he smiled back.

At this point I’ll admit that I’m a bit behind in “Wise Blood” because I’m having a hard time getting into O’Connor’s plot line. I’ve read the back cover a few times and tried to follow along in class and I’m just not really into Hazel Mote’s whole struggle with his faith. It just seems that he is completely against Jesus in general, and yet he constantly brings the subject of Jesus, redemption, and religion into conversation at the most random times, such as on the train. I agree with what Lena’s blog said that it seems as if there is much more substance to Haze than O’Connor has shared thus far, and I can’t help but wonder when, if ever, that ‘something more’ may be revealed to us. I am far from giving up on “Wise Blood,” and because I have much more to read, the possibility of me loving it still exists; however, for now I am sort of disappointed. I loved each and every one of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories that we read as a class–I even started to read and have gotten through about half of her collection of stories, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Don’t get me wrong, I still maintain an open mind, but “Wise Blood” is much different than what I thought it would be.

At this point, I have read and reread parts of “The Moviegoer,” I have reflected upon the great deal of ideas that Percy throws your way as you grow increasingly better acquainted with Binx, and I have come to a conclusion. While I did not enjoy the novel all that much due to its lack in plot action and its inability to fully hold my attention, I feel as though I am able to put it aside not as a work that I found boring, but rather as a tangible symbol of the impact that Binx’s mundane story has had on me.  I am able to put “The Moviegoer” aside with an overall heightened sense of awareness of the small details in the coming and goings of my own life. I think that Binx is on to something with his “search.” At first, I found this concept a little peculiar myself, but I can’t help but wonder if Binx is right and I am wrong. I mean doesn’t everyone go through life in pursuit of something? Whether it be happiness, success, or simply a greater sense of purpose and meaning, each one of us is bound to pursue some such thing in our lifetime. And even as a great deal of us achieve such things, it seems as though there always exists the search for something more.

There’s something to be said for Percy’s style of zeroing in on what seem like the most obscure and minor details of Binx’s life–an approach to one’s life that should be implemented much more regularly. Taking note of small details and the overall mundane routines of our own lives can often lead to the realization of one’s purpose and direction, an experience that I’m sure many of us will become familiar with in the years to come if we have not already. I remain neutral towards the novel–I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it–but I think that it has many valuable and interesting concepts to offer up to each on of us. Cliché, yes, but I find that the old phrase “stop and smell the roses,” could not be more appropriate.

In all honesty, I wasn’t loving Percy’s novel when I finally caught up in the reading last night. While I was interested at times, the work as a whole seemed rather uneventful, and I frequently found my mind wandering from the text before me as I waited hopefully for something more to occur. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of in depth descriptions and somewhat of a subconscious narrative, but I lose interest if some form of action or legitimate plot movement is not present. So when I finally put down my book last night on page 102, I was frustrated to say the least.

In contrast to my initial hard feelings toward “The Moviegoer,” I am now thoroughly interested and intrigued by what I saw before as simply an in depth outline of Binx’s mundane life touching on his emotions, his relationships with his family and friends, and his “search,” which Percy does not make very clear or defined in my opinion. What changed my perception of the work as a whole was our class discussion today. After much thought and consideration of what was said concerning our own mundane lives and the value that can be placed on simplicity and lack of action, “The Moviegoer” has come into a new light for me. I found myself in agreement with much of what was said, such as that too often we only place worth and value on life that is compelling and fulfilling. Mike explained this well. But I have to wonder, how do we determine what is and is not compelling in one’s life? I think this varies based on the individual, and in my mind that means that some amount of mundaneness can provide the fulfillment one needs if he or she maintains the right perspective. The pace doesn’t bother me so much now as I am no longer yearning for something more to happen. I think at this point I am content to move slowly through Percy’s novel with this new understanding in the back of my mind.

I would like to take back what I previously said about not understanding the point of the random bickering and ramble that takes place between Guil and Ros. Besides providing a bit of comic relief, these conversations keep the play interesting, even if they are about nothing at times. As far as the connection I made between “The Hours” as it relates to “Mrs. Dalloway,” and “Ros and Guil Are Dead” as it relates to “Hamlet,” it has been on my mind throughout the reading. Though I am really enjoying a fresh perspective to the original “Hamlet” story, the way in which Cunningham reconstructed Woolf’s ideas still wins out over the way that Stoppard reconstructed Shakespeare’s ideas. Both approaches are similar, but Stoppard’s work lacks the depth and substance that Cunningham’s work provided for his readers, at least in my opinion.

