The Bluest Eye and Bartleby

Topics in American Lit had me positioning disparate stories in relation to each other from very particular perspectives. In this case, I had to look at Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Herman Mellville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" focusing on their respective representations of work.

The different aspects of work - type, setting, enjoyability, purpose, and so on - are quite different in these two stories. Written by authors of different times, races, and genders about people of different times, races, genders, and social classes, the two texts do not seem to be comparable on any definitive level.

Both are quite particular stories directed at a narrow purpose for a defined audience. The Bluest Eye is the story of Pecola Breedlove, a young, poor, black girl, and the community around her. Through the characters in this story, Morrison explores issues of race, beauty, family, and survival. "Bartleby the Scrivener" on the other hand focuses on issues of control and agency in a capitalist society. Morrison's novel focuses on a poor black community and Melville's on a group of upper middle class white men.

I think, however, the juxtaposition of these stories reveals an interesting thought-experiment about gender and the workplace. Based on the type of work discussed and the hardships therein, a reader could surmise that Melville's work is set in a time well after Morrison's. Melville's office setting and its accompanying objective and passive feel seem more modern than the work described in The Bluest Eye. While race certainly plays a part in this difference, the contradiction, I think, arises because the workers in "Bartleby" are men and in The Bluest Eye, they are women.

Morrison's novel is set in 1941, a time women were just starting to make a significant shift into the workforce to replace the men lost to fighting World War II. The advent of Rosie the Riveter as a cultural icon and recruitment tool would not occur until 1942 with the iconic image not appearing until 1943. Prior to this point, and well represented in The Bluest Eye, most women's work directly related to the "duties" of a wife. Whether caring for children, cooking food, cleaning houses, or having sex with men, the paid-for jobs delegated to women were generally domestic in nature. Pauline cooks, cleans, and cares for a white family; China, Poland, and Miss Marie are all prostitutes; even Miss Bertha, who runs a "small candy, snuff, and tobacco store", does so in an informal, domestic way from "one brick room sitting in her front yard". It's more like going over to a friend's house than going to a business.

"Bartleby the Scrivener", set almost 100 years prior to The Bluest Eye, highlights the importance gender can have on work. The workplace setting detailed in this short story is markedly different from the work in Morrison's novel. The all-male workplace setting is professional, productive, cold. In stark contrast, the workplace settings described in The Bluest Eye are more relaxed and home-like. When Claudia and Frieda go to Miss Bertha's store, she is "sitting behind the counter reading a Bible in a tube of sunlight". Pauline is so "at-home" in her work that the white child she cares for calls her Polly even when her own children call her Mrs. Breedlove. In "Bartleby", however, the men work in a much different setting: "At one end they looked upon the white wall of the interior of a spacious sky-light shaft, penetrating the building from top to bottom. This view might have been considered rather tame than otherwise, deficient in what landscape painters call “life.” The "life" referred to here is an embedded part of the women's work in The Bluest Eye.

I think the lifelessness of the office is mirrored in the lifelessness of Bartleby who is described as "a motionless young man", "pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn", and possessing a "cadaverously gentlemanly nonchalance". Bartleby is the embodiment of the apathetic dullness of a capitalist workplace; he and the work represented are a paleness that is in direct contrast to the admittedly dark and horrible but quite vibrant work of the women of Morrison's novel.

Despite the obvious differences, I think both workplaces are represented as monotonous, lacking in opportunity, a hardship, and a more encompassing part of life than is truly desirable. Work is certainly not portrayed as a happy, life-affirming activity in either text.

Quick Review: The Bluest Eye and "Bartleby the Scrivener" are both well worth reading. If you've read other works by Morrison, you know that she has a remarkable way with words and she is not afraid to tackle the intricacies of complex life issues. Melville's short story shares those characteristics. It is an expertly woven tale that uses simplicity to highlight some very complicated issues.

The Sunday Spotlight: BEA

Every Sunday, I highlight one thing: one book, one idea, one dish, one person, one show, one anything. Today, the spotlight is on:

and

All three run consecutively in Chicago from May 11 - 14 (Wednesday to Saturday) and I am thrilled to say that I am registered for all three. As I live a mere 60 miles south of the city, I have no excuse (other than hating really early mornings) to not attend. I'm really hoping to see some of you up there. I know I will be there Wednesday and Saturday, and either Thursday or Friday.

So who's going and when can we meet up?

Online Success

One prompt from the Online Learning course I took asked: Can all students successfully complete online courses or are there qualities or abilities that some students may find extremely difficult to overcome online? List these challenges and explain why you believe they may cause these students to fail. How would you address these concerns?

