Why is it that, as humans, we feel the need to make things fair? Is equality really the solution to all of our problems? In Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s short story “Harrison Bergeron”, the characters live in a society where everyone’s natural ability and talent are not praised. Every character is made equal by bringing those with more intelligence, or those who are more athletic, down to the level of a person who lacks those entities. The United States Handicapper General is in charge of creating handicaps. For example, if a person has an intelligence that exceeds that of the person in the lowest caliber, they get a device put in their ear, that lets out a sharp, deafening sound which prevents them from thinking. Apart from this intelligence handicap, there are handicaps for physical ability, looks, even musical talent. Our society would be completely different than it is today if there were handicaps for talent. And although this equality is supposed to be a characteristic of utopian society, it seems as though we would find it otherwise.
The society of not only the United States, but the world, is much more technologically advanced than it was 100 years ago. If there was such a thing as the United States Handicapper General that placed handicaps on intelligence, there would be no place for improvement or new technology. There wouldn’t be computers, television, space travel, internet, long-distance calling. It would affect businesses, families, and everyday life in general. Imagine not being able to call family members who lived on the other side of the country. Today, using a telephone to call long distance is an everyday thing. But if Alexander Graham Bell had had an intellectual handicap, he would not have been able to think long enough, due to the screeching in his ear, to invent the telephone. These handicaps make a society worse, and even with the handicaps, are people really equal?
Nearly everyone enjoys watching, playing, or talking about sports. The Olympics are exciting and create a sense of nationalism. And no one can deny the joy that comes out of competition. If everyone had the same physical abilities, there would be no point in sports, or the Olympics. In athletics, the athletes are pushed to do their best, and to be the best. The physical handicaps that the United States Handicapper General puts on the athletes take away from that determination. Not only would the athletes not try as hard, the games wouldn’t be fun to watch if no team was allowed to win, if everyone had to be equal. Also, in the story, George makes a comment about how the ballerinas aren’t very good, “no better than anyone else would have been, anyway” (10). This just shows that the handicaps put on society make things less enjoyable, but the people just don’t realize because they don’t have the brain capacity to do so.
The government has so much control over the society because of the handicaps that they put on people, that there is no chance of a successful revolution. It isn’t because the people aren’t unhappy, it is because they don’t have the mental or physical ability to come together and do so. If one person goes against the government, as Harrison Bergeron does, he is shot down immediately, and 5 seconds later no one even remembers that it happened. It makes the reader wonder how many times someone has stood up against the government, and no one remembers.
Although many people think of an equal society as something positive, the story “Harrison Bergeron” shows that it is indeed the exact opposite. Kurt Vonnegut Jr., in a sense, mocks the stupidity of the people who have created this perfect society, by pointing out that they approved the amendments (211, 212, 213) that created the handicaps (1). The characters in “Harrison Bergeron” aren’t really happy, they just don’t remember why they are sad. When Hazel is crying in the beginning of the story, she feels a tear drop on her face and forgets why she had been crying. It is unfortunate that in order to create an equal society, everyone loses their natural abilities, which in most societies, are looked upon as a positive thing. I believe that competition and jealousy makes a society more successful and allows for positive change, and technological advances. This story also proves that these ‘utopian’ societies aren’t really all that they appear to be. (742)
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
The Violence and Despair of Flannery O'Connor
From reading only two of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories-“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Revelation”-the recurring theme of violence and despair in her writing became evident. It is intriguing as a reader to study O’Connor’s background in order to get insight into her dark writing. Her family suffered from the hereditary disease, lupus, which took the life of her father when she was only 15. Not long after his death, O’Connor herself was diagnosed with the disease. It was recorded that she rarely spoke of her father’s death or of her own sufferings. O’Connor lived until her mid thirties aware of her own impending death, making life an everyday struggle.
O’Connor’s struggle comes out in many of her characters. Of those I met in the two stories, all of them were irritable and unpleasant. O’Connor may have been treated differently because of her disease, and therefore the negative people that she encountered became her characters. Another theory may be that she makes her characters unpleasant and uses a dark and dreadful theme in order to help her understand or explain disease and human suffering. Either way, the characters in O’Connor’s stories help to develop a consistently dark theme in her writing.
