Nicole be Thinking...

I GOT MY GRADES LAST NIGHT! And I'm thrilled. They're not all perfect… (I did get a C, but I'm going to say "Thank you" because it could have been worse…) …but I'm pretty happy with them. For a while I thought that I was losing my touch. I went through this really weird phase when I thought that maybe I'm not as smart as everyone thinks I am. Seriously. Belmont was an intellectual vacuum for me. While I was there I couldn't write like me. I couldn't think like me. I was unhappy. No offense to people who graduated from there and love it, but it didn't work for me. I was the wrong student, the wrong person for that environment. AND too much was on my non-academic plate. SO… having been a stranger to Dean's List for SO long (the longest period of time ever) I thought I was losing my touch. My goal for this semester was to get it back. I think I did. I pushed all the envelopes I could. I sufficiently stressed myself out. I know exactly what nee...

ok... so... it's not really OVER over... i have finals... took one today. two tomorrow. one on both wed and thur. so... yeah... i'm still in this... BUT. no more academic papers on the blog (until at least january), and hopefully more creative reading and writing. my grades are ok. i didn't shoot TERRIBLY high... my goals for this semester merely included getting used to being back in school and not failing everything. i accomplished both. next semester (and every remaining semester) we're going for the 4.0. during finals, i'll probably be catching up on my facebook and twitter stalking so i'll probably be blogging about the things that offend me first. then maybe i'll venture back in to the land of current events... eh... i dunno... lets just see how this all works out. i have some albums to review for you all, too... SO... be looking forward to a fun-filled winter break!

The surge of literature produced by black writers necessitated the creation of a system of interpretation that "would be based not on white standards but on […] the black aesthetic" (Dobie 219). This new system would evaluate black art "in terms of the special character of the black experience" (Dobie 219). Reading as a multiculturalist that is specifically focused on African American literature requires seeking and examining specific narrative forms, diction and style. It is important to look at narrative forms in black literature because "many of the stories written by African American authors are derived from the folk tradition" (Dobie 221). Toni Cade Bambara's “Gorilla, My Love” follows a frame narrative instead of the traditional narrative structure of a folktale. While riding in the car with Grandaddy Vale, Hunca Bubba, and Baby Jason, Hazel's narrative tells the story of a trip to the movies. This story is framed by the story of Hucca Bubba...

Women are an important part of my life. I was raised by a single mother and other strong black women. Because of my life experiences, I am drawn to the work of women of color. I have long admired Octavia Butler, though I didn't read her work because of my ideas of what "science fiction" novels included. I found Butler remarkable because she proved to be a talented black woman in a genre dominated by white males. Prior to reading her novel, Kindred , I expected it to be an exceptional story, but I was also skeptical because I thought it would be farfetched and scientific. Kindred is the first of Butler's work that I have read. While reading, I began to identify with the novel's protagonist, Dana. I also recognized women around which I grew up in other female characters like Sarah and Alice. I noticed that these women shared traits with some familiar archetypes of black female identity. Common stereotypes of black women include the Mammy, who is "everyone'...

Writers and readers on all levels rely on dictionaries to aide with diction and comprehension. Dictionaries, most commonly regarded as reference materials and instructional tools, are commonplace in households, schools, and libraries. Not many people these days think of dictionaries as literature or cultural centerpieces. However, the dictionary from which most modern dictionaries are derived enjoys great cultural significance. Poet and essayist Samuel Johnson published A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755 after eight years of selecting words, drafting definitions, and choosing illustrative quotes. By understanding Johnson, his intentions for this massive work, and the work itself, one can come to understand why Johnson's Dictionary is still important over 250 years after its release. Samuel Johnson was born September 18, 1709, to modest means. For a period, Johnson's father was a sheriff and the family was able to live in "a solid new fifteen-room house in the...

I love being black. Its one of my favorite things about myself. I've been in Critical Approaches all semester learning about different theories and methods for critiquing and analyzing literature. So noooow… we're talking about American Multiculturalism and African American Literature. This section is starting to bother me. First… This quote: "Eventually [Phyllis Wheatley] became the best-known American poet in England. Writing in the neoclassical style of Alexander Pope, she composed verses that reflected her privileged status, not a slave mentality" (Dobie 218). What exactly is a "slave mentality?" Ok… she wasn't illiterate like she was supposed to be. She wasn't a mammy. She probably wasn’t working in the fields. So perhaps in writing her poetry she wrote what she was feeling, what she saw. She was a slave so whatever mentality she had was a slave mentality. There's no universal mindset for any group of people and the suggestion that Wheatley ...

