The Magicians: A Journey for Purpose

Lev Grossman’s contemporary novel, The Magicians, explores the mysterious world of magic in a much deeper, darker, and real manner than Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and other fantasy novels of modern times. Grossman unearths the reality that life as a magician is not all that different from life as an average college student. Having all of the power in the world still cannot produce happiness; neither can the enchanted worlds in one’s dreams, or getting everything one has ever wished. Happiness occurs in the moment and is achieved through friends and relationships, not by measuring one’s life against expectations.

Quentin, a graduating high school senior, is given an unexpected opportunity to attend Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, an actual magical university. Though magic is all Quentin has ever dreamed of since reading the Fillory novels as a child, Brakebills and life thereafter could never have been expected. As life continuously fails to amount to all that he has dreamed, Quentin slowly and painfully realizes that having everything he wants cannot satiate his craving for a purpose in life. Throughout his time at Brakebills, post-graduation, and adventures in Fillory, Quentin searches for meaning and purpose. All too late, he realizes purpose is created in oneself, not by conquering magic, saving a lost world, or following one’s every whim.



Life and Love and Why- Switchfoot

Life and love and why
Child, adult, then die
All of your hoping
And all of your searching
For what?
Ask me for what am I living
Or what gives me strength
That I'm willing to die for
Could it be this
Could this be bliss
Could it be all that
I ever had missed
Could it be true
Can life be new
And can I be used
Can I be used

Without reprieve, Quentin contemplates the meaning of life and the reason for his unhappiness, paralleling the lyrics to Switchfoot’s Life and Love and Why. Quentin says to himself, “I should be happy...I’m young and alive and healthy... I have good friends...My GPA is a number higher than most people even realize it is possible for a GPA to be” (Grossman). Despite all of this, “Quentin knew he wasn’t happy. Why not? He had painstakingly assembled all the ingredients of happiness...But happiness, like a disobedient spirit, refused to come. He couldn’t think of what else to do” (Grossman 5). When Quentin is accepted to Brakebills, he assumes that all of this will change. Being a magician is all he has ever dreamed. When he realizes how much work it requires to become a practiced magician, he begins to search for happiness again. The pattern of hope, content, and despair continues as Quentin advances in magic and eventually ventures to Fillory. At each step, Quentin thinks, this is it, now he will be happy; however, his search for meaning is unrelenting. Each time he is let down he goes deeper into the dark world of magic on a quest for his purpose in life. The lyrics, “All of your hoping/And all of your searching/
For what?” seem to be in conversation with Quentin. Later in the novel, Quentin realizes that he has been on this search and has repeatedly failed and he begins to realize that maybe this is it, all life will ever be is what it is now. This realization is forgotten when Fillory is discovered and Quentin believes the Brakebills team has been chosen to save Fillory. As his dreams continue to be derailed, the question of “for what” resonates in his mind.

Believe It Or Not Joey Scarbury

Look at what's happened to me,
I can't believe it myself.
Suddenly I'm up on top of the world;
It should've been somebody else.

Believe it or not,
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free-.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

It's like a light of a new day-,
It came from out of the blue.
Breaking me out of the spell I was in,
Making all of my wishes come true

After Quentin is accepted to Brakebills, he believes all of his wishes in life have come true. He has been lifted from the misery of his old life in Brooklyn and the spell of unhappiness that he was under. Imagine Quentin singing “Believe It Or Not” as he is exploring Brakebills and realizing that he is actually going to become a magician. He feels on top of the world, but he quickly turns into his old self again. Though it is the best thing that has ever happened to him, as time goes on, he still does not believe it can be true. Quentin says repeatedly that he is just waiting to wake up from this dream or waiting to go home and not be able to enter the invisible barrier to Brakebills again. At one point, Quentin says it should have been somebody else; it should have been Julia who received acceptance, not him. Even in the midst of such a blessing, Quentin is doubtful and discontented.

Somewhere I Belong- Linkin Park

(When this began)
I had nothing to say
And I get lost in the nothingness inside of me
(I was confused)
And I let it all out to find
That I’m not the only person with these things in mind
I wanna heal, I wanna feel
What I thought was never real
I wanna let go of the pain
I’ve felt so long

I wanna heal, I wanna feel
Like I’m close to something real
I wanna find something I’ve wanted all along
Somewhere I belong

Life at Breakbills with the Physical kids provides Quentin the sense of belonging that he never felt in Brooklyn. He thinks that this is it, now he has a place and a purpose in life. Finally Quentin can “let go of the pain [he’s] felt for so long” and “feel like [he’s] close to something real.” A short time after becoming a Physical, Quentin realizes that he is not the only one that has been striving to feel something all of their life. The end of stanza one parallels this feeling. The students at Brakebills are all alike in that they came to Brakebills because they were searching for something that they never found in the real world. If their lives in the real world had been satisfying, they never would have taken the envelope or followed the note to a different world. In this way, the students at Brakebills are much like regular college students. Students go off to college alone and leave friends and families behind because they are searching for something more in life. Even if they do not know what it is that they want to be or do, they venture to college regardless in hopes that their purpose will be revealed. Though Quentin is devastatingly unhappy throughout most of the novel, his distress is relatable to an abundance of students across the world.

