I really enjoyed our discussion last night and got way more out of the story as we talked. Below are the notes I took and transcribed. I was distracted at the start so I missed some of what we talked about in the opening comments. If anyone has anything to add, please do so.
Natasha
"Babet's Feast"
November 28, 2010
Discussion Notes
Brief Summary:
An austere pair of sisters opened their home to receive a French refugee, Babette, who volunteered to be their servant, taking no other compensation than room and board. The sisters instructed Babette to prepare only simple food for they felt "luxurious fare was sinful." Babette did all that was asked of her and managed to "miraculously reduce" their living expenses and produce soup-pails for the poor that had a "mysterious power to stimulate and strengthen" the sick.
The two sisters' father was a "Dean and a prophet" of a Lutheran sect. Their father could not part with them in their youth, so they stayed by his side instead of following their suitors. Years after their father's death, they continued faithfully to tend their father's flock, but were saddened by the discord among his disciples.
After twelve years of serving the sisters, Babette won a lottery of 10,000 francs and persuaded the sisters to allow her to prepare a feast with her money. The sisters were upset to see the ingredients Babette ordered arrive from France so they consulted their dinner guests and asked them not to say a word about the meal. There were twelve at the table, including one outsider, a General who took a fancy to one of the sisters in her youth. The General recognized the feast for what it is: the best cuisine France had to offer. The other people responded as if it was everyday-ordinary fare. The General gave a spontaneous speech about grace—how it is infinite, "demands nothing from us but that we shall await it with confidence and acknowledge it in gratitude." The others at the table weren't as aware that they'de been blessed by grace, but they still benefited and healed their differences.
The sisters were amazed when they learned that Babette spent her whole 10,000 francs on the meal. They said she shouldn't have done that for them. Babette insisted she did it for herself as an artistic expression. The sister who was musically gifted better understood the depth of Babette's sacrifice when she quoted a mutual friend (the singer who taught the sister): "Through all the world there goes one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me leave to do my utmost!"
This is a powerful story of grace—with greater depth than even the author probably realized.
Gwen & Vivian Babette chose to stay in Norway.
Velinda All the people who could value her art (the French cultural elite) were gone and she had helped to destroy them so she wouldn't go back to France.
Dad The people ate the feast without sensing the power of grace.
Velinda/LNW They were still blessed and healed by the grace (even though they didn't recognize it).
Vivian The General was an interpreter of the food.
Velinda He recognized the dish "Cailles en Sarcophage" which is an allusion of the resurrection.
Vivian There were twelve at the table, an allusion to the Last Supper.
Velinda How are we like the people at the table?
Dad A prayer answered
Dawna Not recognizing the greatness of people around us.
Viv The people got past their feelings by going back to a time of purity, like a second birth. As they did this, they became pure and transcended their bad choices that had injured them. This allowed them to "tesseract" past the wounds.
Lutherans felt every pleasure must be denied and Babette invited them to enjoy their senses. They didn't overdo it—there was no feeling of heaviness. (French diners take 3 5 hours to consume a full-course meal.)
What is the calling of an artist? The sister who sang was an artist thour her only audience was her congregation. The famous singer her trained her felt she chose well to remain with them because he was largely forgotten by his audience.
People are satisfied with second-best-effort, but the artist is not.
Women tend not to acknowledge their greatness. An example is women denying their creativity.
Dad "My impression is that people evaluating didn't recognize creativity when they saw it because they didn't have a standard to go by." Dad shared his example of creatively figuring out a shoveling problem in his work.
Velinda The author could've been expressing her own wonderment on giving a full effort in her art.
Gwen Babette was enjoying the meal from the kitchen and she was glad the General was there to appreciate her efforts.
Viv Babette gave everything she had to give to provide the feast, and in that sense she is a Christ-figure.
Tara Gave the example to illustrate how, if Vance had gone ten years without being able to play the guitar and then was given one last chance to perform a concert, wouldn't he want to do all he could to perform to his very best ability?
Dawna Mom holds onto dreams and ideas—exemplified by her passion to do the salt-dough projects, the salads for family gatherings, the decorations for holidays, hollyhock dolls, crafting her afghans.
Velinda Mom is very creative; she fixed sewing projects.
Dad Babette was approached as bigger than life.
Velinda Summary/challenge: Be looking for grace and recognizing it, and seeing (even if in hindsight) how we are blessed by it even when we don't recognize it.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Transition from "What If" to "What Is"
I credit the following thoughts to my sister, Natasha Boren, who shared them on a conference call.
Thesis involves Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.
Ethos is about extablishing credibility.
Pathos (passion) is what the author does (what I do) to engage the reader emotionally.
Logos is the use of logic and reason.
There are four proofs of logical reasoning
(It goes from the past to the present to the future). Another example is the Lord's prayer.
Feedback from Natasha:
This looks very good--except for fix the spelling of "establishing" on your ethos line. And following the statement "be aware that logic can be used to support anything," you might want to clarify: 'so keep yourself well-grounded in your source of truth (core book)' or 'so protect yourself from being "taken for a ride"' or anyway that you can think of to add significance to the statement.
This info comes from Tiffany Earl through the Leadership Education Mentoring Institute (LEMI), so you should probably credit her. The only part I added was the idea that the Gettysburg Address is a perfect example. I think Dad added the Lord's Prayer. Since you asked, Liber Communities is what LEMI is calling the three adult scholar projects. You don't need to reference that.
Thesis involves Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.
Ethos is about extablishing credibility.
- I introduce myself and my credentials.
- I am answering the question, "What is your authority on this subject?"
Pathos (passion) is what the author does (what I do) to engage the reader emotionally.
- This is extremely important.
- The writer must make the reader CARE before information is thrown onto the page.
- This is what gives the writer (or speaker) power to lead an audience.
Logos is the use of logic and reason.
