FINAL REFLECTION

Final Project Reflection

From this experience I learned that authors can place characters in a various amounts of moods based on one situation. Even though most of this was left for interpretation, I could think of different ways the story seems if you think of it a different way. Such as if you thought that Huck was going from a place of sadness from his mother and that is why he escaped or that he was just a young boy that wanted to explore; it completely changes the novel. My representation of my lens was similar when it came to that both boys were very self centered and naive in the beginning and slowly grew up a bit. They were different, because in most novels you could see the book come out in multiple ways, such as Huck could have been considered very mature for his age and actually made all of those decisions with a lot of previous thought or vice versus for the boys. I think I saw the novels in a different way, because the other novels just scratch the surface of what is going on, but the psychoanalytical lens allowed me to actually view what the characters could have been thinking. I think I missed the bigger picture in some parts, because I was so focused on the in depth thinking. The benefits of using a critical lens is that you get to see a completely different side of the novel. A downside is that you usually miss a lot of other things going on, because you are not focused on catching it. My beliefs didn't really change about this topic. 

SOS Reflecting

Text: Song of Solomon
Lens: Psychoanalytical

Throughout the novel we get to watch Milkman grow up to become a somewhat acceptable adult. Even though that is all he really aspires to be, he is still out of place. One of his biggest "secrets" is his undersized leg. He constantly tries to hide it and therefore actually ends up hiding his feeling coming from a sense of insecurity. In the beginning he is very immature, acting only in ways that would benefit himself and no one else. He generally fits in with the wealthy class, but even then he is seemingly out of place due to his leg and just the insecurity that ends up showing through. Even the kids at his school notice this and decide to pick on him, which doesn't help, because he then goes home and does not act very nice to his sisters or mother. Later on when he is an adult, his personality is still a bit off and you can notice this due to him walking the wrong way in crowds and just not being able to fit in. Even though he learns to be compassionate in the end, it doesn't seem like he knows that until it is too late and his friend actually dies. This development happened late, because he came from a place of immaturity that was actually passed down through his ancestors.

SOS Critical Lens

Text: Song of Solomon
Lens: Psychoanalytical

"A deep reverence for black females and black female network pervades Morrison's novel. She avoids romanticizing or idealizing women's hard circumstances, but every woman, except possibly Hagar, has small moments of triumph. And Morrison loves them and their moments of feistiness and overcoming odds. Granny who looked 'as though she might move the earth if she wanted to' ultimately bests the white nurse. Certainly Granny had to show deference to the white authority figure but she emerges as more aware: she knows what's going on she knows the people."

Since during this time women were not really idolized, they did not have that large of a part in the novel. This is because the novel was focusing on Milkman's problems where in the real days back then the women's problems would be put off to the side or just forgotten about. This type of mindset the author is showing in Milkman is a very self centered one, because he is meant to still be somewhat young and naive. Also since this is his ego and it is showing his hidden desires, the women were not a really large part in that since his main desire at that time was not women. Also there is a lot of emotional conflict going on between the sisters, which Milkman does not like to be a part of so he avoids it.

SOS Close reading

Text: Song of Solomon

Lens: Psychoanalytical

“He didn’t mean it. It happened before he was through. She’d stepped away from him to pick flowers, returned, and at the sound of her footsteps behind him, he’d turned around before he was through. It was becoming a habit—this concentration on things behind him. Almost as though there were no future to be had." 

This quote is showing the anxiety and nervousness Milkman has and the alienation. This sudden jerk shows how he feels a bit out of place in his society and how he always feels like he needs to watch his back. Unlike many children who usually come at the world with open arms, he is very closed off, which could be passed down from his father. He acts as if he is being hunted (which is actually foreshadowing a future event) where most children just act with a false sense of security. This is odd for a child his age, because children are not supposed to feel that type of stress and are not supposed to be scared to go out into the open world and discover something. On another note this is actually showing how he truly feels about his sisters, mom, and women in the book. His conscious could have done that on purpose and shows that he does not really care about the other women, which was not uncommon during that time period. This is showing his ego, because he is at an age where he has not yet fully developed compassion and sympathy where he is very self centered and feels as if that his problems are way greater than anyone elses.

