Aimee Bender's first story that we read in class "End of the Line" was an interesting read. The moral of this story was hard to decipher, because of the twists in the story. At first, the relationship between the big man and the little man seems to be one of odd companionship because the little man is the big man's pet. Later in the story, though, the big man starts to get jealous of the little man's story and his life--one that he maybe wishes that he has --and begins to torture the little man. This change in the story indicates that the big man is most likely unstable in some way. The way that he treats the little man also shows that he is power-hungry and since he can't find any sort of way to control his reality (with being denied a date at work, and not having any friends) being able to control the little man is a way for him to be powerful.
The next part of the story was confusing. The big man is torturing the little man, demanding to see his family, and the little man is denying him. The big man, instead of killing the little man, stops torturing him, and concedes with "okay". The big man then ends up taking care of the little man until letting him go four days later. It is not apparent at first whether or not the big man is treating the little man so well out of his care for him or not. A page later, though, the big man says that the reason that he lets the little man go, was because he wasn't any fun anymore--indicating that the big man wanted power over the little man, and now that it was gone he didn't want him anymore, and also that he is sick to want to torture the little man.
"End of the Line" ends when the big man takes the train to the end of the line, and finds a little person hat, and calls out that he wants to be part of the little people society. His motivations, though, are sketchy at best. For one, the big man didn't care about the little man that he originally had as a pet, so why would he suddenly turn around and say that he wanted to protect the little people? Also, it is likely that the big man just wants to feel powerful again, God like to all the little people that he could control.
Allison Weening, Post 6
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Post 6
This week the readings we read in class have been very interesting. Especially the readings this week that had to deal with the author Aimme Bender. At first I really did not like the of reading this far in course. Then when reading these stories I really thought the content of the books and stories we were reading were really weird. I really find it personally hard to read these types of stories and books, because I am the type of person who likes more concrete things (politics), and not metaphors, poems, etc.. That is why I personally find this class and trying to participate in the class very challenging. I realized this in high school when I did well in all my other classes, but English was never my strong point, not the writing part but that analysis of poems and different kinds of writing. But with these readings I began to look more into the meanings of the readings and different authors code meanings in their works.
The first story we read by Bender was the story The End of the Line. This when I first read it was extremely weird to me. The entire thing at first made no sense, and at first glance I was like why is this women being paid to write stuff like this. But then I cleared my mind and read it for a second time. After reading it a second time i did realize there were different metaphors in the story which readers can learn from. The story is written like a fairy tale, but the message doesnt hit you over the head like other fairy tales do. The aspect of the story with the big man abusing the little man can definitely be seen as a metaphor for bullying and how someone can deal with bullying. Also the part where the big man puts the little man down his pants, I thought was a metaphor for sexual abuse in any kind of relationship, and how humiliating and devastating it can be for the person being abused. The story also can be seen as how someone which i thought had a psychological problem (the big man) needs an intervention in order to stop acting the bi polar way he did throughout the story. If he had someone there to help him he would have been able to stop his destructive ways. This is also another real life connection because people in rehab or with mental problems or addictions usually need intervention from family or friends to help them and put them on the right track, something the big man lacked. But throughout the course i will continue to try and read the readings the best way i can, and hopefully improve and maybe begin to enjoy them at some point.
Post 6 Kenny Liszewski
The first story we read by Bender was the story The End of the Line. This when I first read it was extremely weird to me. The entire thing at first made no sense, and at first glance I was like why is this women being paid to write stuff like this. But then I cleared my mind and read it for a second time. After reading it a second time i did realize there were different metaphors in the story which readers can learn from. The story is written like a fairy tale, but the message doesnt hit you over the head like other fairy tales do. The aspect of the story with the big man abusing the little man can definitely be seen as a metaphor for bullying and how someone can deal with bullying. Also the part where the big man puts the little man down his pants, I thought was a metaphor for sexual abuse in any kind of relationship, and how humiliating and devastating it can be for the person being abused. The story also can be seen as how someone which i thought had a psychological problem (the big man) needs an intervention in order to stop acting the bi polar way he did throughout the story. If he had someone there to help him he would have been able to stop his destructive ways. This is also another real life connection because people in rehab or with mental problems or addictions usually need intervention from family or friends to help them and put them on the right track, something the big man lacked. But throughout the course i will continue to try and read the readings the best way i can, and hopefully improve and maybe begin to enjoy them at some point.
