Bearhear 2

                    The most important thing that anyone can draw from a novel is the message it is trying to send indirectly to the reader whether it be from symbolism or character diction.  Bearheart is no different and its message became clear throughout the novel as it was repeated over and over.  This message was the sin of “terminal creed”.  Terminal creed to me is anything that puts limitations on you or your surroundings.  Vizenor tries to make us realize how this has affected our perception of the outside world and what reality is.

                “”Terminal creeds” in Bearheart are beliefs that seek to impose static definitions upon the world” (249).  By even beginning to try and describe something and its existence you are already limiting that object in your mind.  You are putting it in a box to try and find a simple understanding of what it is about.  This is not all bad as we need these limitations to express ourselves to others and try and understand the world around us.  But in doing this we have ignorantly setting aside a lot of truths that are now blind to.

                From what we have been brought up to know whether it be from school, parents, and television Indians seemed to be communal and peace loving nomads who have a spiritual connection with nature.  This novel allows us to realize that this is not the case, that there other real qualities that fall on these previously portrayed people besides Indian.  What Vizenor is trying to say is that a word and its meaning cannot fully capture what an object is, what a person is, or even what life is.

Bearheart 1

“Bearheart” by Gerald Vizenor, was a hard book to understand in the beginning as you were introduced to the world from a different perspective.  That perspective happened to be that of Fourth Proude whose father and his father and before that his father has died from bizarrely brutal events.  The First Proude paved the way for the story as he was the one who made his circus a sovereign nation, protecting the rights of the trees and animals in that distinct line from the government.  After he was killed by a man with an axe the Second Proude seemed to be an outsider of the ways of the land as he drank a lot and eventually left the circus to be run by the woman to go fight in the white man’s war.  He was then shot by a policeman who went crazy not to long after.  But as the events unfold in this novel and the Fourth Proude finally becomes the leader you finally have grown the sense of the simplicity and spirit that is encompassed by the ghost border of trees in this nation. 

                This novel portrays the government as a controlling diabolical entity and the only peace was inside these borders where time seemed to stand still.  I did not understand the title of the book until all the representations that the Proude’s are spiritual linked to the bears, and talks to crows as well as the other animals in the circus.  The author kept on talking about incense and for a long time the people sought after refuge in this cedar nation because of the government’s tyranny, so I got an impression that this incense and spiritual ceremonies were chemically induced causing them to hallucinate.  In the mean time I do not think the author is trying to portray Proude as a drug user but more of a pure figure or visionary.  The crows are a major detail in this novel as they follow Proude and lead him to make interpretations about the future.  I believe it is real important to see what does the land represent?  Almost like the Garden of Eden or something of that significance to the Proude’s and of course the outside world is collapsing into complete chaos because of the gasoline and electricity crises.  This material sin can of man seems to be the major fixture in this book and using Fourth Proude as a measuring stick you can actually see how far these people have fallen from purity.

Solomon 2

               With Guitar’s now more sophisticated realism of whites and blacks he turns to an outdated method of dealing with the issue by taking an eye for eye.  They are sayings for a reason and this one proves no different because Guitar is killing innocent white people to enact revenge but all that does is spread the gap in-between whites and blacks having it become more violent.  Although Guitar is set in a suicidal mindset on this society his reasons for doing so are clear and exact.  So when Milkman argues on how terrible this is the narrator already has you questioning Milkman’s reasons behind his words, almost making you side with Guitar that it is perfectly fine to kill innocent people.  This is a great method of writing as the other pushes and pulls you stretching out your morals only to bring you right back. 

                As before the narrator starts to mask some aspects of the story and lighten others in order for you to start viewing people as more dynamic characters.  Respecting that each one has their flaws as well as characteristics that make you side with them.  For example, the narrative switches to a completely different perspective when telling about Pilate and Macon Dead Jr.’s dilemma.  From what we can only assume from the story is that Pilate stole the gold and the clothe off the man’s back.  This instantly makes you question Pilate’s morals and what drives her.

                The fact that at this point Guitar is not only considering but planning on bombing a church with four little white girls in it is a clear indication that this society has been taken too far and the morals it rests on are outdated and dangerous to society as a whole.  Milkman told Guitar of the gold in Pilate’s room and they together stole it only to get pulled over and discover there was no gold.  Instantly bouncing you back to why you ever questioned Pilate’s integrity and making you realize that the author has more control over you than you feel comfortable with. 

                These continuous symbols are prevalent throughout the novel as the white peacock appeared right before the robbery.  Also, as soon as you see that Milkman’s character is developing more sincerely and rationally his genetic defect seemed to have gone away making it a clear indication that a turning point in Milkman’s life is approaching if it has not already started changing.

Solomon 1

In the novel by Toni Morrison, “Song of Solomon”, you are thrown into a predominately black community in which racism is a major issue in the 1930’s & 40’s.  You start to learn about a bunch of major characters in the book as it paints the setting for the entire book.  Starting with Ruth giving birth to “Milkman” after the agent’s plunge of death.  This ties in later when milkman finds out that he cannot fly and loses interest in just about everything in his life because of this.

                The next main character in this book is Pilate who seems to be a savior or wise woman of some sort.  She is actually related to Macon Dead II as she is his sister, but from what I get she is a respected powerful woman who does not need material things and is clear of mind.  She has become one of my favorite characters in this novel. 

