METAFICTION: Inhee's short story

  I am a loser. I have never had a girlfriend in my life, because I lacked in beauty, social status, and because I was a loser. At school, I supply the so-called 'winners' with what I have such as my new shoes, T-shirt, etc. My parents obviously do not know this fact, but I can clearly see that they are extremely worried about my future.



  Is it my parents' fault for making me like this, or do I have to blame myself? These thoughts only torture me without presenting me with a clear solution.

  Just as usual, I lie in my bed, thinking about those winners. Will I never be like them? Do I have to remain as a loser for the rest of my life? It seemed like fates do exist; no matter how hard you try to change your life, your fate functions as a barricade so that you accept your given destiny. Okay, fine. I do not want to be a winner, nor I can be. But let me hope for at least one tiny wish: make me a girlfriend. I want a good-looking girlfriend so beautiful that other people cannot take their eyes off. I want an altruistic girlfriend who will always be there for me whenever I am sad. 

  She lay plaint in his arms, her head lolled against his shoulder. I could see her smile over her glossy hair. She looked up at him with a smile on her face. Her cheek was blushed pinkly. Her bright face was barely recognizable. Because she never showed me such one. I had never seen her so happy, so calm. It was as though she was wearing a mask of someone else. A mask colored with bright pink, its edge glittering with gold dust. A soft feather milk and rose, tickling his shoulder. 

  I reminded last night, when she and I were sitting on the bed together, the mask was a cold blue. A silvery teardrop dangled in the corners of her eyes, and a whitish hue made her look pale. The delicate blue mask seemed like it would break at any moment. She met my eyes directly and poured out her desperation. She whispered to me how I was the only shoulder to cry on. My heart gave a huge lurch. There was something with her dewy eyes that made me have a total faith in her. Her appealing words always brought me to her heel.

  Yet she was not always with the fragile blue mask. At times, the blue mask hardened into a sleek, red one. The words from her red lips penetrated deep into my heart. In front of her and her sharp words, I became trivial. The red mask, a color of a blood, made me feel small. 

  her mask was a gloomy purple, an irritated yellow, and a bottomless black. But a blushing pink, I had never such delighted shyness on her. It was as if she was not a person I knew. I revealed every bit of me to her. From time to time, she knew me better than I did. But apparently, I was the only one naked. She was, and always has been disguising herself with a multitude of masks. I gave a look at her rosy face once more, trying to imagine the true face behind the mask.

  Except, even if she had showed me her true face, I would not have been able to recognize it.

  What a dream, I thought. I wanted a kind girlfriend, not one that overwhelms and makes me feel small. So, I am still a loser in my own dream; that is how I picture myself. It is not a matter of reality or fantasy; the problem is that I was born as who I am right now. What an awesome life! I can't believe that I struggled to stay alive till now, just to accept the fact that even my deepest consciousness thinks I am a loser. 

  Bye, cruel world. 

  BANG!

Excellent Song for Mid-Term

MAGIC REALISM

  According to Britannica, magic realism is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. Wikipedia states that magic realism is a genre where magic elements are a natural part in an otherwise mundane, realistic environment. From these definitions, it might be quite tough to elicit a clear comprehension of what magic realism really is. Therefore, I will take a close look at one of the short stories of magic realism written by Gabriel Marquez - The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World.

Summary

  The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World starts in a small fishing village where the population is not very big. The children are playing at the beach when they find a dead body of man drifted by the waves. The men and women at the town, eager to claim the body, clean it meticulously and prepare it for a funeral. While the townspeople work on the body, they find out that this man had been one of the biggest, handsomest, and most masculine of all men in the world. After letting him back into the sea, the people realize that their lives have actually changed, and other people will now view their 'Esteban's village' with pride.

Magic Realism vs Fiction

  'The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World' might seem perfectly ordinary without any mythical elements present in it. A dead body floats up ashore in a peaceful village, and the people prepare it for a funeral. However, a careful scrutiny shows how these magical elements are perfectly blended into a plot that seems realistic. Let us consider the body of Esteban first. A body that had been floating for that long period of time must be totally bloated until one cannot recognize how the face looks like. However, this dead man is emphasized for having 'the handsomest face in the world".

