One of my personal favorite lines in Literature is one from the book Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis.

- "And how could we endure to live and let time pass if we were always crying for one day or one year to come back. If we did not know that everyday in a life fills the whole life with expectations and memory and that these are that day."

 

I finished Mr. Pip on Friday night and now realized why everyone called the book an ADULT read. It was brutal. It happened so fast, the killing of Mr. Watts. I spent the whole book slowly getting to know someone and in less than a page he is decapitated and fed to the pigs. I will take a lesson from Wallace Stevens and live life to the fullest.

I am still unsure of the direction I want to take in my essay. I have written the beginning but I am still unsure if I want to take that approach. Here are my quotes taken from Mr. Pip.

"...I do not know what you are suppose to do with memories like these. If feels wrong to want to forget. Perhaps this is why we write these things down, s we can move on." (p. 209)

"...No one in the history of your short lives has used the same voice as you with which to say your name. This is yours. Your special gift that no one can ever take from you. This is what our friend and colleague Mr. Dickens used to construct his stories with." (p. 124)

"...I could sit on the beach in the shade of a palm tree and see the moment clearly: Joe offers a hearty farewell. Biddy wipes her eyes with her apron. But Pip has already moved on. He is looking forward. It was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on..." (p. 153)

There was another quote where Matilda is forced to write her family names in the sand and her mother yells at her that Pip is not blood. Matilda states that she feels closer to Pip than any of her family. 

I want to talk about the themes of the power of storytelling and personal experiences. One does not have to be in England to experience a rimey morning and people can experience anything through a story. Also I wanted to touch on extraordinary people and how people are made through there experiences. I am not sure how to approach in again but it is still a work in progress.

On another note, I have finished reading Oedipus Rex and a quote came to mind. "Ignorance is Bliss." Everyone from Jocasta to the messenger urged Oedipus to stop looking for the truth because it would be painful and life altering, but he continued to persist for it. Can we really ignore the truth or do we naturally always strive for it. We can pretend not to know but we really do even though it will destroy us. There are things we just must know in life. It reminds me of the story of the matrix and how Neo wants to know what it is even though Morpheus is telling him he wont like it. and once he knows he can never go back like Oedipus. I also read in Medina's blog the theme of fate and destiny. I want to believe that we are not help to a standard by a designer and we can choose to change, but I just don't believe it. He are who who are because of who we meet and what we do. We are who we are and we could be nobody else

Calm During the Storm

Know the verity of summers quisling,

Swallow and descry the weatherman's lie.

Grothar has sallied in the month of July

Asphalt of this road, rimey and sizzling.

Pedal forward toward tepid quarter

Hermes and Harpies begin to wage war

And Edward grinds gears to level the score

Under the bough, begging "Storm be shorter!"

A voice cries out in the thick of the screams

This mind may find tranquility it seems

Into the abode, a dry and sere sojourn

She left at havocs end and in my stay

saw debris fixed in my prior delay

indebt for her ward, she"ll never learn.

I began reading master Pip and am stunned. Its been a long time since I have read such a captivating and easy book. I cannot put the book down. The book seems to me a blueprint of the entire class thus far. Mr. Watts, AKA Pop Eye, mirrors Mr. Sexson with his melodic reading of the first chapter of Great Expectations by "Mr. Dickens." Also I found some relation to Ex Libris where Matilda admires the "reading Aloud" of the book much  as Anne Fadiman noted in her essay "Sharing the Mayhem." Another connection of Matilda and Anne Fadiman is when Matilda comes home with new words to impress her mom, like rimey, much the same as Fadimans use of sesquipedalians. I will finish the book tonight or early tomorrow and can't wait to do it.

On another note, I have a story to tell. I'll set you, the reader, with everything you need to know that is relevant. I am in a transitional period with my living situation. I live in a four bedroom house with my friends with the lease expiring on August 17. I had a friend who lived in a studio penthouse with a rooftop deck who was moving out. I couldn't pass it up. I signed the lease for the studio apt and I'm slowly moving in...

That being said, I work at Taco Del Mar, and I share my boring stories and daily events with my co-workers including the events that happen in English class. I told a coworker, Reed, about my new rooftop apt.  Just to give you some details about what kind of guy he is, he loves lewd humor and has a taste for the scatological jokes. I told him I had to write a sonnet about and for a loved one. He told me I should Poo Dollar someone. For those who don't know what this is,.. well... click here! http://www.poodollar.org/playvideo1.html.  Anyway I said I probably not do the nasty task but he did challenge me to write a poem about it. I accepted the challenge. It will be called "A Dollar Well Spent." Coming soon to the CoombeJournal Blog July, 2008. Look for it this summer.

ALASKA

Eagles extend, exploring the summer sea for summer salmon.

It manages and maps 200 mile of mountains

And tours through the timber and the temperate Tongass.

Examining, Exploring, Focusing for the ideal natural resource.

SEE! The rich fisheries of the sea!

The Eagle sees…CONTACT!

Substance harvested from the home.

The wilderness permits a course.

The Alaska Sea Aids and extends subsistent living to the eagle

a poem by Ryan Coombe

Wallace Stevens

Wallace Stevens deals with two powerful motifs; perception and weather. In his poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, weather is referenced much in the thirteen stanzas. Among the snowy mountains, the blackbird whirled in the autumn winds, Icicles filled the long window, It was snowing and it was going to snow; I struggled to find meaning in all these references to winter. I discovered in my research that the blackbird has a beautiful bird call in the spring and summer months, but has a ghastly call in the winter months. I gathered that the poem is about perceptions and how they can do us much good ( the beautiful call of the blackbird) but can also do us wrong as well (a blackbirds call in winter).

