Dept. of Speculation: Changing the way we look at fiction.

I cannot believe that my group is on our final book already. (Where has the time gone?!) For our last group of blogs, we decided to read Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill. Although this book falls under the genre of fiction, we see that its form is a bit unconventional; Experimental to say the least. As you can see in the example below, the short chapters are broken up into little paragraphs that has little to no organizational order.

I must admit that it took me awhile to adjust to this new form of writing, but by the third chapter it was all starting to fall into place. What occurred to me, at first as random unrelated thoughts, soon started to form a visible pattern. By stepping back and treating each paragraph as its own entity, I was able to decipher the meaning of the paragraphs individually, as well as altogether.  As I continue reading this book, I keep reminding myself that the narrator is telling this story as a stream of conscious. So it would only be fitting that the chapter would be sporadically composed, because it is realistic to how our minds think throughout the day. We usually do not think in clear, concise patterns, but instead we experience a million random thoughts one after another.

In Dept. of Speculation, we are in the mind of our narrator who is thinking back to all the things that have become her life. In a sense, we are joining her in reflecting on the rollercoaster ride of life. She is an artist, who after marrying her husband and having an unplanned baby, has let go of her dreams for a lack of time. We get a sense that she is overwhelmed and is finding it difficult to balance the scary reality of being a wife and a parent and all that entails. She captures this unease by referring to the following quote:

“What Keats said: No such thing as the world becoming an easy place to save your soul in” (P. 46).

In other words, life is hard and it is something that one must come to grips with in order to succeed.

The form is doing more than just craftily demonstrating her stream of thought, it is also successfully evoking emotions in the reader. Kenneth Burke found that form has five aspects that create an “arousing and fulfillment of desires. A work has form in so far as one part of it leads a reader to anticipate another part, to be gratified by the sequence” (124). Although the text is filled with many instances of all five of these aspects, for my blog I will only be concentrating specifically on the Qualitative Progressive form.

Qualitative Progressive form is responsible for evoking emotions in the reader, thus promoting a natural flow from one emotion to the next. For example, in class Dr. Kopp described to us how without happiness we could never experience sadness. You cannot have one emotion without the other. This example alone is played upon a few times in the text, in the ways that the narrator is describing both happier times and sadder ones. We know in life that good times do not continue forever and we will eventually come to some bumps in the road.

A specific example of the Qualitative Progressive form at play begins in chapter four where she recalls the very first interactions between her now husband and herself. The relationship is described in the little moments that portray how exciting and new this relationship was to them.

“Lying in bed, you’d cradle my skull as if there were a soft spot there that needed to be protected. Stay close to me, you’d say. Why are you way over there?” (P.18).

As the story progresses, we begin to that infatuation fade and a distance start to wedge between them. She writes…

“After you left for work, I would stare at the door as if it might open again” (P.24).

And later still…

“And then there is the night that he misses putting their daughter to bed. He calls to say he is leaving work right when she thinks he will be home, something he has never done before” (P.96).

Because of the way these moments are presented, we can infer that the narrator is feeling overwhelmed and therefore experience it with her. It also sets up the framework for the reader to predict that, if this progression continues, the marriage is in danger of ending. It is also interesting how she decides to flip points of view midway through the book from first person to third. In a sense, this portrays to the reader how the narrator is kind of distancing herself from reality. It is almost as if she is taking a step back and reflecting on her life, pretending that it is all someone else’s truth, and not her own.

In the end, I am lead to believe that, although the relationship between the husband and wife might not be saved, our narrator will at least find balance in her life once again. I am able to make this prediction because the Qualitative Progressive form that is present in the text helps me understand this rollercoaster of emotion that is being portrayed. Just as life cannot be happy all the time, we know that sadness will eventually change back to happiness in a never-ending cycle.

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Annihilation: Area X the new Area 51

My group members and I are about ¾ of our way through the crazy adventure of Annihilation. For those of you just joining our conversation on the book, Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer is a part science fiction part thriller novel that follows four members who are researching this mysterious area referred to as Area X. This location has been cut off from the rest of the world by a border for reasons that are unknown to the public. Throughout the reading, I have noticed that many of Barthe’s intertextual codes are evident in the text, but the one that stuck out the most to me was the Semic code. Barthe Describes the semic code as a technique used to define a character, object or place.

“The semic code defines characters, objects, and places through repetitively grouping a number of signifiers (“semes”: words and phrases) around a proper name. Because this code defines characters, objects. and places, the semic code sets up relationships of power that often reinforce cultural codes. (Barthe)”

In other words, the Semic code is responsible for creating connotated meaning that delves deeper than the denotative meaning. I believe that a perfect example of this is Area X itself.

