Figurative Language

            Figurative Language appears in any type of writing and is used to describe something in order to make a particular insight more clear.  Through the use of analogies, similes, metaphors, symbolism, hyperboles, etc, the reader gains a better understanding of what the reader is trying to convey.  For instance, a simile is used to directly compare two objects, using like or as.  An example of this appears in the book You Shall Know Our Velocity on page 16: “Like a battery is borrowed from a calculator to power a remote control, someone, always, is borrowing my head”. I feel like this is a good example of a simile for this book because not only is it a comparison of how the character thinks, it helps you better understand Will for the remainder of the novel.  As you follow Will throughout the story, you find his statement to be true.  At times, he begins to pause to think about completely irrelevant situations or objects.  It seems as though he is a lunatic with his behaviors and actions, but that is what makes him this character. 

            Another example is on page 187: “Money is really the only tangible communication device we have”.  This could most be conveyed as a metaphor in terms of figurative language.  It is comparing money to being a type of tangible communication similar to a phone or radio device.  It is saying that money is used to negotiate and transfer goods and services.  It does not directly communicate with anything but it is used in order to begin the communication process.  Will believes that money isn’t the most important thing in the world.  He finds it completely absurd that people revolve their lives around something that he and Hand can willingly give to others.  He and Hand both find money as meaningless and that our lives revolve around it because of the government.

Intertextuality

The intertextuality that I have discovered is between the movie "Ten Things I Hate About You" and "The Taming of the Shrew".  They both follow the plot line of a girl who wishes to date (in ten things) or marry (taming of the shrew) another man but cannot until her older sister goes on a date/gets married.  Therefore, in both stories, the younger sister tries to get the older sister with a man by bribing another man to go out with her.  However, "Ten Things" is more of a modernized version of "The Taming of the Shrew".  "Taming of the Shrew" is by Shakespeare.

The names of the sisters are even the same.  The older sister in both of the stories has the name of Katherine/Katarina.  She is more of a strong-willed person than her sister.  The younger sister has the name of Bianca.  Bianca is more concerned with her looks and her personality.  The suitors name in "Taming of the Shrew" is  Petruchio of Verona which becomes Patrick Verona in "Ten Things".  At one point during "Ten Things", Kat is referred to as "the shrew" by another character.  In "Ten Things", Patrick, the "suitor", is paid to try to go out with Bianca's older sister so her parents will allow her to go out with the man of her choice.  Kat is a feminist and is very strong-willed.  However, throughout this bribe, the boy, Patrick actually falls in love with Kat and Kat falls in love with him.  In this story, there is a happy ending.  In "The Taming of the Shrew", Petruchio is searching for a wife and his friend, who happens to be the one trying to wed Bianca tells him of Katherine.  Katherine is pretty stubborn so henceforth there is the taming of the shrew (Katherine).  He eventually gets her under control and marries her.  In "Ten Things", Patrick gets Kat under control by the end as she falls in love with him.

Blue Highways

Reading Blue Highways to me was at first very boring.  It caught my attention at the beginning to read that this man was leaving to start a new beginning, to travel across the states.  Then, I began to get bored with the story line.  He just seemed to go from place to place with high detail of each place.  Eventually, with every place, he met new people, letting the reader know what goes on in each city.  Some of the anecdotes I found to be pretty boring, however, some caught my attention.  As I was going through the book, it became more interesting.  

I enjoyed reading about his travels through Kentucky, as I am from there.  However, there was not a lot mentioned about Lexington (where am I from), and there was more about the surrounding areas of which i was not very familiar with.  However, I have heard about them but I hadn't known much about them.

I hope that the book turns into more of a story line with the man.  I realize that his traveling is the story line, but it appears to me that one of the primary focuses of the novel is the anecdote of the people. Although it is interesting to learn about the many different places, I found it more interesting to learn about the different places through a story line like from the novel "Northern Lights".  

I have no idea of where and how this story will end up.  It is pretty different from what I am used to reading.  It has a story line that seems to change a lot.  One part of the book that I did find pretty interesting is when the author says : "I wondered why it's always those who live on little who are the ones who ask you to dinner".  The people that he found that didn't have a lot were very friendly and offered to have him for dinner and welcomed him in their homes.  I also found it interesting that since he was traveling alone, it made him want to become more social when he met people.  It didn't make sense to me before but when I read the part when he was talking to the waitress, it made more sense.

First Draft - Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name

 Chelsey Dubocq

 

ENG 112

 

2/19/09

 

 

The Psychology behind Northern Lights

            Upon reading Let the Northern Lights Erase your Name, any reader would become especially engrossed by the psychology behind the characters.  It is especially difficult for one to understand the mother’s behavior and how she is able to detach herself from every social relationship. As stated in the book, “Every relationship with my [Clarissa’s] mother came with an expiration date”.  This personality disorder is also somewhat present in her daughter, Clarissa, who quickly abandons and disregards her fiancé and friends, following in her mother’s footsteps.  She specifically supports this with her statement, “Disappearing is nothing.  I learned this from my mother”.  Throughout the novel, the reader follows Clarissa and the changes of her personality.  As the reader becomes more aware of her mother’s acts in the past, she becomes more aware of Clarissa’s personality and from where she acquires her tendencies.

