Section II of Beloved...

In Section II, we finally get an up close and personal shift in the narration. The first person transition allows, in my opinion, a more in-depth perspective of what's happening in the story. Mainly because it is devoid of bias or any other point of views. It is definitely refreshing to see the already well-developed characters through a different perspective or opinion. I think that Beloved does this so we can understand the sort of confusing and often brash actions the characters make. Particularly, we see this with Sethe. A brutal woman who murdered her children in order to "save them" from enslavement is often seen as inexcusable and disgusting. However, with the first person, it gives way to an explanation almost as to why or how this happened. Even with the first person point of view, the actions and everything that happened with the previous narration still doesn't make it okay. But is interesting to see how the layout of not only the story but the characters change as well.

Beloved II

In the second section of Beloved the first-person narration that is used definitely adds to my understanding of the inner thoughts of the characters in the novel. Third-person narration can create false perspectives of people and it is interesting when I could finally see how the characters “talked” and viewed situations. Sethe’s haunted past was definitely not a surprise but was interesting learning more about it and she revealed a lot about her character through her monologues. The quote “Should have known better. Did know better. Whatever is goin on outside my door ain’t for me. The world is in this room. This here’s all there is and all there needs to be” (215). This quote is extremely personal and internal within her head and there is no other way to represent this without first-person narration. The narration shift that takes place gives the reader more insight into the lives of the characters we have already learned so much about but from a whole different angle.

Beloved Section II

I personally find it easier to follow first person narratives more because I can pretend I'm the character and try to sympathize with them to have a deeper connection with the story. With Sethe, however, it was going to be difficult to really feel what she was feeling that would ultimately drive her to do the heinous thing that she did. On page 238 I noticed the constant repetition of questions and statements beginning with "Maybe". "Maybe she lasted...Maybe Halle was trying to get to me...Maybe what sounded like shots really was...Maybe." This sense of uncertainty reminded me of what it feels like to have to make these tough decisions that will change your whole life and the tremendous amount of stress it can bring. It's not uncommon for this feeling of mental helplessness to drive people to do the utterly worst things possible.

Beloved Section II

In Section II of the novel, we are finally given some first person narration from the main characters, giving us insight on their thoughts. The narration I found myself most drawn to was Denver's. Prior to her chapter in the novel, I envisioned her as a child who has been through a lot, but ultimately was just selfish and bratty. Through her first person narration, I now see the scared, isolated little girl that she really is. Living with Sethe has been no easy task for her, as she constantly lives in fear that she will face the fate of her sister one day. She even says that she is afraid to fall asleep while her mother is braiding her hair, but "I know if I do I won't wake up." (244) Her fear of her mother is also shown in her protectiveness of Beloved, and explains why she clings to her so much. I think Morrison's change in perspectives in this section is most effective in Denver's section especially, because I feel as if we knew the least about her prior to this.

Section II Narration

Narration from Sethe is almost what I was expecting with her haunted past and ways of mentally dodging her "rememories." She is harshly lying to herself about the negatives in her world by focusing on what could be positive in it. Beloved's mere existence has brought Sethe to the conclusion that she shouldn't feel bad about a number of negatives she had brought upon not only Beloved, but Baby Suggs, the town, her other children, and most of all herself. No woman or man could go on the way Sethe does on a day to day basis after going through the horrid things she has gone through without lying to herself about the outcome and the meaning. She is a master of repression and denial as well as a visionary for making her world seem better than it is. Tools necessary for someone with her past and no one to lean on.

Beloved Section 2

Sethe's monologue in section two reveals a lot about her character. We have only been able to get glimpses of her past up until her section. Sethe thinks back to when she killed Beloved. Now that she has her back, Sethe wants to tell Beloved everything. She wants to explain to her why she killed her. "When I explain it she'll understand, because she understands everything already". This thinking leads her to remember her mother and how she was lynched. She wonders if her mother attempted to run away and leave her behind but the thought of that is too much for her. Sethe wants to believe that her mother loved her as much as she lover her children which further illustrates the theme of loving too much. Sethe loved her children too much so she tried to kill them and now that Beloved is back she is going to tell her everything even though she does not have to and hold on to her tighter.

