “Surely, if you credited one half the truths that are told you concerning the helpless millions suffering in this cruel bondage, you at the north would not help to tighten the yoke. You surely would refuse to do for the master, on your own soil, the mean and cruel work which trained bloodhounds and the lowest class of whites do for him at the south.” (439).  This is a very powerful part to the essay because Jacobs accuses the North of turning a blind eye to the South and slavery all together. In my opinion, she takes it a step further though, and says that if they were told they had to do slave work for the South, they would refuse, and she’s right.

       The revelation of the essay though is when Jacobs writes, “I do it to kindle a flame of compassion in your hearts for my sisters who are still in bondage, suffering as I once suffered.” (441). She didn’t care about herself, and what had been done to her. She knew it was in the past and there was nothing to do to make up for it, but she wrote the letter instead for the sake of other women in slavery, to prevent it from happening anymore.

       Harriet Jacobs’ “The Trails of Girlhood”, perfectly captures the trials a young woman in slavery would have to endure, eluding on the points of rape, sexism, and the North. 

Race and the American Novel Project Part 1: Uncle Tom's Cabin

For this part of the project, my theme will be women in slavery, and the hardships they’ve endured

Here is the link to the scholarly article:  http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/text6/masterslavesexualabuse.pdf