Post 6 Kenny Liszewski
Aimee Bender
I have really enjoyed the first two stories by Aimee Bender. The first story "End of the Line" was very different. I thought it was interesting how she incorporates fictional themes into the real world. For example she writes about how regular people live in a world with little people. I also thought it was interesting how it said, "friendly people got dogs and the independent people got cats," and how we talked about what kind of person gets small people. I didn't think the the big man had a mental disorder but I think he was very controlling and needed to abuse the little man. I also liked how at the end of the story the big and small man almost switch places.
I also liked the second story, "Fruit and Words." I was actually able to stay focused and read this story in a room full of people which made me realize how good of a job Bender did at keeping my attention and keeping me interested in the story. When I was reading the story I got the impression that the vender was almost like a con artist. She got the people's attention by showing off the great fruit and then once they by that they see the words made out of what they are and they will by that. Once they find that interesting they want to see more and she charges them to see more like the liquids and gases. Once they see the liquids they start to look the same and you can't tell if they are real or not. Then once they get to gases, she can tell them whatever she wants. Once the lady breaks the air she is charged for it even though she didn't do anything. People get suckered into breaking something and having to pay for it.
Wendy Rose post
Response to prompt #1
Based on Rose's poems Julia and Truganinny are viewed as outcasts for a couple of reasons. Julia is viewed as an outcast because of her facial deformities. She was a mexican woman who had long hair on her face and body and went around the world as a circus freak. She was called "The Ugliest Woman alive". She married to her manager thinking that she had actually found true love. She soon found out that he just married her for a financial investment. In a line in her poem she says " Tell me it was just a dream, my husband, ......that our marriage is made of malice and money." I feel that it was very wrong for her husband to do that to her, although her husband was found to be insane and died in asylum. Julia was viewed as an outcast and a circus freak and she just wanted to find her place in the world. She thought that she had found it with her husband, but she was wrong. Her husband just wanted to further exploit her as an outcast and freak. He put Julia on display to make money.
Truganinny was viewed as an outcast also because of her appearance and because she was the last of the Tasmanians. She did not want to be viewed as an outcast even after she died. She asked to be buried when she died but instead she was stuffed just like her husband and put on display. She was also put on display to exploit her appearance with no consideration to her feelings. This was the last thing that she wanted to happen but it was inevitable because no one cared about her, they just cared about themselves.
Based on Rose's poems Julia and Truganinny are viewed as outcasts for a couple of reasons. Julia is viewed as an outcast because of her facial deformities. She was a mexican woman who had long hair on her face and body and went around the world as a circus freak. She was called "The Ugliest Woman alive". She married to her manager thinking that she had actually found true love. She soon found out that he just married her for a financial investment. In a line in her poem she says " Tell me it was just a dream, my husband, ......that our marriage is made of malice and money." I feel that it was very wrong for her husband to do that to her, although her husband was found to be insane and died in asylum. Julia was viewed as an outcast and a circus freak and she just wanted to find her place in the world. She thought that she had found it with her husband, but she was wrong. Her husband just wanted to further exploit her as an outcast and freak. He put Julia on display to make money.
Truganinny was viewed as an outcast also because of her appearance and because she was the last of the Tasmanians. She did not want to be viewed as an outcast even after she died. She asked to be buried when she died but instead she was stuffed just like her husband and put on display. She was also put on display to exploit her appearance with no consideration to her feelings. This was the last thing that she wanted to happen but it was inevitable because no one cared about her, they just cared about themselves.
Amiee Bender Readings
Amiee Bender uses some very different styles of writing to get her point across to the reader. She uses both fabulism and magical realism to create her story and deliver her message. These styles engage the reader with their creativity and openness of interpretation. I do view these stories messages to be similar though.
In the first story we read, "End of the Line", we see her use of magical realism more than her fabulism. The story starts off with a man searching for a pet to keep him company. The story, however, take an magical kind of turn when he ends up purchasing a little man to be his pet. He enjoys the man at first but the enjoyment quickly turns to abuse. He proceeds to drug the little man and put him down his pants. Near the end of the story he suddenly has a change of heart and allows the little man to go back to his home.
In "Fruit and Words" we find a woman in an abusive and unhappy relationship that comes to a head when she is left at the alter by her boyfriend of seven years. On her trip home she has the urge for something she has never had before, a mango. This is symbolic of her wish for a fresh new relationship. Once again to this point in the story it seems to be a realistic description of a persons life. Yet, when she goes to a store to buy some mangos she seems to have a fantasy or daydream. She sees the word of a product made by the product itself, and on her way home the mangos she purchased rotten rapidly.