The themes of both “Revelation” and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” concentrate on human misery and lost souls. On the Cyber Pat blog by Patrick Galloway, The Dark Side of the Cross: Flannery O’Connor’s Short Fiction, O’Connor is recorded as saying, “I have found that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace.” In both stories, at least one character seems to be going through a great amount of emotional turmoil, and each individual deals with it in their own way. In “Revelation”, Mary Grace lets out her hatred towards the judgmental Mrs. Turpin in a violent way (as O’Connor previously stated), by throwing a book at her head (102). Mrs. Turpin, on the other hand, looked towards God to guide her soul and lead her towards heaven (79). In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the Misfit also uses violence, this time in the form of murder, to let out his emotion (124). I find that although the violence these characters use is meant to help them accept their moment of grace, it is unsuccessful and I do not believe the characters go through any spiritual change in the end, as O’Connor may have anticipated.
The Misfit is a particularly interesting character in that it seems as though O’Connor is trying to make the reader respect him, or at least pity him. Despite the fact that his crimes are so cruel, he has an explanation for why he does them. He explains that he was put into the penitentiary for a crime that he didn’t do (112). After he was put into jail, he explains that from then on he strove to make what he had done wrong fit his punishment, but that it never worked (130). I find it ironic that a place that is meant to punish criminals and to hopefully change them, can do the exact opposite. In this case, jail created a murdered from someone who, although charged as a murderer, had not previously been one.
One of the things I found most interesting about both of the O’Connor stories is that they had a sudden plot change that caught the readers’ attention. Usually in stories, the foreshadowing to the climax is gradual and steady, but in O’Connor’s stories, she comes out of left field with a sudden plot change. It is completely unexpected, and in my case, makes the reader have to stop and re-read what just happened. For example, in “Revelation”, Mrs. Turpin is in the waiting room talking to Mary Grace’s mother about how happy she is that she got Claude and no one else did, and all of a sudden, “The book struck her directly over her left eye. It struck almost at the same instant that she realized the girl was about to hurl it.” (102). In the paragraphs previous to that, there was no mention of Mary Grace holding the book or of her being increasingly annoyed with Mrs. Turpin, which leaves the reader shocked at her actions. I personally did not enjoy this aspect of the novel, but along with her dark underlying themes of despair and her violent characters, it is another thing that makes Flannery O’Connor stick out from other short story writers. (761)
O’Connor’s struggle comes out in many of her characters. Of those I met in the two stories, all of them were irritable and unpleasant. O’Connor may have been treated differently because of her disease, and therefore the negative people that she encountered became her characters. Another theory may be that she makes her characters unpleasant and uses a dark and dreadful theme in order to help her understand or explain disease and human suffering. Either way, the characters in O’Connor’s stories help to develop a consistently dark theme in her writing.
The themes of both “Revelation” and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” concentrate on human misery and lost souls. On the Cyber Pat blog by Patrick Galloway, The Dark Side of the Cross: Flannery O’Connor’s Short Fiction, O’Connor is recorded as saying, “I have found that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace.” In both stories, at least one character seems to be going through a great amount of emotional turmoil, and each individual deals with it in their own way. In “Revelation”, Mary Grace lets out her hatred towards the judgmental Mrs. Turpin in a violent way (as O’Connor previously stated), by throwing a book at her head (102). Mrs. Turpin, on the other hand, looked towards God to guide her soul and lead her towards heaven (79). In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the Misfit also uses violence, this time in the form of murder, to let out his emotion (124). I find that although the violence these characters use is meant to help them accept their moment of grace, it is unsuccessful and I do not believe the characters go through any spiritual change in the end, as O’Connor may have anticipated.
The Misfit is a particularly interesting character in that it seems as though O’Connor is trying to make the reader respect him, or at least pity him. Despite the fact that his crimes are so cruel, he has an explanation for why he does them. He explains that he was put into the penitentiary for a crime that he didn’t do (112). After he was put into jail, he explains that from then on he strove to make what he had done wrong fit his punishment, but that it never worked (130). I find it ironic that a place that is meant to punish criminals and to hopefully change them, can do the exact opposite. In this case, jail created a murdered from someone who, although charged as a murderer, had not previously been one.
