Oedipus, Electra and Freud

From our basic knowledge of Oedipus The King we know that Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother. Freud took this story and developed the theory of the Oedipus complex. It states that boys will compete with their fathers for their mother's attention because they want to have sex with them. Honestly, there is a lot more to it than just that. You can read up on it and it's gross, but no one uses Freud anyway because his theories are outdated, sexist superstitions most of which do not have any clinical evidence. Sophocles wrote another play, however, which is related to one written by Aeschylus. The Oresteia is told in 3 parts and follows Agamemnon's life and death after the trojan war and then his son Orestes revenge on his mother for killing Agamemnon. In the second part of the story during The Libation Bearers we meet Electra, Orestes' sister, and daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. She only serves as Clytemsetra's foil in that she accepts she can't challenge societal norms of misogyny and loves her brother more than her mother. In Sophocles Electra she becomes a complex character, questioning herself if exacting revenge on her mother is the correct thing to do. She survives as basically a slave in her own home which fuels her motivation. It's an interesting read and brings into question human morality and justice. Freud did not coin the term "the Electra complex", it was actually his contemporary Carl Jung. Freud rejected the term Electra complex but developed many of the underlying theories for this "negative Oedipus complex". It basically states that girls will compete with their mothers for their father affection until they have replaced them as the sexual partner. Again, really gross and really incesty. Jung and Freud were actually close friends and colleagues, but it was Freud's obsession with psychosexual behaviors that lead Jung to leave him. Both of these theories are pretty much the same in that children will fight to compete with one parent for the others attention, sometimes even the kids even kill them in the process. These complexes, according to Freud, are normal and happen during a developmental stage between the ages of 3 and 6. However, children don't realize they are doing this because it is an unconscious desire occurring from the Id which is the instinctual and impulsive part of the mind in Freudian Psychology. I thought this would be interesting to blog about because after reading Electra I stumbled across the complex while doing some reading in a psychology book.

“The Stacking Effect”

Although the documentary we watched in class already discussed many of the reasons behind the continuous growth of the prison population, I thought I’d share one that I believe the Netflix special didn’t touch on enough. “The Stacking Effect” is a theory which refers to the sentences of different lengths being piled one on top another in the prison system. After the 1970s, when politicians were pressured to crack down on crime, lengthier sentences were being dealt out. Statistics at the time proved that a majority of inmates reoffended after they were released from prison. The public blamed prisons for not doing their job of rehabilitating, and politicians and law makers solution to this problem was to just give out lengthier sentences. However, a lengthier sentence does not mean that a person will be successfully rehabilitated while serving time, it just means they’ll be behind bars for longer. Back to the actual effect though, the argument behind it is that the steady flow of inmates going in and out, in and out, did not increase. Short sentences stayed at a steady rate. However, these short sentenced prisoners were now being put into a prison which already contained a number of inmates who would be stuck behind bars for many more years to come. This is the reason for the spike in prison population. If you’re keeping people in your prison for a majority or even the entirety of their life, then of course the population is going to rise, because you aren’t moving people out as quickly anymore. A more positive solution would not be to increase the years on a persons sentence, but instead to learn how to successfully rehabilitate within a prison cell. Punishment just for the sake of punishment is a lot of time and money wasted.

De-smystification

In the Ear Hustle podcast “The Tunnel,” one of the key points is the necessity to de-mystify local myths concerning the deaths of black prison workers; this can be translated to any given myth in which people actually died violently and sometimes out of their control.  The question I pose would be: which would be better; to have people’s stories more coloquially known through myth or to tell the real story and potentially not be as well known?  Or would the possibility of it not being widespread even be a risk?

Silvon SImmons

One of the podcasts I listened to this past week was Criminal's "Silvon Simmons". Basically, this man gets framed by the police of shooting at an officer to save the officer's reputation after the officer shot him three times in the back. He was pressured to do a plea deal which would have given him 15 years in prison. As we discussed, there is a risk of going to trial. If he was found guilty, Silvon could have gotten up to life in prison. However, he very confidently denied the plea deal, knowing he was innocent. He went to trial and was found not guilty. I just really thought this story was crazy because I've heard stories of corruption in law enforcement, but the whole police force was behind this. It seems like some fictional story to me. Did anyone else listen to this or hear about any similar stories of corruption?

