AOW 27

A Farewell to Arms

Final Post

Character: The primary character, of course, is protagonist Fred. With him, for the last part of his journey, are the ambulance driver. Hemingway portrays them as socialists who do not care for the war or their part in it, but eagerly await the end so they may return home to their food and wine. One is shot, the other runs away, and at the end the third is abandoned. The other protagonist is Ms. Barkely, who cares only to please Fred and become thin and beautiful for him so that she may better serve him, but dies giving birth to a stillborn child who neither of the parents wanted.

Setting: Like other famed authors emerging from the ruins of WWI, the setting of this book is neither noble nor beautiful. It does not talk of fantastic travels or great adventures in Italy. Rather, it focuses on bloodshed, cold rivers, dead bodies, abandoned villages and dirt roads. The final leg of Fred’s journey is anything but pleasant as he loses most of his companions, gets lost in mud filled roads, travels along with hundreds of now homeless villagers, and is almost killed. Only Switzerland, the nation not in war, seems peaceful and beautiful.

Plot/Conflict: The war is ending, and the Italian army has begun to shoot officers.Fred and his ambulance driving companions get lost on a muddy side road and can’t seem to free the car, so they continue on foot. One man gets shot, one leaves to become a willing prisoner in the German army, and the third gets left behind when Fred must jump in a river to flee execution by the Italian army, as he was an officer and had a foreign accent (he is American). Injured, he jumps on a train and finally makes it to his beloved nurse. They are together for a short while, and Fred must hide as he is not a deserter from the Italian army and can be killed/arrested at any time. They then flee to Switzerland, where she dies in childbirth.

POV: Third person from Fred’s eyes.

Theme: There is no clear winner in war, as all people ultimately loose what they hold dear. The greatest damage of war occurs off the battlefield.

Literary Elements: The detached tone and prose of the writing, coupled by an objective third person view of the horrors of war (not on, but off the battlefield) puts war in a very bad light. In a time of literature that glorified battle, this writing was meant to shock the reader without playing with their emotions. The writing was sparse, to say the least, lacking metaphors, adjectives, emotions, and details. It was a reflection of what was left after the war.

AOW 26

Congressman Hurt to Discovor Lobbyist Not Really His Friend

The Onion

Source: It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news. The Onion's articles comment on current events, both real and fictional. It parodies such traditional newspaper features as editorials, man-on-the-street interviews. Web traffic on theonion.com amounts to some 7.5 million unique visitors per month.

Summary: A satirical article about the relationships between lobbyists and our congressmen, the piece creates a fictional heartbreak about Rep. Bobby Shilling who recently discovered that his lobbyist friend Stephen Fischer was only using him. It turns politics into something similar to a small high school relationship, showing the naïve faith of the government in the honesty of those lobbying. The article highlights telltale signs that should have warned the representative that the relationship was one sided: Fischer genuinely seemed interested in soybean crop insurance, deep sea fishing, and his friend’s position on House Agricultural Committee. After the relationship is revealed as false, Shilling’s despondent and depressed nature highlights the dependent nature of the congressmen on their lobbyist buddies. At the end, a colleague says, "One day he'll form a good, long-lasting friendship with a health insurance corporation or oil company that truly appreciates him and supports him as much as he supports it. All of us eventually do."

Analysis: Lobbying has always been rigorously debated topic in politics, or a government body untainted by the desires of corporations. The purpose is to bring the nature of this relationship to life and, of course, make fun of it. The audience of the onion is primarily between the ages of 18-45, and the style of the article (geared towards women or anyone who watches chick flicks) reflects this knowledge.

Devices:
Satire: This website, and thus article, has been chosen by readers because of its satirical approach to modern conflict. It reflects a knowledge of the situation without boring the reader, thus keeping its popularity the readers’ interest.
Common Knowledge: What makes the article funny is that it is a political version of a completely overdone cliché. The funny, captivating, an rich older man uses the eager and young optimist to reach his ends, then severs the connection completely leaving the other confused and devastated. We’ve seen everything before, but never in this context. By changing the ratios (Burke’s Pentad) the author turned a boring plot through a hilarious twist.
Pathos: One not only feels sad for the congressman, but for themselves for having elected such a naïve and shallow representative in such an important position.



