Project Proposal

Although I have not fully committed to this idea, I am pretty sure I will be writing a literacy narrative for my final project. My literacy narrative will probably be a chronological recap of my semester in this class. I think the easiest way to do this will look back at the syllabus and my previous work, and talk about my original thoughts about everything, my doubts and how I overcame those, along with my struggles but also my success with this class.
I originally signed up for this class just because I figured it was an English class, and couldn't be too difficult. The course name "Literary Interpretations" made me think that we would be reading novels, and then writing papers on them. It never occurred to me that literature included many forms of writing that could all be analyzed...haikus, plays, longer poetry, short stories, memoirs. I still struggle with finding a purpose to picking apart and analyzing some forms of literature, which I will hopefully make more sense of and talk about in my final paper. Right now all of my ideas are scattered about my thoughts and feelings about literature, analyzing it, finding themes, writing poetry etc...but once again, hopefully it will all come together and I can make more sense of it in my final paper.
The literary texts I will use in my paper are probably the ones that were the most interesting to me, or ones I never really thought I would enjoy. I liked Sonny's Blues and my blog for it because it was personal to me, and reminded me of my brother. I also want to somehow include The Interpreter of Maladies, because I wrote my first literacy narrative on it and got an A on that. I was surprised that I was able to get at least two decent creative blogs out of this blogging, because at the beginning of the semester I thought it was going to be impossible. I had fun writing the How To, and my most recent Haikus, so I will also try to incorporate those, and the process of writing them, into my narrative.

Plum

Haikus based on Helen Chasin's "The Word Plum"

"The Word Plum"

Pout, push and full in the mouth
Luxury of self-love and savoring murmor
Like fruit, a tongue of pleasure


"The Plum"

Piercing the fruit's taut skin
Bitten into juice and tart flesh
Full in the mouth with pleasure

10 poems

1. Celebración- Pablo Neruda
2. November Winds- Anonymous
3. Alzheimer's: The Wife- C.K. Williams
4. Wan Chu's Wife in Bed- Richard Jones
5. The Death of Santa Clause- Charles Webb
6. So Do You Have Any Advice For Those of Us Just Starting Out?- Ron Koertge
7. I am I am- Jim Morrison
8. La Migra- Pat Mora
9. The Rose- Donna Brock
10. Poetry- Marianne Moore

The Rose for Donna Brock is just a Haiku poem, but reminded me of a couple other rose poems we talked about in class. We always connected a rose with love and romance, but often came across a few poems that went against the traditional meaning of a rose. This poem does that as well. "The red blossom bends...and drips its dew to the ground...like a tear it falls." Tears to me often symbolize sadness, not so much love and romance.

Wan Chu's Wife in Bed is about a husband who often leaves his wife at home to sell trinkets in different China towns. While him and his wife lay in bed, he tells her how she is the only woman he will ever love and how his heart will always stay with her. The wife wishes to be able to lay awake all night in bed, but the end of the story has an ironic twist. The wife says that tomorrow night her husband will be miles away and she will be awake all night in bed with another man. To me, this poem does not have much meaning or poetic styles, but is more of a fun, easy to understand, free verse about love and infidelity.

Haikus (from class 3/19)

Eraser

Removing the mistakes from my paper
Back to staring at a blank page
A fresh start

Burning rubber to my page
Leaving traces of pink and lead
Words vanish

6 poems

1. The Vacuum- Howard Nemerov (603)
2. The Fury of Overshoes- Anne Sexton (606)
3. We Real Cool- Gwendolyn Brooks (655)
4. Sex Without Love- Sharon Olds (692)
5. Leaving the Motel- W.D. Snodgrass (621)
6. The Whipping- Robert Hayden (993)

I liked reading "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks. While flipping through the pages of my Norton, I was first interested because of the length, and I saw that it was written in 1950 so I knew I wouldn't have to read any Shakespeare or old English type language. I liked how the author has a very care-free, laid back attitude about life. When she talks about "we," it is probably about her and her friends, and how they are living for the moment. It was a short, easy to understand, chill poem. I was also surprised to find out it was written by a woman in the 1950's. It seems rebellious of a women to write.

The other poem I want to write about is "Sex Without Love" by Sharon Olds. I was intrigued by this poem because of the writer's point of view, and almost felt somewhat offended and defensive while reading it. While some might say that the author simply just doesn't understand how people can have sex without love, I took her words as somewhat insulting. When she said "Wet as the children at birth whose mothers are going to give them away," made me think that she's saying because someone's mother had sex without love, and ended up giving the child up for adoption, the child is going to "mess up" also and have sex without love. I also got pissed when she said "they are like great runners: they know they are alone." To me it doesn't seem like she is really trying to understand how people have sex without love, but belittle those who have.

marks

Dear Linda,
Is it weird that I'm envious of your desperate housewife lifestyle? Cooking, cleaning, being with your family. It doesn't sound like that hard of a job, so what are you complaining about? Your family relies on you and you keep the household running. What do you think is going to happen if you decide to "drop out" ? I can guess that your husband will be ordering pizza and Chinese food for him and your kids to eat, he's going to go to work wearing a wrinkled oxford shirt and slacks and your kids will be wearing mismatched dirty socks, all while you're in your bedroom pouting because you're irritated and sick of being judged. If you're really that upset, spend your time talking about the problem with your family. Not complaining about them in a poem.

Alzheimer's- Kelly Cherry

The title of the poem, Alzheimer's, gave a clear indication about what this poem would be about. When talking or writing about Alzheimer's, it is rarely positive, so I knew this poem would most likely be sad. The poem is about is about a man with Alzheimer's, who has just been released from the hospital and is coming back home to his house he remembers, but his family who he does not. I find this poem interesting because of the sudden, distincitve changes you notice when reading about this man's disease. Towards the middle of the poem, it says how this man remembers his house, the walkway he built, his garage and his car. He also rememberes himself in his younger days, when he loved music. Only a couple lines later, at the end of the poem, the man struggles to remember who "this old, white-haired woman Standing here in the doorway, Welcoming him in" is (636). The speaker of this poem is the author, and the daughter of this man with Alzheimer's. Her role is to narrate the poem, and tell the ups and downs she sees her father go through when living with this disease. While reading this poem, I was reminded of my Grandma, who although doesn't have Alzheimer's, she is slowly forgetting a lot of things. Anyone can relate to this poem because almost everyone goes through a point in their life when they deal with an elderly grandparent, who seems to forget everything, even if it is something as important like their spouse. Because the poem ended with the old man not being abe to remember his wife, it left you with a sadness for the man and his family, which is what the author intended. Like "The Wedding Ring," I liked this poem beacuse of the simple language, and with that simple language the story of this man was easier understood.