The moral I got from both of these stories is that it is important to be careful what you wish for and realize that your actions can greatly affect others around you. In "End of the Line" the big man purchases a little man because he thinks it will help solve his loneliness, yet he tears the Little man away from his family and hurts him. He gets bored with him and in the end has nothing positive to show for his purchase. The woman in "Fruit and Words" wishes for a new relationship but just like the mangos rot so can relationships. It takes work and not wishes to make positive changes.
In the first story we read, "End of the Line", we see her use of magical realism more than her fabulism. The story starts off with a man searching for a pet to keep him company. The story, however, take an magical kind of turn when he ends up purchasing a little man to be his pet. He enjoys the man at first but the enjoyment quickly turns to abuse. He proceeds to drug the little man and put him down his pants. Near the end of the story he suddenly has a change of heart and allows the little man to go back to his home.
In "Fruit and Words" we find a woman in an abusive and unhappy relationship that comes to a head when she is left at the alter by her boyfriend of seven years. On her trip home she has the urge for something she has never had before, a mango. This is symbolic of her wish for a fresh new relationship. Once again to this point in the story it seems to be a realistic description of a persons life. Yet, when she goes to a store to buy some mangos she seems to have a fantasy or daydream. She sees the word of a product made by the product itself, and on her way home the mangos she purchased rotten rapidly.
The moral I got from both of these stories is that it is important to be careful what you wish for and realize that your actions can greatly affect others around you. In "End of the Line" the big man purchases a little man because he thinks it will help solve his loneliness, yet he tears the Little man away from his family and hurts him. He gets bored with him and in the end has nothing positive to show for his purchase. The woman in "Fruit and Words" wishes for a new relationship but just like the mangos rot so can relationships. It takes work and not wishes to make positive changes.
Aimee Bender
Aimee Bender's surreal style of writing is not only interesting but very intriguing. She uses her fantasy stories in order to teach real life lessons and morals. In addition, she includes much symbolism in her writing to support teaching a lesson. This can be seen inn her story "fruit and words." In this story, she teaches her readers lessons in hope and love.
The narrator of the story is in an unhealthy relatinship with her boyfriend of 7 years, Steve. He is unwilling to commit to her and put effort into being with her. He's entirely unreliable. Their relationship is blatantly dead; however, they stay together out of comfort & etc. After being stood up in vegas for their wedding, the narrator is drving home alone and finds the sudden craving for a mango. She describes a mango as fresh and exciting - exactly what she craves in her love life and life in general. She is looking to b refreshed by something, someone because of the stale relationship she's in. The mango becomes a symbol for our hopes and dreams.
Hope is another important symbol in the story. While in the store she finds, the narrator breaks the word "hope," symbolizing the absence of hope in her relationship with steve.
Aimee Bender wants to send the message to her readers to have faith and hope; however not in things that cannot last or are not true such as the relationship with Steve. It is important to know when to let go of our hope in things which fail.
Angela Feeney
Posg #5 Week 6
The narrator of the story is in an unhealthy relatinship with her boyfriend of 7 years, Steve. He is unwilling to commit to her and put effort into being with her. He's entirely unreliable. Their relationship is blatantly dead; however, they stay together out of comfort & etc. After being stood up in vegas for their wedding, the narrator is drving home alone and finds the sudden craving for a mango. She describes a mango as fresh and exciting - exactly what she craves in her love life and life in general. She is looking to b refreshed by something, someone because of the stale relationship she's in. The mango becomes a symbol for our hopes and dreams.
Hope is another important symbol in the story. While in the store she finds, the narrator breaks the word "hope," symbolizing the absence of hope in her relationship with steve.
Aimee Bender wants to send the message to her readers to have faith and hope; however not in things that cannot last or are not true such as the relationship with Steve. It is important to know when to let go of our hope in things which fail.
Angela Feeney
Posg #5 Week 6
Aimee Bender Readings
Aimee Bender has a different style of writing. Very unique than those we have read thus far. She writes mostly about fantasy or make believe stories, but all have a lesson or moral. The one thing that I have found so far is that her endings are left open. It leaves the reader with an open ending, a sense of no closure in what happens to conclude the story. In the "End of the Line" story the little man goes back to his world and the big man sits on the bench. There were questions that arouse in what happened next? like does the big man attempt to contact the little people's village or does he just go on with his lonely life?
Also in "Fruits and Words" there seemed to be a good moral, and that is I believe Aimee Bender was saying that even though you can't see something it doesn't mean you you shouldn't believe in it. For example, the woman could never see "hope" but it doesn't mean it is not there. Even with the good moral she still left the story open in the end. The Woman was scared of "blood" and when it was spilled all over her car and she got back to her house she noticed that the mango's were rotten. We still never knew what happened though. What happen to the mango she ate? and what happened to the boyfriend? these are all things we are forced to draw our own conclusions. Her style is definitely unique but I think it does force her readers to think and draw their own conclusions to fill in the missing gaps.
