Day Three

"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"

I think the above quotation accurately sums up the reason why we are required to put our thoughts about the class into a blog. For me, it is much easier to express my thoughts and opinions on a piece of literature if I'm able to write/type the words out myself. But anyway...

On the third day of class, Professor Sexson read through the poem "The Demon Lover" by an anonymous author. This poem had striking similarities to Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" which only reinforced the claim that every story is just another retelling of a different story. Joyce Carol Oates found inspiration to write her story from the true crimes committed by Charles Schmid (which she read in an Arizona newspaper). She always pulled inpiration from "The Demon Lover" in that the devil in the poem had a cloven foot, which is what gave away who he really was; Arnold Friend was similar in that he stuffed his boots with tin cans in order to make himself appear taller. It makes the reader think that Arnold Friend could really has a "cloven foot" and represents evil. By taking this class, I hope to pick up on more of these connections in poems, stories, limericks, etc. I think it is very interesting that nearly every story you read exists solely based on the fact that a previous story was written that gave the author inspiration to write his or her interpretation.

This class is very quickly turning out to be one of my favorites. I have to say, it really beats sitting through an Organic Chemistry lecture.

Au Revoir!
Michelle S.