NOTE: I have finished reading Fight Club. So I am done with all my reading.
Thesis: Chuck Palahniuk’s use of chaos combined with stylistic repetition creates a cult-like environment enforcing post-modernistic ideals upon a usually pessimistic audience.
To explain the repetitive nature of Palahniuk’s writing I would mention both the stylistic use of repetition as well as his character structure. I would also talk about how the fandom of his writing has developed into a cult especially after Fight Club the movie came out. I would use an excerpt at the end of Fight Cub as well as www.chuckpalahniuk.net which both speak of the cult elements that his writing career has developed into.
Something I need to research more on is postmodernism. I have been lightly researching it, but postmodernism is a hard concept to wrap my head around. I feel as though it relates to the idea that society is in a digressive state, which is often mentioned in Palahniuk’s writing. He tends to incorporate the idea of “hitting rock bottom” to reach enlightenment as well as removing yourself from the norms of society. I think that incorporating postmodernism into my paper will challenge my critical thinking because I am going to have to do a lot of research on the subject.
I also might incorporate what I know about Palahniuk’s life into my paper to prove why he write the way he does. He usually omits love elements from his story lines and often includes general statements about his confusion and hatred for love itself. I know that his parents were divorced and his father and father’s girlfriend were both
murdered by the girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend and he even wrote one of his books, Lullaby, to cope with this event. In Fight Club he uses the absence of a father figure as a theme that could be directly connected. I hope to find some sort of biography on Palahniuk because all I have been using currently is wikipedia, which I know is not an acceptable source.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Week 7
This week I finished Lullaby and started Fight Club. I've read to page 80 in Fight Club. I guess I'm a little behind because I haven't finished all three books but I think almost everybody is a little behind and I'm confident that I will finish because I am really enjoying Fight Club and I have some good paper ideas.
In Lullaby the road trip family kicks Oyster out for being insulting and rebellious. He then responds with an ad about both Helen's retail company and Streator because the cops are looking for him. they continue on the road and Mona finds out that the entire time, Helen has been carrying around what they call the 'grimore,' a book of all known spells (including the culling song). This is the original source of the culling song and needs to destroyed. Helen becomes obsessed with the book and learns all the spells in it. One of them is an 'occupation' spell. It is used to take over someone else's body. She uses it on Mona a few times. But then Mona and Oyster get a hold of it and Oyster takes over Helen's body where as Helen he commits suicide for her? I guess thats how you'd phrase it. And kills her son whose been in a coma for 21 years. Helen is able inhabit another body in time and becomes a random policeman called "Sarge." (My summary kind of kills the dramatic element of the plot twist)
In Fight Club a man's meets Tyler Durden, a waiter and a fancy restaurant and a part-time movie projectionist. The narrator (who again name is never given. one of the many stylistic elements in Palahniuk's writing). The two end up living together after a tragic apartment fire leaves the narrator homeless. They start up a secret organization called Fight Club where they beat the crap out of each other with a bunch of other men as an outlet for life's frustrations. They also meet Marla Singer who attends weekly support groups with the narrator although neither of them are dying of any of the fatal diseases the groups are about. They do it to make them appreciate their own pathetic lives more. (I already know the crazy plot twist at the end b/c I've seen the movie but I don't mind because it makes me notice more clues throughout the book).
This is a passage from my previous blog:
Palahniuk uses a line at the start of Invisible Monsters to describe the wedding homicide scene, "No matter how much you think, you love somebody, you'll step back when a pool of their blood gets too close." (pg. 15). And in Lullaby, "This isn't about love and hate. It's about control. People don't sit down a read a poem to kill their child. They just want the child to sleep. They just want to dominate. No matter how much you love someone, you still want to have your own way."
I wanted to repeat this statement because I found yet another sentence in Fight Club that fits with the pattern emotionally and stylistically. "Even if someone loves you enough to save your life, they will still castrate you" (pg. 68). Marla Singer in the book is describing how people dump their pets when they become unnecessary, ugly, or old. I'm not sure why Palahniuk chose to use the word 'castrate.' possibly to do with neutering dogs. I don't know. I honestly think its because he is a shock writer and likes to include weird intimidating, sexual, horrifying references. For example he often describes sex scene in his books that have a dark, gross twist. Like in Lullaby he goes into depth about the sex Streator has with his wife who he later found out was dead. EW! And Maya has told me about all of the disgusting sexual stuff in Choke. Anyways I'm getting off topic. My real reason for including this passage was to show his "Even you love someone (or someone loves you)..." format. I think that Palahniuk had some sort of rough upbringing with alack of love or a traumatic experience because he overall seems fairly opposed to love in general. I mean if you think about it NO one in his books experience true love and if they do he plays it down. For example in Lullaby Streator and Helen begin to fall in love but the character Mona claims that Streator is simply under a love spell because Helen now knows all the curses from the 'grimore' book. And she only put the spell on him to control him. the two end up together in the end but Helen uses the line "do you still love me" and he responds with "do I have a choice?" (pg. 294).
