Unit 8

There were two common elements that were apparent in all three short stories for this unit. The first element was how fast all three authors presented death towards the ending of their respective stories. For example, when Ignacio Padilla concludes the story by announcing Donald Campbell’s sudden death in The Antipodes and the Century, he decides to also bring on a presumed sandstorm to the replica Edinburgh and bury the sand city. In Hassan Blasim’s The Corpse Exhibition, the instructor for the narrator suddenly stabs him in the stomach for ending of the story. Let’s also not forget Yoko Ogawa’s ending in Labcoats in which the secretaries’ friend randomly announces she killed the doctor that she had an affair with for forcing her to wait for him to start his divorce. If read carefully, there is a minor element that the three authors share with death; how comfortable the characters reacted when death (or violence) happened. As for the second element, the directness of the dialogue for all the stories was very common. Although The Antipodes and the Century required more reading and a little more effort to understand than the two other stories, it was very clear to understand what was going on in the text and understand what their backgrounds are. In speaking of backgrounds, Hassan Blasim’s background was more evident in his story; by considering his past life in Iraq and the amount of violence in The Corpse Exhibition, it was easy to understand how Hassan was able to create such a disturbing and violent dialogue.  Since I do not have much background on Japanese culture and history, it was a little difficult to understand how she was inspired to write a story that started out as innocent and ended very horrifically. I believe Ignacio’s background was not shown at all in The Antipodes and the Century because from the interpretation I was able to create, there were no representation of his Mexican background. Coming from a Mexican family, it was very hard to find any indication that he was from Mexico.

Unit 7-Prompt 1

After rereading Clarice Lispector’s short stories a few times, it is very possible to read The Hen and The Smallest Woman in the World as a metaphor about her position on gender relations. In order to view these two stories as metaphors, there has to be a focus on how the situation in both readings changes as they progressed and how it applies stereotypes of women. An example of this is how Clarice addresses the difference of statuses between mothers and women in The Hen. Through showing how the hen was spared her death because of giving birth to only end up getting killed anyways in the end, Clarice uses the hen as a symbol of how women are viewed with much respect when they are mothers but are treated with little regard when they are not. By analyzing how the hen behaved with fear before she escaped and how she was treated from the beginning until her death, there is a drastic difference between how she was approached when she was not a mother and the hospitality she received after laying the egg. Clarice did an excellent job in addressing how a change in roles for women will often either gain them more respect for a certain period of time until their “15-minutes of fame” is over.

As for The Smallest Woman in the World, Clarice Lispector addresses the stereotyping of women and society’s tendency to look down upon people that are very different to them. By viewing how the people of Marcel Pretre’s country reacted to the photo of Little Flower, there were mixed reactions; from being called a toy to questioning whether she is fit for a housemaid, Clarice shows how society sets low standards for women and lack of heart for women from different cultures. Clarice also shows how seeing a person from a different culture can often cause members of society to view them in low regard. From one viewer being too disgusted to see Little Flower’s photo to a child feeling sorry for her, Clarice also addresses the fact how people will quickly draw to drastic conclusions on the difference of life between them and the woman (or man) on the photo. Although the metaphors in both stories were excellent in describing gender relations, The Smallest Woman in the World accomplished not only women stereotypes but also society’s flaw of labeling the unknown.

Unit 6-Prompt 2

Through writing The Aquatic Uncle and All At One Point, Italo Calvino is attempting to present the history of science through using storytelling and human emotions. Instead of the usual academic presentation through explanation, Calvino uses dialogue as a different method of discoursing science. An example of this is All at One Point, where instead of just explaining the events that occurred before the expansion of space, Calvino uses Qfwfq to tell the story of how characters, most likely named after certain objects that existed before the expansion, interacted with one another before the changes. A more direct example of Calvino’s use of dialogue to explain science is The Aquatic Uncle, the story of animals moving from sea to land and the conflicts that occurred after the move. The manner as to how Qfwfq presents these two vital events in the history of life creates a more power presentation of the events occurring because there are human emotions that are being involved now; this provides a strong connection between the history and readers compared to academia writing. Through these writings, Calvino is now creating a new discourse of science by developing a plot of the events of life in order to provide better understanding for all that can read.

Unit 5-Prompt 1

At first, the withholding of information in House Taken Over and Night Face Up made it difficult to analyze why the events were happening in both stories. After rereading them however, the withholding of information was essential to the success of the stories because it made the extreme details that Julio Cortazar provided more relevant. In House Taken Over, the narrator that Cortazar does not give a name goes into great detail of the routine him and his sister, Irene, go through every day until the noise started to occur. The lifeless routine they both lived by everyday provides an excellent resource for deliberation as to what the noise is and why is it happening. Even though Cortazar went into great detail about the lives of the siblings, the withholding of the information about the noise provides more life into the uninteresting routine because there can be an argument that the lack of life the siblings had in the house caused the ghosts of their past family to scare them off and find a new life. Again, it is a theory that was interpreted by what Cortazar gave and did not give however, it provides more life into the short story.

As for Night Face Up, the little information about what time period the narrator was in made the story successful because it can made readers more engaged into the development of the plot, specially the little details that the narrator provided about death. For the most part of the story, there was a belief that the man kept dreaming of being attacked by Aztec warriors after getting into the accident until the plot twist at the end. When the story is reread again however, it became more obvious what exactly is the person dreaming. During the man’s time in the hospital, he was able to smell death during his dream and when he was wake–even though it was stated his life was not at risk after the accident. Also, one can question whether a typical person would make jokes after a person just had a motorcycle accident. The events that were occurring at the hospital can be debated as to whether that would ever happen in reality. As readers begin to notice the odd behavior in the hospital, it becomes apparent that the dream is actually the hospital and not the Aztec hunting him. It is interesting the way it was presented but a little difficult to understand at first.

Unit 4-Prompt 1

After analyzing on who was more successful in promoting their feminist agendas, it was clear that Ursula K. Le Guin’s She Unnames Them provided a direct message on her view of feminism and identity. In her short story, Le Guin discusses how the narrator had become more connected with the animals after taking away their names. The names of the animals happen to be the labels that humans give in order to distinguish each of them. Although few animals objected the idea of giving away their personal names, it was clear they only wanted to give away the animal name that were forced upon them only for descriptions on what they are. This is vital to Le Guin’s goal on promoting her view of feminism because she is attempting to promote the idea that identity is the issue. In this short story, the narrator is claiming that labeling an animal or anything only furthers the separation of differences between one another and is the root of our struggle for equality. Through this story, Le Guin is arguing that the idea of having to label men and women for what they are is the root cause of why there is inequality between the genders. By labeling each other by gender, we only separate ourselves by viewing each other on what we are instead of who we are. This is the goal that Le Guin is trying  to achieve through feminism–stopping the perception that humans should view and treat each other for what they are.

As for Margaret Atwood’s Happy Endings, it was a little difficult understanding what she is arguing for her feminist agenda because the structure of the dialogue is very different compared to She Unnames Them. Although the idea the death is inevitable in plots and the importance of the ending is a common concern for readers doesn’t seem related to feminism, her argument of trying to view a storyline through questioning how and why does provokes the discussion that we should discuss how did the story came about and why did it occur. This can be translated to her view of her agenda by provoking discussions on how and why are we in this social issue of gender equality. Although this is very compelling, it was very difficult to understand and not as clear as Le Guin. Also, her story looks to be more direct towards literature issues instead of equality issues.