One more Dracula theme: Feminism

I've stated before the 3 major themes of Bram Stoker's Dracula are:

1. Exploitation
2. Knowledge & Beliefs (or science vs. superstition)
   
3. God's will be done

Feminism is a 4th theme, but it's not as clearly defined (at least to me). This theme appears mainly in Mina's and Van Helsing's journals, but also in the other men's journals, but to a lessor extent.

On one hand, the men try to protect the women--supposedly the weaker sex--from physical harm and emotional distress. On the other hand, Mina's reasoning and organizational skills prove invaluable and superior to the men's. When they leave her out of their work, for what they believe is for her own safety, they lose their way and immediately realize they need her back.

Aside from that, Mina frequently mentions her frustration at living in the men's world. It is, after all, the Victorian era and men's and women's places are well defined and distinct. Mina obviously senses some overlap and discrimination. Though she may be a typical woman, she's not the stereotypical weak and helpless female.

I'm not sure if Bram Stoker was actually promoting women's rights or if he was just pointing out some inconsistencies. Nor am I sure how this theme fits in with the more obvious themes. Suffice it to say, feminism is another theme of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897).

Reference:
Bram Stoker. Dracula [Kindle Edition]. 1897.

Dracula Movies

So I read Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) and then watched a bunch of movies based on the book.

Most of the movies drop or minimize the literary elements, which leaves just the plot. The characters and geography are often remixed a bit, which takes some getting used to. The best movies are the ones with the best visual and musical effects, a progressive suspense level, and at least some reference, no matter how slight, to something literary.

There are way more movies than I'll ever be able to watch, but here's my comparison so far, in order of release date (all available from Netflix):

Dracula (1931)

IMDB Rating: 7.6. Starring Bela Lugosi, this one is quite good, with the iconic Dracula and many memorable lines, especially "I am ... dah-RAC-ulah". It has a few drawbacks though: The actors are performing in silent movie style with exaggerated expressions and gestures. Renfield is over the top crazy, and Jonathan Harker is annoyingly stupid. Otherwise the lighting is interesting and it's well made, suspenseful, and compact. You don't need to read the book first.

Dracula's Daughter (1936)

IMDB Rating: 6.4. This one has an interesting twist. It picks up with Van Helsing staking Dracula, getting caught by the police, and charged with murder! None of the plot comes from the book, but they do discuss the science vs. superstition theme quite a bit. There are a few unrealistic sequences, but, given the premise, the story is mostly logical, well acted and produced, mixes in some light comedy, and ends with a big rescue scene.

Son of Dracula (1943)

IMDB Rating: 6.1. A scheming heiress tries to gain immortality. The plot has nothing to do with the book except for a page from Harker's diary and ample use of lore--with the addition of destruction by fire and sunlight. The script was given some forethought. Of crosses it says, "It would take too long to explain why they fear it, but they do." Overall it's mysterious but slow until the final 20 minutes, which are suspenseful and exciting.

Horror of Dracula (1958)

IMDB Rating: 7.5. This is the first of several Hammer productions starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. It starts out really good, but gets a bit slow at times. It could be more suspenseful, too, but the music's good and the ending is exciting. The geography is remixed. I think they're in Germany or Austria. The characters are mostly appealing. And you can recognize tidbits from the book, though you don't need to read it first to follow the plot.

The Return of Dracula (1958)

IMDB Rating: 5.3. This is a surprisingly good B&W horror movie where Dracula impersonates a distant relative visiting a trusting family in 1950's America. It has almost nothing to do with the book, but it's quite scary, in an eerily familiar setting, with an excellent score, and very good acting. The suspense builds progressively to a climax and I noticed a few anti-McCarthy remarks as the authorities were investigating the mysterious guest. (The IMDB rating looks too low to me, but it has few votes, probably because it's back & white)

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)

IMDB Rating: 6.3. Starring Christopher Lee...The sets, costumes, and cast are well done and good looking, but Lee's acting is oddly hokey and the plot is weak and confusing. If Dracula were a TV series, this could be an average episode. At least Lee's appearance and costume, including red eyes, are pretty good. He's tall, thin, and menacing. And there are lots of really neat scenes on rooftops, in the wilderness, stone pubs, and several nightmarish views of Dracula driving a horse-drawn hearse, whip in hand, cape in the wind.

Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)

IMDB Rating: 6.2. I think this Hammer production, yet again starring Christopher Lee, is one of the best Dracula movies. It doesn't have much to do with the book, but it mostly sticks to the lore, the sets and scenery are visually rich, the colors are bright and clear, the picture quality is excellent, the cast is good looking, and the music is perfect. The story is kind of predictable, though, but the atmosphere remains suspenseful. The only drawback, really, is the final scene where things suddenly turn random and illogical (even given the premise), but it's still an enjoyable movie overall.

Count Dracula (1970)

IMDB Rating: 5.7. This Spanish production stars Chistopher Lee and Klaus Kinsky, but it's one of the stupidest movies I've ever seen. The camera zooms in and out annoyingly. There are long sequences of people just staring. (That's common in some movies. Does anybody ever get anything from that?) Scenes jump around randomly and Van Helsing has a contemptuous demeanor that is ridiculous and pointless. This movie couldn't possibly make any sense without reading the book. It's got its fans, though. IMDB is full of positive comments--I don't know why.

Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971)

IMDB Rating: 2.8. It should be obvious from the title that this has nothing to do with the book. While it has its moments, it's pretty cheesy, somewhat gory, and has the worse, cartoonish Dracula you can image. Dr. Frankenstein is pretty creepy in a wheelchair and Lon Chaney is pretty good as his brutish, simple-minded assistant.

Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)

IMDB Rating: 5.5. This is another Hammer production starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. It's very good, suspenseful, and logical (given the premise), though only faintly based on the book. It takes place in modern London and involves Dracula's reincarnation by a band of thrill-seeking teenagers, one of whom is Van Helsing's great-great-granddaughter.