Section Two Point of Veiw

Sethe is such a strong character and I think Morrison really has her set up this in Section One. But now that we're getting into her head I think that her confidence is really just a front of denial. Sethe is using the realization Beloved is her daughter to disregard all of the real world stuff going on around her. "The world is in this room. This here's all there and all there needs to be." (215) Sethe is under the delusion that what she believes is the reincarnation of her dead baby is the cure for: her sons leaving, because if she can come back surely they will too; Baby Suggs death, because she can lay down her worries now like Baby always told her to; and that the repulsion of her peers to her house no longer matters because the outside world is nothing like what she has here on the floor in front of her.

Section II

Section II of Beloved paints a very different picture than the previous section because of the change in narration. The change in narration really provided an incredible amount of depth to the novel. I found that this change in perspective not only allowed the characters to become three dimensional, but my perception of them changed radically also. I found Denver’s perspective to be the most compelling and tragic, and subsequently, her fear of her own mother altered my perception of Sethe also. Denver says “I spent all of my outside self loving Ma’am so she wouldn’t kill me,” which led me to conclude that she didn’t truly love Sethe, she only did so she would survive. This added such a severe contrast to Sethe claiming that she killed her other daughter out of love; her remaining daughter doesn’t return this “love.” However, this makes me wonder if Denver’s consuming fear of her mother, her broken family and seemingly unpleasant reality and all the pain it brings is what Sethe wanted her daughter to not have to experience—did she spare her other daughter by ending her life?

Shift in Narration

In part one of Beloved, the narration is told is mostly 3rd person point of view, so we get to see into the minds of most of the main characters and hear their thoughts. Included in these characters is Sethe, who seems to show a very isolated or shy side in most of part one. The audience is never able to really know Sethe's thoughts, we only get to see her actions and details that the author gives us in part one. Because of this, the reader must come up with their own assumptions of how Sethe really feels during this part of the book. Now that the book is told in first person point of view, we are able to really see Sethe's inner feelings and we can see the compassionate and caring side of her. We see how much Sethe really cares for Beloved as if she were her own daughter. If the story were to still be told in third person narration, we would not be able to see this side of Sethe; the fact that part two of the book includes first person point of view gives us the opportunity to relate to the character of Sethe more and uncover new ideas as we read.

Beloved

The shift in narration from third person to first provided me with different insight into the character's lives and altered my perspective of each of them. The section that stuck out the most for me and gave me the most insight into a character's attitudes was section II. I had inferred things about Denver from what we had seen from the outside, but the look into her thoughts and stream of consciousness really gave me a better understanding of her character. For the first time in the novel, I really understood where Denver's strange habits and reclusive attitude came from. She even admits to her reclusive ways. "Not since Miss Lady Jones' house have I left 124 by myself. Never." (243) We also get to see how she spends every day in fear of her own mother and her pain of never really having a real family. She says, " I'm afraid of the thing that happened that made it all right for my mother to kill my sister could happen again." (242) This fear that she must experience every day made me understand just how destroyed their family is. Although the third person narration gives us different perspectives, viewing the character's thoughts opened up my eyes to a lot more.

Character contrasts through writing style

Within Section II of Beloved, the shift from third to first person is a major indicator of the importance of the following chapters. Because we continually have just brief glances into the psyche of Beloved throughout Section I, her part is possibly one of the most important chapters of the selection. Besides the importance of her saga, there are important contextual clues that can be interpreted through sentence structuring and styles contrasted between each character. Sethe's section is long and continuous, with barely any paragraph breaks, yet her sentences seem to be short terse snippets of what she's thinking. She seems to only be able to think of one thing per sentence, which is an interesting insight to possibly how she deals with her life. Denver's stream of consciousness is broken up into lengthy paragraphs, with slightly longer sentences. This section reveals Denver's own fright of her mother's love and how it actually broke the family up. A lot of Denver's paragraph seems to consist of half what she knows and interprets and feels and the other half is what Baby Suggs tells her about her Daddy. She lives vicariously through these little facts about him to construct an angel out of the pieces she knows about her father. Beloved's section has no punctuation, very short childlike sentences that can barely construct complex or even coherent ideas. She repeats phrases over and over and in all it seems to be the musing of a loony.

