Is it better to be black or female?

I first became fascinated in the pull-and-push between race and gender when I read Shirley Chisholm's I'd Rather Be Black Than Female. The first line captures the main argument well:

If I said that being black is a greater handicap than being a woman, probably no one would question me. Why? Because "we all know" there is prejudice against black people in America. That there is prejudice against women is an idea that still strikes nearly all men--and, I am afraid, most women--as bizarre . . . 

Everyone recognizes racism and sees it as a problem. The same does not hold true for sexism. People seem to think it has been eradicated; or they readily accept gender determinism. People believe that the color of one's skin does not determine behavior, thought-pattern, etc. But genitalia on the other hand seems to control everything. Men are from Mars and woman are from Venus after all.

Bell Hooks' Ain't I a Woman addresses this question as well, and seems to agree. When writing of the slave trade, she makes clear the extra hardships women had to suffer and the tiny differences in treatment due to gender. For example, women were not seen as a threat on slave ships, so they were not shackled like men were (plus shackling makes rape a bit harder). While the lack of shackles may seem positive, this difference in treatment signifies a difference in perception which is sexist in its very nature. The same distinctions in treatment and perception were carried over once sold.

She even argues that the way we look at slavery is sexist:

Sexist historians and sociologists have provided the American public with a perspective on slavery in which the most cruel and de-humanizing impact of slavery on the lives of black people was that black men were stripped of their masculinity...Implicit in this assertion is that the worst that can happen to a man is that he be made to assume the social status of a woman."

She goes on to discuss the gendered separation of chores - where women worked in the house and in the fields (and were used as breeders and victims of rape), but men were only in the fields - and many other distinctions which were rendered based on gender.  And even the freedom slaves were seeking was sexist in nature: they were not challenging the status quo (of white people) they merely wanted to conform to it. Black women wanted to be like white women; black men like white men, and white society was extremely separated based on sex.

On a different note, the Introduction focuses on suffrage. Black men, as we all know, received the right to vote prior to women. Originally, black men joined white women in the fight, but it wasn't until they distanced themselves from the white women that their cause took off.

By supporting black male suffrage and denouncing white women's rights advocates, white men revealed the depths of their sexism - a sexism that was at that brief moment in American history greater than their racism.

Obviously Chisholm would argue that decades later, in the 1970s, sexism was still more rampant than racism, and I would argue that the same holds true today. I did have a small problem with this discussion. Hooks writes that white female suffragists separated from their black counterparts when it seemed like black men would get the right to vote first. Their separation is discussed more as a racist abandonment:

Prior to white male support of suffrage for black men, white women activists had believed it would further their cause to ally themselves with black political activists, but when it seemed black men might get the vote while they remained disenfranchised, political solidarity with black people was forgotten and they urged white men to allow racial solidarity to overshadow their plans to support black male suffrage.

When Hooks writes about the black male suffragists separating from their white female counterparts, she says that:

"while many black male political activists sympathized with the cause of women's rights advocates, they were not willing to lose their own chance to gain the vote. Black women were placed in a double bind; to support women's suffrage would imply that they were allying themselves with white women activists who had publicly revealed their racism."

Something struck me about this paragraph, as if the two groups committed the same act, but one was denigrated because of it while the other was excused. White women were trying to "further their cause" while black men "sympathized with the cause of women's rights". White women "forgot" about solidarity and promoted a racist agenda while black men regretfully had to separate because they "were not willing to lose their...chance." I have no doubt that both sides were in the right, and both sides were in the wrong, but this discussion seems one-sided to me.

But back to the main issue at hand, racism v. sexism. Clearly, the fight against racism is fraught with passionate emotion and public spectacle. Everyone knows the landmark cases, the catch phrases, the pros and cons, the various groups of import, and so on. The same cannot be said of sexism, and that is why, in the words of Shirley Chisholm:

How much harder will it be to eliminate the prejudice against women? I am sure it will be a longer struggle. Part of the problem is that women in America are much more brainwashed and content with their roles as second-class citizens than blacks ever were.

Absolutely. I will never forget the semester I found out that my 18-20 year old female students were sexist against their own gender. No one in class believed sexism still existed. Four girls admitted they wouldn't want Hilary Clinton (or any woman) as president because she might blow up the world if she was having a bad period (no lie, people, no lie). I was horrified, aghast, that these women were so blind to the real world.

To be clear, the opinions didn't change amongst the students depending on race. Black women and white women both seemed to think that there was equality between the genders. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.

Anyway, back to Ain't I a Woman?. I'm really enjoying reading this - as I am sure you can surmise from the fact that I just wrote a post based on the Introduction and the first pages of Chapter 1! Big thank you to the Year of Feminist Classics for putting this on my to-read list.

Just out of curiosity, would you rather be black or female? (and yes I recognize that the question eliminates every combination outside of black man and white female, but it's how Chisholm phrased it so it's good enough for me).

Readalong: Abigail in Paris

Wallace at Unputdownables is hosting a John Adams readalong, and if you haven't joined in yet, you really should. I missed a week so, this week I am discussing Chapter 6: Abigail in Paris. 

This chapter strayed from the typical in that the focus is not on Adams himself. He plays a secondary role to the two stars of the chapter: Abigail and Thomas Jefferson. The chapter begins with Abigail's decision to cross an ocean to be with her husband, through the stormy crossing itself, to her eventual reunion with Adams and the settling of their life in France. In Paris, Abigail is both horrified and intrigued by the spectacle that is French life, a combination of performance and decadence far different from her simple life in America.

The story then swings to Jefferson who after many hardships - particularly the death of his wife - joins Adams in Paris to develop commercial treatise with various countries, a slow and not particularly lucrative (whether in outcome or money) endeavor. Towards the end, we move back to Abigail as the entire Adams family leaves Paris: John Quincy for home and Harvard, and the rest to London where Adams has been made minister to Britain.

Instead of focusing on the plot, I wanted to concentrate on a side note that stood out to me in the chapter:

The house the Adams family moves into in Paris "had once been the country villa of two extravagant, scandalous sisters, the Demoiselles Verrieres." That line is the only mention of these women with no further development, but it definitely had me intrigued. Who were these extravagant sisters? Why were they considered scandalous?

