Part 1. We do need to fill in theme ideas for Terraloyna, so if you could brainstorm themes for this story and hand them in to me, I will fill in the sheet accordingly.
Part 2. We are almost done with our Jump reading (we have only one more new story to read), so as we approach our final writing assignment I'd like you to look over the themes we have come up with and find connections between the stories. In other words, the final essay will ask you to make some argument about how a theme is expressed in three different stories. As for making the connections, please post your ideas here so we all can learn from your brilliance. Be specific in nature and grounded in the text.
Evy Roy
ReplyDeleteSome of the most communal themes I saw:
Insider vs. Outsider
Racism
Role in Society
Evy got us off to a solid start, but now take it one step further. Insider v Outsider in what specific stories (list three) and how does this theme specifically manifest itself in each story?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Evy but I think that race is more of a theme than racism because of the way the Terraloyna families were split up and divided between the whites, coloreds, and blacks even though they came from the same place.
ReplyDeleteI also want to add ancestry.
Caitlyn
Differences between cultures: especially in Some Are Born To Sweet Delight, Comrades, The Ultimate Safari. This is differences in general, but sometimes more specifically fear and ignorance of other cultures.
ReplyDeleteI agree that ancestry and insider vs. outsider are big. I also think that taking/making life is represented in many stories: Some are Born to Sweet Delight, Once Upon A Time, and The Moment Before The Gun Went Off
Alison
Racism
ReplyDelete1) WWYD: Segregation of Africans
2) OUAT: Security that is erected around the house
3) TUS: Exile of the family
Marshall
Role in Society
1) C: Boys being uneducated and not expected to do much
2) SARTSD: Male dominance
3) TUS: Roles demonstrated in the family and how they participate
Man v Society Conflict
1) OUAT: Increasing security to isolate from society
2) WWYD: Society is against the protagonist who seems to be a truthful and genuine person
3) TUS: The family is being exiled by the gov't and aren't treated fairly
I, Emily Naomi Bogin, thought that superiority was a major theme, and manifested in What Were You Dreaming? with the woman saying that "at least the bars are closed on Sundays" and in Teraloyna, how the kill the cats because they no longer realize that they are part of that culture, and in Comrades, when the lady is super self-concious because she thinks they think that she thinks that they are not as good as her
ReplyDeleteI also thought that ignorance was a big theme, in Some Are Born to Sweet Delight (the woman never realizes that he doesn't love her), in Teraloyna (they kill their own cats, why weren't they spayed?) and in Ultimate Safari (the newscaster thinks that the grandma really wants to go home/ the Ultimate Safari is actually kind of hell for the black people.
^Marshall
ReplyDeleteOLIVIA GLICK agrees with Evy and Caitlyn because I thought the themes of Insider vs Outsider and Roles in Society were huge in most of the stories. Who your identity was played a huge part in all the stories. In Terraloyna, everyone thought they were either black or white and so they fit into a certain stereotype of a race but actually everyone was from this one island. The white soldiers that come to kill the cats on Terraloyna believe that they are on some random island out of no where, but in the reality they were "going home on the island."
ReplyDeleteHAH marshall didn't put his name in the right place.......
ReplyDeletedsggdz
ReplyDeletehe would...
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Evy and Caitlyn about their ideas on racism and race but I also think that a share theme is descendants/family/relatives.
ReplyDeleteThis comes up in:
Terraloyna (they all share common ansestors), The Moment Before the Gun Went Off (Father shoots son)
Some Are Born to Sweet Delight (Father kills unborn child)
My Father Leaves Home (Son returns with father)
Once Upon A Time (Parents overprotect son) and some others.
I know this is really similar to what Caitlyn said about ancestry.
Rosario
P.S. Most of the family connection things are Father-Son
Evy Roy...again
ReplyDeletewe see shame in both "comrades" and "what were you dreaming." in "comrades," Hattie has some form of white guilt and feels like she needs to hide her maid and parts of herself to show the young black men that she respects them. in "what were you dreaming," the man in the back seat is ashamed of other black people and lies about himself to make his life sound a little better.
In "once upon a time," the rich white people think that putting up a wall around every home will solve all of the neighborhood problems. that was a false assumption because the new security systems just cause more problems, such as the death of the son. In "some are born to sweet delight," the girl makes false assumptions about her lover and his intentions and ends up with a bomb in her luggage.
Lexy agrees that race and insider vs outsider are the major ones. Also race playing into who is the outsider vs the insider.
ReplyDeleteWhat were you dreaming: We realize at the end that the older white woman looks down upon the black man creating an us vs them situation.
Comrades: The main character feels very separate from the students that she brings to her house which is why she feels the need to bring in the sugar herself as opposed to her maid bringing it in. This creates a separation between the two characters.
