Close reading #2

Barack Obama for Re-election

 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/opinion/brooks-the-upside-of-opportunism.html?src=me&ref=general

Four more years?

The New York Times recently endorsed President Obama for the 2012 presidential election, not a surprise to anyone who follows politics. The NYT is generally regarded as very liberal, and this endorsement would be expected to come from them. In this editorial, the reasons for the endorsement are explained in great detail, and it is clear that the author has a very strong opinion that Obama is would be a better president than Romney.

While many might disagree, the editorial takes the view that there is a very clear contrast between Obama and Romney. On nearly every issue important to voters, the author asserts that Obama is the better choice, whether it is the economy, health care, deficit reduction, foreign affairs, civil rights, or even the election of justices. Painting a picture of Romney as the conservative that showed up for the Republican primaries, it is claimed that Romney would appoint justices that are "among the most conservative justices in the past 75 years." While Romney might have tried to tack to center as the election nears, the author claims that "Mr. Romney’s choice of Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate says volumes about" whether Romney would side with the Republican party on many issues.

Through the selection and omission of certain details, this article is both overtly and covertly trying to persuade readers to vote for Obama. A conservative paper would probably place more emphasis on the high unemployment rate and the recent security problems in Libya. The claim that the stimulus bill "prevented unemployment from reaching 12 percent" would seem ridiculous to some people, who would be outraged by such a high unemployment rate, but others give credit to Obama for something remarkable: that "[he] prevented another Great Depression." This is a claim that is not supported by facts in this article even though it is the centerpiece of the argument that Obama's qualifications on the economy are better than those of Romney. 

In the diction that the author uses, the two candidates are rarely directly characterized, but there is still a noticeable slant towards Obama. Both candidates are referred to as "Mr.," which takes away the elevation of President Obama versus Governor Romney. This seems to be due to the author's desire to use facts and numbers to make his case, rather than rely heavily on rhetoric that a politically informed audience could see through. Indirectly, though, the author implies that Obama is the champion of "reproductive freedom for American women and voting rights for all," presenting a scenario in which the two candidates are the deciding factor on these issues. When talking about gay rights, "[Obama] overcame his hesitation about same-sex marriage," implying that Obama had privately been a supporter and that Romney opposes what the author calls "marriage-equality." I'm not sure many Republican columnists would be willing to concede that they oppose any form of equality, and Romney certainly wouldn't, so the use of the word equality here helps convey a positive view of Obama and shows the liberal bias of the article.

The syntax of the article is similar to the diction in that it may appear to be biased towards neither Obama nor Romney at first, but it clearly helps make the case for Obama. In some places, paragraphs begin with matter-of-fact statements about the candidates views or actions that are free of any manipulation by the author. However, he follows up a statement like that with another one that characterizes that action positively or negatively, depending on the candidate in question. When it is claimed that Romney has distanced himself from those who want "to criminalize abortion" in all cases, the very next sentence says he has contradicted his own statements on contraception by "[promising] to deny federal money to Planned Parenthood." The juxtaposition here makes the reader doubt that Romney actually has expressed his true views on abortion, without the author making any claims that would discredit him in the reader's eyes.

This piece uses sophisticated rhetoric to endorse Barack Obama in a way that seems non-partisan and reasonable, but really could be characterized as neither of those things in many of its arguments.

American Dream Summary/Analysis

American Dream Close Reading Reflection

                The American Dream by Edward Albee is a one-scene play from 1960 about the materialism in American society which Albee felt was so dangerous at the time he wrote it. The play is seen as a part of the Theater of the Absurd, which I understand to be a movement in theater in which language is devalued and nothing really happens, leaving the viewer confused. In this play, there is definitely a plot and certain messages which Albee tries to send, so it doesn't really fit that well into the pigeonhole that many literary critics have put it in.

                As a brief summary of important details, the characters are Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Mrs. Barker, and the Young Man. Grandma is the only really normal character, and seems to represent the "old' American dream. Mommy and Daddy have switched gender roles and act ridiculously much of the time, and Mrs. Barker has power struggles with Mommy inside Mommy's own home. The Young Man is called the "American Dream" by Grandma, and, as he said, "I let people love me... I am incomplete... I can feel nothing." It all takes place inside Mommy and Daddy's apartment, where Grandma also lives. I think an important detail I may forget is that Mommy and Grandma come from "pioneer stock" and used to be poor. A summary of the plot: Mommy and Daddy argue, Grandma gets in on the arguing, Mrs. Barker arrives and also argues, and then Mommy and Daddy leave to try to destroy Grandma's TV. Grandma then reveals the horrible story of a baby Mommy and Daddy adopted being mutilated. The Young Man arrives soon after, and he is the twin of that baby who experienced the mutilation on an emotional level as opposed to a physical one. Grandma moves out (possibly symbolic for dying?) and the Young Man (pretending to be the "van man") becomes a part of the family.

                As this is a play, there isn't a narrative voice, although at the very end Grandma does speak directly to the reader. The author's style is very foreign to me, but I got used to it after the first read. The way he switched tones quickly and made things happen in ways that weren't logical made it hard to pick out important details. The symbolism, however, was often clear, and I think it was fairly easy to identify the symbolism in Grandma and the Young Man when she called him the American Dream. For the imagery, when he elaborated on how the baby was torn apart by its adopted parents it really added a lot of detail and made it seem more real, causing me to experience more emotion while reading it. While I read the play, the repetition really stood out to me the most. There was a ton of it, and it showed me what details were important since I could tell something was important if it was repeated a lot.