A quick Google search revealed no information that wasn't in French. A further search, primarily through Wikipedia, revealed that Marie (Rinteau) is described as "a courtesan ungrateful and treacherous" by the French poet Charles-Pierre Colardeau, apparently because she gave him a venereal disease which caused his death. An affair with a different man set her on the path to become the great-grandmother of George Sand (who is one awesome writer and woman). All of the references to Marie are on the pages of the men she slept with which I find disturbing as she sure sounds like a woman who deserves her own page.

The website for the Metropolitan Museum of Art features a painting of Marie (shown above) which provided more information: "Marie and her younger sister Geneviève, who were of humble origins, enjoyed a brief moment of success in music and theatre and longer careers as cultured courtesans. In Paris and at Autueil they built private theatres, lived in luxury, and received important guests. Neither married and from the 1750s they were known as "les demoiselles de Verrières." The portrait of Genevieve (to the left) is about the only thing I could find just on her. Marie seems to be the "more popular" sister, probably due to her progeny.

I must admit that I am very intrigued by these women. As they have very little to do with John Adams himself - outside of him living in their house for a time - I recognize the strangeness of spending so much time thinking about them. But that is one of the things I love so much about reading history; it sparks interest in so many other topics, paving the way for exploration into areas you didn't even know about.

Do any of you know anything about these two women?

Readalong: Unalterably Determined

Wallace at Unputdownables is hosting a John Adams readalong, and if you haven't joined in yet, you really should. I missed a week so, this week I am discussing Chapter 5: Unalterably Determined.

So that title is just perfect for this chapter because most of it focuses on the various things Adams did to piss off France, Holland, the American Congress, and even Abigail. Don't get me wrong: everything he did was for the good of the nation, and without his dogged determination and willingness to do what was right even if it wasn't popular or even freaking approved, the conflict between America and Great Britain could have dragged on even longer. So here's a quick, and simplistic, recap of
How Adams Pissed Off Everyone:

• France: Adams and Benjamin Franklin are in Paris to negotiate an alliance, but this dude Vergennes is the Prime Minister and he's all hoity-toity and a wee bit condescending and really only looking out for the best interest of France. While Franklin is all agreeable and non-demanding and in general engaged in kissassery, Adams is forceful and quite a bit disgusted with the general lack of action. When Vergennes gets his chance, he portrays Adams as being "in direct opposition to French policy and thus a threat to relations between France and America" and Vergennes even gets Franklin to write a letter to Congress in a sort of tattle-tell fashion. And he remains pissed at Adams for the next like two years.

• Holland: Adams foray into Holland was unsanctioned by Congress and only approved by France because Vergennes wanted him gone; and yet Adams was met with a decent welcome. That welcome, however, quickly went to ostracism when the British got their hands on a document suggesting an alliance between the Netherlands and America. The indignant Brits used it to threaten a war against the Dutch (which freaked them out - and rightly so) and hence Adams was SOL. This is not, however, what pissed them off. No that came a bit later when, in an effort to get the ball rolling again, Adams went against protocol (which was still a VERY big deal in Europe) and declared himself an emissary from the United States. To explain, "by established diplomatic form, no emissary ever proclaimed his mission...until the government to which he was accredited was ready to receive him...Not until the government at The Hague took it upon itself to recognize the United States [and Adams as its representative] would anyone in the government be permitted to receive Adams officially." Adams said 'crap to that' and proceeded to announce himself through a 16 page memorial he presented to government officials and to the general public through thousands of copies. The sneaky bugger.
• On a side note, Vergennes was writing to Congress while Adams was in Holland to say that Adams was embarrassing them all in his dealings with the Dutch.

• Congress: Congress is continually pissed with Adams throughout these years. First for upsetting the delicate sensibilities of France, and then for announcing himself against protocol and without permission. They went so far as to retract Adams' role as sole peacemaker in Europe, never praised him for any of his accomplishments in Europe, and actually ignored him to the point where Adams, from time to time, had nothing to do, no task to accomplish.
• Another side note: Congress is all pissy with Adams over his forceful declaration, so they send him a letter scolding him. Little did they know that Holland had accepted Adams at this point (communication overseas not being what it is today). So they send off this condescending letter to Adams, and in the meantime a Dutch ship finally arrives with the news that Adams has negotiated for a $2 million dollar loan. The best part is that the name of the ship is Heer Adams.
  

• Congress and France: The peace negotiations with Britain were supposed to take place under the direct approval of France, via Vergennes, but Adams and Jay, along with Franklin, completely ignore this directive, pissing both off in the process. "To Adams there was no conflict in what they had done. The decision to break with the orders from Congress, and thus break faith with the French, had been clear-cut, the only honorable course. Congress had left them no choice. Congress had "prostituted" its own honor by surrendering its sovereignty to the French Foreign Minister. 'It is glory to have broken such infamous orders,' Adams wrote in his diary.
• I love it that these three men negotiate the contract completely outside of communication with Congress and willfully ignoring a directive from them. Rock on with your bad self Adams.
  

In the end, the Dutch acknowledge Adams and the U.S. and give them some serious moola, the British sign a peace treaty Adams negotiated, Franklin takes Adams' side against France, and even Vergennes is all hunky-dory with the man he tried to get fired. The quote that best sums it all up:

It had been his own path that he had taken, alone and in his own way. He had been ignored, ridiculed; he had very nearly died in the process. Yet he had persisted and succeeded.

As Adams said:

Thanks to God that he gave me stubbornness when I know I am right.

Amen brother. As for the Abigail issue, well she was just pissed off because her husband, whom she absolutely adored, lived overseas for years. From time to time he was only writing her once a month or so, and even when writing consistently, the postal service is not exactly up to par. A neglected wife - despite the perfectly reasonable reasons for neglect - has a right to her pissiness from time to time. So at this point in the book, the Treaty of Paris has been signed severing all governmental ties between America and Great Britain, Adams is still rather unappreciated by the American Congress despite his heroic and instrumental efforts, and Abigail wants her some nookie dearly wishes to see her husband. And back to the story....