People read a text and interpret it based on other texts they have read and personal life experiences. Structuralists believe that "things […] have to be seen as part of a larger structure to which they belong" (Dobie 152). It is with this intent that readers read; we look to attach a text to its larger structure. Stories are read and characters are perceived based on the meaning a reader gives to signifiers within the text. There are flaws in interpretation because "language […] is arbitrary, conventional and based on difference" (Dobie 154). Deconstructionist critics seek to prove that there is no transcendental signified. Since texts are "dynamic entities that are given new life with repeated readings and through interactions with other texts," meaning changes depending on the reader (Dobie 155). This changing signified becomes apparent when applying this theory to A Family Supper by Kazuo Ishiguro. In the story, the narrator is returning to Japan to vi...

Overview I decided to combine Kate Chopin’s “ Desiree’s Baby ” and “ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I liked the twist at the end of “Desiree’s Baby” and knew when I got the assignment that I wanted to use that in some way. The film version of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” gave me some idea about the plot of that story and made me want to use it. Although the story is very different from the movie, I still enjoyed and thought that its element of fantasy could work with the twist from “Desiree’s Baby.” I also really liked the idea of naming my mash up “The Curious Case of Desiree’s Baby.” The stories basically picked themselves. Mash Up Desiree wanted to leave Nashville. So at nineteen years old she tied up her long auburn-gray hair and bought some new orthopedic shoes. She looked in the mirror at the diminishing wrinkles on her face through eyes that seemed to be seeing more, better. Yes, she thought, I’m reaching my prime. Desiree set out to see w...

The same text can elicit different responses from different people. Reader response theory can help one understand how a text is created by the interaction between that text and its reader. First, one must examine how the text works to the affect the reader. According to Dobie, "readers come to a work with a certain literary competence," meaning readers have some expectations based on what they already know about a specific genre (135). My previous experience with short stories made me expect simple characters, dialogue, and a clear moral. "The Night in Question" was a small departure from that. The dialogue between Frank and Frances does push the story and there is a moral, but the characters are complex. The story's structure is also familiar to me. Flashbacks often provide background information about the characters as it does in this story. My understanding of the story's plot is controlled by the narrator's point of view. I have to trust that the na...

French feminists apply Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory to their readings because it can provide the “basis for resisting the idea of a stable ‘masculine’ authority or truth” (Dobie 119). The primary focus is on Lacan’s concept of the Imaginary Order, the pre-linguistic phase of development that is free from the Law of the Father, or language (Dobie 119). According to Lacan, the Imaginary Order is a state characterized by “wholeness and fullness” wherein one is “unaware of its separateness from the mother” (Dobie 65). This state exists before the Symbolic Order in which the Law of the Father reigns (Dobie 66). Lacan asserts that gender is constructed and it is the father who “enforces cultural norms and laws” (Dobie 66). Because of this, girls must recognize their father as superior and realize that their claim to the phallus isn’t as strong as the claim of their male counterparts (Dobie 66). French feminists reject this idea and instead assert that the “voice of the Mother [is] the sourc...

Marxism, which is the belief that "the means of production control a society's institutions and beliefs," originated with Karl Marx in 1845 (Dobie 86-87). Marx was a philosopher and economist who believed that the workers of society would rise and overturn capitalists, take control of the means of production, and distribute wealth fairly (Dobie 87). Literature plays an important role in such a society. Some writer "use Marxist interpretations and evaluations of society in their work" (Dobie 88). Know that an author writes with this particular bias would make one question how a piece of literature fits into the Marxist ideology. One may analyze a work to determine whether is promotes the current hegemony or seeks to inspire change. Lydia Davis's short story "The House Behind" is the story of two sets of tenants--those in the front house and those in the back--who are in different economic classes. The two groups constantly clash and this conflict t...

In the 1950s, Jacques Lacan decided to reinterpret Freud’s theories and create his own method of psychoanalysis. Lacan was “interested in accepting the unconscious as the core of one’s being” (Dobie 64). He believed an individual moves through Orders in developing the psyche and the self. In the Imaginary Order, one “uses what it sees to create the ego” (Dobie 65). As one develops language and the means to turn their needs into demands, they begin to exist in the Symbolic Order (Dobie 66). The Real Order is unattainable and “symbolizes what is external to an individual” (Dobie 66). Lacan’s Orders can be a little lofty and overwhelming but they can help the literary critic understand how the unconscious motivates the characters in a piece of literature. Russell Banks’ short story, “My Mother’s Memoirs, My Father’s Lie, and Other True Stories,” provides good material to which one can apply some of Lacan’s theories. In the story a gentleman, Earl, is putting his relationship with his pare...