Week 2: Shapeshifters

Shapeshifters was very interesting, particularly the first story, “A Quarrelsome Man.” Upon talking to my classmates, I found that a lot of people felt that that was the best one. It was definitely weird in that this interaction between the man and his son and this random woman was very unusual. The way that she hardly said anything and he continued to talk and talk was uncomfortable at times. However, while most of the story seemed to imply that she wanted to leave based on her actions, we got hints at her thoughts such as her attachment to the boy, that showed that she was happy to be there too. It seemed like it could be the beginning of an unlikely friendship, but there were weird aspects to it that opposed that theory, such as the sexual tension insinuated. I think that the way it was written was what pulled me in rather than the story itself. For instance, it was written in a way that was very grounded, descriptive, and unique. However, the story itself made me a bit uncomfortable based on the awkward interactions. However, in the third story, “The Truth is in the Clothes,” the story itself was far more interesting, but the way it was written didn’t pull me in the entire time. It could get a bit obscure and confusing, particularly the scene with the catacombs in the wall. The last story was very enjoyable, though a little hard to follow. The adventure, goals, and desires were something that the reader can take an easy interest in, and even relate to as far as the desires for newer and better things (like in voyage two); the feeling of being crowded and feeling stuck in your life (like in voyage 3); and the feeling of. Ring somewhere you don’t want to be and wanting to go back home (like in voyage 4.) These little details that were relatable made it far easier for me to get involved and interested in the rest of the story that I cannot relate to at all, like in voyage three where the girl wants to go home to a place that is in chaos, or in voyage two where the young man is a war veteran. This story was particularly hard to follow for me because of all of the switching around with locations, but nonetheless I enjoyed it. I feel like this is one that I will end up reading again and using for a paper later, because there is a lot to dig into there. In the first story, I found the word “Stolid,” which I could understand based on context clued, but I did google it anyway and it is defined as “calm, dependable, and showing little emotion or animation.” I particularly like this word and have added it to my document of vocabulary words to remember. Another thing on that last piece is that I enjoyed talking in class about the physical parallel of the stories on the pages. I did not notice that while reading. One of my main questions is more of a desire than a question. I feel like there is so much history involved in studying the literature of the Caribbean, and I feel like a physical timeline would personally help me out. I will likely be going through later and kind of placing what happened when. I know that we discussed that the last one was much longer ago than the first story. I suppose my question is, is time important in how these stories relate to each other? Obviously it is important that we know when the story is taking place as we are reading it. However, is it incorrect to relate each of these stories to each other just because they are written by Caribbean women or should we be thinking about these stories just individually?