great works in literature II 2850 kta 2:55-4:35— Shades of Truth . . .

Being able to respond every week to a blog made me feel connected with class that was half online and half in person. Being that in class we would always discuss what till we on the homework the following Friday, it opened my eyes to interpretations that I would have never imagined. I am still in need of improvement in interpreting text deeply. Sometimes, I tend to be rather literal instead of thinking outside of the box. I improved in my free writing. I felt as if much of our writing is controlled for our entire academic careers and in this class I was able to write what simply came to my mind instead of making it sound like something that was going to be graded or frowned upon. What I am going to do differently is read more often in order to broaden my spectrum of interest and knowledge. I would also like to get better at understanding the metaphorical and hidden meanings within a text without having to look it up or ask someone else. Writing frees our thoughts, and even though it wasn’t shared with the class, your thoughts are heard in writing.

Differences between first, second and third person:

 Chi points out that we have the tendency to switch from the present to the past, when going to the third person (and Zeyu agrees) and of course in the present tense there is much more a sense of urgency; Myra says that in the second person the reader feels he/she is being told what to do (William, Zeyu, Myra, Roshelle agree); Elizaveta goes even further when she says this voice sounds like a “command”; Zeyu also points out that even in the first person, he feels he is “watching” a show, but in the second he is more involved; William seems to agree when he says that both the first and third person make the reader feel like an observer of someone else doing the action (and Vyonna reminds us that the second person seems to naturally get the reader more involved); Crystal makes an interesting comment when she says that the third person seemed “more natural” because it is “a story without my emotion in it;” (Sabera agrees) yes, it seems more distant to me, too; Brian says the reader is so immersed in the action, in the second person, that “we are able to not only know what the main character is thinking, but also what the rest of the world is like in detail;” Gagandeep says the reader feels that the narrator is speaker to the reader, directly; Zeyu and Radia both feel the text seems “smoother” in the first person (interesting!) Denny makes a very interesting comment about his group’s passage, that in the second person it seems as is Aura is being “bossed around” much more than in the first person, that she seems more of an “object” in the second person (very interesting!) Kelly (and others) actually felt she needed to add some connecting words in the third person version (to make it more “story” like?); Mel says that she felt much more connected to the protagonist in the second person (as opposed to the third) and she also feels that gender plays much more of a role in the third person. Mel also points out that in the second person the narrator “is demanding me to think in a certain way;” Mark points out an interesting sentence in the novel, which he says shows that the third person is used to create a point of observation for both the characters and the reader; Interestingly, Emily feels it’s easier to read a story if you’re are “watching” a character rather than feel you actually are the character; Zuzanna feels the second person helped keep her attention.

Hi everyone!

This is our presentation on Saikaku’s Life of a Sensuous Women.

Original text-” You sleep soundly until a flood of light wakes you up at six in the morning that glass roof doesn’t have any curtain. You bury your head under the pillow and try to go back to sleep. Ten Minutes later you give it up and walk into the bathroom, where you find all your things neatly arranged on a table and your few clothes hanging in the wardrobe. Just as you finish shaving the early morning silence is broken by that painful, desperate yowling.”

First Point of View

“I slept soundly until a flood of light woke me up at six in the morning that the glass roof didn’t  have any curtain. I buried my head under the pillow and  I try to go back to sleep. Ten Minutes later I give it up and walk into the bathroom, where I find all my things neatly arranged on a table and my few clothes hanging in the wardrobe. Just as I finish shaving the early morning silence is broken by that painful, desperate yowling.”

Third point of view

She slept soundly until a flood of light woke her up at six in the morning that the glass roof didn’t  have any curtain. She buried her head in the pillow and she tried to go back to sleep. Ten Minutes later she gave it up and walked into the bathroom, where she finds all her things neatly arranged on a table and her few clothes hanging in the wardrobe. Just as she finished shaving the early morning silence is broken by that painful, desperate yowling.

In the original text, I think it directly talks to the reader. It sorts of sets a command that the reader itself is in the story and performing the specific task.I think I personally think the reader can make a connection better through first person point of view. I personally prefer first person point view over second person point of view. In the second point of view, it sounds choppy whereas the third view sounds like a person is inviting us into their life where we can observe the circumstances of the character.

