Women and War

Ending for summer

2005-08-04T10:42:00.000-05:00

I have to say, I have enjoyed being in this class and I'm really glad that I decided to take a women and war class. I have learned so much and can't believe that I haven't been taught how much women have been involved in all the wars. With the first book, Not so quiet, I believe was one of my favorites because of the vivid descriptions of what was happening. I knew women were involved by being nurses but not to that extent and then to have the parents being in such denial about how the war was really going was very interesting to me. I also learned a lot from the videos about the WASP and all the other groups and how women really did help her in the US while the men were off fighting... it is so amazing to see what an impact women had and then when the war was over it was as if they didn't do anything. I wish there was more of the women's side to history being taught in high school and college because out of all my US history classes I have taken I haven't been taught this side of the story. You wonder why it doesn't get taught in high school or more people don't know about it, and that's because a women's lit class is not required therefore not allowing anyone to know the way things really were. I feel that I have learned a lot from this class and it actually has inspired me to look more into women and how they actually have contributed to the way things are right now.
Reading Lolita in Tehran has been a very learning experience because I don't know too much about other cultures and especially Iran. I actually haven't finished it completly but plan to, but I never knew what it really meant by the vail. It's sad that the whole symbolic reason behind it was taken away by making a law that it had to be worn at all times...
Again~ I enjoyed this class a lot and was glad that it was more of a discussion than a lecture cause I believe you learn more from hearing other peoples opinions as well as the teachers. Have a great rest of the summer and I hope everyone enjoys their two 1/2 weeks off!!!!

Reading Lolita in Tehan

2005-08-02T16:43:00.000-05:00

Reading Lolita in Tehran is about a group of Iranian women trying to find a voice. The young women in Nafisi's class are all just now learning about themselves - their likes and dislikes - Dr. Nafisi without even realizing it, has helped these girls to realize that they are important and that they have choices. In the U.S. we take our liberties for granted....reading about life in Iran during the cultural revolution is difficult for me to really understand. Nafisi stated that "disobedience was punished by fines, up to seventy-six lashes and jail terms" (167). She also commented "now that I could not call myself a teacher, a writer, now that I could not wear what I would normally wear, walk in the streets to the beat of my own body, shout if I wanted to or pat a male colleague on the back on the spur of the moment, now that all this was illegal, I felt light and fictional, as if I were walking on air, as if I had been written into being and then erased in one quick swipe" (167).
Dr. Nafisi is such a brave women and seems to be an excellent teacher. Reading her book makes me want to learn more about women in other Middle-Eastern countries.

Reading L....

2005-08-02T15:56:00.000-05:00

I have to agree with others that have posted before me...I really have enjoyed reading this book thus far (like some others I will be honest and say that I haven't finsihed in lue of writing the paper). However, it really makes me appreciate the culture that we live in today. I can see now the simple things that I have taken for granted that are really privliges and not RIGHTS as I almost assume them to be. Its sad to see what others have to go through and have to endure in order to recieve a little of the rights and freedoms that I as an American recieve on a daily basis. I will continue reading this book to see what happens further down the line because I am so interested to know whats going to happen!

Reading Lolita in Tehran

2005-08-02T14:55:00.000-05:00

With trying to finish the paper and the book I can honestly say that I am not completely finished with Reading Lolita in Tehran but I can honestly say that it is one of my favorite books this semester along with In Country. I am really enjoying reading this novel because it is giving me insight into a culture I previously knew little about. These lives we are reading about make me feel very lucky to be able to express myself and to not be so closely monitored. I was very happy to learn that Azar Nafisi decided to return to the University to teach. She loved teaching so much and it was sad that she allowed the regime to not only take away her right of expression but she allowed them for so long to take away the thing she loved most in life and the thing, ironically, that she could express herself the most through. It was, in my opinion, her best move to give into the veil so she could again fulfill her love of teaching. I also found it interesting that with the feeling that the war was never going to end people started to focus on their lives a little more and on the power of the regime a little less. Although the war was still going on they seemed to have moved on from it a little. I can't wait to finish the book and find out how the lives of the characters turned out.

Concluding Readin Lolita in Tehran

2005-08-02T14:36:00.000-05:00

I can honestly say that this was not necessarily a favorite book of mine out of the books we have read for this class. Even though it wasn't a favorite, I did enjoy the fact that it provided me with much knowledge about Iran and Iranian women that I hadn't known before hand. There were a few intersting moments in the Austen section that caught my attention. One of these moments was when Nafisi describes the time when she explained one of the novels she was teaching like it was a dance. In trying to explain this comaprison to her students Nafisi actualy makes her students dance with her and I found this moment to be very intriguing. This was definitely one of the times where Nafisi really shined for her exceptional teaching abilities. Another moment that was more or less unbelievable yet educational to me was when one of the girls was sent to the office at the Universtiy because she had been reported for running up the stairs when she was late for a class. In moments like these that took place in the story, it was so hard for me to fathom or comprehend how these women dealt with these ridiculous reprecautions. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why running up stairs would be considered "un-Islamic" but it apparently was in the eyes of the man who reported her.

One theme that came to my mind most in this last section was that of love. There were so many references to Sanaz's engagement, Azin's bad realtionship with her husband, and eventually Nassrin's confession to Nafisi about having fallen in love with a man and how she had no idea how to react to it. In these moments where love and marriage were being discussed I felt that Nafisi's compassion for her students was portrayed more for the reader. The reader could see how much Nafisi, even if against her will, did care a great deal for these students. It shocked me greatly that these women were so oblivous to the fact of true love and how to react to it. They had conceptions of how western "love" was like by literature and movies, but they themselves had no idea of how to deal with it or how to feel about it. That was something that shocked me and made me sympathize for these women.

Even though this book didn't fall into being one of my favorites in the class I still respected the fact that I learned so much from it. I could never picture myself in their shoes but now at least I understand their culture and I no longer have to "other" Iranian or Muslim women when I see them here in the states. I am thankful for the understanding I have gained from this novel and I will never forget it.

2005-08-02T12:38:00.000-05:00

Here's a post on a woman who went through Evin- which is the most notorious prison political and otherwise prisoners were kept.

http://www.iranianvoice.org/article1541.html

In the summer of 1988, the Iranian regime executed thousands of political prisoners. [According to some estimates, 30,000 political prisoners were executed over a few month period.] My younger brother was one of the ones killed. [She pointed to a picture of him that she brought with her. The family resemblance was obvious.] In our small city, 30 people were executed each night. The whole community was in mourning, but they wouldn’t return the bodies to the families. They buried them in a mass grave. We were not permitted to mourn. No one could visit the families or talk about what happened. My brother had a four-year-old daughter. Every day, she asked me where her father was. I told her that he had gone to the sky and at night she looked into the sky trying to find her father.

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/mhvact.htm
I endured many different tortures while in prison. The first day I was tortured, I still remember the day, August 25, 1980-it was a Monday. I was tied to a very short bench and blindfolded with a filthy rag. Then I was flogged on my back and on the soles of my feet with a cable. Threats of rape were also used as a form of torture, not just against me, but all the women prisoners. The interrogator who threatened to rape me was the chief interrogator for section seven of Evin Prison, named Rahmani. After he had flogged me with a cable for a week and gotten nowhere, he began threatening me with rape. He kept it up for 3 months. Another form of torture I endured was known as "the scale"-my arms were twisted-one up over the shoulder and the other from underneath then bound behind my back. Then I was suspended from the ceiling and left like that for 12 hours. I still bear scars from the torture. I lost the hearing in my right ear under torture. I have also lost much of the sight in my left eye. I suffer a great deal of pain in my arms and legs. Because of the blows to my head, I suffer long periods of headaches and dizziness.
They also threatened to rape my younger sister, Nassrin Pardehshenas, who was only 18. Ultimately, they did rape her before she was executed. That was their last try at breaking her, but she was very brave. Nassrin made prayer stones from the mud of Evin Prison, on which she wrote the verses of Kosar (The Fountainhead) from the Quran. Just before her execution, she wrote a letter to her mother: "In an hour they will execute me, these miserable worshippers of the night. But as Massoud Rajavi says, we are like the fountainhead; the more of us they execute, the more we multiply." She never gave in, and walked proudly to the stake for her execution.
Ayatollah Khomeini issued a special "religious decree" that required that all virgin women prisoners be raped before execution to prevent them from going to heaven.

http://www.geocities.com/richard.clark32@btinternet.com/iranfem.html

http://www.wfafi.org/E-ZanVol7.htm

Sorry I got started on this and just decided to post all the links I found that I thougth were relevant rather than just the ones I would talk about.
~Megan~

Pictures

2005-08-02T12:23:00.000-05:00

I also found a few screenshots from movies wher eprisoners are represented, interestingly enough, they're not very graphic so don't be afraid to click the links. Not much luck tryign to find actual photos, cause many people wis hto stay anonymous, and because not many htings collectable as evidence prolly survive to make it to google's search engine. It was just a thought I had while I was researching.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cinema.bg/sff/images-movie/Womens%2520Prison-04-big.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cinema.bg/sff/2003/eng/movie.php%3FmovieSid%3D8&h=196&w=300&sz=50&tbnid=OdkEAyZARNAJ:&tbnh=72&tbnw=111&hl=en&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwomen%2Biran%2B%2Bprison%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

http://www.cinema.bg/sff/images-movie/Womens%20Prison-04-big.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fiff.ch/photosfilms/2003/zendan.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fiff.ch/fiffbdd/fiche_film.php%3Fidfilm%3D16%26lang%3Den&h=122&w=186&sz=4&tbnid=qp-ytkYGd5kJ:&tbnh=63&tbnw=97&hl=en&start=8&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwomen%2Biran%2B%2Bprison%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2003/Oct-2003/ebadi_prison_days_141003.html

Last one is really good.
Hope these work.

Research

2005-08-02T12:16:00.000-05:00

These are the links to what I found. Of course gorey details can be a bit scanty, but a coupel of the article sare really good. Also, tehre's one in teh library that merits looking at I put its call number down here as well.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~burnside/Iran.htm

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/washington_quarterly/v023/23.2smith.html

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&an=6FP1540659456

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=13970218

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=11122114

Title: Feminist review. Publisher: [London : Feminist Review, c1979- Description: v. : ill. ; 25 cm. Frequency: Three times a year Database: University of Kentucky Libraries Location: Young Periodicals (2nd & 3rd floors) Call Number: HQ1154 .F4465

The details, sadly, are ones Ezat Mossallanejad has heard before.
For years, he has listened to descriptions of rape, broken bones, ripped flesh and other sordid details of pain endured by survivors of the Iranian prison where Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi was brutally tortured before she died in 2003.
As a settlement councillor for the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture in Toronto, the 59-year-old has gently welcomed these former detainees of Evin prison to Canada where they've sought refuge. He has also welcomed them here as a survivor himself.
"For 24 hours I passed blood instead of urine. The flesh came off the soles of my feet. Now, after so many years, when I go to sleep, I still see the gallows and imagine that torture," he said yesterday.
Mossallanejad was a human rights activist in his birth country of Iran and imprisoned in Evin for four years. That was in the late-1970s, during the repressive regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlevi. In 1979, when the Shah was forced into exile, people ran to Evin, the foremost symbol of repression and threw open the gates to release the political prisoners. The celebrations, however, were short-lived and once the war with Iraq began and the Islamic Republic began enforcing strict laws, again the prison filled.
"I've been told by prisoners who were in Evin both before, and after, that compared to the time of the Shah, it's now like hell," he said.
Last year, 76 Iranian victims of torture came to Mossallanejad's centre for help. Twenty-six were children.
Mossallanejad vividly remembers the story of one recent prisoner. Aside from the physical torture he endured, he underwent four "mock executions," where guards would blindfold him and then fire their guns in the air. Female prisoners are often raped before being executed, due to the guards' belief that virgins will go to heaven, he said.
Marina Nemat recently decided to break her 20-year silence and describe her years as a teenage prisoner at the notorious jail. Nemat, who now lives in Aurora with her two sons and husband, is writing a book about her time at Evin, where she was held for her student activism.
"Zahra Kazemi is just one person, one person. Because she was Canadian this is why the world suddenly knows, but there are so many, many, many, many thousands from there, some who have died, some who have survived," Nemat said.
"Today, it's still happening."
http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&an=6FP1540659456

~Megan~

Favorite Book This Summer

2005-07-28T16:55:00.000-05:00

This has been my favorite book of this summer. It has been the most eloquently written, rivoting and catching. The momoir is about these women who were not only strong enoung but smart enough to quietly rebel against an oppressive society. This book relates to us the importance of always maintaining your integrity as an intellectual, and to never let politics/religion sever you from what you feel should be known, shared and pursued.

The first section that stuck out to me was on page 13, when we find out about teh past of Mashid. The author notes that she never really speaks about or relates her experiences as a prisoner to the other women, but that whatever has happened had caused her to sustain kidney damage. This remindly me very strongly of the all the soliders, especially Emmett, we've been reading abot and their inability to communicate the singular disasters which had found them. It seems like a universal constant now, that people can't share such drastic experiences, can't put them into words, because they simply can't.

Pages 210-211 are also disturbing, mainly because I could see myself sharing in the "mirth" of these girls as they mocked one of the martyrs for the cause they all disdained. I also think it's interesting that the women were told to cover themselves and be good and as a reward they would be given many of the naughty things they were denied in this life in the next. It seems to be like that for the men. "Abstain now and you get it when you're dead." THat seemed to be the message of the religion teacher, which I foudn ot be contradictory. But I suppose this self-contradiction was one reson why the girls found little stock in the religious regime?

Secret Window

2005-07-28T16:21:00.000-05:00

Azar Nafisi states categorically in her memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran, and in her lectures and discussions with students, “do not, under any circumstances, belittle a work of fiction by trying to turn it into a carbon copy of real life” (3). Instead she encourages her readers and her students to find “in fiction…not so much reality but the epiphany of truth” (3). What a wonderful statement this is...“epiphany of truth” (3). Avid readers cite exactly this phenomenon, albeit not often so eloquently, as the reason the written work is chosen over other forms of media (e.g. film, audio). Written fiction allows for the perusal, in leisurely fashion, of the elements of reality and, subsequently, establishes a reaction that is often more universal, more true, than would be available to an individual reacting to a “real-life” event. The created universe(s) of literature allow exploration of possibilities often denied or avoided in actuality. Invention permits exploration and evaluation of unpleasantries or societal taboos, (grief, criminal activity, lust, forbidden passion) without the consequences of true action. Fiction can also allow the imbiber to re-create, by picking up a book, a pleasant experience again and again. Fiction allows the reader (and the author) to live life at a controlled rate of impact. This is not to imply that readers are timid, but instead wish to measure and contemplate each nuance of discovery.

In a society of oppression and suppression by a hard-line conservative Islamic theocracy, the women of Nafisi’s narrative find solace and illumination in the western fiction. Ironically, the works chosen by the group are works that occupy some position of notoriety, even in the United States. Lolita, Madame Bovary, Daisy Miller, and even Scheherazade and her Arabian Nights have consistently met with controversy and censorship throughout recent history because each worl elucidates the tale of a women acting outside of “normal” societal expectations. It is fitting on several levels that these novels, tarnished as they are by the reactions they generate in conservative society, would serve as the route of escape and rebellion for Nafisi and her students. For Nafisi and her students the act of reading the works is rebellious and the choice of literature thrilling in its prohibition, but also exactly what these young Iranian women wish to explore and experience, even if only vicariously.

Reading Lolita In Tehran

2005-07-28T16:15:00.000-05:00

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi is about the way that women were supressed during the revolutionary times in Iran. nafisi talks about the study sessions that she has with the students from the university. Through the readings the the women get back some of the power that they have lost because of all the rulings and regulations that were put on the country by the Government. The women get a chance to explore different worlds through these fictionary books. By having this study group thay are silently protesting against the restrictions that have been put by them. It is not only the veils that might seem restrictve but it is also the movies that they are not allowed to see and the books that they are not allowed to read.

Nafisi shows us that how much power does fiction have. Fiction can help us learn new ecperiences and fiction can help us go through some of the emotions that we do not know how do handle. In the Lolita part Nafisi writes how Nassrin, one of her students, stayed one day after the class and she calmly said that her uncle had "had sexually abused her when she was bearly eleven years old"(48). Reading Lolita had helped Nassrin to confront the actions that her uncle had done to her.

I have enjoyed reading this book because I have always found Islam interesting. I have always been very curious to understand how the Muslim women feel about wearing their veils. From this book I have learned that when something is forced upon you it changes the meaning of it. In this case when the women were forced to wear the veils because of the revolution many of the women felt that their rights had been taken away. There also are women who would have been wearing the veils in the traditional way anyway, but the new rules gave nobody a chance to choose. As a western liberal person I could never live that way and that is why it is so important for me to understand the situation in which these women are living. reading this book makes me appreciate the rights I have as a woman, even the right of reading a book, which we all propably take for granted ,feels special.