Beloved sct. II

The new, first-person approach definitely introduces a different element to the whole story. Now, we get to see each character's individual motives and reactions to the things we have already observed from the omniscient point of view. The story up until now has been told in a way that gave us choppy glimpses into Sethe's troubling past but now that we have finally heard it spelled out we get to see the specific characters' thoughts. Now that I've seen into Sethe's mind, I think she really is kind of crazy. No doubt it is the result of mistreatment and unimaginable emotional hardship. Sethe has lost touch with humanity and reality, in a sense "dying". She killed her daughter to avoid this "death" for her and to put her somewhere that she would be safe from these horrors. "How if I hadn't killed her she would have died and that is something that I could not bear to happen to her" (238). This line served as evidence to me that Sethe does not see things the way most people do. She seems to know only love and pain, and sits at opposite extremes on this scale.

Beloved Section II- Denver

In Section II of the novel, I found Denver’s narration interesting and revealing. After surviving her mother’s attempt to kill her in order to ‘keep her safe’, Denver understandably becomes extremely isolated, sensitive and much of her behavior is childish and immature.(for example the way she resents Paul D when he arrives to 124 and never leaving the house on her own except with her mother). In her narration, however, Denver comes across to me as quite perceptive and intelligent and her behavior is explained by her traumatic past, the fear that “the thing that happened that made it all right for my mother to kill my sister could happen again”(242). I feel greatly sympathetic to Denver’s situation; she is completely governed by fear of death by her mother and she admits that “I spent all of my outside self loving Ma’am so she wouldn’t kill me”(245). Also in Denver’s section, the reader receives insight into other important characters, namely Baby Suggs and Denver’s father, Halle.

Section II Beloved

Through the stream of consciousness technique, the thoughts of these characters are greatly clarified. As a result of this clarification, Morrison has drawn a fine line between the appearance of these characters, and their individual identites. It is this line which shifts the reader away from the previous 3rd person narration (which has apparently casted shadows on these characters' emotions.) In all three narrations, Sethe, Beloved and Denver, the reader is given a lens through each of the 3 women. Upon reading Section II of Beloved, it appears as if Denver is the most sympathetic character. The reader can infer from Sethe's and Beloved's narrations that their thoughts and actions are compromised: Sethe is desperate while Beloved is possesive. the extremes of these two women have placed Denver in a difficult situation, wherein she fears her mother and cannot fully understand her sister, "She said the ghost was after Ma'm and her too for not doing anything to stop it. I just had to watch out for it. . . And I do. Love her, (242)." Admittedly, Denver's naivity leads her to believe Beloved, on some level, is meant for her only, "She is mine (242)." However, the decline and shift in power between Sethe and Beloved later in the novel reveals Denver's opinions to likely be false. Given Denver's age, her naivity is excuseable. That being said, the narration's most important effect is its unveiling of Denver as the character least reactive to Beloved (at least the one with the most sensible reaction).

Beloved Section II

Within section II of Beloved, the reader is exposed to a radical perspective change into the first-person mind of Sethe, Denver and Beloved. With this perspective change, the reader is given some new insight into head of all three characters, but I found Denver's thoughts to be the most eyeopening. We begin to see that this entire time Denver has been fearful of her mother, and never truly accepted her back. Denver tells of how she is almost tortured by the thought that, "the thing that happened that made it all right for my mother to kill my sister could happen again" (205). We then see why Denver never leaves 124, because she feels like she must, "watch over the yard, so it can't happen again and my mother won't have to kill me too" (205). We are given this new perspective from Denver which paints Sethe in a very untrustworthy and dangerous light, one we have not been familiar with throughout the entirety of the novel up to this point.

Through Chapter 21's stream of consciousness approach, I began to better understand Denver's reasons for staying put in 124 all of this time despite hating it. Denver talks about how scared she is of her mother, how there might be "something else terrible enough to make her do it again." (242). Through this great, yet reasonable fear Denver is forced to stay in the house, as she fears her life will end if she does not abide by Sethe's rules: "So I never leave this house and I watch over the yard, so it can't happen again and my mother won't have to kill me too." (242). Because of this fear instilled in her by Sethe and her brothers, Denver has grown up as an isolated individual. When Paul D was staying at the house she became jealous of the attention he received, and was only able to find consolation when Beloved entered the picture. With Beloved, Denver has found someone who she can be with, someone to give her that friendship she so desperately desired her entire life. Denver feels an intimate connection with Beloved---one that is only heightened by the blood bond they share---and it seems she will do whatever it takes to make Beloved hers.

