A Tree Grows On Mango Street

When my friend asked me about what "A House On Mango Street" is about I didn't know how to answer him. So I told him it was like a modern "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" except told in vignettes. Which is fairly accurate because they are both about poverty through the eyes of a child but more than that.

What I love about both books is that they have a searing kind of truth to them but at the same time it wasn't depressing. Books are often either swallowed in there own depression or avoid topics to keep the story from it. I think that writing can be about anything and not be depressing if it is written well and creatively written, with good symbols (metaphors and similes) and description. For example the chapter "What Sally Said" is about a beautiful girl named Sally who is hurt by her father. When talking about Sally's father hitting her she says "But Sally doesn't tell about that time he hit her with his hands like a dog, she said, like if I was an animal." It would be so easy to give a graphic description of Sally being hit but instead the cruelty is implied. I think this is much more powerful than graphically describing Sally being hit because more is left to the imagination. We see Sally being hit and are upset by it but no description of blood is necessary to move us.

At the same time the book doesn't avoid painful topics that would be part of the main character, Esperanza's, life, such as poverty and death, to keep the book from being too sad. There is a sort of truth that only a child can see. Such as how Sally's father loves Sally or like how in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Betty Smith can write about Francie's father being a alcoholic but Francie loves her father because she knows that he is a wonderful person despite his addiction.

Monsieur Ozu and Dumbldore

May i just say I love Monsieur Ozu and his relationship with Paloma, but especially Renee. I love him like I love Dumbldore. I think I would cry just as hard if he died like when Dumbldore died. Any way I think Monsieur Ozu kind of saved Renee. I think she was content keeping her thoughts to herself but she has realized that sharing her thoughts to some one who understand isn't necessarily going to make her life miserable, as she thinks would happen if she opened herself up to any one.

What I love about Monsieur Ozu is that he has a "child-like enthusiasm." This isn't to say he is childish, but he enjoys and is amazed by all the world has to offer. He, like Dumbledore, is wise, old, and helped the main character. Monsieur Ozu however, unlike Dumbledore (and all the old men like him in story's), is not teaching Renee anything. They are simply friends.  At the same time Renee has become a good friend to Monsieur Ozu and he obviously needs her company as much she needs his.

I appreciate this because often in story's the main character meets someone who they are somewhat friends with but the main character is more like, for lack of a better word, a apprentice. I find Monsieur Ozu and Renee's friendship refreshing.  The same could be said for Paloma except she has not really learned as much from being friends with him because she is still set on committing suicide. I think that she will change her mind. I at least hope she will.

Ozu, Renee and phenomenology

I just finished chapter 1 in the section "on grammar," in "Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery. I have to say I find it interesting that Renee so quickly changed her thoughts on the man who moved in. After hearing his name and knowing that he is the man who created the movies she adores her entire perspective changed. Suddenly she became much fascinated in him. I mean she was interested before because no one had ever moved in or out of the building when she was there, but besides that her only worry was of the change a new person could bring.

I find it interesting that she had let her secret intelligence show a bit by mistake before she knew who he was.  Perhaps it simply was a mistake, that the author needed him to find out about her so they become friends but I think it was more then that. Maybe it was as Renee suspects, that she unconsciously wanted him to find out. That would make sense as Renee has spent a good bit of time remarking on phenomenology, the study of consciousness. Closer still but why do I feel there is more to it. I think Renee is so lonely that even if she thought that she must put on a facade she really wanted someone to talk to more then anything. Really the only people she talks to are the maid and Neptune, a woman's dog.

The author is trying to show that despite ones independence and that one may think they are above others, really we need people more then anything else in the world. Keeping everything we think to ourselves can drive us crazy. Often I have to write secrets down or tell someone before I can really feel at ease. Renee has a journal and Paloma keeps to as she writes down her thoughts and try's to convince herself not to commit suicide (A bit half-heartily but I'll leave that for another blog post.)

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

"The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery is about a lower-class concierge in Paris named Renee and a upper-class 12 year old girl named Paloma. Both of whom try hard to not show how intelligent they really are. Paloma doesn't think that life is worth living, to grow up just to become a adult so she plans to kill herself on her 13th birthday. Renee hides how intelligent she is though really she sits in her room all day reading and is brilliant.

I think that though Renee's life and Paloma's life are extremely similar though also very different. Both spend there life trying to hide what they know. The difference is Renee is perfectly happy feeling superior to the rich who live in the building where as Paloma believes that growing up isn't worth it, that she will be like them. At the same time both seem rather content. Which is odd because you would think a girl planning suicide wouldn't be content. Renee is growing old, widowed and was never pretty, yet never complains about her life.

I think this is Muriel Barbery saying that though others may seem insignificant and it seems we should pity them or look down on them when really they may be more then we know them to be.  This is a important lesson, especially in middle school where we are constantly looking down on others. Some one may say something we think is weird, so we say that they are weird. Really, for all we know they are quoting a philosopher, like Renee. It is so easy to make assumptions about others. We feel we know them with out having to speak to them. I think every one does this, even if it is subconsciously, and it's alright as long as we can ignore our thoughts and see them with a open mind.