Character Notes from "the Literary Experience" and "Notes on Character"

1) character: the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.
2) character: a person represented in a drama, story, etc.
3) Vividly imagined characters can, in effect, speak to the writers who create them-not just the audience
4) If we don't conceive characters as people we have the ability to know, then they will seem fake, unconvincing, and insignificant
5) Protagonist is usually the hero or heroine (the good guy)
6) Antagonist is the villain (the bad guy)
7) Characterization: (the technique of creating a sense of character)
8) Some authors' characterization methods may seem discrete, allowing the characters to dialogue and letting the reader listen and observe things for himself.
9) Asking "why" questions leads writers into developing powerful ideas
10) A "what" question could be a good starting place for description and summary
11) A "how" question might turn a writer to the artist's craft as opposed to the character's development
12) The simplest "whys" can lead to a significant and deeply interacting sense of character
13) Many artists get their ideas of characters from people close to them (family, friends, co-workers)
14) Building concern for a character is a vital step in immersing oneself in literature
15) Concern for character often grows from immediate personal concerns and identification with the character
16) Dynamic character changes throughout the literary work
17) Static character does not change throughout the work
18) Round character have depth many dimensions to their being
19) Flat characters are not known by the audience they are superficial
20) stock characters are flat characters who may be of use to help move a plot forward or provide a little bit of significant information necessary for a larger purpose.
21) simple characters that are used to unveil qualities and complexities of major characters are termed foils
22) characters are developed by being shown live in action through: physical description (what they wear, way they move and sound), the things they say, the things they do, the way they are responded to, and their thoughts, if they are shown

Painting!!

     When I first heard we had to paint in this literature class I did not know what to expect. Were we going to have to paint a picture from a scene in a story or play? Were we going to have to paint a masterpiece for a grade? But when the time came to paint, I was delighted to hear that we were going to paint what we visualized from passages in the book of Joel. The foundation of the painting exercise started when I shouted some passages to the lake out in front of campus. Though it was an awkward "conversation" with the water, after I we finished images popped in my head immediately. I could almost see the lake being drained in front of my eyes and the tall weeds around it being burnt up by flames. This is the line that stuck out the most to me.
     "For the water brooks are dried up and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness."

During the painting process, the reminders that Professor Corrigan wrote on the board helped keep me focus. I was so focused that I got lost in my work, and for the time being was in my own world imagining what it would be like if I lived in the time of Joel. The process took this passage and made it come alive. I knew from a previous art class I took in high school that it was impossible to mess up, or so my teacher told me. I actually messed up on the dried up brook, but created a visual effect from it. To further reinforce what my art teacher said about it being impossible to mess up, once our allotted time to paint ended I foolishly put a scrap sheet of paper on top of the still wet paint! When I removed it, some of the paper stuck to the paint. Trying to scrape of the paper was a nuisance, not all of it came off. It turned out okay though; I look at it and see the paper as little pieces of ash from the fire that is devouring the wilderness. Take a look at it yourself, what do you think?

Joel Painting

dried up brook, and devastated pastures

This is my painting that I made during last class. I painted from the words used in Joel, "For the brooks are dried up and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness."

Why...?

     If one read the book of Joel, there might be some things they would find baffling or even contradictory. God gave Joel the words to speak and what Joel says at first is about the locust swarms and then about the fields and trees becoming bare. He then demands that the priests, vinedressers, and farmers should wail for their losses. No longer is there any wheat or fruit or gladness and joy in the house of God.

     "The herds of cattle wander aimlessly because their is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness and the flame has burned up all the trees of the field. Even the beasts of the field pant for You; for the water brooks are dried up and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness." The livestock are even suffering from this great starvation and drought. Have the people of the Lord done something to anger God? Have they brought these "locust" among themselves? Later on in the "Terrible Visitation" the Lord says, "Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and morning; and rend your heart and not your garments."

     Once this happens the Lord will be zealous for his land and He says, "I will never again make you a reproach among the nations." One might ask, "Why has God made his nation an object of scorn or contempt?" Would he not want to make his nation great? Later on in the "Terrible Visitation" the Lord says, "Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten....My great army which I sent among you. Why would God send locust among his people?

