The Purpose of Literature

After reading literature from a variety of different cultures and time periods over the course of this semester, I believe I have gained a better understanding of the purpose of literature. At the beginning of the course, my answer to the question would be very different. But now I believe the purpose of Literature is to explain the purpose of man and understand what happens to man after death. In almost every story there is a higher being or beings, a higher authority that is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. The characters in the stories often have to make a decision as to whether they will comply with what the gods say to do and be content with their state. Or they can try to resist the higher authority. There will always be new literature because people will never find a concrete answer to these types of questions. There will never be a textbook that can say for a matter of fact, this is why you are here and this is where you go after you die and this is what you should do with your life. Many different religions try to answer these questions but of course nobody can come to agree upon one answer to these questions. Literature doesn't always come out and say that it is addressing man's dilemma but it a re-occuring underlying theme in almost every piece of literature. If we, as the reader, pay close attention to these underlying themes, we can gain a better of understanding of the works themselves as well as gaining insight to our lives. By piecing together different works from different cultures, all seeking to explain mans existence, I believe we can gain a better understanding of our humanity.

The relationships in King Lear

I found myself very interested in this week's reading. I was extremely interested in the punishing of Gloucester. Cornwall and Regan mercilessly gouged out Gloucester's eyes somewhat ironically for treason;  both Cornwall and Regan are both treasonous on the grounds that they have abandoned King Lear. The servants in the household start to finally realize how terrible the sisters and their husbands are when Cornwall is torturing Gloucester. One servant tells Cornwall to stop and that he will fight to the death before he sees Cornwall gouge out another one of Gloucester's eyes. Then at the end of the scene, two more servants also state their dislike for both of their masters. It seems as if this is a foreshadowing of the ruin of the sisters and their husbands. I certainly do hope there is a blood bath at the end of King Lear, like the end of Shakespeare's Hamlet, to avenge all the wrongs done. I also feel a great amount of sympathy for Gloucester and Edgar. They are both in very tough situations in this part of the story. Edgar has agreed to lead his father to the cliffs of Dover, where he will apparently jump off killing himself. The pain felt by Edgar in leading his blind father to his death is I'm sure almost unbearable.  Gloucester is also suffering greatly physically from his injuries but also mentally because he knows he has wrongfully outcast his faithful son Edgar. The bonds between parents and children have become even  more important at this point in the story. Shakespeare is definitely trying to make people think about those people that are closest to us in our life and highlight the fact that some people are only there for us when they can get something in return, while some people will be there for us no matter what (like Kent). I believe from reading King Lear we all get a little helpful hint to re-evaluate our friendships and bonds and prioritize those relationships based on how truthful and honest those people involved are to us.

King Lear

Communication...! So far King Lear has been full of characters who are very poor communicators and which has led to the very tangled and intriguing plot line in King Lear. First, to start the whole story off, Cordelia fails to communicate her love to her father effectively when the King is giving out the shares of his kingdom. She seems to be in some ways like Antigone, to proud to concede to others in order to work toward a compromise. Yes King Lear was just playing a sort of game to see how his daughters would react, but Cordelia doesn't play along, she comes back with a witty way of saying the truth and creating discord. If she had but communicated her love in different words, then she could be happily married enjoying a third of her fathers kingdom. Another instance of poor miscommunication can be seen in Edgar. Edgar learns from Edmund that his father is upset with him but he never communicates with his father to try to clarify his innocence. He simply takes Edmunds word for it and goes into hiding. It seems that Edgar could have avoided the whole problem if he had sent a letter or talked to Gloucester. Gloucester also conveys poor communication skills. He says whatever he wants whenever he feels like it, as apparent through his conversation with Kent at the beginning of the play concerning Edmund. The only one who seemingly has any sense and communicate efficiently is ironically the Fool. The Fool is the only one who seems to see the big picture and is able to talk some sense into Lear. He is not afraid to speak his mind and he says what he means, and based on the parts of the book I have read, it has kept him out of trouble as well. I definitely think that some of the other characters in King Lear would be alot better off if they followed the example of effective communication set by the Fool.