- Be aware that logic can be used to support anything.
There are four proofs of logical reasoning
- historical example
- personal or human experience
- logic & reason
- inspiration or revelation
(It goes from the past to the present to the future). Another example is the Lord's prayer.
Feedback from Natasha:
This looks very good--except for fix the spelling of "establishing" on your ethos line. And following the statement "be aware that logic can be used to support anything," you might want to clarify: 'so keep yourself well-grounded in your source of truth (core book)' or 'so protect yourself from being "taken for a ride"' or anyway that you can think of to add significance to the statement.
This info comes from Tiffany Earl through the Leadership Education Mentoring Institute (LEMI), so you should probably credit her. The only part I added was the idea that the Gettysburg Address is a perfect example. I think Dad added the Lord's Prayer. Since you asked, Liber Communities is what LEMI is calling the three adult scholar projects. You don't need to reference that.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
WHOLES, Being my thoughts about Louis Sachar's HOLES
It all began with a dream.
Elya Yelnats fell in love with a beautiful young girl.
He who hesitates is lost.
Elya Yelnats asked the girl's father for her hand in marriage.
Let's fight the war from here.
Elya Yelnats was told that she was already spoken for. Her price? A hog.
She would be a one-hog wife.
So, Elya Yelnats sought wisdom.
When the student is ready the teacher will appear.
Elya was told by the gypsy Zeroni to carry a pig up the mountain where the water ran uphill, and while letting it drink sing it a song...
Faithfully. Consistentley. Without fail. Thinking of the girl and his future happiness as he did so.
He delivered his pig on the appointed day. His pig weighed the same as the other suitor's pig. In the meantime, Elya had grown strong. To his dismay, the girl of his dreams made no distinction between him (with his youth, his good looks, his ardour) and the middle-aged-overweight-unschooled competitor.
Sour grapes.
Elya left, leaving the pig as a wedding gift (making her a two-hog wife) and, alas, forgetting the final part of his promise-- to carry Madam Zeroni up the hill--boarded a ship to the promised land.
Fast-forward a hundred years or so. Elya has a son who he (palindromically) names Stanley -- S t a n l e y y e l n a t S. His son's son is Stanley the II. His son's son's son is Stanly the III. His son's son's son's son is Stanley IV. By now Elya has become a family icon-- "the dirty rotten pig stealer". Each generation in turn blames Elya for their bad luck. All because Elya did not fulfill his promise to "carry the gypsy up the hill".
Stanley IV is an easy target for bullies at school. He is overweight and without friends. On the day of his arrest he had been delayed at school when his attempt to retrieve his stolen notebook ended up with his having to fish it out of the toilet--thus causing him to miss his bus. He ended up walking home. There he was minding his own business when a pair of shoes fell from an overpass into his path. These shoes were odiferous and so he collected them to present to his father, whose avocation was to discover an elixir that would sweeten soles.
The fateful shoes were to be the catalyst that would change the course of all their lives.
Stanley was found to be in possession of shoes that had been donated by a celebrity athlete to be auctioned to raise money for a homeless shelter. Stanley was indicted, tried, and sentenced to a year at a Camp Green Lake--where his character would be built be daily digging a hole 5 feet wide and 5 feet deep.
Camp Green Lake, which we will find was indeed once a lake surrounded by a prosperous frontier community, was now desolate, remote, and (dare we say) cursed. The camp's warden is bound by the golden handcuffs of hidden treasure a - a bequest handed down to her by her father, grandfather, and so forth to her progenitor who wreaked havoc upon all he knew through his pride, jealousy, and hate.
Coincidentally, a boy known as Zero is at the camp. Zero is good at digging and maintaining a low profile. He is also the one who stole the shoes that brought Stanley to the camp. Zero offers to dig Stanley's holes in exchange for reading and writing lessons.
A series of events compells Zero to strike out on his own across the desert. Stanley deliberates a day before deciding to do the right thing -- search for Zero and bring him back.
Charity never faileth.
Like Elya before him, Stanley is now strong and fit as a result of his consistent daily discipline. Stanley finds Zero. They orient themselves to a distant mountain that resembles "God's thumb". Stanley wondered if this was the same sanctuary where the family story says that the first Stanley Yelnats found refuge after having been robbed and left for dead. Stanley carries Zero up this mountain where they find a stream that runs up hill. They drink and eat wild onions and Stanley sings the lullaby "If only, if only."
As it turns out, Zero is a descendent of Madam Zeroni and Stanley's rescue of Zero has fulfilled his family's obligation. As Zero and Stanley retrace their steps to Camp Green Lake Stanley trusts Zero's sense of direction and uncanny mathematical ability to set their course. They end up finding the hidden treasure, which is in a trunk inscribed with the name Stanley Yelnats.
The story is circular, which completes one great whole.
Matthew 5: 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.
This scripture has always had the ring of the impossible to me. That is until my daughter suggested to me that another interpretation of the scripture could be "Be ye therefore whole, even as your Father in Heaven is whole." She described for me a sphere, complete except for one sliver (like a three-dimensional puzzle). The sliver is Jesus Christ. The sphere is me. I cannot be whole, or complete, without Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is one with The Father. As I direct my life to be one with Jesus Christ, or more accurately, invite Jesus Christ into my daily life I move towards completeness, wholeness, perfection.
My daily thoughts and actions either invite or dismiss the gift of the Holy Ghost .
Blame and complain.
Which begs the questions...
Elya Yelnats fell in love with a beautiful young girl.
He who hesitates is lost.
Elya Yelnats asked the girl's father for her hand in marriage.
Let's fight the war from here.
Elya Yelnats was told that she was already spoken for. Her price? A hog.
She would be a one-hog wife.
So, Elya Yelnats sought wisdom.
When the student is ready the teacher will appear.
