Absolute Chaos

The element of chaos in Pynchon’s novel The Crying of Lot 49 is present throughout the novel and accents the elements of mystery and satire. Chaos is what keeps the reader from not being able to penetrate the “surface” of the novel, leaving the reader with a sense of ambiguity. Pynchon creates chaos in the events of the novel by overlapping a number of different events in one scene. The various events all take place at the same time. Pynchon’s bounces back and forth in the description of these events which can be quite confusing and frustrating. Yet, the secret to reading the novel is not to look too hard into any particular idea. What the author wants you to know will be revealed to you in time.
One instance of the chaos that resurfaces throughout the novel can be reflected in the event of Oedipa’s infidelity with Metzger. After a few drinks both Oedipa and Metzger find that they are able to unwind a little and they become very close with each other. During their game of “Strip Botticelli” Oedipa and Metzger through the progressive removal of their clothes. To parallel the continual removal of clothes is their increasing consumption of alcohol. Everyone knows that in any circumstance in which alcohol is involved a lot of irrational things can happen. Alcohol has a way of disrupting the mind and bringing chaos into a situation. The consumption of a large amount of alcohol is exactly what happens to lead Oedipa into committing adultery with Metzger. To create the effect of chaos Pynchon connects the elements of alcohol, the noise from the T.V., and the addition of the guitar players in the hallway to add to the numerous things that are already taking place. The reader must keep in mind that there is a movie going on in the background. This fact is easy to lose in the midst of all the other events that take place because it is actually the movie that begins the game in the first place. That is Pynchon’s strategy: to begin with one simple idea and continually add other elements to the idea that complicate the situation at hand. During the movie, Oedipa and Metzger not only make a bet, but when she enters the bathroom to put on more layers of clothing she knocks down a can of hair spray. This unleashes a number of events: Metzger runs into the bathroom to find out what is going on, the Paranoids and their girlfriends storm into the room, and the mirror shatters in the bathroom. This event leads the Paranoids playing music outside the room, but also escalates the sexual tension between Oedipa and Metzger.
Imagine the chaos of watching a movie while playing a “guessing game,” stripping off items of clothing, consuming alcohol, and the noise from loud electric guitars in the hallway. In any case one would imagine that this would drive anyone crazy and it kind of does just that. Pynchon describes how “things grew less and less clear” (29). It even leads Oedipa to develop a headache which “began to flower behind her eyes… progressing to the point where Oedipa falls into “a moment of nearly pure terror” (29). I could imagine how an event which began with flirting and a slight attraction could develop into a horrifying scene when you have consumed so much alcohol and have experienced so much within a period of time that you actually feel that you have lost control of the situation. It is losing control that truly perpetuates the chaos in this scene.

Forced Dependence

The female characters in Faulkner’s short story “The Brooch” represent the traditional notion of the forced submissiveness and dependence of women on men. Mrs. Boyd and Amy have different experiences with the males in their lives and their individual experiences produce different results. Despite their reluctance to get along and rely on each others strength as women they end up as enemies ignoring the fact that their experiences are very much similar. Mrs. Boyd is a widow; therefore she is vulnerable economically, socially, and politically. Although Amy has not made a formal commitment to Howard, she is also void of stability in her life. Both these cases of vulnerability and instability are due to the fact that they are isolated women in a society that has been structured around women’s dependence on men in all aspects of their lives.
In the beginning of the novel we learn that Mrs. Boyd is a widow with only Howard in her life. The circumstances under which her husband left her are unclear, but Faulkner does state: “He just went away, leaving a note to his wife in which he told her that he could no longer bear to lie in bed an night and watch her rolling onto empty spools…” (647). As a man he has the freedom to leave his wife, most likely, without much disapproval from society. This same man had quit his job to move into her house where he spent most of his time socializing with the “lawyers and cotton-planters” (647). When he decides that he is tired of the life that he has with her he just leaves without concern about the son that they have together and she doesn’t hear from him anymore. Now, Mrs. Boyd’s case is a little different because her father is a “well-to-do merchant” so she is most likely secure financially. Yet, because of her status as a woman in a male dominated society she is forced to rely on her father financially and try to find someone (a husband) to rely on and have a child with for social and cultural acceptance. After her husband leaves her she is forced to rely on Howard for love and “support” which causes her to become over protective with him. She is vulnerable physically, because of her strokes, and she is forced to rely even more heavily on Howard.
Amy’s circumstance is quite different growing up with no parents, except for an aunt who has a boarding-house. Unlike Mrs. Boyd, she is not secure financially so she must rely on her own attributes to help her get by. Without guidance and much attention she becomes some sort of dancer, making a bad reputation for herself. Faulkner implies that although “she always had invitations to more public dances…(her name) was a light word, especially among the older women” (648). She was popular among the men, but not so popular among the older women whose morals had taught against the kind of activities that she engages in. Amy has no physical control over her body. Her case is similar to Mrs. Boyd’s, yet she is not physically ill. She relies on her body to make a living and although that may imply that she does control an aspect of her body, the fact that she has to make a living with her body depicts how she has no greater opportunities to take advantage of. She also allows Howard to bully her and dominate her physically. This becomes evident when Howard expresses his jealousy concerning her job as a dancer. He is beginning to become jealous of the fact that she spends her nights with other men and actually has more fun with them because she is in a committed relationship with Howard. He reacts by gripping her shoulder. “She fell back a little as he gripped her shoulder” (651). Despite her statement that he is hurting her he proceed to drag her “screaming and struggling, out of a dark car and across the dance floor…(where he) drew out a chair and took her across his lap and spanked her” (651). This act is not only an act that Howard uses to exert his control over her physically, but it is an emotionally and socially embarrassing situation in which he depicts how women are viewed as “childlike.” Amy is too grown to deserve a “spanking,” but obviously men such as Howard look down on women.

