When looking through the lens what do you see? Why is this object something so widely used in the human race? We have lenses on prescription glasses, cameras, and telescopes, we would go throughout an entire day and use at least one object the makes use of a lens. A lens is made up of many pieces of glass that bend light in such a way that it magnifies or establishes an object through a viewfinder. This is a great piece of technology that allows the focused eye see detail we once knew not to exist.
The essay Lenses takes that idea and makes an interesting composition with very precise details. The author did a great job in describing many events that happened throughout the story. The view from under the microscope was is one of those events. In this particular section of the essay there is talk of a 12 year old looking through a microscope at pond specimens. It sounds like a rather dull subject but when use the microscope as a language device, allowing to mention smaller details in the story. Its almost like the story has nothing to do with looking through a lens a objects. Its more about what you see when you do such a task. Details in any essay, short story, or poem are what make the story great. adding a device in the story that magnifies objects allows the author to use more precise details to tell the story to the audience.
This observation of focusing the story by using a fictional object was something that was missed in the first couple reads. I was originally more focused on the fact that the author describes in great detail looking through a microscope, and i was greatly interested in that. The author then tells you the story is not about that but of a swan. I thought it was interesting how the author felt they need to tell the audience what the story was about. Its almost like the author is the lens to the reader, focusing our attention in such a way that we only see, read, what the author wants. It's a full circle effect and that is why i decided to write about this particular essay. It was more that just a read, it was an experience.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Accepted Prostitution
What would be the limits you would set in order to care for your child? Most people will say that there are no limits, they will do anything for that child. Anything including, taking up an extra job, giving them that extra piece of toast even though your still starving, or giving them an extra blanket when their cold. Small but noticed sacrifices that the sacrifice feels great about doing. This is what most people think about when they say they will do anything for their children. They don't think about killing someone in order to keep their kids safe, or offering their body up for paid sexual favors. These are sacrifices that are extreme in nature and it'd be interesting to see if the same statement, "id do anything for my child," still stands knowing those extreme reproductions.
In the short story Night Women, there is woman that dose just that for her son, she prostitutes her body for money. In viewing prostitution in this light and makes this degrading act seem almost romantic. In the context of the story the woman seems to be doing this by choice, which typically isn't the case in prostitution. In doing so the prostitute isn't viewed as a prostitute but as a mother caring for her child. This sounds relatively straight forward in terms of comprehension but in fact the story is very confusing and unclear in its mood toward the mother. The author isn't sure if the mother should be painted in a just light or if in fact she is breaking the law for all the wrong reasons. It's even said at the beginning of the story that the husband of her son was one of her "husbands". This offers a very contradicting message in, that the mother was involved in prostitution far beyond the scope of having a child, that's how she had the child. In understanding this, it's no longer the act of caring for the child but the act of an obsession. The woman cold be using her now child to justify her addiction to sex, saying it is now a means for supporting her family rather than pure pleasure.
That is just one of the supporting examples of the just, unjust act of prostitution in this narrative. I think it stands to viewed in just that way. Prostitution has been around for the longest time and in some countries/states its a legal profession. However, in most states and countries its a violent illegal use of a woman's body. This, I believe is what the author is trying to address and contradict, the legal act of prostitution verse the illegal one and the emotions that are evoked from this comparison. Even in the story there is no act of physical violence or struggle but yet we still see this act as being shady. In any case, regardless of illegality, it takes away from the true meaning of making love by putting a price on it and turning it into a capitalistic crime.
In the short story Night Women, there is woman that dose just that for her son, she prostitutes her body for money. In viewing prostitution in this light and makes this degrading act seem almost romantic. In the context of the story the woman seems to be doing this by choice, which typically isn't the case in prostitution. In doing so the prostitute isn't viewed as a prostitute but as a mother caring for her child. This sounds relatively straight forward in terms of comprehension but in fact the story is very confusing and unclear in its mood toward the mother. The author isn't sure if the mother should be painted in a just light or if in fact she is breaking the law for all the wrong reasons. It's even said at the beginning of the story that the husband of her son was one of her "husbands". This offers a very contradicting message in, that the mother was involved in prostitution far beyond the scope of having a child, that's how she had the child. In understanding this, it's no longer the act of caring for the child but the act of an obsession. The woman cold be using her now child to justify her addiction to sex, saying it is now a means for supporting her family rather than pure pleasure.
