Throughout the book there have been sections where the narrator talks about the woman in the cell next to him and her connection to his ideas for the future. His ideas about how the past is gone and limited by the inability to change it and how the future is infinitely open with infinite possibilities. He constantly is voicing his opinion on today's society and the lack of honor in both genders. But his plan for the future is to begin a new culture where it is easy to tell the honorable men and women from the dishonorable. He plans to (try to) change society to be more defined rather than the milky lines between "lady" and "whore." This idea stems partly from his bitterness towards his wife's cheating but the woman in the cell next to him have had equally if not more troubling experiences that cause her to possibly have the same mentality as him.
The woman is a victim of rape and he describes this experience's effect on her as causing an absolute reversion to innocence. She has become pure from suffering the most impure act inflicted by someone else. Lance had attempted to communicate with her but had been failing because of her numbness and shock after the act until recently in the book farther away from when she had been assaulted. They had a conversation for the first time and he discussed her leaving with him wherever he went after they were released from their rooms. She was open to his ideas and stressed the phrase "new life." They both are connected in that they believe in the future and feel strongly about leaving the past.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Independent Reading Entry 5
Percy, Walker
9/17/08
Lance, the main character and narrator, continues to describe his situation and his emotions about his situation. He and a family friend Elgin set up hidden cameras that aren't the highest quality in the bedrooms of his wife and suspected lover(s). What he discovers in the murky forms of people on the screen is that his wife is not with a previous lover anymore and is in a way relieved. But then a second figure enters the room and he gets proof of his wife's infidelity. His proof causes him pain and his newfound sobriety since his suspicions of his wife came about is ended with some "capsule" that causes him to experience an out of body and "away from pain" feeling. I think that his clarity and new views on life that were uncovered by his mounting suspicion caused an unfortunate build up of unfelt sadness and once the truth was proven the pain was too much.
It is always hard to tell, though, whether what he is feeling and describing is actually his true feelings. His credibility always seems to be at least partially skewed because of his strong emotional bias. He says himself he doesn't want to remember these hurtful times in his past so i believe that some of what he is saying is held back from the sheer difficulty of expressing himself fully. Getting all of one's emotions out is always hard to do, especially this intensity of emotion, so i sympathize with his possible skewing of details and feelings but it does hurt his credibility.
9/17/08
Lance, the main character and narrator, continues to describe his situation and his emotions about his situation. He and a family friend Elgin set up hidden cameras that aren't the highest quality in the bedrooms of his wife and suspected lover(s). What he discovers in the murky forms of people on the screen is that his wife is not with a previous lover anymore and is in a way relieved. But then a second figure enters the room and he gets proof of his wife's infidelity. His proof causes him pain and his newfound sobriety since his suspicions of his wife came about is ended with some "capsule" that causes him to experience an out of body and "away from pain" feeling. I think that his clarity and new views on life that were uncovered by his mounting suspicion caused an unfortunate build up of unfelt sadness and once the truth was proven the pain was too much.
It is always hard to tell, though, whether what he is feeling and describing is actually his true feelings. His credibility always seems to be at least partially skewed because of his strong emotional bias. He says himself he doesn't want to remember these hurtful times in his past so i believe that some of what he is saying is held back from the sheer difficulty of expressing himself fully. Getting all of one's emotions out is always hard to do, especially this intensity of emotion, so i sympathize with his possible skewing of details and feelings but it does hurt his credibility.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Independant Reading 4
9/11/08
Percy, Walker
Lancelot
The main character begins to narrate his actions after he discovered his wife's infidelity and before the present time when he is in a mental asylum. He and his faithful and incredibly smart servant, Elgin, begin devising plans to spy on Lance's wife to try to get proof that she is unfaithful. It was intriguing to see their approach and the text shows their steps they take to get to their final plan that they actually follow through on. You read as they develop their plan and i thought it was a good rhetorical strategy to follow along with them as they work out the kinks. It showed the problems with the plan that we as the reader may have thought of and acknowledged and fixed them for us to see. Percy has many good ideas and well written passages in this book.
A lot of his good ideas come in his explanations for the crumbling of recent society. His friend that is visiting him in the mental asylum does not think he is very credible because from his point of view Lance has turned into a rambling mental patient. His explanations for his "craziness" and his thoughts about the faults in the world seem fully justified and backed up in his long narrations. Percy's writing puts out all of the intelligent suggestions and proposals on how to change society and phrases them in an extremely believable and understandable manner. I've really enjoyed reading this book thus far and will look forward to the conclusion of the story.