Reading Lolita

2005-07-28T16:13:00.000-05:00

I am enjoying book Reading Lolita in Tehran. Because I have an interest in middle eastern culture, I eagerly was looking forward to reading the book. I do think that though Azar Nafisi has excellent writing ability, I do have a hard time following the characters because of their non-western names. They are confusing and I have a hard time remembering who is who. I also have a hard time understanding the literature that she is talking about because I am unfamiliar with the titles and have not read them myself.
I think that the title is very fitting for the book being that Lolita, the novel, is about a young girl who is held as a sexual slave by an older male.
I think that the women in Iran can easily relate to Lolita being that they are in a sense trapped in a male dominated society. Women are for sexual purposes only. To please the man and nothing else. Yassi describes this by saying that “a man has his special needs” (30).
It amazes me that women have no sexual or personal freedom whatsoever. Women are not to be seen in public without being guarded by their veil and they are “not allowed ot meet any younger men on [their] own” (32). Women are not allowed to show their individualistic beauty and talent because of the strict rules of the veil. It is proclaimed by man’s law and Iranian law that “veiling is a woman’s protection… the slogan is a charcoal drawing of a woman: her face is featureless and framed by a dark chador” (27). This shows that women are being erased from all beauty and uniqueness to a pale and boring figure. They are unable to feel comfortable and beautiful in their own skin because they are forced to cover it up. Their society also sees women as a sexual temptation. It is quoted “My sister, guard your veil, my brother, guard your eyes” (27) indicating that women are seen as sexual. It is believed that women should be only for their husband’s pleasure only. More proof that men want to remain in control and powerful… being possessive of their women as only theirs. It brings them a feeling of power and control knowing that only they can hold onto and enjoy what is seen as “ their treasure.”
The author is even aware of the girls lack of interest in themselves. When she gives them a questionnaire the girls respond with answers that not reflect their personal opinion, but rather “ dull [answers]… what was expected of them” (38). She realizes that there is no individualistic beauty being exercised amongst these girls she instead “observes that they have no clear image of themselves; they can only see and shape themselves through other people’s eyes” (38). Iranian society being projected in this novel claims that women have it in their “best interest to not be seen, not be heard or noticed” (26).
Personally, I think it’s a tragedy that women are unable to exercise their own rights and live the life that I and other western women are fortunate to have. But I also have to remind myself that this is someone’s culture, and though not everyone agrees with it, we must remember to keep our value systems and western ideas away from what some people see as a religious upbringing. Regardless, I still feel bad for these particular women because for example the author viewed the change in her society and was instead born into a society where women were allowed to work and hold independence, she had these rights taken away from her which is a big affect compared to those who were born into the system and in a sense not know any better.

lolita

2005-07-28T15:56:00.000-05:00

I think the most difficult thing in reading this book is being able to understand that frame of mind. I cannot empathize with their situation. I can say I’ve experienced minimal conflict with my gender, but I have experienced some conflict, nothing like their lives. It’s actually really frustrating for me to read this…it makes you want to scream how ridiculous some of the situations are. They actually had a trial about The Great Gatsby. To think that this novel is required reading in high school..and that in another culture it’s banned. The things the women are punished for are so common or trivial in Western culture I honestly had to keep reminding myself to keep an open mind. I had to respect the silent rebellionThe Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby, because I don’t know if I would be able to do something like that.

Reading Lolita In Tehran

2005-07-28T15:34:00.000-05:00

So far I have enjoyed reading this book. It makes me appreciate where I am from. I find the women in the book so interesting, especially during the trial of Gatsby - the women seemed so empowered. It was great to see the women and men of the classroom have a heated debate of morality, ethics, and government. There were still the students who were to shy and/or scared to speak up and offer their option, but many seemed to be in favor of Zarrin's opinion. Then immediately after their in-class court trial in chapter 23 we skipped to the university being shut down and the purging of uncooperative faculty and students.
I find it hard to beleive that these students were even able to read these novels in the Islamic Republic of Iran and that Nafisi was able to get away with walking the streets with an American reporter during the Cultural Revoltion.

Reading Lolita

2005-07-28T14:47:00.000-05:00

On first impression, I thought that this book would be more literal than the others we've read. I thought it would have less symbolism and the author would present a picture of what life was like, exactly as it was. Then I wondered how she could remember every detail exactly as it was vividly enough to fill a book. I like that she admits to incorporating fiction with real events. I think fiction always points to something real that's happening behind it, and is sometimes a way of expressing truth more powerfully. I have also noticed subtle symbolism in this book. Each of the girls in the discussion group represents their way of life and thinking; they all personify different philosophies, from conservative to liberal, and in between.

Never having been outside of "Western civilization" has proven to be a handicap as I have read this book. When the author talks about the mountains and the cities, I cannot picture them. Though I have never been to France either, it was easier for me to imagine the scenery of Paris as I read "The War." To me, mention of middle eastern countries conjures up images of desolate deserts and camels, though this is obviously not entirely the case. I have also had a bit of trouble with the names, since they are nothing like ours. I've been confused about the gender of the people the author talks about, so I've had to pay close attention to this.

This book has brought up a lot of questions in my mind. I have wondered throughout about the treatment of American visitors, especially women, to Iran. I've wondered exactly how Westernized Iran became before the revolution. It seems as if nobody in the book can avoid Western culture, no matter how much they try. Even the man who wants Gatsby banned makes references to Perry Mason. With this, I am not trying to say that Iran's, or any other country's culture should be saturated with American culture, but it is inevitable that other cultures will be influenced.

Reading Lolita in Tehran

2005-07-28T14:43:00.000-05:00

When I first started this book, it was rather difficult for me to gain an immediate interest in it just for the simple fact that there were so many references to books I haven't read. Nafisi's descriptions, however, were interesting to me which is why I wanted to continue to read. In the beginning of the novel it was so interesting the many different stories being told. There was stories of Nafisi's past and descriptions of each of the girls, as well as references to how women were now being treated in Iran, post culture revolutionary war. One thing that stood out to me the most in the first section was some of the things these women were getting punished for, such as the instance were one of the girls was punished for wearing pink socks. Those pink socks were considered to be seductive and also the story of how one of the girls was eating an apple was also considered to be done in a seductive manner. It was in reading these stories that I realized how much I didn't know much of anything about Iranian culture and as I read on about the Revolution and the war, once again I felt so oblivious to their culture.

I must say that so far my favorite section is "Gatsby" because I ascertained so much knew information about Iran and the war between them and Iraq. I especially enjoyed the scene where they have a trial about the novel The Great Gatsby that Nafisi was teaching to her class. It seemed so ridiculous to me that Mr. Bahari was trying to oppose this novel just for the fact that it spoke about the immorality of American culture. I definitley agreed with Zarrin that the book should be taken as fiction and simply used to learn about American culutre. It is not to be taken literal and applied to one's everyday life.

The main themes I was arriving at were mostly the rebellion of the students and how their rebellion was affecting the Iranian culture. The Universities were becoming places for protests among the Muslim Student Organization and the other students who opposed the nation becoming Islamic. I did find it interesting that when those two organizations were blaming each other for the future closing of Universities, that Nafisi said that they would both be to blame when the fall of the Universities came. I am excited to read the end of the novel and I am anxious to learn more about the experiences of those women especially and what they went through in that war and after it. It is scary however, when thinking that something similar to this story could very well occur in the United States. Nafisi even said she never thought that the government would ever come to forcing the women into veils, but even to her astonishment it did happen.

Reading Lolita In Tehran

2005-07-28T14:35:00.000-05:00

Reading this novel is a very different experience from the others. I have never read a memoir in books before and it is very interesting to see how the author sees her situation in every book she reads. It makes her seem real because everyone who reads does the same thing. Reading this book we all are connecting it to our lives in many different ways. It is also giving me a better insight in the Muslim religion, which I never knew much about.

Although I had never read Lolita or Invitation to a Beheading, the book was surprisingly easy to follow. The author really has a talent for explaining these books so the reader understands why they apply to these characters lives. The time in which they are facing is very difficult to read about, but the happiness and entertainment her students brings to her life makes this book feel almost happy, until they discuss what is going on outside their safe haven. It is really hard to say I enjoy reading this book when it is about someone else's pain, but I have, maybe it is because I am learning so much that many Americans do not know and do not know that they should know.

Reading Lolita in Terhan

2005-07-28T13:40:00.000-05:00

This book has been very difficult for me to read. It is vert frustrating to understand how a society can allow women to be so badly treated and for the women to be be left powerless to help themselves. What makes this so hard for me to read as well, is the fact that I am sort of clueless about the whole Iranian Revolution. It seems that is it so hard to draw a line between religious freedom and religious dictatorship, which seems to be winning the fight in Iran during this time. I have found some comfort with this book, in with the fact that some women are able to take some sort of action, even though it is not publicly, it is expressing their thoughts through great novels.
Azar Nafisi, does however paint a faily good picture of what it would like to be an Iranian women during this toublebed time period. Even though I feel that I understand how difficult it is for women in Iran, I understand that not voicing aganist it, may keep them more safe. Women in this society are better handled when they are kept slient. Women in this novel seem to have some sort of a voice when they are reading various novels in their "book club" or take the courage to verbally express themselves while taking literature classes at the University where Azar Nafisi was teaching.
I also agree with both Jake and Brandy, about how this book feels like we are simply reading about our own class and discussion. It makes it seem all the discussions more worth wild to read a book about Iranian women and that they themselves, no matter how neglacted in society and are a threat to society they appear to be. They still express the same issues that many people both men and women feel around the world, that forces us to question war, religion, government and to speak our voice no matter if it is heard by a classroom of college students or a entire nation.

Reading Reading Lolita in Tehran in Kentucky

2005-07-28T13:09:00.000-05:00

Chocolypse Now is teh funnay. That is, if you've seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Apocolypse Now.

So far, I have really enjoyed this book. It is interesting to read each of the sections and see how they further both our knowledge of the characters and our knowledege of their reactions to the books. This book is kind of a memoir about the author and her students, but it also shares the insight that they came up with regarding the books they read. In a way, this book is actng like sitting in on an english class. We are drawn in with the discussions and learn from them very similarly to how we would in a classroom setting. Ms. Nafisi's work as an english teacher is really apparent in this book.

The main point I am getting from this book is how making things such as religion and culture compulsory they are cheapened and become hated even by some of those who would otherwise have a more positive attitude toward them. This book is not so much about war like we thinko of with guns and tanks, but cultural warfare like the war on drugs. Since rea ding those books and teaching them could not happpen publicly, they were forced underground to hold their classes and to read.

Does this feel like our class discussions to anyone else?

2005-07-28T12:37:00.000-05:00

In reading Azar Nafisi's work, I was struck mainly by two major points. The first is that reading her dissection of the works by Nabokov and Fitzgerald felt just like the close reading exercises and discussions we have had for the past 7 weeks. The other point that struck me is just how little I know about Iranian culture and history.

Those points aside, I am really enjoying this book. I have had to put it down and walk away a few times just because there were moments when I was so angry at the women's treatment, and so hurt that they had to endure it. The moment that comes to mind particularly is Azar's daughter crying and scared because a classmate had fingernails that were deemed too long. The judgemental part of my screams "This is insane!" and the rational part at the same time is saying "You can't judge a culture outside of it's time and context". As much as I'm enjoying the read, I'm still conflicted on what to think. I want to cheer the women on for persevering.

Lolita

2005-07-28T08:35:00.000-05:00

My first impressions of this novel are lukewarm. The text isn't difficult to read, and I find myself following along but I seem to get lost in all the description. This text is longer than the other ones we have read, and I have to really push myself to get the readings finished. The history of what is going on in Iran is confusing, because I don't understand all of the Islam faith or really what all of the war entailed.
One issue that is raised is the freedom of choice. It isn't the point that the author hates to wear the head piece, but the point that she is forced to wear it. It reminds me of when parents force their teens to go to church. Most people at church go because they want to, and want to express their faith. When it is enforced not only does it not mean anything to the enforced but it also lessens the value of the people who are freely there. If the scarf had such a significant importance, than I would think that they would want the people who truly wanted to wear it instead of forcing those who didn't believe in it.
Another issue is gender roles. The women are continually belittled and put down by stripping them of their rights and enforcing rules on them, but the reasoning behind the laws shows the power of the women. They are feared because of the immense sexuality. But is this a problem with the women or the men who are affected by it? Like Ashley said in class the other night...can the men not control themselves enough to see a women completley covered?
Even though this text is taking a while to tackle I am enjoying seeing how the author fights her internal battles.

7/19

2005-07-19T16:45:00.000-05:00

On Boyles:

I was glad to read an article from a vet of any war that directly opposed the general theme we've been told and read that is general truth until now. I found this article to show that soldiers are individuals with individual experiences. You can't just take a few war veterans that happen to be able to write (hopefully) and cast that shadow of stereotype across teh entire population of people who have been to war. This doesn't exactly apply directly to the thesis of the paper, which I believe to be more akin to proving that people are bred to war than we would liek to believe, and that people who find themselves well adjusted to war situations shouldn't be shunned, as they do have a very well defined roll in our society.
There was one part of the article which caused a little bell to go off in teh back of my mind. He made a generalization on the cause of WW1 on page 56, column one. He said the war aws caused by the archdukes assasination. Perhaps my american history teachers were wrong, but I was taught that the assasination of Franz Ferdinand (not the scottish pop rock band) was merely the trigger, and that pressure due to political rivalries and bad international politics in the region had been building for some time. I feel the author was oversimplifying teh issue behind war so they could make a catchy phrase like "the reasons don't matter" they may not matter to us, removed from teh situation, but I refusde to believe that every human everywhere, esp teh ones in power, just sit around and wait for that spark to hit teh gunpowder.

My Lai Massacre

2005-07-19T16:30:00.000-05:00

My Lai Massacre

March 16, 1968
After the Tet Offensive
It was a massacre of Vietnamese civilians by U.S. soldiers. The South Province of Vietnam was thought to be a refuge for the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam or most commonly known as the Viet Cong (VC).
The 48th Battalion that was involved in the Tet offensive was suspected to be in My Lai.
The Charlie Company 11th Brigade was sent into My Lai. The Brigade the went in was informed that all civilians were gone. The Brigade was told to attack the enemy settlement, destroy the village, and be prepared to kill anyone they encountered.
As it turned out only women, children, and elderly men were in the village. The number killed varied between 347 and 504.
The incident was covered up. It was unknown to the American public until the Fall of 1969. Letters from a former soldier, Ron Ridenhour, to government officials as well as a very detailed story by journalist Seymour Hersh uncovered the massacre. The story ran on November 12, 1969.
After investigations only twenty-six were initially charged, fourteen officers were accused of suppressing information, five officers were court-martialed, and only one convicted, Lt. William Calley. Even though Calley claimed the Captain Ernest Medina ordered him to kill everyone in the village.
On March 29, 1971 Calley was found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The sentence was later reduced to 10 years, in 1974 the conviction was overturned and he was released.
The My Lai Massacre fueled the disdain that already existed for the war in Vietnam. Many protests were held demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The public became angry at not only the government but at the soldiers. The term “baby killers” came to light. Calley was also looked at as a dropout rushed through boot camp and the need for well trained soldiers.