New Slaves

As some of you may know, I am a big Kanye West fan. When we started the discussion of the 13th amendment and the prison system, it reminded me of one of his songs. The fourth song on his sixth album, titled Yeezus, is called "New Slaves". He begins the song saying, "My mama was raised in the era when clean water was only served to the fairer skin." This is referring to the Jim Crow era which eventually ended in 1965. Kanye actually samples "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday in the same album, a song based around the tragic lynchings of this era. As the documentary we watched said, once the lynchings and Jim Crow laws became unacceptable, the oppression was switched to the prison system. Kanye then repeatedly refers to imprisoned African Americans as the "new slaves". He then talks about the war on drugs, started by Richard Nixon in 1971. Kanye says, "Meanwhile the DEA Teamed up with the CCA They tryna lock n***** up They tryna make new slaves." The CCA is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. The CCA makes billions of dollars every year off of the increasing size of the US prison population. The DEA has been accused of racist and unconstitutional acts in the past. Other companies besides the CCA continue to profit off of the prisoners. So, in this song, Kanye is accusing the Federal Government of using the prison system to create "new slaves" to further make more and more money and improve the economy, just as slavery did back in its time. This brings us to the 13th amendment. In 2018, Kanye had an outburst saying that the 13th amendment should be abolished. But, what he really was trying to say is that it needs to be amended, referring to its "exception clause". Kanye said, "In 1865, the 13th Amendment stated that no man is destined to slavery or involuntary servitude unless convicted of a crime," West read from his phone. "This translates to in order to make a freed man a slave all you have to do is convict them of a crime." This topic continues to be an argument across the nation, but I thought it was interesting to look at my favorite artist's viewpoint.

The SHU

I watched Ear Hustle's "The SHU." This was an excellent podcast that showed the atrocity of solitary confinement. It was a very good blog that gave many different perspectives on the issue and also focused on the mental health aspect of those trapped within the SHU. This may seem like a stretch, but I would like to show a relation between this podcast and Sing, Unburied, Sing. In the book we are able to see within the head of the three major characters.  All these characters seem to have some sort of falling mental health. Especially Leonie, we her struggle with drugs and ghosts. In a sense we can say that the characters in the book are in their own "SHU."

Prosecutorial Power

I watched Criminal (In)justice episode #102, and although I chose it at random, I’m glad I did so, as I learned a lot about the justice system in America and issues relating to it. Specifically, the episode concerned prosecutors in criminal trials, and how they have too much power. The episode began with a discussion on how there exists a mandatory minimum sentence for most criminal trials. Because of this, judges in these trials do not have as much of a say on the duration of the sentence. Moreover, it is mentioned that nearly 90% of all criminal cases are determined via a plea bargain, so they never even reach court. These two occurrences give the prosecutors in these cases lots of power, and they often abuse it. Prosecutors can tamper with and not disclose all the evidence in a trial (also known as a Brady violation), and because it is hard to bring about ethical charges against them, they often get away with it. 
In my opinion, there needs to be some sort of policy reform that limits the power of prosecutors and allows for more justice in the court system. I think one way that this can be accomplished is through the limiting of plea bargains, as they can undermine the court system, which is meant to give fair and equal protection to its citizens, as a whole.

Jokes, you slow pokes.

In the documentary we watched in class the other day, the used clips of HBO's comedy talk show "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver". This made me think of a question: Is comedy an effective way to get a point across? Obviously, I think that it is. I think it helps people to process and digest serious issues, but I'm obviously biased. Discuss.

Response to "13th"

The documentary we watched in class very articulate in its analysis of the criminal justice system. It used compelling evidence and used many persuasive speakers. However, the documentary was heavily biased and made many sweeping generalizations about American politics and society.

Being Biased is not inherently wrong. Everyone has a bias. The problem begins when your bias is so extreme that it leads you to present only the information that supports your side and rejects any information that contradicts that position. In "13th," the documentary presented information concerning the beginnings of the War on Crime and War on Drugs that showed how the policies were objectively terrible. The problem is that the documentary presents strong evidence that the Southern Strategy and the policies used by the Nixon Administration were born purely of racists intents and then the bias of the documentary leads to the conclusion that all southern voters and the Republican Party that supported these policies were racists. This is a false conclusion because not everyone in the South was racists, and not every member of the Republican Party was racists.

Throughout "13th," a biased interpretation of the evidence undermines the very real truth that the American criminal justice is broken. Yes, many of the supporters of these policies were racists or had racists ideas. But, this does not mean that everyone who supported those policies was racists. Spending time trying to pin down who is to blame for this crisis and spending time arguing about who is racists means that we are wasting time that could be spent fixing the problems in our justice system.

Parallels between “Photo, Hair, Fingerprint” and the “13th”

I also found the podcasts I listened to very interesting, mainly because this was my first time listening to one fully. In addition to “The Job” that Elyse listened to, I found “Photo, Hair, Fingerprint” to be very intriguing. “Photo, Hair, Fingerprint” was about a 69 year old woman named Carol Elliot who was raped in her home. Although she could not identify the man, she knew that he was African American and around 6 feet tall. Ultimately, a woman came forward and named the man “responsible” for the crime. She was offered a reward of $1,000 for naming the man, Willie Grimes. Willie Grimes was charged with 2 counts of rape and kidnapping, even though he was not responsible for the crime. Willie Grimes went on to serve 24 years in prison. Willie begged and begged for a lawyer, but no one would look into his case. Finally when the North Carolina Inquiry Committee agreed to look into the case, they found that Albert Turner was the one who raped Carol Elliot. His fingerprints were on pieces of fruit that were overlooked for 24 years. Ultimately, Willie served 24 years in prison for a deed he did not even commit.