In my opinion, this question is, first and foremost, remarkably loaded. The first question sets itself up as one of opposition but the two selections are not mutually exclusive - a student can find a course extremely difficult and still be successful. In short though, this question is asking if all students can successfully complete online courses, and my honest opinion is yes. I do believe that all students can succeed online; however, I think the path to success is quite different depending upon certain characteristics/personality traits.

Most of the research is unclear as to indicators for student performance in online classrooms, especially when looking at genetic indicators such as gender, age, race, etc. Xu and Jaggers’ research review found that women outperform men in online environments, but the findings aren’t remarkably significant as women outperform men in most educational environments for a variety of reasons. For the most part, a person’s genetic makeup does not seem to have a great influence on online success.

Women. Kicking educational ass for centuries.

One article, “Predictors of Performance in the Online Classroom” identifies characteristics of students who succeed in online courses, but most of them are based on intangibles such as “increased familiarity with technological demands” and “confidence in…ability” due to prior online course experience. They also claim that students with an “internal locus of control” are more likely to succeed.

The claims this article makes correspond well to my own experiences. Students who rely on outside factors for motivation and direction tend to struggle in an online environment which requires much more self-direction and accountability than most face-to-face courses.

Technological deficiencies are, of course, also a factor in ease of use for online students. If a student has to learn the tech while learning the course content, they are hit with a double whammy which can be remarkably frustrating. Students who have taken an online course before are comfortable with the technology and as such can focus on course content.

Dr. Maryellen Wiemer discusses 5 identifiers for online success in her article “Student Persistence in Online Courses” including satisfaction with online learning, a sense of belonging, peer/family support, time management skills, and instructor communication. This makes perfect sense whether in an online course or in a face-to-face; although it may be more difficult to create that sense of belonging in an online environment.

While the ease with which students succeed in online courses may differ greatly based on the above qualities, I still think that everyone is capable of learning in an online environment. Instructors should attempt to account for varying learning styles, types of motivations, and technological proficiency; however, ultimately it is the student’s responsibility to identify and adjust for their own struggles.

What do you think? Are some students just doomed to failure in online courses?

Book Review: Daisy Miller

Henry James and I have a tenuous relationship. I flit back and forth between admiring his work and being pissed at it (pardon the language). Reading The Turn of the Screw always makes me want to hit something despite the fact I think everyone should read it.

Unlike my experience with The Turn of the Screw, with Daisy Miller, I was thoroughly enjoying myself for the majority anyway, but more on that later. Daisy Miller is a novella focused on an expat in Europe's response to a visiting American girl who defies the traditional values and behaviors that restrict other girls her age.

In Daisy, James has a female character that embodies the spirit of the American as an ideological concept. She is free spirited, independent, and in defiance of societal expectations. In contrast to gender expectations of her time, Daisy bluntly states that she has “never allowed a gentleman to dictate to me, or to interfere with anything I do”. She clearly doesn’t allow women to instruct her either as she defies Mrs. Walker’s admonitions to adhere to the European social morays saying that she doesn’t “see why [she] should change [her] habits” for European society. Instead, Daisy does what she wants, indicating that “if this is what’s improper…then I am all improper” and European society and Old World values be damned.

Winterbourne, our wishing-he-was-rebellious-but-actually-quite-staid narrator, becomes infatuated with Daisy upon first meeting her, and he spends the time he knows her, wavering between fascination and horror. Daisy's laid-back, do-as-I-please attitude and behavior intrigue him, but he simultaneous judges her behavior. Winterbourne is both intrigued and horrified by Daisy’s behavior: “he was vexed at his want of instinctive certitude as to how far her eccentricities were generic, national, and how far they were personal” (James 51). He continually attempts to figure her out, but no matter how he looks at it, Daisy “continue[s] to present herself as an inscrutable combination of audacity and innocence”. She is a truly fascinating character.

Warning, there be spoilers below.

But then James goes back to pissing me off since he has Daisy die. Seriously. Then anger. Why did she have to die? Was it punishment for her eccentric behavior? Is James arguing that Daisy should have conformed to the expectations of European society? Her death certainly seems to indicate such. It reminds me of Jenny's death in Forrest Gump, a movie that clearly suggests maintaining the status quo and doing your part to further the dominant ideology is the proper way.

