Fathers, Sons, & Brothers

In the first reading from this book, I already feel like I can identify that he tells the truth. This differs from the Liars' Club because throughout that memoir, especially the beginning, it was hard to distinguish if Mary Karr was telling facts, or if she is extending the truth to give it more of a story. I feel that Bret Lott is more identifiable as a writer. He does not state everything as fact, but rather says I believe this and from what I can remember from that. He does not claim to have memories from when he was a small child that went into tremendous detail, like we saw from Karr. He also seems to be connecting lines from past and present. This is evident from the last sentence on the reading, when he is comparing his relationship with his brother, and the relationship of his 2 sons. He hints that he is not very close anymore with his brothers at the beginning, and in the section titled brother he goes into talking about is older brother Brad. They were never too close, but he has a video of them together when Bret was about 1 1/2 years old, and Brad is 4. This video and a photo after his wedding with Brad are two points in history that Bret feels close to his brother, or that there is something significant about these two things. He feels a blur between these two times with his brother and talks about his sons embarked on that journey. I think that these two relationships will play important parts in this story. So far this collection of essays seems more like Lott is giving background. His past is very different then anything I can relate to from what he shares.

Memory List

1. Parents divorce
i. Something specific- When I was told what happened. When we moved out from our house.
ii. The process, what happened.
2. Hockey
i. Specific game. Maybe season, or tournament.
3. Vacation
i. Mrytle Beach or Florida with my friends.
4. Moving into college. Leaving home.
5. When my sister moved away for college.
6. Dog dieing.

Thats what I have for now.

600 blog post

In the reading of the Liars Club, one gets bombarded with the use of imagery. Karr uses many different ways to assist in her descriptions. One of the more reoccurring describers though is the use of smell. Karr relates smells to a specific adjective or feeling. She helps transcend what she wants the reader to feel often through the smell that she relates to something good, or bad, or nice, etc.

The first example of this is when Mary is talking about draining her parent’s alcohol. Karr writes, “Dumping those bottles down the sink drain, I always craned my face away” (236). Literally, when smelling alcohol many people have to lean back because of its strength. This also helps to show how Mary feels about her parents drinking. Other then the obvious fact that she is dumping the alcohol down the drain, she also cannot stand what it does to them. She mentions that she is surrounded by poisons, yet that smell she cannot stand. Partially that smell is associated with her negative feelings about her parents drinking.

Karr states that the “brown liquor” seemed dangerous to even breathe showing her unfavorable feelings toward it through the sense of smell. There is a theme of alcohol being related to negative events or feelings. There was alcohol involved during the night of the mother’s breakdown, when Hector’s sister Purty is attacked, and also when mother threatens to shoot Hector. Mary not liking the smell of alcohol is related to those bad experiences, along with always having to take care of her mother. Ultimately it is the reason why Lecia and Mary decided to stay with the mother rather then go back to Texas with Daddy. There is resent in Mary’s mind about alcohol, and it is described by her hating the smell of it, even though she lives near many other poisons or bad smells in the atmosphere.

Another example of how Karr uses smell to help with her descriptions is when Mary and Lecia finally get back to Leechfield and see their Daddy again. Karr uses the smell of coffee to say that it brought her whole former Daddy back. She states right after, “I knew the solvent he used to strip grease from his hands, and the Lava soap applied with a fingernail brush.”(262). In this description, Mary associates the smell to all the things she once knew about her father. This happens a lot to people when they are apart from something they love, whether it is the smell of an activity, a loved person, or even a certain food. She uses the smell of coffee to bring her dad right back to everything that she was angry at herself for forgetting. This is enhancing the good feelings that Karr is trying to describe in this paragraph.

Karr uses smell to conjure her dad up early also, when in her mother’s bar. Through the alcohol fumes and smoke Mary gets the image of her father after she is handed a black eye from Big Bertha’s boyfriend. She takes comfort in what she believes her imaginary father would have told her after she got punched. She wasn’t naïve enough to think that it was really Daddy, but the smell brought her back to him, perhaps the liars club, and she felt relieved that he was there with her even though she was alone. In this instance she uses smell to remember something good, or enhance describing her feeling of being at ease.

Karr uses smell to help her bring to life the feeling that she is describing. She can do it through both negative and positive ways, as shown through the examples. Karr allows the smell of certain objects to lead into many different feelings, or even more imagery.

