My Dad's Shoes

It was raining pitchforks when i drove off to work today, 
I was late for the morning shift my supervisor was mad, but its okay. 

All of my concern, of certain death and depression
On how we cursed at each other for how long i could not remember
It might be my fault I should have known
I have not had my lunch I do not have that much of time 
For last night did not went so well
It was 3 past midnight and you ain't home, yet 
While my calls were unreplied the four walls criticise
And again, on certain death, life and consequences


I told myself you'd do just fine 
These tired eyes against my nervous mind
And dawn knocked on doors 
You came back soundlessly, from God knows where. 


- Khairil Anuar Shariff  (25th Oct. 2013)

ambiguity.

if i could express my self better, your world would be in my palm. 




any day.

Reflections on Trifles

What clues lead the women to conclude that Minnie Wright killed her husband? 

There are seemingly significant clues, which led to the fact that Mrs. Wright, or Minnie killed her husband can be found in the construction of the plot. These clues were mostly highlighted within the observation of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter conversation in the kitchen, when they sat near to the half clean/messy table they could see some other peculiar yet prominent ‘evidence’ which led to Minnie’s felonious act such as the left out load of bread, nervously sewn quilt, ruined preserved fruits and most noteworthy, a broken birdcage and the mentioning of a strangled bird.

These clues, obliquely provide the audience a signifying sense of Mrs. Wright’s uneasiness; unsettled, sketchy and chaotic state of the kitchen room indicating Minnie’s inner conflict. This substantially aided by some parts of the text, which suggests that soon after she was married she became unhappy; not as cheerful as she were before. All she had was a canary as her companion however her husband did not favor the bird and decided to kill it. The fact that Minnie herself was loves to sing, in relation to the traditional literary metaphor of the bird’s songs as the voice of the soul, ‘John Wright not only killed her canary but her very own spirit’ (Makowsky, 62).

One may view the birdcage as a symbolic strangling of restrained freedom, liminality bound by culture towards Minnie and women of the time in general. “It is not just because he killed the bird, but because Minnie herself was a caged bird . . . and he strangled her by preventing her from communicating with others" (Alkalay-Gut 6). Hence, Mr. Wright action of killing the bird may result in Minnie’s outrage as the bird symbolicly reflects her freedom. The bird was a "child-substitute for the solitary Minnie; the canary's voice was to displace the silence of a coldly authoritarian husband and replace the sounds of the unborn children" (Makowsky 62).

How do the men differ from the women? from each other? 

Throughout the plot, Glaspell sensibly touches the difference state of men and women of the early twentieth-century America.  Within the construction of each scene, man and women have been perspectively positioned differently from the words they say, the actions they made as well as the way the characters shaped the thematic concept. 

First prominent aspects which can be seen was women inferiority which were shown through their body language, where Glaspell perfectly projected the essence of bonding among women by the presentation of the women stand closely together, "the women have come in slowly and stand close together near the door" (Glaspell). As the plot thickens, audience could witness on how Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter communally comprehended men’s perception towards them and how they empathize Mrs. Wright condition and decided to hide the evidence of the murder hence taking justice at their own hands by letting her off the hook. Their inferiority subsequently stipulated a sense of communial undertanding and act collectively to protect one another from the men who self-interestedly think that their way of analyzing evidence (while consequently criticizing Mrs. Wright) is the best and are completely dispassionate in all the "clues" that the women suggested.

The sheriff and the county attorney, both are presented in an antagonistic manner represented by their devaluation and degrading criticism towards the women abilities and any of their suggestions. They also discounted all the minor details or evidence that the women have pointed out, deemed that women and kitchen symbolicly regarded as in relation to their minor existency and responsibilities bound by contemporary culture understanding. The men came out with the inference that women could not contribute anything to the process of their investigation. Glaspell also highlighted the ineffectuality and incompetence aspect of men during the time and their authority consequently questioned their power by projecting their action of  "physically crisscross[ing] the stage as they verbally crisscross the details of the crime, both actions leading nowhere, (Ben-Zvi 155). In this fashion, Glaspell judiciously presented the fact that in spite of men ar predisposition of women, Mr. Hale’s degrading criticism of women; "Well, women are used to worrying about trifles.".

