Journal 6 for stranger- 9 Questions

• Word choice- Camus uses very blunt words- Why does Camus use very blunt language?
• Sentence structure- Camus seems to use fairly short sentences and lacks alot of variance in sentence length- Why does Camus use such short, straight-forward sentences?
• Images- Camus seems fond of using tactile imagery, such as "hot sand" or other descriptions of discomfort by way of the sense of touch- Why does Camus commonly use tactile imagery?
• Symbols- Camus uses some symbols, such as the sun, recurrently- To what extent is Camus' use of the sun significant throughout the novel?
• Figures of speech- I think Camus' novel is significant in this category for it's lack of particularly distinctive use of figures of speech- Why does Camus appear to avoid figurative language, in favor of the literal?
• Rhetorical Devices- I think that Raymond almost fuctions as a foil of Meursault, in that his passion and fiery-temper are as distinct as Meursault's flat personality- What does Camus hope to accomplish by foiling Raymond and Meursault?
• Patterns- I think two recurrent themes are Meurault's acceptance of his helplessness, and his lack of a desire to find a greater meaning in anything in life- What message is Camus trying to convey through Meursault's lack of interest in the meaning of life?
• Narrator- Appears to be narrated in the first person- To what effect does Camus use first-person narration?
• Structure- appear to operate at a very slow pace for the majority of the book- Why does Camus use such a slow pace throughout the book?

Journal 5 for stranger

My personal philosophy influences everything from the very details I choose to examine, to my emotional responses, to my interpretation of the greater meaning of subjects. My philosophy helps me to understand characters such as Meursault (although not necessarily agree with him), and to establish different meanings to his very actions as they pertain to the gist of the story. It helps me to determine which details are important to the message I am trying to convey, and how to elaborate on those same details, just as it leads me to down-play or leave out other details altogether. Also, my philosophy naturally impacts what meaning I establish to a novel, as I would of course desire to erect a meaning which supports my own philosophy.

Journal stranger 4: sun and another idea, or symbol

• Pg 15 "But today, with the sun bearing down making the whole landscape shimmer with heat, it was inhuman and oppressive." : It helps to set the very unpleasant mood, as well as perhaps serve as a symbol of outside pressure acting on Meursault, due to its seeming oppressive- much like his boss.
• Pg 27 " He was with his dog. The two of them had been inseperable for eight years[...]" " [...] and yet they hate each other" : here the dog serves as a scapegoat for the old man's anger, but also as a symbol of betrayl, as the dog is loyal, but yet is beaten by his cruel master.

Journal 3: philosophy- Attributionism

Attributionism

• Nothing in the physical world can ever be known to truly exist, because our understanding of the world is based on human perception- something which is very flawed
• Good and evil do not exist: they are intangible so there existence depends on their very definition, but the definition is arbitrary(owing to so many different beliefs of individuals, cultures, religions, etc), so they lack any identity that can be commonly accepted
• Pleasure does not truly exist- it is but a misleading of faulty human senses which cannot be trusted
• Nothing can ever be proven by humans, because all things are intangible(see bullet 1), therefore there exists nothing by which objects can be measured
• Nothing ever happens due to causation, because nothing can be proven to exist, so there exist no factors exist which could influence other events
• The physical world is only significant by way of the meaning we attribute to it, therefore it exists only in the human mind( nothing can truly be known to exist, due to faulty human perception)
• There is no difference between life and non life, as both are merely human ideas, owing to the absence of evidence which might support a distinction(nothing can be proven)
• Despite all of these, a happy life can be lead, and as falsehoods do constitute what we define what we call "reality", a perfectly happy life can still be lead according to those same falsehoods, as lies are often warm and comforting. It is also not worth acknowledging these falsehoods, because there is no foundation for any other ideas, so in practice human perception and human senses should never be questioned- but rather these same lies should be lived by
• Therefore the meaning attributed to objects is a substance in and of itself- the definition which we give subjects constitutes their very identity.

