Free as a Butterfly

I love a free spirit. I find myself at times disappointed with the person that I am, because I tend to be hard on myself, uptight about things, and just generally over-analytical about life's circumstances. But Santiago represents the kind of freedom of spirit that I wish I could have: sleeping wherever I might land for the night, doing whatever comes along for me to do, and just soaking up life and all it has to offer. I love this book so far because it is showing that one can live freely and adventurously and still have a grasp on the important things in life.

The Courage to Change

There are several aspects of The House on Mango Street which I feel qualify it as a Bildingsroman. First of all, it is certainly a "coming of age" novel, as Esperanza has to grow up during the scope of the book in many ways, including emotionally, physically, and sexually. She goes from simply wanting a bike to ride to loving the notion of traipsing about in high heels and getting the fellows to notice her. She is faced with severe desperation and disaster in her everyday existence, and she must find her own identity within it all. She sees all around her women who are subjected to abuse and discrimination, and she makes an important decision that she will not be like her grandmother who simply sat at the window and accomplished nothing, she will not be like Sally who marries an abusive man and isn't even allowed to look out of the window. She will take her mother's family values and her father's culural pride; these she will choose to carry onward. But she will leave Mango Street and go out into the world and fin her true idenity. She will do it alone, not because some man comes and recues her. And then, maybe someday, she can come back to Mango Street and be an encouragement to others who are in the same plight. Although the novel ends before we are sure that Esperanza is going to fulfill these dreams and goals, it is still a Bildingsroman because she makes some big decisions among others who have not the courage.

Esperanza y Janie: Como Hermanas

Pienso que el personaje mas similar a Esperanza es Janie de Their Eyes Were Watching God. En mi examinacion de todas estas novelas, he dado cuento que muchos tienen conflictos con las culturas y discriminacion. Los dos mujeres, Esperanza, un joven, y Janie, una mujer mayor, tienen problemas porque son mujeres. Para Janie, es que los hombres en su vida no tiene respeto para ella, pero ella insiste que el amor puede ganar el guerro. Para Esperanza, es que los otros no tiene expactationes para ella porque es pobre, es hispanica y es mujer. Pero ella no acepta estas discriminaciones, y como Janie pelea para sus derechos. Por eso, pienso que estas mujers tiened mucho en comun.

Paul's Growth

I wish we had a specified list of qualities which make a novel a Bildingsroman, because we have read so many that are so different, and I am trying to find connecting aspects which would help me in my decisions. I tend to believe that each of these novels present a specific culture or situation that the characters are involved in, and that the decisions they make are really due to their circumstances, and not real personal growth. However, I see growth in this novel in Paul Berlin. He wrestles with the question of his own identity and his involvement in the war disturbs the depths of his soul. To me, what makes a "coming of age" novel is this very quality in the protagonist: asking questions about their self-worth and intentions in life. So, in the case of Paul Berlin, I do believe Going After Cacciato to be a Bildingsroman.

Humor Even in the Rain

So far I am thouroughly enjoying Going After Cocciatto for one promary reason: humor. I love a book that can make me laugh in the same way in which I love a person who can make me laugh, and this book certainly did the trick. The lieutenant reminds me of my grandad: an old man who does not really care about anything but his own current agenda, and does not care what anyone around him might think about him. The other soilders relentlessly poke fun of Cocciatto as well, but he tends to get the last laugh. I find it interesting, however, that humor is injected into a novel that concerns such serious material as the Vietnam War and a treck across the mountains, but I think that thematically this will be an interesting combination of grim reality and belly-shaking laughter.

A Sick Growth

At first, I was going to give a resounding NO to the question of whether or not The Violent Bear it Away is a Bildingsroman, but after pondering on it further, I think that in some ways it is. Francis cannot help his distorted and disturbing upbringing, but he does make a lot of choices for himself throughout the novel which define the person he becomes. He chooses to burn Powderhead and, he thinks, Old Tarwater's body, he chooses to go to Rayber, and then he chooses to reject Rayber's push for reason and continue to allow the influence of Tarwater's sickness affect him. So, whether or not the change and growth is positive, Francis indeed undergoes a lot of it in the novel.

Faith Unquestioned? Not a faith!

As I began to read The Violent Bear it Away, I became very excited, because I can tell that this book is truly going to explore the questions and doubt associated with the Christian faith. Having grown up in a very conservative and closed-minded Southern Baptist tradition, I have personally wrangled and wrestled with my faith in God many times, and often intellect and reason wins the battle. I can see that "the nephew" and schoolteacher in this novel represents that side of me, while the old man and his blind, relentless faith in God represents the other, and perhaps what I wish I could have. It will be very interesting for me to see these two opposing viewpoints, and these two characters and their influences, hash it out in this novel. I wonder who will win, intellect or faith?