First person narrator (opening sentences: "We" "he" "I")
large conflict: open marriage proposed by "happy" husband
small conflict: expiration of yogurt
reason for persistence of small conflict: avoidance (irony)
No immediate attempt on the narrator's part to participate in the conflict. Why?
Statement: "You're welcome to try....": she claims that she is being literal/truthful.
But MAYBE she is trying to submerge her negative feelings about this. And she is tarnishing his character only because she is upset.
OR she really believes he will do nothing & it's just talk.
Perhaps she sees the advantage of knowing his thoughts and not being cheated on.
He is surprised because he figures that she is very energetic, assertive, and sexual.
GROUP WORK, Mar. 9, 2020: Use the glossary of literary terms in the Textbook for this task.
A. Terry Moore, "Maria 2032": What kind of narrator is there in the story? Through this method of narration, what are we able to learn (or not learn) that is important about the 2 main characters? What are the political implications of the story in relation to our current political reality in the U.S.? On the other hand, how is this also a story about family?
B. Haruki Murakami, "The Little Green Monster": What kind of narrator is there in the story? Through this method of narration, what are we able to learn (or not learn) that is important about the woman and the monster? For this text to make sense, do we need to see it as symbolic and do a psychological analysis of the woman's desires and fears? If so, what are her fears and desires and how are they reflected in her thoughts/"actions" toward the monster?
C. Amina Gautier, "Now We Will Be Happy": What kind of narrator is there in the story? Through this method of narration, what are we able to learn (or not learn) that is important about Rosa, Pedro, and Yauba? What is the significance of the story's title?
Solution Terry Moore- Future Shock-Maria 2032
1. Narrator: Third person omniscient
2. Characters contrast with each other: Max is conservative, Maria is more liberal. Maria is introvert; Max is outspoken, extrovert. Max was popular had a lot of attention. Social classes: Max is upper class; Maria is from a middle-lower class background. Maria is Latina, Max is white.
3. There is an allusion to Donald Trump; just like Trump he was really outspoken against public office but he still decides to run for public office (Irony).
4. Parents played an important role on both characters. Maria's parents wanted her to pursuit a career in the High-Tech industry (Engineer). Max inherited money from his parents (allusion to Donald Trump). Maria's dad were supportive of her choice; however, "her dad knew she would face many cold, dark times in the days ahead."
Murakami, Haruki - "The Little Green Monster."
1. Narrator - First Person
2. What are we learning that is important between the woman and the monster - The unrequited love between the monster and the woman - the monster came to the woman because it wanted love and the woman denied the monster, judging it by its cover as she believed the monster came to harm her.
3. Do we need to see it as symbolic and do a psychological analysis of the woman's fears and desires? - The woman gave love towards the oak tree, as the monster can read minds and she talked with the oak tree in her head since she was a child. The woman herself seems to desire control and fears not having it, as when she believed the monster was coming to harm her, she ran away and hid. Even when she discovered the monster wasn't coming to harm her and actively tried to hurt it, by imagining torture and calling it ugly until it disappeared, and didn't even give the monster the ability to say its last words, it indicates that the monster symbolizes the husband and is a scapegoat for him since she must be afraid to strike back at him (the husband).
Notes on Haruki Murakami, "Little Green Monster" by TJ
Magical Realism - Realistic setting with
supernatural/magical elements, genre originated in South America;
can also be Surrealism
First person narrative
Unrequited love between the woman and the monster; the monster comes to the woman in search of love and the woman does not reciprocate, instead choosing to run away as she fears the monster has come to harm her.
Pyschological Criticism - what someone wants below the surface; not like "I want ice cream" but something deeper like feelings and more significant desires
Analysis - The woman desires control and fears not having it. She fears loneliness and lack of purpose as her husband is gone for work and she has nothing to do in the home. She and her husband are not close as he is usually working, leaving her alone for the day leading her to build a bond with the oak tree. She planted the oak tree as a child, revealing that she had never left her parents house and instead her husband moved in; her parents have either left or passed away leaving just the wife and husband. She could've forced the husband to move into her house as a way of seeking control.
She initially flees from the monster believing it to harm it, but when she realizes that it doesn't mean her any harm, she violently retaliates against it in her mind. She does this because the monster symbolizes something greater;
• The monster itself can symbolize the husband, entering her home and trying to love her when she doesn't love him back, and tries to strike back to regain control of her life. This connects with traditional Japanese family culture as the man is typically considered the head of the household, so she may feel powerless against him and lashes out at the monster to substitute for the fact that she can't or doesn't want to lash out at the husband
• The monster can symbolize her, she sees herself as unworthy and unloved and she wants to 'kill' this part of herself that she doesn't like. she tries to love her husband but is rejected by the husband who is never home for her. Due to older Japanese societal norms, she is blaming herself for being unloveable instead of looking towards the husband for why he doesn't love her.
• it can represent the outside world as she is very bored and lonely, cooped up in the home. She is mad and fears the outside world as she has no greater purpose and without her husband she has little meaning.
On some level, she is going crazy as she doesn't understand that the monster isn't real and actively tries to kill it. She is also 'crazy' as she chooses to stay cooped up inside the home staring at the same garden she's stayed at for years rather than going outside and doing something, it seems like she has no personality of her own.
The story is told entirely through an inner monologue, she doesn't utter a single world during the story, revealing that the monster is a part of her subconscious. The monster could be a paranoia-based manifestation of her inner fears and can read her mind as her fears are still a part of her.
She could be roleplaying as the husband against the manifestation of her fears to help regain some feeling of control or power when she is usually helpless.
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