Literary Theories From Class

Throughout the term we went over a few literary theories with which we could use to criticize different texts that we were reading. The main theories we focused on include marxist literary theory, feminist theory, and post-colonial theory.

Marxist theory suggests that all productions, be it a song, a play, a novel, etc, are political in nature. Marxist theory deal with economics, social class issues, power divisions, and ideologies. A Marxist critic would argue that readers will not fully understand a literary work until the relationship between economics and social class are understood. Some Marxist author's the we covered in class include Pablo Neruda and Richard Wright (though only for a short time).

Feminist literary theory contends that males use literature as a means to ensure that females remain subordinate. Feminist authors include Nawal El Saadawi, Anita Desai (the "reluctant" feminist), and Virginia Woolf. These authors are now considered part of the literary canon whereas before the canon was solely male.

Post-colonial literary theory looks at works produced by colonial powers or by those who were colonized. Post-colonial theory looks at issues of politics, power, economics, culture, and history. A post-colonial author we look at in class is Chinua Achebe, who wrote Things Fall Apart. The novel looks at the impact of British colonization on preexisting Nigerian societies and cultures, and documents what took place during colonization.

World Classics

I came into this class thinking it would be a welcome challenge during which I would get a little feel for some famous non-western authors and literature. I'm pleased to say that class was just that. Every day we would discuss we were assigned to read and the discussion were always intellectual and interesting. My classmates were all very interesting as well. 

I enjoyed doing the assignments given to us and it never felt like real work because it was always intriguing. The two papers we wrote were a challenge, but they were fun to write. The exam was also a good challenge! There were a couple questions I was kind of iffy on, but I think I did relatively well and I'm very pleased with myself. I'm most happy about my essay. I chose to write about the texts we read in class being called revolutionary in that they challenged authority in some way. 

I don't think there's anything I would change about the way the class was run, it was very well organized and I feel I've learned a lot. I definitely do not regret taking this course one bit! It's been a really fun term with all you guys and I hope you have a fun summer! See you next year!! :D

Poetry Day Pt. 2!

So poetry day in class turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would be. I was dreading having to write poetry, because being creative on the spot is difficult! But I ended up really enjoying hearing other people's poems (diarrhea burning like the heat of a thousand suns!) and I even liked most of my own :)


For the first poem we wrote about something abstract: time.

Flowing as a river
Whisping as the wind
Round and around
the arms they spin


The second poem we wrote about something concrete: a chair.

Climb the mountain
and you'll come to a plateau
Where you'll find my cat,
It's her favorite place to go


The third and fourth poems we chose what to write about and then everybody tried to guess what it was!

Thunderous and daunting
Purple, black, and blue
Your tears escape
And your voice cracks
But soon it passes and
Your face again, pleases the masses

--In this one I describing like the sky/a passing thunderstorm


You cry, I'll calm you
You fall, I'll catch you
You giggle, I'll smile
You stand, I'll encourage you
Put one foot before the other
You and I, together we'll wander

--In this one I was describing my baby brother!


Overall, poetry day was a success I think!

Tomorrow is Poetry Day!

yayyy! Who doesn't love poetry?

When told that we had to bring in a favorite poem, I immediately thought of either "Sick" by Shel Silverstein or "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. Throughout grade school I was never really exposed to any poets, so my favorite poem is fairly juvenile. But, I am a kid a heart so I suppose it's only fitting.

Sick by Shel Silverstein

'I cannot go to school today'
Said little Peggy Ann McKay
'I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more - that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut - my eyes are blue-
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke-
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrench, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-oh-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is-what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is...Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!'


I love this poem because it reminds me of dreading school when I was younger, and rejoicing when it was the weekend :)

Literary Analysis!