The Brigade involved
C-Company 1st Platoon
William Calley - Lt who led C-Company, the only person convicted
David Mitchell - Sgt
Ronald L. Haeberle - Company Photographer
Charles Sledge - Radio Operator - testified he saw Calley purposely kill a young child
Paul Meadlo - Private First Class - testified that he was afraid of being shot, if he didn't participate
Dennis Conti - Private First Class - claimed he was originally lost, and had to find his company
James Dursi - Private First Class
Allen Boyce - Private First Class
Ronald Grzesik - Private First Class
Robert Maples - Private First Class
Varnado Simpson - Private First Class, commit suicide citing guilt over My Lai
Gary David Roschevitz - unknown
Elmer Haywood - unknown
William Lloyd - unknown
Lenny Lagunuy - unknown
Sidney Kye - unknown
Robert Bergthold - unknown
Robert Mauro - unknown
Robert Lee - unknown
Isaiah Cowan - unknown
Bruce Cox - unknown
Harry Stanley - unknown
Charles Hall - unknown
Roy Wood - unknown
Herbert Carter - unknown
David Mitchell - unknown
Gregory Olsen - unknown
Daniel Simone - unknown

Vietnam War Timeline

2005-07-19T12:58:00.000-05:00

Vietnam War Journal

1945 - French occupy Vietnam; Eisenhower arms France; Ho Chi Minh creates provisional government and declares independence of Vietnam

1946 - Indochina War begins

Vietnamese "Barefoot Army" run out of Hanoi

November - French shell Haiphong

1946 - US government recognizes Bao Dai's regime

1947 - Vietminh move north of Hanoi

1949 - NATO formed

1950 - Truman issues $10 million to Viet Nam; troops committed to Korea

Soviet Union and China recognize Ho Chi Minh's government and offer to arm it

1951- Ho Chi Minh creates Worker's Party

1953 - America funds 80% of war

1954 - U.S. bankrolls France at a tune of $2 million

Eisenhower's Domino Theory regarding Southeast Asia debuts

7 May 1954 Dien Bien Phu - French wholeheartedly defeated

21 July 1954 Geneva Accords signed--demilitarized zone at 17^th parallel

1955 - 1,000's year old Vietnam enjoys status as independent nation

Diem becomes president of this fledgling state

1956 - Southern Vietnam established

1958 - Communism defeats other -isms in Vietnam

Terrorist bombings rock Saigon's house

1959 - Weapons traverse Ho Chi Minh Trail

U.S. Soldier killed by wild guerillas

1960

8 November - Kennedy defeats Nixon for the Presidency

11 November - SVA unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow Diem

20 December - Vietcong formed

1961 John F. Kennedy sends 20,000 troops to Vietnam

March - Kennedy pushes American support for Laotian sovereignty

16 May - Laos conference on Laotian independence

October - Taylor and Rostow recommend "flood relief," AKA American combat troop intervention

1962 - by mid 1963, American advisers increase from 700 to 12,000

6 February - American Military Assistance Command formed in South Vietnam

27 February - Diem's palace bombed by 2 South Vietnamese pilots

American and Saigon governments promote strategic hamlet program

23 July Geneva Accords on Laos signed

22 August - Henry Cabot Lodge assumes ambassadorship in Saigon

1963

2 January Battle of Ap Bac--VC defeats SVA

8 May - SVA and police shoot at Buddhist demonstrators in Hue

June - Buddhist monk immolates self

22 November - Kennedy assassinated

End of year - 15,000 American military advisers in South Vietnam

1964

30 January - Gen. Nguyen Khanh seizes power in Saigon

March - McNamara visits Vietnam, pledges support to Khanh

2 June - Pentagon plans North Vietnam bombing spree

2 August - Tonkin Gulf "incident"

7 August - Congress passes Tonkin Gulf resolution; Johnson has absolute power over SE Asia

30 October - VC attack Mienhoa air base

3 November - Johnson defeats Goldwater

24 December - VC terrorists bomb American military in Saigon; Johnson refuses to raid North Vietnam

1965

4 February - VC intensifies attacks against Americans

7 February - Johnson authorizes "Flaming Dart" air raids against North Vietnam; namer of missions mocked by national satirists

24 February - Operation Rolling Thunder begins--American bombing of North Vietnam regulates

8 March - first American combat troops arrive to defend Danang airfield

7 April - Johnson offers Ho Chi Minh the chance to participates in developing Southeast Asia in exchange for peace; Minh underwhelmed

28 July - Johnson approves Westmoreland's 44 additional combat battalions

September - Mao Zedong begins Chinese Cultural Revolution

14 October - Ia Drang Valley--Americans win first big clash

December - nearly 200,000 troops in Vietnam

25 December - with tidings of goodwill Johnson attempts to negotiate with the evil Communists

1966

31 January - Johnson resumes bombing

23 May - Government troops take Danang

16 June - Governments take Hué

September - French president de Gaulle calls for American withdrawal from Vietnam

400,000 American troops in Vietnam

1967

28 January - North Vietnamese Foreign Minister Trinh says US must stop bombing before peace talks can commence

August - McNamara asserts North Vietnam bombing campaign is ineffective

September - Westmoreland optimistically fortifies Khe Sanh

29 December - Trinh again offers talk for no more bombs

500,000 American troops in Vietnam; Protests increase

1968

31 January - Tet offensive begins--NVA and VC attack South Vietnam

25 February - Delta Company takes Hué tower after 26 days of fighting

Westmoreland requests 206,000 more American troops

14 March - My Lai Massacre

25 March - "wise men" advise Johnson against further escalation

31 March - Johnson announces partial bombing halt, resigns from the presidency

4 April - MLK, Jr. assassinated

5 June - RFK assassinated

Johnson stops rolling thunder in North Vietnam

Nixon wins presidency

2 December - Kissinger chosen by Nixon as national security adviser

540,000 American troops in Vietnam at end of year

1969

January - Paris talks include Saigon government and VC representatives

18 March - Nixon secretly bombs Cambodia

"Vietnamization" AKA withdrawal of American troops

8 June - Nixon announces 25,000 more troops allowed to go back to "the world"

3 September - Ho Chi Minh dies in Hanoi

October - Jim Froula sent to Hué

15 October - Washington demonstrations

15 November - demonstrators reiterate

16 November - My Lai revealed

60,000 troops still in Vietnam

1970

20 February - Kissinger whispers in Paris with Le Duc Tho

30 April - Nixon confesses that American and SVA have attacked Communists in Cambodia

4 May - National guards viciously protect Kent State from 4 students

7 October - Nixon proposes "standstill cease-fire"

Americans set low death toll record of 24

Jim Froula returns home and briefly becomes an ex-patriot in Europe

12 November - Calley on trial for ordering My Lai Massacre

American troops down to 280,000

1971

February - SVA fight in Laos against the Ho Chi Minh Trail

29 March - Lt. Calley convicted of murder at My Lai

140,000 men left in Vietnam

1972

25 January secret rendezvous between Kissinger and the North Vietnam revealed by Nixon

NVA attacks DMZ

15 April - Nixon cashes in taxes for bombing raids near Hanoi and Haiphong

1 May - NVA capture Quangtri

8 May - American bombing in North Vietnam intensifies

17 June- Watergate--oops

8 October - Kissinger and Tho resolve some communication difficulties

7 November - Nixon re-elected

18 December - Nixon drops more bombs around Hanoi and Haiphong

1973

23 January - Kissinger and Tho reach initial peace agreement

27 January - formal cease-fire agreements formally signed in Paris, promptly broken; U.S. draft ends

29 March - "Last" American troops leave Vietnam

1 April - "Last" American POWs released in Hanoi

16 July - hearings on secret Cambodian bombings begin

14 August - U.S. officially stops bombing Cambodia

1974

January - President Thieu declares Vietnam War III

9 May - Nixon's impeachment hearings begin

9 August - Nixon resigns, Ford enters

8 September - Ford pardons Nixon for any possible federal crimes

Communists plan to fight while it's dry

1975

6 January - Communists capture Phuoc Long province

11, 15, 20, 30 March - Thieu loses Banmethuot, Camranh, Hué, Danang, respectively

30 April - The fall of Saigon

1977

21 January - draft dodgers pardoned

U.S. considers recognizing Vietnam as a country

2005

U.S. scolds Vietnam for human rights abuses

Agent Orange

2005-07-18T20:00:00.000-05:00

Agent Orange was a herbicide used in Vietnam for defoliation. It was part of a larger group of herbicides called the Rainbow herbicides. These included purple, green, pink, white, blue, orange, and orange II. The names come about from the color of the stripes used on the 55 gallon barrels to identify each herbicide. Over 19 million gallons of herbicide were used during the war and agent orange accounted for almost 12 million of these gallons. The herbicides were spread by hand spray, vehicle, and mainly by airplane. The chemicals were mixed with either kerosene or diesel fuel to help in dispersion. One of the things that makes agent orange so dangerous to humans is its content of dioxins. Dioxins are actually an unwanted byproduct of the manufacturing process but cannot be extracted. There are roughly 75 different types of dioxins and these dioxins cause a wide range of health issues. The federal government has been slow in admitting to the adverse, and deadly, health effects of agent orange and the other herbicides. The military and the manufacturers have for years claimed agent orange posed no threat to humans but the government banned the use of agent orange in the U.S. long before it began to admit that agent orange was harmful.

In Country

2005-07-18T06:19:00.000-05:00

I enjoyed this novel. I like how the author begins with the trip to the Washington Memorial and then sends you into a flashback. The flashback to me let you see why the trip was so important to all three people. (Sam, Emmett and Mamaw) Sam really wanted to know what really happened in Vietnam and I could almost respect her for wanting to be informed, but it kind of got to the point where I felt she wasn't respecting the vets either. It was like she was wanting to intrude on their most private and intimate thoughts. Sometimes you just have to let people heal completely before they even feel comfortable to share. I felt that she kind of went over the edge after reading her father's diary and reacting to Emmett the she did. "You think you can get away with everything because you're a V.N., but you can't." (207) I do not believe that Emmett was really try to get away with anything this was just the life that he was choosing to lead and that she pretty much chose to reside in by remaining in Hopewell. Then on page 208 she asks, "What would make people kill?" and wondering if she could shoot strangers. But sometimes there aren't any answers to these questions except you never know what you will do until in those certain situations. Like we discussed in class about dehumanizing the enemy, that's what made almost a heck of a lot easier for them in combat because the enemy was not human. I was also glad that they made it to the memorial and it almost felt as if Emmett finally got closure.

vietnam info

2005-07-15T12:49:00.000-05:00

http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/ViewingAmerica/

This is the website from a class I took last spring. Unit 7 and 8 (I think) are on vietnam. If you click on the roundtable and the context/lecture outlines, there are good notes and pictures. Unfortunately, you can't access the video clips without a student ID, etc which I don't have anymore. It still gives good information, even if you can't see the LBJ oval office conversation I was talking about.

Enjoy--
Anne

Women and War

2005-07-14T16:45:00.000-05:00

This book is fun and easy to read. The style is easy to foolow and very straight forwrd. Sam is likeable, but her curiosity about the war almost seems like too much. I like books that involove Kentucky a lot because I can usually say that I know where they're talking about or whatever. I just saw a really good movie the other day that was shot in lexignton and clark county called "100 Proof. Also, this book is interesting because it is a war book primairy about a person who never went to war. I am looking forward to reading the rest of this book quite a bit. Also, I am wondering now about why Sam stayed behind ith eher uncle rather than to go to lexington with her mother.

I think the main issue raised in the book is how after a war, both the veternas and those at home not fighting have to coem to terms with hwat happened. Sam cannot ever experience the war in the same way that emmett did, not only becauseshe is too young, but because she is also a girl. What didn't make sense yet is the beginning aprt of the book were they are going to washington with mammaw. She hasn't come back up yet, nor have other things in the beginning. Also, it is funny how emmett wears dresses and has a cat, but he isn't forthcoming with that information to others such as his doctor. The denial of Agent Orange effects that everyone seems to have is shocking too.

I think the main things to look for in the rest of the book are Sam's choices about her future and emmett's choices about his futer. They are both stuck living in the past. I think that Sam and Lonnie's relationship is clearly ending, and want to see what is happening next/

In Country

2005-07-14T16:28:00.000-05:00

Women and War

So far, I like this book best of all the books we've read. I feel like the generation is a lot easier to relate to and with the book being based in Kentucky, it hits a lot closer to home. I like how the intro is the trip to Washington and then we flash back to before the trip. I think that is really great way to keep the reader hanging on for more details. It's also a great way to answer the questions about the characters in the intro. The reader really gets a sense of Sam and Emmett's characters....who at the beginning were much more of a mystery. I also enjoy the random details because it paints a really vivid picture of Sam's surroundings. We know about her surroundings as far as her own home and her town.

I really enjoy finding out details about the war through Sam's character. Her fascination with Vietnam only grows stronger as the book goes on. In the beginning of chapter 13 it mentions that Sam has inherited this fascination because of her father. I think that is a big part of the reason she is so attracted to Pete....she wants to find out anything and everything about the war. Her constant worry over her uncle only seems to get worse and worse and I can't help but want to push him into a hospital. It's also refreshing to see how angry she starts to become about the war and how real Vietnam starts to become for her. I think that this book is very interesting and I'd give it to my friends to read.

Blog 7/14

2005-07-14T16:21:00.000-05:00

First, I'd like to mention that I was interested in The War's comparrison of the German Nazi's to the Huns. This is teh second time we've seen this comparrison, and in two different wars. I'd never heard of such a thing, but was this some sort of stereotype or something?

As to the paper, several of Ehrenreich's allusions reminded me of mildly alarming aspects of the war in iraq. Her reference to the "war religion" made me think of America's involvement as a "christian nation" and the presidents Christian presentation of a country containing a significant amounf of non-Christians.
The line about the keeping of trophies and the chieftain reminded me of Heart of Darkness/Apocolypse Now and also of Bush's keeping Hussein's (spelling? lol) pistol as a trophy-esque prize.
Although I wuldn't have said "angels" opposed to beasts on page 46, I appreciate what she was tryign to say. I hadn't thought of the possibility that perhaps we idealize and give War the righteous face we do to make ourselves feel more justified on the inside.
Very generally,I would say the author is anti-war, but I'd also say she doesn't appreciate the idealogies that, even though they may be unrelated, usually lead people to war. These can be, for example, religion or "rite of passage" rituals.

I appreciated the character lexicon and dialogue in In Country. "Mamaw" really is a term for grandmom where I come from. I had a mamaw and papaw. I noticed that again, as it was in a couple of our other books, the topic of war is not immediately introduced, nor are we slammed in face by it in suc han obvious wy that, without looking at the cover or knowing teh title of the book, we can say by page 14 ( where I think the first most direct reference is made) "Oh, this is a book about people dealing with the events of war, specifically Vietnam." Mason has tact in introduing her characters and plot.

in country

2005-07-14T16:18:00.000-05:00

This is a much easier read and the fact that it is based in Kentucky is very intriguing. I like that it is a quest to discover her father and uncle. She doesn’t have direct experience, but it really doesn’t take away from the experience. Her struggle is not only with her lost father and uncle, but with the history of the War and why and how of the War. It makes it more unique to me. In Emmett you can really see how Mason pulls in the emotional and psychological effects of war. Not to mention the health issues with Agent Orange and her constant caring for her uncle. Why can’t Emmett lead a normal life, why can’t he move on? It is more of searching for why the war was fought novel then an explanation novel.

In Country

2005-07-14T15:54:00.000-05:00

I like this book a lot better. For one it’s easier to read, for another its kind of neat that its based in Kentucky. I enjoy the characters and feel that the topic this book bases itself on (the Vietnam war) is interesting and somewhat relevant to our society today considering there are more Vietnam veterans around today than those from world war II and back. The area that this book focuses on with its war veterans is the post war phase where the soldiers are at home and have been home for quite some time. Emmett, seems to represent the typical soldier that came back from the Vietnam war a changed man. Many of the vets have a hard time adjusting to life as it was before the war and often are psychologically and physically changed forever. Of course Sam realizes that “not every soldier came back from Vietnam was as weird as Emmett. She knew of veterans- relatives and classmates- who had adjusted perfectly well. They had nice houses and kids” (46)
Emmett seems to struggle with identity issues as well as developed a very negative attitude about society and life. He does not feel he needs a job because and seems to find little enjoyment in life that he sits around his living room watching MASH and other television shows. Emmett also seems to take life very slowly, he often focuses on anything and gets very absorbed in it whether it be “a rosebush, a stop sign, an ordinary bird, or even a circular from Kroger’s” (50) and look at it like it was “the most fascinating thing on earth” (50).
Sam, Emmett’s niece is another vibrant character who basically narrates the book. She depicts the typical teenager from a small town with not much to do. She takes care of Emmett and is constantly obsessing over the fact that he might have Agent Orange (a chemical disease that the US government seems to deny) Sam is also very interested in Vietnam and what happened in the war. She often asks Emmett what it was like and what it Vietnam looked like. She wants to “encourage him to talk more about the war, the way he used to when she was little” (45). Sam begins to hang out with some of Emmett’s veteran buddies and she asks them similar questions about the experience and Agent Orange. Sam meets one of the vets whose name is Tom. She asks him what war was like and he explains that “its hard to talk about…they don’t want to dump all this stuff on you” (95). Pete another one of Emmett’s veteran friends advises her that she “might as well stop asking questions about the war. Nobody gives a shit” (79).
There are many psychological battles described within the veterans themselves. Tom often says he will go out on his dirt bike to think of the memories because people in the city “”have it all twisted around in their heads what it (the war) was about, so they can live with it and not think about it” (79). Tom also has an issue with sexual itineraries because his “mind gets in the way. It takes (him) where (he) do[es not] want to go” (128).
Emmett also suffers many psychological problems. It does not go into great detail (yet) in the book but there are many scenes where Emmett jumps at loud noises or thunder in which Sam and others dismiss it as heartburn. When a “loud thunderclap made the light flicker. Emmett suddenly bent over and clutched his chest… thunder crashed again, and Emmett cringed” (31). Perhaps later in the book it will go into detail of it but if it does not I assume that this is Emmett having a reaction or a flashback from the war. The loud noises and the sirens remind him of being on alert at all times and always ready for danger.
The vets are in a way shunned if not forgotten by the local community. I thought it was sad when I read about Jim’s party and his disappointment that not very many people showed up. Sam sees Jim who crying and he tells her “people don’t really care. Why didn’t more come? Why didn’t they dance? People don’t really care about people” (123).
I thought this was really sad and I felt bad for Jim who had just lost his wife because she left to take a job in Lexington.
I feel like this book does an excellent job so far with painting the realistic situations that many Vietnam veterans faced when they came back from war. Tom explains to Sam that “there’s not a day goes by that I don’t think about my buddies that didn’t back. They’re with me, in odd moments, like when I take a shower, or when I’m driving around. Memories come back to me, memories that had escaped for a while” (78).