The Modern Woman Ascending in Time

With the emergence of the modernist period we enter the realm of feminism. Female writers and poets began to challenge patriarchy and traditional notions of society regarding gender roles. Hilda Doolittle’s poem “Sea Rose” could be read literally or interpreted to embody the time in which it was written. In the latter of the two, “Sea Rose” can represent the helplessness of women in a sea of male-dominance. The rose may be small and vulnerable in such an open space, but it is precious.
The initial image of the rose is rough and limited. H.D. describes the rose as “harsh” and “marred” (1, 2). It is limited in the sense that it only has a “stint of petals” and it is sparse in its numbers of leaves. This image is contradictory to the traditional depiction of a rose as a beautiful, delicate, and fragile thing. Roses typically represent the nature of innocence in women as delicate and fragile beings. The significance in this portrayal then is that roses symbolically represent women in their more vulnerable and helpless states.
Yet, this image of the rose in the poem presents a new side of women. Because of the oppression and domination that women have suffered as a result of their gender in a male-dominated society, they are reduced to nothing such as the rose that has been reduced to a “meagre flower” (3). Women have been “marred” by the objectification of their bodies; “stunted” in their growth socially and politically; and “flung on the sand” as if they embodied no sense of power.
Although H.D. presents this image of the scarred woman, she illustrates how all these hardships have allowed women to become stronger. The rose may be “meagre,” but it is still “harsh.” Its harshness represents the modern woman who has grown resistant to ill-treatment. She has now become “lifted in the crisp sand that drives in the wind” (12-13). This image of a leaf ascending portrays how woman will now rise and the wind as the driving force behind it will serve as woman’s strength.

A Deep Look Inside

I admire the words in Carlos Williams’s poem “The Descent.” There is something so inspiring and raw about the statements he makes that you have to truly swallow each statement as if you were taking in each breath. His first statement “The descent beckons as the ascent beckoned” establishes the power of memory over the external world. At first I wanted to interpret this as meaning that memory is separate from reality, but I feel that in memory there is truth, and a lot of the times what we expect out of life is what ends up being the disappointment. This idea is supported by the statement that “Williams reaches a point at which the external world no longer seems to provide an adequate correlative for his desires and expectations” (Rapp 3). The events that simultaneously followed each other resulted in his perception of the world. The essay describes how he lost the control that he had over the things in his life and he began to feel as if “the whole world seemed to be threatened with dissolution” (9). In this kind of state it is natural to see why he looked to a new source for inspiration. Therefore in looking inside himself he establishes this relationship between his own intimate thoughts and the ideas of society. What makes Williams’ poetry fresh, new, and truly modern is how he appreciates the human mind and body.
In this poem particularly he emphasizes the achievement of man through his own mind. “Memory is a kind of accomplishment, a sort of renewal, an initiation” (3-7). He praises the mind (memory) because of its openness and rawness. The mind is so precious because in entering it, as the reader does in this poem, you are initiated in a process in which the author is revealing his own thoughts to you. So, it’s as if you are being welcomed into the unknown. And not only is it a privilege to reach this point, but he almost seems to assure that the results/or what you find in entering the mind will be rewarding because “the spaces it opens are new places” and “their movements are toward new objectives” (7, 12). The mind is so refreshing because it offers a different path to life, towards ideas. It is untouched by the world and it is in your own possession. It is constantly coming up and exploring new trains of though, both conscious and “unrealized” (9).
With this sense of a new way of thinking apart from societal expectations, the mind is an alternative to a world in which defeat and love is denied. He claims that “a world lost, a world unsuspected, beckons to new places” (17-19). It is as if he is unsatisfied with the results of the world and he is now exploring a new dimension in which hope is renewed. He states that “the descent made up of despairs and without accomplishment realizes a new awakening” (33-36). The descent here takes a new context because it literally follows its definition, a downward inclination. The definition is paralleled with the ideas of despair and no accomplishment which are negative attitudes, but hope is renewed within the memory. The descent associated with the memory is different because it is a movement down into the mind which results in what is “endless and indestructible” (44). Through this descent Williams is “elevated to a life of the spirit in which he is inwardly more secure than ever before” (17-18). Therefore, whatever has been denied to you and whatever disappointments you have had in life, the mind offers a place in which you can run to and never face such troubles again.

