Writer's Notebook

We Wear the Mask- Paul Laurence Dunbar

"We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes-

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile," (lines 1-4)

This small excerpt from the poem shows despair and grief behind the people wearing the mask. Dunbar really tries to portray a sense of denial and hiding behind the mask or shielding yourself from the rest of the world. This poem reminds me of slavery and the cruelty displayed towards minorities in the United States. There is always going to be someone who is picked on or someone that people are against, back then it was African American people, other times in history it was Asian Americans, and now it is Hispanics. These people have to hide behind all their hard coming because they realize that no one will give them sympathy. This poem shows that they those people don't want to be known for being weak and regretful, but instead they wanted to be remembered as being strong and putting up with all the things that occurred in their lives. The mask is symbolic of everything being okay, and they would rather have the world see them as something they are not than know them for something they are.

The technique that really stands out to me in this poem is the use of pathos. Dunbar's word choice plays a key part in developing pathos. The whole poem is about describing their turmoil with words instead of with events and occurrences. Instead of telling about times when they were hurt they indirectly talk about the good times. The poem talks about how people don't want the world to see their pain but by saying this the reader can see what these people are actually going through. "Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs?" This quotation shows how the author talks about what they don't want the world to know, which helps the development of pathos. By pointing out that they would rather be seen as happy than as sad it stresses the point of sad an why they feel this way. The mask helps with the development of pathos as well because it shows the importance of the mask and why the people are wearing it. This poem shows that even though people's situations might be horrid they would rather pretend to live happily than face their life.

Chapter 26:Irony

Lit/Prof

"A Good Man is Hard to Find"--Flannery O'Connor

In this chapter Foster talks about how irony trumps over everything else, every other chapter in the book has no meaning if irony is involved. He proves how significant it is by mentioning it several times throughout the book but saying that it was too big of a topic to handle and to wait until a later chapter. It is interesting that he decided to put irony as the last chapter of the book instead of the first since it is at the highest importance. Instead, he built up and used the as if it were the grand finale.

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” irony plays a key role in how the story plays out. The story starts out with a family trying to make a decision on where to go on vacation, while the grandmother wants to go to Tennessee her son wants to go to Florida. In order to prove her case the grandmother says that they shouldn’t go to Florida because there is a killer on the loose named the Misfit. But the family disagrees and starts on their vacation. On the way there the grandmother continues to tell her stories about her past, about when times were better and when you could trust people. As she tells her stories she tells about a house that has a secret compartment that is only a ways down the road. The eager grandkids really want to see it but on the way the get into a car accident. A car comes to help, but in that car is the Misfit and he ends up killing all of them.

The irony all really starts when she begins talking about the Misfit and joking about how if they go to Florida then they might get murdered. Another ironic part of the story is at the beginning of the story when the grandkids were saying that the grandmother couldn’t stay home because she couldn’t miss anything, she always wanted to be involved. In the end though, this got her into a lot of trouble and because of her continuous talking and stories the Misfit decides to kill her. But the irony doesn’t end there, the reason they wreck their car is because they are going to the house with the secret compartment, which the grandmother later recalls is actually in Tennessee.

Foster saves this chapter until the end in order to stress the importance that irony plays in a story but also to give examples and relate to other chapters when explaining it. No matter what the intentions of the author may be, presenting irony into a story changes the level of comprehension and enhances the response of the reader.

Chapter 25:Don't Read With Your Eyes

Lit/Prof

"Barn Burning"--William Faulkner

In this chapter Foster tells readers that sometime you have to read from a different perspective in order to get a full understanding of what is going on in a story. For example when you are reading literature from a different time period you should think as if you were a person from that time. He also explained that sometimes the main topic of a book is not the main focus; it is in fact an allusion to the main idea. This is why he states the title of this chapter as don’t read with your eyes. This pun is meant to say that don’t simply read the words, instead look for meaning behind those words.

In “Barn Burning” there are two view points that are supported in the story. One is the emotions of the young boy towards his father and the other is the story behind what his father is doing. The father has been in trouble several times by the law. Whenever a neighbor tells him something that he doesn’t want to hear, like in the beginning when the man tells him to keep his pig locked up, he goes and burns their barn down. The man has trained his son to stick up for him in court and say that he is innocent and whenever the trial is over the family moves to the next place. While the mother is unsupportive of her husband’s actions she is aware she can do nothing about it. The boy though, repeatedly tries to sell his father out at court and whenever his father tries to burn the barns he runs after him.

