Home: Meaning of This Course

Fast forward to about the halfway point :)

I know that a few weeks ago, we as a class had discussed the meaning of home and personal space. The link above is a clip of the movie Garden State, in which Zach Braff discusses what "home" means to him, and the changing definition of what home means for everyone. While reflecting on this course, it just occurred to me that really we've been discusses what "home" is for different authors. For some its a garden, the Midwest, a room and money combined, a nursery, Christian icons, etc. As this is the last blog we'll all post for this class, I guess I just felt it appropriate to post a last word on "home":

For me, home is where I have that which is most important to me. It's where I live, sleep, eat, talk, etc. It's not really associated to one particular place, but rather all the places in my life where I feel "safe". I guess my definition of home differs from other people's because my parents are divorced, so my home is with both of them: Miami and Austin. And, now that I've created an environment here in South Bend to mirror my other homes, South Bend is included in my list of "homes" or.. safe havens, I guess would be a better description.

To Greater and Bigger Adventures

I have many thoughts that sum up this class. When I decided to sign up for this class I did not know what we would do. I knew that I found history and literature interesting and this course had the two. The books that we read were different than many of the books that I typically read. They were different because they deal with the main characters finding their place in the world and society. Also, these books related to their times very well, that it made me feel like I was a part of the book. These books were a very good choice because I was able to relate on some level. The characters, similar to me, were all on a new path in their life that was different from their life before. Beginning college was a time that I started a new path in my life and reading books where the main characters were female and about the same age as us was good. Also, anther good aspect of this class was that it was very discussion based. I found this a good part of class because I truly believe that everyone has a right to their own opinion, and this class really allowed us to do that. I felt the required use of reading and saying our opinion eventually turned less an obligation and more of a want to express how we felt. The trait that was acquired, I feel it is going to be necessary later in life when we have moved on to greater and bigger things after Saint Mary's College, and more is demanded from us.
"Books were read that represent the old and the new, now that we are at the end it is a time to review. A woman went a little off the end, while a married couple found it hard to blend. An author find his muse in the Midwest, while another worried so much that she was constantly stressed. It was discussed the importance of name and place, to know the true meaning was embraced. Many stories were read, and many thoughts were said. New things were learned and our minds grew, while old thoughts we had were turned into something new."

Humanistic Studies?

In the middle of the summer I decided not to study abroad in Rome. As difficult as this decision was, I knew that it would open a lot of doors at Saint Mary's. I had to decide what classes I would be taking at Saint Mary's, and I knew this would be a good semester to get some GenEd's "out of the way." I decided to take Humanistic Studies at the suggestion of my business advisor who thought it would be a good change from the analytical business classes. So, I signed up for HUST, not knowing what to expect. Honestly, I had no idea what humanistic studies was at all!
Now, at the end of the semester of studying different people and places, I understand what this is about. Humans are not just the physical person. Rather, what defines people are often factors outside of the person. We saw in Sanders' work that he is made up of the people and simple Midwest life. I strongly connected to Sanders' love of his home and appreciation of the mundane. Others, have been greatly defined by their cultures and the cultures around them. Humanistic studies, then, seeks to study people based on external aspects that affect the internal aspects that make a person who she is. In effect, a student, like myself, of humanistic studies may come out with a better understanding of who she is- an added benefit to the GenEd credit hours!

A Powerful Choice

I was really impressed with the Omishto's choice to remain in the "natural world." Her decision in Kili really does embody her strength and illustrate her transformation. I talked a little bit about this in class, but for the longest time I just did not feel comfortable calling her a "strong" character. I felt as if her beliefs were too "wishy-washy" and she kept going back and forth from the two different worlds (the natural world and the modern world). So, as I was reading page 231, I felt as if I could finally call her a strong person. I felt as if I was watching someone (or in this case, reading about someone) who was right there making the decision to be strong. It was like I was witnessing her becoming powerful. That page really does illustrate her transformation from believing that knowledge must come first in order to believe in something, to realizing that you can believe in something or someone without ever having hard evidence. I feel as if in Omishto's case, knowledge of self equals strength.

