Overall I feel that my project aptly conveys the experience of a woman who made such high expectations and the frustration that she experiences by not being able to fulfill those expectations. It was a little more difficult to try and create something that focused on aesthetics rather than belief or judgment because the topic itself can been similar to today’s issues of abortion. It runs this fine line, but I tried to keep it within the walls of how she was feeling rather than give the reader a chance to judge her. I thought it was important to incorporate a lot of past memories from childhood because it is the past that resonates to us. The video of resonance breaking the glass was another interesting addition to mix. I felt that although aesthetics were important in the experiment, science should also be interwoven as well. My project, as well as my major, deal with aspects of science so like Pynchon being an engineer, I felt it appropriate to use an interface in science. In this case, the resonance breaking glass similar to the memory of Layla breaking the wine glass when she was younger. What I felt was unique was I treated the narrative almost like an alternate life. I used my own experience and tried to see things differently, asking the question of “what if?”.
The most important lessons that I have learned throughout this semester have been how to analyze a narrative for its aesthetic value, to read into a piece of writing and determine a. what feeling the author is trying to convey and b. what effect that this writing has on me. When reading a narrative, there are essentially two experiences occurring. The first being the experience of the character and the second being the experience of the reader while reading the narrative. The limitations of the novel experience is that the reader is incapable of being active throughout the experience. The reader is simply observing and from there making their own experience as opposed to an online interactive work where a reader can make their own changes and thus change the experience at will. The “reader” thus takes a more active role in the experience.
I feel that is important that we as a collective are aware of experiences of others. We can never write exactly about the disaster, but it doesn’t prevent us from being affected by the disaster. We sympathize with survivors not necessarily because we are ourselves have experienced something similar, but because are human. It would be impossible to undertake all experiences at once, and if one single human were to do so they would be overwhelmed. However, as a society it is important to remember experiences in order that they be passed down to future generations. It’s amazing that even if people are found in different circumstances, many feelings are often the same. Whether you are a woman in the 1960s or 2009, the feeling of disappointment and frustration feels the same.
