A Different Approach to Literature

            In Franco Moretti's article, “Graphs, Maps, Trees”, he uses a different approach to literature wherein he uses a lot of graphs and charts to show data about the history of literature and different kinds of genres during different periods of time in able to support his argument.

            There are several benefits and draw backs in Moretti's kind of approach to literature.  One of the benefits is that he is able to show the reader that he is able to support his arguments with a lot of data, making it credible.  At the same time, the visual graphs and charts make it easier for some people to understand what he is trying to say instead of listing everything with words which might even make it really boring.  Some of the draw backs however is that it seems like he is just listing some data he was able to gather.  It also ruins the flow of words and ideas by inserting graphs or charts in between his argument which some readers might find inconvenient. 

            The method of combining literature with computer tools might be better with presenting scientific data for other fields such as social, biological, and physical sciences.  This is because it would be hard for a scientist to support his or her theories or arguments without the use of computer tools such as graphs and charts.  On the other hand, I believe it is better to not use graphs, charts, and other computer tools in English literature.

            A different way to approach SSTLS other than the close reading analysis we have been doing is that we can try to look at the reason why Shteyngart wrote the book.  We could think about whether he wrote this novel in able to alarm people on what could happen to us in the future or what is starting to happen to us in this modern day society.  We could also try to compare and contrast SSTLS with other literary works of this century and how are they similar and different from each other.

M. Butterfly and SSTLS

            There are several similarities between, M. Butterfly and SSTLS, such as the themes of love, gender, and ethnicity. 

           

            The movie and the novel both talks about a love story between two individuals who were very different from one another, coming from very different cultures and backgrounds but.  It shows how love can be very complicated and hard to understand but at the same time, it creates a bond that can only be shared between them.  In SSTLS, Eunice is having a hard time figuring out what she really feels for Lenny but she still has a connection with him that is different with other people, allowing her to open up to him and express her feelings.  In M. Butterfly, Rene falls in love with Song and has a strong bond with his "butterfly" that he was willing to leave his wife and wait for Song to come back even though he was abandoned.

            Throughout M. Butterfly and SSTLS, it reveals to the audience the hierarchy of men over women and some stereotypes.  In the novel, Eunice's family was being abused by her father and is under his control because they see him as the man of the family.  Just like the novel, the power of the men over women was emphasized especially in the scene where they talk about how the men knows how the women are supposed to be like that is why men play the parts of women in the plays.  Another stereotype is the weak and submissive view of women.  Song, who was pretending to be a woman, tells Rene how women are there to please the men and how Song's character  was gentle and not aggressive. Eunice and her family are allowing her father to abuse and beat them up and not stand against him just like when they were being scolded by their father the day Lenny ate with them.

            There is also a huge emphasis on how different ethnicities are being stereotyped and how each country are more concerned about their own well being instead of working together.  In SSTLS, Eunice's family emphasizes on the importance of having really good education, just like many other Asian families and how many people see Asians as having a lot of money even though it is not always true.  It was also mentioned that the only reason why other countries are still trying to help U.S. because they did not want all their investments to go to waste, only concerned about their own and not there to help out of their own will.  In M. Butterfly, China and U.S. were in conflict and was even willing to have Song, a man, pretend to be a woman and deceive Rene to make him fall in love with him, just to be able to attain information about what the other country is doing.

a love story

Love can have several different meanings for everyone, each unique depending on an individual.  Gary Shteyngart's novel, Super Sad True Love Story, shows the reader a love story of Lenny and Eunice, two people from very different backgrounds, coming together to have a relationship.

            When Lenny was drunk, he talks about Eunice's freckles and how " every one of them means something to [him]" (94). Usually when people are in love, they learn how to appreciate everything about that special someone, even though at times it is something that is not really a big deal such as freckles.  Maybe to some extent, the saying "love is blind" might be true because people tend to ignore the flaws of the people we love.  At the same time, there really isn't such as thing as a perfect relationship that is why we need to be able to communicate with each other.

            Both Lenny and Eunice are able to communicate well about what they feel and think towards each other.  Lenny "constantly [wants] to open up to [Eunice]" (97) and in their conversation on pages 149 and 150, it shows how Eunice pointed out something that is bothering her, which is Lenny's unclean place, and they both were trying to talk about it on how they can fix it.  In able to have a strong relationship, couples need to be able to communicate very well and try to work things out if ever there are any problems because if they decide to keep things to themselves, nothing will get fixed and the problem might just get worse.  Another important aspect in a loving relationship is to trust your significant other.

           

            Even though couples can communicate well, it would still be hard to work things out if they can't trust each other.  Both Lenny and Eunice can feel like themselves around each other and they don’t have to pretend to be someone else.  Lenny "believed in [Eunice]" (109) although they haven't really known each other for a very long time, enabling her to "trust him with everything and [for her to] open up the way [she] would to a girlfriend"(114).  Their love for each other is more than just like a couple but also like best friends who can share anything with one another.  their trust also helps them be able to communicate better because they are comfortable to share things.

            Being able to appreciate, communicate, and trust one another in a relationship is very important for it to work out but there are times when people over look these causing them to not be able to have a happy relationship.  It shows that no matter how big the difference is between two people, things can still work out.