Wrapping Up The Witness

As I continued to read The Witness by Nora Roberts, I found myself automatically submitting to the text. Much like Alexis stated in her blog, I became the audience that the author desired for this text. I found myself enjoying each page as I read on. There were very few times my mind wandered and I was completely involved in what I was reading.

As Alexis discussed in her last blog that I mentioned earlier, Robert speaks about how he was a resistant reader to this book.This could be because it is not particularly geared toward a male audience. I believe the author’s intended audience is for someone who enjoys romance novels. There is quite a bit romance as you read on with the two characters Abigail and Brooks. The relationship between Abigail and Brooks is complicated because Abigail is afraid to let herself go and let someone in. She is afraid to let her guard down and fall in love with Brooks. I think this is relatable to a certain audience because there are some people that feel the exact same way. People do not want to get hurt, but deep down yearn for another to love them; it’s human nature. We see this in the text when Brooks is addressing Abigail and it states,

“I’m half in love with you,” he told her, “and heading fast toward three-quarters.”

“Something inside her burst like sunlight before it flooded away on a rise of panic” (258).

An audience that can relate to the yearning for love, but the fear of commitment or hurt becomes submissive to this type of genre. I can say that I was a very authentic reader when interpreting this text. I noticed at times that I was experiencing interpellation, which is defined as “a “hailing,” very much like when someone appears to call out to you.” At times, I felt as if the narrator was addressing me directly even though I have never witnessed a murder, nor have I been involved in the witness protection program. I had not experienced the same events as Abigail, but I could relate fully to her feelings on love and commitment. If the audience is authentic to this text, you can feel the fear Abigail has of jumping into the unknown.

 

Rhetorical Relationships in Station Eleven

First off, I want to say that Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is something I would have never gravitated towards. It is not the typical genre that I usually read. As I began to read into the text, I noticed that I instantly was captured in the mimetic (relating to) aspect. I became a submissive reader and found myself wanting to go through the motions of the characters. I wanted to feel the emotions of what each character was feeling before and after the collapse of civilization. It is something that can be suspenseful in today’s society as we deal with epidemics and other environmental factors.

As I continued to read into the text, I tried to look more into the themes at play. I noticed that each of the characters are linked together. This kept my interest as Alexis stated in her previous blog for much of the same reasons. I found myself wanting to figure out the mystery of how they were related to each other in the text.

The way Emily St. John Mandel wrote the novel was interesting as it jumped from different time periods to show what the world was like prior to the outbreak and twenty years after the fall. I found that this added to the writing and my reading for because it provided further interest. I wanted to learn more about how the characters dealt with themselves and their relationships from the before and after aspect. For instance, Kirsten is one of the main characters and we meet her in the beginning (before the outbreak of the Georgia flu) when she is a little girl. She is seen as being scared and timid. Then we see her again twenty years later and she is much more independent and can hold her own in questioning circumstances. She is not afraid to talk to strangers and she carries knives with her for protection. For instance in the text it states,

“Even in this calmer era, who would admit to being outnumbered? His gaze rested on Kirsten’s knives. She was finding it difficult not to stare at the scar on the side of his face” (146).

This is when Kirsten and August, both members of the Traveling Symphony, are lost and stumble upon a man named Finn.

As I stated earlier, I found myself submitting to the text, playing the role the narrator intended for the reader. I was going through the emotions with the characters and trying to solve the mystery of how each character was linked together.

Station Eleven: Hermeneutic Code

The hermeneutic code has ten parts ( not all ten have to be present) that allows the text to propose, maintain through numerous delays, and resolve enigmas. I believe that this can be seen in the novel Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.

As I summarized in my previous blogs, the text is a post-apocalyptic novel that is written in the perspectives of different characters and different time periods. In the first part we are introduced to Jeevan, who tries to save a Hollywood actor, Arthur (who dies) on stage. We are introduced to the Georgia flu, which is the epidemic that causes the collapse of civilization.

