Class Notes on January 30th - “The Lottery” by Jackson and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Le Guin

ENGL1102 Notes

1/30/2012

“The Lottery” by Jackson and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Le Guin

Presentation on Religious Symbolism in “The Lottery”

· Poem Background

o Published in The New Yorker in 1948

o Not received well

o Banned in South Africa

o Jackson’s mother was against it

o Grew on people over Time

· Shirley Jackson

o Born in San Francisco in 1916

o Graduated from Syracuse in 1940

o Wrote “The Witchcraft of Salem Village” in 1956

· In 1948:

o End of World War II

o Gender Roles being re-established

o Strong Conformity - Patriotism

o Xenophobia

o Religion played a large role in everyday life

· Origins of the ‘Lottery’

o No knowledge of actual origin

o Passed down from generation to generation

o Loss of meaning

o Widespread tradition

o Harvest sacrifice – “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.”

· Conduct of the ‘Lottery’

o Annual town-wide event

o Everyone participates

o Mr. Summers – set a tone that didn’t seem right for the event

o The Black Box – could be treated like a relic

§ Evolution from wood chips to paper shows the ritual has evolved

· Evolution of the ‘Lottery’

o Some people are giving up the tradition

o Tradition vs Progress

o Loss of the Lottery could be a parallel to the loss of religion after WWII

· The Villagers

o Everyone takes part

o Delacroix Family

§ Means of the cross

o Mr. Adams and Mr. Graves

§ Adam being the start of humanity and Grave being the end of humanity

o Gender Roles Followed

· The Impact

o Mob Psychology

o Conformity out of fear

o Patriarchal Society

o General Acceptance

· The Significance

o Used to mark time

o The Harvest

o Community

o Structured Families

· Christianity

o Religious Relics – the black box

§ Used part of the old box to make the new one

o Catholic Rituals

§ Followed a script, used to have chants

o Human Sacrifice

§ Christ dying to save the others

o John 8

o Old Man Warner

§ 77 is considered the number of perfection, his age

· Judaism

o Jewish Community

o Animal Sacrifice

§ Used to cleanse themselves of sin

o Stoning/Communal Punishment

§ Whole society must condemn one person for the greater good

o Diffusion of guilt

§ Everyone participates, there is no one person to blame

o Tradition passed through family

§ Traditions are kept and passed from parent to child

· Paganism

o Native American Harvest Ceremonies

o Aztec god ‘Tlaloc’

§ God of fertility and harvest, required a sacrifice

o Stones as ancient weapons

o Oral Tradition

o Tribalism

· The Victim

o Tessie Hutchinson

§ Allusion to Anne Hutchinson

o Last to arrive, an outsider

o Abandoned by her own family

o Not a heroine/martyr

Question Number Three Response

In the poem "Venus and the Ark," Anne Sexton describes the birth of life on an new world, and in the process it spoofs the importance given to human life, even in the face of its self destruction.  It is described as a spoof because even though it is clear that the story is the beginning of new life on a planet, the human characters seem blinded into seeing only the death of humanity.  This reflexive reaction is further exemplified by the fact that when the scientists discover that venus is capable of supporting life, their only response is to destroy the world with what nuclear weapons they still have.  This serves to further show the "tragedy" of the loss of the human race, when it is made clear in the last few lines of the poem that there is no tragedy at all.

Venus and the Ark, Erik Brewer

Question 3

A spoof is an interesting word to use to describe this poem because it doesn't strike the reader as a spoof directly until the end. My interpretation is that Sexton's poem is a spoof on creationism. The motivation to create a spoof usually lies in some sort of fallacy in what the writer is trying to parody. Through this thinking it can be inferred that Anne Sexton does not believe in creationism and wrote her poem in order to portray her perspective of its ridiculousness. The first three stanzas depict how the world ended and why it was necessary for the two Ph.D.'s to relocate in order to start new life on a planet. The title "Venus and the Ark" further proves that point because Sexton uses the missile, a much more applicable vehicle in modern day as opposed to an ark, in order to carry their civilization to safety. The line that points most to Sexton's spoof is "two fish creatures stop on spangled legs and crawl from the belly of the sea" because the two fish creatures are evolving into the life that will inhabit the new planet much like Christian creationism said that Adam and Eve did on Earth.

"Venus and the Ark" Response 1: Disagreement

This is in response to Nellie Wong's post this past Tuesday morning.

