Carolyn Chute

“Ms. Chute, who grew up in Cape Elizabeth, Me., dropped out of school at 16 and supported herself and a young daughter by working as a charwoman, driving a school bus and plucking chickens.”

In my fiction writing class last year my professor always stressed the mantra “write what you know.” I think that Carolyn Chute took this saying to heart when she wrote The Beans of Egypt, Maine and that is why the characters come to life with interesting accents, gruff language, and immoral behavior.

This NY Times article “A Writer in a Living Novel” gives some context to Chute’s story (the article is written in November of 2008 right before her book The School on Heart’s Content Road is to be published). Chute’s role as founder and, as she says, “secretary of offense, or offensiveness” of the 2^nd Maine Militia is extremely fitting. Basically, this group meets behind Chute’s home to shoot at cans and discuss what is wrong in the world – it is a nonpartisan economic populist group. The group is very diverse, but each member shares the experience of the government trying to take something away form him.

Look at this interview I found with Chute. I love seeing her in her home. The description of the youtube video is very telling – “ She just doesn’t trust the system – nor want any part of it.”  Her novel definitely makes it clear that her characters have been failed by the system in a way that maybe she has too?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/books/04chut.html?pagewanted=2

Guilt - The Beans of Egypt, Maine

After reading The Beans of Egypt, Maine, I am embarrassed to say that I found the book very difficult to finish. I felt isolated from the characters and ultimately, had trouble feeling sympathy for them. Chute’s novel tells the tale of two poverty-stricken families in rural Maine who fight for survival, but the families’ lack of drive and motivation isolate them from the American dream and thus from the middle class reader.

Roberta Rosen’s article “I Hate this Book” resonated with me and other members of the class as well.  In her article, Rosen contemplates why The Beans of Egypt, Maine elicited such a strong, negative reaction from her undergraduate and graduate students. Her thesis reads, “Why was it possible for many of my students to accept cultural disparity when it seemed to be a matter of race, ethnicity or religion, but not when it was a matter of class? Was their previous open-mindedness just political correctness, or are class antagonisms more difficult to identify and accept in an American society which theoretically views itself as "classless?"2 The more I explore these questions, the more I am convinced that American middle-class assumptions and values should become a more prominent topic for critical analysis within multicultural literature.”

The fault in the middle class reading of a poverty portrait like the one Chute writes is that members of middle class America feel that they have earned their place there through hard work and dedication, so they cannot feel sympathy for characters who do not yearn for the same lifestyle. In this novel, the characters are cruel, dirty, aggressive, and lazy. Why do students feel no pity for poor white protagonists? I believe that Rosen highlights one of the most important issues in the education system today – awareness. It is not possible to read novels that deal with social issues of race and class if the reader is not aware of the preconceived notions he or she brings to the text.

It is also very interesting the Chute represents the middle class in her text as more clean and proper than the Beans. Instead of screaming and cursing the middle class represents the bourgeois life as Rosen states, “All of the middle-class characters who inhabit Egypt, Maine are certainly cleaner, as well as more ambitious, socially acceptable and progressive than their impoverished counterparts. However, there is something sinister about the arrival of the J. K. Smiths, a wealthy, enfranchised city family who take up residence across the road from the Beans. Most significantly, these newly established yuppies arrive on Thanksgiving with their "Mayflower" moving van full of furniture and the equipment of bourgeois life.”

Ali’s Critique of Kiswana

In Ali’s blog post titled “An Exception Not the Rule,” she grabbles with a problem that I found very disconcerting in Kiswana Browne’s chapter. Why would Kiswana think that choisng poverty would be a way to better the lives of African American women?

I actually think that Kiswana’s move into Brewster Place is more a rebellion to her family’s rich lifestyle. She does not feel like she can ever live up to their expectations. This is especially apparent in the passage when her mother comes to visit her apartment. At one point Kiswana snaps and yells, “No, Mama, You’re not poor. And what you have and I have are two totally different things. I don’t have a husband in real estate with a five-figure income and a home in Linden Hills – you do. What I have is a weekly unemployment check and an overdrawn checking account at United Federal. So this studio on Brewster is all I can afford” (83). Kiswana is definitely trying to distinguish herself as an individual away from her childhood self.

Ali brings attention to the controversial reason that Kiswana has pushed away her family. She writes, “Kiswana wants a better world for the African community, with rights and equality, but as her mother reminds her, how do you make the world better when you can't make it better for yourself? Priorities are skewed in Brewster Place, Kiswana needs to open her eyes and realize that Brewster Place isn't somewhere you hang out, it is a place you get stuck in and never escape.” I find it very hard to grapple with the fact that Kiswana places herself in this situation as a means of understanding her people’s problems, but does not create a plan to create change for them. With the resources she has been blessed with I would have hoped that she could have channeled her lofty ideas into more productive modes of change.

The Star of "The Two"

The chapter “The Two” opens with “At first they seemed like such nice girls. No one could remember exactly when they had moved into Brewster” (129). Lorraine and her loving spouse Theresa are not introduced as individuals, but rather as a pair of girls. Throughout the entire chapter the women of Brewster Place, especially Sophie, do not make the couple feel that they belong in this community because of their sexuality. Just a few pages into the text after witnessing Theresa catch Lorraine as she trips over a child’s toy the narrator reacts, “They had seen that- done that – with their men. The shared moment of invisible communion reserved for two and hidden from the rest of the world behind laughter or tears or a touch” (131)

Even though Lorraine displays all the qualities that these women would want in a neighbor (considerate, quiet, friendly) ultimately she is ostracized for her sexuality. Sophie spreads rumors about Lorraine and her spouse and “the two.” She even publically humiliates Lorraine at a community meeting. This is a very important scene because Lorraine flees out of embarrassment and I consoled by a man named Ben. His kind words make her confident and later when she leaves a party after a fight with Theresa she does not go directly home.

