Nii Parkes Reflection

A few classes ago, we had author Nii Parkes come into our class to give a lecture/discussion on his book Tail of the Blue Bird. Before he came, we as a class had read and discussed his book over the period of a few weeks. I thought having the author come in to discuss a book we had studied during our class was an extremely informative and cool experience. It is an incredible thing to be able to hear from the actual author why he wrote what he wrote and his own interpretation of his work. I can't remember ever having an experience like the one with Mr. Parkes, and I hope I will be able to do it again in the future. While for obvious reasons most authors cannot come to discuss their books, I thought it was great to have. Details like his scientific background and his interpretation of Kayo's choice completely altered the way that I viewed the text. I found the experience similar to last year when I read Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. After reading the novel, we as a class read a long interview of Faulkner himself, part of which described his interpretation of the text. In the interview, he said that the novel was based on a singular mental image of three brothers looking at their sister's "muddy drawers" while she was up in a tree. From that image, he was able to construct the complicated, four part novel. Before reading the interview, I did not fully appreciate the importance of that scene. After, I was able to re-read the text with a greater level of understanding. Knowing why an author wrote something can be very useful.
     On another note, in relation to our discussion last class, I think that how Faulkner wrote The Sound and the Fury is how many authors write short stories. Before writing anything, the author gets a picture of a single event or scene in their mind, and the rest of the story is fleshing out that one image by providing background and possibly a conclusion. For example, A Conversation From the Third Floor is the image of a women with a baby talking to her husband in prison. The Coffee-Cart Girl is the image of a women selling coffee during a labor strike. Papa, Snake & I is the image of a boy watching a snake bite two dogs. I believe that most short stories are essentially responses to the prompt of a mental image. With the image of a boy watching the snake, one will ask who is the boy? Why doesn't he do anything? Who are the dogs? By answering these questions, the author fleshes out the story and the characters. As with the Papa, Snake & I the image can lead to a conclusion, or as with A Conversation From the Third Floor, the story can exist entirely within the image. This does not work for all short stories, but it is how I view most of them.

Short Stories Reflection

The story that I have enjoyed the most so far in our reading has been B.L Honwana's Papa, Snake & I. The plot revolves around an unnamed male son and his day on his families farm. The stories primary characters are the boy, Sartina (a female worker for the family), the mother, the father, a snake, Toto (the family dog), and Wolf (another dog). There are several reasons why this story was the one that I have enjoyed the most, the first being the complexity. Even though the story is relatively short, there are many interesting plot devices being used by the author. The relationship between Sartina and the protagonist, the jealousy when the other man arrives and flirts with her, the dynamic between the two dogs, the relationship between the dogs and the snake, the lack of action from our protagonist, the dynamic between the father and son, the role of the mother, and the neighbor and fathers interaction all provide a deep and interesting text. This story did a great job of fleshing out all of these relationships and plot points in a relatively small window. For example, the line "For some unknown reason the war sensation of Sartina's body flowed through my senses. I managed to cling to her almost physical presence for a few minutes, and I wanted to fall asleep with her so as not to dream of dogs and snakes," (114). Those few lines completely change the readers perception of the narrator and the role of Sartina in the story. Because of its position at the end of the story, I can't help but wonder if the writer intended the dog and snake as the primary plot point at all.
      Another interesting dynamic is between the father and the neighbor. Contrary to the relationship between the two dogs, the two masters seem to have a different power shift. The father seemed more submissive, while conversely Toto was by far the more aggressive of the two dogs. The dog vs dog relationship compared to the master vs master creates for an interesting literary dynamic.
      The final literary technique that I liked was using one character to convey the message. In the dialogue between the father and the son, the father gives a speech about hope, saying "My son, one must have a hope. When one comes to the end of a day, and one knows that tomorrow will be another day just like it, and that things will always be the same, we have got to find the strength to keep on smiling, and keep on saying 'That is not important'" (113). With this speech, the author is able to bring his point across to the reader via one of the characters.
      The story does a great job of fleshing out many characters, introducing a complex plot, and conveying the message of the story all in a very short time period. It is because of the authors effectiveness in these areas that I enjoyed his story the most

Other Voice

Hiya, I'll give you a quick lesson on cooking Blognese pasta. It's pretty easy. Here are the steps:

1.  Go out and buy the needed ingredients
2.  Get out the food (Easy enough)
3.  Preheat the pan and make your sauce
3.  Start cooking.

