Praxis Factory

The Critical Writing Portfolio
of
jonathon david hawkins

05.12.97

Read and enjoy...

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Author's Reflective Word

jonathon david hawkins

Well, here you are reading my writing portfolio. That places you into one of three distinct categories of people:

1. My Advanced Critical Writing professor.
2. Friends who are humoring me (in which case you probably aren't really reading this at all, you rotten cheat).
3. My mom.

This is a multimedia version of a presentation portfolio designed to showcase my abilities as a critical writer. Under the guidance of that demi-divine wordsmith Dr. John Pennington (at this time I would like to quote the great Robert Aspirin, who said "If you can't dazzle them with dexterity, baffle them with bull-dooky") I have been writing and revising innumerable critical essays. The theoretical result of this long process is that my writing skills have improved--but the only result I can testify to as a fact is that I have finely honed my already impressive ability to function in a state of complete and utter sleep deprivation. Someday--many bad movies, good comic books, and meaningful novels from now--I hope to be able to look at the writing contained in this portfolio and say, with the utmost objectivity, "You know, this doesn't make me want to vomit."

Praxis Factory

Where did I get the idea for the title of this portfolio? According to Serge, my friend and fellow B.I.G. elder brain, praxis is what results from a man (or woman) creating something with his or her own two hands. This act of individual and personal creation results in a strong bond between the creator and the created and satisfaction on the part of the creator: praxis. All semester I've been challenged to produce the finest writing of which I am capable, to put everything I have into each paper, a challenge I'd normally appreciate and accept gladly. But I've had to crank out so many papers, each with that hopefully high level of quality, that I've begun to feel like I've been turned into an assembly line: a praxis factory.

As I write this I'm grinning at my own sleep-dep inspired wit and Serge is rolling in his nonexistent grave.

The Importance of Literature

To me literature is a thing of beauty. It was literature, in its forms many and varied, that first allowed me to transcend the seventh level of Gehena (i.e. my childhood and adolescence). Words are magic, powerful magic, that even a dolt like myself is allowed to play sorcerer's apprentice with. All my life I've struggled to be articulate and failed whenever it was most important. So, in an attempt to bypass the clumsiness of my own tongue, I long ago turned to writing. I hope that one day I'll be able to write that one story, just one, that will be able to lift someone up the way that Cormier, Barker, Claremont, Card, Heinlein, and Gaiman were able to lift me. I haven't reached that point yet, I haven't written that story, but I think that one day I'll actually get there. And when I do I hope to be able to pass that skill on to others.

To that end I've chosen to teach. I don't want to be the type of teacher that grinds students' gray matter to pulp over diagraming sentences or batter the "true" meaning of Huckleberry Finn into their heads. All I want to do is be the pathfinder that helps them find their way to the world of words. It's a worthy goal, I just hope I'm a worthy guide.

My Writing Process

My writing process is a bit strange by some people's standards, especially in it's inconsistent nature. I enjoy creative writing immensely and have over the course of my short life spent more hours than I can count writing stories, creating worlds, and butchering the genre of poetry. Through all of junior and senior high-school, and the lion's share of college as well, I've spat out the factual papers demanded by my professors so that I could go on to the writing that meant something to me. As a result I've never really developed a special technique for tackling critical papers.

How I tackle critical writing, then, is largely dependent upon my mood. Do I feel contemplative? If the answer is "yes" I just sit back, relax, and let my mind wrap itself around the story. If I'm feeling anal retentive I start with an outline of the paper and go from there. If I'm overwhelmed with good ideas I try to map out the ideas so I can draw out the truly good ones. And if I have no clue what so ever as to where to begin or what I should write about I highlight every passage that seems profound and hope to God that I receive an epiphany from on high. Surprisingly, that last method actually works every once in a while.

My Strengths and My Weaknesses

My greatest strengths in writing stem from my enjoyment of creative writing. I generally can come up with excellent ideas, good "plot points" around which to base my paper. I don't find it particularly difficult to write in an engaging manner or to create strong metaphors that are accurate and don't go over like the literary equivalent of a bad pun. The ability which I treasure the most, however, is being able to believe in multiple and contradictory theories simultaneously without paradox induced paralysis of the frontal lobes. This skill has been honed through allowing countless characters (both real and unreal) to use my brain as a verbal battlefield with myself as the respectful arbiter.

This great strength is also my great weakness, however. Because I find myself able to take any side in an argument, I often find it difficult for me to choose a single point to take a stand on. This has led my esteemed writing professor to write "This is a bit vague" and "What's your focus here?" multiple times on most of my initial drafts. That last phrase appeared on one of my papers so many times that it caused my loving girlfriend to comment: "'What's your focus? What's your focus? What's your focus? What's your focus?' What is he? Your mother ?" For one brief moment I was genuinely touched by her loyalty and support--then she said "Of course he is right, you know." Oh, well. That is the one weakness which I've tried the hardest to overcome and I do believe I've made a great deal of progress in that area.

