Bang My Car ELP response

What contextual (social/cultural/political etc) considerations* does the section you have examined engage with and how?

In ‘Fair is Fair’, the first person narrator gives insight into the generational conflict between the young and pioneer generation through their different attitude towards the general election. In specific, the narrator conveys his sense of discomfort with the fact that a lot of young people most of whom are not being serious when choosing who to vote for.

PAP’s supporters aspire to make Singapore flourish through westernizing it. The narrator is from a generation that went through the colonial period as well as decolonisation of Singapore. Reference to the violin and Lee Mei’s wealth implies the western influence on Singapore’s education.

In a 2011 General election, PAP has taken 81 out of 87 seats in Parliament, but the Workers’ Party has picked up the balance of six seats, their best showing ever. This was a sign at that time that the power of PAP was weakening In this story, narrator’s daughter in law believes that the narrator voted against PAP which is in fact not true. From the narrator saying “See even Ah boy and Ah girls are not studying and no one is scolding them because what’s happening on TV now is more important than exam,” we can see that who or which party wins has significant impact on Singapore’s future. Lee Mei is an ardent supporter of George Yeo from PAP(People Action Party) because of “work he does behind the sciences so that Singapore can punch above its weight.” To some extent, Lee Mei is represented as wiser and more rational person from the language she speaks.

Lee Mei categorises the narrator as “uneducated and blame him for the election results.

However, there is a shift where the narrator starts educating us. Here, Ann ang represents the pioneer generations as being informed and wise. The importance of making informed decisions regarding who to vote for.

 

The Wild Geese ELP post

From your examination of the novel’s narrative point of view and historical context, and from your application of New Historical Theory as a critical lens, what do you think is Ogai Mori’s perspective of Japan and its relationship with the West at this time, and what aspects of the story have given you these ideas?

The Meiji Restoration: The End of the Shogunate and the Building of a Modern Japanese State | Nippon.com

The Wild Geese is set in 1880s during emperor Meiji’s reign. During Meiji period, Japan was going through drastic social reforms aimed to gain independence from the influence of the western countries.Before the Meiji period, Japan had been isolated from other countries; travel to foreign countries was banned and trade with foreign countries was strictly controlled by shogun lemitsu. However, this Tokugawa period ended in the Meiji restoration. During the Meiji period, Japan was forced to sign unequal treaties with western countries, and western nations gained one-sided legal and economic benefits from this treaty. In order to gain independence from the Europians and Americans , Japan carried out a drastic  reform, constructing a new railway and roads which is described in The Wild Geese a few times.

I think applying the new historical lenses enables us to focus on how the historical context of Japan has been interpreted and embedded  in The Wild Geese. In the first glimpse, The Wild Geese can be seen as a story  centered around the changes that occur to Otama’s life and environment around her as she becomes a mistress of a money lender. However, we consider the historical background of a Meiji period and the way Mori shapes the character’s view on the objects or animals that symbolizes the western cultures or influences, it becomes clear to us that The Wild Geese is not simply a story of a mistress Otama. The unequal power play between Otama and Suezo implies the relationship Japan had with western countries at that time and Otama’s thought that the power play between him and her is unequal symbolises the revival of conservative and nationalistic feelings that aroused among Japanese at that time.

what do you think is Ogai Mori’s perspective of Japan and its relationship with the West at this time, and what aspects of the story have given you these ideas?

In this novel, Japan in Meiji period is described in detail; the Muenzaka street, construction of a railway taking place, and so on. I think that in The Wild Geese, there are both instances when characters admires the western culture and instances when characters are reluctant to accept the western influence on their own culture and values. I think how Otama initially serves her duty as a mistress but changes upon realising Suezo’s profession resembles how Japan at that time had admired western culture and as a result tried to develop Japan in a way similar to how western countries did but had some sense of resignation at the same time. However, her transformation from an

As we discussed in class, The Wild Geese employs a first person narrator whose identity is veiled in secrets. He narrates the story in a retrospective manner, adding third person omnicient descriptions. Even though the narrator does not seem to be emotionally detached from the characters, since his relationship with the characters is not of great importance in this novel, we are drawn more into the power play between the characters rather than on the narrator himself.