"In Country"

2005-07-14T15:48:00.000-05:00

I find "In Country" to be a good book but not my favorite. I think part of it is because it is like looking back on my teenage years. They writing style is nice, in that it makes it easy to read and follow. The characters seem to be straight out of my family. I have been thinking more about the class conversation on education from tuesday. I have been out of the school system for a few years now and was quite suprised to hear the rules and regulations they are putting on public schools. It seems that they are becoming much more materialistic in what they expect and how they are chosinig to deliver the education. It will be interesting to see how the change in the public schools will change the way public universities are forced to change their curriculum and delivery method.

"In Country" 1-16

2005-07-14T15:20:00.000-05:00

In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason is a novel about a girl called Sam who is trying to find out what the Vietnam War was all about. Sam lost her father in the VIetnam War and she has a lot of people around her who have been in the war and they have been affected by the war. Sam has a lot of questions but has not found all the answers yet. The closest living person that Sam has, who has been to the Vietnam War, is Emmett. Sam has so many questions to ask from Emmett but she is afraid to talk about the war because she thinks that if she would ask something Emmett might "snap". Sam is also worried about emmett because she thinks that Emmett has the symptoms of "agent orange"(77), which would mean that he was predesposed to some chemicals during the war. Emmett has acne on his face, which has not gotten better and he also has headaches every now and then. They went to see a doctor and the doctor said that it probaply is only allergies. Emmett felt humiliated when he asked if he could have the "agent orange" because the doctor laughed at him.

The novel shows us that the Vietnam veterans were not that celebrated. The Veterans were not proud of the war that they had been part of. We can get an idea of regret when Sam recalls what Emmett had told her about the war :"Emmett said they were embarrassed that they were still alive"(67). The veterans had hard time to became part of the"normal" society again. As we learn from Emmetts case it is really hard for the veterans to even go to that doctors office and say that there is something wrong with them because of the war. People do not want to talk about the war that much, Vietnam is a taboo in this book. People do not start to discuss about the Vietnam war unless somebody raises a question, and even in this case the veterans might not want to talk about it.

I found this book very easy to read and follow. It is interesting to see how the war raises questions on a person who has not been to the war herself. The war influences everybody, it does not matter if you have actually been to the war or not. Samantha lost her father in the war right before she was born and she knows nothing about her dad. War is a part of her identity not because she has been to the war, but because the war has taken something dear away from her.
I am curious to find out what happens in the rest of the book, wether emmett starts talking more about the Vietnam war and why is he so obsessed with this one bird. It will be interesting to see the things that Sam will find about her father and wether she will get married with Lonnie or not. I like this book so far.

In Country Part 1

2005-07-14T15:06:00.000-05:00

This book entitled In country, I find that it is an easier read than most of the books we have read so far. I have enjoyed the story and find it amusing to be set in Kentucky as well as mentioning colleges such as UK and Murray. I find myself to be very interested in the lives of all the characters wondering way Irene would leave her only child of her husband that died in the war to live with her uncle, Emmett. I wonder if Sam will actually go to college and if she does will she move back in with her mom in Lexington. I don't think that she would be happy living with her mom because they are so different. Although they both have wanted to take care of Emmett after the war but when Irene couldn't handled it anymore she left with her new husband and left her daughter as well to live with him. As I read this book I wonder what they are doing in the beginning when they are all in Lexington and I also wonder what Mamaw's character comes to play as well as what happens to both Sam and Emmett.
I wasn't surprised to see Sam interested in Tom, one of the war vets, but I don't know what is to happen with this relationship. I believe that it is just an idea that nothing will ever really happen, and the fact that he experienced war and knew her father interest her. What will happen to her relationship with Lonnie? I don't think that they will end up together simply because they are so young and she is just decovering who she really is. Will Emmett and Anaita become a couple? This is something I will look forward to finding out as I continue to read as well as will Emmett ever find true happiness. I wonder what is really going on with his headaches and acne...does he really have Agent Orange and what are the effects of it?
I was suprised to see how people viewed the Vietnam War Veterans. They were just people who shouldn't have fouight and it just ended up ruining their lives. If theylived. they lived knowing that they survived and their friends died. I feel as though it is so sad, knowing that Vietnams Vets weren't praised for their service and it was quite the opposite.
I don't know what direction this book is planning on going and am interested in reading further, and the discussion in class.

Responsibility, Once-Removed

2005-07-14T14:57:00.000-05:00

Unlike the traditional war novel detailing the direct personal experiences of a soldier or one awaiting a soldier's return, Bobbie Ann Mason's novel In Country provides an oblique view of the Vietnam War through a spectator removed from the War by one generation. In addition to her status as an observer, the primary lens for the story, Sam, contrasts with the typical war novel protagonist in a variety of wars, including her age and her gender. Sam's preoccupation with the Vietnam War reveals not only her curiosity about the concrete experience of the war, but also, and perhaps more significantly, her obessive desire to understand the social and psychological effects of the conflict, as felt by the participants, both at home and "in country."

Sam admits to becoming disenchanted with the idea of understanding the politics behind the war and states "All the names ran together. Ngo Dinh Diem. Bao Dai. Dien Bien Phu. Ho Chi Minh. She got bogged down in manifestos and State Department documents" (55). She continues to seek, however, throughout the novel to understand the specific War experience and how it has effected and changed her uncle, Emmett, and to relate Emmett's experiences to her image of her father, a casualty of the War and a total stranger to Sam.

Emmett serves as an archetype of the soldier unable to re-acclimate to society after the experience of war. Sam "realize(s) that not every soldier who came back from Vietnam was as weird as Emmett" (46), but ultimately understands that something fundamental is altered for individuals who have direct experience with war. Sam worries about the far-reaching implications, both physical and psychological, signified by exposure to war and its trappings. She worries about Agent Orange, as a symbol of the physical devastation of war, and also about a more elementary problem that she articulates only as the manner in which Emmett's life has been "messed up" (71). Sam's quest to understand and reconcile her feelings about a war that occurred predominately prior to her birth, illustrates that one need not have a political or patriotic stake in a conflict to become burdened by the consequences thereof. Sam says "My mom said not to worry about what happened...because the war had nothing to do with me. But the way I look at it, it had everything to do with me" (71).

Sam tries to resolve her feelings about accountability for the War and struggles with interpretations of how that responsibility applies to her country, her family and her self. Mason's creation of a contemporary, and intriguingly local, view of the Vietnam War from the eyes of an outsider brings to the forefront questions regarding the ethics, sacrifice and cost of war, leaving the reader to wonder, along with Sam, if armed conflict in a technological age is ever an appropriate solution to political, cultural and social disagreement.

In Country

2005-07-14T14:47:00.000-05:00

In Country has been an easy read so far. The author has written this story in a more simple style making it easier to follow versus Mrs. Dalloway and The War. Bobbie Ann Mason writes so decriptively you can almost envision the poverty in which Sam and Emmett live. Also, due to Mason's writing, I find myself just as fascinated as Sam is to find out more about her father and Vietnam.

In part I Sam, Emmett, and her grandmother are staying at the Holiday Inn and Sam is so impressed with the room. She talks about the 'luxurious shag carpet' the 'blues and greens' she goes on to say that "the bathroom is yellow tile, and it is very clean. The air conditioner doesn't drip water on the curtains. The commode doesn't overflow" (19). It seems that Sam likes pretty things but she can only relate to the dilapidated home she has shared with Emmett. Sam was very enamored by Lonnies parents home, their bedspread which they didn't use and the 'frilly pink bathroom'. Sam also liked Emmett's old girlfriend Anita. Sam adored Anita, the way she dressed and the decor of her house. Sam and Emmett were impressed that Anita looked like a "flamingo" the night Emmett cooked lasagna. It is funny however that Sam did not want to live with her mother who had a nice home.

Sam was raised without a father or a real father figure decides to stay and live with her veteran uncle, Emmett, versus living with her mother. He and his broken veteran friends provide the only type of father figure Sam has ever known. She seems to take on part of the burden that the veterans carry. Sam acts like a veteran in that she makes no plans for her future and is always talking about escape - running, wanting a car, and listening to records, and her talk of running off to Disney World.

In Country : Through ch.16

2005-07-14T14:42:00.000-05:00

In Country reminds me of The War because it is written in parts that are not in chronological order. I had all these questions about what had happened in Sam's past and Emmett's past after reading the first part, but I thought that the novel was about something different. It was interesting to see that in the second part Mason went back and explained Sam's and Emmett's history. The use of popular culture throughout this novel is overwhelming. First of all the car wasn't just a car, it was important that it was a VW beetle. They stayed at the Howard Johnson Hotel, drank cokes and pepsi's, ate at Mc. Donalds. There was just too much of it to mention. Sam's obsession with Vietnam is understandable and it is important for her, I think, to somehow get closure on the whole idea of the war and her father's death. She is desperate to find a reason for Emmett's pimples on his face (Agent Orange) and for his inability to socialize "normally" with other people, especially women. Although the novel shows us a lot of the difficulties the vets have after experiencing the Vietnam war it really shows how it can affect a female and a child. A child that wasn't even alive during the war,Sam, is affected over and over again because of it. Her father was killed in the war and the uncle she currently lives with is a living memory of it. It seems that if her uncle was a different man, a man that either did not go to the Vietnam war or dealt with his past in the war better, that she would not be where she is now. She would be in college somewhere doing something with her life. But Sam feels guilty about the war and she will not leave her uncle's side while it seems like he needs her. This feeling of obligation will keep her from being successful and she does not seem to worry about that, she only worries about her uncle. I don't know what to think of her crush on Tom, one of Emmett's Vet buddies, other than it is just an extension of her preoccupation with the war. I am interested to see what happens with Sam and with Emmett in the next half of the book.

First part of In country

2005-07-14T14:35:00.000-05:00

In starting this book I found it to be a very easy read compared to the rest of the books we have read so far. I really enjoyed how most of the story was told through conversation among characters. This made it easier for me to catch on to what was being said and also the minimal reflections from the characters helped with my comprehension of the text. As far as the characters are concerned I almost immediately picked up on the fact that Emmett was not going to be a normal person and come to find out his abnormality is due to the Vietnam war. I also noticed how Sam was going to play out to be this caring girl who takes care of her uncle. There were many times that I found Sam's bluntness to be amusing, especially when she was talking about Emmett's gas and acne problems. There were a couple of times where I was a little grossed out because of Sam's descriptions of Emett's pimples. Overall I am quite interested in this story and it is interesting how it seems to be taking place somewhere close to Lexington, KY considering the many references to Lexington and also to the western part of the state, like Paducah and Kentucky Lake. That makes it especially interesting to me because I have family that lives in Paducah and I myself am from western Kentucky.

One of the main themes I saw in the first part of this novel was that of Sam's concern with Agent Orange and if Emmett is a victim of it. It is obvious that this town didn't treat the Veterans as bad as some towns did, but it is also evident that they aren't looked at as normal people anymore. They seem to be the outcasts of the town and the towns people let them live their lives on their own without too much questioning. Relationships also play a big role in the first part of the book. Anita and Emmett seem to be on the track to getting back together and Sam and Lonnie's relationship seems as if it isn't going to last much longer. I am especially curious to see if anything will happen between Sam and Tom at the dance. It seemed liked Mason was foreshadowing something happening between Sam and Tom when he told her she was cute in the courthouse. I also found it interesting how concerned Sam is with the war and how determined she is to know more about it. However, the more determined she comes and the more questions she asks, the more people tell her that it was in the past and has nothing to do with her. I hope as I read on some more information will be revealed about Emmett's case along with the other veterans that are discussed in the novel.

I look forward to reading the end of the book to see if Sam ends up going to school, how Dawn's pregnancy turns out, if Emmett and Anita will get together, and especially what will happen with Sam and Lonnie's relationship. I also hope the beginning of the novel about the trip Sam, Emmett, and Sam's grandmother are taking will end up being finished. Needless to say I am very curious about how many things are going to play out in the story so I am very anxious to get to the end.

Simone de Beauvoir's Article

2005-07-14T13:54:00.000-05:00

Before reading this article, I didn't know much about what really happened in the war with Vietnam. I knew about the protests and the draft, but nothing about events that took place outside the U.S. All the information I've ever known about the war was very vague, completely omitting the torture of the Vietnamese by U.S. soldiers. This is a web site that describes the injustices committed by Americans in Vietnam: http://g0lem.net/PhpWiki/index.php/VietnamAtrocities

This is a detailed timeline of all the events leading up to and during the war: http://www.landscaper.net/timelin.htm
This web page includes details of Americans taking their own lives in protest of the war. They used methods like setting themselves on fire in public places to capture the attention of the general public and the government. Four college students also died in a protest at Kent State College in Ohio. The web page also contains statistics about the war, which are as follows:

Longest war in US history (11 years)
"War" was never officially declared by the United States
A Cornell University study placed the over-all total U.S. cost of the Vietnam war at $200 Billion
Total U.S. bomb tonnage dropped during: World War II = 2,057,244 tons Vietnam War = 7,078,032 tons (3-1/2 times WWII tonnage)
Bomb tonnage dropped during the Vietnam War amounted to1,000 lbs. for every man, woman and child in Vietnam.
An estimated 70,000 draft evaders and "dodgers" were livingin Canada by 1972.
An estimated 3 million people were killed by the war,and over 1 million were wounded.

In Country

2005-07-14T13:41:00.000-05:00

So far with this book, I have been enjoying the life of Emmett and Sam. I feel like this book really touches on what it would be like to come back a veteran of the Vietnam war and what it is like to live with a family member that experienced terrible things in the war. What makes this book unique to me, is that it gives the reader of the perspective of what it is like to try and understand what happens to many members of a family with a Vietnam vet, and how they are all affected by his return. Another great aspect of this book, is the issue of addressing the needs of the generation that was born during the war and was really to young to fully understand it, but cannot get any form of understanding from anyone who did fight in the Vietnam war. This I feel is the notion that most people that are of my generation and age, can most easily understand, we were born after this war happened and what went on, but no one can talk about what happened and try and explain the issues to us.
Sam as we know is trying to figure out who she is and what she wants to do with herself, she is caught between pleasing her mother, and according to her, not wasting away her life, and helping Emmett. This is the most interesting aspect of the book to me. She is caught between two worlds. One that could open the doors of possibility to her, by leaving Emmett and attending UK, while the other would force her to open doors that have remained shut for several years now, that could change her life in a way she never expected and better the life for her Uncle.
I am very interested in seeing how this book turns out and what Sam chooses to do. She is a girl that understands that it takes time and a lot of questions to sometimes find a simple truth, but that simple truth could open up all the doors for her and Emmett and their lives will never be the same.

in country

2005-07-14T13:34:00.000-05:00

I am enjoying this book, although I think it is mainly because it is so light and easy to read. I enjoy the story aspect more than the intellectual side of Mason's writing. There are very few literary elements, or structural, which interest me. The sentences are simple, and the story is fairly basic.

However, I do enjoy Mason's version of survivor guilt. Like we have seen in other novels, Emmett suffers from guilt, feeling that he should have died instead of his comrades. This is reflected in his unwillingness to speak of the war, seek treatment for his medical problems, and especially, his depriving himself of pleasure by breaking up with Anita. Emmett seems to think that he does not deserve to be happy. Instead of trying to overcome his guilt, Emmett surrounds himself with fellow Vietnam vets. Their group understands that none of them feels like a normal American, but they allow each other to feel comfortable without moving on. They separate themselves from the rest of their society.

In Country

2005-07-14T12:38:00.000-05:00

Coming into the class, I had already read IN COuntry. It's difficult to remember my initial impressions from 4 years ago, but I know that I read it for fun, and rather liked it.

In reading In Country, I was intrigued by the perspective of someone who was searching for something that was not possible to find. With Sam, it's not so much that she's searching for her father; instead, she is searching to find a way to differentiate herself from her mother. Sam is 16, trying to separate herself from her childhood and stumble into her adulthood. However, the gaps left by a father that she never had the chance to know are shaping a paranoia that is manifest in her relationship with Emmett. Emmett has never been able to let go of his trauma from VIetnam. Tom, Emmett's friend, represents an interesting paradox in relation to Sam. Not only does he represent a father-figure to Sam, but there is also a carnal aspect to her fascination with him.