Elya was told by the gypsy Zeroni to carry a pig up the mountain where the water ran uphill, and while letting it drink sing it a song...
"If only, if only, the woodpecker sighs,
"The bark on the tree was just a little bit softer."
While the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely,
He cries to the moo--oo--oon,
"If only, if only."
But he must promise in the end to carry Madam Zeroni up the hill, let her drink, and sing her the song. Otherwise, his family would be cursed forever.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Gypsy Zeroni tells him the solution to this riddle is to begin with a piglet and carry it up the mountain every day.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Gypsy Zeroni tells him the solution to this riddle is to begin with a piglet and carry it up the mountain every day.
This he did faithfully.
Faithfully. Consistentley. Without fail. Thinking of the girl and his future happiness as he did so.
He delivered his pig on the appointed day. His pig weighed the same as the other suitor's pig. In the meantime, Elya had grown strong. To his dismay, the girl of his dreams made no distinction between him (with his youth, his good looks, his ardour) and the middle-aged-overweight-unschooled competitor.
Sour grapes.
Elya left, leaving the pig as a wedding gift (making her a two-hog wife) and, alas, forgetting the final part of his promise-- to carry Madam Zeroni up the hill--boarded a ship to the promised land.
Fast-forward a hundred years or so. Elya has a son who he (palindromically) names Stanley -- S t a n l e y y e l n a t S. His son's son is Stanley the II. His son's son's son is Stanly the III. His son's son's son's son is Stanley IV. By now Elya has become a family icon-- "the dirty rotten pig stealer". Each generation in turn blames Elya for their bad luck. All because Elya did not fulfill his promise to "carry the gypsy up the hill".
Stanley IV is an easy target for bullies at school. He is overweight and without friends. On the day of his arrest he had been delayed at school when his attempt to retrieve his stolen notebook ended up with his having to fish it out of the toilet--thus causing him to miss his bus. He ended up walking home. There he was minding his own business when a pair of shoes fell from an overpass into his path. These shoes were odiferous and so he collected them to present to his father, whose avocation was to discover an elixir that would sweeten soles.
The fateful shoes were to be the catalyst that would change the course of all their lives.
Stanley was found to be in possession of shoes that had been donated by a celebrity athlete to be auctioned to raise money for a homeless shelter. Stanley was indicted, tried, and sentenced to a year at a Camp Green Lake--where his character would be built be daily digging a hole 5 feet wide and 5 feet deep.
Camp Green Lake, which we will find was indeed once a lake surrounded by a prosperous frontier community, was now desolate, remote, and (dare we say) cursed. The camp's warden is bound by the golden handcuffs of hidden treasure a - a bequest handed down to her by her father, grandfather, and so forth to her progenitor who wreaked havoc upon all he knew through his pride, jealousy, and hate.
Coincidentally, a boy known as Zero is at the camp. Zero is good at digging and maintaining a low profile. He is also the one who stole the shoes that brought Stanley to the camp. Zero offers to dig Stanley's holes in exchange for reading and writing lessons.
A series of events compells Zero to strike out on his own across the desert. Stanley deliberates a day before deciding to do the right thing -- search for Zero and bring him back.
Charity never faileth.
Like Elya before him, Stanley is now strong and fit as a result of his consistent daily discipline. Stanley finds Zero. They orient themselves to a distant mountain that resembles "God's thumb". Stanley wondered if this was the same sanctuary where the family story says that the first Stanley Yelnats found refuge after having been robbed and left for dead. Stanley carries Zero up this mountain where they find a stream that runs up hill. They drink and eat wild onions and Stanley sings the lullaby "If only, if only."
As it turns out, Zero is a descendent of Madam Zeroni and Stanley's rescue of Zero has fulfilled his family's obligation. As Zero and Stanley retrace their steps to Camp Green Lake Stanley trusts Zero's sense of direction and uncanny mathematical ability to set their course. They end up finding the hidden treasure, which is in a trunk inscribed with the name Stanley Yelnats.
The story is circular, which completes one great whole.
Matthew 5: 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.
This scripture has always had the ring of the impossible to me. That is until my daughter suggested to me that another interpretation of the scripture could be "Be ye therefore whole, even as your Father in Heaven is whole." She described for me a sphere, complete except for one sliver (like a three-dimensional puzzle). The sliver is Jesus Christ. The sphere is me. I cannot be whole, or complete, without Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is one with The Father. As I direct my life to be one with Jesus Christ, or more accurately, invite Jesus Christ into my daily life I move towards completeness, wholeness, perfection.
My daily thoughts and actions either invite or dismiss the gift of the Holy Ghost .
***
At what point did Elya's family blame everything on him? Did he begin it himself? Did he sigh, "If only, if only"? Did it begin with his "dirty-rotten, pig-stealing" self? Did his son blame every turn of misfortune on his father? "It's all because of my dirty-rotten, pig-stealing father." Did his grandson bemoan, "it's all because of my dirty-rotten, pig-stealing grandfather."?Blame and complain.
Which begs the questions...
Where am I on this continuem?
Where do I want to be?
Where do I want my children to be?
And my children's children? And my children's children's children?
The choices I make, the promises I make, the desires that direct my energies, the way I respond to conditions over which I have little or no control-- this is the script I write.
This is my bequest.
Is there anything that I want enough to change my behavior to get? Am I filling my "dream tank"? How can I create enough desire to overcome the law of inertia?
A body at rest tends to stay at rest. A body in motion tends to stay in motion.
I have found that blaming and complaining gets me nowhere. I have found, like Elya, that breaking a task down into smaller pieces allows me to chip away at my mountain of intentions and turn them into commitments.
Blame and complain are the shackles of servitude. As long as a person, a people, a tribe, a culture, a nation is in "blame and complain" mode he, she, they will remain in bondage.
