As many writers will admit, their lives have a massive effect on their written work. One can see this clearly in Baldwin’s novel Giovanni’s Room. An article from The New Yorker discusses the similarities between Baldwin’s life and his novel. The article first notes that “at the age of twenty-four, Baldwin moved to Paris, where […]
David, after his tryst with Joey, is determined to appear as not gay as possible, even going so far as to bully his friend Joey. His relationship with Jacques is not dissimilar. He seems to detest Jacques outwardly expressed and near-shameless homosexuality. However, he tolerates it for his own benefit: he looks to Jacques for […]
One thing that caught my interest while planning out my blog post, was the question about how people reacted to this novel after it was published. I also wanted to talk about the type of influence it could have in today’s society, and how we are still dealing with hate crimes towards LGBT people today. […]
Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room is a novel that has echoed into the distances. Its implications and its problems are our own. As it were, Baldwin’s world is not so far off from the contemporary. We can see this in a number of popular novels in queer literature today. Yet Baldwin’s scope goes beyond the page and […]
David pursed his lips and his cheeks pinked when I told him I didn’t drink while working. I wasn’t sorry for it – I knew what had come of drinking while serving in the past– but I was sorry for the fact that he had to pay for the drink himself. The wrinkled men were […]
In the discussion last class, we discussed a bit about the oddity of Vardaman’s character and his role within the story. Plotting the characters, we decided that Vardaman didn’t necessarily fit along any one specific plane. While reading though I started to get a sense of what his role within the story was. A young […]
Though Faulkner was far from the first author to utilize the stream of consciousness technique, it is impossible to read As I Lay Dying without confronting the form as a hinge for the ambiguity and complexity of As I Lay Dying. Defined as “a method of narration that describes happenings in the flow of thoughts in the minds […]
Aimee’s earlier blog post recreates Faulkner’s narrative style and how he uses it in characterization, particularly with younger characters. I wanted to focus more on perspective and grief around a single scene. The theme of grieving and how each character addresses it is a major aspect of the novel. Each character has their own way […]
After the chaotic fording scene, and bookended by both of the novel’s religious characters, is Addie Bundren’s singular monologue. The Bundren matriarch has been silent up until her death, so prior to this chapter her character is solely comprised of impressions related by her children, husband, and neighbors. Addie’s monologue divulges her rather sadistic attitude […]
It’s almost the end of summer. Daddy says it’s the year of our Lord, 1934. I say it’s the year of dust kicked in the Mississippi River, turning things as brown as our daily oatmeal. He says to be thankful. People got it harder than us. We have shoes and we have oatmeal. But we […]