Packrat – Naomi Long Madgett

Definition of packrat - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pack_rat

Definition of packrat in context to the poem - http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pack+rat

The following poem, Packrat, written by Naomi Long Madgett is a seemingly simple poem. At a second glance, a certain technical complexity that pervades through the poem can be noticed. Considering how each of the stanzas can just be written as a sentence, but the idea of removing punctuations all together to isolate certain words or pieces is interesting. This kind of increases the speed of reading as the brain does not have to process these punctuations. As Cormac McCarthy employs the same technique in his writing where he completely ditches apostrophes and writes the conversations without them.

(For more on his writing style http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/cormac-mccarthys-punctuation-rules.html)

Following is a stanza by stanza explication of the poem:

My trouble is

I always try to save

everything

Similar to the packrat, which builds nests and saves everything there. The writer also does the same. Instead of letting go and moving on she holds on to everything close to her heart and never let’s go. By saying ‘I’ she has introduced herself into this piece and is rather also giving us an insight into her mind. Through this we can also conclude that she has come to terms with her own feelings and weaknesses as she is accepting what she is subconsciously doing.

Old clocks and calendars

expired words buried

in open graves

Using metaphors to create images and to simplify the explanation is a really good concept and a very good tactic of efficient writing. Analogies are prevalent in this poem and are spread-out throughout this piece. Old clocks and calendars represent memoirs in the writer’s mind; those of old times and dates that she had spent and should have been forgotten, as they are dead memories (‘in open graves’) which aren’t meant to be revisited.

But hoarding grains of sand

keep shifting as rivers

redefine boundaries and seasons

In contrast, as everything moves on naturally, it is just the human mind that lingers on to past. These natural metaphors have been introduced to dictate the difference between man and nature and how degrading to one’s life it is to not follow the most crucial path of nature i.e. to move on.

Lengths of old string

rolled into neat balls

neither measure nor bind

Love as a whole is not measured when it is obtained. No unit can measure it but faith and feelings.

Nor do shelves laden with rancid sweets preserve

what ants continually nibble away

Love again is compared to sweets here. Something sweet that rots but is too hard to leave as it is one of the most precious things in the world and even ants tend to nibble away on it.

Love should be eaten

while it is ripe

and then the pits discarded

Here love has been objectified and quantified in contrast to the previous stanzas. Here we can sense a hopelessness that circles the writers mind as she drastically changes her opinion from how love cannot be measured to how love should be experienced when at peak and throwing away its remains.

Lord give meat last

one cracked bowl holding

absolutely nothing

Asking for an illusion that would give peace to her mind is what she prays for. The bowl describes a certainty that she asks for but then she wants it to be cracked as she wants to experience the feeling of achievement every time she gets something. Considering the bowl is cracked, anything that she gets would fall or drop out of it. So she would want to get more of it and as she keeps getting it, the feeling of continual achievement would keep her happy. But that is just an illusion again.

Prevalent themes: Hopelessness, Lost love, Unforgettable memories, Illusions

Graduation Day - Maya Angelou

Graduation Day by Maya Angelou is an excerpt from her Auto biography. This excerpt narrates her 8^th Grade Graduation Ceremony. As a pattern following 3 main sections, flowing into Graduation from Pre-Graduation and concluding to a very satisfying end.

Considering the time constraint, I am going to link the summary here. Please do refer to the same before moving forward. http://entertainmentguide.local.com/summary-the-graduation-maya-angelou-3385.html

The distinction that is naturally created between the blacks and whites in this excerpt shows us that what has been written in history and the torment the slave south has endured is no joke. As this is just a reflection of the same in a post-traumatic era. Prevalent themes and motifs of lingering hope and racism exist. Racism is a very important theme as it is important to understand the difference in lifestyle and standards followed by the whites compared to the blacks.