AOW 25

A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway

The Author: 
Nobel Prize winner, Hemingway is most known for his post-WWI literature which embraced a new type of prose. He worked for a newspaper before going to fight in the Italian army during the war, and drew inspiration from his experiences for several books, including A Farewell to Arms. In fact, the book is semi-autobiographical.

Summary:
The story is of an American ambulance driver in the Italian army. He’s a typical guy in that he enjoys women, alcohol, and the camaraderie he finds with the soldiers he hangs out with. Although considered “one of the guys” he has a soft spot for the British nurse he meets, named Catherine Barkley.  He gets injured at the front, and is transferred to another hospital in Maggiore. There, Catherine joins him and becomes dependent on his love for her as he slowly recovers from his wounds.

Context:
The context of the story is the Italian front in WWI. Hemingway was actually an ambulance driver for the Italian army, and draws much of the story from his own experience (even some of the romantic relationships.) Although it is a love story, the book in no way hides the brutalities of war, a new approach for literature of the time.

Purpose:
Although the purpose was most likely not to discuss war, many of the main characters in the book disclose a strong dislike of the ongoing fight, and those who made it. The book is from the perspective of people who are stuck in a war that never seems to end, and their fear of an everlasting menace colors the book in an anti-war light. Thus, in a subtle way, I believe the Hemingway did convey a message, whether that was his intention or not.

Audience:
Although certainly not restricted, the book was probably intended for anyone in America who reads novels. As it occurs during the war, it would probably catch the interest of many Americans who still have memories if the fighting fresh in their minds.

Rhetorical Devices:
Hemingway’s style can only be describes as sparse. His primary device is simply the lack of devices all together. The dialogue is short, the descriptions lacking, and the plot uninvolved. The characters seem to lack depth of emotion, and therefore no such feelings are reflected to the reader. This was not specific to this book, however, as Hemingway is famous for his style which is used to reflect “primitive people whose courage and honesty are set against the brutal ways of modern society”.

AOW 24

Post # 24

Nelson Mandela Inaugural Address

Author:
Famous apartheid protester and later president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela is world renowned for work in building a nation from the bottom up and fighting injustice until the day he died.

Summary:
Mandela was the first democratically elected president of South Africa, and this is his inaugural address. It talks little of what will happen, and focuses on how the nation has pulled itself from being the “universal base of the pernicious ideology and practice of racism and oppression” to a nation liberated from its own path and set on a new one. He thanks the nations who supported them and allowed them to free themselves, and he pledges to the people that the country will never go back to what it was. He refers to it as a “common victory for human justice, for peace, for human dignity”. His basic premise is that it is time to start reconstruction of South Africa.

Analysis: The battle of apartheid was won by international collaboration, when countless other nations decided to end trade with South Africa. In face of this triumph, Mandela bases a lot of his points on the power of unity, both within his international allies and within a nation torn with racism. His purpose is to bring all the people of the country together to rebuild the country, and we know that it will be tough journey but his dream is realized.
Some devices he used to achieve this were –
Ethos: Obvious but powerful. Although he has just been elected president, he maintains a very humble tone with phrases like “all of us”, “to my compatriots”, “we all share” “humbled”. At the beginning of the speech he connects himself with the geography of the nation by talking about the mimosa trees and the summer flowers. The only word he uses to refer to himself is “we”.
Parallelism: There are two places in the speech where he has three parallel phrases used to emphasize a point. For example, the one at the end of the speech is “Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work… and salt for all.”
Repetition: He repeats what the country once was multiple times. For example, he lists “bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, and gender” in slight variations several times.
References to foreign allies: He refers particularly to America’s fight for freedom from England so long ago with embedded phrases like “we the people”, “inalienable rights” and “God bless Africa”.
Juxtaposition: It is used in the speech to contrast soft ideas of the future with the harsh reality of the past. In the second paragraph he speaks of blooming flowers and mimosa trees. In the next paragraph, he talks about a nation torn apart, “spurned, outlawed, and isolated”. Later he lists traits of the new nation like “democratic, non-racial” then says they will leave the “valley of darkness”.

AOW #23

The Women We Love to Hate

Rebecca Dana

The Author:
Rebecca Dana is a senior correspondent for The Daily Beast. A former editor and reporter for The Wall Street Journal, she has also written for The New York Times, The New York Observer, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, and Slate, among other publications.

