Hello, everyone! Long time no see! While deliberating who I should focus on for this installment of my long-winded, poorly-titled blog, I found myself rereading the short stories of Faulkner, namely “Barn Burning” and “The Bear.” While I could have written about those (which I might in the future), I found myself more excited in my return to The Sound and The Fury, in which I found a deep inclination of sympathy. William Faulkner’s pieces are often regarded as symbolic and representative of more significant issues. Faulkner displays this pattern in The Sound and the Fury by chronicling the fall of the Compson family. Faulkner allows for interpretation and representation by giving each brother of the Compson family their own section of the novel. This method also allows deep insight into the psychology of each narrative character. Through sentimentality, psychology, and representation of the South, William Faulkner lays bare the trauma of the Southern United States and forces readers to sympathize with an otherwise tragically flawed region.
Continue readingAnalysis
Raimbault’s Got Rhythm: Autumn Leaves
Hi! Welcome to my new blog series Raimbault’s Got Rhythm in which I will be discussing different jazz songs, their histories (as available), and a selection of performances. This week, I will be talking about “Autumn Leaves.”
Like many of the pieces I will be discussing in this series, Autumn Leaves was introduced to me by my bass teacher. Through a bit of research, I learned that the lyrics to Autumn Leaves were actually based on a poem by Jacques Prévert. It took a surprising amount of digging, but I was able to find the words to the original poem. (Much thanks to David Issokson and the website “French Learner”!) They are translated from French to English and read as follows:
Continue readingHarper’s Character Selection Screen: Snowpiercer – Curtis Everett and The Rejection of Divinity
Hello and welcome back to the blog! For a while now I’ve been revisiting movies that I used to watch when I was younger, and one that came to mind was Snowpiercer. Snowpiercer directed by Bong Joon Ho (the movie, not the newly created TV series following the same story and title) is about a train that travels around the world full of survivors after the world freezes over when a method of closing a hole in the ozone layer causes a modern ice age. The train is split into different classes with the poor in the back of the train with the wealthy up at the front. Many of the themes have to do with environmental and climate disaster as well as class and arbitrary social standing. This blog will be highlighting Curtis, the main character of the movie as he struggles in the face of becoming God. This character analysis will contain spoilers for Snowpiercer.
Continue readingMcFerron’s Authors of Revolution: Not Another Hemingway Analysis: Manipulation via Voice in The Sun Also Rises
Hello, everyone! Welcome back to the blog. When it comes to writing about Ernest Hemingway, trying to bring up new ideas regarding century-old texts can seem troubling at best. While I was researching his first novel, The Sun Also Rises, I was taken aback with the amount of criticism I outright disagreed with. The Sun Also Rises is widely acclaimed for Hemingway’s style and voice in depicting the mindsets and pace of life of the Lost Generation. Each character involved in the story is irreversibly traumatized and affected by the events of World War I. Many critics have attacked the misogynistic, racist, and antisemitic commentary of the novel’s narrator as reflections of Hemingway’s personal mindset, but more recent criticism has displayed the crucial aspect of the novel as the separation of author and speaker. While seemingly a “Creative Nonfiction” account of Hemingway’s own expatriate life, ignoring the role that fiction plays in characterization and voice is to misinterpret the novel entirely. Jake Barnes is certainly an unreliable narrator, but through his minimalist approach to detailing the events of the novel, he should also be understood as an unwilling participant in the telling of this story. Furthermore, Jake’s voiced depictions of Lady Brett Ashley draw the conclusion that she, like Jake, is also an unwilling participant in his manipulation of her character. Through this complex, Hemingway proposes both the ideas of the unwilling protagonist and the unwilling deuteragonist.
Continue readingLauren’s Etude to Eden: Detroit: Become Human and “Soldier, Poet, King”
Hello and welcome back to a new post my friends! For today’s addition to the blog, I’ve decided to focus on a video game called Detroit: Become Human. This game is one that can be viewed through a “choose your own adventure” lens, where throughout the course of the game, one shifts between the storylines of three different characters in a fictional future Detroit, set in 2038. In this future, androids are the new hot tech on the market and can be found in any home or business; however, many androids are beginning to revolt and claim they are gaining a sense of consciousness, deviating from their intended programming, becoming what is come to be known as “Deviant.” The overarching story takes you through the lives of three different androids living in this new reality: Kara, a caretaking android whose goal is to save a child from her abusive father; Markus, the leader of the android rebellion; and Connor, a detective android tasked with discovering the cause of the deviation and aiding to stop it from occurring. There are ultimately many different endings to this game from any of the three perspectives, but for the sake of clarity, I will be mainly focusing on what is considered the “true” or “good” ending. In this ending to the game, Kara successfully crosses the US/Canadian border with what has become to be her daughter, ensuring their safety; Connor has deviated himself and assists Markus, who together come to prove to the world that androids are in fact alive. At this point, it is implied there will be legislation put in place over time to ensure the rights of androids are protected and they will integrate into society.
