For your post on "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden" please address the following prompts:
1)
What are your thoughts/feelings about the narrator/audience
relationship in this story? What do you think Bill is trying to say and
what is the effect of the accumulation of stories you get in reading the
whole piece?
2) Pick a quote from the story that you found especially evocative or meaningful. Analyze why this quote spoke to you.
(For
this post, I expect--and will check--that your responses are 200 words
at a minimum. You do not need to post questions on reply to your peers'
posts, but you most certainly can.)
For full credit, post your response to these prompts by 10pm Sunday night. Have a great weekend!
1. I think Bill, the narrator, tried to connect his stories to his audience. He uses a conversational tone throughout each story and he makes remarks that I think lighten the mood in many of his stories and help the reader understand more of his personality. I, as the reader, really appreciated this conversational tone because although I was at first very confused on how each of these stories connected to each other i was also very intrigued to read more and to hopefully understand his plot. I think the affect of the accumulation of the stories help give his readers background of his life whether it be the past and present and to give the readers an understanding of how everything that he wrote about has shaped him to be who he is now. I think overall he wanted to share all the stories to show that now as he is older and is living with his wife of 25 years, he lives a very dull life compared to his other experiences when he was younger. I also don't think he is confused as to how he got to where he is in his life but i think he is very indifferent about it all.
ReplyDelete2. "Money tames the beast. Money is peace, Money is civilization." This quote particularly stuck out to me because I think this is an important mindset that is implemented in our generation and the current world we live in. I think the beast that is referred to in the quote is metaphorically life. The value of our money seems to be lowering, what you could once get for $5 now seems to be costing $20. Given, our resources are becoming more advance but to what cost? I think young adults and children of our time are taught to get a job not that they love but one that can support their lifestyle because who cares about doing something you love if you cant make money/ profit to live off of and “buy things” (not including essentials such as food, shelter, etc). Some people would claim that money doesn’t buy happiness, and I agree but I also think money is viewed as being something that can buy momentary happiness and I believe that this mindset is present because money is now considered the end all be all of having a “happy, substantial” life. This really spoke to me because I think its sad that it's now harder to find happiness when money isn’t involved and I think money is becoming a growing topic/issue in our society and the cost of living is continuously growing and soon enough money will be the main priority of any adult, if it isn’t already.
ReplyDelete1. The narrator takes almost a journal like approach to communicate with the reader, yet I feel like he wasn’t completely connected in his writing and sharing his stories. I feel his emotions like vigor and pain throughout many of these stories held him back from fully connecting to the reader. However, as the story is written due to it being first person we learn of all the narrator’s thoughts and feelings. You could see and almost feel what he was going through in each section of the writing. He shares things like, “I began wondering,” showing the casualness that is portrayed between the narrator and the reader. This makes the reader comfortable and makes them feel like they really know the narrator, which in my opinion is the best way to effectively build a bond with between them and us (as a reader). So while I feel his emotions clouded his writing I also, felt like it guided it and built a piece that readers could really understand. I think Bill is trying to communicate all of this experiences and how much his life has changed. Just as all of us, with time things change and people change. His accumulation of stories helped guide us through certain big parts in his life and how he felt in those certain moments. Since we really got to see his changing emotions it made me want to continue reading to find out what he would go through next.
ReplyDelete2. “But this one broke the rules, and it worked.”
Staying within the box when going about certain tasks is okay, but going outside the box allows for so much discovery. The ones who go outside of the box are the risk takers, they long to stretch the rules a little further and sometimes even go far enough to break them. As much as people would think breaking the rules is a bad thing to me personally I don’t think it is. I do believe there is times to follow the rules because after all they are there for a reason. However, in some certain cases I do feel that they are more guidelines than anything, so that you can take something and bring it up to the next level. Bill stretched the rules in his advertisement. He created something that no one was expecting, yet that everyone approved of. Some may call it ridiculous or absurd, but sometimes the absurdity of it all is what makes it genius. His advertisement may have had nothing to do with what he was advertising, but him breaking the common creative rule allowed for an innovative result. Going above people’s expectations to the point you have changed them all together is what runs this world. Bill may have broken the rules, but it worked.
