Writing Prompt:
Comparison/Contrast: Like Oates’ We Were the Mulvaneys, House’s A Parchment of Leaves is about
family—about how a single family (micro)
is like all families (macro).
In a topic-driven, well-developed, and tightly focused paragraph, offer a brief comparison/contrast between the visions of each author. How are they the same? How are they different? Be specific. Use evidence from both texts to support your claim.
NOTE: After posting on the blog, open up the CANVAS assignment (by the same name) and DO copy and paste the URL address into the CANVAS "WEB URL" text box so that I have record of your submission on Canvas. Thanks.
In a topic-driven, well-developed, and tightly focused paragraph, offer a brief comparison/contrast between the visions of each author. How are they the same? How are they different? Be specific. Use evidence from both texts to support your claim.
NOTE: After posting on the blog, open up the CANVAS assignment (by the same name) and DO copy and paste the URL address into the CANVAS "WEB URL" text box so that I have record of your submission on Canvas. Thanks.
Kelsey Wheatle
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
ENGL 3353
18 September 2015
"We Were the Mulvaneys" Vs. A Parchment of Leaves
Like Oates' "We Were the Mulvaneys", House's "A Parchment of Leaves" deals with serious family issues like sexual assault, abuse, and alcoholism, which leads to the separation of family. Although the Mulvaney's are a micro family, and the family structure in "A Parchment of Leaves" is considered a macro family, both families relate to each other in the difficulties that they face. In "We Were the Mulvaney's", Marianne was raped and taken advantage of by Zachary Lundt, who was not a member of the Mulvaney family. In "A Parchment of Leaves", Vine was sexually assaulted by Aaron, who was a member of the family. Although Zachary was not a member of the Mulvaney family, his rape against Marianne led the family into a whirlwind of family problems, including the attempted murder of Zachary by Patrick Mulvaney. In House's novel, when Aaron sexually assaults Vine, Vine murders Aaron and then hides his body. Although Patrick saved Zachary from death, he hid the murder attempt from his family, just as Vine hid the murder she committed against Aaron from her family. After Marianne is raped, the Mulvaney family separates, just like Vine and Saul's family separates after Saul leaves for work, and Aaron goes missing. In both families, they run from responsibility. Corrine and Michael Sr. run from being responsible for dealing with Marianne's rape, just as Aaron runs away after Vine calls him out for wanting her, and Saul dismissing Vine when she tells Saul that Aaron takes too much of an interest in her. Alcoholism in both novels overtake Michael Sr. and Aaron, and cause them to abuse their family members, and act harshly. One of the biggest differences between the two novels in the presence of God. In 'We Were the Mulvaney's", Corrine's idea of God seemed to be blurred, however, in "A Parchment of Leaves", Esme's belief in God seems realistic and peaceful.
Callie Brothers
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
ENGL 3353
September 22, 2015
Throughout both text, both authors use the issue of family. What is family? By definition, a family is “a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household.” Joyce Carol Oates painted a picture of a family that was perfect on the outside, but inside every heart it was a household of terror. Life wasn’t easy with the Mulvaney’s, life was hard, it was full of fake and not heartwarming conversations. “In a family, what isn’t spoken is what you listen for. But the noise of a family is to drown it out.” (Carol) House, described a family with a life that was unescapable. He painted a picture of how people portray marriage, but also how it was portrayed in that specific time frame. Marriage is the idea of leaving your family to live a life full of love and adventure with your spouse. “Any two people can set and jaw all day long, but it takes two people right for each other to sit together and just be quiet.” House and Oates both painted a picture of difficulty and pain that comes with what the idea of marriage is and the idea of family.
