they call me kater tot.

[kaitlyngornick]

When you’re not going to fail ...hopefully :’)

I finally finished this project. I’ve honestly never been more proud of myself. It’s the biggest relief knowing I’m done and most likely WILL graduate.

Despite many opinions of classmates, saying the general introduction was the hardest, I’d have to say I found writing it very simple. I started out summarizing my book in a paragraph, then went on to talking about themes persistent in my book. The hardest part for me was writing my abstracts and my introduction to annotations, because it really required me to think even farther outside the box than I’m comfortable with. 

[kaitlyngornick]

Writing my Abstracts

So far in this process, my abstracts may have been the hardest to write! I think I struggled so much with it because the criticisms are so long that it’s hard to summarize everything in 1-2 double spaced pages. 2 out of my 3 criticisms were also pretty boring, which made reading them a drag and writing about them even harder. The last one was really long, but it was only about my book, no other books, so it focused in on my author’s language and choices in writing it, so it drew my interest much more! 

The structure of all 3 of my abstracts are all kind of different, none of them have the exact same structure, which is fine I guess, because all my criticisms are different as well. 

Once I got my abstracts started and I got started talking about something, it was easy to continue writing about it, but getting them started was pretty tough for me. 

[kaitlyngornick]

Picking my Criticisms

Finding my criticisms actually wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be! Going to the OU Library played a big role in that, though. The librarian at Kresge was very helpful and advised me not to use Google Scholar (sorry, Gentle Instructor), but instead led me to a few different databases. That made it very easy to narrow down my search and find what I was looking for! It didn’t take me long to find all 3 of my criticisms with the help of the librarian! Forgot to get a picture with her though... :(

[kaitlyngornick]

The Help - Reading the Work #6

Okay, so MAJOR PLOT TWIST HERE, it turns out that Celia Foote actually isn’t a drunk after all! All those empty “liquor” bottles are actually bottles of catch tonic, which is a remedy given to women who have a hard time conceiving or carrying babies to term. 

Minny finds this out when she finds Celia in her bathroom bleeding out - she had just miscarried her baby. Minny thinks Celia is stupid for trying out a remedy given to her by a bunch of Indians who could be trying to poison her for revenge, but Celia was desperate for a baby so she was willing to try anything.

Damn, it just got real.

[kaitlyngornick]

This should be easy

Not only did I choose this book because I already saw the movie and loved it and it’s on a topic that really interests me, I believe it’ll have great criticisms on it. It is, after all, all about black maids in the 1960′s in the South. Blacks and whites together was still a very touchy subject back then. Even though it wasn’t written in the 60′s (more like 2009), it was told from that perspective. I’m sure there was a lot of controversy following the publishing of this book.

Can’t wait to read it!

[kaitlyngornick]

I’ve decided!

I’ve finally decided on a book. I decided to go with “The Help”. I kinda had a feeling I’d choose that one from the start, mostly because the storyline interested me the most. It was this one or “1984″ by George Orwell, which is a dystopian theme novel, which also interests me.

I’ve also seen the movie “The Help” and I really enjoyed it, so reading the book will be a breeze for me. Now I’ve just gotta go to the library and check it out...

[kaitlyngornick]

hmmm...which book?

I’ve been looking up popular, relatively modern novels and I’ve gone through multiple lists of books and a few choices I’ve seen repeatedly are “1984″ by George Orwell, “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides, and “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett. “1984″ isn’t exactly what you call “modern” compared to the other two choices, being published in 1949, but in the grand scheme of time, it is. All 3 options are very different in genre and style, so we’ll see. 

[kaitlyngornick]

The Help - Reading the Work #5

I think I should talk about Minny Jackson. Oh Minny, she’s super feisty and can never hold a job for very long because of her big mouth! When she finally gets a job at Celia Foote and her husband’s house, she’s very happy but doesn’t want to blow it this time. The issue with that is, Celia can’t cook or clean like most young white wives in the 60′s, so Minny comes and gives her cooking lessons behind Celia’s husband’s back. Celia refuses to tell Mr. Johnny about Minny quite yet because she wants to make it seem like she’s the one cooking her husband all these delicious meals and ironing his shirts for him. 

***A bit of a spoiler alert here, but after working there for many months and noticing that Celia sneaks up to go to her room every day and not coming out for a while, Minny discovers many full and many empty liquor bottles. Turns out Celia is a drunk! This infuriates Minny because she grew up nursing her drunk, abusive father.

[kaitlyngornick]

The Help - Reading the Work #4

One thing that really pisses me off while reading this book is that all of the main white characters (Skeeter and her “friends”) are in the Jackson Junior League and they discuss current issues in the town and how they should fix them. Skeeter being an up and coming journalist and all usually publishes these stories in the Junior League Newsletter. Anyway, the president, Hilly Holbrook is trying to get Skeeter to publish this initiative she’s been working on called “The Home Help Sanitation Initiative” and Skeeter refuses. And I can’t blame her! It’s a bill saying that the Help in every household should have their own bathroom outside because they believe the blacks carry diseases that could infect their whole family. Reading that made me sooo mad! I hate Hilly! 

[kaitlyngornick]

The Help - Reading the Work #3

Going along with my last post, where I talked about how Aibileen is basically raising Mae Mobley, she talks about how she’s raised many white babies in her past jobs and she’s grown to love them as if they were her own. As heartbreaking it is to know that many of the mothers back then might not have paid attention to their children as much as they should’ve, it’s also very heartwarming to read about how Mae Mobley looks up to Aibileen, or “Aibee” as she calls her, as if she were her own mother. In fact, a couple times, she actually does call Aibileen “Mama”. The Help and the white babies as they grow older gain strong relationships with each other and it’s really cool to see. One quote I really liked was from Aibileen and it shows yet again her being a better parent to Mae Mobley and teaching her lessons her mother could never teach her. 