1. To me, the relationship between the narrator and audience seemed almost detached, but in a casual way. He never formally introduces himself and relies on sharing stories and tidbits of his life to get his message across. There is no instance of small talk where he makes sure that the reader knows who he is and what he’s done before moving on. Reading the piece was a little confusing to me at first, as I had to try to visualize a timeline of the events Bill presented in order to understand the story, but ultimately, the casual relationship made me feel even more interested in learning about the narrator. Even though all of the stories follow the same man, some of them feel oddly disconnected. When speaking about his advertisement, he says that it “referred, really, to nothing at all, and yet it was actually very moving.” I think that this statement can be applied to the stories that Bill shares and also explains what he is trying to say about the nature of memory and the past. Some of the stories seemed almost meaningless when read alone because they are just snapshots of mundane moments in life. But as they accumulate, they begin to mean something. A reader will want to continue reading in order to understand how the accumulation of all these events effects the narrator. I think Bill is trying to show how moments that seem trivial at first glance have caused him to become the person he is and have the life that he has.
ReplyDelete2. “This morning I was assailed by such sadness at the velocity of life – the distance I’ve traveled from my own youth, the persistence of the old regrets, the new regrets, the ability of failure to freshen itself in novel forms...”
ReplyDeleteThis quote resonates with me as a new college student. While Bill has many more years between his youth and his current age, I can still relate to being overwhelmed by how much has changed in the past few years. I’m suddenly faced with making my own decisions on financial matters while being reminded in all of my major-specific classes that now, I am working towards a career. The speed at which everything changed is hard to comprehend. Bill’s words on regrets are relatable as well, but I think the comment on failure is the most interesting part of this quote. Bill has not necessarily failed in his life, and he knows that. But now, things that should be seen as accomplishments strike him with a feeling of failure, such as the award he is honored with. That part of the quote puts into words a phenomenon that is common but hard to explain. Even when someone is on top of the world or has achieved a major goal, failure has a way of creeping in through some of the smallest things. Little mistakes or unrewarding conversations have a way of humbling even the most successful person through making them feel like they have suffered a greater failure than they really have.
1. It seems to me that the narrator has a very casual and personal relationship with the reader, but a very secretive one. He is telling the reader some stories with an overarching theme of silence, and later death, at times addressing the reader directly: "I wonder if you're like me..." (128). The first person point of view and the way the stories revolve around his experiences make the narrative personal, but there isn't much that is revealed about the narrator himself. The reader doesn't even learn his name and age until the last few paragraphs of the narrative! I think he describes the relationship quite well himself, though never directly addressing his relationship with the reader, when he discusses mystery regarding himself and his works.
ReplyDeleteI think Bill may be trying to display some of the complexities of his relationships throughout his life and the beauty of connection and relationships, even those that seem insignificant. The narrative revolves around people and stories (as I suppose most do) in Thurber-esque vignettes; he focuses more on the nature of the stories and elements that make them seem whimsical in a way, even a story about a drunk man burning up a piece of art came off as beautiful.
Overall, however, Bill may be a bit troubled by all these stories of "repentance and regret" and the relationships and situations that confused him. In his older age, he is reflecting on his life in a detached sort of way that the author, Denis Johnson, may be trying to warn against.
2. "...I had a wonderful breakfast among a handful of miscellaneous wanderers like myself, New Yorkers with their large, historic faces, every one of whom, delivered here without an explanation, seemed invaluable" (140).
I think this is my favorite quote from the work because it captures the whimsical, dream-like tone the piece has. Throughout the narrative, Bill describes various encounters and relationships with and among different people. Nearly every vignette features an inexplicable connection of some sort: Chris and Deidre's prompt marriage six months after an awkward situation, a journalist's brief friendship with a convict on death-row and his attraction to his widow, Tony's kinship with Bill, whom he hardly knew, the characters in the tavern, etc. Bill is vague about what he gained from these encounters and what he wants the reader to think of them, allowing for the reader to look into his or her own life and interpretation of the stories to find the questions that, to me, demand to be asked after reading each vignette. I think the author may be trying to show, that though Bill is confused by and somewhat detached from these relationships, there is beauty in the connections that can be found in any little thing.