            At the beginning of the novel, Clarissa appears to be a normal woman, traveling because of some issue that she wanted to get away from.  After venturing a little further, the reader begins to become aware of Clarissa’s past and why she is traveling to Helsinki.  Multiple flashbacks expose the reader to Clarissa’s abnormal childhood and lunatic mother.  As a child, Clarissa had never received much affection or attention from her mother.  When Clarissa finally encounters her mother, her mother is cognizant of her treatment towards Clarissa but doesn’t seem to have any concern. Her reaction towards Clarissa’s interrogations was, “You poor thing. You always tried so hard to get a reaction from me”.  Her condescending tone reveals her negligence for anyone but herself. 

It seems as though Olivia, Clarissa’s mother, has a sociopathic behavior.  She expresses shallow emotions, the tendency to move around a lot, irresponsibility, the lack of remorse, shame, or guilt, and many other qualities of one with sociopathic manners.  As an adult, Clarissa finally crosses her mother and when Olivia finally acknowledges her, she says that she has nothing to say to her.  She is not concerned when Clarissa tells her that her past husband has died.  She was only interested in Clarissa’s departure.  She has no care at all for anyone but herself.  Clarissa’s resentment of her mother leads to her desire to detach herself from her past, but while also searching for her biological father.

The thoughts behind Clarissa are based on her mother, and how her mother responded to different situations. Her mother had psychologically damaged her, making Clarissa emotionally conflicted and lonely.  Clarissa couldn’t even show much affection for her own fiancé; her relationship with Pankaj is very bland.  She doesn’t show much interest in it, as she was able to leave him behind so easily without even caring to call or write to him.  She didn’t truly love him; she even ignored him when he said, “I love you”.  This further portrays her mother’s huge influence on her.  All she can think about throughout the novel is how her mother would react to certain situations, if she would ever see her again, and how her mother behaved during her childhood.

Clarissa does not resemble the traits of a typical sociopath; however, her mother’s influence on her affected her personality.  For instance, she is easily able to leave her fiancé and have a physical moment with another man shortly after.  At some point, she does feel a dash of guilt, but not much.  Also, Clarissa is not entirely friendly with other people.  She has her own goal and doesn’t want emotional or personal obstacles to inhibit her quest.  At the end of the novel, she easily forgets the life before her in order to begin a new life with new people.  She remarries a man who knows nothing of her past and lies to him about everything easily. After everything she has been through, Clarissa finally develops into a woman somewhat similar to her mother.  However, the reader will not get to find out if she leaves her family like her mother had done.

Clarissa despises her mother’s behavior, yet she yearned for her.  She was obsessed with her mother’s actions and longed for her attention.  Since Clarissa obtained some of her inane behavior from her mother, her mother may have developed her qualities from her parents.  These characteristics could have been passed down- how each child was maltreated has a major effect on his or her life.  People who have been abused as children or exposed to iratic behavior tend to carry out these problems as adults.  They can become detached from the people around them- leading antisocial lives, with only a care for their own lives.  It is intriguing to see how people change, and how their childhood and parents affect them.

Response to reading/brainstorming for narrative

After reading the entire novel, I have to say, I was not expecting it to end the way it did.  I thought that she was going to encounter her real father and not ever see her mother again.  I was very surprised.  I really enjoyed reading this novel but I was not satisfied by its ending.  I longed for more pages.  How could she just end the book by stating that she was to have a new life?  I was concerned as to how she was to accomplish this and forget her past and keep it from her husband.  She basically did what her ex-fiance did to her.  She hides what she knows from her husband.  I wonder how she was psychologically stable enough to have a seemingly "normal" life after all that she has been through.  

She tries to find her real dad after discovering that the man that was taking care of her her whole life had not been her biological father.  Her real father was somewhere in the world and she set out to find him.  She completely leaves the life she had behind her and focuses on her one objective.  She ends up finding a lot more about not only her mother who had left her at age fourteen but a lot more about herself.  She was able to leave everything just like her mother. 

I was very disappointed and disturbed when after miles and miles of endless travel, she encountered her careless mother.  Her mother was angry that her daughter had found her and was very inconsiderate of her.  How could someone be so cruel to their daughter?   She first leaves her and doesn't talk to her after years and years of her life and finally when they encounter each other, her mother doesn't even care about her daughter's existence. There must have been some serious psychological issues between the genes of this family.  Clarissa's mother is very dysfunctional and seems to have given this gene to her daughter.

For my narrative, I am currently brainstorming on several different ideas on which I could write about.  One option is to research more about the Samis and their lifestyle.  I would incorporate parts of the novel in order to give a better understanding about the novel and where it is taking place.  I would have a clearer picture in my mind of what was happening and where.  I would be able to eliminate gaps or borders that have blocked me from understanding the culture.  For example, I would like to learn more about the reindeer and the importance.  I found it interesting that it was rude for a person to ask a Sami how many reindeer they had.  It was like asking a person how much money they have.  