Readalong: Chapters 3 and 4

Wallace at Unputdownables is hosting a John Adams readalong, and if you haven't joined in yet, you really should. I missed a week so, this week I am discussing Chapter 3: Colossus of Independence and Chapter 4: Appointment to France.

Okay, so I didn't post last week, and really I don't have the best excuse. I did have to read two books for blog tours. And my birthday was last Friday so that weekend was out as far as reading goes. And I did find myself completely immersed in watching the first season and a half of Glee (which is freaking fantabulous by the way). But errr... yeah, so I didn't exactly stay on top of my John Adams reading.  That is not to say, however, that I am in any way uninterested in the book. I really, truly, honestly love it. McCullough's writing is admirable and the subject matter is engrossing. And now, I am almost, but not quite caught up.

The third chapter begins with the debate regarding independence from Britain by the Continental Congress. Adams' role in all of this cannot be over exaggerated: Before casting votes, the Congress heard from speakers one last time, and it was Adams who had the final voice for independence, speaking for two hours in an impassioned argument. I don't think it's much of a plot spoiler to let you know that he won the argument... The rest of the chapter discusses the formation of the War Office, a board of five members of Congress who were in charge of every aspect of the war with Britain - no small task.

And let me stop myself right there. I am trying to figure out what to tell you next, how to summarize what happens over the next 100 pages, but it is impossible. Paraphrasing the events in a novel is one thing, but trying to convey to you the amazing amount of detail McCullough includes, both private, psychological, and political is just not possible. By the end of the fourth chapter, we have traveled across the freaking ocean more than once, Adams has written the constitution for Massachusetts, and political intrigue and spies and in-fighting have been discussed.

I do want to mention, however, that in the midst of these two chapters, my edition includes a selection of images, portraits of key figures, books from the time, sketches of important places, a "to-bring" list of Adams', letters, etc. I don't know why, but seeing this sort of paraphernalia just really leaves an impression on me. I am one of those dorks who absolutely adores museums, especially the more personal such as houses which have been preserved and the such not. I get nostalgic and gooey over historical artifacts. What can I say? I don't think I am the only one. I can tell there are more sections of images, but I am refusing to get ahead of myself by flipping through them now.

And finally, I want to share a quote from Abigail Adams:

These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and from the character of the hero and the statesman.

Abigail wrote this to her son John Quincy upon his departure with his father and younger brother for France.

Anyway, time to get back to the story.

Book Review: Chaos Walking Series

I am choosing to do my review of Monsters of Men a bit different from the norm. Instead of reviewing the book, I am going to talk about the series as a whole. The book certainly warrants its own review - freaking fantabulous read - but as I don't want to give even the hint of plot spoilers, this seemed a better way to go about things. Ana at things mean a lot communicated my thoughts perfectly:

Part of me can’t step away from the story enough to stop thinking about it as something that happened and see it as something that was written. Obviously I know this is a book (otherwise I’d probably be well on my way to the loony bin), but my emotional investment is such I just can’t quite analyse it as a piece of fiction – not just yet. And while this probably makes me unable to say anything about this series that will be of use to those who aren’t already under its spell, I hope it’ll still be enough to intrigue you. Because don’t you love it this happens? When a story feels so real that until you finish it you walk around in a haze, worrying about the characters? That when you do finish it, you feel bereaved because you won’t get to spend more time with them? Don’t you love getting this invested in a fictional world, in what’s going on the lives of a group of fictional characters?

Ana always knows just the right thing to say. It's like she's in my mind..... My response to this series is more emotional than I am used to in my reading. Scenes throughout brought tears to my eyes, and even as the story challenged me intellectually (and in so many ways), I found myself continuously circling back to a love of the characters and a strong desire to see things through. Hell, I think I wanted to help them as crazy as that sounds.

During the April readathon, I re-read the first two books of Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series in order to ready myself for FINALLY reading the final installment, Monsters of Men. In my review of the first, The Knife of Never Letting Go, I say: "I have absolutely no idea how to talk about this book without spoilers.  Every moment in the book is rife with possibilities, questions, and excitement. I could not stop reading; every turn of the page brought on a deep desire to see the next." That feeling of urgency followed me throughout the entire series, every page, every shift in the plot, every revelation of character, pressed me to keep reading. These are truly books I do not want to put down.

Outside of the action of the plot, the series serves a banquet of philosophical questions. Dominant among these is the notion of good and evil. And this is one of my favorite parts about the series. Ness refrained from creating a strict dichotomy (as so many novels do) and instead developed these wonderfully complex characters who comprise wonderfully complex societies. The notion of "good" and "evil" is as convoluted and confusing in the book as it is in real life, and I truly appreciated this while reading. At no point in the series did I think "this or that man/woman is evil". Even when horrendous acts were being committed and wars being fought and lives being sacrificed, the characters in the story come across as humans in all their contradictory completeness.

I wish I could tell you more. I wish I could sit here and talk about all of the wonderful, moving, powerful, insightful, heartwarming, heart wrenching, terrible, beautiful, and otherwise truly awesome events in this series, but I really think you have to experience it for yourself. If you have not yet read the series, I strongly urge you to run out and buy it (or get your hands on it in a more frugal way).

Readalong: John Adams True Blue

Wallace at Unputdownables is hosting a John Adams readalong, and if you haven't joined in yet, you really should. This week we are discussing Chapter 2: True Blue.

While the first chapter focused primarily on developing Adams as a person, the second chapter situates readers within the time period. Like with the first chapter, the second is divided into three sections. The first section clearly paints a picture of Philadelphia where Adams spent so much time pontificating with the other members of Congress. Not that it's particularly important, but it is sort of fun....."There were as many as thirty bookshops and twice the number of taverns and coffeehouses." With a population of approximately 30,000 people, that's a crazy number of books and bars. My kind of place. :)

True Blue touches on the "sessions" of Congress, moving from 1774 to 1775 to 1776, and I enjoyed the progression. During the First Continental Congress in 1774, Adams says he shall be "killed with kindness in this place...We go to Congress at nine and there we stay, most earnestly engaged until three in the afternoon, then we adjourn and go to dinner...and feast on ten thousand delicacies, and sit drinking Madeira, claret and burgundy 'til six or seven." Later when discussing the meeting of delegates for the Second Continental Congress in 1775, Adams, "though suffering from rheumatism and a violent cold, worked twelve to fourteen hours a day, in committee meetings from seven to ten in the morning, then to the full Congress till late afternoon, then back to committees from six to ten at night." The heightening tension over this period is clearly seen in descriptions such as these and in the debate over reconciliation and independence.