Important extracts

1. 1.       Unlike the white high school, Lafayette County Training School distinguished itself by having neither lawn, nor hedges, nor tennis court, nor climbing ivy.
2. 2.       …bats and balls could be borrowed from the P.E. teacher if the borrower was qualified and if the diamond wasn’t occupied.
3. 3.       …our usual assembly pattern: The American National Anthem, the pledge of allegiance, then the song every black person I knew called the Negro National Anthem.
4. 4.       (Enter white people)The shorter one walked to the speaker’s platform, and the tall one moved to the centre seat and sat down. But that was our Principal’s seat and already occupied.
5. 5.       The Central School (naturally, the white school was central) had already been granted improvements that would be in use in the fall. A well-known artist was coming from Little Rock to teach art to them.
6. 6.       The white kids were going to have a chance to become Galileos, Madame Curies and Edisons and Gauguins, and our boys (the girls weren’t even considered) would try to be Jesse Owens and Joe Louises.
7. 7.       Graduation, the hush-hush magic time of frills……had exposed us.
8. 8.       Donleavy was running for election … part of Arkansas
9. 9.       He finished, and since there was no need to give any… at the door
10. 10.   The ugliness they left was palpable… captain of my soul.
11. 11.   I thought about colours I hated : ecru, puce, lavender, beige and black

Line 1 and 2 show how well off the Central School was compared to the grammar school Maya Angelou was studying in. They weren’t even given proper facilities compared to the other school, considering they were in the same County.

Line 4 shows the arrogance of the shorter white person as he approached the seat of the Principal and his nonchalance dictated the importance they gave to the blacks.

Line 5 elucidates the fact that the white people in general are being provided with a lot compared to the blacks.

Line 6 employs racism to the job prospects the blacks have compared to the whites. Where whites excel in the academic areas and blacks in the athletic areas.

Para 7 After working so hard for the entire year and studying so much, it all seems to have gone to waste. Even after graduating as the topper of her class all this seemed very ambiguous as there is nothing for her to achieve as she knows that in the end she would be judged based on her colour and not her work. ‘We were maids and farmers, handymen and washerwomen, and anything higher that we aspired to was a farcical and presumptuous.’

Line 9 narrates how Donleavy left without greeting but merely nodding to the people as he left with his unintroduced companion.

Para 10 Here, after the departure of the white gentlemen, recitations were in procession. Elouise, the daughter of the Baptist Minister recited the fabled poem, Invictus by William Ernest Henley. Beautiful poem (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/invictus/). The last line of the poem ‘I am the master of the fate, I am the captain of my soul’, contrasts the statement made by Angelou in Para 7. Thus, creating a sense of hopelessness that lingers throughout.

Line 11 is the skin colours of the black people. This is important as it shows us the blame she puts on her being black and cursing the very fact that her achievement did not depend on her hard work but her colour.

Towards the last two pages of the short story, as the Negro National Anthem(as mentioned in the text) is being sung, each and every word of the same, which Angelou had never put any effort in listening to before, made it all clear to her now. Liberation, hard work, sacrifices, and acceptance has now captured her senses. Accepting not that she is from the graduating class of 1940 but also that she is a part of the beautiful Negro Race.

The excerpt ends with the acceptance to the community that she embraces and also that she is a part of a family of poets, preachers, musicians and romanticists.

Monkeys – Punyakante Wijenaike

More on the writer of this short story, Punyakante Wijenaike. 

(http://www.loc.gov/acq/ovop/delhi/salrp/punyakantewijenaike.html)

This short story narrates the life of a young Samanera (Buddhist monk in training) and his love towards the monkeys in the forest nearby which he visits every afternoon. The boy carries a bit of food with him every time he visits the forest. He feeds the monkeys and plays with them. Love, is what he experiences every time he spends time with the monkeys. At the time of departure he hates leaving the monkeys as he has to go back and complete the chores at the hermitage. Waking up early at 4 every morning to meditate and then complete the chores only to leave later on to beg for food and in the end come back to the monkeys. This was the monotonous life he led every day. The thought of being a monkey seemed to please him as the love the moneys shared between themselves is what he longed for.

One night, as he was bating he saw his own reflection in the water to be that of a monkey, only to realize after distorting the still water that it was just a trick of the mind. Later, when the boy was sweeping the compound with a broom, he noticed that the same monkeys had followed him there and were sitting on the treetops.

The same monkeys, in hordes, had followed him to the hermitage and this time they boldly started jumping and running in the hermitage disturbing the priests out of their morning meditation. The monkeys created a havoc by throwing the fruits grown by the chief priest around and ringing the temple bells.

After this incident, the Chief Priest led the young Samanera to an inner room. He made him understand the difference between men and animals. And how the life of a Samanera differed from those of animals and other human beings. At the end of the story he looks back at the rock and the trees for the last time and turns away, as now he must remember that after all he is a man.

