No assignments for this class no, but that doesn't mean I'm just sitting around crocheting (which I also do, but not solely).
Today I've spent the morning all the way to lunch analyzing three short stories and a novel. That was fun. I like analyzing texts and trying to figure out layers of meaning that are hidden in the text if you just read it straight through. We analyzed a really interesting short story by Kazuo Ishiguro called "A Family Supper". About a son that comes home to Tokyo after living in California for several years and reunites with his father and sister over supper. Very interesting indeed. I have to wonder if they all survived the night after the meal since I suspect they all ate fugu fish.
Fugu fish is very very poisonous. The poison is stored in a glands and even the tiniest amount of the colorless and odourless poison will result in an agonizing death within hours. The fish is apparently very popular in Japanese restaurants. I didn't know that many Japanese people were suicidal.
There are several hints that the family won't survive the meal. The father's failure in business, his admiration of his partner in the business as a man of principle who killed his entire family and then committed suicide, and his pride in having pure samurai blood in his veins. Of course there are other things that suggests that they do survive. They plan for the future for example. The story ends with the family having a cup of tea so we'll never know. I still vote for them not surviving.
The most interesting about this short story I think is the references it makes to empty rooms. In the house where the father lives there are several dark and empty rooms and the son, coming from America, said that he only left some empty rooms behind there. My interpretation is that the empty rooms are symbols for what is lacking in their lives. Things like love, joy, a wife/girlfriend, career... Those kinds of things. A full room = success, an empty room= failure.
Another of the short stories were Toni Morrison's "Recitatif" (Confirmation). In this text there are one white girl and one black girl becoming friends when they're young and then they meet later in life in different circumstances. The discussion here focused mainly on who was who. Was Twyla white or black? Was Roberta white or black? There is no hint whatsoever in the entire text which is which really. That's interesting because most of class ended up thinking Twyla was the black girl and Roberta was the white one while I thought the other way ar0und. Although considering that Toni Morrison is an african-american author it's easy to assume that the narrator, Twyla, is the black girl.
That's about the most interesting thing I have to say today. Thank you to cousin for having lunch with me and thank you to friend for completing the task I put on her. Last but not least, thank you to Heather for leaving comments!
Ta ta for now!
Nina
Today I've spent the morning all the way to lunch analyzing three short stories and a novel. That was fun. I like analyzing texts and trying to figure out layers of meaning that are hidden in the text if you just read it straight through. We analyzed a really interesting short story by Kazuo Ishiguro called "A Family Supper". About a son that comes home to Tokyo after living in California for several years and reunites with his father and sister over supper. Very interesting indeed. I have to wonder if they all survived the night after the meal since I suspect they all ate fugu fish.
Fugu fish is very very poisonous. The poison is stored in a glands and even the tiniest amount of the colorless and odourless poison will result in an agonizing death within hours. The fish is apparently very popular in Japanese restaurants. I didn't know that many Japanese people were suicidal.
There are several hints that the family won't survive the meal. The father's failure in business, his admiration of his partner in the business as a man of principle who killed his entire family and then committed suicide, and his pride in having pure samurai blood in his veins. Of course there are other things that suggests that they do survive. They plan for the future for example. The story ends with the family having a cup of tea so we'll never know. I still vote for them not surviving.
The most interesting about this short story I think is the references it makes to empty rooms. In the house where the father lives there are several dark and empty rooms and the son, coming from America, said that he only left some empty rooms behind there. My interpretation is that the empty rooms are symbols for what is lacking in their lives. Things like love, joy, a wife/girlfriend, career... Those kinds of things. A full room = success, an empty room= failure.
Another of the short stories were Toni Morrison's "Recitatif" (Confirmation). In this text there are one white girl and one black girl becoming friends when they're young and then they meet later in life in different circumstances. The discussion here focused mainly on who was who. Was Twyla white or black? Was Roberta white or black? There is no hint whatsoever in the entire text which is which really. That's interesting because most of class ended up thinking Twyla was the black girl and Roberta was the white one while I thought the other way ar0und. Although considering that Toni Morrison is an african-american author it's easy to assume that the narrator, Twyla, is the black girl.
That's about the most interesting thing I have to say today. Thank you to cousin for having lunch with me and thank you to friend for completing the task I put on her. Last but not least, thank you to Heather for leaving comments!
Ta ta for now!
Nina
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