One of the things I found most interesting about both of the O’Connor stories is that they had a sudden plot change that caught the readers’ attention. Usually in stories, the foreshadowing to the climax is gradual and steady, but in O’Connor’s stories, she comes out of left field with a sudden plot change. It is completely unexpected, and in my case, makes the reader have to stop and re-read what just happened. For example, in “Revelation”, Mrs. Turpin is in the waiting room talking to Mary Grace’s mother about how happy she is that she got Claude and no one else did, and all of a sudden, “The book struck her directly over her left eye. It struck almost at the same instant that she realized the girl was about to hurl it.” (102). In the paragraphs previous to that, there was no mention of Mary Grace holding the book or of her being increasingly annoyed with Mrs. Turpin, which leaves the reader shocked at her actions. I personally did not enjoy this aspect of the novel, but along with her dark underlying themes of despair and her violent characters, it is another thing that makes Flannery O’Connor stick out from other short story writers. (761)
Friday, September 14, 2007
The Trials of Parenting
One of the most criticized and controversial jobs that a person can hold is that of a parent. If a child turns out to be a bit rambunctious, or if they don’t get straight A’s in school, people rarely ask, ‘what is wrong with that kid?’ No. It’s almost always, ‘where are that kid’s parents?’ Parenting is a job that is misunderstood by both children and adults, and it seems like every parenting book creates a different strategy to raising the Stepford child. In “Teenage Wasteland”, Daisy is the mother of a delinquent teenager who seems to be lost when it comes to motherhood. She seeks help from different sources, all of whom seem to be pulling her in a different direction. The entire story Daisy is struggling to create a better relationship with her son and to help him become a better student and stay out of trouble. In the end she fails, not entirely because of personal fault, but by listening to the misleading advice of others.
When Daisy is first introduced to her son’s issues, it is by Mr. Lanham, the school principle. He calls her into his office to talk about how Donny was “noisy, lazy, and disruptive”, and was always messing around with his friends during class (2). Upon first hearing this, Daisy felt ashamed, and was wondering how Mr. Lanham must’ve thought she was a horrible mother. These selfish feelings appear often in the book. Daisy is worried more about the mother that she appears to be, rather than the mother that she is. Mr. Lanham’s suggestion to Daisy was to check Donny’s homework assignments every day and to make sure he did all of his homework every night. This suggestion, although it may sound like it would be successful, creates a negative outcome rather than a positive one. Yes, Donny begins to raise his grades, but he begins to resent his parents even more.
To Daisy’s surprise, she is called into Mr. Lanham’s office again only a few months later, and is told to bring her husband. During the meeting Mr. Lanham informs them that although Donny’s grades have risen slightly, he has developed some new problems. He cuts classes, smokes in school, breaks into lockers, and “during athletics, he and three friends had been seen off the school grounds; when they returned, they coach had smelled beer on their breath.” (7). It is apparent that Mr. Lanham’s first suggestion did not work, so he suggests that Donny see a psychologist and get some tests done. This is also unsuccessful, so Mr. Lanham recommends yet another idea. He tells Daisy about a tutor that has been successful among some other kids. His name is Cal. Daisy and her husband, desperate to help Donny, agree.
Cal is a somewhat young man, with the appearance of an overgrown teenage boy. He seems like he relates well with teenagers, and Daisy has hope, upon meeting him, that he will be able to help Donny. Donny begins spending a lot of time at Cal’s house, and from Daisy’s point of view, he seems to be improving. But Cal has a lot of rules, Daisy is not to interfere in any of Donny’s affairs. If the school has any problems with Donny, or if Daisy has any problems with Donny, they are to deal with Cal first, not directly with Donny. This does not strike Daisy as strange, as it would most parents. She seems like she will do anything to help Donny become more disciplined, and will listen to anyone who seems to have a solution.
In listening to Cal’s advice, Daisy stops checking in on where Donny is going, and whether the parties he attends are supervised. She retracts his curfew, and stops looking over his homework. Donny also begins going to concerts with Cal, hanging out at Cal’s house, and Cal also introduced him to his new girlfriend, Miriam. Although Daisy “was touched that Cal would grow so involved in Donny’s life, … she was also a little hurt.” (56). It became apparent to her that Donny looked up to Cal as a parent figure, and seemed to appreciate him more than he did herself, but as long as Donny was behaving, Daisy was content.
