Sunday, November 29, 2009

Other Women in the Kitchen

Paule Marshall’s “Poets in the Kitchen” tells how Marshall’s experiences listening to her mother and other women of her life as they talked around the kitchen and table have shaped her life trajectory and inspired her to write. This entire situation stemmed from a man who presented the idea of women’s childhood experiences of being with their mom in the kitchen as a way of women being oppressed in their childhood creativity experiences. However, Marshall takes this idea of “suppression of creativity” and lists that as inspiration to her own writing. I think it’s interesting to compare Marshall’s theory of being pigeon-holed to a stereotype to modern women writers and creators who have used the stereotypical ideas of womanhood as a means for creative expression.

One example comes from other writers from the semester such as Edwidge Danticat and Zora Neale Hurston who draw from life experiences and create characters who use these type-casted roles of women and use them to break through barriers. For example, in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God the character of Janie is put into various “roles” as a woman. She is oppressed by her husband and forced to work a job that she doesn’t necessarily enjoy. However, much like Marshall she uses these moments as motivation and manages to find love with Tea Cake and not allow these roles to oppress her. In Hurston’s actual life, her father was the mayor of a small, all black community and sort of her on the back-burner, much in the same way Janie’s husband did in the novel. Also, Edwidge Danticat draws on real life experiences of being type casted in “womanly” roles and uses them for her novel Breath, Eyes, Memory. In actuality Danticat’s parents moved out of Haiti when she was very young and put her in the role of helping to raise her brother along with her aunt. In Breat , Eyes, Memory the main character, Sophie, faces similar struggles after ties with her own family are severely injured and she is forced to raise a child. It is easy to see Marshall’s idea of letting these stereotypes control the creative process amongst women writers.

“They taught me my first lessons in the narrative art.” Marshall writes, “They trained my ear. They set a standard of excellence.”And the idea of taking distinctly feminine moments in life and using them to create art is not necessarily for writers, women in other mediums have adopted this style as well. For example, lesbian director Kimberly Pierce, drew on experiences of being oppressed and accused of being “stuck in the kitchen” to create the film “Boys Don’t Cry,” which tells the story of a young lesbian woman who is pretending to be a young man and finds love. Pierce’s distinctly feminine experiences as a lesbian allowed her to create one of the greatest films of the 1990’s.

Paule Marshall’s “Poets in the Kitchen” is a manifesto for women across the country to take distinct moments in life that would traditionally hold them back and use them to creative art. It’s easy to see this concept in the things we’ve read this semester alone: Danticat and Hurston use these ideas in their own novels. It’s even evident in other forms of art, such as film where Kimberly Pierce was able to use this idea to create a motion picture. Marshall’s idea was as relevant fifty years ago as it is currently.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Death and White Noise


Throughout Don DeLillo’s White Noise, there are many characters who find themselves in an unnatural relationship with death. Most simply worry about death and the effect it will have on their lives and the world around them. The two characters who death effects the most are Babbette and Jack, who throughout the novel try and find different ways to cope with the thought of dying and their obsession can be seen on other members of their family.
The character whose death obsession is most evident is Jack. Because Jack is the narrator of the novel we get much more insight from him and are able to see the effects it is having on him. Author and scholar Cornel Bonca, describes DeLillo’s White Noise and the character of Jack specifically by saying that it is “Contemporary man’s deepest expression of his death fear, a strange and genuinely awe-inspiring response to the fear of mortality in the postmodern world” (Bonca, 27). We can see this not only through Jack but through his wife Babette as well. Early in the novel only Jack’s obsession is the most evident as he reveals little fears early in the novel. For example, early in the story when Jack is asked a question about the Valkyrie plot to murder Hitler Jack responds “’All plots tend to move deathward. That is the nature of plots.’” Jack’s bemusing seem to startle him as he later asks himself “Is this true? Why did I say it? What does it mean?” It is clear early in the story that Jack has an unnatural attraction towards thinking about death.
As the novel continues, Jack’s obsession with death begins to grow more public. For example, in chapter fifteen he begins to share his thoughts of death with his colleagues as it relates to the deaths of Elvis Presley and Adolf Hitler. With this his obsession becomes more open, eventually leaing ot an open discussion about it with his wife. After the death of the Treadwells Jack and Babette’s feelings of death become more open, for example Jack says “Who will die first? She says she wants to die first because she would feel unbearably lonely and sad without me, especially if the children were grown and living elsewhere” (DeLillo, 100). This becomes obvious that both Jack and Babette have become fixated on death.
The couples continuous thoughts of death can be seen in their family dynamic. One author, Leonard Wilcox, says that the two are attempting to “preserve earlier notions of an authentic ad coherent identity by observing the tribalistic rituals of family life” (Wilcox, 348). What makes the dynamic interesting is how the parent’s fears of death play into these “tribalistic rituals.” Babette’s obsessions cause Denise to worry for her mother telling her what to eat and why she shouldn’t chew bubble gum. Jack’s oddities lead his son Heinrich to become cynical towards him and the whole family. And the both of their fears of death lead them to hoping for the preservation of their youngest son, who they openly hope will stay the age he is forever.
The pair’s fear of death culminates when Jack finds out about the Dylar and shifts his obsession with death to an obsession with obtaining the medicine. “I was ready to kill him now,” Jack says this in the closing chapters of the book, speaking of Mr. Gray (DeLillo, 304). This simple sentence shows how Jack’s fear of death has morphed so much that he is willing to confront it head on in order to avoid it.
Don DeLillo’s White Noise speak volumes on commercialism, the twentieth century and death. The fear of death is held by many characters in the novel and morphs to create the tension of the story as well as a strong social commentary.