The prevalent themes in the poem are that of love and humanity. Throughout the poem love acts as a constant as the young boy craves it but never shows it. The life of a Samanera and the sacrifices involved in leading such a life are ones to be thought of very carefully. Abandoning the essence of human life i.e love, to break the cycle of rebirth seems to be the effective conclusion of the life of a Samanera.

As the boy longed for love, he had to be told in the end that it is not the kind of life he could lead. Having peace within oneself is what is necessary as compared to love and other petty functions of life.

Arraignment Of The Men - Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

As we are introduced to the poem, and particularly its name, it is made very clear, as to what is going to be imparted to us in the five minutes of this beautiful piece of poetry.

This piece is written by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz during the latter half of the 17^th century. 

Considering the context and the background of the poetess is very important in this case, as there is a brief lapse that distorts the ideas of the 21^st century from the ideas of the 17^th century.

From being a self-taught scholar and poet, she was also a Hyronymite Nun of New Spain. Considered to be a well-known Mexican writer and also a writer of the Spanish golden age, she has carried two literary emblems to her deathbed. Being a woman and realising the potential of women as human beings (with lost hope); through her work, she has made it a point for everyone to realise that women are no less than men.

In this piece a very particular trend can be noticed; that of degrading men and accusing them of the women’s societal problems (which of course make sense). Right from the name of the poem to the last stanza, words such as, ’perverse’, ’witless’, ’levity’, ’crass’, ’creatures’ etc. are either used to describe men or what they do to the women or even the reaction to the thought of woman. 

Considering the context the argument seems feasible. It can be said that the social concept of gender equality didn’t really exist. Women never got a chance to explore or show their talents unless they were asked or allowed to do so.

Men and their dominating nature was narrated in this piece as well. Almost in every stanza the will of men is discussed and the fact that everything that the man wants to happen will happen and has to happen. ‘Witless Laws’ made by men with ‘logic crass’ isn’t exactly the best thing to have in this world. How these laws restrict women from achieving anything and the minimal freedom that is parted to them is reflected after a good reading of this poem.

Women being just objects of use and the hypocrisy that men employ when it comes to women is also a prevalent motif among the piece. The last stanza rightly proves so.

In this very biased piece of verses, she has brought about a certain disruption in the thought of equality and contrasts the point of the poem as she makes the user think of distinguishing man and woman instead of equality. Considering the time period this poem was written in shows us the inhumane gender inequality that existed. With the extreme gender partition that this poem creates, enchants one into thinking of man and woman as two different entities opposed to just human beings. That seems to be the only downside to the poem’s conclusion.

The Boarded Window - Ambrose Bierce

The Boarded Window is a short horror story written by Ambrose Bierce and is set in the early 1800’s. Rather than typing a full summary, I’ll provide a link to a page with an accurate and simple one:

http://murdertodissect.blogspot.in/2013/11/the-boarded-window-paragraph-by.html

The above page summarises the story paragraph by paragraph and explains practically everything required for direct questions. Strangely however, the page doesn’t make a single reference to magic realism.

Magic realism is, in simplest terms, any form of art that, while encompassing a range of subtly different concepts, share in common an acceptance of magic in the rational world. An accurate example of a magic realism painting is included below.

http://amazingezone.com/img/2012/August/Setowski/Magic-Realism-Tomek-Setowski-Poland-05.jpg

The story, ‘The Boarded Window’, makes extensive use of the magic realism in its closing paragraphs – in which the man’s wife’s corpse is attacked by the panther. The all too elements of human fear and panic are expertly conveyed through the flashes of lightning-illuminated vision that the man gets. This comprehendible fear is contrasted in the final lines by the discovery of a piece of the animal’s ear between the wife's teeth. This contrast may give rise to magic realism. This is most certainly not the only way that magic realism can be found in the piece; it is however, the most easily noticeable.

The story is an open-ended one in the fact that the mystery of his wife is never resolved (Was she dead before? Is she a zombie? Was she possessed? Is she dead now?). This uncertainty, the intentional failure of the author to clear up such questions, is a crucial component of an open ended story. 