It wasn’t until Daisy got a phone call nearly four months after she had last talked to Mr. Lanham that she realized what had been going on. He told her that Donny had been expelled. This news came as shocking to her, how could Donny have gotten into so much trouble under Cal’s supervision? After arguing with Cal when he tries to make excuses for Donny, Daisy stops allowing Donny to meet Cal for tutoring sessions. She realizes that the whole time Donny was hanging out with Cal, he was not being supervised; instead he was becoming more of a delinquent. It was as though Donny had slipped through her fingers, and she no longer had any control over him. But it was not until the end of the story, when Donny runs away, that Daisy fully realizes the extent of her mistakes. Daisy had put too much hope and trust into the ideas of others, and had made herself vulnerable. The decisions that she made as a parent, although with the best intentions, are looked upon by the reader as careless. If Daisy had only listened to her own ideas, and although she may not have been the most successful mother, Donny may have turned out all right. (919)
When Daisy is first introduced to her son’s issues, it is by Mr. Lanham, the school principle. He calls her into his office to talk about how Donny was “noisy, lazy, and disruptive”, and was always messing around with his friends during class (2). Upon first hearing this, Daisy felt ashamed, and was wondering how Mr. Lanham must’ve thought she was a horrible mother. These selfish feelings appear often in the book. Daisy is worried more about the mother that she appears to be, rather than the mother that she is. Mr. Lanham’s suggestion to Daisy was to check Donny’s homework assignments every day and to make sure he did all of his homework every night. This suggestion, although it may sound like it would be successful, creates a negative outcome rather than a positive one. Yes, Donny begins to raise his grades, but he begins to resent his parents even more.
To Daisy’s surprise, she is called into Mr. Lanham’s office again only a few months later, and is told to bring her husband. During the meeting Mr. Lanham informs them that although Donny’s grades have risen slightly, he has developed some new problems. He cuts classes, smokes in school, breaks into lockers, and “during athletics, he and three friends had been seen off the school grounds; when they returned, they coach had smelled beer on their breath.” (7). It is apparent that Mr. Lanham’s first suggestion did not work, so he suggests that Donny see a psychologist and get some tests done. This is also unsuccessful, so Mr. Lanham recommends yet another idea. He tells Daisy about a tutor that has been successful among some other kids. His name is Cal. Daisy and her husband, desperate to help Donny, agree.
Cal is a somewhat young man, with the appearance of an overgrown teenage boy. He seems like he relates well with teenagers, and Daisy has hope, upon meeting him, that he will be able to help Donny. Donny begins spending a lot of time at Cal’s house, and from Daisy’s point of view, he seems to be improving. But Cal has a lot of rules, Daisy is not to interfere in any of Donny’s affairs. If the school has any problems with Donny, or if Daisy has any problems with Donny, they are to deal with Cal first, not directly with Donny. This does not strike Daisy as strange, as it would most parents. She seems like she will do anything to help Donny become more disciplined, and will listen to anyone who seems to have a solution.
In listening to Cal’s advice, Daisy stops checking in on where Donny is going, and whether the parties he attends are supervised. She retracts his curfew, and stops looking over his homework. Donny also begins going to concerts with Cal, hanging out at Cal’s house, and Cal also introduced him to his new girlfriend, Miriam. Although Daisy “was touched that Cal would grow so involved in Donny’s life, … she was also a little hurt.” (56). It became apparent to her that Donny looked up to Cal as a parent figure, and seemed to appreciate him more than he did herself, but as long as Donny was behaving, Daisy was content.
It wasn’t until Daisy got a phone call nearly four months after she had last talked to Mr. Lanham that she realized what had been going on. He told her that Donny had been expelled. This news came as shocking to her, how could Donny have gotten into so much trouble under Cal’s supervision? After arguing with Cal when he tries to make excuses for Donny, Daisy stops allowing Donny to meet Cal for tutoring sessions. She realizes that the whole time Donny was hanging out with Cal, he was not being supervised; instead he was becoming more of a delinquent. It was as though Donny had slipped through her fingers, and she no longer had any control over him. But it was not until the end of the story, when Donny runs away, that Daisy fully realizes the extent of her mistakes. Daisy had put too much hope and trust into the ideas of others, and had made herself vulnerable. The decisions that she made as a parent, although with the best intentions, are looked upon by the reader as careless. If Daisy had only listened to her own ideas, and although she may not have been the most successful mother, Donny may have turned out all right. (919)
Monday, September 10, 2007
Lily Owens, as a Character and as a Person.