Each of us must carry the gypsy up the hill.
Who, in my family, carried the gypsy up the hill? Every one of my progenitors played a part in my having what I have, being who I am. I am grateful to each of them.
Our family motto is "To the last generation". When making choices, when shaping our lives, we ask, "How will this effect my children, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren"? "What am I giving them permission to do if I do this?" We know we do not exist in a vacuum.
Post Script...
My 21 year-old daughter, my husband, my 13-year old daughter, and myself recently found ourselves in an esoteric conversation about string theory and Einstein's theory of relativity and the concept of time. We acturally have little knowledge of any of these and so were simply playing with "supposes". We postulated that time is not linear like this: __________________ but may be linear like this: . (in other words you take the line and turn it so you're looking at it as if it is a tunnel. In this way there is no dimension "time" -- all time exists at once. My 21 year-old related a conversation she had while in high school with one of her friends. He said that any choice we make not only effects the future, but also effects the past. Choices which hurt the present also hurt the future and hurt the past. I don't know how this could be, using my logical mind. And yet, this is exactly the idea which Louis Sachar brilliantly explored in his book Holes. This idea transitions Holes to Wholes. Eternity is a Whole. It is where all time is connected, all choices are connected, all consequences are connected, and all can be healed. All can become whole.
Post Script...
My 21 year-old daughter, my husband, my 13-year old daughter, and myself recently found ourselves in an esoteric conversation about string theory and Einstein's theory of relativity and the concept of time. We acturally have little knowledge of any of these and so were simply playing with "supposes". We postulated that time is not linear like this: __________________ but may be linear like this: . (in other words you take the line and turn it so you're looking at it as if it is a tunnel. In this way there is no dimension "time" -- all time exists at once. My 21 year-old related a conversation she had while in high school with one of her friends. He said that any choice we make not only effects the future, but also effects the past. Choices which hurt the present also hurt the future and hurt the past. I don't know how this could be, using my logical mind. And yet, this is exactly the idea which Louis Sachar brilliantly explored in his book Holes. This idea transitions Holes to Wholes. Eternity is a Whole. It is where all time is connected, all choices are connected, all consequences are connected, and all can be healed. All can become whole.
HOLES: White-board Notes from Conference Call
- Your choices DO make a difference to your descendents
- digging holes builds charachter
- the setting is bleak
- liked how it all tied together
- zero = nothing OR 0 holds a place of value mathematically
- children of Israel / Stanley is a Christ archetype (thorn in palm)
- generations cursed for sins of the fathers
- Stanley = everyman (no outstanding qualities)
- how self-confidence is gained
- watershesd moments (learned could do hard things
- cultural literacy (Zero had no "hook" for "Old Woman in the Shoe")
- parallels: Elya & Stanley were strengthened dailey doing small insignificant tasks which produced small incremental changes in them / climbed out / river ran uphill / went up God's thumb (giving thumbs up)
- realizes he likes himself
- tunes out trouble by thinking of mother (the family is of value -- the parents a comfort)
- the whole story brought you to the point of Stanley carrying Zero up the mountain
- journey he had to make--glad for events that happened rather than cursing them
- once at this point he gets inspiration to make a plan
- the whole message of getting the strength by doing something every day
- allegory / analogy / metaphore -- blessing family forward ;& backward in time
- even with the hard luck they are philosophical, have a lot of love, a strong family -- they are good people / gonna do good things with this
- you have to figure this out as your'ed reading along
- good children's literature teaches without being preachy
- decision about the direction they're going (when retracing their steps back)-- Stanley said go one way, Zero said go the other. The wrong decision would lead to death. Yet Stanley trusted someone smaller and less educated than he was.
- I like that the inspiration was the "Thumb of God". Usually Stanley couldn't see anything in the distance. He would get little tiny glimpses.
- In the middle of the day we are caught up with our lives. We are more likely to be reflective in the morning or the evening. At these moments we can orient ourselves as to our direction. (prayer, meditation)
- We must prepare ourselves and do the work ourselves. We must "carry the gypsy up the hill". (As Christ carried his cross up the hill).
- It was about sacrificing to save this one person.
- theological feature: "I found refuge on God's thumb" (or in God's hand).
- a goal is something to reach
Synopsis: This is a multigenerational allegory of two families, climaxing in the multigenerational setting of God's Thumb.
A family's tradition of good (unity) and ill (blame and complain) gets passed along with the family name from father to son. All the family's bad luck gets blamed on the great-grandfather who failed to keep his promise to carry a gypsy up a mountain. His son's bad luck was to be robbed by Kissin' Kate Barlow, so he was left to survive by seeking refuge on God's Thumb.
Two generations later, Stanley Yelnats finds himself digging holes (to improve his character) at a camp for juvenile delinquents (thanks to the family's perpetual bad luck) near God's Thumb. He befriends Zero, a fellow camp resident, who runs away from his horrible mistreatment at camp. Stanley tracks him down and rescues him by carrying him up the mountain to seek refuge on God's Thumb. They return to camp and find the treasure the camp owner's family has been searching for for generations (the real purpose for digging the holes). It turns out the treasure found was the case belonging to Stanley's ancestor for whom he was named. So Stanley's family got the treasure.
What is more, the friend turned out to be the gypsy's descendent, so when Stanley carried him up the hill, he broke the family curse. His dad made a breakthrough discovery. And Stanley became confident and learned to like himself.
The history of family and place is woven artfully into the present day story. We learn, although Stanley doesn't, why the deadly poisonous lizards don't bite Zero or him: they've been eating onions with an amazing preventative healing quality—originally grown by Kissin' Kate Barlow's dear friend, Sam, who could fix any trouble.
Discussion insights
Vivian: Stanley Yelnats and the story are both palindromes.
Tara: Your choices make a difference to your children.
Your descendents face the consequences of your choices.
