H/Freud/class summary

This post was long overdue, (I think) anyway, H was a fantastic book that gave me insight on just how misunderstood children can really be. I was kind of upset that Ben was robbed of innocence and more or less crushed down to normal at the end of the book, but at what cost? who would he grow up to be? and how long would that last? I think its awful the way his family treated him and especially the way dyson drugged him up. I wouldnt change the ending of the novel though because it wouldnt send the same message. I think if more parents read books like H, kids would be able to grow and flourish the way they should. Anyway, Freud played a major part in the way I read this book, and im glad i learned a lot about psychoanalysis and the way the human mind works. I feel as though I cant read a book now without reading from freud first, it gives a great perspective and new way to understand and think about the characters and their situations. I really enjoyed taking this class because it really made me think and see things from a subjective point of you which is something you dont really get to take advangtage of in todays world since so many people are caught up with their own opinions that they never stop to see things from a different perspective. I look forward to reading more on freud and trying to interpret and analyze books for my self.....It would be sick for book clubs and stuff!

Fun Home

Fun Home was probably one of the most incredible books i've read in a while. Although I enjoyed reading H as well,  the ending to Fun home was not what i expected it to be. When reading about alisons fathers death at one point and then having her reach out to him at the end, the organization threw me off. I was disturbed at the fact that even though she may not have had the best relatinship with her father, her mother and her siblings showed no remorse and even laughed at the thought of his death. When I finally reached the end i think it all made sense. Although her father may not have been perfect and maybe even a little disturbing at times, the author concluded the story with making me feel and understand him for who he was, especially since he reflected off of alison herself. And i finally realized that allison was happy her father was gone. Not because he was a bad person, (although again not perfect either) but because he was finally free of the chains of society that had held him down his entire life. Overall i thought this was a great read, i'm not even selling the book back, at least not yet, i gave it to my sister to read to see what she thinks.

H

H is a celebratory story. In the beginning readers are drawn into the world, of what appears to be a mentally challenged 12 yr old based on our biases, which are supplemented by the letters of the authority fiqures in the novel- Ben and Peggy Sherman, Dr, Dysan and his camp counselors.
Such influences cause the audience to at first sympathize with Benjamin who seemed to spend most of his time preoccupied in the Fantasy world of Eliot and Elliottown.
We are however, able to identify with him, because while growing up, most of us had an "imaginary' childhood friend (s), or would escape to a world of fantasies when we couldn't cope with life as it is.
We see how Ben manipulates the "system" at his own disposal, which ultimately revealed that he was just being a 12 yr old boy, seeing and accepting his world in his own time

Fun Home

Fun Home is an exciting yet revealing peak into the private world of relationships. However, we are able to identify with Bechdel in one way or another, on the subject of repression, finding out out who we are as individuals, and following such a path. We all can identify with the dysfunctional family that Bechdel writes about at some point in the novel. We are able to adapt to and identify with the family conflicts/ struggles that Bechdel highlights.
It is also amazing how she captures and recaptures the family , its' structure and struggles

The Freudian concept of the "double" is also present throughout and we are given a front row seat as we see the conflict unfolds and reaches a resolution

Final

Regarding this paper, I also agree with Nadia, I feel like I have so many ideas but don't know how to formulate them, and I hope it somehow makes sense when you read it.

Fun Home

This book was one of my favorites that we read this semester. It really shows the struggling that children have with their parents and how parents really make a difference sometimes in how well they parent their children. Kids everyday go through what Alison goes through, just no one speaks about it. The last chapter really tied everything together and I think gave Alison a sense of peace with everything.

Final Paper

I really had trouble with this paper because I couldn't find the words to put everything together. I don't even know if it makes sense.

Final Chapter Of Fun Home

I enjoyed the final chapter very much, I feel like it sort of tied the whole book together.
It was a bitter sweet ending. In a sense it feels like Alison did make sense of her relationship with her father and of the man he was, also understanding the difficulties of his situation. But at the same time it's sad that she had to I guess "kill her father" after he was already dead. But in the end you can see he was always there to support her and the picture really made it even more significant and sweet, it was the perfect ending in my opinion!

Fun Home

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Fun Home. First and foremost, I love that it's a graphic memoir and the recursive method that she told/displayed her story only made it easier to follow the story as if recounting a memory of my own. I'm still deciding on what to write the paper on with a few ideas/questions that I have:
In terms of the Family Romance, I'm constantly having to refer back to the piece because I'm not sure I can use it as a reference for Fun Home in terms of the "motive of revenge or retaliation" that a child holds towards his/her parents when growing up/understanding the dynamics between family members. I find that Bruce shows more of those child symptoms towards his family members because he has to hide the real him due to his own/others homophobia. I'm just not sure how to depict that role-reversal between Fun Home and Family Romance.
However, the ONE thing I thought I want to use is on page 40 of Family Romance is:

"Indeed, the whole effort to replace the real father by another who is more distinguished is merely an expression of the child's longing for the happy time gone by, when his father seemed to him the strongest and most distinguished men, and his mother the dearest and loveliest of women. He turns away from the man he now knows as his father to the one he believed in as a child."

I strictly like this quote because I can see how Alison wanted to tell her story to symbolicly "kill her dead father" and move on because despite being a not so warm or gentle father, she was accustomed to that version of her father (strict, intelligent, and experienced man) as opposed to the "big sissy" who had a lifelong and far reaching secret (gay, shady, suicidal).

A second brick wall I'm hitting is how to talk about the relationship between graphic novel and memoir (text and image). I'm not sure how to explain it but I do agree/see how images when rightfully organized can enhance the telling of a story. I feel like the author would need the perfect still shot scene/portrait to have it work hand-in-hand with the story.

Lastly, I have one question about Fun Home. On page 82, the scene where Alison and her girlfriend, Joan, return to her home over the summer to visit Helen Bechdel after Bruce's passing. Helen was getting rid of books from Bruce's library and offered Joan to take a book and not "just pick a paperback. Take something good." Joan picked up one by Wallace Stevens which Joan had said was a great pick and proceeded to quote a line from it; Alison narrates that the quote was about crucifixion. Joan decides to decline the book after Helen was done.
Anyway, I just want to know if Joan declined because as Alison pointed out what the quote was about, that Helen had sort of insulted her with the quote because she was aiming it towards the fact that Joan is a lesbian and it's her way of disapproving it. Or did Joan decline because Helen seemed to really like the book and Joan thought it'd be better if she kept it?

H

Just wanted to copy my notes onto the blog:

H was an exceptional read and out of all the "uncanny"-like readings we have taken on, I think it's the most relatable to some and evokes empathy from the rest. The reason why I say this is because H, despite being from many points of view, feels as if we, the reader, are browsing through someone's diary. It's all personal perspectives and to let outsiders in on this inner circle would be embarrassing. This feeling of private property is taken from many perspectives like Benjamin's mother, father, sister, doctor, friends, counselors, etc.
For Benjamin (and Elliot)-- the letters are only for Elliot(s) to see. The bit that Benjamin allows for others to see is often turned away and made fun of which only makes it harder for those who are genuinely interested in Benjamin and his fantasy world to be let in. Benjamin has it in his head that no one is going to bother dealing with him or try to understand who Elliot and what Elliottown is; this becomes a permanent rule of sorts in his world-- to not let anyone in. Precisely why Dr. Dysan hits a standstill each time he tries to work with Benjamin. Benjamin does too in a way, the reader sees a conflict arise between Benjamin and Elliot over letting others in. This (internal) conflict is seen mostly when Benjamin becomes close with Amelia. But anyway, I thought the book was great and an amazing example of what mental illness is. Many need to see it from another's perspective in order to help them and this book allows the an outsider to see the struggle of a 12 year old boy.

The last of Fun Home

First off, i just want to say i cant believe we have come to the final book and its ending! Overall, i liked Fun Home more than i thought i would. While reading Fun Home, i didnt really see the ending coming the way that it did in class yesterday. "But in the tricky reverse narration that impels our entwined stories, he was there to catch me when I leapt." As far as this quote goes, if i were to interpret it before reading the story, i wouldnt truly understand the message that Allison was trying to tell us in the end. I thought the ending was inspiring in many ways because there are many families and people in situations like this that are trapped and cant seem to let go and live to be who they really are. I feel that the ending to this story can impact many peoples lives that many be going through the same situation. Allison was able to tell us that in the end, it was a safe leap for here and she was able to save herself, unlike her dad. The story was quite different from the others we had read but i enjoyed it alot. I have a bunch of ideas in mind to write the paper and finalize my last thoughts.

Final Chapter of Fun Home

First off, I thought you knew who I was all this time Prof. Esteves!!!. It's JULES!. I thought the alias Mr. Jewelz was similar enough to my name.