The horrible scene when Lorraine is gang raped leads an interesting reading. Maybe she is being punished for her outlying sexual behavior. Because she does not conform to societal norms, Lorraine is not safe. The Women of Brewster Place creates a very stifling environment for the characters of each chapter and Lorraine suffers a great deal. Ultimately, she stumbles away from the scene of the crime and murders Ben. This retaliation is a statement to her disappointment in men. She finally confided and felt safe around Ben and when her guard was let down she was brutally raped.

Real Life Turtle!

I went to Crescent Beach in Cape Elizabeth this past Sunday with my two brothers. As we were leaving the beach, I was shocked to see a turtle in the road! Obviously I couldn't help but think of the turtle from Grapes of Wrath. Since we weren't on a busy road, I told my little brother to get out and help the turtle off the road. He quickly jumped at the opportunity and helped encourage the turtle to the safety. I love with texts come to life : )

Depression Era Recipes

Wow! The group presentation we had in class on Monday was fabulous. Not to mention the fact that we had so many accepted students in class who I'm sure were blown away by the music, photos, and FOOD.  I really feel like I have a better understanding of what the Jode's and many other family experienced on their journey to California.

The main aspect of their presentation that resonated with me was how resourceful the families were. I looked into the recipes from the Depression and found a great deal of information. These women and men were creating cakes without flour and pies without fruit! The portion of their travel guide with food prizes definitely made the financial strain more understandable. When you compare the idea of buying sliced baked ham for 39 cents a pound to beans for 13 cents a can, is there really an option? Not to mention how difficult it was to secure fresh produce. Just look at this quote from the NY Times from an article "Urges Charity Gardens," "Soup kitchens and the missions state that they can always get meat scaps and day-old bread, frequently for nothing and always for very little, but the vegetables that make up the bulk of the soups and stews which they serve are few and far between, and those they can afford are poor and stale. Arrangements are being made to have baskets at the Grand Central and Pennsylvania Station to recieve contributions of fruit and vegetables brough in on trains."

In their presentation, one of the recipes covered was "mock apple pie" and we were even given the opportunity to taste it! Surprisingly, I found it actually resembled traditional apple pie which made me think - what else can we create without the normal ingredients?



I stumbled upon a 93 year old woman's blog that is completely devoted to recipes from the great depression. Here is one of her youtube videos of her cooking in the kitchen:

And here is one of her recipes:

Meatless Meat Loaf

Ingredients

1 cup rice
1 cup peanuts crushed
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
Combine all the ingredients together. bake in a loaf pan for 30 minutes or until loaf is good and set.

History
With meat at a premium during the Great Depression, many people made do without chicken, beef or pork, except on rare occasions. One recurring theme that I have read from each story from someone who lived through the depression was that they remember being hungry all the time. The Meatless Meat Loaf may not sound appetizing, but it was filling.

Response to the NYTIMES - Gatsby!

Adieu, Sweet Life of ’20s Luxury

"Dan McCall, a professor emeritus at Cornell University, taught the book for 40 years. He marvels at the hold Gatsby still has on students. On the one hand, he said, with its hypnotic prose, its layers of longing for money, status, reinvention and love, it’s still channeling the American experience. “It’s not an antique to them, it’s never gone out of style the way some books I teach.” On the other hand, he said, Gatsby’s evocation of the American dream has an innocence and passion that are impossibly distant, like astral material from a lost galaxy. “Gatsby’s dream, the way he’s so devoted to it, that’s not something you find much in this economy, at this time. I think it’s breathtaking for kids in college. It’s an America they haven’t heard about from their parents.” " - PETER APPLEBOME


"Maybe someone will write today’s “Gatsby.” Or maybe it would just be an epic tweet: “Yo, Gatz. Blue lawn, green light, so close, but too far. Ahh, Daisy. We beat on, boats vs. the current, borne back, lol, into the past.”

 

I think that Peter Applebome's comment on how students connect to The Great Gatsby is really true. First off, it is a short novel that many of us had read before coming to Harrington's class. Though one of my peers, Elise, had never read it before though and I remember distinctly her reading it in one of our other classes. It drew her in so intensely that she could not put it down! Personally, I had read the novel in high school and was astounded at the beautiful sentence structure all over again. Even something as simple as in Chapter 7 as a boat moving along the water, Fitzgerald is able to capture intensity, movement, and beauty in with his words. "On the green Sound, stagnant in the heat, one small sail crawled slowly toward the fresher sea...Slowly the white wings of the boat moved against the blue cool limit of the sky." Fitzgerald pulls us in with his words.  They meld together so smoothly that before I realized I was already half way through the book. More over, Fitzgerald has astounding characters that represent ridiculous aspects of society. We see immense wealth, moral decay, death, adultery. These are the topics that get audiences engaged and that is why this book functions so well in the classroom. Is Fizgerald representing the American Dream? Is Gatsby corrupt?

Applebome goes further in the NY Times article to comment on who Jay would be in the 21^st century. Would he be a Bernie Madoff or a Mark Zuckerburg? I think that this article captures a great deal in the side comments. The commentary was brought up though because a huge mansion in Great Neck is being sold and it is said to be the inspiration for The Great Gatsby. Does it matter if these mansions disappear? Apparently over 500 of these mansions have already been knocked down.