A Racist Cycle

Chesnutt reveals the intensity of the issue of slavery as perceived in the aftermath of the Civil War. Contrary to the intentions of the post-Civil War period he highlights the policies that continued to limit the power of blacks in the South. Much like Twain he employs satire to reveal the hypocrisy not only within a society of racist white Southerners, but within the African-American community itself.
He traces the issue of slavery first in his short-story “What is a White Man?” The title itself is kind of ironic because it is a question that at this time and age would not have required so much emphasis on thought, but in the post-Civil War era this was a question of actual relevance and importance. He outlines this form of slavery as one that existed through the implementation of policies. that restricted blacks racially. The desire to dictate the who held citizenship seems pretty pointless, especially as Chesnutt traces the different attempts by the varying Southern states to define what distinguishes a black man from a white man. The pointlessness is his aim because he wants to reveal the hypocrisy in the societal decisions and how no matter what attempts African-Americans and abolitionists made in achieving greater political and social rights for blacks, they only resulted in policies implemented to restrict blacks racially. For example, he acknowledges how “before the civil war the color-line, as fixed by law, regulated in theory the civil and political status of persons of color” (124). Yet, after the war he states “these laws have been mainly confined…to the regulation of the intercourse of the races in schools and in the marriage relation” (124). In a sense his tone seems to imply the failure not really in the efforts of the African-Americans and abolitionists, but the failure of their effect on racist white Southerners.
The ironic situation that Chesnutt presents is one in which degradation does not solely exist between whites and blacks, but it becomes a tool of oppression among blacks. “The Wife of His Youth” highlights how the issue of race had become so important in deciding one’s status in society that some blacks aimed to become absorbed into the white race. Mr. Ryder, the main character, recognizes that “our fate lies between the absorption by the white race and extinction in the black” (149). What is even more ironic between the idea of oppression between whites and some African-Americans is the statement that: “Self-preservation is the first law of nature” (149). This idea has been connected to the many atrocities that haunt not only the history of the United States, but Germany and all the nations of the universe. Yet, Chesnutt portrays this form of slavery among the black race to show how racism continued to evolve into different forms. From racial laws that distinguished between black and white to social organizations among African-Americans that excluded people of their own race, Chesnutt reveals the cycle of racism that exists throughout history among both whites and blacks.

The Effect of Huckleberry Finn on Depicting 19th Century Society

To get the fullest and most precise understanding of a piece of literature it is beneficial to have historical background concerning the time period in which the piece of literature was written. Through a historical background it is easier for the reader to perceive the political, economic, and social factors that could have influenced the piece or the author’s attitude. Often in reading a piece of literature if we do not have an abundance of historical evidence from that time period we can look the literary techniques utilized by the author to get a better perception of the author’s tone and his reaction to the events of his time. In the novel Huckleberry Finn Twain employs a number of literary devices in revealing the hypocrisy that existed within the members of the society of the Reconstruction Period. Huckleberry Finn is Twain’s opportunity to criticize the not only the members of the society, but the government which was struggling in its decision and approach in expanding the rights of freed African-Americans. Through the different characters in the novel Twain explores his own reservations about religion and relates this struggle to his opinions about the institution of slavery.
Huckleberry Finn satirizes the government and the members of society after the Civil War. The post-Civil War was supposed to be a time in which the American government not only re-united the Confederate states and the Union, but it was supposed to incorporate the newly freed African-Americans into a reformed society. While the Radicals were in power, which lasted for a seven year period between 1866 and 1873, they emphasized civil rights and voting rights for blacks. Yet, their efforts were thwarted by white Southerners who still believed in upholding the injustice of slavery and passed counteracting legislative policies to limit the power of freed blacks. Through humor Twain harshly and distinctly attacks the government and exposes the hypocrisy within their efforts to “aid” free blacks. Twain’s humor is depicted through his use of dialect, in which he uses to portray the most realistic image of Southerners, and stereotypical images, which serve to highlight the portrayal of African-Americans during the period of the Reconstruction. Twain consciously utilizes crude slang terms (such as the “N” word) in order to depict the region and their attitudes. The manner in which the different characters speak is also representative of the amount of education and wealth that they possess. Yet, Twain’s use of stereotypical images received a lot of criticism especially in their portrayal of African-Americans. Instead of mocking blacks Twain actually dispels these stereotypes against blacks as he thoroughly develops Jim’s character throughout the novel. We come to view Jim in terms of his compassion towards Huck and his knowledge of nature. In Twain’s attempt to dispel stereotypes against African-Americans he presents this idea of whiteness associated with evil. Contrary to the other novels we have read so far in this course where whiteness is associated with peace, innocence, and promise for the future, Twain contrasts these traits to the whiteness of characters such as Pap. Pap represents the largest portion of the white society during the 19th century that were ignorant and held racist attitudes towards blacks.
Twain’s aim is not to dehumanize blacks with his illustration of their dialect, but to critique white American society, especially during the time period of the Reconstruction. He highlights how slavery was continued for hypocritical reasons, especially by a country that was founded on Christian values. Twain’s ideas about the issue of slavery could be seen depicted through Huck at times because Huck presents Twain’s audience with the most direct and practical observations of society at that time. As a young boy with a lot of spirit Huck is easy to relate to, but his moral development is one that the reader also experiences with him. Twain’s most direct expression on the issue of slavery could be traced in one of the final comments in the novel where Tom is defending Jim’s status as a freed black man: “They hain’t no right to shut him up! Shove!—and don’t lose a minute. Turn him loose! He ain’t no slave; he’s as free as any cretur that walks this earth!” (p.316). This final statement serves two purposes: the first is to mirror how Tom, who throughout the novel embodied the stereotypical image of white men of his society, had no compassion towards the struggles and fate of slaves (especially because he had concealed Jim’s fate for days before revealing that he had actually been free), and secondly it depicts the underlying meaning that Twain aims to capture through his novel that no one regardless of race or class status can escape the rules of civilization. Yet, because this statement is contradictory to Tom’s character we can infer that Twain stood against this institution and Huckleberry Finn was his way of expressing his political opinions.