What do the men discover? Why do they conclude "Nothing here but kitchen things"?

Unfortunately not a single clue or evidence were found by the men as they have been looking for major or important clues when the women have seamlessly pointing out several vital clues which could lead to solve their case. The women on the other hand display intuitiveness representative of the psychoanalytic movement, viewing the smaller things and the emotional impact they convey by observing the kitchen itself and all the sewing tools as the prominent evidence in regard to the murder.

Despite their fallacy of judgement and inability to find clues, the men still made fun of the women once again when Mr. Henderson pointed out “at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to--what is it you call it, ladies!" Ironically, those poor, uneducated women who were concerned with the mere trifles of the play are actually the ones who solved the mystery and know exactly what went on in the house.

Reference: 

Alkalay-Gut, Karen. "Jury of Her Peers: The Importance of Trifles." Studies in Short Fiction 21

(Winter 1984): 1-9.

Ben-Zvi, Linda. "'Murder, She Wrote': The Genesis of Susan Glaspell's Trifles." Theatre Journal

44 (March 1992): 141-62.

Glaspell, Susan. Trifles.

Susan Glaspell and her Trifles

Susan Glaspell

            Literature of the 19^th century witnessed the emergence of feminist perspectives within the realm of literature, theatre and drama. Among a few, it is believed that the most two prominent literature figures were Kate Chopin and Fanny Fern, whose works vastly integrated with the inequality of the sexes and women dependency on men in their lives, subsequently fashion the way for female writers of the twentieth century. The most prominent aspect of Susan Glaspell’s involvement in literature during this time was that she ornately inherited these identical abstract of Chopin and Fern’s notion of philosophies; women rights, their role in a society and their struggle to be heard.

            Susan Keating Glaspell was born in Davenport, Iowa in 1882. The inception of her writing career was soon after she graduated from Drake University, where she became a journalist of the Des Moines Daly News. Glaspell gave up newspaper when her stories were published in female oriented magazines such as Harper’s and The Ladies’ Home Journal. She then met her husband, George Cook in 1915 and together they founded the Provincetown Players on Cape Cod, Massachusetts that deemed as a venue for American plays that were too experimental and controversial for Broadway during the time.

            Her contribution in theatre and drama was celebrated momentously as she was awarded with American Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright. Aside from being a playwright, Glasspel’s involvement was remarkably seen as an actress, director, novelist, biographer and journalist. Glasspel’s works mostly curated with firm feminist idea; dealing with women expected or forced roles in society as well as the relationships between men and women. Her award winning work Allison’s House, a play based on the life and family of Emily Dickinson and some other works such as Women's Honor (1918), Bernice (1919), Inheritors (1921), and The Verge (1922) were crafted with the significant notion of feminism and their struggle.

Trifles

            ‘A Jury of Her Peers’ (1917) were written originally as a play entitled Trifles; a work inspired by a murder that Glaspell reported when she was working as a journalist for the Des Moines Daily News. Trifles peculiarly explored the absence of respect and appreciation from men towards women during the time by vividly highlighting alleged roles of men in the society. The plot was constructed with a murder investigation; in a house which setting seemingly utilized the space of a kitchen of Mr. Wright’s, the victim that was murdered. The prominent thematic exploration of the drama took place when a sheriff and the county attorney arrived at the crime scene to fetch evidences due to the arrest of the Mr. Wright’s wife, Minnie who is deemed to be one of the suspects.

            During the investigation there were Mrs. Hale, the sheriff’s wife and Mrs. Peter who happened to be the Wright’s neighbor. The central facet of the drama took place in the kitchen where both of the women sat while the men executing their role as the key figure of the society, investigating a murder case while the women sit and observing the kitchen. The women then discover the motive by paying close attention to ‘women’s trifles’ where theme of the story is revealed. The engagements of men in the Trifles lucidly criticize women concerns which often considered to be mere trifles, unimportant issues that bear little or no importance to the true work of society which being carrried out by men. Glaspell witty approaches throughout Trifles call the viewer to comprehend the relativity of men’s and women’s perspectives and work by curating a tension-filled drama that unfolds what been ignored and silenced; the society devaluation of women roles.