Huck Finn Responding and Reflecting

Text : Huckleberry Finn by William Faulkner.

Critical Lens : Psychoanalytical

In the novel "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" a young boy, who had a lot of money was taken away by his drunken father, because of his greed. He tries many ways to get the money from him, but Huck planned in advance and actually "gave away" his money before hand. Then later on he becomes used to living with his father where he actually starts to question whether or not he wants to return to home, where there were rules and school. He then fakes his own death and decides to go on his own adventure so he does not have to go back to the Widow or his father. Along the way he finds the widow's old slave Jim and they bond and decide to continue the adventure together. Throughout Huck shows many different sides of himself, some that are actually surprising to watch. In certain parts he has to find a way to stir up some courage, such as using Tom Sawyer as an excuse while in others like helping a "runaway" slave he feels completely fine and even goes as far as dressing like a girl to find out what is going on in town. Throughout the novel Huck keeps finding different people to play the role of, some where he is helping the local con artists and some where he actually pretends to be Tom Sawyer so he can try to help Jim escape. I think this look for many different people shows that he is still trying to develop his own character and cannot decide which path he wants to go on. This is because Huck is still in the developing mindset where he likes to "try on" different personalities until he finds the one that fits best. I think through this Twain is trying to send the message that it is ok to not be sure of who you are as long as you are still helping others along the way. Also it is showing that even if you're not sure of something you should just go out and try it, because you'll most likely get an adventure out of it in the end.

Huck Finn Critical Lense Expert

Text: Huckleberry Finn by William Faulkner
Critical Lens: Psychoanalytical

"A Sound Heart and Deformed Conscience" by Henry Nash Smith was an interpretation of what Mark Twain was writing in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. On pages 370-371 Smith states that Huckleberry Finn is realizing how he would find ways to justify slavery. "Thus although Huck is obviously remembering the bits of theological jargon from sermons justifying slavery, they have become a part of his vocabulary." Smith also mentions then that Twain was paraphrasing this part when originally it was in direct quotes. This was so Huck could be in more intimate contact with the King and to show them connect on a different level. This allowed Twain to compare the two societies between vernacular values and the dominant culture. This allowed us to see the difference between the world of slavery and the world of freedom through this, because he showed more than one side of it, where throughout the novel it seemed more one sided. Also Jim is actually not in this part of the book, so there could be a different view on slavery. Also Smith mentions that Pa would usually consider himself the more civilized one, but that would only be because he was a white male at the time, but really he is depicted as one of the sloppiest characters within the novel.

Final Blog Entry Matt Khoury

Matt Khoury

AP Literature

Final Project Reflection

1. I learned a lot about the different perspectives authors can create within literature. Although an author might have one opinion, they can create a character that has a near opposite idea on something.
2. There were more differences than similarities between the two books. There is a very strong sense of racism in both books, but I believe Huck Finn had a stronger sense of it than Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon gave a perspective not offered in Huck Finn, which was the perspective of African-Americans after slavery.
3. I found a lot of different undertones throughout both books. You could tell how different characters felt about different situations in the book.
4. I missed a lot of the enjoyment you get from reading. Instead of being taken out of the real world and being immersed in the book, I was just reading it like I had to. It wasn’t all that fun.
5. There are many positives to reading through a critical lens, but there are also a lot of drawbacks. You can read the book multiple times, each time trying to read it from a different perspective, You can understand different perspectives, and you can understand what the author is trying to say. There is one major drawback, however. Reading it objectively takes out the subjectiveness of literature. Literature is supposed to be enjoyed as art, but it is very difficult to do so when you are reading it with a purpose other than enjoying the book.
6. My beliefs didn’t change, but reading through the lenses increased my belief in what I believe, especially after reading Song of Solomon.