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DONE! Finally finished. I believe the reason it took me longer to finish this second book was because I was constantly making annotations about connections I had seen from AIW criticisms to TLG. I’m actually glad I took the time to read the sequel because some scenes really reinforced topics I want to explore in my essay such as Carroll’s Cannibalism, alter-egos, and casual cruelty. It was funny for me to see the shift in my perspective of why I originally wanted to read the book and how I approached the second book. At first, I just wanted to read it because I just loved the story, I loved how the different characters had different personalities and stories. When I started TGL, however, I was nose deep trying to find all the little bits of dark elements I could. It sounds a tad hasty but honestly, everything in Carroll’s book can somehow be argued and interpreted as having meaning. It’s quite curious, to quote Alice, how one’s subconscious can bring about things we never originally meant to reveal. All in all, some key points I want to hit about my overall experience:

Enjoyment: 9/10 - I went on and off on an audiobook and didn’t appreciate some of the character’s voices so it made the experience bleh sometimes

Quickness: 6/10 - I’ve been busy...

Would I recommend it? - ABSOLUTELY 10/10

Could I harkness every page - basically 9/10 (but it would get repetitive)

Am I stoked to write a 26 page paper on it? - let’s just see how much I can come up with...

#aplit16readingthework

It’s pronounced, “Kre-s-gee.”

So after a thumbs up from Kreinbring and after finishing reading Alice in Wonderland and reading some criticisms.... I decided, “why just stop at one book?” So here I am reading Alice Through the Looking Glass (and who would’ve thought things could get weirder). I surprisingly found myself a little unsatisfied after reading Alice in Wonderland (AIW) because there were some great scenes missing and I was set on reading them. I originally thought the garden scene was in the original Alice in Wonderland but indeed it is in Through the Looking Glass (TLG) and it is one of my absolute favorite scenes. Also, my favorite poem, “The Jabberwocky” is only featured in TLG. So with a new commitment settled I decided to take on a second novel (granted they’re not very long so it wasn’t a terribly difficult decision).

I’m learning more and more about the character of Alice as I go along, and the more I learn about Alice, the more I learn about Carroll and his relationship with Alice Liddell. Just as with AIW, Alice is consistently talking to herself and expressing her dark side. For example, when she’s criticizing the kitten she says, “’when I saw all the mischief you had been doing, I was very nearly opening the window, and putting you out into the snow! And you’d have deserved it, you little mischievous darling!’” On pg. 108, we see Carroll Cannibalism when the narrator recalls when Alice, “had really frightened her old nurse by shouting by shouting suddenly in her ear, ‘Nurse! Do let’s pretend that I’m a hungry hyaena, and you’re a bone!’” In addition, after Alice reads “The Jabberwocky” the only context she can make out from the complicated poem is (rather unsurprisingly), “However, somebody killed something: that’s clear at any rate.” So with all these dark aspects returning to TLG, originally from AIW, a part of me wonders if Carroll saw some darkness in Alice or if he merely was trying to twist her innocent look like he twists things in Wonderland because after all, little Victorian English girls were considered to be the purest members of society at the time.

Continuing with the theme of darkness, in the garden scene, Alice is bombarded with judgmental flowers that are not without their sass and express racism and body-stereotyping. “’Her face has got some sense in it, though it’s not a clever one! Still, you’re the right colour, and that goes a long way.’” “’I don’t care about the color,’ the Tiger-lily remarked. ‘If only her petals curled up a little more, she’d be all right.’” Apparently you need the right skin tone to be friends with the rose and the right body to hang with the tiger-lily. Carroll was clearly trying to bring up some big, taboo themes in this scene. And just to top it all off, Alice as usual, expresses “casual cruelty” by threatening the daisies, “’If you don’t hold your tongues, I’ll pick you!’” It seems that Alice is always itching to punish the creatures of Wonderland.

I guess one would have to know more about Carroll’s relationship with Alice to understand whether she was always that dark or whether he made her that way. Some historians argue that Carroll may have been dark himself and was a pedophile although many disagree and state that as a socially awkward man, he just preferred the company of little girls rather than older women. Reading TLG is making me wonder about this more and having read AIW before I am starting to read TLG through a dark themed lens.

