The Light of Literature

Alan Moore’s Light of Thy Countenance defines literature through a form of media. The narration is from point of view of a TV that loses itself through the portrayal of many roles. Through the character, Maureen Cooper, and her actress, the voice has shown a sentiment side of itself. Maureen’s record of conflicts especially, revealed the scarring moments that had brought upon emotions of pain and fear. As a result, this cult of personality gives literature another dimension – the capability of displaying sensations beyond the context of words.

The digital form of literature also plays as a time capsule connecting the past and the present. It gives references to many events of the early 20^th century and sheds light on its slow rise to power by creating virtual illusions on screens. It comes to a point when these images have influenced the mass so heavily that it becomes difficult to distinguish the borderline between the virtual and real world. Viewers have gotten too engaged into the virtual works of pixels that its effects have been incorporated into the real world. The most radical example is the man’s acknowledgement of the TV over his partner. The author wistfully depicts this as the deterioration of human rationale that is dominated by a figment created by his own kind.   

This novel also alludes to the struggle between science and religion. Many times, the narration has deemed itself as God due to its ubiquitous control and influential power. Through this aspect, literature has shown us that the rise of technology has indeed erased the many beauties of nature. This is also why I regard this comic book as a piece of literature, that it serves the purpose as an informative and didactic device. Likewise, literature should not be limited to pure textual content, but instead be more decorative with the addition of concrete imagery and reach the audience with a fuller potential.

Expectations and Characterizations of Female Gender Roles

One important element in David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly is the characterization of female gender roles. To a certain extent, the view of Western and Eastern women can be very similar because both women have the tendency to abuse their sexuality and entangle themselves in affairs. The American girls, as Hwang described, come “On trucks. Packed in like sardines. The back flips open, babes hop out, we’re ready to roll” (Act 1, Scene 5, p. 8). They do not seem to regard highly of themselves and lack the self-esteem and self-respect they deserve as humankind. Willing to be let loose and be treated like property, these girls belittle their own potential and power and subject to their sense of gender inequality. Likewise, upon their first acquaintance, Song left Gallimard with an open-ended statement, “…sometimes, it is also mutual” (Act 1, Scene 8, p. 22). In a way, Song is hinting that this refers to their love tension because by impersonating a modest yet provocative woman, “she” has taunted and captured Gallimard’s interest from the very start. By placing this complicated burden and act on “herself”, Song confessed that as a Chinese government spy, this was “her” way to gather information and attend to the diplomatic affairs of “her” country. In essence, the author points out that the despite the geographic difference between the West and the East, women’s human nature germinates from the same root of having to associate and submit to a greater force, such as men, in order to fulfill and be acknowledged with a solid defined position in this aspect of society.

On the contrary, different nations have taken different approaches in response to this act and behavior. On behalf of the French embassy, Toulon confronts Gallimard with his keeping of a Chinese mistress and remarks, “Now you go and find a lotus blossom…and top us all” (Act 2, Scene 4, p. 46). This indicates that the Western’s liberal views gives freedom to the choice of love engagement. They were in terms less in meddling with an individual’s affinity and relationship affairs. In contrast, Song’s duties had to comply with the principles of the Communist Party. When she “allowed [herself] to be corrupted by a foreigner…and engaged in the lowest perversions with China’s enemies” (Act 2, Scene 9, p. 70) and stretched beyond the limits of “her” role, this was not accepted as the norms of society. Thus, Song was regarded as a disgrace in the eyes of the East and was ultimately kicked out of “her” country.

Cyberpunk: Internet Use

William Gibson’s novel, Pattern Recognition, is a classification of cyberpunk, the type of science fiction depicting the dependency on high technology that is engraved in the norms of society. With the drastic development and spread of Internet use, online social networks have been capable of enlarging its role to encompass multifarious purposes. One example is demonstrated through the use of F:F:F, an online discussion forum where Cayce connects with other users such as “Parkaboy”, and gets exposed to the circulating images concocted and examined by avid footageheads. In this sense, online social networking allows interactions between individuals or groups to be done through a more passive sense. Therefore, the seemingly lack of expression given the plain words of text may present a more forward and reassuring connotation, seen through the conversation and emails between Cayce and Parkaboy.