Natasha: Zero is not equal to nothing, but rather it holds a place of value (mathematically and allegorically)
Holes is about a place carried forward through history and a family carried forward through history. It is allegorical to the Children of Israel whose story is also about a place and family carried forward through history. And the children are cursed for the sins of their fathers. In the end the Christ archetype (Stanley who carries his burden up a hill and gets a thorn in his palm) heals both his family and his friend's family.
There is a reference to the importance of cultural literacy when Zero can't relate to a common reference (the Old Woman who lived in a shoe) due to his lack of education.
Stanley is "every man" because he has no outstanding qualities and anyone can relate to him and his struggles.
Tara: Through his struggles, Stanley is transformed and gains confidence.
Dawna: The last night Stanley is up in the mountain, he's so happy for no apparent reason. He reviews his life and realizes that this is the first time he really likes himself.
He tunes out his troubles by picturing himself with his family. He keeps thinking about his family the whole time. There is a strong sense of family connectedness.
In the end, he was grateful for all the trials that brought him to the point he met his destiny—to carry his friend up the mountain.
Gwen: the whole story is to bring you to the point of his trial—to carry Zero up the mountain.
Velinda: The gypsy's lesson of carrying the pig up the hill to grow stronger every day, digging holes to grow a little stronger every day, and Sachar writing the book a page and a half every day all illustrate how we can manage little daily steps that, over time, amount to big things happening in our lives.
Strong families also carry us through our difficulties.
Reiterate Tara's comment that we can bless our families forward and backward in time by our actions today.
Gwen: Holes is an intriguing mystery. Good literature teaches life stories without being preachy. It teaches through adventures.
Dawna: Stanley trusted Zero to lead him in the right direction back to camp, even though Zero had far less education. Zero was intuitively good at math.
Vivian: The big journeys—the ones that really count—have to be done by the person facing the mountain. It can't be done for them.
Gwen: Likes that the "Thumb of God" was the inspiration that guided and directed Stanley's life.
Velinda: Stanley got only occasional glimpses of God's Thumb at the beginning and end of the day because he couldn't see through the haze during the day.
Gwen: In life, we are more reflective at the start and end of the day because we are busily occupied with our daily business throughout the rest of the day.
Sachar was inspired in writing this book. His other books don't have near the depth of this one.
Vivian: Olivia says his book is applicable.
Gwen: It is an allegory of Christ carrying His cross up the hill
Dawna: Big Thumb, God's Thumb, Thumb of God are all different titles for the symbolical God of this book, just as we have many different titles for God in life.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Life Lessons from Scout
Having Guests
p.32 That boys yo' comp'ny
Diplomacy
p.59 You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...
p.40 Sometimes it's better to bend the law a little in special cases. In your case the law remains rigid.
Fairness
p.41 Are you going to take out your disapproval on his children?
School
p.43 Project...Unit...Group Dynamics...Good Citizenship... but as I inshed sluggishly along the treadmill of the Maycomb County School System... 12 years of unrelieved boredom.
p.45 ...authorities released us early
Romance
p.55 Dill was becoming something of a trial...asked me...to marry him, promptly forgot about it. He staked me out, marked me as his property, said I was the only girl he would ever love, then he neglected me.
Weeds
p. 56 ...nut grass....Second Battle of the Marne
Being Teased
p.58 first person she thought about teasing and the best defense....was a spirited defense.
Friendship
p.59 ...never told on us, never played cat and mouse with us, not interested in our private lives...
p.32 That boys yo' comp'ny
Diplomacy
p.59 You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...
p.40 Sometimes it's better to bend the law a little in special cases. In your case the law remains rigid.
Fairness
p.41 Are you going to take out your disapproval on his children?
School
p.43 Project...Unit...Group Dynamics...Good Citizenship... but as I inshed sluggishly along the treadmill of the Maycomb County School System... 12 years of unrelieved boredom.
p.45 ...authorities released us early
Romance
p.55 Dill was becoming something of a trial...asked me...to marry him, promptly forgot about it. He staked me out, marked me as his property, said I was the only girl he would ever love, then he neglected me.
Weeds
p. 56 ...nut grass....Second Battle of the Marne
Being Teased
p.58 first person she thought about teasing and the best defense....was a spirited defense.
Friendship
p.59 ...never told on us, never played cat and mouse with us, not interested in our private lives...
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Of Finches and Mockingbirds
The first time I recall reading Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird I was in the back seat of a four-door sedan barrelling down the highway towards Mexico City. I was flanked in the back seat by my two youngest sisters. Let's see, if I was nearly 30 that would have made them nearly 23 and 20. Yes, I remember now. The only way I would have gone to Mexico was if I were in the company of fluent spanish speakers. One sister had recently returned from a health services mission in Argentina. In the front seat were my brother-in-law (who had served a mission in Central America) and my sister (who had served a mission in Spain). We had taken several books with us to read aloud as we traveled. This book was one of them.
I next read the book aloud to my tween and teenage daughters, just a year ago. Our small town library had provided free copies as a Big Read Humanities Grant selection. So, this month's reading was at least my third visit to the book. I kept a yellow highlighter in one hand, applying it liberally. I became completely immersed in Scout's comings and goings. Of course I knew what was going to happen. I anticipated Atticus's courtroom plea for human decencey, integrity, and the rule of law. I knew Tom Robinson would be a casualty to the ignorance, fear, and prejudice of his neighbors.
Neighbors. This story is about neighbors. This story is about neighbors making a difference. Neighbors hurting and neighbors helping. This story dispells the myth of rugged individualism and installs in its place the need for a community wielding faith, hope, and charity.
It is a story about abandonment and salvation.