Bonca, Cornell, Don DeLillo's White Noise: The Natural Language of the Species College Literature, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Jun., 1996). Published by: College Literature

DeLilli, Don. White Noise. Viking Penguin Inc. 1985. Copyright Mark Osteen. New York. NY.

Leonard, Wilcox. Baudrillard, DeLillo's "White Noise," and the End of Heroic Narrative Contemporary Literature, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Autumn, 1991). Published by: University of Wisconsin Press

Friday, November 13, 2009

Similarities Between Sophie and Janie

I think it is very interesting how Edwidge Danticat’s Breath, Eyes, Memory holds several similarities to Zora Neale’s Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. The greatest similarirty between the two novels is the main characters of both: Janie and Sophie. Each character finds struggles throughout their respective stories and is forced to look deep inside themselves to find love as well as overcome their past and the problems that have presented themselves.
One of the most compelling similarities between Sophie and Janie is their ideas that they are destined to be happy and work through a lot of hardships to be with those they love. For example, Sophie says in Breath, Eyes, Memory “I was bound to be happy in a a place called Providence. A place that destiny was calling me to. Fate! A town named after the creator, the Almighty. Who would not want to live there?” This quote shows that Sophie is leaving all the abuse she received from the hands of her mother and is heading out with Joseph to be happy for the rest of her life. Similarly, in Their Eyes Were Watching God after Janie’s abusive husband dies she makes a statement to herself to be happy, it is written “Before she slept that night she burnt up every one of her head rags and went about the house the next morning with her hair in one thick braid swinging well below her waist” (page 89). These two are similar because it shows how each character has resolved to move past those who abused them and are going to try to make a good life for themselves.
Also, the two are similar because both of to deal with horrible deaths to those they are close to. In Breath Eyes Memory, Sophie is forced to deal with the death of her own mother. Edwidge Danticat writes “I lay in my mother’s bed all night fighting evil thoughts: It is your fault that she killed herself in the first place. Your face took her back again. You should have stayed with her” (page 227). Here, Sophie is very much accusing herself for her mother’s death and even though the two didn’t always get along or see eye to eye she is still very much shaken over her mother’s “suicide.” Likewise, In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie finds herself in a similar situation, “She had wanted him to live so much and he was dead.” Hurston writes this after Janie is forced to kill a rabid tea Cake. “No hour is ever eternity but it has its right to weep.” Much like Sophie, Janie feels extreme sorrow for the death of Tea Cake and feels that it is her responsibility.
The novels Breath, Eyes, Memory and Their Eyes Were Watching God have several similarities, the biggest of which are the protagonists: Sophie and Janie. These two are so similar for a number of reasons. First off, both are forced to overcome a life controlled by another. Sophie’s life is controlled by the sexual abuse at the hands of her mother and Janie’s life is controlled by her husband Jodie. In the end both find a way to overcome these people, albeit Janie liberates herself more than Sophie does. In addition, both Sophie and Janie are forced to deal with the death of someone close to them and deal with the feeling that it was their fault.