When they move to a new location and the father ruins the expensive rug he decides to get revenge and plans on burning the barn down instead of paying for the rug with ten bushels of corn. The boy has many negative thoughts about his father and wishes he could run away and not have to deal with all the troubles. As the man goes to burn the barn the boy runs after him and tells the people where his father is. As the little boy is running away from the scene he hears two gun shots and he knows from then on he no longer has to worry about his father’s burning past.

When first reading this story you may think that it is all about the father getting revenge on all the people he dislikes when really the story is about the little boy’s opinion of his father and how he makes a difference. This is what Foster means when he is speaking in this chapter, if you read this a certain way then you don’t get the same reaction as you would another way. By interpreting the story you can better understand why the story was told in the manner that it waas presented.

Chapter 24:Illness

Lit/Prof

"The Yellow Wallpaper"--Charlotte Perkins Gilman

In music artists often times compose songs about what they are going through in life or things that are happening around them. With the same approach Foster describes in this chapter of the book that authors often times write about illnesses or sickness that are surrounding them or they have encountered. He explains that each era has an illness that is used most commonly in writing. In early times it was consumption while in the present age it is AIDS. For some writers giving a deathly illness to a character is just a way to dispose of an unwanted member of the plot but for others this is a way to explain experiences that they have went through and show other people the traumatic affects that it has on the victim and their supportive people.

In this short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman the main character is suffering from a nervous disorder. She is forced to stay in a house that her husband rented in order to recuperate so that she may return to her normal lifestyle which includes a young child. Whenever they moved into the house the woman was deeply perturbed by the yellow wallpaper that surrounds the room where she is forced to stay most of the time. As time progresses she becomes so obsessed with the ugly wallpaper that she begins to see things. She no longer focuses on other things in her life like family or events; instead she only focuses on her health and the yellow wallpaper. The narrator thinks that in the wallpaper is a woman, in many different forms, trying to break out. Whenever the woman does get out (during the day) she sees her crawling around in order to be unnoticed by anyone else. By the end of the story the narrator tears off all the wallpaper and sets the woman free.

This story is very symbolic and has a deeper meaning than what is foreseen. The woman that is stuck in the wallpaper is in essence herself. She is no longer allowed to live her own life and is forced to conform to her husband’s desires. Whenever the “woman” escapes from the wallpaper and is creeping around in order not to be seen, it is like whenever the narrator is writing or doing something she is not supposed to be doing. She has to be very secretive and sneaky in order to allow herself the little independence that she desperately needs. Whenever she breaks the barrier between the wallpaper and herself, her sanity is all but gone. She no longer tries to hide her disease or how she truly feels instead, just like the woman in the wallpaper she creeps around sullenly.

In this chapter Foster shows readers that authors don’t simply use disease to make a sappy ending, instead it is way more personal. In both music and literature the writer tries to make a connection with the listener while still pertaining to their own lives.

Chapter 22:He's Blind For a Reason

Foster's Ideas

“There are a lot of things that have to happen when a writer introduces a blind character into a story, and even more in a play. Every move, every statement by or about that character has to accommodate the lack of sight; every other character has to notice, to behave differently, if only in subtle ways. In other words, the author has created a minor constellation of difficulties for himself by introducing a blind character into the work, so something important must be at stake when blindness pops up in a story. Clearly the author wants to emphasize other levels of sight and blindness beyond the physical. Moreover, such references are usually quite pervasive in a work where insight and blindness are at issue.” (pg 202/03)

Foster proves in this quotation that introducing a blind character into a piece or literature is quite a challenge for authors. When authors do decide to make a character blind they have to think of the consequences and reactions as well as all other aspects of the story and how it would pertain to this physical disability. There is a lot of work involved in ensuring that a blind person is represented correctly and that the character is authentic. Sometimes its more work for the author to make a blind character than it is the significance of the blind person in the story. Usually when a blind person is involved they are meant to be a symbol, something for other (main characters) to thrive off of. Ironically enough sometimes blind characters are used to help the sight of other (symbolically of course).