                There is a lot of family history in this novel between Pilate and Macon Dead II, then he beats his wife Ruth as they have a terrible marriage.  Macon Dead II seems to be like the black Mr. Scrooge as he walks down the street heartlessly taking their money with no remorse and only the satisfaction of receiving money.  Later in the story he spies on Pilate and is astonished by the children’s and hers singing showing that there is a soft spot in him somewhere.

                Gait was introduced early in the story and as a six seemed like a moderately intelligent individual especially in those days as he can spell out admissions.  Throughout the novel he discovers new ways and reasons why he should hate white people.  This is where milkman comes along as he later starts becoming really good friends with Gait and later meets Pilate because of this.  That is when the story starts to shake things up.

                This is when you learn even more about the family’s history and the reasons behind each character’s actions.  For example Pilate and Macon II are both Macon I’s children and when he dies they seem to of both went the opposite way with it as Pilate is not materialistic and is always happy and Macon II is obsessed with money and is ruthless.  Which is ironic because his wife’s name is Ruth and they have a terrible marriage.

Oscar 3

To understand Oscar and at the same time not worry about all the extra interior problems that is every woman in his life the author adjusts the perspective of the book his.  As Oscar’s roommate his junior year, Yunior, learns a lot about Oscar by just being around him and reading Oscar’s journal.  It is sad that someone who reads someone else’s journal did not know if they were thinking about committing suicide but that’s just the way the story played out. 

Yunior did this mostly because he was in love with Lola for a reason he did not know just one of those connections.  So being around Oscar the whole time trying to help him out every so often was to no avail as Oscar tended down his suicidal path with the woman.  At one point Yunior got caught up in his own “game” and it lead to his girlfriend finding out he has been cheating on her.

This lead to a lot of alone time with Oscar until one day he decides he wants to change Oscar’s life, at this point I was ignorant thinking that he’s going to lose the weight and eventually everything will be ok.  Although that did seem to happen it was short lived as Oscar went back to eating a lot and writing his novels.  Yunior eventually shunned him out making an awkward roommate relationship.

The last straw for Oscar was when he fell in love with a goth and eventually was head over heels for her.  This turned out just like the Ana situation where things once again got caught up and lead to him getting a bunch of sanctions and being known as crazier than ever.  From that point he attempted suicide after having a magical vision right before his leap, where he did not die but suffered a lot of physical damages.  Eventually as he healed up to a new man he in turn did lose some of the weight as well showing some progress.  Also Yunior eventually truly asks out Lola.

Oscar 2

                When you first start reading about Oscar you begin to feel almost an upbeat detailed description on how he progressed through his life.  When the story continues you seem to get another story about a depressed child who suffers from obesity and is obsessed sci-fi genres.  These combinations of issues lead Oscar to a stereotypical pattern in his life where he battled his self-conscious as well as girls.  The author allowed me to be drawn into the book interested if Oscar would somehow stumble across a miracle and solve the problems in his, but like reality things are not always that simple and although a drastic change is made the outcome of loneliness continued in what is debatably the right direction.

                This is where the author threw me for loop as I thought it was just a story about this single boy’s depressing life; Junot Diaz was able to build an environment in the second chapter through the eyes of the daughter Lola that put everything in perspective.  All of a sudden the story became less about menial everyday issues and more about a family’s struggle in a society that I could not grasp from my own experience.

                Diaz puts you in a much darker place from Lola’s perspective, as I continued to read I grew more and more depressed only to be intrigued on what is going to happen in the next chapter when Lola almost seems to find some solace.  Lola as a “typical”, according to the novel, Dominican daughter does takes care of everything around the house and raises her brother Oscar as her mom works two to three jobs.  It does not stop there as her mom is very abusive and continually demoralizes Lola physically and mentally, as this wear and tear continues on someone there is always a breaking point and when Lola hits hers all hell breaks loose.  She shaves her head, stops going to school, and eventually runs away from home to live with Aldo and his war shaken father which turns out to be an impulsive and terrible decision.  Oh and did I mention during this entire process her mom has breast cancer and is clearly going through kimo therapy and surgeries while trying to work two jobs.

                Even if you walked a hundred miles in someone’s shoes it can never satisfy their perspective or conscious of movement.  Even in the same household Oscar and Lola had two completely different stories which is insane to wrap your head around when you think of your brother or sister and to how much different their story is from yours.  But to get back what was discussed in the beginning of the story with fuku and relating it to story Diaz is telling you start seeing patterns.  Oscar cannot get a girl or lose weight always coming up a little short, the mother has breast cancer no husband and is working two jobs, Lola in her own right is rebellious against her mother “lost”, as well as their other relatives who have lost spouses and other tragedies throughout the book.

                As I think about this is this a result of fuku not letting them find happiness, or is it the environment in which they were born to fail and their society holding them back from individual progress.

Oscar 1

A key component to “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” is that there are footnotes throughout the novel.  These footnotes are a great feature because when you are talking about something that is not necessarily known to people or something that isn’t necessarily apart of your culture footnotes can help people integrate to the book easily.

When I saw that the word zafa was a counterspell to fuku it made this whole situation a little more out there.  Zafa might as well be like throwing salt over your shoulder it seems more of a peace of mind more than anything.  There are coincidences everywhere so I can see how people can relate things to each other and try and blame it on one thing in particular.   To say the footnotes are zafa is bold as the author does mention zafa in his text but not in the footnotes.  Maybe as I read on in this book I can better understand how zafa works because right now it seems like if you say it you are in the clear.