Special visit

Today's class was one of the most interesting and thought provoking I've had in awhile. Being able to listen to the experiences of someone who was actually in such a controversial war was quite an experience. Listening to their points of view is always fascinating when trying to put into context what we hear when we listen to the news, read from newspapers or even from the government. Many times we do not know what it is that we should believe because we dont know how much information is being given to us. Media, government and even our own beliefs tend to sheild us from the realities that are happening. for instance today provided great inside into the issue of drug abuse during the war, i have read a few articles from the late 80's and early 90's completely denying that drug use was common among soldiers. So our guests insight along with the book have provided a more accurate picture as to what went on in reality. it is only through bits and pieces of information that one can truely gather the whole picture of an event for one must never rely completely on one source for gathering information.

Going After Cacciatto: In Pursuit of Innocence

With the finale of this book, one tends to conclude that in a way Paul needed an escape from all of the chaos that surrounded him. Sometimes, when we are not able to physically go somewhere our imaginations serve as the best refuge. Our mind can harbour us from the most disturbing and saddening situations, thus allowing us to become free even if it is for only a moment. This way of coping with such difficult situations like the Vietnam war in which Paul is in. Being such a young man, one can see that he has to grow up quickly. He is not able to experience the carefree feeling that many other people of his same age are experiencing due to them not going to war. But, having to face such situation as the war makes you grow up and change in ways that are unexpected. How many times have we met a friend of ours how is happy, carefree and content with life, but then gets to go to war and comes back a completely transformed person. Their ways of viewing life have changed dramatically. Because of this reflection of growth in Paul I conclude that this is a bildungroman book, we see transformation and a journey of somewhat going on thus enabling us to have a glimpse into a life in war.

The Violent Bear it Away II

To decide whether or not this novel is a bildungsroman was a very difficult thing to decide. We are so used to reading about characters who have happy endings or at least have things result for the best. Yet in this novel there was something so disturbing about it that personally it moved me to my very core. It could have been because it presents us with the dark side of real things. The events, characters and themes of this book are all things that maybe are not known to us and our inmediate surroundings but that inevitably are out there. Things so disturbing that our minds cannot possibly grasp the lure of such confussion and dispair as we see in all of the characters. In contrast to the characters we've seen before, many of them already had a predetermined mindset of their own and developed normally under societal standards. In the Violent Bear it away we saw a completely different young man who was immersed in something so deep that he could not overcome it on his own. Yet, characteristic of all bildungsroman is the adventure and a set journey in which the character embarks. Frankie goes on the journey to try and find himself and figure out life. thing which did not end well unfortunately. Yet the basis for this journey and wanting to grow is there, thus making is a bildungsroman.

The Violent Bear it Away: Part I

In starting to read this book I was half expecting to find some fantastic tale about far away lands as in Harry Potter. The other half was expecting to encounter something along the lines of a woman or young girl starting a journey of some sort to find herself. Yet what I came across while reading was something darker and deeper than any of the books that we have read so far. The main character in this book, in my opinion, cannot be read as easily and from time to time cannot be determined if he has made up his own mind or if he’s guided by previous suppositions. At one point during my reading I questioned whether or not the character was even a good person. Yet, when I asked myself this I ventured to try and explain why he had become the way he had. The boy in this story is named Frank even though he goes by the name Tarwater. We encounter him as a young boy of 14 who has had an isolated upbringing and was learned only in the ways his great uncle had taught him. He became comfortable in the way he was and struggled with the mission his great uncle had left him. He was caught in between trying to make his own decisions and attempting to listen to those around him. He reminded me greatly of Harry Potter because of the repression they both grew up in and the closeness in the age gap in which they discover their lives could be different.

The Bear: Part III

Having come to an end in reading the story of The Bear the question asked at the end of every book is whether or not the story is representative of a Bilingsroman? Every story in order to fall into this category has to show that the character and their environment have affected them in such a way that it has changed them. At the same time this change has to happen throughout the course of time. In The Bear we do happen to find a particular character who goes through transition and growth in a peculiar way. At first we don't know much about the character but are in a way experiencing the woods with him. Instead of reading discriptions about what the woods were like for him I felt that i was walking through them at the same time he was. When he was going out without a compass or anything manmade it was an experience for me as well to imagine being in the middle of no where without anything to guide me but intuition. This boy, Isaac, learns about himself while experiencing nature. He chooses the path of going out there and discovering what there is to be discovered. He ventures into the unknown with fear, yet he does so because he feels that is his calling. These experiences marked him in such a way that made him the man he grew up to be. Being this man helped him understand the burden of recieving an inheritance which he felt did not deserve and thus did not accept. He showed us truth, understanding and humanity at its most natural level. We don't need philosophy books to explain to us what is right or wrong, moral or immoral, we need to connect with our true selves in a true setting such as nature to help us gather our thoughts and understanding of a real world. So, the Bear in this case has proven to a Bildingsroman as well because of what he teaches us about himself and also about ourseleves as a human society as a whole.

The Bear: Part II

The question which we were left with was what is myth? Dr. Larson told us that this whole story was surrounded by the idea of myth. Yet, when myth comes to mind, I immediately think of Greek and Roman stories. Then I think about mythical creatures like the Lock Ness Monster or dragons and the sort. Yet in reality our conceptions about what a myth is couldn't be any further away from its true meaning. A myth is actually a sacred story concerning the origins of the world or how the world and the creatures in it came to be in their present form. Hence when reading over Faulkner's story we indeed do come across mythical beings in it. First off we have the Bear. How more mythical can we get than that? The bear is the legend of the being who roams the forest and cannot be killed. At the same time there is so much more surrounding the existance of the bear. This meaning impacts the lives of these men who travel for the sole purpose of seeing him. This reminds me of a pilgramage people traditionally do in the name of religion. These types of pilgramages are used to guide people and their spiritual experiences, much like these men that go hunting. To them, nature, the bear and hunting is in their spirit.

The Big Scary Bear

I started reading this story it struck me as being completely diffrent than any of the material we've been reading throughout the semester. I had never before read anything by Faulkner so when I picked up the book it was quite different and didn't think I would like it. But once I started getting through the descriptive part of the novel and focused on the actual situations it was a lot easier to understand. The story so far introduces us to a group of woodsmen, campers, or something along the lines of. Their annual trip into the woods consists of attempting to see and possibly kill a bear that has been around for ages. Within the group there is a young boy. This boy has a different connection with the woods, he enjoys it, some would say he has a bond with it. Due to this bond, as he grows he gets better as finding his way around the woods without compasses or any other manmade instrument. This surprises the rest of the group since they're older men who have more "experience" than the young lad. Another surprising fact is that the boy is the only one who has ever actually gotten close to the bear. While the others go for the sole purpose of finding the bear, the boy actually goes out and encounters him. This is facinating. A mix of nature and innocence meeting in the wild. We'll see what the rest of the book brings along and just how much this boy learns to develop in this world.