Response 4 part 2 (George Carter)

This brief account calls into perspective the notion of the mundane. It is remarked several times throughout the piece that it is a day just like every other. The character in the piece goes through his daily routine, ignoring the world around him. It is not until he spots the fire over the horizon (a reference to the power struggle during the cold war) that he realizes that there is something besides what is right in front of him going on. This account shows that performing the typical daily routine can be used as a protective devise during times of strife. Still, it hints that ignoring the problem will in no way resolve it.

Response 4

The three of them sat silently in their car as the bridge swayed evenly between the gales. The other vehicles around them were trapped in a similar situation, gridlocked. The boy looked out over the stretch of water beside the bridge. Overhead, the sky was a clear, pristine blue. Two mammoth storms waited at both horizons, slowly stalking nearer to the car. The boy marveled at this. Though he was an inquisitive boy, he had never understood the weather. No one had ever explained to him where a storm came from and he wondered what would happen when the two storms met over his car. Would they merge into one horrifyingly large mass? Would one overtake the other? Or would they both explode? The boy’s father sat in the chair beside him, gripping the wheel, his knuckles white. Every few minutes he would reach over and change the station on the radio, never quite distracted from the traffic. The father was not normally a tense man. He stared out of the windshield searching for the end of his trap. His search was in vain, a semi truck sat in front of him blocking his view of everything beyond a few feet. The trucks engine was still idling as if waiting for some signal to resume travel. A child lay across the back seats of the car. He twiddled his fingers, stretched, and tapped his feet. Motion for the sake of motion, motion for the sake of sanity. He dared not look out either of the side windows, afraid that if the storms knew he was there they would take him and change him into yet another shapeless cloud.
Outside the car a man paced, cursed, and spat. His face, though obscured by the veil of his hood, showed lines of desperation, confusion, and fear as he intently watched both skies. Thunder cracked overhead, though from which side it was impossible to tell. Still, no flashes lit the sky, and for this the man was thankful. Pacing, he eyed the walls around the bridge knowing no walls could halt the encroaching storms. Desperate, the man looked above him and watched as the thin blue strip of sky began to vanish before the storms. The man panicked, believing the strip dividing the storms was becoming too small, that the fragile layer of brinksmanship would soon shatter. He paced faster, knowing he had to stand on one side lest he remain in the middle. The storm to his east had taken up some dust from whatever land had spawned it. It gave the wind a red hue. Looking at this shimmering red curtain, the man began to walk towards it. In his mind he saw himself as he bade farewell and jumped of the bridge, to solitude, waving, carrying flowers, down to the river. With one foot upon the wall he stopped and looked back. The storm to his west looked equally inviting and terrifying as the one he stood before now. He stepped away just as the cavernous mouth of the storm was about to swallow him and knelt in the middle of the road under the thin streak of sky that was home to him, his tears mixing with the rain that was now beginning to fall.

Brinksmanship

The notion of brinkmanship can about during the height of the cold war.  I think the concept can be applied to the mindset of many individuals during cold war throughout the world.  The idea the entire world order was on a hair trigger and that one action, beyond the control of most everyday citizens could plunge their lives again into war is one that is hard to wrap your mind around today.  I would think the tension must have been unbearable.  There is no doubt that many kept going through their daily routines as if nothing was wrong, they had to say in motion to stay sane.   

Reaction 3

Part 1
The vehicle of the text can take on several forms. It can come in the shape of metaphor, imagery, or symbolism. Regardless of form, the vehicle is the surface layer of the text. It is stated, not implied. The vehicle acts as a method to deliver a subtle concept. The tenor, on the other hand, is the undertone of the text. It is what can be inferred from the vehicle. For example Berryman writes “after all, the sky flashes, the great sea years, we ourselves flash and yearn.” The image conjured by this line is the vehicle. The tenor takes a little more thought to derive. This line implies that man and his environment are one and the same. Man can no more detach himself from his surroundings than the sky can from the sea at the horizon. Man is subject to his environment and takes on the characteristics of it. He flashes and yearns along with it. Another example can be found in Bishop’s poem, The Bight. Bishop writes “Pelicans crash into this peculiar gas unnecessarily hard, it seems to me, like pickaxes, rarely coming up with anything to show for it.” This description of crashing birds is the vehicle of the text. This vehicle serves to deliver the tenor through the poem. The tenor, then, is the underlying idea of the line. In this case, it is a line of reflection. It is reflecting on past labors that have failed. Although the pelicans dive hard, they return without the fruits of their labor.