Original Text (Page 848): “But while you’re drying yourself, you remember the old lady and the girl as they smiled at you before leaving the room arm in arm; you recall that whenever they’re together they always do the same things: they embrace, smile, eat, speak, enter, leave, at the same time, as if one were imitating the other, as if the will of one depended on the existence of the other … You cut yourself lightly on one cheek as you think of these things while you shave; you make an effort to get control of yourself. When you finish shaving you count the objects in your traveling case, the bottles and tubes which the servant you’ve never seen brought over from your boarding house: you murmur the names of these objects, touch them, read the contents and instructions, pronounce the names of the manufacturers, keeping to these objects in order to forget that other one, the one without a name, without a label, without any rational consistency. What is Aura expecting of you? You ask yourself, closing the traveling case. What does she want, what does she want?”

1st Person: But while I’m drying myself, I remember the old lady and the girl as they smiled at me before leaving the room arm in arm; I recall that whenever they’re together they always do the same things: they embrace, smile, eat, speak, enter, leave, at the same time, as if one were imitating the other, as if the will of one depended on the existence of the other … I cut myself lightly on one cheek as I think of these things while I shave; I make an effort to get control of myself. When I finish shaving I count the objects in my traveling case, the bottles and tubes which the servant I’ve never seen brought over from your boarding house: I murmur the names of these objects, touch them, read the contents and instructions, pronounce the names of the manufacturers, keeping to these objects in order to forget that other one, the one without a name, without a label, without any rational consistency. What is Aura expecting of me? I ask myself, closing the traveling case. What does she want, what does she want?

3rd Person: But while he’s drying himself, he remembers the old lady and the girl as they smiled at him before leaving the room arm in arm; he recalls that whenever they’re together they always do the same things: they embrace, smile, eat, speak, enter, leave, at the same time, as if one were imitating the other, as if the will of one depended on the existence of the other … He cut himself lightly on one cheek as he thinks of these things while he shaves; he makes an effort to get control of himself. When he finishes shaving he counts the objects in his traveling case, the bottles and tubes which the servant he has never seen brought over from his boarding house: he murmurs the names of these objects, touches them, reads the contents and instructions, pronounces the names of the manufacturers, keeping to these objects in order to forget that other one, the one without a name, without a label, without any rational consistency. What is Aura expecting of you? he asks himself, closing the traveling case. What does she want, what does she want?

Difficulties while translating: When translating from second person POV to third person POV I ran into some trouble because it required altering the structure of the sentences to keep them grammatically correct.

-Borys Shturman

Translating this paragraph from second to first person creates a bit of a disconnect from the original as it sounds less and less like a dream and more like the reader gets to see from the speaker’s point of view instead of their own. While reading this text in the second person, I picture myself going through the motions, seeing through my own eyes what is being described. This is something we are not used to seeing in literature, and it may even be a bit uncomfortable at first. It did, however, allow me to fully envelop myself in the story; whereas in first person that effect is faded. Going from, “you cut yourself lightly on one cheek as you think of these things while you shave; you make an effort to get control of yourself,” to, “I cut myself lightly on one cheek as I think of these things while I shave; I make an effort to get control of myself,” it’s somewhat easier for the reader to watch as an outsider to the story rather than try and picture themselves a part of it. First person makes more sense. Second person feels more like a fantasy than a reality. Therefore, it would not work in every genre. That being said, I do appreciate the second point of view here because I am not exposed to it often and I feel like I can better visualize what’s going on. Even still, I don’t think I would enjoy reading as much if everything were in the second person. There needs to be an overall balance between POVs.

• Emily Weiss

The third person point of view is a lot more relatable, considering that a narrator is present. We are no longer being told what we are doing, but rather imagining the characters and their actions. When reading the original text, the second person point of view seems intrusive and difficult to imagine. For example, “you cut yourself lightly on one cheek as you think of these things while you shave.” It is hard for me to picture myself shaving my face, considering that I have never done so before. The text forces me to picture myself as a character in the story rather than focusing on solely imagining a new independent character who “cuts himself lightly on one cheek as he thinks of these things while he shaves.” Although the second person point of view could be considered confusing, I think it has also helped keep my attention; as human beings, we are a lot more interested when listening to something that has to do with ourselves. Therefore, if the author constantly mentions “you”, it could help the reader feel more involved in the story rather than looking from the outside in.