I really enjoyed this book because it embodies every phrase we've covered in the course so far: place, displacement, and culture. I felt like this was the perfect book to end with because not only did it seemingly wrap up the course, it also had a "happy" ending in the way that I felt as if we came to a place with Omishto that we felt like we could leave her knowing she had found her place and had come to terms with herself.

Final Thoughts

Omishto's decision to live at the place above Kili represents hope for the survival of the Taiga people and the Florida panther. I was pleased with the decision Omishto made, and I realized that I would have been disappointed if she decided to live in the world we are accustomed to. This made me question my own views, choices, and lifestyle in comparison to the ancient world Omishto decided to live in.

I feel that the final paragraph is optimistic in the sense that this one 16 year old girl represents the renewal of nature and the Taiga people. Realistically I find this idea impossible, but at the same time I find myself believing in the possibility. It is disheartening to consider the impact modernization has had on nature and the historical events that lead to the destruction of many cultures. I know that I depend on many of the things that Omishto states destroy and poison the land. The question is: what are we going to do about it?

I know that I would never have the strength to leave the world we live in today, but I do feel that we all can be open to different cultures and beliefs that are different from our own. Respecting ideas, values, and traditions of other people is an important step in bridging the modern and ancient world. We can not stop progression, but we can be aware of the impact future decisions may have on other cultures and nature.

Power/course

Power. It is a word that has many different meanings. It can mean strength and effectiveness. I think Power deals with both meanings of this word. Strength in the meaning of Omishto's decision of joining the old or new world and to pick the old world and to carry on her tribe. That is a lot of pressure for a young woman to deal with, not many would choose the hard way compared to the easier route. I wish we could have found out what happend to Omishto as she got older. Did she keep on the path that she set out and believed that was her destiny? Another strength, which could also be linked with effectiveness would be giving her testimony in the courts. Either way Omishto proves herself to be a strong woman in the end.

This course has taught me some different things that I thought I would have never needed post-paper 1. I learned how to close read. Not only did I learn what it was but also how to do it. I've used close reading in my other classes and used them to help me write and extend my papers. I never would have thought it was possible to analyze on so many different levels. The close reading really teaches others to view not only books but also life at many different angles. With the study of place and why it matters, I've come to fully appreciate the city to which I grew up in. I cannot imagine my life any other way, nor do I want to. I think of all of my memories and the effect that they have had on me and the lessons that go along with them. I really enjoyed reading "This Blessed House" and I wished it was longer. I really disliked "A Room Of One's Own", I thought it was repetitive of the short excerpts that we got in the binder. However, if one thinks about it, I guess they just re-affirmed what all of the short essays were trying to explain.

Course Reflection

As I reflect on this course as a whole, I can take a lot away from it. First off, I can definitely say that I have never studied or focused on place as much as I did in this class. It has benefited me greatly because it allowed me not only to see how place has had a great affect on my life, but also how place has greatly affected the lives of authors like Sanders, Dillard, Woolf, Gilman, etc. Each of these authors helped me to assess how my life could have been different had I grown up in a different time period, setting, family, culture, and so on. Another aspect of the class that I liked was the variation of different types of writing throughout the semester between novels, short-stories, plays, and essays. As a class based off of literary works I think it is important to implement various forms of writing. Also, I feel that I profited greatly from the written assignments we had to perform. I had never done close readings in the form of a short and long paper, but I think they are beneficial in terms of strengthening the skills of analysis and expansion of analysis. The creative writing assignment was also useful because it allowed us to interpret the style of various characters and authors from the semester (not to mention it was a more enjoyable paper to write!). All in all I learned a great deal from this class. It helped me improve in the areas of writing, analyzing, and class discussion, and allowed me to evaluate how the theme of place has affected my life.

P.S. Good luck to everyone next semester. It's been fun!