Smile Like You Mean It- The Killers

Looking back at sunsets on the Eastside
We lost track of the time
Dreams aren’t what they used to be
Some things slide by so carelessly

Smile like you mean it
Smile like you mean it

Nearing the end of his time at Brakebills, Quentin looks back and thinks of how his experiences haven’t lived up to his expectations. He acts like he is happy because he knows all of his wishes have come true, but in reality he is not happy at all. The song “Smile Like You Mean It” resonates a sense of discontent and regret from the artist. One can imagine Quentin reminiscing about his days in Brooklyn with Julia and James and now saying, “Dreams aren’t what they used to be/Some things slide by so carelessly,” referring to his schooling at Brakebills and the altered condition of his dream to be a magician. With the incidence of the Beast and the death of Amanda Orloff behind him, Quentin now realizes that magic is not the blissful, invincible tool he once thought it to be. His days at Brakebills and his childhood dreams of magic have slowly passed and left Quentin a melancholic, hopeless magician.

Semi-Charmed Life- Third Eye Blind

I want something else, to get me through this,
Semi-charmed kind of life,
I want something else,
I'm not listening when you say, Good-bye.

The sky it was gold, it was rose,
I was taking sips of it through my nose,
And I wish I could get back there,
Some place back there,
Smiling in the pictures you would take,

Doing crystal myth,
Will lift you up until you break,
It won't stop,
I won't come down, I keep stock,
With a tick tock rhythm and a bump for the drop,
And then I bumped up. I took the hit I was given,
Then I bumped again,
And then I bumped again.
How do I get back there to,
The place where I fell asleep inside you?
How do I get myself back to,
The place where you said,

I want something else to get me through this,
semi-charmed kind of life,

In the city we tripped,
On the urge to feel alive,
But now I'm struggling to survive,
Now you hold me,
And we're broken.
Still it's all that I want to do.
Feel myself with a head made of the ground,
I'm scared but I'm not coming down.
And I won't run for my life,
She's got her jaws just locked now in smile
but nothing is all right,

All right, I want something else,
To get me through this,
Semi-charmed kind of life,

Upon graduation from Brakebills, Quentin, Alice, and the other Physical kids move to Manhattan and live together. Because they have an abundance of wealth and nothing to do with themselves, Quentin and Elliot take to drinking and partying more than ever before. Everyone is unhappy with themselves because of the void they feel, especially Quentin and Alice, whose relationship has plummeted since returning to the real world. The line “Now I wish I could get back there” refers to Quentin and Alice longing for the days back at Brakebills when their relationship was bliss, but “Now you hold me/And we’re broken” refers to their current state. Alice continues to love Quentin, though they fight constantly and barely speak anymore. Just as in the song, Quentin uses drugs and alcohol to fill the emptiness he feels and the need for “something else.” The title “Semi-charmed life” fits perfectly because the Physical kids are charmed, or magical, yet they still suffer all of the disappointments and hard times that normal adults do, hence “semi-charmed.”

The World Spins Madly On- The Weepies

Woke up and wished that I was dead
With an aching in my head
I lay motionless in bed
I thought of you and where you'd gone
And let the world spin madly on

This song also applies to life in Manhattan after graduation. In one scene from the novel, Quentin wakes up during the late afternoon after a night of partying and Alice is leaving for the day. Noting their lack of communication, Quentin realizes their relationship is slipping away, yet he refuses to take action to fix his predicament. Every night after going out, Quentin recognizes how worthless his life has become without structure and meaning. Throughout Quentin’s life, he constantly feels like the world is going on around him and he is not partaking, which parallels the line “and let the world spin madly on.” The mood of the song is overwhelmingly dreary and the artist seems hollow, which is much like Quentin in this stage of his life.

The Great Disappointment- AFI

While I waited, I was wasted away

Hope was wasting away.
Faith was wasting away.
I was wasting away.

I never, never wanted this.
I always wanted to believe.
Never never wanted this.
How could I have become?
Never Never wanted this.
From the start I'd been deceived.
Never never wanted this.
How could I have become?

After the death of Alice and the uncertainty regarding Penny’s injury, Quentin is overwhelmed by guilt. Believing that it is his fault because he selfishly pushed everyone to go to Fillory in search of meaning for his own life, Quentin sees the dark person he has become. All of his hoping for purpose in life led him to the dark depths of magic and disaster. Late in the novel, Emily Greenstreet tells Quentin, “You can’t blame yourself, truly you can’t. You need to see that all this evil, all this sadness, it all comes from magic. It’s where all your trouble began. Nobody can be touched by that much power without being corrupted” (Grossman 398). The lyrics, “From the start I’d been deceived/Never never wanted this/How could I have become,” describe perfectly the students’ emotions toward magic and the enormous misfortunes it caused. Magic could be “The Great Disappointment” of their lives.

All Along- Remedy Drive

It’s not everything it seems - the world and its dreams
Slipping like water through my hands tonight
All the things I thought would fill me up inside
Left me empty here - and now I know why

Quentin realizes that Brakebills and Fillory are not at all what he had expected. All of his childhood dreams turned out to be very dark places filled with the same death, war, and deceit as the real world. He thought that by going to Fillory, he would finally be happy and have a purpose in life, but upon entering Fillory, he realizes that it is not the same magical land described in the childhood novels. Line one, “It’s not everything it seems-the world and its dreams,” describes Quentin’s awareness that Brakebills and Fillory do not meet the expectations set by his childhood dreams. All of the aspirations he had are “slipping like water through [his] hands.” Lines three and four nail Quentin’s recognition that magic cannot provide meaning for his life. He is left empty, once more, because things did not turn out the way he anticipated. These lines do not provide closure to the emptiness the artist feels, just as Grossman does not provide fulfillment in Quentin’s life to close the novel.