Another point in the podcast that I found very strange was that 11/12 jurors that listened to Willie’s case were white. This taps into the idea of white supremacy and how those of African American decent were suppressed. While listening to this podcast, I began to see parallels between “Photo, Hair, Fingerprint” and the documentary “13th.” The 13th Amendment states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” This loophole in the 13th Amendment, that criminals can be held as “slaves”, allowed for many African Americans to be treated as such. They would be picked up off the street and taken to prison just for the sake of increasing the imprisonment rate. Sadly, African Americans were the prime candidates. Overall, these two examples serve as ways to see how African Americans experienced, and still experience this injustice today.

PODCASTS RULE XD !!!

I loved listening to the podcasts about Criminal Injustices for this class. It's fascinating to hear personal stories directly from those within who live and work within the walls of a prison. My favorite podcast that I listened to focused on the death penalty and the effect it has on the workers in the prison. This podcast consists of an interview with a man named Frank Thompson who worked at the Oregon State Penitentiary as the Superintendent. When he was offered the job, there hadn't been any death penalty sentences in 32 years. Within 18 months of Thompson working at the prison, there was a prisoner sentenced with the death penalty. During the 32 years, the protocol had changed for the method of killing those sentenced to death from a gas chamber to lethal injection. So no one in Oregon knew how to use lethal injection to kill for the death penalty ever. 

Thompson was given the job to re-right the protocol, fly people in from other states to teach him how to do it, hire a staff of people willing to work with him and run simulations over and over again to practice all the steps. Eventually, when Thompson and his team were prepared, they conducted the death penalty on the prisoner sentenced. Thompson said he practiced over and over again what he would be done during the process, but he never practiced what he would do after the fact that he had killed a living soul. He highlights the dramatic effect it had on himself, for he felt a void in his heart, and the effect it had on his staff. He had members leave because it became too mentally and emotionally damaging for them to experience. 

When we talk about the death penalty, usually our minds are focused on the human being killed. People either feel that it’s inhumane to force death upon someone, or that its an effective way to punish those convicted of crimes. But we don't think of the humans who have the job of conducting this process. I don't think many people realize that the death penalty creates “another set of victims”, which is what Thompson concluded after he retired. What it takes to kill another human just because you're asked to is indescribable. I’m glad I listened to this podcast because it educated me not only on the damages within prisons but about the scars that are carried out.

Michael's Parents

As we know, Michael's parents are very unaccepting of his relationship with Leonie, simply because she is a black woman and he is a white man. On the trip home from Parchman, Michael says he wants to stop by his parents house because his parents have never met his kids, Jojo and Kayla. Leonie refuses immediately and says that they hate her and her children, but they end up going anyway (she kind of just does whatever Michael wants to do). When they get to Michael's parent's house, Big Joseph, Michael's dad, answers the door and embraces his son. Then he saw Leonie and the kids and looked disgusted. Big Joseph made sure to let them know they weren't welcomed in his home, but Michael tried to persuade him to like his family. Michael's mother wasn't as rude to them as Big Joseph, but she also wasn't very welcoming to the family. Michael and Big Joseph start to fight and Michael's mother has to break it up. Michael then remembers why he doesn't go to his parents house anymore and it is because they treat him and his family so poorly. Michael starts to fully realize that this problem will never go away because he is married to a black woman and has mixed children. I honestly don't really see anything nice or kind in Michael's parents at all, but what do you all think? Is there any good in Michael's parents?

Greek mythology and birds

There's a lot of bird imagery in the novel, there's even one on the front cover. There is also a lot of allusions to Greek Mythology in this book and if you read any of my previous blog posts you will probably know where I'm going with this. There is one thing I noticed in this novel that happens a few times, birds being present when ghosts are mentioned or when people are very ill. Kayla and Jojo both see birds. Jojo sees them with ghosts, while a very sick Kayla just sees birds. In Greek mythology there is the idea of the psychopomp which are guides for souls of the recently deceased to the afterlife. Of course people in different cultures applied this idea to animals. Of the 8 main animals that were considered psychopomps, 5 of them were birds. I like that Jesmyn Ward alludes to to Greek Mythology and even in her novel and, although I don't know if this is intentional, uses something unknown from the mythos. This could be a stretch but I thought it was interesting.
                                 

smaller Big Joseph?; the little kid prone to anger who smashes the TV

In the latter half of chapter three, we travel with Jojo into a meth-abuse household of a mother and her son and father who is apparently out in the shed.  It has some large stressful points in the scene, such as when the kid gets increasingly angry and smashes his TV, his mom's leg, then likewise is beaten to an unfair extent, clearly showing the level of abuse in the household especially when the threat of worse is apparently a potential from the father.   My question is:  what is the significance of this scene, other than to show the types of people Misty clearly does "business" with? 