Beloved post

The shift to first person narration in Section II is the first time we are permitted a glimpse into Sethe’s thoughts and the emotions she hides behind her prideful facade. The revelation that Beloved is her daughter born-again brings forth this surge of emotions and we are able to see her guilt, her need for forgiveness, and her desire to nurture the child whose life she ended. The narrative shift allowed me to finally sympathize with Sethe, who never seemed to show any remorse for her actions. She says “when I put up that headstone I wanted to lay in there with you” (241) and the regret Sethe has for her actions is finally made known. Sethe sees it as a sign of mercy that Beloved has returned on “her own free will” and now that she is back, Sethe “won’t never let her go” (236). It seems that Beloved is not the only one reborn, but with her presence and forgiveness, Sethe is also allowed to move forward and live again.

Prompt: Reading Response to Section II of Beloved

Section I of Beloved is told entirely through third-person narration, even though the perspective shifts. In Section II, first-person narration occurs; how does the first-person narration change or add to your understanding of the character narrating (Sethe, Denver, Beloved)? You might either look closely at one character, drawing in textual evidence, or you might compare the style of narration of the three.

A couple of definitions that might help:

- Character: “…Authors have two major methods of presenting characters: showing and telling. Showing allows the author to present a character talking and acting, and lets the reader infer what kind of person the character is. In telling, the author intervenes to describe and sometimes evaluate the character for the reader. Characters can be convincing whether they are presented by showing or by telling, as long as their actions are motivated. Motivated action by the characters occurs when the reader or audience is offered reasons for how the characters behave, what they say, and the decisions they make. Plausible action is action by a character in a story that seems reasonable, given the motivations presented.”

- Stream of consciousness: “The stream-of-consciousness technique takes a reader inside a character's mind to reveal perceptions, thoughts, and feelings on a conscious or unconscious level. This technique suggests the flow of thought as well as its content; hence, complete sentences may give way to fragments as the character's mind makes rapid associations free of conventional logic or transitions.”

                                                            (definitions from Bedford St. Martins’ ‘Lit Gloss’)

Your post is due by 11:59 pm on Monday, April 11. Reach through several of your peers’ posts and be prepared to comment briefly on them at the beginning of class.

Beloved Questions 181-195

In this section, we finally discover the full story of what has happened to Sethe's first daughter. How does this change the way you view Sethe, and her family dynamic, if at all? Do you think it gives you a better understanding of why the family has diminished to what it is now?

And also, what do you make of Sethe's reasoning behind trying to kill her children to keep them safe? Do you understand why she thought that way?

Beloved Questions 174-80 (comments due Thursday, 4/6 by 11:59 pm)

Note: paragraph should be at least 5 sentences long and should include at least one piece of textual evidence – quote, example, metaphor, etc...


Chapter 16 begins with an allusion to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, “When the four horsemen came…” (174). How does this reference help you to interpret the significance of the events recounted in the chapter?


Up until this chapter, the narrator has only provided the point of view of people who live in 123 (Sethe, Paul D, Denver, etc). The point of view changes drastically for the first half of this chapter, however. How would you describe this point of view? How does it differ from Baby Suggs’ point of view later in the chapter?

Beloved Questions (pgs. 147-158)

1) Paul D proposed to Sethe that he wanted her pregnant (with his baby) on page 151; this proposal was not particularly planned by Paul D and later on the page it states, “and suddenly it was a solution: a way to hold on to her, document his manhood and break out of the girl’s spell on him---all in one.” Though Sethe has “all the children she needed” and even laughed about the idea, in what ways does this situation show the “spell” that Beloved has casted and why it affects Paul D in such a strange way? Why is this passage relevant?

2)In which ways does Sethe’s character change when she starts to allow Paul D to start sleeping inside? How does this show Sethe’s character strengthen and overcome the “evil power” of the ghost and how does the interactions between Sethe, Paul D, and Beloved change after this event?

Beloved Discussion Questions (pgs. 159-173)

1) Baby Suggs is described as, "loving everybody like it was her job and hers alone." What elements of her background might have contributed to this, and how?

2)Baby seems to have this mystical ability to smell the disapproval in the air and even a prophetic power of being able to actually see something dark coming. How do you interpret this supernatural theme of ghosts and now Baby's powers? In what ways might they be related? Different?