Closing of The Magicians

Last night I finallyyy finished The Magicians. Though the story was interesting to some degree and the novel was very easy to read, I cannot help feeling like nothing actually ever happened. The physical kids went to Fillory and had one thrilling terrifying fight with some crazy creatures, but that was it... then we didn't see any of the characters again and Quentin did nothing in Fillory but hang out and recover. Then he found a magical pony (I think) and wished himself home. He ended up in an easy high paying job that he neither cared about nor disliked. Just like the rest of the book, Quentin was indifferent. Even in the end when his friends came back and asked him to come to Fillory with them and be a king, he decided to go because he was indifferent, so why not?

Overall, the whole novel was rather depressing and unfulfilling. I thought it was all about a quest and eventually Quentin would come to realize what he's been searching for all of his life. Instead, he became less emotional than ever and never ended up finding what it is that could make him happy. I can't seem to find the meaning of this novel or the purpose for all of the allusions to other magical works. Maybe this will all be explained in class today.... Hopefully!

Utterly Depressing...

My general liking of Lev Grossman's The Magicians has turned into a neutral, take-it-or-leave-it kind of attitude. The overall depression of the characters coaxes me into a sad, dramatic mood every time I pick up the book. Just by listening to all of Quentin's unhappiness and complaints I start to wonder if I'm happy myself, or if I'm still looking for something else. I'm a little past page 300 out of about 400 pages total and I can't wait to get to the end so I can finally see if there's some purpose to this book. To me, it seems like nothing has happened the entire book. Quentin mopes around in the beginning, he gets into Brakebills and he's still not happy, he goes home and he's not happy, he gets in with the Physical kids and starts sleeping with Alice and he's happy for a short while, but then he graduates and is miserable again, now he's in Fillory (as far as we know) and he's still unhappy. Quentin has gotten everything he's ever wanted. All of his dreams have come true and he's still moping around looking for something more in his life. If this isn't settled by the end of the novel, I'm going to be very confused about the purpose of this book. I'm hoping that some sort of journey or war will come about in Fillory so that Quentin and all of his magician friends will feel purposeful and stop hating each other and complaining all the time.

As for the allusions to Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia, I'm not sure what that's all about. There have been a ton of allusions and outright mentionings of other literature dealing with magic, but I never got into Harry Potter and I read Chronicles of Narnia in elementary school so I don't remember it that well. Nevertheless, hopefully all of these things will come to light once the kids find their purpose and the novel ends. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

The Magicians

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Lev Grossman's The Magicians yet. It's fairly interesting and not a hard read, but it isn't particularly compelling nor does the magical school seem all that "magical." So far, Quentin has wandered away from home and into a magical college, taken a long weird exam, and wandered around aimlessly ever since. Since I'm only on page 47, I should probably give it some more time before I judge so harshly, but it just seems like there is so much more that Grossman could have done to pull in the reader and really engross them in this magical world. Maybe I'm expecting too much Harry Potter and that's not what Grossman was going for. Either way, I'm enjoying the novel just fine, I just expected something more unexpected and fanatical. The most magical thing that's happened is a deck of cards falling into the shape of a house... or that it is summer at the magical school and it's November in Brooklyn...

One thing I did find rather interesting was the way in which Quentin said he read the Fillory books and never really escaped them, now he's suck in a normal world always wanting something more. I feel like this is a very interesting and believable predicament. Several times after I've read a particularly engaging book I find myself lost in the world and the characters of the book for several hours or days afterward. Sometimes it seems like it would be more fulfilling to find this other world where all of these incredible things are happening rather than continue in our day to day monotonous lives. I think it will be very interesting to see if Brakebills lives up to Quentin's fantasies created by the Fillory books.

More Than Just a Game

The Hunger Games may be my favorite novel we have read this year. Suzanne Collins creates several characters that really rally the support of the reader during the graphic, gladiator-style fight to the death. The Hunger Games frequently reminded me of George Orwell's 1984 in the sense that the characters are always being watched by some higher power and their actions are altered by their need to please the government or whoever else is watching. The characters are controlled by the government like stringed puppets. The Hunger Games is simply a way for the government to remind all of the citizens of Panem that they are not in control of their own lives, they owe everything to the Capitol, a futurist sort of place where all of the higher powered citizens live in comfort and wealth.

One problem I had with this novel was the love affair between Katniss and Peeta. The whole opening of the novel got my emotions invested in Gale and Katniss's relationship, then Collins forces this over-the-top love story between two kids who are supposed to be killing each other. It was one thing when Katniss was hesitant to end her friendship with Peeta because she knew she couldn't kill him if she liked him, but it was too much, for me at least, when they were cuddling in a cave kissing while the others were hunting them down to kill them. I liked that the two teamed up once the rule change was made, especially because Peeta would have died otherwise, but I think it was ridiculous to have them so "in love" and to have the gifts received based on how many times they kissed or acted a certain way toward each other. In my opinion, Collins placed too much emphasis on the love affair between the two when the focus was expected to be on a gruesome man-hunt.