, allowing the readers to diverge from focusing on the focus on the frame of the ideas that are constructed and conveyed through stories of Okada and

 

 

Narrative techniques

  • How has your understanding of narrative technique, point of view and perspective developed / deepened so far?
  • Refer to last year’s texts and the passages we’ve looked at (about the student and teacher, the 6 prose snippets, the story Dressing for the Carnival) to underpin and illustrate your thinking

A words perspective is so widely used in other subject areas and in media that we often do not clearly understand the difference between point of view and perspective. point of view is a type and the voice of narrator telling the story and that perspective refers to how the narrator perceives events in the story! I remember we often talked about the effect of Bechdel telling  her own story as a first person narrator and explicitly acknowledging the questionability of her reliability as a narrator especially when describing the relationship between Bruce and her and the way she viewed her family as a child. Also, I think Duffy’s poems are so powerful because she adapted the first person voice to tell the stories of the marginalised in our society to address the social issues.

-Learning about free indirect discourse was interesting as I thought it had both the merits of having the first person and third person point of view. It enables the narrator to embed another voice other than the character’s in one reporting of thoughts and hence shape the way we perceive the character. If the story was narrated in first person point of view, we would easily doubt the reliability of the narrative and therefore it would be less effective in shaping our thoughts/impression of the character in a certain way.

Creating my own poem

If I were Szymborska, I would want to point out how people tend to induce unnecessary anxiety within our society and be excessively sensitive yet they often forget what is the best thing we can do to stop the further spread of the virus:staying home. Efforts of the doctors and nurses who put so much effort into curing the patients easily become pointless if the rest of the population make choices to go out only considering their private benefit. Hence, the title of the poem would be “Feet” and I would compare and contrast the feet of people that are used to help them wander around with the feet of the doctors and nurses who sacrifice themselves and don’t stop working for the patients despite the high possibility of infection due to their contact with the patients. I would mock one person’s thinking process that leads one to decide to go out and yet is unhappy about the number of cases  increasing. In the last stanza, I would suggest that what this period affects people really depends on the way they approach it.  Some people can view this as a great opportunity for them to catch up on reading books, sleep, and work. What I really want to convey is the fact that positivity doesn’t exist in the world itself but is something that we as a society have to create.  

 

Fun Home’s reference to The Importance of being earnest

In Fun Home, Bechdel’s reference to literary works is not just a coincidence but it shows her tendency to use fictions as a framework to understand her life and her fear of discovering her true feelings and emotions. This is same for her father Bruce who hides himself from other people and suffers from the fact that his sexual orientation is considered to be a shame in the society and that he has to hide his sexual orientation to conform to standards set by people. Oscar Wilde’s life is similar to Bruce’s life in a way and Allison uses Oscar Wilde’s life to understand her father’s life. Oscar Wilde was successful in his career as a writer but in real life his homosexuality ended up imprisoning him. Similarly, Bruce’s sexual orientation could not be accepted by other people. He is accused of sodomy with the brothers Mark and Dave Walsh and his continuous self-repression resulted in suicide. In 1895, Wilde was accused of sodomy by  his friend Alfred Douglas’ father after two of them returned from a trip to Algiers.

Bechdel’s mother Helen uses fiction to escape from and cope with her reality. Her tendency of being perfectionist is shown by how she prepares for the production; she memorises not only her lines but also everyone else’s lines. However, since she completely focuses on her roles, she sometimes acts neglectfully towards her family. However, she seems to focus on  the play  because she is only able to cope with the reality that her husband cheated on her with underage boy if she has something to devote to. Even though she always seems to be nervous before the production in real life, she becomes powerful once she starts performing as a fictional character Lady Bracknell in the play “The importance of being earnest”. Also, Bechdel pointing out the fact that Lady Bracknell’s first name Augusta was Helen’s middle name shows her tendency to make connections between fiction and the reality.

 

From Maxine’s portfolio-

Perhaps she throws herself into her work in order to get away from a disappointing reality, and playing the role of the rather authoritative Lady Bracknell allows her to gain a sense of control — grounding her amidst a dysfunctional family life.

this lack of seriousness mocks the values of Victorian society by making them seem silly, when in actuality this was the moral standard.

 

 

 

Intertextuality in Fun Home

Her life is full of unanswered questions. She spends her childhood with family members who try to hide realities that she eventually discovers when she grows up. Even though she senses something unusual about her sexuality, she doesn’t know she is lesbian until she reads a book about it. All these make her feel lost. Bechdel tries to understand and cope with her reality by examining how the world and people around her are similar but also different from the world and characters in fiction. Comparing her life to the fictional world doesn’t give her definite answers either but at least that helps her to accept the fact that she cannot know the absolute truth of everything in life, while giving her the comfort that she can still understand some things. Also, she repeatedly mentions that she is referencing fictional characters when describing her father, herself, and even the environment around her. I think she wants to emphasize to the readers that almost nothing seems to be a real in her life and that looking at her life in relation to literature allows her to form her own understanding.