Seeing, Hearing, Helping; Ghosts?

In the novel we see each generation of characters are increasingly able to interact with ghosts.  My question is: if any, what is the significance of the specific abilities as they pertain to each character?  Leonie can see and hear but can't really help.  Jojo can see, hear, and tries to help.  Kayla can see, hear, and we see in the end does help.  So what's up?

Invoking some kind of "Muse" (or ghost...?)

In class today I referred to the title of the novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing, as being similar to something we read in latin last year. We translated Virgil's Aeneid into english and a few lines that really struck me to be similar to the title of the novel (SUS) were the beginning lines: "I sing of arms and a man," "Muse, tell me the cause: how was she offended in her divinity." So, these first few lines of the Aeneid set up the whole story and it is Virgil invoking the Muse to tell it's own story (which goes on to be the whole story of The Aeneid). This reminded me a lot of the title of the novel we read because it is in a way invoking the "unburied" people (being ghosts of people who died violent deaths - like Given and Richie). It seems like they are also being "invoked" in order to tell their own stories, just like the Muse in the Aeneid. These ghosts, the "unburied" people, are being summoned by the people still alive to tell their stories and to make sure the correct history, even though it is sad and violent, is being told and not being fabricated. What do y'all think of this? Does anyone have any other ideas about the title of SUS?

Angola vs. Parchman

According to Bruce Hamilton, “In November 2012, Shannon Hurd, who was serving a life sentence for stealing $14, began losing weight and experiencing flu-like symptoms. His symptoms worsened, and he developed a pain in his side. But doctors at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as “Angola,” repeatedly dismissed his medical complaints.

He did not receive medical care in the weeks that followed. He did not receive medical care in the months that followed. And as he waited for basic medical care, a disease was spreading in his system. In the end, Hurd waited three devastating years before he was finally tested and diagnosed with kidney cancer. At that point, the tumors had already spread to his brain. Kidney cancer is generally treatable if it’s caught early. This was not the case here. By the end of 2015, Shannon had lost over 60 pounds. He was often numb in his fingers and feet.”

This horrific situation seen at Angola mirrors many of the conditions at Parchman. Ward depicts this in her novel Sing Unburied Sing, by showing the tragic conditions in which Pop and Richie faced at Parchman. However, what bothers me the most about the prison is that the Trusty Shooters are the only ones armed with guns. Parchman is described as: “The Prison Where Inmates Set Each Other On Fire and Gangs Have More Power Than Guards.”

The Trusty Shooters, the most violent offenders, are the ones with the guns. The only explanation I can think of for this is that they would be able to pull the trigger “easier” than the guards with higher morals. However, I do not understand how these offenders are trusted with guns. How do they not abuse the power of having a gun? Yes, they might get their sentence reduced for doing their job well, but I feel like many inmates would take advantage of their weapons and ultimately fire their gun at innocent inmates or guards. In addition to this, it seems to me that when a Trusty Shooters kills a person, it would only make murder “more acceptable” in their eyes. Many of the inmates are in prison for killing, and they are now getting rewarded for killing others. This just doesn’t sit right with me.

Lastly, throughout the nation, prisons are constantly being criticized for the standards and actions that take place in their penal institutions. Parchman and Angola are among the worst ones. With that said, how can you expect one to “get better” when unethical activities are taking place in prison. It seems to me that if the state wants inmates to act better, they need to improve their standards in their prisons.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/cruel-inhuman-and-degrading-conditions/louisianas-infamous-angola-prison-goes 

Death, Death, Death, Death, Death, Death

Throughout SUS, we find multiple instances of death. Obviously with the deaths of Richie and Given, but there are many more cases of animal death. Did Jesmyn Ward include all of these animal deaths just to further the death motif, or was there some symbolic meaning? Discuss.

Lets Talk About the Prison Industrial Complex

In America, we have decided that we should privatize prison because the free market is better than the government. But for some reason, the free market decided that the lives and welfare of prisoners aren't important. People in private prisons live in terrible conditions, receive little to no support in reintegration, and have their constitutional rights violated almost routinely.

For example a Federal Judge ordered a private prison closed because and I quote "The Court understands completely why the DOJ would conclude that the sexual misconduct occurring at [Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility], including "brazen" staff sexual misconduct and brutal youth-on-youth rapes, was "among the worst that we have seen in any facility anywhere in the nation."

The opinion further stated, "WGYCF has allowed a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate, the sum of which places the offenders at substantial ongoing risk."