Abandonment. Scout is motherless. Dill is fatherless. Mayella is motherless. Arthur is fatherless. Nearly all the significant adults in Scout's life are single. Each one is fighting a battle, of sorts. There is Atticus, holding tenaciously to integrity as the chief virtue he would instill in his children. There is Calpurnia, every bit the equal and even the better of the priveledged community in social graces, education, and insight into human character. There is Mrs. Dubose, a victim of the good intentions of medical attention which has addicted her to morphine. These and all the others not singled out here are bound by the expectations of society and using what ammunition they can to break the chains that bind them.
Ammunition. In this quiver are the arrows of determination (Mrs. Dubose), charity (Tom Robinson), cheerfulness (Miss Maudie), discipline (Calpurnia), humility (Atticus), repentance (Walter Clunningham), long suffering (Arthur Radley).
Chains. Links in that awful chain are pride and revenge (Bob Ewell), ignorance, poverty and abuse ( Mayella Ewell), conformity (Aunt Alexandra's guests), shallowness (Miss Caroline).
Atticus encouraged his children to try to see things through other's eyes-- to "walk in their shoes", as it were. Scout found herself wishing, while the jurors were deliberating, that the entire waiting crowd would concentrate on setting Tom Robinson free. Which is exactly why Harper Lee wrote this book. She wrote that Scout heard Jem say that "if enough people--a stadium full, maybe--were to concentrate on one thing, such as setting a tree afire in the woods, that the tree would ignite of its own accord." That, in a nutshell is how change comes about. That is how ideas take hold.
Salvation. Arthur Radley--quiet, alone, misunderstood, misrepresented, all but forgotten--watches. Watches kindnesses and cruelty, superstition and bravery, all the drama and dullness of an ordinary neighborhood in a forgotten corner of a nation in the throes of depression. Arthur "Boo" Radley hears a child's cry for help when all others are deaf to it. Arthur Radley, in his innocence, rights the wrong and saves the children of the scapegoat of Maycomb, Alabama.
We are the finches. Do we recognize those that are mockingbirds among us? Do we hear their song? Atticus reminded his children, "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us." Scout noticed that the feeling in the courtroom during Tom Robinson's trial was "exactly the same as a cold February morning, when the mockingbirds were still." Mr. Underwood, (interesting name for a reporter--I wonder if Miss Lee composed her book on an Underwood typewriter), the newspaper editor figured it was a "sin to kill cripples, be they standing, sitting, or escaping. He likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children." And, at last, Scout observed that to drag Arthur Radley into the limelight would be "well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?"
If I am to "get on with my life" I must get this essay monkey off my back. Scout's story is at peril of fading from the "back burner" of my mind into oblivian. What is Scout's message for me?
Scout is telling me that the pen is mightier than the sword. Is there a message I am to share? What is it and
how shall I tell it?
Scout is shouting to me about education-- the core phase of education, where one learns about good and bad, right and wrong--the guiding values and discipline phase of education. Lest I, the reader, miss this point she tells me on page 374 of 376 pages, "As I made my way home, I thought Jem and I would get grown but there wasn't much else left for us to learn, except possibly algebra." Am I equipping myself and my children with a grounded "Scout Style" foundation? Scout serves up diplomacy, fairness, friendship, hospitality, hypocrasy, misplaced guilt, optimism, self-discipline, standards, boundaries, dress and behavior, equality, grammar, courtesy, family honor, respect, parenting, expectations, welfare mentality, vocabulary, the power of unified thought (for good or ill), greatness, the rule of law, literacy, situational ethics, and folly, to name just a few.
Scout is challenging me to notice the details. She is a genius at observation and description. The Finch family, like mine "ran high to daughters". Scout found that she had unwittingly spent her tender years "wallowing illicitly in the daily papers". In her writing mentor Calpurnia's teaching "there was no sentimentality: I seldom pleased her and she seldom rewarded me." I am witness to childhood dares as Jem "treaded water at the gate". A looming shadow was "crisp as toast". At a crucial moment Scout "tarried in indecision a moment too long." Atticus was called to an emergency session of the state legislature as "the Governor was eager to scrape a few barnacles off the ship of state."
Scout is inviting me to write. She is showing me how to observe and record. She is suggesting I pay attention to those around me. She tells me I can send a love letter of gratitude to the uncelebrated heros of my existance.
Scout's world was everything my world is not. Her town was tired, sagged, moved slowly, crumbled. People shuffled, took their time, were in no hurry, yet had a vague optimism and trust in a president who assured them they had "Nothing to fear but fear itself". Her days were filled with routine contentment as she and her brother and their playmate spent the summer hours improving, fussing, and running through their familiar and time-worn list of dramas.
I am a benefactor of Harper Lee's courageous pen. My children are likewise indebted to her opening hearts to the fact that "most people are real nice when you finally see them."
I next read the book aloud to my tween and teenage daughters, just a year ago. Our small town library had provided free copies as a Big Read Humanities Grant selection. So, this month's reading was at least my third visit to the book. I kept a yellow highlighter in one hand, applying it liberally. I became completely immersed in Scout's comings and goings. Of course I knew what was going to happen. I anticipated Atticus's courtroom plea for human decencey, integrity, and the rule of law. I knew Tom Robinson would be a casualty to the ignorance, fear, and prejudice of his neighbors.
Neighbors. This story is about neighbors. This story is about neighbors making a difference. Neighbors hurting and neighbors helping. This story dispells the myth of rugged individualism and installs in its place the need for a community wielding faith, hope, and charity.
It is a story about abandonment and salvation.
Abandonment. Scout is motherless. Dill is fatherless. Mayella is motherless. Arthur is fatherless. Nearly all the significant adults in Scout's life are single. Each one is fighting a battle, of sorts. There is Atticus, holding tenaciously to integrity as the chief virtue he would instill in his children. There is Calpurnia, every bit the equal and even the better of the priveledged community in social graces, education, and insight into human character. There is Mrs. Dubose, a victim of the good intentions of medical attention which has addicted her to morphine. These and all the others not singled out here are bound by the expectations of society and using what ammunition they can to break the chains that bind them.