Blood for Dracula (1974)

IMDB Rating: 6.0. AKA Andy Warhol's Dracula...The music, scenery, and locations are very nice, and the acting is interesting because it's so weird. If vampires were real, this is probably how they'd be--without supernatural powers, vulnerable yet deadly, trying to live their lives, kind of like carnivorous animals that need to kill to survive. It has nothing to do with Bram Stoker's Dracula, but it's unusual and worth watching.

Dracula (1979)

IMDB Rating: 6.1. Starring Frank Langella, this one was boring when I saw it years ago and it's still boring today. The music and scenery, however, are quite good. Unfortunately they spend too much time in a weird zoo-like lunatic asylum, it's slow with no suspense, and the ending is ridiculous. You can understand it better if you read the book first, but it's still boring.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

IMDB Rating: 7.3. This is both the best and the worst Dracula movie. It's the best because it's well acted and produced, suspenseful, and mostly true to the characters, places, and plot. It's also the worst, though, because of 2 disastrous departures they take from Stoker's classic: In Dracula's backstory, he turns himself into a vampire and then there's an absurd love affair between him and Mina! It's more fun if you read the book first because you'll recognize quotes and scenes directly from the book. By the way, this Dracula's appearance realistically resembles Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (1431-1476), the real Dracula from history.

Dracula: The Vampire & the Voivode (2008)

This is an interesting but kind of dull biographical documentary on Bram Stoker and Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia. Voivode is, roughly, Romanian for Count. If you're American, you may have trouble understanding some of the Irish and British accents, but it's full of information and trivia. All serious fans of Bram Stoker and Dracula should see this.

Reference:
Bram Stoker. Dracula [Kindle Edition]. 1897.

Dracula (1897) and Religion

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) begins with religion having a noticeable but minor role. The role, however, grows significantly as the story progresses and becomes the concluding theme of the book.

Jonathan Harker, fresh from England, while observing the people of Transylvania, their dress and customs, notes their frequent use of religious gestures and objects and recalls his upbringing against idolatry. He notes it but merely accepts it as their way of life.

Back in civilized England, however, religion is present but as more of a background activity than a central feature of people's lives.

Eventually Mina Harker is bitten and begins transforming into a vampire. When she and Van Helsing's band travel to the wilderness, they have to rely on God's will to survive and succeed in their mission. They're outside the realm of known science, so all they have is their faith. They have learned what the local people have learned, that garlic and religious objects repel vampires. Now they, too, must practice what they once thought was superstition.

They accept that Mina can only be saved by God's will. Civilization and scientific knowledge will not help. Fortunately Van Helsing with his open mind and logical thinking is able to devise a plan that, God willing, will save her. They must find and destroy Dracula and the 3 sister vampires.

In the end, God's will prevails, good wins over evil, and Mina is saved. She even notices Dracula himself finds peace at last--just a brief look on his face as he dies. Unfortunately Quincey dies in the struggle but future generations are now safe from the menace of Dracula and the three sister vampires.

Reference:
Bram Stoker. Dracula [Kindle Edition]. 1897.

Dracula (1897) Knowledge & Beliefs

I believe there are 3 major themes in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897):

1. Exploitation
   
2. Knowledge & Beliefs
   
3. God's will be done

I already said something about #1, and while it is the most obvious theme, Stoker devoted more pages to #2. It's not as exciting, of course. For the first half or 2/3 of the book, most of the action and suspense comes from #1. Number 2 mostly comes from Van Helsing's rather long lectures. He wants to tell his friends they're up against a vampire, but he's sure they won't believe him--and he's right.

Van Helsing extensively discusses the "open mind" and the "closed mind", preparing to convince his friends of something they won't believe. Basically people believe what they've been taught to believe and can't or won't accept anything else. Even when they see the unbelievable in plain sight, they make up explanations like it's a trick or an illusion. Even after they accept it, they're tempted to dismiss it later as a dream or just their imagination.

Van Helsing couldn't go to the authorities, because they'd say he was crazy. None of his friends believed him until he proved beyond the shadow of all doubts that a vampire was in their midst.

Civilization & the Wilderness - a Sub-theme

Civilization and wilderness is a sub-theme because civilization is based on knowledge and living in the wilderness is based on beliefs.

England was civilized. There were rules and expected behaviors and everything everyone believed in was explained by science. As far as they were concerned, something simply did not exist if it wasn't explained by science--and that was Dracula's advantage. No one expected him to suck blood or possess supernatural powers.

Transylvania, on the other hand, was a wilderness. People there knew how to co-exist with vampires. They didn't like it, and they suffered from it, but they managed to survive by their beliefs and unscientific customs--superstitions to the English.

I had to laugh at Jonathan Harker, though, trying to remain civilized while held captive in the wilderness, was most annoyed that he couldn't shave--because Dracula had broken his mirror!

I am reminded a bit, too, of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, where men from civilization ventured into the wilderness among natives, whom they called savages. Freed from rules and norms, however, the civilized men became the real savages.

Conclusion

Well once Van Helsing convinced his friends that the vampire was real, they bought into what they had to do, and readily accepted the Transylvanian customs. Dracula got away from them in England, but by using their now open minds they were able to track him to Transylvania, cope in the wilderness, and complete their mission. Van Helsing would not have succeeded without everyone having an open mind.

Okay, so vampires aren't really real, but the point is as true today as it was in Stoker's time and as true as it has been since the dawn of man. People latch onto beliefs--right or wrong--and once latched onto, it takes great effort to change their minds.

References:
Bram Stoker. Dracula [Kindle Edition]. 1897.
Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness. [Kindle Edition]. 1899.

Vampire Lore from Dracula (1897)

I wonder how much vampire lore Bram Stoker made up for Dracula (1897) versus how much he incorporated from tradition?