Mikkaela Bailey
ReplyDeleteProf. Kirk
ENGL 3353
23 September 2015
Family Pictures and Forgiveness
Throughout Joyce Carol Oates’ novel, We Were The Mulvaneys, and Silas House’s novel, A Parchment of Leaves, the importance of family and image is stressed yet they view it in different ways. The Mulvaneys are a family known for a relaxed approach to parenting yet simultaneously holding very high standards for the children, whereas Vine and Saul have an unspoken agreement that his family should come first. “Many things were coded at High Point Farm. Like our names which could be confusing for the depended upon mood, circumstance, subtext” (Oates 43). It is evident that the children were expected to use the code carefully and appropriately, ensuring that they did not misstep or misrepresent themselves. In House’s novel, Saul replies to Vine’s letter, where she describes her father’s bad health, by asking Vine to do more for his own family. “No, I have not heard a word from Aaron. I know this is worrying Mommy to death. I’ve wrote her a letter and told her that she ought to move in with you, at least until spring” (House 107). It is clear that there are many unspoken expectations within each family, though they serve different purposes. Saul and Vine have made an agreement, but the Mulvaney children were simply born into one. Vine felt the need to hide her guilt over Aaron’s death because she clearly understood the family dynamic and her own role. When Marianne was assaulted it was the end of the Mulvaney family image; however, for the Saul and Vine, it was the revelation of secrets that saved their family despite the damage to their image.
Sadie Wyant
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
ENGL 3353
23 September 2015
Family in APoL vs WWtM
In both Silas House’s A Parchment of Leaves and Joyce Carol Oates’ We Were the Mulvaneys, family is a huge deal. Both novels showcase one family as being an example for all other families. The Mulvaney family and the Sullivan family are both prestigious in their own way, and are both subject to downfall by the topic of rape. Michael Mulvaney, Sr. sends his own daughter away after she is raped. He then falls into the stupor of alcoholism to deal with what he has done. He is described as just “going through a phase” (164). However, in A Parchment of Leaves, when Vine tries to confront Saul about his brother Aaron and her discomfort over his attraction to her, Saul merely replies by saying “Well, he’s my baby brother” (end of Chapter 7). Saul, like Michael Mulvaney, chooses his family over the hurt woman. He even says the same thing toward the end of the novel when Vine finally confesses that she had been raped by Aaron and then had killed him. However, Saul eventually comes to his senses, unlike Michael Mulvaney, who dies without making amends with his daughter.
Ashton Dickerson
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
ENGL 3353
23 September 2015
Family
Both Joyce Carol Oates' We Were the Mulvaneys and Silas House's A Parchment of Leaves place a huge emphasis on how the families portrayed in the novels are just like all families. The families in these novels have their own issues but many of them can be easily related to. In both novels, alcoholism takes over and threatens to destroy the family. Before it is able to, however, the raping of Marianne and Vine pulls the families into chaos. Marianne is completely written off from her parents and her brother Patrick becomes a hunter. Vine ends up killing Aaron for what he did and consequently, she basically kills Esme because of grief. Additionally, both of the main characters, Vine and Marianne, find out through the course of the novel that they are always chosen last in the family. Vine makes a stunning revelation that Saul will always choose his family over her, and Marianne feels abandoned after her mother sends her away and chooses to help her father even though it was Marianne who was hurt and really needed the help. It is easy to see how both of these families portrayed represent every family on a macro level because many of these themes or ideas are easy to relate to.
Amanda McMahon
ReplyDeleteProf. Kirk
ENGL 3353
22 September 2015
Mulvaneys vs. Leaves
In Joyce Carol Oates' We Were the Mulvaneys and Silas House's A Parchment of Leaves, both authors use one family, the Mulvaneys and the Sullivans, to signify all families. Both families suffer similar tragedies; a member is raped, at least one member dies, a member is estranged, a member abandons the family, and both families are under ridicule by their neighbors. While not every family undergoes every one of these specific events, every family can relate to the feelings and consequences produced by each event. Oates and House have managed to evoke emotions that every person who is a part of a family can relate to. A major difference in the novels, however, is how the families end up after these events. In A Parchment of Leaves Saul brings his family back together after tragedy; "all a man had in this life was his family, and he had to do his best by them. This was the thing that would matter most him when he lay upon his deathbed, taking inventory of his days on earth. Things had to be set right" (272). While the Mulvaneys seem to project a similar image of togetherness at the end of the novel, it is obvious that the only thing holding them all together, is the past; "I laughed, poking Patrick in the arm, had to laugh at that expression in his face he'd had when we were boys, when were the Mulvaneys" (454).