This Course and This Exam

This class has been an interesting expeierence for me. I am happy I took it this semester, because I feel like it has prepared me for classes I'll be taking in the future. It also got me to read things that I would never even consider reading. And some of those books or stories have turned out to be some of my new favorite books/short stories. "The Yellow Wallpaper", "This Blessed House" and Power are three things we have read in this class that I really enjoyed and probably won't ever forget, partly because of the characters.
In preparing for the final, however, I must recall the characters from Lucy, Translations and Power. Each of these stories had characters which represented something. Lucy represented a struggling teen finding their identity both as a foreigner and an adolescent. The Donnelly twins in Translations were a clear represtentation of Irish nationalism. Omishto struggled as well, between two worlds- the tribal and the current U.S. society. These are just a few characters from the stories, and it is important to remember the other characters and what they represented as well.

Taking the Road Less Travelled

I really liked the name of the last chapter in Power titled, "What I have Left." On page 231, Omishto is contemplating the life she has lived (with her parents and the white people that surround her) as she makes her way to the new life (with the old people above Kili Swamp). I continuously had the feeling that Omishto had been "reborn." The first time I felt this was after I read page 95 when Omishto says that the mud and march are the origins of life. She continues on saying that at school she learned "that storms create life, that lightning, with its nitrogen, is a beginning. If storms create life, and lightning is symbolic of a beginning, then I assumed that Omishto was asking to be born again, or reborn. In order to find herself, she needed a "rebirth." Each and every experience she has trudged through, as one would through the mud, marsh and swamp, have aided in this rebirth. Still on page 95, she remarks that "falling is the natural way of things; gravity needs no fuel, no wings. It needs only stillness and waiting and time." Although she did not know it then, this is exactly what Omishto needed in order to experience a "rebirth." She needed Patience in order to find herself. In addition, on page 212, we see Omishto breaking free of her old life in order to begin her new life with the older people and on pg.223, she sits on the step at Ama's, watching the "lightning in the distance," knowing she has wings and knowing she will use them to fly. Sticking strongly to her belief that "the world is dying" (231), Omishto knows that there is no better time than now for her "rebirth." The panther she sees on page 222 is her signal--a signal that is telling her it is okay to give up everything and nothing at the same time to live with the old people. She could never be herself in her old life and only by living with the old people above Kili Swamp could she be Omishto. Kili Swamp, "where the road grows narrow" (109) was the road she was destined to take all her life--the road less travelled. Omishto is aware that she is saving herself and just as she states on page 224, "in all these savings, the path of things is changed forever." She was once saved by the old people, Ama saved their world by sacrificing herself and the panther and now Omishto will be saved again from the broken and decayed world she used to be a part of. Rather than taking the wider road (the one built by the whites, the one that is the easiest to cross because the path is clear and worn down from those who continuously travel it, the one everyone but the old people, Ama and Omishto seem to follow) she takes the narrow road. Throughout the story, the path has been laid for her and although the road less travelled is usually the hardest, roughest and scariest to get through, it is the one that brings salvation in the end. It is not only what Omishto has "left behind," but what she has "left for" herself and her future--she has left her old past behind and has "left herself" enough time to live a long life with the old people.

Gene Test in Spain

Well, I realized today in class that I completely forgot about the blog this week. So, I thought I would expand on the article that was in the New York Times this morning. Earlier this year, the Saint Mary's featured a lecture that looked at the presence of Moors and Jews in Medieval Spain, a historically Christian nation. In the lecture Dr. Menancol, different Jewish and Moorish influences within Spain today. However, the article in the Times explained the scientific proof of Jewish and Moorish people on Spain. Gene tests have proven that Spanish men today, many of whom are Catholic, have DNA that is linked to Sephardic Jewish and Moorish ancestors. In fact, 20% of Spanish men have similar DNA to that of Jews in 16th century Spain, and 11% share DNA with Moorish ancestors. Not only are there clear cultural influences of Jews and Moors in Spain, but now science can be used to "prove" these influences. Although, we may not need scientific proof to understand our history, it may have been useful in the days of religious intolerance in Spain. Perhaps if people had realized their common roots, there may have been a bit more tolerance for those who were different. But, may be not! It is just interesting that science can be used to prove cultural influences.