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Week 6
This week I read Lullaby to page 155.
I won't do a plot summary this week because nothing new really happened and I would like to keep my plot summaries shorter compared to those from Invisible Monsters.
I wanted to mention a common thread between what I have read of Palahniuk's writing. I believe that he uses isolationism in his novels frequently. His characters tend to break away from society in drastic sudden ways putting them onto their own new stage separate from the world around them as the stories pan out. Streator in Lullaby loses his family and begins hate the world around him, hating the noise or his neighbors, distracting himself with his model homes, wiping out those who get on his nerve any given day with the culling song. Then he goes on the road with his new dysfunctional makeshift family (Helen, Mona, Oyster) which further disconnects all of them from society. In Invisible Monsters Shannon blows her own face of simply to remove herself from the looking glass the modeling community has put her under. Her brother Shane is kicked out of his house and undergoes a sex change not because he wants to be a woman but simply because he wants to achieve what he believes is the highest form of self-mutilation. I think common language in the books will further describe this. Palahniuk uses a line at the start of Invisible Monsters to describe the wedding homicide scene, "No matter how much you think, you love somebody, you'll step back when a pool of their blood gets too close." (pg. 15). And in Lullaby, "This isn't about love and hate. It's about control. People don't sit down a read a poem to kill their child. They just want the child to sleep. They just want to dominate. No matter how much you love someone, you still want to have your own way." Both of these lines shown Palahnuik's lack of emotional connection with other people in his writing. There are no grand love affairs or passionate relationships. Rather a whole lot of disappointment and isolation.
I won't do a plot summary this week because nothing new really happened and I would like to keep my plot summaries shorter compared to those from Invisible Monsters.
I wanted to mention a common thread between what I have read of Palahniuk's writing. I believe that he uses isolationism in his novels frequently. His characters tend to break away from society in drastic sudden ways putting them onto their own new stage separate from the world around them as the stories pan out. Streator in Lullaby loses his family and begins hate the world around him, hating the noise or his neighbors, distracting himself with his model homes, wiping out those who get on his nerve any given day with the culling song. Then he goes on the road with his new dysfunctional makeshift family (Helen, Mona, Oyster) which further disconnects all of them from society. In Invisible Monsters Shannon blows her own face of simply to remove herself from the looking glass the modeling community has put her under. Her brother Shane is kicked out of his house and undergoes a sex change not because he wants to be a woman but simply because he wants to achieve what he believes is the highest form of self-mutilation. I think common language in the books will further describe this. Palahniuk uses a line at the start of Invisible Monsters to describe the wedding homicide scene, "No matter how much you think, you love somebody, you'll step back when a pool of their blood gets too close." (pg. 15). And in Lullaby, "This isn't about love and hate. It's about control. People don't sit down a read a poem to kill their child. They just want the child to sleep. They just want to dominate. No matter how much you love someone, you still want to have your own way." Both of these lines shown Palahnuik's lack of emotional connection with other people in his writing. There are no grand love affairs or passionate relationships. Rather a whole lot of disappointment and isolation.
Week 5
This week I read Lullaby to page 117.
Steator has learned the culling song and starts using it on innocent people when they bother him. He learns that Helen has been working for the government using the song to kill the undesirables, terrors, and demons of the earth. This keeps her from killing at random like Streator. The two have joined up with Helen's hippie assistant, Mona, and her boyfriend, Oyster, on a cross-country road trip to rip out page 27 of all known copies of Poems and Rhymes from Around the World from libraries in the United States. Unfortunately many times the book is checked out so they must use their quick-wit and scamming abilities to get to the fatal page 27.
I have begun to notice many sylistic and thematic cross-literary connections in Palahniuk's work. In terms of style this author frequently uses repetative lines throughout his story that fit the theme of the novel.
In Invisible Monsters it was "Give me ____. Flash. Give me _____. Flash." This tied to the narrator's feelings during each scene as well as her fashion model background and persona.