Stranger journal 2

• Meursault travels to attend the funeral of his mother, appearing very dettached the entire time, and eagerly anticipating the opportunity to return home, and after returning he meets an ex-coworker, takes her on a date and has sex with her, then hardly seems to care when she is gone in the morning.
• My responses to Meursault are both disgust and understanding. Disgust because he is very indifferent to others, and appears to live a somewhat decadent lifestyle, and understanding because his behavior could be found in any man, once stripped of morals and concerns.
• Camus is trying to create a protagonist who will pursue things in a very matter-of-fact, pragmatic way, and will provide a very nihilistic viewpoint- something which is not particularly common or easy to accept.

Strabger journal 1

The two different translations are very different tonally. The first translation portrays a respectful young man who is distraught over his mother's death and dutifully preparing to go to her funeral, while the second translation almost evokes anger from the reader, in that the character seems so indifferent to his mother's death, lacking in manners when speaking of her funeral, and altogether disgusting by way of his being so self-centered. These different translations evoke very different emotions from the reader, The first translation sympathy, and the second disgust and anger.

Chapters 19 and 20: journal

The novel is structured so that the begining and ending of the novel take place in the familiar porch setting. This is to create a sense of ease, comfort, and consistency, that helps to create the very personal, laid-back appeal of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Also the novel is from the perspective of Janie looking back upon her past- in order to to create a very conclusive feeling for every event which takes place.

Chapter 18- Journal

• The title is significant in so far as it implies the relative helplessness of the characters in Hurston's novel, as well as the fact that they do not always look inside themselves for answers, but rather look towards others.
• The Title also suggests that the characters are very dependent on god for assistance and comfort. They are worshipful and doubting of themselves, so they look to the sky for answers.

Chapters 16 und 17- journal

• Mrs. Turner is very controlling and domineering as a person, and these traits are enhanced by her very dominant role in her relationship. She " wears the pants" so to speak in her marriage, and that serves to make her appear more rigid and dominant. Also their relationship seems to be very hollow, perhaps because of Mrs. Turner's obcession with skin color.
• Jaine in Tea Cake stand in stark contrast to the Turners- Janie's relationship actually based off of love and mutual attraction, and appears to be more symbiotic.

Journal: 3 techniques

• Pg 136- conflict "Janie learned what it felt like to be jealous. A little chunky girl took to picking a play out of Tea Cake..." : Hurston uses this conflict of interests to create a sense of hostility in chapter 5. Janie feel as though she must compete for Tea Cake's love; thus it leads to a sense of hostility between Janie and Nunkie, and frustration between Janie and Tea Cake.
• Pg 134- symbol "Sometimes Janie would think of the old days in the big white house and the store and laugh to herself " : Here the white house that Janie lived in with Jody is symbolic of her old life. The white house and the drudgery of the store represent something Janie is glad to have escaped, and Hurston wants to emphasize Janie's new found satisfaction.
• Pg 129- setting "To Janie's eyes, everything in the Everglades was big and new": with this Hurston desires to create a general setting- something overwhelming, worshipful, and completely new to Janie.

Journal 4~ motivation/change- chapter 11&12

Motivation: Janie is motivated primarily by a desire to discover herself and the pleasures of life. As Janie is no longer merely content sitting in the high seat her grandmother wanted for her, she seeks to truly experience life and the world around her- as opposed to simply being satisfied with her relative wealth and good standing. She is willing to risk all of these things to lead a more fulfiling life with Tea Cake.
Change(s): Janie has changed in that she has begun to revert to the same mindset she had at the start of the book; at least in so far as love is concerned. She begins to seek affection with Tea Cake as opposed to putting up with men like Logan and Jody. She is more open to risks- she could have married any of a number of well-to-do men, but instead she would risk everything for the love of a stranger. This is very similar to her ideas on love in the begining of the story- something irrespective of weath or status, but greater than either.

Mimic! Hope it's not too abstract Mrs. Wecker!