Scott Swan
Post 6
Also in "Fruits and Words" there seemed to be a good moral, and that is I believe Aimee Bender was saying that even though you can't see something it doesn't mean you you shouldn't believe in it. For example, the woman could never see "hope" but it doesn't mean it is not there. Even with the good moral she still left the story open in the end. The Woman was scared of "blood" and when it was spilled all over her car and she got back to her house she noticed that the mango's were rotten. We still never knew what happened though. What happen to the mango she ate? and what happened to the boyfriend? these are all things we are forced to draw our own conclusions. Her style is definitely unique but I think it does force her readers to think and draw their own conclusions to fill in the missing gaps.
Scott Swan
Post 6
End of the Line - Aimee Bender
The unique writing style that Aimee Bender uses is that of fabulism and magical realism. These modern day fairy tales with a touch of magical elements makes the reading experience more enjoyable for me. The "End of the Line" was fun to read and easy to understand. However, it still allowed for the thought process that these stories are not literal and it allows the reader to determine the moral of the story. The magical element in this story is that people can buy little people to have as their pets. The big man is quite opposite from the little man that he purchases and seems to only have purchased him to torture him. The big man is lonely, controlling, and uneducated whereas the little man has a family, is educated, and is very polite. These differences only seem to add to the controlling nature of the big man. The big man starts to torture the little man by drugging him, throwing him around, and flicking him across the room. When the big man started to see how much of a good life the little man had, he played the torturing up to humiliating and made the little man take off his clothes so he could laugh at him.
The big man feels that the little man can't feel pain because he is so small. The little man in the story can be compared to Julia by Wendy Rose and the Venus Hottentot by Elizabeth Alexandra. Likewise, the big man can be compared to Julia's husband and to Hottentot's scientist. In these examples, it is shown that humans see people that look differently and automatically treat them differently. They believe that because they are different, they don't have the same feelings and therefore bully/abuse them. These men feel that they have the power and they want to have all of the control. They resort to bullying/abuse to make themselves feel better. However, the big man reverses roles with the little man in the end. The big man realizes that he is not a part of normal society anymore and he doesn't know where he fits in. The little people become the bigger man and let him know that they can't help him. He needs to find where he fits in on his own without the help of those he has hurt. The little people believe he is not genuine due to his drastic change in mind. Therefore, he is on his own to find where he fits in and to prove he has had a change in heart.
Bethany Davis (Post #6)
Aimee Bender: End of the Line
Aimee Bender has a unique style to her writing. She writes works that have morals or lessons at the end and have fantasy elements. In "End of the Line", I think she may have taken fantasy to a whole new level. When the big man purchased a little man for a pet and kept him in a cage, I thought that it was a bit bizarre. If he wanted company that would talk to him, why not just get a parrot? I still believe that the big man is crazy. Who sticks their "pet" down their pants or makes their "pet" pleasure themselves while watching? That is just sick, I don't understand what the man's motives are. If he wants friends, he needs to act like a friend. I can't blame the girl from work for having such a reaction when he asked her out.
And the big man not believing that the little man was in so much pain after poisoning his water and further abusing him, is obsurd. Why wouldn't he understand that because he is so small, he can't tolerate the same amount of pain as others. It's like a baby-small, fragile, why would you abuse a baby and when it cries wonder what's wrong. It just doesn't make any sense. The only solution to all of this is that he's got a serious chemical imbalance going on in his twisted mind.
In ending of "End of the Line", is too broad to be able to accurately predict how the big man will act towards the little people in their town. I think that he may act nice and respectful now, but if someone rejects him, he could have a mental breakdown and resort to his old ways. He played off being rejected by the little man when he wanted to see what his family was like too casually. I would suspect that he has something up his sleeve, but I can't be sure what that is.
Pam Kawalerski
Post #6
And the big man not believing that the little man was in so much pain after poisoning his water and further abusing him, is obsurd. Why wouldn't he understand that because he is so small, he can't tolerate the same amount of pain as others. It's like a baby-small, fragile, why would you abuse a baby and when it cries wonder what's wrong. It just doesn't make any sense. The only solution to all of this is that he's got a serious chemical imbalance going on in his twisted mind.
In ending of "End of the Line", is too broad to be able to accurately predict how the big man will act towards the little people in their town. I think that he may act nice and respectful now, but if someone rejects him, he could have a mental breakdown and resort to his old ways. He played off being rejected by the little man when he wanted to see what his family was like too casually. I would suspect that he has something up his sleeve, but I can't be sure what that is.