Some are born to sweet delight: There is insider vs outsider because of the culture separation between vera and the man she loves. This culture difference is mentioned repeatedly in the story
Agreed that heritage plays a big role in the lives of and influences the characters in various stories, especially in Terralonya and My Father Leaves Home. It also really influences belonging in society and insider/outsider status in a lot of the stories, so one could argue that heritage and racism have strong ties with each other, as heritage seems to constantly affect how various characters view each other, and how they act towards each other. There also seems to be a common theme of renouncing one's heritage in the pursuit of belonging in society, like in Terralonya or in Some are Born to Sweet Delight.
ReplyDeleteRyan K.
I think one of the most prevalent themes throughout all the stories is Superiority, and the conflicts this misconception brings about.
ReplyDeleteIn Terraloyna, each new group to inhabit the island thinks they are supperior to the previous (humans bring cats to killl mice, cats kill mice. humans kill cats). this prevents them from seeing the similarities between themselves as transient inhabitants of the island
In Once upon a time, this family perceives themselves as superior to the surrounding Africans, so they build a fence around their abode. yes abode. this ends up killing their kid, thus misconception->conflict.
also I agree with just about everyone, in thinking that insider/outsider and racism are important themes....
-Isaac
I agree with a lot of people, too many to name them all, but I also think that regret and innocence influence a lot of the stories. For example, in Once Upon a Time, Some are Born to Sweet Delight, and The Moment Before the Gun Went Off share these themes. In all of them, someone did something that was meant to protect or sustain innocence, but ended up in death and regret.
ReplyDeleteIn Once Upon a Time, they built a fence to keep the evils out, but the protector of the innocent killed the most innocent member of the family.
Likewise, in Some are Born to Sweet Delight, the innocence of the main character left her unprotected and gullible, despite living in a relatively safe place like Britain. This made her susceptible to the evils of the world - in this case the Arab.
Again, in The Moment Before the Gun Went Off, the father simply wanted to give a little special attention to his illegitimate son, but that ended dastardly. Instead, his extra attention meant to protect and bond with the boy ended up killing him, something the father deeply regretted.
-Jennifer
A really common theme between the stories is perception. It frequently comes up in the form of incorrect perceptions/generalizations and sort of ties in with the theme of race/racism.
ReplyDelete1. The Moment Before the Gun Went Off: There is a lot of discussion about how the story of Marais and Lucas will be interpreted by others and that they will be completely off base.
2. What Were You Dreaming?: The woman explains to the British man the roles of each race within South Africa and her perception of black lifestyles.
3. Once Upon A Time: The families make the incorrect assumption that increasingly intense home security will make them safer.
I believe that naviete or almost over-optimism was used in many of the stories, especially in the Ultimate Safari, Some are Born to Sweet Delight, and Comrades. In these stories one of the characters assumes for the best, without really thinking about the implications of if they are wrong. In the Ultimate Safari the young girl believes her parents will come back, though they have been gone for an extensive amount of time, and does not want to leave her home without her parents. That decision would have put her in danger of the war raging close to her home. In Some are Born to Sweet Delight, Vera is optimistic about her male lover, though she knows so little of him. He is distant and rarely acknowledges her. Later, he blows up a plane with her on it. Lastly in Comrades, a white woman working for equality and justice for blacks invites three young black men to her home. She talks about the war and their situations with optimism and naviete, thinking they are well off. However she has no idea about the hardships they experience at home and in the war.
ReplyDeleteBOBBY LEHMANN
Maya:
ReplyDeleteI think one theme that is present in everyone of the stories is the idea of ones role in society. This is especially apparent in Comrades, What Were You Dreaming, and The Moment Before the Gun Went off. These stories all have protagonist that are conflicted with were they belong in society and what their role is.
Claire:
ReplyDeletei agree with Isaac about superiority tied in with race because that was very prevelent in What were you Dreaming with the older white woman, Terraloyna the theme of superior species or race is apparent with the different species taking over and evolving, Once Upon a Time when the white couple put up a man eating fence to protect themselves against blacks, with Comrades, and more
I also agree with Evy about the theme of shame and think that shows up in many stories like Comrades, Some are Born to Sweet Delight, What were you Dreaming, and more
I also agree with race and insider versus outsider, as well as your role in society. Role in society pretty much sums up race and insider versus outsider and think that shows up in every story
i agree wif evy, i think shame was an important theme:
ReplyDelete-in the moment before the gun went off, a father is ashamed to even say who his own son is.
-in what were you dreaming, the white lady goes to lengths to prove to her white companion that she is not a racist (this is negated by her blatant racism at the end) because she is ashamed of her country's treatment of non-white people.
-in comrades, we see shame bc the white lady hides her maids and her own heritage from the visiting blacks. she has shame about being given more rights, etc. than them.
-Isaac
I also believe that fear comes up in many of the stories
ReplyDeleteSuch as Once upon a time. The family is fearful of what is going on close to their suburb, so they feel the need to install a high tech security system to guard against the danger outside the suburb
Also in The moment before the gun went off
Van der Vyver is very scared about the image of South Africa after the press hears about his shooting of a black man.
Alex