In blog post #1 I quote a primary source, SSTLS. This quote relates to my text because it shows the authors portrayal of the stereotype that Koreans are racist and the quote directly quotes Eunice’s father saying a racist remark. In the post it says “Chung Won Park mentions that Eunice’s father thinks Eunice ‘is probably with black man,’ giving black people a negative connotation.” I have integrated my quotation well into my writing but I think I could have introduced it and explained it better. Another way I could introduce the quote is “Eunice’s father himself remarks that Eunice ‘is probably with black man,’ portraying the stereotype that all Koreans are racist.” This way I have a better introduction. I also have a better explanation because of the quotation sandwich format.

In blog post #6 I quote a Jessica Hales “Constructing Connectedness: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” a secondary source. In my post I state “Hale argues that Robert Walton has a homosocial longing. She backs up this thought with a direct quote from the novel written by Walton, ‘I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine’. Hale analyzes this line and concludes that Walton uses the language of erotic desire to express a longing for a male companion, rather than the longing for a woman.” I have integrated my quotation well into my writing using the quotation sandwich. I have both introduced it well and explained what it meant. This quote relates to my text because it analyzes one of Hale’s arguments in her paper, Robert Walton’s homosocial longing in Frankenstein. Another way of stating this quote could have been “The essence of Hale’s argument is the homosocial longing of Robert Walton. She backs up this thought with a direct quote from the novel written by Walton, ‘I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine’. In other words, Hale believes that Walton uses the language of erotic desire to express a longing for a male companion, rather than the longing for a woman.”

http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.emory.edu/stable/27511639?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=technology&searchText=and&searchText=frankenstein&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dtechnology%2Band%2Bfrankenstein%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone&seq=5#page_scan_tab_contents

The article I found raises the question of whether we should engage in new technological pursuits or advances just because we have the means of doing so. It brings in a medical aspect with the current controversy over the implementation of cloning. Though the act has many ethical drawbacks, scientists feel as if it is their duty to explore any possible leads that may present themselves. The scenario of- if the death of one person provides life for two people then the act should be condoned- is a means of justification. The article incorporated the example of the story of Frankenstein to highlight the quest for knowledge at all costs and how this often turns out detrimental. Along with Frankenstein, other examples were given to further illustrate the motives of human character such as: Adam and Eve who ate the forbidden fruit, the biblical story of Lot’s wife who turned back after being instructed not to and was transformed into a pillar of salt, Pandora who opened the box, and a few others. In all of these cases, curiosity and the desire for greater knowledge led to their ultimate downfall.

The author of the article doesn’t seem to reference other works or writers, but only presents several facts and evidence from technology/modern science and incorporates stories such as Frankenstein to, in a way, raise a question to begin the discussion. This article could be very effectively used to discuss the overwhelming power and innovation in technology that can be seen in any of the stories I later choose to base my paper on. It really introduces a valid question of when is enough, enough, and stresses humanity’s time long pursuit of forbidden knowledge, as well as depicting the advancement of technology in a negative light that results in less than desirable outcomes.

The scholarly source that I have selected is about the origin of cyborgs and their characteristics in Italian science fiction.  It has integral information towards the identification of women and technology that plays into the objectification of women and the history behind it all.  Ross declares that technology has been given genders and erotic qualities that reflect secondary narcissism, and that this originated in many different Italian texts.  She uses Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to extend her argument that science fiction narratives tend to use Lombroso’s misogynistic ideas that portray women as machines and deny their bodies, while making the rational, creator beings male.  I plan on relating this article to support my views that technology has become seriously debilitating in human interaction and identity, especially in the portrayal of women as objects.  This can relate to Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story, in how Eunice is described in relation to a robot. The description of Eunice is dehumanizing, and makes her detachment from society seem like it is ideal.  She, along with the rest of their society, is absorbed into the encompassing world of the apparat.  The continuous flow of data and information is controlling and strips lives down to a monotone nature, because everything is accessible.  They don’t have to have actual conversations to get to know someone or find out their deepest, darkest secrets.  This provides a sense of technological detachment and creates isolation between individuals.  I would also like to bring in points from Ross’s article about objects, such as cars, being portrayed as female, which relates to the objectification of women.  As Ross points out, cyborgs and technology are given female traits and deemed as inferior is frequently found in science fiction texts.  I believe that this would be a very interesting topic to research more, and to relate to our current society.

http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.emory.edu/stable/27669002?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=Shelley’s&searchText=%22Frankenstein%22&searchText=%22objectification%20of%20women%22&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DShelley%2527s%2B%2522Frankenstein%2522%2B%2522objectification%2Bof%2Bwomen%2522%26amp%3Bprq%3DShelley%2B%2522Frankenstein%2522%2Bcriticism%252C%2B%2522objectification%2Bof%2Bwomen%2522%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bso%3Drel%26amp%3Bhp%3D25&seq=1#references_tab_contents