Part 2
The use of figurative language serves as an alternative way of thinking about events. Often, events are simply stated. The accepted view of history places it as a chronological set of events that occur at set places and involved only a few key actors. It overlooks the complexity of the past and instead simplifies it into something that can easily fit into a textbook. History becomes an unquestionable, superficial study where everything within it is stated as fact. The use of figurative language allows one to draw individualized conclusions from the text. This allows for history to become more subjective, which can be argued is a problem as it could increase the chance for bias. Still, it allows for a person to connect at a deeper level to the event as he is not just reciting names and dates, but actually reacting to the concepts elicited by the event.
The myth that everything can be explained by a surface examination is both naïve and detrimental. During the cold war, American culture attempted to understand the cultures found is Asia. However, by not looking into the subtle nuances of the cultures they were not able to see the people as they truly were. This way of thinking lead Americans to pile all Asian societies together into one large, homogenized mass. The doxa then became that all Asian societies are the same and that they can all be treated as one group holding the same ideals and values.

Old world trust

The discussion between the new order and the old has me slightly confused. I do not believe that the old order is gone. It has perhaps been repressed in areas but in no ways is it absent from society. Aspects such as religion, xenophobia, and chivalry still exist today. Are these mere kickbacks to a former time, the appendices and wisdom teeth of society? I think not. One thing that struck me as I read this week was the willingness for people to trust others. Taking a man at his word is surely an old world concept. People simply do not want to believe that someone would deceive them. This trust in people is even more prevalent with considering someone who is religious or “simpler” and you. People either believe that is someone claims to have “good” aspects (religious, hard working, upper class, ect.) that they are worthy of trust even if they have not proved themselves to be trustworthy with some sort of action of loyalty.

Leo Reaction

As society changes in postwar America, Leo finds himself trapped between the traditional “old world” and the modern “new world.” As a rabbi in training, Leo has a background in conventional values and norms. He believes that in order to succeed in society, he must marry. He cannot, however, marry just any woman. His wife must be a woman befitting a rabbi. Leo first examines any potential matches’ assets that they might have to offer rather than their personal character. In this way he reduces women to commodities or business partners, rather than a future spouse. He craves a marriage that benefits him socially and financially. This mirrors the postwar mindset that a man’s true worth was measured by the work that he could do. At the beginning, Leo is not looking for love, but rather for a status symbol.
Leo resorts to his traditional old world ideas as he enlists the aid of a dedicated, if slightly peculiar, matchmaker. However, it is not the matchmaker that hints at traditional values, but rather the manner in which the matches are made. Much mention is made of the father of the potential wives. The process is reminiscent of the arranged marriages that were common in previous times where a dowry would be paid and the bride’s father would give the groom his daughter.
Along with postwar society came a notion of paranoia. There are several instances mentioned throughout the story implying that Leo feels Salzman is attempting to deceive him. In addition, Leo also worries that Salzman follows him on his date with a prospective spouse, Lily. In some ways Leo’s feelings about, and description of, Salzman reflect those held by many Americans toward the Soviets during the cold war. Salzman is depicted as being shady, smelly, and socially inferior by Leo’s estimations.
Leo is not a man who adapts easily to the changes around him. He enjoys his date with Lily until she speaks up and attempts to learn more about him. Leo is unsure of how to respond to a woman who is forward with her actions and actively governs a conversation. Lily does not act the way he believes a woman should behave. While not rude, she also does not wait until Leo broaches a subject before initiating a conversation. Lily is Leo’s intellectual equal, if not superior. Leo accounts this proclivity to their age difference stating that she must be significantly older than he and therefore wiser. However, Lily is likely just a woman comfortable in the modern world. She is educated, worldly, and believes that she is equal to any man.
For Leo, the role of love can be viewed to play the same role as that of faith. Further, while he is training to be a rabbi, Leo is not faithful to his calling. He places his trust in traditional ways of life and is wary of the changes that postwar America is filled with. It is not until he is able to clearly see for himself what his role is in this society actually is that he is able to seek love. Leo realizes that he is “unloved” and uncared for by the people around him. Others simply value him based on his rabbinical talents rather than for the man he is inside. This is similar to how Leo selected his matches up until this revelation.

