The 33rd President and me

Looking at historical figures for my final project, I kept coming across Harry Truman. He is from Missouri, like my family. He was a prominant congressman at the time of the cold war, the lake that my grandfather took me fishing on as a child was named after him, I have been to his museum, Truman the Tiger is MU’s mascot (where my parents went to school, and while thumbing through a book I have on my fraternity I realized that Truman is my fraternity brother (he is a member of Lamba Chi Alpha). I had one of those small world moments when you begin to wonder if everyone is connected somehow. Talk about a social network if thats the case.

Response 6

Billy tried to do as he was advised even after the war. He would wake up and shave his face, then look into the mirror to see if he still had good posture. It didn’t matter and he knew it. Billy would be shot in a few years regardless of what he did. Still, it made him feel better. Billy lathered his face and began to lightly stroke the razor to his cheek. The Tralfamadorians said that Billy, that everyone really, was a machine. Billy did indeed feel mechanical as he went through his morning routine without even having to think about what he was doing. A sharp prick brought Billy back to his human self. The froth on his face turned from white to red as a drop of blood landed on his outstretched hand.

Roland Weary was bleeding. One of the studs on the knuckles of his knife had cut into his leg when he tripped over the log. It was a good thing that the knuckles cut him and not the blade Weary thought. If the blade had cut him, it would have never healed and Weary would have died. So it goes. One of the scouts laughed at this. Apparently he didn’t realize what the shape of Weary’s knife could do. Billy sliced part of his sleeve off and wrapped it around Weary’s cut. It turned from white to red as a drop of blood landed on his outstretched hand. Out in the woods someone screamed.

Billy sat upright kicking the man sleeping like a spoon next to him. Someone was screaming in the back of the car. “What the hell was that for?” the man Billy kicked asked. “Someone is yelling,” Billy replied. “You should talk, you do it too,” the man Billy kicked grumbled.

Montana Wildhack yelled. Billy blinked, realizing that he wasn’t on the train anymore. She was getting closer to having the baby. Billy was an eye doctor, not a baby doctor and he wondered he could deliver a child. He also wondered if the Tralfamadorians would help. Would the Tralfamadorians know how to deliver a human child? Where did Tralfamadorian babies come out of? “Relax its not here yet,” Montana Wildhack assured Billy.

Billy Pilgrim watched as the prisoner paced from one end of the guard stand to the other, and then back again. “He is going to try to make a run for it isn’t he?” Edger Derby asked from beside Billy. They were painting today. Billy’s hands were speckled with grey-green paint. Billy pretended he didn’t hear Derby’s question and continued painting his wall. He knew the prisoner would not make it past the guards. The prisoner had stolen a revolver, the old kind that needed to be reloaded after every shot, but the prisoner did not know that. Billy watched out of the corner of his eye as the prisoner drew near the first guard, pulled the hammer back, and shot. He missed and dove behind an assortment of wooden boxes as the guards gathered themselves and returned fire. He crawled to the end and raised the revolver to fire again. Click. Nothing happened. Bang! The guard’s rifle worked just fine. The prisoner went limp. So it goes. Billy kept on painting. Billy wanted his wall to look pretty when the bombers came in three days.

Poo-tee-weet?

I actually came across internet out here.  Well, technically I am told I am actually using cell phone towers… I am not sure how that works.  Another thing I came across today was mention of Truman in Slaughter House Five.  The section talks about a report he wrote on atomic bombing.  I thought it may be interesting to look into the origins of the atomic bomb.  It turns out tha the atomic bimb, and modern computers were developed at the same times.  Without the bomb, would computers be what they are today? If we could trade our computers for a world rid of nuclear weapons would we?  The bomb dropped on Nagisaki was called Fat Man.  Weighing at over 10,000 pounds it is pretty easy to see where its name came from.  However, at only 10.5′ x 5′ it is hard to imagine that this little object could spark so much fear.  On the outside that bomb does not look very powerful.

Proposal

1) Which of the two general approaches will you take? Identity in the context of the Red Scare

2) What specific issue will you “take up” and “take responsibility for” ? I will examine society’s impact on how we define ourselves.  It affects me personally as I have often wondered who I am.  Also, as a political science major I look a lot at events from around the world at different points in history… I have wondered if I would be the same person if put into these events.

3)

4)

5) If possible, speculate at least one “blindspot” of historical discourse: what is conventionally forgotten or excluded about this experience? The vast array of opinions about communism in America.  The issue existed as a spectrum, not as the dicotomy that it is often depicted as.

Why is it important to actively recall and inscribe this into writing and into memory? I gives a clearer picture of the event.  Also, it allows for internal conflict to be seen within characters that are “on the fence” about capitolism and communism.

6) List the “CATTt-egories” for a “Mystory recipe” that will be relevant for your poetics, as you’ve derived from our readings/classes thus far; need not provide rationale — more a starting point and inventory to develop later. Individual experience, insite into the uncensered thoughs of the protagonist.  Limited view of the events leading up to and after the story (fragmented). 

7) At this time, what is a potential figure that you might employ, in a “re-fashioning” or “re-deploying”? (from history and/or culture)
Allusions to historical events will be made, but they will be tainted by the beliefs of the characters.   

8) Obstacles that you foresee with this choice/topic? “Traps” of writing in conventional discourse (thought+expression)? Some reasearch will be required, and as someone who is most comfortable writting essays, I will have to check myself to be sure I am not reinforcing the conventional ways of telling history.

