Either write about whatever you want or... respond to the following passage:
"White people are unnatural. As a race they are unnatural. And it takes a strong effort of the will to overcome an unnatural enemy"(Morrison 156).
Morrison does easily identify this fact. But I find the way that Morrison points out the unnaturalness of the whites is to choose a prominent (not liked) figure from the Black Community to identify the entire white-race with. Morrison uses Macon Sr. as the White Race. She allows Macon to commit acts of violence, to focus on the materialistic, to be somewhat unpredictable, to completely remove any sanity from the Macon household. In fact when the reader learns of how Milkman was born we find that in fact Ruth had to endure so much to keep herself and the Milkman alive. That effort is the "strong effort" that Morrison was talking about. The way Morrison estranges Macon is Morrison's way of explaining his unnaturalness. The car ride that Macon forces his family to endure through the streets, was awkward, odd, completely "white." Just the fact that Macon is rich, owns homes, and collect rent like a madman, identifies Macon as the white representation in Morrison's novel.
The strange unnatural enemy in Morrison's book is obviously "White". Pilate is not driven by money, she is driven by family, by the relationship she has with her daughter and granddaughter. Pilate is odd--evident by her lack of a navel--and because she is odd she seems to have enough willpower to fight her brother. Milkman (against his father's will) spends time with Pilate and her family (Hagar).
I always think of Ghandi when I think of discrimination. I think of the Point of View from where Ghandi was. He inspired crowds and throngs of people that were entirely opposed to the government at the time. But at the same time I can picture a commander in the military rallying his troops, telling them that it is going to take something more than there best to defeat this "unnatural enemy." In fact we know from history that the White had similar organizations and thought patterns that opposed that of the Seven Days--the strong effort of the blacks.
To some extent I feel that Morrison chose the extreme to write her book. (Only the extreme is worth writing about) Because in the Macon Dead family there is no black except the skins. In Pilates house there is no White. No White lifestyle, no white tradition, no white culture. I think most families have that unnaturalness, but are not consumed by it. Each thought pattern, race, culture, tradition, has its bit of unnatural.
(Will be finished)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Out of State, Out of Mind
Dante wrote his Inferno in the early 14th century. His thoughts and works, as I have described earlier in my blogs, ridiculed the church, what the church did, and what the church represented. The mere fact that Dante wrote "the Inferno" in Italian rather then Latin was some what blasphemous to the church of the time. As I have pondered my way through why Dante's impact was so important I have stumbled upon the historic significance and influence Dante's "Inferno" has had on The European Middle Ages. It seems to me that "The Inferno" was simply the mustard seed that grew into what soon became the Protestant revolution. A century and a half after Dante finished his work Martin Luther posted his 95 thesis. No, I don't think that the Protestant Reformation took its ideas from Dante, rather in fact I think much of what Dante wrote was simply ignored. But, I do think that Dante's public display of blasphemy, and his somewhat heroic existence did encourage other dissenters who played a part in the Revolution that was marked by Martin Luther.
What I do find from Dante is an utter disgust towards the catholic church at the time. In fact I think I counted 4 different specifically church representatives. 1- the pope, 2-the Archdiocese, 3-the friar, 4-the man who was chewing off the Archdiocese's ear--it was obvious that he in some way a representative of the church. In fact Dante spends a good amount of time refering to people he knows by the fact that "he was a good churchgoer," or "he attended church with me," yet every single one of these people were in hell. In fact, Dante himself, is headed for hell; the very reason Dante is walking through hell is so that he can be convinced to change his ways. In this way Dante disconnects the church with the good of heaven, and connects it rather with the evil of hell, the same evil that he will face if he does not change his ways.
One thing that struck me as odd and important, was the simple fact that Dante never gives himself a sin. I have talked about everything that he does include, but I think it is equally important to point out what he chose not to include. In this case what he chose not to include is the sin that he would be punished for. Maybe he did this to remove himself from the horror of what he was writing, but that does not make sense because he tells the reader that he is condemned to hell and only walking through hell to be convinced out of his old ways. Maybe the reason he does this is because his entire book is supposed to be satirical, there is certainly evidence of that nature. Or, maybe the reason Dante chooses to exclude his own sin is because Dante's sin that he was banished for is what he wants the reader to assume, and by making fun of hell/catholic church he is simply making fun of the fact that the church was wrong in accusing him of the sin.