What most surprised me in this chapter is finding out that so few were ready to fight for independence even in early 1776. Most were actually very much opposed to separating from England, instead urging reconciliation, an increase in rights and representation. While the battle had begun, at Lexington and Concord, the fight was not yet - technically - the war for independence. The reality of war did influence the colonies to be a bit more receptive to the idea of independence, but it wasn't until May 15, 1776 that the Congress finally approved a preamble which declared the colonies independent. Adams was the author of this preamble, and more importantly, he was the man who actually stood up and laid it out for Congress in the first place. But it wasn't until June 1776 that Jefferson finally sat down and wrote the Declaration of Independence. And that writing is where the chapter ends.

So much has happened in the first two chapters that I feel I am doing the book a great disservice with my meager summaries and half-formed thoughts. Then again, I don't feel like I have enough knowledge yet to give you fully formed thoughts. While I am not having a problem understanding the text at all, I do feel a little lost as to depth. I have had to stop reading a few times and do a quick Google search on a name or event mentioned but not elaborated upon in the book. Then again, this is probably because I am a giant idgit regarding American history....

And now my friends, on to reading the third chapter: Colossus of Independence (isn't that a great title?)

Readalong: John Adams The Road to Philadelphia

Wallace at Unputdownables is hosting a John Adams readalong, and if you haven't joined in yet, you really should. This week we are focused on the first chapter - The Road to Philadelphia.

The chapter is divided into three sections. The first, at only 12 pages, manages to cover quite a bit of information.

The book begins with a quote from Adams: "We live, my dear soul, in an age of trial. What will be the consequence, I know not." While not particularly deep or fancy, the quote resonates with me for some reason, and I can understand why McCullough chose it for the opening. For those who don't know, Adams thrived during a trying time. A central figure of the American Revolution, he became the first Vice President and the second President of the United States, no small feat in a time where many great men were active in this monumental government shift.

Much of the chapter, though, focuses on developing Adams as a person, directly revealing to the reader his personality and some of his background:

As befitting a studious lawyer from Braintree, Adams was a "plain dressing" man. His oft-stated pleasures were his family, his farm, his books and writing table, a convivial pipe and a cup of coffee (now that tea was no longer acceptable), or preferably a glass of good Madeira.

Paragraphs like this form a portrait of the man, and he is presented as someone I would actually like to know. He loves reading, is consistently honest, adores his wife, has a brilliant mind, and is ambitious without being a power-whore. McCullough doesn't portray him as perfect or in an adoring fashion, but the information included certainly puts Adams in a positive light.

My favorite part of the chapter is the revelation of the relationship between Adams and his wife, Abigail. They clearly had quite the love affair going on, each one eager to spend time together and respectful of the other. While apart, they consistently exchanged letters, and it seems that the two could become quite despondent if apart too long (as they often were at this time). Here is a short clip from History.com about how the two passionate lovers met:



I have to admit that now I'm getting excited to read more about their relationship. I may even have to buy a copy of My Dearest Friend: The Letters of John and Abigail Adams or something similar.

While the first section focused primarily on painting a portrait of John Adams as a person, the second section runs down his history from his ancestry through his boyhood to his schooling, his occupation, his courtship and marriage, and onto his increasing role in the politics of the day including his defense of the soldiers complicit in the Boston Massacre, his approval of the Boston Tea Party, and his appointment to the First Continental Congress. Trust me, we are covering a giant chunk of time, and while we are certainly not getting very much depth on each issue, I never felt hurried, rushed, or otherwise confused by the information being presented.

One part of the section I really enjoyed is the exploration of Adams' education. The history of education (whether formal schooling or not) fascinates me. In Adams' case, what I found most interesting was his response to a teacher he did not like:

...subjected to a lackluster "churl" of a teacher who paid him no attention, he lost all interest. He cared not for books or study, and saw no sense in talk of college. He wished only to be a farmer, he informed his father...

Later, when he told his father it was his teacher he disliked, not the books, and that he wished to go to another school, his father immediately took his side and wasted no time with further talk. John was enrolled the next day in a private school down the road, where, kindly treated by a schoolmaster named Joseph Marsh, he made a dramatic turn and began studying in earnest.

The next thing you know, Adams is fifteen and attending Harvard; he is a voracious reader of classic tomes and contemporary political treatise; he is, in other words, a real lover of learning and reading. The anecdote reminded me of the importance of teachers, not necessarily in educating students, but in cultivating a love of learning.

The third section of chapter 1 is only six pages long, and I have to admit I was a bit confused as to its purpose. There's a bit of traveling, a bit of Abigailia (a word I'm coining), and a bit of pontificating. I think the purpose was merely to state that Americans were unhappy with British rule, and mumblings of major revolt were being heard.


Chapter 1 The Road to Philadelphia definitely has set off my curiosity to know more. And I am thrilled to say that the prose is very accessible. I am, however, ready to get into the narrative, to delve into the actual story rather than focusing on expository information, especially since some of that background info is a bit beyond me. I looked up a timeline of the American Revolution, and that certainly helped; although so far the story has superficially touched on decades of time with no real chronology or narrative to hold it all together. My assumption is that the first chapter is generalized in order to set the stage for the detailed narrative to come. That is my hope at least.

Anyone else reading along?

Reading John Adams

Wallace at Unputdownables is hosting a readalong of David McCullough's John Adams. I bought this book for my grandfather a few Christmases ago, and he loved it so much that for the next few birthdays/holidays, I had no problem buying him gifts: more McCullough books and the John Adams miniseries. Even with his high praise, the chunkster brought out the commitment-phobe in me, and I left it languishing on the shelves.