Percy, Walker
Lancelot
The main character begins to narrate his actions after he discovered his wife's infidelity and before the present time when he is in a mental asylum. He and his faithful and incredibly smart servant, Elgin, begin devising plans to spy on Lance's wife to try to get proof that she is unfaithful. It was intriguing to see their approach and the text shows their steps they take to get to their final plan that they actually follow through on. You read as they develop their plan and i thought it was a good rhetorical strategy to follow along with them as they work out the kinks. It showed the problems with the plan that we as the reader may have thought of and acknowledged and fixed them for us to see. Percy has many good ideas and well written passages in this book.
A lot of his good ideas come in his explanations for the crumbling of recent society. His friend that is visiting him in the mental asylum does not think he is very credible because from his point of view Lance has turned into a rambling mental patient. His explanations for his "craziness" and his thoughts about the faults in the world seem fully justified and backed up in his long narrations. Percy's writing puts out all of the intelligent suggestions and proposals on how to change society and phrases them in an extremely believable and understandable manner. I've really enjoyed reading this book thus far and will look forward to the conclusion of the story.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
The Volcano
Dear Mom,
You must remember the volcano during the Costa Rica trip we took when i was in eighth grade. Not the one with the giant green lake filling the bottom of the crater, the amazing view of the forest on all sides, and the green expanse of the valley past the enormous rocky slope down towards the sulfur water... No I'm talking about the one where it was cold, raining, and just barely tolerable to slip up the gravel-like rocks of the outside of the crater after slumming through the wet "trail" under ominously hanging, dripping, muddy branches. It would have been quite beautiful and an extremely positive, unique experience from all of the other many American trails that I've hiked had it not been for these conditions. I was fascinated by the fact i was in an exotic, Central-American country and I feel that if I had been a little older I would have appreciated this trek much more, but I feel that I was really trying to appreciate it at the time.
There is a feeling embedded in my memory of this volcano and the effect it had on me. I remember the feeling of being extremely wet and cold on the top of the blustery rim and being absolutely unable to do anything about it; a small sense of helplessness overpowered by the distracting freeze. We were at least a mile and a half away and my windbreaker was doing anything but break the wind. I remember the feeling of resentment towards you for somewhat childish reasons, but at the time they felt very plausible: you had given me my windbreaker before the trip when you assured me it was immensely effective. In the end it became immensely wet. I had not packed more than a pair of jeans and this windbreaker to protect me from cold weather and somehow in my mind found a way to blame you for that. "Why didn't you tell me it would be cold in Costa Rica?" I would think, when deep in my mind I knew you had warned me to pack a couple extra things just in case.
I remember a feeling of excitement and joy also in my far-off adventure in the jungle. I really felt lucky that i was the only one of my friends to ever walk this path. I've always been intrigued by exploration and new things or places so when you told me we were going to Costa Rica I couldn't wait the five months there was 'til the trip. It was thrilling just to be somewhere where I knew nothing about and to see a different culture. Being there and only knowing one semester of Spanish was as big a thrill as any of the rest of the trip. I wanted to ask the guide how long 'til we would be back but I didn't quite know how to and I didn't want you to think I was suffering that much. I remember you were slightly drier than me in most places and that your raincoat looked like the Hyatt compared to my Motel 6 jacket that i was stuck in. You were always willing to comfort me along the way and to this day I can't tell if that fueled my resentment towards you or if it really did assure me that we'd be dry and safe soon.
Since arriving home safely and being in the unlimited familiarity of the English language I have thought about this experience whenever Costa Rica or the word "volcano" is mentioned. The hike has taken the place in my brain of the old, cartoon versions of all the volcanoes i had seen on television and it is because of this that I thank you, Mom. It is so prominent in my memory because of the mix of all of these feelings that I will never forget the adventure. All of the negative feelings have been thoroughly reflected on in my mind and any resentment just follows with the wet and cold, and when I think about the experience I have found that I do not get a wet and cold feeling. I simply get visuals of an ominously beautiful tunnel through the trees and standing on the first active volcano I had ever stood on and the intense feeling of fulfilled exploration. It is this fulfillment, that the experience is completed and that we made it through to a drier time in our lives, that makes the experience so important to me and to our relationship. You took me on a wild ride in another country and it is one of the most unique experiences I've had. For this I thank you and want to remind you that you're extremely important to me, and not just because you take me places.