What are the “argumentative” positions? Academic: Propaganda spread mass paronia.  Individual: Uncertanty created paronia and the notion of trying to ignore problems to function within a frightened society as if nothing was wrong. Briefly describe your issue within the doxa: what is the conventional, consensus, or mythological perspective or narrative? The individual experience is not expressed clearly in history which tends to compress society.

Identity Crisis

I have had I hard time deciding upon a topic of what to blog about this week.  I was struck by the notion of identity in all of the pieces this week.  Still, I feel as if trying to tackle identity in one blog is next to impossible.  I suppose that is what the final project will help with.  I was given a speech on life.  Someting was said in that speech the rang with me this week.  I was called to find who I am and why I am here.  Once I know these things I am to never compromise them.  Thats a daunting request and i still don’t know who I am fully.  I do believe though that perhaps who we are and why we are here are not that different.  Perhaps it is what we do that defines us.  Or perhaps it is how we do it.  I am a fan of Five for Fighting, they have a song that got stuck in my head after the identity discussion.

Crystal

In class someone brought up the notion of memory not being like a crystalized image. I understand that what they were getting at was that it was not a solid, pure object. Still, I cannot help but believe that memory and crystal are much alike. There is a large crystal in the nation Museum of Natural History (I looked but I could not find the actual picture of it… i may have taken one I will look through my photos later and post if I can find it) than when you looked through it, you got a split image. It is hard describe, but it was like seeing the room behind the crystal from dozens of different sets of eyes, but each image while of the same room was different in shade or color. I think memory is a lot like that. Two peoples memories of the same event will likly occur in the same setting involving the same people, but the tone of the memory varies by individual.

Response 5

Part One:
In the consensus, history is envisioned as one story encompassing all time, peoples, and locations. Even the word history “his story” is misleading. Perhaps it would be best to view history as in interaction between multiple stories, not as his story but rather as their stories. Roth’s novel allows for just this. By introducing the plot from the different angles and perspectives of his characters he allows for variability in the events of the storyline. Consensus history and Roth’s history can be seen as competing characters in themselves as the novel challenges strictly pro-American views with a “what if” scenario where America and Nazi Germany are one and the same.
The interaction between Roth’s history and consensus history creates an environment where the doxa becomes muddled. This historicity serves to disrupt automatic reading. In doing so, it also allows for the individual to play a greater role than is typically shown in history. Perhaps the best example of this is found the newsreels. The newsreels present history as it is normally perceived. They are told from one view point only and allow for no questioning or alternatives. This view is what the reader was guarded against throughout the entire story by telling the events not as a historical account, but rather through the experiences of the characters during the story.
The newsreels also serve to contrast the notion of “perpetual fear”. Roth’s use of the newsreels shows that it would have been possible to tell his entire alternate history in as little as eight pages. This, however, would not allow one to see into the individual experiences of the characters. Fear is the underlying emotion throughout the entire novel. Roth’s mother is uncertain of the future and fears what may happen to her family, the bulk of America fears getting involved in the war, and even Lindbergh is forced into submission out of fear for his kidnapped child. The notion of a perpetual fear goes against consensus. Fear is typically perceived as something that eventually subsides. The experience of fear, however, can feel like forever. In the moment, fear can be all encompassing and eternal.

Part Two:
Roth’s uses poetics in a way that captures the emotional state of his characters and story. Phillip’s dream shows not only foreshadowing, but also Phillip’s fear that his home is being corrupted by anti-Semitism. It also demonstrates that Phillip is much more in tune with his surroundings than children his age are normally given credit for. He sees the signs that many adults who are typically regarded as wiser than him are blind to.
The interaction between chapters eight and nine reveals the contrast between time from a frightened individual’s perspective and time from a historian’s point of view. The chapter eight newsreels are fast paced and told in a way similar to a newscast or a history book. The evens of chapter nine seem to drag on, especially when compared with chapter eight, showing how time felt for the characters involved.

Modern History

I suppose that what this novel is trying to do is pose an alternative history… a sort of what if senerio. As a political science major and a self proclaimed history nerd (albiet it not of the WWII time period) I read a lot of historical accounts, and one that breaks from what is “historically accurate” occationally jars me. It was commented in class that the story can be applied to the war in Iraq. I can agree if one is looking at the argument between involvement and isolation. Still, I would not say this only can apply to Iraq but any war to some degree (most notebly Vietnam).

The Swimmer

For this week’s essay I chose to write on the swimmer. I know it was not a text that was covered in class, but I stumbled upon it while reading the prompt after finishing my evening swim. The story opposed the typical methods that people use to complete a task. Growing up, my favorite question always been “why”. Neddy’s tale suggest that sometimes why may not be an important question. Still, I feel that why is of value. For instnace, I believe that when consittering morality, the only question that matters is why.

A matter of life and death

Both Plath and Sexton presented an interesting level of duality in their work. They seemed to curse their own lives and praise that of their children. While the notion of praising one’s child is common, the extent to which they discussed their own planned deaths was not. People do not really like to think about dying. Most see it as an end, Plath and Sexton seemed to view it as an escape. This idea opposes the common notion of death. Death is normally seen as confining. Once one dies, he cannot come or leave, he is trapped within a box six feet underground, it is not an escape but rather a trap.