All of this to say Parchman is not an outlier in the American Correctional System. Private prisons like the ones in Mississippi and Louisiana, engage in practices that rightly seem immoral and unjust, yet no is motivated to do anything about it.



https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/order_approving_settlement_2012_walnut_grove.pdf

Why does Leonie only see ghosts when she is high?

I started thinking more about the novel and about the characters themselves. And I thought about when certain characters see ghosts and when they don't. One question that came to mind was: How is it significant that Jojo and Kayla can see the ghosts of Richie and Mam sober, yet Leonie can only see Given's ghost when she is high? And what does this mean? (Hopefully y'all will have some opinions on this question, but I started to think about the answer myself.) I think one possible answer to this question could be that Jojo and Kayla can see ghosts sober because they still contain some innocence, unlike their mother, Leonie. Leonie NEEDS to see Given, and therefore she NEEDS to use drugs to see him. Her innocence is long gone and the only way she can see him is by taking in the drugs and getting high. What do y'all think about this? What else could be the reasons?

The "black bird' and "white snake"

I've been wondering what the black bird and white snake symbolize, especially the scale given to Ritchie.  I can see them being symbols for death, satan, racism, but what about their interactions with Ritchie?  What does the transformation from snake to scaly bird mean?  Again, what is the significance of the black scale?  Is it a kind of reminder, or is it a mark?

starting with goats or sheep

In preparation for going to see IT Chapter Two today, I re watched the first one. In the opening 20 minutes there is one scene that I was like, "A SECOND BLOG POST!!!!!", so bear with me. In the first chapter of our Novel we see Jojo going with his father to slaughter a goat. Jojo thinks he is old enough to do it as this will transition him into a man. Of course, as we have read, he runs out of the barn a vomits. Death is something that Jojo thinks he is able to see but obviously his assumption is wrong. In the beginning of IT we are introduced to all the Losers. But one of these scenes stuck out to me. Mike, who is black, is the "home schooled kid". This is done out of protection as the town of Derry isn't too fond of black people. But his family owns a slaughter house which delivers meat to the towns shops. In his introduction we see him, shakily, holding a bolt gun up to an animals forehead. What kind of animal is it???? Yep, a SHEEP(I know these aren't the same animals but close enough). Now of course this is the first time he was asked to do this. He ends up not being able to kill the poor creature, so his grandfather does it for him. These two characters are quite similar in that they can't look death head on, they're black(or biracial) and where they live isn't too fond of their demographic. I found it very interesting at how strikingly similar these scenes are. Not to mention how similar the characters are as well.

The Complexity of Leonie's Character

         As I read Sing Unburied Sing, I tried to understand Leonie's character, but I found it to be troublesome to do so. I understood that she didn't have the natural maternal instincts most mothers obtain at the birth of their children, but at the same time, she seemed to display some kind of nurturing instinct toward Michael. Not only does she feel like she needs to take care of him, to the point that she will drive a significant distance to pick him up from jail, but she is so in awe of him that she disregards her children needs. The only real emotion she shows is toward Michael. After realizing this, I concluded that Leonie's character is defined by her relationship with Michael. Everything she does is for Michael, she resents her children because they take away her ideal life with Michael and she continually chooses Michael over everyone else in her life. She’s just a damaged girl who was never the chance to grow up and is unable to get over the death of her brother Given. She is still in a time where she feels that she needs to live out her youth. She is under the spell of young love and acts out by doing drugs to live out her past to see Given. In the first couple of chapters of the novel, I wasn't able to empathize for Leonie and didn't understand the depth of her character. But as the novel went on, I started to realize this complexity to her character. 

Is Money the Key to Happiness?

Sing Unburied Sing is set in the town of Bois, which is known for its high poverty levels. However, when Leonie, Jojo, Kayla, and Misty travel to Parchment to pick up Michael, the conditions there are portrayed as much worse. In my opinion, the lack of money is the undermining cause of many events in the novel.

In many ways, poverty determines the fate of generation after generation in the family. Leonie knows that she will never get a well paying job, be able to progress in life, or take care of her kids because of the lack of money. Leonie is able to see this, and in response has given up on life by using drugs and getting high.

Hypothetically speaking, what if Leonie and Michael did have money? Would that change how they act? In my opinion, the answer would be no. Leonie uses drugs as an escape from three factors: death, poverty, and slavery. By eliminating poverty, Leonie would still be faced with the lasting effects of death and slavery. She couldn’t use money to forget the pain she feels toward Given or bribe Big Joseph into accepting the African race. Regardless of financial standings, I think that Leonie would still use drugs in order to see Given. Drugs provide a way of connecting with her past and allowing her to “talk” to Given.

In addition, money will not buy her “motherly attributes.” These are characteristics that are learned, no matter the level of income one makes. Mam serves as an excellent model for Leonie, but she does not pick up on these traits herself. Until Leonie matures, she will not have a future, regardless of how much money she has. Yes money might make eating and living expenses easier, but in my opinion it will not help Leonie grow as a mother.