#aplit16readingthework

It is only natural that the best company you can have at a tea party would be March Hare, a Mad Hatter, and a sleepy Dormouse... right? Well it is if you want to talk about symbolism and while reading Alice in Wonderland, I could talk about it for DAYS. It seems that everything Carroll inserts into wonderland through his punny-language is somehow a symbol for something whether that be adulthood, English references, etc. Carroll even goes as far to make nearly every character in Wonderland a different side of Alice’s alter-ego. The March Hare and the Mad Hatter are a crude but smart way of portraying Alice's crazy side and even their language and dressings are little symbols of crazy. A great character that really develops Alice's alter-ego is the Duchess. Looking at one of the absolute weirdest scenes in the novel titled, “Pig and Pepper,” Alice after having a mindless argument with a Frog-Footman about how one to get into the Duchess’s house, finally enters the room just to find that the air is polluted with pepper and a crazy cook is throwing things around while the Duchess is failing at keeping her crying baby quiet. The Duchess, although incapable of stopping the chaos and not even paying attention to it, represents the "moral" side of Alice. Alice throughout the entire novel tries to find rules within Wonderland to structure her adventure but clearly no such rules exist in the land. The Duchess constantly rambles about morals, trying to piece concepts together like Alice and therefore represents that side of her. Some morals courtesy of the odd Duchess include, "tis love that makes the world go round," "take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves," and finally, "birds of a feather, flock together." Although her morals are surprisingly accurate, the situation driving the creation of the moral is absolutely absurd. It could be argued that nearly every character is a representation of Alice and they symbolize her crazy complicated alter-ego. I could describe them all but it might take up a whole essay... hmm... (I may be foreshadowing to my essay topic).

#aplit16readingthework

You know what must be completely and utterly frustrating? Life for a slightly psychotic, cannibalistic, puberty-ridden, charming little girl who just can’t seem to remember who she is. Poor, poor, Alice... then again, she’s asking for it. It seems dark and harsh, I know, but Carroll is really opening my eyes to how Alice is not the sweet victim that Disney portrays her as being. In the original, Alice often THREATENS the people she encounters and there are some pretty taboo subjects appearing on the pages. For example, on pg. 19, she consistently mentions her cat and her cat’s killing abilities to a mouse. On pg. 26, we see hints of racism as the white rabbit automatically assumes she’s her housemaid and orders her to go fetch his gloves, “Quick now!”(26) On pg. 27, we see a picture of Alice uncomfortable in her body, squished inside the house where she complains about the constant growing of her body, can someone say... puberty? (Oh and right after this scene she kicks an innocent animal up the chimney). Finally, on pg. 33, we go transfer into the caterpillar chapter and what is he doing exactly? Smoking a hookah. Now that’s not PG.

My reference earlier to “she’s asking for it,” comes from the known fact that Alice instigates ALL of her growth changes. She could stay small or could stay tall or could stay her normal height, but she’s always making the mistake of eating from the mushroom which in a lot of interpretations is a reference to drugs, although I’m not sure that’s what Carroll was originally aiming for. As I keep reading deeper into the book, I’m noticing that although the scenes are cute and fun, there are some DARK themes lurking in the shadows... curiouser and curiouser...

#aplit16readingthework

Tell me what could be better than being required to read your favorite book from your childhood days? Well, maybe double fudge brownies and my favorite album but it comes at a close third. Beginning my reading for Alice in Wonderland instilled in me a “warm-fuzzy feeling” like hugging a warm-fuzzy white rabbit (too bad they’re too quick). There’s just something about being able to escape to a magically colorful world without being disturbed with logic or reason that is just very comforting to me. I think it’s because a part of me wishes that I could escape reality and I’m also extremely imaginative.

As I continue reading, though, I find myself pausing a lot to 1. look at the wonderful pictures and 2. lament on what I thought I knew about Alice in Wonderland. I consider myself a big fan considering I’ve seen almost all of the different versions, I can recite parts of Carroll’s whimsical poems, and I love talking about it but really I found myself getting surprised. For instance, I had never previously known that the Dodo bird is Carroll, or Dodgson (but I prefer his pseudonym), inserting himself into the story! I absolutely LOVE that there are footnotes and explanations because after all, this is from the 1860′s, in Victorian Era England. I will continue reading with much delight as I surprise the Alice in Wonderland fan that is me.

#aplit16readingthework

Poem #2: I am Serena Joy

Travis: Travis had a total of four common remarks and one insight. What I appreciated most from Travis’s annotations was how he noticed the volta in my poem. The last two lines go from “the lamenting” (or whining as Travis noticed) to question and finally to self realization of how Serena is “the significant one to blame now”.