• Zuzanna Osiecka

Original( Page 840): You tried to find out where it’s coming from: you open the door to the hallway, but you can’t hear anything from there: those cries are coming from up above, from the skylight. You jump up on the chair, from the chair onto the desk, and by supporting yourself on the bookshelf you can reach the skylight. You open one of the windows and pull yourself up to look out at that side garden, that square of yellow trees and brambles where five, six, seven cats- you can’t count them, can’t hold yourself up for more than a second- are all twined together, all writhing in flames and giving off a dense smoke that reeks of burnt fur. As you get down again you wonder if you really saw it: perhaps you only imagined it from those dreadful cries that continue, grow less, and finally stop.

First Person: I tried to find out where it’s coming from: I opened the food to the hallway, but I couldn’t hear anything from there: those cries are coming from up above, from the skylight. I jumped up on the chair, from the chair onto the desk and by supporting myself on the bookshelf I reached the skylight. I opened one of the windows and pulled myself up to look out at the side garden, the square of yellow trees and brambles where five, six, seven cats- I couldn’t count them, couldn’t hold myself up for more than a second- are all twined together, all writhing in flames and gave off a dense smoke that reeked of burnt fur.  As I got down again I wondered if I really saw it: perhaps I only imagined it from those dreadful cried that continued, grew less and finally stopped.

Third Person: He tried to find out where it’s coming from: he opened the door to the hallway, but he can’t hear anything from there: those cries are coming from up above, from the skylight. He jumped up on the chair, from the chair onto the desk, and by supporting himself on the bookshelf he reached the skylight. He opened one of the windows and pulled himself up to look out at that side garden, that square of yellow trees and brambles where five, six, seven- he can’t count them, can’t hold himself up for more than a second- are all twined together, all writhing in flames and giving off a dense smoke that reeks of burnt fur. As he gets down again he wonders if he really saw it: perhaps he only imagined it from those dreadful cries that continue, grow less, and finally stop.

Translating it to first person brought on a little bit of difficulty but not much and third person wasn’t too hard. Changing them, only cemented to me, the idea that we drew in class on Tuesday that when reading a story in second person, you get thrown in and in this excerpt, by the use of the actions taking place you really experience that.

Theme: Aura
Group Members: Radia, Elizaveta, and Mel

   
Comment #1 – Radia (Page 841, second to last paragraph)

    I can’t remember the date because now the Senora is talking in that sharp voice of hers. I listen to Senora while she is talking to Aura as I eat, hearing her complainants, pains, suspected illnesses, more complaints about the cost of medicines, the dampness of the house and so forth. I wanted to interrupt this conversation and ask about the servant who brought my things. The servant that I still have not seen. I was just about to ask, but then I realized that Aura hasn’t even said a word and is eating with a sort of mechanical fatality, as if she was waiting for some outside impulse before finally, picking up her knife and fork, cutting the piece of liver. Yes, it’s liver again. It’s the favorite dish in this house. I quickly glance from the aunt to the niece, but at that moment Senora becomes motionless, and at that exact moment Aura becomes motionless. Senora put her knife down and immediately Aura put down her knife.
               The date had slipped Carlos’s mind and now became distracted by Senora’s sharp voice. She’s talking to Aura and listens to her complaints, pains, suspected illnesses, more complaints about the cost of medicines, the dampness of the house, and so forth. Carlos wanted to interrupt the domestic conversation to ask about the servant who retrieved his things, the servant that he has yet to catch a glimpse of. He just was about to ask, but suddenly he realizes that Aura hasn’t said a word and is eating with a sort of mechanical fatality, as if she were waiting for some outside impulse before picking up her knife and fork to cut the liver. It’s liver, again; the favorite dish in the household. Carlos glances at the aunt to the niece, but he realizes that Senora has become motionless, and at the exact moment Aura puts her knife on the plate and becomes motionless. Just a second earlier, Senora put her knife down.

While transitioning between the perspectives, I found myself changing a lot of the wording without realizing it. I found it easier writing in first person because my words flowed more easily. Also, it was difficult to change the grammar when writing each tense.