1) After reading this collection of short stories, I feel that the narrator/audience relationship is amazingly created throughout. He really writes from a personal view which helps the reader understand more. You truly get to see how he feels to different situations and how different moments of his life affected him. It also keeps it very personal by making it seem more like a conversation with the reader than just writing. I think Bill is just trying to show you how situations and moments affected him and set up his life. In specific, the story of his ex wife calling while on her death bed and the emotion that flowed out of him truly shows how he was sorry for the mistakes he made when he was younger, and that it took time for him to notice his mistakes. The accumulation of stories really just serves as a lesson to those who read it. This is a very original piece with multiple different stories that all serve differently to the reader. As you make your way down the page, each reader relates each story differently to their own life. This makes this collection of stories such a good story for anyone because everyone relates differently while reading it.
ReplyDelete2) “Meanwhile, Shylene was oohing, gushing, like a proud nurse who expects you to marvel at all the horrible procedures the hospital has in store for you. I said to her, ‘Thanks, thanks.” I picked this quote out of the short story titled Adman. He starts off talking about how a nerve is bothering him and Shylene was strangely one of the only ones to notice. I find this quote extremely interesting just because of the creativity he used behind it. Shylene is one of his coworkers but he compares her to a nurse working at the hospital. He really dreads all the work required for his nerve, massages and chiropractor visits. It truly bothers his arm and he gets very annoyed and frustrated with this. He compares it to a patient at a hospital because, obviously at the hospital, the patient is not interested in the procedures needed to be done to them. The only ones proud of the procedures is the nurses and doctors taking care of you. This is probably a strange choice in quotes to pick, but I truly feel he showed some amazing creativity with his words and this unique comparison truly caught my attention while reading.
I felt that the narrator in this story was almost completely isolated from the readers. I felt disconnected from Bill, and had a hard time sympathizing with him. Maybe its because I'm not a sixty-two year old man reflecting back on the "regrets and repentances" of his life. But I do feel that the author built up a wall to disconnect the reader and narrator on purpose. The ten short scenes were only a small glance to this mans much more complex life. The ten scenes were full of regret, sorrow, and skepticism. He is very blunt simply saying that is daughters "aren't beautiful or clever". I think Bill was mainly reminiscing on his dull life and realizing that he may have settled for less. He is a vey descriptive writer, at one point stating "I want to depict this book carefully, so imagine holding it in your hands." But one of my favorite parts of the story was how he depicted Tony's mother's life down spiraling in the work of her cookbook. He states "Her penmanship enters a kind of havoc, the letters shrink, leaning to the right and left, and for better than a hundred paged, all the way to the end, the recipes are only for cocktails." What was once a colorful description of her pies, salad dressings, and breakfasts, slowly withers down to crude and lonely recipes for alcohol. This script reveals how she probably came to committing suicide in a creative way.
ReplyDelete1.While reading Denis Johnson’s connected short stories about Bill Whitman’s life I felt that they were composed as some kind of journal. He keeps a very interesting relationship with the audience assuming right from the onset that all the characters are known and no introduction is needed. This caused the reading to feel more personal yet detached at the same time because although it seems Bill assumes the information is known to the reader he reveals his name at the end indicating that he knew all along that his audience consists of people that know nothing about him. This revelation leads me to believe that he was sharing his stories more for a selfish reason instead of garnering a full connection with the reader. I think that Bill is trying to look back throughout certain key moments of his life and reflect on the excitement he’s gone through now that he is much older and supposedly wiser. When reading the piece in its entirety, I end up feeling as if Bill is content with his life right now but will always desire something more. His walks outside his neighborhood signal to me that he is searching for a greater meaning to his life. In addition, his attitude towards his relationship with his current wife make me believe that he feels that he doesn’t deserve more in life demonstrating an almost negative view towards his life’s past and future.