But I'm ready to power through this 730 page historical tome. It's just so much easier to get excited and motivated when others are reading along with you.

The readalong takes place from Friday, April 1 through Friday, June 24, with a mere one chapter a week commitment. Nice and easy. Every Friday, participants are asked to post reflections on that week's chapter, and then link up over in the comments section of Wallace's post. Wallace has even given a link to a list of questions to guide our posting if we are blanking on what to say.

Why I Feel the Need to Read:

I am ridiculously ignorant about this time period. Seriously, the American Revolution occupies a very small area of my brain with only basic information stored away. Honestly, I can't remember studying it for more than a week or two in any of my history classes, and I've never really gotten into it outside of school either. For such an important event, the Revolution, American history in general, receives very little time in my life. I know more about ancient and medieval history than I do American history.

Then there's this: "David McCullough has been widely acclaimed as a “master of the art of narrative history,” “a matchless writer.” He is twice winner of the National Book Award, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize. In December 2006 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations’s highest civilian award." How can you not want to read something by that guy?

Who’s Reading Along:
Wallace
Cindi
Trisha (me)
@jackiemania

Patti Smith
Michelle @ The True Book Addict
Julie G
Katy F.
June Morgan (chorkie)
socrmom78 (Pam)
Melissa C.
Kim


READING SCHEDULE:

Week #/ dates :: Chapters to Read :: Post Date

Week One/ April 1-7 :: ch. 1 :: April 8
Week Two/ April 8-14 :: ch. 2 :: April 15
Week Three/ April 15-21:: ch. 3 :: April 22
Week Four/ April 22-28 :: ch. 4 :: April 29
Week Five/ April 29- May 5 :: ch. 5 :: May 6
Week Six/ May 6-12 :: ch. 6 :: May 13
Week Seven/ May 13-19 :: ch. 7 :: May 20
Week Eight/ May 20-26 :: ch. 8 :: May 27
Week Nine/ May 27-June 2 :: ch. 9 :: June 3
Week Ten/ June 3-June 9 :: ch. 10 :: June 10
Week Eleven/ June 10-16 :: ch. 11 :: June 17
Week Twelve/ June 17-23 :: ch. 12 :: June 24

Parry, Parry, Thrust, Thrust, Good

I am afraid that my post this week on Ulysses is going to be one episode short. I left for vacation in the middle of last week, and despite my best effort to convince myself otherwise, I decided to leave Ulysses at home. The idea of carting that chunkster on the plane - instead of easing along with my nook - combined with the idea of intellectual difficulty - instead of mindless reading - just made me cringe. So I copped out.

Before I left, I did get the opportunity to read another two episodes, the fourth and the fifth, in which we are introduced (finally) to Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Joyce's story, and our more modern Odysseus.

In Episode 4, called Calypso, we first meet Mr. Bloom as he feeds himself, his wife, and his cat. Shortly after he must leave the house, and what follows is this brilliant little fantasy in which Bloom posits that if one were to always travel ahead of the sun, one would stay young. I really enjoyed Bloom's flights of fancy, especially since they seemed less flighty and less obnoxiously intellectual than Dedalus's. They were still, however, not exactly easy to understand. What follows is a lot more walking and a lot more thinking. And then there's the potty scene: yep, we actually get to read about Bloom's bowel movements. Apparently this event is the one which people really latched onto in an effort to get the book banned. Seriously? It wasn't that graphic.

Episode 5 is called The Lotus Eaters (one of my favorite anecdotes in The Odyssey). The bulk of the episode takes place inside Bloom's mind as he wanders the streets, chatting with the mundane, picking up his mail, thinking dirty thoughts about various women...

I have a few paragraphs left in the episode, so my thoughts aren't fully formed yet. Then again, are my thoughts ever really fully formed on this novel? I can already tell that this is one I would need to read and re-read (and possibly with annotations) in order to fully understand it. But that is for a later date...

Even 5 episodes in, I am still enjoying Ulysses despite the difficulty. I hope you are all too (those reading it anyway)! For those who are not participating in the readalong, I do recommend picking it up at some point. The writing is so creative and the opportunity to be so involved in characters' thoughts intrigues me.

Jousting with Joyce: Telemachus, Nestor, and Proteus

Since I fully intend on understanding the novel (i.e. thrusting my sword must forcefully into Joyce's torso region), I'm breaking things down to their itty bitty bits and discussing said bits one at a time (at least to start).

Chapter 1: Episode 1: Telemachus
And now I feel like I am talking about Star Wars or something. To explain: Common assessment states that Ulysses is divided into three chapters (what I think of as parts or sections) and that each chapter is composed of various episodes (what I think of as chapters). With  me so far? Good because I'm not sure it will get easier from here.

Anyway, in our first episode we meet Stephen Dedalus and his roomies Buck Mulligan and Haines. There's lots of banter, religious mockery, a few ironically fun ditties, some breakfast, and a bath. Okay, so I'm really, really simplifying here. The point is: it wasn't this horribly complicated, incomprehensible, overly intellectual collection of words like I was expecting it to be. Granted it wasn't the easiest to follow - a lack of quotation marks to indicate dialogue, a bit of perspective shifting, obscure vocabulary, and allusions and references I didn't understand - but overall, I'm feeling pretty confident. No, seriously, I am.

Chapter 1: Episode 2: Nestor
The second episode was fun for me because we get to see Dedalus teaching. While my students' brains would explode if I talked like Dedalus, it was still fun to see the back and forth between teacher and student. The lesson touches on Pyrrhus's victory and Milton's Lycidas, but the real focus of the chapter is on getting the reader inside Dedalus's internal thoughts regarding the subjects, and some tangential thoughts as well. One of the most confusing and most fun things about this book is the internal monologue of its two main characters (I've read ahead a bit). Readers are privy to the stream-of-consciousness thinking of some rather intelligent people. Dedalus's thoughts are alternately philosophical, intellectual, naughty, and pitiful. The chapter also introduces readers to Mr. Deasy whose name absolutely must be related to the word sleazy. He is a bold anti-Semite and rather arrogant. Honestly, I am hoping he doesn't have much of a role.