But in regards to the final chapter, I noticed how it puts the whole book together. Think about Fun Home missing that last chapter, and the book is incomplete. The short-lived conversation Alison had with Bruce concerning the book he gave her to read and their similarity in having relations with the same sex was an important event that had to take place in order for Alison to be fully confident in who she is. She now didn't have to wonder and second guess if it was something she really wanted people to know. In my opinion, if she'd never known for sure about her father's sexual orientation, I don't she would have been able to succeed in being the Alison she is today.

Final Chapter of Fun Home

"But in the tricky reverse narration that impels our entwined stories, he was there to catch me when I leapt." I thought this quote was a nice way to end the story. Allison is constantly trying to come to terms with her father throughout the story, and although she realizes she can't pinpoint a specific way to view him, she does realize that in the end he was her support system.. minus his very apparent defects.
Also I find it interesting that Allison and Bruce represent the opposite of Daedalus and Icarus' story. Allison represents what Icarus could have done if he hadn't flew to close to the sun, and Bruce then becomes the risky individual who flew to close to the sun and suffered the consequence. I think this is an interesting view especially because i was trying so hard to see where they fit this story while reading the novel, and now it just makes much more sense.

Relating to Fun Home

I don't know why but after our class discussion on Monday, I started to realize I could relate to Allison Bechdel and Fun Home and her relationship with her father. Actually a lot more than I realized when I was actually reading the book. So I am glad that we can bring our own personal experiences in our papers because I feel like this can help.

I thought I would just write a little of my own story on here to see if you agree that I can talk a bout the similiar situation I have had with my father.

Like Allison my father was/is very strict and almost like a stranger. But one way we do connect is our fasicnation with music, we both sing and play the piano. Anything besides music we do not connect on nor do I even feel like I know him, a lot of my memories with him are negative ones. I don't know if we have ever had a direct conversation.
So I was thinking I could tie this in with my paper, and of course with a little more detail.

Another aspect of Bruce that I think is important in deciding how to feel about him is the fact that he is manic-depressive. Now Alison only mentions this in passing a few times but I think it definitely plays a role. I feel like the gay aspect is showcased in her novel because it is a big part of her and how she identifies with him. Although forced to be in the closet creates a certain anger and "meanness" in Bruce, some symptoms for bi-polar involves extreme risky behavior often times having to do with sex. This helps me work out the issues with Bruce and his affairs with the younger boys. Maybe a bias opinion cause I've dealt with that similar kind of secret coming out later in life with my mom being bi-polar. I was totally relating to the book even before you mentioned to add our own story into the paper. Now, my house is no Bechdel house, however the facade my mother creates is similar. For instance, she has, off the top of my head, 10 different collections in my kitchen alone. And the artwork and excessive purchasing of paintings when there is barely wall space left to put it is just funny and ridiculous. Like Alison, I grew up with that somewhat distaste, if you will, for my mother only to find we are quite similar. I'm not going to go into too much detail now but maybe you can help me figure out how to put this together for the paper.

Professor Estevez can you give me another explanation of Family Romance?

paper

I don't really understand the Oedipus complex..can you give me another explanation? Wouldn't it be kind of the opposite for Alison since she's a lesbian? i don't know I'm confused a little..

final paper

I know that we got the handout for what you want in the final paper, but i feel like I'm lost on what to write and I'm sort of getting nervous. I'm having the most trouble with linking the other texts back to Fun Home and Freud. Any ideas?

Fun home

Fun home was the most interesting novel we've read this semester just because it was something different. The pictures associated with the words made it a better story to understand and it felt like you lived it because you see every scene in the book and it makes you create some scenes of your own.

For the 3rd paper when we discuss Fun Home as a family romance we could give examples from the memoir right? and I don't understand what you mean when you say "But how do you kill a father that is already dead?"

The Disrupter of Identity

It is clear as we read through Shepard’s novel, H, that Benjamin has constructed an incredibly intricate reality for himself through the H doll, which acts as an uncanny object both for Benjamin, and for the major authority figures in the story. An uncanny object is something upon which one projects the figments of their unconscious. When observing Benjamin's relationship with Elliot it is not the projection of his unconscious we are looking for directly, but rather at the projection of his imagination through which we see the inner workings of his mind and that his fantasy has arisen out of necessity. Elliot exists only as a substitute to fulfill necessary functions which, as we can extract from the manifest content of the text, are neglected in the absence of his father.

In Freud’s essay The Uncanny, he says, “The double was originally an insurance against the extinction of the self...these ideas arose on the soil of boundless self love, the primordial narcissism which dominates the mental life of both the child and the primitive man...(142).” Benjamin and Elliot essentially share one ambiguous identity; though they are separate objects with distinct and separate features, Elliot is simply the personality that Benjamin has constructed and superimposed onto the H doll. The uncanny object acts as a double, because its features are only those which have been projected upon it from the subject. Elliot is a defense mechanism that Benjamin has created to protect himself from the absence of his his father

Jeffery Sherman is a character who, just like the Master in The Turn of the Screw, is characterized and strengthened by his absence. There are only two letters from Mr. Sherman throughout the entire novel, and neither are to Benjamin. It is clear how he regards Benjamin in his letter to the Reston’s prior to the start of camp.

Benjamin is a quiet boy and likes to be left alone. He seems content to keep himself busy, just as he is content remaining idle... Benjamin is happiest when left alone. We do not press him to speak a great deal, since he has nothing to say, and we hope you will do the same (Shepard 7).

Benjamin is surrounded by emptiness. He has been left in a world of solitude and his fantasy has ultimately been constructed to fill in the void left by his parents. Elliot guides him, protects him, provides insight and even at times chastisement, and is always there to listen to Benjamin. Elliot fulfills all the roles which his father blatantly neglects. And, of course, Elliot is completely invulnerable: her life is not confined to her physical body. Her soul exists immortally in Elliotown. Clearly primitive narcissism is being displayed here. Benjamin, likewise, does not relate to or take part in anything that his father values, but has invested his entire identity in Elliotown. At times he even renounces his humanity to be ‘an elliot’. This is the ultimate defense against annihilation of the self; if one is not a part of this world, not even human, then how would one’s identity possibly be threatened by anything human? In fact this is why he so adamantly shuns the human world around him. For instance, softball and swimming. These activities are being constantly imposed upon him by authority figures, and in fact represent mechanisms to annihilate the identity he has created. All authority figures in the story are trying “cure him” of his fantasy: to separate Elliot from Benjamin.

Just like in Freud’s interpretation of Hoffman’s “The Sandman”, where the father appears “as a disrupter of love...at whose hand’s castration is expected (140),” the authority figures in Shepard’s novel act as shadows of the supreme authority figure, the father, who fundamentally is a destroyer of identity. It is not the theft of the eyes that signifies the loss of the genitals, but the separation from Elliot. Castration Anxiety is the fear of the father robbing ones genitalia. In this case Benjamin’s genitals and his identity are represented by the same thing: Elliot. Several times throughout the story we can clearly see Benjamin demonstrating castration anxiety.

When you do mean things you can't tell Dave or Chris or the directors because you deserve to be gotten back... And if you lie and Dave catches you he will get really mad and it is scary to see Dave really mad...they might go through your stuff and take my letters away and hide them (Shepard 81).

Dr. Dyson asked to see my notebook and I said no. Good thing i had a feeling he would...I hate it when he looks so mad at me (Shepard 105).

It is obvious from the way Benjamin treats both Dave (though in a generally more positive light), and Dr. Dyson, that he views them as substitute fathers onto whom he sublimates his fear of castration from his own father. He projects his fear of the father figure coming and specifically taking away his letters to Elliot. The letters symbolize his genitalia as they are the way he remains connected with Elliot, the source of his identity. To speak in the words of Freud, I would not advise any opponent of the psychoanalytic view to appeal to Shepard’s story is in support of the contention that fear for the removal of Elliot something independent of the castration complex. For why is fear of Elliots removal so closely connected with the father figure? Why does the father always appear as the disrupter of identity? However, in the end, similarly to Nathaniel in ‘The Sandman,‘ Benjamin is not incorrect about what the father figure aims to do.

Of course this assumption rests on the idea that Benjamin’s genitals are indeed represented as his double Elliot. Further evidence connecting Elliot as a phallic symbol for Benjamin is evident in Part 3.

They (Elliots) are producing baby Elliots faster...they touch the rims of diagonal toefingers and armlegs to make themselves THREE DIMENSIONAL!...turning themselves into double O’s, cyllanders, figure eights ...flapping and trying to fly away. Their babies are DEFORMED (Shepard 102).

