[continued from previous message]   
      
   >> going to represent some aspect of the author.  Every poem stems from its   
   >> author's imagination... regardless of what external persons and/or   
   >> events might have inspired it.   
   >   
   > That sounds like another contradiction to me. Previously you said that   
   > "every" character in a novel represents an aspect of the author, and now   
   > you admit that at least some are actually inspired by other people. Of   
   > course they're filtered through the author's imagination, but that's the   
   > precisely the point I'm trying to make to you: that the poem is a work   
   > of imagination, not simply a recitation of facts. The poem uses my   
   > memories, but it's not based on my memories; it's based on my speakker's   
   > memories as I imagined them to be.   
   >   
   >> Every literary work is similar to a   
   >> dream construct in that regard; and like a dream construct, can be   
   >> analyzed by a psychologist, a literary critic, or even the average   
   >> reader.  Since "My Father's House" was based to a large extent on your   
   >> own childhood experiences, it literally begs for a psychoanalytical   
   >> reading.   
   >   
   > Forgive me if I use the term "psychobabble" again, but that's precisely   
   > what your mention of "analyzing" dream constructs put into my head. It   
   > reminded me of how your Dr. Freud came up with his theory of the Oedipus   
   > Complex (which you and the other "doctor" claimed I suffered from) by   
   > "analyzing" a child's dream about two giraffes.   
   >   
   >> Despite your claims of taking the reader through Little George's home   
   >> (with the same floor plan as its real life counterpart) on a   
   >> room-by-room basis, you jump from the kitchen to the garden.   
   >   
   > Your insistence on calling the speaker "George" is annoying (although it   
   > is preferable to the "Boy George" nickname you previously borrowed for   
   > him him and then insisted on calling me). I think you're just playing   
   > with words to blur the very distinction between speaker and writer that   
   > I'm trying to make with you. So I'm going to start calling him "Bob"   
   > instead.   
   >   
   >> I am   
   >> guessing that you'd originally written the garden stanza to come first   
   >> within the body of the narrative, but had later switched it with the   
   >> kitchen stanza based on the severity of the (potentially perceived)   
   >> abuses.   
   >   
   > No, you guessed wrong again; the stanzas were not switched. The poem   
   > switches from the kitchen to the garden because the speaker is looking   
   > out the window, and in the floor plan of the house (which I've told you)   
   > the kitchen window overlook s the garden at the back of it.   
   >   
   >> In this stanza, Little George is forced to spend his summers   
   >> working in the garden -- while enviously watching the neighborhood   
   >> children.  Because Little George describes their games as "mis   
   >   
   > You seem to have "frozen up", HarryLiar. That's not a big deal, of   
   > course; I realize that responding to a long post takes time: one often   
   > gets interrupted, even in mid-sentence. I mentioned it only because you   
   > and "Dr." NastyGoon have pointed to it, when I did it, as evidence that   
   > I suffered from not just psychological but various neurological   
   > diseases.   
   >   
   >> How autobiographical is your poem?  Let's see.   
   >>   
   >> In the poem "Little George" states that the house came in a box, and   
   >> that he helped his father assemble it,  You had said that in real life,   
   >> your house came in a box, and that you helped your father assemble it.   
   >>   
   >> Little George tells how he was made to use the back door, had to take   
   >> off his shoes (and things), and wait for permission to enter.  In real   
   >> life, you had to use the back door, and remove your shoes before   
   >> entering as well.  I don't recall whether you also had to wait for   
   >> permission.   
   >   
   > True; in real life, the entire family removed their shoes on entering   
   > the house, and that's a reason we used the back door (because it had a   
   > landing where the shoes could be left. If I were writing an   
   > autobiography, I'd mention it that way; but because I'm imagining a   
   > fictional speaker's memories, I omitted that detail. As for needing to   
   > have permission to enter; I recall a few times when I was chased back   
   > outside, but it wasn't an everyday thing. Once again, I was not   
   > recounting events as I remembered them, but events as how I'd imagine my   
   > speaker remembering them.   
   >>   
   >> You have also stated that the house in the poem is laid out exactly your   
   >> real life childhood house, and that you have intentionally chosen to   
   >> take the reader through this house room by room.  You have also said   
   >> that you intentionally chose to present each room along with a   
   >> description of a (possibly abusive) memory associated with it.   
   >   
   > Yes I did. I gave you the latter description in the very post you're   
   > replying to. Since you've buried it, it may be a good idea to move it up   
   > here:   
   >   
   >>> S1 - the speaker revisits the house (after getting permission from   
   >>> someone unspecified).   
   >>> S2 - the speaker remembers his father building the house.   
   >>> S3 - the speaker enters the back door, and remembers having to always   
   >>> have had to use that door.   
   >>> S4 - the speaker goes into the kitchen, and recalls having to wash   
   >>> dishes.   
   >>> S5 - the speaker looks out the kitchen window at the garden, and recalls   
   >>> having to work in it when he'd rather be playing.   
   >>> S6 - the speaker goes into the living room, and recalls not being   
   >>> allowed to sit  wherever he chose.   
   >>> S7 - the speaker thinks about his bedroom (but does not go there) and   
   >>> remembers being sent there to be alone after dinner until bedtime.   
   >>> S8 - the speaker continues to think about his bedroom, and remembers   
   >>> having an  early bedtime and being subject to corporal punishment.   
   >>> S9 - the speaker wishes he could burn the house down.   
   >   
   >> The first room in Little George's house is the kitchen.  Little George   
   >> associates this room with having to wash dishes, while looking out the   
   >> window and wishing that he was some other place.  In real life, you were   
   >> also made to wash dishes.  This is not uncommon.  Most children 50 years   
   >> ago were given chores to perform.  I had chores to do as well.  The   
   >> difference is that I was paid a weekly allowance for doing them, and had   
   >> the option of quitting my "job" at my discretion.   
   >   
   > Unlike you, I did not receive an allowance, and I was not able to walk   
   > away and leave the dishes dirty when I wanted to do something else.   
   > Unlike both you and Bob, I washed dishes twice a day with my sister (and   
   > later with one of my step-nieces). That last is another detail I changed   
   > for dramatic effect.   
   >   
   >> In spite of your claim that you were taking the reader on a tour of   
   >> Little George's house (which has the same floorplan as your real life   
   >> childhood home), the narrative jumps from the kitchen to the garden.   
   >> I'm guessing that the garden stanza originally came before the kitchen   
   >> one, but that you later rearranged the stanzas to present the supposed   
   >> "abuses" in order of severity (as you have recently stated).  Little   
   >> George spends his summers working in the garden, all the while envious   
   >> of the neighborhood children who are free to play at their will.  The   
   >> fact that Little George calls their games "mysterious" and laments that   
   >> he "never knew" them implies both that he had to spend the entire day   
   >> doing chores and that he was not allowed to join the other children in   
   >> their games.   
   >   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)