The first part of the hermeneutic code is thematization. This is defined as “the semic definition of character, object, place as mysterious.” This can be seen when Kirsten is introduced in the second part of the text when it jumps twenty years after the collapse. She is traveling in a Symphony from town to town performing various plays. She is connected to Arthur because she is first introduced in the scene when Arthur passes. She was a young girl who had a small role in the play. As the Symphony is traveling, they come upon a town that they left their friends in. While searching for the two friends, they notice that the town has changed dramatically. It is now run by a cult with a leader known as the Prophet. This is the first mysterious place the reader encounters. The second mystery is the graveyard with names the names of their friends and a young girl that follows them. Again, the reader is introduced to another mystery as members of the Symphony go missing after leaving this town.

The proposal of the enigma, which is “the dawning of the actual mystery” can be seen as the audience reads through Kirsten’s perspective. She is wondering what happened to her friends as the group is searching for them. She contemplates whether they were taken or left the Symphony on their own. Then we see the formulation of the enigma (various supplementations that amplify the mystery) when a letter is found in one of the missing person’s things. It sounds like a suicide note, but the group is not sure on the time when the letter was written because dates mean so little after the collapse. Then again when Kirsten and August (a boy around her age) was left by the others in the Symphony. It states in the text,

“Why would the Symphony travel in a downpour, unless there was some unexpected emergency?” (143).

Finally the request for an answer can be seen in the text after Kirsten and August are on their own. This is when we see a character’s desire to resolve the mystery announced. In the text it says,

“Kirsten slept fitfully, aware each time she woke of the emptiness of the landscape, the lack of people and animals and caravans around her. Hell is the absence of the people you long for” (144).

She is longing to find her friends and the Symphony. She wants to understand what happened in the town with the Prophet because it is inclined that she thinks the two are connected. I believe she will find out the correlation between all the characters and Arthur.

Station Eleven: Form and Genre

The Novel Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel presents the genre of post-apocalyptic as Alexis stated in her previous post. It contains all the characteristics of what a world would be like after the fall of civilization. There is an epidemic, known as the Georgia flu, that completely collapses the world as we know it. It spreads quickly and efficiently, leaving much of the population deceased. Technology is no longer present and there is no government or stability in the world.

As Robert suggested in his previous post, the story is written in different perspectives. He discusses how each perspective is intertwined with the one character, Arthur Leander. In the beginning, we see Arthur, a once big-time Hollywood actor, fall to his death on stage. This is the very beginning of the outbreak of the Georgia flu. In the next section of the text we see a different perspective from Kirsten, a little girl who was at the play that Arthur was performing in when he died. This takes place twenty years into the future after the outbreak. We meet another perspective, Arthur’s ex-wife, which flip flops between when they were together and after she has separated from him. I notice that in this text time jumps forward, backward, and what I believe to be the present.

I believe that the syllogistic progressive form can be found in this text. It is defined as “unfolding the steps of an argument, such that the conclusion follows as a matter of necessity once the premises are laid out for the reader.” As I have not finished the text yet, I am only making an educated guess on whether or not it will follow this exact form, but I believe that through reading what I have thus far the text will lead to an ending that will deliver the readers with answers. As readers, we want to know how this epidemic occurred, how are these characters connected, and what will happen? Will civilization be rebuilt and will they survive?

An example of this form in the text is the correlations between the different characters. Arthur seems to be the connecting point. In the text it introduces Kirsten in the beginning when it states,

“Kirsten”, the girl said. “I’m Kirsten Raymond.” (7).

This is in the beginning when Arthur collapsed on stage. She is a small girl playing a role in the play. Then in the second section we meet her again when it says,

“Enter Lear,” Kirsten said. Twenty years earlier, in a life she mostly couldn’t remember, she had had a small nonspeaking role in a short-lived Toronto production of King Lear” (35).

There is a man named, Jeevan, who tried to save Arthur’s life that night. He is later introduced as part of the paparazzi that takes pictures of Arthur and his ex-wife. There are hints throughout the text that leave the audience curious as to how these characters are connected and hopefully in the end gain the knowledge by a conclusion.

 

Intertextual Codes Found in The Witness

After reading a good portion of The Witness by Nora Roberts, I found that like my other group members, the hermeneutic code was present in the text. Alexis provided a thorough definition of what the hermeneutic code is in her previous blog. There are ten parts to this particular code, although not every ten must be present.