Nellie stated that, in the first stanza, "The definite quantities of the supplies... seems to bash the idea that society is so preoccupied with standardized methods that they can't appreciate any real advancement in life." I would disagree. I believe the first stanza actually illustrates mankind's materialistic view of the world. This is shown in the care given to numbers in this passage: "one hundred / carefully counted insects" (5-6), "fourteen white rats, / fourteen black rats" (12-13). However, this preciously counted cargo is then "all stuffed aboard before the thing [blasts] from the desert." (14-15) I believe this to be a commentary on the materialism pervading our modern society. The animals and other items, including the Ph.D.'s, who are also not described in more detail than their gender, are simply objects to be owned, and not cherished or cared for other than for their material value.

Question 3

Question #3) Why does Sexton call her poem a spoof?

Sexton calls her poem a spoof because she ridicules the reader as she introduces people in the “Venus and the Ark” as two male Ph.D’s picking all these animals that are disgusting and not sophisticated as the two Ph.D’s. She makes the two men suffer as to making the reader suffer . Also, she talks about the missile which could mean the nuclear weapons that kills the people. She shows little or no hope for those two men as if there were no hope for the world of reality. Other resources indicate that she did not trust people and thought them as potential intimates, to be causing chaos. Also, she clearly puts Venus as a source of downfall of the people as Venus was exploded, the two men had nothing left and suffer amongst the lonely Earth

Venus and the Ark Spoof

I feel like Anne Sexton made it pretty obvious that her poem was supposed to be a spoof. A spoof is like an imitation of something, and Sexton imitated Noah's Ark and other biblical stories. There is lots of evidence in her poem to prove this. First off, the name Venus and the Ark just sounds like Noah's Ark. In the poem, the two male Ph.D.'s took animals to Venus. In Noah's Ark, Noah took one of every animal on the ark. Also, Anne Sexton wrote "on the seventh month", while in the Bible, it says "on the seventh day."This is a very famous quote referencing the creation of the world. I don't think Anne Sexton's spoof was meant to be humorous, but simply an imitation.

Venus and the Ark #3

One simple look at the title of this poem, "Venus and the Ark", is all you need to understand why Sexton calls her poem a spoof. The title makes reference to the biblical story of Noah's Ark. In the bible, humanity had However, God warned Noah of the impending disaster and told him to build an ark and use it to save his family as well as the animals. In this poem, Sexton tells the story of the Earth being destroyed by nuclear warfare. Two scientists have built a rocket to take animals, food, and dirt to Venus to give society a second chance. Sexton's poem and the biblical story are very similar tales of total destruction with the only hope remaining with a small portion of society.

Question 3 "Venus and the Ark"

Anne Sexton’s “Venus and the Ark” is a spoof of Noah’s Ark. In this modern retelling of the classic story, the ark is the missile that carries the “Ph.D’s” and the new Earth is Venus. Two scientist go on a mission to Venus, they are equipped with a variety of animals to preform experiments on. What they find is a habitable planet with no life. Due to this discovery, countries start to fight about the ownership of Venus. This war ends with the destruction of the Earth. The scientists eventually release the animals and they populate Venus. These animals are the only remnants of life on Earth that will remain after the two scientist perish.The two scientist cannot reproduce since they are both male. The ending of the story,”the new fruit drop” is a reference to Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. The “new fruit drop” is for telling that these new organisms will also make mistakes and that their world like the Earth will also end. 

"Venus and the Ark" Question Three

After reading the poem, I believe Sexton calls her poem a spoof because of how it satirizes the ignorance of humanity by referencing a part of the Bible. The second stanza of the poem describes how rival nations use nuclear weapons, which resulted in the destruction of life on Earth. In addition, the title is called “Venus and the Ark” which is similar to the story of Noah’s Ark from the Bible. In the Bible, all life was wiped out by God due to corruption and evil. In this poem, life is wiped out because of the same reason, except this time it was with nuclear weapons. In both situations, the animals all lived which shows how human beings, though intelligent, cannot maintain their existence due to their greedy nature.