ReplyDelete2. The last short story, Whit, was my favorite. I felt that it wrapped up all the separate stories in a nice way and it also encompassed a quote that really touched me in a personal level. “Memory fades, not much of the past stays, and I wouldn’t mind forgetting a lot more of it.” I feel when Bill mentions this personal thought it comes out as something quite grim, as if he didn’t really enjoy much of his life and is even just awaiting death. This to me spoke so loudly because I viewed his thought in a more positive manner, I believe that Bill lived his life in a way that he appreciated every moment and accepted the fact that it is simply just one moment. Basically I’m reiterating the well known saying that you have to “live each moment day by day.” But the reason I emphasize it so much is because I admire the people who are able to disregard the past and not suffer or live through it. Same goes to the people who only live for the future anticipating every event that happens in their life. This sort of living is not healthy to me therefore in my eyes, Bill embodies that perfect balance.
ReplyDelete1. As I read I felt myself become more and more entranced by Bill had to say. His way of describing things-even the mundane happenings of everyday life-drew me in in some way or another. The narrator’s way of connecting with his audience is very personal. His use of colloquial diction in describing everyday things proves to be very relatable. He expresses feelings the audience certainly experiences but would not always express. As the audience I felt as if I were simply a friend of Bill’s to whom he was sharing various minute events in his life that held deeper meaning for him. Its as if the narrator is providing the audience with what seems to only be simple stories, yet they hold a much greater weight within the mind of the narrator. Each life he speaks on brings you closer and closer to the narrator himself, all the while he speaks on other’s encounters. Although Bill seems as though he is speaking to a friend, it is also as if he is composing a journal or diary of some sort. Bill collects moments and memories and compiles them together each with a different title which sums up the story. Each piece is independent yet carefully intertwined. Bill ends with an almost dreamlike, desperate tone that sums up his piece quite nicely. Throughout his life he has accumulated many stories and feels as though all of his life is behind him and not one second worthwhile ahead of him other than the monotony of his everyday life.
ReplyDelete2.
ReplyDelete“We live in a catastrophic universe--not in a universe of gradualism.” This quote proved most meaningful to me out of many quotes I found to be thought-provoking in this short story. I believe there is both truth and lie within this quote and I cannot quite seem to decide which I ultimately think is at the root of this statement. I wrestled with this statement, I found myself pausing my reading and pondering it before continuing on for quite some time. It is possible to apply this quote to many different things and come out with a different answer as to its truth each time. This statement is relative. This quote is defined by its context, it is not concrete. The flexibility of the quote perplexed me and continues to do so. By applying it to its author Tony, it would certainly be true. His life was one of catastrophic proportions. He was explained as one who was vivid and lively and hard to understand. Tony was not a man who seemed to be rational and gradual. He was one who didn’t let life happen to him, he went out and happened to life. He himself was the very essence of this quote.
1) 1) I feel that the narrator created a very personal relationship for the audience to connect with. The emotions the came included with the stories he told is one reason why for me as the reader I was able to sympathize for the man. His stories were well written and painted a picture for the audience despite them being just small parts of a clearly much larger whole story. We all have things we regret and wish went differently which is why feel for him even though I have never been in any similar situations. In the story “farewell” about his ex-wife calling him about how she was on her death bed and the doctors gave up on her I really felt bad for the man. When the ex-wife “Ginny” was telling him that she doesn’t know if she can forgive him even after all the years because he hurt her that bad I couldn’t help but have a heavy heart for the situation. Regardless of the story not stating what it was he did wrong, it is implied that it was horrible for Ginny and awful on Bills conscience for the rest of his life. However, some of the stories were just a little too much on the self-pity and I was having a harder time feeling sorry for the man then on others.
ReplyDelete1. Throughout the piece, I feel as if the narrator switches between writing for himself and writing to share his experiences with the audience. At times it seemed as if he was just writing to document things that had happened, and how it made him feel. However, sometimes it appeared as if he realized that he was addressing an audience, and would then explain himself further. If he had not had in mind that someone besides his future self would read the writings, then I feel like each one of his stories would not be as detailed. However, sometimes I felt as if the commitment to an audience was not all the way there.