In the text, we follow four scientists who are recording and mapping observations of a location referred to as Area X. I could not help but recognize the references, or similarities, to Area 51. In fact the only major differences between the two locations is that one is located in a desert (Area 51) and the other is in a location that is overpopulated with lichen and other plants (Area X). Both places, however, are characterized by being a Government contained area that host mysterious and secretive activities. We see here that on page 94, Area X is described as a result of military research.

“The government’s version of events emphasized a localized environmental catastrophe stemming from experimental military research.” (P.94)

This is interesting considering that Area 51 is also an area characterized by government military research. I believe that Area 51 is included in the text to be used as a metaphor, a semic code implemented to define Area X to the readers, so that they can better relate to the text.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Area 51, it is an off limits military air force base located in a remote desert area in Nevada. The area is surrounded by a border that is guarded by cameras, a drop gate, and men with guns. Many claim to have seen unidentifiable flying objects (UFOs) and alien life forms wandering around. The government claims to use the base as an area to test air crafts. However, because of its mysterious nature, It has long been an inspiration for many other books, movies, and tv shows.

(Area 51 video)

Often times throughout the text, Area X is described as a mysterious, eerie, and oddly beautiful location that is surrounded by a border and full of life forms, some alien or unknown, that have adapted. This border is continually expanding and the government sent the group in to attempt to figure out why. Past expeditions have ended in death and the members of the twelve expedition must avoid becoming contaminated.

So why would Jeff Vandermeer decide to reference this in the text? I think this intertextual play reinforces the network of controlling values that my group identified in blog 1.

By comparing Area X to Area 51, the reader begins to understand how mysterious and unknown this location is. You begin to realize how the members of the group could blindly be lead into danger. For example, our narrator, the biologist, is faced with the choice of either following the leader blindly, knowing that the leader may know something that she does not, or questioning what she is told. We see this is evident on pages 38-39 when the biologist realizes that the psychologist maybe withholding information from the group.

“We had a choice now. We could accept the psychologist’s explanation for the anthropologist’s disappearance or reject it. If we rejected it, then we were saying the psychologist had lied to us, and therefore also rejecting her authority at a critical time”. (P.39)

It is at this moment in the text that the weight of how serious and dangerous this situation could be hits the biologist. We get a sense that the government may be lying to our characters and leading them unwillingly into danger. It is almost as if the members of this expedition are lab rats or guinea pigs, sent in to see what is going on in this area to the benefit of the government. To prove how indispensable the members are they are not referred to as their real names but their job titles. Again the semic code is evident in this piece of text. “There were four of us: a biologist, an anthropologist, a surveyor, and a psychologist.” (P.3) This demonstrates how they were treated as test dummies rather than living breathing humans with families and outside lives. This reinforces the cultural code of it is a “dog eat dog world.” We hear the statement all the time but what does it mean? According to the Cambridge English dictionary, the phrase “dog eat dog” is used to “describe a situation in which people will do anything to be successful, even if what they do harms others.”  Kind of like, how these government officials are inviting these members in knowing they most likely will not survive.

As my group members and I finish up this book, I am curious to see if the cultural and semic codes that I have identified still ring true. Also note, that this is an example of only one way to look at the text. There are many other possibilities of values and controlling ideas that are evident in the text.

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Cat’s Cradle: Living by the foma.

As a reader of Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut we are interpellated, or asked to play a certain readerly role before the story even begins. The prologue craftily welcomes us with the statement, “Nothing in this book is true.” This challenges its readers to decide whether they will in fact leave their beliefs behind and submit to the text, living by the foma, or “harmless untruths” of Bokononism (prologue).

On page 1, we are introduced to the narrator who invites his readers to call him Jonah although his birth name is John. My belief is that he is referred to as Jonah modeled after the Prophet  who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh. In a way, Jonah is beckoning his audience to heed his warning in questioning their beliefs before it is too late. If the reader chooses to believe him, they will survive and have life through him.

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According to James Seitz, we must “attend to the relationships that readers create between themselves and the emerging possibilities which they anticipate in the text” (148). In other words, in order to understand the rhetorical dimensions of the text we must predict the ways in which an addressee may react to the text. By examining the rhetorical dimension, we see that Jonah as the narrator is specifically addressing someone. Who could this addressee be? By presenting the book as lies, we know that the addressee is encouraged to question everything that is presented. Which heavily aligns with our network of controlling values that we created in Blog 1 (Link). Numerous times throughout the text we are introduced to characters who go about life without questioning things. For instance, on Page 25 Jonah, the bartender, and a young woman named Sandra are discussing how Dr. Hoenikker was the guest speaker at her commencement.

    He said science was going to discover the basic secret of life someday,” the bartender put in. He scratched his head and frowned. The conversation continues with the bartender stating that he read in the paper that scientists had finally worked out the answer.

“I missed that,” I murmured.

“I saw that,” said Sandra. “About two days ago.”

“That’s right,” said the bartender.

“What is the secret of life?” I asked.

