Fire Addendum

Jack presented a really neat poem titled Detroit Addendum on Friday about the power of poetry in an industrialized Detroit.  The stanza that stood out to me and was a central point of discussion was the fourth one that had frequent references to fire. It was especially interesting because the fire can interpreted in many different ways:

From fiery epicenters, black faces,

white faces, glow red. We stare through words

into fire until our eyes are also fire.

One widespread symbol is of passion. It is very fitting in this stanza as passion of the poetry, referenced elsewhere in the poem. The word “stare”, singularly italicized, shows a focus. This is channeled by the “words” that are present as a part of the fire. This fire eventually consumes them, with their “eyes also fire”. The faces “glow red” with passion”. This could be a way to escape a restrictive society.

Fire can be a representation of the industrial society as well. This connects to the themes earlier in the poem where vehicles are listed as the industry of the city. The fire can be seen as a chaotic force that spreads through everyone. “Fiery epicenters” would represent the factories with the workers’ faces seaming to “glow red”. The “through words” could be taken as going beyond the words of the people; the industrial world was not part of pure humanity.

Lastly, the fire might simply be showing a force that unifies the people. These people, as Chris pointed out, are physically separated, but the fire is able to shine on all of them. This is shown by the strong sense of black and “white faces” transcending racial bounds. This interpretation is reinforced by the use of “we” in the second line of the stanza when referring to multiple races. The fire appears to stand in for something in the city that is able to affect everyone.

In class, this fire imagery sparked a previously smouldering discussion with fuel forged from ambiguity. I was able to stoke the glowing embers and an inferno of possibilities blazed in my mind. I hope you were warmed by this idea set ablaze. How did you read this smoking stanza?

The Neurological Significance of Beloved

When we were looking at the passage that has the description of memory, I noticed some very real parallels with neuroscience among the various supernatural elements.

Memory is described as being tied to a place, namely 124; it will never die as long as that place exists. WE took this as a supernatural quality of 124 to be able to retain memories. However, this is very similar to recent studies of classroom dynamics. They suggest that what you learn is tied to the space that you learned them and you remember them best in that place. This is a part of memory by association. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_%28psychology%29) Therefore, the house is not haunted, but the characters are being haunted by this familiar place.

Sethe takes this a step further and romanticizes the relationship with the memory. This makes the process more spiritual, but founded on similar neurological concepts. The reader gets the impression of a memory that is animate and evolving. This directly relates to studies of memory reconstruction. Science has shown that your memories are rebuilt from scratch each time you access them and evolve each time they are reconstructed, having been saturated with the experience of the experience of the memory. Re-memory is an illustration of this concept. This information comes from a mind blowing radiolab documentary that has stuck with me (http://www.radiolab.org/story/91569-memory-and-forgetting/ I would definitely recommend listening to this).

In conclusion, the complexity of the plot is reflective of the nuances of the brain and the 

processes of memory. Much of the weird dealings with memory in Beloved are founded in science.

Graffiti: Controversial Art Form Goes Beyond Art

   The documentary Style Wars was very interesting because it showed the viewer graffiti from many angles that most are not aware of. The personal interviews with the "writers" were especially powerful. One of the main things that many of us took out of the movie was that Graffiti was a true art form that deserved more recognition as such. I completely agree with this; much of graffiti is very beautiful and powerful and I think it has made a generally positive impact on cities visually. 

    However, after thinking about the dynamic between the writers and the administration that was at times comical and ironic, I realized that there were much more powerful motives than the debate of its legitimacy as art. I found this issue of graffiti in this time period as a power struggle. The "writers", while creating art for sure, were mostly expressing their power to leave a mark on the city. When the boy in kitchen with his mom first pointed this out, I thought it referred to his personal power. However, I later identified this to be representative of a movement to defy the authority of the city that was seen as oppressing these teens. I do not see this as a bad thing because this a relatively harmless outlet for such feelings of resentment. Someone asked why they did not all just use canvas for their artistic endeavors. It would just not have been rebellious enough to write one's name on a canvas repeatedly.

    On the other side, we spent a lot of time making fun of the city officials who were opposing the graffiti and declaring it to be making people feel unsafe. I think a lot of their motives were to maintain order (as any governing body does), so it was imperative to cover up the rebellious acts, whether they were art or not. This is reinforced by the fact that the graffiti inspired art was so successful among a similar group. It is too bad they were forced to clear off such great pieces of art. 

   Graffiti is a great form of art to have come from teens who would otherwise be restricted in this creative regard. However, it is important to acknowledge the power struggle that went along with it.