Here are some vampire tenets from Dracula. Vampires:

1. Feed by sucking blood from humans
   
2. Cannot be seen in mirrors
3. Cannot cross over a shoreline except at the slack of low tide or the flood of high tide but can be carried by someone else at any tide stage
   
4. Cannot enter someone's home unless invited by somebody (anybody) and once invited, can return without restriction
   
5. Possess supernatural powers only at night
6. Supernatural powers include mesmerism, strength of 20 men, command of wild animals, ability to change form into animals (often a wolf or a bat), may dematerialize into a mist or sparks of light, can pass through cracks, and can control the immediately surrounding weather
   
7. Have the strength and capabilities of ordinary humans during the day (Hollywood seems to have invented their vulnerability to sunlight)
8. Can be destroyed only by a stake through the heart, followed by decapitation and insertion of garlic into the mouth
9. Exist eternally unless destroyed
   
10. Are repelled by garlic, holy water, crosses, and communion wafers (Hollywood must have invented the idea that Christian objects only work for Christians who believe)
11. If a victim dies under the influence of a vampire, then the victim, too, becomes a vampire
12. Victims that don't die or who escape in time, will recover normally

Reference:
Bram Stoker. Dracula [Kindle Edition]. 1897.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) and Exploitation

I believe there are 3 major themes in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897):

1. Exploitation - somebody is always exploiting somebody else in this world
   
2. Knowledge & Beliefs - we believe what we've learned to believe and close our minds to everything else
   
3. God's will be done - Good prevails over evil, eventually
   

One, exploitation, is the most obvious. Vampires feed on the living. They kidnap babies, lure children, and mesmerize healthy adults and nourish themselves by sucking their blood. After feeding, the vampire becomes stronger, invigorated, and rejuvenated. Their victims are weakened and drained of their life force. The victims don't die right away, but will die eventually if they lose too much blood.

What's interesting is that Count Dracula was once a living human himself but fell prey to some other vampire hundreds of years ago. At the time, Dracula was a leader in battles against the Turks. He claimed a glorious history, but Van Helsing suggested he was more of a common dictator like many we still have in today's world. Dracula thoughtlessly led brave men into battle but left them to die when he fled to hide and save himself--strategic regrouping in his mind. How many dictators have we seen lately do the same or something similar?

Van Helsing, knowing Dracula's history and understanding his instincts, knew where to find him when he got away. He knew he was going to go back home, hide, cowardly wait until it was safe, and he knew he would then return to London and prey on the population. Van Helsing knew they had to act immediately or a future generation would suffer.

Dracula, as a human and as a vampire, ruthlessly exploited anybody he could: babies, children, women, and men. The purpose was to meet his personal needs and nourish and save himself, without regard to lives he destroyed.

Dracula symbolizes pervasive human exploitation that still happens today: abusive relationships, political and industrial exploitation, drug dealing, confidence scams, dictatorships--any case where someone is exploiting someone else, unfairly taking their money, resources, or labor; destroying their property, air, health, or quality of life...

Reference:
Bram Stoker. Dracula [Kindle Edition]. 1897.

Dracula - it's Not Just About Sex

It seems everybody believes the real meaning to Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) is all about sex.

Actually sex was just a part of it. The vampires used mesmerism, flattery, and sexual attraction to lure their victims. Their main goal was to feed themselves. They didn't derive any more pleasure feeding themselves than anyone else eating supper.

Most of the victims were children--who are sexually immature. Lucy fed on children in Hampstead Heath. Dracula and the 3 sisters fed on babies and children they caught in Transylvania. Maybe they preferred children because they were easier to catch.

Not all victims turned into vampires either. Besides Dracula, there were only 4 other full-fledged vampires: Lucy and the 3 sisters. (Mina was in the transformation stage but didn't complete) You'd think if merely biting a victim would cause the transformation, there would a million vampires in Transylvania since Dracula had been feeding there for hundreds of years. Maybe the transformation required sexual maturity, so they fed on children to keep the numbers down. Maybe intercourse was a necessary step to begin the transformation process. Obviously Dracula could choose who to transform and who not to transform.

Personally I think the necessary step for transformation was the 2-way exchange of blood. Remember: they caught Dracula in the act with Mina. It wasn't sex, but that's what started the process.

The main themes of Dracula, and I see it, are:

1. Exploitation - somebody is always exploiting somebody else in this world
   
2. Knowledge & Beliefs - we believe what we've learned to believe and close our minds to everything else
   
3. God's will be done - Good prevails over evil, eventually
   

Sex was just a part of #1. More pages are devoted to Van Helsing's speeches on science, civilization, open minds vs. closed minds, and child minds vs adult minds, and from the climax to the end, they depended on God's will.

References:
Bram Stoker. Dracula [Kindle Edition]. 1897.
SparkNotes Editors. "SparkNotes: Dracula." SparkNotes LLC. 2003. Web 2011.

The Intoxicated - Ridiculously Detailed Analysis

Let's follow Thomas Foster's guidelines and look at Shirley Jackson's "The Intoxicated" like an amateur professor:

Quests

First, is this story a quest? Sort of. The man is going to the kitchen to sober up. The man is on the quest, not the girl, because the story is about him going to the kitchen. The girl is already there. By the way, the man is nameless, but the girl is Eileen.

The girl is the closest thing the man encounters as a challenge or a trial. His real reason to go there [this is easy] is to learn something about himself, because self knowledge is always the real reason. But what does he learn? That's the hard part. Most reviewers would say the man learned from the girl that he and his generation are irresponsible and bringing the world to the brink of destruction. I, on the other hand, think the man might have learned that he and his generation used to think like Eileen and her generation and took things too seriously and overreacted to events and trends, but eventually matured and learned to accept the world as it is, that life goes on, so make the best of it while you can.

Communion

Eileen gives him coffee, which makes him feel better, and they have an interesting conversation. This is where they exchange ideas and where the man learns about himself (whether you believe his point of view or Eileen's on the future of the world)

Vampirism

We have an older man who could represent outworn values, and a young, virginal woman, but there's no stripping away of energy or life force. So there's no vampirism in "The Intoxicated".

