Familiar Defamiliarization

According to Wikipedia, "defamiliarization is the artistic technique of presenting to audiences common things in an unfamiliar or strange way in order to enhance the perception of the familiar." I really liked the examples of defamiliarization Donoghue used throughout Room, because not only did they enhance my perception of the familiar but made me enjoy the book even more.

One of my favorite examples was the scene in which Jack discovers crocs or "spongy shoes":

There's a store that's only shoes outside, bright spongy ones with holes all over them and Grandma lets me try on a pair, I choose yellow. There's no laces or Velcro even, I just put my foot in. They're so light it's like not having any on. We go in and Grandma pays five dollar papers for the shoes, that's the same as twenty quarters, I tell her I love them. (286)

Jack's unfamiliarity with crocs makes me smile, because I remember almost every single kid in my kindergarten class owning a pair except me. However, I didn't feel left out for not having crocs, because I thought they were the ugliest shoes to exist and I still do (sorry if I'm offending any croc lovers.) I'm glad that he loves his new shoes, because they aren't heavy like his velcro shoes and will help him adjust better to wearing shoes after five years of not wearing shoes.

There is also Jack's first experience playing with LEGOS that's also touching to me. He didn't have many toys in Room to play with and he mostly made up his own games like Parrot or Corpse with his own imagination. I loved playing with LEGOS as a kid, so reading about Jack playing around with the pieces brought me back to my childhood. Jack is amazed at how the bits are "magically turned into a car" (281). However, he is most surprised and amazed when Steppa "puts his car on the floor and steps on it, crunch. It's all in pieces" (282). The idea of starting over is very abstract to Jack and that's not only seen here when Steppa breaks the car but also when Ma hatches a plan for them to escape and start over in life. Jack doesn't scream or recoil to the broken LEGOS; he seems to respond pretty well, and that could be a metaphor foreshadowing his success in adapting to a new life away from Ma and Room.

Room is Shrinking

The dynamic between Ma and Jack has changed from the beginning of the book to the end of Monday's reading (Undying p. 122). There is a side of Ma that emerges which Jack has never seen before, and through his storytelling, we see that he is noticing the changes and doesn't really like it.

Ma starts to reveal more about what's really going and tries to explain the things Jack doesn't quite fully understand like why she hates Old Nick but has to "fake thank" him. Each day is a new challenge for Ma to try to keep Jack in this bubble of Room she's created, but as he's getting older, she's running out of time and answers to his ceaseless questions. Jack even notices that Ma is telling him more than usual when he asks, "How did he make it?" referring to how Old Nick built Room, because he "think[s] she's not going to tell [him] but then she actually does (85).

There are also some changes in Ma's behavior in "Unlying" that allude to some sort of rebellion against Old Nick. Jack wakes up to Ma pounding Floor and she tells him that she needs to hit something and that she would love to break everything, and he explicitly says he doesn't "like her like this" (89). This fire in Ma is not her regular behavior in terms of what Jack has grown up with, and he doesn't like unfamiliarity. Ma also becomes more vulnerable with Jack in the scene on page 92 when she tells him that she's scared, and his response to her fear is very strong, "'You can't be scared.' I'm nearly shouting. 'Bad idea'." The world or Room as he knows it is changing before his very eyes, and he doesn't want that to happen, and this shows when he's uncooperative when Ma is trying to tell him her backstory. Jack hates the idea that Ma had a life before him, a name that wasn't Ma, and people that she knows that he doesn't. There is a thought from Jack that especially stood out to me on page 105, "I'd rather she was Gone for the day than all not-Ma like this." Jack's discomfort with finding out that Ma wants to leave room is blatantly apparent, because he even prefers her to be Gone rather than different. Ma being Gone is a really scary thing for a 5-year-old kid, because he's basically alone for the day and he knows that.