  Moreover, all the people at the town seem to welcome the body without any hesitation or rejection. People do not clean and prepare a dead body that had been washed up ashore by a current the way the townspeople in 'The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World' did. People do not wonder about where the dead man might be pure, how the man is so manly, and what his name might be like the townspeople did.

  Instead of seeing magic realism and fiction as two separate categories, I want to point out that magic realism is a part of fiction. It is a special type of fiction that reveals its surreal components in a less conspicuous manner. This way, the readers actually believe that such instances can occur in daily lives. Instead of drawing a boundary between the possible and impossible, magic realism creates a new sense of making the impossible seem feasible.

This may not actually be the difference between magic realism and fiction. However, the more I read about these two genres, magic realism came to me as a genre that involves both reality and fantasy and merges them together.


Esteban?

  The townspeople suddenly name the dead man 'Esteban' and start calling him by that name until the end of the story. This can actually be an insignificant event which has minor importance; however, based on my research, Esteban is a common, masculine Spanish name for Stephen, which means 'crown', or 'wreath' derived from Greek. Both a crown and wreath are present to a winner of a contest, and in this case, the dead man is present as the winner above all the men in the world in the aspect of outlooks.

They were wandering through that maze of fantasy when the oldest woman, who as the oldest had looked upon the drowned man with more compassion than passion, sighed: "He has the face of someone called Esteban."

  From this quote, we can see that the oldest woman in the town is the one that actually gives the body the name of Esteban. This causes the story to be some kind of ancient myths, and transforms the body into a symbol of magic.

Imagery 

  As one can lucidly see from the very text, this story uses numerous literary techniques that might confuse the readers in keeping with the actual plot. The first paragraph talks about the instance when the body gets washed up ashore, and the children playing at the beach think it is an empty ship, then a whale. It uses a visual image to describe how the body looked like when it was first found.

  The second paragraph states that 'he had the smell of the sea about him'. Unlike the first paragraph, the second one uses the sense of smell to indicate that the body has traveled for a long time in the sea that the scent has permeated throughout his whole body.


SOURCES

Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/356736/magic-realism
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism
shmoop, http://www.shmoop.com/handsomest-drowned-man/literary-devices.html

THE DEAD

  Although 'The Dead' by James Joyce is quite similar to the other short stories in 'Dubliners', it is the ultimate ending of the book, the very last short story that discusses the intersection of life and death in extreme detail. Through a quick glance, 'The Dead' seems like a story about an annual Christmas party held at the house of the Morkan Sisters. It might be so, but we have to dig down deeper in order to fully comprehend what is actually taking place at the party.

  It is true that Joyce goes describing about the guests at the party who enjoy good singing and dancing. However, this party should not be the main focus of 'The Dead' as it only provides a very shallow outlook of the whole story; on the other hand, Gabriel, the main protagonist, has to be viewed with a deep scrutiny. Gabriel undergoes an epiphany that leaves a huge impact on him which he finds hard to accept.

  Gabriel is introduced as a very egotistical person; he does not care about other people, and this selfishness is first shown in his encounter with Lily. He offends her with his words, but his egocentricity prevents him from realizing what he has done wrong. Then he gets worried about his highly educated speech which he fears that the guests might not understand what it actually means.

  This is where the epiphany comes in; in his speech, Gabriel talks about how the past is supposed to be only remained as the past, and how people should move forward. But this perspective is attacked by his wife's confession about her first love - Michael Furey. Seeing his wife buried deep in her thoughts about Michael, Gabriel realizes for the first time how his view is being challenged. He accepts that the past, or the dead, can actually leave a larger impact than the present.

A few light taps upon the pane made him turn to the window. It had begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark, falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.

  Joyce dissolves the concept of epiphany in his story through senses; in 'The Dead', he uses the sense hearing to signal how the main protagonist gets to learn about the reality.

  Although 'The Dead' is extremely long compared to other short stories, it seems shorter due to its plot. In other words, the story literally captivates the reader's attention that he has to finish the story.