What I do find from Dante is an utter disgust towards the catholic church at the time. In fact I think I counted 4 different specifically church representatives. 1- the pope, 2-the Archdiocese, 3-the friar, 4-the man who was chewing off the Archdiocese's ear--it was obvious that he in some way a representative of the church. In fact Dante spends a good amount of time refering to people he knows by the fact that "he was a good churchgoer," or "he attended church with me," yet every single one of these people were in hell. In fact, Dante himself, is headed for hell; the very reason Dante is walking through hell is so that he can be convinced to change his ways. In this way Dante disconnects the church with the good of heaven, and connects it rather with the evil of hell, the same evil that he will face if he does not change his ways.
One thing that struck me as odd and important, was the simple fact that Dante never gives himself a sin. I have talked about everything that he does include, but I think it is equally important to point out what he chose not to include. In this case what he chose not to include is the sin that he would be punished for. Maybe he did this to remove himself from the horror of what he was writing, but that does not make sense because he tells the reader that he is condemned to hell and only walking through hell to be convinced out of his old ways. Maybe the reason he does this is because his entire book is supposed to be satirical, there is certainly evidence of that nature. Or, maybe the reason Dante chooses to exclude his own sin is because Dante's sin that he was banished for is what he wants the reader to assume, and by making fun of hell/catholic church he is simply making fun of the fact that the church was wrong in accusing him of the sin.
Monday, March 16, 2009
What's next?
Why is the concept of hell so intriguing? Why is what Dante write so intrguing? What has made Dante's work last so long?
As each of these was laboring to rake
His nails all over himself--scattering and digging
For the great fury of the itch they tried to slake,
Which was one other relief: their nails were snagging
Scabs from the skin to a knife blade might remove
Scales from a carp, or as if the knife were dragging
CAnto XXIX (lines 85-90)
Beginning thus: 'So that your memory
in men's mind in the former world won't fade
But live on under many suns, tell me
Who you and your people are; your punished state,
Canto XXIX (lines 110-113)
Science indicates that after death, the human body becomes dirt. But Science has yet to understand the composition of the soul. Where will my soul go? What will happen with my soul? Because each human wants to believe that their life is worth something, they believe in a soul, something greater than just the science of the human body. The problem is that that soul does not have rules, the soul does not have scientific parameters. While the human body is alive the free soul is confined to the scientific rules of the body, but if we believe that each human has a soul then what happens when the chains of life are broken?
For centuries I think that each individual through literature, philosophy, science, math, history, and life has searched for what that soul is, and what will happen to it after death. This interest in afterlife is possibly a reason for which Dante's work has such far reaching powers. Dante's Inferno touches on what happens to the soul. and provides an answer to a question that a scientifically minded population has sought and will continue to seek for as long as humans live.
In order to answer that question Dante reveals hell as a science. Like the seven levels of classification, each soul/shade has a name, a place from where it comes, and a set of sins that correspond with the name. Dante removes all subjectivity from life, and replaces it with a set of rules. Everywhere Dante goes in Hell he asks individuals for their names and why they have come here. Each individual provides a reason that validates their level of hell, and creates a structure in a structureless concept. And for a community that is driven by science and the expansion of technology, the order that Dante create is 1, a concept that the human is able to grasp, and 2, a set of rules that explain the unknown.
But then the question arises why Dante and not anyone else who has written about hell. I think it has to do with the relationship between the crime and the punishment. Many other writers who discuss hell simply refer to it as a place of torment, one that is equal for everyone. In our world ever since Hammurabi certain punishment follow certain crimes. Since Dante follows the same concept that the punishment fits the crime, Dante's work is one that is more relatable to.
In fact I think that Dante's Inferno is actually banned in some countries. IN those countries law is different. Law is what the authoritarian says, so in fact if someone from that country were to read the book they would not relate to it because their government does not have a crime fits the punishment system. As far as Hammurabi's concept extends so to will the need for a system where the punishment fits the crime.