In addition, due to the ease of access and flow of information on the Internet, Parkaboy emailed Cayce footage #135, a.k.a “The Kiss”. The popularity of this clip is due to the mystery behind its existence, but is also furthered by the discovery of an encrypted watermark in the form of steganography, “concealing information by spreading it through other information” (76). Thus, this leads to an online investigation where Parkaboy “gets together netwise with Darryl” (74) and came upon a previous watermarked image #78, cracked by Taki from the otaku-coven in Tokyo. Parkaboy and Darryl utilizes and manipulates the function of the Internet to their advantage by concealing their identity through the fake character of Keiko to connect with Taki, whom they believe will aid them in furthering their research and decoding.

Hubertus Bigend, the founder of the Blue Ant agency, proposes a partnership with Cayce to locate the maker of the image. Bigend comments that “the footage has already been the single most effective piece of guerilla marketing ever” (64) as he’s been “tracking hits on enthusiast sites and searching for mentions elsewhere” (64). This presents the marketing aspect and capability through Internet use. As images are transferred through files and attachments online, the viewing audience increases, enabling trackers to monitor them on a normal basis. The public record of footages such as #135 therefore subconsciously gives birth to a new trend, as determined by online hits.

Pattern Recognition Brainstorm

In Gibson’s Pattern Recognition, we can see two floating motifs that set the center of the characters’ world – advertising and globalization.

Voytek’s sister, Magda, is involved in advertising for Trans, which is affiliated with Blue Ant, This is an addition to her job of designing and making hats. Magda describes her responsibilities as to “look sorted, go to clubs and wine bars and chat people up”(84). The purpose of the conversation was to “mention a client’s product, of course favorably”(84) and “attract attention of favorable sort”(84) while she is at it. The company’s form of non-advertising advertisement aims to arouse public attention to a pattern they’ve created and spread themselves. It seems that the work later comes to recognizing such patterns and seek the purpose behind them. To me, this responsibility ties back to Cayce’s job in detecting and examining symbols that impact people’s lives and behaviors. Also, Voytek is entering the advertisement world as he collects Sinclair ZX 81 personal computers. Once he revealed to Cayce that he is friends with Billy Prion, who owns a gallery so Voytek has “space to show ZX 81 project” (81) as part of his patronage business. The Internet, too, can help cyberspace advertising. For example, the leak of footage #135 becomes the target of many to decipher the code and meaning behind the fragmented clip. The circulation of this footage has been pretty widespread that the people whom Cayce meet with all confirm its existence and mystery. It turns out that they too, were members of the Blue Ant agency.

The concept of globalization is prominent throughout the first 120 pages we’ve read because each character introduced so far in the novel has come from a different background. Yet they all play a part in the industrial world because they each take on the responsibility according to their specialization. This includes the integration of global networking and technology as a form of communication between international economies. We have been introduced to a variety of workers who gets involved from different parts of the world that works in different branches under he Blue Ant agency. Whether it is directly under the company’s influence, or through online networking and cross-cultural contact, the point is to see the bounded connection and interaction that flows across the globe. Below is a list of the many other characters that contribute to the Gibson’s depicted world of globalization.

Cayce	New York	Investigate the maker of footage #135
Bigend	Belgium (graduated from Harvard)	Founder of Blue Ant
Parkaboy	Chicago	Researching footages and member of the online forum F:F:F
Darryl (Musashi)	Californian fluent in Japanese	Aids Parkaboy in translating kanji and discovers the watermark in footage #78
Boone Chu	Chinese-American	Hired by Bigend after his previous company that specialized in security failed. He assists Cayce in her investigation
Damien	Soviet Russia	Recording footages of the process in digging up and excavating sites of firefights of WWII in Russia

A Change of Perspective in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"

The shift from a first person plural to a first person singular point of view would change the tone of the story as well as the character development. Let’s take Tobe’s perspective for example. As Emily’s dutiful servant and connection to the outside world, he is seen as the only one that truly understands Emily’s behavior and actions. Unlike the townspeople’s perception of Emily as an eccentric recluse, Tobe would drastically change the sympathetic tone to one that is more understanding and argumentative. His initial step may be to rearrange the fabula in re-telling the story. Instead of describing the townspeople’s attendance in Emily’s funeral in the beginning, Tobe will first describe her past, when the impact of her father’s death and sweetheart’s desertion bereft her the love she deserved in life, and later be used to justify for her isolation and murder of Homer. In addition, he will be likely to include personal accounts of Emily’s life because the townspeople’s vision only offers their interpretations of her through the glimpse of her window, whereas Tope provides a solid, reliable account of the exact happenings inside the house. The change of perspective will be more subtle in the descriptions of her outside the house because those are true facts witnessed by the entire community. These moments may include her defiance in paying tax, determination to buy poison, and her affinity for Homer. With a different narration, Emily’s character is stretched and more round, enabling readers to formulate the reasons behind her transformation and the intentions of her actions. However, the ending scene with Homer’s corpse will be vague. Whether the murder is Emily’s strategy to preserve the love of her beloved one, Tobe leaves this ambiguity without a clarification. The shift somewhat still preserves Faulkner’s theme of mysterious death because the causes of Homer’s death remains unsolved. Tobe’s perspective simply proposes more facts, leaving readers a bit less room for imagination.