Intertextuality (Prior text)

I am reminded of Aesop's "Ants and the Grasshopper" and the Biblical flood. The girl thinks more people should be preparing, like responsible ants, either to prevent the world's destruction or for life afterward, rather than party on like irresponsible grasshoppers. In the Bible, the flood erased all that was bad in the world and gave it a fresh new start for Noah. Total destruction, as the girl describes, would have the same effect and give the survivors a chance to live in the utopia she envisions.

Both cases of prior text tend to support Eileen's point of view, that the man's generation is wrong and things will be corrected by Eileen's generation after the current ways are destroyed, but didn't God tell Noah he wasn't going to destroy the world again?

Weather and Seasons

Regarding atmospherics: it's hot. That's about it. No rain or fog. Nothing murky. It's probably summer.

Does summer mean anything? Maybe. If spring is the season of youth, then that would be Eileen's season. Summer would be the season of adulthood, so that would be the man's season. Eileen came downstairs because it was hot and when she did, she came into the adult world--and didn't like what she saw.

Other Symbols and Metaphors

There is no flight, geography, or obvious Christ figure.

Regarding politics, there's an obvious generation gap. Eileen feels the younger generation is more responsible than the older generation and blames the older generation's irresponsibility for the world's imminent destruction.

Regarding sex: There's nothing overt. The guy mentions teen girls should be thinking about "necking" rather than the end of the world. Foster explains sex is often hidden under symbols or metaphors because of cultural taboos. I still can't find anything that might indicate sex.

Violence? Eileen's predicts the end of the world will be very violent.

Symbols? Eileen represents her generation and the man represents his generation. In Eileen's eyes, her generation is serious and studious and the man's generation is intoxicated and irresponsible.

Illness

Markings, blindness, or illness? The man is intoxicated. Foster says illness is never just an illness, so neither would be intoxication. The man's intoxication would mean he and his generation are impaired, which again tends to support Eileen's point of view.

Irony

Many Jackson short stories end with a kind of morbid irony. This one isn't as poignant as usual. The man talks to Eileen's father on the way out. They agree she is an extraordinary girl and appear to tacitly accept that she's overreacting to life and current events. Her father even looks around quickly as if he's afraid she's going to spread more gloom among the party goers.

If you're not sure how to read literature like a professor, I highly recommend Foster's book. It makes reading a lot more fun--no matter what you figure out, right or wrong!

References:
Shirley Jackson. The Lottery and Other Stories. 1948, 2005. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Thomas C. Foster. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Harper. 2003.

Fitzgerald and the American Dream in the 2000's

According to today's current events, 1% of Americans own 40% of the nation's wealth and income inequality is the greatest it's been since the 1920's--Fitzgerald's time.

Fitzgerald believed the American Dream was already over in his time. To him the Dream was the opportunity for a man and his family to enjoy freedom, self sufficiency, and just rewards for hard work. Class was determined by what you made for yourself--not what you inherited. By the 1920's, however, the wealthiest Americans had formed an untitled yet exclusive aristocracy on par with that in Europe and managed to block class mobility, ending opportunities for ordinary people and ending the American Dream.

Three of Fitzgerald's great novels were written in the twenties. Money and class are major themes in each, and The Great Gatsby, in particular, conveys the loss of the American Dream.

Economic changes afterwards, however, had a resetting effect, I believe, and the dream came alive again for the 50's through the 90's. Plenty of new money arose mainly from technology but also from retail and real estate: Hewlett and Packard (HP), Warren Buffet, Sam Walton, and Bill Gates just to name a few of the more famous.

Things were different by the 2000's though. Somehow people became convinced that trickle-down economics works for them, jobs were outsourced, and a housing bubble made people feel richer than they really were--enticing them into debt.

Special interests perverted the American Dream into borrowing money to pretend you own your house whose title is really held by a bank. (You don't own your house until you possess the title)

Then the housing bubble burst, credit collapsed, and we entered the Great Recession. Demonstrations against Wall Street indicate people are catching on to the trickle-down scam. People are realizing the perverted version of the American Dream is false and beginning to feel like Fitzgerald that the dream is lost once again. Maybe it is--temporarily--but maybe this latest recession will have another resetting effect and bring in a new era of prosperity. Realize of course, the next few years are still going to be rough. It may take a decade or two or more to recalibrate the economy. It's bigger and globalized now and special interests are more entrenched now than they were in Fitzgerald's day.

References:
F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise. Scribner's. 1920.
F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Beautiful and the Damned. Scribner. 1922.
F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby. Scribner. 1925.

More Shirley Jackson Stories (1948)

After "The Intoxicated", the next 5 stories in Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and Other Stories are:

1. The Daemon Lover
2. Like Mother Used to Make
3. Trial by Combat
4. The Villager
5. My Life with R. H. Macy

Each of these is about a lonely person, making bad decisions, while struggling with reality and identity issues. They start out with someone intently preparing for something. At first they seem pretty ordinary. The detail makes you identify with their activity and you begin rooting for them as you begin to notice things aren't quite right. They get progressively unreal, turn creepy, and finally end with some twist to reality or loss of identity.

The psychology is reminiscent of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, and the loneliness is reminiscent of the Beatles's "Eleanor Rigby" and Tom Selleck's Jesse Stone TV movies.

It's not pleasant reading. Even the Macy story, which is supposed to be witty, and is to an extent, but the protagonist's total ignorance of the real world is so bizarre it overwhelms the wit--in my opinion.

I think I'll skip to the last story, "The Lottery", which I last read in school, and then put the book down for a while and read something a little less morbid.

References:
Shirley Jackson. The Lottery and Other Stories. 1948, 2005. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
"Eleanor Rigby". Wikipedia. web 2011.
Jesse Stone: Stone Cold. Dir. Robert Harmon. Perf. Tom Selleck. Brandman Productions, 2005. TV Movie.

The Intoxicated by Shirley Jackson (1948)

“The Intoxicated” is the first short story in the collection of The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson, first published in 1948, with an introduction by A. M. Holmes.

