To be quite honest, I only started studying for this literature midterm...well when I got home from school today. Not that I don't care about lit/was stressed about it, but my Calc and Italian tests seemed to cover so so much that they took up most of my time. Big mistake! After looking through all the materials online (both google and chia's website) I realized I had way more than I had imagined to learn. However, now that my day is almost over, I'm noticed that I shouldn't have made all those flashcards with the terms on them...because most of them I can recognize on my own. Sure, I may not know that an stressed part of a story that is overly exaggerated is called a hyperbole, but when reading I can pull out that portion of the text as important. Thus, I have has a bit of an epiphany. Literature is not about recognizing the key terms and analyzing why the author said that, instead its more about noticing how the author uses these literary terms to enhance the story.
Don't laugh if you already knew this because I've been raised to memorize. Math, science, social studies and even English...I'm a strict memorizer when it comes to tests. Not to say I'm a robot because I consider myself to be somewhat smart, but usually I'd be up studying for this midterm until midnight..but not this time. Perhaps this will be my grand experiment to see if I can rely on my own sheer intellect to guide me through. Hopefully it works, and if now...well, then I'll feel dumb but at least I'll know memorizing works for me! Maybe I'm being churlish and if all my kindly ignore this soliloquy....
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Revising Lit X: Part 2 (The Actual Paper!)
Originally, I sent this to you until Becca convinced me it had to be a blog post. It seems like 1/2 the class has done it on blogs (I'll admit, I really like seeing what other people are writing! [side note, kathryn's is my favorite]), so I'm gonna be safe and do both...and hopefully one will be right.
Disclaimer: This is my draft after finishing my last book (I've technically done four). I'm going to focus on 4 authors (Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, Philippa Gregory and JK Rowling) but because I've read Mary Shelly in school and I mildly stalk the works of JK Rowlings, I'm going to pick one more book to be as thorough as possible. Remember this is only my 2nd draft, it focuses on 1 of my two main pillars (which are character development and sense of social focus).
The Lit X!
If men and women are created equal, then shouldn’t there be a female counterpart for every famous man, one with equal talents and brilliance to offer the world? History should house a female Shakespeare and a lady Locke, shouldn’t it? Although history books mention a few women here and there, the sad fact of our world is that women were not given equal chance to develop intellectually and share their ideas until just a few centuries ago. For this reason, the list of infamous male authors and storytellers quadruples the short list of notable female writers. In the United States, the SAT’s were recently revised to allow females a chance to score higher based on the widely agreed upon theory that women are better at writing than men. We know why there are fewer women in the history of literature than men, but a more intriguing question for the world is how do women differ in writing? If women have been socially tagged as better writers, what are their strengths and how have women changed as writers over the years. A study of four authors, two contemporary and two non-contemporary, will be done to explore trends of female authors to cite distinct changes that have taken place in history. Since economic, religious, political, and other cultural occurrences could influence authors, I've chosen to isolate my study to one country. By isolating this comparison to one specific country, a more accurate comparison can be made.
To choose an appropriate country is a difficult undertaking considering cultures of the world differ so vastly that the study of African female authors would be wildly different than a study of Asian female authors. Besides picking different countries, female writers is a huge category ranging from poets to biographers, so I've decided to make it easiest on myself to narrow my focus further to just female narrative writers (novels and short stories). The country that I will choose much have the most abundant amount of narrative female writers from a range of history. History of American female authors is a relatively short history, thus I think focusing on a specific European country would help me to track progress of female authors as well as compare contemporary authors to past authors. After spending a great deal of time at the library looking through lists of female European authors I decided to choose England as my center of attention. England has a long history and was one of the first countries to be lead by a steady stream of women leaders. Surprisingly, there were more female authors to choose from than I had ever imagined including Mary Shelly Wollstonecraft, Bridgit Brophy, Philippa Gregory, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, JK Rowling, Mary Robinson May Sinclair, Anne Jellicoe and a plethora of other women suggested to me by the Westport Public Library librarians. Though many of the names were mentioned for the first time to me, others were old favorites or famous authors I’d heard of over the years.