Lily Owens is a fourteen year-old girl who, in the beginning of The Secret Life of Bees, finds herself feeling very much alone and unloved. Friendless, and motherless, Lily is raised by a seemingly heartless father, and Rosaleen, their black maid, who becomes Lily’s first friend. Lily tells the novel in first person, so the readers get an inside look at her thoughts and feelings, and throughout the novel we watch Lily mature from a lost girl into a strong woman. Sue Monk Kidd, the author The Secret Life of Bees, creates a character out of Lily that many readers can relate to. Although many have not experienced the loss of a parent as Lily has, almost everyone has felt alone or unloved at some point. The way in which Lily strives for a father that loves her, or waits around to be invited to a sleepover, is something that almost every child goes through at some time in their life. This realness makes Lily a lovable and relatable character for nearly anyone who reads the novel.
As the novel progresses and Lily matures, we watch her turn from a weak child into someone who stands up for herself. Lily, although still skeptical on whether or not she hates T. Ray or feels bad for leaving him, doesn’t allow him to treat her like a child anymore. She stands up to him, and when he comes to the Boatwright house to pick her up, Lily refuses to go. Also, Lily learns how to forgive. Once she finds out the truth about her mother, she feels a lot of hatred towards her, not only for leaving her, but for marrying T. Ray just because she was pregnant. These feelings of hatred are teamed up with more feelings of being unwanted and unloved. Lily also feels regret for her killing her mother, even though it was an accident, it is something that Lily will have to live with forever. She comments on this in the novel when Zach feels like he to blame for May’s death, “I was afraid, though, the blame would find a way to stick to them. That’s how blame was.” When a person experiences the death of someone close to them, there are always regrets involved, and almost always people take the blame for what has happened. Lily’s character is made more realistic by showing these emotions throughout the novel.
One of the other main themes in the novel, which helps readers to relate with Lily as a character and as a person, is when she finally finds herself. Throughout the story, we watch Lily go through a rollercoaster ride of emotions and thought processes while she is trying to figure out who she is, and in the end, it all comes together. Lily finds herself loved and a part of a family when T. Ray comes to get her and all the Daughters are there along with Rosaleen and August. The feelings of love that she has longed for all of her life are finally there. She no longer needs her mother back, she no longer feels as though she’s a worker bee who had lost her Queen bee. She has found herself many new Queens, and can therefore become a part of the world again, and quit living the lie that she had been the entire summer, if not her entire life. The ‘perfect’ world that Lily had wanted to live in, had come to her, not as literally ‘perfect’, but as ideal. As August once said to Lily, “There is nothing perfect... there is only life.” (601)
As the novel progresses and Lily matures, we watch her turn from a weak child into someone who stands up for herself. Lily, although still skeptical on whether or not she hates T. Ray or feels bad for leaving him, doesn’t allow him to treat her like a child anymore. She stands up to him, and when he comes to the Boatwright house to pick her up, Lily refuses to go. Also, Lily learns how to forgive. Once she finds out the truth about her mother, she feels a lot of hatred towards her, not only for leaving her, but for marrying T. Ray just because she was pregnant. These feelings of hatred are teamed up with more feelings of being unwanted and unloved. Lily also feels regret for her killing her mother, even though it was an accident, it is something that Lily will have to live with forever. She comments on this in the novel when Zach feels like he to blame for May’s death, “I was afraid, though, the blame would find a way to stick to them. That’s how blame was.” When a person experiences the death of someone close to them, there are always regrets involved, and almost always people take the blame for what has happened. Lily’s character is made more realistic by showing these emotions throughout the novel.
One of the other main themes in the novel, which helps readers to relate with Lily as a character and as a person, is when she finally finds herself. Throughout the story, we watch Lily go through a rollercoaster ride of emotions and thought processes while she is trying to figure out who she is, and in the end, it all comes together. Lily finds herself loved and a part of a family when T. Ray comes to get her and all the Daughters are there along with Rosaleen and August. The feelings of love that she has longed for all of her life are finally there. She no longer needs her mother back, she no longer feels as though she’s a worker bee who had lost her Queen bee. She has found herself many new Queens, and can therefore become a part of the world again, and quit living the lie that she had been the entire summer, if not her entire life. The ‘perfect’ world that Lily had wanted to live in, had come to her, not as literally ‘perfect’, but as ideal. As August once said to Lily, “There is nothing perfect... there is only life.” (601)
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