So Jack began to consider time. Time, that shrunken old man with the gray hair, who dwells only in the mind of man. The one who stands on a stage for all men to see, but the stage has no foundation to it, and no substance. What need has time for proof, and what man doubts his existence. He sits upon a throne that overlooks the lives of all. Sits patient and silent always, waiting for god knows what. Been sitting since a song was sung in praise of his patience. He was soon to catch a glimpse of time's gaze in the mirror sooner or later. He was curious and thoughtful also. Dear Jill! She ought not have to swim that sea alone. He sent the witch to help, but, Jill declined. These hopes is-a all gone with the likes of Sodom and Gomorrah. She'd be the same again when she drank from a clear fountain on a hill. She couldn't grow older at all. That was what she thought. But the witch told him different, so he knew. And then if she hadn't, the next morning he was sure to guess, for stars gathered in the mind's eye under a waning moon. Stars that would not have embraced light began to shine and not in the home. Just spoke of light under the moon. God knows what, the face of a man, shown in the moon over the town.
P.S. I was having trouble mimicing assonance in line 7, so I hoped the use of an alliteration would help add a little color, even though I realize its not the same.

Journal 3: Chapter 4- 5 techniques

• Pg. 26 symbol: "He had ceased to wonder at her long, black hair" - Janies hair is like a sex symbol, representative of beauty, love, and lust. The author uses it here to show how Janie is neglected by her farmer husband.
• Pg. 26 simile: "Ah'm just as stiff as you is stout" - Janie shows her stubborn side, that she is not going to do a man's work, and she's willing to use her power over her husband. The author probably inserted this simile to show how Janie asserts her independence and doesn't meekly submit to her husband as anouther wife might do.
• Pg. 27 imagery: "The shirt with the silk sleeveholders was dazzling enough for the world" A piece of imagery thrown in to accent the style of Joe Starks, and provide a more vivid image of what caught Janie's eye.
• Pg. 27 foil: "It was a cityfied, stylish dressed man with his hat set at an angle that didn't belong in these parts" A brief description of Joe Starks emphasizes his stylish, businessman-like manner. Starks contrasts with the very homely, and boarish farmer Logan Killicks- and I think the author used this foil just to accent this difference.
• Pg. 28 hyperbole: "You ain't hardly old enough to be weaned" In this passage, Starks aims to flatter Janie by exagerating her youth. The author might just be using this device to highlight Janies youthful beauty, as well as Starks' city-folk manners.
• Pg. 28 metaphor: " You behind a plow! You ain't got no mo' business wid uh plow than uh hog got wid a holiday" This passage is yet anouther attempt of starks' to flatter Janie. It was possibly put in by the author to bring notice to the fact that Janie was poorly suited to the sort of agrarian life Mr. Killicks led, and that Starks disapproved of the idea of Janie doing man's work, perhaps also foreshadowing his winning her over and taking her to a new life.

Their Eyes Were Watching God: 1,2

Journal 1
The dialect used in the story is radically different from that used in the narration. The dialect used is associated with someone who his uneducated, impoverished, definitely southern, and probably being from some sort of agrarian backwater community. The narration on the other hand, is laid out in an average american dialect, probably someone good at articulating his/herself- a very matter-of-fact piece of work. These two different dialect, I believe, serve to contrast each other and therefore heighten each others qualities, almost in the manner of a juxtaposition.

Journal 2
The setting, a small, southern African-American community leads us to very basic assumptions as to the characters involved (uneducated, impoverished, very religious)- almost drawing upon our possible stereotypes of people we would expect to be in such a community. The setting adds to what seems to be a fairly somber mood, by soliciting images of poverty, lack of infrastructure, and all the backwardness I seem to associate with the rural south. This dingy, dank community could force someone into depression quite easily or prove just prove unenjoyable, and an escape from this dull uninteresting life might turn out to be a motivation of our main character.

Hey I'm here!

At long last!