ReplyDeleteI think that as a whole, he was trying to express the way that each moment and interaction with the people in his life affected him. Each story, while some seemed more minor than others, seemed to have greater importance that as it had initially seemed. The people and their own little stories seemed to resonate with him. I believe that the lesson that he was trying to get across to the audience was to really pay attention to the people and your experiences with them, because you can learn a lot from those around you.
2. “Sometimes he referred to a “force of rhythm” in his paintings. He often spoke of motion in the work.”
I picked this quote because it had a strong visual aspect to it. I think that every artist has a reason of why they are creating what they are creating. Sometimes people create because of a sudden inspiration or because they have a strong connection to the art or simply because it is their passion. This really says a lot in the kind of person that you are. In Tony’s case, I think that he paints because he feels a strong need to, as if the attraction to the feeling is too much to ignore. The quote also allowed me to see more into his art pieces. After reading this quote, I imagined his art to appear as flowing and calm, almost as an abstract version of flowing rivers or a gust of wind. Later in the reading, he stated, “The only painter I admire is God. He’s my biggest influence.” I think that these two quotes tie in very well, and that possibly that “force of rhythm” and motion that he felt in his works was because of the influences he felt.
I think the narrator tries to personally connect with the audience more by telling stories about his life, almost as if it a memoir. He tells personally stories about many people within his life, really showing his emotions about what was going on. The author reached a point in his life where he had many memories to tell, but he was getting older and realized he won't have many more memories to make. He wanted to get very personal with the readers and show them an insight to his life, through descriptive details and dialogue, the narrator showed the audience as close to a story of his life as he chose to make. Although there was a lot of detail written in it, he kept some things more vague than others. For example, he only told you his name at the very end of the article, instead of saying it upfront to get a better understanding of the point of view the author is giving off. I think the author was trying to tell the audience that you don't live forever, and there are many experiences to have before you get old. Also a point he seemed to bring up was that some people don't have a choice and die in accidents, so you should do the most you can with it.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Denis Johnson seems to be portraying the natural flow of an individual’s thinking process throughout a day or several days. Originally I assumed Bill was telling a story about a single day of this life while dipping into older background stories for the purpose of adding context for the reader until I read Casanova. Even so, my theory of replicating the flow of thinking still stands. An individual recalls previous experiences constantly due to the tiniest, insignificant details or occurrences that happen as the day goes on. The author builds a connection with the audience by explaining what Bill is reminiscing about and why. Denis Johnson also connects with the audience by writing in simplistic yet amusing vocabulary and laces the material involving heavy subjects, like the death penalty and suicide, with confessions and awkward situations.
ReplyDeleteThe story that interested me the most was Farwell. I am a fan of the quote, “I suddenly didn’t know which set of crimes I was regretting, wasn’t sure if this dying farewell clobbering me to my knees in true repentance beside the kitchen table was Virginia’s or Jennifer’s,” because I found it amusing and relatable. Often, I would enter a very serious or professional setting only to be shaken with a shred of doubt due to some miscommunicated details that can easily be solved. Whether I am amused at that during that situation or after is a different story.
2) The quote that really hit me hard was one from the story, “Farewell.” When his ex-wife calls and told him “The doctors have closed the books on her” I felt the true weight of the situation. For me to just imagine anyone important to me in my life now, or even at any time in the past that I had a very personal relationship to call me and say words to me such as the doctors are giving up on me im going to die I just couldn’t fathom the emotions that would ensue those words. On top of this, the way their relationship ended years ago makes this even more significant to me. They were a married couple and had a terrible falling out on account of an action by the narrator. Anyone who has ever been in a committed relationship should be able to sympathize and connect with how strong the feelings are, good and bad, that come along with it. Being that he was married to her, he loved her at one point in time, so to find out in that manner that she was about to pass away how could he not be hit with a wall of emotion and most likely regret from whatever happened between the two of them.