Chad Edwards' Question 3

Just based off the title itself, it is easy to see why Anne Sexton calls this poem a spoof.  She does not want this to be a mystery to anyone who reads or listens to her poem, seeing as this is the first thing that she makes known to her audience in the recording, it is even said before the title.  The first stanza of the poem then goes on to talk about how this project was somewhat of a secret.  This is similar to how, in the Bible, though they were warned by Noah of the imposing flood, the people of Earth at the time felt so safe that Noah's Ark and its significance might as well have been a secret.  Just like in the Bible, many different animals and necessities are prepared and taken onto this metaphorical ark, and the vessel is launched, just before the impending disaster.  Sexton then goes on to confirm what was said before about the people of Earth not really caring about this ark to Venus.  She says in an almost sarcastic sort of tone, "And parades assembled/ the loud earth tellers spent/ all fifteen minutes on it, even/shortened their weather forecast."  Soon after the Earth is destroyed, though this time by man instead of God.  Finally after seven months have passed(analogous to the seven days that the dove is released for in Noah's Ark), the animals are released onto Venus where they can flourish, just like Noah and his family did in the Bible.  In the end, it seems that the roles have changed since Noah's Ark.  This time, man acts as God while the animals act as man.  After the Ark has landed the animals run off on their own, forgetting about the two men that saved them.


(( for some reason, the invitation to Chad's email did not work for him, so I'm posting this here until he gets it sorted out ))

Question Three

Anne Sexton’s fantastical science fiction story she manifests in the words of “Venus and the Ark” surprisingly isn’t one completely of her own creative genius. By effectively comparing her story to that of Biblical ones (Noah and the Ark, Garden of Eden), Ms. Sexton is able to bring something as ancient as the Bible and contemporize it to fit modern audiences. Cleverly a mix of science and religion is at play throughout the entire poem, with a futuristic landscape painting the story of the poem but yet having Biblical undertones just underneath the surface. These two usually conflicting topics working in harmony only adds to satirical approach Ms. Sexton took to the Bible as well as human nature. Masterfully harnessing the nature of spoof, the piece “Venus and the Ark” fits the criteria of one perfectly. 

Venus and the Ark question 3

The poem Venus and the Ark is a spoof of the Old Testament story of Noah's Ark.  Humanity had become corrupt so god sent a flood to wipe out everyone except for Noah's family and all the animals.  In the poem the two Ph.D's collect animals and take them to Venus like Noah took them onto the Ark.  Then humanity destroys itself like god did in the Old Testament.  Along with this allusion to the Bible it is a satire on human nature.  Sexton is showing that it is in human nature to fight and destroy.  Humans do not need a god to do that for them.  Not even what would possibly be the greatest discovery in all of human history, another life supporting planet, could stop the fighting.  She clearly has no faith in humanity and believes that someday we will eventually destroy ourselves.

What is a Spoof Venus and the Ark Q 3

Honestly, I though a spoof was more like a lie from the way I have heared it used. The definition of a spoof, however, from google is vebadum "A humorous imitation of something" therefore it would only stand to reason that Venus and the Ark is a spoof of the bible stories in a fresher point of view. Anne Sexton is trying to bring back a story that one does not see as very modern and bring it in to a new age. She does this in a great way which has already been over discussed by the members of the blog, but I would like to point out that this was written in the 1980's, in which the Cold War was still going on. This explains part of the reason it is written, because this nuclear threat was most feared during the Cold War era. Her poem was trying to get people thinking about the virtue of the bible( in a time where religion was an important part of American culture, not saying it is good or bad, just stating she is appealing to her audience) and how our race needs to be more understanding of each other.

"Venus and the Ark" - Questions I & III

I disagree with all the other posts I have read so far.  I believe they portray the mood of this poem in too optimistic a light.  "Venus and the Ark" is not one, but two spoofs.  The first spoof has already been thoroughly addressed by my classmates as a criticism of human nature, but the second, more subtle spoof almost isn't a spoof at all.

My interpretation views this poem as a criticism of the Noah and the Ark story itself.  Despite wiping out nearly all humanity and starting anew, the world still descended into a dystopian reality ended by thermonuclear war.  "Venus and the Ark" goes further than the original story by wiping out man completely and reverting back to the "Garden of Eden" scenario.  Despite even this, the poem ends with the beginning of the descent.

As the Ph.D.'s lay dying on "that last morning of death before the first of light" thinking "[t]his is the last of a man like me," the poem is interrupted by an "Until."  This extremely important preposition brings the story's optimism in new beginnings to a dramatic end.  The "Until" is immediately followed by a description of two fish creatures coming up "from the belly of the sea" and the sound of "the new fruit drop."