He also began paragraphs with "Jump to..." for he was constantly moving forward and backward in his storyline
Lullaby uses more of this repetition throughout the book:
The main line being, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words hurt like hell." This is meant to show the power behind the human word and relate to the lethal abilities of the culling song.
The narrator also commonly uses this formated line. "These noise-oholics, the sound-ophobics. He will insert other words like "drama" and "peace" or "distraction" and "focus" to fit with the scene but it is meant to portray societies addiction to distraction. People drown out the world around them to avoid confrontation. Interestingly another frequently-used sentence by the narrator is"The trick to forgetting the big picture is to looking at everything up close." It is a completely different from of distraction but continues to fit this theme. I noticed recently that Streator always describes Helen gaudy outfits with such immaculate detail. I wonder if this will relate to "looking closely" "and forgetting the big picture" as if there is some plot twisting secret about Helen that he is overlooking. This block quote relates well with the theme of distraction:
"Big Brother isn't watching. He's singing and dancing. He's pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big brother's busy holding your attention every moment you're awake. He's making sure you're always distracted. He's making sure you're fully absorbed."
In terms of thematic connections I also have noticed a few. In both Invisible Monsters and Lullaby there are as mismatched group of characters out on the open road distant from society full-filling some self-proclaimed purpose. Both stories also include con artists earning money in an unusual and unconstitutional way. In Invisible Monsters Brandy Alexander, Manus, and Shannon gal avant around the U.S. covering as wealthy real-estate buyers to steal drugs from the medicine cabinets of the rich and famous to use and sell. In Lullaby Helen uses her knowledge of the the culling song to work as a hit man for the government. Also, Oyster posts advertisements of this nature:
Steator has learned the culling song and starts using it on innocent people when they bother him. He learns that Helen has been working for the government using the song to kill the undesirables, terrors, and demons of the earth. This keeps her from killing at random like Streator. The two have joined up with Helen's hippie assistant, Mona, and her boyfriend, Oyster, on a cross-country road trip to rip out page 27 of all known copies of Poems and Rhymes from Around the World from libraries in the United States. Unfortunately many times the book is checked out so they must use their quick-wit and scamming abilities to get to the fatal page 27.
I have begun to notice many sylistic and thematic cross-literary connections in Palahniuk's work. In terms of style this author frequently uses repetative lines throughout his story that fit the theme of the novel.
In Invisible Monsters it was "Give me ____. Flash. Give me _____. Flash." This tied to the narrator's feelings during each scene as well as her fashion model background and persona.
He also began paragraphs with "Jump to..." for he was constantly moving forward and backward in his storyline
Lullaby uses more of this repetition throughout the book:
The main line being, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words hurt like hell." This is meant to show the power behind the human word and relate to the lethal abilities of the culling song.
The narrator also commonly uses this formated line. "These noise-oholics, the sound-ophobics. He will insert other words like "drama" and "peace" or "distraction" and "focus" to fit with the scene but it is meant to portray societies addiction to distraction. People drown out the world around them to avoid confrontation. Interestingly another frequently-used sentence by the narrator is"The trick to forgetting the big picture is to looking at everything up close." It is a completely different from of distraction but continues to fit this theme. I noticed recently that Streator always describes Helen gaudy outfits with such immaculate detail. I wonder if this will relate to "looking closely" "and forgetting the big picture" as if there is some plot twisting secret about Helen that he is overlooking. This block quote relates well with the theme of distraction:
"Big Brother isn't watching. He's singing and dancing. He's pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big brother's busy holding your attention every moment you're awake. He's making sure you're always distracted. He's making sure you're fully absorbed."
In terms of thematic connections I also have noticed a few. In both Invisible Monsters and Lullaby there are as mismatched group of characters out on the open road distant from society full-filling some self-proclaimed purpose. Both stories also include con artists earning money in an unusual and unconstitutional way. In Invisible Monsters Brandy Alexander, Manus, and Shannon gal avant around the U.S. covering as wealthy real-estate buyers to steal drugs from the medicine cabinets of the rich and famous to use and sell. In Lullaby Helen uses her knowledge of the the culling song to work as a hit man for the government. Also, Oyster posts advertisements of this nature:
Attention Patrons of the Country House Golf Club
Have you contracted a medication-resistant staph infection from the swimming pool or locker room facilities? If so, please call the following number to be a part of a class action law suit."
The ads are false but only he knows that and he earns his fortune by how much the companies are willing to pay for him to take down his signs.
The usage of these signs also play a role in Palahniuk's repetitions style as they are seen frequently throughout the book.
