Blog Portfolio & Reflection

When the year-long blogging task was initially explained to the class my first thought was; how can I get out of this? I had previously created a blog in my undergraduate and I have nothing but bad memories from that experience. I recall severely disliking the process, so knowing I’d have to return to the blogging world didn’t exactly fill me with glee. Considering the workload for the course was already quite intimidating, the addition of monthly blogging requirements was just added pressure. We were encouraged to use HCommons for our blogs, however, I could not navigate the site and, most importantly, I could not customise my blog to my liking. I thought if I can at least make my blog look nice then that is half the battle. My logic was that a visually appealing blog would be more enticing to use. I chose to use Wix as it seemed more straightforward to use. Although it took some figuring out, I’m pleased with how my blog turned out. At least it’s pretty.

I lacked the creative flair my classmates showed with their titles and so I kept my blog title simple. The title is Train of Thought with a subtitle of Musings of a Masters Student. It’s not impressive by any means but I’m content with it. I think the title is quite accurate, fits the aim of the blog and reflects what I have posted.

Feminist Poetry: Carol Ann Duffy

I was tentative when writing my first post as there were a number of requirements the blog had to

Image from The Guardian

meet. It was to act as tool to track our development as a postgraduate student, but we couldn’t be overly personal. We had to maintain professionalism, of course. The purpose of the blog was to guide us towards a topic for our dissertation. I felt like there was a lot of ground to cover and it felt rather daunting. With that in mind, I tried to be as professional as possible and create a scholarly blog. My main research areas were, and still are, gender & sexuality and feminist literature. So, for my first blog post I picked one of my favourite feminist poets. I wrote about some of Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry; writing that I thoroughly enjoyed and was eager to write about.

“Though I disagree with the above sentiments I can understand why some readers, specifically male readers, might interpret Duffy’s work as misandrist in some capacity. For example, in her poem Little Red-Cap, the man is presented as a wolf. The male figure of the poem is portrayed as a savage beast who preys upon not just a woman, but a child. One can understand how this could be interpreted as perpetuating hate against men. Similarly, in the poem, Queen Herod, when attaching titles to men, Duffy includes words such as "adulterer, bigamist/ the wolf, the rip, the rake, the rat” (Duffy, p.160). In the sixth stanza of this same poem, Duffy includes the lines; "ride East from here/ and kill each mother's son./ Do it./ Spare Not one." (Duffy, p.161). Duffy is certainly critiquing the opposing gender, even going so far as to suggest murdering them. While it is possible to interpret some of Carol Ann Duffy’s work as misandrist, to do so would be to misunderstand her intentions and aims in my opinion.” (Feminist Poetry - Carol Ann Duffy)

From this passage, I can see why the feedback I received stated that I had a tendency to report/summarise. I think the above passage might be better suited in an essay because while I think the overall blog post was good, I was analysing rather than engaging with the work on a personal level.

Feminine Archetypes

Honestly, when I was writing this post I was particularly confident about it. I wanted to try and engage

Carl Jung - Image from Wikipedia

with more theories while also relating it to the portrayal of women. I was surprised to see in the initial feedback we received around December that this post was noted as one of my better ones. What sets this post apart from my other ones was that I gave more of my own thoughts, wasn’t quoting too

heavily from the sources I was drawing from and the overall tone was a bit more casual.

“If we look at these archetypes in a film space then the female archetypes and their storylines are often dependent on men. The mother, the scared wife, the muse all exist in relation to a man and serve him in some capacity. Jung explores the example of the Mother archetype in the book "Aspects of the Feminine". The mother archetype goes beyond personal relationships such as mother, stepmother, nurse, or governess. She can also be seen in the Mother of God and the Virgin or she can represent “things arousing devotion or feelings of awe" such as the Church, university, heaven, earth, etc. (Jung, p. 109). An issue with this idea is the fact that in order to reach mother status a woman usually requires the involvement of a man. So, to reach this venerated status of Mother, a man is necessary. Now, one can be motherly and be seen as a mother type without ever birthing children, but generally bearing and birthing children is necessary in being a mother. Beyond this idea, who bestows these titles upon women? Jung is a man, so the archetypes prescribed to women are already created and dictated by a man. If we circle back to the idea that the feminine archetypes are governed by environment and culture and if both of these elements are patriarchal, then male involvement in female representation regarding archetypes is unavoidable and strips women of any opinion of statement in the matter.” (Feminine Archetypes).

Gender Performativity: Trumpet by Jackie Kay

With this post, I reverted back to the style of my initial blog post taking that same analytical and sort

Jackie Kay - Image from Wikipedia

of methodical approach to Trumpet by Jackie Kay. This was a novel I enjoyed reading in my undergraduate and it raised new ideas within my research areas. If I was going to focus on gender, this would be a good text to study as it explores gender identity and gender expression. Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity couples well with this text.

