Campion AP Lit

 One thing that stood out to me while reading the first section of The Bluest Eye was a certain metaphor Morrison uses to demonstrate the social situation of African-Americans, and specifically Pecola, during the time period of the novel. While walking down Garden Avenue to a grocery store where she can buy candy, Pecola comes across a bunch of dandelions surrounding a telephone pole. Pecola remarks on the fact that these flowers that she saw as beautiful are considered weeds, being exterminated to adhere to the proper image of a residential lawn. Pecola goes on to discuss how dandelions are used for practical purposes, but never admired for their beauty. Morrison writes, "But they do not want the yellow heads--only the jagged leaves. They make dandelion soup. Dandelion wine. Nobody loves the head of a dandelion. Maybe because they are so many, strong, and soon" (47). Morrison is using the dandelion as a metaphor for black women in American society, such as Pecola, who are us

 After reading the first section of The Bluest Eye, I was introduced to a plethora of new characters and placed into a 19th century society filled with misery and despair in the Midwestern black community. One key character I was introduced to was Pecola, the intimidated product of the hate and reproach her family received. Pecola blames this blatant mistreatment on her self-defining ugliness, as kids in school ignore her due to her hideous appearance. However, what Pecola fails to acknowledge behind the mask of her ugliness is that the true reason for her mistreatment is her blackness, and more precisely, her family's socioeconomic status.       The Breedlove family is not your average black, mid-western family. While most black families would be considered lower class during this time period, the Breedloves took it a step farther, living in a rotting storefront filled with mangled furniture and an overwhelming sense of joylessness. According to Morrison, "They lived there be

“People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of science or books of metaphysics. The reason is very simple; it is merely that the novel is more true than they are.”-G.K. Chesteron This quote piqued my curiosity. According to Chesterton, a famous writer and philosopher, the novel, or works of fiction in general, provide more overall value to the reader than fact-filled non-fiction reads, as they allow readers to see into a world in which they do not already reside. This made me ask myself: what if Kavalier and Clay was non-fiction? What if Joe Kavalier and Sammy Clay were real people, with real families and real stories? Say the facts were the same, the real-life story identically matched the one told in the story, would it still have the same impact on the reader? The short answer is no. First of all, Kavalier and Clay's existence as a work of fiction gives it a sense of distance from the real world, allowing read

 The "Villain" in Kavalier and Clay: In Kavalier and Clay, there is no singular villain. It is impossible to identify one person as the overarching villain like you can in Star Wars or Harry Potter or any Shakespearean work, but instead a group of people and/or ideology. For Joe, the villain is the Nazi regime, and by extension, the German population. Joe sees every German he comes across as the enemy, an extension of Adolf Hitler's deadly hand. Joe's life has been wrecked by the Nazis - he was forced to abandon his family, he lost his brother, his only beacon of hope, and has turned him into a marginalized spectacle of society as a Jewish refugee. Joe takes out this anger on every German he faces, judging them for their nationality and not for their personal values. For example, Joe's mission to kill the German scientist residing in Antartica was not at all a reflection of his hatred for the scientist himself, but instead his hatred for the German regime for whi

What is the significance of comic books as a narrative device in the novel? How do they mirror and comment on the larger story being told? How do they represent the power of storytelling and its ability to shape reality? In Kavalier and Clay, comic books serve as a microcosm, a cartoon representation of the events happening in the real world intertwined with personal desires and emotions of Sam and Joe. For example, within the pages of the Escapist, Joe took out his anti-Nazi frustration on the Escapist's enemies, channeling his anger into every punch he inked. And while these cartoon punches did nothing to actually help the Allied cause, they helped relieve Joe's pain, as in his reality, the Anti-Nazi sentiment he portrayed in his comics was tangible and real. Ultimately, Joe wanted to emulate the anti-Nazi heroes of his comics, inspiring him to confront Carl Ebling, vandalize the office of the Aryan American League, and risk his life to kill the sole German stationed in Antar