Despite the love affair between Peeta and Katniss, I really enjoyed the novel and the strong characters Collins created. The writing style makes the novel seem as if it were written for younger ages, but it is a great read regardless.

The City and The City

“It was, not surprisingly that day perhaps, hard to observe borders, to see and unsee only what I should, on my way home. I was hemmed in by people not in my city, walking slowly through areas crowded but not crowded in Beszel. I focused on the stones really around me--cathedrals, bars, the brick flourishes of what had been a school--that I had grown up with. I ignored the rest or tried.”

The picture interprets the quote by showing the people walking by who are uninvolved with the game going on around them. The people in bandannas are ignoring those walking by and vice versa. The girls walking toward each other step out of the way of one another without acknowledging the other. The people walking by are reacting to the others, but they are not interacting or even seeming to notice them. The two groups focus on their surroundings without noticing each other, just as those in the novel do.

Predictable

Upon finishing House Rules, I can't say much more than "predictable." I think I knew exactly what happened to Jess around page 200...yet the story continued on for over 500 pages. Theo basically told us exactly what happened when he said Jess got out of the shower and he had time to run away before she ever caught up. Then, in the court room it was explained that Jess's injury could come from a hard fall or a very powerful punch to the face... considering she was getting out of the shower in a hurry, which makes more sense?

Predictability aside, I enjoyed the story and its characters. I don't think each of the characters had a "distinguished voice," but they did have different thoughts and personalities that were easy to relate with. Actually, if each chapter wasn't headed by a different name and written in a different font, I'm not sure that I would have known they were being told by different characters. I think Picoult attempted to make Jacob's voice display his Asperger's, and at some points it may have, but overall I didn't see much different in his language than anyone else's.

After researching others' opinions on the accuracy of Asperger's in House Rules, I have determined that Jacob possess quirks that those with Asperger's have; however, normal people do not have ALL of the symptoms like Jacob does. Picoult took her research and applied every single observation she found to her character, without realizing that normal aspies only possess a few quirks each, and they definitely don't have them all to the extreme that Jacob does. One reviewer who has Asperger's herself commented that Picoult gives Jacob the problems of a child with Asperger's, but an 18 year old with Asperger's would in fact be quite different than a child. She notes that many people grow out of the tantrums and meltdowns after childhood, whereas Jacob is 18 and has a meltdown nearly every day. On the other hand, I praise Picoult for doing so much research on real aspies, even if it did cause her to overload her fictional character.

Overall, I would recommend House Rules for a casual read because it is interesting; however, if you are looking for a real mystery, this is not your book.

House Rules

From the first page of Jodi Picoult's House Rules, I have been hooked. If the book wasn't over 500 pages, I would finish it all now. Regardless, I am enthralled by Jacob, the teenage crime scene enthusiast with Asberger's syndrome, and his literal reasoning and the complexities of the Hunt family.

Jodi Picoult writes the novel from every character's point of view. The characters alternate narrating the chapters, each even uses a different font. By using this narration style, the reader is able to see how each of the characters think so differently about the same situations. Because Jacob has Asberger's, it is eye-opening for the reader to be able to see first hand how he thinks rather than just how another person sees him react. The many narrations also show how each character seems to have something to hide. Jacob and Theo, Jacob's younger brother, know something more about the murder of Jess, Jacob's social skills teacher. Neither of them are able to verbalize what they have seen or done, whether by choice or not. Theo also holds in his jealousy and anger at his brother. Though he loves Jacob because he is his brother and he has to, he hates to admit that life would be so much easier and better for him if Jacob were gone. Oliver Bond, Jacob's young lawyer, has his insecurities to hide. He actually has not had much practice in law, other than a few civil cases. Jacob's mother, Emma, seems to be holding in the most. On the outside she is a strong and loving mother of two very different boys, but on the inside she is worried that she is losing control, and even that she will not have enough money to support her family.

House Rules is a very easy to read mystery. So far all evidence points to Jacob as the killer of Jess, but I just know that can't be the case. Because his literal answers keep interfering with the reality of what happened that day, I'm sure it will be a while until we figure out who really killed Jess. Until then, I'll keep going over scenarios in my head of how the Hunt family can all be innocent.

Focus on Deconstruction

As we discussed in class, civil justice versus loyalty is an opposition encompassed by the entire novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Overall, it seems that the novel stands for justice because the plot follows two investigative journalists and a private detective; all who desire to bring justice to the eye of the public. Erika and Blomkvist honor and uphold justice, which is the reason they created The Millennium, a political magazine renowned for its honest and ethical standpoint. Lisbeth is a private investigator who is loyal to no one. She seeks personal justice for each wrong that is done to her, be it rape or being too interested in her personal life. The storyline is guided by Henrik Vanger who never seizes to seek justice for the wrongful murder of young Harriet Vanger.