“The overall phallic shape of the instrument, Millie's lips on its "gold mouth", and the fact you have to blow the instrument to use it also conjures an image of male genitalia. However, the trumpet bell, which is almost like a large flower, and the instruments "furry case" allude to female genitalia. The fact that both aspects coexist in the one instrument, the instrument Joss's life was built around, reflects the interwoven feminine and masculine parts of Joss's identity. These aspects coexist, and we can see how these elements are inherent to his gender identity and subsequent performance. In fact, they are entirely essential to his overall performance, given that the trumpet is how Joss performs, and it is when he performs that he is most authentically himself when he is genuinely Joss Moody” (Gender Performativity: Trumpet by Jackie Kay)

Again, I think I was treating my posts more like essays than blog posts. While I think I covered some interesting topics I think the post was simply me analysing and relaying information, just like I did with my first post.

Violence Against Women: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

In the initial feedback, this post was highlighted as one of my weaker posts as I was reporting and summarising too much. Again, I took the same approach to this post as I had done with the previous posts regarding specific texts.

“Their Eyes Were Watching God focuses on our protagonist Janie who has an unpredictable, tumultuous and often dangerous love life. Unfortunately, she is the victim of domestic violence in the novel. The use of domestic violence symbolises the ultimate obstacle for Janie to overcome in order to reach a point of self-discovery and achieve freedom. Though the abuse she suffers does negatively impact Janie initially, it ultimately changes her for the better and acts as the catalyst for her true character progression. In the text, domestic violence depicts the oppression, subjugation, and objectification of women. This mistreatment stems from the masculine desires for power and ownership over women” (Violence Against Women - Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.)

This blog post was essentially just an explanation of the text. I basically chronicled was happens in the book and vaguely analysed portions of the novel. I can see why it was noted as a weaker post and I agree with that assessment.

Reflections on Feminine Archetypes

I was beginning to consider specific topics for my dissertation at this time and I was considering building upon my undergraduate dissertation, which was on female character tropes, specifically the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. I thought I could further elevate that discussion by bringing in Jung’s archetypes which I had discussed in a previous post. However, I wasn’t confident in how I could connect the two topics and whether it could create a concrete argument and I think this uncertainty is reflected in this post. For example, it’s one of my shorter posts and the majority of the post is quotations and paraphrased sentences from Nathan Rabin’s writing on the MPDG trope.

“Nathan Rabin, the creator of the trope, recognises the issues with it. He regrets ever coining the term in the first place and issued an apology for introducing it to pop culture and to the contemporary film lexicon. Rabin acknowledges that the trope is a fundamentally sexist characterisation as "it makes women seem less like autonomous, independent entities than appealing props to help mopey, sad white men self-actualise” (Rabin, par.4). Categorising women into tropes, in general, is sexist practice and the same could be said for the archetypal view of women. Rabin describes his intention when coming up with the term as a means to “call out cultural sexism and to make it harder for male writers to posit reductive, condescending male fantasies of ideal women as realistic characters" (Rabin). While he apologises for "creating this unstoppable monster”, the points he made regarding such a character depiction are not entirely invalid or wrong. He pointed out something that was true. Rabin calls for the death of the “Patriarchal Lie” of the “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” trope” and goes on to appeal to writers to instead create “more nuanced and multidimensional female characters: women with rich inner lives and complicated emotions and total autonomy, who might strum ukuleles or dance in the rain even when there are no men around to marvel at their free-spiritedness” (Rabin).” (Reflections on Feminine Archetypes)

Semester 2

Dissertation Ideas

The second semester began, thoughts of the eminent dissertation began looming. I took the feedback on board and did my best to adjust the blog accordingly. While discussing our blogs, my classmate Charlotte said she had received good feedback when including elements such as gifs or music playlists in their posts (her blog can be found here https://119357256.wixsite.com/the-unoriginal-think). With this in mind, I tried incorporating more of these features in my posts going forward to make my posts more visually interesting and enjoyable to read. My previous posts from semester one all had the uniting theme of being focused on topics related to women writers or how women are portrayed. At this time, I knew the general direction I wanted to go with my dissertation but hadn’t pinpointed an exact topic. My first blog post of the year was written with the area of “men writing women” in mind as that was the area I could see myself leaning into. I wanted to start honing my posts, being more intentional and trying to focus my ideas more to come to a conclusion that would be my dissertation topic.

“It's never ending…Give a male author a pen and watch as his confidence and audacity take over and craft the most ludicrous description of women and their bodies…An article from The Guardian posed the question, "can you really be considered a great novelist when, in writing characters of a gender that makes up 50% of the population, you consistently fail?" giving authors such as Jonathan Franzen and Michel Houllebecq as examples (Cosslett). One could argue that the above examples that I've included don't come from literary masterpieces but the fact that they exist in the world of literature at all is an insult.” (Dissertation Ideas).