My analysis is based on reading How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. My conclusion is a little different than some of the others I've read, but I'm sticking with it, for now, because Foster convinced me that stories can have more than one valid meaning.

Basically other reviewers believe the girl is smarter than the adult and he found that kind of irritating and embarrassing. I saw the opposite. The girl is caught up in teen angst—this is 1948 and the world is just recovering from World War 2; the atom bomb and Communism are threatening; and she's been reading Caesar's Gallic Wars. She's convinced the world is about to end, but the man knows better. While he agrees they're living in “interesting” times, he knows teenagers tend to overreact. Adults know from experience that they'll eventually get through whatever's going on. He obviously got through World War 2, right?

I can relate to this. I was a teenager 30 years ago. Protesters warned us not to trust anyone over 30. The population explosion was threatening. We were going to run out of copper. The economy was in “stagflation”. I was ready to head to the wilderness and become a survivalist. But then came the “Big 80's”. I got a job, got married, settled down, had kids and got past all that. Now we have global warming, the Great Recession, partisan politics, and peak oil.

Before our time, humanity survived the rise and fall of Rome, the Black Death, the Great Depression, and countless wars. Obviously past performance doesn't guarantee future performance, but the long term trend is promising...

That's my take on the “Intoxicated”. After reading other reviews and rereading the story, all the other reviewers make perfectly valid points, but I guess I just relate better to the guy than the girl.

The “Intoxicated” is amazing because it's so short yet gives so much to think about. It's easy to read and reread and offers so much to analyze and re-analyze. Jackson's style and tone are unique and intriguing. This collection culminates with "The Lottery", which every American my age must have read in middle school and probably never forgot.

For more, see my detailed analysis of "The Intoxicated".

References:Shirley Jackson. The Lottery and Other Stories. 1948, 2005. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Heidi. "The Big Read IV: Shirley Jackson's The Intoxicated and The Daemon Lover". Adventures in Multiplicity. Nov. 4, 2008. web 2011.
Sydney Byrd. "Review of the Intoxicated by Shirley Jackson". examiner. Aug. 3, 2011. web 2011."The Big Read IV: The Lottery and Other Stories". bookshelves of doom". Nov. 3, 2008. web 2011.GradeSaver. "The Lottery and Other Stories Study Guide". GradeSaver. 1999-2011. web 2011.Håvard Nørjordet. "The Tall Man in the Blue Suit". DUO University of Oslo. 2005. web 2011.Thomas C. Foster. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Harper. 2003.

Fitzgerald's Metaphorical Sentences

One of my favorite things about Fitzgerald are his metaphorical sentences. Take this one for instance from the Great Gatsby:

The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walls and burning gardens--finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. p. 6

How did he think of grass as running, jumping, and drifting up a wall under its own momentum??? How did he know it would make sense to the average reader? No analysis or interpretation is required to figure out what he must have had in mind--other than "burning gardens", I haven't quite figured that part out yet. Maybe it means exposed to the sun or that it contains red and orange flowers or maybe something else, but overall I got the lawn description.

Here are some more examples from the Great Gatsby. They're all creative, descriptive, and colorful. Some of them are a bit mysterious, but, by and far, Fitzgerald's metaphors are a lot more understandable than most authors...

The windows were ajar and gleaming against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. p. 8

Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crêpe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering. p. 25

...and had made the dim enlargement of Mrs. Wilson's mother which hovered like ectoplasm on the wall." p.30

...in his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among whisperings and champagne and the stars. p. 39

Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word. p. 40

...confident girls who weave here and there among the stouter and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment the center of a group, ... pp. 40-41

... non-olfactory money. p.68 [I still don't get this one]

No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart. p. 96 [ghostly?]

A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked on the washstand and the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor. p. 99

...the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing. p. 99

...and drank nervous gayety with the cold ale. p. 118

"You look so cool." ... "You always look so cool", she repeated. ... She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. p.119

The telephone book slipped from its nail and splashed to the floor, whereupon Jordan whispered, "Excuse me"--but this time no one laughed. p.127

So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight. p. 136 [more of a foreshadow than a metaphor]

A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about ... like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees. p. 161

Reference:
F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby. Scribner. 1925.

The Reeve's Tale & Prior Text

In Chaucer's "Steward's Tale", also known as the "Reeve's Tale", the main theme is "you get what you give". There's considerably more to it than that, however, if you read some of the references below. They mention themes of "falling from Grace" and "subversion of justice" and how they relate to other tales, but what interests me the most is how this tale relates to prior text.

As I read the "Steward's Tale", I recognized its resemblance to the one and only Decamron tale I happened to have read. I had heard the Canterbury Tales were derived from the Decameron, but this was the first time I noticed it for myself. That was quite a moment.

Boccaccio's IX.6 of the Decameron, which preceded The Canterbury Tales by about 1/2 a century, has an identical plot but is mainly a sex comedy. Chaucer borrowed the plot and added literary elements that ingeniously tie in with the rest of the tales.

What's even more interesting is that Boccaccio, too, borrowed his plot. His version is based on "Gombert et les deus clers" ("Gombert and the two clerks"), a French fabliau (medieval sex comedy) by Jean Bodel 1165-1210--more than a hundred years earlier! Fabliaux were apparently quite popular throughout the Middle Ages.

And what's astounding to me, as an American who thinks "historical" means "Victorian", is how raunchy these old stories are. How did they ever survive the Victorian days, as literature no less?