Since justice seems to be the fuel for the novel’s action, loyalty is that much more accentuated when it wins over the characters. The most noteworthy example of loyalty over justice occurs after Lisbeth and Blomkvist solve the mystery of Harriet and the dark Vanger family secret. Blomkvist, compelled by his journalistic ethical codes, is prepared to finish the Vanger family chronicle and expose Martin and Gottfried to the media in order to bring justice to all of the unnoticed deaths of innocent women. As a reporter, Blomkvist feels that the families of the deceased women deserve to know the circumstances surrounding their disappearance. Also, Martin and Gottfried deserve punishment, even if it is just the public knowledge of their wrongdoings after their deaths. On the contrary, upon finding out the reality of Harriet’s disappearance, Vanger calls the family chronicle off and dismisses Blomkvist from his contract immediately. Despite his lifelong search for justice, his loyalty to the Vanger family name overrides. Eventually Blomkvist is swayed by his loyalty to Harriet and Vanger, but Blomkvist knows that justice is the ethical choice because he is ashamed to tell Erika of the secrets he has agreed to keep. The Vanger’s are not the only characters who depart from justice on the matter, however. Lisbeth is the first to urge Blomkvist not to call the police once he escapes from Martin’s death trap. Though Lisbeth knows that the severity of the situation requires attention, she is persuaded by her own self interest. She will not let Blomkvist alert the police because she does not want to deal with her personal conflicts.

A Slow Start

It's been one hundred pages since my last post, and I still feel as if the action of the novel has yet to begin. Though, this might be expected from a 600 page book. This is not to say that I am not enjoying the book. Surprisingly, I am very intrigued by the plot and the suspicious characters though the story is still moving rather slowly. I cannot even fathom what could have possibly happened to Harriet, or what the motive might have been. Blomkvist does not give us even a hint of his theory on the matter. He seems to be very nonchalant about the whole ordeal, in fact. Though the characters express in words that the matter is grave and the family is in turmoil, their actions hardly seem to parallel Vanger's obsession with the case. So far I have been a little disappointed with the lack of emotion expressed by all of the characters. Blomkvist mentions every once in a while that the mystery of Harriet's disappearance is interesting; however, he talks about it so monotonously that I have to remind myself of how perplexing it all is. I keep turning the pages waiting for some unexpected event that will shatter expressionless faces of the Vanger family. Though Blomkvist has been staying on the island over a month now, it seems that he has accomplished little other than having coffee with a few relatives. Perhaps I'm expecting a little too much since I've only read a third of the book so far, but I'm hopeful that the action will pick up in the coming chapters and Larsson will reveal what is really going on with the Vanger family.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

So far, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has enticed me and I wish I had time to sit and read the whole book now. I enjoyed the suspicion of the prologue and was a little disappointed that the following chapters did not continue the same story. After introduction and background of several other characters, it seems that the mysterious "Case of the Pressed Flowers" has returned in even more depth. Murder was not what I was expecting for the premise of the birthday flowers; however, I was pleasantly surprised.

Author Stieg Larsson seems to use the prologue to hook the reader, then he departs from the pressed flower mystery to introduce the other characters and eventually display how their lives and stories are intertwined. Each chapter is headed by the date and seems to focus on a different character. It takes a bit of concentration to follow the complex plot and recall the details from each character's history. At first, I was really thrown off by the political and business talk and I tended to skim over the sections that focused on these issues. After getting through the basics, now I can more easily follow the business details and understand the importance of business and politics to the plot line.

As the title suggests, the girl with the dragon tattoo, Lisbeth, is the most interesting character thus far. She has the ability to uncover the most secret details of any case she is given despite the fact that she did not finish school and has no professional training. Her character seems to have a lot of secrets itself, but the way she separates her personal life from her professional life keeps us from knowing much more than her physical characteristics. As I neared page 100, Vanger started to become a more interesting character also, or maybe that's just because he holds the details to the murder of Harriet....

I have heard many people rave about how great this and other Stieg Larsson novels are. So far the story is just beginning and is taking off a bit slow; however, I feel that I won't be able to put the book down pretty soon.

Not So Fun Home

In her "family tragicomic," Alison Bechdel uses a comic strip type style to put the reader into the plot. At first I really did not like this style or the book in general. Not until the last 100 pages did I begin to get into the story and enjoy comparing Alison's narration with the images and dialougue of the characters. Though I am not the biggest fan of this style, it is clear that Alison's autobiography would be much less entertaining and informative without the images of the family interacting. In the following excerpt the effect of the narration would have much less impact without the image. She tells us that the family lived separate lives, which we already inferred based on the previous events, but the image solidifies the disjunctive nature of the family. The small images characterize each member of the family.

Bechdel also uses the images to give the reader details that would be omitted if the book were purely textual. In the following image, Alison explicitly says that she hates ornamentation, but the images display more than just disliking a chore. She says the embellishments "obscured function" and "they were lies." She juxtaposes her contempt for these lies with a scene involving her father and his "dark secret." The image of her father using a "bronzing stick" alludes to the nature of the secret. The juxtaposition of the lying embellishments with her father's secret creates a dark feeling of contempt and obscurity about her father's life.

Alison Bechdel's autobiography is entertaining and convincing in its honest comic form. In order to obtain the full effect of the story, one must study the pictures against the narration to uncover the meaning behind Bechdel's words. Fun Home is a comical, yet tragic story about a dysfunctional family who uses their picturesque mansion and family business to hide their darkest secrets. Full of irony, humor, and heartache, it is a good depiction of the reality of homosexuality and familial bonds.