    In the end, God will bless the people of Judah, and the nations who conquered Judah will be punished by God. But the question still remains, why did God do these things to his people? His people knew they were the chosen people of God and yet they must have still not followed the greatest commandment (found in Deuteronomy 6:5) Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and strength. God is a just God, and he must punish sin. This is what he did to his people because they turned from Him time and time again throughout the Old Testament (their disbelief when God promised them the Promised Land, Israel's cry for a human ruler/king, Babylonian captivity). It is also seen in the synoptic gospels that God was pleased with Jesus, but shortly after his baptism he was led by the spirit into the desert to be tempted. Why was Jesus lead by the holy Spirit to be tempted and suffer??--to show his obedience to his father and to prove that he was the Son of God. It seems that suffering is a necessary part of being one of God's children. But at the end of the book of Joel, His love is displayed because the people of Judah turned to Him though a rendering of their hearts, fasting, weeping, and mourning.

An inspiration from Elizabeth Bishop's "Night City" and "Five Flights Up"

Smoke is still on the horizon.
The cloud is coming our way.
In its midst the horrors can still be heard.
Many memories are laden with sorrow.

Who knows when the cloud will pass over us? Indeed it is on us.
When is it time for the new day to shed light on all that needs answering?
When will our memories be burnt away?
Are the past actions too gruesome to melt away?

The wounds of our hearts cannot be healed,
they lay open for the scavengers to feast upon.
Like a rotting bloody corpse its stench welcomes its prey.
Many come and try to heal, but end up dead.

Is this something that will heal on its own?
Or is the torture of the cloud the process of healing?
Oh, how we wish someone-something up above could see
all of the harm and injustice done unto us.

It seems all hope is lost,
The lakes of this town have flooded
with tears from our eyes.
For once we feel abandoned and freedom cannot be bought at any cost.

But wait! Up on the horizon,
behind the cloak of sorrow.
The beginning of a new time seems near,
and so does the smoky cloud's rear.

Will we be able to understand the new light's message?
Have our prayers been heard from somewhere up above?
There in the day's rays some evidence is seen.
It is possible that our sorrows will be swept away.

All that is needed is the new day to consume us.
We mustn't be the people who forget the past damage,
for it is in the grief that our freedom is made priceless.

A dog or a bird will know when and what the day brings,
because they are creatures created by the light.
They know bad things happen,
but know they will be taken care of by their masters.

We have to adopt the simple minds of simple creatures.
We have to remain loyal, like the dog, to see the answers that the light will bring.
The bird does not worry about what it will eat each day
because up above, the creator takes care of them in each and every way.

Oh the light is upon us!
Sometimes we slip back into the past.
But we must remember there's no need for this because the agony will never last.

Now we walk in the warmth of its many graces
and feel its merciful kisses on our faces.
The dark fog has evaporated and turned into day
and an impossible and depressing situation is turned gay.

Chapter 4 discussion

    In our last class discussion about A Grief Observed some interesting points came up. Some of the questions that emerged from the statements about God's character and who we think he is are as follows. What if what I thought about God did not have any fact or truth to it? What if, like Lewis, "my idea of God is not a divine idea." What if it had to be shattered time after time? What if He shatters it Himself? All these questions are very deep and sometimes hard to face. Have all my beliefs about who God is and what He does fall utterly short of who he really is and what he really does? Professor Corrigan mentioned to us in class that; we as a human race have to speak of God metaphorically because like in the bible and in Jesus' teachings and parables, metaphors are the closest things to describe God and the way things work. When we use metaphors, circumstances and events are understood. Like professor Corrigan said in class, words (language) cannot fully explain the character or qualities of God. I think to understand somewhat the qualities of God we first have to recognize the simple things we come across every day. What is something we encounter every day? Nature. We see nature and the processes that occur in nature every day, from the morning dew evaporating to the millions of stars welcoming a dark night. If we can learn to have an understanding of nature and a heart of gratitude because we are God's prized possessions (like it says in James Chapter One) then some qualities of God might not be so elusive.
     Towards the end of last class professor Corrigan shared with us his favorite line in the whole book. "Not my idea of God, but God." Later on after this line Lewis writes, "Talking and acting not to the man himself but to the picture-almost the precis-we've made of him in our on minds?" We do the same thing with God, until he reveals a little bit of his character which changes our whole perspective on who or what God does. I took the 5 minutes professor Corrigan gave us when he dismissed us early and thought about the line "Not my idea of God, but God." My mind was drawn to a verse in Romans that helped me really want what C.S. Lewis wants. This verse has been on my heart ever since the athletic leadership retreat I was a apart of back in early September. One of the speakers highlighted this verse because the theme of the retreat was to know God more intimately. It is funny how reading this chapter and listening to the discussions in class have led my mind to this same verse. Romans 12:1-2 "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." If God will reveal his will to us, it could also reflect who he really is, not who we think he is.

