Hi, Carter! I really enjoyed your presentation – I thought you did a good job of capturing the interesting nature of Joseph Heller’s style, and I saw a lot of similarities to the ideas I discussed in my research paper, as well. I thought the structure of analyzing various characters was a fascinating choice that really supports how Heller sends his own message; this point was especially reinforced through the line, “with each new character comes an opportunity to introduce new horrors.” In many ways, Cormac McCarthy does the same thing, whether it be the twisted wisdom of the judge, the brutality of Glanton, or the blind acceptance of most of the gang. I also liked how you focused on how Heller creates his own world. While McCarthy’s world deviates greatly from our own and Heller’s does not, your description of “hell on earth” closely aligns with McCarthy’s own perspective.
I also saw many of the same themes present in McCarthy’s writing that you discussed in your paper. For example, Heller’s satire of authority sends an interesting message about life and independence. In Blood Meridian, one of the evils of McCarthy’s world is that the rest of the gang blindly follow Glanton’s orders and develop his love of sheer violence. With Heller pointing out the foolishness of following flawed orders, this could serve to critique dependence on others and promote the self, which seems to be a theme in many works. Great job!
Hi, Carter! I really enjoyed your presentation – I thought you did a good job of capturing the interesting nature of Joseph Heller’s style, and I saw a lot of similarities to the ideas I discussed in my research paper, as well. I thought the structure of analyzing various characters was a fascinating choice that really supports how Heller sends his own message; this point was especially reinforced through the line, “with each new character comes an opportunity to introduce new horrors.” In many ways, Cormac McCarthy does the same thing, whether it be the twisted wisdom of the judge, the brutality of Glanton, or the blind acceptance of most of the gang. I also liked how you focused on how Heller creates his own world. While McCarthy’s world deviates greatly from our own and Heller’s does not, your description of “hell on earth” closely aligns with McCarthy’s own perspective.
ReplyDeleteI also saw many of the same themes present in McCarthy’s writing that you discussed in your paper. For example, Heller’s satire of authority sends an interesting message about life and independence. In Blood Meridian, one of the evils of McCarthy’s world is that the rest of the gang blindly follow Glanton’s orders and develop his love of sheer violence. With Heller pointing out the foolishness of following flawed orders, this could serve to critique dependence on others and promote the self, which seems to be a theme in many works. Great job!