"Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything's being done." -"The Lottery"
I try hard each unit to write something more than a hate blog because I feel the author had more in mind than to annoy me with his/her thoughts. I guess I owe it to the story and to him/her to come up with a plausible interpretation that falls within the "cone of meaning." This story sort of tested that conviction, but I do think there are some valid points to be made from the details. The given theme of this particular story was point of view. The point of view differs between age groups in this story, and from these differing ages and corresponding attitudes towards the lottery comes the motivation of the characters. The older people in the story, like Old Man Warner, are stuck in tradition. They don't want to change or, heaven forbid, get rid of the lottery because they feel like it tempers people to the fact that life is full of death. No matter how advanced society gets, they must know that life can't always be rainbows and kittens. This attitude is heavily contrasted with the younger society, who feel like the process may be counterintuitive. They show the lottery can encourage savagery and indifference to violence. Undoubdetly, life today reminds man more constantly of the inevitability of death, even if death and suffering are less prevalent. Just like the rituals dying out and becoing less important, the lottery is losing its meaning and intended purpose.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
The Drunkard
"'Twill be all over the road,' whimpered Father. 'Never again, never again, not if I live to a thousand!'" -"The Drunkard"
It's amazing how a lack of weird, cynical characters really adds to the intended effect of humor in a work. Mick and Harry are definitely much more respectable and relatable people than Zoe in "You're Ugly, Too." While I found the young, drunk Harry plot element funny, I think that irony does much more for Mick Delaney than for his son. When I stepped back and looked at the story as a whole, it became clear that Mick is surrounded by the fruits of hard work and strong morals. He gets the advantage of seeing life from his own perspective, which towards the end is mostly hindsight. I think Harry's getting drunk showed Mick the foolishness and overall stupidity of his own habits. Here he is at the beginning, friends with an extremely bright man with insight on every piece of information ever come across. The story then goes on to explain how Mick himself was very frugal and intelligent in building his own wealth. Mick is contrasted with Peter Crowley, a quasi-crook and conoisseur of drinks himself. Then Harry gets drunk. I think the above quote illustrates Mick's epiphany on the way home that he is surrounded by examples of successful people and he himself, at heart, is a strong individual. He realizes he can't let alcohol lord over him like it does, and he certainly doesn't want his son to end up like himself. The humor in the story actually serves as a cause of motivation for Mick Delaney.
It's amazing how a lack of weird, cynical characters really adds to the intended effect of humor in a work. Mick and Harry are definitely much more respectable and relatable people than Zoe in "You're Ugly, Too." While I found the young, drunk Harry plot element funny, I think that irony does much more for Mick Delaney than for his son. When I stepped back and looked at the story as a whole, it became clear that Mick is surrounded by the fruits of hard work and strong morals. He gets the advantage of seeing life from his own perspective, which towards the end is mostly hindsight. I think Harry's getting drunk showed Mick the foolishness and overall stupidity of his own habits. Here he is at the beginning, friends with an extremely bright man with insight on every piece of information ever come across. The story then goes on to explain how Mick himself was very frugal and intelligent in building his own wealth. Mick is contrasted with Peter Crowley, a quasi-crook and conoisseur of drinks himself. Then Harry gets drunk. I think the above quote illustrates Mick's epiphany on the way home that he is surrounded by examples of successful people and he himself, at heart, is a strong individual. He realizes he can't let alcohol lord over him like it does, and he certainly doesn't want his son to end up like himself. The humor in the story actually serves as a cause of motivation for Mick Delaney.
"Popular Mechanics": Now is that more than one mechanic?
"Don't, she said. You're hurting the baby, she said." -Popular Mechanics
Might I start out by saying that if I were to become a famous author, I don't think the photo on the back of my book could be any more intimidating than Raymond Carver's. He's staring into my soul...No, he's staring through my mind, manipulating my every thought, transporting it through my body, and planting it in the depths of my soul. I gave myself chills. Okay, enough of Ray.
