"Anyway Mother's back to me in that rocker conjured that old Alfred Hitchcock movie she'd taken us to in 1960 Psycho...Mother turned around slow to face me like old Tony Perkins. Her face come into my head one sharp frame at a time. I finally saw in these instants that Mother's own face had been all scribbled up with that mud colored lipstick. She was trying to scrub herself out"(148). It seems that she doesn't see her mother as a care giver, or a role model. I don't understand how Mary can relive this memory when she compares it to the awful fiction of a movie.
I have seen the movie Psycho, so picturing her mother sitting in the rocker,is very weird, but an awesome comparison. It makes me thankful for how great my mother is. It’s a tragedy the way Mary's childhood is that of something evil in the world. I think the word Psycho is a perfect adjective for Mary's mother. It is sad that her memory is connecting this point in her life to that of a killer in a movie. I think there is points where we always connect something make believe with what happens in our true lives. We hope that what we make believe will come true and that sadness of our lives will disappear. At this point in reading we all know that Mary’s mother is an alcoholic and there is something else going on in her head. We finally understand that she did do to the loony place for awhile. I think that her father is putting up with these antics for the kids. He wants to protect them from the evil or craziness that is in Mary’s mothers mind. It’s crazy to think Mary’s father didn’t do something sooner. This is all stemming from the heartache that Grandma put on Mary’s mother. Mary’s mother gets her Nervous issue resulting from her Grandmother. It is sad that she died, but it’s a big change from when Mary’s mother drives the body across and comes back home. That road trip just made her mad. It’s if a light bulb came on and these horrible memories growing up came back to her. It’s really sad to read these hardships knowing that they really did happen, or did they? Maybe it isn’t as bad as we think.
Another disturbing image is, “If I tried to slide in with Mother too, she’d have unwrapped my arms from her neck, saying I made her hot”(180-181) It’s a tragedy when a child or even an adult is not comforted. It seems that Mary is not close with anyone. Since the beginning of the book she has some what has become closer to her sister, Lecia, but not like a sister relationship. There are so many descriptions of her mother ignoring her. No wonder she is closer to her father. It still not a close relationship. The alcohol and her mothers Nervous is a guard between all of them. I guess back then there wasn’t that much affection between family members. There was work and chores to be done. Her mother chooses to be close to Lecia because she would refill her alcohol intake. Mary’s mother was affected by her own mother. It seems as though Mary will not fall into her mothers footsteps. She has seen what her mother did to her childhood. I am sure Mary is grateful for the way she grew up, but also angry at the way her mother treated her. I am putting the blame mostly on her mother. Her father might have some faults, but she never describes them as neatly as her memories from her mother. Hopefully it will change. Maybe her mother will grow up and start being an adult.
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1. you had some good images and I really liked the comparison to Psycho, however I'm a little confused on what the thesis is. I think it is that Mary's mother isn't a good role model, but I'm not sure. You also need to add the title of the book and the author. Before your first image, you could add a line saying, " In Mary Karr's, The Liars Club...." and then go straight into it.
ReplyDelete2. You have a very good analysis of your quotes. Comparing them to things outside of the book really strengthens your main points. However you summarized a little bit. Im not sure how much summarizing is too much, but I think you're good.
3. The only part that I felt you summarized too much was when you said, "At this point in reading we all know that Mary’s mother is an alcoholic and there is something else going on in her head. We finally understand that she did do to the loony place for awhile." But taking this out i feel will weaken your thesis so you should leave it in.
4. If your thesis is Mary's mother isn't a good role model one big argument maybe how even though she was shaky as a mom, she was always there for her kids. But is only argumentative before she became an alcoholic not after.
5. The very first mistake i noticed was you never put page numbers from where you took the passages from. Also you forgot the opening quotations to the first paragraph. The movie title Psycho needs to be either italicized or underlined.
6. I like how you stated your opinion, however you may have overstated it. You started a lot of good sentences with your opinion, but i bet you can replace some of them with more analysis.
7. When you talked about Mary's mother driving to Texas with her dead mom in the car may have gotten off track. Yes it does help why she is "Nervous" but i think if you talk more about how she acted around her children, it would help strengthen your thesis.
Hey Amanda, I really like the images that you picked out for this assignment but it doesn't seem like you have a thesis at all in the writing. There do appear to be several "I think" statements but none of them seem definite enough to actually be a thesis statement.
ReplyDeleteSome other little errors: You didn't have a quote to start the beginning of your first one. Also you need to cite the page from where the quote came from which goes for all of your quotes. Also you probably want to address the book and author near the beginning. Format wise it was a bit confusing to see where things started due to no indents or spaces in between the paragraphs. I just noticed another little error. When you said she went to the looney bin, you said "do" but you probably meant to say go.
According to some advice that I just received, I think that you should work at connecting the two images to form your argument. Perhaps you could find some more movie images such as the Psycho reference.
Also, while you do pull up some striking images, there seems to be a lot of summation or things that we could pull from the text just from reading. I do notice that you make some bold statements that would lead into a thesis such as her mother gets the nervousness from her grandmother, but there doesn't seem to be proof from the text to back up those statements.
Just to finish up this comment, it seems like you are trying to make several points at once but perhaps you should just focus on a few, form a thesis statement, and then pull more evidence from the text to support those statements.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteThe first paragraph doesn't seem to identify a thesis. Your images, though, are great.
Might you talk about the ways Mary sees her mother both realistically and exaggeratedly? Just a thought.
I think you did what I did, and that was to not realize this was supposed to be a paper and used an informal blog format - totally understandable!
ReplyDelete1. Thesis is unclear. Draw a connection between the two images.
1b. Introduce author and book title when you make an introductory paragraph.
2. The quotes are great and so is your analysis, but draw a connection between them to form your thesis!
3. You could provide more summary and background information when talking about the quotes so that we as readers are better able to understand your point.
4. When you form your thesis, think of a counter-argument.
5. Make language more formal.
6. You did a great job of expressing your opinion, but it would strengthen your analysis if you were more assertive at times!
7. Because I cannot identify the thesis, I can't say when you are and aren't on topics, but your analysis seems relevant. Make sure when you develop a thesis, however, to primarily address the stance you are taking.
It's a good start though :)