In Country represents to me an idea that those of my generation and forward did not hear much about. While we are familiar with Vietnam, the vets, and the era, we are not shown 10-15 years later what happened to all of the families and children whose parents didn't come back. Bobbie Ann Mason does a wonderful job showing a section of local life reacting to the lingering memories of a father, brother, husband, and war that still affects people today.

In Country Part 1

2005-07-13T21:02:00.000-05:00

My first impression of this text is that I really enjoy it. From the beginning I am hooked into the text and the characters, especially Sam and Emmett. The style of this book is easy to follow, and although it is longer than the other novels we have read, I find the reading going faster.
One issue in the text is that of the effect of the war on the veterans. There is first of all Emmett, who is portrayed as the "weird" uncle from the beginning, and the various other veteran characters. ALthough they have all handled their return into society differently, they are all somewhat changed from the war. The effects range from not being in a relationships, not holding a job, wives leaving them, and just being seen as different to the community. The troubling part is that society doesn't hold any pity for these men, and they aren't seen as great soldiers, but weirdos who refuse to become a part of society again.
Another issue is Sam's obsession of finding out about the war. Part of the intrigue comes from the death of her father, and also the effects of her uncle. SHe strives throughout the entire novel to link herself to the war, to understand what the soldiers went through, to picture the place in her mind, and to just know something that would give her some understanding.
The role of women in this novel is another issue that caught my attention. It seems the women who are linked to the veterans take over the male role. For example when Emmett came back, Irene was the care giver until she had enough and left him. Then it was Sam who was left as the caregiver in the typical male role. Emmett's ex-girlfriend was the one who was making the money as a nurse, and holding a stable job. Jim's wife leaves him, again a typical male role. Men are portrayed in this text as emotional and unstable, and the women as the bread winner, and the one who abandons.
I have really enjoyed this text so far and am real interested to see what happens in the end.

The War

2005-07-12T16:18:00.000-05:00

I found Duras' depictions in The War very interesting. Each piece seeminly seperate from the next, but altogether a collection of her own experiences as the wife of a soldier that has gone to fight in World War II. She uses vivid description throughout but we see this evident most clearly in the description of Robert L.'s body after being in a concentration camp. Through her writing style the reader can really hear her voice, and feel the pain that she is going through. I think this may be one of the reasons that I enjoyed this book so much. We gains empathy from her reader while remaining a herione.

In her first piece The War, the reader really can feel the agony that she is going through in anticipation of Robert L.'s return home. Duras present the agony of the wait, but also the ever present knowledge that he may not come home. Through the dialogue that she has within herself and also with D. the reader can sense that she is trying to convince herself that he is coming back. The reader feels the pain and suffering that she is going through but this pain is what she is suppose to feel, "It's wrong to move to much, a waste of energy, you have to save all your strength to suffer" (Duras 6). She felt that she was suppose to suffer because Robert L. was suffering wherever he was.

In the second piece, Monsieur X, Here Called Pierre Rabier, I was most struck by the enormous risk that she was taking. Spending time with a member of the Gestapo who could at any time arrest her or kill her was a large risk to take. She knew that he had been the one to arrest her husband, and this was her way of working through the resistance. I think she shows great strength in being able to put herself aside, and to do things for the greater cause of the resistance. In this was she herself was like a soldier.

In the piece, Ter of the Militia I found it interesting the Ter who the resistance had arrested who was part of the German militia, had joined merely for the luxuries that this job afforded which was the ability to carry and use a gun and drive a car. Duras described this as, "He's like a plant, is Ter. Like a kind of child" (152). This reference of Ter being like a plant in that he was simple. He believed that if you did wrong you were to be punished, and there was no use trying to get out of it. Duras describes this as like a child which is interesting in that is this kind of justice only for children. Adults twists things around, and try to get out of the consequences that follow actions.

Finally, what struck me about the movie was the affect that it had on the women. They really did believe that they were to go to work during the war and then just give their jobs up. This type of compliance caused me to think about the types of messages that the media and press send every day to women that we internalize as being truth.

The war 2

2005-07-12T15:38:00.000-05:00

I enjoyed reading this book. It was interesting to have a collection of different styles of writing by the same person to kind of weave together to express that time in the author's life. I was confused as well by the choice to leave her husband in the journal part of the book, because she still wrote about him in the book. I liked the story of her and the Gestapo officer.

One issue I thought the book brought up well was how the war changed robert and marguerite's relationship. She waited for him all that time, but left him after he started to get better. She couldn't share his experiences and really he wasn't the same person she had married. Marguerite waited so long, but you can't say it was in vain, because through her waiting she met D. and fell in love with him.

I really struggled to come up with an interpretation to this becaus a lot of it is real or fictionalized from what actually happened. What seemed to be the main idea though is how war perverts love and dreams in all sorts of ways.

Blog Entries

2005-07-12T15:29:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

Although you are welcome to post your thoughts on the books whenever you want, remember that you are not required to post reading journals on Tuesdays for the remainder of the summer.

You only need to post on Tuesdays if you have a research topic due.

Best, Anna

Ending "The War"

2005-07-12T14:50:00.000-05:00

In concluding this book, I was overall pleased with the stories I read. I did find it confusing at times and I did wonder why she wrote the stories in the order that she did. Even though part 3 was more difficult for me to read I did find it very interesting. It was hard to believe that she could write the entire third part solely about the interrogation and beating of the informer they found. Duras used very vivid details to describe this encounter with the informer and at times the horror of the story made it hard for me to read because I was bothered by the gruesome images. However, I did appreciate the fact that I was able to place myself in that room with the rest of those people due to Duras's vivid descriptions. I also enjoyed the last little section about Aurelia; it was interesting how knowledgable she was about the soldiers and war yet she was still so frightened. I greatly enjoyed the ending when all that was needed to be said was "I write"(183).

I found this book to be attention grasping and interesting to read. There were many stories that traced themes of love, sacrifice of love, the physical aspects of the war, and simply the emotional state that Duras especially went through during this time. I can say that I did walk away from this book having learned more about WWII than I had known before reading it. I learned more about the resistance, the gestapo, and simply how the Germans were seen through the eyes of a vicitim of their brutality. This novel may be a book I need to read one more time in order to get more out of it, but as of now I did enjoy reading it, even through the times when I found it hard to continue reading because of the truth told about the horrors of WWII.

The end of "The War"

2005-07-12T13:27:00.000-05:00

I found myself reading the rest of this book very closely. It was strange that all these stories took place at the same time in Duras' life. Yet they were so different. Duras' explanation of the writing helped the reader to read the text the way Duras meant it to be read. Although it was quite confusing I really enjoyed this authors style. The most common thing I saw in all the stories was her desire to see her husband. The fact that she wrote so many stories pertaining to that desire showed how distraught she actually was.

last part of "The War"

2005-07-12T10:36:00.000-05:00

"The War" has three different parts in it. They are all different but yet thy are connected to each other. Marguerite Duras's memoirs first part talks about how she is waiting for her huband to come back. What was strange to me and I still do not understand is why Marguerite did not want to be with her husband after he got home and was little bit healed. That part was confusing. The second part of Duras's memoir talked about how she was meeting with this agent from the gestapo to get information about her husbant. The agent that she was meeting with was called Rabier. Duras wanted to get his husbant back because he had been caught of being part of the recistance.
The third part talked about Therese (who is claimed to be marguerite) beinga torturer. It was hard to read the part were the narrator vividly describes how they are trying to get information from the informer because it just seems so brutal and cold. The pain that the informer is feeling seems horrofying. the narrator describes the situation: the more they hit, the more he bleeds, the more its clear that hitting is necessary, right, just"(133). The last story in the book called Aurelia Paris very facinating because it left me with a lot of questions. Aurelia is a little Jewish girl in the middle of the war with a lady who is taking care of her. i did not understand how that little girl had so much information about the war: she knew where the planes were and how many soldiers there were. the lady asked Aurelia how many soldiers are there and Aurelia said: "a thousand" (179). It seemed that the little girl knew much more about the war than the older lady did.

I found the book interesting to read because it was a memoir from the war time. At times it was confusing and I did not understand how she went from getting her husband back in the first part to the part where she was the torturer. I am curious to know what happend between all those chapters. The part in the end where the sranger was sitting with the little boy and some other people was the most confucing to me. It is the fictional part of the book but I am sure that it has a bigger meaning on reflecting the war that I did not get yet.

Hashimoto and Nagasaki

2005-07-11T17:34:00.000-05:00

There were a lot of different things I ran into when reading this article that needed furuther explination. First of all, I wasn't clear on all the facts of everything that happened in Nagasaki. I found that:

*Just three days after the bomb was dropped to Hiroshima, the second atomic bomb called "Fat Man" was dropped to Nagasaki. Though the amount of energy generated by the bomb dropped to Nagasaki was significantly larger than that of the Little Boy, the damage given to the city was slighter than that given to Hiroshima due to the geographic structure of the city. It is estimated that approximately 70,000 people died by the end of the year because of the bombing.
http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/

*Weight: 10,800 lbs
*Length: 10 ft 8 in.; Diameter: 60 in.
*Fuel: Highly enriched plutonium 239
*Plutonium Fuel: approx. 13.6 lbs; approx. size of a softball
*Plutonium core surrounded by 5,300 lbs of high explosives; plutonium core *reduced to size of tennis ball
*Bomb Initiator: Beryllium - Polonium
*All components of Fat Man ferried to Tinian Island aboard B-29's of the 509th *CG
*Efficiency of weapon: 10 times that of Little Boy
*Approx 1.176 Kilograms of plutonium converted to energy
*Explosive force: 21,000 tons of TNT equivalent
*Use: Dropped on Japanese city of Nagasaki; August 9, 1945
*Nuclear Weaponeer: Cdr. Frederick Ashworth
*Delivery: B-29 Bockscar piloted by Maj. Charles Sweeney
http://www.childrenofthemanhattanproject.org/HISTORY/fat_man.htm

*pictures of the bomb can be found at:
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Med/Lbfm.html

*The attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had a devastating psychological impact on the already weakened Japanese. Emperor Hirohito accepted the U.S.' terms of surrender on August 14. On September 2, Japan signed an official declaration of surrender aboard the U.S.S. Missouri.
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hiroshima1.html

* (July 3, 1945) A PETITION TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/jwb/Collab/hiroshima.htm

*As a side note, I also leanred that 500 yen= $4.45 U.S. dollars

Henson Aritlcle/ Comfort Women

2005-07-11T14:25:00.000-05:00

While reading this article, I decided to look-up more on the comfort women. What I found was truly astonishing. Many of the comfort camps were much worse then the one that Henson described in her article. There have been an estimated 200,000 comfort women; mostly from Korea, but others are from China, the Philipines, Burma, Indonesia, and Japan. The majority of these girls range from ages 15-19, although some were as young as 11, and others were older than 19 and married. Almost all of them were virgins, and so the act of recruitment got the nickname of "virgin recruitment." During "recruitment," the girls were kidnapped, forcibly taken from their homes, or deceptively recruited for "work." At a typical comfort station, a soldier paid a fee or used a coupon, depending on his rank, then received a ticket and a condom (which they did not have to use), and were then admitted into a women's room. These women were forced to have sex with anywhere from 10-50 men a day, although usually if was somewhere inbetween 20-30. If they resisted they were beaten and/or killed. Women who became pregnant of infected with a STD were given a shot of the antibiotic terramycim which women referred to as "number 606," this made the women's bodies swell up and would usually induce an abortion. If the women got an incurable disease or became sick they were poisoned and then placed in a cave which was blown up. Many of the comfort women became sterile due to the repeated rapes, horrible conditions, and injections of number 606. Of the estimated 200,000 comfort women, only a few thousand survived the harsh treatment. After the war, the comfort stations quickly faded and for years the issues received little attention. Former comfort women say that they told only a few family members or no one about their experiences. Once this became a public issue and women started to come out and tell their personal stories, groups were formed for support and to offer compensation to these women. The Asian Women's Fund (AWF) is one of the major groups. The provide "atonement money" and implemented medical and welfare support projects for the recognized comfort women.

Here is a link for one website that I found particularly helpful and interesting. It has lots of facts and history about comfort women, and some more personal accounts by women like Maria Henson.

http://www.library.american.edu/about/exhibits/comfort_women.html

Free a Man to Fight The War

2005-07-07T16:52:00.000-05:00

I thought the movie was a little propagandist and a little glossy. While I really appreciated what the channel was doing by recognizing these women for their bravery and challenges they took upon themselves, I kinda felt like I was getting that happy glowy portayal of what being a participant in the war was like. I especially felt it as the lady commented on how lovely the uniforms were. It was a very nice dedication all and all, however, to the women to stepped forward to take on what was happening.
As to The War, my first impression of it has been that it reads like Not So Quiet. The woman is not on the frontlines, however, but in the beginning is waiting under tremendous pressure and anxiety to see if whom I could only assume to be her husband return., The narration, with its endless repetitions and returns to the one item on teh narrator's mind shows obsessive fixation on the biggest point of stress in her life that she recognizes. All the rest of the war becomes "indifferent". The style is very modernist, we contantly see inside this character.
I also thought the translation was very well done.
This book is making comments on the side about the French movements who were taking over the resistance to teh Nazi's. While she referrs at times to teh Nazi's as "mysterious" and ominous, she views the French politcal resistance groups at times as nothing else but irritating. At the same time, she's trying to put into written words what it's like to suffer under a source of stress that is unbearable, it seems, but at the same time unrelieavable without taking the wful risk that one's worst fears might be realized.

Free a man to fight

2005-07-07T16:15:00.000-05:00

When Computers Were Human

I thought the video on tuesday was pretty cool. It was amazing to see the pride those women had in the job they had done. The link I put up is to a review of a book about a human computing project started by a woman in WWII and staffed mostly be women. You see, before computers all large computations had to be done by hand, so it was quickest to set up formulas and have lots of people solve parts of the equation. One of the comments to the article is a story about one person's mother, who worked on a human computing project in great Britain around the same time and didn't know what she was working on until her job was done and they brought out a new jet engine one day.

The War

2005-07-07T16:14:00.000-05:00

I am enjoying reading this book so far. I really like the way it is written as a diary. It makes the book more personal, and easier to follow time and date wise. I also really like that it is a true story. I've always heard stories about how hard it is to wait at home for someone to return and wait inbetween phone calls or letters wondering if they are still alive, but to actually get inside the head of someone and to get their day by day thoughts and anticipations is very eye-opening for me. I can only imagine how hard it would be to be in Marcuerite's place, but I didn't know that it would really be that bad, as she writes in part one. The fact that she doesn't eat or sleep or shower, and only wants to be alone, and dwells on it all the time. I guess that if I had something like that on my head all the time, I would want to always be around other people and try to keep busy so that I wouldn't think about it as much. I was a little dissapointed at Robert L.'s return, how she was so looking forward to it, and then it wasn't all glorified like I thought it would be. And everything wasn't all better once he returned like it should have been, because he had changed so much. I look forward to reading the rest of this book and discussing it in class.

Women in World War II

2005-07-07T16:07:00.000-05:00

Women and War
Just being honest movies in class usually make me really sleepy...but the movie about women in World War II was really interesting. I think that its something most know nothing about. I like hearing the first hand accounts of what it was like to be over there. The advertisments were funnier than serious. It just goes to show how much the women had to take for joining the services. Instead of being praised they were looked down upon because they supposedly couldn't "find a man" or they were in search of one. The truth is, most of the women had thier heart in it and performed jobs that were unheard of for the time. The fact that they were working on and flying aircraft in the 1940's blows my mind. They were also training the soldiers which shows that women weren't always second rate citizens. The part of the movie that I found most dissapointing was the treatment they recieved after the war. Although they had worked so hard they were the first to be sent home and with no benefits or a proper welcoming. If people only knew what they did to serve our country, maybe they would have gained some recognition. I'm just glad that these women have gained some recognition today with a monument and hopefully the repect of the Americans that they were serving for.

War

2005-07-07T16:02:00.000-05:00

I was really surprised on how interesting the video last week was on women in the war. It is so interesting to know how much women were really involved and that it's sad that we, in school, son't learn what an impact women played in the war. I wonder why in 2005 this part of history is still not being taught in the public schools. I feel that it should be a part in our history that we are proud of. I really liked the way the women were so proud to be able to be a part of the war, and they all looked as though it was the time of their life. It made such an impact to know that they are capable of more than just housework and taking care of their babies. Although that is an extremely important job, to know that you are capable of so much more gave them such a high. It seemed as though they tried so hard to prove themselves and did sucha good job, then to be sent back home without even being recognized-- I couldn't believe that. Hopefully, one day we as Americans will be proud of our women who do just as much as our men in everything that has happened in history!
On the book, I really liked the way that Marguerite Duras writes. It makes it interesting in the choppy sentences in which express the feelings that she is having at that moment. There was much suspence in whether or not her Robert was alive or not which made me keep reading and become more interesting. When he finally returns, she proves how much the war changes a person life and views that after war changes many lives completely.