What do y’all think? Who agrees? Who disagrees?

Jojo's role in the family is detrimental to himself

Due to Leonies' lack of motherly instincts, the roles in the family dynamic are often switched or flipped around. Jojo acts as the main caregiver to Kayla, which often causes him to forget about his own health or well being. Leonie isn't able to support or care for her children properly, and although Pops does the best he can as their father figure, the need for a maternal figure is still prevalent. This may also cause Jojo to have some confusion about who he is meant to be, since he wants to take after Pops but also has to act as a mom to Kayla. This also may be why he struggles so often to prove his masculinity and mimic Pops, since he's thrown into a womanly role in the household and family. Jojo himself has grown up incredibly quickly in order to fill these shoes, and he has missed out on living out his last years of childhood innocence, which is vital to most kiddos. Since Mam was  the only woman role model in his life, I wonder how her death will change him and the role he plays.

Sing Unburied Sing: Misty Misty Misty

I brought up this discussion in class however I want to continue it.

What is the exact nature of Leonie's relationship to Misty? Are they friends or is it a relationship of convenience like the one Leonie has with Michael, where they're only together because they just so happen to satisfy each others needs?

Sing, Unburied, Sing Captured in a Picture

CreditCreditPic

Picture Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/books/review/tracy-k-smith-on-sing-unburied-sing-jesmyn-ward.html

This picture was made by Tomer Hanuka and seems to display the main characters of Sing, Unburied, Sing. The two children are Jojo, the older boy, and Kayla, the younger girl. The woman who seems to look around the ages of 24-30 is Leonie, the mother of Jojo and Kayla. The last character in the artwork is an older woman who in the novel is Mam, the mother of Leonie, and the grandmother of Jojo and Kayla. One very significant part of this artwork is that Jojo is taking care of Kayla, while their mother, Leonie, is looking away and is smoking what seems to be a cigarette. So, the mother in the story is not actually being the parental figure to Kayla, rather, her older brother Jojo has to grow up (lose his innocence) and take care of not only himself but also his little sister. Also, in the picture, Mam is looking away as well. Throughout the novel, Mam is sick and seems to be a great motherly figure, but because she is so sick she can't help the children. 

      A major chunk of the plot in the novel is the journey to and from Parchment to pick up Michael, Leonie's boyfriend and Jojo and Kayla's father. In this picture, a road with a car driving on it is woven throughout the characters. This journey is supposed to be "great" and bring the family together by picking up Michael ("the missing piece"), but in reality this family is very much broken (between being involved in drugs, prison, and alcohol) and will never be able to be fixed. 

This May Seem Like A Stupid Question But...

I know that this may seem like a stupid and simple question but it really has been bothering me since I read SUS.

So, if ghosts are real in the world in which the book is set, then why aren't more people talking about seeing them? Is it just Leonie and Jojo who see them? What makes them so special? There are tons of people who died in horrible, violent ways, but the possibility of everyone who died in the Civil War haunting a gaggle of Tennesseans is never brought up. Most of Germany must really be sick of hauntings at this point. What are the rules? Are there rules?

I know I try to be silly and funny a lot but this is a serious, genuine inquiry. Is this something that Jesmyn Ward didn't focus on? Is it like the time travel in the 1995 Terry Gilliam film 12 Monkeys, where the time travel isn't explained because it's used to tell a story or is there some thread of logic I somehow missed? Help me.

100 Years and the El Boom Movement

Gabriel Marquez was one of the most prominent authors of the Latin American Literary Boom. The novels and works a part of this movement were often politically engaging and told the history of a people once silenced and abandoned during colonization. Many used magical realism as a means of expressing past and current events that were almost unimaginable to westerners. These works gained widespread attention and Latin America’s once lost identity was found and marketed globally. Finally people would realize that Columbia was well as other Latin American countries were not letting their history and culture be told and identified for them.

What it means to see GHOSTS

         One Hundred Years of Solitude, as well as Sing Unburied Sing, are written in similar forms that focus on the past and how that past weights an individual down with guilt, yet they represent different themes within each novel. In One Hundred Years of Solitude, Jose Arcadio Buendia kills Prudencio Aguilar in a cockfight after he judges his manhood. Immediately, Jose Arcadio Buendia feels remorse and is consumed by guilt. Jose Arcadio Buendia becomes so weighed down by his grief that he becomes haunted by the corpse of Prudencio Aguilar who is constantly bleeding from his wound fails to wash it. This obsession of guilt drives him insane and Jose Arcadio Buendia flees town and his killer past. This type of magical realism represents Jose Arcadio's fear of the past and the past repeating itself. But as we know, the Buendia family continues to make the same mistakes their ancestors made — because Jose Arcadio Segundo begins to participate in cockfights as well after Jose Arcadio Buendia dies.