The "new fruit" refers to the "old" fruit from the biblical "Garden of Eden" story.  Although bearing the knowledge of good and evil, the fruit ultimately leads to the fall of man and eventually to the story of Noah and the nuclear hellfire of the twentieth century.  I believe this "new fruit" doesn't signal beginning anew, but the beginning of a cynical dystopian cycle.  Venus isn't a second chance; it's the beginning of the third failure.

Question 1 on "Venus and the Ark"

I have to disagree with Ashu's interpretation on the purpose of lines 27-29 and the way Sexton narrates them. Rather than being willfully ignorant of the incredible discovery of green life on Venus, the Ph.D.'s continent and the world acknowledges its existence. The finding was spread throughout the world by all of the technology used in communication in the modern world. However, the reaction was where Sexton made a statement about humanity's darker side. "Rival nations.. fired up their best atom blast", as they jealously wished to have a sense of power over this nation whose discovery had dwarfed any of theirs previously. Often, popular media is written and filmed on man's retaliation to loss of power - where humiliation turns into revenge. With such a loss, it is natural to wish to exert one back into a position of power in any way possible, and when this discovery of life gives its originating nation a commanding position on the path of the future, revenge is the answer for the rivals who have been humiliated so.

"Venus and the Ark" Question 1

Ashu said in his response that the scientists reported "back to the people on Earth who barely seem to care and continue on their nuclear wars". However, I think that Sexton meant to show that the people of Earth did care. Fifteen minutes of coverage on what was probably an hour long news show is actually quite a lot. It seemed to me that she meant to say that the "rival" nations were upset by the fact that another nation (America?) had beaten them to Venus and decided to nuke their enemy. At that point I think Sexton is trying to say that the people of Earth need to stop their trivial wars and work together for the greater good. If different nations continue to fight eventually nuclear weapons will be put to use and the world as we know it will be gone forever.

"Venus and the Ark" Question 1

I just have a few small points on which I disagree with Group C about this poem by Anne Sexton. I think Ashutosh and Nellie claimed that Earth did not seem to care at all about Venus. I read this part of the poem a little bit differently… The poem mentioned that a lot of attention was given to the discovery of “Venus is Green”, even though it was only 15 minutes. Sexton seemed to be trying to convey the message that in this future, people’s attention spans were so short that spending 15 minutes on a story is monumental. It also sounded like interrupting the weather forecast was a big deal. And because of the country celebrating due to the news, rival nations were jealous. This may be alluding to the space race, moon landing, etc. in history. Every nation was against each other, trying to one-up the other and prove that they were the most advanced and powerful by investing tons of money into the space program. And it seems in this poem that it has risen until the nations began a war to see who’s the most powerful, subsequently destroying the Earth. So, in a way, the discovery of “green” on Venus was the catalyst that destroyed the Earth, although it is likely that the destruction of Earth was going to happen eventually.

"Venus and the Ark" Question 3

   In the Old Testament of the Bible, God sends a flood to wipe out a corrupt humanity. God saves humanity however by having a man named Noah build an Ark to perverse earth and give humanity a second chance. By naming her poem "Venus and the Ark", Sexton is directly comparing her poem to the story set in the Bible. Sexton calls her story a "spoof" because it not only a parallels the Bible story, but also satires human nature. In Sexton's poem, humanity has once again been corrupted. She has two P.H.D's to gather animals, food and earth and place them in a balloon to restart life on Venus. The P.H.D's work is portrayed to be sloppy as Sexton uses words such as "almost", "stuffed", and others words. Sexton has no faith in humanity. The corruption and hatred of humanity is shown when countries destroy the earth with their best atomic bombs over a simple statement, "Venus is green". The only redemption humanity has rests on the two P.H.D's, who have landed on Venus. In a short amount of time the scientists fail and loose hope. With this, Sexton shows that in the end, humanity is doomed to fail.

Venus and the Ark - Question 1

I disagree with the idea that Venus and the Ark is a reference to Noah's Ark in the modern day light. In fact, this poem depicts the end of mankind. On the other hand, Noah's Ark refers to the beginning of mankind anew. In Noah's Ark, man (or Noah) protects the animals and guides them through the flood and resettlement. However, in this poem the animals seem to do a lot better without the help of man. They seem to be basking in glory and freedom after the humans freed them. In fact, this is a reference to the judgment day for mankind rather than Noah's ark.