Blog for 7/7

2005-07-07T15:29:00.000-05:00

The video we watched in class on Tuesday showed behind the scenes of women fighting in World War II. It was truly amazing to see the footage and hear the interviews of women who had fought in the war. In my history text books, women's involvement in the war was never discussed. This is because men often had a higher standing in society's eyes and therefore were seen as the appropiate people to fight wars. It has always been assumed that women are the ones that stay at home and take care of the children. I thought one of the funniest parts of the movie was when a guy was complaining that he had to take orders from a female. I can see how that would be somewhat of an insult (only because he had just come back from war, and has been raised seeing women as 2nd on the chain as opposed to 1st like men) but regardless I think it was a big stepping stone for society to accept women into superior roles and positions (and heading over men.) It was also truly dissapointing that the women veterans did not recieve the same benefits that men veterans did. Those that were killed had to be paid by family members to ship home (where if it was a man, the army/airforce/navy/marines would pay for it) I also thought it to be very dissapointing that even though they finally got a monument dedicated for the women vets, (because they never had their names engraved) that most of the vets themselves had to pay for it (though it does say that the government or other sources did participate.) Regardless the movie was very informative.

As for the book, I have to say that I am having somewhat a hard time with it. It is not as difficult to read as Mrs Dolloway is, but it sort of has that flair to it. The thing that bothers me most about it is how depressing it is. I guess because I am sensitive to love stories I really did not enjoy her spending the first 50 pages talking repetively over and over about how Robert is dead, how she goes and sits in the house and waits by the phone. Its just all very depressing for me. I will say however that being this is a war novel (and what wor is not depressing?) that she does a very good job depicting a day to day scene of what it was like. I am not saying its a bad book, I guess I just did not want to read stories that were so sad. I will say that I am happy that Robert was found alive and that it wasn't a fabricated "happy ending" that everything goes back to normal, but instead his condition is very realistic. Yes he is alive but he is barely alive and is barely recognizable. There is a somewhat graphic explanation of him excreeting bodily wastes in which she describes despite his figure ( of not looking human), "it smells more human, it smells human" (59). And I suppose regardless of the complete depressive mood the book takes, it is nice to watch the healing process of a wounded soldier. Marguerite Duras does an excellent job in describing the atmosphere and the feelings people are experienceing through words. The war has not only taken its toll on Robert but on her as well... "Like him I haven't been able to eat for seventeen days. Like him I haven't slept for seventeen days...I fall asleep anywhere. And wake in terror" (63).

The War: Part I and II

2005-07-07T15:24:00.000-05:00

When I first began to read this book, I was interested in the style of the book. It's written in a way that allows the reader to become engulfed in the conversation and not just a outsider of the book, but really becomes an insider. The way that Marguerite Duras writes is short and to the point, which I really find easy to understand. She doesn't sugar coat anything and has now problem telling the truth about anything, whether it be her emotions or what is truly going on with this war. With this style of writing, I found it very intriguing how parts one and two were written. We first discover in part one what has happened to Robert L. And his return home, while in part two we discover how Robert L. ended up in a concentration camp.
The issues that were raised with this book are of strong emotions. In part one Marguerite is desperately trying to find where her husband is and when he is coming home, but once he gets home you see the distance that has built up between them. You see such determination in Marguerite in getting her husband to return home,but then you come to find out rather harshly that she is going to divorce him? Why? There seems to be something in the past that has changed them and she feels that she can no longer stay with a man that has endured what he has with this terrible war.
I think that this book so far, has shown the readers that no one is the same as they once were before a war. Marguerite is telling the readers that you must live your life and do the best that you can with what you have to offer. Yes it sounds harsh leaving her husband, but maybe it is for the best and there is no need to judge her for that. She still loves him, but feels that maybe it is too hard to remain with him for the rest of her life.

The War

2005-07-07T14:54:00.000-05:00

I was amazed at how quickly I was able to read parts I and II of this book. It is written in such a conversational style that I felt like I was being spoken to instead of reading. Though war is hardly glamourous, this story seems to glamourize more than the other books. This may be simply because of its location in Paris, but already, there has been a reunited husband and wife, potentially dangerous secret deals with authorities, and the forbidden rendezvous of Marguerite and Rabier. Somehow, the descriptions of the concentration camp prisoners don't seem as bad as the bloodier descriptions of war casualties in other books, though I know concentration camps were just as awful.
I am very curious about the resistance movement that Marguerite's husband is involved in. I imagine it as a leftist pacifist group, but I'm not really sure that this is the case. This book has made me want to find more about the lesser known political groups inWorld War II. I think that so often, all people hear about from WWII is the Nazis, and while they played a huge role, there were many other groups too.
Reading a book about war from the first person perspective is the best way to experience it, I think. Even though most names and places in this book are unfamiliar to me, I still get a good sense of place from it. The despair and uncertainty of having a lost loved one, and then bringing them back from almost dead is something that I hopefully will never experience, but the author captures it brilliantly.

The War

2005-07-07T14:44:00.000-05:00

When I started reading this book I was almost immediately interesting in the writing style. She seemed to be writing similar to the way Helen Zenna Smith did in Not So Quiet. The short choppy sentences and the repetitiveness was one of the first things that grasped my attention. In reading the beginning of the book the feeling that I was having the most was that of anticipation. Every new entry seemed to consist of the same thing there for a while yet it was still so exciting because it kept me wondering if Robert was to show up alive or whether he was going to be pronounced dead. However, in reading the synopsis of the book on the back cover I did know ahead of time that he was to be found alive and to return home. Even knowing ahead of time though that Robert will return home, Duras does an excellent job of keeping you on the edge of your seat. Her descriptions of herself were also very interesting to me because she seemed to be describing herself as a walking dead woman. She says many times how she has stopped eating and sleeping on a regular basis and that she has gotten down the weight of a deportee.

Once Robert returned it was sort of depressing to me that it wasn't really a joyous reunion. He was happy that he was no longer in the concentration camp but he was no longer the same man, emotionally or physically. I found it very odd that she couldn't even face him once he did return and how before she continously spoke of how she would just die the second he walked through the door if he was alive. It was in this section that I began to feel even more the intensity of the effects from this war. Her husband weighed between 82 and 84 pounds, I believe is what it said, and his craving for food was something that was never ending for a period of time. He was literally described as a sack of bones. The images she describes here is what really brought me into the story. The issue of the abuse towards those men that were in the concentration camps was something that became even more evident in this section. Once again the theme of the author not having hatred towards the enemy did come up. She said she could no longer tell the difference between her grudge against the Germans and her love for Robert. Also it was very shocking that she ended up leaving Robert. Even though I wasn't quite sure of her feelings towards Robert and D. I never thought that she would end up leaving him. The main themes I did arrive at from these first two sections was that of death/casualty, love, and simply the emptiness that most of the people were feeling.

The only thing that seemed confusing to me was in the beginning of part 2 because I wasn't quite sure in what time frame that the story was being told. It was interesting how she played the game of cat and mouse with the Gestapo officer, Rabier and how long that actually went on. As I said before though, I was sort of confused in part 2 of the book but it still was attention grasping. I do look forward to reading the rest of the book and I am very curious to see how the lives of these people are to be played out.

Free a Man to Fight

2005-07-07T14:36:00.000-05:00

I found the video we watched Tuesday in class, to be very enlightening and also educational. I had no clue that 400,00 women enlisted in WWII to free a man to fight.Many of the women were interviewed and there seemed to be an unusual purpose as to why they did enlist. Many indeed wanted to free a man to fight but it was also interesting to find that many of the women enlisted for an adventure rather than for patriotism. Along with all the women enlisting it was also new to me that there were so many different branches that they were enlisted under. There were things such as the WAC and WASP that were just a couple of the most talked about in the video. Over all this was a very intriguing video that gave me a sense of pride that those women who were barred by the "housewife" image back then, had the courage to free a man to fight. It was even better that they shocked the men around them when they often were doing a man's job better than any man had done if before.

The War pt. I & II

2005-07-07T14:26:00.000-05:00

I've really enjoyed reading this so far.... again it's a nice change of pace as was Sula, but this time being set during the second World War as opposed to the first. I've never read anything set from the French perspective in reagrds to the Nazi occupation, let alone a work based around actual events. It's nice to be put into new places sometimes, and the fact that the story is true just makes it that much richer for me.

I thought it was really effective how the first part of the story involving her anticipation of her husbands return after the war had ended was the section that starts the book off....where as the story of Rabier, set right before came afterwards. I can't help but wonder how it was that she decided to put the book together this way. From what I understand, Rabier's story is something that she went back and completed later, and the first part was soemthing she actually wrote during the occupation and later went back and touched upon, or completed, ect. If this is the case, then why no mention of Rabier in the memoir? I would think he would have been present in the first part. Perhaps she deliberatly edited that out for the second part, since it certainly deals with a seperate story line. I was also suprised to read that she had no recollection of recording the events of her life until years later when she stumbled across it, and even then could not remember doing it.

Home of the Brave

2005-07-07T14:24:00.000-05:00

The History Channel video presentation highlighting the auxilary corps of women serving during World War II emphasized a unique view of the military, the war and its impact on the position of women in American society. Throughout the military history of the United States , the armed services have concentrated a certain amount of marketing effort on cultivating the support and cooperation of the nation's women. Women have been encouraged to perform many supporting roles during wartime, from maintenance of the diorama of the "home-front" to field nursing. The scope of WWII, particularly in the areas of manufacturing, supply and administration, required a new level of assistance from women, although recruitment strategies still implied that the invitation to participate extended only as far as ancillary services. Historical documentation shows, in spite of the critical need for volunteers and the patriotism of the time, a certain reluctance on the part of military branches to request, accept and acknowledge overt help from the "fairer sex."

The approach for recruitment presented in the video was notable because the women were asked to "do a man's job" but only in so far is it "freed [that] man to fight." A German officer was quoted in the program as attributing the success of the Allies to the "use of their women" in the war operations. In spite of the obvious contributions and successes of the members of the WAC, WAVES and WASPs, grievous abuses of protocol by the United States Military occurred for these women, specifically the failure of the military to officially identify and enlist WASPs as fully military personnel with appropriate benefits and the termination of the women's service branches without proper notification and placement for the recruits.

The patriotism and spirit of the women presented in the video is inspiring and deserving of a place in American cultural history. These women volunteered their time and service, and many of them cited a heartfelt intention to "help with the cause" and "contribute to the fight for freedom." These statements reveal that, unlike the mind-set attributed to Smithy and her World War I counterparts in Helen Zenna Smith's novel, Not So Quiet..., the military women of WWII possessed distinct and unequivocal comprehension of the issues and politics contributing to WWII, particularly after the attack on Hawaii by the Japanese. Unfortunately, the efforts of these volunteer service women is often overshadowed by the official relegation of WAC, WAVES and WASP service to inferior roles. The scope of the positions within the military held by these women, while officially minor, was often broadened by their willingness to work and their aptitude for the task(s) at hand, making these minor roles no less heroic than that of their male counterparts. Many of the advancements in women's rights and the multitude of occupational and political opportunities available to women today are directly attributable to these women that came forward to "do a man's job" in the 1940s. Their performance exhibits extraordinary clarity and dignity during a dark time. These women deserve rememberance and recognition from a nation grateful for their determination and sacrifice.

American women of WWII

2005-07-07T13:48:00.000-05:00

I had no idea the extent women were involved in WWII. I had imagined a few thousand women at the time being enlisted in the military but was truly surprised to learn it was over 400 thousand.
I enjoyed the movie and found it to be very informative. It was disheartening to see that most of the women were pushed out of the jobs they had trained for, and completed very well, during the war. I am also not used to hearing about the segregationist approach of the military at the time. To me, it seems to be underscored in many ways. I will be looking for more information about womens roles in the military during WWII.

The War

2005-07-07T13:37:00.000-05:00

This book was very interesting as it not only focused on the lives of those involved but in part II we were able to learn more about the French & Nazi Germany relationship. In part I Duras wrote about her wait for her husbands return. In Duras's writing you felt the pain and anxiety from April until May 12th, when her husband returned home. Duras also gave a gut-wrenching decription of her husbands starvation and his physical condition upon return. She described his excrement as 'inhuman' and his body was referred to as 'a form'. In part I we see the hurt and emotional anguish that is suffered by Duras. I cannot imagine how she was able to leave her husband for his friend soon after his return. Did she accept the fact that he had died just prior to his return? Was seeing him return without the body, the spirit and heart that he once had make him unrecognizable and like a stranger to her? I found it interesting that Duras had no recollection of writing this diary. The fact that she has no memory of the diary goes to show how damaged she was by the war. I have been enjoying reading this book so far and am glad to be learning more about WWII.

Women and war parts 1 & 2

2005-07-07T13:29:00.000-05:00

My feelings about this book are lukewarm. I enjoy the book because it is written as a diary, and I feel like I am getting the inner thoughts of our main character's mind. This style also leaves me confused like Mrs. Dalloway. I find myself having to re-read passages, to understand the plot.
One issue that catches my attention is her loyalty to her husband. Her life is consumed with thoughts of him, and wondering when he will be back. She often pictues him dead in her mind, and tries to make herself cope with the loss. But soon after her returns she decides that she wants a divorce. Her sudden switch of attitude surprises me. Initially I thought D. was family member, because she never mentions her feelings for him until she says she wants a divorce so she could have his children. I am interested to see what happens to their relationship.
Another issue is her involvement in the Resistance. I am intrigued by her daily actiivities, but confused on what exactly she is doing. I find the character of Rabier interesting, and wonder what exactly his purpose is for meeting with her.
I hope in the last part of the book I can catch more of what is going on with the plot, and not feel so lost in the broken language of it all.

Bergen-Belsen

2005-07-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

Bergen-Belsen, also referred to as "Belsen," was designed and built in Germany in 1940 as a transportation center and detention camp. During the years from 1940-1945, the camp held Allied Prisoners of War. These prisoners served as political currency in bartering for Germans imprisoned in Allied countries.

In 1943, a portion of the Belsen site was converted into a camp for prisoners considered to be unfit, through illness, injury or age, for the work camps. Many of the prisoners of Belsen were women and children. The camp was infamous for the deplorable conditions of the camp, including severe overcrowding, and for the horrific treatment of the prisoners by the Nazis, including several women commanders. One website (www.auschwitz.dk/bergenbelsen) indicates that the camp remained, throughout the war, labeled as only a "transit center" and was never officially recognized as a "concentration camp," although information remains vague about what can be conferred from such an official designation.

Estimates exceed 50,000 for the number of people who died from typhoid and starvation at Bergen-Belsen. When the camp was liberated in April 1945, the British found approximately 10,000 unburied corpses in the camp. At the time of liberation, the camp contained 40,000 prisoners, most of whom were severely ill. According to information from the website, even after liberation, 70% of the "surviving" prisoners died of complications related to their treatment at the camp. The camp's most famous prisoners were Anne Frank and her sister Margot. Both girls died of typhoid one month before liberation of the camp.

A lot of information is available on the web regarding this camp, most of it presented in a professional and sensitive manner, but please be advised that almost all of it (including the site mentioned above) contains disturbing photos and narratives.

The treatment of women during theWorld War II

2005-07-07T12:19:00.000-05:00

During the WWII women had the biggest role that women had ever had in a wafare. More women were recruited and even though women might have not officially gotten the honor that men did it was clear that women were an important asset. Same time when women were having a bigger role in the war as soldiers women were still used as objects. Rape was commonly used when attacking a nother country. --there is a true story about woman called Violette Szabo with a half French heritage. Szabo volunteered during the WWII to serve Germany after her husband had died in the battle. Szabo was in duty in France. part of her job was to study the resistant possibilities in Rouen area, and because of this she got arrested by the gFrench officers. Shortly after she was released Szabo fought in a gun battle for the Germans, she was put in prison for that ,and she was shot in 1945.
www.womenshistory.about.com

- There is a lot more information about the women soldiers from U.S than there is about women soldiers from Europe.

- I found out that rape was used as one of the ways to terrorize the people whos country the soldiers were trying to fight. According to religioustolerance.com "rape is now increasingly being intentionally used as a tactic of terror" rape has been used in every warfare that we know of and WWII is no ecxeption:"It was a weapon ofrevenge as the russian army marched in Berlin in WWII". Rape was described as "standard operating procedure aimed at terrorozing the population into submission" during the war.
www.religioustolerance.com
-according to unicef.org "During World War II, women were abducted, imprisoned and forced to satisfy the sexual needs of occupying forces, and many Asian women were also involved in prostitution during the Vietnam war. The trend continues in today's conflicts".
www.unicef.com

It is hard to imagine the mind set that a man must have when raping a woman and thinking that it for the good of ones country.

