re: multicultural lit

ペーパーの相談をうけて思いのほか時間を費やしてしまったので、エントリにします。

（結局前エントリ翻訳する時間なさそうです。日本語が好きなんです、とか言っといて英語の

エントリばかりですみません）。

ナボコフの『ロリータ』とモリスンの『Tar Baby』という作品について書いてる生徒から。

From: KG

Sent: Tue 10/21/2008 10:35 PM
To: watermarke girl
Subject: Multicultural Lit

Hi Prof. M-

I'm having some trouble getting my thoughts organized in my paper when I actually started writing it. I was wondering

 if you could give me some thoughts on the ideas I'm trying to work with, and see if you can shed some light on a way

to organize it. The two novels that stood out most to me were Lolita and Tar Baby, and I'd really like to discuss

those two in my paper. The ideas I'm trying to work in are that the similarities in the couples in each novel were

eventually diminished by incompatible culture and standards in race and age. What I'm trying to say is:

- Humbert Humbert and Lolita were both in a sense mentally immature, in that even if H.H. was book smart and good

with language, he was just as easily manipulated and immature as his youthful counterpart. They were both bound

together by manipulation (basically). These two were driven apart by society's standards regarding age and both

became outsiders in their own age group.

- Jadine and Son were both driven and in a sense stubborn people of the same race, bound together by love. Like H.H.

and Lolita, I want to compare how the two were driven apart by society's standards in race and both are seen as

outsiders within their own race (at least to each other).

If you have any tips on how I can make this clearer on paper, that would be fantastic. I'm trying to organize it and I

feel like I couldn't even explain it just now, haha. Basically, both couples in Tar Baby and Lolita were driven apart

by society's standards regarding age and race, and were subsequently turned into outsiders, each in their own way.

Thanks for any help!!!

KG

From: watermarke girl

Sent: Tue 10/22/2008 12:43 PM
To: KG
Subject: Re: Multicultural Lit

Hi K,

These ideas are great. Your paper can be simplified if you think less about what drives these characters

apart and more on what brings them together. Your thoughts on Lolita is very strong, so I would go with that. In your

paper, you'll need to show me an example(s) of H.H. and L's immaturity, and explain how their immaturity create a desire

to  manipulate or to be manipulated. Then, direct me towards a scene in which we can clearly see this dynamic  being

played out, where their childishness draws them to each other. Explain which expressions in the passage

signal lack of maturity to you in a scene where we see their attraction to each other. Here, you might

discuss the way H.H's immaturity is masked by language but he's just as much of a child in the scene.

My suggestion is to keep this frame in focus when you think about Tar Baby. Can't we also see Jadine and Son as

being somewhat immature characters who are drawn to each other because of that? I recall that they're both described

as orphans, which is an image of a child rather than an adult with family tragedy. Also, at times Son thinks Jadine

is childish, and at other times Jadine thinks Son is childish. You mention stubbornness of the characters-- isn't

there room to think of that as an indication that they're immature on some level? You say that their "outsider"

status connects them despite their initial distaste for each other. I agree with you that it isn't really race that

connects them (they just belong to it, not much else) but are drawn to each other from something more complicated

and internal, probably their feelings of lonesomeness and isolation in recognizing themselves as an "outsider."

But isn't that feeling of being an "outsider" itself also somewhat caused by (or an indication of) a kind of

childishness, stubbornness or immaturity? In your paper, you can point me towards a passage where we see that they

connect because they understand each other's feeling of lonesomeness and isolation. (I can't help but think about the

story Son tells Jadine about the star that dropped out of the sky, how much Morrison's image reverberates with

how lonely/ insignificant they feel themselves to be. It has that "bedtime stories" feel to it that makes

Jadine seem childlike and innocent... but I'm sure other scenes will work as well).

I would conclude the paper by thinking about the way that while their immaturity may draw these couples

together, that immaturity is also the reason why these couples can't be together in the end. You might discuss

what it is that these relationships lack and what these writers can tell you about the true meaning of maturity.

Hope this helps!