Have you contracted a medication-resistant staph infection from the swimming pool or locker room facilities? If so, please call the following number to be a part of a class action law suit."
The ads are false but only he knows that and he earns his fortune by how much the companies are willing to pay for him to take down his signs.
The usage of these signs also play a role in Palahniuk's repetitions style as they are seen frequently throughout the book.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Week 4
I have officially finished one of my American Author books - Invisible Monsters. This week I started my second book - Lullaby. I read to page 35.
Lullaby is about the mysterious death of infants after their parents read to them page 27 of a lullaby book entitled Poems and Rhymes from Around the World. On page 27 there is what is known as an African culling song which is meant to give a painless death to old or sickly people. The lyrics are fatal when read. The deaths of these infants are seen through the eyes of two people. A Helen Hoover Boyle, a real estate agent who specializes in haunted houses, and a Mr. Streator (the narrator), a reporter who has witnessed the tragedy of sudden infant death first hand and has made it a priority to cover these mysterious death stories.
I think that one major theme that will develop in this book is that of distraction. The narrator builds extremely detailed architecture models to keep his mind of of being alone after his child and wife died. his neighbors are what he refers to as "distraction-oholics" and "focus-ophobics" (p. 18). They all blast their radios and televisions or talk loudly on their phones because they can't hand the quietness. Palahniuk ties these event together using distraction as a theme in the following quote"
"The music and laughter eat away at your thoughts. The noise blots them out. All the sound distracts. Your head aches from the glue"
A line that he repeats throughout the first few chapters as relates to this idea of distraction, "The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything up close" (p. 21) This relates to his work on the tiny home models.
Palahniuk also compares the distraction theme to competition in the the following quote:
"You turn up your music to hide the noise. Other people turn up their music to hide yours. You turn up yours again. Everyone buys a bigger stereo system. This is the arms race of sound. You don't win with a lot of treble. This isn't about quality. It's about volumes. This isn't about music. This is about winning." I think he is trying to say that everyone try to distract themselves. they block out reality and each other.
Our prompt this week is about how our author uses symbolism in their writing. I don't think that Palahniuk relies on symbols in his writing very often. I can't think of any that stood out in Invisible Monsters (although this could be because I have already finished it an it is much harder to recall the subtly of symbolism after-the-fact). Maybe you could consider the tiny house models in Lullaby that Mr. Steator builds a symbol for distraction. Especially the line about forgetting the big picture.
Lullaby is about the mysterious death of infants after their parents read to them page 27 of a lullaby book entitled Poems and Rhymes from Around the World. On page 27 there is what is known as an African culling song which is meant to give a painless death to old or sickly people. The lyrics are fatal when read. The deaths of these infants are seen through the eyes of two people. A Helen Hoover Boyle, a real estate agent who specializes in haunted houses, and a Mr. Streator (the narrator), a reporter who has witnessed the tragedy of sudden infant death first hand and has made it a priority to cover these mysterious death stories.
I think that one major theme that will develop in this book is that of distraction. The narrator builds extremely detailed architecture models to keep his mind of of being alone after his child and wife died. his neighbors are what he refers to as "distraction-oholics" and "focus-ophobics" (p. 18). They all blast their radios and televisions or talk loudly on their phones because they can't hand the quietness. Palahniuk ties these event together using distraction as a theme in the following quote"
"The music and laughter eat away at your thoughts. The noise blots them out. All the sound distracts. Your head aches from the glue"
A line that he repeats throughout the first few chapters as relates to this idea of distraction, "The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything up close" (p. 21) This relates to his work on the tiny home models.
Palahniuk also compares the distraction theme to competition in the the following quote:
"You turn up your music to hide the noise. Other people turn up their music to hide yours. You turn up yours again. Everyone buys a bigger stereo system. This is the arms race of sound. You don't win with a lot of treble. This isn't about quality. It's about volumes. This isn't about music. This is about winning." I think he is trying to say that everyone try to distract themselves. they block out reality and each other.
Our prompt this week is about how our author uses symbolism in their writing. I don't think that Palahniuk relies on symbols in his writing very often. I can't think of any that stood out in Invisible Monsters (although this could be because I have already finished it an it is much harder to recall the subtly of symbolism after-the-fact). Maybe you could consider the tiny house models in Lullaby that Mr. Steator builds a symbol for distraction. Especially the line about forgetting the big picture.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Week 3
This week continued to read Invisible Monsters. I read pages 245 to the end (297). This is how the book finished:
Brandy, her secret sister, and Manus continue there goose chase while stealing drugs from mansions. They end up at one house that is hosting a wedding the next day. The host, Mrs. Leonard Cottrell informs her guests that the house belongs to her daughter, Evie who will be married tomorrow. She then begins to drop a T.M.I. story of how is it a miracle that they could find a husband that wanted their poor Evie. Or should she say Evan. When her son Evan told her that he wanted to be a girl, Mr. and Mrs. Cottrell let him.