Comment #2 – Elizaveta
                                    
When the author uses second person form, I was feeling weird, because in my head it sounded in the way of a command. Carlos Fuentes wrote in his novella, “You’re going to ask about him but you’re suddenly surprised to realize that …” In my opinion, the author used this style of writing to put readers’ mindset in a specific way so that they would understand his ideas better and relate to the story personally. If we are going to compare the original text with the text written in a third person form, we will understand that the new one does not force us to do anything. Radia wrote in her interpretation, “He just was about to ask, but suddenly he realized that …” This way of writing involves the reader to observe the story from the outside and does not give the feeling of being forced to the story. I prefer the first style of writing because it causes more emotions than the 3rd person text. Even though I felt awkward reading writing like that, I was able to put myself in the shoes of the protagonist.   

   
Comment #3 – Mel

    Similar to Elizaveta’s opinion, I think the second person point-of-view forces us to think in a specific mindset which allows us to understand the situation more. With that said, the first person perspective is not really effective for the reader to connect with the protagonist because it’s as if we’re hearing our friend narrate his problems to us.
“I can’t remember the date because now the Senora is talking in that sharp voice of hers. I listen to Senora while she is talking to Aura as I eat, hearing her complainants, pains, suspected illnesses, more complaints about the cost of medicines, the dampness of the house and so forth.I wanted to interrupt this conversation and ask about the servant who brought my things. The servant that I still have not seen.”

This quote is in the first person perspective. While reading this, I feel bad for Felipe because it sounds like this Senora that he’s talking about is really annoying. This is an act of judgment, not a connection in feelings/emotions. I can’t feel the same way that Felipe did when he was listening to Senora, because I’m listening to HIS story.
    “The dates escape you because now the Senora is talking in that thin, sharp voice of hers, that bird-like chirping. She’s talking to Aura and you listen to her as you eat, hearing her long list of complaints, pains, suspected illnesses, more complaints about the cost of medicines, the dampness of the house and so forth. You’d like to break in on this domestic conversation to ask about the other servant who went for your things yesterday, the servant you’ve never even glimpsed and who never waits on table.”
    In second person perspective, the author/narrator is demanding me to think in a certain way. Thoughts cause emotions. Thinking a certain way sparks certain emotions. It makes me, the reader, able to connect with the protagonist. I no longer think that Senora is annoying. Rather, being forced in thinking this way, I think that Felipe was impatient. There is a sense that Senora is getting annoying, but Felipe is impatient with the conversation, because he wants to know where his belongings are. The second person point-of-view enforces readers to connect with these details.

Part 4:

Original: “You clim up to your room, go in, and brace yourself against the door as if you were afraid someone would follow you: painting sweating, victim of your horror, of your certainty. If something or someone should try to enter, you wouldn’t be able to resist, you’d move away from the door, you’d let it happen. Frantically you drag the armchair over to that latchless door, push the bed up against it, than fall onto the bed, exhausted, drained of your willpower, with your eyes closed and your arms wrapped around your pillow-the pillow that isn’t yours. Nothing is yours” (845). 

First person:

I climbed up to my room to go in and braced myself against the door as if I was afraid someone was following me: painting, sweating, victim of my horror, of my certainty. If something or someone should try to enter, I wouldn’t be able to resist, I would have to move away from the door and let it happen. Frantically, I dragged the armchair over to the latchless door, and pushed the bed up against it, than I fell into the bed, exhausted, drained from my willpower, with my eyes closed and my arms wrapped around my pillow-the pillow that isn’t mine. Nothing is mine.

Third person:

He climbed up to his room, went in, and he braced himself against the door as if he was afraid someone would follow him: painting, sweating, victim of his horror, of his certainty. If something or someone should try to enter, he wouldn’t be able to resist, he would have to move away from the door, and he would let it happen. Frantically he grabbed the armchair over to the latchless door pushed the bed up against it, than fell onto the bed, exhausted, drained of his willpower, with his eyes closed and his arms wrapped around his pillow-the pillow that isn’t his. Nothing is his. 

It was very difficult switching from second person to third person, the tense of the words had to be changed a lot at there was a lot of awkward sense structures that just didn’t feel or sound right. I also had to add some connecting words like and or to in order for the sentence to make any sense in third person.