Ammunition. In this quiver are the arrows of determination (Mrs. Dubose), charity (Tom Robinson), cheerfulness (Miss Maudie), discipline (Calpurnia), humility (Atticus), repentance (Walter Clunningham), long suffering (Arthur Radley).
Chains. Links in that awful chain are pride and revenge (Bob Ewell), ignorance, poverty and abuse ( Mayella Ewell), conformity (Aunt Alexandra's guests), shallowness (Miss Caroline).
Atticus encouraged his children to try to see things through other's eyes-- to "walk in their shoes", as it were. Scout found herself wishing, while the jurors were deliberating, that the entire waiting crowd would concentrate on setting Tom Robinson free. Which is exactly why Harper Lee wrote this book. She wrote that Scout heard Jem say that "if enough people--a stadium full, maybe--were to concentrate on one thing, such as setting a tree afire in the woods, that the tree would ignite of its own accord." That, in a nutshell is how change comes about. That is how ideas take hold.
Salvation. Arthur Radley--quiet, alone, misunderstood, misrepresented, all but forgotten--watches. Watches kindnesses and cruelty, superstition and bravery, all the drama and dullness of an ordinary neighborhood in a forgotten corner of a nation in the throes of depression. Arthur "Boo" Radley hears a child's cry for help when all others are deaf to it. Arthur Radley, in his innocence, rights the wrong and saves the children of the scapegoat of Maycomb, Alabama.
We are the finches. Do we recognize those that are mockingbirds among us? Do we hear their song? Atticus reminded his children, "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us." Scout noticed that the feeling in the courtroom during Tom Robinson's trial was "exactly the same as a cold February morning, when the mockingbirds were still." Mr. Underwood, (interesting name for a reporter--I wonder if Miss Lee composed her book on an Underwood typewriter), the newspaper editor figured it was a "sin to kill cripples, be they standing, sitting, or escaping. He likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children." And, at last, Scout observed that to drag Arthur Radley into the limelight would be "well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?"
If I am to "get on with my life" I must get this essay monkey off my back. Scout's story is at peril of fading from the "back burner" of my mind into oblivian. What is Scout's message for me?
Scout is telling me that the pen is mightier than the sword. Is there a message I am to share? What is it and
how shall I tell it?
Scout is shouting to me about education-- the core phase of education, where one learns about good and bad, right and wrong--the guiding values and discipline phase of education. Lest I, the reader, miss this point she tells me on page 374 of 376 pages, "As I made my way home, I thought Jem and I would get grown but there wasn't much else left for us to learn, except possibly algebra." Am I equipping myself and my children with a grounded "Scout Style" foundation? Scout serves up diplomacy, fairness, friendship, hospitality, hypocrasy, misplaced guilt, optimism, self-discipline, standards, boundaries, dress and behavior, equality, grammar, courtesy, family honor, respect, parenting, expectations, welfare mentality, vocabulary, the power of unified thought (for good or ill), greatness, the rule of law, literacy, situational ethics, and folly, to name just a few.
Scout is challenging me to notice the details. She is a genius at observation and description. The Finch family, like mine "ran high to daughters". Scout found that she had unwittingly spent her tender years "wallowing illicitly in the daily papers". In her writing mentor Calpurnia's teaching "there was no sentimentality: I seldom pleased her and she seldom rewarded me." I am witness to childhood dares as Jem "treaded water at the gate". A looming shadow was "crisp as toast". At a crucial moment Scout "tarried in indecision a moment too long." Atticus was called to an emergency session of the state legislature as "the Governor was eager to scrape a few barnacles off the ship of state."
Scout is inviting me to write. She is showing me how to observe and record. She is suggesting I pay attention to those around me. She tells me I can send a love letter of gratitude to the uncelebrated heros of my existance.
Scout's world was everything my world is not. Her town was tired, sagged, moved slowly, crumbled. People shuffled, took their time, were in no hurry, yet had a vague optimism and trust in a president who assured them they had "Nothing to fear but fear itself". Her days were filled with routine contentment as she and her brother and their playmate spent the summer hours improving, fussing, and running through their familiar and time-worn list of dramas.
I am a benefactor of Harper Lee's courageous pen. My children are likewise indebted to her opening hearts to the fact that "most people are real nice
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Whiteboard Notations & Grand Argument Storymind Notes on TKAM
Two weeks ago I filled a white board with comments made during the conference call my sisters and father had after reading Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Here they are, in no particular order or significance...
exagerated characters
say-go-be-didn't
suck in your stomach and put some color on
rules of southern women
fringe people
It's not time to worry yet
embarrassed of her dad
tolerance
Daddy/Atticus parallels
weak excuses
side stories make it palatable to a Southern audience
not just an Uncle Tom's Cabin story
both a principle and issue book
careful observing of human nature
insight into human nature
that's just what happened to Joseph (archetype)
say so much with a little phrase
profiling
what is the "static" in our lives preventing us from hearing calls for help
background--literacy--how long your family's been reading
faulting Atticus (or ourselves) for allowing vulnerability
prejudice is pervasive
Civil Right's couldn't have happend before the Salk vaccine
social situations in the South are complex
Dill ran away because he wasn't needed (or didn't feel needed)
I led the discussion, beginning with a brief overview of the Grand Argument Story as explained by Tracy and Laura Hickman at a "Big Read" event I attended a year ago. They explained that there are four journeys in a story-- the Objective Journey, the Main Character Journey, the Impact Character Journey, and the Subjective Journey. Their engaging power-point lecture draws speculations and input from the audience. Eventually it is clear that in THIS story the Objective Journey is the trial of Tom Robinson. The entire town is interested in this event. This is a journey of prejudice. The Main Character Journey would be Scout's. We see the events through her eyes. The Impact Character Journey is Arthur Radley's (or Boo's). He impacts Scout the most. His influence is felt throughout the story (as suggested on the first page of the book). The Subjective Journey is that of both Scout and Boo--their story of overcoming their own prejudices and preconceptions.