Mrs. Cottrell invited her drug-smuggles house seekers to her daughters wedding tomorrow. At the event, our main character gets a a whole new load of crazies put on her plate. Brandy has known all along that her jawless accomplice is her sister. She met Evie at a transexuals help meeting. Our main character still wants to kill the both of and once again, starts a fire. This time at the wedding. Evie blames Brandy and shoots her. The bullet hit a book in Brandy's jacket pocket. (Sound familiar?)
Brandy doesn't die and at the hospital, our main character, who we finally discover is named Shannon, tells her brother that she shot her own face off. I can't really explain why, so I will use a block quote:
"The truth is I was addicted to being beautiful, and that's not something you just walk away from. Being addicted to all that attention, I had to quit cold turkey. I could shave my head, but hair grows back. Even bald, I might still look too good. Bald, I might get even more attention. There was the option of getting fat or drinking out of control to ruin my looks, but I wanted to be ugly, and I wanted my health. Wrinkles and aging looked too far off. There had to be some way to get ugly in a flash. I had to deal with my looks in a fast permanent way or I'd always be tempted to go back.
I wanted to everyday reassurance of being mutilated. The way a crippled deformed birth-defected girl can drive her car with the windows open and not care how the wind makes her hair look, that's the kind of freedom I was after." (Note - why does she wear the veil then. Hidding would be the opposite of freedom.)
Shane informs his sister that the hairspray accident was not an accident and he did it for the same reason. He wanted something to make him different. Same with becoming a woman. Shane didn't actually want to Ms. Brandy Alexander. He thought because it was unwanted, sexual reassignment surgery would be the "ultimate form of self mutilation."
The story ends with out main character finally achieving what she wanted - a complete loss of narcissism. While Brandy/Shane is undergoing his/soon to be her surgery, she leaves him/her all documents needed to give her brother her identity. She shows that its possible for her after all that she's done to hurt others, to "completely and totally, permanently and without hope" love someone besides herself.
I believe that the theme of this book is meant to question beauty. With characters constantly changing names, sexes, appearances, orientations, locations, and types of drugs to take, the novel displays the ephemeral nature of beauty.
I would like to go back and focus on the scene in which Brandy first gives Shannon her veils. Because reading the quote about Shannon blowing her own jaw off intentionally for the "freedom" of being mutilated, has me confused on why she would then conceal this "freedom" with a mask. I think all characters in this book are confused in what beauty means and therfore don't know what to look for in there ever-changing journey to find it, or repel it.
Something interesting that I learned this week is that an old favorite song, "Time to Dance" by Panic! At the Disco is fully based off of Invisible Monsters. It makes a lot of sense to me now. The song focuses mostly on the wedding scene but uses styles that Palahniuk weaved into the novel. For example, "Give me envy, give malice, baby give me a break" is a line of the song. Palahniuk frequently used lines similar to this to explain the narrators current emotions as well as tie in her fashion model background. For example, "Give me romance. Flash. Give me denial. Flash" (pg. 69) is used when she is referring to her dysfunctional relationship with her boyfriend Manus. The author actually uses the lines "give me malice" (pg. 13) and "give me a break" (pg. 19) in the book as well.
Brandy, her secret sister, and Manus continue there goose chase while stealing drugs from mansions. They end up at one house that is hosting a wedding the next day. The host, Mrs. Leonard Cottrell informs her guests that the house belongs to her daughter, Evie who will be married tomorrow. She then begins to drop a T.M.I. story of how is it a miracle that they could find a husband that wanted their poor Evie. Or should she say Evan. When her son Evan told her that he wanted to be a girl, Mr. and Mrs. Cottrell let him.
Mrs. Cottrell invited her drug-smuggles house seekers to her daughters wedding tomorrow. At the event, our main character gets a a whole new load of crazies put on her plate. Brandy has known all along that her jawless accomplice is her sister. She met Evie at a transexuals help meeting. Our main character still wants to kill the both of and once again, starts a fire. This time at the wedding. Evie blames Brandy and shoots her. The bullet hit a book in Brandy's jacket pocket. (Sound familiar?)