In both tales, when two cultures clash, it is the traditional, formal, and staid culture that wins. Clearly, Winterbourne is effected by his meeting Daisy - to what extent is a bit vague - and one would think that other members of the European society Daisy came in contact with may be affected too. But in the end, traditional values win out as Daisy pays the ultimate price for her rebellion. Whether this is the author's way of promoting the dominant culture or just a way of showing how difficult it is to break away from said culture, well, that is another question.

End of spoilers.

This short, fast-paced, tightly focused novella is well worth the read.

Role of Money and Power in American Poetry

For the first module in my Topics in American Literature course, I focused on applying lessons learned from Richard Gray's A History of American Literature to writings from Langston Hughes, Frederick Douglass, and Anne Bradstreet.

A brief reading of Early European-American literature suggests that the quest for power, particularly through material gain, has long plagued America. From the first Europeans’ search for the Garden of Eden and the Seven Cities to John Smith’s “fellow colonizers who were expecting the easy pickings promised by a city of gold” to those who would enslave others for material gain, the quest for money as a means of power permeates American literature. The Puritans claimed to “live only for…the “spirit” but in actuality “material gain, the accumulation of power and property” was their goal. Even way back when, America kept its eye focused on money.

To that end, the lack of material wealth as indicative of powerlessness or perhaps the cause of powerlessness is clearly seen in Langston Hughes’ poem “Let American Be America Again”. A plea for equality for all, as idealized in the myth of America, this poem directly identifies those Americans who are without power: the poor whites, those of color, immigrants, the young, the farmers, and “workers sold to the machine”. The common thread holding these people together is their lack of monetary wealth and hence their position in society as subordinate and powerless. 

Frederick Douglass, in “An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage”, highlights the role of money in issues of power: “The South fought for perfect and permanent control over the Southern laborer. It was a war of the rich against the poor. They who waged it had no objection to the government while they could use it as a means of confirming their power over the laborer”.Douglass’s claim that the Civil War was fought in an effort to retain control over workers as a method of maintaining and/or accumulating more wealth and hence more power shows the strange circular nature of money and power. One begets the other in a Ouroborean cycle.

Anne Bradstreet’s poetry reveals a markedly different look at wealth and power. While Hughes and Douglass are lobbying for more power, Bradstreet is almost denying her desire for or right to such power, at least in the form of material wealth. In “Verses upon the Burning of our House”, she writes:

There’s wealth enough [in Heaven]; I need no more.
Farewell, my pelf; farewell, my store.
The world no longer let me love;
My hope and Treasure lies above.

Her gender certainly influences her claims. As a female writer, Bradstreet had to reconcile her skill, her desires/beliefs, and her gender. According to Gray, she did so in part through deference, revealing tensions in her writing between “submission to and rebellion against her lot as a woman in a patriarchal society” (39-40). Not only does Bradstreet’s gender require a disregard for materiality but so does her religion. Hence, in the poem she places her faith in a future Heaven, diminishing her loss of wealth and, at least familial, power. Gray believes that while this poem “may end by seeking the conventional consolation”, the focus of the poem is “devoted to the terrible experience of seeing ‘pleasant things in ashes lie’” indicating a deeper sense of loss than the culminating lines suggest. Her words seem forced, an attempt to say what she should rather than what she would. What is interesting to note here though is that unlike Hughes and Douglas, Bradstreet’s true feelings must remain hidden, or at the least be subtly expressed, a distinct counter to Douglas’s and Hughes’s outspoken, direct, and vehement entreaties.

The continued connection between money and power in American society cannot be denied, and I think a discussion of power derived through monetary gain is incomplete without a bit of a warning. One of the downfalls of this quest for wealth and power is illustrated by Gray when discussing the failure of Bradford’s Pilgrims: “The communitarian spirit of the first generation of immigrants…slowly vanishes. The next generation moves off in search of better land and further prosperity” (30). This leads Bradford to conclude that “material success leads somehow and ineluctably to spiritual failure” (30), but it is also indicative that material success leads to a cutting of communal and familial ties, separation of the individual from society both in the physical and the emotional sense.

I found it so strange to see so many contemporary characteristics and concerns reflected in these works. We've seen the pitfalls of materialism for over 100 years, and yet we make no changes. Us humans are odd ducks.

The Sunday Spotlight

Every Sunday, I highlight one thing: one book, one idea, one dish, one person, one show, one anything. Today, the spotlight is on:

Carter Lee Dandurand

Weighing in at a bit over 25lbs, Carter is a wonderfully stocky 14 month old with a ready smile and a streak of mischief. He is seriously the most content, happy, cuddly, giggly boy, but no lie that stinker will look right at you while he tips your half-full cup of coffee over onto the carpeting. Then he will giggle.