In the “Cathedral” Carver introduces the blind man to help the narrator see things in a different light. By introducing something different than what the narrator was accustomed to he had to conform to his wife’s desires to accept the man and along the way learned a lot about himself. Although Carver could have chose someone of a different race, religion, or ethnicity to represent something out of the normal he chose a blind man so that the narrator would have a sense of remorse for acting the way he did at the beginning of the short story. This also gave the narrator time to adjust without offending his guest, because the man was blind he could not see the face of disgust when he walked into the house but at the same time he could not see the face of approval when they were drawing the cathedral together.

Foster makes a valid statement by explaining the significance of blind characters in a novel; not only that but how difficult it may be for the author to inquire a way to fit them into the novel. Like Foster said there is usually a good reason why an author would put a lot of effort into having a blind man teach the lessons.

Chapter 20:Seasons

Lit/Prof

"Spring"--Charles Simic

This poem by Charles Simic is representative of Foster’s ideas of seasons and how they affect literature. According to his beliefs (and many other people) whenever we think of spring we think of new life and peace, summer as romance, fall as harvest and tiresome and winter as death. This approach to the seasons is common in literature; whenever a story is set in the summertime there is a chance that it will involve some romance and if it is based in the winter there may be a hint of dismay. Authors stick to what is known by all readers instead of trying to persuade them to change their beliefs, but this is not to say there has never been a new beginning of life in the middle of autumn.

“Spring” starts out with exactly what the title is all about: what most people think when they say spring. The snow is melting, the birds are getting ready for a change in weather, and life is once again starting (the older women outside). The women hanging up the shirt on the line is symbolic of a fresh new start which is often a characteristic of spring. Then the poem continues with how the woman’s dress is lifted off of her and all she can do is laugh. This emotion is very expressive of spring, this easiness and virtue that can only be explained by the beginning of a new and lively season.

The way I interpret the poem is that the snow melting and the women’s dress rising off of her are both symbols of taking off all the layers of winter, shedding the gruesome film of the season past and opening the earth for a new beginning. I also think that the lifting of the dress could be interpreted differently. The night dress could directly represent winter itself, by her walking out in her nightdress and it merely being taken off of her it is like she is stripped of winter. It is the world’s way of saying that winter is over in an indirect context.

This chapter proves that season can alter the entire mood of a story and can transform a poem about a man’s visual into a representation of spring.

Interlude:One Story

Foster's Ideas

“One of our great storytellers, country singer Willie Nelson, was sitting around one day just noodling on the guitar, improvising melodies he’d never written down, never heard in quite those forms. His companion, a nonmusician whose name I forget, asked him how he could come up with all those tunes. ““They’re all around us,” old Willie said. “You just reach up and pick them out of the air.”” Stories are like that, too. That one story that has been going on forever is all around us. We- as reader or writers, tellers or listeners- understand each other, we share knowledge of the structures of our myths, we comprehend the logic of symbols, largely because we have access to the same swirl of story. We have only to reach out into the air and pluck a piece of it.” (pg 192)

In this chapter Foster goes back to a previous idea mentioned in the book about all literature and stories being compiled into one story. This idea of one story and intertextuality is the focus of this chapter as he goes more in depth about how in some way or another everything connects.

In this chapter Foster acknowledges the fact that from a young age readers can relate one piece of literature to another. This is the same for writers. Like most of us they grew up reading poetry and reading fairy tales and famous short stories, so when it comes time to writing they have to block this remembrance in order to be somewhat original. Sometimes this is a subconscious action that is fairly easy for writers to do but other times they consciously have to push things out of their memory in order for their own original ideas to burst through. In this way Foster explains that because writers (and all of us for that matter) are prone to recall the events that are familiar or common to them an overlap in ideas is inevitable.

In this quote he continues to back up his idea of “one story” by relating it to music. Literature and music have a lot in common: every song in one way or another is connected. Whether it be through lyrics or rhyme or rhythm in some way or another they all intertwine. Nelson makes a good point by stating that all the tunes are out there it’s just how you interpret them that changes from song to song. The same with literature: all the subjects and topics and characters are out there its just how the author chooses to portray his or her picture that changes each novel, poem, fairy tale, and short story.