"O Beauty, 'til now I never knew Thee"

     It is the eve of the revolution, the air is pregnant with the thick scent of resistance and suddenly a voice is blared through the speakers strategically placed on every street lamp and every building for as long as the eye can see.  “This is the voice of Fate”, speaker screeches, the harsh echo fills the empty streets and announces the usual procession of nightly news for the day. Queue V: the mastermind that ignites the spark under the citizens of this cruel and twisted government and inspires individuals to find their own freedom, the masked stranger that defends the meek.  Alan Moore and David Lloyd, authors of the graphic novel V for Vendetta, could not have picked a more perfect way to portray the ideas of resistance and revolution than through the poignant comic book style images prevalent in the graphic novel.
     In the society portrayed in the novel and in history, resistance and revolution have been some of the best ways to achieve change in the government.  The French Revolution and the American Revolution are just two examples of this type of reform.  In the French Revolution, the peasants rose up against the monarchy and achieved, through violence, a better governing system.  Americans of the British colonies revolted and through violence achieved their own nation.  Not only is violence and resistance realistic, it is the quickest way to gain independence from any government, and unfortunately, the quickest way to ensure it stays independent.  In light of past examples of gaining independence, V’s actions and methods are understandable.  Although it is hard to believe that one person could inspire such a strong resistance to the government, turning to history again provides a few examples of people who inspired and organized revolution, such as Robespierre during the French Revolution who later became victim to his idea of anarchy.  And although V does not necessarily inspire an entire revolution, he gives the citizens of England a chance to question the motives of the current form of government.  He blows up the House of Parliament, calling citizens to unite and rethink their government.  By getting rid of the current method of governing the public, V calls for reformation, whether the public is ready for it or not.
     V for Vendetta benefits from being written in the graphic novel style because it allows for scenes that traditionally would be written as thick imagery as ‘silent scenes’, where only images could truly capture the sequence of events.  Many times throughout the book, there are these ‘silent scenes’, portrayed only through images.  One such scene is when V goes to confront Delia, one of the scientists of the concentration camp that experimented on him.  Her final request is to see his face, and then the panel shown is one without words, where it is evident that he has removed his mask for her before she dies.  The next panel she calls him beautiful, and then the final panel on the page shows her grasp on a rose he gave her unclench and fall to her side.  The beauty of this sequence of panels is captured in the few words used to describe it.  Because the gentle scientist dies peacefully, silence is truly the only way for the scene to progress.  The addition of pictures allows the reader to really analyze the different scenes to get a different feel for the information presented throughout the novel.
     A familiar Chinese proverb says that one picture is worth ten thousand words, and that principle is truly captured in the idea of the graphic novel.  V for Vendetta’s impact would have slightly been lost had it been just written word.

She blinded me with Science

     Moretti takes an analytical and objective approach to literature in his article, “Graphs, Maps, and Trees” by trying to discover the bigger picture literature poses rather than focusing on the smaller, less significant patterns that most scholars today focus on.  In doing so, Moretti takes a scientific approach to literature, analyzing graphs and historical information to draw conclusions about the rise and fall of a genre.  This approach to literature gives it an objective, quantitative result, excluding the subjective aspect usually studied in literature, which, depending on the application of the result, can be beneficial or detrimental.
     This method of looking at literature is beneficial in that it presents information systematically, leaving little room for interpretation by describing the trends observed in the popularity of literary genres.  Moretti attempts to shift the focus of the study of individual texts to the study of texts in general.  Genres rise and fall according to the political situations governing the time and wars dictate popularity, shown in tracing the rise and fall of ‘the novel’ in different countries during various wars.  He concludes that if literature is depicted scientifically, quantitatively, then it poses questions to popularity of genres and the disappearances of genres that do not already have an answer.  This, at large, is a very science oriented way of approaching literature. 
     There are, however, detriments to this ‘scientific method of literature’, which completely discredit the subjectivity of a text.  In Moretti’s research, for example, he discredits the idea that a text, or a specific genre, is popular simply because people at the time enjoy reading that type of literature.  He seeks to explain away the power of words through graphs and data, and then presents his audience with an unanswerable question, providing unnecessary ambiguity to the study of literature, as if it didn’t have enough of that already.
     As applied to Super Sad True Love Story, this method brings into question the genre of the novel, the political aspects of today as a dictator in the novel’s popularity, and the big picture that is reflected in the novel’s pages, all of which are readily available from a close read.  This novel could be many genres: a dystopian novel, a romance novel, a coming of age novel, all of which have specifically to do with the political atmosphere of the country in this day and age.  SSTLS mirrors political predictions of a United States in the near future, and comments heavily on the corruption of the society.  In fact, a little bit of Moretti’s theory of generation and the disappearance of a genre are in play IN the novel.  Books in this future United States are obsolete ‘novelties’.  The generation depicted during this time period does not read books, nor does it produce anything of literary merit, and books of all genres disappear. 