References:
Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales. ca. 1390. Trans. Burton Raffel. Modern Library. 2008.
Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems. ca. 1390. Ed. D. Lang Purves. Kindle Edition. Donal O'Danachair.
Giovanni Boccaccio. The Decameron. 1353. Trans. G. H. McWilliam. Penguin Classics. 1972, 1995.
Giovanni Boccaccio. The Decameron. 1353. Trans. John Payne. 1886. Kindle Edition. Walter J. Black, Inc. 2009.
GradeSaver. "The Canterbury Tales Study Guide & Literature Essays". GradeSaver. 1999-2011. web 2011.
Jean Bodel. "Gombert and the Two Clerks". 1190-1194. Ed. Larry Benson, Theodore Andersson. The Literary Context of Chaucer's Fabliaux. 1971. web 2011.
Thomas C. Foster. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Harper. 2003.
"Pedagogy". Decameron Web. Brown Univ. 1994-2010. web 2011.
"Fabliau". Wikipedia. web 2011.
"Jean Bodel". Wikipedia. web 2011.

The Miller's Tale by Chaucer (ca. 1390)

At first it was difficult to find a message in "The Miller's Tale" because it's hidden within a silly, dirty story. The prologue, however, tells us to take it seriously--precisely by telling us not to:

So be on notice, and don't give me the blame.
No one should be too serious, playing a game.

Then the "Steward's Prologue" [Reeve's Prologue], which immediately follows, says everyone laughed at the miller's story, but some people saw it one way and others saw it another way, which is proof of a hidden message--some people got it but others didn't.

Mark Twain put a similar notice in the front of Huckleberry Finn:

Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted;
persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished;
persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.

I believe disclaimers like these were meant to relieve their authors of responsibility for offenses they might make. That way they could share risky ideas with open-minded readers, but to ones who claimed offense, they would say, "Oh it was just a joke! See? Look at the label!"

On the surface, the "Miller's Tale" is obviously a dirty story meant to contrast with the "Knight's Tale". The miller makes many low class references to sex, animals, and lust in contrast to the knight's noble references to honor, chivalry, and love. So I guess it's an example of how the other (lower) half lives, but maybe the dirtiness was also a tactic to obscure a hidden message.

"The Miller's Tale" presents a good example of how easily ignorant people can be deceived and manipulated, especially through the use of education and religion. The religious and hardworking carpenter believed everything the scholar told him. No matter how farfetched it got, it never occurred to him it might be a trick! This kind of scam was apparently old in Chaucer's day and it continues today. (How many televangelist scandals have we seen? How many people are still willing to go to war for religion--and who ultimately benefits when they do?)

A quick search of the Internet returns tons of analysis on the "Miller's Tale". I'll comment on one item I found: Some critics consider the carpenter's arrangement of the hanging tubs as a symbol of God's genitals! To me this is a bizarre stretch of the imagination. Why would anyone think that? They believe "Godde's privity" means his "private parts", as if the idiom meant the same then as it does nowadays, which is quite possible, but it's out of context anyway. In context it is, "I will not telle Godde's privity", where it clearly means God's secrets.

However, the scholar is not specific when he tells the carpenter to get 3 tubs, but after he does, he has one long one and two round ones, which lends credence to the symbol. It still seems a stretch though, but the argument has its points and Foster does say if something looks like a symbol, it probably is.

If Chaucer did that intentionally, all I can imagine is he needed something really obscene and distracting that common people would snicker over and private parts was the best he could think of.

So what's the real point of the "Miller's Tale"? I think he was satirizing how man abuses religion to exploit the gullible. Given the era, one would think it was almost blasphemy, and not just the private parts. There are plenty of negative references to religion and education, too, but it was all under the cover another story. The problem is not religion per se. The problem is man's abuse of religion for personal gain.

It's remarkable that Chaucer was never prosecuted for heresy, but Galileo was actually convicted of it 200 years later for announcing scientific discoveries! Maybe Chaucer was saved since the printing press wasn't available to widely distribute his work in his time, or maybe Galileo was prosecuted because it never occurred to him to obscure his announcements inside jokes.

By the way, Chaucer needing something really obscene reminds me of a Johnny Cash interview I heard. He needed something really despicable for "Folsom Prison Blues" (1955), and shooting a man "just to watch him die" was the worst thing he could think of.

References:
Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales. ca. 1390. Trans. Burton Raffel. Modern Library. 2008.
Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems [Kindle Edition]. ca. 1390. Ed. D. Lang Purves.
GradeSaver. "The Canterbury Tales Study Guide & Literature Essays". GradeSaver. 1999-2011.
Thomas C. Foster. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Harper. 2003.

The Lost Decade by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1939)

I first read "The Lost Decade" several years ago and was reminded of it recently when I read "Babylon Revisited". Both stories are looking back on a prior decade where something major was lost in someone's life. In "Babylon Revisited", Charlie Wales lost his family in the heyday of the Roaring Twenties. In the "Lost Decade", Louis Trimble lost a whole decade to alcoholism. Now things are looking up for both men, but while they have both recovered physically, they'll never recover fully from their emotional losses.

I can personally relate to both of these stories in another way. As a middle-class 50-something parent who spent the last decade trying to provide for the family and make sure ends met, I suddenly realize, "Wow! My kids grew up! When did that happen?" I should have paid more attention.

For intertextuality, Harry Chapin's 1974 hit "Cat's in the Cradle" is the same story. While much of Fitzgerald's writing is autobiographical, this story has got to be as old as humanity. Except for fading memories of verses from old poems, I can't immediately think of any other prior text examples.


References:
"Babylon Revisited, by F. Scot Fitzgerald (1931). Ted Bogart. web 2011.
"The Lost Decade". Short Stories, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Ed. Steve Thomas. eBooks@Adelaide. 2009. web 2011.
"Babylon Revisited". Short Stories, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Ed. Steve Thomas. eBooks@Adelaide. 2009. web 2011.

Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1931)

If it weren't for the title, I wonder if Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited" (1931) would have received as much acclaim as it did. "Babylon" isn't even mentioned in the story. Without the title and what it implies, it's just a child custody drama, like something you'd see nowadays on any talk show.

With "Babylon" symbolizing living in excess, however, we realize the story is really looking back on the excess of the Roaring Twenties from the more sober days of the Great Depression. Charlie Wales lived recklessly, spent his money furiously, and thought money could buy everything. Then he suddenly lost everything: his money, his child, and his wife. He managed to regain his money, but his wife is dead and his child is in an in-law's custody. He'll never get his life back. Money can't buy everything after all.