Blood Covers the Landscape

Emily Dickinson’s poem The name-of it – is “Autumn” illustrates heavy images of the death of the soldiers during the Civil War. Independent of the other portrayals of the war, it captures the gruesome side of the war by depicting a landscape that is drenched with blood. She describes the landscapes hue as “blood, an artery upon the hill- a vein- along the road” (2-4). Contrary to Timrod’s description of the beauty of the Southern landscape, it is not exactly clear which landscape (whether North or South) that Dickinson is referring to yet it is quite clear that it wouldn’t even matter because the only color that stands out is the red from the blood of the soldiers. The image of the soldiers’ blood falling upon the landscape is described as the “spill the Scarlet Rain” (8).
Yet, amidst this grotesque imagery there is something serene or gentle about the narrator’s tone. The images of the fallen soldiers are contrasted to symbols of tranquility. For instance, she contrasts the blood shed from the soldiers’ bodies to bonnets when she writes: “It sprinkles Bonnets- far below” (9). This imagery is ironic because not only do the color of bonnets, which are white, contrast greatly to the bloody images, but bonnets symbolize purity, youth, and innocence. Although they are worn by young woman the bonnets are meant to symbolize the youthfulness and beauty of these dying young men that both sides are losing to the war. Supported with the image of the blood falling gently like a “shower of stain,” the innocence of these young men invokes a sense of sadness within. This image of blood raining upon the bonnets could also symbolize the losses of the young wives and mothers of the war as their husbands and sons are dying slowly. Even the movements portrayed within the poem convey the lingering and lengthy event of the battle. This battle is not portrayed as a quick fight between two sides, but the images support the idea that it is drawn out and parallels an image of young men gradually fading away. The flow “a vein – along the Road” seems slow in the same manner that the blood “gathers (in) ruddy Pools” (4, 10).
The effect of portraying the gradualism of the war is to truly reflect and oppose images of the war as just a historical event or tale. Like Horton, Dickinson aims to portray the essence of the war, not an event that is over-dramatized as a heroic tale. The narrator’s calm tone in describing this disastrous battle implies that the war is a dreadful event, but that it is a part of nature. Even the hue of the blood presented in the poem evokes a sense of peace, hope, and rebirth. The colors of red utilized such as scarlet, ruddy, and vermillion are reddish-orange in color which do not represent death, but health. So maybe the narrator is trying to show that the war is a cycle in nature and it is necessary not to dwell on the events, but to look ahead to peace. Depicting all the blood that is shed in contrast to images of nature embodies the heartbreaking aspect of the war. What is even more ironic is the image of all these things in nature being covered by blood. Up until now we have seen nature as the number one influencing factor over everything that happens. We have learned that man cannot rise above nature, nor can man’s knowledge about science destroy nature. Yet, Dickinson confronts this idea with death covering nature. It is not the idea that death in any way can control nature or that the war exerts power over nature, but that the war has greatly impacted nature. The landscape being simply covered by a hue of red portrays how nature is affected not only by the losses of its people, but by their bloodshed.