"Christ": my comment to your comments

I am very impressed with what I have read so far.

I liked a lot the quotes you chose: They all mark fundamental themes and issues that will be developed in the book. It shows you read those pages with great care and attention and were able to extract the substance from the form.

Excellent job.

Discussion n. 26: "Christ" April 3

COMMENT

In separate paragraphs:

1) Is this the most difficult text you have encountered?  (If it is not, don't belittle the efforts of those who find it most challenging.)

2) Difficulty notwithstanding, is this more or less "satisfying" than Son?

REPLY

Wait until at least 8 people have left a comment then,  write your reply to a comment that grabbed your interest.

Discussion n. 25: "Christ in Concrete" By March 30

What is your favorite quote in the first book "Geremio"?

Is there something that struck you and gave you a deeper / better insight into the life and psychology of the characters? (I hope you didn't waste your time trying to remember who was who.)

Do not repeat something that has already been choses. Find an original moment.

REPLY to your favorite comment.

Discussion n. 24: "Christ in Concrete" By March 30

COMMENT
What was the your first impression about THE LANGUAGE of Christ when you started reading?

And how did you adapt to the text? What strategy did you adopt?

Write two distinct paragraphs.

REPLY: read the comments and reply to the one(s) that you find most unexpected.

Discussione n. 23 : March 20

Post the link to your THREE-MINUTE youtube presentation.

Watch your classmates' works before you post yours.

Avoid repeating the same themes and examples (I have the feeling Pascal's poverty in Italy will come up pretty early.)

REPLY to the presentation with a comment on either style or content, or both.

Discussion n. 22: THE ITALIAN (due March 20)

Contemporary analysis would attribute Beppo's murderous plan to "temporary insanity."

An interpretation more likely in those days, would be (as per Lombroso) that extreme stress woke up in him the ravenous vengeful beast that he always was.

The first one, of course, is more plausible to us because of what we are and what we (think we) know.

Is the happy ending the typical Hollywood ideology NOT to alienate the public and send them away with a saccharine sprinkled rotten apple? Or, is there something else afoot? Some other ideology?

Discussion n. 21: SON OF ITALY

Writing an autobiography is not like testifying in court under oath. You can fudge things a bit, leave out embarrassing details, embellish stories or even make them up.

My very personal hunch is that the climactic episode in the mountains when Pascal ran into the Vampire and gave her his lunch never happened. Maybe he did see her from afar and maybe he even thought of helping her out. Maybe he even left his lunch on a rock for her.

But the entire story seems a little too convenient: it seems he needed to make it up as a way to expiate for his guilt. Did he invent it to deceive himself, to make peace for himself, to look less bad to our eyes? I don't know. But something doesn't fit.

COMMENTS (I encourage disagreement with my opinions. Feel free to say that my arguments are not persuasive because......
I prefer that disagreements come with some kind of rationale, not just as quick dismissals.)

Discussion n. 20: due March 12

Here is a passage from Katharina's work on Son.

I like this approach, it is 'journalistic' in that it starts with an anecdote, and develops a larger theme. She went outside the book to find a reference in something she learned and IMPRESSED HER (this is how memories are formed: by virtue of their impact on our emotional sensors.)

YOUR COMMENTS AND REPLIES, please.

I think it is very interesting that the professor pointed out how the way we seek remedies when we become ill such as taking lots of vitamin C to boost our immune system and defenses is an example of how we are surrounded by invisible forces, such as the ones talked about in the SON OF ITALY. I have never made that connection, but it makes sense. There are many researchers who study these very same myths that we swear by, which then are disproven to work for the reasons we think they do, yet we still follow these traditional beliefs. This is an example of many other superstitions that are imbedded in societies, and we believe them no matter what may contradict them. I do want to talk about our beliefs in the invisible reality sense because I find it interesting to discuss the many beliefs that are existent within societies without us even realizing it. For example, I once read a piece within an anthropology textbook, the passage started off by describing a society of people, and the rituals they performed on teeth. I cannot recall verbatim the details in the passage, but I remember reading it, and imagery after detail I could only question what strange beliefs some people around the world adapt to their cultures. In the end of the detailed ritual, they reveal that they were describing the dentist within our society. I was in complete shock at how much wording, yet not change the actual content can make such a difference. My point is that there are many things we believe in that we don’t question “just because” that is the norm, what we were taught, and we simply don’t question. We adapt many things to our cultures without realizing that they too are beliefs, and learning about this is interesting.