Women of WW2 Blog

2005-07-07T12:17:00.000-05:00

The video surprised me in that I did not know that women had served in active military duty during World War II. The feelings of nationalism and self-pride the women showed was touching. I was particularly fascinated by their experience upon their return to the United States-that they returned to accusations of homosexuality, husband-hunting, etc.

The female veterans' interviews and the army training videos raised the issue of female authority and the men's inability to accept it. In one 1940s clip, a woman sargeant in the gunnery was sexually harassed (hit on) by an inferior male officer. He was not treating her with the respect of a ranking officer, yet it was HER responsibility to ensure that the military's rigid hierarchy. The men did not respect the women for the positions of which they were so proud. If anything went wrong, the army blamed the women. At the end of the war, when the government encouraged homefront women to "resocialize" their men, the female veterans were not recognized as heroes. Instead the homefront women and the men ostracized them from society and ignored their contributions to the war effort.

The French Perspective

2005-07-07T12:12:00.000-05:00

In reading The War, I went into it curious about the French perspective. What I have are 4 perspectives by the same author, each similar yet wholly different from the last. I was impressed by her Steinbeck-like quality of description of feces, yet sickened by it at the same time.

In The War, Duras writes 4 separate sections. In the first, she recounts excerpts from her diary as she is waiting for her husband to come back from the concentration camps. What is most notable here is her conveyance of frustration and ultimately, what is a letdown when she decides to leave him at the end.

The second section concerns her involvement with the Resistance. Her description of the interrogation of the informer is frank and brutal, just like his treatment as he is beaten for the answer to a single question.

The third concerns Ter and the Spaniards. She is still involved in the Resistance, and is witness as a body is carried out after being executed. I got the sense as I was reading that she envied Ter his ability to forget all that was around him. She reiterates at the end that this was Ter's last time out, that execution was inevitable. His fascination with anything mechanical, notably guns and cars is evident.

The last section, is a work of fiction that she wrote at the time. All in all, the book was easy to read, in comparrison to Mrs. Dalloway, but understanding it was another matter. I saw how each section was important, yet at the same time, her credibility was shaken. I could not see how she managed to pull off all that seemed to be going on at the same time, as in sections 1 and 2. I could not establish a working timeline that satisfied all of the elements that she put into the sections.

The Vichy Government

2005-07-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

Vichy, France

During World War 2, much of France, including Paris, was occupied. There were two choices for the government, either sign a treaty with the Nazis or move the government to other French territories. Due to pressure in the govenrment and mlitary, it was decided to cede parts of France to the Nazis in return for a peace agreement.

The Vichy Government, which was set up to control the non-Nazi parts of France, was very right-wing and sent troops to fight with the Axis forces. After the fall of Germany, many of the Vichy leaders were exposed as Nazis and were then tried for war crimes.

WWII video

2005-07-07T09:13:00.000-05:00

During one of the interviews in the video one of the women said people think that if we were in the war we were nurses. Unfortunately even in 2005 that’s what I thought as well. It was never covered in history classes when we were talking about WWII. I heard about Rosie and nurses, but never WAVES, WASP, etc. The part that was even more shocking than my ignorance in this subject was the fact that even after all their efforts and sacrifice they were disbanded, not offered the same benefits as men, and then sent back home to do women’s work. Although, after the war Eisenhower said there was a great need for women soldiers and that helped keep women in the service. Viewing women’s contributions to the war effort even one of Hitler’s advisors commented that if they had used their women earlier they felt things might have gone differently.
Overall, it was just amazing what women were doing during WWII and that it is not more widely known.

Women and War Video

2005-07-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

I was extremely surprised by the video we watched in class on Tuesday. I was so surprised because I had NEVER learned anything about these women services in the army before in any of my classes. It shocks me that in todays school system there is no evidence of women contributing to army aspects of the war. I felt stupid and ignorant when I watched the movie because it made me realize that women were a huge part of The Allies winning World War Two. I found it intresting that even though women played such a huge role in the war, the men still felt it necessary to disban the "groups" such as the WACs and WASPs so that the men could be in charge again. This only proves that the views men had toward women never changed, they still wanted them to be at home and not in a "mans job", even after everything they had done.

This video has opened a whole new aspect of World War Two to me. It's sad and embarassing to have to say that I was completely unware of these groups until now. I also think it is so wrong that everytime I have ever learned anything about World War Two, these groups of women who risked their lives, time, and energy are no where to be found. Perhaps someone needs to look into that and change up the cirriculum a little.

The Women in WWII video

2005-07-06T19:15:00.000-05:00

The video of Women in World war Two was very interesting because it gave an insight to the issues of Women being in war that I have not learned from history books. in 1941 there was a bill passed in congrss which allowed women going to the battle field. The thing that was the hardest to understand was that even though the women were doing the same job as the men they were not allowed to have a soldiers burial and the families of the deceased had to pay for their douhters body to be transported to U.S. the government did not place the women in the same position even thogh the women had a huge role in the WWII.
There were many aspects that opened my eyse to see what the society expected of the women at that time. ther was a stereotype that the wome who went to war could not get a husbant or a job. The idea was that a real women would not want to go to the war. The army wanted to change this stereotype by advertising that women who join the forces can still be feminine. The ad that they had was about showing that women in war could still wear panty hose and put make-up on, as if those things would define a real woman. The ads also talked about how women in war have to keep their body fit to do a mans job, they had so called"body fixers".
At the end we get to the conclusion that women were a great part of The WWII. Women could do everything that men could and it was recognized that women had great capapblities to work at the war. The sad part was that the women did not get the same treatment as the men when they got back from the war. The women were still seen as little bit odd because they had wanted to go to do the mens job. The women were not given the nice jobs according to their skills that the men were given after thy came from the war. The society has changed from WWII, and now women have a permanent place in the military . The fact that these women fought in WWII started the idea of women and men being equal.

Research: Marguerite Duras (Marguerite Donnadieu)

2005-07-06T19:09:00.000-05:00

-Marguerite Donnadieu was born in 1914 in the French Indochina (what today is South Vietnam).
-She was the only daughter with five brothers.
-Her father, a math teacher, died when she was just four years old from a serious illness only
explained as having infectious fevers (about.com).
-His death left his family in extremely poor, but her mother fought hard against poverty (about.com).
-Gallimard Publishing Company did not accept her first book
-In 1943, she joined the Resistance
-Gestapo arrested her husband and his sister at the Rue Dupin.
-Following the arrest Marguerite didn't published anything till 1950.
-She arrived in France at age 18 to study
-1939 Married Robert Antelme (name sound familiar?)
-1942 had a still born child (familiar as well?)
-Later her husband was arrested along with her sister in law, as they were in the book The War
-Robert survived and was brought back by Francois Mitterand who introduced Marguerite to the Resistance and accompanied the Americans as they freed the camps.
-After the Liberation of France she joined the French Communist Party and left shortly after in 1950 after the Prague uprising.

In reading about her history I noticed that a lot of what she wrote in The War is right here in her history. Many people that wrote about her said that she often wrote so much about her own life she wasn't sure what was Autobiographical and what wasn't.

-In 1950 she achieved her first literary success, Un barrage contre le Pacifique
-She published many novels such as:

Les petits Chevaux de Tarquinia (Gallimard, 1953)
Moderato Cantabile (Minuit, 1958)
Hiroshima, mon amour (Gallimard, 1960)
Le ravissement de Lol V. Stein (Gallimard, 1964)
Le vice-consul (Gallimard, 1965)
LÂamante anglaise (Gallimard, 1967)
LÂamour (Gallimard, 1971),
LÂamant (Minuit, 1984)
La Douleur(P.O.L., 1985)The War

I've seen a much longer list than this of written works so I am not sure if these are all of the novels.

Websites in which I obtained information:

http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/ucbio_duras_margaret.htm?terms=marguerite+duras

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/duras.htm

http://www.france.diplomatie.fr/label_france/ENGLISH/LETTRES/DURAS/duras.html

Marguerite Duras

2005-07-06T18:59:00.000-05:00

This site contains a lot of history about Marguerite Duras and also has many links that you can access to learn even more.

The War : I and II

2005-07-06T17:31:00.000-05:00

Ever since I read The Diary of Anne Frank I have loved the style of a diary or journal and that is what this book reminds me of. It was interesting to see the point of view of the women who are waiting for the men to return. We hadn't actually seen that perspective in depth until now. We were able to understand in reading her words how much Marguerite wanted Robert L. to return and how much she wanted to die because of his absence. When she says, " It's wrong to move to much, a waste of energy, you have to save all your strength to suffer," (6), it really seemed like she would be with him forever. Then when Robert L. returns to her she sticks it out with him until they both start getting better then she tells him that she wants to be with D. and have his child. This confused me because it only briefly mentioned this and then in part II it shows her as still talking to D. but the story explains her as still being married to and still being very much involved in the life of Robert L. The story is very interesting and I found myself wanting to read more. I also enjoyed reading so much about the actual history of the war from the French perspective. In the other books we mostly read about the lives of the characters but in this novel we get that and much more. I can't wait to see what happens with Marguerite, Robert L. and D.

Sula

2005-06-30T16:50:00.000-05:00

I left all my books in my boyfriends car and I haven't had a chance to get them back yet so I haven't readthe ending of Sula, so Iwon't read the blog either =P
~Megan~
and, I don't know how many times I reset the margins to one inch, but they still printed 1.25. I set teh little bars to one, I looked through the all the tool bars, but i also had to type the paper on trhee diff computers with trhee diff programs, so I don't know what happened I'm just notoriously bad at dealing with computers.
~Megan~

sula part 2

2005-06-30T16:33:00.000-05:00

The second half of the book kind of surprised me. I was expecting that Sula and Nel would stay best friends and live happily ever after, but that is not how it went. I am not too surprised that Sula ended up sleeping with married men, as she grow up knowing no different from Hannah. But I really can't believe that she slept with Nel's husband. This whole book seems to me to be about strong women going against all of the morals that I have ever known in life, and it being okay for them. I think that it's kind of cool that they live in a society like that, because in any society I have lived in men are the dominant sex and there are lots of double standards especially when it comes to being sexually active. I guess that I am just surprised that places like this could really exist. I think that this is a great book about strong independent women. And i'm happy that in the end Sula and Nel ended up being friends again.

Imperialism

2005-06-30T15:58:00.000-05:00

Here is what I found about imperialism: Sorry I forgot to post this a week ago:
Imperialism is the practice of gaining of colonies for economic, political, or militaristic benefit. I found that by 1914, Western Civilization had reached a high point, countries like the United States had gained much political power after and during World War I. This put the pressure on European countries, espically England. England controlled Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, India and other areas in Asia. India was known as the "Jewel in the Crown" because of it valuable spices and raw materials. Other reasons England and other European countries scrambled for territory was because of competition for trade, superior military force, power politics, and European superiority. Also there is a link posted as a good site to reference more about Imperialism.

Sula, and Thanks for All the Fish

2005-06-30T11:57:00.000-05:00

So, what's the verdict on Sula?
I liked the book all in all. My only dissatisfaction is this nagging feeling that what I want is a book called Medallion and what I got is Sula. To me, the whole town felt like it was alive, and I wanted the story of the whole town. This isn't meant to knock the book, but rather to compliment Ms. Morrision. Also, Shadrach played a way more pivotal role that I thought he would. I also thought it was interesting how eva stuck around throughout the whole book. She seemed like the last person who would survive.

I thnk the main issue raised in the book is that o sacrifice. Everyone is making some sort of tradeoff in the book between survival and wholeness. Eva sacrificed her leg, and in a way all 3 of her children, when she left them with a nightbor and came back minus one leg. This sacrifice of a leg is what seems to keep her alive. It is never clear how she loses it. Plum is sacrificed first for his country like Shadrach and later for himself. By the time he was home, his spirit had already died in the war and through his addiciton. Eva just sacrificed his body so that he wouldn't take down the rest of the household and also so that his soul could rest. This pattern is repeated throughout the book with various characters being sacrificed in part or in whole.

My interpretation of this book is mostly that death to these people was so much a part of life. It seems like to live another day requires moving that much closer to death. Once Sula was gone, there was no sacrifice left in the town, so the incident with shadrach and suicide day had to happen. It's like there is a fixed amount of sorrow, it's just a matter of how it coes around.

Sula Part 2

2005-06-30T11:17:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed reading the rest of Sula. Toni Morrison writes in a way that is so open and simple, that it made this book much easier to read and therefore much more enjoyable. Toni Morrison provides such strong characters that it is easy to see how a reader can so easily become engulfed with her books. I really enjoyed how the pace of the second half of the book went. Even though a lot of time passed in a short amount of time, it still had a nice flow to it, and kept me interested trusted the book.
One of the things that Toni Morrison does a great job in the second half of the book, is to really dig deep into Sula. I felt that as a reader, you really got to know her and understand her. I liked the fact that she felt that she did not have to explain herself to anyone, even to Nel. She marched to her own drum and never let anyone tell her differently. With Sula's actions however it did raise one question for me...Why she slept with Jude? I mean in terms of the women she lived with it is no question to understand why she slept with men just because she could, but why would she sleep with her best friend husband? Was this just to prove to Nel that he was just like every other incomplete man in their life, that was going to disappoint them and then leave them? If this is the case, then in fact, Sula was saving Nel. But what is she saving Nel from? Hopefully someone can help me with this, because this was something that I really could not grasp at all with the book, but at the same time, I understood why it was there and how it helped to drive the story.
After finishing the book, I had a felt that I had just read a book that was all about strong women, who at times in their lives were greatly hurt by the incomplete men that came in and out of their life. In the end, it was Shadrack who seemed to be the most complete and compassionate man in that book, that in the end brought Sula and Nel back together as the friends they once were when they were little girls.

Sula Part II

2005-06-30T09:10:00.000-05:00

Morrison's style of writing is that which I find most easy to read. I really have enjoyed this novel, especially Part II. I think it is very interesting the ideas that Sula proposes in reference to sleeping with Nel's husband. I think it is characteristic of her independance and refusal to conform. I appreciate the fact that she doesn't apologize for what she has done, but is disappointed in Nel for how she reacts. Sula doesn't believe that Nel has become one of "them". I think I really enjoyed reading the second part and getting to know Sula in that she was such her own person. It seemed to me that Morrison uses her to show how women if they did not fit into the gender roles that society prescribed may have acted, and might act in today's time. Sula doesn't apologize for how she lives her life, and doesn't act like it is amazine all of the time. Towards the end of the novel she discusses with Nel that yes she was lonely, but it was hers. She did not wait for other's to hand her emotions. She created her own way, and in her I think women especially in today's time should find a strength.

SULA (PART 1)

2005-06-28T21:24:00.000-05:00

Sula~
This is the type of book I can get into. From the beginning I knew that this book was going to be an easier read than Mrs. Dalloway. I really liked the description that she has throughout it. the only thing i don't understand (or didn't until we talked in class) is how much death was a part of what was going on. The part I found most interesting or the part I wanted to talk about in class is how CHicken died and why Sula helped him up in the tree then to come back down to drown. Why didn't the girls help? I don't understand how easily they just let him drown only to care if they have been caught. I realized that (from class) they were just actinglike kids may act, morality only existing when others are watching. Also dead is so common where they are from that it is not a big deal if someone dies.
I thought the part where Eva killed her son by burning him to dealth was strange. But after discussing it in class it hard to remember what I initally felt. But I knew that he was acting in an odd way by not really living but the idea that it was so easy to kill him or burn him to his death was just terrible. When we discussed how fire represented cleansing, it may it kind of make sense to the extent that it would. When Hannah burned herself I didn't understand this at all, I thought she said she loved her daughter, but I guess she said she didn't -- when Sula overheard which made her react the way she did-- juts watch her mother in amazement. I wonder what the next half of the book will be like but am interested in what is to happen to NEl and Sula.... we'll see----

Without Sanctuary

2005-06-28T18:06:00.000-05:00

This is the lynching website Anne told us about in class.

Wild Side Sula

2005-06-28T16:44:00.000-05:00

This was the easiest book to read so far. It was told in an omnicient third person, not in present tense like the first book, and the text was told in a style slightly reminiscent pattern to oral tradition stories, so it was easy to read over the words as if they were spoken. I liked this format the best out of the three.
I drew quick parallels between Shadrack and Septimus, although Shadrack's "madness" seems more randomized than Septimus'. When this character was introduced, I wondered at first how he was goingto work into teh stories of these two women's lives. The back of the book didn't really mention that as a key part to the plot. One of the big difference's here between Morrison and teh white writers is the use of terminology such as "tribe" (pg. 12) and a different flavored lexicon, with people whose grammar runs along teh lines of "All my boys is Sunday boys." (pg. 16) We see the soldier's slang lexicon, but this is different. It's at least distinctly American, and not English.
I liked Sula the best, and I think that maybe this book does not advocate the either of the extreme lifestyles described here (though I like Sula best. She reminded me of the character from Midnightr in the garden of good and evil...if that character had actually been a woman =P).

