Noah's Smush

The Other Mush by: Madeline Howell

 

 

Noah hated that guy. He HATED him. Miss Leah could marry any boy in the whole world if she wanted to. Brown hair, red, blonde, white, even purple. She could marry any of those guys on the covers of those magazines she was always reading. She could marry a prince! The kind with a million horses and giant dinner tables and servants and a castle! But she picked that guy. “What was so special about him?” Noah wondered. Miss Leah didn’t ever go to the park and feed the ducks with him. She didn’t take him to the aquarium or to the zoo or to get ice cream at Noah’s favorite ice cream place (it was the best one). She didn’t play Candyland or Monopoly or watch her favorite cartoons with him… She wouldn’t even help him with his homework! Noah knew that because when he asked Miss Leah, she laughed and said “No, I never have!” She even shook her head. Instead of doing anything fun, Miss Leah always came back from seeing him with something way too shiny. One time she showed Noah a necklace from the guy and it was so bright that Noah went half blind for three days! Once she came back with a bracelet that she let Noah try on. The consensus? “It was okay.” The last time she left with him, Miss Leah came back with a ring like the one Noah’s mom usually wears. It was too big for her hand. Probably hurt to carry around. Noah hated him so much that every time Miss Leah talked about him, he would press his hands over his ears so hard that his whole face would smush. That way no sound could get through.

 Despite constant protesting from the little guy, Miss Leah invited this mystery man over to meet Noah for the first time, which Noah was less than pleased about. But it was too late. The moment of truth was here. The doorbell rang and Miss Leah jumped to pause the T.V. as her smile grew ten inches. Noah turned on his best puppy dog eyes and grabbed Miss Leah’s ring-less hand with both of his tiny ones. His feet dragged reluctantly the whole ten wooden steps to the entry and as Miss Leah eagerly yanked open the heavy iron door, Noah’s little heart broke at the sound of a deep, rumbling, “Hey, little man! I’m Todd.”

Reading With My Feet (?)

The key piece of advice in this chapter was "try to find a reading perspective that allows for sympathy with the historical moment of the story, that understands the text as having been written against its own social, historical, cultural, and personal background".

So the idea is not to read with your eyes- or your feet or your ears- but not to read with your eyes. Not to read with your brain.

This era is so unlike any in history, what with all the technology and innovation and selfish perspective, that it becomes increasingly more difficult to insert ourselves into situations that don't mirror our own. To abandon our own mindsets in pursuit of the embodiment of another person's. The character's.

I, personally, have no problem empathizing with characters. It is easy for me to understand their perspectives. I often find myself in a bad mood when things don't seem to be going well for a character, or overly happy when something goes well for the person I am reading about. I find myself living a sort of vicarious reality through the characters in the book- but as easy as this is for me to do, I don't think its what Foster had in mind. He wants the connection to be more tangible. More logical. The ability to empathize on a level even deeper than is natural takes effort. It requires research and thought about not only the character but the society around them. Every aspect of the world around a person characterizes the way they respond to things, how they feel, and what every detail could mean.

David, who wrote many of the Bible's psalms, often comes across as angry and bitter. Vicious, even. In Psalm 42:9, David says "I say to God my rock, 'Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?' My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying all day long, 'Where is your God?'" and in Psalm 43:1 David again mentions his oppression. "Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men."
Without background, these pleas don't seem to make much sense. David was a king. A king who was loved and respected throughout his nation. Why is he searching for assistance and vengeance? Upon researching the matter, I have discovered that David most likely wrote Psalm 42 during the period of Absalom's Rebellion- Absalom being David's son whom he loved dearly, and the same son who conspired to take the throne from his father and put himself in the king's place. Considering these details, Israel would have been divided and David had to leave his palace and head for the desert in an interest to preserve his life.

Now I could read Psalm 42 and 43 without any indication of who the "enemy" or "foes" or "wicked men" were and I could have empathized with David, understanding that there were people who David needed protection from. But I would not know, truly, David's fears and the implication of his request. This man was pleading for the protection of his life. That I could not figure out without digging deeper. The era, customs, relationships that are specific to David's story- those are the things Foster would have me consider. So that I may read with David's eyes, and understand with David's mind.