“I forget,” said Sandra.

“Protein,” the bartender declared. “They found out something about protein.”

“Yeah.” said Sandra, “That’s it.”

The bartender and Sandra do not seem to question this answer even though it seems very odd. What about protein could make it the basic secret of life? If it is the great truth, then what does it mean? This reaction is making a statement about how many times we are told things in life, especially from those who hold the position of power, and we just accept them as the truth.

In conclusion the addressee that Jonah is addressing is the reader who believes everything they are told to be the truth. The narrator is almost reminding the addressee to live life for the chase of the answer and not finding the answer itself. If the answer to the great truth was truly revealed, then the search for the answer would end. Just as my group leader Laura points out that “the ruler of San Lorenzo can never get Bokonon because that would end the hunt for Bokonon.”

As a reader being introduced to this new type of religion that is based on lies, our typical way of thinking gets disturbed. It forces us to question everything that we are told and not just accept it as the truth. Also by witnessing the interaction between the narrator and addressee unfolding in front of you, you realize how believing a harmless lie could be more beneficial than facing the hard truth.

 

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Grab your copy of The Hitchhiker’s guide and your towel. We have some galaxy hitchhiking to do.

What if Earth was voted so insignificant by other planets that is was decidedly to be destroyed to make way for a bypass?

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Arthur Dent’s morning is just like any other or so he thinks. His life takes a strange turn when he learns that his house will be demolished for a new bypass, his best friend is an alien, oh.. And did I mention? All he ever loved including his planet Earth will be destroyed. Within hours he finds himself stowed away on a Vogon’s spaceship. To make matters worse the Vogons are, according to the hitchhikers guide, the most unpleasant race in the Galaxy. With any hopes of survival he will need to stick close to his alien friend Ford Prefect and The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy to survive this changing world.

Our Journey through space has just begun and I cannot wait to see where it take us. Let the adventure begin!

Oh, and Don’t forget your towel!

“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s a sort of electronic book. It tells you everything you need to know about anything. That’s it’s job (P.52).”

Before reading this book, I was having major anxiety that I would not be able to understand this particular genre. I have never actually read a science fiction book so I was not sure what to expect. I decided it was best if I pushed past my reluctance and dove in blindly by just accepting the text as it was. A few times throughout the text, however, I found myself projecting what I thought the text was trying to say. Being aware of this bad habit of guessing what the author is trying to achieve, helps me to stop and refocus on letting the story be told as it is. In the end, I hope to be able to understand the conventions of the science fiction genre.

I treated the first section of the book as a basis of reading for discovering the underlying network of controlling values. This is a skill that I am still developing, so this approach is really pushing me further out of my comfort zone. (Kind of like Arthur being thrusted out of the comfort of his planet and into the unknown galaxy.)

My group members and I had the opportunity to discuss possible controlling and counter ideas that are evident in this book. Here is the chart we created:

After class, I was able to play around a bit with this information and expand on it a bit. I am curious to see if this network of controlling values will still ring true in the end.

Purpose: If you adapt to the changing world around you, you will survive.

Context:  If you are reluctant to adapt to the changing world, you will not survive.

Purpose: If you stick to your comfort zone, you stay true to yourself.

Context: If you step out of your comfort zone, you may go against your values.

We were able to come up with this network of controlling ideas but referring to McKee’s definition of Controlling idea.

According to Mckee, “ A CONTROLLING IDEA may be expressed in a single sentence describing how and why life undergoes change from one condition of existence at the beginning to another at the end (McKee 115.)”

We see this “change in existence” in the text as Arthur is forced to leave behind all he has ever known when his planet is destroyed. He is now faced with the decision to either adapt to his new environment or to stay true to his ways. We see an example of this n the text:

“You just come along with me and have a good time. The Galaxy’s a fun place. You’ll need to have this fish in your ear.”

“I beg your pardon?” asked Arthur, rather politely he thought (P.55)”

We see that Arthur is struggling between deciding whether he should adapt or resist.

I predict that by the end of the book we will see a progression in Arthur’s personality. I believe he will go from someone who is used to going through life not questioning much to stepping out of his comfort zone.

Value Graph: (Chapter 5 p. 45-56)

+ Arthur learns that they are on a Vogon’s  Spaceship

– Arthur asks when he can go home and learns that Earth has been destroyed.

+Arthur joins Ford on the mattress to see the Hitchhiker’s guide.

-Arthur panics and begins to freak out

+Ford tells Arthur to look at the book and stop panicking.

-Ford asks him to join him and have fun in the Galaxy. Arthur is reluctant.

-Ford tells him to put a  fish in his ear in order to understand the Vogon’s speech but Arthur is still reluctant.

+Ford shoves the fish in Arthur’s ear. At first Arthur tried to take it out but then he stopped resisting and started listening to the Vogons.

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