Painters & NY Poets

For this assignment I decided to go with one of Willem de Kooning’s untitled paintings from 1976. This painting was done as an oil painting on newspaper mounted on paper, then mounted on linen. I think part of what is so inspiring about Kooning’s paintings is the unfamiliarity with distorted images. This painting seems to contain multiple parts. From one angle, this appears as a pained face. From a different angle though, it looks like the busy streets of New York City whipping by a cab window, all of the images distorted by streaking rain at high speeds.

It seems that this painting invokes a hurried, anxious feeling that many poets can probably relate to. This painting also seems to express a sense of being alone in a city of millions. It seems that the pained face in the foreground is larger than the landscape, creating a feeling of being on top of the world. I’m sure that for some of the New York poets this painting, like many other paintings of this nature, leant itself to the anxious, lonesome, creative feeling of not being able to create unity in the busy city life.

I think that Kooning’s painting was influential because of the angst that it invokes upon the viewer. It is like being trapped in a vacuum, spinning a million miles per hour, and trying to scream. Life just happens and it must be seen.

Life happens in time

“Skunk Hour” seems to resolve Robert Lowell’s Life Studies sequence in that it brings you in a full circle, just as life does. The sequence begins with Lowell as a young child, five years old, spending his last afternoon with his Uncle Devereux Winslow. Lowell at this point is remembering his childhood and reflecting on all of the people that helped to mold him into who he is.

He makes mention throughout his Life Studies sequence of his father and his father’s connection with the navy. In “Commander Lowell” we see his father, booming “Anchors aweigh,” in the bathtub. These lines show his father’s feeling of defeat in his professional life after leaving the Navy.

While put away for bouts of manic depression, Lowell describes in “Waking in the Blue,” his feeling of belonging to the “house of the mentally ill.” It is here that Lowell first accepts what and who he is. This poem seems to demonstrate Lowell’s ability to deal with certain aspects of life whereas his father had previously given up.

In “Home after Three Months Away,” Lowell has made the transformation from self into father. He now is able to stand in his father’s previous position and understand the complexities of life that drove him to quit. “Dearest I cannot loiter her/and lather like a polar bear,” makes reference to the attempt to stand still in life. Even if one could stand still in life, life cannot nor will not stand still for you.

Throughout the Life Studies sequence, Lowell uses imagery to reflect the natural world. In doing this, he is able to help resolve the study with “Skunk Hour” by representing the natural world as cyclical, coming back to the first poem of the sequence, “My Last Afternoon with Uncle Devereux Winslow,” with the mention of “our Alpine, Edwardian cuckoo clock.” This image of the clock seems to help the overall message of “Skunk Hour” by the pure representation of time passing. Lowell is reflecting upon his life and all that has contributed to his life.

The skunks seem to represent Lowell himself. He has spent his life searching for something, battling his inner self, just as the skunks are searching through the garbage for their next meal. Lowell relates to the skunks in their search, recognizing it is not just a search for food, but for life. In his search for life, Lowell has been in a manic state, unable to stand back and observe life happening. In this moment of observing skunks rummage through garbage, Lowell is able to step outside of his head for a moment and realize that life does happen. The moment that Lowell is able to separate himself from his dizzying mind, he is able to experience life in a way that he has been unable to do previously. He is able to achieve an objective point of view and enjoy life. In this moment of relating to the skunks, Lowell gets a moment of salvation from his manic head and realizes that life is instinctive survival, and that the weak are the ones who will not make it.

"Howl" and when will we be there?

Trying to get to the next level is not always an easy task. For Allen Ginsberg and his friends, “Howl” is the next level. With an examination into the lives of Ginsberg and his friends, “Howl” shows the constant battle in the minds of these people, trying to reach the next level, the level of knowing.

“Howl” shows the struggling minds of Ginsberg and his friends and how the world is a constant pressure, weighing them down, making them suffer, trying to reject their inner artistic minds. Ginsberg examines the ways in which society tries to repress their individualities and how they strive to reach the next level.

For them, it is all about transcendence. They are constantly trying to achieve their optimum level of all knowing power. With the help of hallucinogenic drugs, Ginsberg and his friends are able to reach, for them, the level of knowing all. Through reaching this point, they are able to see how the world is trying to continually suppress them, and to keep them as a fixed point in society, one that fits in with the rest and does not question everything.

The point in transcendence is to question everything. Ginsberg does this through “Howl,” finally reaching a point of acknowledgement in which he realizes the world and society do not want him in a level of all knowing power. In part II of “Howl,” Ginsberg describes Moloch, the ancient God in which children were used as sacrifices. Moloch, for Ginsberg and his friends, is the societal pressure to conform as well as the pressure to sacrifice their individualities to society. They are forced to face Moloch, standing up to Moloch, to try to reach past Moloch and transcend beyond it to reach their level of satisfaction in life.

By part III of “Howl,” Ginsberg shifts back to Carl Solomon, to whom the poem was written for. He repeatedly tells Carl that he is with him in Rockland. This is an expression of how close Ginsberg and all of his friends were. If one of them is suffering from the tortures of Moloch, the others are with them. It does not matter to them if one is considered mad, for they are all mad in some sense. They have all lost something along their journey.