 

The following extract aptly put across the idea that the characters’ differing attitudes towards life can be seen from their varied interactions with literature. “These differences in the characters’ relationships to fiction don’t end with their interactions with books and plays. Rather, those differences are suggestive about the three characters’ different relationships to reality, to the ways that they understand, escape, or try to shift or hide the real world around them.” This made me think more about how the attitudes of the characters towards reality are also different. Bechdel takes reference from literature to understand herself and the people around her, hence creating a clear distinction between the real and the fictional. Meanwhile, her father Bruce tries to blur the distinction between reality and fiction. As he is not satisfied with his own self, he chooses to make everything about him look good and fancy, as if he is an actor in a drama taking on a role. 

 

“An engagement with fiction is what ultimately brings she and Bruce closer together than at any other point in their relationship.” This extract has deepened my thinking. I did notice that lives of both Allison and her father are deeply engaged with literature, but did not  realise that both their individual efforts in using literature to better understand reality better helped bring them together to such an extent that they are able to talk frankly about their homosexuality. 

Structural and stylistic parallels between Cosi and Cosi Fan Tutte

How does Nowra create structural and stylistic parallels between the actual play and the opera/play within it- and to what effect?

According to Mozart’s opera Cosi Fan Tutte, fidelity in love is depicted to be an ideal that can never be achieved, because “women are like that”. Mozart encourages the belief that women are innately disloyal and men should accept that and deal with women wisely. Nowra illustrates the same idea about women’s infidelity through Lewis and Lucy’s relationship. While Lucy is dating Lewis, she is also engaged in a sexual relationship with Lewis’ best friend, Nick. To most audiences, this is a blatant act of betrayal. However, when Lewis discovers her cheating, she appears unremorseful and instead defends herself by emphasising that she is not under any marital law. Her response, ‘it is not as if we are married’ reveals how she thinks she has the right to be unfaithful. This affair is a significant part of Nowra’s play and indeed proves that Cosi Fan Tutte was correct in stating that women are disloyal and that men are the helpless victims. 

However, it is important for readers to catch how Nowra manipulates the way he tells the story. On the surface, it seems that women’s infidelity is to be blamed for damaging relationships. On a closer look, both the men in Cosi and Cosi Fan Tutte are not honest and faithful characters either. Even though the men in Cosi Fan Tutte are not involved an affair, they disguise themselves as Albanian men to test their girlfriends and even pretend to have departed for war. As a parallel, Lewis is also unfaithful to his girlfriend Lucy as he kisses Julie during rehearsals. This shows that all human beings, not only women have the intrinsic potential to be unfaithful. On the other hand, Julie chooses to remain faithful to her girlfriend despite her favour towards Lewis. Thus, we see that Nowra’s deliberate exaggeration of women’s infidelity is an attempt to portray the growing distrust and hatred towards women in the Australian society. 

Also, the reinstating of vows at ending of the play that Louis directs parallels the change in his views about the importance of fidelity in love. This change is brought about by his journey in the mental institution. He used to agree with Nick and his girlfriend Lucy who believe in free love and think that love is not so important in times of war. However, after being deceived by Lucy and interacting with people in the institution, he comes to realise that commitment and fidelity is important in love.

Visual Elements of ‘Cosi’

In the play Cosi, Nowra’s use of visual element enhances the audience’s understanding of each character’s motivation and the dynamics of their relationships, more so than text alone. Nowra’s effective use of visual elements also enables the audience to have a deeper and more impactful experience of the social concerns discussed in the play.

 

Although a critical analysis of the play is typically done on dialogues between characters, yet it is possible for a visual display of a character’s attitude to trump speech. Henry’s reaction to Roy’s announcement of Cosi fan tutte being Italian is a silent gesture that speaks volumes. He simply gets up to leave without giving any speech or complaint. Henry does not even give Roy any chance to make excuses or call him back. His physical exit represents his metaphorical rejection of the opera, Cosi. It is particularly powerful and effective as Henry is often silent and submissive. His silence is usually regarded as indirect consent yet, this time his silent exit is a forceful display of his rebellion and assertion of character. The impact of his action is further shown in Doug’s line “I’m with Henry”. 