  Then, what is so fascinating about 'The Dead'? I think the themes of the past, present, life, and death involve the readers to actually sympathize with and argue about the points Joyce makes. Here, snow represents paralysis, how everything is actually trapped in the past that it cannot advance. But opinions differ; snow, on the other hand, can actually represent a new cycle. Snow usually does not take long to melt, and spring proceeds after winter passes by. Therefore, snow might foreshadow a brighter future.

  'The Dead', like other stories of modernism, has a very open ending. The readers can only conjecture about what is actually going to happen to all the protagonists including Gabriel. He might undergo a complete transformation into a considerate human being, or choose to remain as a self-centered figure he is now. He might start loving his wife sincerely, or decide to divorce her, angered at her treachery.

  In overall, 'The Dead' describes the concept of life and death that can actually be extremely controversial due to its open ending. However, the point Joyce tries to make is very lucid through his usage of epiphany Gabriel experiences. I believe that 'The Dead' is one of the most exciting stories we have read, and are going to read during our World Literature class.

#3 ARABY

PARAGRAPH [final ver.] 

 From a distance, James Joyce's 'Araby' might appear to be a story about a teenage boy who falls into a deep chasm of love he cannot climb out of. After all, when the nameless narrator describes his passionate love towards Mangan's sister as stated in paragraph 12(What innumerable follies~monotonous child's play), it is quite evident that he considers her to be a 'holy' type of figure he worships. However, on the other hand, Joyce actually seems to be talking about something much more than just shallow, childish love; he is emphasizing that fairy tales do not exist, and that love between Snow White and the prince is all fake that is to be viewed with distrust. We often accept the norm that love is divine, but this is not necessarily true. Love can be tainted, just like that between the young lady and the two men at the bazaar; it need not be, and is not so pure as many people assume. We are often deceived by the seemingly sacred facade of love described in many romantic literary works, and this concept has placed itself in our subconsciousness for a prolonged period of time. The narrator tries to convey to the readers the sense of idealism that he has for the girl in the opening paragraphs until he goes to Araby, but this perspective gets distorted when the epiphany hits him hard, when he learns about the disparity between reality and fantasy. This sudden, intuitive perception of reality the narrator undergoes shatters his romatic view of love that primarily focused on imagination. Basically, Joyce destroys the concept of idealized love wholly using an open ending which is very realistic and modernistic, and a cynical description of the bazaar that is far from being an “exotic far east” romance of any kind. Romantics focused a lot on “exotic” themes, or images from a distant past or place unlike Joyce who gained sympathy of the readers by making his story accessible. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that 'Araby' is a text criticizing those trapped in their own dream world: those who crave and yearn for what they cannot achieve in reality. In this sense, 'Araby' is a story that provides a pessimistic, yet alternative view of love that is not reaching towards the satisfaction of romanticism, and through vivid descriptions and a lucid characterization of the protagonists, Joyce develops a concrete plot that is very well-structured.

Chekhov the Realism

   The Lady with the Dog was the second realism literary piece we have discussed about during class. I've tried to define what realism is in the previous reading journal, but the more I get to read about realism, the harder it gets for me to comprehend the full content of it. But I will continue to try my best to understand the gist of it in my own words. After reading The Lady with the Dog, I could actually sympathize with many critics who mentioned that Chekhov's stories are very powerful in drawing the reader's attention, yet being very economical with language. He does not have to use bombastic words to convey the complexity of emotions the protagonists go through; just with simple and concise descriptions, Chekhov manages to deliver the very same effects.

  The story is divided into 4 main parts according to the time frame. The first part describes the very first moment when Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna meet in Yalta. This part is like the introduction of the whole story, introducing who the figures are, and how they get to meet in the first place. The second part is about the remaining time period in Yalta, about how Gurov and Anna spend time together. The third part describes Gurov's visit to Anna's hometown, and the last about Anna's visit to Moscow, where Gurov stays.

WHY IS THE STORY TITLED 'THE LADY WITH THE DOG'?

