Ernest Hemingway

I found some quotes that really reminded me of things said or read in class. Ernest Hemingway said,

"All our words from loose using have lost their edge."
This reminded me of the uslessness of words in emotional situations. Taylor talked of how her students were able to explain epiphanies better than she (or I for that matter) was able to. When trying to explain something such as epiphany or love or anything important in life, we have trouble explaining how we feel. Sometimes, when thinking of perfection too long we lose even the imperfect explaination. As English Literature students, especially ones about to graduate, we realize how pointless words can be. Words, like all things created by humanity, are flawed. The sooner this is realized, the less intellegent we become (I'm only kind of joking here). Ignorance is useful. By knowing more we become less satisfied with what is said and therefore say less.

Here is another quote I found by Hemingway:

"As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary."

We learned in Huraun and the Sea of Stories how important heroes are. The job of a hero is to bring hope and salvation to others. The acts of heroisism aren't something one can grow out of or grow old of. Neither is it something that one can plan. I was at a bar the other day (shocker) and a girl came crying in the bathroom. There were plenty of other girls in the bathroom and I remember thinking, I hope no one is mean to her. Movies have done such an aweful job of portraying women. It is more often than not that women tend to be the villians. However, unlike the movies, in this instance three fourths of the girls went and asked if everything was okay, and the rest were wondering if they could help out without being overbearing. Weither that girl was comforted or not doesn't erase the fact that everyone there wanted to help. It is the job of others who might be having a good day to help those who are experiencing the opposite. Heroes are an important factor in our everyday life. Just as for Huroun in a world of depression he had to find a hero to look up to. In Huroun's case, it was his father, which is a good place to start.

So, why did I bring up Ernest Hemingway when he was nowhere near our subject of conversation. Well, as some of you might know, Ernest Hemingway's son lives in Bozeman. He comes in for dinner quite a bit at the place I work. I was waiting on him and his wife and their two guest the other day when their guest asked me my major. I told him, English Literature and that I was actually a big fan of Mr. Hemingway's father. Mr. Hemingway then replied, "Oh, really, you never told me that." I said "Yes, I didn't want to be bothersom," or something of that nature. He then asked, "Well, what is your favorite novel." I thought about it and told him, "A Farewell to Arms." He smiled and said, "Me too."

I thought that I had just had one of the most privelaged conversations in my whole life. So, ordinarily, I wanted to share it with my bloggers.

The Remembered Gate

We were asked to find a 20 minute lifetime in 4 Quartets. I decided to take my specific section that I was given in the Capstone class and find one in there. I chose the passage that says,

"We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time."

This passage is very important to the concept of the 4 Quartets in its entirety. In East Coker, Eliot says "Old men make great explorers, Here and there does not matter, We must be still and still moving" Eliot's belief that our lives consist of constant exploration is one of knowledge and learning. A person, even an old man, will never stop learning because the world is filled with infinite amounts of knowledge. Thus, old men make great explorers because of their ability to appreciate silence and the knowledge which can be found in the present moment. The younger we are the more we want to travel to new places and conquer new goals. Eliot knows that it doesn't take a different setting to discover to unknown or have an epiphany. Rather the places which a person grew up are never fully known because they're not looked for (another Eliot quote). This is exactly what Eliot is trying to explain in the passage I picked. Only in death will a person arrive to a remembered place, a place that is similar to birth where a person is completely helpless and weak. Unlike birth an older wiser person will understand their place for the first time. In a hospital bed lying and waiting for death a person is fixed between the past and future. Thinking always of better times while anticipating their new adventure in death. It's in those last hours where one can experience a lifetime when they're thinking of all their good and bad moments, yet still carrying the wisdom that their old age granted them.

My List

Here is a list of all the dogs I know whether living or dead and some which I do not yet know but who exist, I am sure, somewhere, non the less. There's Maddie, Patty, Dottie, and dirty Dawn. As well as Rosie Posy beloved mother and friend, Smelly Ellie the king of the job site, Finnius Maximus Maridius, Ella Bella, Barefoot the condemned, and Ginger the Innocent, there's Brandy Wine Bridge, Ruby wants a hamburger, and Jezebel the traitor, Jolene the seductress, Tricks, Kinder Kinderoo, Clara, Coda, and of course, Blinky, Slinky, and Sunny Bunny. Not to mention, Chewy my favorite, Ryder the marker of territories, Nalie Polly Pocket Pooch, Bentley whose home is a 1971 VW van, Diesel the fatstick, Peter snow falls on the ciders, and my future dog Bilbo Baggins the Explorer. Speaking of snow....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhfK98f5S00

Here is a link from Forrest Gump that has my favorite low-brow list. It's when Bubba Gump is telling Forrest just how many kinds of shrimp there is. Enjoy.

Groundhog's Day

We were asked to tell about our groundhog's day, but I will just tell about the part of my day that I really tried to appreciate. A friend and I went hiking at Bridger along the ridge. Although I don't care for hiking mostly because it's hard work, the view is always worth it and the ride down, of course. I took some pictures so hopefully everyone can enjoy it as well.

This picture is looking out eastward from the ridge towards the Crazy's.

This is looking southward at Slushman's.

Pairing your 30 words to a place

I randomly opened Finnegans Wake and landed on page 590. I decided that I would memorize these 30 or so words:


"Halp! After having drummed all he dun. Hun! Worked out to an inch of his core. More! Ring down. While the queenbee he staggerhorned blesses her bliss for to feel her funnyman's functions Tag. Rumbling. Tiers, tiers and tiers. Rounds."