I have chosen to write about Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story in my final paper. Since Super Sad True Love Story was published relatively recently, in 2010, there isn’t an excess of literary commentary about it. However, some common topics that have been discussed about Shteyngart’s novel throughout scholarly journals include age, credit scores, identity, and dystopian societies. One article that I have found to be particularly interesting is titled “Ending Aging in the Shteyngart of Eden: Biogerontological discourse in a Super Sad True Love Story” written by Ulla Kriebernegg, and can be found at the following link: http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.library.emory.edu/science/article/pii/S0890406512000758. Kriebernegg discusses biogerontology, the subfield of gerontology that discusses why and how we age and how to slow the process, how the novel presents old age as a curable disease, and how the novel depicts age as both a uniting and dividing factor between Lenny and Eunice. In the introduction, Kriebernegg uses an argument from a New York Times article written by M. Kakutani, “every toxic development already at large in America to farcical extremes” to extend her own arguments about the dystopia in which Super Sad True Love Story takes place. This article presents an interesting argument that may help me develop an angle for my paper as well. Aging is not the primary concern of the novel’s plot, but age is always taken into consideration, and is very important at the end of the day. I would be interested in looking for another underlying aspect of the plot that isn’t obvious in every journal entry or email but is vital to the storyline nonetheless, and influential to the characters’ actions and motives.

http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.emory.edu/stable/30225415?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=frankenstein&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dfrankenstein%26amp%3Bprq%3Dfrankenstien%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bso%3Drel%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bwc%3Don&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

The main argument the author is making is that Frankenstein intended to create a creature like himself but the creature does not turn out how he had envisioned. Instead Frankenstein’s monster reflects the author, Mary Shelly, and the society in which she lived. One of the big themes she analyzes is how femininity is displayed in the novel and how it impacts the monster. She then goes on to show more examples on how the creature reflects Shelly’s character and personality.

I am not quite sure that I want to focus on this topic for my paper but I think the subject is interesting. I would prefer to do my paper on the movie Her but I had difficulty finding sources to go with it. I think the film displays our class themes effectively and explores a very interesting topic. I would like to further analyze if it is possible to fall in love with a computer and what makes something living. But if I can not find the sources to support my topic I would like to explore this topic in Frankenstein. I think it is interesting how Shelly is represented in her creature and am excited to continue exploring it.

Cite:

“Frankenstein” and Dis(re)membered Identity

Eleanor Salotto

The Journal of Narrative Technique 
Vol. 24, No. 3 (Fall, 1994) , pp. 190-211

Published by: Department of English Language and Literature, Eastern Michigan University

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30225415

Maps of the World in Its Becoming: Post-Apocalyptic Naming in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_modern_literature/v033/33.1.kunsa.pdf)

In this paper, Ashley Kunsa takes an optimistic approach to a seemingly abysmal and infinitely bleak novel by Cormac McCarthy “The Road”. Here Kunsa suggests a possibility for redemption of mankind as she believes “we discover the seeds of the works unexpectedly optimistic worldview”. She seem to argue that the Father and the Boy’s act of abstaining barbarism and cannibalism is a major salvation for mankind and an uncontroversial evidence that even in a lawless world, man’s conscious still lives.

Kunsa quotes many other scholars who studied this novel and both extends beyond their point or refute their claims. “Chabon is wrong in claiming that “the quest here feels random, empty at its core” (117). The “maps and mazes” at The Road’s end point toward something essential at the center of the journey, and tellingly, the novel closes not with the intersection of arbitrary and nonsensical lines, but with the patterns on the backs of the trout, “maps of the world in its becoming,” forms that suggest an inherent order and underlying purpose yet undiscovered”

(Example paragraph of using her article to help angle my argument)

Man’s all compelling need for survival is evident in the development of the main characters, the boy and the man, in The Road. Some critics argue that McCarthy suggests the possibility for redemption of mankind. This is indeed how Ashley Kunsa views the portrayal of these characters as she believes, “we discover the seeds of the works unexpectedly optimistic worldview.” However, this is a contention with which I vehemently disagree. The Father and the boy, who are described metaphorically as those who are “carrying the fire” and “the good guys” appear to be moral characters who do not succumb to barbaric acts such as cannibalism. Yet, the impressive moral standard of the father and the boy simply provide a false illusion to the reader that there are those who can triumph in McCarthy’s truest test for optimism.

The author of this piece goes into great detail discussing the multi-faceted identity that Lenny Abramov exhibits. The author discusses to what extent Lenny identifies with his American-Jewish heritage and they examine the roles that jewish characters have within the novel. After this they look into Lenny’s Russian heritage and his inner confusion surrounding his own cultural background. The author concludes that at the end of the novel, Lenny has returned to his Jewish roots, in doing so made a pact with god, and left his Russian heritage behind.

The author uses an argument made by Michiko Kakutani to bolster their own essay. The argument is a brief description of Super Sad True Love Story, that describes it as a novel with a dark future yet deeply sweet love story. The author then shows this throughout their writing. They display how the book relays this dismal future. Where America is “on the brink of fiscal collapse” and the government is falling apart around the main characters. Yet they also discuss the sweetness of Lenny and Eunice’s relationship, and even if the two characters are undeniably flawed the love story portrayed is seen to be all the more real for it.

I think that I am going to look into the nature of modern dating as portrayed by Super Sad True Love Story. To do that i’m going to have to discuss the mixed backgrounds and identities of all the books characters. So i might use this essay to help discuss both Lenny and Eunice’s conflicted personalities.

link