Chapter 1: Episode 3: Proteus
This chapter is fucked up. Sorry about the cussing but the WTFery (a word I learned from Jill) in this chapter was exactly what I expected from the novel as a whole. From what I could gather, Dedalus is walking on the beach thinking. As I said in my quick discussion of the last episode, hearing the thoughts of Dedalus is much more complicated than hearing about what he is doing. His rambling thoughts are hard to follow, full of allusions I don't fully understand, and including many, many words I would have to look up if I had the time. Seriously, if I looked up every word I didn't understand, I would never get through this book. I actually enjoyed it though. Understanding that you are inside someone's mind, that you are in essence reading their thoughts in a stream of consciousness style, makes this chapter perfectly palatable in my opinion. I didn't feel a need to fully grasp everything because who could? We can't possibly understand another person's random thoughts, not completely. Once I accepted that, I had no problem enjoying the rhythm of the thoughts (and feeling really cool when I understood some of the obscure references.

For a much  more articulate look at chapter 3, you should head to Moored at Sea.

Frank Delaney is Awesome
Ulysses is, surprise surprise, not easy to read, and the difficulty can certainly diminish a desire to read; however, I found something which is making it fun. Frank Delaney posts a podcast on Ulysses every Wednesday called re: Joyce. Each podcast discusses a tiny portion of the novel (like a paragraph). Delaney's voice suggests such a passion for the book - and his explanations are so clear and interesting - that I actually listened to ten podcasts in a row. And I should mention that ten podcasts in and we are still in Telemachus. Detailed. Wonderfully detailed. Obviously the only problem is that I will never catch up with the podcasts; I am still in the first episode with the podcasts and in the fifth episode in the book.

In the very first episode, Delaney says, "If you want to understand multitasking in prose, James Joyce is your man. Every sentence in Ulysses has more than one meaning and sometimes many meanings." While reading the book, I'm not even catching one full meaning, but Delaney's podcasts are really helping me understand the depth and intricacy of this story.

What's Coming Up
I have read the fourth episode already, so for those wondering what's coming next, we are finally going to meet Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of the story. Just like in Homer's The Odyssey, the main character isn't introduced until we are well into the story.

Book Review: The Odyssey Books 19-24

Plot Summary
When last we left Odysseus, he was in his own home disguised as a beggar, bearing the brunt of numerous insults from the suitors who are systematically trashing the place and running through all the goodies while trying to win Penelope's hand in marriage. Can it get any worse? Someone spending all your money while trying to hook up with your wife? Bad.

Odysseus and his son, Telemachus have a plan though, a bloody plan which gets carried out here in the last section of this epic book. First we have to get through Books 19 and 20, however. Penelope and Odysseus (as a beggar) have a bit of a chat where he lies about seeing Odysseus on his travels. Penelope is all "he's never coming back and I just want to die". Instead of just killing herself though, Penelope makes a plan for how one of the suitors can finally win her. Her plan? She will marry whichever suitor can string Odysseus's bow and fire an arrow through a line of axes.

Now in Book 21, we find that no one can bend the bow to string it because they are all weaklings compared the one and only Odysseus. The Big O, of course, manages to string the bow and fire it through the line of axes, finally revealing himself for who he is as Telemachus takes his place along his side.

And then we have a huge string of killing in Book 22. Suitor after suitor falls to Odysseus and Telemachus; arrows through the throat, spikes through the gut, it's awesome. To top it all off, Odysseus has the maids who've been a'whoring (or possibly being a'raped) carry the bodies from the house and clean up all the blood; and then, he has his men and Telemachus kill them. Naughty girls die nasty deaths. Reading The Penelopiad did give me quite a different outlook on the whole situation though, which colored my reading of this section.

Once the dirty deed is done, Penelope finally gets her dearest wish - to see Odysseus. But, as she is a wise woman, she tests him first, making sure he is who he says he is; after all, it's been twenty years. Once formally reunited, the two get their freak on, have a long chat, and fall asleep.

Now this is where the story should end; there seems to be absolutely no reason for the 24th book. It begins with Achilles and Agamemnon discussing their deaths and then the suitors arrive as well to discuss how they died. Back in reality, Odysseus heads off to see his father, Laertes, and along with Telemachus, the royal house fights off the families of the suitors they decimated. Athena and Zeus intervene though to bring peace to the land. It's seriously anti-climatic to me.

Excerpts from when Telemachus was a complete and total ass to his mother:

The Set Up: Penelope is quite rightly admonishing the suitors for being rude to the beggar (Odysseus in disguise). She wants him to have his chance stringing the bow; not for marriage, but for some nice clothes.

What Telemachus Said: Mother...my father's bow - no Achaean on earth has more right than I to give it or withhold it, as I please. Of all the lords in Ithaca's rocky heights or the islands facing Elis grazed by horses, not a singly one will force or thwart my will, even if I decide to give our guest this bow - a gift outright - to carry off himself. So, mother, go back to your quarters. Tend to your own tasks, the distaff and the loom, and keep the women working hard as well. As for the bow now, men will see to that, but I most of all: I hold the reins of power in this house.

What Penelope Thought: Astonished, she withdrew to her room. She took to heart the clear good sense in what her son had said.

What Penelope Should Have Done: Smacked that little shit right across the face.

The Set Up: After waiting for Odysseus's return for 20 years, Penelope takes her time deciding if this man who has come into her home is really Odysseus.

What Telemachus Said: Oh mother...cruel mother, you with your hard heart! Why do you spurn my father so - why don't you sit beside him, engage him, ask him questions? What other wife could have a spirit so unbending? Holding back from her husband, home at last for her after bearing twenty years of brutal struggle  - your heart was always harder than a rock!

What Penelope Said: My Child...I'm stunned with wonder, powerless. Cannot speak to him, ask him questions, look him in the eyes...But if he is truly Odysseus, home at last, make no mistake: we two will know each other, even beter - we two have secret signs, known to us both but hidden from the world.


What Penelope Should Have Said: Come here you little shit so I can smack you right across the face.

