Author Archives: cgormer

Cameron’s reading of The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

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I really like the story of Abraham in the bible; I find it’s contradictions and themes very rich for analysis. I read it first in an Existentialism class, when I had to read it before reading Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling which I really enjoyed reading. I think it was appropriate for me to end the semester with this because I plan to graduate after this semester and ending with the same story that really got me into one of my majors felt a little full circle. When it comes to this class, I like this poem for its hopelessness. While there were of course sad endings in nearly all of our novels, this one seems slow and perpetual. “One by one.” As I go out into the world, I think I feel like Isaac sort of. Innocent and unprepared as the world feels further divided. I know that I’m not, I like and appreciate the education I got here but I can’t help but feel like something unexpected will just pop up.

Cameron Gormer’s Reading Questions for October 30th

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  1. In Lena Christ’s Spies! the villagers accuse a nun of being a spy. This sort of mass hysteria around spies isn’t something we have read before in this class, but may be one of the easiest to see in our day. Why do you think other writers (who focused primarily on the front) didn’t write about this? What about being on the front grounds people, makes them fear other things than spies?
  2. Towards the end of Ellen La Motte’s Women and Wives, she says that “Over there, in the invaded districts, the Germans forced those girls. Here on this side, the girls cajoled the men till they gave in.” Further on, after confirming that the girls were in fact spies, La Motte says “The curious thing is, how well they understand how to bait a trap for their enemies. In spite of having nothing in common with them, how well they understand the nature of those who are fighting in the name of Justice, of Liberty and Civilization.” Why do you think that the English troops feel the need to tell this lie, and what does this lie do to the women that are both conquered by the brutish enemy and lustful of our brave troops.
  3. Stragglers in the Dust seems to me at least to be very metaphorical, especially with Lester Bradford letting his son run off to join the black man in the tomb. Along with the person in the tomb of the unknown soldier, one of the American military’s more important monuments, being a black man, what do you think May Miller is trying to say about black people’s place in the war and in our memory of it.