What is the What: African.

“Nigeria.”

“Go back to Africa.”

Those are some of the derogatory remarks that Americans have called Valentino when he came to live in the United States. In fact, these two words came from the two African-American burglars, Tonya and Powder, who mercilessly assaulted Valentino when they came to rob his apartment. Later in the book, Michael, the accomplice of the two burglars, dropped a book on poor Valentino’s head and regarded him as something malignant. Julian, an African-American who works in the hospital, is reluctant to treat Valentino despite his head injury. Why is it that these Americans treat Valentino as a subhuman, another entity entirely, when they are of the same flesh and blood? In a way, I think their treatment mirrors that of the Arabs in Africa and the Sudanese, who continually engage themselves in warfare even though they are united by their physical characteristics.

What is the What: Violence

Violence seems to be a very central—perhaps even necessary—part of What is the What. The novel begins with Valentino, the protagonist, being robbed by African-Americans. The events get even more shockingly violent as Valentino recounts the chaos that besets his once-peaceful village: the arrival of the SPLA rebels, and the massacre committed by the Arabs. Even the way the story was told seems hectic, jumping from one timeframe to another. I suppose the violence serves as the author’s political statement about the plight of the Dinkas in Sudan. Yet interestingly, the author tells it with a self-sacrificing, painstaking patience, a tone devoid of anger.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor - What I've Learned (Chapters 10-18)

Sorry for the long, long, hiatus with the blogging. As far as I know, I've kept up with the summer reading at a fairly good pace throughout the whole summer (traveling by Caltrain to and from Palo Alto every day to work gives me the luxury of being able to read my summer books). I usually have my messy drafts written down in my word processor (and at times, my smartphone) so it's just a matter of organizing and formatting the content that I've been lagging at right now. Sorry I haven't been able to post everything faster because I've been caught with work, doctor's appointments, and even more doctor's appointments. I hope I will get everything sorted out eventually.

But I digress.

Here is the continuation of the notes I took as I read How to Read Literature Like a Professor.

10. WEATHER:

a. Rain – flood and rebirth, plot devices, misery, isolating, democratic (rain falls on everyone equally), sad, cleansing, brings forth the emergence of life, forms rainbows – peace, pact between God and man, flashy.

b. Fog – confusing.

c. Snow - clean, stark, severe, warm (as an insulating blanket, paradoxically), inhospitable, inviting, playful, suffocating, filthy (after time), great unifier because it falls upon all the living and the dead.

11. VIOLENCE:

a. Violence, one of the most personal and even intimate acts between human beings, always means something in literature.

b. People-on-people violence may have larger societal and cultural implications

c. Authors kill their characters to work magic with the plot

d. Compared to murders in mystery novels, violence on other characters have meaning because the author usually takes time to develop the characters, therefore adding weight.

e. Always ask: Does this violence/death resemble other works? Why do they die; what is the purpose of their death? Why this death and not another?

12. SYMBOLS: If an aspect of literature (can be actions, things, people, events) refers to one specific, distinguishable thing, it’s allegory; if it can mean many things, it’s a symbol. But you can’t just say x means y—try to analyze what the author’s trying to do with the said symbol.

13. POLITICS: Since literature is often written in context of, or in response to, the events of its time, and most definitely influenced by the leading customs during the time it was written, it’s a statement of the social, political, cultural, and economical conditions of its time (even if it doesn’t mean to make a statement).

14. CHRIST: A character does not need to match all the qualities of Christ in order to be a Christ figure. If the few criteria are met, try to figure out the point the writer wants to make—does the Christ reference emphasize the character’s sacrifice, redemption, betrayal, miracle, etc.?

15. FLYING

a. Usually symbolizes freedom and/or ascension (towards heaven and whatnot)

b. Flying doesn’t need to be literal—can be symbolic flying

c. When flying, pay attention to what they symbolize when they fly (angel? bird? butterfly? vulture? bee?).

d. Flying can also be used to emphasize:

i. The intensity of falling—as in the case of Icarus

ii. Being grounded (and probably unable to escape)—as in the case of Angela Carter’s bird character

iii. Play on our fears of falling to our deaths

16. THINGS = SEX: Sometimes, cigars aren’t just cigars. Things symbolize sex. Due to vast censorship, writers can’t show explicit sex, so they show it through symbols. Time to psychoanalyze like Freud! Keep on the lookout for phallic and female symbols. I have to admit it, LOOKING FOR INNUENDOS IS PROBABLY THE MOST FUN ASPECT OF ANALYZING LITERATURE. YESSSSSS.