As each of these was laboring to rake
His nails all over himself--scattering and digging
For the great fury of the itch they tried to slake,
Which was one other relief: their nails were snagging
Scabs from the skin to a knife blade might remove
Scales from a carp, or as if the knife were dragging
CAnto XXIX (lines 85-90)
Beginning thus: 'So that your memory
in men's mind in the former world won't fade
But live on under many suns, tell me
Who you and your people are; your punished state,
Canto XXIX (lines 110-113)
Science indicates that after death, the human body becomes dirt. But Science has yet to understand the composition of the soul. Where will my soul go? What will happen with my soul? Because each human wants to believe that their life is worth something, they believe in a soul, something greater than just the science of the human body. The problem is that that soul does not have rules, the soul does not have scientific parameters. While the human body is alive the free soul is confined to the scientific rules of the body, but if we believe that each human has a soul then what happens when the chains of life are broken?
For centuries I think that each individual through literature, philosophy, science, math, history, and life has searched for what that soul is, and what will happen to it after death. This interest in afterlife is possibly a reason for which Dante's work has such far reaching powers. Dante's Inferno touches on what happens to the soul. and provides an answer to a question that a scientifically minded population has sought and will continue to seek for as long as humans live.
In order to answer that question Dante reveals hell as a science. Like the seven levels of classification, each soul/shade has a name, a place from where it comes, and a set of sins that correspond with the name. Dante removes all subjectivity from life, and replaces it with a set of rules. Everywhere Dante goes in Hell he asks individuals for their names and why they have come here. Each individual provides a reason that validates their level of hell, and creates a structure in a structureless concept. And for a community that is driven by science and the expansion of technology, the order that Dante create is 1, a concept that the human is able to grasp, and 2, a set of rules that explain the unknown.
But then the question arises why Dante and not anyone else who has written about hell. I think it has to do with the relationship between the crime and the punishment. Many other writers who discuss hell simply refer to it as a place of torment, one that is equal for everyone. In our world ever since Hammurabi certain punishment follow certain crimes. Since Dante follows the same concept that the punishment fits the crime, Dante's work is one that is more relatable to.
In fact I think that Dante's Inferno is actually banned in some countries. IN those countries law is different. Law is what the authoritarian says, so in fact if someone from that country were to read the book they would not relate to it because their government does not have a crime fits the punishment system. As far as Hammurabi's concept extends so to will the need for a system where the punishment fits the crime.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Frog's aren't that mean
But as the saying has it, one must go
With Boozers in the tavern and saints in the church.
Canto XXII (13-14)
When I read the notes for this chapter the notes said that this is the most satirical chapter of the entire book. Assuming that is correct I think what Dante is implying here is actually with "saints in the tavern and boozers in the church." Dante unlike the rest of the world at the time is in earnest opposed to what the church does. Dante is not opposed to what the church represents but rather who takes refuge under the church and who uses the church. In this specific chapter Dante refers to politicians that pay for things to happen. I think that the church is another one of those political places of honor that Dante is referring to. So although this thought is just a saying in the book I think it bears truth that Dante chose to write as a satirical comment.
---------------------------
The present fracas turned my mind
To Aesop's fable of the frog and mouse:
Now and this moment are not more similar
Than did the tale resemble the newer case,
Canto XXIII (3-6)
I have always known that this story is an allegory. Here Dante chooses to prove this fact to his readers by likening his journey through 'The Inferno' to that of a fable. I know we are told not to moralize the literature we read, but in fact I think that is exactly what Dante wants us to do. In the fable, as the book notes describe, it is very possible that Dante is providing evidence that the mouse(Dante and Virgil) will die along their journey. That is ironic because they are dying where the undead live. But what is most intriguing about Dante's choice to pose his possible death, is that it parallels his own life's journey. Dante's possible death, may come in the metaphorical inferno, as well as in life, as well as actually in the Inferno once he is dead. Another possibility for why Dante included this fable is that he fears that the voyage across the river as in Aesop's Fable is his voyage to write this book. Dante knows that writing this book especially in Italian is somewhat risky like the mouse asking the frog to take it across the river.
With Boozers in the tavern and saints in the church.