-Kelly Kay

Second person:

And if Aura wants your help she’ll come to your room. You go up there for a while, forgetting the yellowed manuscripts and your own notebooks, thinking only about the beauty of Aura. And the more you think about her, the more you make her yours, not only because of her beauty and your desire, but also because you want to set her free: you’ve found a moral basis for your desire, and you feel innocent and self-satisfied. When you hear the bell again you don’t go down to supper because you can’t bear another scene like the one at the middle of the day. Perhaps Aura will realize it, and come up to look for you after supper.

First person:

And if Aura wants my help she’ll come to my room. I go up there for a while, forgetting the yellowed manuscripts and my own notebooks, thinking only about the beauty of Aura. And the more I think about her, the more I make her mine, not only because of her beauty and my desire, but also because I want to set her free: I’ve found a moral basis for my desire, and I feel innocent and self-satisfied. When I hear the bell again I don’t go down to supper because I can’t bear another scene like the one at the middle of the day. Perhaps Aura will realize it, and come up to look for me after supper.

Third person:

And if Aura wants Felipe’s help she’ll come to his room. Felipe goes up there for a while, forgetting the yellowed manuscripts and his own notebooks, thinking only about the beauty of Aura. And the more Felipe thinks about her, the more he makes her his, not only because of her beauty and his desire, but also because he wants to set her free: Felipe has found a moral basis for his desire, and he feels innocent and self-satisfied. When Felipe hears the bell again he doesn’t go down to supper because he can’t bear another scene like the one at the middle of the day. Perhaps Aura will realize it, and come up to look for him after supper.

I felt the text became more fluent when I was writing it into first person narrative, and it was also quiet normal to translate it into third person. Maybe it was because I did first person first. When I reread the text in Third person narrative I felt strong intention to change the tense.

Zeyu.

ORIGINAL: You push the door open: you don’t expect any of them to be latched, you know they all open at a push. The scattered lights are braided in your eyelashes as if you were seeing them through a silken net. At last you can see that they’re votive lights, all set on brackets or hung between unevenly spaced panels. They cast a faint glow on the silver objects, the crystal flasks, the gilt-framed mirrors. Then you see the bed in the shadows beyond, and the feeble movement of a hand that seems to be beckoning to you.

FIRST PERSON: I push the door open: I don’t expect any of them to be latched, as I know they all open at a push. The scattered lights are braided in my eyelashes as if I were seeing them through a silken net. At last I can see that they’re votive lights, all set on brackets or hung between unevenly spaced panels. They cast a faint glow on the silver objects, the crystal flasks, the gilt-framed mirrors. Then I see the bed in the shadows beyond, and the feeble movement of a hand that seems to be beckoning to me.

THIRD PERSON: He pushes the door open: he doesn’t expect any of them to be latched, he knows they all open at a push. The scattered lights are braided in his eyelashes as if he were seeing them through a silken net. At last he can see that they’re votive lights, all set on brackets or hung between unevenly spaced panels. They cast a faint glow on the silver objects, the crystal flasks, the gilt-framed mirrors. Then he sees the bed in the shadows beyond, and the feeble movement of a hand that seems to be beckoning to him.

The main difficulty I found from switching is when I switched to third person as I had to change the tense of some of the words to present tense as I second guessed myself on which way the word should be.

-Sabera Qazi

The second person connects to the reader in a different way from the other two point of views. In the original version, the reader reads the text and understands it as if he or she is the one performing what is occurring. “You push the door open….you were seeing them through the silken net”. The main in difference in point of view is that the reader can visualize everything better. In the first and third person versions of the story, the reader connects to the reading by visualizing someone else experiencing the story. The tone is the original version is extremely different in the reading of the tone of the first and third person. Switching from original the first person almost makes me feel like I am reading a completely different story. The way that the words are interpreted are completely different, because I visualize the story from a completely different point of view.

-William Dayan

The second person point of view contrasts from the third and first person point of views in how unique it is to tell a story. Often, when reading we visualize the story in our heads. When reading in the second person point of view, we picture ourselves doing the actions of the main character. However, when we read in either the first or third person we picture another character going through the story. For example, when switching to from the second to the third person point of view it is as if we are hearing the story from a all knowing narrator. In this case, we are able to not only know what the main character is thinking but also what the rest of the world is like in detail. This differs from second and first person where you only know the inner thoughts of the main character. Through the different points of views, I was able to see how it affected the reader’s understanding of the story.

-Brian Baigorria