About the Essays

• Light, Dark, and Truth in Joyce's The Dead.

  There are a couple of reasons why I chose to include this particular essay. The first is that it was one of the earlier essays assigned in the course, which allowed me a fair amount of time in which to perform revisions. From the very beginning I've liked the essay because I'm rather proud of the metaphors and symbolism that I was able to decode and use in the paper.

  I've always felt that interpreting literature was one of my weaknesses, so when I was able to decipher the significance of light and dark I was very pleased with myself. I find especially interesting the specific example of Gretta walking along the beam of light in the hotel room.

• Poe as Roderick Usher in "The Fall of the House of Usher"

  This essay was chosen in part because I love the works of Edgar Allan Poe. I also chose it because I don't get the feeling that Poe is spinning like a dervish in his grave (a feeling that I've often had with many other pieces of interpretive critical writing that I've produced).

  I think that my arguments for Madelaine/ Narrator/ House representing Freud's id/ego/superego model of the psyche are strong. But what I find most interesting is the argument that I was able to make for "Roderick as Poe" based on the physical similarities between Poe and the character he created.

• Queenie, Plaid, and Big Tall Goony-Goony as Nudes in John Updike's "A&P"

  I was drawn to this story probably because it triggered flashbacks to my days working at the J.C. Penny in Hastings, MI. Growing up in a small town I've always been very aware of how people judge people according to their appearance, and also how what people "see" isn't always what's there.

  Because of that I was very attracted to Berger's thesis regarding nudes and I'm quite pleased with my application of that theory to Updike's story and its adolescent narrator.

  The research I did for this paper inspired me to begin drafting a paper called "Cainism: the Necessary Primality of Male Society," an essay that will hopefully see the light of day at some point in the near future.

• Shadows of the 13th Generation in Vampire: the Masquerade

  I will be the first to admit that one of the main reasons I chose to include this essay is that it fulfilled the research paper requirements for the portfolio. But even if there hadn't been those requirements I would have included it anyway, because this was the first paper in a long while that actually excited me, that filled my mind to capacity day in and day out. I am very pleased with the many parallels that I have been able to draw between Mark Rein*Hagen's "World of Darkness" and Generation X, the infamous "slacker generation" to I belong.

  The role playing game is a genre of literature in which I am intensely interested but which gets little serious attention. I hope, however, that one day it will be able to transcend the negative stereotypes that trap it just as speculative science fiction has been able to.

About the Multimedia Format of this Portfolio

Since this multimedia portfolio is a prototype of sorts I took a rather conservative approach to its design. Graphics are kept to a minimum, as are connections to the internet at large. The graphics that are included are intended to set mood as much as to add to the factual content (perhaps moreso in the Shadows of the 13th Generation in Vampire: the Masquerade essay).

Dedications

There are some people that I would like to thank for their part in the creation of this portfolio:

• Sara Sheffy and Mark Seiltz, for lending me some of their precious time to proof read and revise my papers to catch all the vagueries that I always miss (and especially to Sara for putting up with my snappishness in the process).
• Mr. Schwartz and Mr. Christopher for the two semesters of critical boot camp that have saved my butt on more assignments than I can count.
• Mother and Father, who not only have made it possible for me to attend college, but also made it possible for me to teach myself how to use computers by being very patient as I crashed the family computer more times than I can count.

So, fair reader, I leave you now to read these selected works of jonathon david hawkins. I beg you, be charitable: if you don't like what you read, your respectful silence will be message enough even for a thick-skulled dreamer like me. If you do like it, though, feel free to pat me on the back because, after a semester of being left to Dr. Pennington's tender mercies, my ego could use the boost.

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Light, Dark, and Truth in Joyce's The Dead

A Close Reading

written by jonathon david hawkins

James Joyce

James Joyce's short story, The Dead, reveals an extraordinary amount of meaning and symbolic themes communicated by carefully chosen imagery. One of those themes is honesty and dishonesty. Despite the overtly social nature of much of the story's setting, few of the characters seem to be truly honest with each other, setting higher stock in politeness than in honest communication. It is the conflict caused by honesty in the relationship between Gretta and Gabriel that showcases the central thematic imagery of light and dark that result, eventually, in revelation for Gabriel.

The relationship between Gretta and Gabriel is just one of several conflicts caused by honesty in the story. Indeed, most of the character conflict in the story stems from characters committing the faux pas of speaking truthfully; this social mis-step of characters ignoring what is politic occurs a few times during the story. In the coat room Lily is frank with Gabriel about her opinion of men's intentions and later Mr. D'Arcy is curtly honest with the aunts in regard to his piano playing. In both cases the individuals involved that are dealt with honestly are unsettled by the incident. And none are so unsettled as Gabriel, by Miss Ivor's honest disapproval of the paper he works for and her open questioning of his politics. But it is Gretta's relationship with Gabriel that is given the closest attention, that is explored both literally and symbolically with the most fullness. In this case the friction is caused by Gretta's honesty (light) colliding with Gabriel's blindness to the truth (dark).