We've all had our own little Babylon experiences: college days, a wild party, or a reckless joyride, for example. It's human nature to get caught up in exciting times, and when we do, it's easy to make mistakes and not know it. It's a wonder so many of us survive! We eventually get over most of our mistakes, but some are just too big. For those we have to live with the consequences, like Charlie Wales in "Babylon Revisited".

References:
"Babylon Revisited". Short Stories, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Ed. Steve Thomas. eBooks@Adelaide. 2009. web 2011.Thomas A. Larson, M.A. "Babylon Revisited: A Long Expostulation and Explanation". 1995,1998-2000.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Babylon Revisited.” SparkNotes LLC. 2007.

Daisy Miller by Henry James (1878)

In Fitzgerald's "Hotel Child" (1931) the attempted exploitation was physical--Count Borowki was trying to take Fifi's money. In Henry James' Daisy Miller (1878), however, the exploitation is psychological. The rich girl, Daisy Miller, comes from a common background and desperately wants to be accepted by society, but the ladies of society have an emotional need to feel superior and will never accept her.

By society, James means the people who inherited their wealth and have never had to work. They spend their days traveling, visiting, and gossiping.

Daisy's father, on the other hand, is a self-made tycoon and, interestingly, far wealthier than everybody else.

The story is mainly told from Frederick Winterbourne's point of view, a member of society who's attracted to Daisy for mainly two reasons: she's really pretty and she's fun to be with.

Daisy is very noticeable. She has nice clothes and good looks. She's open, free-spirited, and has lots of gentlemen friends. All along we're not sure how innocent she is until the end. The ladies make it a point to observe her, spread rumors, and actively detest her. Winterbourne hears all the rumors and is torn between his desire for her and his need to stay in good standing with his class. He eventually chooses to stay with his class and gives up Daisy.

There are streaks of jealousy and hypocrisy here, too. The ladies are jealous that Daisy's family is actually richer than their own, and while they gossip viciously about her innocence, they have no problem with Winterbourne's affairs within their class.

Daisy Miller got a very negative reception when first introduced to the American public. Being told from Winterbourne's point of view, the reader gets the butt of all the vicious gossip. The American public took Daisy and her mother to be insults to American values and womanhood. Personally I got the same impression, too, but after further review, I see the gossip is malicious and unjust. Daisy really is a sweet, lively, and innocent girl.

Foster calls this an example of vampirism. The old ladies are psychologically exploiting the girl's liveliness, innocence, and desire to be accepted, but she is no match for their establishment and she comes to a tragic end. Winterbourne had a chance to save her but didn't. He thought about it but felt safer staying within their establishment.

The Penguin Classics edition, edited with an introduction by Geoffrey Moore and notes by Patricia Clark doesn't come out and call this vampirism, but their analysis largely corroborates with Foster's.

Something like this needs to be read more than once. Parts might get repetitive, but new elements overlooked before will be discovered in each successive reading. And it's only 70 pages.

References:
Henry James. Daisy Miller. 1878. Ed. Geoffrey Moore. Penguin Books. 1986.
Thomas C. Foster. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Harper. 2003.

The Diaries of Adam & Eve by Mark Twain

The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain is a delightful and easy read. It starts out funny and slightly satirical but ends as a touching love story.

Imagine if you found yourself suddenly existing one day in a bountiful garden, as a full grown adult, capable of organized thought, but with no past and no education. If you were to keep a diary, you might record some of the same feelings Twain supposed Adam and Eve might have felt.

According to Foster, The Bible is a major intertextual source for literature. Obvious references here, among others, include Adam and Eve, the naming of the animals, Cain and Abel.

There is also a quest of sorts, though not one involving a geographical journey. It's Adam's journey through life. At first, he doesn't know what he's doing, where he's going, or why. He can't stand Eve because she's weak and bothersome. Over time, however, he falls in love with her, raises a family, and together they begin the world we know. At the end, he has learned that he's happy with life. He has loved, accomplished things, and suffered some hardships, but over all life--and love--are good.

Note: This short story has been published in multiple forms. Originally it was just Eve's Diary, then Adam's Diary was a separate story, and then they were combined chronologically into one book, which is the one I read. There's even a version where they went to Niagara Falls!

References:
Thomas C. Foster. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Harper. 2003.
Mark Twain. The Diaries of Adam & Eve. 1893-1905. Ed. Don Roberts. Fair Oaks Press. 1997.

Border's Liquidation Sale

It's sad to see Borders going out of business. The good thing is I've gotten all these books...

• Hemingway's In Our Time
• James Joyce's Dubliners
• Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot
• Jack London's Tales of the North
• Allison Bartlett's The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
• Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby, Tales of the Jazz Age, and Flappers and Philosophers
  
• Sophocles' Theban Plays
• James Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans
• Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and Other Stories and Haunting of Hill House
• Boccaccio's Decameron
• Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
• Steinbeck's Cannery Row
• Mark Twain's Diaries of Adam and Eve
  
• The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker
  
• The Middle Ages, and
• Professional Blogging for Dummies

These should keep me busy for a while--not to mention all the free Kindle classics I've downloaded from Amazon!

The Hotel Child by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1931)

"The Hotel Child" (1931) is one of my favorite Fitzgerald short stories.

In this story, a young, wealthy, but naive American girl, Fifi Schwartz, is living among sophisticated, yet moneyless Europeans. One European, Count Borowki, is dazzling her with his title and pressuring her to marry him, obviously just for her money. (Doesn't Borowki remind you of borrow, like he might need money?) This is a "vampiric" relationship as discussed by Thomas C. Foster. An older, sophisticated, yet outworn individual is selfishly exploiting a younger, energetic, yet naive individual, for personal gain with no regard to whatever harm he may cause.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) is one literal example of vampirism, but Henry James' Daisy Miller (1878) is another, more figurative, example, and "The Hotel Child" is somewhere in between. These are intertextual variations of the same story.