In Benjamin’s drugged state we must regard this delusional episode of fantasy in the same way we would approach a dream.

The invention of doubling has a counterpart in the language of dreams, which is fond of the idea of expressing the idea of castration by duplicating or multiplying the genital symbol...the primordial narcissism which dominates the mental life of both the child and the primitive man , and when this phase is surmounted, the meaning of ‘double’ changes: having once been an assurance of immortality, it becomes the uncanny harbinger of doom. (Freud 142).

Elliot’s representation as Benjamin’s genitalia and the source of his identity is undeniable. The only connection remaining is to establish the father as the destroyer of identity. He is is an annihilator of the self; a destroyer of any connections to identity that his children construct. Benjamin is not the source of the problem, his outbursts are simply symptoms of a larger problem directly linked to the neglect of the father. This is shown as even Hannah is subjected to the effects of the father’s absence; she too has created an uncanny object. She has taken the identity of John Lennon and superimposed it over herself. Just as Benjamin rejects his humanity, so Lemon rejects her roots; she has taken the identity provided for her by her parents through her name, and changed it to her suiting. And invariably the father comes as the disrupter of identity. “She (Hannah) wrote the name Lemon on her door, and Daddy and I punished her for writing on the walls (Shepard 43).” Perhaps a minor occurrence, but certainly symbolic of his attitude toward the identity of his children. And it only gets more severe. Later, when the father projects his fears onto one of Hannah’s toys he ends up literally destroying it. “Home Sucks. Daddy broke my Hair Do Jesse doll and I hate him (Shepard 104).” He cannot allow anything that threatens the identities he has chosen to impose upon his children exist.

The authority figures ultimately identify the H doll as the destroyer of normalcy, which is the father’s goal for Benjamin’s identity. His intent is to separate Elliot from Benjamin in order to restore normalcy and thus save his identity, however, by doing so he is ironically destroying the very identity he has forced Benjamin to undertake. By the end of the novel the father figure, looming sinisterly in the background, eventually succeeds in the castrating of Elliot from Benjamin. Their identities are successfully disrupted. However, as we can extract from the information provided, this will surely not fix the larger problematic which stems from the absence of the father. The fantasy, which arose only out of necessity, has now been annihilated, and with it the source of Benjamin’s identity, the true problem, however, continues undeterred. Benjamin will no doubt be cast into the same environment except this time their will be nothing, either imaginary or real, to fill in the annihilating absence left by the father, except his dwindling bottle of medication and a lifeless letter H.

Freud, Sigmund. The Uncanny, (2003). New York, Penguin Publishing,. Shepard,

Elizabeth. H , (1995). New York, Penguin Publishing

Re. Class

The topic that we brought up about wishful thinking when younger was interesting. I liked the answer someone gave about wishing to be Peter Pan because it was something i thought about as well. The thought of living in a parent free society, where you never get older, was the dream. It was just an idea to get back at my parents.

In regards to Oedipus, I read about how fate vs free will was a reoccuring theme. As much as I want this to be a part of my final paper, I can't find any instances in Fun Home that will accompany this theme.

The Freudian explaination of Deja Vu and latent dreams made me go back into Fun Home to find specific events corresponding with his theories.

It's interesting how almost everthing I've read excluding books assigned this semester, in some way, shape, or form have ties to Freudian concepts!

Just blogging some random thoughts.

All About H

From beginning to end I loved the book.

Part 1- I hated that the parents tried to force activities on him that he didn't want to participate in, and that Dr. Dysan was a terrible psychiatrist, and doctor. It's a shame his father did not play a huge role in comforting him or making him feel like a good son. His thoughts of Benjamin alone were enough to show the reader that he didn't think highly of his son, and didn't love him as a father should. Although Benjamin didn't write his parents, or Lemon, I did have appreciation for them to keep on writing him, to make him feel loved. Well, at least his mother.

Part 2- His letters back and forth with Elliot were amusing. I found it strange that Elliot was a girl. I liked his relationship between Amelia, it showed that he did have feelings and attachment to things other than his imaginary world. Even though his camp counselor didn't have great things to say about Benjamin to his friend, their relationship to Benjamin was meaningful and that's what matters in child development. I remember being in camp and having, what i hope now to be as a good relationship, with my counselors and it made me want to come back to camp. The dates were pretty weird too, but Elliotown time was different from Earth time, so I couldnt expect it to be month day and year format all the time.

Part 3- It tore me apart to know that he was institutionalized. In my opinion, he was a normal boy, who had some growing up issues, due to his terrible parents. His mom, who babies and pities him, and his father who belittles him. Yes, his bathroom problem was a little too much for 12 years old, but having an imaginary friend and town was his way of being himself and creative. In the end, Benjamin actually becomes crazy, and instead of making any type of sense, he blabbers in his last letter. I think he could have been saved even up to the point where Dr. Dysan says it's ill advised to bring Benjamin home. That pissed me off, because as the reader knowing Benjamin's thoughts, he didnt deserve to be there in the first place.

GREAT BOOK, don't ever take it off the syllabus for future classes.

Fun Home

H part 1+2+3

This book was really interesting to read. At first I thought it would be a very simple read since its made up of all letters, then I started to read. So many questions come up during reading, that I had to answer for myself soon creating an interesting job for a reader like me. I liked how each letter head gave an indication of the personality of the one who was writing the letter. For example how the camps was very kid friendly. It was interesting how the letters were divided into the the three parts. I felt the most important part was the second since you see how Benjamin interacts with Elliot. To me what stood out was how Elliot is a female, and not a male. He resonated more with a female personality more then male. The father figure gave me the creeps from the start. Jeffrey Sherman seems like such a horrible father. From always comparing Benjamin to his peers and almost belittling him could not have made for a healthy atmosphere at home. Hannah, his little sister, and Benjamin in their letters consistently mention the phrase "Don't cry over split milk" that their dad has taught them. It seems like this has a significant meaning that the reader needs to figure out. Peggy Sherman seems so overbearing and smothering almost. I feel as though Benjamin got caught up in all of his parents shortcomings. I love the job that Dr. Dysan did because he was able to handle Benjamin and withdraw him from Elliotville back into reality. Part Three was intense because no one knows the reasons why Benjamin landed in the mental hospital or when it happened. That was a frustrating aspect but as a reader made me think. I just want to give Benjamin a hug.

help with paper

Im having trouble understanding the difference bettween Disinter/est and Screen memories.Any suggestions?? Also i kinda feel that i dont have much to go on if i use Disinter/est for my paper...it leads me to talk about the questions given in the assignment...I feel like I can start on talking about the novel being a collective memory...and also making the parallel to archaelogy and the narrative as you you help us understand in the blog. but once i name a few examples of the bigger picture which is the problematicc???(right??) what happens next??? I feel like i wont go more than two pages. Then i thought maybe once i discuss certain parts of the problematic i can relate them with the Fort/Da theory...how benjamins deals with certain absenses...but i dont know..it seems a bit empty...im saying these things because??? I feel like i have no real point.Hoping you can help.....

Fun Home

Fun home for me was very enjoyable. I really enjoyed the fact that it was a graphic novel, being that i read a lot of comics when i was younger. What was actually kind of annoying was the reactions i got reading this novel. I don't know why..but people always seems to think graphic novels are immature. I usually follow there smirk reactions by asking them if they've heard about Freud's Screen memories..and how it plays a huge role in this novel...the answers are usually a no. Not that I have perfect understanding of Screen Memories....but that usually shuts them up,haha. But about the novel,one thing that I really connected to, is when Alison was taking like a pre-english trial i guess and she wondered whether the authors meant to connect their readings to certain philoshophers.I've always wondered about that but never asked. For instance we are reading all these novels and making connections to Freud but do you think these authors have actually researched these ideas and intertwined them with their work on purpose?? Another sad but true story that I related to,and we discussed in class is when the Dad tells Alison tough titties.My mom has said that to me way to many times as a child...I'm pretty sure i was about her age too...i thought it was pretty funny because I never thought other people said it. I was also pretty shock about the Dad having these affairs with young boys.. being that it was such a small town I'm surprised he didn't have worse allegations besides the whole buying a beer for a minor. What was interesting about that scene though, was that the older brother called the cops but the younger brother ended up apologizing to the father. I also wondered about the relationship between the dad and brothers..whether they shared the same sentiment or didn't get along...not too much about them but they look a bit more content then the mother,she seemed pretty miserable throughout the novel...which is understandable. But overall it was a good book, very funny....although i didn't necessarily catch on to any graphic meanings that added to the story as we begun to look at in class.

