Lauren's Renaissance Commonplace Book

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Self-Reflection

Looking through my index, I’m not surprised I spoke of “money” often. However, I didn't expect to write about “identity” as much as I did. Initially, I expected to write about finances and the repercussions of economic bonds - the name of the course is “Literature and Financial Imagination.” But looking through my reader responses, I’m noticing just how connected to identity money really is and how interested in the topic I have become. Whether it be A Christmas Carol or The Merchant of Venice, the topic who one’s self really is in relation to their spending habits or economic bonds is prevalent. I would say that this very connection is one of the most notable things I’ve learned to understand throughout the course. The connection, or lack there of, between who you are and what you have. For Belford, what he had and owned were symbols of the identity he wanted to project the world. Bartleby had no identity and thus owned nearly nothing, not even a bed. In Sense and Sensibility, the entire social status and way of living of our main characters are altered due to changes in their financial status. For Equiano, being able to identify himself as a free man hinged on the money he was able to earn. While many important topics were discussed in this class - the importance of getting things in writing, especially - the most valuable lessons came from the exploration of money’s connection of identity. 

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Index

Hashtags used:

Money - 4

Poverty - 1

Charity -  1

Shelter - 1

Fear - 1

Security - 2

Love - 1

Life - 2

Dream - 1

Narrative - 1

Economic Bonds - 1

Social - 1

Society - 2

Religion - 1

Family - 1

Legal - 2

Trust - 1

Humanity - 1

Freedom - 1

Hunger - 1

Kindness - 1

Hope - 1

Bread - 1

Identity - 4

Value - 1

Humanities - 1

Literature - 1

Mind - 1

Thought - 1

Anthesis - 1

Gender - 1

Disadvantage - 1

Misunderstanding - 1

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Reader Response - A Christmas Carol

“No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread.”

Why does Dickens include this picture of poverty?

This depiction of poverty is essentially a warning sign for the wealthier, and perhaps stingier, readers of the tale. While the previous passage about the Cratchits shows a poor family making the best out of little, this passage shows the menacing turn things take when there is nothing to live off of. Children are described live sickly wolves and villainous creatures - an image I’m sure the wealthy were too enamored with. By showing those with means what a difference just a little makes in the lives of others, Dickens is hoping to solicit some charity from his readers for those who really need it - the poor. 

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Reader Response - Shelter

“A ninety-dollar purchase from Walmart shouldn't terrorize them like this”

Why does this interaction at Walmart matter so much?

The “terror” our main characters feel spurs from the fact that all outward appearance of their comfortable, stable middle-class life is a facade. In reality, they are on the verge of falling into a blackhole of financial ruin. Every purchase made threatens to push them over the edge, include those at Walmart. The ones at Walmart might be the scariest. The fact that even relatively lower-priced goods have the capacity to bankrupt them opens their eyes to how truly close to ruin they are and the extent to which the status-quo of their lives is hanging on by a thread. This, too, is a type of violence. A violence from which even homes cannot shelter you.

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Memorable Settings We Have Encountered in Reading

Sense and Sensibility is a novel that relies on setting to highlight overarching themes. First, look at the family home, taken away from the surviving women of the family, who had literally tended on their now dead relative hand and foot, and literally given to a child the old man took a shine to. Because of this the women are forced to move to a shack, economically destitute and socially ostracized. With this decision, the lives of these four women, their economic and social standings, were turned on their heads. The severity and wide-reaching nature of these consequences illuminates how precarious the position of a woman in society at this time really was, how reliant on men women had to be just to maintain their lives, and the power of wealth over relationships.

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Reader Response - The Great Gatsby

“Can’t repeat the past?…Why of course you can!” 

Why does Gatsby insist you can repeat the past? Why has he done in order to be able to do so?

Gatsby’s blinding belief that one can repeat the past spurs from his love of Daisy and his desperate attempts to relive that romance. By this point in the novel, regaining Daisy’s love and all that comes with it has been a goal of Gatsby’s for so long that the mere idea that it may not be possible seems preposterous. He has changed his entire life to get Daisy back. He's turned himself into a different man by changing his narrative. Gatsby uses the tool of narrative to completely rework his life story, creating an alternate life and subsequently inhabiting it thus making it reality in the present. He created and lived an entirely new life by lying about his past life. This entire upheaval of who he is, where he has been, what he has done - it was all done for Daisy and the dream of Gatsby’s relationship with her.

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Reader Response - The Merchant of Venice

“I would… supply your present wants, and take no doit of usance for my moneys… this is kind I offer” 

Why does Shylock offer Antonio the loan with no interest?