Vampirism actually exists everywhere today in many forms: abusive relationships, political and industrial exploitation, drug dealing, confidence scams, dictatorships--any case where someone is exploiting someone else, unfairly taking their money, resources, or labor; destroying their property, air, health, or quality of life...

"The Hotel Child" at least has an optimistic ending. Fifi figures out the scam before it's too late.

Some day this story may be retold with a young naive Asian and an old outworn American. Wouldn't that be ironic? The story of human experience continues...

Reference:
"The Hotel Child". Short Stories, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Ed. Steve Thomas. eBooks@Adelaide. 2009. web 2011.
Thomas C. Foster. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Harper. 2003.

The Knight's Tale by Chaucer (ca. 1390)

I just read Geoffrey Chaucer's "Knight's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales (ca. 1390). The obvious themes are 1) love will drive man to violate law and order and 2) man's destiny is controlled by fate.

The first, regarding love and, by extension, emotions in general, is still very true today. Not only will people act irrationally when head-over-heels in love, but passion, greed, jealousy, and hunger are the root causes of probably most crimes.

On a cultural note, I thought it was peculiar that it was only the men's emotions that mattered. The lady had no say and had to marry whoever won the competition.

The second theme, regarding fate and destiny, doesn't seem as relevant today, but maybe it's more relevant than we realize. We believe with planning we can control our destiny. Actually it's more like what I call driving on snow--you're not in complete control and there's always a chance that things will go wrong, but with care and attention you usually get to where you're going--or close enough. Life is like that.

For me though the most amazing feature of the "Knight's Tale" is the marvelous quality of the style and verse. I was more in awe of the verse than I was of the story itself, the action, emotions, or lifestyle it so vividly portrays. The verse is absolutely amazing. It doesn't follow a rigid structure nor does every line rhyme, but it's somehow beautiful--too beautiful for words. I read a modern English translation of course (by Burton Raffel, 2008), but the forward claims he tried to retain the original style and meaning, so I believe I read the real thing. Chaucer in Modern English.

It's a masterpiece. You have to read it for yourself.

References:
Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales. ca. 1390. Trans. Burton Raffel. Modern Library. 2008.
Shmoop Editorial Team. The Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale. Shmoop University, Inc.. 2008.
GradeSaver. "The Canterbury Tales Study Guide & Literature Essays". GradeSaver. 1999-2011.

Components of Literary Analysis

I especially like the way Thomas C. Foster breaks down literary analysis into components in How to Read Literature Like a Professor (2003). As an engineer, I think of it as divide and conquer: divide a problem into smaller problems and conquer each individually until a conclusion is reached. The main components Foster addresses are quests, intertextuality, patterns, symbols, and irony.

Intertextuality is perhaps the most interesting component. He explains every story is connected to every other story, past, present, and presumably future. New ideas build upon old ideas and new stories build upon old stories. Intertextuality is the connectedness among stories. New text adds, updates, and modernizes prior text. It's not copying or plagiarism, because ultimately there's only one story. This one story is the story of human experience. Everything in human experience is connected to everything else in human experience, and every story is a retelling of one part or another of this one story.

I can't help but think of an analogy to science. Man has forever been trying to understand the universe. New discoveries are made that build upon old discoveries and little by little we are figuring it out. Everything in the universe is related to everything else, but different scientists focus on different parts: physics, biology, math, etc., but ultimately there's only one universe.

Reference: Thomas C. Foster. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Harper. 2003.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor (2003)

How to Read Literature Like a Professor (2003) is a very good book by Thomas C. Foster. I had never understood how English professors identified meanings in literature. The best I could do was memorize everything they said and repeat it for tests and papers. It was as if a secret master made up all the meanings and the purpose of the English profession was to disseminate them to the masses through memorization. Well this book, written so anybody can understand it, even me, an engineer, changed all that and explains how you, too, can actually analyze literature for yourself.

Since I took English for non-majors, my professors must have skimmed over analysis and focused instead on conclusions needed for papers and exams. That's very much like math for non-majors actually. Math professors skim over theory and teach the procedures needed for homework and exams. In contrast, math for majors teaches students to figure out the procedures for themselves. Had I taken English for majors, I suppose I'd have learned how to do my own analysis and reach my own conclusions.

The book ends with the perfect test case. It's an excellent short story by Katherine Mansfield that demonstrates many elements of literature and gives the reader a chance to try out his/her new analysis skills. I gave myself a B+, but I'm planning to improve that.

Reference: Thomas C. Foster. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Harper. 2003.

Literature: Experience by Proxy

40 years ago I was in high school. I thought I was so clever. I thought I was like electricity--always taking the easiest path.

I never read my English assignments and never paid attention in class except on the review day before a test. Then I memorized everything for 24 hours and passed all my tests. I thought I was so clever because everybody else worked so hard while I just goofed off--but they learned something and I didn't learn anything! What a waste of 4 years--not to mention the years of ignorance that followed!!!

Eventually I moved next to a library after a job transfer and discovered the value of literature. I started reading the books I was supposed to have read and realized I could have benefited from their lessons had I learned them years ago.

Now I have teenagers of my own, and as when my parents lectured me, I lecture them and it goes in one ear and out the other. People can hear a lecture or watch a movie, but most people won't really learn something until they actually experience it. With literature you can practically experience something just by reading--and learn from it. It's the commitment you make and the active participation your mind makes when you read a novel that's as close to experiencing the real thing as possible without actually doing it.

You don't really participate in a lecture or a movie or even in non-fiction for that matter. You might learn some facts, but you won't have a learning experience about life. You're just a passive observer. With literature, however, the subject is human and your mind is participating in the plot and the theme as if you are there, experiencing it yourself, and learning from that experience.

To me, learning by proxy experience is the greatest value of literature. It's a lot easier to learn about life that way than to try to figure it out on your own by trial and error. I wish I understood that 40 years ago!