Sunjata

Alrighty welcome back for another edition of Chris' corner! This week I will be discussing the african folk tale Sunjata.
The thing that stuck out to me the most was the way in which the story was told. In Africa, there are men called griots who have the role of singing the local stories. In one way they are there for entertainment but they also were responsible for preserving many stories specefic to the African culture. In reading the text, it often seemed like the author was repeating his words. I found myself saying okay I get it, no need to repeat...But then I remembered that these words were being sung! In today's pop music, there is almost always a chorus, a few words or a phrase that is repeated in a song. I believe this is what the author, the griot, is doing when he repeats his words...he is making the story more melodious and pleasing to the ear.
Another thing that interested me was the character flaws in Sunjata. Two examples come to mind 1) Sunjata steals the strip of cloth that is worth one shilling and six pence from his brothers 2) He becomes prideful when he boasts that he will shoot the cotton tree and it will fall down if his mother was pregnant with him for seven years and never had a fright. Although Sunjata does show strong character qualities, such as confidence, wisdom, and leadership qualities, he does fall short in the two examples listed. These flaws allow the reader to relate with Sunjata a little bit more through his humanity. Ah one more thing that could be seen as a flaw...when he was a baby he refused to stand up because he was angry that he was denied the kingship! I mean come on, your really going to crawl around for seven years just because your pissed you didn't get to be king? Life's not fair Sunjata, get over it, get off your butt and make something of your life!

Genji

There were definitely some slow parts in The Tale of Genji...At times I really wish there had been a more affective way of communicating other than sending short two lined poems back and forth by way of messenger. At first it seemed mysterious and interesting but then it became boring and I just wanted to get on with the story.
The story picks back up when Genji meets up with the lower class woman. He has been talking to her for a long time and has been wavering the whole story as to whether or not he should pursue her. He questions his feelings and can't believe that he is attracted so much to her. At this point in the story the reader finally sees that Genji has the capability of having more than a superficial relationship with a woman. Even after he sleeps with another woman in the palace, he wakes up in the morning saying "Though loath to be taxed with seeking fresher blooms, I feel impelled to pluck this morning glory." Genji straight up tells her that he is looking for someone new and "fresh". This new person is the lower class woman, she is not amazingly beautiful and she is not that educated but she is something entirely different than all the other women Genji has been around, and Genji becomes greatly attracted to her.
I felt extreme sympathy for Genji when the girl that he loved tragically died. He felt that it was his fault that she died, because of the evil spirits of his dreams. After all the talk of not being able to find a woman that is worthy to be married in the beginning of the book, Genji finally finds a woman that he is pleased with and actually loves! Yet he doesn't ever really get to solidify this love and enjoy it...it is taken from him before he gets a chance to make something of it. I sympathize with Genji over the loss of loved ones, it is one of the hardest experiences we as humans have to face in this life. We cannot always control life though and like Genji we have to learn to move past our troubles even though we won't forget them.

Courtly Love

The love poetry we read from various poets from Spain and South France were very interesting works to read. They each had their own dinstinct views of love and the different aspect that contribute to what love really is. I think everyone can in some way or another relate to love, it is a topic that almost everyone has or will have at least some experience on the subject. It is one thing that we as human beings long for, to be loved by another with an burning passion. I also believe that we want to be able to show our love and faith and loyalty to another person, we as humans want to have that person who we can form a "spiritual union" with, as it says in The Dove's Necklace. The Dove's  Necklace tried to put into words the characteristics of love, and in some way try to define what true love looked like. It was interesting that Ibn Hazm had been through so much pain in his life, such as his the death of his father and his first love as well as his home being taken over by an opposing army, yet his heart was not hardened and he still was able to write a passionate love poem like the Dove's Necklace. My companion, I am going to make a vers that is refined also interested me because it wasn't talking of the same courtly love that was characteristic of the time. It was kind of funny that the man Guillaume IX was comparing his two different female lovers to two of his prized horses. After writing that work I'm sure no woman would ever to talk to him again, so it seems like Now when we see the meadows once again was an attempt to clear his name.

Thoughts on The Book of Margery Kempe

I found The Book of Margery Kempe to be an interesting read. Throughout the story I was left wondering, Is this woman looney? or is she really receiving some kind of visions/instruction from God. It seems that when she is possessed by demons and has to be locked away, that she could very easily be insane. However, I do believe that there can be demonic powers that can possess persons, so who knows, she really could have been possessed for a while. After she recovers from being possessed however, she doesn't seem to normalize any. Her personality and ideas seem to be literally all over the place. She wears extravagant clothes to be recognized and esteemed by the people living in her town, yet she becomes upset when others are just as respected as she is. She also randomly decides to have her own brewery and grain mill, which seems odd today, but think about how much more odd it would have been in that time for a woman! Im sure women of the day didn't go about starting their own businesses in order to make money, i feel like most men of that time would not have wanted their wives out trying to make money for the family. It was the man's job to bring in money for the family, not the woman's. Another part I found interesting was the withholding sex from her husband, which if God really did appear to her and tell her that she should refrain from having sex with her, it would seem to be contradicting what God says about sex in the Bible...Whether Margery really did have these visions or not is totally up to the reader to determine, however, the loyalty and determination to follow her beliefs is respectable regardless.