Brandy doesn't die and at the hospital, our main character, who we finally discover is named Shannon, tells her brother that she shot her own face off. I can't really explain why, so I will use a block quote:
"The truth is I was addicted to being beautiful, and that's not something you just walk away from. Being addicted to all that attention, I had to quit cold turkey. I could shave my head, but hair grows back. Even bald, I might still look too good. Bald, I might get even more attention. There was the option of getting fat or drinking out of control to ruin my looks, but I wanted to be ugly, and I wanted my health. Wrinkles and aging looked too far off. There had to be some way to get ugly in a flash. I had to deal with my looks in a fast permanent way or I'd always be tempted to go back.
I wanted to everyday reassurance of being mutilated. The way a crippled deformed birth-defected girl can drive her car with the windows open and not care how the wind makes her hair look, that's the kind of freedom I was after." (Note - why does she wear the veil then. Hidding would be the opposite of freedom.)
Shane informs his sister that the hairspray accident was not an accident and he did it for the same reason. He wanted something to make him different. Same with becoming a woman. Shane didn't actually want to Ms. Brandy Alexander. He thought because it was unwanted, sexual reassignment surgery would be the "ultimate form of self mutilation."
The story ends with out main character finally achieving what she wanted - a complete loss of narcissism. While Brandy/Shane is undergoing his/soon to be her surgery, she leaves him/her all documents needed to give her brother her identity. She shows that its possible for her after all that she's done to hurt others, to "completely and totally, permanently and without hope" love someone besides herself.
I believe that the theme of this book is meant to question beauty. With characters constantly changing names, sexes, appearances, orientations, locations, and types of drugs to take, the novel displays the ephemeral nature of beauty.
I would like to go back and focus on the scene in which Brandy first gives Shannon her veils. Because reading the quote about Shannon blowing her own jaw off intentionally for the "freedom" of being mutilated, has me confused on why she would then conceal this "freedom" with a mask. I think all characters in this book are confused in what beauty means and therfore don't know what to look for in there ever-changing journey to find it, or repel it.
Something interesting that I learned this week is that an old favorite song, "Time to Dance" by Panic! At the Disco is fully based off of Invisible Monsters. It makes a lot of sense to me now. The song focuses mostly on the wedding scene but uses styles that Palahniuk weaved into the novel. For example, "Give me envy, give malice, baby give me a break" is a line of the song. Palahniuk frequently used lines similar to this to explain the narrators current emotions as well as tie in her fashion model background. For example, "Give me romance. Flash. Give me denial. Flash" (pg. 69) is used when she is referring to her dysfunctional relationship with her boyfriend Manus. The author actually uses the lines "give me malice" (pg. 13) and "give me a break" (pg. 19) in the book as well.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Week 2
I have currently read to page 244 of Invisible Monsters. So Far this is what has happened:
Palahniuk tends to jump back and forth from the past to the present throughout the book. The main character whose name is unknown grew up with a mom, a dad, and an older brother - a gay brother. Her parents weren't aware of their son, Shane's, orientation until one day his strep throat test came back as gonorrhea. He was always loved more than his sister prior to the gonorrhea because of an accident that took place a few years before. It was always Shane's job to burn the trash and one day a full can a of hairspray made its way into the trash , leaving Shane's face mangled and scorched. His sister was blamed for the accident and thats when favoritism began. All of this was warped when Shane turned out to be gay. His parents kicked him out of the house and a few years later a call informed that that their son had died.
The main character grew up to me a fashion model and worked alongside Los Angeles with her broad-shouldered, less attractive friend, Evie Cotrell. One day she was driving down the highway at night when a bullet flew through her windshield making a direct connection with her jaw. The entire jaw-bone was ripped off. Our main character drove herself to the hospital (I don't know how), but no one was able to perform surgery until the next morning. When doctors went to retrieve the missing jaw, only tiny sections were left scattered throughout the floor of the front seat. Birds had flown in through the shattered windshield and eaten the ex-model's face.
She spends months in the hospital and rehab healing and learning how to talk with just a dangling tongue and the roof of her mouth. When she is released, Evie asks her to house sit because she has a photo shoot in Cancun. That night at Evie's mansion, our main character's boyfriend, Manus Kelly breaks in to kill his girlfriend - to finish the job Evie, his lover, had started. His plan fails as his girlfriend locks him up, forces this giant conspiracy out of him, burns down Evie's house, and takes Manus unwillingly to meet the lovely Brandy Alexander.