So I have decided that I am going to write the last essay for this class on Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart." While reading this novel and the other African folk stories that we read, I realized how much I love African folk literature. I love the way it reads and the wisdom I feel it exudes. There is also a lot of symbolism in Achebe's novel and I'm excited to dive into the criticism that's out there. When we discussed in class I wrote down some ideas that I address in my paper. Here are some:

• Okonkwo seems to represent the "old" ways, and Nwoye seems to represent the "new"
• with this, we can enter into how exactly Okonkwo symbolizes the tribes old ways with his personality traits, and the way he dies. I also want to see whether most critics are satisfied with the Okonkwo's fate
• Why did Achebe choose to write this novel in English?
• The significance of the final paragraph
• The significance of the way the novel is divided into three parts -- could it be where Okonkwo is and how his resolve gradually diminishes?
• The similarities and differences between the two religions in the novel, and the theme of cultural identity present in the novel
• and of course, the examination of the novel using post-colonnial criticism.

Thankfully, I have a good amount of ideas to fill 6-7 pages.

Child's Play

Higuchi Ichiyo was born in 1872 in Japan.  Her brother died when she was 15, and her father died when she was 17, leaving her, her mother, and her sister to fend for themselves. Her father had always supported her education; he would get her trasnlated, abridged version of classic novels and made her memorize his favorite poems. During her lifetime, Japan was leaving it's "secluded" age and Western customs were taking over Japanese culture, this included education. Men were sent to schools and received a "western" education, but women were not allowed. Ichiyo herself went to an all girls school because of this. She soon taught at the same school, and wrote poems and short stories to supplement the income.

When her father died, she moved her little family to the outskirts of the red-light district. This was an area of extreme poverty, but also an area where western culture had not penetrated and traditional Japanese culture was present. The neighborhood of minstrels, fortune tellers, jugglers, merchants, and day laborers provided Ichiyo with a much grander setting for her fiction, including her most famous piece, "Child's Play."

Ichiyo was largely unknown until this short story was published. It's main characters are a group of children about 13 or 14. A major present in the short story is a loss of innocence as the children grow up. This can be reflected to Japan losing it's "innocence," in a sense; when the US came charging in with it's gunboat diplomacy, forcing industrial civilization on a previously secluded Japan. It can also be reflected in Ichiyo's own life; when her father died, she was forced to grow up and get a job to support her mother and sister, not only at a young age, but also at a time when that was traditionally the man's role.

This theme of growing up can be tied to another short story we read call "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" by Richard Wright. But in this story, rather than the adult world thrusting itself upon the young boy, the young boy tries to thrust himself into the adult world. He believes he is a man when he is still just a boy, and when he tries to act like a man he ends up killing a mule. Rather than face his problems and take the consequences, he runs from them, further proving that he's still just a boy with more growing up to do.

Wole Soyinka

The Cotton Club; famous Black club during
the Harlem Renaissance

Today in class, we learned a little bit about negritude. Negritude was a literary movement among black writers in Paris that began in the 1930's and 40's. Inspired the Harlem Renaissance, the movement became an assertion of the writers' cultural identity. They sought to give black people around the world an identity of their own. Politically, the movement was a response to, and a refusal of, French colonialism, and affected how those who were colonized viewed themselves. We learned in class that Achebe was a supporter of the negritude movement, but Soyinka was not.

Wole Soyinka was born in Nigeria and educated in England. There's no doubt that he experienced racism and complete disregard of his culture by the English. "Death and the King's Horseman" is one of Soyinka's more famous works. It is about a minor chief, Elesin, is destined to follow his dead king to the afterlife. To do this, he must commit ritual suicide. But the Englishmen, who are attempting to colonize and westernize the tribe, ruin the ritual in order to save the Elesin's life (they don't understand how important the ritual is to the tribe). In the end, they only succeed in causing more trouble because he committed suicide in his cell after seeing that Olunde, his son, had commit suicide to take his place in the afterlife. I guess the intentions of the English were good, but they were ignorant to the beliefs and customs of the tribe and deliberately disrespected their culture.

Wole Soyinka

Soyinka himself said that this play was not about culture clash, but this perplexes me because that's all it seems to be about. If we take his word for it, though, it leaves us wondering what it is really about. Discord among the many cultures present runs rampant throughout the play and it's hard to imagine that Soyinka's overall meaning is not something to do with that discord. My first impression after reading the play was that it is about oppression of the black people by the white, and the consequences it has. The play could also be about moving on and letting past occurrences go; at the end, a woman says "Now forget the dead, forget even the living. Turn your mind only to the unborn." Here Soyinka seems to say just focus on the future because you can't change what's happened.