What is a Rooftop Dweller?

The short story “The Rooftop Dwellers” by Anita Desai is a work that I have looked at very closely.  When first reading the title I notice that it was a loaded title that could be construed in many ways.  For example, when I think “rooftop” I think being on top of a building in New York looking at the skyline, but I also think of the rooftop as a quiet space to think.  When someone says they live on the rooftop, I think of the penthouse suite at a hotel.  And I equate this idea with having wealth.  For the second part of the title “dwellers” does not have the sexy images linked to it that rooftop does.  I think of a dweller as a person who is just a freeloader who stays wherever they can with whoever they can.  A person who is a dweller is not wealthy and is more of a nuisance than anything else.  These two words with opposite connotations leave the reader wondering where the story is going to go, because it can go almost anywhere with a title like this.  The interesting part about the novel, in relation to the title, is that the story covers many of the connotations that I envisioned from the title.  For example, I thought of the rooftop as a place that is quiet and relaxing and from the descriptions this part seems to be true.  I also thought of a dweller as a person without a whole lot of money that some people do not want around and this part is true as well.  Many landlords did not want Moyna living at their establishments because she was a single woman with a job and no man and they did not like that.  However, there were some parts of my interpretation of the story that were not very accurate.  An example of this was the idea of the rooftop being a penthouse suite; this was obviously not true because Moyna’s barsati did not even have on-demand water let alone a TV.  Another incorrect connotation was the idea of a dweller being a freeloader and this is obviously not true because Moyna worked hard for everything she had and it hurt her when her belongings were stolen.  Overall, this story is worth a read and it keeps the reader guessing with twists and turns in the plot.

Impressed

Today’s World Classics class was my favorite class of the term.  I really enjoyed our circle discussion of poems that we the students brought to class.  The poems that the students brought to class were really great and all had their own special meaning, covering a wide range of topics.  The poem “If” is a poem I considered bringing to class but luckily I did not because other students had brought the same poem and after the discussion the poem meant way more to them than to me.  It was nice to hear poems that had meaning to individuals in the class and the stories behind the poems.  These stories really helped me to relate to my fellow classmates and it was nice to be able to discuss poems that we picked to read rather than assigned readings.  I was especially impressed by the people in the class who brought their own works to share with the class.  Not only were the poems excellent but it was nice to be able to get the back story on why they wrote the poem and where they were at in their life when they wrote the work.  I was surprised by the quality and the depth of the poems written by my fellow students, and I applaud the students for having the courage to read their own work to a group of people they barely know.  I, personally, could not image reading my own work to a group especially on such touching topics like love, loneliness, and the death of a family member.  But, I am grateful for being able to hear so many excellent poems today, whether from published poets or original works from my fellow classmates.

The Ultimate Test

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” a poem by T.S. Eliot, is full of allusions.  These allusions are numerous and a reader may read over many of them without even realizing it.  In fact, to fully grasp everything that Eliot is presenting in this work a reader must read the poem multiple times and have a vast background.  In reading this poem myself I did not understand all of the allusions, and I had the version with footnotes.  However, after some discussion, in class, I was able to better appreciate all the work that went into this poem.  The poem even starts off with a reference, an excerpt from Dante’s Inferno, and the excerpt is not even in English, it is in Italian.  If my edition did not have the footnotes I would have had no idea what it meant or where it came from.  Then the shots keep coming, in forth stanza Eliot mixes in two references to two old poems that I envision most readers have never heard of, or read for that matter.  Then, as a good poet should, he references Shakespeare which, I assume, more readers would understand.  He follows that with a biblical reference, an amateur move of course.  That is just a brief synopsis of the allusions that Eliot put into his poem.  To read and understand all of the references a person needs to be educated and rather keen on literature.  Because of this, I equate this poem with an inside joke between friends.  I feel this way because the only people who could completely understand this poem, without having to do research, would most likely be other poets.  Overall, this poem is definitely a discussion starter and worth a read, and it most definitely tests a person knowledge of literature.

Snow Country For Old Men

While reading Snow Country by Kawabata Yasunari, I was fully invested in the story and constantly on the edge of my seat.  The story is from Japan and there is a difference in the writing style but nothing that will cause the reader any trouble.  The subject matter and what is accepted culturally is different from what is typical in America.  But, what people in the United States would consider unacceptable socially, they love to read about or watch shows about it on television.  For example, the TV show Desperate Housewives, people in America would never want to live in this neighborhood with all the drama but they love watching it on TV.  Back to the work, some would say that reading the story is a “waste of time,” oddly enough the idea of wasting time is a reoccurring theme throughout the story.  However, I would argue against the story being a waste of because I feel that many readers can understand the struggle in the story and relate to it.  I also feel that people who relate are even more enticed to keep reading to see how the male character handles his conflict.  Unfortunately, the readers who relate to the story do not get the satisfaction that he/she is looking for.  This is because the end of the story does not give a definitive answer or solution to the conflict in the work.  I, as a reader, loved the story all the way up until the ending.  The ending left me unsatisfied and wanting more; however it allowed me to write my own conclusion.  I believe that this is especially important for those individuals who could relate to the conflict so that they could make their own decision as well.  The interesting part to the whole story is that part one ends with closure in a way that a reader would not complain if it ended there, without a part two.  The story also has many reoccurring themes that add another level of depth to the story and make it even better.