Speaking the Queen’s English

In his enticing contemporary novel, Little Bee, Chris Cleave exhibits how personal experiences shape language and understanding between cultures. The tension created by British mother Sarah O’Rourke and Nigerian refugee Little Bee’s distant and ambiguous relationship portrays the lack of common ground between characters. As the characters begin to experience life in the other’s shoes, their connections are made clear and understanding begins to surface. As the characters gain shared experiences, they begin to act in the best interest of the other rather than solely for themselves.

Cleave utilizes a complex narrating style which tells the same story from two characters with very different pasts, values, and knowledge. Immediately Cleave uncovers Little Bee and Sarah as characters from two diverse worlds. We know they had an encounter in the past, but the story is as ambiguous as the relationship between Little Bee and the O’Rourkes. Initially, we know very little about the situation encompassing all of the characters, just as Little Bee and Sarah know little about each other. As Sarah and Little Bee come to know one another and have shared experiences, they open up and understand the other, just as they open up with us and help us understand their story. The more experiences the two share, the more they begin to act in the best interest of the other. After Little Bee reveals her story to Sarah, Sarah feels great sympathy for Little Bee and guilt for not doing more to save her sister; however, Little Bee is optimistic concerning the situation because Sarah was willing and able to save one of them. Since Little Bee has encountered significantly more death than Sarah, she is able to see the importance of saving one life. Because Sarah has so little familiarity with death, she is unable to look past the death of Bee’s sister, Nkiruka. As Sarah conducts research and continues Andrew’s book on refugees, she obtains awareness and begins to see the way Little Bee does. Sarah’s realization and sympathies with the refugee story causes her to bear their problems as her own. At this point we notice that cultural and linguistic boundaries have been crossed, and Sarah and Little Bee have let their experiences guide them to a unified understanding. At the end of the novel, Sarah validates their union, “We won’t ever give up on Little Bee. Because she is part of our family now. And until she is happy and safe, then I don’t think we will be either” (Cleave 261). Though Little Bee and Sarah appear to be opposing characters in the opening of the novel, their differing viewpoints come together as the characters become a family. In the end we see that the switch in narration creates unity between Little Bee’s world and Sarah’s world.

In contrast to Sarah’s motherly ability to look past herself and sacrifice a finger for a strange child, Andrew reacts to the situation selfishly. Because he is unable to see a connection with the Nigerian girls and view them as equals, he refuses to take on their problems as his own. Ironically, his inability to lose a finger to save Nkiruka ends up costing him his life. Once he returns home and researches the plight of the refugees, Andrew begins to understand what occurred that night on the beach. His knowledge moves him to begin writing a book publicizing their dilemma. Andrew becomes so linked to the refugees that he is burdened with guilt for his past and takes his own life. The sacrifice of Andrew’s life seems to bring the story of Nkiruka’s death closure. Cleave cruelly creates unity through Andrew’s death.

The English language presents various complexities because of the ability of a word to “split into two separate meanings” (Cleave 12). These complexities are bred by misunderstanding and create opposing ideas in various cultures. At times it is the Nigerian girls who are baffled by language barriers, other times it is us, the readers and the British, who are met with novel concepts of commonplace words, but in the end Little Bee, Sarah, and the readers understand the terminology of both worlds because we all face the same story. In the opening of the novel, Little Bee explains how the word “horror” means something different to the people in her village in Nigeria than it does to people in the United Kingdom (Cleave 45). For us, horror is a feeling that we experience for entertainment; however, for the people in Nigeria, “horror is a disease and [they] are sick with it” (Cleave 45). The difference in meaning comes from experience. Because we have not experienced the terrifying inhumanity of war, rape, and death, we cannot even comprehend words to the same degree. Another example of differing word usage is “topless” (Cleave 4). Little Bee explains that the girls at home would assume the woman in the newspaper that the detention center guard was reading had no upper body, but in our country we immediately presume the girl was not wearing a shirt. In Nigeria law would not permit a newspaper to print a picture of a naked girl, so people in Nigeria would not conceive of this happening elsewhere; however, in countries with more freedom and modernization, “topless” is a common phrase. Initially, Little Bee refers to Nigerian dialect as her language, and British jargon as “your language” or “the Queen’s English.” As the novel progresses, Little Bee understands both of the translations for many English words because she has experienced both worlds. By reading newspapers, magazines, and books, and watching British television at the detention center, Little Bee assimilated into a new world of understanding. By the end of the novel, Little Bee says, “I was scared that my Queen’s English would fail me” (Cleave 240). In comparison to earlier in the novel, we see that Little Bee has accepted the language of the Queen as her own. Throughout the novel, Little Bee explains how it would be to describe situations to her friends at home. Their reactions are always disbelief and utter confusion because they have a very different way of life. They grow crops instead of go to offices, they hide in the jungle instead of beside washing machines, and they use their imagination for suicide rather than for games. Little Bee uses the reactions of her friends at home to show how she initially reacted to the British world before the detention center and experiencing life with the O’Rourkes. After spending time in the United Kingdom, Little Bee can speak the language of both cultures, the one of her past and the one of her present. To connect with the unique expressions, she must rely on her experiences in each culture to lead her to understanding.