Mirror Images?

In class we talked about how Americans both during the cold war and at present view the Russians. It got me wondering how the Russians view Americans. Is there a case of mirror imaging? Or is the dichotomy unilateral? More importantly I wonder how the Russians of today view the Soviets. More reading would be needed to see if the views expressed by many Americans against the Russians are mirrored by the Russians towards the Americans. In class I talked about the young American pianist who “beat Russia.” I found an article alluding to him and the contest today at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18026453.

Reaction to Coalhouse

Throughout Ragtime, Coalhouse Walker demonstrates a break from the norms of the early 1900’s. At the start of the novel, Coalhouse is doing well under the current system. He is financially stable and has no trouble seeing himself as equal with white society. Coalhouse’s “proud” persona deviates from societal norms. His personality elicits varied responses in the characters he interacts with. For instance, Younger Brother is profoundly supportive, the Little Boy is curious, and Father is uncomfortable as he attempts to fit Coalhouse into his preconceived view of the world. Issues arise when Coalhouse’s unconventional belief that he is equal collides with the accepted perception by the masses that black people are inferior. Upon not being able to receive the legal aid that Coalhouse feels entitled to, after his car was vandalized, he experiences disillusionment with the system. Coalhouse’s quest for justice soon transforms into a drive for revenge. It can be argued that as Coalhouse’s personality shifts towards anger, he becomes closer to the accepted idea of a black man. He is dangerous and viewed as not intelligent enough to live within the legal system. In this way, while he starts out in stark contrast to societal norms, he later reinforces some of them.
When looking at Coalhouse’s situation through modern eyes, it can be difficult to understand why he is viewed as such an anomaly. The views of acceptable behavior for all ethnicities have changed drastically and it is no longer uncommon for a black man to be well-off financially and to see himself as equal to white men. It is also entirely possible for a black man to pursue legal action against a white man today. However, killing firemen and attempting to hold a prominent businessman hostage to avenge the death of a loved one, is still viewed as radically opposed to normal behavior.
Ragtime addresses the social culture of America in the early 1900’s. It also addresses the nature of history. History is often told by generalizing groups into easily explained units. Ragtime uses individual stories to build a historical network of interactions. This allows for history to be told with a subtext. It demonstrates that the differences between groups are not necessarily as clear-cut as traditional history has proposed. Still, when attempting to describe the society of a place as large as America, generalizations are inevitable. No single text can represent the individual experiences of each citizen; therefore the opinions of some groups of people are going to be lumped together.
Coalhouse presents an intriguing duality in the development of his character. He stands in contrast to many of the socially accepted behaviors of a black man. He is intelligent, is not afraid of work, and believes that he is entitled to the same legal and social treatment as a white man. Still, he also reinforces part of the doxa. In this way, he can be seen as dangerous to white society as he guns down and attempts to capture men that never directly did him any harm. In doing, so he makes himself appear the unstable, untrustworthy, and dangerous man that society portrays him to be.

Coalhouse

Coalhouse is a stark break from the status quo. He is a black man who is “proud” and far from submissive. His unique personality does not sit well with much of society, especially white society, and he tends to either shock or enrage the people he meets. Coalhouse seems to already put himself on equal footing with white society which is not something that black men of his time did. Upon his car being vandalized he believes that he is entitled to the same form of justice as the rest of society. Society, however, does not respond to his demands. Father remarks that Coalhouse does not realize that he is black. This suggests that Father, and many other members of society, believe that Coalhouse acts outside of the lines drawn for him by his society.

Willy and joy

Like Willy, my father is a salesman. He is a good salesman but if asked will admit to not enjoying his work. Thinking on this, I began to wonder if Willy really enjoyed his job. I believe that Willy took pleasure in completing a sale and climbing up the “corporate ladder” but I am not sure he liked the actual sales routine. Willy is clearly a man who is missing a piece of something in his life. I am not sure yet what he is missing. Does Willy miss his youth or possibly crave guidance he never received from his older brother and absent father?