Final Exam

* Final Exam *
233 Madeleva
Tuesday, Dec. 16th
4:15-6:15 p.m.

Finding Connections

In class on Wednesday, we briefly talked about what could possibly be on the final. If you remember that one of the questions that came up was:

what is the connection between Lucy, Translations, and Power?

That got me thinking to how I would answer this question. At first I could only see a connection between Lucy and Power and Lucy and Translations, but I saw no relation between Power and Translations. I really struggles with how to possible answer this question. In the end, this is what I came up with but it only scratches the surface:

Lucy and Power
Both Lucy and Omishto are searching for their place in the world. Lucy stuggles to find her place in America while leaving her old home behind. Omishto tries to connect both the traditions of the Taiga people while at the same time finding it hard to break away from the the new pressures of America. Both seem to know what they want but neither can figure out how to get it.

Translations and Lucy
In both these works of literature, we come across this idea of what a name means. Lucy battles with the reasons that her mother named her as she did. While Translations wrestles with changing the names of the places across the Irish countryside. Both stories confront the notion if changing a name changes the person or place.

Power and Translations
These two works deal with two different worlds. Power portrays the old world as the Taigan Tribe and the modern world of America. Translations depicts the old world as the old traditions of the Irish people and the new world as the dominating British influence in Ireland. Both stories tell of the struggles of the old worlds to survive the ever increasing popularity of the new worlds.

I hope that these ideas start to spark others for anyone who also struggled with this question as I did.

Bridges

We are all bridges of something: bridges between generations, bridges between our parents, bridges between cultures, even. The motif of “bridges” in Power highlights Omishto’s strength and power as both a character and narrator. In addition to Omishto’s role as a bridge between worlds and social thoughts, Ama presents herself as a bridge. One between land and animal: mud, clay, water and panther. All intertwined in one person. As characters, these two women show a strength that is often missing in today’s society. For Ama, it is a strength that people mistake as “royalty”, she “believes in herself, in what she does” (17). The assurance that Ama radiates, I think, is what draws Omishto in. It’s what keeps bringing her back to the dilapidated old house, it what makes Ama beautiful, if only on certain days. In contrast, Omishto’s strength, I think, derives from her observations. From her ability to see things, to separate truth from bias. In addition, Omshito’s power is like the wind, silent and strong. I guess my only reserve is, how do all of these strengths, powers, link together??

Torn between the New And the Old

The main character in Power, Omishto, is torn between the past and the future. She questions modern day society and the past traditions of her tribe. She has people from both in her life, but she likes Ama more, even though her mother is modern. I think this fondness of Ama has more meaning of Omishto then the author explains. Omishto lives in modern, technology friendly life, but she constantly goes between the present and the old. She values the current society, but some part of her wants to belong with the old ways. She hangs around Ama all the time and that makes her mom mad. When she is around Ama, Omishto has many instances where she feels connected with her tribe that she rarely feels when she is not with Ama. While she hangs with Ama mostly, she views Ama biasly, as a person of modern society might see her, and Omishto is taken back when she does this. She might feel guilty that she is not in tune with her tribe as she thinks she should be. This guiltness can explain why there is also a drift between her and her mom. Omishto may love her mom, but because her mom gives very little care about the tribe, Omishto sides with Ama more. Omishto experiences the old ways of her tribe when she hangs out with Ama, but Omishto always goes back to her modern world and mom. This shows that Omishto is trying to expand her horizons, but she never wants to leave the familiarity of the modern world.

Torn Between Two....Cultures.