Another option is to analyze a particular character.  I feel like I would like to analyze Clarissa's mother.  I am very interested in her psychological flaws and would like to further investigate how Clarissa is effected by this. I am very interested in psychology and throughout reading this novel,  I have been constantly attempting to figure out the psychology within each character.  Each one has a particular flaw, some have more than others but the mother's character was exceptionally peculiar.  I was thinking of possibly writing a paper on the psychology of the characters.

Another possibility is to do a close reading on a passage or a few passages.  While doing so in class, I found it interesting.  We discovered some foreshadowing that I wouldn't have otherwise discovered.  We also found different sentences that had multiple meanings.  It would be interesting to get a better idea of this novel and really dig into its meaning.

Response to "Northern Lights"

I really have enjoyed reading the first 1/3 of the book "Northern Lights".  I'm usually very picky when it comes to reading;  I get bored easily.  However, "Northern Lights" has really caught my attention with the story-line of a woman who goes crazy and leaves her fiance once she finds out her deceased father wasn't her biological father.  Her travel to Finland to discover her real father has been very interesting so far.  She doesn't resist Kari, the bus driver when he pursues her and tries to take advantage of her.  She just goes along with what he is doing, without care, which surprises me.  When he becomes ill, she just leaves him there and moves on with her life, forgetting him.  She becomes cold towards people.  She doesn't have a very friendly or loving personality, but for some reason, her goal is to fin her father and start a new life with new people.  

Her personality seems to have been damaged psychologically from childhood by her mother.  Clarissa had felt betrayed by her fiance, her mother, and father.  She felt like she could trust nobody.  Also, as a child, Clarissa's mother was never very caring until just before she left.  She made Clarissa feel terrible when she left her at the mall just because she was running a few minutes late to the meeting spot.  However, she has had some resentment towards her mother.  She is an interesting character to follow because of her temper and strange behaviors.  At times it seems like she reverts back to childhood tendencies.  She has started to lose her mind it seems as her mother had done before she left.  Her mother used to talk to the neighbor's cat sometimes and would give it milk.  

I am excited to read on to find out what happens when she meets up with her biological father.  It ended with the cliff-hanger of her talking to her father on the phone.  I predict that Clarissa will learn a lot more about her mother and maybe why she left and why Clarissa herself was raised by another man.

Developing Through Reading

Reading is a great part of our everyday lives, whether one is reading a newspaper to catch up on the daily news or reading a fictitious story for enjoyment.  Not only does reading inform and entertain but it also develops one mentally.  Reading is a way to improve an individual's writing and vocabulary, helps them acquire knowledge, benefits in comprehending many different perspectives of life, and is advantageous in many other ways.  People enjoy distinct kinds of texts and take various approaches while reading.

Personally, when reading, I like to be in a well-lit room that is absolutely silent.  I like to sit comfortably in a chair because if I am in bed, I become too sleepy to concentrate.  Also, it is difficult for me to read when there are noises in the background.  I simply cannot concentrate in that type of atmosphere.  When reading for a class, I try to annotate and take notes within the margins of the book or article.  I highlight important paragraphs that will catch my attention when reviewing through the text.  I always try to ask myself questions about the text to see if I am understanding what I read.  Consequently, it helps me better comprehend the material and stay focused.

It was difficult for me to focus on my reading assignments in high school.  I just wanted to get through them and wasn't concerned with learning the text that I was covering.  Nowadays, I have actually begun to care about what I have been reading and have developed a sense of interest.  Nevertheless, I feel like in high school, reading was a chore with all of the "check-up" quizzes that followed every couple of chapters.  Thus, my attitude towards reading was completely negative.  I longed for the reading that I had done in elementary school, when I was rewarded for reading books.  I had a choice of what I wanted to read and if I read enough books, I could win prizes.  There was no time limit, I could choose the book I wanted, and it made reading fun.

I especially enjoy reading books on my own for fun.  My favorites are romance novels.  They really grab my attention and make me want to keep reading.  I like reading about passion and intrigue.  Reading on my own gives me my own pace to take in what I have time for.  I don't have a due date.  It's a great way to pass time while I'm on an airplane or waiting for my next class.  However, I like to read in small portions at a time, unless I am at a certain part of the book where I just can't put it down.  When this happens, I don't even want to stop for dinner.  I feel like I just need to read on until I figure out what happens in the story.

When I read, I read to entertain myself, inform myself on what is happening in the world, or for an assignment for a particular class.  However, through any kind of reading, I am strengthening my vocabulary and writing skills.  It also lets me into many different perspectives or various people from diverse backgrounds from numerous periods of time. Reading develops throughout one's life.  Therefore, it can change people's lives just by taking in many perspectives of life and informing them of the different views.  There are different approaches that people take while reading.  I personally am very picky about where and how I read.  I like silence when studying or concentrating on any piece of text.  It helps me take in what I am reading better and makes it easier to understand and furthermore developing me as a reader.