That is just one of the supporting examples of the just, unjust act of prostitution in this narrative. I think it stands to viewed in just that way. Prostitution has been around for the longest time and in some countries/states its a legal profession. However, in most states and countries its a violent illegal use of a woman's body. This, I believe is what the author is trying to address and contradict, the legal act of prostitution verse the illegal one and the emotions that are evoked from this comparison. Even in the story there is no act of physical violence or struggle but yet we still see this act as being shady. In any case, regardless of illegality, it takes away from the true meaning of making love by putting a price on it and turning it into a capitalistic crime.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
The Falling Girl, Is She Really Falling?
This short story encompasses the very essence of life and death. On the surface the author reveals a female character jumping off of a 150 story building. If you have any concept of gravity you know she will be falling very fast and will not survive the fatal impact of face meeting concrete. It will be a sad tragic death of aerial suicide. This would be the first layer of death being portrayed in the essay. the easy concept to comprehend.
If you dive deeper into the story you get a sense of class and society murdering the female and she is in fact a victim from the bi-product of that society. Making her death no longer a suicide but a crafty way to get away with murder. What's most interesting about the story is that the act of free falling is physically a fast process. If a person sees any object falling from the air it is most likely gone when you open your eyes from a blink. How is it that this woman was able to see and interact with people on different floors as she free falls? Also, how is it that she starts at the top as a young girl and by the time she reaches the bottom she becomes very old? This really has no logical explanation because the activity of fall is figurative language in this essay. It is meant to symbolize speed.
In group discussion we came up with the interpretation that no one in this short story is actually falling but rather moving through life to fast, taking short cuts and not caring about the consequences. One comparison that was brought up was the devastating fascination with being skinny and the quickness of weight loss that comes with it. Many females have died or became very close to dying because society says they need to be skinny to fit in. While being skinny isn't bad, it can actually be healthy, giving the fact that you don't go to far. It is actually the rate of speed that people lose the weight that is deadly. An almost identical approach to the falling girl trying to reach the party.
It's a very powerful story, one that really connects with society and its issues. Not just by expressing a suicide but by the strong language that makes you feel what the girl feels and think what she thinks. Each paragraph is carefully crafted to raise now questions but to provide previous answers. As a reader your constantly interpreting the langue to put together the puzzle that makes the most sense in your mind. A quality that makes a good story great.
If you dive deeper into the story you get a sense of class and society murdering the female and she is in fact a victim from the bi-product of that society. Making her death no longer a suicide but a crafty way to get away with murder. What's most interesting about the story is that the act of free falling is physically a fast process. If a person sees any object falling from the air it is most likely gone when you open your eyes from a blink. How is it that this woman was able to see and interact with people on different floors as she free falls? Also, how is it that she starts at the top as a young girl and by the time she reaches the bottom she becomes very old? This really has no logical explanation because the activity of fall is figurative language in this essay. It is meant to symbolize speed.
In group discussion we came up with the interpretation that no one in this short story is actually falling but rather moving through life to fast, taking short cuts and not caring about the consequences. One comparison that was brought up was the devastating fascination with being skinny and the quickness of weight loss that comes with it. Many females have died or became very close to dying because society says they need to be skinny to fit in. While being skinny isn't bad, it can actually be healthy, giving the fact that you don't go to far. It is actually the rate of speed that people lose the weight that is deadly. An almost identical approach to the falling girl trying to reach the party.
It's a very powerful story, one that really connects with society and its issues. Not just by expressing a suicide but by the strong language that makes you feel what the girl feels and think what she thinks. Each paragraph is carefully crafted to raise now questions but to provide previous answers. As a reader your constantly interpreting the langue to put together the puzzle that makes the most sense in your mind. A quality that makes a good story great.
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