The last two sections of “Howl” seem to wrap up the idea of transcendence in that Ginsberg brings the poem full circle. Starting with dedicating “Howl” to Carl Solomon, Ginsberg traces the steps of his friends and himself, through the streets and city to face Moloch, back to Carl Solomon, saying that he is with him forever, wherever he is in life. He is with Carl no matter what. They are all with him. They have all faced the world, intoxicated, looking for the passage to an all-knowing mind, have felt the pressures of Moloch, have repressed the urge to conform to society. They have all been searching for one thing, transcendence. Using hallucinogenic drugs to reach this level, for some, is the correct path. They have achieved a “higher” level of understanding, searching past what they know to seek what they believe to be the truth. This “higher” level search that they have been on is “Howl.” The journey is the important thing.

Rear Window

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film “Rear Window” presents the ideas of two people who look at life and marriage in two completely different ways. Jeffries, bound in his apartment with a broken leg, seems to look at life in a negative way, thinking of marriage as a bad idea. Lisa however seems to look at life in a more positive light and looks forward to marriage, thinking that everything will be perfect once she is married. The apartments that we are able to see present everything in life that Jeffries and Lisa are both questioning as well as falling victim too.

Miss Torso, for example, is swimming in men, not in love with any of them, waiting for her true love, the sailor, to return home. Lisa sees this and comments that she knew what it was like to juggle men and not love any of them.

Miss Lonelyhearts, one of the characters that bring Jeffries and Lisa even closer together, makes them both feel sympathetic towards her. Lisa sees Miss Lonelyhearts as poetic, waiting for the perfect guy, her long lost love. When Miss Lonelyhearts just can’t take it anymore, she is about to commit suicide, until she hears the Composer’s music. Jeffries and Lisa are witness to this act. Jeffries and Lisa are brought closer together through Miss Lonelyhearts.

The Newlyweds are unseen through most of the film, for they close the window blinds to their window in the beginning. I feel the idea here is that love is great in the beginning, but once reality kicks in, the Newlyweds begin to argue over the fact that he doesn’t have a job. Jeffries sees this as an actual real life issue, where when Lisa sees this she just wants the feeling of being a newlywed. She wants to be married to badly.

The Thorwalds, the main focus of the film, is the ultimate point that brings Jeffries and Lisa together. When Jeffries first becomes interested in the Thorwalds he realizes that something just isn’t right over there. Mr. Thorwald is married to a woman who doesn’t appreciate him and is ill in bed. She is constantly nagging him and putting him down. Mr. Thorwald is also having an affair on top of this. Lisa only becomes interested once Jeffries has told her about his suspicions and she catches a glimpse of what was actually going on over there. The Thorwalds are what bring Jeffries and Lisa the closest together.

When Lisa goes into Thorwalds’ apartment and secretly is able to retrieve Mrs. Thorwalds wedding band, proving that she wasn’t really on a trip, Jeffries finally realizes that she is the woman for him and that he loves her. She points to her finger with the ring on it so Jeffries can see her from his rear window. This one act is really what brings them together. Jeffries sees what lengths Lisa is willing to go to, up to the point of being caught by a killer.

By the end of the film, Jeffries with two broken legs now instead of one, is posted up in his apartment still, but now with Lisa staying there as well. By looking into the lives of their neighbors, Jeffries and Lisa’s differences made them grow closer together. Solving the mystery of Mrs. Thorwalds’ disappearance, however, is what finally made them see eye to eye and love each other.

The Leads

David Mamet’s play, Glengarry Glen Ross, is a play that is full of egotistical business men; each of them trying to get ahead in their cutthroat business no matter what it really takes. These men are willing to lie, cheat, and even steal to be able to succeed in business. The one thing that Mamet’s play lacks, however, is any seen woman characters. There are several references to women throughout the play, but not one is seen.

Early in the play, Levene mentions the “ex” that had “kicked out” of a deal. His mention of this woman makes her seem somewhat bad in a sense that we as readers are not quite sure at this point what the big picture is. A little while later Leven makes another reference to a woman, this time his daughter. He tries to use his sick daughter as a means of negotiating with John to get the good leads. With these two women, it seems that Levene is only good at making excuses for himself through these women. He tries to use them to get ahead, it’s disgusting.

Levene also mentions one more woman in the play. He speaks briefly of Harriet Nyborg, who bought crumb cake from the store and fed it to Levene and her husband while agreeing to sign a contract she has no intention or means of purchasing. This last woman that Levene mentions is slightly different from the other two. She goes so far as to sign the contract and give Levene a bad check. At least she did this to get him to shut up. For we all know salesmen won’t shut up or leave until you buy something from them, so it might as well be a faulty check to get rid of them.