The Article:

In light of the recent uproar about Patriots quarterback Terry Bradshaw’s girlfriend, Gisele’s, cursing fit after the super bowl. Rising as the villain of the incident, she made her husband a laughing stock when she told her friends to “pray for Tommy” then continued to embarrass with her unprecedented tirade.  Fans are furious, but the article illuminates this trend that occurs in professional athletics where the wives of famous athletes, nicknamed WAGS in England, often serve as the “convenient lightning rod” after their spouses take a loss. Clearly sympathetic to Gisele, the author’s purpose was to give crazed fans and everyone that reads Newsweek the other side of the story, and open their minds to how ridiculous they sound.

The tone was satirical and used hyperbole and irony to make fun not of the targeted spouses but rather of the intense culture of the sports fans and their idols. Her descriptions and adjectives were over-the-top such as her description of Gisele as the “Brazilian stunner, worth an estimated $150 million”. She contrasts the tabloids and the fan comically, comparing actions like “gallivanting around-dancing in Rio, mugging in Fashion Week”  with the “burly gladiator culture” which has been interrupted. In case die hard fans disagree with her feminist view, she offers 4 other examples to prove the trend: Jessica Simpon and Tony Romo, David and Victoria Beckham, and more. She also satirizes the WAG stereotype, describing their presence with “there is much smacking of gum and waving of acrylic nails”. She offers refutations, but they are few and far between. They she backs her warrant with  professional opinions that say “strong woman are attracted to these men” and they are only doing their part to help.

AOW 22

Artist: Tom Toles
Winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize, Toles is a famed political cartoonist for the Washington Post.

Summary:
In light of the recent elections, the Republican party looks to bury Obama publicly. The guillotine, a form of public execution most known for its prevalence during the French Revolution, is the very kind of humiliating and thorough defeat opponents of the Obama administration would like to see. With greater possibilities of communication due to television, this will attract every kind of public attention. At the bottom, it says there is an olive branch in the basket, a sign of peace. The cartoon makes it clear that the opposing party is not willing to collaborate or compromise. If Obama is gullible enough to believe they will offer the olive branch mentioned at the bottom, he will bring an end to his career.

Analysis:
IN the context of the upcoming elections, this cartoon offers a reason for the political deadlock that has continued during the Obama administration. The purpose is to portray the cause for the president’s hesitation, and the underlying motives for the Republicans who wish to bury him. He looks resigned, significantly smaller than his towering opponent. His is bent over in submission, seemingly resigning to his fate in 2012. Dressed more plainly than his lavishly robed counterpart, he is shown to have very little choice in his fate. Unless he accepts the Republicans and submits to implementing some of their ideas, they will make sure he is brought down brutally and publically. If he does agree to collaborate, the cartoon shows that all their ideas have one goal in mind: not helping the American people, but eliminating their elected head.

Rhetorical Devices:

Contrast: Obama and his president seem polar opposites. Not only are they in very separate positions, one of power dictating the execution and one in the weak position of receiving the sentence, they are not even the same species. Obama is represented as human, dressed modestly, looking indecisive and submissive. The other is a towering elephant with tusks, dressed lavishly and appearing to be anything but human.

Symbolism: Other than the obvious symbolism, such as the olive branch representing and offering of peace or the elephant representing the Republican party, there are other symbols as well. The most prominent of which is the basket. The elephant says it contains work they’d like Obama to fill, but it was only created to hold his head. A system of interwoven ideas, accepting any one predicts the fate of Obama. Relatively old fashioned, the use of a basket may also represent a regressive form of governmental shift.

Irony: Like most political cartoons, this one is satirical. It shows that behind the public face of smooth political transition and protection of the public interest, the goal of the Republican party is personal and powerful. The leader of the nation has no choice but to submit to the losing political party, and the offering of the olive branch in fact results in a violent overthrow and a political suicide.

IRB Choice

Cutting for Stone
Abraham Verghese

Section 1: 1-178
Section 2: 178-356
Section 3: 356-534

I attended a seminar this summer given by a doctor working a rural area in India. She discussed the difficulties that occur when culture, science, and a lack of education clash. Being and avid reader, I distictly remembered her saying, "it's very Cutting for Stone". I made a mental note of it and bought the book before returning home. Since then it has been sitting on my bookshelf. The saga of a surgeon in Ethiopia, it not only seemed to challenge society (not ours but that of an very different nation I would like to learn about) but also appeals to the career path I am interested in.