My ICA 1 + 2 Journey by Jingjing Yue [tlpr3535]

Before university literature: my texts

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-20 02:18:33 UTC

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-20 02:18:59 UTC

The Great Gatsby focuses on nuances of criticising social class and hierarchy, as well as issues surrounding consumer societies during the jazz age. Gatsby's primary motivation is to win back Daisy, a woman he loved years ago before the war. He throws lavish parties in the hopes that Daisy, who lives in the neighboring East Egg, will attend and he can rekindle their romance. TGG focuses on the elitist world of the Buchanans and themes of wealth, the American Dream and class. The narration in e.through an outsider, which allows a reader to gain perspective over the dynamics throughout the jazz age.

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-20 02:21:53 UTC

"A Streetcar Named Desire," a play by Tennessee Williams, follows the tragic descent of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle, as she moves to New Orleans to live with her sister Stella and her husband, the working-class Stanley Kowalski. There is a clash of cultures between Blanche, who represents the old south full of excess and wealth, whereas Stanley represents the working-class.

The play explores themes of desire, death, and gender, as well as the ways that humans suffer and cope with their suffering through delusions and dependency.

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-20 02:34:00 UTC

through my study of this piece of literature, this meme portrays how my thought process throughout was. Following the authors intent to feel emotions that are portrayed by the narrator.

Reviews

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 18:31:05 UTC

The reviews and reactions to the story reflect on my own thoughts, that there is a larger picture concerning class, race and social stigmas. I thought that the downfall of Blanche reflected the ending of heavily enforced social stereotypes, and that times were progressing.

1. Open interpretations and subjective points of view

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 19:24:35 UTC

Both of these texts provide ideas on different ideas through reflection. The process of reading and truly understanding the nuanced ideas that have been embedded by the authors.

2. Approach based on reconveyed ideas

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 19:26:52 UTC

I was always trying to base my ideas and thoughts on what peers around me believed in. I would try and guide my line of thought and analysis on how popular belief and not original ideas.

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 19:31:05 UTC

The article explores how The Great Gatsby continues to captivate readers through its exploration of universal themes, complex characters, vivid portrayal of the Jazz Age. Where accurate depictions of ideals of expectations of the time reflect the progression of society today

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 19:36:28 UTC

Here, critic Brustein sees the conflict between Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski as a symbolic struggle of culture and dominance. There are also underlying themes of desire and judgement throughout this literary text.

AFTER ICA I LITERATURE

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 19:37:05 UTC

Gatsby:

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 19:41:35 UTC

In pages 210-216 of "Cultural Theory and Popular Culture," Antonio Gramsci discusses the concept of hegemony and the role of intellectuals in shaping cultural and political power. He argues that hegemony is not just about domination but involves the active consent of the governed, achieved through cultural and ideological means. This is reflected by his need to accumulate wealth to exert dominance and power.

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 19:46:29 UTC

This further develops the point of how society is built for the gains or upper-class elitists and works at a disadvantage for those that do not already benefit from society.

Streetcar:

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 19:50:10 UTC

In streetcar, a power struggle is presented between Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski, that can be identified from a lens of hegemony. Stanley represents working- class, hyper-masculine forces which overpower Blanche. She represents values of Southern aristocracy, and reflects the ideological dominance of one class over the other.

Poststructuralism and Subjectivity

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 19:51:51 UTC

The play’s open-ended themes allow for multiple interpretations. From a poststructuralist perspective, meaning is unstable and shaped by an individuals interpretation. Blanche’s descent into madness, for instance, can be seen either as the result of trauma or as a refusal to conform to societal expectations. This reflects the unstable nature of narrations and understandings of the text.

Feminism and Gender Studies

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 19:53:02 UTC

The play interrogates gender roles and patriarchal oppression. Blanche’s sexual past is condemned whilst Stanley’s aggression is normalized. Feminist readings highlight how Blanche’s downfall stems from the rigid gender expectations of her time.

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 19:53:42 UTC

Gramsci emphasizes the importance of intellectuals in maintaining and challenging hegemony. He distinguishes between traditional intellectuals, who align with established power structures, and organic intellectuals, who emerge from marginalized groups and advocate for their interests. These organic intellectuals play a crucial role in forming counter-hegemonic movements by articulating the needs and aspirations of their communities.

Overall

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 19:55:12 UTC

A Streetcar Named Desire remains an open text, this demonstrates how cultural theory helps us navigate its complexity and subjectivity and changing my overview and ideas on literature.

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 20:01:35 UTC

The tensions between dominant and subordinate groups can be found reflected in the surfaces of subculture – in the styles made up of mundane objects

End of the 18th century the word culture has been used by English intellectuals and literary figures to focus on critical attention on a whole range of controversial issues and ideologies

Morality and excess

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 20:02:36 UTC

The Great Gatsby critiques the reckless hedonism of the 1920s, where wealth is flaunted but lacks substance. Gatsby’s parties are a spectacle of consumerism, yet ultimately hollow, reflecting a cultural shift where material success overshadows moral values between dominant and submissive groups in society.

Meaning of objects in cultural conflict

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 20:06:23 UTC

Hebdige discusses how objects in subcultures take on new meanings in their struggle against the dominant culture. Streetcar shows this through Blanche's trunk, a suitcase full of old dresses, letters, and relics from Belle Reve. It symbolizes Blanche’s past and the remnants of Southern aristocratic culture. When Stanley rifles through it, he is not just invading her personal space—he is dismantling her identity and the barrier between high and low culture.

AFTER ICA II LITERATURE

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 20:06:57 UTC

Eric's lecture: A Note on Theory and Close Reading

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 20:11:04 UTC

-Cultural analysis, as it figures in the titles of ICA 1 and 2, involves two related and in fact
interdependent skills: 1) a familiarity with theories that aim to explain how cultural systems
function or the forces and structures that underpin them, and 2) an ability to compose
meticulous-and-inventive close readings of cultural artefacts. --I need to discuss this relationship
between theories and readings.

-Cultural theories provide new ways we interact with the world: tries to describe the elementary economic and social relations that underpin certain kinds of societies; psychoanalysis tries to describe the fundamental mechanisms at work in human psyches and interrelations; semiology tries to describe the basic structures of signification

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 20:14:40 UTC

By weaving feminist theory into the close reading of the play, as Eric advocates, we gain a more nuanced understanding of the gendered power structures at play in the play A streetcar named desire. This feminist reading reveals that the play is not only about the personal tragedy of Blanche DuBois but also a larger commentary on the oppressive nature of gender norms and the societal forces that shape women's lives.

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 20:18:39 UTC

This piece of literature illustrates how patriarchal values shape the lives and choices of its female characters. Tom Buchanan embodies these values, exercising power over women and treating them as possessions. Daisy often seems to have no will of her own as she is depicted following helplessly in Tom’s wake. This dynamic highlights the limited agency afforded to women within a patriarchal society.

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 20:20:30 UTC

This article inspired me because it encourages a more dynamic and critical engagement with literature whilst challenging traditional interpretations and allowing for a broader, more inclusive view of gender and society.

tlpr3535_1 — 2025-03-30 20:22:44 UTC

After ICA II literature, i have managed to build a point of view through different cultural lenses and ideologies. The more complex themes are now more accessible through my studies.