It's obvious what is going on in these few sentences. There is a fight going on and someone is yelling help because he is being beaten and then he falls and gets stung by a bee and it seems that they play the game of tag afterwards. It's very clear.



I've been wondering how it is I'm going to memorize these 30 or so words? Some of them aren't even words at all, and I certainly can't relate to their meaning such as a favorite poem or quote. Then I remembered, in the Oral Traditions class a couple of semesters ago we had to memorize the names of the 9 muses. They, like the words in Finnegans Wake, were unusual and difficult to memorize for me. In order to memorize the names of the muses we paired them to items in the classroom, for example, Urania was the projector screen. I would remember Urania by thinking of stars being projected on to the screen. Or, Euterpe was this picture posted on the bulletin board that said, "Let it Snow." I remembered that because Euterpe is the muse of music and I would imagine the Christmas song "Let it Snow" being sung. I figured that with Finnegans Wake I can pair each word with an item in my room, such as the couch or my bookcase, or smaller items like a picture or vase. This is the same technique I used in order to memorize 50 governors (Arnold Schwarzenegger was paired with my bed). It helps if the pairing is funny or grotesque (such as Arnold laying on my bed or Sarah Palin looking at herself in the mirror), if it has a significant meaning then it's easier to memorize.

Honestly, this technique is so easy, I had all 50 governors memorize within 2 hours. Now I'm going to draw another awesome photo of the layout of my room and pair certain sentences or words to objects.
I placed my words to objects in the same order of the sentences. So, "Halp!" is the Finnegans Wake book because I need help reading the thing. "After having drummed all he dun" is the Bird bottle opener because "drummed" can be exchanged with drank or the act of drinking. "Hun" I put with the picture frame because some people call others hun. "Worked out to an inch of his core" is with the snowboard because I suppose that can be seen as working out. "More" is with the boots because it's more snowboarding gear. "Ring down" is the chair because it is the shape of a circle. The couch is undecided because that sentence is going to be tough to memorize. Then there's "Tag. Rumbling" paired with the bean bag just because and lastly there is the "Tiers, tiers and tiers. Rounds." which I placed with the bookcase because there are tiers and tiers of books and a round candle.
I realize I now look crazy, but I hope this helps.

The Eternal Return

Sexson mentioned a few examples of the eternal return in literature, such as The Tempest and Indra and the Ants. One I thought should be mentioned is "The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats. He talks about the coming of an Antichrist or a second coming from an eternal being. The eternal return is seen by some as the ability to return to the mythical age. Yeats says that the Anitchrist will be the body of a lion and the head of a man, or in other words the return of the Sphinx, "what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born." This also fits in with the belief of the eternal return being a religious symbol. Well, I just thought I'd mention it. Here's a great video that I'm sure you'll all enjoy.
P.S. It doesn't have anything to do with my post and is also a complete waste of time. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY4Y1gTO9HE

Archetypes

Look! I drew a picture.

In class on Friday, Sexson briefly mentioned the critique Northrop Frye. Thanks to Prof. Eckert I actually know not only who this man is, but what he believed. Frye's main belief was in archetypes and structure. He believed that archetypes help a reader make sense of the world with language. Salman Rushdie writes a very structured hero story. In Haroun and the Sea of Stories there is a Shadow, Ego, and Anima, as Frye would say. Each of these characters can all be found in our "self" while outside floating around is the collective unconscious. Inside our self, such as in a good story, the Ego has to confront and overpower the Shadow, this allows the ego to understand or achieve the anima. The Anima represents a treasure, usually a woman, but can also be seen as truth or knowledge, although in Beowulf it was actually treasure. The Shadow is, of course, the form of evil in every story. Frye focused on epics, believing that they were the perfect forms of literature because they contained archetypes.

Attaching Frye's theory to Haroun and the Sea of Stories is quite simple, although not as easy as Spencer's The Fairy Queen. Haroun is the main character and also the hero in the hero story. The damsel is Batcheat, but what makes Rushdie's tale so comical is that no one cares to save the damsel, well, except Bolo. Bolo is a funny character as well, he is a confused hero. However, Rushdie gives Bolo all the major components of a knight, such as quickness to anger, rashness in action, a hopeless romantic, but Bolo is an annoying knight who's main purpose is to get in the way. The Shadow in Rushdie's tale is Khattam-Shud, who is shadowless. Khattam-Shud's main objective is to have complete power using darkness and muteness. An interesting point is that the Khattam-Shud that Haroun faces is in fact a shadow. Like Sexson said in class, Rushdie was quite the genius. The characters of Iff and Butt are not in Frye's archetypes, but but but they are very important to Rushdie's story because they represent the question in reality. If this, then that...or There's this, but that. When we put if and but into a sentence we are questioning something. Therefore these characters are important to the fantastical situations in the story that Haroun must believe in order to become the hero.

There is one more situation in Rushdie's story that can be compared to all great epics, as well as Frye's theory, is the use of water. Water, in epic tales, symbolizes the unconciouse or transformation, such as in a baptism. The first use of water is when Haroun drinks the polluted story water. He sees himself failing as a hero, and unconciously Haroun believes that he will fail in his attempt to save his father. Later when Haroun puts on the wet suit and jumps into the acidic water he emerges transformed. He comes from the water, realizes he has the wish water, and comes up with the plan to destroy Khattam-Shud. Water, in this instance, was used as a transformer.

I'm pretty sure Frye would have greatly enjoyed Rushdie's ironic archetypes.