Thursday, January 8, 2009

The Motif of Dogs and Contrast

I don't know if I'm the only one who notices this, but there seems to be a lot of talk about dogs in Caucasia. The book talks about Puddn'Head all the time. Nick blames the sound from the back yard on Puddn'Head. Puddn'Head barking nearly gets Jesse thrown off of Mr. Pleasure. The dog is there when Jesse and Sheila try to buy the house. Jesse thinks that a dog is licking her when Nick starts making his nasty moves on her. It just seems like dogs are talked about a lot in this book. I'm not sure if this means anything bigger, or if it's just realistic for the family dog to be omnipresent. It just seems like the dog is there, or something about dogs, all the time.

Another thing I've noticed in this book is that Danzy Senna uses the negative a lot to describe positive things, or vice versa. For example, when she talks about the fallen leaves on her street in Boston, she refers to them as fallen birds' nests. Fallen birds nests are definitely not good, but the image is used to describe something pretty, and neat, and organized, which is pretty contrasting if you think about it. Another time is when she describes the red and blue "veins" across the map. The idea of veins is pretty primal, with blood coursing through them, constantly pumping and what not as veins are wont to do. It makes things seem alive, which is why it's so weird to describe a map, which is just a wrinkled piece of paper living in the bowels of the glove compartment. It's not exactly what one would think of when thinking about something that's alive.

These are just some things I've noticed.

4 comments:

Nicole H. said...

I like what you have noticed so far. I did notice how all of a sudden in this part of Birdie's life in N.H. how this dog is brought up a lot. I didn't notice the things you brought up in your second paragraph, but now that you did I think that it is kind of an interesting way of looking at things.

Gena R. said...

I hadn't thought of dogs being a motif, but when the idea of music as a motif was brought up in class I realized I hadn't really noticed it. Kind of like the dog--it's expected to be there, so its bigger meaning (if it has one) may not be obvious.

And what's up with the name Puddn'Head? Or Mr. Pleasure for that matter. Who thinks of these?

aleeshaKo said...

Well somebody's observant!

I hadn't ever thought of or probably even noticed the way that the author describes things how you said. But now that you mention it, you're right! It's a really cool/different concept, I like it. It's almost sorrowful, but still beautiful. She's a very talented writer.

And like we discussed in class, there does seem to be a lot of repetition in what she mentions throughout the book: hair, music, reflections, sex, and now dogs!

Anthony Mystery said...

i also agree with the sad/happy descriptions Senna uses. for me, its as if she is trying to show the good and the bad in everything. giving the reader a change to ponder their own life. I am pretty pleased with the book as a whole so far. I have compared it to the tv series lost. I find both of them to be appealing to people who want a deep connection with the material, or just an interesting time. A reader/viewer can just coast through and get the main ideas, but if you want to you are able to pick through all of the word choice and find deeper caverns of complex connections.

my 2cents