Passion in the Desert - Honore De Balzac

The story Passion in the Desert by Honore De Balzac is a short piece on a friendship shared between a man and a panther in the Egyptian desert. Its primary theme is that of the beauty and simultaneous callousness of nature, and also explores the emotions generated when love and distrust mingle.

The story begins with a man talking to a woman who has just seen a man (M. Martin) working with a hyena. While she is convinced that M. Martin must have used some vile means to domesticate the creature to such an extent, the man insists that animals too, can be swayed by the same vices as men. In justification, the man begins to recount his first encounter with M. Martin. The first time they met, they went out to lunch where M. Martin recounted the story of when he was lost in the desert.

During the Nile war, a French soldier had been captured by an Arab regiment and made their prisoner. When provided with a suitable opportunity, the man escaped, only to find himself hopelessly lost in the scorching desert. He camps out near a well, where he finds a small cave in which to rest and shelter him from the sun’s rays. At night however, he wakes up to find that a giant Black Panther is sleeping beside him. Too afraid to move, the man sits, paralyzed in fear, waiting for the morning. In the morning, the panther wakes up, yet strangely makes no move to attack him, its appetite already sated by its meal from the other night.

For a while (the duration of time is not explicitly mentioned in the story) the man and panther live at peace together. They provide each other with a source of companionship. Despite the panther now allowing him to pet her, the soldier still acts warily around the panther. She eventually responds to his call, and he becomes passionately fond of her.

Eventually however, the distrust reaches a climax when, in a moment of fear, the man stabs the panther, owing to the latter biting his leg. He is found by soldiers of his regiment weeping over the lifeless panther.

The beauty of nature is dwelled on extensively in the piece as can be noted through the extremely descriptive language used by the author when speaking on the desert. He compares it to “An endless sea of black grains” and in the very end of the story, “God without mankind.”

The intensely clashing emotions of inexplicable love and logical mistrust are used to draw out the complex emotions that humans can feel only when love and distrust mingle. While such a concept could be likened to many surrealistic and interpretive notions (life, death, relationships, morality, etc.) it is wiser not to introduce any such comparisons as the story seems to be written to exist in a very realistic scope. The author was well known for being one of the first to introduce realism to the European literature scene. In his stories, the human characteristics of his characters serve to convey much more to the reader than a metaphorical analysis of their actions would.

The story is titled aptly as the passion of the relationship between the man and the panther is described accurately and in depth through the thoughts of the man and the actions of the panther. The idea of human insecurity is dealt with extensively in the story as the man continually suspects the panther of wanting to eat him, despite having only experienced love and warmth from the creature. The endless fear of what could happen and what logically should happen, eventually overpower the flickering beacon of optimism in the relationship of the man and the beast. This could be a means of the author implying that we should be less cynical in life, that we should enjoy things as they are, simple and beautiful, and not be overly suspicious, insecure, and distrustful of others.

By the Lake - Tu Fu

By the Lake is a poem, originally written in Chinese in the early 8^th century. The piece, though seemingly very complex, actually has very simple and prominent themes. There is a pronounced historical tone in which the poem progresses. Themes of upheaval and exile are equally present. The contrast between nature and man is explored extensively in the piece.

                While reading the piece we must consider the historical events which were occurring at that time. The poem is set during the An Lushan Rebellion that took place in China. During this time many people were forced to leave the country owing to the violence. The poet Tu Fu, had to leave the country too; thus the themes of upheaval come into the picture.

                The contrast between man and nature is shown by the irony in the question, “For whom have the willows and the rushes put on their fresh greenery?” The fact that the plants remain beautiful as ever despite the turbulent times is a comment on how whimsical man’s fate is, unable to remain constant and peaceful like the plants. The turbulence of the times is emphasized by the contrast of how good things were (implied as being prior to the usurper) and how things are now.

Though the above themes are not really open to interpretation, countless other themes and meanings can be taken from the text owing to the surreal sense in which the historical events are described. One could interpret the poem as being representative of memory or death; this is primarily possible from reading into the lines at the ending:

“It is human to have feelings and to shed tears for such things … my way is towards the south city but my gaze turns northwards”

The vagueness of the above line is a suitable habitat for sundry strange and seemingly unnecessary interpretations. However, fret not! If you can read into the poem and suitably justify your take on the poem, nobody can say you’re wrong. 