Images from the Liars Club

1. "I was a vulture for this type of story."(98) Mary obviously doesn't mean that she turned into a bird, but that she really enjoyed hearing horror stories about people getting bit and needing rabies shots. I am starting to question if Mary feels bad for anyone or thing.

2. "a sound like a crazy cello player sawing the same note over and over, or like a zillion bees coming up from the ground."(103) This humming noise could be guilt that Mary feels about her grandmother. I think it represents her trying to block out bad memories.

3. "The head's a translucent globe about the size of a softball.." This is describing the man-of-war that Daddy takes Mary and Lecia to see. Foreshadowing into the future by bringing this up?

4. "it was the color of the moon that's starting up." Mary cannot look at her sister's face because of the color described. I think this is guilt showing of Mary.

5. "Then I walked as slowly and miserably as any mule though any cotton row in order to assemble that drink."(126) This shows how much Mary disliked her Mother's drinking. Every night Mary tried to play safety.

6. "Then the music surges a little, like a wave rising up, and she fades away from us, back into her Manhattan taxi outside the Metropolitan again."(129) Mary's mother obviously doesn't go to Manhattan, but she is lost in her drinking.

7. "Then she would bawl like a sick cat, hanging her head in her hands,..."(132) Mary's mother was in a drunken state and letting the music carry her to her feelings. She seems to be trying to remember her past life.

8. "I can almost feel the tires click back in between the yellow lines."(139) This is Mary trying to feel security after a fight.

Here's a video for kicks and I kinda have to...

(will be here later actually... if you want one click here)

Turtle Image from family event

The turtle was dangling from the hook not knowing how to get out of it. Its feet kicked back and forth trying to run while suspended in mid air. It was completely terrified about being yanked out of the water after it had just been trying to get a tasty snack. I imagine the turtle being utterly confused as well. Its feet scurried even faster when it was lowered to the ground, but it was still trapped. The hook was stuck in its throat, so along with confusion, and being frightened, this turtle was also in a tremendous amount of pain. As the cold wet pliers went down its throat there was even more shock to its system. The turtle then felt a jerk, a twist, and a yank, and it immediately dove head first into the pond.

Quiz

A. Please write specifically about Mary's feelings about her grandmother. What are some of her grandmother's habits? What does she suffer from? What does she think about Mary and Lecia? What does she reveal to Mary about Mary's mother?

If you cannot remember the answers to these questions, don't despair. Write as much as you can about the relationship.

B. Briefly, What causes Mary and her family to run from Leechfield? What happens on the bridge?

A. Mary did not hide that she does not like her grandmother. She mentioned when first talking about her grandma that she always had chores for Mary and Lecia to do. From that point Mary did not really like her grandmother. Her Grandmother in return would always say that Mary and Lecia were heathen children and always have them spanked by their mother. The Grandmother had to stay at their house because she had cancer. She went to the hospital for treatment, and it led to he leg being taken off. She always thought that Mary and Lecia were up to no good, therefore all the spankings. Lecia would reason it out saying that they had done something bad earlier so what pointless thing their grandmother had them punished for makes up for it. The truth was their mother only spanked them when prompted to by their grandmother. At the end before they attempt to get out of hurricane Carla, Mary is shown 2 pictures by her grandmother of her Mother's previos children. Mary was told that if she wasn't good she would lose her mother forever, because these 2 children did. Mary didn't want to believe it and ran out of the room. Her mother didn't want to believe it either. Mary said they entered amnesia together.


Mary and her family are trying to leave Leechfield because of hurricane Carla. They had stayed in their house far too long because their grandmother had been convinced it was a light rain and would pass soon. Driving at away to there Auntie Iris's house, they were going on a bridge that Mary had described as being launched up a hill of a rollercoaster. Her mother, either provoked by Mary's scream or no (depending on if her or Lecia is telling the story) pulled the wheel sharply to the left and they end up flipping the car around doing donuts. They hit a gaurd rail and the mother called out "everyone all right" and drove away with minimal damage.