I'm sorry, but I object. That just isn't ok.

ATTENTION: PLOT SPOILERS. 
Because it is relevant to my argument, I do spoil the plot of SSTL.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

In many ways, the film M Butterfly mirrors the major themes of Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story.  One of the most obvious conflicts in both stories is the idea of love and how it ties into gender and is guided through ethnicity.  In both stories, the main character, a white male approaching middle age, falls in love with a younger, attractive Asian woman.  However, in M Butterfly, the audience and the main character both learn that looks are deceiving and that politics are the driving force between all relationships, whereas in Super Sad True Love Story, the audience is lead to believe that youth is the driving force between relationships, and that ethnicity is the deciding factor. 

In M. Butterfly, the main character falls in love with a Chinese opera singer, a mysterious young woman who veils herself in mystery.  As the main character becomes intimate with her, it is revealed to the audience that the woman is really working for the Chinese government.  She discloses information about United States troop movement to her corresponding spies.  She goes away for a while to ‘have a baby’, and returns a year later with the little boy.  She then disappears for a few more years to work in a concentration camp.  Meanwhile, the main character loses everything, basing his predictions of Asian culture on the ideas his mistress is disclosing gently to him.  When he gets back to the United States, he finds that the woman he loved is actually a man disguised as a woman who made everything about culture and tradition up to get information out of the main character.  Distressed, the main character commits suicide in a jail in front of the entire prison, giving a performance about his love.  The Asian man used the main character in order to get political information, faking everything about a woman in order to get close without flat asking for the information.  In the end, there is a hint that the man posing as a woman actually did have feelings for the main character, but it is not entirely clear that he did, suggesting that even though love may have been present during the relationship, loyalty to one’s country and political sacrifices were more important.

Super Sad True Love Story, however, suggests a slightly different message while holding on to the idea that love and life is cruel.  Lenny, the main character, falls in love with a Korean girl, Eunice, and finds out through a series of harsh ‘trials’ that her ethnicity dictates the amount of love she showers him.  In the end, it is revealed to the audience that Eunice feels that she needs to be punished for not being a ‘good daughter’ and for cheating on Lenny by being with Joshie, the man who gets younger as the years progress.  This same idea is seen in Eunice’s mother’s behavior, blaming herself when her husband hit her because the food wasn’t good enough, or the house wasn’t clean, or he didn’t think his daughters were good enough to uphold his family name.  This behavior not only suggests that it has been observed and practiced through the family, but that ethnicity has a strong say in guilt and the ability to love.  Eunice feels guilty about being wrong for Lenny, so she decides to ‘punish’ herself by being with Joshie, the man who treats her significantly worse than Lenny does, and demands quite a bit out of her.  She even writes herself an email apologizing to Lenny and herself for giving him up, saying that she does still love Lenny when she decides to leave him. 

Both stories suggest that love is cruel and is not always pure in both cases, and in both cases, it is the woman’s love that is put into question, unlike most literature where the man’s love is the one under scrutiny.  Neither ends happily, suggesting further that, realistically, love does not end well for those involved.  No matter the driving force, be it political, ethnical, or because the person attached actually loves his or her partner, love ends badly in the end.

On a personal, slightly unrelated note, I have found it incredibly depressing that love is seen in this light in the world of literature.  It is as if there are no ‘happily ever after’ outside of Disney and faerie tales.  It is as if literature is trying to capture the cruelty and unhappiness of the world and compacting it into a small, bite-size package the audience can ingest and carry with them for the rest of their lives.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines love as “a feeling or disposition of deep affection or fondness for someone, typically arising from a recognition of attractive qualities, from natural affinity, or from sympathy and manifesting itself in concern for the other's welfare and pleasure in his or her presence”.  Respectfully, Urban Dictionary defines love as “nature’s way of tricking people into reproducing”.  These two contradicting definitions pose many questions about love and which way culture perceives it, which is frightening.  If something as basic as love isn’t agreed upon, then is anything certain in the world?

This is the world that we live in

As defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, a ‘dystopia’ is “An imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible” (Dystopia, def. 1), which is exactly where Shteyngart has set his novel.  Lenny lives in a not-to-distant United States where the government is at war with another country and is constantly monitoring its citizens.  In this world, everyone is judged by their Credit score and the dollar is virtually worthless.  In this world Shteyngart paints, everyone is judged and everyone is a suspect, a place where one can’t even trust one’s friends.