Murakami on Women (& Their Breasts)

Around this time, I began considering an author study. Specifically, I wanted to choose an author I could critique rather than praise. I was planning on exploring authors and considering different candidates but once I began close reading Murakami’s work, I knew he was the one. I think the

following posts show that when you’re passionate about something, even if it’s passionate dislike, then good content will come of it.

"No woman is safe from Murakami and his characters. Rarely is a woman's chest exempt from the male gaze and accompanying commentary. Even children are not off limits to these downright creepy descriptions. In Norwegian Wood there is an interaction where a thirteen-year-old girl "seduces" her female piano teacher who is 31. The scene is framed as a sexual assault carried about by the 13-year-old…The whole scene is disturbing but especially the descriptions of this child's body. Reiko, the 31-year-old piano teach, remarks that her student "had big breasts for a 13-year-old. Twice as big as mine. And she wasn't wearing any starter bra but a real adult model, an expensive one" (Murakami, pg.202). In the same book, Toru comments that Reiko "had the breasts of a little girl" (Murakami, pg. 383). Not only do we have consistent objectification of women and their bodies but there is also this added element of paedophilia to contend with” (Murakami on Women (& Their Breasts).

Wikipedia Editing Task

The Wikipedia task was something I was initially dreading, much like the blog itself. Initially, I struggled to find a topic before settling on a local interest subject which was the article on Sophie Toscan du Plantier. There was information missing and sources that needed to be added. While I was dubious about the task to begin with, in the end I was quite proud of my work. That is until the vast majority of my work was undone by another user. I remained professional in my blog post on the activity, but I was quite irritated by this user, and I think I effectively communicated that while remaining composed, of course. One entitled user who was not receptive to discussion ruined the experience and made the whole process feel futile.

Murakami & Short Stories

Obviously having selected my author of choice meant my blog posts were now intrinsically linked.

While I was writing from a critical perspective, I didn’t want my blog posts to be entirely negative and just an attack on Haruki Murakami. With that in mind, I wrote this post to highlight Murakami’s strengths and some of his writing that I enjoyed.

“The story has clear lessons, for example, it highlights the idea of virtue as its own reward. Frog saves Tokyo, loses his life in the process, and is never acknowledged for it…The contentment Katagiri feels at the end of the story proves that regardless of Frog legitimacy, the encounter Katagiri had with him restored him in some capacity. He seems to have formed a friendship with Frog if nothing else. Of course, Tokyo was saved as well, but was it ever really in danger? Frog saved both Katagiri and Tokyo, nevertheless. The story, as many others in the text do, emphasizes the fragility and impermanence of the lives we know. Human fragility is never so obvious as in the wake of a cataclysmic natural disaster. In the wake of the Kobe earthquake, Japan was a widely traumatised nation (Watanabe). I think this story serves as a comfort of sorts. First, I think the story shows the importance of community and friendship. Secondly, it shows that even the most ordinary of people, like Katagiri, can make a difference if they choose to do so” (Murakami & Short Stories).

While I remain analytical the post isn’t as text heavy or doesn’t rely too much on references. It’s more casual but still professional I think, while still conveying my own opinions on the stories.

South of the Border, West of the Sun

Here was another critical piece of Murakami’s writing where I focus on the idea of women as sexual fantasy’s and also the portrayal of infidelity in this text.

“The book begins with Shimamoto and Hajime as children. Shimamoto wasn't much to look at however Hajime "was certain that in a few years she'd be gorgeous (Murakami, p.6). I understand they were both children however there is still something a little unsettling about commenting on the "swell" of an 11/12 year old girls breasts (Murakami, p.11). We already know that whether you're a child or a woman, comments on your breasts are to be expected. Physical appearances are very important in this text. For example, throughout the book there is persistent emphasis placed on Shimamoto's bad left leg. A polio diagnosis in childhood left her dragging her leg for the rest of her life. This impediment became her defining feature. Despite her striking beauty, it was her bad leg that was most notable.”(South of the Border, West of the Sun).

This was another text analysis, but I think I improved on this type of post. I don’t think it was too focused on summarising and reporting. While I did relay information, I felt my tone and delivery were better and so it didn’t feel as formal as an essay. I think these past posts show how I found my blogging voice with elements of humour and more casual expressions lightening the overall tone of my posts while remaining scholarly.

Image from Google Images

Decision Time

This post was a confirmation of the previous posts, rounding them up and concluding that this path that I had begun would now lead me to my dissertation. It was a full stop post on the blog. The previous posts were like stepping stones along the way towards the finished thesis.