I decided to begin my journey through the Lit X experience with a book that would be easy to understand in terms of literary style, but would offer me my first glimpse into the mind of a contemporary British female author. Philippa Gregory seemed to be a good choice; having read The Other Boleyn Girl a year ago I knew her style of historical fiction was well researched and her characters were developed in a way that made them seem relatable. I choose The Virgin’s Lover because it explores a powerful woman in history and her control and lack of control over males in her life and as an additional bonus it gave my insight into an era of England where a women lead the country. The plot follows Queen Elizabeth I’s reign over England as an unmarried woman in love with a married friend of hers, Robert Dudley.
The novel explores both Dudley's wife’s opinion of the ordeal as an insignificant lady of the time and the power struggle Elizabeth has as a female leader of a influential country. Though the plot is intriguing alone, while reading the novel I was more apt to notice the subtle phrases and descriptions that Gregory uses to describe characters making character development my focus. The beginning of the novel focused on Dudley’s wife’s view of her husband’s alleged affair and his need to be away at court to pursue at better political career. The most interesting aspect of the book was the paradox between Elizabeth and Amy. Both women were in love with the same man, yet Elizabeth had more control over Robert due to her political position as Queen despite the fact that Amy was his lawful wife. Gregory thus depicts Amy as a wishful thinker by idealizing her thoughts to say things such as “How could he leave me to struggle here and dash off to her? How could it start so well, in such wealth and glory as it did, and end in hardship and loneliness like this?” (3). While deeply hurt by her husband’s lack of fidelity in the beginning, Amy felt pity for Robert in the end and reasoned that his actions were due to his failing political efforts which he masked with physical love for the most powerful person in England, whom happened to be a woman.
Though only a small focus of the book, Amy is an unusual character in the sense that she is madly in love with her husband but as soon as he proves unfaithful to her, he begins to lose her a bit more each passing day. As the story progresses, Amy creates reasons to pity and belittle Dudley thus protecting her own sense of pride.
The conclusion this book lead me to was that this contemporary female author created a female character that acts by today’s standards even though she was suppose to live nearly 500 years ago. A contemporary woman would act as Amy did and fight back from infidelity by either asserting herself in anger or leaving the man in question. While I cannot generalize like that, I know that women today are more able to take action against cheating husbands than in Elizabethan England because modern society offers a safer haven for single women than harsh England. Gregory made Amy have modern thoughts like feeling sorry for her cheating husband and justifying it as a way to further his political standing, which leads me to think that female authors, write from experience without even realizing it. The Virgin’s Lover is a beautiful composed historical fiction that has accurate information down to the nitty gritty, but there are still modern moments that peak through in the character development.
To confirm my basic theory, I decided to read a non-contemporary author. I picked Jane Austen and read Pride and Prejudice. Contrary to Gregory, Jane Austen creates characters not compatible to the female experience of her era. One of Austen's most memorable characters is Elizabeth and although she is polite and proper, she is different from the typical women from Austen's era in the sense that she is aware she needs a man to support her but rejects a handsome man interested in her. A critic of Austen's, Marvin Mudrick, dissects Elizabeth by saying "her own pride is in her freedom, to observe, to analyze, to choose..." (xiv), proving Elizabeth's pride was a source of freedom for her. This source aids Elizabeth in her unique thought process that strays from women's roles of her time. Elizabeth acts as an independent, intelligent young woman who is quite willing to stand up for herself within a societal setting that creates barriers against her. Society demands a good marriage as Elizabeth's only hope for personal growth, while Elizabeth feels her worth souled not be dependant upon a husband status. Mudrick speculates that "Elizabeth comes closest to speaking for Austen herself" (xv) than characters of other Austen's works., which in my opinion would suggest again that character development is dependant upon the authors opinion and life experiences as a women.
Though Elizabeth is not compatible to Austen's era as Amy Dudley is compatible to Gregory's era, Elizabeth is similar to Jane Austen as an individual. Jane Austen, herself, was not compatible to other women and their standards of her era. She choose never to marry, lived with her parents into adulthood and choose to spend her life writing. Though from different eras, Gregory and Austen find common ground as female authors, who use their life experience to shape the actions of their characters.