  At first, I did not consider the title to have any significance. However, after scrutinizing the text for several times, I found out the role of the tile The Lady with the Dog. In the story, Chekhov mentions that "no one knew who she was, and every one called her simply 'the lady with the dog'". This is in the very beginning, when Gurov is still a chauvinistic man who is extremely dissatisfied with his life. Then Gurov meets a woman called Anna Sergeyevna and everything changes. His view of women changes. His view of love changes. Basically, he changes. As he undergoes this transformation, he does not regard Anna as the 'lady with the dog' any more; his intense feelings towards her obviously do not allow him to. Rather, the opposite is true; the way Gurov sees Anna changes, and consequently, Gurov's life changes.

  Compare Gurov in Part 1 and Part 4; he goes through a massive metamorphosis. Then compare the way he sees Anna in Part 1 and Part 4. It is evident that the difference in Gurov is closely related to the difference in seeing Anna.

LOVE IS TO BLAME

  One of the most obvious themes discussed in this short story is love. Many might argue that this was not real love, but an immoral adulterous relationship. My thoughts are a bit different, because I believed that love is involuntary as many people admit. One cannot expect when, and where he will fall in love. It can happen any time, anywhere with anyone in the world. He might fall in love with a wrong person such as an already married man or woman, just like Gurov or Anna, but we cannot blame him for being stuck in such situation. Love, like nature, cannot be controlled. It just exists the way it does, and humans cannot, and should not try to stop it.

She sat down  in the third row, and when Gurov looked at her his heart contracted, and he understood clearly that for him there was in the whole world no creature so near, so precious, and so important to him; she, this little woman, in no way remarkable, lost in a provincial crowd, with a vulgar lorgnette in her hand, filled his whole life now, was his sorrow and his joy, the one happiness that he now desired for himself, and to the sounds of the inferior orchestra, of the wretched provincial violins, he thought how lovely she was. He thought and dreamed.

  Gurov has never been in real love until he met Anna; that explains why he was so confused in describing his feelings towards Anna. When he was with his wife, he did not feel the way he felt with Anna, which proves that he did not know what love was by then. Anna changed him, taught him what actual love is, and I do not see this as a simple, adulterous affair.

HOW'S THE ENDING?

  The story does not have a definite conclusion. The reader is left to conjecture about the future of Gurov and Anna.

And it seemed as though in a little while the solution would be found, and then a new and splendid life would begin; and it was clear to both of them that they had still a long, long road before them, and that the most complicated and difficult part of it was only just beginning.

  I thought that this was very interesting. Isn't this actually what realism is all about? In reality, you cannot have answers for all of your actions; sometimes you have to act even if you do not know how the consequences will turn out to be. In this story, Chekhov does not lock up the characters in a staged future; rather, he lets the imagination of the readers to carry these two lovers to Wonderland. He provides more questions than answers, and some readers might find this frustrating, but the story provides a platform for Gurov and Anna to become whatever the readers want them to be.

SYMBOLISM 

  In Section 3, the Sydney Jones opera The Geisha is mentioned. Gurov, in searching for Anna, attends the opening performance. Although this can easily be overlooked, The Geisha actually has a very important meaning in it. The opera is about a man who falls in love with a geisha even though he is a married man. Quoting the main character, "Every man is disappointed in his wife at some time or other." coincides exactly with Gurov's situation.

  How about the fence? What does the fence symbolize?

Gurov went without haste to Old Gontcharny Street and found the house. Just opposite the house stretched a long grey fence adorned with nails. [...]"One would run away from a fence like that," thought Gurov, looking from the fence to the windows of the house and back again. [...] He walked up and down,  and loathed the grey fence more and more, and by now he thought irritably that Anna Sergeyevna had forgotten him, and was perhaps already amusing herself with some one else, and that was very natural in a young woman who had nothing to look at from morning till night but that confounded fence.

   The fence is basically the limits set by Anna's house, or rather, I should describe the house as Anna's husband's property. This fence restricts Anna, and she is not free in her life. She is totally confined by her marriage, and Gurov feels agonizingly painful to accept this truth. Surprisingly, in this quotation Gurov is looking at the world from someone else's eyes. This is astonishing as love actually broke the boundaries that exist between Gurov's life and Anna's. Gurov's feelings towards Anna are so intense that no fence can now stop him.