Fun Home

The fact that this story was a graphic one helped a lot when it came to reading and making sense of it. Since the novel tells the story of Bechdel’s childhood memories, and skips around a lot, the pictures help me to piece it all together. It’s interesting that we are able to see what she saw instead of just reading her retelling her story.
After our class discussion on Wednesday I looked more into the pictures in the novel, as well as their placement. I like the juxtaposition of certain photo. The pictures on the bottoms of pages 16 and 17, that we're pointed out in class show a lot about the Bechdel family. It goes well with the idea that the father treated his family like furniture. He wanted everything to be perfect. His attention was clearly always on the house and its components and never fully on his children or wife.
I reread the story of Deadalus and Icarus since Bechdel chose to use this Greek myth in regards to herself and her father. After reading both stories, I can see some and why Bechdel would use this comparison. Her father is Deadalus because they are both shut out from society, her father because of his hidden sexuality. But he was also so into his project of the wings, like her father an the house, that, as Bechdel questions on page 12, it is unclear as to if Deadalus really mourns Icarus or the wings.
Even though the story brings a main focus onto Bechdel's father, this helps to shed a lot of light on herself in my opinion. By looking at her fathers life, we are able to see the similar and dissimilar qualities that Bechdel and her father possess. Obviously they both struggle with their sexuality, but in different ways. Whereas Alison is open about it, her father is very secretive. They both turn to the idea of books, but her father buries himself in them while Alison goes out and finds people she can relate to as well.

Just some thoughts so far.

H

I found H was much easier to read than our previous works and I enjoyed reading it. Aside from The Sandman I had never read a work that was written through a series of letters. I liked how it started out by introducing Benjamin to us through the eyes of people who interact with him. Benjamin is clearly a troubled child and it seems as if the way he is treated by his parents troubles him even further. After reading Benjamin's letters to Elliot in the second part, and the letters Elliot writes to him, it becomes clear that there's a misunderstanding between him and his parents. They want him to to participate in the things he doesn't enjoy, and they list drama as a shunned activity. As it turns out drama is one of the things Benjamin likes. Mrs. Sherman seems like she is worried about him, sure, but she has no clue what to do about it. Where is Mr. Sherman through all of this? I'm convinced even when they call Benjamin, he doesn't speak to his father. In part 3, in a letter to his Mom, Benjamin can be quoted "Dr. Dysan said if you come with daddy next time we can make pizza bagels." It's clear that his Dad rarely visits. It seems a lot of Benjamin's problems may be due to neglect.

The alternative reality that Benjamin has created could have been something that he eventually grew out of. 12 might be a little old to be living in another spacetime, as Benjamin would say, but it might be harmful that he was forced out of it. His final few letters from Elliot are upsetting, and it's possible he is writing them like that on purpose in order to give himself a reason to faze out the Elliots. Benjamin seems a little desperate to get out of the Michaels Center and he starts complying with Dr. Dysan's tasks, such as writing letters to humans. It could be that he thinks the fazing out will be the only way to get himself out of there. The final page isn't 100% clear that the alternate reality is fully fazed out, but it could very well be Benjamin's final interaction with Elliot and Elliottown.

Fun Home

I found it pretty interesting how Bechdel was able to relate her parents lives and their relationship with different literary works that they were interested in and involved with throughout different stages of their lives. The parallel between literature and the reader's life is often very uncanny.

Also, Bechdel and her father parallel each other in numerous ways.  On the one hand, they are very much alike (interests in literature, homosexuality, crappy childhood). On the other hand, they are very much not alike. They are complementary to one another. Alison and her father portray the characteristics the other one should be but isnt (according to society)

Fun Home

So, I started reading Fun Home and got about 20 pages into it realizing how much more of a challenge it is to read a comic like book rather than something similar to "H".

I found it interesting that for some reason when I read the first page I assumed the narrator was a male, but then realized it was in fact a woman. It mostly describes her fathers obsession with restoring their home to it's natural glory. I could tell that there was some tension between the two characters. The father was very demanding and didn't seem to show any sort of affection or even any sign of him being a parent to his child.

The narrator is constantly bringing up how the father has this ability to create something beautiful out of nothing, which ties into him obsessing over the issues in his house. I think the father has some frustrations and therefor it causes him to come off angry and abusive in a way.

Also, at first I didn't see the pattern of why the narrator kept mentioning greek myths, but when I looked into it, I started to understand the book is structured on this type of literature.

H

"she wrote the name lemon on her door, and Daddy and i punished her for writing on the walls. Now her room is lemon everything-stickers and erasers and posters and bubble gum! I don't know why she chose this name" (pg43). "Home sucks, daddy broke, my hair-do jesse doll and i hate him" (pg104). I think these lines clearly indicate that Benjamin's sister also has similar but less sever porblem. "Hanna really likes him(Dr. Dysan) now because he said it was fine for her to play with her hair do jessie doll." it means they were trying to get medical help from Dr. Dysan for Hanna. Both kids are living in same environment with same parents and have similar problems. Moreover, there is more than enough evidence in the novel which indicate that their parents have very high expectations from their kids but they don't seem to be very caring. The parents pay no attention to the interest of their kids. I think it is a natural tendency of a child to look outside whatever he or she need if they are not able to get it from the people they are close to. it is true in case of Benjamin and his sister. Benjamin's problem could be handled in much better way. he was improving while he was with Eliot in the camp. There were other things which were occupying his time and he was getting interested in lot of other activities. I believe the better way would be to replace his obsesion with some other more intersting things like the ones he did at the camp.

Hey Prof,

Random question about next semester. what class did you say you were teaching?

Question on FunHome!

Just wondering Fun Home is a book of pictures right? Looks kind of like a comic book?
I ordered it online so I just want to make sure I am getting the right thing !

Dial H for Elliot

It is clear that Benjamin has created an alternate reality for himself, however what is left more vague is the seperate realities that each member of the Sherman family has constructed for themselves as well; he is not the only one who lives in his own fantasy world. Benjamin's uncanny object is of course his stuffed letter H, onto which he projects the figments of his imagination. Each member has some sort of object onto which they can project a part of themselves. Hannah's object is John Lennon. She is obseesed with John Lennon and even names herself after (somewhat incorrectly). Mr. Sherman has several objects which are left vague (as uncanny objects are meant to be) but extractable from the context. Theseare respectivelly work, we can see from the heading on his letter that he is a partner at an accounting firm where he undoubtedly spends a great deal of time at; Benjamin, whom Mr. Sherman views as a child who keeps to himself and does not want to be bothered with or even spoken to; and at times even Peter1, who it is revealed that Mr. Sherman "liked so much." Mrs. Sherman also views very much in terms of his undeterminate illness. She thinks he is not intelligent and treats him in a very babyish way, instead of understanding him for the very complex and certaintly not unintelligent child that he is. Furthermore it is clear from the gender ambiguity with which the children have assigned their objects (i.e. Benjaman's object Elliot, which is also a prodominantly male name, and all elliots are female yet Benjamin at times says he himself is an elliot; Hannah takes the identity of John Lennon, male, and superimposes it over herself) that they have some real issues with their parental units. This is proved further on page 81 where we can see Benjamin showing the Oedipal complex.
"When you do mean things you can't tell Dave or Chris or the directors because you deserve to be gotten back... And if you lie and Dave catches you he will get really mad and it is scarey to see Dave really mad...they might go through your stuff and take my letters away and hide them." It is obvious from the way Benjamin treats Dave, and even the drama lady, that he views them as substitute parents. Here he projects his fear of the father figure comming and specifically taking away his letters to Elliot. The letters symbbolize his genitals for they are the way he remains connected with Elliot, his uncanny object and the source of his identity.

The Human Centipede

I thought I'd put this here so you all would see it.

I guess I'm most interested in the testimonials which claim that such "fun" paraphernalia has increased lodge attendance.

Perhaps our college is missing something by not having a few secret societies with such lighthearted hi-jinks!

The Uncanny

i'll admit that it took me a while to understand what was considered to be Uncanny, even after reading the book with Freud's interpretations and examples. Everytime I thought I got it, I was off track, but after many class discussions, reading more into it and following his interpretations of the Sandman I started to get the hang of it. The more I understood the Uncanny, the more I saw it around me. For example in the media there are many forms of the Uncanny, especially in the movies. I previously discussed how I found the Uncanny in the "Paranormal Activity" series where the director and writer for the movie used his own fears of ghosts and the paranormal in order to create one of the greatest and scariest thrillers of all time! Using security style camera angles, he turned what seemed to be a familiar everyday house into a strange "unhomely" death trap. I also found a feeling of uncanny in the news, UFO sightings that are becoming more common in today's world. Many videos and pictures of strange lights or blurs in the sky give me a sort of Uncanny feeling. ( I think, if what i'm saying is correct) This is because to me, aliens and the extraterrestrial, have always been unreal, mostly because of hollywood movies and shows that depict aliens as either friendly or hostile creatures trying to take over or destroy our world. Now, in the real world i live in that is all to familiar to me, there is a possibility that the aliens i've always thought to be fiction, may actually exist! When I first read the article, i wasn't exactly happy or scared, but I did feel sort of uncomfortable. What if they do exist, what if they come to earth, what do they know, what do they want etc. Many questions come into play, and I know i'm getting a little off topic but i had to post this because I wanted to know if what i'm feeling toward the topic is in fact, Uncanny.