Discussion n. 19: due March 12

COMMENT:

1) FIRST PARAGRAPH: Read and evaluate critically Andrei's work. What aspects (if any) strike you as being particularly effective?
2) SECOND PARAGRAPH: compare your essays on Son of Italy (superstition, economics, self reflection on notes) to Andrei's work. What do you have to learn from it, and what could he learn from yours?

1. Son of Italy seems to focus on the themes of control and escape. The control lies with the landowners and foremen, and Pascal constantly tries to escape that control both in Italy and America. By observation is that those who seek to subjugate those in desperate situations are able to find a way to do it, whether it is the landowners in Italy or the companies that told their laborers that they are “indebted” to the company, thus keeping them as long as possible. They exploited people that they knew would accept any job and only kept those that they knew were going to spend their earnings quickly, forcing them to stay with the company longer. I am even more surprised that some companies didn’t even pay with American money but instead used vouchers, further helping them contain their workers in a cycle of poverty and dependency that makes it extra difficult for one to escape their situation and find something better.

 

 

    Son of Italy is an account that can resonate with many immigrants who came to America without much and built a life for themselves through hard work and perseverance. Based on my notes, I tend to focus more on the emotional toll that the author experienced and sympathize with the struggles that he faced day to day, for many years. While I did not experience such difficulties, I still find that this theme sticks out to me the most because it is a positive statement about the goals I can reach. For example, my notes tend to constantly compare his life in America to that of Italy. I point out, numerous times, that he has been in America for years and still faces the same problems that he and his family faced before he moved. In the last comment, I make sure to note that he finally improved his life in order to show a contrast between his first few years in America and the triumphant stage he is at by the end of the book.

    I believe that I focus mainly on Pascal’s transformation because I see that perseverance in myself and believe that many others would too, should they read Son of Italy. If anything, this narrative is a demonstration of how one can get themselves out of unfavorable circumstances, even when it may not seem possible. To look further into this, consider what he had to do in order to achieve success. For a long time, he lived in the cheapest room he could find, with bad odors and poor heating. He ate the cheapest food and wore torn clothes, all because he wanted to escape his life of hard labor and become a writer. He even had to BEG in his final letter in order to get recognition. Essentially, he did whatever he had to do to realize his dream, and I believe that this is an excellent example to myself that encourages me to do whatever it takes to get to where I want to be, even in unfavorable circumstances. Furthermore, this theme applies to my own family. We arrived in 1997 and, like Pascal, were escaping from poverty. We had nothing to eat and little money to our name, yet now we are considered middle class and are far more well off than before, which is another reason why I sympathize with his story.

 

 

Discussion n. 18: SON OF ITALY

One of my theories is that the first part of the book (up to the departure from Italy) is STRUCTURALLY identical to the second part, and that the Vampire's story is identical to that of Pascal.

Both the Vampire and Pascal are victims of abuse, without protection, at the mercy of others, without agency in the world. And, for all his striving and fighting, at the end Pascal has nothing to show for himself except defeat. This is when he is forced to BEGGING: begging the editors of magazine to publish his work.  If you look closely, that's what his letter is.

COMMENT: do you think this interpretation is too outlandish? Don't be afraid to disagree. Indeed.

Discussion n. 17: SON OF ITALY

COMMENT:   choose a moment in the book that has a particular meaning for you, either because it evoked a strong emotional response, or because it contained a piece of information about the past / human condition, or because it reminded you of something close and personal.

Do not repeat episodes that have already been mentioned: choose an original one.

It's best if it is a SMALL thing, a detail rather than a major mother-scene.

REPLY: choose one or more comments that also have meaning for you.