He can say mama, dada, and a version of mah-mah that stands for Madison. He can also moo and say tractor - which really sounds like ca-ca. He eats everything and clearly has no concept of the term full. At every meal and every snack, we have to logically deduce when the bottomless pit has had enough. He never stops eating and would more than likely eat an entire 32oz steak with an extra large baked potato, a good size helping of corn, and still go for dessert...if we let him, which being good parents, we do not. He protests the ending of a meal, but he's good-natured enough to get over it quickly.

He sleeps like a champ, which is a real treat after Madison who, I think, broke records for least amount of sleep in a newborn, infant, and toddler. We can actually put him into the crib wide awake and he will simply jabber until he falls asleep. Heaven.

He is all smiles

even when wearing, riding in, or playing with his sister's hand-me-downs which are inevitably pink and girly. The boy rides in a brown and pink stroller, just got out of a pink carseat, consistently has tiaras, crowns, and bows in his hair, and even once was forced to sit in an overly large frilly pink dress.

His only other facial expression is his uh-oh face:

which is hilarious. He pulls this face when he drops something, misbehaves, spills his drink, or anything else that is uh-oh-ish. Here it is again for your enjoyment:

We had a little scare with Carter. He has a hard lump on the back of his head, which has been there since birth. The doctor finally ordered an ultrasound which came back inconclusive, and we had to meet with a pediatric surgeon for a second opinion. Luckily, the doctor is pretty positive it is merely a dermoid cyst which is benign. We can't know for sure without removing it, but we are going to wait and see if there are any indications of worry before going to such drastic measures as it is more than likely A-Okay. Thankfully.

Captain Adorable here has a few nicknames: C-Bug, Doofus, and My Good Boy are the most popular. He probably thinks his name is "Carter No" though.

Myths of Online Learning

Every semester, I teach at least two online courses, typically composition courses, and two hybrid courses, lit and film. Online instructional pedagogy is a central part of my career, and so when my college offered to pay for faculty to receive a Master Online Teaching Certificate, I jumped at the chance. I guess it also helps that each course I take adds credit hours to my transcripts, and I receive raises for educational advancement.

To start this particular educational journey, I took Online Learning: An Overview, and one of our first assignments involved investigating the common myths of online learning as detailed in the "7 Myths About Online Education" article published through U.S. News and World Report.

The two myths I chose to explore border on being contradictory. The first myth states that online courses are easier than traditional face-to-face courses; however, the sixth myth argues that students have no opportunity to meet with their instructors which is a problem because it makes the course more difficult. In my experience, and as indicated by Williams’s use of the word “myth”, neither is true.

The writers and panel members for the article “The Continuing Controversy Over Online Education” certainly agree that online courses and programs are not easier than traditional ones. Many members of the panel discuss the necessity for students in online courses to be highly disciplined and self-motivated. Oddly enough their fears stem, in part from Myth 6 in that they continuously mention the dangers of courses with limited interaction.

The misconception that online students have no opportunity to meet with the instructor correlates to one panel member's concern that the “anonymity of a distance option could be harmful if they have no other contact with a school”. Some people clearly see online courses as a sort of solitary pursuit lacking in any sort of personal connection. While most of the panel members lump student-student and instructor-student interaction together and do not differentiate between synchronous-asynchronous or virtual-in person interaction, one panel member directly addresses the issue of instructor meetings. Appel admits that she believes her students didn’t get the chance to interact with her often enough for help on assignments, and she thinks that “most students would be better off in a program that allows them to see the instructor face-to-face on a weekly basis".

While I firmly believe that the online space offers a variety of communication tools, I also believe that these tools are not used across the board in online education. As the Straightline staff writes, students can now “contact the professor even more directly and in more detail than in a classroom”; however, whether or not professors are offering these opportunities and whether or not students are taking advantage is a different and more compelling question.

If an online course is designed and executed properly, a student should have regular, sustained, and engaging interaction with his/her instructor. Have any of you ever taken a course online where you had little or no interaction with the instructor?

State of American Literature

“How I Left a Life of Crime and Came to America” by Judith Barrington is a short memoir that highlights a few American ideals that I think bridge our past and future. The story begins in 1975 Ireland with Barrington committing petty thievery and much more broad scale gender revolution as the House of Commons looks at a Sexual Discrimination Act that doesn’t come close to covering true gender equality. The first part of the tale relates the time Barrington and three other women’s protest of gender oppression when they threw bricks threw the windows of four separate buildings. Here the American ideals of progress, equality, and rebellion are clearly seen.

