section 3 blog posts - due before class on Monday, june 10th

6/9/2013

Instructions:

Write your blog post in the comment section. Please clearly identify the literary theory you are using. If you need guiding questions to formulate your blog post, they can be found on the literary lenses page of the website. Each group member should be addressing a theory he/she hasn't addressed yet. The important thing is that each group member tries to examine the text from a different theoretical perspective for each round - and that you are analysing the novel according to these theories!

When you are responding to your group members' postings, simply hit the reply button under their initial comment - that should allow us to clearly see to whom you are replying/posting.

Due before class on Monday, June 10th (e.g. before the last period of the day)

Julie d.

6/9/2013 10:12:11

Archetypal Theory: The Outcast (21-28)

Nomi’s banishment from East Village solidifies the fact that in the Mennonite community she is an outcast. Throughout the novel Nomi struggles with individuality and in that she rebels against her society’s ideals. She smokes, drinks, experiments with drugs and wears “cut-offs and bikini top[s]” (Toews, 235), which are all things that are not tolerated in her community because they go against her religion. Because of her actions The Mouth “determined [...] Nomi’s excommunication” (Toews, 235). East Village could no longer deal with Nomi’s behaviors and therefore she was banished from her social group. She did not fit in with the Mennonite community and although she does believe in God, Nomi is too much of a free spirit to stay in such a strict community. During the entire story Nomi is seems different from the others in her community, which is shown through her visits to the hospital to see her friend Lydia. Her and Lydia are best friends but Lydia fits in more with the community and follows all of the rules. She does not try and rebel like Nomi does, instead she conforms to her society. I think the contrast between the two friends is a good tool to show how Nomi isn’t meant for East Village, ultimately solidifying her characters reputation as an outcast.

Meenakshi S.

6/9/2013 11:51:27

Existentialism: (21-28)

Nomi is battling opposing feeling as she cannot stand the town in which she resides in but will not abandon it as it is close to her heart and as a result, she experiences mixed feelings of alienation and closeness to her community. Nomi senses that something is wrong with her environment and this is apparent in a previous scene in which a nurse refers to Lydia as needy and Nomi questions the purpose of hospitals if not for that purpose to help. This statement also shows that Nomi defines herself despite the society she lives in. However, she feels some sort kindness in the atmosphere and it is this kindness that Nomi calls “a complicated kindness” (Towes 113).She continues, “You can see it sometimes in the eyes of people when they look at you and don’t know what to say. When they ask how my dad is, for instance, and mean how am I managing without my mother” (Toews, 113). Although she rebels, she still experiences some unity or attachment with her community. Towards the end of the book, the act of the church to excommunicate Nomi was the very act that enabled her freedom. Nomi says, “I’d just been excommunicated, shunned, banished, exiled, whatever you want to call it” (Towes 240). She had promised her dad she would never leave, so with him knowing that, he left her knowing she wouldn’t need to keep that promise any longer. To Nomi, “it was comforting, in a fragile, loss-filled kind of way, to know that [he] had decided to keep the love alive in his imagination and leave” (Towes 241). With this he set her with what she needed to get started in a new life. The quotation, "Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge" (Towes 244) clearly expresses how Nomi feels and how truly broken and full of despair she really is. She is stuck in a world where everything around her is falling apart and yet she tries to keep it all together. Nomi sees her life as never having freedom and thus it is fitting that she would "dream of revenge." All of her life, Nomi has been taught that one's life must revolve around the church and as a result, she is without freedom and desperately longs for it. Nomi's belief in religion fades, and she partakes in rebellious acts.

Julie d

6/11/2013 04:11:36

I agree that Nomi is continuously switching ideas about leaving the community and staying in it because like you said, it is close to her heart. Throughout the novel I got the idea through her rebillious actions that Nomi didn't want to stay in East Village but at the end of the novel I wasn't sure what she wanted. I felt like when her dad left and sold everything it took away Nomi's choice and was forcing her to move out but through her dialogue I got the feeling Nomi wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to leave yet. What do you think Nomi's final decision would be? Do you think she would miss East Village and regret her decision if she did leave?

Rachel W.

6/9/2013 13:03:32

Feminism: Chapters 20-28

When a novel is written by a woman, there is typically a strong female main character. Miriam Toews did not create this typical strong female, but a much weaker (more socially acceptable?) one in Nomi Nickel. First, Nomi is abused by her teacher, “he threw [her] pencil case at [her] hitting [her] in the small of the back […] and [then she] threw up” (152-153). After an incident like this, a strong female would fight back and demand retribution. However, Nomi did not fight back; in fact she did nothing at all. Her action of accepting the abuse cast her in a weak female role, which is fairly stereotypical of our society. Second, Nomi let her emotions get the better of her and bought meat from the butcher because “he looked a little sad and [she] didn’t want to disappoint him” (155), only to “[lose] it on the way home” (157). As part of the female gender, we are often associated with runaway emotions. A strong female character would have saved her money, even at the expense of the poor butcher. She also would not have lost the pricey meat afterwards. Though, by now we know that Nomi is not a strong person, so she buys the meat because she felt sorry for the butcher and continues on to lose it. We can also see that Nomi is not a strong female if we look at her relationship with Travis. Strong females are comfortable and confident about whom they are. Nomi easily plays the opposite role as a desperate, needy girlfriend who constantly asks Travis “What are you doing? […] You’re not having some weird thing with her are you?” (185). Nomi’s questions towards Travis enforce her jealous, desperate nature. All in all, Nomi affirms the more traditional ideas about women.

Julie d

6/11/2013 04:30:04

I disagree with the fact that Nomi is a weak female character. I think if you look at Nomi as a female in terms of her community she is a very strong female character. Women in the Mennonite community are often seen as sub-human and are used for birthing children and maintaining the house. Nomi does not conform to any of those gender roles. In fact Nomi spends her time smoking, doing drugs and listening to music. She does not occupy herself with household chores. Also when Nomi goes on the Pill it shows how she is a strong woman. She challenges her society's values by considering having sex with Travis and by not seeing sex as a way to only have children. In modernized life Nomi could be considered as a weak female character but in this novel I think Nomi is a strong woman who challenges her society.

Ms. Sockett

6/12/2013 12:21:33

Your group demonstrated a good "community of readers" who read diligently and then had some strong academic discussions through the blogs. Thanks.

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section 3 blog posts - due before class on Monday, june 10th

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