Chapter 3 "A Grief Observed"

"What sort of a lover am I to think so much about my affliction and so much less about hers? Even the insane call, 'Come back,' is all for my sake." This quote in Chapter 3 makes me examine my close relationships. Are they only to satisfy my desires, or can they be used to positively affect more people?
     Ron an ex-professional, golfer, and ex-Division I golf coach at South Missouri State came to Winston-Salem, North Carolina because God called him to pastor junior high students at a local church. While Ron was there he grew spiritually and endured many hardships. The biggest setback for Ron was when his second daughter was born with many physical and mental disabilities. While Ron was in Winston, he befriended one of his jr. high students. This student in particular was nothing special in himself, but Ron saw something in him that was special. The kid did not know why Ron invested so much in him but nonetheless, the kid gladly accepted his friendship. This kid had a huge dream to become a professional golfer and Ron believed in the kid's dream. One thought that kept coming to the kid's mind was, "why does Ron care and invest so much in me even though he has a disabled daughter?" Many hours were spent on the golf course and driving range pursuing the kid's dream. Little did he know that Ron was investing in something much more than his dream. Ron used the kid's dream as a catalyst to deepen their relationship- a 33 year old man became the jr high student's best friend. Because of this friendship, the kid grew closer to God.
     The kid is now a college student. Although the dream remains the same, the focus has shifted because something occurred. Ron moved to Indonesia with his family, including his handicapped daughter. While there spreading the gospel to an unreached tribe, he was murdered.
     I am the kid that was talked about in this story. Ron, and everything described in this story is true, except his murder in Thailand. In January 2011, Ron is moving to Indonesia as a missionary. His main mission-to spread the gospel message to lost people. Reading chapter 3 made me think about this relationship because if Ron died I might act in the same way as C.S. Lewis did. As I read chapter 3, I think of how Ron has been so unselfish by befriending me back in 5th grade. Yet, my thoughts react selfishly, even though every action he has demonstrated towards me has been unselfish. In the end I'd like not to be as selfish as C.S. Lewis describes himself to be in chapter 3, who out of his own need wanted to hold back his lover from her Maker. Instead, I want to learn from this reading and allow my own wants to dwindle in comparison to my love for the greater outcome of Ron's life.

Cemetery Thoughts

     "I went to the Lakeview, Roselawn and Tiger Flowers cemetery complex for this field trip, and I stayed there for at least 40 minutes."

     Some thoughts that came to me were; "I don't want to be buried  because I don't want people hanging around a cemetery because I am 'there'." I don't want to be confined to a hole in the ground. "I don't want my parents to die, they always believe in me and life without them would be discouraging." I strangely missed my parents as I walked around the cemetery. "What impact did all these dead people have on other lives?" How did God use them to be lights in this dark world?