Another mechanism Cleave uses to demonstrate how Little Bee’s experiences have given her a different mindset than those outside of her village occurs when she describes her opinion about scars. Little Bee says, “take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived” (Cleave 9). Since we have not suffered as Little Bee and the other refugees have, we think of scars as symbols of terrible events and we feel sympathy for the person bearing the scar. After surviving such horrific events, Little Bee has learned to appreciate the beauty of scars as a symbol of life and survival. Sad stories parallel scars in Little Bee’s world, “A sad story means, this story-teller is alive” (Cleave 9). Little Bee believes scars and sad stories to be cheerful only because she has lived through them. Without experiencing what she has, we would not award these concepts with positive connotations.

Cleaves allows the account of Little Bee to come to life in a manner that awakens the narrow minds of those she encounters and causes them to broaden their boundaries with understanding. One does not merely listen to or read the story of Little Bee, they experience it and in return, it changes their lives.

Questions:

1) Do you think the topic question is too broad/unfocused?

2) Is the analysis too shallow?

Another Good Trick

That is a good trick. Chris Cleave performs several “good tricks” himself. Until close to page 150, I saw each of the characters as a specific, static type of person. Andrew was cowardly and depressed, Sarah was lonely and guilty, Charlie was just a curious toddler in a Batman suit, Little Bee was an innocent refugee, and Lawrence was some one dimensional mystery lover. Charlie could easily recognize any of these characters as a “goodie” or a “baddie.” As the novel progresses, the reader finds out more about the past that intertwines each of the characters. The more Cleave uncovers about the past, the more evolved and dynamic the characters become, and the more the line between “goodie” and “baddie” seems to blur.

Sarah evolves as we see her let Little Bee into her life and see her realize that she must fight for Little Bee’s well-being. The readiness and ease in having and hiding her affair with Lawrence caused me to think of Sarah as a woman with no backbone and no moral. I thought that would continue to be the case when Sarah hesitated on accepting Little Bee’s offer to let her stay and help; however, Sarah stands up to Lawrence and, despite his argument for Sarah to call the cops on Bee and send her packing, decides to make it her goal to get Bee’s papers.

Little Bee grew into a much more round character in my mind throughout this section of the novel. I noticed one little comment that displays how she has learned to manipulate others because of her background, “But I have noticed, in your country, I can say anything so long as I say that is the proverb in my country.” Little Bee not only notices “good tricks,” but she can perform them, too. We see that she can hold her own as Lawrence tries to scare her into running away again. She raises her voice and shows more complex emotion than she did in the preceding chapters. We also learn that Little Bee was present when Andrew killed himself; however, I do not think Little Bee was to blame for his death as she says. Because she tried to save him by lifting him and putting the chair under his feet, I think Little Bee abandoned her idea of revenge and saw Andrew as an equal human. Though the line is much less obvious now, I think Charlie will always say that Little Bee is on his side.

Little Bee

The language and honesty of Little Bee captured me from the very beginning. The personification of the British pound coin was intriguing and kept me turning page after page until suddenly I was listening to a young African girl speak far beyond her years about war in her country and time spent in the detention center in the United Kingdom. Little Bee effortlessly leads us through her life by comparing the UK with Nigeria by way of language. She describes how words mean different things in the UK, and how her sister and friends in Nigeria would never understand these differences. Little Bee also uses language to describe the difference in treatment given to people who are beautiful and people who can speak “the Queen’s English” as opposed to foreigners. Though she speaks the Queen’s English so eloquently that she is not second-guessed by the British, Little Bee feels the strangeness of the language coming from her and knows she is still the same Nigerian refuge she entered the detention center as.

Suicide is another repetitive idea that shows up surprisingly throughout the novel. Little Bee is so afraid of the men coming and taking her that she would rather kill herself than let that happen again. With any change in scenery, she creates an escape route, a quick way to commit suicide no matter where she is. Little Bee always slips her escape route in if the setting changes no matter what else she is talking about. This shows that she never lets her guard down; she is always expecting the worst and is prepared to die at any moment. Just as Little Bee will so easily accept her own death in the event that the men come, the girl with no name quietly takes her own life when she gets out of the detention center and finds she has nowhere to go. Death strikes again when Andrew hangs himself in his own house. Though we know the call from Little Bee was what pushed him to suicide, in the first 100 pages we still do not know the story between Andrew and Little Bee. I found it very interesting that I was so enthralled with the novel without even knowing the relationship between the main characters. I guess this question is what keeps us turning the page.

Final Sunset Park and New Criticism

Upon finishing Sunset Park, I feel very anxious. I thought the point of the novel was for the characters to evolve, find themselves, and move on from their past, but the end does not give closure. Instead, the end takes the closure that you thought you felt and turns it upside down. I thought Miles and his father had reconciled their differences and I thought Miles and Pilar had worked out their future together and things would finally be right between Miles, Pilar, and Morris. The ending seems to undo all of the progress that the characters have made. They have fought through their troubles and overcame their pasts, but in the end they all end up just as worse off as in the beginning. Does Bing get out of jail? Does Miles keep running, go to jail, or does he actually have a future with Pilar? Is Morris angry at his son and angry that he has come into his life just to cause him more grief? I feel like these are questions that seriously need to be answered for me to feel as if the novel is a complete work. Miles worked for 7 years with no idea or hope for a future, but once he moved to New York he gained self-worth and finally grew into a man that could see a future for himself; however, in the last paragraph of the novel, he has the same mentality as he did at the beginning. No future, stop hoping for anything. So did he actually not learn anything from the 7 years he spent in exile? Despite the uneasiness I have about Miles and Bing, I do feel that Ellen and Alice are complete characters. They grew significantly throughout the novel and turned out to be much stronger people than I thought. I am very unhappy with the ending because of Miles and the uncertainty of his future with his parents and Pilar; however, Auster partially comes full circle with Ellen and Alice.

