Bastard Out Of Carolina

During the class discussion the question of sympathy for Anney came up. Of course it's impossible to say that I would have done this or I would done that in a similar situation. But I just don't feel that I would have stayed with Glenn like Anney is doing. While the lie Glenn tells can be very believable, it's just crazy that she would sit by and watch. The fact that he builds on old lies to justify the beatings makes it tricky. On the other hand, I feel like I would know my child well enough that she wouldn't say something like that. If Anney had asked Bone, said to her in private, is this what really happened then Bone might have opened up, because she was so emotional and vulnerable at that point. Instead, Anney almost accuses Bone, and repeatedly asked her what she did wrong. Of course Bone isn't going to open up when she has the feeling that her own mother might not believe her, and thinks that if her mother believes she had done something to deserve this abuse, then maybe she really has.

I guess looking back, I didn't really feel sympathy for Anney anymore after the whole bathroom incident. She enabled Glenn completely. I'm sure that she didn't think that Bone could hear her having make up sex with Glenn, but by doing that it was a slap in the face to Bone. But the major turning point for me came when she was accused of beating her child in the emergency room. Hearing the harsh words of the doctors, and the evidence of continual brutal abuse Anney had to know that Glenn was taking his "punishments" too far. After this I felt myself judging Anney. Get over yourself. I get it that she has had a hard life, with Bone's dad leaving and Reese's father getting killed. I understand that she just wants to be loved. I also understand her stubbornness, how she doesn't want to go back home to her family because then they would have known she failed. But come on, these are your children. The abuse that Bone has suffered is getting to the point that it's life threatening. She has a broken tailbone, a broken collarbone, tons of bruises that never go away. Anney is obviously in denial. I just can't feel sympathy for a woman who has an out, someone who has a way to get out of a situation that is negatively harming your child, but doesn't. If Anney was all alone in the world with nowhere to turn, then I might feel a little, tiny bit of sympathy. But I won't feel sorry for her.

A Dog Sleeping On My Feet

After discussing the poem A Dog Sleeping On My Feet in class I had a new found appreciation for the poem. I really liked how Dickey started off the poem by being literal- the author was sitting in his chair beginning to write a poem, with his faithful companion sleeping on his feet. This was such a cute image. For some reason I imaged an old man with gray hair sitting in his easy chair with a fire and just relaxing with his dog that he's had for quite a while. The poem starts out very simple, and straight forward, there is nothing confusing and is just exactly what the author says. Then the tone changes, and us as readers go into the dogs mind. I never would have thought to take an approach like that when writing poetry, and I think that's the reason why I was so confused when I tried to get through this poem the first time.
At the point when the dog is supposedly taking over the poem, the reader feels rushed and very excited. That is exactly how most dogs are, especially if they are getting ready to go outside and hunt or something like that.
When the author comes back into the front of the poem its like his whole body is being taken over by writing the poem, not just his mind. The line that I feel shows this is: " My hand, which speaks in a daze The hypnotized language of beast." To me this shows that the author was actually imaging that he was a dog, or that he was following a dog in the woods, something like that.
In my notes I had written down: "Poems are instinctive, the hound represents the author while the fox represents the words and the thoughts." I'm not sure if I came up with that or if someone said it in class- but that sums up this poem for me.

Walking On Water

I decided to write my blog about the poem Walking On Water. I really liked the images that Dickey used to describe the beach: "I stepped from the clam-shell beach, breaking in nearly down through the sun where it lay on the sea." This was a really powerful image for me, because being from Long Island I am surrounded by beaches and I could actually get a vision of this beach in my head. I'm not really into poetry, so analyzing poems is something I was never good at. I was getting the idea that it had religious undertones, with the walking on water image. Also the line, "Leaving behind me no footprint, but only the shimmering place of an infinite step upon water." That made me think of Jesus, or some all knowing, all seeing, all powerful deity.