This week, on Thursday, we learned about imagery. Find an example of imagery in the book, quote it, and explain how it appeals to your senses.

"Ashes, ashes: snow in August. The shelling resumed sporadically after breakfast, and now, around six P.M., has ceased. A machine gun fires somewhere, a sound like a chain of beads passing through fingers. Sergeant Major von Rumpel carries a canteen, a half dozen ampules of morphine, and his field pistol. Over the seawall. Over the causeway towards the huge smoldering bulwark of Saint-Malo. Out in the harbor, the jetty has been shattered in multiple places. A half-submerged fishing boat floats stern up (p. 208)." For starters, the line about machine guns sounding like beads really appeals to my sense of hearing. I can really picture the sound even better because as opposed to likening it to something not everyone has heard, Doerr likens it to a common household sound. It's something I could literally go downstairs and do to immerse myself even more into the book. The entire passage is overlaid with lots of visual imagery as well. Doerr describes von Rumpel and the scenery around him. The little things about the boat and the "snow" in August really help as well. 

THEY ARE GAY

In All the Light that We Cannot See, there are such heavy undertones that suggest that Werner and Volkheimer are gay. And for each other no less! There are several scenes in the book where Volkheimer's actions suggest a fondness for Werner and this fondness seems to run deeper than favoritism. He shows tenderness for Werner and Werner reciprocates in his shy way. While some would argue that Werner had a thing for Marie, I would like to argue that it is simply platonic. It's like what would happen if you met an angel: you marvel at how pure they are but you don't feel romantically for them. Werner and Volkheimer have been through so much together and they're both impure and they've both helped to kill and they're just meant to be.

All the Light that We cannot See 1

What have we learned in the exposition of this novel? Discuss setting, main characters, goals of main characters, and major conflict(s).

In the exposition of All the Light, we learn about the two separate settings for Werner and Marie (Zollverein and Paris) as well as their shared setting of Saint-Malo. We also learn about the characters and many of their quirks and mannerisms through paragraphs of mini exposition at the beginning of each chapter. Werner's goal is easy (keeping himself out of Zollverein's coal mines at any cost) and Marie's is to become more proficient and at ease at being blind. As the novel progresses, both characters might gain new goals. Some goals I have suspected are in the future include Marie protecting the Sea of Flames and Werner protecting Marie. A major conflict for Marie is her struggle with being blind, and one of Werner's major conflicts is his struggle to get out of Zollverein and get better with the technology he is so good with from the get-go. The most major conflict would actually be how the main characters' stories intertwine with World War II.

Oral History Interview Fun

For this week's blog post, reflect upon your experience interviewing your oral history subject. How did you feel about the experience? Do you think it went well - why or why not? What do you think you might do differently in future oral history interviews? What was interesting about your subject's story?

I felt kind of awed by the experience of hearing how someone's life story came to be. It's really amazing how much I learned from Mike (the guy we interviewed) and how well the interview went. Some of the reasons it went well include how much information we got from him and how easy he was to talk to. In the future I would move the recording device closer to the person being interviewed and make sure all of my partners were seated behind me (in the case of me interviewing). I learned a lot of interesting things from Mike, such as what it's like to move around to a lot of different states when you're younger. He also went to art school and learned how to paint before he realized he hated it. Finally, the way he looked at his art was the most interesting. He didn't really think about it so much as doing it and I thought that was really cool.

Magazine Analysis

The article I read was about the history of the LGBT community (as well as its high and low points) in Houston, but specifically the Houston Pride Parade. The parade has been there as a symbol of community and something that says that LGBT individual stands alone. It has been a huge part of the city's LGBT community since the 50s and it was there when everything looked dark for all individuals gay, bisexual, transgender, or otherwise. While in the 1950s people were really starting to accept others who were different, there were those who didn't support it. The parade stood as a show to say that the LGBT community wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I really enjoyed some of the word usage in this article as well as its overall positive stance on LGBT rights. The article on the internet was only part of it and I would enjoy reading the whole thing.

A cool dad

Summarize the story to which you listened and provide a link to that story. Then write three follow-up questions that you would like to be able to ask the person(s) telling the story.

https://storycorps.org/animation/the-saint-of-dry-creek/

This story was about a rural farm boy, Patrick Haggerty, slowly realizing he was gay (and thought he was doing a good job at it) when he wasn't actually doing the best job. His father who must have probably come across as a stereotypical Southern farmer wasn't the first to notice that his son may have been coming to terms with being gay but he was the first person to do something about it and not in the way you might expect. He confronted his son about it and instead of reassuring his son that he liked girls and that he was just "going through a phase" he told him something along the lines of this: he needed to not hide who he was because the impression hiding, or "sneaking", creates is an impression that what someone believes they are is wrong. Patrick tried to deny what his father was saying about him possibly being gay but Charles, his dad, saw right through him. Some follow-up questions I'd like to ask Patrick include if his father did anything else to help him towards realizing his identity, if he had to deal with coming out before or after his dad died, and how his life would have been different if his dad hadn't been accepting.

Final post

The way Marjane illustrated her book was especially interesting to me. Some of the qualities that really drew me in were the simplicity in the panels and the way that the story was illustrated beyond the way it needed to be. The way the characters were drawn with not too much detail made me feel a sort of kindred spirit because my drawing skills are only good enough to draw the way Marjane did (if I can even say that much). Other things that interested me about Marjane's work include the way she moved from panel to panel in a way that was disjointed and at the same time fluid. I would love to learn how to do that. Finally, I loved the black and white art style. While making it feel older may not have been Marjane's intention, it was a stylistic choice that really appealed to me.