Barrington writes: “We were aiming for a complete transformation of society, not merely the passage of a few reforms.” This belief in fundamental ideological change is woven into the fabric of America, as is the rather destructive methods of achieving such a revolution. The second section of the story relates Barrington’s voyage across the ocean to America to visit her girlfriend, Miriam, who was there seeing her parents. A gift from a friend upon Barrington’s departure, marijuana is a constant companion on her trip. Barrington’s gender, sexuality, and drug use situate her on the margins of “mainstream” society which a hallmark of contemporary American literature.

In the final two sections of the story, Barrington heads for San Francisco which her “blood and bones knew that San Francisco was the place all lesbian roads led to. Even before Harvey Milk and the murders, before the demonstrations and the ballot initiatives, just about every gay person in the world knew that city was our Mecca.” Here she sets up America as a promised land, certainly a traditional American view. Also, her roadtrip is particularly American and feels like a lesbian Kerouacian experience.

Barrington encompasses many of the characteristics of an American writer as identified in Kathryn VanSpanckeren’s article “Contemporary American Literature”. VanSpanckeren points out that “American literature at the turn of the 21st century has become democratic and heterogeneous”, that foreign writers abound, that “creative nonfiction and memoir have flourished".

VanSpanckeren also discusses the desire among contemporary American writers “for open, less canonical genres” gave rise to “global, multiethnic, and women's literature – works in which writers reflect on experiences shaped by culture, color, and gender” such as memoirs like Barrington’s.

Barrington as a foreign-born American immigrant, as a woman, as a homosexual, as a pot smoker as
a memoir writer focused on events outside mainstream culture, is perfectly reflective of contemporary American literature.

What works do you see as reflective of contemporary American literature?

New Vision for the Blog

While I've always thought of eclectic/eccentric as a multi-layered blog, it has primarily functioned as a book blog. Most posts were focused on reviewing books, summarizing and evaluating without spoiling plot and with the ultimate goal of encouraging people to read or not read the book. I loved this, and for over 8 years, that was the focus. I would post thoughts or family updates from time to time, participate in memes (mainly bookish ones), and participate in book tours and book blog events.

The blog changed drastically after the birth of my first child, Madison, four years ago. I went from reading 150 books a year and having quite a bit of free time to reading 50 books a year with almost no free time. The blog became more sporadic. Then, three years after Madison, came Carter, and reading took another dive. While I have read many, many posts about how reading is still possible after children - and I agree for the most part - I would have to make some pretty questionable decisions to maintain my pre-children level of reading and blogging.

Part of my loss of time has to do with other life decisions. I am a full-time college professor serving on multiple committees and presenting at various conferences. Then there's the fact that I also went back to school. In the time right before Carter, I began work towards a second Masters degree, in Literature of course. I actually finished and submitted a 22 page literary analysis while in the hospital after giving birth. Yeah, that happened.

This year I also started coursework towards earning a Master Online Teacher certificate. Taking all of these courses means that the limited reading time I have left is devoted to course readings and homework. Oh and children's books. I read at least four books a day...they're just not exactly War and Peace.  More like Hello, Bugs and more Bubble Guppies books than should rightly exist.

Fingers crossed that my hard work buying and reading children's books will pay off. So far, so good as both of my kids like playing with books. Madison likes to read before bed (well, have books read to her) and Carter will sit still for I Kissed the Baby, but that's the only book that he will listen to for some reason.

eclectic/eccentric will still have the occasional book review, but the focus will shift a bit more towards discussion and analysis than review, and I plan on incorporating a lot more posts on education and instructional technology and more on the family as well. I suppose this makes eclectic/eccentric more of a life blog; it's just that quite a bit of my life is dedicated to books.

So, for the foreseeable future, I will post about literature on Tuesdays and education/online learning on Fridays. Sundays will be for updates and family, and any book reviews will be posted randomly. I'm considering changing the blog name to be more reflective of what will be included in posts, but so for no luck on a creative title...at least not one that's already taken. :)

To those who read this blog in years past, I don't know if any of you are still around. The numerous false starts this blog has had in the last four years is ridiculous, and who knows if this is the start of a new heyday of Trisha blogging or if it is yet another failed attempt to bring blogging back into my life. I know a few of the people I considered friends here in the book blogging world are no longer book bloggers or no longer bloggers at all. Any of you who are still around, I hope to get back in touch. For new readers, welcome! I can't wait to see what's been happening in the blogosphere.