There are many instances like these throughout the play, but the close proximity of these two events really brought the absolute disrespect of Telemachus for Penelope home to me. He is so horrid to her.

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Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
~~~~~~~~~~

Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art
Odysseus killing the suitors, Gustav Schwab, Sagen des Klassischen Altertums (1882)
Clipart.com 

Book Review: The Odyssey Books 7-12

Plot Summary
In the first six books, we meet Telemachus, Penelope, and Odysseus, each doing their own thing. Books 7 through 12, however, are entirely focused on Odysseus. Once he enters the palace and is given the royal treatment as all suppliants (guests) do, The Big O (as Jill calls him) launches into a riveting and extremely long-winded tale.

First up, he lets Alcinous know how he arrived in Phaecia. He waxes poetic about Calypso that silly tramp who kept him weeping by day and performing most admirably by night for seven years, and then he talks about his heroic battle with the elements at sea before he finally landed in the perfect spot to watch Nausicaa getting her laundry on. Alcinous laments that Odysseus, this man he does not know at all, like not even his name, cannot marry his daughter Nausicaa. Seriously. Odysseus must be like all kinds of gorgeous to inspire such admiration and respect so quickly with everyone he meets. I get why people would be all over him after hearing about his daring exploits, but why the googly eyed adoration at first sight?

In keeping with ancient customs on hospitality, Alcinous sets up a day of singing and competition. The men of Phaecia entertain Odysseus with singing, wrestling, jumping, boxing, running, and the such not. But then - dum dum dum - one young hothead insults Odysseus when he declines to join in the games. So then The Big O has to get his game face on and decimate in all the competitions Terminator style. At which point his says boo-yah, cocks his head, and raises his eyebrows.

Once Odysseus has reasserted his dominance, the bard sings yet again, a soft tale of Aphrodite and Ares, two gods in love, defying Hephaestus (Aphrodite's husband) in his own marriage bed. How wrong is that? H gets his though when he traps the two mid-coitus and then calls down all of the gods to laugh at them making the two-backed monster. Ouch. After the bard sings his ditty, the dancing begins and apparently the Phaecians are quite the steppers and would kill on Dancing with the Stars. Yet again, the bard plies his trade, this time singing of the Trojan horse. Odysseus cries, sobs actually, throughout the song, and so Alcinous FINALLY ASKS O WHO HE IS. Crazy right? Two days of honor and they still haven't asked him his name.

Instead of just saying his name, he tells them his story from the time he left Troy to when he washed up in Phaecia. Over the next four books, we hear about the not-so-famous escapades such as: the sacking of Ismarus; the mutiny which turned them from Ithaca at the last moment; the conversations with dead folk; and so on.

We also hear about the famous stories: the Lotus-Eaters, the ancient world's druggies; the daring sheep escape from the Cyclops, a cannibal; the Laestrygonians, who are giant cannibals; the first of O's goddess-lovers, Circe; and the killing of Helios's cattle an unbelievable act of idiocy.

I would love to recount for you each of these events in excruciating detail, but that's probably a bad idea. Instead, I will just urge you once again, to read the book. At the end of Book 12, I believe we are finally up to date. Odysseus has regaled the Phaecians with his travels and adventures from the time he left Troy all the way up to the present.

Strange Tidbits

• Alcinous, king of Phaecia married Arete - HIS NIECE!
• In Aeaea, the king had six sons and six daughters, so obviously, he paired them off in marriage.
• Heracles is married to Hebe, "famed for her lithe, alluring ankles." LOL!
• Prophets and gods keep telling O what not to do, and some how what not to do keeps being done.
• "But now I cleared my mind of Circe's orders - cramping my style, urging me not to arm at all." Cramping my style!?!?!

Dante and Homer
I recently read Inferno for the second time, and once again I fell in love with the horrifying and appropriate punishments doled out. Book 11 of The Odyssey includes some of the same fun. At this point in the story, Odysseus is telling Alcinous et al. about the time he went to the House of the Dead. While there he saw, Tityus, Tantalus, and Sisyphus, all three being perfectly punished.

Tityus was born of the goddess Earth, sort of. Apparently, he is Zeus's son, born of Hera, whom Zeus entombed deep in the Earth. And he wasn't really born... See, he grew to such alarming proportions when inside Hera that he ripped her apart and Gaia (Earth herself) had to finish out the nine months. Nasty. He made his big oopsie when he tried to rape Leto, one of Zeus's baby mommas. As punishment, his body is staked to the ground, covering nine acres, and he is made to lie there while two vultures eat his liver, "beaking deep in the blood-sac, and he with his frantic hands could never beat them off."

Tantalus, beloved of the gods, sat in Olympus and feasted, but then he made two big oopsies. First, he stole nectar and ambrosia from the gods and brought them back to his kingdom. Then, he committed the Big Nasty. He chopped up and cooked his own son and tried to feed the human flesh to the gods, most of whom saw through the little trick. What's up with the eating of children? Oddly enough, Tantalus is rumored to be the ancestor of the House of Atreus, descendants of which were Aegisthus and Agamemnon. Now in Tartarus, the lowest part of the underworld, he stands neck deep in a pool of water, but whenever he tries to get a drink, the water flows away from him. Above him, within reach, hangs beautiful fruit from leafy trees, but when he reaches up to grab one, they fly from him.

Sisyphus, as we all know, is doomed to forever push a gigantic boulder up a hill, but when the boulder gets to the very edge of the peak, it always rolls back down to the valley and poor Sisyphus has to start all over again. Sisyphus's sin, causing this torment, is Trickery. One of his tricks involved violations against hospitality where instead of feeding and entertaining his supplicants, he would kill them (I talk about hospitality in my review of books 1-6). Sisyphus also seduced his niece in order to become king and escaped from the Underworld twice through tricks. Tricksy little bugger.


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Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
~~~~~~~~~~

Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art

Book Review: The Odyssey Books 1-6

Twitter can get a person in trouble. I'm not sure who started it, but somehow Trish from Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity, Jill from Fizzy Thoughts, and I decided that a readalong of Homer's The Odyssey was a brilliant idea for November. And it is. A wonderful idea. Seriously. You should read this. Each week, we are reading six books from the epic poem, and so on to the first post which covers the first six books.

