My Hunting Family

The Great Outdoors: A Culture of its Own

As a member of a family who is extremely obsessed with hunting and anything to do with the great outdoors, I can appreciate that this story is set in this whole different culture that is the hunting life. I have always had issues with my younger brothers shooting poor innocent deer and other creatures, and it is interesting that in the story the bear himself is given respect and a name, because I tend to give that same respect to the animals that I see my younger brothers scope in their rifles toward. However, this young boy is coming of age in a way that can only be seen in the hunting lifestyle: to have one's first kill is an extraordinary experience that one learns a great deal from. The outdoor world has a whole different moral code and set of ethics, and it will be interesting to see how this new version of the bildingsroman develops.

Embracing ones' Heritage

One thing I find interesting as I reflect upon all of the novels we have read is that they all, except Harry Potter which is fantasy, have a main character that is a product of their culture and struggles with that. Huck is the typical poor white orphan and his companion Jim a runaway slave, and their experiences have much to do with this fact, as does Huck's growing process. If it had been someone else besides Jim teaching him, he would have turned out a lot differently, I feel. Then Lucy is a product of Victorian English society, but the key element to her growth is that she rejects those conservative values for a more liberal and passionate Italy. Finally, Janie is a woman who is between black and white, and a woman who is alone and beaten by her husband; her struggles and experiences all stem from these gender and race issues. However, she overcomes each obstacle. The thing I am wondering, though, is if these characters should qualify as part of a Bildingsroman, because the growth they achieve is circumstantial to their walks of life and their cultures. I think this would be an interesting issue to discuss as we continue.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, and God IS Love

I agree with my fellow classmates that the title comes from the hurricane scene and that it is a representation of the fact that Janie is shaped by uncontrollable forces in her life. Like a weak structure in a hurricane, her emotions and dreams are vulnerable to every external and unchangeable force around her. However, even before I reached the scene in which the exact line "their eyes were watching God" appeared, I pondered its significance to a novel written about a black woman in the early twentieth century. God is a manifestation of love, and of love that is unconditional and pays no attention to things like race, gender and class, which we discussed as so crucial to this novel. Janie is oppressed by her society because of her identifying factors which are beyond her control, but she seems to have something that keeps her holding on. Perhaps that something is the knowledge in her heart that there is a higher power which pays no regard to the prejudices and ignorance of this world.

Las lenguas inspira; Las personas cambian

Ahora, con el leyendo del "blog" de Kat, estoy inspirada para usar mi español. Me encanta la lengua de español porque es una lengua romántica. En este libro, Lucy también está inspirada por la pasión y el espíritu de Italia y de Jorge. Por eso, ella cambia su vida y su perspectiva por la oportunidad de mostrar su misma pasión y espíritu. Pienso que, por eso, “A Room with a View” es un bildingsroman. Lucy decide que las expectaciones de otros y de su cultura no son tan importantes como su corazón y su deseos altos. Lucy gana fuerzo y bravado para hacer una cosa grande en su vida, y aunque eso no es una cambia muy notable o entendido para otros, es muy importante y significante para Lucy. Eso es la razón principal para un “bildingsroman”—una cambia interior.

Love and Marriage

I believe that all of us are in a critical time period in our lives, one in which we can sympathize with Lucy's plight. She is under an immense amount of pressure and expectations as an English lady in the Victorian Era, but she is exposed to many things in Italy that open up an entire new part of herself, a part that is passionate and unruly and unpredictable, three things that Victorian England certainly is not. I see this as thematic to life in general, as a "head vs. heart" dilemma. Like Lucy, we all come to crossroads in our lives when we can either go along with what our families, our loved ones, even our fiances expect of us, OR we can follow our hearts to the ends of the earth, no matter how badly the world perceives it. I love this novel because Lucy shows us that if she can do it, with her situation, then anyone can.

You've got "class"

I love reading novels like this one because I enjoy seeing the importance of class in the Victorian Era. Something as simple as a gesture, a seat at the table, or the view from a bedroom window carried so much weight in this time period, and it is difficult, I believe, for us to understand that in our modern world. Lucy is a great example of someone who is torn between what society expects of her and what she truly wants for herself. I don't know if this novel qualifies for the genre "comedy of manners," but there are definitely some comic, ironic twists that deal with the importance of mannerisms and social expectations. This novel gives us a delicious slice of the Victorian Era, and I am anxious to read more.

Huck Finn: A Bildingsroman?

When I think of the book as a whole, I can see some elements that are similar to the ones we gave as defining characteristics for a Bildingsroman, but I am not sure if that means that it is one. Huck does learn a lot through his journeys, for example he learns a lot about morality and what is honorable and dishonorable, and he learns about believing in a higher power and believing in himself. However, he learns these things simply because he is on the journey, having a classic American adventure, with a runaway slave who takes him under his wing and teaches him things. He is not "coming of age" to the same degree as, say Harry Potter. So when it comes down to it, I don't believe I would classify this novel as a true Bildingsroman.