Our main character met Brandy Alexander in speech therapy class. Brandy was like a goddess. She was gorgeously perfect with the perfect clothes and perfect hair. Brandy became the jawless girl's new mentor. She wanted to know nothing of her past and gave her a new name - Daisy St. Patience. Brandy became her new role-model, she would live through Brandy, if Brandy was beautiful, being associated with her would make her beautiful again.
Brandy tells Daisy of how she is currently undergoing a cross-gender surgery process. She is at the final step - the genitals and wants to go on a life-searching journey across the U.S. before she (or he) goes through with it. Brandy and her worshiper drag their slave, Manus with then on this journey. They develop a ploy to get drugs of which Miss Queen Alexander is so dependent upon. The three of them pretend to be interested in purchasing high class real estate. One of them distracts the agent downstairs with questions wile the other two tell him that they need to tour the upstairs where they proceed to raid the medicine cabinets fulfilling all of their narcotic desires.
One day Brandy asks Daisy is she knows of her childhood. She had never spoken about her past. Brandy tells her how she (he) was kicked out the house when her (his) parents found out that he was gay. She tells Daisy of her gorgeous younger sister of whom she was insanely jealous of and how part of her soul-searching journey would be finding her long-lost sister. Quite the goose chase I'd say.
Here is a block quote from Invisible Monsters that displays Palahniuk's style:
"Jump to how life was when you were a baby and you could only eat baby food. you'd stagger over to the coffee table. You're up on your feet and you have to keep waddling along on those Vienna sausage legs or fall down. Then you get to the coffee table and bounce your big soft baby head on the sharp corner. You're down, and man, oh man, it hurts. Still isn't anything tragic until Mom and AD run over. Oh you poor brave thing. Only then do you cry." (pg. 96)
I picked this quote because is shows Palahniuk's usage of common incidents and feelings that any reader can relate to. He moves back and forth in a staccato manner from realistic situations and people, to extremely out-there, surreal occurrences and ideas. The realistic stuff keeps his readers involved, while the crazy plot twists keep them guessing.
Palahniuk tends to jump back and forth from the past to the present throughout the book. The main character whose name is unknown grew up with a mom, a dad, and an older brother - a gay brother. Her parents weren't aware of their son, Shane's, orientation until one day his strep throat test came back as gonorrhea. He was always loved more than his sister prior to the gonorrhea because of an accident that took place a few years before. It was always Shane's job to burn the trash and one day a full can a of hairspray made its way into the trash , leaving Shane's face mangled and scorched. His sister was blamed for the accident and thats when favoritism began. All of this was warped when Shane turned out to be gay. His parents kicked him out of the house and a few years later a call informed that that their son had died.
The main character grew up to me a fashion model and worked alongside Los Angeles with her broad-shouldered, less attractive friend, Evie Cotrell. One day she was driving down the highway at night when a bullet flew through her windshield making a direct connection with her jaw. The entire jaw-bone was ripped off. Our main character drove herself to the hospital (I don't know how), but no one was able to perform surgery until the next morning. When doctors went to retrieve the missing jaw, only tiny sections were left scattered throughout the floor of the front seat. Birds had flown in through the shattered windshield and eaten the ex-model's face.
She spends months in the hospital and rehab healing and learning how to talk with just a dangling tongue and the roof of her mouth. When she is released, Evie asks her to house sit because she has a photo shoot in Cancun. That night at Evie's mansion, our main character's boyfriend, Manus Kelly breaks in to kill his girlfriend - to finish the job Evie, his lover, had started. His plan fails as his girlfriend locks him up, forces this giant conspiracy out of him, burns down Evie's house, and takes Manus unwillingly to meet the lovely Brandy Alexander.
Our main character met Brandy Alexander in speech therapy class. Brandy was like a goddess. She was gorgeously perfect with the perfect clothes and perfect hair. Brandy became the jawless girl's new mentor. She wanted to know nothing of her past and gave her a new name - Daisy St. Patience. Brandy became her new role-model, she would live through Brandy, if Brandy was beautiful, being associated with her would make her beautiful again.
Brandy tells Daisy of how she is currently undergoing a cross-gender surgery process. She is at the final step - the genitals and wants to go on a life-searching journey across the U.S. before she (or he) goes through with it. Brandy and her worshiper drag their slave, Manus with then on this journey. They develop a ploy to get drugs of which Miss Queen Alexander is so dependent upon. The three of them pretend to be interested in purchasing high class real estate. One of them distracts the agent downstairs with questions wile the other two tell him that they need to tour the upstairs where they proceed to raid the medicine cabinets fulfilling all of their narcotic desires.