ReplyDelete1. The narrator creates a very casual tone with the reader and builds a comfortability while also staying sort of detached. There was never a formal introduction to the narrator and this created that familiarity that we already know him, and we don’t need an introduction for the effect of these stories to be felt. This also gives the effect that the narrator is detached from the reader, that he is telling these stories but doesn’t feel the need to let us know who he is before he starts telling us. I think the author did this to show that people can be casual and seem intimate while also being very closed off at the same time. The narrative is very personal while also being very impersonal. We learn about all of these stories but the omission of the initial introduction to our narrator takes the personal tone of the narrator down a level, since we don’t know much about him to begin with.
ReplyDelete2. “As for other silences, nobody contributed. In fact, there came a silence now.”
This was the first quote that popped out to me initialy, and it carried with me throughout the rest of the reading. The narrator focuses some more later on silences, and it shows up throughout the rest of the stories and I think that first silence that is mentioned (the land mine blowing his leg off) is very telling of other silences and events that occur later. I also think the reaction of the party-goers after the statement of the silence is very important because they all seem very intimate telling about their loudest moments (one such being a divorce) and they do not know this information about a friend. This idea of knowing somebody and not knowing them at the same time shows up in a later story and can also be presented through the narrator himself. We the readers know him yet at the same time do not know him.
1. Reading this story was like reading a journal. There were multiple entries and different stories, like a timeline of the narrator’s life, however, each “entry” was very different than the others. I feel like the narrator/ audience connection could be interpreted in many ways. One way to see it is like a journal entry, which is meant to be private and personal to the author. Usually, the story only makes sense and has context in the author’s mind. Another way I could see the connection between the narrator and the audience, is that it is so close and so familiar, that the narrator has the ability to speak casually, almost as if the audience is in his life. Personally, this is a slightly confusing story to me because I am not sure how it was intended. The accumulation of all of the separate stories used to create the whole piece had a timeline effect with a starting point, an ending point, and everything that happened in between, even if it wasn’t all in order. Writing Bill’s personal experiences helped to give readers a background and more of an understanding of the narrators life. I believe Bill was trying to share his stories and some of his life experiences to connect with the audience.
ReplyDelete2. “This morning I was assailed by such sadness at the velocity of life — the distance I’ve traveled from my own youth, the persistence of the old regrets, the new regrets, the ability of failure to freshen itself in novel forms — that I almost crashed the car” (pg. 124).
This quote grabbed my attention as soon as I read it. At first I wasn’t sure why; perhaps it was the language used, or the way the sentence flowed, or that it was slightly funny. After thinking about it for awhile, I realized how much I truly connected with the quote. I am a person who does not easily cope with change. In these past few weeks, I have moved away from home, moved away from my friends and my comfort zone, and began a whole new life as a college student. It has been very difficult for me. I feel as though my life is zooming by at a rate that is far from comforting, the “velocity of life” is too fast for my liking, and it truly saddens me. Sometimes I think so much about how everything is always changing in life, that I get distracted from what’s right in front of me. Even when I reread the quote, I am met with discomfort, surely as the narrator was when thinking about it himself.
2) The quote, "if I was holding a mistake in my hand" when the narrator first picked up on the phone resonated with me because sometimes small decisions like that can have a larger effect than first assumed. Sometimes in life you have to make a rash decision that causes more things to happen than originally intended. The narrator answered the phone and assumed that it was his first wife, but later had the shocking thought that it could have been his second wife, as she told him she were dying. Sometimes people call me and I answer without their number saved assuming, and it is very unpleasant to find out it isn't who you imagined originally. The most important changes in your life happen during times you least expect them, which brings back to the quote that sometimes you could be just holding a mistake in your hand, by doing something you might regret doing but going through with it anyways. After reading that I felt as if he should checked to see which wife it was, but at the same time it would be very unsettling to not know which wife died and what you told them as forgiveness.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship of this story between the author and the audience, is one of like a journal and he is telling stories about events that happened to him. He was telling these stories one by one, in a way that made it seem like a life story in chronological order. A lot of the stories are about sad events that happen to people that he encounters and personal events that happened to him. As I was reading, I felt like the narrator was telling these stories directly to me. It was very personal, but he went more in to detail at some parts than others.
