Jack's World War Rock-n-Roll Jukebox Diner

In 'Wide Sargasso Sea', by Jean Rhys, the effects of colonialism can be felt throughout the novel. We can see it in the dynamic between the blacks and whites, how the plot progresses, etc. Therefore, when Rochester was mistaken for a zombie, my mind didn't go immediately to the decaying, walking dead, but rather the Caribbean voodoo origins of the concept. In traditional folklore, zombies are reanimated bodies completely under the control of their bokor, or master. The zombies have no free will of their own, and are in effect slaves. Commonly, zombies have been interpreted as a metaphor for slavery. What's so interesting about the fact that zombies are mentioned in the story though, is who it's being applied to. Rochester, the white, upper class, male, is mistaken for a zombie by a girl. Does this show a paradigm shift in the way that the West Indies work? Additionally, the definition of the zombie in folklore sounds eerily familiar to Antoinette's future pre...

In class, when we were discussing Kamel Daoud's response novel, The Meursault Investigation, I was  intrigued by the notion that the Stranger was not an immediate account of the events of the novel, but rather a novel written by Meursault in prison. It got me thinking about how Meursault could be an unreliable narrator. Meursault's lack of emotion during most of the novel, and the way he shot the Arab made me wonder if Meursault was a psychopath. Meursault does not feel anything when shooting the Arab, save annoyance at the sun's rays. Could Meursault be writing his memoirs to try to seem more human? The lack of emotion for most of the novel could be because he fails to keep his mask of humanity on, before realizing his mistake and overcompensating at the end. I think that this interpretation of the Stranger adds an even darker element to the novel, as it calls to mind the disturbing memoirs of serial killers from their bars. The Stranger almost becomes a literary versio...

In Kafka's The Metamorphosis , protagonist Gregor finds himself "transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect". Rather than this transformation being more metaphorical in nature, it appears that Gregor is genuinely transformed into an insect. However, in act three, Gregor refers to himself breathing through his nostrils. As discussed in class, insects don't have nostrils-- thus perhaps Kafka is attempting to humanize Gregor by giving him human traits, or to show that he's not completely an insect. However, what if something much more horrifying is actually transpiring? Could Gregor actually be some grotesque combination of man and insect? Perhaps some of his human anatomy still exists within his chitinous exoskeleton. Would that change how Gregor is viewed by the reader? Would it affect his relationship with his family? One final note-- if his human anatomy exists within the bug shell, what if the shell was actually a cocoon? Could the title not refer to the i...

In The Sun Also Rises, the protagonist Jake is portrayed as rather intolerant of people unlike himself--that is to say--not white, straight, and Christian. Throughout the book, Jake makes several racist, homophobic, and antisemitic remarks--to the point where the book becomes legitimately cringe-inducing to read. Not to put too much of a Freudian spin on my interpretation, but I'm willing to bet that his aggressiveness is due to the injury he sustained during the war. Although Jake initially describes Robert Cohn fairly favorably, stating that he "likes him" in the first chapter, Jake's opinion quickly sours when it becomes clear Cohn intends on attempting to woo Brett. However, Jake's negative comments aren't just limited to attacks on Cohn's character, rather Jake seems to target Cohn's Jewish faith. However, we can't forget the root of Jake's problem in our discomfort with his antisemitism--he's jealous because Cohn got with Brett, and...

In Mrs. Dalloway , we find Clarissa trapped by societal expectations. Specifically, the fact that Clarissa has fulfilled the narrow goals that Edwardian era England had limited women to fulfilling. Namely, getting married and having babies. By the time the events of Mrs. Dalloway happen, Clarissa is already middle aged, with a husband and an already independent daughter. As a result, Clarissa feels empty and without passion for her life. However, we see Clarissa achieve satisfaction  when she does things outside of these roles society has set out for her-- most notably during her parties. However, but Peter and Richard deride her parties as frivolous affairs-- so we end up in a situation where Clarissa has nothing to live for, and the one thing that brings her any sort of purpose is derided by two of the most important men in her life as a waste of time. I think Wolfe is trying to highlight the futility of the Edwardian era ladys' existance.

In our in-class discussions of Mrs. Dalloway, we've discussed the relationships between Clarissa and Sally, and Septimus and Evans. However, we've never really discussed the possibility that Wolfe wasn't just describing intense friendship, but rather romances suppressed by the homophobic society they live in. When reflecting on her relationship with Sally, Clarissa describes their kiss as "most exquisite moment of her whole life". In contrast, Clarissa's relationship with her husband, Richard, seems devoid of the passion that she experienced with Sally. I think her describing her kiss with Sally as the most exquisite in her life, rather than any from Richard, might be because Clarissa's first love wasn't Richard or Peter, but rather Sally. Also interesting to note is how she remembers pausing to think to herself that Sally was in the same house as her--something most people do not when with friends, but rather with a romantic interest. However, giv...