From Gaza with Love

He has nothing to offer but love; he is the man who stood firmly behind the agonised path which his beloved country had gone through, alongside other witty, conscious and intellectual individuals who are seeking peace out of the ongoing chaos in Palestine. 

Refaat Alareer is the name, he is one among the few who dedicated his time in presenting the whole world the Palestinian consciousness through poetry and literature. Whats interesting about his talk were how memory became the most powerful tool in generating the utmost motivation for Palestinian to write. Its Gaza, writing back against the evil cruel Israel occupation and letting the whole world that they wont back down. 

"Against barbarity, poetry can resist only by confirming its attachment to human fragility like a blade of grass growing on a wall while armies march by," - Mahmoud Darwish. 

Like Darwish, Refaat believes firmly in the power of collective memory, the passing of stories in keeping the spirit of insurgency alive. These are the most significant factors which, at least to me in understanding their struggle. I never experienced war myself, neither do my parents hence I could not really relate to the Palestinian's misery caused by war, their exile and uprootedness. But the most beautiful thing with poetry is that the senses attached within each and every of it's constructions, relating one's emotion to the other. Through the reading of Refaat's poems I could easily grasp the notion of empathies, the fundamental of Palestinian's struggle and most importantly the agonising phase they have endured after all these years. During the session he kept on reflecting about the loss of homeland, the frustrations of being under siege of being occupied. 

When being asked about in which aspect the endless conflicts and bloodbath in Palestine inspired poets and writers he responded that; to supplement readers imageries on Palestine's status and situation, personal senses and emotional aspects of one inner self is fundamental. Resistance literature taking its root from the oppression and occupation thus by blending human feelings and perspectives would subsequently produce a subliminal, conscious responds through writing. Gaza Writes Back, a compilation of resistance writings by selected poets and authors from Palestine utilised these elements in relation to memory and land. 

And Gaza Lives On by Refaat Alereer

And another war in Gaza

Another day in Palestine

A day in prison

And we live on

Despite Israel’s very much identified flying objects

That we see more than our family and friends

And despite Israel’s death sentences

Like lead

Cast upon the head

 As we sleep

Like acid rain

Gnawing at our life

Clinging to it like a flea to a kitten

And stuffed in our throats

The moment we say ‘Amen’

To the prayers of old women and men

Despite Israel’s birds of death

Hovering only two meters from our breath

From our dreams and prayers

Blocking their ways to God.

Despite that.

We dream and pray,

Clinging to life even harder

Every time a dear one’s life

Is forcibly rooted up.

We live.

We live. We do. 

I could not help but to ponder on what kind of life the Palestinians have had gone through and will have to face since the Israeli's occupation. Despite of all the conflicts, the long nights of mortar bombings and molotov resistance, days full of uncertainties, children with parents who are nowhere to be found, they live on. And it hit me, hard, i mean how do we sleep at nights? Knowing the fact that on the other side of the world theres a band of Israelis army breaking through walls picking up children to shield their way against the Palestinian resistance who fight devotedly in standing their ground. If they could give us just one night of what they've been through, most of us would not last for seconds, we would give up on life certainly. 

"We dream and pray,

Clinging to life even harder"

It come to my senses after reading some parts of Refaat's blog, and to finally meet the poet personally, on how ungrateful I am after all these years; for all the rants on what I could not have rather than being thankful of what I have. I could not have the whole world, but my parents are still home, alive and my prayers are answered always, my dream is still achievable and most importantly, my country is at peace. Unlike most of us, who are prone to give up hope hastily despite the fact we could achieve more than what we could, Alereer is still fighting, in a way still losing; not winning but constantly, willingly revolting for the love of his country and in the name of peace. 

Additional reading: 

http://bibliojunkie.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/i-saw-ramallah-by-mourid-barghouti/

http://muftah.org/palestine-the-war-is-in-the-media/

http://jfjfp.com/?p=50663

*You might want to check out the Jews for Justice for Palestine.