Saim: Saim had a total of three common remarks, two insights, and two questions. Saim hit the nail on the head with my search for hierarchy within women when he stated “Women control women. But all are limited.” I almost didn’t need to write more poems after that but that’s why I thought it was important to explore what other people interpreted from my poems. Atwood is making a huge feminist criticism in her novel by exploring how women are all working to work against each other rather than trying to take down the main power source: the men.

Ben: Ben had a total of four common remarks and three insights. Ben unlike the other guys noticed a subtle part of my poem that I wanted noticed which was my use of the word “performing” instead of intercourse to describe the Ceremony. I think there is a lot still to be said about the Ceremony and what it really means and Ben was right to notice and explore the subject especially after reading “Ceremony” by Silko.

Tristan: Tristan had a total of three common remarks, one insight, and one question. Something interesting about Tristan’s annotations was his comment on line 15, “To protect what is so sacred, to protect what is so pure”. When I wrote the poem, I intended the “what” in the line to be religion but Tristan interpreted it as “the future; children” which I thought was unique.

#aplit16hmtproject

Poem #1: I am blue

The first picture above represents the “Master-Annotation” which is my own. During my process, I put my poem and a guy’s poem side by side and compared the two annotations. I began with Travis.

Travis: Travis had a total of four common remarks, one new insight, and one question. With Travis but with every other guy, they all noticed the first word in my poem, “Tristesse” and gave a definition for the word (I was happy they all did this). Travis’s question about my fourth line, “For the world I wanted to subdue” was “Inner world or outer world?” which I thought was very interesting because I’d never considered it. Serena Joy (who is blue) probably faced an external but also internal conflict within her. I can’t imagine she wasn’t ever tempted in her life to sin.

Saim: Saim had a total of five common remarks, three insights, and one question. He knocked this poem out of the park. Saim separated my poem into two parts, the past and present which I did not even intend but subconsciously I probably did this. Also, because Serena Joy’s character is so conflicted and I was trying to portray that, without realizing I played with both aspects of dark and light in the poem (as noticed by Saim).

Ben: Ben had a total of four common remarks, one insight, and one question. Ben did a good job at interpreting my lines more literally to find meaning. For the eleventh line, he interpreted it as “Hasn’t been noticed in a while” which makes sense because Serena Joy was literally glowing and in the lime light when she sang.

Tristan: Tristan had a total of two common remarks, two insights, and one question. Tristan brought up a very interesting debate about my second and third line which state, “Belief of what was right What was true.” Is what is right and what is true the same thing? I think that this could be extended upon in an argument because there is a blurred line in HMT between what is realistic and what is right.

#aplit16HMTproject

Blue... Green... and Red... colors that I brought to life through poetry

My Handmaid’s Tale Project:

1. Choosing what to do...

For my final project, I decided to focus on an aspect of the book that was still bothering me, the hierarchy of women in Gilead. To explore their roles and relationships, I decided to take one of their most symbolic motif’s, the color they wear, and have it speak through a powerful poem. Then, to compliment that color, I wrote a second poem that focused on the specific character. In total, I ended up with six poems.

2. Writing the poetry...

To my surprise, it took me A LONG time to write these because I had such writer’s block. I wanted these poems to perfectly express my views on the character’s and the power they hold. A lot of times I became stuck (especially due to the complex rhyming scheme) but I am absolutely in love with my poems and there are a few lines that I would consider to be my best work.

3. Annotating my poetry...

I decided that to best finish my six master pieces I would annotate them as if anything else I would annotate. I worked hard on making connections and was surprised to see that I noticed some things in my poetry that I had unintentionally written in :)

4. Getting feedback...

Due to the fact that everybody annotates a little differently and several drafts of annotations will lead to discoveries in writing, I asked several people to annotate my works. Fortunately, I have such a nice class and three guys in my 5th hour class agreed and one guy from 2nd hour agreed. Their annotations:

BRILLIANT. Thank you Travis, Saim, Ben, and Tristan for helping me understand my subject more and for investing time and effort into my project.

5. Scoring and analyzing...

After reading through all of the great annotations and feedback the guys gave me, I went through and recorded similar comments, questions, and new insights. I tallied these up almost like a competition to compare the work of each guy to each other. NOW, through tumblr, I’m going to be analyzing each poem with my own interpretation and compare them to the interpretations of the guys and share with you what new discoveries were made....