When Ma starts planning the big escape, Jack doesn't want anything to do with it, because he's scared and he also doesn't really want to leave Room. "Selfish" is not the right word for what Ma wants Jack to do, but it feels that way to Jack, even though she is doing this for their best interest. He tells her that maybe he will do the whole plan when he turns six, but Ma knows that time is running out and she pushes him to be her "superhero" (113). This scene reminded me a lot of Grant asking Jefferson to eat some of the stew for Miss Emma's sake, because heroes do things for others. Ma needs Jack to be strong for them, because he is essential to their plan if they want to escape. At the end of the chapter, Ma is very firm with Jack, "'I'm your mother.' Ma's nearly roaring. 'That means sometimes I have to choose for both of us'" (115). Jack hates this and even expresses that he wishes he got boxing gloves so he could be allowed to hit her. Ma is typically more passive and gentle with Jack, so this new side of her that is drawing the line right there reveals her desperation to get out. Things are quickly changing in Room, and the new dynamic between Ma and Jack indicates that he is not fully willing to accept all the changes.

One Year Difference

I was a bit surprised going into Thursday's reading (p. 72-93), because it seemed like there was a sudden leap in time, and Marji was no longer a kid and had become a slightly angst-y teen? But then in class we learned that it really had only been a year. However, it seems like she had suddenly matured a lot from the content and the way she started telling the story.

I noticed that she was drawn in a different way before and after the floating in space page (p. 71). She now has longer and darker hair compared to the child-like bob before. Not sure if this is true for every girl, but I know quite a few girls (including myself) whose parents cut their hair into bobs as children and then they grew out their hair as they grew up, so the longer hair could be kind of a symbol of maturity? I also noticed that young Marji also had a rounder face shape compared to older Marji's longer, oval face shape. The round face is kind of an atypical little kid feature, so her new slightly elongated face shape also led me to believe that she was older.

The one year leap was a little disappointing at first, because I really enjoyed her innocent and quirky child point of view which was further enhanced by the accompanying bold and imaginative graphics. I was sad to see that there was less of the lightheartedness in the following chapters. The new seriousness does make sense to me, because it seems to go hand in hand with the darkening historical situation which is that the war has begun. So far there has also been a lot less of God in her drawings since she kind of exiled him after Anoosh is and more patriotism. What she wants to be is also changing or evolving from aspiring to be a prophet to something more conventional like a chemist. I think it's common for kids to want to be something very unique and prestigious like president, in Marji's case a prophet, and then as they grow older, they have more achievable and realistic aspirations like studying chemistry.

Even though I wasn't that happy at first with the change, I'm used to it and it's also very interesting comparing her younger chapters to her older ones. I like seeing the way she's evolving with all the other stuff going on and how she perceives the events differently than her younger self.

Wood: Beyond Fueling the Cycle

As I am rereading A Lesson Before Dying, I'm noticing so many things that I missed or failed to recognize when I read it freshman year. One part of the book that really resonated with me that I didn't think much about two years ago were the deeper meanings of the first load of wood. As well as the physical symbolism of bringing wood representing fueling and feeding the 'cycle', there are other associations that I found really interesting.

The school getting its first load of wood marks that the cycle is beginning once again. Seeing the older kids chopping the wood prompts Grant to question what he has been doing as a teacher, "What am I doing? Am I reaching at all? They are ... doing the same thing those old men did who never attended school a day in their lives. Is it just a vicious circle?" (62). He then goes on to describe his memories of being a kid chopping up wood with his friends in school who are now "gone" as in "gone to the fields, to the small towns, to the cities - where they [die]" (62). Grant is in a really negative place in this chapter, because he isn't really seeing any progress happening in his community. There is also the challenge of making Jefferson a man before his execution that Grant faces. He has no idea how to go about doing it (proof from his first visits to the jail) and doesn't even want to. In a way, the stale-mate situation with Jefferson just reinforces the idea of the circle restarting again, and Grant's feeling more powerless than ever to do anything.