Pam Kawalerski
Post #6
Monday, February 28, 2011
Rose, the true outcast writer?
I thought that the two poems written by Wendy Rose, Julia and Truganinny, were both well written and really drew the readers in. I also felt sorry for both the characters in the works. They are both similar in a sort, Julia is speaking after she is already dead from inside her display case while Truganinny is speaking to someone, perhpas the person in charge of her body once she passes, indicating that she does not want to be stuffedand preserved but either buried or thrown to the waves. I feel sorry because neither of them, try as they might, have any control over what is done with them. Julia is already dead so she is unable to change the way her husband exhibits her and Truganinny about to die and it seems that even if she asks, if her culture is to stuff the dead, she will invariably end up that way.
They are both different too though, Julia seems to wish that she were alive so that she could preserve her dignity and re-do some of her life. She wants to be able to communicate with her husband and to have him tell her it is only a dreamand that she will wake up to her lover, allowing her to be free. Truganinny is in the process of dying and it seems as though she has already made considerable peace with this fact, she wants to be taken back into the universe. The only thing holding her back seems to be her body and the worry that she will be stuffed like her husband and unable to be totally free.
They are both different too though, Julia seems to wish that she were alive so that she could preserve her dignity and re-do some of her life. She wants to be able to communicate with her husband and to have him tell her it is only a dreamand that she will wake up to her lover, allowing her to be free. Truganinny is in the process of dying and it seems as though she has already made considerable peace with this fact, she wants to be taken back into the universe. The only thing holding her back seems to be her body and the worry that she will be stuffed like her husband and unable to be totally free.
Rose compared to Julia
In the Wendy Rose Autobiography we see how Rose was out casted by her family. She could not find a side that could accept her. She was out casted from her father's side for her heritage on her mom's side, then she was out casted from her moms side for her heritage from her father. She struggled through life to be accepted, but never could seem to be granted the satisfaction of being accepted by her own family.
Julia faced similar obstacles in her life with her husband marrying her and leading her in a life of fantasy. He made her seem wanted but it only came out as a joke in the end. He denied her any financial gains, and portrayed her life as an insult. When her life came to an end he humiliated her and their son by stuffing them and showing them off as a freak show. This was a cruel punishment that he seemed to find satisfying.
In both stories there is a similar comparison of an outcast and being unwanted from their own families. Both Rose and Julia struggled trying to get their own families to accept them, but in the end neither seemed to be successful and lived their lives as outcasts, or in a similar comparison they were the black sheep's of their families.
Scott Swan
Post 5
Julia faced similar obstacles in her life with her husband marrying her and leading her in a life of fantasy. He made her seem wanted but it only came out as a joke in the end. He denied her any financial gains, and portrayed her life as an insult. When her life came to an end he humiliated her and their son by stuffing them and showing them off as a freak show. This was a cruel punishment that he seemed to find satisfying.
In both stories there is a similar comparison of an outcast and being unwanted from their own families. Both Rose and Julia struggled trying to get their own families to accept them, but in the end neither seemed to be successful and lived their lives as outcasts, or in a similar comparison they were the black sheep's of their families.
Scott Swan
Post 5
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Neon Scars: Coming to terms with the self
In class we discussed the essay that was written by Wendy Rose and how she used her poetry to tell the story of what happened to her throughout her life. I think that one can read her poetry and see that she is making an honest attempt to find normalcy through the experiences that she had as a child, but in all of her attempts to try and help people understand her, in her search for regularity in her life and an acceptance to society she also pushes them away, she pushes them away with the veiled pain and then the sudden bluntness that is present in her essays. The hidden metaphors, the subtleties to her words all tell the reader something then in this essay she shows that the metaphors were not just poetic attempts to convey a meaning, but that they were quite literal. I think that her attempts to become regular, her attempts to find herself through her poetry and writing are stopped by her inability to come to terms with her experiences. Her pain and her confusion about her life, her place in the world and her yearning for acceptance is an unfortunate mixture for a confused message. She wants to be accepted, she wants to feel welcomed but part of being a member of society, to not be an outcast is to come to terms with your problems or learn how to cope with them and this is something that is not displayed in many of her poems. The pain is easy to understand and is easy to sympathize with but her path to normalcy is made longer by the pain she expresses and cannot properly release. The essay was a fantastic step in the direction to her finding herself and for her to be comfortable with who she is, setting an example of how to go about becoming one with yourself despite the struggles you have encountered.
Derrick Alma
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