One thing I did find rather interesting was today’s brief discussion of “a play within a play.” It’s very intriguing to me that just as Shakespeare constructed a play within a play, Stoppard has constructed a play within a play through Ros and Guil, and the two separate works become very similar and well linked. I am definitely enjoying the play as I look back and reflect on “Hamlet,” but I think I enjoyed reading an alternate interpretation right after completing the original, i.e. what we did with “Mrs. Dalloway” and “The Hours.”

Having only read part of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” I’m still not sure what the point of excessive coin flipping and questioning/thinking out loud is in the play. So much of the dialogue between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern seems useless and rather random. I am assuming this was intentional by Stoppard, but I can’t say I have been incredibly interested in what is going on so far. Now that the connection between Stoppard’s work and “Hamlet” are clear, however, I am starting to gain a bit more interest than I initially had. It is interesting to consider Hamlet’s story through the eyes and thoughts of his friends. Stoppard’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s work through two of the more minor characters reminds me of the way in which Cunningham interpreted “Mrs. Dalloway.” A lot of people in our class didn’t like Cunningham’s take on Woolf’s work because it seemed like he had not produced his own unique plot line, but had instead stolen all of Woolf’s original ideas. I never agreed with this because in my mind Cunningham made the characters of “The Hours” his own, and was able to construct several subplots which he creatively brought together in one way or another. While Stoppard is most certainly not copying Shakespeare and has contributed fresh dialogue and plot details of his own, he has, in a sense, reconstructed “Hamlet” just as Cunningham reconstructed “Mrs. Dalloway,” only he does so through the eyes of different characters than those which Shakespeare originally chose to use. I am wondering if those of you who did not enjoy “The Hours,” after reading “Mrs. Dalloway,” are in fact enjoying “Ros and Guil Are Dead” after reading “Hamlet?” Is each author’s concept not the same–to interpret an original and classic work in their own way? I believe that both author’s succeed in creating a new and unique work which is able to stand alone while simultaneously accompanying the original nicely.

I realize that this post is pretty late–I apologize for that. I am glad, however, that I put my book down a few days ago because I stopped right in the middle of Clarissa Dalloway’s chapter in which she speaks to Richard as he sits on his window sill, five stories from the ground, and in stopping I allowed my mind to guess what events would unfold in the next few pages. By allowing my own thoughts and images of the characters to wander and shape themselves for a few days, I sort of formulated my own ending to the novel, and in doing so I found the ending that Cunningham actually used to greatly surprise and intrigue me in the best way possible.

I was pleased with the ending, to say the least, just as I was pleased with the rest of “The Hours.” I do not think that this novel was too similar or even a copying of sorts of “Mrs. Dalloway,” as more than half of the class has concurred. Cunningham was clearly inspired by Virginia Woolf’s intriguing and unique work that is “Mrs. Dalloway,” and thus allowed his inspiration to formulate an entirely new approach of the work, compiling the most compelling aspects of Woolf’s novel with his own creative twist. I found it very interesting and rewarding to read such an interpretation of a book that I had just previously finished, and also to consider such thought processes as Woolf’s as a character in Cunningham’s own work, which, though fictional, seemed so logical and real. I disagree with the haters out there. I think that Cunningham’s efforts were a definite success—in fact I wish that more author’s chose to allow other previously written works to inspire in them their own interpretations and ultimately create a completely new work which initiates thought and reflection between two similar yet different novels, just as “The Hours” has done with “Mrs. Dalloway.”

It may be a ridiculous way to start a blog post, but I will do so anyway–I really love this novel. After reading Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway,” not only are the parallels that Cunningham makes between Woolf’s novel and his own interesting and worthy of discussion, but I feel that as I continue to read “The Hours,” I am simultaneously able to gain a deeper understanding for who Virginia Woolf was, and how she intended to characterize Clarissa Dalloway. Out of the Cunningham’s three narration choices, I find Mrs. Dalloway’s most similar to Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, and obviously so, but the most interesting character in my mind is Mrs. Laura Brown. There was a particular chapter that we discussed as a class today in which Mrs. Brown bakes a cake with her son (around page seventy six). I find the descriptions of the mother-child relationship within just the first few pages of this chapter incredibly intriguing, so much so that I found myself flipping to the start of this chapter to re-read once I reached the last page. It was mentioned in class that Mrs. Brown seems to change in her thought process and her feelings as a mother frequently, which I would agree with, but I think that deep down she really loves her son and her husband unconditionally as any mother or wife usually would. I think that her fleeting doubts about her family and her seemingly complex struggle between forced happiness and depression are normal feelings for many people to experience. She mentions that she feels awkward around her son, more so than her husband, and while this seems strange and almost unmotherly, in my mind it is justified. Many young and inexperienced mothers, I would assume, often find themselves feeling unsure of how they should interact with their children–what move to make next. Mrs. Brown’s thoughts toward her family are very real and complex, and I really enjoy reading her narration as her emotions and thoughts unfold and come together to determine how she will interact with her family. As I near the end of “The Hours,” I am interested to see how the characters lives come to relate further to one another’s as they revise their personal conflicts and/or approach their ultimate fate.

