A Cloudless Sky: The End

I’m not sure what to think about the end of Cloud Atlas.  All I know is that I was getting to the point with the novel that by the end I was just trying to read faster to be done with it.  Can you appreciate something without having to really enjoy it?  I mean, I appreciate the novel, what it does and what it works to do…but it was just okay for me.  Not so much to say it was a disappointment, but it never “climaxed” like Myra did.  Why?  Well, that’s what I’m trying to sit here and consider.  Like Karen said in her blog, the six different narratives created kind of disjointed feel for me.  Though they were all somehow connected, the time periods, plots and styles in which some of them were written didn’t directly appeal to me.  The two stories that I enjoyed most were Luisa and Sonmi’s, (as I’ve said before) but I just realized that both of them have a female narrator.  Could it be perhaps that I identifed with those characters more?  I could appreciate their positions and struggles and sympathized with what they were trying to accomplish. 

Thinking about the text as a whole, I like some of the ideas that were brought out in class about the colonizer and the colonized, the oppressed and the oppressor, the self-serving and the selfless–good and evil if you will-human nature.  Mitchell’s aim to get us to consider “the Other” is more subtle to me in some sections that others.  I didn’t even pick up on the elderly in the Cavendish story at first.  And I feel like this is one of those books that a second read through would be really beneficial for.  There are probably so many connections and foreshadowing between novellas that you may miss on a first read.  I don’t think I have the time or the will power to read this again (at least not any time soon)  but I’m sure that if I did, I’d be sitting there with the book going “Ohhhh!  I see!  Ohhh!!  Wow!  I get it now!!”  Or something like that.  As it is, just like each novel before it in this course, this one provoked worthy discussion points and points for consideration.  I couldn’t ask for anything more.  At this point, I’m just glad to be done with it so I can focus on our monster papers.

Twilight—the dawn of a “cultural phenomenon”

• My anchor text will be Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
• I hope to decipher what its popularity says about our culture and what sparks its appeal via studying a particular subset of Twilight’s fan base i.e. suburban white female teens from Upstate NY ( I may also contrast this with an adult female fan base)
• I will have to close read responses from readers of the text for trends, expectations, and desires and contrast them with critical research from Radway, Armstrong and studies on fan cultures by Matt Hills as well as additional research. 
• Some of the appeal I will be exploring may be: the “relatability” of the characters, the romance between Bella and Edward, the “realism” the author is able to create through the setting, our cultural fascination with vampires, etc.

Any observations, input, or additional ways to focus/narrow my arguement would be greatly appreciated.

Cloud Atlas continued…

As much as I appreciate this book for its form and even some of its content, I can’t wait for it to be over.  I need some time to focus on this upcoming paper without Sloosha sloshing in my head.  I don’t know why, but despite Kim’s warnings to read past the language…I could not get through the Sloosha section.  I tried on multiple occassions, but I just felt like it was tripping me up and slowing me down so I eventually skipped it and moved on.  I’m sure I lost some major pieces of the puzzle by doing this, and even keep thinking of trying to go back again…but I can’t–for the sake of time and patience.  I have very little of either at this point in the semester unfortunately.  Why couldn’t I read it?  I don’t typically skip chunks of novels that I read–in fact, I don’t think I ever have before now.  Hmmm…does it say something about the form that I was able to do that and still get back into the novel at the next section?  I actually have come to enjoy the compilation of novellas and getting the opportunity to switch from one narrative to the next, knowing we will eventually get a conclusion to the stories. 

Sonmi-451 is my favorite, followed by Luisa Rey.  As far as the rest, I could take it or leave it.  I think that Mitchell comments alot on the ideals of society in each piece.  For Luisa and Sonmi, more than for the other pieces corpocratic ideals reign over the good of the individual, even though the corporations are formed on the backs of the little people.  Capitalism anyone?  Kinda makes me sad.  Can I just say, I’m glad Obama is our next president.