There is one more mention of a woman in the play. Mrs. Lingk is brought into the picture when Roma tries to sell her and her husband some land they didn’t want. Roma was able to close the deal the night before, but the next day gets a rude surprise when Mr. Lingk comes to tell him he needs his check back because his wife said to get everything back. She seems to be the most sensible out of all the women mentioned. She sees right through Roma’s shifty lies and realizes that what he has offered them is a bunch of b.s., as is the entire contract.

There is argument that these women mentioned not only ruin Roma’s contract but also bring about Levene’s final fall. I argue against this. It seems to me that the only thing these men were good at was lying, cheating, and stealing. Their business deals were b.s. and the lies that poured out of their mouths just to get people to sign a contract were ridiculous. The lack of actual women characters actually makes them seem stronger. Without them there we are only able to go off of what the men give us. Knowing how the men are in a business sense allows us to see right through them when they speak about women. The only reason they even seem to deal with the women mentioned in the play is because they need both signatures the close a deal. They must always be closing.

Persepolis: Leaving us behing

Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis was absolutely amazing. It is thought provoking and touching as we follow the life of a young girl growing up in the middle of the revolution in Iran. On page 29 Marji’s father has been out taking pictures of the revolution. His family is worried because he has been gone so long. The illustration provided for his picture taking is incredibly unique on this page as opposed to any other illustration through the book. He is standing off to the side with a camera while photographs are piled randomly next to him. This is one of the best illustrations in the book in my opinion. The photos he has taken show many different things from the revolution. He manages to capture the true hurt and power behind some of the forces. On page 102 there are a few more illustrations that seem to jump right out of the novel. The one on top is the one where the young boys had been given the Key to Paradise. The picture shows fallen young men with their keys hanging from their necks. The illustration is not very detailed with sharp edges. This makes us as readers feel badly for the young boys that have died. Right underneath that picture, however, is the picture of Marji at her first party. This picture has much more detail than the last and gives us as readers a sense of real life amongst the life of war. With the previous picture, none of the young boys were given faces. They were merely shadows fallen and scattered amongst others just the same. The picture of the party, however, gives everyone a face, giving each of them life. This picture really shows how Marji is growing up and her world is changing. Although there is war and revolution around her, she is still able to have some sort of normal childhood life. In this she says, “Punk rock was in. I was looking sharp.” This shows a great progression from the little girl she was into the person she is becoming. By the end of the novel Marji is sent away by her parents. The last frame of the novel leaves it really open ended and makes us feel lost almost. She turns one more time to look at her parents. It is then that she says, “It would have been better to just go.” She sees her father carrying her mother off who we are to believe as just fainted from the loss of sending her child away. This last frame is one of the most emotionally moving frames in the entire novel to me. It is so sad and undetermined that you really just don’t know how to fell anymore. Marji is left and her life is going to be taken in a completely different direction now. She is on her own, and her parents are stuck with their old life. They believed they were giving their daughter a better life, but with sending her away they have just broken up their family. How do you feel anything but sad and abandoned?

Is the search over?

For the duration of the novel, Binx claims he is on a search for something. There is never a direct answer as to what his search might be, but it appears to be the ultimate search, the search for meaning in everyday life. Binx is asking the age old question of, “Why are we here and what is our purpose?” This question has been raised by many throughout the history of the world. Binx feels isolated in the world, like there is no real place for him. By the time we get to the epilogue, Binx says, “As for my search, I have not the inclination to say.” This leaves us as readers to ponder over whether his search is over or if his search is continuous.

Binx, as a character, changes through the course of the novel. By the end of the novel, he no longer has the same (almost sarcastic) tone that he had in the beginning. Binx is nothing else than what I call a “watcher.” He is one of those people who does not know how to create a real space for himself among the rest of the people. For Binx, everydayness is his ultimate goal, but his ultimate fear and torture. He continually speaks openly about the everydayness of others and how he does not want to fall into that, yet, is it not everydayness that he himself seeks?

Being a “watcher” is one of the worst places a person can be in. With no real way of pushing oneself into any real situation, the “watcher” keeps on watching. Being a “watcher” means that no matter how hard you try to push yourself to fit into any situation, there is nothing you can do besides sit on the sidelines and watch as others pass you by in life. Being a “watcher” is never any fun after the first little while. In the beginning, you feel as though you are onto something, like you are that much closer to the greater meaning if you could just understand why the surrounding people act the way they do. Instead, this idea of watching to understand really does not work out that well. There is no happiness in being a mere spectator on life, trying to figure out the greater meaning behind everything. True happiness comes from being a part of life; trying to constantly question it is depressing when you find that the meaning you were looking for is completely and forever unreachable.

Binx appears to have proclaimed a short end to his search almost in the epilogue, but we all know it is a never ending cycle for him. He cannot just quit looking for his greater meaning, because that is what he is, a “watcher” and an analyzer. He analyzes everyone around him, although he claims he is not very good at research or analyzing anything. This constant obsession of watching others to find meaning in them is a way to find meaning in himself. He is unable to function in normal situations like normal people, so he watches them, trying to understand how they do it. His cycle of being a “watcher” is never over. His search for true, meaningful happiness will never be complete until he can let go of being the “watcher” and actually live.