One of the things I found most interesting while reading Power was how the narrator, Omishto, consistently talks about how her mother and Aunt Ama are so different. Her mother seems to be very modernized and believes in the traditional Western ideals. Aunt Ama, however, seems to act and believe in ways more traditional to the "ancient" ways; the way of the elders. I found it interesting the way that Omishto has relationships with both women and how their beliefs constantly mesh, leaving our narrator almost forced to "pick a side." It is like two parralls really; the way that Omishto is being raised in a mostly Westernized civilization, in the way that her schooling is modern, but her relationship with Ama pulls towards the older ways as well. Eventually, I believe this novel is about Omishto having to make a choice about which side to believe in, and perhaps that final choice is to make no choice at all....taking the pros from both sides.

One line that caught my eye was on page 22. "She [Ama] was going to be proud of what she is in a way the rest of us are not, in a way my mother has never been." I felt like that line was making the difference between the two main women in Omishto's life even more vast. It seems to set up the idea that these two women, although alike in the way that they have a relationship with Omishto, are from almost two completely different worlds, or at least believe in different ideals.

A Troubling Name

This is going back a few classes, but I was reminded of our conversation about names while reading Power . From what I can recall, I think the majority of us have grown to at least accept and tolerate our names (even if it was a long road getting there). In the first chapter of Power Omishto informs us that her father named her Omishto because it means "One Who Watches" (4). As we notice early on Omishto is very observant and intuitive. Examples of this are when she says, "I can tell. I feel it in my body, something not right, eyes watching from the trees, something stirring about" and "I watch everything and see deep into what's around me" (2 and 4). Unfortunately for Omishto, this can be a rather detrimental characteristic for a few reasons. At times this trait allows her to deviate from her own emotions and opinions. She spends so much time describing what she observes around her that we lose her thoughts about her surroundings.

Another drawback about this personality trait is that it leads her to witnessing Ama kill Sisa. Omishto's partial witnessing it's death terrifies her: "I can't see what Ama is doing, but I know. There are no sounds of struggle or death, but I feel it in my stomach like destiny moving itself around in a whirwind, a dark wind that comes quickly, churning, then turns to leave and is gone" (67). Omishto's intuitiveness allows her to sense Sisa's killing and it's death results in eventual confusion and frustration toward her relationship with Ama. In addition, Omishto's watchfulness could potentially lead to paranoia as she becomes increasingly concerned with her surroundings. So, unlike many of us (I hope) our names don't allow us to suffer these extreme consequences, but Omishto's name gives us a new perspective on how names can have a great impact on our lives.

Ama as Medium

I want to continue a topic that we touched very lightly on in class. In fact, it was just a posed question but never actually was answered. It went something like this:
Does Ama act as a medium between the old world and the new one?
I think that she does act as a medium. The first hint of this possibility is when we hear the account of Ama's childhood illness. Let me recall quickly the events that happened.
During Ama's illness, she disappears from the civilized world to live with the elders of the Taiga Tribe. She learns medicine from these people and returns to the civilized world cured of her illness.
I believe this return to the civilized world happened because Ama was suppose to teach Omishto about nature while still being able to keep up with the changes of the world. If she had stayed with the elders, she would not have been able to survive the changes that were happening around her.
We also see Ama return to the civilized world during the storm.
She and Omishto run out in the storm to get hammer and nails to nail the shutters shut. Omishto notes that Ama is very good with tools.
This is one of the skills that Ama learned when she returned to the modern world after her illness. She had to acquire this skill in order to be able to suvive the storm. But further Ama's skill with tools of the modern world have allowed her to save parts of the Taiga world. With these skills, she is able to pass on her knowledge of both worlds to Omishto.
These are only two examples that only begin to skratch the surface of Ama as a Medium to both the Taigan Tribe and the modern world.

Symbolism and Metaphors

Key passages exist everywhere in Chapters 4 and 5 of Hogan's novel, Power. I know we only had to read chapter 4 for class, but since we were encouraged to read ahead, I want to blog on Chapter 5. The symbolism and metaphors in this chapter really stuck out to me and pages 102 to page 105 seem to carry some of the most prominent and crucial points of this novel. This is probably not an accident, since it seems common for many writers to place the most important passages in the very middle, the dead center of their works of literature--making it the heart of the piece. Chapter 5 seems to be the core of this novel and by looking deep into the symbolism and metaphors of Hogan, I hope I can convince you why....

