Tim O'Brien Video Response

Sorry guys..i got cut off in my first video cause my screen saver came on, so there is now 2 videos!!

Poetry of Witness Response

The woman hanging from the thirteenth floor window is not a literal interpretation, rather a representation of a woman who expresses hopelessness and is unsure whether she can rediscover herself. Her struggles come from deeper issues relating to her family, the previous men in her life and the stages of being a woman. She is not alone when dealing with all these emotions. “She is a woman of children, of the baby, Carlos, and of Margaret, and of Jimmy who is the oldest. She is her mother’s daughter and her father’s son. She is several pieces between the two husbands she has had. She is all the women of the apartment building who stand watching her, watching themselves” (10-15). The woman hanging from the thirteenth floor window struggles with complicated issues that most women go thru in their lifetime. She speaks with jealousy of people with higher wealth status while realizing her own faults. “It is a dizzy hole of water and the rich live in tall glass houses at the edge of it” (20-21). As she stands at the edge of her own reality she starts to realize some good in her life. The joys of being a mother bring her back, and thinking of her family and the women she was which has transformed her into the women she is now. The woman had hit rock bottom, “she thinks of 4 a.m. lonelinesses [SIC] that have folded her up like death, discordant (lack of harmony), without logical and beautiful conclusion...she sees the sun falling west over the grey plane of Chicago” (56-58, 61-62). She interprets the end of her sorrow as getting ready to jump from the thirteenth floor, but then she is able to pull herself off the ground and start to rebuild her life. “She thinks she remembers listening to her own life break loose, as she falls from the 13^th floor window on the east side of Chicago, or as she climbs back up to claim herself again” (63-66). The woman hanging from the thirteenth floor window is a mother going through depression while dealing with life struggles just as I too am a mother dealing with the challenges of life.

I believe that I can be the woman hanging from the thirteenth floor window. The hardship that is expressed throughout this poem made it easy for me, and probably most women, to relate with my own life experiences. Dealing with the stress of being a single mother, moving away from home, getting a new job, going to a new school and dealing with present and past relationships have been some obstacles that I have had to overcome. At times I can also see myself hanging on by a thread but have to make my own decisions towards which way to lead my life. “But she is the woman hanging from the 13^th floor window, and she knows she is hanging by her own fingers, her own skin, her own thread of indecision” (46-48). Jealousy is a common factor among people, always wanting what you don’t have. I get jealous, but I have learned to use that jealousy towards improving myself. As I have made it through difficulties in life, I find that there are reasons why I pick myself up off the floor and not stay in a depression state. I do it for my family, for the satisfaction of becoming somebody I have always wanted to be, but mostly for my daughter and myself.

Sources:

"Abhinav Jain ." Web. 18 Sep 2010. <http://bibliosity.blogspot.com/2009/01/woman-hanging-from-thirteenth-floor.html>.

    Poems are a way to reflect emotions and events that occur in a sequence that takes you on a journey into the poets mind, which then can try to be interpreted and understood. Joy Harjo does just that in her poem, “The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window.” After reading Harjo’s writing, one would start to understand a woman and their struggles as she portrays them. “The woman hanging from the 13^th floor window on the east side of Chicago is not alone. She is a woman of children…She is several pieces between the two husbands she has had. She is all the women of the apartment building who stand watching her, watching themselves” (Harjo). The author allows one to not only relate to an instance in particular, but is showing how most women have felt sometime in their lives. This poem certainly stuck out to me over the rest because I am a woman, a mother, a student and a worker who struggles through each day. The stresses that have to be dealt with on a day to day basis can cause people to feel as though they are hanging right there on the edge, debating letting go or to keep pushing forward. Personally, everyone has hard times dealing with certain situations, me especially, and finds it even harder to move on and use the knowledge of our past in our future. Harjo tells of sorrow and suffering just as Wislawa Szymborska writes about the tragic day of September 11^th. Szymborska writes about the people who were stuck in the twin towers on September 11^th, and this poem really hit home because most of us will always remember when this tragic event happened. “They jumped from the burning floors- one, two, a few more, higher, lower” (Szymborska), her use of simple detail allows your imagination to create its own image even if there was no picture provided.

            Each of the poems we’ve read has had real emotion and a true meaning, these two were the one’s which really made me think and want to read again and again.

Sources:

1.  "Under Pressure." Web. 8 Sep 2010. <http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/health914.html>. 

Sam Hamill Essay Response

           Sam Hamill’s writing, “The Necessity to Speak” was truly inspiring. He got straight to the point and didn’t just tell people what they wanted or were expecting to hear; he gave the cold hard truth. I was unaware about the depth and journey I would be taken on in his writing, just as I was taken on a similar journey while reading poems from Poetry of Witness. Joy Harjo takes you first hand through the eyes of a struggling women in her writing “The Women Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window,” just as Hamill describes the struggles battered and raped women have on an emotional and physical level. These authors are bringing us face to face with our own fears and making us take the plunge into emotions we try not to come into contact with.

            Hamill states, “we find poetry embarrassing” (547). The sufferings these poets are writing about aren’t something that is openly spoken and this is why poetry can really help someone express true feelings and emotions.  People don’t want to hear of murder, rape and battered women; they believe that if it doesn’t reach their thoughts then there is no possibility of it occurring to them or someone they love. “We persuade ourselves that perhaps, if we don’t talk about sex, sexual involvement won’t happen too soon. And perhaps, if we don’t think about our daughters loving a batterer, that won’t happen either. Our silence grants violence permission” (Hamill 550). This fragment of Hamill’s writing really hit home for me, knowing the fact that I have a daughter myself. You can’t hide behind reality, you have to understand and make use of your knowledge. Yet people still shelter themselves and in return shelter their children from real facts. These facts might not be pretty or candy coated, but neither is the society we live in. By warning my daughter when she is old enough about the hardship of being a women may not be easy, but could one day help protect her. Hamill is simply trying to help people understand reality that is written on paper, which we call poetry.

Sources:

1. Web. 3 Sep 2010. <http://www.mhs.no/article_883.shtml>.