A comment on the title of this post, the main male character is would not be considered “old” but he is close enough to allow me this play on words.  The real title of this post should be “Satisfied but Unsatisfied.”  This would be more representative of my feelings on the work as a whole; satisfied with the story as a whole, but unsatisfied with the ending and its lack of closure.  However, the lack of closure is somewhat typical of Japanese literature, and thus I can accept the ending for what it is and not be bitter about it. 

Better as a Movie

While reading Pedro Paramo, by Juan Rulfo, I was having trouble keeping all the stories in the work straight.  The story jumps around from scene to scene throughout the story.  The structure makes the plot of the story difficult to follow, not to mention that most of the characters are dead yet still part of the story.  My suggestion is that the story would be easier to follow if it were in movie form rather than in the traditional structure that it is currently written in.  This suggestion makes more sense than originally thought because of the fact that Rulfo also wrote movies.  And upon further discussion, I found out that Pedro Paramo was put into movie form, but only in Spanish.  I would enjoy seeing the work as a movie but I would not be running to the theatres to see it on opening night.  All in all, Pedro Paramo is a good work for readers who like piecing a story together and possibly reading the story a second time to fully grasp the meaning of the work.

What's The Point?

After reading the short story “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” I was left with one lingering question.  The question was:  what’s the point?  What is the point of the story?  What message did the story send to the reader?  Who benefits from reading this story?  Overall, the story has a nice flow and is a pleasant read but it ends in a way that turns me off.  I understand that not all stories have a happy ending, but if it is not going to have a happy ending at least have a clear message to the reader.  Hopefully the message will be one of caution or something to learn from so the reader doesn’t make the same mistake.  But this story did not provide anything like that, in my opinion.  The messages of this story, or at least the messages that I can see are: don’t shoot guns, don’t work hard and make money and reward yourself, no matter what you do you can never get ahead in life, always listen to your mother.  These messages provide nothing substantial that a person can gain from this story, and that is a bit disheartening.  It is disheartening because after reading a story, a reader either wants a happy heartwarming ending or a message to learn from.  But this story did not provide either, so a work that could be very good is now average a best and it is a work that I would not just suggest to a person if they were looking for a good read.  If the story ended a little differently then I would suggest this to a friend.  After reading this story I got the same feeling I get when I go to a movie that is really good but has a crappy ending which hurts my view of the whole movies, just like the ending to this story hurts the whole work.

Change of Location

On Thursday March 29 I was graced with the opportunity to go to a poetry reading of Jane Hirshfield.  Intermixed with some of her reading from her new book of poetry she mentioned that her neighbor’s son had started a band.  Because of this new found love for music her neighbor’s son would practice in the mid afternoon, and to go along with this he played the drums.  Hirshfield told the audience that because of the noise coming from the house she could no longer write in her office/converted garage in the afternoon.  So, she started writing in the morning in her bed; the rest of this commentary will be my interpretation of how this change of location affected her writing in ways she may not have even notice.  One poem she read to the crowd was “Da Capo.”  The word “da capo” is a term used in music that tells the musician to repeat the line.  The fact that she was thinking about a term from the music world could have been subconscious because her writing venue was changed because of the noise from the drums, a musical instrament.  Another poem that she discussed was about a French horn, and she was surprised by the response to the poem because she was not aware so many people had a connection to the French horn, yet again another musical reference.  Because of her having to change writing locations she now has a different view outside than the view her office had before.  This new view may have triggered another poem idea about the redwood trees by her house.  This idea may be a result of seeing the trees out her bedroom window.  Jane Hirshfield also has a tendency to write about food.  This may be caused, at least in her new book, by the fact that she is writing in her bed and may be hungry for breakfast but is too busy writing to eat, and this hunger comes out in her work.  My final point comes from her saying that she practices a Japanese tradition of thoroughly cleaning her house on New Year’s Eve.  She talked about how she washes her door knobs, and even wrote a poem about it.  My theory is that she thinks of new places to clean when she is laying in her bed, and this is based on my own experience of coming up with good ideas while laying in my bed.  So, to exaggerate and try a far-fetched conclusion, I think that Jane Hirshfield should thank and possibly even dedicate her new book of poetry to her neighbor’s son for ideas on what to write about.  I feel this way because it was that boy who caused Jane to change where and when she writes, giving her new ideas and a new perspective of what to write.  Of course, this motivation from her neighbor’s son is most likely nonexistent except in my mind, but I’m entitled to my ideas.