You Are How You Eat

Nice to Eat With You: Acts of Communion

I had never thought about how much a simple passage about a meal can really say and mean. But then again, I have never thought in depth about how any of the topics discussed in this book matter so profusely. To be transparent, I can't say that I am at a point where I could read a passage about a formal dinner and come to the conclusion of a foreshadowed death, but I'm sure this whole "reading like a professor" thing is a process.
I am very aware of the fact that dinner (or "breaking bread") is incredibly important, though. Symbolically and in reality. My family eats dinner together almost every night. A typical Canfield family dinner will start with my mom in the kitchen. She makes a list of the things she will need on Saturday and goes shopping the same day to buy groceries, and sometimes her meals are so extensive that she has to prepare food a day in advance just so that it will be ready in time for dinner the next day. My dad comes home from work around the time dinner is ready- he always gives her a kiss and comments on how good the house smells. I set out the plates and utensils while my brother sets out the drinks. Very typical, as we are a very typical family. During dinner, the topics of conversation never vary. My dad or I will ask my mom how her day was, she'll reply with "Thank you for asking! My day was _______." and she will tell us the details of her day at work. The same thing happens with my dad- usually it is my responsibility to ask him about his day. Usually my mom will ask Ryan, my brother something like "did anything unusual happen at work today?" to which he replies with either a shrug or a shake of his head. After complimenting her cooking, my brother and I will ask permission to be excused, which we are granted. I wish I were exaggerating, but I'm not. I could write a script of 6:00-6:30pm every day that I've sat down for dinner, and it would be virtually word for word.
As I read over what I have written and reflect, here are some takeaways:
1. My mother puts a lot of effort into preparing these meals, and she places a ton of value on our scheduled dinners together.
2. Each member of our family has a designated or implied responsibility regarding mealtime. I believe that these responsibilities provide my parents with at least the illusion of being the family that has it all together. We each have our duties, we all perform them, and as long as we do that, then nothing can be too far out of place.
3. There is a reason my brother keeps his mouth shut. I remember a time when my brother would be the one at the dinner table who would always make us laugh. Dinner was fun when he was there- sometimes I would laugh so hard I would end up out of my chair and on the floor. But my parents are in a longstanding disagreement with Ryan which has sucked virtually all of the comfort and ease out of dinnertime. As intricately  as I know that this issue is present because I am a part of the family, I have no doubt that a third party reader with no insight into the inner workings of the Canfield family would be able to sense a stiffness in a literary portrayal of dinner at our house.

Unoriginality: An Art

Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?
Chapter 5

          Rainn Wilson did an interview with Joseph Gordon Levitt through his YouTube series Metaphysical Milkshake. In the interview, the two discussed whether or not there are unoriginal ideas. Levitt's response? That either every idea is original, or every idea is unoriginal- the spawn of other unoriginal ideas. The bucket of eels. Levitt's logic is this: every idea is original in the sense that no one in all of eternity has ever presented an idea the exact way that you present it. For example, Sacajawea lady, Sarkin Aung Wan. She was like Sacajawea in that she was a stranger, brown, and leading white men where they needed to go. But Sarkin Aung Wan would not have survived as a character if she was not original. Sacajawea: Take 2. The idea was borrowed, but original in that she was a completely new projection of the idea. Outlook #2, that every idea is unoriginal? Levitt backs up that claim by explaining that every new thing is a conglomeration or a remix of something that came before it. From this idea, Joseph Gordon Levitt started a website called hitrecord.org to which the actor began by uploading self-made videos. From there, the site took off. hitrecord.org is all about collaboration- users are given free license to remake or add on to whatever they would like, as well as the opportunity to upload their own creations for others to branch off from. Levitt gives an example: one person uploads a short story, then another adds a voiceover. After that, who knows. Someone else may make a short film using the script and voiceover. Levitt has been running the website now for 4 years, turning it into a real, respected production company.

          The author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster, mentions that there are many facets used to compose a personal story. "childhood experiences, past reading, every movie the creator has ever seen, last week's argument with a phone solicitor." While reading this line, I was reminded of a quote in Mr. Davison's room of which the theme is that an author/writer is nothing without his or her experience. To the professor of literature, or to the student who is learning to read like one, many literary works from the past are included in that category. Foster is just explaining a phenomenon that people have been noticing for a very long time- and teaching us not only how to recognize unoriginality, but how to appreciate it as well.

           Just in that while reading this chapter I was reminded of multiple different similarly-structured ideas proves that ideas are derivative of other ideas and that no idea is truly original. But while the barrel of eels is growing, each eel must create its own path. The little glimmer of originality will never die out.