Might I start out by saying that if I were to become a famous author, I don't think the photo on the back of my book could be any more intimidating than Raymond Carver's. He's staring into my soul...No, he's staring through my mind, manipulating my every thought, transporting it through my body, and planting it in the depths of my soul. I gave myself chills. Okay, enough of Ray. Most of this post is going to be geared (it's punny, because it's Popular "Mechanics") towards style and how Carver gets the most out of such a short story. The story uses very little punctuation when it comes to quotes and emotional statements. That is what is unique about the language of the story. The statements are short and forceful, and sort of leave the true emotion up to the reader. The husband and wife are undoubtedly mad at one another, and the third-person author makes use of their limited dialogue to add some details that enhance the imagery of the dispute so the reader can make a better interpretation of true emotion. However, what was most important to me while I was reading was the baby. If you've seen one domestic dispute on Cops, you've seen them all, but I found it tragic that the baby should be hurt because of the dispute. It made me realized how important the child was to the coherence of the story. Surely if the baby wasn't a part of the equation, the mother and father would be long gone from one another. As far as symbolism goes, the child is what holds the family together. At the end when "the issue was decided," and the baby's arm breaks or does something of the equivalent, what ties were left in the family had been severed. I chose the above quote because I felt like the mother's words were symbolically saying that the father was hurting the relationship, and she seemed truly sorrowful about that.
How do I humor thee? Let me count the ironies...
"'Maybe I sound whiny to you,' said the girl, 'but I simply want my history major to mean something.'
'Well, there's your problem,' said Zoe, and with a smile, she showed the student to the door. 'I like your bow,' she added." -"You're Ugly, Too"
What amazed me about this story was the endless number of situations, behaviors, and one-liners of irony and sarcasm that spewed from Zoe. That's right, spewed. I could see someone being sort of fed-up with the imperfections in society, but Zoe displays a constant cynicism that really serves to highlight her eccentricities. Let's see, she puts everything in Baggies (apparently thats a brand now-I guess it's reached monopoly status like Kleenex), is afraid her rug says Bruce Springsteen, and curtly asks men she has just met if they are gay. I thought about taking Zoe for what she is worth, giving her credit for her individuality, so on and so forth...but when one of the review questions asked me if I felt sympathetic towards her because of her eccentricities, I realized my sympathy was slim. When Zoe uses sarcasm and comments that are meant to be funny, she is elevating herself above the people who she interacts with on purpose. I have to agree with her that the intentions of man and the happenings of life don't usually turn out positively, but her reaction to this is to simply become aloof. She doesn't try to tolerate or change any negative aspect of society. She mocks it. Many times that's how humor works; it's easier to point out the faults in a funny way than to change the response to them. I appreciate that the story was lighter, but Moore points out a theme that pressure can overtake even those who act above its grasp.
'Well, there's your problem,' said Zoe, and with a smile, she showed the student to the door. 'I like your bow,' she added." -"You're Ugly, Too"
What amazed me about this story was the endless number of situations, behaviors, and one-liners of irony and sarcasm that spewed from Zoe. That's right, spewed. I could see someone being sort of fed-up with the imperfections in society, but Zoe displays a constant cynicism that really serves to highlight her eccentricities. Let's see, she puts everything in Baggies (apparently thats a brand now-I guess it's reached monopoly status like Kleenex), is afraid her rug says Bruce Springsteen, and curtly asks men she has just met if they are gay. I thought about taking Zoe for what she is worth, giving her credit for her individuality, so on and so forth...but when one of the review questions asked me if I felt sympathetic towards her because of her eccentricities, I realized my sympathy was slim. When Zoe uses sarcasm and comments that are meant to be funny, she is elevating herself above the people who she interacts with on purpose. I have to agree with her that the intentions of man and the happenings of life don't usually turn out positively, but her reaction to this is to simply become aloof. She doesn't try to tolerate or change any negative aspect of society. She mocks it. Many times that's how humor works; it's easier to point out the faults in a funny way than to change the response to them. I appreciate that the story was lighter, but Moore points out a theme that pressure can overtake even those who act above its grasp.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)