Shylock and Antonio’s relationship up until this point has been anything but rosy. However, this offer of a loan with no interest is a sort of olive branch on Shylock’s part. By showing good faith, Shylock is showing a Christian the virtues of the Jewish people and attempting to bridge the division between the two men. His motivations for which could be a genuine desire for friendship or to display religious tolerance, but it could also be Shylock taking a stab at world making. By following the Christian example of charging no interest, Shylock may be trying to see if his success can match that of the typical Christian man in this business. Regardless fo the main motivation, Shylock offers this interest-free loan to improve his relationship with Antonio. 

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Reader Response - Sense and Sensibility

“The set of breakfast china is twice as handsome as what belongs to this house” 

What is the significance of the breakfast china?

it seems an odd moment, when Fanny suggests she take possession the breakfast china left to the girls in their father’s will. Especially given it was one of very few things left to them at all. But the scene makes more sense when viewing the breakfast china as a symbol of societal status and wealth. Fanny’s suggestion that she own the china shows how the decadence and beauty of the pieces are too upper class and handsome for the girl’s new station in life. Her argument is really that it is the most logical decision given that, socially, her status aligns with the china and the girls’ status does not. Jane includes this to make a very powerful point about the importance of legal documents. Do not rely on an institution, like family, to provide for you. You must get things in writing. Others will take everything, including the china, from you if they can. 

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Reader Response - Equiano

“...taking the money, told me to go to the Secretary at the Register Office, and get my manumission drawn up.”

Why include economic instruments? Why speak about manumission paper?

Manumission papers were included to solidify his status as a free man. It highlight the mistrust between masters and slaves where neither trusts the other at their word. The inclusion of these events in the book is also to convince the reader of his full affordance of humanity. Further still, this is a moment Equiano has been waiting for his entire life - liberation. This document is the culmination point of the story and of all Equiano’s dreams. 

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Reader Response - The Hunger Games

“The heat of the bread burned into my skin, but I clutched it tighter, clinging to life. “ (31)

“It must have been an accident. Why would he have done it? He didn’t even know me. Still, just throwing me the bread was an enormous kindness that would have surely resulted in a beating if discovered. I couldn’t explain his actions” (32)

“To this day, I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark, and the bread that gave me hope...” (32)

What is the significance of bread in The Hunger Games? Why does Collins keep mentioning this object?

If you were to read The Hunger Games before ever having stepped foot in the real world, you would think a lot of things, sure, but principle among them would be that bread is invaluable. Thorough out the book, Collins emphasized the importance of the food and, especially, its importance to Katniss. This is because, in this novel, bread is life. Bread is security. Those who are willing to share life and security with others, like Peeta, are the embodiment of generosity. To have bread is to have hope. Hope that life can be sustained and maybe even improved. It is the promise of more time and more health. This can be seen in Katniss’s reaction to being given bread by Peeta. This definition explains the symbolism of District 11′s gift to Katniss during the games. Having bread is a game changer, especially for those who are fighting to survive. 

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Dear Sugar Radio

Answered as Jane Austen

Even with the economic divide between yourself and your partner, there is hope for a fulfilling life. Love is not contingent upon wealth or status. Neither is happiness. While you may be very different people with different goals and aspirations, the marriage of such conflicting ideologies broadens the mind and leads to an appreciation of others’ weltanschauungs. However, the gap in intellect is more troublesome. How can you tackle life together if you do not think together. Some intellectual variation is acceptable, if not encouraged, yet the extend is key. Too great a divide truly is unbridgeable and unworkable. To be partners in life, you must be partners in mind. 

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Passing in America - Extra Credit

I believe the overarching message of this talk, that while diversity appreciation, rather than vilification, hasn't reached its full potential in America, has wide spanning implications and is a thesis whose proof is visible everywhere. I especially thought Rando Skyhorse’s definition of political correctness, the right to be left alone, was particularly eyeopening given that in modern American, being PC is seen as a constraint rather than a right that bestows freedom. It highlights the fact that the tone of the national conversation about race and culture in American is still set by traditional white people, mainly males, who view political correctness through an entirely different lens. 

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Reader Response -“Frivolous” Humanities Helped Prisoners Survive in Communist Romania

“If the study of literature or history were really that pointless, a government trying to control the minds of its subjects would not go to the trouble of putting humanities students and professors in jail.”

-Irina Dumitrescu, “Frivolous” Humanities Helped Prisoners Survive in Communist Romania

What is the practical value of the humanities?