I have to agree with Alexis that thematization, proposal of the enigma, and request for an answer all all present for the reason’s she suggested, but I also believe that there are other elements to this code at play in this text. I agree that Abigail Lowery is one of the most mysterious characters in the story and that I found myself, as a reader, trying to figure out if she was connected to Elizabeth, the teenage girl that witnessed the murder involving the Russian Mafia. As Alexis discussed, the request for an answer is surrounded by Brooks trying to figure who Abigail is because she behaves in such odd ways. He pushes Abigail to befriend him, even when she clearly has no intention of being bothered. There is a scene in the book where he rides to her house to question her about a gun she was carrying while food shopping. He sees that her house is heavily guarded and she gives him the cold-shoulder, not allowing much information to slip. Brooks states,

“And triple locks, a riot bar, secured windows, top-grade alarm system. Who the hell was Abigail Lowery, and what-or whom-was she afraid of?” (108)

This shows the audience that he is very curious and wants to find answers to the mystery that surrounds her character.

I also believe that there are instances where formulation of the enigma and jamming are seen throughout the novel. Formulation of the enigma is defined as various supplementations that amplify the mystery. For instance, Brooks spends the night at Abigail’s house and in the morning he looks through her cabinets to find toothpaste. In the text it states,

“He opened the drawer of the little vanity, saw the neatly rolled tube of Crest, and her Sig. Who the hell kept a semiauto in the drawer with the dental floss and toothpaste? A fully loaded one, he noted, when he checked” (201).

This is a clue to the reader that there is a correlation between Elizabeth and Abigail, especially since it was mentioned that both characters have an “eidetic memory”. But the real mystery is that while Elizabeth was under witness protection she was attacked because of crooked cops being intwined with the mafia, so it leaves the readers wanting to know how Elizabeth became Abigail. There is also a mystery to whether or not Abigail is going to let go and allow Brooks to really get to know her.

The Witness: Form and Genre

I would have to agree with Alexis and Brittany when they discussed the genre of The Witness by Nora Roberts in their previous blogs that it is a suspense fiction novel with a touch of romance. In the beginning we see suspense by murder and mystery and as we read on we are introduced to a male character that takes interest into a mysterious female character, which creates the romance.

The novel is set up with different sections throughout the book for different characters perspectives. In the first part of the book, we see the main character Elizabeth. The audience sees the struggles that she faces within her daily life, within herself and relationships, and with her witnessing a murder that involves a part of the Russian mafia. In the second section of the book, we are introduced to Brooks. We start to see a brand new character that faces his own struggles. One thing I find interesting when reading a book with different perspectives is that, I, as reader tend to gain more interest in the novel. I believe this is because my focus becomes reiterated into the novel and I do not become as bored when an author introduces a new narrator.

As I kept reading, I noticed some deeper elements to the character of Elizabeth. First of all, she has a way of speaking that is much different than all other characters. She is intelligent and you can see she lacks social skills by the way she interacts with the other characters. For instance when Elizabeth is showing Julie the fake id she made you would think she would have a relaxed tone and manner, but instead the audience hears her speak with refinement and sophistication. Here is an example from the text,

“They came out very well. I could do better, I think, with more sophisticated equipment, but for tonight, they should do” (21).

We see this manner of speech every time Elizabeth is introduced into the text. As I read on into the Brooks section of the novel, we are introduced to Abigail. Abigail has the same exact way of speaking as Elizabeth does, leading the reader to believe that she is, in fact, Elizabeth under a different identity. Abigail is speaking to Brooks in the next example I am providing to substantiate this evidence.

“The act of sex is a normal physical function, and a pleasant experience” (138).

First of all, I thought this was a strange way to talk to a man that you are attracted to, but every time I notice Elizabeth speak, she has a socially awkward way of addressing people. I think this is a repetitive form throughout the book. I believe this allows the reader to see Elizabeth as an intelligent woman, but also a withdrawn character, which as I discussed in my first blog, is the controlling values at play in this novel. Elizabeth has been isolated by her mother to ensure her safety into medical school and now she is isolating herself for the safety of her own life. She walks a fine line between wanting to break free and live her dream, but is always held back and withdrawn.

