Oedipus Complex

The Oedipus Complex is when a child has a physical attraction for the parent of the opposite sex, and feels anger and aggression towards the parent of the same sex. The feelings are usually kept at the back of the mind in a place where they would not consciously be able to access, yet the affects of those feelings can be behaviorally apparent.  When the Oedipus Complex first was discussed it was only discussed through the mans point of view. This theory was derived from the, Oedipus Tyrannus,

I personally think that this theory is rather strange, but then again it’s a theory, and would be very unlikely for this to actually occur. 

StreetCar Named Desire Response

I will be discussing scene one of the play. This scene might be one of the most important scenes in the entire novel as the scene introduces every character, and gives you an idea as to what each characters spine is. As I was watching this scene, I almost felt as if there was of a charm to New Orleans. New Orleans is very different than most places in the United States, as the people there are very carefree and live the life that they want to live.  I believe that the setting of New Orleans helps in the character devolvement throughout the movie, and this can be seen by the use of lighting and the editing throughout the movie.

I personally think that the use of light was very well done in the movie. When the scene first starts off it is dark outside, which as we know is Blanche’s favourite time of the day as no one can see her face, be able to tell her age, or see that she has aged. This to me is a brilliant effect as Blanche’s true self is being shown right off the bat. Another use of light is when Stella and Blanche are catching up back in the house; the lights in the background (coming from outside the window) turn on and off more rapidly than they do in any other time in the play. This is used as an effect to show Blanche’s descent into her loss of reality. When Stella and Blanche sit down at a table in the bowling alley, there is a light shinning on Blanche and she moves it down, to shade her aging face.  This is used as a lighting effect and as a character flaw, as this is one of her main areas she lacks confidence in.

When the first scene started off in the movie, I was rather surprised that it didn’t start off the same way as the scene starts off in the play. In the play the scene starts off with Stanley throwing the meat to Stella, where as in the movie the scene starts with Blanche arriving in New Orleans and her journey getting to Stella’s house. For me this was rather discouraging, as in the play you instantly get a sense of what Stella and Stanley’s relationship is, and knowing this helps you understand events that happen in the play between Stella and Stanley. When Stanley throws the meat at Stella, he says, “Meat” and then “catch” (4). In this part of the play it is instantly seen that Stanley is the alpha in the marriage.  Although I can see why the scene in the film started off with Blanche getting off the train in New Orleans. It shows that she is lost, and is trying to find her way.

 Bibliography:  

A Street Car Named Desire. Dir. Elia Kazan. Perf. Vivien Leigh. 1951. Film

Williams, Tennessee. A Street Car Named Desire. S.l.: ND, 1947. Print.

Blog #9: ISU Book

For my ISU I am reading, "Those Who Save Us," by Jenna Blum. "Those Who Save Us" is about two women, Anna and Trudy, who were taken to America during WWII by an American Soldier. Trudy was only three at the time when she was taken from Germany and shipped to Minnesota. While Trudy was growing up, Anna refused to talk about her past with Trudy, leaving Trudy with unanswered questions about her past. Later in life Trudy becomes a German History Professor and starts to learn different things about her mother's past. 

I think this book relates to, "The Book of Negroes," as both Trudy and Aminata were taken from their home country at a young age, but they both had questions about where they came from for the rest of their lives, and both Aminata and Trudy both did jobs that tried to help figure out where they came from. 

Blog#8- Comment on the ending

I personally wasn’t thrilled with the ending of, “The Book of Negroes.” I thought that it was a way to predictable way to end a book. Its like in movies where the boy and the girl break up and then you know their going to get back together and live happily ever after, and then at the end of the movie they get back together and everything is perfect. I know that Aminata lived a hard life, and it was great that she got her freedom, was able to starting telling others her story to help other Negros to freedom, and be reunited with her daughter May, but the likelihood of these things actually happening in someone life are very unrealistic. I find that endings like this don’t teach you much about life. Sometimes I think that endings should be more realistic as everything isn’t always going to work out for you in your life, its just common sense, and when things in movies and books end perfectly it gives people a false hope that amazing things are going to happen to them, and everything is just going to work out for them.

Blog#7 "Significant Quotes"

Quote 1: “I could not go on living if all my years of longing for liberty and homeland were to lead me back to the neck yokes and ankle chains of my childhood abduction.” Page 490.

This quote is very significant as it sums up Aminata’s purpose in life. Throughout the whole novel we see Aminata struggle with many different obstacles in her life. The first obstacle being when she is kidnapped from Bayo at a young age. We also see her go through many obstacles through her time in slavery, her time with Lindo, her time escaping from Lindo, and her fight from freedom. This quote shows that Aminata has been fighting for her freedom, and longing to go back to Bayo. In the novel two of the many themes are hope and home. Aminata held onto hope that one day she would be free, and Aminata always discussed being free and being back at home in Bayo. 

Quote 2: “If I spent my time hating, my emotions would have been spent long ago, and I would be nothing more than an empty cowrie shell.” Page 452.

This quote is very significant, as you would think throughout the story that Aminata should have hated and not trusted anyone, after being mistreated so many times. But Aminata doesn’t, and this quote explains it perfectly. I also think that if Aminata decided not to like anyone or trust anyone, she would have never gotten out of her situation and might have never became “free.” Also she compares herself to a cowrie shell, and a cowrie shell, is a shell that some animals live in, and once the animals grow to a certain size they leave their shell and find a bigger shell to live in, leaving the shell empty. This compassion is really good, as it shows she knows that if she hated people and didn’t trust them that it wouldn’t have gotten her anywhere, and even though she was already not happy it would have made her even more empty.

Quote 3: “ “Look,” said Armstrong, “was the experience so terrible for you? Here you are, a picture of health, comfortable clothes, food in your belly, with a roof over your head and abolitionists fending for you in Freetown. Most of the world doesn’t live that well.” Page 470.

This quote is significant as Armstrong is basically saying that whatever happened to Aminata before doesn’t matter now because she is living better than most of the other people in her situation. Which is a completely awful thing to say as Aminata went through a lot of terrible events, and it wasn’t as if she woke up one morning and was free. She worked her butt off to get where she is today. Aminata probably wouldn’t have ever gotten out of the slave trade if it weren’t for her talents, and her determination to get back to Bayo.

Quote #4: “My children were like phantom limbs, lost but still attached to me, gone but still painful.” Page 393.

This quote is significant as Aminata had two kids during the novel, and they were both taken away from her. So Aminata explains her feelings towards her kids being taken away from her as, “phantom limbs.” Phantom limbs are people who lose their limbs but they get feelings that their limbs are still there, and sometimes they can even feel pain from them. Phantom limbs are the perfect explanation to explain the lose of her kids, as she still feels like their with her, and she can still feel the pain even though her kids are gone.

Quote#5: “Many times that winter, I slid onto my knees and called out the names of my parents, my son and my husband, crying for them as if they had just gone missing with my most recent exhalation.” Page 367.

This quote is significant as Aminata was lonely, as she had lost anyone who was very special to her. Throughout the whole novel we see how Aminata wants to go home, to be reunited with her husband, to be back with her kids, and to go back to Bayo with her husband and her two kids on her side to show something for her suffering, and now Aminata has nothing. She is all alone and has no one.