Nature Vs. Technology

In the poem, All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace, Brautigan introduces readers to the interaction between Mother Nature and industrial advances.

In the first stanza, Brautigan portrays a wistful image of a “cybernetic meadow”(3) that joins the forces of nature and technology to create a “mutually programming harmony”(5-6). This imagery provides a positive relationship between “mammals and computers”(4) because they can coexist in a healthy ecology, where neither may harm the other. Brautigan points out that in this way, inventions and innovations aren’t playing the role of “destruction”, as some critics say, but rather building upon the beauty of nature to give a meaning of “paradise”.

Similarly in the second stanza, the author continues with a “cybernetic forest” (11), illustrating the positive connotation of the pro-technology idea seen previously. To a further extent, Brautigan denotes “electronics” (12) as “flowers with spinning blossoms”(15-16) as if nature is refined through the cooperation and coercion of the technological factor. This new milieu “where deer stroll peacefully past computers”(13-14) gives a somewhat “dreamy and peaceful” setting. In fact, technology is another aspect of nature used to help people conform with society as a whole and seek what it has to offer.

The message in the last stanza is that nature and technology are clashing forces because one succeeds at the other’s expense. Given the creation of nature, humans are introduced to help enhance and improve upon this creation. As society develops due to the unlimited needs and desires of the human population, labor becomes an inescapable duty and responsibility. With people being put to work on industrial advances, the environment is getting physically damaged in a way that is irreversible. Brautigan sees such labor as a heavy burden on mankind and reminisces upon the early ages when people are “joined back to nature” (21) and “returned to our mammal brothers and sisters” (22). In this situation, “mammal” refers to the earlier characteristics of life that coexisted with the human population in nature. Such melancholic and desirous tone brings readers back to reality while showing doubt on the previously shaped utopia.

From my perspective, the anti-technology proposal seems more propelling because realistically, society is portrayed in this way. Since the introduction of new inventions in the industrial age, more labors are hired to further development in various companies. Consequently, many factors of nature, such as animals, have become extinct, and plants are striving to be preserved from pollutions of factories and other contaminants worldwide. In this matter, nature and technology are two extremes that when combined, collides with the concept of "harmony".

Imagery within "Design"

The poem, “Design” by Robert Frost suggests a vision of disarrayed images combined to form a “design”. In line 1-3 lines, “I found a dimpled spider, fat and white/ On a white heal-all…/ Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth”, Frost purposely puts emphasis on the color, “white”. Starting with a white spider, the reader’s focus zooms outward to find the spider’s landing on a white heal-all, and finally, onto the satin cloth, used for a coffin cover and foreshadow of death.

In the process of reading, some contradictions arise due to the author’s descriptions in these first 3 lines. First, spiders, part of the arachnid class, are usually seen to be black, and yet it was added to the jumble of white images for a specific unclear reason. Second, the paradox of a dead month held on a “heal-all” urges the reader to contemplate upon the meaning behind the name of the flower and the reason behind its existence. Both questionable aspects within the images themselves help guide the reader into believing that individual images have no definite boundary or shape in terms of breaking down parts of the whole design.

In lines 4-6, the appearance of hodgepodge words is evident. Vocabularies such as “assorted” (4), “mixed” (5), and “ingredients” (6) brings the reader back from the trance of white purity from previous lines to the term “conglomeration”. The occurrence of phrases such as “death and blight” (4) as well as “witches’ broth” (6) turns towards the other extreme in colors: black. Concurrently, the mood transfers from a gentle light setting into a dark, gloomy atmosphere. From the text, the author suggests the addition of the ominous color joined with the previous compilation of white contributes to the overall effect of a “miscellaneous mess”.

In addition to sight, Frost incorporates a feeling of coldness through the “snow-drop spider” (7). In contrast to the stereotypical “design” as a creative arrangement, the imagery in lines 1-8 contains a jumble of white and black components presented through the 3 characters (spider, moth, and flower) as parts of nature. Seemingly, Frost questions and refers to God in his creations and purpose. The theme of “design” may be interpreted as a criticism on why God had created the “conglomerate” society the way it is and the trivial importance behind such doing.