17. ACTUAL SEX DOES NOT SYMBOLIZE SEX: Sex always implies something else symbolically besides sex. If sex simply means sex, it’s what we fanfiction writers call PWP, or “porn without plot.”

a. Implications of sex

i. Relationship dynamics – pay attention to the relationship of the parties involved

* Pleasure, sacrifice, submission, rebellion, resignation, supplication, domination

* Class struggles (sex from different classes)

ii. It can say something about the attitudes of the characters

iii. Conflicts – against society, against censorship, against gender roles, etc.

iv. Enlightenment and loss of innocence

18. DROWNING: Character suicide is a character’s way of exerting control from their otherwise uncontrollable life. Emerging from water (whether after drowning or not) can symbolize baptism—and with it death, rebirth, change, and a new identity.

1984: Julia and Winston

According to Foster from How to Read Literature Like a Professor, sex scenes in a book symbolize anything BUT sex. This is true for Winston and Julia in the book; their relationship is more of a symbol of man's rebellion against the Brotherhood, man's will to live freely, and the will of the human spirit to endure. Julia engages herself in a minutia of illegal sexual affairs for fun. Winston and Julia sleep together because they wanted to rebel against the very strict rules of their totalitarian society. Julia, who works at Minitrue, creates cheap pornography to feed to the proles.

Catch-22: First impressions

I was very excited that Catch-22 was in the summer reading list for AP English because I’ve been wanting to read it since sophomore year. Catch-22 appealed to me because I really love movies and literature that are set during World War II. To be honest, I knew little about Catch-22 apart from the fact that it is a portrayal of war; thus, I expected it to be somber, gruesome, and serious. You could guess how perplexed I was when I saw the back cover description, which described Catch-22 as a very funny book.

1984: The novel's various ironies

George Orwell employs a significant amount of irony in 1984 to convince his readers of the perversion of totalitarianism and of the dangers of Communism and Fascism.

Verbal Irony

1. The various Ministries: Ministry of Love, Ministry of Peace, Ministry of Plenty, and the Ministry of Truth. These ministries are similar to the "Committees" in Communist societies, particularly the Soviet Union in that, for propaganda purposes, these committees are given names of integrity but in truth they function in the complete opposite.
2. Big "Brother": He's not at all friendly and benevolent as they make him out to be.
3. Victory Mansions: Sounds luxurious, but all Winston lives in is a barely furnished, dilapidated little apartment.
4. "War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength."

Situational Irony

1. The proles, although they are technically considered inferior to the Inner and Outer Party members, live a "freer," less stratified life.
2. Julia, a member of the Junior Anti-Sex League and an ardent participant of the Two Minutes of Hate, is actually promiscuous and a subversive.

Dramatic Irony

1. O'Brien: The reader is led to think that other characters, such as Julia, will cause Winston's demise in the book. O'Brien, who talks of dissatisfaction towards the party and expresses the want for rebellion, is actually one of the Inner Party's most loyal folks.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor - What I've Learned (Chapters 1-9)

As I started reading Catch-22, I found it quite hard to remember all the techniques that were taught in How to Read Literature like a Professor. So, in order to be able to remember the aspects of a story that I should be looking for in order to analyze it well, I organized the tricks into easy, memorable one-liners (or multi-liners) that I can print for later reference.

1. QUESTS: Quests are used for attaining self-knowledge and/or self-improvement, usually by novices/naïve people.
2. MEALS: Meals, which symbolize camaraderie, usually reflect the dynamics/relationships of the people sharing the meal.
3. VAMPIRES: Anything that takes advantage of someone and/or sucks the life of someone is a symbolic vampire. Real vampires, on the other hand, usually symbolize something subliminal, such as sex.
4. SONNETS: Don’t just look at the content of the poem; look at how it looks like visually—it might provide clues as to the meaning the poem conveys.
5. IT PROBABLY CAME FROM SOMEWHERE: No work of literature is wholly original—the story you’re reading, or a character, is probably a derivative of some other story.
6. SHAKESPEARE: …is everywhere! From the plots to the famous one-liners. His ubiquity gives your literature authority, in a way that since everyone knows Shakespeare one way or another they’re going to get what you’re meaning.
7. BIBLE: …is also everywhere—in Western literature, at least. So, stack up your knowledge of the Scriptures, because Biblical references are bound to be everywhere.
8. HANSEL&GRETEL: …is also everywhere. Everyone knows them because everyone was taught about them when they were once kids.
9. MYTHS: There’s bound to be heavy references to Greek, Roman, or other kinds of Euro- or American- myths somewhere in literature. Be on the lookout.