        Similarly, in Sing Unburied Sing, Leonie becomes haunted by the ghost of her brother, Given, and Jojo is haunted by the ghost of his grandfathers’ childhood friend, Richie. These spirits both serve as different purposes in the novel. Given appears to Leonie whenever she gets high and becomes a reminder of her failed parentage. Leonie never shows Jojo or Kayla true motherly love. She focuses on her boyfriend, Michael, and their fragile relationship that is constantly falling apart and being glued back together. Given forces Leonie to face the ghosts of her past which brings back memories of how he died (Michael’s cousin killed him. Unfortunately, ghost Given’s attempt to change Leonie’s mindset doesn't affect her and she continues to prove to her children that they don't mean anything to her. On the other hand, when Jojo begins communicated with Richie, you start to see a strong sense of maturity with Jojo. Jojo had always been more of a parent to his sister than his mother had. But Pop’s story about the poor black boy, Richie, who used to be in prison with Pop and looked to him as an icon, starts to further change Jojo’s mentality. His manhood is highlighted in the way he cares for his sister and how he communicates with his distant parents. These ghosts are young men who never were given the chance to grow up and represent the “unburied” secrets of the past and a child's journey toward adulthood.

"Independent Women" by Destiny's Child: Ursula Iguaran Version

In the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, Marquez crafts Ursula’s character in a unique way that differs from all other characters. Ursula, my favorite character, serves many purposes in the novel. She is one of the founders of Macondo, a mother, a wife, a friend, and the regulator of the town. In addition to this, she constantly warns her family about the effetcs of incest which is the undesirable pig’s tail. 

Unlike any other character, Ursula has her own identity and characteristics; She is not like the Aurilanos or Jose Acardios who all possess many of the same features. Due to this, Ursula’s strength arises from her independent nature. She does not rely on others to protect the town of Macondo or take care of her family, she does so herself. While the town is under her control, she manages to keep her family free from the pig’s tail and therefore incest. However, after her death, this warning slips away and the pig’s tail appears. Without Ursula, the Buendia family moves quickly toward their demise.

On a different note, Ursula lives a very long life; her lengthy life allows her to see the town and others in a different way. She has experienced the creation of Macondo, the gypsies and their “inventions”, Don Moscote and his soldiers, the massacre, and the death of their original town. Ursula’s realistic nature is seen in the following quote, “The concert of so many different birds became so disturbing that Ursula would plug her ears with beeswax so as not to lose her sense of reality” (Marquez, 9). Ursula does not allow herself to get lost in the chaos of Macondo; she stays true to her duty: avoiding the fate of the pig’s tail.

While reading the novel, I could not help but think of the song “Independent Women” by Destiny’s Child when looking at Ursula’s character. Ursula embodies the moral of the song: a women does not need a man to succeed in life. Ursula clearly proves that she does not need Jose Acardio Buendia as she ties him to the tree and continues on with her life. Ursula is a powerful women that would most definitely fit the description on an independent women in the song.

The Curse of Knowledge

Throughout the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude we see how the people of Macondo are seperated from the rest of the world and ignorant to the technology and discoveries of the time. During this period of ignorance we see how Macondo is a magical place where the people live in peace. As technology reaches Macondo and the town develops we see how the magic fades away and the town almost becomes corrupted. The more the town develops, the more the inhabitants forget how it once was and why it was founded. When it is all forgotten, the town becomes destroyed and forgotten. The knowledge they gain from the outside world causes them to forget how the town once was. This is the curse of knowledge

Thoughts? Counter-Arguments? Anything to add? Please feel free to comment.

One Hundred Years of Solitude ... AS A NETFLIX SERIES

Article: https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/netflix-one-hundred-years-of-solitude-gabriel-garcia-marquez-1203156110/

Netflix now has the right to adapt the novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, as a series. It will be a Spanish-language original based on the novel. Gabriel Marquez’s sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo are going to be the executive producers and it will be filmed in Colombia. The brothers say their father was hesitant about selling the rights of the novel for a film because of the time constraints on a film (wouldn’t do the novel justice). Now they are saying with the “hype” of Netflix and the popularity of series, that now is the perfect time to take on the project. 

Francisco Ramos, Netflix’s VP of Spanish language originals, said, “We are incredibly honored to be entrusted with the first filmed adaptation of ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude,’ a timeless and iconic story from Latin America that we are thrilled to share with the world”   AND   “We know our members around the world love watching Spanish-language films and series, and we feel this will be a perfect match of project and our platform.”

magical realism and 100 years

In 100 Years of Solitude I believe that there is a clear link between the biblical reference of the garden of Eden and the fall of man. In the begining of biblical history, man and woman lived in a utopia. They lived with nature and there was pain or suffering at all. This is extremely similar to Macondo. When the Buendias first found Macondo, it was nothing short of a Utopia. We also see the magical realism within the town and the living side by side with nature, especially the birds. There is a normalization of magic in beginning, similarly to Eden. Humans were banished from the garden when they partook from the tree of knowledge. Through this they were able to see the difference between good and evil. In the book, as the people of Macondo were exposed to  more and more knowledge they began to lose the utopian type civilization where they reside. As the town learns more and more they begin to totally lose all magic in the town. And like the exodus from Eden, after knowledge became known, humans and the people of Macondo were faced with death. At the end of the book we see Macondo be wiped off the face of the Earth, similarly to Eden. 