  Most stories that are considered to be well-written have a clear background, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. The Lady with the Dog was different. The traditional structure for a short story is broken here, and the story is not confined within the pages. As the plot gets combined with the readers' imagination, The Lady with the Dog goes beyond the pages, and creates a world of its own.

  This The Lady with the Dog came to me much easier compared to The Student, the reason being that it had a very clear plot, or story to follow. If I have a chance, I want to read more stories written by Chekhov, such as The Bet or Women's Good Fortune.

-POSTED BEFORE THE WORD LIMIT-

All about Realism

As this is the very first piece of reading journal for the World Literature class, I am going to make it very special with impressive BS and even include pictures that I find captivating. The very first short story we read in class was The Student by Anton Chekhov, who is  a so-called realism writer. In sharp contrast to writers from the Romantic Period, Anton Chekhov adopted a writing style that is very straightforward and lucid for the readers to comprehend.  

Let us discuss realism in detail. What is this BS we call realism? According to Britannica, realism writers are those who eliminated from their work the "softer" qualities in romantic novels - tenderness, idealism, chivalry passion, and the like - which seemed to them to hide the stark realities of life in a dreamlike haze. Simply put, writers who pursue realism do not like bombastic phrases and flamboyant descriptions. Additionally, they try to portray the reality as how it actually appears to be without any packaging to make it seem glorious. Although the reality is grim and most people try to deny the fact that they are actually living in an abysmal world, realistic writers do not hesitate to reveal the very truth of the society. realistic I really do enjoy reading realism novels as I believe that readers should not accept the illusory sense of reality as presented in romantic novels. Readers should be able to learn about what is actually happening to the contemporary society. In this sense, I think realistic literary pieces are analogous to newspapers.

  However, after reading The Student, I failed to define it as a realistic piece from the language used. Anton Chekhov constantly used detailed descriptions using numerous literary techniques, and they added up to make The Student seem very romantic. Even from the very first paragraph, the sentences caught my eye as even a quick glance showed that this story adopted a writing style that would appear in romantic pieces. I began to question why Anton Chekhov is praised so highly as an exemplary realist among the critiques.

At first the weather was fine and still. The thrushes were calling, and in the swamps close by something alive droned pitifully with a sound like blowing into an empty bottle. A snipe flew by, and the shot aimed at it rang out with a gay, resounding note in the spring air. But when it began to get dark in the forest a cold, penetrating wind blew inappropriately from the east, and everything sank into silence. Needles of ice stretched across the pools, and it felt cheerless, remote, and lonely in the forest. There was a whiff of winter.

  It is tough to comment on the content, because my knowledge of realism is still shallow, and I feel a bit apprehensive to make a suggestion regarding realism. However, I want to say that the story came easy to read, but frustrating to comprehend, especially to those who do not understand the Bible. Another challenge the readers face in dissecting the story is that nothing actually happens, and that is why most people choose to comment on the characters as it is impossible to make a consummate analysis on the plot. After a cursory glance, most will describe Ivan Velikopolsky as affected and ostentatious although he is a figure without wisdom, and I disagree with this remark. It is indeed weird  for a person to start speaking about the Bible to strangers he had never met before. But this behavior of the student does not make him a dabbler, because we cannot judge the scope of his knowledge based on such a short reading. He might actually be an extremely pious Christian who read the Bible so many times that he memorized it completely and is able to talk about it in whatever situation he is stuck. Furthermore, it is perfectly normal for a human being to show off his intelligence to the others and for Ivan's case, his head was simply filled with thoughts about the Bible.

  The story told by Ivan is about betrayal and remorse, and ultimately forgiveness. Peter, who denied knowing Jesus for three times, later becomes one of the greatest of all saints. 

  That Anton Chekhov is a representative realist is not very evident in The Student. One student mentioned about how the norm of realism accepted in Russia might have been different from what we see, and I believe that this can actually be a major reason that thwarts us from approving The Student as a realistic literary piece. This piece of writing failed to include any impressive BS that I had initially planned, but I am sure that I will be able to add a few after getting in touch with many more realistic novels and Anton Chekhov.