Anyway more toward the book, Jenstch mentions in The Uncanny that "One of the surest devices for producing slightly uncanny effects through story-telling, is to leave the reader wondering whether a particular figure is a real person or an automaton and to do so in such a way that his attention is not focused on the uncertainty..." I think this quote explains best, what the uncanny is and what's funny is that  I think I just discovered that the uncanny isn't just a tool that authors use to catch the reader's attention, but its also found in the real world that I live in. That makes me feel uncanny just thinking about it.

The Sandman

Well when i first picked up this book, lets just say I was not ready for what was going to happen. I wasn't sure how the setting of how the story was going to take place. What I mean by that was which form of reality was the author going to use, was the story going to be more realistic in the sense that what is possible in life is possible in that story or was it going to be more of a fairytale where the sandman himself was a real person who came to childrens homes to make sure they fall asleep and not some made up fictional character used to scare children. It was kind of funny to me because there was a character's perspective for each possibilty, Nathaniel's mother at first gave the Sandman a real but not harmful sense in that she would just say, "go to bed, the Sandman is coming" then soon after, he would hear heavy footsteps coming into his father's room. The other more threatening perspective was that of the house maid who told young nathaniel that if he didnt go to bed, the sandman would rip his eyes out. But as the story progressed we found that Nathaniel's Sandman was actually a mean lawyer named Copelius who threatened to put hot pieces of coal in his son's eyes once he caught nathaniel eavesdropping.

 The video that was posted on the blog was about a real Sandman who snuck into a little boys room and gauged his eyes once the boy saw him, then fed the eyes to his children. This video was surprisingly horrific and perhaps gave me my first real sense of uncanny, when i first saw it i did not expect anything to happen to the little boy. He was so young and innocent,  his mother sending him to bed seemed all to familiar, the boy being hesitant to go, while the mother reassures him everything is okay and he has nothing to fear. What shocked me was that the boy ended up losing his eyes to the Sandman! That was strange to me in that it wasn't the typical fairytale ending that everything was going to be okay, even though that was my initial feeling toward the video.

First Of Many

Hey,  this is going to be the first of my posts, I have been writing them down in my notebook because I was sort of nervous to put out my stuff online but here goes nothing!

"H"

I enjoyed reading this novel, I kind of do enjoy reading a set of letters and seeing the characteristics of characters through their writing.
I believe that Elliot and Elliotville is definately a creative way of Benjamin to express himself, and he is definately misunderstood but at the same time I do think he is losing a sense of reality because he is a 12 year old boy who is depending his life on a fiction world. A lot of the elders in this novel such as the doctor and Bejamin's parents look at Benjamin as he is sick and needs help, which is really just inabling him because Elliot can definately be helpful and a tool because it seems this doll is really the only way he does express himself, as in the begining part Benjamin is constantly described as quite and that he likes to be to himself. I believe that a lot of these pyschological issues brought up in class or seen in the novel have a lot to do with his lifestyle at home and his relationship with the parents and I think this can have a really big impact on some of the issues we are discussing, so I do wish this novel had some more information and we could maybe be able to see the real issues. None the less Benjamin is not the wierdest boy just as said in class, there are many other weird children at camp. He does have some knowledge about what is going on about him and does participate in camp and ends up liking it. It is funny how everything his parents forced upon him he really does not like to do, such as swimming.
I believe that the fact that Elliot is a girl is also interesting because like I mentioned in class, and like Freud says that usually children are known to be closer with the parent of the same gender and internalize their behaviors. Clearly the father does not really participate in Benjamin's life and far as I can tell he doesn't really have the son he wants. And I believe that this can cause a lot of the reasons for why Benjamin can not express himself and has relied on Elliot to talk to which is a female.
I definately enjoy getting the different perspectives of everyone rather than just one narrative.

H

I liked this book, It gave a very good example of how life can be with a child who has psychological problems. I found myself getting very attached to Benjamin, not feeling bad for him but it just seem in this book he wasn't really understood. I just think alot of his efforts were channeled inappropriately. For such an elaborate world, I mean it goes to show he has some grasp of the world that he is living in. It was also interesting to to see the interactions between him and Elliot, whatever happens to him happens to the little Elliots. I also thought that Elliott was kind of his alter ego. Elliot was him being someone different else rather than the person he is now. Kind of like we discussed in class but being his super ego. I was happy to see Benjamin get better but i think his parents needs to be a bit more involved in his treatment to understand how to relate to him.

House of Bly

I loved this version of The Turn of the Screw. I did because it was like the answer key to the story. Alot of the questions i had were answered in this story. I loved the twist and how well it fit. i could definitely see the Master being kind of homophobic for some odd reason and i did get the feeling Miles was gay in the Turn of Screw when he told the Governess that he said some things. I was shocked that Jessel, aborted her baby in the lake, and that was the reason she killed herself. I thought it was funny that it was alleged that Quint might have had his way with Ms. Grose and how he also ended having his way with the Governess too. It was good to see the other side of the story though, it made me think that the Governess wasn't so crazy, actually very fearless and strong. I like her character in this light...although the infatuation with the kids on both parts is still a little weird.

The Turn of the Screw

What a psycho!..That was my thought when I finished reading this novella. I hope im using it correctly but I got this very uncanny feeling when i realized the Governess suffocated Miles to death, i kinda quivered a little. I also thought the Governess relationship with Miles was a bit odd. I thought she was way too taken with him, always embracing him and harrassing him all the time about the ghost that she was alledgely seeing. i think in the beginning I believed that she saw the ghosts but after taking Ms. Grose on that joy ride around the lake looking for Flora and Flora's reactions. I had to rethink my opinions about her...my opinions which consisted mostly of thinking she was a bit of a lunatic. I did get a weird vibe from Quints and Jessel relationship with the kids, i thought there could have been an inapporiate relationship there..but it was moreso with Quint and Miles than Flora and Miss Jessel. I also felt bad for Ms. Grose because she was like the governess's unwilling sidekick half of the times. But then i thought living in that big house so secluded anything is probably entertaining for them.

Hello!

Hi! This is just an introduction for a few past blog that ive kept in my notebook, being that I havent had to much access to a computer since my motherboard failed on me.

Genevieve

H

I loved H, I think it's my favorite book we've read so far. I like Benjamin's character a lot. He is clearly extremely misunderstood by all of his authority figures, I don't even think that his issues are so severe. For a 12 year old boy, I think he is rather normal.. minus his extreme fantasy life and relationship with the Elliots. I read the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower a while back and Benjamin's fantasy life kind of reminds me of it. At one point in the story I read a teacher tells the main character that he watches life instead of participating in it. I think Benjamin's fantasy world allows for him to not participate in life, and similar to Benjamin it has a lot to do with a warped family life.

I find it hard to relate Freud's theories to this story though. I understand the Fort Da game and it's relation, but are there connections from previous readings of Freud that can really relate to this story?

How can we site The Sandman in our work cited page?

HELP!

okay so I've been trying to start this paper for a couple of days and I really want to just get it started today but I have no idea where to start. I think I just need help breaking down the assignment because I just have no idea where to start and I want to do very well.

ps I have used this website for my works cited page. You just have to enter the information and it puts it in the right citation format. thought it may be helpful.

So I was wondering, do you watch Boardwalk Empire? Thought of this class twice in the last episode. One character told his kids about the sandman (ha), and then there's the character Richard Harrow. Check out the video I linked to his name and you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, I really have been enjoying H and like I said in class the other day, the first part was quite funny to me. The second and third part is a little more sad with Benjamin's struggle and all. I marked off pages of parts I found interesting in a way that allows us to dig deeper into the meaning of what is being said. I'm sure we'll get to these parts in class tomorrow.

I also really enjoy the whole letter format, I like that the story is being told through these unspoken words. Writing a letter is very different than telling a story out loud and I enjoy how the letter format itself is a crucial part of the novel.

We can use "I" in this essay?

Our Paper

Professor,

Other than the text and citing, can we use personal experiences? Experiences that have been uncanny, unintelligible, etc...?