The Cactus - Hasan Manzar

The Cactus is a short story by Hasan Manzar set in Hyderabad, Pakistan. In it the author speaks on the after-effects of the youth’s departure to other countries to work and eventually live. Such migration often leaves the parents feeling incredibly lonely and alienated.

                The story comprises of a man (the narrator) and his wife visiting a house that is for sale as prospective buyers. At the house, the couple is greeted by an elderly man and his wife, the owners of the house. They show the buyers around but the latter decide that it is too large, both for their needs and their budget. The elderly couple then sit down for coffee with the narrator and his wife during which the house owners begin to talk about their children. They have 3 daughters and 2 sons, all of which are abroad, in Kuwait, Dubai or America.

                The story is not all that hard to interpret, the primary theme being, as mentioned earlier, the ramifications of migration. A sense of loneliness and emptiness pervades the piece, primarily manifested through the fact that the parents seem almost abandoned by their children and thrown aside. This sense is amplified by the seemingly commonplace nature of the story; many children, especially those from upper middle class families, leave the country for a better education and job. The fact that the rooms of the children remain neat and well maintained long after they have left generates pity for the parents in the contrast in the mindsets of the elderly and the young. While one has carelessly abandoned the other, one still cherishes the other.

                If you look closely at the piece, you may notice that no character’s name has been mentioned. This is not an unintentional doing, rather it is literary device frequently employed by writers. The fact that no names are mentioned increases the chances of the reader empathizing more with the characters. In addition to this, the withholding of names can also be indicative of just how widespread the problem of migration is; it is not limited to one or two families but many.

                At the end of the story, the author associates the story with a nest. This is owing to the fact that when birds grow old enough to fly, they tend to leave the nest and their parents and set out on their own life.

                Finally the image of the cactus seen by the buyers when they first enter the house bears a lot of significance. The cactus had grown so tall that it encountered the wooden shelf above. But rather than pruning the cactus, the family cut a hole in the overhanging shelf, allowing the cactus to grow freely. The cactus can be seen as a manifestation of the undying love that the parents hold for their children; they refuse to cut it even when it becomes a burden to do so. The properties of a cactus also come into play here, allowing us to link the title to even more. While cactuses are visually appealing with their bright green colours, they are enveloped in sharp vicious thorns that sting, embedding themselves in the flesh of the victim if touched. This could be compared to the love held by the parents for their children; painful to hold on to, yet too beautiful to let go of.

The Deer at Providencia - Annie Dillard

The Deer at Providencia is a short story by Annie Dillard which deals primarily with our response to suffering.

The story goes as follows. The author along with 3 of her friends from North America, are on vacation in the Amazon jungle, eating lunch with a tribe. While they are eating, the narrator notices a wounded deer tied to a pole. Upon asking the villagers about it, she discovers that it was caught in the morning and will probably be prepared for the evening meal. After the meal, she overhears some of the other tourists talking about her and her apparent lack of sympathy for the wounded creature. They are certain that if any of their wives were in her stead, they would have cried or at least attempted to help the deer. From this point, the story takes an abrupt turn.

The author immediately, with a switchover of barely a line or two, begins to talk about a man she had read about in the newspaper who had been burned severely for the second time. She describes the torment and agony that such victims must go through day after day and the high suicide rates of burn survivors. The story concludes with her giving a pitying glance and a kind word to the deer, followed by the line, “I knew at the time it was a ridiculous thing to say.”

The primary theme throughout the piece is that of the mystery of suffering, of pain and sorrow, and of its universality. People from all walks of life must endure it, money has no weight in its hands.

The vivid contrast between a bunch of well off people pitying an injured deer and a hideously burned man in pain and with no reason to live on, provides rooting for the aforementioned concept of sorrow’s universality. The tone in which the first half is written is quite descriptive and realistic, on a relatively upbeat note. The second part of the story is written with vivid details of the man suffering, and by doing so, renders the seemingly insignificant suffering of the deer obsolete.

The only thing in common between these two almost entirely clashing themes is the concept of suffering and our inability to do anything about it. The narrator couldn’t help the deer with her kind words at the end, and neither could she help the burn victim with a consoling letter. The implied conclusion is to accept that suffering is present in the world, but also accept the fact that the vast majority of the time, there is little to nothing that we can do about it.