As Dumitrescu so aptly points out in the article, the humanities, while seemingly superfluous, actually hold an unparalleled amount of value, especially when considering how the humanities help us hone in on and expand our identities, not to mention their power to further the horizons of intellectual pursuit. It is due to this that powerful governments aiming to limit resistance and independent thought of its people imprisoned and tortured those capable of harnessing the humanities to expand both their sense of self and sense of the world. A background in the humanities exposes us to many points of view over many years, which helps us clarify what what we personally believe and why it is that we believe it. This type of thought can lead to the evaluation of a corrupt system and finding it wanting in terms of fairness, equality, and representation. People who understand and implement their education in the humanities possess the power to recognize a broken system and possess the knowledge as to how to rectify the situation, whether that be through resistance or persistence. This capability of higher thought broadens the mind and soul - both of which are highly valued. 

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Reader Response - Bartleby

“’I thought that friend of yourn was a gentleman forger; they are always pale and genteel-like, them forgers. I can’t pity’em—can’t help it, sir. Did you know Monroe Edwards?’ he added touchingly, and paused. Then, laying his hand pityingly on my shoulder, sighed, ‘he died of consumption at Sing-Sing.’”

- Bartleby the Scrivener, Herman Melville

What is the significance of the grub man’s mentioning of forgers?

In this world, forgers are masters of identity, slipping from one to another as it suits them, while keeping their own hidden from the world. Bartleby, however, lie on the exact opposite side of the spectrum. He has chosen to adopt no identity, no personality, no story. He is the embodiment of a lack of identity. This unclear presentation of a true identity is what reminds the grub man of Monroe Edwards and what ties the two men together, yet the difference is that Bartleby has no identity to conceal, making him all the stranger. The two are opposites not only in this case but also in how their deaths came about. While Monroe Edwards died of overconsumption, Bartleby was killed by his refusal to eat, or underconsumption. This can be seen as a metaphor for the adoption of identity in these two men’s lives and how both paths led them to destructive ends. Neither of them acted on the old aphorism - “everything in moderation.” 

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Reader Response Entry - Virginia Woolf

“But . . . those three dots mark a precipice, a gulf so deeply cut between us that for three years and more I have been sitting on my side of it wondering whether it is any use to try to speak across it.”

- page 4, Three Guineas

What is the power of the ellipse employed and how does convey the nature Woolf’s struggle to the reader?

Here, Woolf uses the often misunderstood punctuation mark, the ellipse, to demonstrate how wide a gap there is between the realities of life faced by educated men and “educated” woman at this time. The difference is so fundamental and all-encompassing, she simply doesn't know where to begin, thus employing a form of punctuation that denotes a pause or trailing off of thought. The fact that is is an eclipse that is used is not only significant in that it signifies the speechlessness that can overtake a speaker when making such a large argument, but, by implementing such a commonly misused punctuation mark, she further highlights how easily her argument can be misunderstood due to a lack of knowledge on the part of her reader. Her reader, being a fairly wealthy middle-aged man, would have no way of understanding the sacrifices and disadvantages and struggles women have faced in order to maintain the status quo in a society that values the education and liberation of men far more than that of women. 

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The impact of Collins's series on Generation K: What is the argument about the value of the Hunger Games according to this author?

The world depicted in the Hunger Games reflects the experiences of young adults aged 14-21 today much more than you'd initially expect. Both Katniss and “Generation K,” as the author has dubbed them, feel the world they are surrounded by is, in the words of the article, “dystopian, unequal, and harsh.” The youth in today’s modern soiceties face much more anxiety, whether it be about appearance, finances, terrorism, or schoolwork, and distrust, mostly directed at institutions and corporations, than previous generations mostly due to the environment in which they’ve grown up. The interconnectedness of today’s world means immediate access to information about the increasing horrors of terrorism taking place. Yet, these individuals feel more and more desperate for real human connections as opposed to the manufactured, artificial, and airbrushed depictions of life they’re so frequently exposed to.  Financial optimism is scraping the bottom of the barrel and most of the world’s youth sees a political and institutional arena that has been tilted in favor of corrupt greater powers. Sound familiar? This, albeit somewhat broad, description of Generation K’s reality reads eerily similar to that of Katniss Everdeen. The value of this series is its ability to reach out to an audiences that is typically portrayed incorrectly or misunderstood. The Hunger Games shows young adults a world that seems similar to their own and a heroine that shares their frustration, distress, and sense of mistrust in the world around her. Importantly, the books show Katniss fighting back against the world order that’s wronged her, a probable desire of the readers, and ultimately seeing success - a source of hope for the disillusioned audience. 

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Who I turn to for financial advise

When it comes to money, there is hardly anyone I trust as much as my father. While this is partly due to his successful journey through the world of personal finances, it is in large part because he works within the finance industry. His job is to create computer programs to manage banks’ funds and to calculate the risk when acquiring assets. Needless to say, he’s a pro at sniffing out bad investments. My dad is also a very logical person. He sees an issue and can think through it clearly and efficiently and come to a sound answer. This is what I value most about his advise.