TURN OF THE SCREW/ACCURSED INHABITANTS

In both novel Freud veiw of the Polymorphous Perversity of sexuality is clearly seen. All children are born with this tendency which mostly gets surpressed to hetersexuality in the long run, but in both novel we see clearly that nuture played a great part in the homosexual attributes of young Miles towards quint who played the role of care taker and in turn became a love symbal. I feel that Miles had seen how Jessel acted sexually towards Quint and in turn wanted that same comfort, so he did not see Quint as a role model but as "Comfort". Strangely i can see why that Professor made that comment about sex orgy, if the kids are being exposed to the firery passion of Quint and Jessel, she may see them wanting to act; as what Miles clearly does in the Accursed inhabitants she may be wondering what about the charactor of Flora no sexual connotation was mentioned about her charactor and due to tha fact that the story is so open at times she just felt she could add orgy into the mix using Freud Polymorphous Perversity of sexuality mixed with Pleasure Principle (to aviod the pain of having to attach to different caregivers, putting their trust on the line once more).

References

The only references we're using are the Turn of the Screw, The Uncanny, and The Sandman right?

Turn of The Screw/Accursed Inhabitants of the House of Bly

I liked and disliked the fact that the story is so open ended. In a way, it let's my imagination roam free and make assumptions and create my own kind of story in my head. On the other hand, I wish there were more answers. I really hated the fact that the Governess is supposed to be "all-knowing", I don't like or understand how she just knows everything without any explanation. I actually found her character really annoying. She just believes that she's doing the right thing.

Out of both of these stories, I definitely liked Accursed Inhabitants a lot more, mostly because it gives a good back story to Turn of the Screw, one that seems to have been lost through the numerous narrations.

I found it helpful that we read this story after The Sandman and Freud's essay on The Uncanny. I was able to make a lot of connections between the stories myself, and the class discussions helped a lot too. The doubling of characters is something that especially sticks out to me. In both stories Freud's idea of the doppelganger is displayed very prominently. The Governess reminds me a lot of Nathaniel from The Sandman as well.

Thoughts About Turn of The Screw

My thoughts about Turn of The screw from reading it on my own and then from the last two class discussions were similar but different in some ways. When I read " Acursed inhabitants of the house of bly" before reading Turn of the Screw it confused me in the beginning but i got to understand that the characters were playing different roles right? Jessel kills herself because shes pregnant and the story was more straight forward then Turn of The Screw. James Henry actually wrote this novela in an interesting way because we actually had to really understand what was going on between all the characters since four out of six were dead. The governess is someone we had to really pay close attention to because her character seems to truly know everything. She has a strong belief that what she " knows" is cleary revelant such as her idea that the ghost exsisting and her saving Quint & Jessel. Quint is a character that gives off such a sexual vibe like having attractions for most of the other characters like the governess, Miles and Jessel. I noticed that the similarity between Turn of The Screw & The Uncanny is that they both have the theory of doubling along with familar vs. unfamiliar. I believe that Freud's writting of The Uncanny definately has similarities in which im going to include in my paper. This story was ambiguous in many kinds.

The Prestige

A really uncanny story i read is called The Prestige by Christopher Priest. Its also been made into a movie with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, which is also really good. This story has to do with doubling as well. However unlike the Turn of the Screw in which there are a lot of missing pieces with no definitive explanation, at the end of the novel Priest does explain the uncanny parts of his novel. This makes the story in a way even more troubling, similarly as in the Sandman when Nathanial finds out the sandman is real. It also has a different twist when it comes to his version of the automaton. It's a great book and i feel one that definantly one that fits the requirements for the uncanny list.

Essay

I have a couple of questions about the essay we have to write:

1) For the essay and how we have to write about similarities to Freud's definitions of the category "das Unheimlich," we can use all the definitions from the Uncanny to compare to the novella, "The Turn of The Screw?"

2) I don't understand what you mean by, "repetition and doubling."

3) Since this story doesn't have a literal meaning, do we get points taken off if our meaning isn't exactly close to what the novel might be speaking about?

"Accursed Inhabitants of the House of Bly "

I definately enjoyed reading this story more than Turn Of The Screw.
I think the author does an excellent job in challenging the original story.
I like how it was almost a prequel to the Turn Of The Screw at first and then also followed the same time line and events as Turn Of The Screw but from the other side of the story, I thought it was very clever because we only get the Governess' perspective of the events that occur. Both stories were definately odd but this story I felt was alot more straight- foward with what was going on as opposed to Turn Of The Screw were it seemed hidden.
In this story as well it seems as though sex is forbidden and is associated with evil. I mean because of self-disgust Jessel kills herself because she see's no otherway. Society and the image of one's self seems to play a big role in this story. Another example of this would be when Quint and the Master are talking and when the Master says "For, y'know, Quint, just between us two,man to man: I would ather see the poor little bugger dead, than unmanly." Quint and Jessel's attachment to Flora and Miles is so strange and weird. Especially Miles and Quints effection , seems a little more than appropriate. Miles definately wants Quint, especially when he is talking to Quint and saying "Quint I only Love you." and "They vowed never to tell." It is alot more obvious in this story. In my opinion Quint seems to have some sort of sexual attraction to a lot of the characters, like Jessel the Governess and Miles. In Turn Of The Screw I had a feeling that the children did see the ghost and were just saying that didn't and also keeping secrets from the Governess, and this story definately confirmed that suggestion.

Reading both these stories, I kept thinking of the movie "The Others" and then I saw on the main class blog all the movies that were sort of a version of Turn Of The Screw and that was one of them, and now I want to see the other ones too!

I see everyone commenting about Guts Im going to read that whenever I get a chance looks pretty interesting.

I read "Guts" last night and it was pretty wild. I didn't faint though.

Two things from the story stood out to me though, being is that they relate to what we have been talking about in class.

The first being the "invisible carrot" that hangs over his friend. This reminded me of "The Turn of the Screw" and the whole theme of "knowing". The narrator's friend in "Guts" is forever wondering if his parents know and if they do what they know in regards to the carrot and why they have never mentioned it. It is so unspeakable that they wont even confront him, even as a grown man many years later? Or do they not know? Or did they find it and not realize exactly what it really was? This is similar to the Governess' wondering about what the children "know" in "The Turn of the Screw".

Also, toward the end of the short story by Chuck Palahniuk, the narrator obviously is aware that his family knows what has happened to him, but after the many affects of the situation has been dealt with, they never mention it again.  Perhaps this event is that unspeakable. This reminded me of Freud's essay "The Uncanny". On pages 130 to 132 of "The Uncanny", Freud uses the "heimlich/unheimlich" to describe secretive things, much like what has become of our narrator's experience in "Guts". The family clearly wishes that what happened remains secret and hidden, fearing that it comes into the open.

Turn of the Screw / Accursed Inhabitants of the House of Bly

The Turn of the Screw was one complicated story. I had to reread it like a good four times. I felt like Miles was a creepy child from the start though, like he was very mature and to me, like I thought he had a latency gay going on. I also think the Governess was out of her mind, and don't think Jessel and Quint were ghosts, but it was from her repressed sexual feelings that she was seeing them. The Governess "knew" enough to know that Jessel and Quint had some sort of forbidden relationship, something she would never have. When the Governess "sees" Jessel at the desk in the study room, she screams "You terrible miserable woman!" , I feel as if that is the Governess projecting her feelings of inadequacy onto Jessel. I feel as though there was something that the Governess wanted to prove to the Master to get noticed. Like she kept doing things to get noticed, and in a way vying for his attention. I also got the impression that what makes this story so "horrible", is that the children are being treated as not innocent, and "knowing" far more then they should for the ages of ten and eight. The short story, Accursed Inhabitants of the House of Bly, was a good story and anecdote to The Turn of the Screw, and really furthered my belief in Miles being attracted to males. The way Jessel spoke of herself before she "crossed over" was interesting to me too, because it was complete opposite of the type of person she was in life. Further, the way the Governess is portrayed as a strict, tight, rule abiding person gave me more insight to how she would never allow herself to be fully seduced by anyone, or ever give into her sexual desires, which gave me more more reason to believe that in The Turn of the Screw, its what makes her go mad. I also think that when Miles screams his last word, "-you devil", refers to the Governess, because she is the one who won't allow freedoms of any sort. I could be wrong and will probably read the story yet again to see if I change my feelings.

I also read Guts last night, and seriously that is what people faint over? I read it a few times and each time it got better. I don't understand what the big deal was. It reminded me of the tv show 1000 ways to die.

Guts...