Now its time to start talking about raking leaves . . . Don't ask me, I just do what I'm told. It seems like a pretty self explanatory thing: When you have leaves on your lawn, you rake them. I don't really know how I'm going to elaborate on this, but I still have a few minutes left. A rake is a long piece of wood attached to a plastic shape with prongs on the end. You pull it towards you, creating piles of leaves which you then put into garbage bags. Then you throw out the garbage bags? I'm kind of at a loss here. Just follow these steps and you'll be alright. Got it? Have fun!

Anowa Homework Post II

In our last class, we read Phase II of the Anowa. I thought that the second phase was interesting, and many of the key conflicts in the plot arose during this time. Anowa and her husband, Kofi Ako, are now somewhat prosperous. They have managed to accumulate wealth through some kind of trade. One of the main conflicts that has arisen in the story is how they deal with this new wealth in relation to the purchase of slaves. While Anowa is strongly opposed to human bondage, Kofi Ako sees it as a way to become more successful. As demonstrated by Anowa's parents and the old man and women, slavery was an accepted norm at the time, and it is Anowa who is acting in opposition to the standard of society. A second primary conflict emerges in Anowa's request to Kofi Ako that he marries more women. Here is where Kofi Ako differs form the social norm and Anowa maintains it. I found this to be an interesting contradiction that together they both embody social norms of modern society, yet oppose the other. They offer an interesting balance of both being for society in some ways, and against it in others. Oddly enough, they seem split on almost every issue, yet it is evident that Kofi Ako sincerely cares for Anowa. From the text, I can't help but feel that Anowa is somewhat more detatched in their relationship than Kofi Ako is. Compared to Okonkwo, Kofi Ako is a great husband to Anowa. I wonder how the two will continue to hold together in the future. 

Anowa Homework Post

In our last class, we discussed the first scene/section of the play Anowa. The story is about a young women and her two parents, discussing the daughters decision to marry Kofi Ako. Her two parents represent oddly mirror the two "narrators", whom the author dubs "the-mouth-that-eats-salt-and-pepper" Compared to the other three works that we have read, Anowa seems to have a more modern, western feel to me. It is the first novel that has solely highlighted domestic, family troubles without emphasis on the westernization of Africa. Apart from a few lines in the introduction, the play seems to be entirely focused on a characters decision to marry.  Anowa as a character has been an interesting combination of somewhat understandable on the stage, yet viewed by both the narrator and her parents as being somewhat of a loose cannon. A question arises as to which characters are reliable in the story-telling, and which are meant to be the bias. I can't help to think that after reading this chapter that Anowa in the future may do something that will be considered reckless.

Harkness Reflection II

Sept 27 - I spoke around average.
Sept 29 - I spoke more than most in the class
Oct 17 -I spoke slightly below average.
Oct 19 -  The sheet says I didn't make any points, but I remember talking in that class twice. Regardless, a below average participation.
Oct 21 -In this class I spoke slightly above average.
Oct 27 -  I spoke more than most in the class.
Nov 3 -  In this discussion I spoke a slightly above average number of times for a slightly above average amount.
    In this unit, I have tried my best to limit the comments I make to be substantive, text-based points and responses. I feel that I have been able to speak this unit with relevant and constructive points without drowning out the other students. While my participation did dip down for one class, overall I have participated a fairly high amount. I do, however, make an effort to step back and let others comment, absorbing the thoughts and interpretations of my class mates. In the future, I will try to do a better job of starting new trains of thoughts instead of expanding on those of my classmates.
Grade: 19/20