#aplit16HMTproject

MY TRIBE: THE TRAVELHOLICS (the people of many stories)

There once lived a little girl who was curious about the world. Who was curious about everything. Who was curious about people, places, and things.

So she traveled. So she explored.

For her 1st birthday, she celebrated in the south of France. “Regarde la. Il semble que hier elle est née dans le monde." (Look at her. It seems just yesterday she was born into the world). Little did her parents know that the world would become her obsession, her fascination, her motivation. What you must remember in the south of France, between the rolling hills and sleepy vineyards, is an apricot pie is far greater than any birthday cake, though it looks exactly like a pizza.

For easter when she was 7, her family reunited in Jamaica where she discovered creatures that would invade her dreams forever. Some advice: careful when wading on the shores of the beach because a dead baby jellyfish still has the ability to leave a firework on the palm of your hand.

6 years later she found herself on white beaches once again, except this time on the east coast of Mexico. “Yo tengo solo dos años de español , Mamá. Esta es una práctica buena, pero necesito tiempo para aprender.” (I only have three years of Spanish, Mom. It’s good practice but I need more time to learn). Some advice: Always try to order your food in Spanish, you’ll earn respect.

For her 15th birthday, she celebrated in France, once again, but this time in Paris. After only a week, she acquired the Bohemian accent. When you’re in Paris, spend time walking Montmartre but walk slowly. Look at everything. Soak in the culture.

After she turned 17, she experienced Italy in a whirlwind of emotions. The monuments and history left her awestruck. The Mediterranean sea dropped her jaw. Saint Petersburg left her in tears. But the food left her disappointed. Some advice: always reserve a good restaurant, do not get stuck in a tourist trap because you will eat what looks and tastes like an old can of Chef Boyardi.

Only two months after her journey to Italy, she independently traveled to the most beautiful country she had ever seen: Ireland. Throwing up on the connecting flight and the humdrum weather did not stop her from falling in love with all that was Irish. From the people, to the food, to the music, Ireland left her speechless. Some advice: For a life changing experience, walk the cliffs of Moher. Walk with the man who created the trail, a man who was just a boy and dreamed of a 5 kilometer walk that would be branded the best cliff view in the world.

So it’s safe to say, that I belong to the tribe that loves travel over anything.

Where do I stand in my tribe? I really stand naive and still ignorant for there is still so much of this beautiful world to explore. Journey with me.

#aplit16tribe

Once upon a time on August 2nd, 2015, around 1 P.M, a handsome and hungry couple found their way to BoneFish. As he walked up to the restaurant, he consistently belted the name of the divine place, “BOOONE FIIIIISH!” She laughed and held his hand as they entered. There they sat outside as the wind blew her hair whimsically. There was no one around and they scoured over the delicious brunch menu. She ordered the Bang-Bang shrimp Eggs Benedict and him the creme brulle french toast. It was love at first bite. They never would forget their incredible meal that consisted of laughs, smiles, and good food. They dreamed about the shrimp often and so they returned for Sadies and once again for a random evening of cravings. The table on the far right became their spot and they never did forget how much they felt they belonged there in that magical place. And so it became.... their querencia.

#aplit16querencia

The symbolic meaning of the sunrise in Ceremony leaves me asking questions. I think it is not coincidental that Silko decided to begin her story about stories with a sunrise and end it with a sunrise. We see that the sunrise returns full circle, as if the Ceremony occurred in a day. I am perplexed by what the sunrise really symbolizes. Does is mean new beginnings? Does it mean he has been cured? Does it mean the darkness in his soul has been lifted? What exactly it means I’m not sure and would like to have it brought up in a Harkness if possible.

I was trying to find a way to connect the sunrises with Atwood and it made me think of how the nights for Offred actually symbolized time for reflection and her dreams brought us closer to her character. Maybe what the nights symbolize to Offred are what the sunrises symbolize to Tayo? Either way, who doesn’t love sunrises. They’re incredibly beautiful and I could see how they would represent a new purity and fresh slate which in the end is what Tayo wanted and what he got after completing the ceremony. Anybody got an answer???

#aplit16ceremony

A white man holding a big, innocent dead animal. Terrible.