From the vantage point of a new critic, I might argue that Paul Auster does come full circle with the ending of Sunset Park. The ending is not meant to fix each problem the characters encountered; instead, it is used to portray the hopelessness of a depression and the uncertainty of real life. Auster does not lead us to the end of each of the character’s lives; we just have to assess what we have been given. If the ending does anything, it unifies the novel. Miles’ swollen hand is comparable to the wounded soldier from The Best Years of Our Lives. Like the soldier needing assistance for simple tasks, Miles now has to rely on his father to help him escape prison. Miles also returns to his former mindset, “he will stop hoping for anything and live only for now.” While Miles was roaming the country working dead-end jobs he had this same ideology; he did not want to think about the past and he refused to think of the future. Just when Miles seemed to be growing up and creating a real life for himself, the eviction kicked him back to his old ways.

Bing is another character that seems to be left hanging at the end, but the tension from the uncertainty of his life in prison is actually just what Bing would have wanted. Throughout the novel Bing told the others that he would stay in the house and hold his ground until the day the police came and took him to jail. And that’s exactly what happened. In a twisted sort of way, Bing got his happy ending; however, he is still hopeless and homeless in the eyes of society.

Alice and Ellen are also left in hopelessness. In the last few sections, Alice and Ellen really seemed to have turned their lives around. Alice was finished with Jake and her dissertation. She was ready to move out and start her career. Just at that time, the police came. Now she is left without her computer which stores her dissertation and any hope of starting a new life. Ellen showed the most progress in the final pages of the novel. She was dating her old fling, opened up to Bing, had a great collection of drawings, and underwent a full makeover. Just as her confidence is soaring and she is making plans to move out and in with her boyfriend, she is evicted and running from the police. She lost all of her art work and the ability to safely live in the city without worrying if she will be caught. Despite all of the progress they made and the obstacles they overcame, Alice and Ellen have returned to their hopeless and homeless state.

Literary Criticism

I think people write about literature in order to challenge themselves and get a further understanding of what they are reading. Upon a quick first read, it is difficult to take away anything more than the face value of a literary work; however, after carefully rereading and assessing a text, one can pick out key elements and see how various features work together to make a unified plot.

Literary criticism should evaluate and interpret a work of literature. It should show with evidence how a piece does or does not fulfill a certain goal or task. To make a literary criticism, one must determine the overarching theme or goal of the work. Then, symbols, characters and events must be analyzed to see how they add to the work and help the author achieve his goal or establish his theme.

Literary critics must be open minded. They often read other literary criticisms on the same novel. Reading other people's ideas may show them a different point of view or an element of the novel that they missed.

In my opinion, literature is a form of expression. Though it is entertainment, it is also a way for an author to deliver a message or portray an event. Literature connects people and challenges the reader. Personally, I look for literature with which I can connect. Also, I like a story that has a purpose- a moral, a theme, or a goal.

Hopefully after reading more about the different styles of literary criticism I will be better able to form my own opinions of literature and discuss them with other critics.

Strenuously playful fiction?

Mark Lawson of The Guardian provides a bleak review of Sunset Park by Paul Auster. He begins by pointing out that Auster's novels tend to use the same template- most of the characters, despite their occupation, are avid readers or novelists. Lawson finds it monotonous that Auster continuously combines the literary world and real world in his novels. In Lawson's opinion, the only authentic depiction of the economic crisis comes from Miles' father's publishing house.

Further, Lawson scrutinizes the connections Auster makes between characters. He provides an ambiguous analysis of the deaths of two different fathers' children, the two relationships with younger partners, and the two characters watching The Best Years of Our Lives. It is difficult to tell whether Lawson finds these crossovers pleasureful or painful.

As a final stab at Auster, Lawson praises him for his unfaltering control within his novels; however, he follows this up with more criticism of Auster's creativity by stating that his novels are "cold and distanced, almost as if they were a demonstrative exercise for a set of creative writing majors." Lawson argues that despite the fact that Auster creates differing characters, every chapter of the novel is told rhythmically with the same past-tense narration and little dialogue.

Though I have no experience with Auster's earlier novels, I find it difficult to agree with Lawson and other critics who complain that Auster's structure is monotonous and too straightforward for readers to develop their own ideas. The third-person narration in Sunset Park sets the tone for the novel. The scanty dialogue between characters creates a sense of tension that adds realism to the economic depression. Structuring the novel into sections for each character allows the reader to fully grasp the background of each character and develop their own opinions about the action currently taking place.

I hardly find it "painful" when noticing the connections between the various characters. Each action takes place independently and it is up to the reader to interpret the connection between the events. The reoccurance of death and The Best Years of Our Lives reminds me that each of the characters have a certain bond, despite the fact that Auster portrays them independently.

At least for Auster's current novel Sunset Park, I find the structure and point of view complementary to the tone and plot of the novel.