"Murakami's consistency in his writing is almost admirable if this consistency didn't apply to the awful characterisation of female characters across his body of work. The above list doesn't include his short story collections; however, I don't see myself focusing on them for my dissertation. I've read a couple other works by Murakami but now my challenge is to get through as many of his books as I can and also perform a close reading of each text. I have my highlighter at the ready and I am eager to start the dissection process. All of this work is in preparation for April 3rd when we are due to deliver our dissertation presentations. So, there’s lots to look forward to! (Decision Time).

I think it was a good conclusion to my blog posts and brought shows the final direction of my posts and where the posts lead me.

Textualities 2023

I think this was one of the most enjoyable posts to write because I had such a good time at the Textualities Conference. This blogging journey was something beyond my comfort zone, as was the Textualities Conference and both have proved how rewarding it is to push yourself. It really was the perfect conclusion to the degree as a whole.

“I breathed a sigh of relief once I was finished and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the other presentations, live tweeting and asking a couple of questions in the final panel. Overall, I think the day was a huge success. It was a credit to everyone involved and I think we all did a great job individually and as a collective.I was not at all surprised by the calibre of work each student presented. This was such a valuable experience that will certainly stand to me as I immerse myself in dissertation work.” (Textualities 2023: A Mini-Conference Reflection).

Title slide from my presentation

Though I had reservations in the beginning, the blogging process turned out to be an enjoyable task. I allowed me to brainstorm ideas in the beginning and then focus my train of thought on more specific subjects ultimately curating my dissertation topic. I feel this blog achieved what it was meant to in that sense. It's interesting to see my personal development over the course of my posts. Seeing myself become more comfortable, include more multimedia aspects and develop a narrative voice is very interesting. As someone who rarely contributes in class, the blog has certainly improved my confidence when it comes to sharing ideas even if it is only online to a non-existent audience. In many ways, this blog is like a time capsule of my masters degree, something I can fondly look back upon and will hopefully continue even once I've concluded my studies.

Works Cited

Hutchinson, Ellen. “Feminist Poetry - Carol Ann Duffy.” Train of Thought, Wix, 5 Oct. 2022, https://ellenmhutchinson.wixsite.com/ellens-blog/post/poetry-of-carol-ann-duffy.

Hutchinson, Ellen. “Feminine Archetypes.” Train of Thought, Wix, 16 Oct. 2022, https://ellenmhutchinson.wixsite.com/ellens-blog/post/feminine-archetypes

Hutchinson, Ellen. “Gender Performativity – Trumpet by Jackie Kay.” Train of Thought, Wix. 21 Oct. 2022, https://ellenmhutchinson.wixsite.com/ellens-blog/post/gender-performativity-in-trumpet-by-jackie-kay

Hutchinson, Ellen. “Violence Against Women – Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.” Train of Thought, Wix, 3 Nov. 2022, https://ellenmhutchinson.wixsite.com/ellens-blog/post/violence-against-women-their-eyes-were-watching-god

Hutchinson, Ellen. “Reflections on Feminine Archetypes” Train of Thought, Wix, 9 Nov. 2022 , https://ellenmhutchinson.wixsite.com/ellens-blog/post/reflections-on-feminine-archetypes

Hutchinson, Ellen. “Dissertation Ideas” Train of Thought, Wix, 28 Jan. 2023, https://ellenmhutchinson.wixsite.com/ellens-blog/post/dissertation-ideas

Hutchinson, Ellen. “Murakami on Women (& Their Breasts)” Train of Thought, Wix, 9 Feb. 2023, https://ellenmhutchinson.wixsite.com/ellens-blog/post/murakami-on-women-and-their-breasts

Hutchinson, Ellen. “Wikipedia Editing Task” Train of Thought, Wix, 19 Feb. 2023, https://ellenmhutchinson.wixsite.com/ellens-blog/post/wikipedia-editing-task

Hutchinson, Ellen. “Murakami & Short Stories” Train of Thought, Wix, 28 Feb. 2023, https://ellenmhutchinson.wixsite.com/ellens-blog/post/murakami-short-stories

Hutchinson, Ellen. “South of the Border, West of the Sun” Train of Thought, Wix, 13 Mar. 2023, https://ellenmhutchinson.wixsite.com/ellens-blog/post/south-of-the-border-west-of-the-sun

Hutchinson, Ellen. “Decision Time” Train of Thought, Wix, 21 Mar. 2023, https://ellenmhutchinson.wixsite.com/ellens-blog/post/decision-time

Hutchinson, Ellen. “Textualities 2023: A Mini-Conference Reflection” Train of Thought, Wix, 10 Apr. 2023, https://ellenmhutchinson.wixsite.com/ellens-blog/post/textualities-2023-a-mini-conference-reflection