 

An ironic contrast between dialogue and non-verbal elements such as tone and body language gives more information on the connotative meaning of what the character is really saying. Even when there is no large actions present in the scene, the tone and mood of the speaker convey a particular attitudes which reveals the speaker’s real intention. When Lewis has a conversation with Julie about his relationship with his girlfriend Lucy, Lewis says that he does not doubt his trust in Lucy but as a reader, it is possible to guess from the word “uncertainly” in the stage direction that Lewis is in fact questioning Lucy’s honesty and commitment. 

 

Nowra’s choice in the details of the set design illustrate the society’s attitude towards the mentally ill. The physical setting of the play shows a burnt theatre with a dismal hole in the roof and some problems with the wiring. These physical defects of the theatre represent the society’s attitude towards the mentally ill; that they are neglected and marginalised. The physical setting of the play also represents a different world that Lewis has to enter: the world that will test and change Lewis. In the opening scene, the theatre is “pitch black inside” while it is still daytime outside. A striking visual contrast between the brightness and the darkness suggests the disconnection of the asylum from the outside world as well as the stark difference between the asylum and the rest of the world. Disconnection of the asylum from the world implies that it is possible to have mentally ill people living among us, unseen. It makes the audience question whether they, too, are like those people in the play who are blind to the vulnerable groups in society. 

Extract from other people’s response

In chapter 3, after doing a lot of research on lesbians, Allison makes up her mind to reveal her gender identity to her parents via a letter. In the first panel of page 77, she likens how impersonal the letter is to her family but in a light-hearted manner. This tone shows how bechdel can look back and recollect her story with a sense of humour, but sarcastic tone suggests isolation of her family members and distance between them which would have made allison choose to write letters instead of talking to her parents about her gender identity. Also, she mostly uses illustration to tell the story. Even when her father doesn’t take her gender identity seriously, there is no text that describes her frustration in detail. Instead, illustration of her being shocked tells the reader how she feels. She is devastated as well when her mom tries to deny the fact that her daughter is lesbian, but she doesn’t explicitely say that. Her mother has stereotype on lesbians and it makes Bechdel feel unwanted and disappointed to her mom.

Below are some extracts from other people

“Just when Alison feels as though she is finally becoming her own person and establishing her unique identity by deviating from the social norms at the time and coming out as lesbian, she is once again seen as being resemblant of her father. It is almost as if she has had a piece of her identity stolen from her.”

“He simply reads and follows whereas Alison chooses to explore her identity, and write up her own identity through the inspiration she gains from reading about similar situations; she does not wish to conform. Hence, Bechdel reveals that though they may be similar in their interest in literature, they both seek to gain completely different things from it.”

-Gianina

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What makes the artistic/literary representation of people (or places and cultures) – and their various social identities – so complex?

Why is it so complex to represent certain groups or cultures in literature? First of all, representation of people or cultures in a single story only shows cross section of their culture/identity. Groups have many sides that might not be easily identified by other people. Or maybe people are trying to see only what they want to see. Especially, language barrier and cultural differences between the majority of people and minority groups cause misunderstanding and that leads to exaggerated or distorted representation of minority groups sometimes. Also, the fact that some people belong to certain groups doesn’t necessarily mean that they all have the same background or perspective. However, representation of those people highly depends on the author. However, stereotypes on certain groups can be easily found in tv shows, films, etc. To be honest, it is hard to answer the question “Can texts ever be truly representative of people?” because it’s hard to define what is true and what’s not in literature. Literature is not simply a list of facts but facts, groups, or issues interpreted by an author. Author’s background such as race, gender, nationality, and upbringing creates certain relationship between the author and the material he/she is going to deal with in his/her writing. An asian male author who cannot fully appreciate Black American female’s values and cultural background could be writing a scenario about them and the way an author portrays Black American could be controversial, but that is just how an author from totally different background views Black American women from his point of view. Also, it is readers who interpret literary work in different ways. There are different social norms in different times. When readers these days read books from 19th century, they first need to understand social and historical context in order to get what an author might have tried to say at that time. Even in the same era, people have different opinion on what author’s main point is.

Quotes from Maxine’s comment that I found insightful

  • “Everyone has a different perspective of what the “correct” representation is.”
  • “Individuals can identify themselves as belonging to a group, but that does not mean each person in the group is the same in every way”