“I want to yell so loud that Baby Girl can hear me that dirty ain’t a color, disease ain’t the Negro side a town. I want to stop that moment from coming - and it come in ever white child’s life - when they start to think that colored folks ain’t as good as whites” (96).

This quote really stood out to me but broke my heart as well.

[kaitlyngornick]

The Help - Reading the Work #2

So far in the book, Aibileen is telling her story from Miss Leefolt’s house, where she spends most of her time. She’s basically raising poor Mae Mobley who’s only about 2 years old while her mother goes out and does who knows what. Miss Leefolt doesn’t seem to care much about her only daughter, or what she does at all. That really makes me sad and it makes me wonder if that’s what it was REALLY like in the South during the 60′s, or if the author is just being dramatic. Miss Hilly is a big contrast to Miss Leefolt, because she has 2 kids that she just adores and pays so much attention to.

[kaitlyngornick]

The Help - Reading the Work #1

This book by is absolutely amazing so far. I’m sure most of you have heard of the movie “The Help”, or at least I hope so. I’ve always had an interest in the South in the 1960′s for some reason, and this book gives a great look into the minds of some of the Help and their thoughts on their circumstances (even though it’s fictional).

I was drawn in within the first couple pages of it. If you’ve never read it, the book is told from three different points of view: Skeeter (a young white woman who’s trying to be a journalist), Aibileen (a black maid who was friends with Skeeter’s old maid and was eventually befriended by Skeeter), and last but not least, Minny (a feisty black maid who is good friends with Aibileen). I really like how the points of view keep rotating between Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny throughout the whole book. It gives you a little change and obviously, different perspectives to see things from.

[kaitlyngornick]

The Tribe of Working High Schoolers (Especially Seniors)

My tribe is one that may not be completely recognized by many: that is the tribe of working high schoolers. Whoever said working your senior year was a good idea clearly didn’t take AP Lit or have a very good social life.

This tribe is one that understands the struggle of making minimum wage or lower (in my case, as a waitress, about $3.23 an hour), but being okay with it because any amount of money is enough money at 17.

This tribe is one that uses the excuse, “Sorry I can’t, I have work” on almost a daily basis and has to sacrifice fun activities because we have work.

This tribe is one that has become accustomed to going to bed no earlier than 11:30 every night.

This tribe is one that learns the value of work ethic and people skills at a young age, which will help us in the future, and we’ll forever be grateful for.

To all working high schoolers, this is for you.

(I don’t have any pictures, because this is to all high school workers in general, this isn’t only MY tribe.)

[kaitlyngornick]

My Querencia

My querencia is my home, but not my current home. The home I grew up in, in Eastpointe, Michigan. I lived there until I was 13, when I moved to Rochester Hills. I didn’t really appreciate my home as much as I should’ve until I had to leave it. I made a lot of memories there, had many birthday parties on my trampoline, and I was truly happy there. No house will ever compare to it. 

Doing this post is something that no one can fully relate to, because everyone’s querencias are different. There may be many houses and bedrooms, but everyone’s means something different to them. To you guys it may just seem like a home, but to me it’s more than that.

This was my favorite part; the deck and the huge backyard. :)

[kaitlyngornick]

The Aunts

Today in class the discussion got very heated because the Aunts started talking about their duties as Aunts and how corporal punishment towards the Handmaids is just their duty and it makes them “better”. I found this conversation very controversial because I thought, “Wait, if you really think about it, aren’t all women in Gilead essentially equal?”

Sure, each group has their advantages and disadvantages, but they’re basically the same. No one can move up or down in their status, they’re just stuck where they are. So why is there such a big debate regarding these women's statuses?

I believe that was Atwood’s purpose, to really piss off her audience by turning women against each other. It’s quiet ironic how the belief in Gilead is that men are superior to women and that they’re oppressing women by separating them into groups based on their reproductive abilities and sending them off to die if they don’t have those abilities, yet it’s the women that are fighting against each other. They want to feel like they’re better than each group when really, they should be working together to go against the men because they are really the oppressors.

[kaitlyngornick]

The Handmaids

As we talked today in class, Kreinbring brought up a very interesting point about how each section of women (Handmaids, Marthas, etc.) all represent a different function that women have/should have. The Handmaids obviously are the uterus because they can reproduce, the Marthas can’t have kids so they cook and clean all day and watch over the Handmaids, and so on. I believe Atwood creates this separation between women to really show how corrupt the world could be if women are against each other.

It’s a strange topic to touch on because there’s so many differing view points on the Handmaids, and whether they’re privileged or lucky or just doing their duty? Some say they’d rather be a Handmaid and bear children over being a Martha, which is supposedly the greatest privilege of all, yet still feel corrupted somehow. There’s so many ways one could approach this subject.

[kaitlyngornick]

The Marthas

Today in class a question was asked to a Martha, “If you can’t have children and you can’t do the thing that’s most cherished in Gilead, then what makes you better than Offred?” I thought that was a very interesting question and it really made me think. Yes, Marthas play a very important role in running the Commander’s household and making sure everyone is fed, but they are essentially replaceable. They cook and clean, but anyone can do that. In Gilead, being a woman and being able to naturally reproduce is the most precious gift of all, so Handmaid’s can’t be replaced. Marthas, on the other hand, can be. I suppose being a Martha is better than being sent to the colonies to work and die, though. 

This is what I assume a Martha looks like, or something of this sort. Wearing a long green dress, head and face covered, wearing an apron, to show that they cook and clean for the household. It definitely resembles a creepy nurse or something.