A man and a woman are one.

A man and a woman and a blackbird are one.

We all have different perceptions about all things because we are individuals. The one experience that two people"s perceptions are as close as ever is with love. When a man and a woman are in romantic love, they both share the same feelings for each other.

Icicles filled the long window with barbaric glass.

The shadow of the blackbird crossed it, to and fro.

The mood traced in the shadow an indecipherable cause.

The icicles represent foul perceptions but also tell the reader that it is a prison setting. We can be so involved in our set perceptions that we can be incarcerated by them. One should always be about to change the way we look at things.

When the blackbird flew out of sight it marked the edge of many circles.

The who poem refers to winter and how it can hinder us. The line above means that the blackbird has flew away from winter and going to warmer pastures representing that we can always redefine ourselves and change the way we look at anything.

In the poem, Wallace Stevens writes about how we perceive love, religion and our lives. He is even talking about the very poem he has written. I interpret this poem differently that anyone else and tomorrow I will read it and interpret it differently from today.

Much like the Arabic tales...Wallace Stevens is talking about everything in his poems and he is also talking about nothing.

Source Material

Chapman, Jeremy. " Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird: An Analysis." 13 July 2008.

Vendler, Helen. Modern American Poetry. "On 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.' 13 July 2008.

The Medieval Bestiary. "Blackbird." 13 July 2008.

Redemption

Last class period we were discussing important thoughts and criticisms about the book Great Expectations. One that was never mentioned was the strong theme of redemption. Some people found Pip not to be a favorable character because he turned his back on his friends and forgot who he was. This makes Pip human! All people deceive, lie, abandon and take for granted the things we cherish.

Many characters in the book and not favorable characters, but are given a chance to make amends for what they have done. Pip is a young and innocent boy who helped Magwich when he needed it. Pip treated Magwich not as a criminal, but as a regular person which caused Magwich to give him all the money to make Pip successful. The most important part of the book is when Magwich reveals he is Pips benefactor. In this single moment of time, Pip realizes what his life has become. This is the point in time where pip strives for redemption and want to make things right.

Mrs. Joe was a malicious character who never took pleasure in anything and suppressed Joe and Pip but right before she did she asked for forgiveness.

Miss Havisham wanted to corrupt and break all the hearts of man, but in the end learned the errors of what she has done and asked for forgiveness.

Even the convict, Magwich who has committed a crime has some qualities of redemption when he becomes Pips benefactor.

It is an important theme that everyone is capable of doing awful things and in the same way everyone is capable of doing great things

Intertextuality

Just before my completion of Great Expectations, I was watching comedy central and came upon a South Park episode entitled "Pip." The episode only contains fragments of the morals and lessons to be taken from Mr. Dickens novel. The episode takes the story and adapts it into a ludicrous tale of Miss Havisham teaching her adopted daughter Estella to capture and break the hearts of men to put them into a powerful Genesis device fusing her and Estella's body into one. The episode also contains robotic apes that fight Joe and Magwich with swords.

The South Park writers chose to parody Great Expectations not because they admired the literary work but because everyone else does. Nonetheless, it is Dickens Intertextuality in contemporary popular culture. This novel has been made into several movies and referenced in TV shows and books for many years.

The reason the book is so highly respected is because it contains so many themes and morals that are universal in literally every generation since it was written. The importance of holding friendships high and not the root of all evil, money and greed. Another theme is kindness and genuineness. To value people for who they are and not what they can do for you financially. These themes and stories are evident in so many works of literature and art and will will be seen for many more.

The last blog published responded to the question of a book that captivated ones interest thoroughly. An author must hit a central nerve that can be found in every single person on the planet. Everyone has experienced greed and everyone has taken someone or something for granted. We are all connected in these universal truths.

To view the south park episode www.allsp.com

select season 4 and scroll down the episode list till you come to pip.

Fearing Introductions

July 1, 2008

The anxiety of the first day of class has never dwindled and I'm sure it never will. I am always afraid because I never know what to expect. When Mr. Sexon entered the room and began reading my first reaction was skepticism. This must be a test. Throughout the duration of the day he would randomly pick out people and question them. I was given introduction to the juggler, Medina who didn't kill her kids, and Dominic, daughter of Monique. After a while, I stopped being afraid and learned of the professors method. Its a day of introductions which acts as the foundation of the rest of the course. I can tell this class will be a calm relaxing class not without its work loads but it will be one in a low stress environment.

I will be honest when I say I do not read for pleasure as much as I should but I feel this class will provoke me to begin positive reading habits. Greg has mentioned a single book which engaged him to the point of being lost in the story. I had to think hard about this question because it has been some time. The book is called Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines. It's a story about a runt goblin named Jig who lives in a goblin village in the cave dwellings of a mountain. He is not big enough to carry out the normal tasks of the other large goblins so he is required to cook and clean for the rest of the village. One day Jig is captured by a group of crusaders in suite of killing the evil dragon in the depths of the mountain. Its an adventure story with great moments of action and humor.

Goblin Quest kept me entertained and interested on every page. One element that really turned me on about the novel was the main character. There are so many stories where the main character is the perfect model citizen, who is a hero and always does right. Jig is a coward and a wimp who goes on this journey against his will which I believe is very true to reality. We as humans usually do great good not because we are bold and heroic but because me must or are guided toward it by forces we do not agree with. It has been a long time since I read a book which has engaged me as well as Goblin Quest. I hope to find another one soon