Then Grant remembers his teacher Matthew Antoine who is like the bitter "I hate you" version of the hero's mentor. Rather than growing up to be like his other friends, Grant takes on the teach role and seems to be on the path to becoming the next Matthew Antoine. There is this very symbolic scene on page 64 where Grant is visiting Antoine after he gets out of college. "'I'm cold,' [Antoine] said one day while we sat there looking into the fire. [Grant] got up to put on another piece of wood. 'That's no good,' he said, 'I'll still be cold. I'll always be cold.'" I immediately thought back to that idea of the arrival of wood marking that the cycle is restarting again and still going on. During Antoine's life, he was never able to break that cycle, so no matter how many loads of wood get delivered to the school or years pass, the kids will still grow up to be the adults who had died before them. This scene of Grant trying to add wood to make Antoine warm but then Antoine saying he'll always be cold is analogous to Antoine's belief that the cycle will always remain unbroken, and Grant's efforts won't make a difference. During Grant's last visit to Antoine, his teacher offers the advice of "'It doesn't matter anymore,...Just do the best you can. But it won't matter'" (66). I see this passage as foreshadowing that although Antoine wasn't successful in breaking the cycle Grant will be, because this book is in a Hero's Journey class curriculum, so there must be a heroic ending.

From the current events going on and these memories, Grant's outlook on life is pretty bleak. I feel like Grant thinks that Antoine is right about nothing mattering, because he hasn't seen any changes from the systematic inequality of whites and blacks to the kids "acting exactly as the old men did earlier" (62) when the wood was delivered.

Team 'Not Anse'

Note: I have a different edition of the book so my page numbers are 6-11 pages ahead of the correct edition.

Towards the beginning of the book, I had very conflicted feelings about Anse, but as the book progressed I started disliking him more and more and the last few chapters resulted in my firm establishment on Team 'Not Anse' as Addie would say. I often didn't know whether to feel bad for him or criticize him. For example, does he have this truly horrible sickness where mere trickles of sweat can lead to death or is he just coming up with an excuse to avoid work?

I also supported his goal to get new teeth, because I felt bad that he couldn't eat "God's own victuals," and there was no reason for me not to hope that he got new teeth. But the last Dewey Dell chapter implies that he takes her $10 and uses it on new teeth and/or a shave, because not long after he takes the money, he returns clean-shaven and tooth-full. I really despised him for taking her money, because that's what she believes will get her an abortion. Anse basically guilt-trips Dewey Dell when he says, "I have fed you and sheltered you. I give you love and care, yet my own daughter, the daughter of my dead wife, calls me a thief over her mother's grave" (245-46). I can't argue with the fact that Dewey Dell does live in his house, but if Anse can't do work because then he'll sweat and then he'll die, is it really his food that she is eating (assuming that they grow their food)? Furthermore, where is the "love and care" that Anse claims he gives Dewey Dell? Unless Anse has been a great and loving father prior to the start of the book which seems unlikely since there is emotional disconnect between all the Bundren children and their father, he has no grounds to say that he has been loving and caring. 

Anse is also being a hypocrite in this chapter, because he makes Dewey Dell feel bad by calling her "the daughter of my dead wife" and saying that she "calls me a thief over her mother's grave," but not so long ago, he found a new wife! It's more offensive to Addie (except I don't think Addie would care that much) for Anse to find a new wife before he's even buried his dead one than for Dewey Dell to accuse him of being a thief over "her mother's grave." Then Anse goes even lower by saying, "It was lucky for you you died, Addie" (246). Again he evokes the recent death of Dewey Dell's mother to guilt-trip her. I feel so bad for Dewey Dell, because she's struggling to explain the source of the money while trying to defend herself, because Anse is making her feel bad. Definitely Team 'Not Anse' right now.