                

One-sentence theme statement:  To me, the most obvious messages that the book sent were mostly about materialism and society's values changing.

                The materialism piece has been emphasized so heavily in all the readings we have done, and there is a ton of evidence for it in the text. The treatment of Grandma and the adopted baby like objects are two very good examples, as well as the beginning of the play where they talk about hats and their color, and shopping. After discussing it with a few classmates, I feel the idea that Mrs. Barker represents corporations is probably correct, and seems to me to be the most likely meaning that Albee had for her. This also ties into the hypothesis that the materialism is a theme in the book.

                The changing of society's values also seemed very clear to me, especially because of the contrast between Grandma and the Young Man. With the Young Man tied to the American Dream, and that being the title of the play, Albee placed much emphasis on the fact that the Young Man represents the new American Dream. If at the end Grandma has truly died, that really supports this analysis as well, because the old American Dream would have been replaced with the new one.

quotes: 

                "everybody's got what he's wants... or everybody's got what he thinks he wants." -Grandma

In this quote, the last line of the entire play, Grandma reveals that she doesn't believe that everybody actually has what they want, but they mistakenly think they do. I think this is a condemnation of the materialism and the "new" American Dream which the play has criticized.

                "old people don't go anywhere; they're either taken places, or put places." -Mrs. Barker

This quote shows how Grandma is treated not like a person, but like an object to be moved around without consideration of her desires. It is consistent with the view that Mrs. Barker represents corporations or business of some sort, as many businesses are involved with "taking" or "putting" old people in places they may not want to be.

Open Prompt #2

2007. In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character's relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

                

                In Edward Albee’s The American Dream, the Young Man has to deal with the effects of the mutilation of his twin brother on himself, an event that occurred some twenty years in the past. This results in his inability to feel, his lack of direction and his passivity evident in his behavior and words. Through this struggle, Albee emphasizes the materialism and deterioration of the American Dream that are the focus of the work as a whole.

                When the Young Man was just a child, he had a twin brother who lived at an adoption center with him. Grandma reveals that Mommy and Daddy “bought” this twin brother, but they grew dissatisfied with it and accordingly they got rid of him, but not before punishing him through physical abuse. When he wouldn’t show Mommy the love she wanted, she gouged out his eyes, just one of many body parts that were cut off. Every time a part of the twin was cut off, the Young Man lost feeling in that area, and as a grown up man he cannot feel anything but passively lets others love him and enjoy the perfect image that they see in his appearance. This is how the mutilation causes the Young Man’s present to be different.

                Another aspect of the adopted baby that is very important to mention is that in the story, he is always referred to as an object without gender. He is called a “bumble,” and referred to as “the bumble” or “it.” This has huge significance for the meaning of the play. A baby, usually a symbol of innocence and love, is turned into a commodity and used as a means for Mommy and Daddy to experience pleasure. By doing this, Albee is warning that we shouldn’t treat people like objects that we can use to fulfill our desires and then discard when they no longer serve that purpose. Relationships between parents and a child should not be about the best interests of the child or the adult, but about love between the two, and the materialism of modern society has threatened this.

                The way the Albee chooses to address the American Dream is also through the use of the Young Man and his twin brother. The Young Man is called “the American Dream” by Grandma three times, and he represents the “new” American Dream as people saw it in Albee’s time. The new American Dream values things like money and the ability to earn it, as the Young Man shows when he is very interested in all things related to money. It doesn’t place any value on empathy or any sort of feeling at all, but instead allows people to love it and attribute whatever they want to it. The old American Dream, represented by Grandma, is willingly replaced by the new one before the end of the play. There is a stark contrast between the two: the Young Man’s appearance is flawless, and on the outside he contains all of the qualities that people see as positive. Grandma, on the other hand, is old, wise, and has many positive qualities on the inside that aren’t shown by her appearance. It isn’t even possible to tell if she is a man or a woman, as she implies that she really isn’t either, but possesses qualities of both. The new American Dream certainly seems better, and after everyone meets the Young Man their thoughts about Grandma are completely forgotten and replaced by this new American Dream.

                In his character the Young Man, Albee created a mechanism through which he could convey his thoughts on the old versus new American Dreams, and also how the materialism in society was wrong and could lead to very disconcerting situations.

Response to Course Materials (October 7th)

Coming off of the activity this Friday where we reviewed material about trends over time in literature, it is very clear to me why we need to do posts like this. Reprocessing the information we learn in class and using it independently helps to solidify it in our minds, and if we put a good effort into it then it'll increase the amount of time we remember the things we learn.

Looking at essay questions together and breaking it apart helped me to understand the immense importance of answering the question that is asked--something Obama and Romney clearly don't care about when "answering" questions in their debates. It really is a great example of language that avoids answering the question; if an essay doesn't seem to be directly addressing what is asked, it probably isn't doing so.

Beginning our reading of The American Dream by Edward Albee was also a big step, as it is the first longer that we will closely read in this class. When I first read it, it was almost disorienting, like the first time you take off on an airplane. Above all, I was just confused, as there wasn't really anything logical happening, but there were some humorous moments. As I've only read it once, my understanding will deepen in the future, but at the moment almost all of my understanding of the play comes from the analyses that we read in class.

All of the allusion work that we did and the different critical lenses was a lot of information that I took in during a short time, so I probably need to review this. I plan to try to force myself to adopt a routine which reinforces the things that I have learned already in this class, since I would really like to become a better reader and writer as a result of taking this class.