ReplyDelete"Thanks to all of her fabrications, William Donald Mason had died a proud and happy husband." This one story, a man had murdered someone and had been in jail for 12 years. He met and married a women who was related to one of the other inmates. This prisoner who was waiting on death row, found a way to be happily married, which I think helped him deal with the fact that he was going to be killed. His wife, wanting what was best for him lied about what she does and what she is planning to do job wise, so he could be proud of her. She did this so he could die with one good thing going in his life, a successful wife that he could be proud of. One the women was being interviewed she admitted what she had done, but the fact that she did it for her husband who she loved, shows that sometimes people will do anything to make the one they love happy.
1)
ReplyDeleteThe narrator is in sales. All of the narrators stories are in essence trying to sell the audience something. This Bill Whitman character, for as a narrator he is really just the most important character in the stories, is using personal pronouns, intimate details, his own thought and perspective, and an informal tone to break down the barriers between himself and the audience in order to gain their trust and suck them into the story. Each one of the stories creates another dimension to the world that Bill is creating for the audience. To capture the audience he has to create ads for them and each one of the stories is a little ad. One ad sells love, another regret, another on motivation and art. Most of the stories are bleak and lack a happy ending. They are supposedly real and gritty and conjure forth the idea that this is the way that bill views his life. In each of the stories Bill is selling the audience a little piece of his psyche and his ideology. Ultimately, Bill wants the reader to agree with him, or learn some lesson from his life and the stories and plot devices are merely his vehicle to do so.
2)
At the end of the short story(ies) Bill expresses some depressing sentiments about his life. Instead of some appreciative reminiscing, Bill has a bleak outlook on his memory and the rest of his days in San Diego as an ad man with Elaine. Bill says “I have more to remember than I have to look forward to. Memory fades, not much of the past stays, and I wouldn’t mind forgetting a lot more of it.”This quote spoke to me because I have big aspirations for the future and what I want to accomplish, and throughout the stories the narrator seemed to say that he has similar dreams. Now an older man those dreams are long gone and instead he is depressing his audience saying that he wishes he could forget some of his life. Perhaps he even wants to forget some of the life he just recently communicated in the last couple of stories. For someone who seemed capable and successful to become a jaded old man worries me for my future and what it means for those dreams of success that I have. I hope that when I am sixty I can look over at my wife and be happy and look back on my life and be proud of the choices that I made and the life that I lived.
1) By reading the "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden" you can sense that towards the end of the short stories, the relationship between the narrator and the audience gradually became strong. The way Bill describes his life, sounds personal. He wants the audience to feel what he felt at that moment. Each of the stories sounded like it came out of a journal, as if Bill is reading his all entries to the audience. Bill is trying to relive his past by reading them to the audience. He knows that he is older and he doesn't have the same exciting life now than when he was younger. As the reader, Bill's stories are very emotional. A lot of his stories didn't have the happy ending as most stories would have. That's why the effect of the accumulation of the stories was, it left a heart breaking feeling because I felt sad for his life not being the ideal situation anyone wants to be in.
ReplyDelete2) “Sometimes he referred to a “force of rhythm” in his paintings. He often spoke of motion in the work.”
This line came from the short story "Orphan". It stuck out to me because it stimulated a lot of visuals in my head. I was picturing a still painting coming to life, swaying left to right, moving in the direction that the brush had painted. This quote called out to me because the analogy between the painting and a force of rhythm made me think about how music and art uses rhythms to form a master piece. For example, in music the beat and the lyrics have to flow with each other so that it can sound good. Whereas in art, the brush strokes on a canvas has to be just right in order to create the perfect painting. If you brush too hard the paint will smudge on the canvas. But if you brush too lightly the paint will become less visible, taking away the full color of the painting.
