Response #4: East of Eden Review

Great great book. I really liked this one. Probably more than the other books we've read, I give this one an 8 out of 10. Even though it was long, I was always intrigued and interested. As with all good books, it put me in the world with the characters and felt attached to them like I knew them my whole life. This only meant lots of anger and frustration towards undesirable characters such as Adam and Aron. The only thing that I wasn't satisfied with was the ending. It wasn't as dramatic/explanatory as I thought it would be, however, it fit the theme "timshel" really well.

Steinback's writing style was simple and to the point. It was't romanticized at all though I felt like sometimes he made things too simple. There were climaxes in the book where I wish he could've employed some romanticism to bring more feelings into the novel. All in all, I would rather take his simple style of writing over pages and pages of fluff anyday. He was very successful at getting the point across without making it a drag on the reader. That's a big plus in my rating.

What I will walk away with as a result of reading this book is the obvious, timshel. However, I also value another vague message I got out of this book. That would be that good to an point of ignorance and disdain for others is not always good and even evil has its good sides. For example, Adam and Aron were portrayed almost as saints. They were good to a fault, to the point of STUPIDITY. Aron, as "clean" and "good" as he thought he was, isn't really all that great. If he wasn't so inconsiderate and ignorant, he would've understood Cal more and loved him. He did to same to Adam and competely ignored his father's feelings by deciding to go the the military. He also looked upon people with disapproval and disdain at his university. If he wasn't so caught up in his "goodness" he wouldn't have broken Abra's heart and make up a false facade of her. Cal, the supposed evil one on the other hand was sensitive, loving, forgiving and giving more than probably any other character in the book (with the exception of the Hamiltons). Cal had heart, Adam and Aron, in my opinion, did not. Even Kate, the epitome of evilness ended up leaving all her inheritance to Aron and played fair with her whores and the police. I feel that this message is very important because life's not just black or white. Life is multi-dimensional and requires understanding from different views. That, in my opinion, goes hand in hand with tolerance and acceptance, which most people can't do. However, Steinback shows his understanding of that through his characters and I admire this quality.
- posted by Maria Gao @ 3:55 PM

 
Response #3: Modernism

Modernism was a direct result of WWI. The war hit especially hard in America because people viewed America as an Eden before the war came. An American dream built on optimism, individual worth and isolationism from European affairs made its people vulnerable to the reality at the eve of war. As a result, the post-war era was a period of re-evaluation for many. From influential individuals to average joes, traditional values and ideals were questioned and rejected.

Marxism was a movement originated in Russia that significantly impacted American socialists. The coming of Marxism characterized modernism because it was the first time a popular movement dramatically shifted from the ideals of New England, where all the past idealogical revolutions took place. The brutal aspects of war also urged many to explore the nature of psychology. Freud's psychoanalysis theories furthered curiosities concerning the unconscious human mind, triggering a new literary movement employing the use of stream of conscious.

Culturally, music and literature took on a new tone as well. The Jazz Age was ushered in as well as a new type of hero in literary works. Romanticism faded as realistic 'everyday' heroes emerged. Hemingway defined hero as someone who exhibits "grace under pressure". This hero wielded no sword, killed no Indians and didn't save any damsel in distress. Hemingway's hero believed in decency, bravery and skillfulness. Again, this reflected the modernist outlook on life. Anyone who could survive the cold world of reality is a hero.
- posted by Maria Gao @ 7:59 PM

 
Response #2: A Pair of Silk Stockings

Most women in society today are capable of being independent and self-reliant. Single women and married women alike enjoy a great deal of freedom unlike the women back in 1890s. Kate Chopin's A Pair of Silk Stockings describes the experience of a young mother as she escapes from her routine life and indulges herself with a couple of luxuries that we often take for granted today.

With twelve dollars, Mrs. Sommers was able to buy a day of happiness and freedom. It might've been the material things which tickled her fancy, but looking at the whole picture, Mrs. Sommers probably enjoyed the time she spent away from kids, conserving and cleaning more than the things she bought. The story set the impression that women of her time probably didn't have such rare chances to think about themselves. Women who were married, despite how they lived, had to change their lifestyles to invest 100% of their time and thought to the well-being of the family. Mrs. Sommers was such a woman, she was offered a chance to shed her drabby mother-ness and climb into the silky stockings of the fashionable leisurely girl, and she took it.

To some extend, this still holds true today. However, women today are left with MANY more options. In fact, some mothers today don't even need to work to indulge themselves in personal desires. Leisure is not something available only to the wealthy. Spending twelve dollars on some socks and a couple of GQ magazines is not considered a blasphemy or a sin. Victoria Secrets, Tiffany's, Bath and Body Works and other girly stores are places MEANT for women to pull a "mrs-sommers". This change in societal view demonstrates how hard life was for women in the 1890s, when a girl can get ecstatic over a cafe lunch, a couple of magazines and a pair of silk stockings, you KNOW some thing's wrong. Who could blaim her?
- posted by Maria Gao @ 10:04 PM

 
Response #1: Naturalism

Naturalists portray life with detachment and objectivity, they also observe human psychology/behavior and dissect it in scientific ways. For these reasons, To Build a Fire was a naturalist text. The story begins with no introduction of the main character's background, not even his name. The author merely describes him as he would describe a tree in nature or a rat running through a maze. Reasons why the man was there in the first place is also unknown. This is an example of the naturalists' objectivity. No emotional attachments were made with the main character because it was simply irrelevant.

Another aspect of naturalism stresses that men are subject to forces beyond their control. To Build A Fire's whole text revolves around the power of nature. Man had no chance against nature even though he thought he did. He underestimated nature and only met death when he thought he was in control. For example, he kept repeating to himself "it is kind of cold" he's aware of the fact that the temperature is a deviation from the norm and yet he doesn't realize entirely what this meant for him. He also ignored all the little facts such as the spit that "crackled" etc. Lastly, he mocked the one's advice who he should've listened to. Stupid, stupid man.

Naturalist belief is also heavily influenced by Natural Selection. To kind of a far stretch, one could say that the main character did not possess the mindset of a good 'fire-starter' therefore he suffered the consequences. He failed to make fire at the critical moment and if he had been more careful, the first fire would not have failed, then he would've lived. The man didn't have the endurance or a warm fur coat like his companion wolf, he was not meant for the environment and definitely wasn't the 'fittest'. Thus nature weeded him out. Lastly, the author explores the psychological aspects of the man under different environments. From being confident to helpless, and lastly to desperation, the readers get a pretty good idea of what is going through the man's head as he meets his fate. Still, the author showed neither sympathy nor contempt for the character. The whole text served only as a analysis of a man and his environment.
- posted by Maria Gao @ 5:51 PM