This makes me want to throw up and because of that gag-reflex I’m having, I’m starting to think that Silko’s writing is actually having an effect on my sense of appreciation for Nature. Instinctually and unconsciously just now I even capitalized Nature because of what a significant role it holds in this book. There are two sides of Nature though that I think are being explored, “Nature-Nature”, the obvious trees and mountains and landscapes, and “Human-Nature” which is subtle but apparent. When Tayo encounters the Mountain Lion and sings to it, it shows a confidence in his connection with the animal and a trust that I would not be able to so easily muster. I mean come on, that’s a big kitty with big teeth. It is both breath taking and beautiful how the Native Americans respect animals as they respect each other. I find it important to note that Tayo was more afraid of the white men chasing him down than the Mountain Lion... what’s become of humanity?! It’s ugly that a difference in race would cause more tension than a difference in species. You can’t really blame Tayo though, because the white men see Tayo as the same as the Mountain Lion, just another animal to hunt and persecute.

#aplit16ceremony

Experiencing Ceremony was like experiencing a dust storm. From afar, you’re not exactly sure what it’s going to be like and you don’t think much of it at first. Suddenly you start to see it growing and growing, until you see a pattern from all directions and you become frightened yet exhilarated a little bit. Finally, you’re hit with the storm and you sit up dazed, not exactly sure what hit you.

Other thoughts I had while reading included, “Is it possible that I could sum up this book in five words? Native-Americans, puking, cattle, booze, and World War 11? Like I mentioned before, I didn’t think much of it at first. But soon, I began to see that the Native Americans were not puking because of the booze but because of the guilt that they couldn’t hold the stories in their bellies anymore because of World War II. As for the cattle, it’s still a mystery to me why they’re so damn important because Silko will go on for pages about them. Then just like the storm, I began to see patterns with the five words that translated themselves into themes. Some themes I recognized were, “Loss of Hope,” “False belief,” “Naive ways,” and more. All pretty depressing so far. But there’s also been some themes concerning Mother Earth and the connection Native Americans make with the Earth that is all sacred.

#aplit16ceremony

Reading Ceremony is a journey in itself. I was taken aback by Silko’s writing mainly for two reasons. The fact that there is no driving plot throughout the book did leave me searching but I learned to appreciate Silko’s selection of detail more and more as I read the book. Her attention to detail is what wraps her story. The spider web that she uses to describe the stories of the Native people symbolizes how the little interconnecting links that keep the amazing web structure together are the details. Her detailed writing (almost to the point where it seems pointless but really it NEVER is) is very similar to Atwood in this way.

Also, I was taken aback by Silko’s overwhelming use of flashbacks. Silko has the amazing talent of flowing smoothly through literature while jumping from one time period to the next. She’s quite the time traveler. The picture above of the Native American personage smoking to me sort of symbolizes Silko’s jumping back and forth. She’s in a sense blurred the lines of reality for Tayo because he is constantly stuck in the past. Either way, when I though Kreinbring said this was going to be a harder read I thought it would be because of the language, not because of the organization and structure!

#aplit16ceremony

We saved the best of last... The Handmaids. I’m going to give my input on Handmaids using the picture above as my guide:

In the picture above, there are two women and they are very similar but not completely alike. They both have their differences and they both have incredible power that has been bestowed upon them by the forces of nature, and this is represented by the landscapes painted on their backs. They face away from the landscape, however. They face mostly darkness and they face each other. Instead of bringing their powers completely together there is a small space between their backs and they look to each other in an indifferent, almost cold manner.

Handmaids are sisters that cannot join forces because they have been forced into a dark world of lowered self-esteem. Although it is true that the Handmaids are really treated like princesses, like children, they are told from the very beginning of the creation of Gilead that their only purpose is to produce children and if they can’t, they are a failure. They are, Unwomen. The purpose of the Handmaids in the book is very obvious but who they represent is vivid. Handmaids are “the victims” that due to human nature are the most powerful but also the most weak. Producing another human is a power that is incredible and it is the greatest of biological abilities. Women, however, due to biological reasons as well have very low self-esteem issues. We turn on each other, instead of turning on the oppressive men because it is men that drive our self-esteem, NOT each other. A sad truth.

I believe that Atwood is trying to say with the Handmaids is that as women, we can’t just complain and accept that we are victims in so many situations in this world that is run by men, but instead we must take a stand because in more than one way, women have incredible power. And yet, we leave our powers wasted. We leave the canvas unfinished. We leave the landscape incomplete.

#aplit16handmaid

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