Canto XXII (13-14)
When I read the notes for this chapter the notes said that this is the most satirical chapter of the entire book. Assuming that is correct I think what Dante is implying here is actually with "saints in the tavern and boozers in the church." Dante unlike the rest of the world at the time is in earnest opposed to what the church does. Dante is not opposed to what the church represents but rather who takes refuge under the church and who uses the church. In this specific chapter Dante refers to politicians that pay for things to happen. I think that the church is another one of those political places of honor that Dante is referring to. So although this thought is just a saying in the book I think it bears truth that Dante chose to write as a satirical comment.
---------------------------
The present fracas turned my mind
To Aesop's fable of the frog and mouse:
Now and this moment are not more similar
Than did the tale resemble the newer case,
Canto XXIII (3-6)
I have always known that this story is an allegory. Here Dante chooses to prove this fact to his readers by likening his journey through 'The Inferno' to that of a fable. I know we are told not to moralize the literature we read, but in fact I think that is exactly what Dante wants us to do. In the fable, as the book notes describe, it is very possible that Dante is providing evidence that the mouse(Dante and Virgil) will die along their journey. That is ironic because they are dying where the undead live. But what is most intriguing about Dante's choice to pose his possible death, is that it parallels his own life's journey. Dante's possible death, may come in the metaphorical inferno, as well as in life, as well as actually in the Inferno once he is dead. Another possibility for why Dante included this fable is that he fears that the voyage across the river as in Aesop's Fable is his voyage to write this book. Dante knows that writing this book especially in Italian is somewhat risky like the mouse asking the frog to take it across the river.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Satirical Blasphemy
What measure of wickedness
Stems from that mother--not your conversion, I mean:
Rather the dowry that the first rich Father
Accepted from you
Canto 19 (109-110)
Dante here clearly states his dispute with the church. As a representation of the Church Dante uses the Pope. In fact he sees the Pope burning hotter and brighter than the rest of the souls. This proof that the pope is evil is Dante's expression of his disgust for what the church says and represents. This also adds to the argument that the entire of the work is intended to mock or satirize the church in what it believes. When I read his disgust towards the church, it reminds me of George "something," a traveling preacher during the Great Awakening in the U.S. In those times the preachers spoke as apologetics, they would attempt like they do today to associate religion with the church. I think maybe Dante is an apologetic for his time because he disses the church and therefore is satirizing the church in order to further his cause of the religion he believes in.
As when Alexander in India's hottest region
Saw flames fall on his army, intact to the ground,
And had his soldiers tramp the accumulation
To extinguish them before the fire could spread,
Eternal fire descended in such profusion
Sand kindled like tinder under flint, and made
The pain redouble
Canto XIV 27-31
Dante reference here to Sodom reflects the journey that Dante traverses though the relation between faith and life. There is ample evidence that Dante seeks to explore God's presence on earth. Here Dante references an event that is entirely heavenly and completely the work of God. The story itself is proof that Dante believes that God is in control of everything, and not the devil. This prooves in Dante's mind that God is also the more powerful of the two. But it also contradicts what the church was saying at the time. This becomes an addition to the argument that Dante is satirizing the church.
Stems from that mother--not your conversion, I mean:
Rather the dowry that the first rich Father
Accepted from you
Canto 19 (109-110)
Dante here clearly states his dispute with the church. As a representation of the Church Dante uses the Pope. In fact he sees the Pope burning hotter and brighter than the rest of the souls. This proof that the pope is evil is Dante's expression of his disgust for what the church says and represents. This also adds to the argument that the entire of the work is intended to mock or satirize the church in what it believes. When I read his disgust towards the church, it reminds me of George "something," a traveling preacher during the Great Awakening in the U.S. In those times the preachers spoke as apologetics, they would attempt like they do today to associate religion with the church. I think maybe Dante is an apologetic for his time because he disses the church and therefore is satirizing the church in order to further his cause of the religion he believes in.