“CRISISNET: DOLLAR LOSES OVER 3% IN LONDON TRADING TO FINISH AT HISTORIC LOW OF 1 EURO = $8.64 IN ADVANCE OF CHINESE CENTRAL BANKER ARRIVAL U.S; LIBOR RATE FALLS 57 BASIS POINTS; DOLLAR LOWER BY 2.3% AGAINST YUAN AT 1 YUAN = $4.90” (81).  

The most striking detail about this piece is that the information about the dollar is under, ‘CrisisNet’, producing an aura that the following information is the difference between life and death.  It is done in a quick, matter-of-fact, no nonsense way, leaving out all logical punctuation, allowing the idea of ‘crisis’ to really hit the reader and in this case, Lenny.   If the dollar is falling, the United States economy is falling as well.  To tie it in with the definition, this would a ‘condition in which everything is as bad as possible’.

“IT IS FORBIDDEN TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE EXISTENCE OF THIS CHECKPOINT (‘THE OBJECT’).  BY READING THIS SIGN YOU HAVE DENIED EXISTENCE OF THE OBJECT AND IMPLIED CONSENT.” (82)

Not only is this phrase ironic, it also speaks volumes on how much the government has come to control the population.  Everyone has to be literate to have an apparati, where the information is presented in print.  Reading a passing sign is almost habit.  In making a sign in uppercase letters, it immediately draws a passenger’s attention.  It is obvious that the following procedures the government is going to take are against Constitutional rights, thus people having to ‘give their consent to deny anything that happens at the checkpoint’.  It is a visual contract with the public over what they are and aren’t allowed to talk about in the ‘privacy’ of their own homes.  The phrase is ironic because Lenny reports about it anyways, showing that there is definitely a way around denying the existence/activities of the checkpoints.  When the government probes and prods people for the sake of ‘national security’, and then asks people to ‘consent and deny’, there is a serious distrust built between the government and its people. 

“ ‘I think Noah may be ARA,’ ” he whispered.  ‘What?’ ‘I think he’s working for the Bipartisans.’…
‘You watch, if the Chinese take over, Noah will be sucking up to them’”(96).

Lenny is told here by another friend that he cannot trust Noah, his college buddy. This illustrates a time when people aren’t only distrustful of the government, but are also distrustful of their friends and family members, much like the ‘black list’ in the 1950s, where people were marked for being communist by family members, friends, and neighbors who themselves didn’t want to be in trouble with the government.  In this futuristic world, however, ‘being communist’ is equated with ‘being bipartisan’, infringing on people’s freedom of speech and their right to choose which ever political party they agree most with. 

All these passages pull strongly on events happening now, raising the question of whether or not the United States as a whole is turning into a dystopian cesspool. 

Machines of "Loving Grace"

     As a culture, the people of post-industrialized countries are inundated with technology and are expected to believe that these advances are only for the best.  Richard Brautigan, in his poem “All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace”, he poses the question of whether or not technology is a blessing or a curse, and gives his answer.  Although at first glance it may seem as though he supports technology through the soft imagery he is presenting, in reality, he is giving a critique on the social structure that has arisen as a consequence to the spike in technological advances. 
     In each stanza, Brautigan offers images of nature to soften his message of technology, creating the illusion that technology and nature may coincide peacefully.  By juxtaposing nature and technology, he creates a universe were “mammals and computers/ live together in mutually/programming harmony” (lines 4-6), pointing out that there should be a happy balance, or ‘harmony’, among the unnatural machine and the natural environment.  He mentions “cybernetic meadows” (line 3), “cybernetic forests” (line 11), and “cybernetic ecology” to further push the two unrelated ideas together and create a strong connection between the contradicting ideas.  He furthers his analysis of technology by comparing the harmony he wishes to achieve by likening it to “pure water/ touching clear sky” (lines 7-8).  The scenes created through imagery are a sharp contrast to the idea of technology, providing the idea that he may be in favor of technology if it brings harmony between humans and nature.
     But, a close examination proves otherwise.  Each stanza has a line in parenthesis, imitating the urgency and impatient nature that has resulted from using technology: “I like to think (and/ the sooner the better!)”(lines 1-2) … “I like to think/ (right now, please!)” (lines 9-10) … “I like to think/ (it has to be!)” (lines 17-18).  These lines add to the sarcastic tone Brautigan displays through his poem, aided by the images of nature contrasted against the images of technology.  He continues his anti-technological argument by giving reference to being “watched over/ by machines of loving grace” (lines 24-25), which is reminiscent of Big Brother in the Cold War when people of the time were afraid of being watched by a machine and having their every actions reported to the government.  With this hidden image of communism taking over the last stanza, it is very clear that Brautigan is anti-technology.
     Through imagery and irony, Brautigan shows his disgust of the advances of technology.  Although he is interweaving soft images of nature with images of technology, it is ironic he compares the two because technology actually takes individuals away from experiencing nature first hand and allows them through the technology he is critiquing.

