Author Archives: Nicolas Valette

Depression in The Humans

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After Richard openly shares his past with depression, Erik replies, “Sorry, hey, sorry, just…in our family we don’t, uh, we don’t have that kinda depression”(105). What does Erik’s use of the phrase “in our family” imply about his understanding of depression? Is this understanding a function of Erik’s social class, age, or merely a common societal understanding? Does Karam agree that depression is, at least in part, genetic? How does his discussion of depression relate to his other portrayals of touchy subjects, such as religion and wealth?

Beatty’s Wide Ranging Criticisms

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While talking to Marpessa about the daunting possibility of going to jail, the narrator remarks, “Hampton made a good point in court when he said that if Hominy’s ‘servitude’ was tantamount to human bondage, then corporate America better be ready to fight a hell of a class-action lawsuit filed by generations of uncompensated interns”(283). Within the span of one sentence, Beatty addresses his poignant portrayal of modern slavery, while launching a totally separate critique of  internships in America. On a broader scale, while the novel centers around themes of racial inequality, media’s role in the Civil Rights Movement, and segregation, it also critiques seemingly unrelated topics ranging from economic theory, modern philosophy,  and the Pew Research Center. On one level, Beatty often combines seemingly separate themes for comedic affect. More deeply however, by combining almost all aspects of American culture with his overarching critique of race-relations and identity in America, Beatty urges that, wether implicit or explicit, racism permeates all aspects of todays culture. Further, the confusion the reader may feel while dissecting the connections between Beatty’s plentiful allusions reflects the nebulous nature of race and identity in America. In acknowledging race’s complexity, Beatty’s is decidedly not championing a panacea for todays problems, but rather calling the reader to follow the narrator’s lead in unearthing the racial complexities that lie underneath American culture.

Beatty and Cross

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After talking through numerous failed attempts at revamping the school, Charisma notices, “But no matter what warm-to-medium-cool hues you paint the walls, when it all comes down to it, it’s white teachers talking white methodology and drinking white wine and some wannabe white administrator threatening to put your school into receivership because he knows Foy Cheshire”(166). How does this critique fall in line with Cross’ discussion in The Negro-To-Black Experience? Does this criticism embody the ideologies behind a specific stage of the conversion, or is it one of the confounding factors that affects all stages? Do you agree with Beatty and Cross’ criticism of the lack of diversity in both teaching policy and the creation of the ideologies behind our operational psychological framework? Are there any signs of either critique at Bowdoin?

Cross and King on Violence

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While discussing the role that Western science plays in preventing the “Black scholar from attaining personal liberation”, Cross sheds light on the fact that “Western science rhetoric suggests nonviolent, rational-intellectual solutions and emphatically rejects violent resolutions as irrational and even ‘immoral'”(23). How does this characterization play into Cross’ understanding of the five stages of transition? How might Martin Luther King, Jr. react to Cross’ claim?

Ehrenreich’s Target Audience

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On the last page of the “Evaluation”, Ehrenreich asks, “Isn’t [guilt] what we’re supposed to feel? But guilt doesn’t go anywhere near far enough; the appropriate emotion is shame–shame at our own dependency, in this case, on the underpaid labor of others”(221). This passage struck me as it is one in which Ehrenreich directly addresses the audience. One key part of her statement here is that the audience, because they feel shame or guilt regarding the inequalities of poverty, is not itself impoverished. This is a large supposition. Although Ehrenreich acknowledges several working class people’s opinions regarding her novel in the afterword, she seems to navigate the majority of the novel with the assumption that the reader is more like less as she is. How might this assumption affect the novel? Would she have been less comical/offensive had she understood her audience differently?

Nickel and Dimed 96-178

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While exploring the possibility of migrating to California’s Central Valley, Ehrenreich mentions her worry that, “…Latinos might be hogging the crap jobs and substandard housing for themselves, as they so often do”(121). For me, this passage was startling as it denotes yet another instance in which Ehrenreich does not clearly show her intentions. With a such a rash generalization, I first thought this statement was satire. She is thus illuminating the flaws in such generalizations regarding “Latinos” and minimum wage labor. However, Ehrenreich later uses this statement as reasoning for her choice to live in Minnesota, not California. If this is not a satire, why then has she not provided stats to backup such a generalized, potentially hurtful and untrue statement?

Gender in the Working Class

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After Barbara first arrives at The Maids, her manager, Tammy, encourages Barbara that, “cleaning is in our blood”(61). Does this quotation refer to the working class or the female gender? If it pertains to gender, where else has gender played into Barbara’s discussion of the working class? How does Joy fit into her understanding of gender in the working class? How about Vic?

“The Lame Shall Enter First” What is selfishness?