The first important metaphor I detected was on page 102 when Omishto compares the lie she tells her mother to the feeling of a child growing inside of a woman. Referring to lies, Omishto reflects that "they grow by their own design and sooner or later they have a mind of their own . . . but this one hasn't yet formed a spine." I took this to be extremely symbolic of Omishto's situation. It is here where we see her new view on life and her now, ever-constant struggle of living "between two worlds"--the modern world of her mother and the traditional world of Ama and the Taiga tribe. I feel that Omishto, because of her experience of hunting the panther with Ama, knows what she wants in and for HER life, but lacks the courage (aka the "spine") to act upon this. Although she is very mature and only getting more so as the novel unfolds, she is also still young and scared.

The second passage carrying significant symbolism follows almost immediately after the previous one and is located on page 103. Omishto resorts to Ama's house and although Ama has been taken away, this is still where she feels the most "at home." There is a smaller paragraph at the top of the page where Omishto describes the struggle of replacing "the heavy door" back on its hinges. In the text, Omishto is putting up a door physically but in my interpretation, she is putting up a door symbolically--Omishto is beginning to lift up, replace and close the "door" between herself and the world. She is struggling to let go of the life with those who judge and do not understand (the whites/Americans, the court, even her own family) and find her place instead among the Taiga tribe. I cannot help but to get the very strong feeling that Omishto will end up finding her place among the old people above Kili Swamp, but for now, she must deal with the difficulties of displacing herself from her mother's world (closing the door of the past) in order to find her place (opening a door to the future) with the elder people and Ama.

Omishto's Feelings Shown Through Nature

As a member of the Native American Taiga tribe, Omishto seems extra aware of nature. She is a proud member of her tribe and while she is somewhere in between the tribal world and the modern world, she seems very careful to preserve the tribal world.
Throughout Power Omishto gives vivid descriptions of the nature around here. While taken at face value it may just be read as her observations. However, I feel Omishto uses these descriptions to convey her feelings as well. She relates deeply with nature, and often it seems her mood reflects the weather, or the happenings in nature at that same time.
In the last chapter, on page 230, Omishto is observing the world at dusk. She says the flowers "seem alone on the trees." Perhaps, Omishto also feels alone right now. She is unsure what to do, and it seems there is no one left that knows what she is going through.
All of the descriptions Omishto gives in the book can be related to how she feels. Omishto is a quiet character, and her descriptions are her way of relaying her feelings rather than flat out relaying them to the reader.

Redemption

I left class today with more questions than answers on the topic of Sisa and the reasons behind the animal's death. It is clear that a greater power and force drove both Ama and Omishto to carry out this task, but why were these two characters driven to kill the animal that represents their God? Omishto states that "it wasn't even so simple as a mercy killing, even though, judging by the look of the cat, that was cause enough." At first I thought Ama decided to kill the animal out of mercy, but this quote shows that there was a greater purpose for her action.

The following words were used to describe the panther: bony, pale, ragged, loose skin, thin, pitiful, and sickly. Because this animal represents the Taiga people, wouldn't these words also be used to characterize their clan? Like the panther, they too are nearly extinct and suffer the consequences of modernization. The development of highways, shopping centers, and subdivisions causes not only Sisa and nature to suffer, but also the Taiga people. Killing Sisa was more than just making sure "outside" forces did not get the opportunity to kill the panther. Ama states that killing Sisa was redemption, and I interpreted it as redemption for the Taiga people. Allowing their God to die because of modernization represents the death of the Taiga people without a fight against the oppression that plagues them. In this sense, Ama killing Sisa can be interpreted as a stand against these changes in order to redeem their land, people, and culture.