First Look at The Witness

Before I began reading The Witness by Nora Roberts, I expected it to be a full on romance novel. I was not particularly excited, nor was I hesitant on reading this novel. I was somewhere in the middle. As I began to read, I realized that there was much more to the story. There was mystery and suspense; There was a relatable aspect to the main character, Elizabeth that drew me in to the story much more than I expected.

Elizabeth is a young girl that has an overbearing mother. Her mother wants her to follow in her footsteps as a neurosurgeon by pushing Elizabeth into Harvard Medical School. Elizabeth does not want to go to medical school, so she is conflicted by following her mother’s orders and not letting her mother down and following her dream of being in the FBI. She is completely isolated to a normal teenage life by her mother. Her mother does not allow her to watch television, listen to popular music, go out with friends, or even eat processed foods. She has no friends and her life consists of studying.

As I read farther, I see a conflict between Elizabeth and her mother. There is a scene in the story when her mother is about to leave for a business conference and is discussing (more like ordering)  Elizabeth to go to a summer program with a doctor to ensure her place at Harvard Medical. Elizabeth gets angry with her mother and tries to tell her she does not want to go. Her mother is completely shut off toward Elizabeth’s feelings and wants for her own life.  Her mother does not even care to say goodbye after the fight that they just had before her trip. We see in the text that Elizabeth is battling with herself on whether she should obey her mother or follow her path to freedom from the controlling grasp of her mother. In the text we see into Elizabeth’s thoughts when it states,

“She didn’t want to be a doctor. She didn’t want to spend every waking hour on a schedule or hide a stupid pair of jeans because they didn’t fit her mother’s dress code “(8).

After Elizabeth realizes her mother has left without resolving their argument, anger begins to build inside and she lashes out by cutting and coloring her hair. She buys clothes that don’t fit her mother’s dress code, she makes fake i.d.s, and plans to go to a club with a girl from school she ran into at the mall. This is the start of Elizabeth becoming her own individual.

Although I have not read the entire book, I can see that there is a conflict within Elizabeth to become her own person. My prediction that this will be an ongoing theme in the novel.

the witness value graph

Station Eleven at a Glance

Our third text we have assigned to read is Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. I had never heard of this novel before, after quickly hearing it was a post-apocalyptic novel, I was instantly intrigued. Going into this assignment, I find myself reading for the mimetic theme, which is allowing the narrator to take the readers on a journey to experience the events as if they are actually occurring. I think this is the way I read when I start to really digest the material of the text. I want to experience the everything taking place as if I were in the text, myself.

In the beginning of the text, we have a man named Jeevan and his girlfriend, Laura, attending the play King Lear in a theater in Toronto. Jeevan, training to be an EMT, notices that the actor, Arthur, playing King Leer is having a heart attack and quickly tries to revive him. Laura goes home because she is not feeling well and Jeevan notices and tries to comfort a young girl, Kirsten, who has witness the death of the actor who just had a massive heart attack. One thing I found appealing is that the book is broken up into parts. In this particular part, Jeevan is the narrator. The narrator gives us a hint into what is to come when all the people at the theater are discussing how to go about and tell Arthur’s family he has passed. It states,

“Of all of them there at the bar that night, the bartender was the one who survived the longest. He died three weeks later on the road out of the city” (15).

To say that quickly at the end of a chapter led me to want to keep reading. Now I know that something terrible is about to happen, but we are not sure what yet.

As I continue reading, Jeevan receives a phonecall from his good friend, Hua, who is a doctor in a hospital. He reports to Jeevan that there is an epidemic that is spreading fast, in fact, faster than he has ever seen one spread, which they call the Georgia Flu. Instantly, as a reader, I still want to keep going. What is this Georgia Flu? I can feel myself submitting to the text and reading for the mimetic. I am placing myself in the actual events and thinking to myself what I would do if something like this came about in my life. How would I react?