You must remember the volcano during the Costa Rica trip we took when i was in eighth grade. Not the one with the giant green lake filling the bottom of the crater, the amazing view of the forest on all sides, and the green expanse of the valley past the enormous rocky slope down towards the sulfur water... No I'm talking about the one where it was cold, raining, and just barely tolerable to slip up the gravel-like rocks of the outside of the crater after slumming through the wet "trail" under ominously hanging, dripping, muddy branches. It would have been quite beautiful and an extremely positive, unique experience from all of the other many American trails that I've hiked had it not been for these conditions. I was fascinated by the fact i was in an exotic, Central-American country and I feel that if I had been a little older I would have appreciated this trek much more, but I feel that I was really trying to appreciate it at the time.
There is a feeling embedded in my memory of this volcano and the effect it had on me. I remember the feeling of being extremely wet and cold on the top of the blustery rim and being absolutely unable to do anything about it; a small sense of helplessness overpowered by the distracting freeze. We were at least a mile and a half away and my windbreaker was doing anything but break the wind. I remember the feeling of resentment towards you for somewhat childish reasons, but at the time they felt very plausible: you had given me my windbreaker before the trip when you assured me it was immensely effective. In the end it became immensely wet. I had not packed more than a pair of jeans and this windbreaker to protect me from cold weather and somehow in my mind found a way to blame you for that. "Why didn't you tell me it would be cold in Costa Rica?" I would think, when deep in my mind I knew you had warned me to pack a couple extra things just in case.
I remember a feeling of excitement and joy also in my far-off adventure in the jungle. I really felt lucky that i was the only one of my friends to ever walk this path. I've always been intrigued by exploration and new things or places so when you told me we were going to Costa Rica I couldn't wait the five months there was 'til the trip. It was thrilling just to be somewhere where I knew nothing about and to see a different culture. Being there and only knowing one semester of Spanish was as big a thrill as any of the rest of the trip. I wanted to ask the guide how long 'til we would be back but I didn't quite know how to and I didn't want you to think I was suffering that much. I remember you were slightly drier than me in most places and that your raincoat looked like the Hyatt compared to my Motel 6 jacket that i was stuck in. You were always willing to comfort me along the way and to this day I can't tell if that fueled my resentment towards you or if it really did assure me that we'd be dry and safe soon.
Since arriving home safely and being in the unlimited familiarity of the English language I have thought about this experience whenever Costa Rica or the word "volcano" is mentioned. The hike has taken the place in my brain of the old, cartoon versions of all the volcanoes i had seen on television and it is because of this that I thank you, Mom. It is so prominent in my memory because of the mix of all of these feelings that I will never forget the adventure. All of the negative feelings have been thoroughly reflected on in my mind and any resentment just follows with the wet and cold, and when I think about the experience I have found that I do not get a wet and cold feeling. I simply get visuals of an ominously beautiful tunnel through the trees and standing on the first active volcano I had ever stood on and the intense feeling of fulfilled exploration. It is this fulfillment, that the experience is completed and that we made it through to a drier time in our lives, that makes the experience so important to me and to our relationship. You took me on a wild ride in another country and it is one of the most unique experiences I've had. For this I thank you and want to remind you that you're extremely important to me, and not just because you take me places.
Independent Reading Entry 3
Lancelot
Percy, Walker
9/4/08
As i continue to read farther more and more interesting ideas are mentioned in the book. The narrator and main character continue to describe his past to his friend and he explains that he cannot remember many things about his story. But then he goes on to say that he can remember he just does not want to. It's not that the past has too much pain to acknowledge, it's just that the past is so banal. He uses the word banality to describe the past and uses the metaphor of a tape to describe time. The past is already laid out and restricted in the limits of what has already happened and it cannot change. The present is the "tape head" that flows through everywhere. He says how the less complex and complicated that one's "everywhere" is the better they can handle and grasp everything. His cell is simple and not overwhelming and he agrees that it's all he can handle. But the future is limitless and amazing in his eyes. The future is clear and pure and open. His ideas are very intriguing and it keeps me reading, especially the way he explains and writes his ideas.
Percy, Walker
9/4/08
As i continue to read farther more and more interesting ideas are mentioned in the book. The narrator and main character continue to describe his past to his friend and he explains that he cannot remember many things about his story. But then he goes on to say that he can remember he just does not want to. It's not that the past has too much pain to acknowledge, it's just that the past is so banal. He uses the word banality to describe the past and uses the metaphor of a tape to describe time. The past is already laid out and restricted in the limits of what has already happened and it cannot change. The present is the "tape head" that flows through everywhere. He says how the less complex and complicated that one's "everywhere" is the better they can handle and grasp everything. His cell is simple and not overwhelming and he agrees that it's all he can handle. But the future is limitless and amazing in his eyes. The future is clear and pure and open. His ideas are very intriguing and it keeps me reading, especially the way he explains and writes his ideas.
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