Guten Tag

Ugresic's piece by piece telling of her story does create an unconventional novel, in that there isn't the structure that we all learned in elementary school with the story going "up the mountain" to the climax and then coming down into a conclusion. Rather her story is told in a sort of zig zag pattern that sometimes comes back around and sometimes not so much. I enjoy her quips about her friends/acquaintances or her daily exploits because in the short bursts she is telling them Ugresic is able to offer much more detail or observations of personal importance than she would be able to effectively in a story with the conventional flow.

Gutan Tag

The author writes in a particular manner that greatly affects the story. Most narratives have an arrangement that follows the old-fashioned criteria of “conflict, climax, resolution”, but this plot definition is more difficult to come across in The Museum of Unconditional Surrender. The random facts and situations give the reader an insight and knowledge of the events that occurred during this time. Instead of being chronological with the events that occurred, the writing style involved more of a streamline of thought rather than a structured format. This may be because of her detachment, or feelings of detachment, from the world and how she feels from being in exile. To follow the traditional format it would be more difficult to give so much information to the reader; Ugresic had a very chaotic life and events change very quickly for her, just as though the events change fast in the book. The style gives the reader a better view of how Urgesic feels internally and gives the reader more insight than that would be achieved if the piece of written differently.

Guten Tag Structure

The structure of Ugresic's novel is a move from the fluid and chronological nature of most novels, and it is this lack of flow which makes the book's story difficult to grasp. However, "Guten Tag's" structure appears to have purpose. Given that the story focuses on a sense of displacement and exile, it is appropriate for the novel's structure to mimic these moods through text. Choosing to avoid a sequential telling, the changing scences extend a bridge to the reader, giving the author more authority in deciding what the reader should feel, reading this novel (confusion, ostracism, depersonalization). However, this same structure also threatens the novel's effectiveness, as certain readers may be unable to note the parallels in structure and content. Consequently, it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of ''Guten Tag."

Guten Tag Post

In the section Guten Tag, the narrator quotes an acquaintance, saying, "Rilke once said that the story of a shattered life can only be told in bits and pieces." I think that this adequately sums up Ugresic's style of writing. By writing in fragmented bits and pieces, Ugresic is demonstrating the chaos and dysfunction of living the life of an exile. The pieces of the story are often hard to follow at first, but gets easier as the novel progresses. A pattern that I found in at least three of the short pieces included in this section is the narrator's interaction with other displaced people. She describes Sissel, the map-obsessed artist; Jane, the American who knows everything about Europeans; and her Chinese neighbor who is never content with where he is at, to name a few. I think that Ugresic uses these interactions to show the different examples of displaced people, and how they are coping with the arrangement.

Guten Tag

One pattern I noticed in reading ‘Guten Tag’ is the inclusion of the different peoples/cultures that make up Berlin society and interestingly enough, many of these short pieces are concerned with people who are not native to Berlin or Germany. Just to give a few examples that Ugresic mentions- a Moroccan woman who signed up for a beginner’s German class, a Chinese neighbor who seems to despise every place he has ever traveled to, and Russian and Croatian writers who share their negative opinions about Berlin. I think these Ugresic presents these short narratives, in part, to portray Berlin as a kind of metropolis where lots of people with very different backgrounds and ethnicities are interacting with each other and influencing the society that they live in. Perhaps Ugresic is trying to have the reader think about the nature of German (or maybe just Berlin) identity. Given the wide array of cultures and ethnicities, which form that society(from Russian to Chinese), one cohesive sense of ‘German’ identity is hard to form.

-Ravi Nulu

Guten tag

The Guten tag chapter contains choppy, sporadic anecdotes that are seemingly disconnected, but somehow the reader knows that they connected. The chapter starts off describing different people and descriptions of Berlin. The stories are initially puzzling because of the unfinished nature of each numbered piece, but together they eventually form a larger picture.

I agree with most of the posts before me that this style of writing is similar to our human mind’s erratic thoughts (it makes you wonder how we ever piece a whole idea together), but I also think that Urgesic chose this style of writing because it gives her freedom from the constriction of having the story told through one perspective. I notice that she jumps from the first person perspective, to an all-knowing narrative voice, and to the perspective of individual characters. I think this suggests that stories can’t ever be told in one point of view—it takes a multitude of people and stories to piece together greater idea.

