Jim's+Blog

 Reflection:

When Ms. Ryce said that it would take us probably 3 chapters to get used to the dialect of the novel I was worried. I couldn't stand __The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn__, partly because of impatience and partly because of the difficulty in understanding the colloquial deep south language used. I didn't feel that AS much in the first chapters of this. Maybe because, through working through __A Clockwork Orange__, which also has an extremely strange vocabulary, I was better conditioned to read be able to digest and translate the language. Reading the first pages of this book makes me mad I have a stupid American accent (ideally it would be Irish). Aside from that, I'm excited for the rest of the book, although not entirely sure where the plot is leading, (the flashback threw me off a little) I can't tell whether it will continue a present to past pattern, or if that was just an exposition for the novel.

Connection: The View



The women on Pheoby's porch are like The View anchors of the early 1900's south, and poor Phoeby, despite her best efforts, is the producer who can't get the show canceled. Phoeby drops subtle hints that their presence is not necessary all the time, and even occassionally has her husband shoe the women off of his porch, but they always come back. The ladies' purpose on the porch is simply to gossip about whatever is going on in the neighborhood on that particular day, and if they can make it "evil". The womens' aim on this day happened to be Janie, who for over a year has been ghost, and her infamous return from obscurity, like if MC Hammer became a household name again. All the women on the porch offer disparaging Views on the topic (pun intended), but none actually face the issue. It is sad to say that due to this, most of the women on Phoeby's porch, like those on the view, will grow old alone...