Vernon's Not the Only Suitor

One can draw many parallels between the Coen brothers' O Brother Where Art Thou and Homer's The Odyssey. There are obvious and subtle similarities in plot, setting, and character, just to name a few. It was apparent that Vernon T. Waldrip who was the suitor of Everett's wife Penny was akin to the suitors who tried to win Penelope's heart. However, I also observed that Vernon's associations with Homer Stokes and the Klu Klux Klan suggested that they too could be modeled off of the suitors in The Odyssey.

Vernon dressed in his nice suit and tie is more respectable, responsible, and richer (aka "bona-fide") than Everett who approaches Penny in dirty clothes. Everett's return to his home town is very much like Odysseus' return to Ithaca disguised as a beggar. Although it's not explicitly stated in The Odyssey, it's safe to assume that the suitors look much better and more well off than Odysseus in beggar form just like Vernon's superior appearance to that of Everett's. 

I also see some resemblances in the subsequent "fight" scene where Vernon punches out Everett to all those times the suitors threw foot stools at Odysseus. When Everett and Vernon started fighting, my immediate thought was that Everett would obviously win, because he's all tough and strong looking whereas Vernon looks like an uptight string bean. But Everett ends up failing horribly in the fight. He tries to punch Vernon few times but misses and ends up getting punched a bunch of times himself. Although Odysseus is not actively fighting the suitors (yet) in his disguise, he is attacked with foot stools from the suitors and is helpless to defend himself. It was almost painful to watch Vernon repeatedly punch Everett who is looking like a helpless and slow-reacting puppy. Everett's unkept appearance and helpless fight scene parallel Odysseus thus enforcing Vernon's similarities to the suitors. 

The manager of Homer Stokes' election campaign is Vernon. Homer Stokes is not a good person, because he is part of the Klu Klux Klan. The suitors are also bad guys, because they are courting Penelope and Telemachus wants them to leave. Both groups are overstepping boundaries and morals in a way - the KKK being the KKK and the suitors violating the importance of Greek hospitality in Odysseus' house. The KKK rally in the film reminded me a lot of the suitors' gatherings, because there is sinister plotting going on in both. In the film, the KKK are planning to hang Tommy Johnson while in the book, the suitors discuss how to take down Telemachus which are both not very nice things to do. Vernon's relation to Homer along with the KKK's racist behavior parallels the rudeness and behaviors of the suitors in The Odyssey. 

 

The Obsession with Eagles

And to seal his prayer, farseeing Zeus sent down a sign. He launched two eagles ... —a glaring, fatal sign— talons slashing each other ... All were dumbstruck, ... people brooding, deeply, what might come to pass … Until the old warrior Halitherses, Mastor’s son, broke the silence for them: the one who outperformed all men of his time at reading bird-signs, sounding out the omens ... “... a great disaster is rolling like a breaker toward their heads. Clearly Odysseus won’t be far from loved ones any longer— now, right now, he’s somewhere near, ... breeding bloody death for all these suitors here, pains aplenty too for the rest of us who live in Ithaca’s sunlit air. (2.146 - 86)

In Book 2 appears the first sign of the ominous eagle sent down by Zeus. The scene describes in great detail the vicious eagles fighting (I took out a lot of the intense details, because it's such a long quote). We are already seeing foreshadowing of Odysseus' return to Ithaca and his revenge plan from the "breeding bloody death for all these suitors" part of the quote as early as Book 2(2.l84).

For good part of the book through Telemachus' trip and The Wanderings, there is no mention of the eagle omen until Book 15 when Telemachus is setting sail to return back to Ithaca, "At his last words a bird flew past on the right, an eagle clutching a huge white goose in its talons..." (15.179 - 80). The crowd goes crazy, and King Menelaus interprets the omen as Odysseus, like the eagle who plucked the helpless goose, "will descend on his house and take revenge," (15.197). Menelaus' interpretation of the eagle is very similar to that of Halithereses' from Book 2 (coincidence? I think not!). Homer is heavily foreshadowing that Odysseus will carry out some kind of revenge on the suitors.