As I first began reading Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway,” the writing style seemed hard to follow, but after moving through the first few pages I became very interested in Woolf’s work. I really like how she pays attention to descriptions, using extensive detail to create vivid imagery that allows the reader to actually picture “this moment of June.” Clarissa Dalloway almost reminds me of Jane Austen’s character Emma. Although Clarissa isn’t a self-absorbed match maker like Emma, she still possesses similar qualities to Austen’s character that I think are worthy of comparison. Clarissa Dalloway, like Emma, finds herself in a seemingly complex web of relationships with various men, as well as in a position of high social status position as an adept woman in twentieth century London. I also found Clarissa’s relationship with Sally very intriguing. It will  be interesting to see just how the events of the day play out between Clarissa and her many acquaintances.

Last night being the first night of homework in almost a month, I almost forgot our reading assignment. And so as I remembered, and crawled into bed with a deep sigh hoping to quickly finish the thirty four pages and head to bed, I was far from excited. As I began reading Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying,” however, my AP U.S. History summer reading choice, “The Road to Revolution” by Jeff Shaara suddenly came to my mind. In this novel, Shaara narrates the history leading up to the revolution with a similar narrative style as Faulkner, alternating between various prominent revolutionary figures who each have their own perspectives and views considering the events that take place–a style I very much enjoyed.

Initially I could not figure out what was going on and who was who in Faulkner’s work; however, as I read further into the story and began to piece the various characterizations and plot elements together, I became very interested in Faulkner’s style, in a similar way that I had been with that of Shaara. Perhaps my attraction to a story told from the point of view of multiple narrators is in that not only do I as a reader gain the ability to consider what is taking place from almost every possible perspective, but I am able to gain a better understanding of who each character is based on how he  thinks and how his thoughts relate to his actions. Furthermore, my own thoughts tend to jump between varying topics by the second, and thus Faulkner’s realistic stream of consciousness narrative style seems fairly logical and in sync with my own stream of consciousness. As far as the story itself goes, I am very intrigued by this work so far. The interactions  between different characters, as well as the differences in how each perceives the other and that which has occurred up to this point, make for interesting thoughts and questions in my mind as Faulkner’s reader. I am interested to see how “As I Lay Dying” plays out, and to learn what truly goes on in each character’s mind.

I began my search of Dickinson, Frost, and Plath with Frost. I opened my Bedford Literature book to a familiar poem, “The Road Not Taken,” and proceeded to read each Frost poem, convinced that because I liked “The Road Not Taken” so much, that Frost was the poet I should choose to study. After reading Plath, my opinions had not yet changed; however, after reading my first Dickinson poem, I knew that she was the poet which I would study. Perhaps the reason that I was so intrigued by Dickinson’s poetry is that it is rather vague and open to interpretation in many cases. The first poem that I read, “Because I Could Not Stop For Death,” initially confused me, thus I proceeded to read the poem almost ten times in attempts to understand each piece or the puzzle Dickinson creates, as well as the meaning behind what she has written. I noticed that many of Dickinson’s interpretations of death are focused on death in a positive light, as an escape from a difficult life on earth to eternal life in a completely different realm. I think that the overall reason that I gravitated to Dickinson’s poetry is the way in which I connected with her upon reading “If I Should Die.” This poem offers the idea that “‘T is sweet to know that” everything will continue to live on as it has when someone dies, and that because of this, death remains “tranquil” and “serene.” Dickinson captured me with this expression as I view death in a similar sense–as a chance at eternal and new life. I think that death should be a peaceful and calm, and that death must be looked directly in the eyes and accepted, because if one does not learn to accept death it is no longer peaceful and beautiful as it can be, but rather dark and sorrowful. This poem caused me to reflect a bit on the death of my grandmother last June, and this is the point in which I felt the strongest connection to Dickinson. When cancer took her life, she passed tranquilly, and life has gone on as it had the seventy six years she was alive–a concept that Dickinson paints beautifully in this particular poem.