As when Alexander in India's hottest region
Saw flames fall on his army, intact to the ground,
And had his soldiers tramp the accumulation
To extinguish them before the fire could spread,
Eternal fire descended in such profusion
Sand kindled like tinder under flint, and made
The pain redouble
Canto XIV 27-31
Dante reference here to Sodom reflects the journey that Dante traverses though the relation between faith and life. There is ample evidence that Dante seeks to explore God's presence on earth. Here Dante references an event that is entirely heavenly and completely the work of God. The story itself is proof that Dante believes that God is in control of everything, and not the devil. This prooves in Dante's mind that God is also the more powerful of the two. But it also contradicts what the church was saying at the time. This becomes an addition to the argument that Dante is satirizing the church.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Breaking the Rules
Go back to your science, which teaches that the more
A creature is perfect, the more it perceives the good--
And likewise, pain. The accursed' people here
Can never come to true perfection;
Instead, they can expect to come closer then than now
Canto XI (97-101)
This to me expresses Dante's struggle to understand the difference between reason and faith. Dante's struggle with what is perfect, or logical, is contrary to the truth and faith that boxes and condemns those who are stuck in hell. Dante explains that hell is a trap from which many seek to get out of by aiming at perfection--or science. but rather that those governed by hell are not governed by science but rather by what was once good.
-------------------------
What their condition was who populate
A fortress so guarded, I cast my eye around
As soon as I was in--and saw a great
Plain filled with woe and torment.
Canto IX (97-100)
If I was deaf and I saw a picture of J.R. Tolkien's Mordor and Dante's gate and fortress I think the two would be the same. In the "Inferno" the fortress gate is heavily guarded. Likewise the gates to Mordor are heavy, and left to the guard of the nocturnal horrors. Tolkien says that when you enter through the gates you come onto a plain on which the armies of Mordor camp in evil revelry. Likewise it seems that the Plains behind the fortress gate in "The Inferno" are inhabited by woe and torment. I rest my case that J. R. Tolkien took some of his imagery from "Dante's Inferno."
-----------------------------
In order that hereafter the sight alone
May be sufficient, you will hear what rules
Determine how and why they are constrained.
Canto XI (18-20)
This is Dante's whole concept of hell. Dante asserts that life is governed by rules. He says that each level is black and white, when in fact, people like Pope Anastasius should be categorized in more then one level. Dante scientific reasoning is that each sin can be classified and therefore the sinner can follow the classification. What the connection between the sin and the sinner does, is provide a tangible suffering, a suffering that does not leave gray. In this way Dante aligns himself with the church that at the time of his life was selling indulgences. Maybe Dante's referral to rules is simply mocking the inability, or the incredulity of what the church represents.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Hell in Helplessness
Fear befits things with power for injury/ Not things that lack such power.--Canto II lines 71, 72
And now I can hear the notes of agony/ In sad crescendo beginning to reach my ear / Now I am where the noise of lamentation/ Comes at me in blasts of sorrow. Canto IV 24-27
The Inferno of Dante reminds me of an epic; an epic like Lord of the Rings. It seems to me that the epic is a story. A story of passion, a story of love. But in that story Dante finds a little more than he expected to in his grief for his dead lover.
A second thought that struck me as odd, is Dante's focus on emotions and thoughts rather then on the actual gruesome acts that I think of when I think of hell. I think of hell as a place of torture, but especially in Canto III and IV, I find that Dante seems to view Hell as a place of emotional sorrow and unrest. A friend once described her view of hell, and I have come to agree. Hell she said was a place where she was completely isolated. It was a cell in which from she could see people suffering and yet she could not leave the cell to help them. I find that Dante agree's with my friend. Dante portrays this world of suffering and pain that isolates the reader from what is going on, and in no way does the reader have a way to save the pain and suffering that cries out from the words that Dante writes. So in fact Dante in this way gives us a little bit of hell, by letting us know the suffering, letting us pity, and want to help, but feel isolated in this world, because nothing we can do can change his words or save his imaginary people from the eternal suffering Dante has surrendered them to.
I also find it odd that the way Dante characterizes each level so far with names. I am afraid that because I don't know the names I will not understand the significance of each level of hell. The reference to the philosophers somewhat transcends the ages because to me they represent this intellectual aspect of life. I am not sure why though Dante chooses to send them to hell. Or I may be confused that they actually are in hell. The point being is that the difference in ages between when Dante wrote "The Inferno" and now seems to add a new twist to what Dante says; in fact I found myself trying substitute the names Dante used centuries ago with actual names of people that fit my age and era--I wonder though if Dante would consider the names black cats, and simply meant to just be there. From the evidence he has provided each name does somehow characterize the level it is at.
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