Irony is thrown into the mix in Book 19 when Penelope talks to Odysseus disguised as the beggar. Penelope tells Odysseus about this very strange dream she has where an eagle kills her twenty geese and then leaves them "in heaps throughout the halls," (16.608). After having read the slaughter scene, looking back on this, I can't help but laugh, because that's pretty much exactly what happens to the suitors. Furthermore, the eagle even calls out in a human voice, "'The geese were your suitors - I was once the eagle but now I am your husband back again at last, about to launch a terrible fate against them all!'" (19.618 - 20). It's pretty obvious at this point that the suitors' fates are pretty much sealed. Then Penelope remarks that the geese just go back to pecking their wheat in the same water trough where they always eat. It's ironic, because everyone is getting these warning signs that Odysseus is coming except for the suitors who are oblivious to everything and continue to feast in the great hall just like the geese in Penelope's dream who just "peck their wheat"(19.606). Likening the suitors to the geese in Penelope's dream and to the white goose from Book 15 really emphasizes how powerless they are to Odysseus' wrath, because geese are birds of prey and weak compared to eagles.

In Book 20, the eagle omen presents itself to the suitors who are plotting against Telemachus. Odysseus in disguises tells the suitors that Odysseus is coming home and the cowherd cries out, "'if only Zeus would make that oath come true.'" (16.263.) And lo and behold, an eagle clutching a trembling dove appears in the sky which prompts Amphinomous to call off their plot saying "My friends, we'll never carry off this plot to kill the prince. Let's concentrate on feasting," (20. 272 - 73). I view this scene as Amphinomous interpreting the omen as a warning not to kill the prince rather than that Odysseus is coming back, because the suitors continue to deny the possibility of his return. Even when the foreboding eagle is presented to the suitors, they still don't recognize what's in store for them.

My eagle radar goes up again in Book 22's slaughter scene where the attackers (Odysseus & co.) are described as eagles in their slaughtering; it's pretty graphic. Odysseus is finally fulfilling his symbolic role as the eagle as he's slashing left and right through his suitors like the eagles that prey on smaller birds. Omens were a big part of Greek mythology and for the Ancient Greeks, the eagle is a message from the Gods. Homer uses this important bird symbol throughout The Odyssey to foreshadow the events to come.

Calypso - An Ancient Greek Feminist?

At the end of Book 4 of The Odyssey, it is revealed to Telemachus that Odysseus is alive and he is trapped on an island with the nymph Calypso. So far in the book, the general portrayal of Calypso is more on the negative side. Proteus describes that she is keeping him on the island by force and that he weeps "live warm tears." Feels like a reversal of 'typical' gender roles; there is a female in control of a male who cries a lot. It is also interesting in Book 5 the way that Odysseus and Calypso are respectively described, "unwilling lover alongside lover all too willing." It's ironic, because Odysseus' situation on the island is somewhat similar to Penelope's situation back home. She has a bunch of suitors who want to marry her but that she has no interest in.

In Book 5 when all the gods except Poseidon agree to release Odysseus, Hermes is sent to do his messenger job and tell Calypso to move on and let Odysseus free. This is the first time we as readers are meeting Calypso and seeing her side of the story. I expected her to be this villainous enchantress-like character, but her dialogue didn't really match up to that. 

Calypso really ticked off when Hermes tells her that Zeus is commanding her to release Odysseus. She points out that goddesses are not allowed to have affairs with mortal men while male gods are basically sleeping with mortal women left and right. By criticizing the double standard among gods and goddesses, she's kind of like an early Ancient Greek feminist to me. I don't know Calypso's views on other issues that may show she isn't, but she is taking a stand for herself while also bringing light to a problem in the godly patriarchy (in the end she can't defy Zeus so she lets Odysseus go). I have yet to see Penelope speak up against her suitors, so Calypso pops out to me as a strong female character.