Sula

2005-06-28T16:41:00.000-05:00

I like this novel pretty well so far. Morrison's writing style is easy to follow and her characters are easily memorable and differentiable. Also it is evident early on that Sula and Nel's relationship will be the main focus of the book. The entire time when she is gone is skipped between the first and second part of the book. It is also kind of hard to believe this is 20th century america when we see how these people are living. This book has been the easiet to read so far this semester.

Sula and Nel are the most "Real" seeming ccharacters ehre. Everyone else in the novel seems to be more of some sort of caricature or something. The deweys, for example seem like a stereotype and would probably be considered racist if they were not created by a black wirter. Eva reminds me of a kind of animal in how she acts. She loves her children and wants them to be well, but she kills her son. This reminds me of how animals will sometimes kill weaker children in order to feed them to the stronger ones so that at least some of them will survive. As for the war connection, I don't really see it. I guess Plumb and shadrack are supposed to show something, but the connection seems tenuous and weak at this point.

I don't have too much of a read of this book yet. I don't think we are supposed to at this point. I don't know how much of this book is really a "race" book because we really haven't seen too many white people yet to get the interaction in minuitae. I think the read will have to do with Nel and Sula and their change in interaction between parts one and two

~~

Women=good war=bad

Sula--Part One

2005-06-28T16:37:00.000-05:00

Women and War
Morrison's style in this book is something that hooked me right from the start. Her descriptions of the Bottom are so detailed and later I find that so are her descriptions of her characters. I really like the authors who paint a picture of each character...her descriptions are just so vivid and vibrant.

Some parts that really opened my eyes to the culture of the time was the trip to see Helene's mother....or really to attend the funeral. I think the description of the treatment of African-American's at the time is tragic and interesting. When Helene simply smiled at the conductor it seemed as if she was empowered. Shadrack's character is also something else. He actually comes up with a National Suicide Day. It just really depicts the horror that a man faces in war.

As I read this book I just find my self so engulfed in each charcter. I like how much detail she presents about each one, but still slowly transitions to explaining the next. I especially find the character Eva a really interesting one. She has such mystery behind her because she disappeared for a while(18 months) and came home with some money and a missing leg. The way that Morrison describes the beauty of the other leg just makes me want to actually see it for myself. The description of the way that she rocked Plum like a baby and then killed him took me by surprise. At first I was just confused because of the description of the wet light, but then it came together when she actually lit him on fire. I just wander why she felt it was the only way to save him and how she could do that to her own son.

Lastly, I really enjoy the realationship between Nel and Sula. I like the way Morrison explains that they knew each other in a dream before they ever met. It's as if they were destined to be toghther like friends who are soul mates. They really compliment each other and I enjoy their companionship. This book is definitly a great read and I'm interested to discover how the characters furhter develop.

Sula Part One

2005-06-28T16:25:00.000-05:00

Sula is the second novel that I have read by Toni Morrison, previously reading The Bluest Eye, and throughout both of her novels I have really enjoyed the descriptive style that she uses to present her characters and ideas. Reading Sula I am amazed again how Morrison like in the Bluest Eye rejects the cultural norms that are put on women. To me, Sula did not embody black women at this time as she seemed to have absolutely nothing in common with them. Besides the reference to the Bottom and how black came to live there, I believe that this novel is not about how whites treated blacks at this time but more the differences that are within the black community. Sula was different and did things radically different for the time and maybe even our time. Through this character Morrison was able to present socially norms clearly as Sula defying the norms made them stand out to strongly.

I believe Morrisons through Sula's childhood offers a way of explanation for Sula's radical views. Her life at home was so different than Nel's, who would be representative of normal black childhood. Nel is an extremely important character in this novel, in that she acts as the direct contrast to Nel. We see how Nel cowarded and wanted to run from the few white boys that used to taint the black girls, and Sula wanted to show them that she was afraid. Through Sula we see a strength that I don't think would have been characteristic at this time. She embodies a character who will not be sat aside and let others put her down because of her difference. I think her strength as a character comes from the embracing of her differences to define herself. She feels that these are "mine".

2005-06-28T16:15:00.000-05:00

-ok just realized someone posted a link to info on African Americans in WWI...cheers.

Sula Pt.1

2005-06-28T15:58:00.000-05:00

I've really enjoyed reading this novel this far.....it's written with such richness and detail that it makes it difficult not to be atomatically absorbed into story. I also really love the details in regards to the charater development....Morrison has done a wonderful job, and I'm enjoying her contrasting style in comparison to particulary Woolf's. It's also nice to read a novel set in the same era and time period, yet based around a different culture, this being the first novel set outside of Europe, though the war is still an apparent presence, since the novel early on introduced an African American veteran. This si something that I'd like to touch on or atleast know more about in regards to the role the African Americans played during this role. I admit I know little about it...perhaps this is something we'll discuss in class? Otherwise I'm sure I"ll take it upon myself to do a little research on the matter.....I think it's worth investigation.

-Regardless....the novel reads with a great deal of ease without it being a simple text to consider, always the sign of a great writer. Loving it so far regardless of the fact I'm not sure where the writer is taking me.

Sula Part One

2005-06-28T15:38:00.000-05:00

I was surprised with how the characters all seem to take their tragedy in stride. Morrison's characters are rich and complex. These people make the Bottom alive. As an example, Shadrack is trying to control death because he could not do so during the war. Eva's husband leaving and her initial stuggle are also examples. We see the aftereffects of war with the disturbance in Shadrack and Plum.
Other themes the novel raises are: sexual freedom, double standards, control and power, and release from pain and death. The reader sees this with Hannah- who uses sex as power, not only for her own pleasure, but she inflicts pain on others because she has suffered. Eva is a walking enigma who kills her son to stop his own pain. Then later talks to Hannah in an attempt to justify it. She says that she killed him because he wanted to crawl back into the womb and quit living.
In reading this, I feel as though the reader is gripped into part two with impending doom based on the preface of tragedy. The reader has adopted personalities for the Bottom's residents and the community itself, however, it is very difficult to look forward to part two because the personalities seem to be coming to an end.

Jim Crow Laws

2005-06-28T15:36:00.000-05:00

Jim Crow Laws:Laws that imposed racial segregation. They existed mainly in the South and originated from the Black Codes which were enforced from 1865 to 1866. The Black codes were in a sense norms or expectations that white people held over black people as far as “how they are supposed to act.” Jim Crow Laws came about in 1877 and unfortunately stayed around until the 1960’s when the Civil Rights movement came about.
Under these laws, African Americans were seen as second class citizens and therefore were permitted from living the same life that white Americans had. Jim Crow Laws further provoked “Whites only” and “Colored only” public places such as train cars, bathrooms, water fountains, restaurants, etc. An example of the Jim Crow Laws in Sula is when Nel and her mother Helene are on a train going south and walking through a white only car which can be found on page 20.

Some examples taken from the Jim Crow Guide show rules (that originated from the Black codes) that blacks were supposed to reserve with whites:

1. Never assert or even initiate that a white person is lying.
2. Never impute dishonorable intentions to a white person.
3. Never suggest that a white person is from an inferior class.
4. Never lay claim to, or overly demonstrate, superior knowledge or intelligence
5. Never curse a white person
6. Never laugh derisively at a white person
7. Never comment upon the appearance of a white female

Some pictures
http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/what/

Sula

2005-06-28T15:35:00.000-05:00

I have to start out by saying that this book is a definite good read… it has kept my attention the entire time and I have often found it difficult to put it down. The author writes in a language I can read and understand easily and the characters seem full of life.

Was anyone else shocked when Plum died? I absolutely did not see that coming. I thought perhaps it was a little bit weird that Eva gets up in the middle of the night to go downstairs and “gathered Plum into her arms” (46). He seemed amused that his mother was rocking him. What was the significance of the “blood-tainted water” (47)? Could that be a sign that he was going to die or was he somehow sick and had spit up blood into the crush can? Or maybe a better sign that he was going to die was when Eva starts crying and thinking of memories of Plum as a baby as she rocks him back and forth? Regardless… I find it a bit difficult to understand why she had to light her son on fire. Perhaps she felt that he had joined “Shadrack [and] tar baby and the Dewey’s- on National Suicide Day” (41). The thing that confused me is that even though he had come back from war in a manner that represented depression and change, Plum still smiled and seemed somewhat alright. I would see more of a connection if Plum was severely disabled, depressed, angry, drunk, and confused about the war and Eva felt she was saving him from misery. I suppose we should not feel that bad about it because it seems Plum felt resurrected if not cleansed when Eva poured kerosene on his body by saying that he “saw what he imagined was the great wing of an eagle pouring a wet lightness over him. Some kind of baptism, some kind of blessing… everything is going to be all right” (47). Perhaps Plum and his mother Eva had some sort of understanding with one another and she even gives her explanation on page 71 as to why she killed him… however I still don’t really understand why she had to kill him. Perhaps the book will reveal later what this reason is and it may somehow incorporate the dreams.

The most important thing I got from Eva is that she really does love her children. We are made aware of this especially after when Hannah asks Eva if she ever loved her children. Eva reacts wildly and tells her with almost an anger tone in her voice that of course she loved them… she sacrificed everything for them. As we read further into the book we can be assured of this when Hannah is found burning and Eva, disabled with only one leg throws herself out a window cut and bleeding knowing that “there was tine for nothing in this world other than the tine it took to get there and cover her daughter’s body with her own” (75). Eva lays on the ground and is unable to move, later being put on a stretcher with next to her deceased daughter. I think this is a strong example of a mother’s love for their child as well as a sense of defeat.

On a happier note though, I have to say that I really enjoy both Nel and Sula’s character. Sula and Nel both compliment one another by coming form completely different backgrounds and both possessing different qualities that together form an exciting group of two girls. I was amused by Sula’s confrontation with the Irish boys… putting down “her lunch pail, her reader, her mittens, her slate. Holding the knife in her right hand” 54. Even better when she accidentally slices off the tip of her finger and instead of crying or being scared she goes to the boys “If I can do that to myself, what you suppose I’ll do to you?” (55) I thought the line classic! Sula seems to represent a very strong character on the outside where Nell seems to be a very strong person from the inside. Sula seems more socially adaptable and laid back… which makes sense with her family life being “wedged into a household of throbbing disorder constantly awry with things, people, voices, and slamming doors” (52). Nel, also being an only child (like Sula) seems to represent more of a structural and logical personality being that she was raised with her mother constantly ordering her around as well as maintaining a neat and orderly house. You can also tell how close Nel and Sula are when they author describes that “they never quarreled… or competed against each other… in those days a compliment to one was a compliment to the other, and cruelty to one was a challenge to the other” (84).

Sula

2005-06-28T15:32:00.000-05:00

The first thing that strikes me about Sula is the similarities it shares with Beloved, also by Toni Morrison. Although the books deal with the aftermaths of different wars (WWI vs. the American Civil War), each deals with issues pertaining to the African-American experience. It amazes me to see that the same issues confronting blacks after the Civil War were still very much problems in the early twentieth century, such as voting rights, racism, and Jim Crowe segregation.

Similarly to Beloved, Sula uses the fantastic to cope with the difficulties of African-American life. Sula's grandmother, Eva, is a character almost too bizairre to believe; yet she represents the powerful black matriarch who has experienced incredible hardship and survived. The fact that she refuses to tell the true story of how she lost her leg shows that she will not dignify her problems with acknowledgement. Instead, she will simply move on with her life as best she can.

At this point, I am not sure how I interpret the novel. The issue of racism, especially within the black race, interests me personally as a student of racial and Southern history. The way in which Morrison raises this theme strikes me as being one of an angry black woman who uses mysticism to alleviate her fury. When she presents white-on-black racism, the two little girls are walking home (I can't find the page!). As white boys begin to bait them, Sula pulls a knife on them to protect herself and Nel. Instead of showing a realistic version of what violence would have ensued, Morrison writes that Sula cuts herself instead to scare off the white boys. To show the essence of racism, most writers would have had the whites prevail over the blacks, as they most frequently did. Why does Sula 'win'? Why should Morrison deviate from showing the ruthlessness of white supremacists?

Sula part 1

2005-06-28T15:13:00.000-05:00

I am really enjoying reading Sula. It is so much easier to read then Mrs.Dalloway, and it doesn't leave parts out and skip around so much like Not So Quiet did. It is a normally written book, more like the books that I am accoustumed to reading. I really like reading this book because it teaches you about how african americans react to war, and how they have human reactions just like everyone else, even during this very hard time. I really like how all three of these books want to talk about the untalkable, it is opening my eyes to so much that I didn't know. This book has a happy medium of saddness and happiness, which makes it more welcoming to read then Not So Quiet. Although there is saddness all around and people are dying, I love to read about the friendship that Sula and Nel share. I am surprissed at how well Sula has dealt with Nel getting married, I really hope that they remain such close friends through the end of the book. I have really enkoyed the first half and look forward to finnishing it.

Sula: Part 1

2005-06-28T14:56:00.000-05:00

In reading "Sula", I found it to be much easier to read than "Mrs. Dalloway". Only a few pages into this book, I found a great interest in the story. It was truly hard to put the book down because I was so intrigued by the narration of the story, that I wanted to continue reading. The first thing I began to notice in reading this book, was the symbolism and simply the choice of words Morrison uses to portray this story to her readers. I also began to notice that occassionally there would be short sentences consisting of no more than three words. These stood out to me not only because they are short and different sentences but because I felt myself wanting to read over it again. I was drawn into the emotion of the narration and whatever was being said at the time had a greater impact on me. I greatly enjoyed the description on page twelve. When Morrison begins to explain how old Shadrack is and what he lacks in his life now that he is out of the hosipital. The repetitive use of the word "no" before everything she describes him not having, makes the passage much more interesting and it had a much greater effect on me as a reader. I was literally left viewing this man as someone who had woke up and left this hospital entering an entire new life with nothing to his name.

There were quite a few issues being raised in part one of "Sula". There were issues of adultery, love, promiscuous sex, death, war, and friendship. These are only a few of the themes I caught on to. I felt that almost every aspect of life was squished into this first section. At times I found myself overwhelmed with the descriptions, especially that of death. It was kind of disturbing how death seemed to be such an everyday thing in this novel. The people experiencing the deaths, like Sula and Nel with that of Chicken Little, did show emotion; However, at the same time I felt it wasn't something of great significance. The descriptions of Hannah's death and Plum's death, both, placed me right into the story. It wasn't hard for me to picture this story in my head as I read. That is one thing I enjoyed, even if it made me slightly discomfortable.

Overall this book seems to be filled with life lessons. There has already been so many themes brought up in this story and I am curious to find what other ones will be brought up further in the book. The book is an easy read, but is still brilliant in the choices of words used to describe the story. One passage I really loved was when Nel and Sula were lying in the grass by the water. "Nel leaned on her elbows and worried long blades of grass with her fingers"(Morrison 58). I immediately wondered how you "worry" blades of grass and I found that description to be very intriguing and brilliant. I had many other moments similart to that when I was reading. I look forward to reading more passages like this and I cannot wait to finish this book and see how the story ends.

Sula

2005-06-28T14:47:00.000-05:00

I am enjoying Sula quite a bit. It is written in a different style than our first two books. I am a bit more accustomed to reading books in a more definitive story line fashion. I am also enjoying this book because it is being written from a black perspective during the days of segregation. The family lives in the north but have very strong connections to the South. The style of this book is considerably different from the first two the imagry is just as potent. The stark images help me to sit back and think about the causes of the personalities in the book. What has made them the way they are and what is going to mold the children into what they will become. I also like the strong self appreciation that the children have of themselves as well as the three children that are molded into one, the Deweys. I am looking forward to reading the rest of this book over the holiday weekend.

Sula - Part 1

2005-06-28T14:26:00.000-05:00

Toni Morrison started out "Sula" with the introduction of the jolted war veteran finding his way back to his neighborhood 'the bottom'. The white farmer had given this land to a slave, he freed the man and gave him the land stating, "it's the bottom of heaven-best land there is" (5). But below heaven is hell, and Morrison portrays the lives of the characters living on the 'bottom' as brutal almost hellish. "Sula" appears to be sort of a dark novel. There is good and evil which leaves me anticipating the ending. At the end of part 1, Nel is married and it appears that her life and the life of her best friend, Sula, are bound to be just as opposite as the lives of each girls respective mother.

In this novel I found many references to evil. Shadrack, the veteran, marched annually on a holiday he named National Suicide Day; suicide being the only unforgivable sin. On this day Shardrack would march through bottom "telling (people) that this was their only chance to kill themselves or each other" (14). Two characters, Sula's mother Hannah, and Hannah's brother Plum (war veteran) both burned to death by fire. Chicken drowned and not by accident. I also find the three dewey's that never grew to be interesting - they were portrayed as being mysterious wicked little boys. On page 41, Plum, Tar Baby, and the three dewey's joined Shadrack on his march on National Suicide Day.