Perhaps this suggests that the female experience has a subconscious impact on female authors. The female experience is by my standards are aspects of life that are unique to females that bond women of the world together.
Next Step!?
I promise I know where I'm going with this! My next revision (which is actually almost done) will be posted/sent sometime next week hopefully. My next draft continues with sense of social focus and I'm comparing two "sci-fi"ish (pretend its w word just this once) books, Frankenstien and Harry Potter. What I've decided to do is to look at the messages of both these books and how they relate/don't relate to societal expectations and how that is influence by female authors and. Also, I define the female experience, in care you were worried! I hope this doesn't sound too far off and confusing, I swear it all ties together! Happy New Year!
Disclaimer: This is my draft after finishing my last book (I've technically done four). I'm going to focus on 4 authors (Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, Philippa Gregory and JK Rowling) but because I've read Mary Shelly in school and I mildly stalk the works of JK Rowlings, I'm going to pick one more book to be as thorough as possible. Remember this is only my 2nd draft, it focuses on 1 of my two main pillars (which are character development and sense of social focus).
The Lit X!
If men and women are created equal, then shouldn’t there be a female counterpart for every famous man, one with equal talents and brilliance to offer the world? History should house a female Shakespeare and a lady Locke, shouldn’t it? Although history books mention a few women here and there, the sad fact of our world is that women were not given equal chance to develop intellectually and share their ideas until just a few centuries ago. For this reason, the list of infamous male authors and storytellers quadruples the short list of notable female writers. In the United States, the SAT’s were recently revised to allow females a chance to score higher based on the widely agreed upon theory that women are better at writing than men. We know why there are fewer women in the history of literature than men, but a more intriguing question for the world is how do women differ in writing? If women have been socially tagged as better writers, what are their strengths and how have women changed as writers over the years. A study of four authors, two contemporary and two non-contemporary, will be done to explore trends of female authors to cite distinct changes that have taken place in history. Since economic, religious, political, and other cultural occurrences could influence authors, I've chosen to isolate my study to one country. By isolating this comparison to one specific country, a more accurate comparison can be made.
To choose an appropriate country is a difficult undertaking considering cultures of the world differ so vastly that the study of African female authors would be wildly different than a study of Asian female authors. Besides picking different countries, female writers is a huge category ranging from poets to biographers, so I've decided to make it easiest on myself to narrow my focus further to just female narrative writers (novels and short stories). The country that I will choose much have the most abundant amount of narrative female writers from a range of history. History of American female authors is a relatively short history, thus I think focusing on a specific European country would help me to track progress of female authors as well as compare contemporary authors to past authors. After spending a great deal of time at the library looking through lists of female European authors I decided to choose England as my center of attention. England has a long history and was one of the first countries to be lead by a steady stream of women leaders. Surprisingly, there were more female authors to choose from than I had ever imagined including Mary Shelly Wollstonecraft, Bridgit Brophy, Philippa Gregory, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, JK Rowling, Mary Robinson May Sinclair, Anne Jellicoe and a plethora of other women suggested to me by the Westport Public Library librarians. Though many of the names were mentioned for the first time to me, others were old favorites or famous authors I’d heard of over the years.
I decided to begin my journey through the Lit X experience with a book that would be easy to understand in terms of literary style, but would offer me my first glimpse into the mind of a contemporary British female author. Philippa Gregory seemed to be a good choice; having read The Other Boleyn Girl a year ago I knew her style of historical fiction was well researched and her characters were developed in a way that made them seem relatable. I choose The Virgin’s Lover because it explores a powerful woman in history and her control and lack of control over males in her life and as an additional bonus it gave my insight into an era of England where a women lead the country. The plot follows Queen Elizabeth I’s reign over England as an unmarried woman in love with a married friend of hers, Robert Dudley.