1) The narrator has a less personal relationship with his audience. We don't find out his name until the end of his short stories, and its almost like we have to guess how each person is somehow connected with Bill. There are subtle hints throughout each short story that help the audience figure out who this first person narrator is. Bill seems to be looking back on his life and on his accomplishments, with regret and sorrow. He feels as though he could have lived to accomplish more. He doesn't seem too fond of the family he brought into the world, or of the works of writing he contributed to his career as an artist. Each story seemed to signify a new realization that his life was coming to an end. The older he got, the more death seemed to surround him, but he was also realizing how many lives he had touched. I'd say his stories accumulated to the end of his writing career, and he became retired and settled down with his wife Elaine.
ReplyDelete2) "This morning I was assailed by such sadness at the velocity of life-the distance I've travelled from my own youth, the persistence of the old regrets, the new regrets, the ability of failure to freshen itself in novel forms-that I almost crashed the car." This quote speaks to me because everyone has had this moment once in their life, where it feels as if life has been swept away, time is on the fast track to death, and there is no stopping it. My step dad is going through this same crisis, where his old regrets still haunt him, and new regrets are still forming. This is the perfect way to describe a mid-life crisis, and sometimes this aching sadness is like a heavy weight that buries itself in one's stomach, and can't be forced out. This quote shows the author's deep internal fears and helps to connect all of the stories.
1) The narrator/audience relationship in "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden" is a very unusual one. The reader has a very close and privileged view of the events occurring in the narrator's life, as well as his thoughts on the events, but has no idea who the narrator is. The character of the narrator is initially cultivated through his interactions with others, not by simple description. This method of character development through narrator/audience interaction allows the reader to form their own opinion of Bill Whitman, rather than have an idea handed to them. I think that overall, Bill is attempting to paint a picture of his life that differs from what is expected of someone with his career. It almost becomes a memoir in a sense, due to the fact that he is sharing pieces of his life as it comes to a close.
ReplyDelete2) "...I suddenly didn't know which set of crimes I was regretting, wasn't sure if this dying farewell clobbering me to my knees in true repentance beside the kitchen table was Virginia's or Jennifer's" (P127 L26).
This quote is extremely evocative to me mostly due to the language used. The use of the word clobbering paints such a picture of this broken man falling to the floor over the news he's just heard, while the word repentance shows how truly humbled and apologetic he is. Overall, its just a beautifully written description of the experience Bill is dealing with, and I don't think it could've been written any better.
1.I think Bill’s view in “The Largesse of the Sea Maiden" is a very unique one. At times he is far and distant from what is going on and at other times you are viewing it from his first person in the middle of it perspective. In my opinion it seems that Bill is recounting events in his life as if he where old and unable to remember all too well. What I mean by that is: when he talks about things as if he were in the thick of it and he expresses his emotions he remembers that memory more vividly than he remembers a memory in which he takes a distant perspective. Looking back onto his life he is saddened because he feels as if her could have done so much more with his life but instead he has wasted it. Now he lives his dull life with his wife that he barely cares about and he tries to relieve his fond memories because that is all he has left. His casual approach to the stories makes me think as if I am a child sitting at his feet as he sits in a rocking chair recounting his fond memories of the good old days.
ReplyDelete2. The quote “"I had a wonderful breakfast among a handful of miscellaneous wanderers like myself, New Yorkers with their large, historic faces, every one of whom, delivered here without an explanation, seemed invaluable" I know this quote has been previously used by other members of the class and I would otherwise take a different quote but this quote stood out so much to me in particular. As a person who lived in New York for many years this quote resonated with me because out on the street there are a million faces and you don’t hardly remember any but when you sit down and there are only say 30 people then an experience becomes more intimate. When you sit down in a restaurant you look around at the atmosphere and how the tables are laid out but the people sitting there are also part of the atmosphere. Living in Tallahassee the people walking down the street have much more definition to them because there simply are less of them, you are not in a sea of people in which you many remember two faces. Bill’s destination to people is what causes this phenomenon and I can relate heavily to that.