The text is broken up into portions, this first one is right before the flu outbreaks and when the characters are just learning and preparing for this pandemic. There is a moving statement at the end of this portions that says,

“No more internet. No more social media, no more scrolling through litanies of dreams and nervous hopes and photographs of lunches, cries for help and expressions of contentment and relationship-status updates with heart icons whole or broken, plans to meet up later, pleas, complaints, desires, pictures of babies dressed as bears or peppers for Halloween. No more reading and commenting on the lives of others, and in so doing, feeling slightly less alone in the room. No more avatars” (32).

I think this statement allows the readers to get a glimpse of the theme that asks the question of “what would you do if you suddenly did not have these luxuries?” The author is trying to bring about the idea to the readers that this has become a big part of our daily lives in this society. We are all too consumed with these indulgences. This is only a guess because I have not read fully into the text, but I believe that the author is allowing the readers to take a look at a life without these comforts we have begun to take for granted.

station11 value graph

My Experience with The Martian

After reading some of The Martian by Andy Weir, I have to admit I realized I was a resistant reader. That is, I found myself glazing over certain parts in the text, let my mind drift to other possibilities, and projected my own thoughts and ideas of what I believed the book should be. I went into it unsure of how I would enjoy a science-fiction novel, I was hesitant, and I was not eager to start reading.

After reading the first portion, I had trouble with much of the lingo. I commonly had to go back and ask myself, “What is it I even just read?” I did not submit to this text at all. I couldn’t even place myself in his shoes, feel the emotion of what it would even be like isolated on a foreign planet, trying to survive each day. For instance when Mark is trying to figure out another form of survival he says, “According to NASA, a human needs 588 liters of oxygen per day to live. Compressed liquid O2 is about 1000 times as dense as gaseous O2 in a comfortable atmosphere. Long story short: With the Hab tank, I have enough O2 to last 49 days”(106). This is when he trying to plan his trip to Ares 4. I feel as if I just glanced over times like this in the text. This is supposed to be a vital moment in the book and I feel as if the author was repeating multiple times how this man is trying to survive. I could not keep an interest and, as a reader, I was not being ethical to the author at all in this novel.

One thing I want to point out is that I tried to read this text on a tablet. I don’t know if maybe this had something to do with my resistance because I stated in earlier blogs that I prefer a paper back book in hand. I felt unconnected to the narrator as a whole. There were parts in the book when the narrator, Mark, who was stranded on Mars would be speaking in log entries and other parts when it was NASA crew members discussing the possibilities of Mark’s survival. I felt it was easier to connect with the crew members than listening to Mark’s everyday struggle. This may be because when reading we connect personally through the emotional response. I may have (on a personal level) not want to come to terms with loneliness. I may have not wanted to here the narrator talking about his survival by himself because of ignoring something within myself.

All in all, I could not cross the threshold into submitting to this text. I became resistant and could not even bring myself to finish. I plan on going back to it on a later date and trying a different way of reading. Maybe if I could open new possibilities and look past my own personal issues with the text, I can give the author the opportunity to allow the narrator to accomplish what he intended to do for the readers.

Final Reflection on Carrie

After reading the entire novel, Carrie by Stephen King, I found what I “read for” much different than what I intended originally. In the bugging of my reading, I was a submissive reader, allowing the text to take me where it wanted me to go, but by the end I started to notice meaning and questions that I did not realize were even there. In my previous blog I mention something between male and female dominance in the text that we can see in today’s culture. This is something I would have looked over before digging deeper into the meaning behind what the narrator is saying to the audience.

In the beginning, I had to submit to the idea that there is a possibility for telekinesis because of I did not I would have been a resistant reader, I would have said off the bat that this could never happen and that I’m not going to invest my own emotional response to this particular text. I had to play that role while reading. I had to see the different points of view from all these different characters to understand fully the dynamics of the story. I think I just brushed the surface though. Although open to the idea that there are multiple ways of interpretation of this specific text, I have only grasped the surface.

I believe the writing style that King created in this book allowed the audience to want to know more. It is as if he is begging the audience to keep reading by his flashbacks and clippings that give us a little hint as to what happened on prom night, but not the whole story. I think this was a great way to keep the reader interested. I think this style of writing helped me, as a reader that is not used to this specific genre, to submit easier to the this particular text.