I am not saying here that I necessarily agree with this. Some might say that Boo is a Christ archetype. Possibly more on that later.
Speaking of Character Archetypes, the Hickmans go on to explain the Drivers of the Story (or those that move the story forward) and the Passengers of the Story (or those that are taken along for the ride). The Drivers are the Protagonist (or hero), the Contagonist (the one with his or her own agenda, a manipulator, a puppet master), the Guardian (the protector, always weak), and the Antagonist (or the bad guy, as it were). The Passengers of the story are the Skeptic (disbelieving, questioning), the Reason (thinks everything through), the Emotion (feels deeply, acts according to feelings), and the Sidekick (hopeful, believing, faith). Now the fun begins. Who is who in this story? Here are the names: Tom Robinson, May Ella Ewell, Atticus, Bob Ewell, Jem, Scout, Arthur Radley, Dill, and Calpurnia. Now to plug them into their roles in the story. (I won't give away here all the fun the Hickman's have drawing the conclusions out of the audience).
I neglected to share the Mythological Cycle of the Journey Story (again as outlined by the Hickmans). First, the main character crosses a threshold (a point of no return or the first step which takes him or her into the unknown)--the "Threshold Crossing". A Helper comes. There is a "call to adventure". A "prize" is gained (or the person is changed, experiences character growth). The "threshold" is crossed again. This is the "Threshold Return". But this is not the end. There is a "Return to the world", "Attaining the prize", "Helpers" again, and "Tests". The Hickmans also call this the Storymind.
My teenage daughter explains this cycle using the movie "Up". In her words, "Mr. Fredricson wants to go on an adventure. A boy called Russel comes and helps him. They cross the threshold when they go through a storm. A test they go through is trying to return the bird to its home before the other evil guy can get it. More helpers come in the characters of Doug the dog and the bird. They do get the bird back to its home. The go back to society. They have crossed the threshold back home. The prize is they both have grown and learned that relationships are an adventure."
exagerated characters
say-go-be-didn't
suck in your stomach and put some color on
rules of southern women
fringe people
It's not time to worry yet
embarrassed of her dad
tolerance
Daddy/Atticus parallels
weak excuses
side stories make it palatable to a Southern audience
not just an Uncle Tom's Cabin story
both a principle and issue book
careful observing of human nature
insight into human nature
that's just what happened to Joseph (archetype)
say so much with a little phrase
profiling
what is the "static" in our lives preventing us from hearing calls for help
background--literacy--how long your family's been reading
faulting Atticus (or ourselves) for allowing vulnerability
prejudice is pervasive
Civil Right's couldn't have happend before the Salk vaccine
social situations in the South are complex
Dill ran away because he wasn't needed (or didn't feel needed)
I led the discussion, beginning with a brief overview of the Grand Argument Story as explained by Tracy and Laura Hickman at a "Big Read" event I attended a year ago. They explained that there are four journeys in a story-- the Objective Journey, the Main Character Journey, the Impact Character Journey, and the Subjective Journey. Their engaging power-point lecture draws speculations and input from the audience. Eventually it is clear that in THIS story the Objective Journey is the trial of Tom Robinson. The entire town is interested in this event. This is a journey of prejudice. The Main Character Journey would be Scout's. We see the events through her eyes. The Impact Character Journey is Arthur Radley's (or Boo's). He impacts Scout the most. His influence is felt throughout the story (as suggested on the first page of the book). The Subjective Journey is that of both Scout and Boo--their story of overcoming their own prejudices and preconceptions.
I am not saying here that I necessarily agree with this. Some might say that Boo is a Christ archetype. Possibly more on that later.
Speaking of Character Archetypes, the Hickmans go on to explain the Drivers of the Story (or those that move the story forward) and the Passengers of the Story (or those that are taken along for the ride). The Drivers are the Protagonist (or hero), the Contagonist (the one with his or her own agenda, a manipulator, a puppet master), the Guardian (the protector, always weak), and the Antagonist (or the bad guy, as it were). The Passengers of the story are the Skeptic (disbelieving, questioning), the Reason (thinks everything through), the Emotion (feels deeply, acts according to feelings), and the Sidekick (hopeful, believing, faith). Now the fun begins. Who is who in this story? Here are the names: Tom Robinson, May Ella Ewell, Atticus, Bob Ewell, Jem, Scout, Arthur Radley, Dill, and Calpurnia. Now to plug them into their roles in the story. (I won't give away here all the fun the Hickman's have drawing the conclusions out of the audience).
I neglected to share the Mythological Cycle of the Journey Story (again as outlined by the Hickmans). First, the main character crosses a threshold (a point of no return or the first step which takes him or her into the unknown)--the "Threshold Crossing". A Helper comes. There is a "call to adventure". A "prize" is gained (or the person is changed, experiences character growth). The "threshold" is crossed again. This is the "Threshold Return". But this is not the end. There is a "Return to the world", "Attaining the prize", "Helpers" again, and "Tests". The Hickmans also call this the Storymind.
My teenage daughter explains this cycle using the movie "Up". In her words, "Mr. Fredricson wants to go on an adventure. A boy called Russel comes and helps him. They cross the threshold when they go through a storm. A test they go through is trying to return the bird to its home before the other evil guy can get it. More helpers come in the characters of Doug the dog and the bird. They do get the bird back to its home. The go back to society. They have crossed the threshold back home. The prize is they both have grown and learned that relationships are an adventure."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