Images of an Underwater Shipwreck

Images:

 ~book of myths   

~loaded camera

~sharpened edge of the knife-blade

~wet suit, flippers, mask

~sun-flooded schooner of Cousteau

~Innocent, foreboding ladder, and crawling down it as awkwardly as an insect

~Air, both above and below the water
~Ocean being powerful and mysterious
~Creatures living in the ocean
~Beam of light from the lamp on the wreckage
~The wreckage and the damage on the wreckage
~Mermaid/merman
~Damaged instruments of the wreckage, both the actual instruments and the speaker

Interpretation:
     Through imagery, Adrienne Rich shows that the ocean is a powerful place that holds painful memories of shipwrecks and floating bodies, of planned trips and failed journeys in her poem, Diving into the Wreck.  Not only does it show these memories vividly, it also suggests that loneliness is mirrored in the strange aquatic environment.  In the ocean there “is no question of power”, being vast enough to swallow many a ship and leave no evidence of the wreckage above the surface of the water while the lonely diver descends into the ocean to discover the described wreckage with only a book, a knife, and a camera to keep the speaker company.  The images of power portrayed by the ocean and meekness portrayed by the diver juxtaposed together show the fragility of life.
     In this work, the ocean is described as powerful and indifferent.  The diver seems to hold it in apprehensive reverence, describing the experience of the initial decent fearfully: “First the air is blue and then/ it is bluer and then green and then black I am blacking out and yet/ my mask is powerful”.  The disorienting flash of colors and the thought of blacking out are written in short, choppy lines illustrating the fear of entering the unknown.  The diver also has to “learn alone” how to breathe underwater, gaining no help from the powerful “deep element”, showing how empty the world beneath the surface is without companionship.  As the diver goes deeper, the audience catches a glimpse of the wreckage and what the ocean has done to it.  The ship is in shambles and the diver describing the ship’s sorry condition:
                    “The evidence of damage
                    worn by salt and away into this threadbare
                    beauty
                    the ribs of the disaster
                    curving their assertion
                    among the tentative haunters”,
an example of the abrasive tendencies of the ocean’s waters.  The image conjures an eerie tone through the words “threadbare”, “ribs”, and “haunters”, suggesting the ship is haunted by the bodies that perished in the sinking.  The diver also describes the bodies floating in the water, saying “I am she: I am he/ whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes”, adding to the eerie, dark tone created around the ship.  The diver also is the only witness to the floating remnants, giving to the illusion of being completely alone.  The ocean holds these and many more empty landscapes of horror and tragedy forgotten within the ever constant flow of the waves.
     The vulnerability of human life illustrated in the poem creates a strong sense of irony when plastered against the harsh, powerful ocean.  Although the ocean is strong enough to crush the individual entering it, the individual has a certain amount of power to explore its depths without it retaliating.  Human life is fragile when compared to the ever changing hostility of the ocean, and the poem illustrates this by contrasting the dead lifeless corpses to the living diver but giving the same eerie feeling of being alone. 

What's in a name?

"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."To Kill a Mockingbird Attitus Finch to daughter Scout, Chapter 10.

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."To Kill a MockingbirdMiss Maudie Atkinson to Scout, Chapter 10.

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In Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird, the reader is shown that the mockingbird, a bird that does nothing but bring enjoyment to humans, symbolizes innocence.  As the story progresses, an African American man who is a hired hand in a house is accused and persecuted for trying to rape a young woman and found guilty by the court.  In the process, however, Atticus Finch, the narrator Scout’s father, puts the accusing family under public scrutiny after exposing some questionable conduct in the family home.  The man on the side of the persecuting family then threatens Finch’s family, and while trying to hurt Scout, he is ambushed by a mysterious neighbor who saves her life, but ends up startling the perpetrator who ends up killing himself in his confusion. Because both men, the African American and the mysterious neighbor, don’t do any wrong, they are both examples of the innocent mockingbird that is bringing unexpected benefit to the surrounding neighborhoods.

The reason this blog is called The Murder of a Mockingbird is because we as a culture are losing the simple innocence that riddles childhood with fond memories.  Literature, deemed the ‘outlaw’ of all books, is a culprit in the fast deteriorating ignorance of the population.  Good or bad, the childlike innocence that flees with age is aided by the hunger for knowledge and that knowledge is found through pieces of literature.  The purpose is not to become more childlike, but to move away from the ignorant bliss that is childhood innocence and gain a more powerful understanding of the world and how it works.  And unfortunately, a few mockingbirds may get hurt in the process.