From the presentations, I am getting different perspectives on different literary criticisms, which I am using in my own thought process as I try to make sense of them. I feel like I understood the concepts, but applying the concepts has been the hard part for me at first. Once I catch on, seeing where the terms and ideas can be applied in different texts almost starts to seem obvious. Nevertheless, before that, I am not always completely sure if I am properly applying the different criticism appropriately, or I am just really stretching the meaning of the text to fit the concepts. Because of that, I really enjoy, and find useful, the parts of the different group's presentations where they explain how they applied their theory to their text. While I disagreed with their interpretations almost as much as I agreed with them, I found it extremely useful and clarifying of the appropriate way of using the different criticisms. I particularly liked, and found helpful, the post colonialism criticism and new historicist presentations.
I thought it was interesting how the group that used post colonialism to analyze Jame Joyce. For this criticism in general, but especially for the story "Counterpart", the terms unhomeliness, and the other were important for their analysis. The Character Farington is forced to work a note taking job he hates for the British occupiers. While he is at work, he is abused, and his boss yells at him. Both of these illustrate how he and his people have become "the other", or those who are different and oppressed by their colonial masters, for their neither treated equally or allowed equal political power. This gives the colonizers power to force the colonized to do what they want, in this case, Farington works a job he hates. In this society, he is not accepted equal by the British, and when he goes home, he beats his kid. This represents the unhomeliness that the Irish were faced with. The same way immigrants integrate by imitating the culture they observe in their new home, Farington is being socialized into thinking the way the British are treating him is how one should treat those who you have power over. Being that his child is the only one he has power over, he exerts his power by oppressing his son as he is oppressed. The end result, Farington literally has no where to call home as he is now stuck in a perpetuating circle of violence.
I particularly enjoyed the new historicism analysis of "Another Way to Die". For this analysis, I thought that binary power, and episteme were of particular importance. Binary power was important, because the story surrounded a war. In a war, people create an a us and a them. Each side sees themselves, and the others, in terms of good and bad. They accept the other side as bad which justifies them killing them, which is explained by episteme which means that "through language and thought each period of history develops its own perceptions concerning the nature of reality". Today, those countries are at peace, so if they did what they did now, then it would be seen as wrong. However, at the time, they were at war, the perception of the time was that they were bad, that was their reality, as a result, killing the cruelly was acceptable. New historicism acknowledges that history is written with bias. Each side would perceive these events differently. For example, Nazi's are portrayed as pure evil, as a result, the common German man has become a symbol of evil. In contradiction of that, new historicists would make the argument that the German people were, like the Jews, victims of Hitler, for they were brainwashed and taken advantaged of. Similarly, who ends up being portrayed as good and bad is a direct result of who whens the war and is able to present their bias: something the conquered group will be unable to do. Therefore, the winners will take the role of good, and the losers take the role of bad.
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