Author Archives: Rafael M Correa

Blog Post #6

After reading Benito Cereno I’ve come to the conclusion that the novella doesn’t exactly paint African enslavement  as the horrible reality that it truly was. I feel that we are made to sympathize with Captain Delano and Don Benito more so than we are with the plights of the African slaves on the ship. This is no doubt caused by the narrative lens in which we are viewing the events unfolding (Captain Delano) but also due to the biases of the time in which this story was written. At the time this story was written, Blacks were still enslaved and seen as second class citizens. That being said I can’t say that the novella necessarily paints African enslavement in a positive light either. I would say its complacence and inability to give the African characters a real voice in the story end up taking a pro-slavery stance in it’s silence on the atrocities that enslavement truly entailed.

In my opinion Delano’s blindness greatly stems from his privilege and perceived authority over others, even over Don Benito himself. Delano is in a position of power over even Don Benito himself because he has provisions which can help the famine stricken members of Benito’s vessel. This position of authority dissuades him from thinking he can ever truly be in danger.

Blog Post #5

1)While reading Culler’s chapter on “Narrative” I began thinking about the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. I had recently re-watched this movie a few days ago and when ideas of narrative were being thrown around by Culler I immediately started musing on the way different stories are told in the flick. Throughout the film, the story switches from first person to third person perspective. The main character “Ferris Bueller” oftens speaks in the first person and addresses himself as “I”. This is usually done when he looks at the camera and “breaks the fourth wall” :

Ferris Bueller Narrating & Breaking 4th Wall

For example, in the beginning of the movie Ferris talks in the 1st person and then looks at the camera and explains to us, the audience how he goes about faking sick to his parents so he is able to stay home from school. Directly after this scene the movie returns to 3rd person as we see Ferris speaking with his parents and feigning illness. This sort of things happens all throughout the film. I think it is cool how the main character serves as both an actor and narrator in his own story. I think this is done by the writers and directors to give us greater empathy towards the protagonist as well as the people close to him. In my opinion this technique creates greater depth for the story.

2) I think in “What Stories Do” Culler tries to explain that narrative stories create a sort of “pay-off” to the readers for embarking on the journey of the story. This can be a come-up-pence of a deserving character or a flipping of a common convention. It seems as if Culler is saying that stories reward us for our engagement in this way.

 

Blog Post #4

In Chapter 5 Culler presents many interesting rhetorical and poetic techniques. Many of these techniques can be found within the two poems that are the subject of our first paper. Of all of the techniques presented I feel that the metaphors presented in Derek Walcott’s “The Sea is History” stand out the most to me. One particular metaphor that resonates has to be where Walcott compares the sea to a locked “grey vault”.  I feel that this metaphor is so strong because of the visual that it conjures as well as the deep unknown of which it implies.  When we think of the deep expanse of the sea we are often struck with the archetypal feeling of mystery that the sea gives. The ocean is vast, seemingly everything and nothing all at once. There are many parts of the sea that have not been explored and these areas remained somewhat “sealed” in this unending “grey vault” of the sea. Hidden away waiting to be excavated.  This analogy serves as the perfect allegory for the horrors of the middle passage, trans-atlantic slave trade and colonial Black history as a whole. Many of our stories lie un-discovered both figuratively and literally in the sea.

Blog Post # 3 Literature, Meaning and Interpretation

After reading “Literature, Meaning and Interpretation” I must say I was most intrigued by the idea of language taking on different interpretation as it relates to an individual’s specific  culture. For example Culler points out that the native Hopi people do the not share the same concept of time English speaking Americans might, therefore the language they use about it is  in turn be different. This language they use is defined by the “meaning” given to the thought or idea of time within their culture. This particular idea seems to be in line with others expressed by Culler. Culler often asserts that interpretations of writing tend to be defined either through subjective experiences or in relation to something else that already exists and has been defined.

Personally, Culler’s thoughts on how different languages take on the culture that either bore or informed them brings to mind the classic argument towards the subjectivity of comedy. It makes me think about how some jokes that we find funny here in the states might not “work” if we were to take them to another country. To be honest, some jokes specific to different cultures in THIS country would not work if done to a crowd that didn’t consist of a majority of that demographic. For example a joke that reflects a specific facet of working class Latino culture might not work when told to a majority Caucasian-American audience. Does this mean that the joke is no longer funny? No, it just denotes that the language used has been given different meaning.

Which of these angles do you find most interesting and useful? Why?

Though I admittedly found it hard to grasp or even agree with every idea presented within each angle Culler gives I found that Literature as Aesthetic stood out and was the most interesting to me. I thought it was very interesting how Culler brings up the debate between the objectivity of beauty in works of art in general vs. the subjectivity of them. I thought it was cool how this sort of looped back to his assertion that within literature there seem to be “rules” that define what is literature or not and through these rules it sort of creates an “objectivity” that can become universal. Conversely if left to opinion (subjectivity)  rather than a set of defining regulations, we are back to not being able to clearly define what is art or literature as easily.

I also really liked how Culler brings up of “aesthetic” bridges the gap between the material and spiritual world of ideas.  By Limiting a work to one means of communication ie. visual art or literary text it forces our brains to work on filling the blanks if you will. This filling of the blanks to me is when the spiritual world of ideas starts to come into play. Our own subjective thoughts and experiences combine with the work and form a new personalized meaning to it.

Blog Post Prompt #1: What Is Literature and Does It Matter?

After reading Culler’s thoughts on the categorization and selection of what defines literature the biggest takeaway for me is that our definitions are often largely subjective. Whether this subjectivity is personal, characterized by the rules and status quo of society or both, defining literary works often means comparing them to our experiences with texts or materials that have already been deemed “literary” . To me Culler also asserts that works are often considered “literary” by the masses when they happen to follow qualities and conventions that have long been associated with other literary works. To me a good example he gave of this was the sentence “We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows”. Since this sentence rhymes, and follows a rhythmic cadence that seems almost familiar, we are tempted to assume this is a poem of some sort. To me, the fact that we assume this is because  of our experiences with similar pieces of text that follow similar conventions as well as the perceived rules of such texts that have been ingrained in us.

The question that stuck with me is “what is involved in treating things as literature in our culture?” This question reminded me of the famous question of “what is art” and how art is often subjective and usually requires context to be understood.

Rafael’s Introduction

Hey All!

My name is Rafael Correa. It is my  second semester here at LaGuardia. Currently I am pursuing a degree in Childhood education with hopes of one day using my experience in school to teach music and/or history in elementary schools.

Though I don’t work in a school at the moment, I have worked as an educator to children in museums and currently work as an educator at a cathedral here in the city doing public tours and K-12 workshops and tours.

I’m also a musician and enjoy playing guitar and keys on my spare time. I look forward to getting to know everyone!