Steve Martin

I am currently doing homework and listening to one of Steve Martin's albums. Maybe not the most efficient use of time, but an enjoyable one none the less. Steve Martin's humor is enigmatic is many respects - he adopts an almost stream of consciousness approach in his monologues. Some border on rambling as he muses about a particular topic and then interjects with wild yelling or a banjo solo. Martin is an extremely accomplished musician as and a proficient banjoist and has worked on multiple collaborations with hit recording artists. In many respects Martin is a polymath. What interests me is how seemingly un-structured his humor can be - I once heard in an interview that he believed that people were tired during this time period from the threat of the cold war and mutually assured destruction and were more interested in his brand of humor that was non-sequitar and on the whole very silly. I certainly recommend Martin's routine for anyone who is in the mood for something light-hearted and fun. Many of his more recent movies have been subpar (and this is being charitable) but his stand up comedy from the late 70s is pure gold.

The March of the Flag

In the March of the Flag, Beveridge argues that the United States has a duty to annex areas like Puerto Rico and Cuba so that they might be exposed to American democracy and that Americans might have additional markets to utilize. This was a question that many Americans were debating leading up to the Spanish-American War. Beveridge argued that to take Carribean nations was simply an extention of manifest destiny, much as the original colonists had branched out to envelope the entire landmass that is now the United States. I believe Joe would not be as diametrically opposed to Beveridge's opinion as he would be D'Souza. It would depend on the circumstances. I believe Joe would be more willing if the people in these countries were in favor of having democracy spread to them. However, the situation would be differant if these countries had no interest. Then the United States would simply be imposing its own value system on other countries, something that Joe explicitly comes out against believing that the United States hasn't the right at all.

America the Beautiful

In this article, D'Souza explains why he thinks America is the greatest nation on earth. This country affords people more freedom than various Islamic nations that do things like impose their own restrictions onto everyone when it comes to issues like what a woman can wear in public. D'Souza would support the fact that America sometimes goes to war to impose its own beliefs upon others because the current system is the best there is, and people should have the opportunity to experience it for themselves. Joe would take issue with this logic, he believes that a country like the United States cannot send its citizens to war without providing them with a tangible reason for it. Joe does not believe that one can fight for democracy as it is an abstract term that people define differantly. He believes that a person should be told exactly what they are getting themselves into before they go to war as he did - if he had had a more realistic picture of what he was getting himself into, his opinion about going to war would have been much differant. D'Souza would disagree with Joe on this point - D'Souza believes that American democracy is the ultimate cause to champion, whereas Joe does not believe it is an objective enough goal to ask people to give their lives for it.

Johnny Got His Gun (Part 2)

The book becomes less focused on Joe's past and more focused on his time in the hospital during the second half of the book. It also begins to focus more on his attempts to ascertain details that were previously mundane, such as telling time. What interests me about this book is the fact that it is considered as one of the most poignant and effective anti-war books of all time, and yet it doesn't mention war explicitly in the second half until near the end, much like the first half. Dalton Trumbo through Joe doesn't speak explicitly against war until near the end, but the argument is subtley presented throughout the book. This is what makes it work well. It appeals to the audience's emotions and causes us to sympathize with Joe and by extension his plight.

Johnny Got His Gun

Immediately I was struck by the book's unique prose and style. There is an almost stream of consciousness theme to the writing to the point where early on I was operating under the assumption that the different sections were not actually about the same character but disparate individuals sharing common experiences. The scenes are all very vivid. The scene where his arm is being removed in particular was extremely lifelike. I think this was the case due to the fact that it wasn't an extremely dramatic scene. In many ways it was the least chaotic sequence in this part of the book. Instead of pushing his description of the scene over the top, it was rather low key. He felt a hot pricking and peeling, and then realized his arm was gone. This description was able to be both vivid and vague; vague in that he wasn't quite aware of what was going on. This section worked so well because it didn't try extremely hard to convey the emotions it needed too, it just presented them and let the audience make up its own mind.

Gender

Through the media and American culture, I and others have been given a certain set of attributes which real men are expected to conform too. Men should be muscular, and rugged. They should never talk about their problems, and above all, real men never cry. This image has been given to us through movies, commercials and writing. The media portrays this image as being the be all and end all when it comes to being the way one is "supposed" to be. Whether this is right or wrong is ultimately irrelevant as it is how society portrays real men as being.

The Story of My Body

Throughout her life, Ortiz has measured herself and been measured by others physically on a scale pervaded by the media. When she is in Puerto Rico she is consistently praised for her good looks, to the point where the shop keeper goes out of his way to give her candy for being so pretty. When she moves to the United States however, she is judged by a different standard and is found to be lacking in terms of looks. This illustrates how different cultures define what is considered good-looking on different terms. Ortiz did not look any different when she moved to the United States than she had in Puerto Rico (at least not imediately, she obviously went through puberty and began to look different eventually) but she was judged to be far less attractive in the United States. This is epitomized by her statement at the very begining of the piece - in Puerto Rico she was considered "white", in the United States she is considered "brown".