For Tuesday 1. Read Salmon is Everything, scenes 1-12 (page 1 through 52) 2. Read Oregon Quarterly (the magazine of the University of Oregon) article,

For Tuesday

1. Read Salmon is Everything, scenes 1-12 (page 1 through 52)

2. Read Oregon Quarterly (the magazine of the University of Oregon) article, “Watershed Moment” [Link on blog under course documents]

3. Optional extra blog posts

4. Final paper due Wednesday of week 10 by 8pm

Under the Feet of Jesus,

Helena María Viramontes

Parts 3 through 5

Viramontes, close reading: Alejo is poisoned

“He thought first of his feet sinking, sinking to his knee joints, swallowing his waist and torso, the pressure of tar squeezing his chest and crushing his ribs. Engulfing his skin up to his chin, his mouth, his nose, bubbled air. Black bubbles erasing him.

Finally the eyes. Blankness. Thousands of bones,

the bleached white marrow of bones.

Splintered bone pieced together by wire to make a

whole, surfaced bone. No fingerprint or history,

bone. No lava stone. No story or family, bone. And when he awoke from the darkness of the tar, he was looking up into the canopy of peach trees, his forehead a swamp of purple blood” (78).

Postmodernism:

o The decline of the meta-narrative and a distrust in absolute or universal claims to knowledge or reality.

o Focus on alienation (often seen in depictions of the body, and specifically the fragmentation, alienation of the body)

Viramontes, Under the Feet of Jesus: a postmodern novel

Experimentation in the form and style of the novel:Experimentation with point of view

Fragmentation & non-linear storiesOmniscient third person narrator that can take on viewpoint of multiple characters.

Code-switching Experimentation with the way time is portrayedIndebtedness to film

Not specifically postmodern, but an important part of Viramontes’ style: lyrical prose, symbolic imagery, unconventional metaphors.

Viramontes, Under the Feet of Jesus, a postmodern, environmental justice novel

Discuss and brainstorm answers to the following question:

1.What is the relationship between the novel’s postmodern writing style and its concerns for environmental & social justice? Or in other words, why do you think Viramontes chose to write this kind of novel about this particular subject matter? [Coming up with hypotheses]

Viramontes, Under the Feet of Jesus, a postmodern, environmental justice novel

2.Work together as a group to perform a close reading of the assigned passage. Pay close attention to the style and language, noting if Viramontes uses stylistic techniques of postmodernism or if she uses lyrical language, metaphors, symbols, etc. [Gathering evidence]

3. Based on the passage you chose to look at for #2, return to our answers (hypotheses) to question #1 and talk about how your close reading supports, complicates, adds to those answers. [Testing hypothesis]