Family Event

When I was around 5 or 6 years old I was fishing with my family. This included my grandma, papa, my dad, and my three sisters (of whom I remember being there). We were fishing at this little pond out that is surrounded by tall grass, and has forested areas behind where I am. Its close to my grandmas house, who lives in a small town surrounded by Amish country. We have been there a little while when my dad and my little sister get a bite. She was just fishing with him because she would have been 3 or 4 years old at the time. When they get a bite she gets all excited and 'helps' my dad reel in what they caught. The closer they get to reeling it in, the odder this thing looks. Soon the line is out of the water and a turtle that is about the size of the Liars Club when open is dangling from the hook. My little sister is horrified. She looks as if she just saw Barney get assassinated. At the sight of that turtle she turns and darts up a hill toward the cars, screaming as if the worst possible thing imaginable had just happened. That sight brought her to tears, and everyone else watching to fits of laughter (after of course realizing why she was so scared).

Liars Club

"She handed me the phone. She didn't want to be alone in knowing how alone we were, so she handed it to me so I'd know too... You never notice how hooked up to everybody you feel when you hear that rush of air under the dial tone..." This quote stuck out to me when reading the chapters. You feel as if you are trapped on a deserted island, and your only hope just vanished. Both Mary and Lecia look up to their dad as a security blanket. Under him things are constant and they know what to expect. When they hear there is no dial tone you get the complete feeling of hopelessness. Looking at the second part, "you never notice how hooked up to everybody you feel when you hear that rush of air under the dial tone..." the reader can idenify with Mary 'loosing' her father. She feels completely attached to him in this instant of lonliness with her sister. I relate this to the feeling you get when your dog runs away. You never feel closer to your dog then the moment you get home, or notice that he isn't there. At this moment, because Mary's and Lecia's security blanket is not there, just like realzing your dog ran away, they feel an emptiness.

First Chapter of Liars Club and Memior

So I just finished the reading assignment for this blog post. I'm going to start with the Memoir and the Memoirist because it seems most others started with the Liars' Club. I feel that what he is teaching in the book is much like what this blogging experience is supposed to be like. He tells his class to read each others memoirs and then they enter long discussions that get the group very enticed. Sounds a lot like, lets blog and discuss in groups. I don't think that I would ever be so into writing about my past that I am not living my present. The author did not seem to learn from his dad who worked endlessly at a job he hated, because it turns out the author did that and ruined his life because of it. I feel like the guy dwells on his past and doesn't take time to find out what he likes, except for memoiring about the past that he doesn't like.

Moving onto the Liars' Club now, I found this book very hard to get into. Karr seems to portray her parents in good light, and she really looks up to her father. Her mother is mentioned first, but she doesn't have as much to say about her. Karr really likes her dad though. He seems to be there for her and her family. When talking about the stories that he would always tell she said he always came back, and thats what her mother liked about him, it showed steadiness. It also said that he was like clockwork in his actions. I think Karr really admires her dad, though she does not mention how he dies, only that he is dead. Maybe this has something to do with the incident at the beginning? That part is left out what happened because as mentioned by the author, she just found out, so she'll tell the story the way she knows. I think that Karr's father probably did something to result in that incident. He was portrayed as wreckless somewhat by getting in fights, but I think thats why Karr likes him so much. Maybe he saved her from something that was going to happen to her.

Previos English Experiences

This is my first blogging experience. So I guess I will continue onto my previous experiences in English classes. English is not at all my favorite subject. I try to not take it if at all possible. It is very hard for me to get enthused about reading books that I have no desire to read, and also to write about these books that I do not like reading. When I can choose my book I feel it is much easier for me to get into it. I have trouble reading books that go on and describe just about everything. I prefer ones that have a lot of action, and just don't see many that are like that from my previous classes. What I am good at in English is grammar. Maybe not in a practical sense, but when I had the grammar text books in class, it was easy to cruise through it. I had one when I was a sophomore in high school. That year was alright in English. I didn't like the class as a whole, because of the whole writing thing, but this girl I had a crush on was in it so it was exciting to go to. I don't remember a whole lot of my English classes before that time, I try to block out bad experiences. When I was a senior though, I has two classes that were pretty good. They were actually fun to go to for the most part. The first was titled Research Paper, where amazingly I wrote research papers. The teacher in that class was fun to have. He seemed off of his rocker at times, but that made it interesting. Plus I spent most of the class time on the computer looking at espn.com or playing games. The other class was fun because my teacher was in his first year, so he could relate a little bit more to current high school students. We also read a good book for once in my high school career. For this class I have no real expectations. I would just like to get out of it with an A. So that finishes my first blog.