The novel explores both Dudley's wife’s opinion of the ordeal as an insignificant lady of the time and the power struggle Elizabeth has as a female leader of a influential country. Though the plot is intriguing alone, while reading the novel I was more apt to notice the subtle phrases and descriptions that Gregory uses to describe characters making character development my focus. The beginning of the novel focused on Dudley’s wife’s view of her husband’s alleged affair and his need to be away at court to pursue at better political career. The most interesting aspect of the book was the paradox between Elizabeth and Amy. Both women were in love with the same man, yet Elizabeth had more control over Robert due to her political position as Queen despite the fact that Amy was his lawful wife. Gregory thus depicts Amy as a wishful thinker by idealizing her thoughts to say things such as “How could he leave me to struggle here and dash off to her? How could it start so well, in such wealth and glory as it did, and end in hardship and loneliness like this?” (3). While deeply hurt by her husband’s lack of fidelity in the beginning, Amy felt pity for Robert in the end and reasoned that his actions were due to his failing political efforts which he masked with physical love for the most powerful person in England, whom happened to be a woman.
Though only a small focus of the book, Amy is an unusual character in the sense that she is madly in love with her husband but as soon as he proves unfaithful to her, he begins to lose her a bit more each passing day. As the story progresses, Amy creates reasons to pity and belittle Dudley thus protecting her own sense of pride.
The conclusion this book lead me to was that this contemporary female author created a female character that acts by today’s standards even though she was suppose to live nearly 500 years ago. A contemporary woman would act as Amy did and fight back from infidelity by either asserting herself in anger or leaving the man in question. While I cannot generalize like that, I know that women today are more able to take action against cheating husbands than in Elizabethan England because modern society offers a safer haven for single women than harsh England. Gregory made Amy have modern thoughts like feeling sorry for her cheating husband and justifying it as a way to further his political standing, which leads me to think that female authors, write from experience without even realizing it. The Virgin’s Lover is a beautiful composed historical fiction that has accurate information down to the nitty gritty, but there are still modern moments that peak through in the character development.
To confirm my basic theory, I decided to read a non-contemporary author. I picked Jane Austen and read Pride and Prejudice. Contrary to Gregory, Jane Austen creates characters not compatible to the female experience of her era. One of Austen's most memorable characters is Elizabeth and although she is polite and proper, she is different from the typical women from Austen's era in the sense that she is aware she needs a man to support her but rejects a handsome man interested in her. A critic of Austen's, Marvin Mudrick, dissects Elizabeth by saying "her own pride is in her freedom, to observe, to analyze, to choose..." (xiv), proving Elizabeth's pride was a source of freedom for her. This source aids Elizabeth in her unique thought process that strays from women's roles of her time. Elizabeth acts as an independent, intelligent young woman who is quite willing to stand up for herself within a societal setting that creates barriers against her. Society demands a good marriage as Elizabeth's only hope for personal growth, while Elizabeth feels her worth souled not be dependant upon a husband status. Mudrick speculates that "Elizabeth comes closest to speaking for Austen herself" (xv) than characters of other Austen's works., which in my opinion would suggest again that character development is dependant upon the authors opinion and life experiences as a women.
Though Elizabeth is not compatible to Austen's era as Amy Dudley is compatible to Gregory's era, Elizabeth is similar to Jane Austen as an individual. Jane Austen, herself, was not compatible to other women and their standards of her era. She choose never to marry, lived with her parents into adulthood and choose to spend her life writing. Though from different eras, Gregory and Austen find common ground as female authors, who use their life experience to shape the actions of their characters.
Perhaps this suggests that the female experience has a subconscious impact on female authors. The female experience is by my standards are aspects of life that are unique to females that bond women of the world together.
Next Step!?
I promise I know where I'm going with this! My next revision (which is actually almost done) will be posted/sent sometime next week hopefully. My next draft continues with sense of social focus and I'm comparing two "sci-fi"ish (pretend its w word just this once) books, Frankenstien and Harry Potter. What I've decided to do is to look at the messages of both these books and how they relate/don't relate to societal expectations and how that is influence by female authors and. Also, I define the female experience, in care you were worried! I hope this doesn't sound too far off and confusing, I swear it all ties together! Happy New Year!
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