Continue readingHarper’s Character Selection Screen: Master Chief from Halo – Tragic Hero or Vapid Writing?
Hello everyone! Welcome back to the blog! I’ve decided to shift my focus to something more personal to me compared to my last post: the Halo franchise. Originally developed by Bungie under the supervision of Microsoft, the debut of Halo: Combat Evolved unexpectedly stood as a flagship for the upcoming original Xbox console. With the title’s success after its release due to its creativity and innovation within the first person shooter genre, its main character “Master Chief” or “John-117” became a staple of video game iconography. In this entry, I’ll be discussing the evolution of John-117 and how the video game medium warped a character initially seen as a self-insert archetype into something a bit more complicated. This character analysis will spoil the ending of Halo Combat Evolved, as well as some parts of Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4.
Continue readingSelena’s She/Her: Christina Rossetti
Hello, all! Welcome back to my blog. Last time, we dabbled into Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, a novella about a Creole woman learning the power of her own body. This time, we’re going to discuss Christina Rossetti, an English writer during the Romantic era. More specifically, we will discuss her poem “Goblin Market” and the hypocrisy of Victorian society. “Goblin Market,” originally published in 1862, is a narrative poem that discusses the relationship between sisters Laura and Lizzie as they fight temptation from goblin men. Without further ado, let’s begin!
Continue readingMcFerron’s Authors of Revolution: The Lost Generation in Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” and Wallace’s “Forever Overhead.”
Hello and welcome back, everyone! This past month, I’ve had the privilege of revisiting two of my favorite authors, William Faulkner and David Foster Wallace. In doing so, I stumbled across an old paper of mine comparing two of their short stories. I’ve made some heavy revisions and thrown out some of my old ideas for new ones, but the central theme of both author addressing a type of lost generation is still intact. The lost generation is commonly known as the generation of Americans post-World War I and pre-World War II. Many writers including T.S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, and William Faulkner responded to the anxieties of America at the time through their short stories, poems, and novels. Faulkner’s short story, “Barn Burning,” directly addresses this generation through his characterization of Sarty, and the reader’s relatability to him. Decades later, however, David Foster Wallace also responded to the lost generation and argued that the American mindset still coincides with the same mindset Faulkner and his contemporaries displayed. In “Forever Overhead,” Wallace displays this argument in an improved-upon aspect of relatability by using the second person, forcing the reader to become the lost main character. Both stories attempt to answer the question; when does one decide to be their own person?
Continue readingHarper’s Character Selection Screen: The Janitor from I’m Thinking of Ending Things.
Hello everyone, Welcome to my blog! Harper’s Character Selection Screen is a blog that analyzes characters from movies, books, and video games to shed light on interesting interpretations or theories associated with said characters. While many options initially interested me, I thought it would be a good starting point to talk about I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Charlie Kaufman, a movie about a couple who go on a road trip through a storm while reality becomes increasingly confusing and disjointed. This character analysis will spoil the entirety of the movie as well as the novel it was based on. It also mentions suicide and mental illness in its themes. I highly recommend watching the film first before reading this not only because it’s a great film, but also to have a better understanding of this analysis in general. The film is incredibly dense, and I won’t be able to go over everything that happens in the story, so some background knowledge will make this make more sense. With all of that in mind, let’s talk about a high school janitor.
Continue readingSelena’s She/Her: Kate Chopin
Hello everyone! My name is Selena and welcome to my blog! She/Her is a blog about feminist figures and literature. I will mainly be focusing on some of my favorite prose and poetry while occasionally dabbling into other types of writing. Today’s blog will be focusing on my favorite author and novella, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening! As one of the first feminist texts, The Awakening is my favorite piece of literature because of how it handles bodily autonomy and the right to your identity. A case-study piece for the 19th century, The Awakening highlights the importance of stepping out of societal norms and into your body. Without further ado, let’s get started! Beware, Spoilers Ahead!
Continue reading
JFR Blog 