Table Talk

Talking over lunch with my friends Seth, Cole, and Sterling was a very great experience. At first not a lot was said, but it soon escalated when Sterling brought up the piece of literature he brought to talk about. The name of the piece was "Nice and Blue part 2" by the band Mewithoutyou. We all agreed about and discussed the meaning of each line in the song. It was relevant to us because we had all been in love before. Sterling pointed out what each line meant to him and Seth, Cole, and I found we could also relate to the lyrics. The song talks about how staying in a relationship that is not working out can be a huge hassle. The line that says, "there strapped like a watch on my wrist that's finished with gold but can't tell the time was all or what little pleasure exists seductively sold and uselessly mine" is a line that sums up the singer's troubles that are occurring in his relationship. The beautiful gold watch represents a beautiful girl, but the watch is useless because its main function is disabled. This disablement represents the superficial quality of the relationship, meaning people may view the couple as perfect for each other when the real quality of the relationship is dead. The reason why this topic became the root of our lunch discussion was because love and pain was the issue. This further backs up the love and death themes that our literature class is studying. It really does seem that when love or death or love and death are the theme in a particular piece of literature, emotions of the readers are deeply connected to that piece. Why is this? Love and death are complex because they involve multiple people, not just one person. Ever heard of a song that talked about love and not thought of at least one person...? I haven't. By the end of the song, the artist sings this line, "the true light of my eyes is a pearl equally emptied to equally shine and all or what little joy in the world seemed suddenly simple and endlessly mine." Basically, we have the ability to endure a tremendous amount of pain and in the end come out on the other side with valuable lessons learned, and from these lessons we have the joy of knowing we have grown in spite of being torn down at first.

chapter one "A Grief Observed"

How C.S. Lewis explains the troubles and questions he goes through sheds light on how much God is in the world. "Meanwhile where is God?" Even though C.S. has trouble finding God in this dark time of his life, I am encouraged by the fact that God is everywhere in this world because he wants to be. "We have seen the faces of those we know best so variously, from so many angles, in so many lights, with so many expressions-walking , sleeping, laughing, crying, eating, talking, thinking-that all the impressions crowd into our memory together and cancel out into a mere blur." This quote from chapter one made me think of all the things in which God is present because he made all that is good. Here is a verse from Romans that explains what I mean; "They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and the sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God." I understand that in times of deep troubles, God can seem non-existent, I've felt this way before. But, the fact that you cannot feel God does not mean he is not there. I strongly believe that people encounter tragedies because they are a part of life. Things happen because sin is apart of our nature. As a Christ-follower, C.S. Lewis knows that without trials and troubles one's faith cannot be tested. He is just having a hard time understanding why this love was taken away when it seemed like it had just started. The funny thing is that H. and Lewis both knew they would face separation yet they still chose to love each other. This speaks volumes of encouragement concerning God's love for us because his love is far greater and more perfect than our human love. How do we know this? Well, as you can see from the first chapter of this book, C.S only focuses on his pain, and even feels guilty because he thinks he is an embarrassment to others. On the other hand, Jesus came to earth thinking about our pain and grief. His whole earthly ministry revolved around serving others, not his human desire to stay comfortable.

Love Flying Blind Fat Kids

There are two 7 year old kids talking to each other on a playground during recess. Johnny gets his friend Frankie's attention and asks him what he wants to be when he grows up. Frankie looks at Johnny and tells him he wants to be a basketball player. Frankie is a short, fat, white boy who has no athletic ability and cannot run in a straight line if he tried. Johnny responds to Frankie as they swing on the swing set, which happens to be the limit to Frankie's athletic abilities, "Ya know Frank, that is a good idea, I believe it will happen for you." Frankie then asks Johnny what he wants to be when he grows up. Johnny says to Frankie, "I want to fly airplanes." Now Johnny lost his sight in an automobile accident when he was only five years old, doctors told him he will never be able to see again. In the same way these kids are ignorant about their limitations, Mel, Laura, Terri, and Nick are ignorant about love. Terri mentions that Ed loved her when she says, "It was love (referring to Ed's actions toward her)." "Sure it's abnormal in most people's eyes. But he was willing to die for it. He did die for it." I think Terri wanted Ed to love her but Ed did what he did because he was crazy, not crazy in love with her. But when we get down to the bottom of this story in What We Talk about When We Talk about Love, every character displays the same outrageous ambition that Johnny and Frankie do, despite their multiple marriages and crazy "love stories". To me it seems like they are all searching for the true meaning of love, and just like the two boys are aspiring to become something they cannot, these characters cannot define love because in their cases, love has taken on many insufficient roles.