Yeah, this wasn't apart of the syllabus but class today had me super curious. I won't mention any details in case anyone hasn't read/listened to it. I read it first and it was quite captivated because it's literally the weirdest and admittedly, foul thing I've ever read- kinda hard to stop. I definitely didn't faint, nor gag or get sick. I literally just went and ate dinner afterwards completely unfazed so those however many people were probably just being dramatic. But I will note that I listened to it through YouTube again and a lot of people in the audience were laughing...which is weird. I didn't take it as something humorous, I thought it was actually kind of depressing so just wondering, what did everyone else think of it? That's all.

Catching Up Post

I found On Dreams to be a very interesting read because dreams have always been appealing to me. Freud points out how his friend's gesture of paying for his cab showed up, in a way, in his own dream. It's interesting how something so small can have an effect on our dreams and can be hidden in such a strange way. I have heard writing down you're dreams helps to remember and make meaning of them but, I never would've thought they had such deep meanings.

I don't think I've ever read anything quite like The Sandman. The content of the story, from the beginning to the end, and even the way it is written, is just strange. I know we discussed in class that because it is not specifically stated, there cannot be such a simple explanation to the story as Nathaniel being insane. I do however think it's clear that there's something wrong going on in his head. Between his outbursts and his interest in Olympia, who isn't real, he simply cannot be a normally functioning person. The question of what exactly is considered normal? is not an easy question to answer, but I do believe that having feelings for an automaton excludes you from normalcy. I also thought an interesting point was when Coppola takes Olympia away from Spalanzanni, the name switches from Coppola to Coppelius. I believe this is just Nathaniel falling into one of his episodes and he is choosing to hear Coppelius over Coppola.

After hearing in class that the beginning of The Turn of the Screw was somewhat boring, i found the first few pages built an anticipation of what was later to come in the novella. It's pretty creepy how this guy keeps showing up and it seems like Mrs. Grose is holding something back. After being seen outside the window, and she went outside to that very same window to look in, I thought for sure she was gonna see him inside. That would have been eery. Then we come to find out Mrs. Grose knows who the man is and he is indeed dead. It seems things are known that aren't being shared and secrets will be exposed by the end of the story.

Because I'm so behind...(On Dreams, The Sandman, The Uncanny, and a little bit of Turn of the Screw)

I'm pretty far behind in terms of posting so I just wanted to post my notes from when I did read the followings:

On Dreams was a little hard to follow because of Freud's tendency to circle back after reaching new points. It actually reminds me how (in my own) dreams can sometimes kind of loop or just rewind after a certain point. Sometimes I find myself running through the same place or at the 'end', it just begins again- maybe that's just me? But after rereading and listening to lectures for this piece, I found that him using his own dream and thoroughly breaking it down as an example was quite interesting. I never thought our dreams could so deeply coincide with our waking life- it's exactly like deciphering a story. I do, however, think that dreams can't occasionally be understood and am totally okay with it. Thinking about how dreams are meant for us to conclude the repressed thoughts we contain or the events that occurs in our waking life, how would one explain the act of lucid dreaming? It could, yes, conclude repressed feelings/events but we could do that in waking life so it just has me thinking, what happens in lucid dreaming that doesn't happen in dreams or while awake?

The Sandman was an eerily interesting story, to say the least- class lectures helped to understand the flow or lack there of. After reading and going through notes, my main question was whether Nathaniel was having a dream (from when he's a child OR at the age he wrote the letters from the beginning), Nathaniel is simply psychotic, or if the story is strictly meant to be a work of fiction. It's written like a real event with no hints to paranormal or super fictiony detail but I would say because of Nathaniel's weird trippy rants, he's probably just out of his mind. There's definitely a type of neurosis where one has anxiety over specific things (eyes, rings of fire, daddy issues...) and thus is obsessed and relates everything to that. The story really made me think hard on what's real and what also, in real life, what triggers that behavior- because of that, I thought it was a great read. Also, I did check out the links of all sorts of spooky 'uncanny' things from the Main class blog and I couldn't even get through the second part of 99 rooms, that music is too much. I also checked out one of the videos for The Sandman update, the one that looked alot like Nightmare before Christmas, and it was a fun addition to look at when remembering the story that the nanny gave Nathaniel as opposed to his mother's hushed version.

The Uncanny was a long but informal reading. The first part was helpful with how Freud found out about the terms heimlich and unheimlich and how it is used back and forth, also, how it relates to the english version, uncanny/canny. The second and third go through examples from stories and also real life afflictions used in stories. I find it to be all analysis and very helpful to stories like The Sandman and what I'm currently reading, Turn of the Screw. So far I really enjoy Turn of the Screw, it actually wasn't all that hard because I got in about 5 chapters and I find it to be one of those stories that I wanna keep reading. The only difficulty I'm having is who is speaking at what moment, otherwise, as mentioned previously in class, alot of the people mentioned have died and I've been noticing that a lot so far.

Turn Of The Screw

The beginning of this story was really a drag! It was funny discussing in class what is scary or "inappropriate" at this time, and how it probably wouldn't seem like anything to us now. It was also interesting to talk about the time this story is told and how the child is worshipped! And how you metioned in the class blog how the child was looked at as pure and innocent.
Throughtout the story the governess is always concerned with Miles and Flora and there well-being it seems. And it seems as if evil is associated with sex or doing something out of the ordinary?
I found it pretty wierd too that right after the story begins when she sees this man, Mrs Grose knows who it is after a description of clothes and then informs the governess he is dead, but assumes that Quint is after someone. It is just wierd throughout the story how it seems like everyone knows something, but can't say. It definately is a story of hidden secrets. It just seems like sex or whatever is being hidden is forbidden to be spoken of. It was pretty freak to me at points like when the governess just saw this random guy staring at her through a tower and then through there dining room windom or any of the times she sees these ghost really, pretty freaky.

I enjoy our discussions in class, they really help clear up some confusing parts of stories, and bring up things I at first wouldn't even recognize and help understand some points that are not understood.

psychoanalysis as a source of the uncanny

we are born with unlimited possibilities/potentials

they are rapidly narrowed down after birth

this causes tremendous anxiety- we repress it

this causes all the “sexual anxiety” we experience in adult life

uncovering these repressions give us a feeling or experience of the uncanny

psychoanalysis (as a therapy) deals with those anxieties by uncovering the repressions

so psychoanalysis can itself produce an experience of the uncanny.

I thought the Turn of the Screw was a great story, I was completely captivated and constantly trying to figure out what was really goin on. I was a little confused on the time span of the story, like how long she was there experiencing the 'ghostly' encounters. I also was curious about how old the boy was, as his voice and actions seemed to mature by the end of the story. I like how it ended, however I felt a little unsettled that it never came back to the narrator and the ones listening to this story. I'm really exciied to start on the Accursed Inhabitants of the House of Bly for another perspective of what was going.

Im looking forward to our class discussion which always clears up questions I have.

The Untranny

An uncanny thing has components of heimlich and unheimlich. That is to say it is something at once familiar and homelike and strangely foreign and incomprehensible. The transexual embodies the nature of the uncanny perfectly. They are subjects universally familiar to both sexes, yet unlike either at all. They are both sexes and simultaneously neither sex. This is an extreamally uncanny concept.

There is also another uncanny element to the uncanniness of the transexual. It is through the definition of unheimlich: when something hidden is uncovered. When someone sees a transexual the feeling of the uncanny is undeniable. This is because we are fulfilling the meaning of unheimlich when once we recognize them as a transexual. We are uncovering a secret that is being hidden and simultaneously flaunted.

The Turn of the Screw

This novel starts off confusing because it seems like it starts out of nowhere. It doesn't explain anything and it doesn't start off how a normal story would. But eventually it starts to make sense when Mrs. Grose sees a man that she doesn't know who looks scary. He keeps watching her and she's trying to figure out who it is but can't until she starts to remember what he's wearing.

For this part I don't understand how she at first doesn't know him, but then figures out who he is, then she knows he's dead. Then after she knows he's dead she knows that Quint was looking for someone? I just thought that was weird.

The Uncanny

The essay The Uncanny, was very interesting because it gives us the insight to what hoffman was thinking when writing The Sandman.Freud gives us explanations about the doubling concept used many times between mentioning Nathaniels father, the burnings of the houses and also him falling sick. The reason was that these events were repetitive because they had a significant meaning. I couldn't understand why the events in the story were doing so untill the uncanny explained. Freud explains that their is also the concept of human vs. Inhuman between Nathaniel and olympia. All of the events that were in the timeline shows us clear that everything is happening for a reason. The example in class using female vs. Male was interesting because we had an idea or a concept that males were to be more dominant in society. Overall, I was glad the uncanny was able to point out what was unclear to me. On another note, The Turn of the Screw is already starting to get better than the beginning of the story.