One day Brandy asks Daisy is she knows of her childhood. She had never spoken about her past. Brandy tells her how she (he) was kicked out the house when her (his) parents found out that he was gay. She tells Daisy of her gorgeous younger sister of whom she was insanely jealous of and how part of her soul-searching journey would be finding her long-lost sister. Quite the goose chase I'd say.
Here is a block quote from Invisible Monsters that displays Palahniuk's style:
"Jump to how life was when you were a baby and you could only eat baby food. you'd stagger over to the coffee table. You're up on your feet and you have to keep waddling along on those Vienna sausage legs or fall down. Then you get to the coffee table and bounce your big soft baby head on the sharp corner. You're down, and man, oh man, it hurts. Still isn't anything tragic until Mom and AD run over. Oh you poor brave thing. Only then do you cry." (pg. 96)
I picked this quote because is shows Palahniuk's usage of common incidents and feelings that any reader can relate to. He moves back and forth in a staccato manner from realistic situations and people, to extremely out-there, surreal occurrences and ideas. The realistic stuff keeps his readers involved, while the crazy plot twists keep them guessing.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Week 1- Proposal
I think like most people I first heard of Chuck Palahniuk's work when I saw the movie based off of his book Fight Club. Palahniuk's writing style and topics appeal to most teenagers because they are filled with dark, sick humor, and odd characters with odd lifestyles. Every teenager likes weird and disturbing stuff. The first book I read of his was Diary which I read over this past summer. I really enjoyed that book because it was about the struggles of an artist to find inspiration which I could relate to well, but it was Palahniuk's surreal plot line that kept me enthralled.
Chuck Palahniuk meets the criteria for the American Author project in that he is American. An American satirical author to be exact. Palahniuk was born in Pasco, Washington and currently lives in Vancouver, Washington. Palahniuk is also a dramatist writer rather than a poet with a wide range of novels to choose from. Some of his well known fictional works include Fight Club, Lullaby, Haunted, Survivor, Choke, Diary, Invisible Monsters, and his most recent -Rant. Palahniuk has also written two nonfiction books entitled Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon, and Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories. The last, and most important piece of criteria is whether or not Palahniuk can be considered an important contributor to the development of American literature. I feel that Chuck Palahniuk is a significant author and contributor because of his influence on modern literature for a teenage audience. His sadistic style and surreal plot lines have developed into a cult-like phenomenon. His contribution is also demonstrated in film. The fact that his novel Fight Club was made into also cult-like motion picture further demonstrates his strong influence on modern culture.
I have started reading Invisible Monsters and am about halfway through. From what I have read so far along with my knowledge of Fight Club and Diary I have already found some reoccurring themes in Palahniuk’s writing. Therefore I feel confident in my ability to write a ten-page literary analysis based on Palahniuk’s writing. I have began highlighting significant quotes that I feel could later connect to cross-literary themes in more of his books. Right now my main concentration is his reoccurring plot structure. He has a main character with a routine life who’s life usually take a turn for the worse in a surreal twist.
These are the books I will read (or have read):
Chuck Palahniuk meets the criteria for the American Author project in that he is American. An American satirical author to be exact. Palahniuk was born in Pasco, Washington and currently lives in Vancouver, Washington. Palahniuk is also a dramatist writer rather than a poet with a wide range of novels to choose from. Some of his well known fictional works include Fight Club, Lullaby, Haunted, Survivor, Choke, Diary, Invisible Monsters, and his most recent -Rant. Palahniuk has also written two nonfiction books entitled Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon, and Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories. The last, and most important piece of criteria is whether or not Palahniuk can be considered an important contributor to the development of American literature. I feel that Chuck Palahniuk is a significant author and contributor because of his influence on modern literature for a teenage audience. His sadistic style and surreal plot lines have developed into a cult-like phenomenon. His contribution is also demonstrated in film. The fact that his novel Fight Club was made into also cult-like motion picture further demonstrates his strong influence on modern culture.
I have started reading Invisible Monsters and am about halfway through. From what I have read so far along with my knowledge of Fight Club and Diary I have already found some reoccurring themes in Palahniuk’s writing. Therefore I feel confident in my ability to write a ten-page literary analysis based on Palahniuk’s writing. I have began highlighting significant quotes that I feel could later connect to cross-literary themes in more of his books. Right now my main concentration is his reoccurring plot structure. He has a main character with a routine life who’s life usually take a turn for the worse in a surreal twist.
These are the books I will read (or have read):
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