The Home Stretch?

I pretty much goofed off all day; I'm not afraid to admit it. I literally had a small litany of trivial homework assignments that (un)motivated me to just "chill" and "take it all easy." Five minutes ago I realized that only forty-eight hours and seven vocabulary words remained: only two moons remain in which time I have to either subjugate my inner literary demons or be consumed by both them and a possible failing mark on this general assignment. I've pretty much been a sinecure these past two weeks; my overall efficiency has plummeted with the onset of a warmer climate. But no matter. I have two more short stories to review...so I'ma go do 'em now. Beginning with "Everything that Rises Must Converge". Of course.

I suppose a quick summary is in order before we begin a quick analysis of the key elements of the story at large. Flannery O'Connor's tale involves the interactions of a southern boy, Julian Chestny, and his slightly overweight Southern belle of a mother. The story is set in the South sometime after the integration of whites and "colored folk", an event which the ignorant white southerners such as Julian's mother regard as rather noisome. The events of the plot unfold as Julian escorts his mother to a weight-loss class. Unfortunately, however, there is a tacit tension between the two of them the entire journey; Julian despises his mother for her overt racism and "Southern hospitality" while Mama tries to be secure in her own Southern self. Julian desires above all else to make his mother understand that her condescending speech and actions towards blacks are both immoral and offensive, as is apparent from his exposed thoughts. The plot reaches its climax when a black woman dressed exactly the same as the mother enters the bus with her small child. Mama tries to "innocently" give the child a penny, but is sternly excoriated by the black woman. Julian, seizing the opportunity, tries to show his mother the error of her ways and effectually destroys the cornerstone of her pitiful existence; Mama, whose weak heart cannot take the sudden shock of the moment, then collapses on the street and dies of a heart attack.

Don't get me wrong, I admire the basic premise of the story; I fully uphold the belief that such palpable racism and racial discrimination is completely unjust in any and all of its myriad forms. The one thing I don't like, however, is the manner in which poor Julian chooses to treat his aging and internally ailing mother. It felt to me like Julian too was afflicted with a bout of racism; his reverse discrimination is just as bad as any other form. In my mind, I think that Julian is insecure about both himself and his mother, and is trying to exculpate himself from the sins of his family. Unfortunately, though, he attempts to do so in a way that is both as ignorant and as plainly dumb as that of his mother: he openly condescends and mocks the woman who reared him and continued to support him unconditionally despite his stagnant financial status. I think Julian is the true antagonist of this story for the simple reason that he tried to fight fire with a volcano.

The second story, fortunately, had a "lighter" mood by far. Unfortunately, though, it didn't move me as much as the other short stories had. The plot this time was one of the more basic archetypes: wife is childhood friends with a blind man, husband is afraid of the unknown and initially is antagonistic to said blind man, blind man visits the couple's home, husband and blind man finally bond over a joint-effort picture of a cathedral...etc. One of the things I disliked about the piece was the casual use of narcotics (e.g. marijuana) by the performing cast. While a minor plot element overall, it still struck me as a trifle over the top; being a neophyte to today's teen and underground culture, the gesture strongly unsettled me. But beyond that, I had no significant qualms about the writing and message of the piece as a whole. It was easily digested by someone so unintelligent as myself, a feat that only a few of the other selected short stories have been able to accomplish. I also liked the believability of the change in the husband's attitude towards the blind man; it was developed in a "real" fashion in my humbly expert opinion. At first, the husband was completely opposed to the very notion of leading a blind lifestyle; as he began to observe the blind man, however, he began to realize that the differences he once thought to be profound were actually quite trivial. The whole process reminded me greatly of general human nature as I examined the piece closely. It is only natural to be afraid of the things one is not familiar with; only through a realization such as the husband's can one truly become more wise.

After such a lengthy dissertation, I realize that I still have one word to somehow incorporate into these closing sentences. And so, I leave you with a general statement about Shakeaspeare's famous play, Othello: Iago makes it seem as if he is an obsequious and innocent subortunate when in actuality he is one of the greatest masterminds of all English literature. Excellent. That'll do quite nicely I suppose. The only other thing I have to really mention is that you can all expect the next batch of blogs sometime after spring break and the start of the new marking period. They'll be infinitely more interesting than these last few have been, I promise.