Guten Tag

Ugresic's writing is very distinct unlike the smooth flow of a tradition novel. The structure of the novel is a series of independent thoughts that result in the following thought. The fact that the novel doesn't have a common plot structure makes it hard for the reader to follow at first. However, the individual sections of text contribute to the story by displaying the narrators feelings of loneliness and disconnect. All the readings have this pattern of lonliness and disconnect which the narrator seems to be feeling at most times. Even when recalling childhood memories she connects them to a tragic memory or event in present or past reality. Living in Berlin has become difficult to adapt to for the narrator she lacks the social interaction between others around her that she once had. The people of Berlin are very consumed in their personal lives and don't have time to interact with others. Even though Yugoslavia is filled with many unhappy memories she longs for her home country, to which she cannot return.

Museum of Unconditional Surrender

Ugresic uses fractions of moments and interactions and thoughts in attempts to weave together something whole, something full. The constant themes of exile, loneliness, despair layer onto each other more and more as you start stringing together these seemingly random fragments of the story. It is by no means traditional writing or formatting, but that is simply because it is attempting to encompass a particularly unorthodox story matched with complex characters. Eventually these connections will establish themselves with the characters and you get a sense of understanding amid all the disconnectedness. The chopped up stories and point of views are an obvious pattern used to mirror the disorder happening and the solitude the character(s) feel. Attention to detail and furiously paying attention to the surroundings are also a pattern Ugresic uses to show what she can't experience herself. You also see this stream of consciousness throughout the entire breaking up of the passages which gives the story a more free and authentic feel. All in all, the story being suggested through these patterns is that loneliness through exile makes the mind substitute different feelings and emotions through disorderly story told in a unorthodox way.

guten tag

Ugresic’s book does not conform to typical plot structure but her approach to writing seems to better reflect human experience: reality doesn’t consist of an introduction followed by a rising action, climax, and resolution. Reality is disorganized and chaotic. Part three of the novel, Guten Tag, is a series of short fragments that come together to conjure up an image of solitude in the city of Berlin.

The disjointed story mirrors the narrator’s dreamlike trance as she tries to endure exile and an overwhelming sense of isolation. Living in Berlin without companionship or a country to call home leaves the speaker feeling “shipwrecked”. She drifts through each moment not fully aware of her surroundings but deeply aware of her loneliness. In fact, the only part of the story in which there is a spark of emotion is when she reminisces over the map of Yugoslavia. It made me think of my friend from New Mexico who told me she was considering transferring back home. She said: “It’s just hard. Being somewhere and constantly wishing you were somewhere else.” Except in the novel, the writer cannot return home.

Do you have some time?

Ugresic writes in a very distinct manner which, while it doesn’t follow the more normal mold of how a story is told, creatively still embodies several clear messages. One of the most prominent patterns within the writing follows the mold of the narrator asking a friend, “Do you have some time?” and the reoccurring response is, “No. Why do you ask?” The narrator will then go on to explain what their (always artist) friend is usually so busy with. This is the main pattern that I see in the writings, but what then does that mean for the storyline being implied? Over and over again the theme of loneliness or isolation within Berlin comes up. At the same time however, everyone cannot find time for other people. Everyone is too invested in their own personal pursuits to ‘give their time’. Even the narrator admits that, “I had myself promised some other people that I would call them and didn’t, that I would visit them and hadn’t.” And I find this very fascinating because while the narrator does talk of much loneliness, we still see that there are times when others are neglected. I believe this could be somewhat of a testament to simply the self-centered nature of humanity.

The Museum of Unconditional Surrender

The pieces of the narrative are arranged in what at first seems like a random order, with no beginning, climax, or resolution. Each short piece is a different thought of the author, interaction with another person, or story about the city of Berlin and her time spent there. I think Ugresic intentionally writes this way to show what it was like for her to be living in exile at the time. This structure illustrates disconnect, which Ugresic must have been feeling as she spent her time away from her home country. Throughout the short pieces, there is a pattern of the tragic and almost depressing state of Berlin. Whether she is describing the empty station, how Berlin is a "mutant-city", or how its loneliness is "acute and unambiguous," she is emphasizing how Berlin feels to her. I think she is trying to portray the loneliness and emptiness that she is literally feeling inside, through these outside descriptions of the city.