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Throughout The Lame Shall Enter First, Sheppard continually references the joy he feels when “helping” others. For example, O’Connor notes regarding Sheppard’s work, “On Saturdays he worked at the reformatory as a counselor, receiving nothing for it but the satisfaction of knowing he was helping boys no one else cared about”(146). At first, this seems benign, After all, Sheppard is helping forgotten people in need. Further, after Sheppard sticks up for Johnson in the face of policeman, “[Sheppard’s] spirits were soaring. This is exactly what he needed”(179). Again, the pleasure Sheppard derives from helping Johnson is not inherently negative. However, as the story unfolds, Sheppard clearly does not have Johnson’s best interests in mind. In fact, he goes so far as to ultimately despise the child. Thus, O’Connor seems to be posing the question: How can one reconcile the joy they feel when helping others? At what point does this joy become counterproductive? Is helping others ever truly selfless?

Paley and Child-parent relationships

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In Grace Paley’s piece, Faith boldly declares her love for three different men. To this, her father becomes agitated, asking, “What did your mother and me do? We only tried to do our best”(280). First, the statement is potent as, several moments prior, Mr. Darwin acknowledges his ambivalence towards his “marriage” with his wife.  Thus, Paley seems to be playing with the theme of perception, asking, how could Mr. Darwin be so blind to his own actions?  Further, this quotation is also powerful as it ponders themes of parenting, posing the question, do Mr. Darwin’s actions truly affect Faith’s love life?

Ultimately, in The Great Gatsby, how does Fitzegerald respond to these questions regarding perception and parenthood? Would he answer them differently from Paley?

The Great Gatsby 60-112

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For me, one of the most interesting lines of this reading is, “Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about peasantry.”(88) Coming from a time period of extreme wealth and prosperity, it makes sense that Fitzgerald notices this side of America in which people would rather enslave themselves to their work than live in poverty. Something interesting to consider within this point is how both Gatsby and Nick fit into this novel. For me, Gatsby pretty clearly falls into the archetype of the man who is willing to subvert freedom for money. However, Gatsby seems more nuanced. Although he has mentioned his interest in finance, we seems less caught up in status and money. Does this stem from his honest nature? Something also interesting to consider is Fitzgerald’s connection to France. Would he have found this observation equally valid in France? Did France’s culture allow him to see the flaws in America’s?

“The Significance of the Frontier in American History 1893” response

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In “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”, Turner references the impact the wilderness has on the European colonist. Instead of directly talking about the land, as Cather does, Turner references moccasins, the Cherokee, and the Iroquois as changing the Europeans (2). What might Cather think of this portrayal of the West? Does Turner use the American Indian references as allusions to the West as a whole, or is he literally referencing “Indian” impact on the frontier?

“A Novel Without a Hero” Response

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In “A Novel without a Hero”, Cather’s strong female characters are recognized, but ultimately, the text states that the tale is not a feminine one, and that “Miss Cather had nothing so inartistic in mind.” Does the writer believe a feminist novel would be inartistic because it would lack nuance, and thus miss the breadth of Cather’s arguments regarding the American dream? Is the term “inartistic” a function of the early 1900’s misogyny? Or, is it merely a reflection of Cather’s own pronouncement that the novel was not, in essence, feminist?

The Missing Transition from Poverty to Prosperity

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The first fifty pages of the novel are set, most prominently, in two starkly different landscapes. In the beginning of the novel, the Bergson family is portrayed as one that is forced to endure tremendous hardship. For example, “One winter [Bergson’s] cattle had perished in a blizzard. The next summer one of his plow horses broke its leg in a prairie-dog hole and had to be shot”(Cather, 8). Despite the initially barren agricultural seasons, the farm did cultivate a strong, wise, independent woman. After demonstrating John Bergson’s trust in his daughter, Cather tells, “Before Alexandra was twelve years old she had begun to be a help to him, and as she grew older he had become to depend more and more on her resourcefulness and good judgment”(9). Both Alexandra’s strong will and independence, along with her father’s trust in her, echoes Adams’ claim that, “The old life was lonely and hard, but it bred strong individualism”(Adams, 409).

Later, the novel jumps 16 years in advance, and both the farm’s physical and cultural landscapes have changed. Where the land was once crude and lifeless, now “The rich soil yields heavy harvests; the dry smoothness of the land make labor easy for men and beasts”(Cather, 29). Further, Alexandra, with her newly acquired wealth, has also changed the layout of her house, “The table was set for company in the dining-room , where highly varnished wood and colored glass and useless pieces of china were conspicuous enough to satisfy standards of the new prosperity”(Cather, 37). Although Alexandra’s character has not completely shifted along with her newly acquired wealth, as can be exhibited in her protection of Ivar, it is hard to tell if the same can be said for Emil. In the coming readings, we shall see if Adams’s prediction that, “[The consumer], like the rest of us, thus appears to be getting into a treadmill in which he earns, not what he may enjoy, but what he may spend…”(Adams, 408) comes into fruition.

Ultimately, if Cather is trying to critique the American Dream by showing the Bergson family’s demise at the hand of their newly acquired wealth, then why is the reader not shown the 16 year interim? Although the abrupt nature of the change does call the reader to focus on the family’s emotional change, could the transition period not too have provided ripe ground for criticism?