The Cyclical Nature of History

According to Aljazeera, many ex-leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia have rearmed themselves to begin a new armed struggle against the government of Colombia. This means the peace of Havana that was negotiated in 2016 is effectively over and Colombia will be thrust back into civil war. 

In 100 years of Solitude, the near constant civil strife that the citizens of Macondo face during the Civil War was caused by a an armed rebel group, the Liberal Party. While the Liberal Party may have some legitimate grievances with the Conservative Party were these disagreements worth a bloody civil war? The same question now faces the ex-FARC leaders. Are their disagreements with the Government worth a bloody civil war? 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/colombia-duque-seeks-arrest-rearmed-farc-leaders-190829200112859.html

The Gift of Sight

In reading One Hundred years of Solitude I found Ursula to be a very interesting character. She fears/prophesizes that one day a child will be born with a pigs tail and the subsequent downfall of Macondo. Most people are very dismissive of these fears. Later in the Novel Ursula goes blind and is able to "see clearly the truths her busy life in former times had prevented her from seeing". This reminds me of Cassandra of ancient Greek writings. Cassandra, according to mythology, was a princess of Troy. She was cursed by the God Apollo to speak true prophesies but never be believe, just because she wouldn't sleep with him. She predicts the fall of Troy at the hands of Greeks armies yet everyone is dismissive of her. She even predicts her own murder yet no one helps her and consider her insane. Another point about Ursula is that she follows a common trope, The Blind Seer. There are many accounts of blind prophets in media from Tiresias, also from Greek mythology, to more modern interpretations like Cordelia Foxx from AHS: Coven. It's ironic in that these people are able to see clearly the truth, or what others can't, yet they lack normal vision. It doesn't take a blind old woman to see that things are bad in Macondo, they just needed to open their eyes to what was right in front of them.

The Cyclical Nature of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Sing Unburied Sing

Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, is a very condensed, complex novel that employs various elements of the struggle for Latin American Independence. However, when examined more closely, the novel is nothing more than a cycle of recurring events. When reading, I could not help but notice the cyclical nature of the book. Beginning with the creation of Macondo and the Buendia family, we see many repetitive characteristics, actions, and events that occur time and time again.

Much of the cyclical nature of the novel arises from the forgetting of the past. When one forgets or does not acknowledge their past, they are inclined to fall back into similar habits. This can be seen in many instances such as Colonel Aureliano Buendia’s creation of gold fish; he uses the gold to create these fish, but then melts them back down and starts all over. This gesture serves as a metaphor for the town of Macondo. Colonel Aureliano Buendia is not progressing by making these fish then melting them down, just as Macondo is not progressing by repeating the same “mistakes.” 

Another very apparent example is the repetition of names and character traits. Marquez writes, “While the Aurelianos were withdrawn, but with lucid minds, the Jose Arcadios were impulsive and enterprising, but they were marked with a tragic sign” (Marquez, 181).  Each generation of Aurelianos and Jose Arcadios posses specific characters that they obtain upon being given their name. Due to this, each successive generation falls into this same trap of making the same mistakes ultimately resulting in the creation of the pig’s tale.

On a similar note, this cycle of repetition can also be observed in Jesmyn Ward’s novel Sing Unburied Sing. Leonie, Jojo and Kayla’s mother, continues to make mistakes that force Jojo to take care of Kayla in a parental manner. Jojo is viewed not only as a brother, but also Kayla’s guardian. Leonie’s lack of maternal instinct is shown when she puts drugs and herself before her kids. Just as Leonie may have been becoming more mother-like, Michael gets out of jail, and she returns to her past behaviors. She uses drugs, abandons Kayla and Jojo, and exhibits childish behavior when Mam dies. Just as the town of Macondo frequently finds itself in old habits, so does Leonie.

Macondo Painting

 Painting:  https://mypleasuresofeden.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/macondo.jpg

This is a painting of an interpretation of the city, Macondo. It shows the beginning stages of Macondo and when it was first "discovered." It seems to be an innocent and happy place to live in this picture. The innocence displayed in the painting shows how Macondo was seen as a Utopian society and seemed to be perfect (until, of course, invaders came in). Also, the natural setting/elements of the painting and all of the animals may remind us of stories in the Bible. The stories of creation and specifically the Garden of Eden is portrayed to be similar to this specific painting of Macondo.