Great job so far! I was a little confused about how Mr. Shiftley's portrayal as the male figure for the mother and daughter relates directly to how he bestoys grace on the mother. I understand how his role as father/husband blurs the lines of his relationship to both women, however I did not see how this connects to grace. Otherwise, I think that your ideas are extremely intersting.
It sounds like you have a lot of material/thoughts to work with, which is great. My only concern would be a possible overabundance of thematic threads in your paper, you could probably narrow your approach down to three or four main lines of thought and expound on those. Otherwise, it sounds like you might have a thesis in the works. Here is my question: you are connecting the automobile with masculinity and also with Shiftlet's (almost romantic) desire. Do you see a possible correlation then, between Shiftlet's maimed arm (a castration symbol) and his desire to possess the car? It seems to me that by gaining the car he is, in a way, trying to replace the lost member. Also, he manages to involve and endanger a virginal figure in the process of asserting a material masculinity, whatever that might mean.
I agree with both the posts before me... especially Dana trying to connect certain themes with grace. However, I think that you have wonderful ideas and I'm not really worried about the paper going off topic or being confusing.
Now that I'm looking back at my notes... I wrote that your paper is basically going to be about stranger character roles in moments of grace. So that works with where you're going, because you are talking about how people aren't alienated enough and O'Connor is trying to do that role by making these characters. At least that's what I'm getting from re-reading my notes.
I'm blown away, there were so many things to think about and you're definitely heading the right way!
I wish I could have read text along with your reading because I'm hyper visual and I really struggle to process auditory information, (I always feel so slow when someone is reading out loud to me!) but I'll do my best to give you feedback.
I really liked the quote you started with about the South, (paraphrasing), not that it is too distinct/distant/isolated, but that it is not " enough. It reminded me of a quote that Professor Cook read at the beginning of the class, about why the South has so many great writers--"because we lost the war." I'm not sure if this is something you'll be covering in the penetration of the South section you mentioned, but is it possible that Shiftlet's missing arm is symbolically connected to a castrated South? In that way, perhaps the war--the arrival of the strange Northerner, the father figure who tells the South that he knows what's best, and the violent grace that "cleanses" the South through bloodshed--is a mythic trope that haunted (and continues to haunt) the South's subconsciousness.
I really appreciated your attention to close reading detail. I tend to be a little sloppy in that area, jumping ahead to spit out my thematic ideas. But in your writing, you stay rigorously close to the text, constantly coming back for more evidence--nothing gets away! That scholastic integrity has always made your blog posts really impressive, and I think it will result in a very strong, interesting paper.
Oh, whoops! I wasn't paying attention--guess I wasn't supposed to post on yours! Sorry! I just assumed I'd be posting on whomever posted on mine. Sigh. rolls eyes. like it isn't in giant letters next to the title.
5 comments:
Great job so far! I was a little confused about how Mr. Shiftley's portrayal as the male figure for the mother and daughter relates directly to how he bestoys grace on the mother. I understand how his role as father/husband blurs the lines of his relationship to both women, however I did not see how this connects to grace. Otherwise, I think that your ideas are extremely intersting.
It sounds like you have a lot of material/thoughts to work with, which is great. My only concern would be a possible overabundance of thematic threads in your paper, you could probably narrow your approach down to three or four main lines of thought and expound on those. Otherwise, it sounds like you might have a thesis in the works. Here is my question: you are connecting the automobile with masculinity and also with Shiftlet's (almost romantic) desire. Do you see a possible correlation then, between Shiftlet's maimed arm (a castration symbol) and his desire to possess the car? It seems to me that by gaining the car he is, in a way, trying to replace the lost member. Also, he manages to involve and endanger a virginal figure in the process of asserting a material masculinity, whatever that might mean.
I agree with both the posts before me... especially Dana trying to connect certain themes with grace. However, I think that you have wonderful ideas and I'm not really worried about the paper going off topic or being confusing.
Now that I'm looking back at my notes... I wrote that your paper is basically going to be about stranger character roles in moments of grace. So that works with where you're going, because you are talking about how people aren't alienated enough and O'Connor is trying to do that role by making these characters. At least that's what I'm getting from re-reading my notes.
I'm blown away, there were so many things to think about and you're definitely heading the right way!
Another creative title in true, Austin style!
I wish I could have read text along with your reading because I'm hyper visual and I really struggle to process auditory information, (I always feel so slow when someone is reading out loud to me!) but I'll do my best to give you feedback.
I really liked the quote you started with about the South, (paraphrasing), not that it is too distinct/distant/isolated, but that it is not " enough. It reminded me of a quote that Professor Cook read at the beginning of the class, about why the South has so many great writers--"because we lost the war." I'm not sure if this is something you'll be covering in the penetration of the South section you mentioned, but is it possible that Shiftlet's missing arm is symbolically connected to a castrated South? In that way, perhaps the war--the arrival of the strange Northerner, the father figure who tells the South that he knows what's best, and the violent grace that "cleanses" the South through bloodshed--is a mythic trope that haunted (and continues to haunt) the South's subconsciousness.
I really appreciated your attention to close reading detail. I tend to be a little sloppy in that area, jumping ahead to spit out my thematic ideas. But in your writing, you stay rigorously close to the text, constantly coming back for more evidence--nothing gets away! That scholastic integrity has always made your blog posts really impressive, and I think it will result in a very strong, interesting paper.
Oh, whoops! I wasn't paying attention--guess I wasn't supposed to post on yours! Sorry! I just assumed I'd be posting on whomever posted on mine. Sigh. rolls eyes. like it isn't in giant letters next to the title.
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