Guten Tag

Ugresic's description of Berlin is one that is approached in an unorthodox manner. Instead of telling a chronological story of her time in Berlin, she instead jumps from thought to thought. This method of story telling directly relates to the opening page of the novels description of Roland the Walrus's stomach contents. While the approach of her story seems random at first, common ideas begin to surface upon reading. The most prominent feeling Ugresic describes is one of loneliness. Her adventures in Berlin though numerous, are nearly always in solitude. This state of mind is what leads her to this random, unusual method of storytelling. Because of this loneliness the story plays out as Ugresics' thoughts appearing on paper. She is going around Berlin taking in everything, and mentally jotting down her impressions and feelings of the city. Feelings that are heightened by her detached, isolated state of mind.

-Darian

Unconditional Surrender, Guten Tag

My impression of the organization of this passage was that it is what Ugresic considers the only way to accurately describe Berlin. She wants to ensure that all the intricacies and idiosyncrasies that she holds as key to the description of Berlin are well depicted to come together as the overall essence of Berlin. Many of these things cannot be stated explicitly so she uses these eloquent descriptions of different seemingly random facets of Berlin people, culture, and environments. The organization of these descriptions comes in a way that is much like the way one might think about something freely, without much prompt or parameters. The thoughts float around based on loose associations but every thought has obviously come to mind as a piece of the overall notion. In other words, if you were to ask someone outright to "describe Berlin", you would get a much more limited answer than if you said "talk about Berlin, whatever comes to mind."

Prompt: Reading Response to Museum of Unconditional Surrender

Plot is one of the basic elements of narrative. Its most general definition is the following: the basic action of a narrative, or the pattern of events. Aristotle claimed that a plot should include a beginning, a middle, and an end in order to make a narrative whole. Fretyag takes this model a step further with his pyramid, arguing that plot structure must have an introduction, a rising action driven by some conflict, a climax, and then a resolution. This plot convention can be mapped onto a novel like Blu’s Hanging fairly neatly; the narrative begins with an introduction to the mourning Ogata children. Their problems with the Reyes family and particularly with Blu’s naïve vulnerability to sexual predators drives much of the narrative, as does Ivah’s struggle with whether she needs to stay in Molokai to protect her siblings. These conflicts climax in the scene where Blu is molested, and are resolved as the children learn to let go of their mother and seek a safer future for themselves.

Mapping the plot of The Museum of Unconditional Surrender, on the other hand, is more of a challenge. Rather than thinking about plot in terms of rising action and then resolution, you might find thinking about structure to be more useful with this text. How are the pieces of the narrative arranged? How does one lead to the other? Can you find patterns that help the pieces cohere? Focus for this blog post on the series of short tales told in “Part Three: Guten Tag.” In 150-250, describe a pattern that you find across at least three of the short pieces. How do you interpret the pattern? What story is being suggested through the pattern?

Your post is due by 11:59 pm on Monday, March 7. Reach through several of your peers’ posts and be prepared to comment briefly on them at the beginning of class.

Underground

While the imagery and political tensions portrayed in the film were accurately represented in the movie, Underground, the film's excessive noise made the story difficult to follow. More simply, it was distracting. However, in the purpose of analyzing film, I feel Underground's outrageous prescence of sound was an intentional parallel to the setting, and to the film's interpersonal relationships. Here, sound operates as a bridge to the audience, allowing us to connect our own "discomfort" with the film's erratic nature, to that of the War.
Additionally, the characters themselves are unorthodox. Though admittedly impacted on many levels, their response to the political unrest (and to each other), seems to echo the slap-stick comedy of "The 3 Stooges." Much like the use of sound, their personalities lack a certain tranquility.
The aforementioned examples create a conflict between what the audience should ideally feel, and what is felt. Undeground's method of presentation, challenges the audience's ability to fully symphathize with these characters.

Underground

I found Underground to be full of irony, a bit difficult to follow, and full of energy. The irony comes from the fact that the film is categorized as a comedy when the story it’s trying to tell is so tragic. The energy, fast paced action, blaring trumpets, and exaggerated humor creates such a busy and confusing atmosphere that you forget that this is a time of great sadness. I believe this dark, twisted commotion felt on screen by the viewer is parallel to the consciousness of the Yugoslavian citizen. The seriousness of the war is masked over by the need to cause commotion. Despite all the activity, the film has moments when the humorous, energetic mood plunges into one of deep sadness: when younger Brother cries because his zoo is destroyed or when Vera dies after giving birth to her baby.