The Sandman/ The Uncanny

I'm a little late for this, sorry! Going over The Uncanny in class helped a lot in making sense of The Sandman overall for me. Even though there is no explanation for the events and why they happen and if they are even actually happening, I now understand some smaller elements of the story. When Freud first brought in the concept of doubling I didn't quite understand what he meant, but i went back to The Sandman again and the chart we went over in class and it brought all of it together. All of the important aspects of the story continue to repeat themselves in order to show their importance.

Also, I find the idea that loss of eyes serves as the fear for castration very interesting. I, myself, wouldn't have made that connection, but now that it's been presented to me it makes a lot of sense. If Coppelius is supposed to be the stories "father figure" then he comes into the story at all the moments where Nathanial is trying to solidify love with another character. So his madness could stem from the fear of castration.

I'm still not quite sure that i understand the spyglass entirely though.

And I'm not sure if this correlates at all, but all the talk of eyes in class, it reminded me of the movie Coraline because in order for her to stay in her alternate perfect world she needs to sew buttons where her eyes should be. Another kind of creepy story, I don't even know if it works with our past discussion, it's just where my mind automatically went.

THE UNCANNY

Psalm 27,5. In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. im fasinated that freud pick this up as an "heimlich, unheimlich" effect. the tabernacle is a place where god would meet with his people, its normally a very wholy place where the smell of sin or sin itself cannot abound, but it is wriiten that we are born in sin and shapen in iniquity (Isaiah 53:6), so its fascinating that the almighty god would dwell inside or with sinful men. holy dwelling with unholy in secret, uncanny?. pharoah naming a jew "joseph" to be second in command of egypt. joseph both jew and egyptian, uncanny? there's soo many stories in the bible that carries the uncanny effect. Iran president ahmadinejad at the world trade center, uncanny?

It was really interesting to learn how Freud's essay on Uncanny linked a very strange story Sandman to something almost everyone experienced in his/her life. "unfamiliar within familiar"- simple but interesting stuff. Freud not only showd the very negligible differnce between the most familiar and strangest things but also gave meaning to very same piece of literature(Sandman), which walter scott called madman's work. we carry the scariest thing within us , the skeleton, is also very interesting way of saying unfamiliar within familiar. most of the pictures on blogs are strange just because they are slightly different that normal. For example, babies eyes are the only different thing on his/her face which is making him/her very strange.

For the Love of Corn

http://www.anasomnia.com/

need a webcam   turn ur lights on and off in ur room and its crazy

So I just finished "H" and I feel it also ended rather abruptly and without answering many questions that it leaves the reader asking.  It actually leaves you asking even more questions.   And is the final letter, addressed "to whom it may concern" and not signed by anyone, a suicide note from Benjamin? He is released from the hospital while being weened off his medication after he has been "treated" (Elliot no longer responds to him and Elliottown has gone to the year a million- the pills and therapy have ended his hallucinations and therefore contact with Elliot). But Benjamin does not believe that Elliot is a figment of his imagination, he just believes that Elliot has left him. So when released, could he have just decided to kill himself because Elliot, the only one who truly understood him (because she was actually a part of him), had left him?

H

Where is the link for "A Cursid Inhabitance of the House of Bly"?

I had to download a new web browser to be able to get on the Blog finally.

And I'm about 3/4 of the way through "H" and its a lot easier reading that the last few readings in the sense that it's written in the way people actually  speak orally today.  Its also pretty weird in the sense that your getting all these different perspectives about whats going on from all different characters and you dont actually hear from the protagonist of the story until about half way through the book. i like the style of the story though, using letters from different characters to get a sense of whats happened instead of just telling a story in a straight narrative form. Elizabeth Shepard does a great job. You still create all the images of the story without her having to break her form of letter writing. 

THE SANDMAN

I feel everyone is on point by saying this is by far if not the most awkward story written. i forgot if it is fiction or not. but i wonder whose crazy though nathaniel or is it the writer of this literature( mad scientist or frankinstein). On a more serious note the notion of nathaniel losing his eyes as a mirror effect of castration has some validity. they say the eyes are the window to one soul so losing one's eyes could mean losing your soul( the essence of you) and for a man losing his testicle could mean losing his place as a man and more over losing the opportunity to play the role of FATHER. its funny that most of the encounters in the story is Nathaniel trying to find love and i feel its more to have childeren so he can play the domineering role as head of the household. In the book of genesis it is said that a man should leave his mother and father and shall cleave unto his own wife, with that said i feel the fear of castration has been lurking since creation and is even more previlant in the animal kingdom. so if god created the animals first and adam after could we say this tendency came from us watching them versus an inate gene. know it sounds weird but going back to dreams could it be that dreams( or memory) can travel through generation, similar to how phobias do. i know its alot to absorb.

Sandman / Uncanny

The Sandman has got to be one of the most awesomely, disturbing piece of literature I have ever read. I personally am very weary when it comes down to anything involving eyes so it had be from the start. While reading, I also took note how there would be these step backwards, repeating motifs throughout the story. What helped me the most was when that class was given with the timeline of events which had it all drawn out and made it easier to comprehend that it wasn't some coincedence, that these things were there for a specific reason. The idea of the dupilicity really opened my mind more to the story, and after that class I went back to reread it with a deeper understanding. Poor Nathanel is all I can think of. He really suffers through the story and that whole disturbing idea that nothing is what it seems really got under my skin. How could he be so far gone that he does not see what is so clear? His blindness is most uncanny to me. Clara's letter to him and her voice of reason, saying how it is mind over matter made me think. She writes how there is this power in ourselves to refrain from going down a wild path and if one thinks their going a little crazy, to start going another way. That stood out to me for some reason, because maybe Nathanel had control to back away from the bad thoughts. I also find the whole idea of uncanny really interesting. There was one picture from the blog Carnival of the Uncanny that completely disturbed my mind, the one with the monkey throwing up and someone just taking a picture of it. I don't know the reason why it just bugged me out. Something was so off? about it that it really got under my skin.

I also found a link for the essay The "Uncanny" : http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/freud1.pdf

Coppala and Spalanzani

To me it looks like Coppola/Coppelius and Spalanzani are partners in crime. In the beginning of the story Coppola attempts to sell Nate a barometer. The latter then flips out and attacks Coppola. From this point on they begin to systematically set his life in motion in accordance with their plans. It is shortly after the attack that Nate goes back home to visit. When he returns he finds that his house has been burned down. It is noted that the fire was started in the apothcary's laboratory. An apothecary is a chemist who dispenses medical concoctions, much like a contemporary pharmicist. This too is uncanny, similar with minor differences to the original fire. Hoffmann writes," He (Nathaniel) did not think it at all remarkable
that he now lodged opposite to Professor Spalazani; neither did it appear singular when he percieved that his window looked straight into the room where Olympia often sat alone..."
Then the next major occurance in the story is Coppola returning to Nate despite the risk of being attacked by a lunatic. And he risks the visit so that he can give Nate a telescope.The telescope is essential, and symbolic. Even though its supposed to improve vision, it actually serves to ensnare Nathaniel even deeper in their plans. He uses the telescope to gaze at Olympia. It just seems like to big of a coincidence for all these things to happen by mistake. It seems much more probable that Coppelius and Spalanzani burned down the house, (perhaps even intentionally they did it in a familiar way as the first fire)oversaw his relocation, and provided him with the telescope.

" The Sandman "

I actually enjoyed this reading even though it was pretty wierd. I liked the set up of the story, how it started off in letters and then was later narrated. I enjoyed that you got different perspectives. You can see the way Nathienal invisions the reality of the situation as opposed to Lothaire, Clara and his mother who believe he is just making it up. It is a little fustrating you can not really tell if what's happening is real or fake and even though many of us would think it is an allusion, then I can't understand while in the narrated part of the story it still gives specific details and makes some parts seem like they are really happening, and this is from someone else's perspective who is telling the story like they were there it seems.
There was so many details and descriptions of the uncanny situations it's hard not to believe. One of my interperations of this story would be Nathianel had a bad experience as a child and it infected his mind like a disease and eventually drove him to insanity.
It is annoying though that you do not have a clear understanding of the story, but at least it allows you to explore and make a couple of inferences.

The Sandman

The strangeness of the story answers all the questions it has to present. For example, the fact that we are trying to decipher the real events from events that may have happened are irrelevant inquiries because "The Sandman" himself is a fictional entity according to Nathaniel's mother. Nathaniel only becomes interested in who the Sandman is after he learns of his reason of making an appearance. I feel as though the overall basis of the story is to give the reader a dream of a frightened child. I myself have had dreams where i've been another age, in a strange place, performing unnatural and uncanny actions etc. But there are significances to various events in the story.