GVSU Honors Blog!

This week, we dove deep into poetry and tried to analyze the intent and the message of different poems. As the discussion progressed, we were able to come up with several plausible explanations as to what each of the poems meant (thanks to Lillie). This struck me as interesting, because when the poem was written, its author probably had only one meaning in mind. We could be interpreting the poem in a way that the poet him/herself never even thought of. It is extremely interesting to me that we can look at a poem and simply create our own story around the way we interpret it, and then connect our narrative to history and argue why our interpretation of the poem "works". Ultimately, this is the beauty of poetry, and of creative writing in general - it can take on many different perspectives based on the "lens" through which it is interpreted.

Hi Joe! I completely agree that Castro ended up as the same type of leader that Batista had been. People can start out with good intentions and completely go off in a different direction. This is a reminder to base our perception of leaders not just on what they promise, but how they carry out their promises.

This week, we talked about Cuba - how the Cubans, who had African heritage, largely lived in abject poverty, and also how Cuba, as a nation, was completely taken advantage of by the American government. I want to start by saying that I cannot imagine how difficult it was for these people to live in those circumstances. It is undeniable that white American government officials were trying to take advantage of the "inferior" Cubans, and that is horrible. But today, people are starting to take the actions of a few white racists and stereotype every white person in American society. The things that white people have done to black people in the name of race are terrible - there is no milder way to put it. What blacks had to endure back then cannot be imagined. But then I ask the question: Do the events of the Jim Crow era warrant what our society is doing today? It seems that because whites were racist 100 years ago, suddenly every white person is a racist today. And to try to fix...

Hi Angie! I definitely think you are right that the author had many reasons for writing the book. It will be interesting to see in further discussions what the main idea or message actually was. Sometimes I wonder, if it is so hard for us to figure out the author's main message, how many other readers are also going to misinterpret the intention of the book? Writing can be interpreted in so many ways that the author can think they are being clear with their message, when in reality, this is not the case at all.

When we were reading the book Santa Evita , I was struck by the attitude of hopelessness portrayed throughout the whole book. Tomás Eloy Martinez seems to ridicule the complete absurdity of the men that obsess over Evita's body. They spend years trying to sexualize a dead body - for what reason? To gain a few moments of pleasure before Evita is finally buried? Martinez seems to suggest that life can be spent on frivolous, even reprehensible goals, and in death, the person is no different than anyone else, so who cares? That message also seems to apply to the rest of Argentina's history. Time marches on, people waste their lives attaining meaningless goals, and nobody is the better for it. As my high school science teacher put it, "If you believe in atheism, then you exist simply to pass on your DNA." Needless to say, that mindset is completely depressing. Religion, I believe, shows the true purpose in life - to glorify God. Regardless, Santa Evita  provides a powerful...

Hi Illy! I definitely agree that research pays off when trying to analyze a mural, or any artwork for that matter. The artwork' historical context and the artist's intent both play a huge role in interpreting details in artwork, and like you discovered, it is very easy to misunderstand things when not taking that into account.

This week, we analyzed the mural Dream of a Sunday Afternoon  by Diego Rivera, and this proved to be extremely interesting to me. I have never cared much for art history, but this, for me, was one of the more enjoyable class periods of the semester. Maybe I enjoyed it because this work of art had so much connection to Mexican history - I do not know. Either way, one thing that especially stood out to me today was the amount of detail in the mural. The whole mural definitely was one long story - there were three distinct parts, but it was obvious that they all belonged together. The darker parts of Mexican history were portrayed in darker colors. The logo of the mural's venue (the hotel) was incorporated into the scene. The snake around the neck of Skeleton Lady (my affectionate name for La Catrina) symbolizes Quetzalcoatl. Rivera's self-portrait is holding the hand of La Catrina. And the list continues. It would take me years to think of that much detail. It never ceases to ama...