Plot Summary
The Odyssey recounts three simultaneously occurring stories: First, we have Penelope at home fending off suitors who are eating her out of house and home. Second, we have Telemachus on a journey to find out what happened to his father, Odysseus. Third, we have Odysseus trying to make his way home. Books 1 through 6 not only set up each story, but also cover quite a bit of ground in all three plot lines.

Before the story can truly begin, we need the set up which, in this tale, involves a bunch of gods talking. Athena convinces Zeus to help Odysseus escape from Calypso, a goddess who has imprisoned Odysseus on her island for his sweet, sweet love. Sexy, sexy. Athena also, for what is to me a still unknown reason, wants to head to Ithaca to persuade Telemachus to set sail in search of answers as to Odysseus's whereabouts. I have no clue why she couldn't just tell him - maybe it's some rite of passage, coming of age thing? Zeus agrees and the games begin.

Athena enters Ithaca disguised and helps Telemachus grow a pair. See, he's been lounging around in teen angst, pissed off that all these suitors are tearing up his home and sad that his father's dead, but doing a whole lot of nothing about it. Athena pokes and prods and Telemachus finally stands up for himself and his own. Of course, it doesn't actually work, and the suitors laugh at him and mock him. Finally, he takes off with the disguised Athena to find news of his father.

Over the next three chapters, Telemachus visits two kings, Nestor and Menelaus, in hopes of learning his father's fate. Both kings regale Telemachus with tales of Odysseus's bravery, but neither can reveal his current location. They are the mediums through which we transfer from the Trojan War, told in the Iliad, to the story of Odysseus, told here in the Odyssey.

Back in Ithaca, Penelope's a wreck when she hears that Telemachus has run off, but Athena comforts her by assuring her of Telemachus's safe arrival home. When she asks about Odysseus though, Athena's messenger shrugs her off...for no good reason that I can see. Unless she just didn't want to be the one to be all "well, he's been sleeping with this goddess for a while now." The clever Penelope has been successfully fending off her suitors. One plan, which they did catch on to, involved her weaving a burial shroud for her father-in-law Laertes. She promised to marry when she finished, but every night she would secretively undo some of the work she had completed that day thereby extending her reprieve. Awesomeness.

Zeus finally sends Hermes to order Calypso to let Odysseus go which she does reluctantly. Odysseus builds a raft and takes off from Ogygia for Phaecian land, but when Poseidon feels his presence on the sea, he creates havoc with the waves. See, Poseidon is ticked off because Odysseus blinded his son, Cyclops. A minor goddess, a minor god, and the ever-present Athena make sure the lucky wanderer makes it to shore, and Odysseus makes his way to the king's palace after encountering Nausicaa, the princess. Athena had sent Nausicaa to wash her clothes in the stream by where Odysseus slept. When Odysseus sees the princess and her maids, he flatters her and she tells him how to enter the palace. Good stuff, people. It's all very dramatic and chock full of fascinating characters.

Character Comparisons
To even mention all of the characters in The Odyssey, just the first six books, would take forever. The story contains a lot of characters, some mentioned in passing, some with tales to tell. We have our primary characters in Odysseus, Telemachus, Penelope, and Athena, but around them swirl a multitude of people, each with a part to play in this epic tale.

One character-related issue I find fascinating is parallels and foils. Certain characters in the tale undergo similar events, and their reactions reveal themes within the book. Both Nestor and Menelaus focus on the story of Agamemnon who returned home from war only to be killed by Aegisthus who had seduced Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife, in his absence. Orestes, Agamemnon's son, killed Aegisthus in revenge once he returned home. Orestes is set up as an example of what Telemachus should be one day, an honorable man who will have songs sung about him for ages. Telemachus believes his father dead and sees his mother plagued by suitors but is not yet man enough to take charge of the situation.

We also have foils for Penelope: Clytemnestra and Helen. Penelope is stuck at home with a boatload of men who want to marry her, but she remains true to her husband and fends them off with trickery (and much weeping in her room). While Penelope is the faithful wife, the other women mentioned are not so well portrayed. Clytemnestra, as said in the previous paragraph, violates her vows and takes Aegisthus as a lover. And as well all know, Helen is the tramp who started the Trojan War by heading off to Troy with Paris, completely pissing off her husband Menelaus who then waged war for like nine years to get her back.

Social Customs: Hospitality
This may seem a strange thing to harp on, but over and over and over again in the first six books, we get to see the standards of ancient hospitality which shames even the fanciest of contemporary hotels. Every time a stranger arrives at a house, he is treated like royalty: bathed, fed well, entertained, and given a place to sleep.

What's even more interesting to me is that all of this is done before the hosts even know who the stranger is. It would appear that in ancient times, a host did not question a guest until he was cleaned, fed, and rested. Sometimes stories were not exchanged until the next morning. I'm assuming that the appearance of the stranger played a large role in this sort of hospitality, but still it's rather impressive. Menelaus really reveals the reason for such graciousness when he says, "Just think of all the hospitality we enjoyed at the hands of other men before we made it home." In a world without easy modes of transportation - or Holiday Inns - people relied on each other to provide shelter and food on many occasions. Opening your own doors and offering hospitality was a tit-for-tat situation.

On a side note, this sort of analysis is what we call Textual Anthropology in my Literature courses: hypothesizing about social customs and culture based on literature of the time. It's one of my favorite parts of reading older texts. I also wonder if anyone will ever do this for our time based on like Harry Potter or Charlaine Harris or something.... :)

General Conclusion
Not surprisingly, I'm loving this. I've read large chunks of The Odyssey before, but this is my first time reading it front to back in a normal period of time. I find the characters fascinating, the time period intriguing, and the plot exciting. I splurged and purchased the Robert Fagles translation, and I must say I'm glad I did. The text is very accessible and still eloquent and old-world feeling.

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Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
~~~~~~~~~~

Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art
Odysseus and Calypso by Guillermo
Penelope Weaving by John William Waterhouse
Odysseus and Nausicaa from Perseus
Oresetes...by Bernardino Mei
Map of Antiquity by Dan Phillips