Light imagery first reveals Gabriel's blindness as ignorance of Gretta's true nature. As the Conroy's annual festivities wind to a close and the Malins and Mr. Browne are being shuttled away in their cab, Gabriel spots the figure of a woman on the stairs: Gretta. "He could not see her face but he could see the terracotta and salmonpink panels of her skirt which the shadows made appear black and white" (48). This scene is weighted with profound imagery, not only of light but of distance and silence as well. Her face is obscured by the shadows, invisible to him, just as the music she is listening to is inaudible to him. And though she is dressed in a brightly colored dress Gabriel cannot see those colors, instead he sees her as being only in black and white.

The black and white versus color imagery communicates both the emotional distance between them and Gabriel's basic incomprehension of Gretta as a person. Gabriel points out the distance himself, though he is not aware of it: " Distant Music he would call the picture if he was a painter" (43). Gretta is standing in the dark, unilluminated to the reality-blind Gabriel. The "colors" of her personality, what makes her the romantic that she is, are as invisible to Gabriel as the colors of her dress. The fact that her face--which for humans is as important a means of communication as our oral language--remains hidden from his view is telling, as is his failure to see her true colors.

The music, and Gabriel's inability to hear it, are also very important. The song is that which Michael Furey sang for Gretta in her youth and is a symbol of the true and romantic love that Gretta knew with Furey. Gabriel's inability to hear the music symbolizes the fact that he cannot understand that kind of love; he has never felt it and most likely never will.

In the penultimate scene of the story, set in Gabriel and Gretta's darkened hotel room, we find that Gretta still feels this love for Furey. Gabriel is upset not only by the fact that his wife is in love with another (long dead) man, but also by the fact that she doesn't return the physical lust that he feels for her. Dutifully courteous, Gabriel goes through the motions of asking Gretta the appropriate questions about Michael Furey, while doing his best to communicate that he was not "interested in this delicate boy" (55).

Gretta, however, takes his concern at face value and recollects for him her relationship with Furey and how it affected her. In telling the story of her past love, Gretta reveals to the reader that she is a very different person from her husband. While she prefers the lofty type of romantic love that she had with Michael, Gabriel is concerned almost entirely with baser physical love or lust. While readers might feel some grudging respect for Gabriel's restraint not forcing himself on her, they are still very clearly left with the impression that Gretta's higher concerns make her the purer of the two.

That purity, defined by her need for a strong emotional bond and honest view of her love and relationships, is emphasized by the light and dark imagery evokes in this scene. Tellingly, Gabriel requests that the room remain darkened. "We don't want any light," he says, instructing the bell boy to remove the candlestick altogether (53). He chooses to remain in the dark, as if in doing so he chooses not to see the reality of his relationship with Gretta. The imagery continues as he lingers in the shadows while Gretta chooses to stand near the window, the only source of light in the room. Gabriel, craving physical contact, does not go into the light with Gretta. He calls her name, making her leave the light, the symbol of her honesty, to come to him. However, she doesn't leave the light entirely. Instead, Gretta approaches him slowly and walks "along the shaft of light" (54) and accordingly never leaves her honesty entirely behind. So when Gabriel asks her what she is thinking about she admits--without guilt--that she was thinking of Michael Furey. And even though she has now left the light of the window to join Gabriel, she looks "along the shaft of light towards the window in silence" as she thinks of Furey. Gabriel, on the other hand, "instinctively" turns his back to the light in shame and embarrassement (56).

But there is hope for Gabriel, because in his shame, he begins to see his relationship in the light of honesty. He seems to come to a realization of what is missing from his love for Gretta. Though he may never feel the deep romantic love she is capable of, at least he is being honest with himself. In this moment of introspection, he begins to see things that he hasn't before. In the "partial darkness" with Gretta asleep at his side, he sees "the form of a young man under a dripping tree" (59). This figure is without any doubt Michael Furey. Now, while musing on his own mortality and that of his family, Gabriel is able to see Furey, his wife's symbol of romantic love, whereas before he was unable to hear even the music (symbolic of Furey) which his wife listened too so intently on the stairs.

At this time Gabriel sees how all lies and truths, in the end, touch everyone. The snow and "both silver and dark," symbolizing both light truth and dark lies, "lay thickly" (59) over everything and everyone. He finally sees that all, both living and dead, are touched by, covered by, the lies or truths they choose to tell.

Works Cited

• Schwarz, Daniel R. (Ed.). James Joyce: The Dead. Boston: Bedford, 1994.

Here are some sources available on the internet...

• A Website Devoted to the Writings of James Joyce
• Hypermedia Joyce Studies

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