Author: keastridge

• Daniel Huffman (DH), Elena Marshel (EM), Eliana Black (EB), Kim Eastridge (KE, note taker)
  • EM: liked the varied perspectives; related to our reading, to kill a mockingbird; the way that Mayella used Tom Robinson to do physical labor and to sexualize 
  • KE: historical background; hypersexuality of black men and women; historical cases of sexual assault between black men and white women; even with consensual relationships
  • EM: still commodifying black bodies but under the guise of empowerment; with black women in media
  • DH: fetishizing bodies and communities; plus size models, trans people, POC; colorism, there is exceptions to what people “are into”
  • EM: how we view sexuality; people’s attractiveness is inherent to their value
  • KE: connection of Tom Robinson’s injury to enslavement/sharecropping that is discussed in Boster’s introduction
  • EB: hyper-sexualization has been normalized in society as “that’s just my type”; still applicable today
  • EM: connected to dehumanizing the oppressed group
  • KE: with Tom Robinson saying he felt sorry for Mayella was seen as wrong because black people “weren’t allowed to feel pity for white people”
  • EM: excited to finish the book; Tom Robinson inadvertently came across as too human by saying he felt pity; would put him morally above white people which was not allowed
  • KE: Boster’s disabled versus handicap; if society was completely accessible, there would be no “dis” in front of it. Most likely won’t happen in society during our lifetimes, but the idea of having a fully accessible world is fascinating
  • EM: heard of it before but was kind of against it, but reading Boster’s piece swayed their mind; disabilities goes beyond physical barricades 
  • DH: we should look at it as too different focuses; handicap vs. disabled; umbrella terms are important but the individual differences and issues should not be neglected 
  • EM: line you have to walk; having too many terms versus overgeneralizing
  • EB: difference between changing how society sees it versus grouping people together under similarities; differences need to be acknowledge and accessible; almost undermining it
  • EM: risk ignoring the struggles that it causes

I saw this screenshot on twitter and thought I would share it! Here is the original tweet: X. I think this goes along with a lot of class discussions and readings, specifically the Kill or Cure phenomenon. It brings up a good argument that a lot of attention, especially from non-disabled people, is given to language instead of actions. While using non-offensive language is never a bad thing, I think this post showcases how sometimes there is too heavy a focus on language and less attention given to actions. What do y’all think?

• Breakout room discussion (Jessie Harper [J], Emily Kile [E], Benjamin Sweeney [B], Kim Eastridge[K, writer])
  • K: reminded me about the stigma of mental health issues in the Black community; really ties into the stigmas around POC and Black community members who have physical/mental disabilities
  • J: historical ties as well with the LGBT+ community going back to enslavement; weaknesses seen as taboo
  • E: police brutality; that “person was not compiling” and that with disabled people, its hard to compile; i.e. deaf or hard of hearing people. Higher percentage of deaths for disabled black people
  • K: autistic people and their mannerisms leading to police brutality 
  • B: Surprised by the statistics about black disabled people being victims to police brutality more 
  • J: Had aspiration for being a cop; but that was a bad idea. The whole “shoot to kill” if they are not compliant they are seen as violent. 
  • E: Cops shouldn’t shoot anyone, in any part of their body. You can’t guarantee the lethality of a bullet wound via infection or location. 
  • J: That was sort of my compromise, if they’re going to have guns than shoot to harm and not to kill
  • K: The program somewhere in America that has mental health professionals going on calls for mental distress; numbers of injuries are going down; want to expand the program to 24/7 services
  • B: dad’s a cop; arms and legs are more difficult targets because they’re moving; guns are important to deal with more violent criminals  
  • E: I get where you’re coming from but at the same time a lot of those issues could be solved if there was more gun regulation in America. I know I sound naive when I say that and that contraband items could be found, but looking at other countries who have outlawed guns, the amount of gun crime goes down an insane amount. So, if there was more policy change, than that would affect people in a good way. 
  • B: Summarizing our conversation to keep Dr. Foss in the loop
  • Dr. Foss: big names in the reading Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, etc. as all victims to police brutality; not a lot of attention given to this issue

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the author stereotypes “Lennie” through infantilizing him; however, the act of infantilization creates a character with an obvious mental disability that the readers sympathize with. I am not arguing that Lennie is a good representation of disabled people in the media, but that his character serves a bigger purpose than to be a villain or a warning to the reader. The infantilization of Lennie begins with his introduction and follows him to his demise.  

Lennie is introduced to the readers as a large man which invokes fear due to his size; especially in direct juxtaposition to George who is more wiry. Before Lennie is introduced via dialogue, he is portrayed as a threat. Early on in the book, it is revealed that Lennie has a mental disability that causes him to act childishly and outside of societal expectations. His strength, due to his massive body, is a weapon against societal norms. For example, when George and Lennie had lived in Weeds prior to this narrative and Lennie was accused of sexual assault because he did not understand the societal expectations for conduct with women and instead was hyperfocused on the texture of the woman’s dress. George and Lennie’s forced departure from Weeds echoes stereotypes of disabled people being the outcasts. Lennie’s strength and unknowingness of societal norms are seen as dangerous to the people of Weeds and not as a symbol of misunderstanding. The infantilization of Lennie does not begin until Lennie and George’s story starts in California. 

The first dialogue between Lennie and George showcases George’s position in the relationship as a caretaker and Lennie’s position as a passionate and loyal companion. The story relies on George to be the parental figure to Lennie as he reminds Lennie where they are going, not to drink too much water, and to act according to social norms in front of their new boss at the farm. This continues throughout the novella with George watching over Lennie’s actions and well-being all the way through the end of the novella with George’s mercy-killing of Lennie, which is overtly foreshadowed with Candy’s dog. Altogether, the narrative focuses on Lennie’s inabilities to act as a functioning adult and therefore the reader, despite his physical characteristics, interprets his actions as those of a child. 

Lennie’s affection towards soft things, like mice, rabbits, dogs, and Curley’s wife’s hair, all result in death as a punishment. Lennie does not deliberately inflict pain but his emotional outbursts and lack of understanding social norms and consequences results in punishment everytime he showcases his mental disability. However, the reader is not steered towards hating Lennie for his mistakes but instead to pity him because, though he inflicts pain through his own strength, his childishness marks the actions as innocent. With George having witnessed the incident in Weeds, the validity of Lennie’s innocence is strengthened by the non-disabled person’s accounts. While the character of Lennie is actively contributing to the stereotypes of disabled people being inapt, the pity that is invoked while reading Lennie’s actions forces the readers to place the blame of his death onto Curley and the other farm hands who did not understand him instead of directly onto Lennie. This correlates to the demonization of disabled people within media and society: disabled people are outcasts due to their “deformities.” While Lennie is a victim to the “Kill or Cure” phenomenon and of harmful stereotyping, the character’s purpose is not to be the villain. The end of the novella showcases Lennie’s impact on George and the other farm hands by the final “death”: the realization that owning their own farm will never happen. 

Word Count: 610

• Elena Marshel (E), Lauren Reiff (L), Benjamin Sweeney (B), Kim Eastridge [writer] (K) 
• The Creation
  • L: didn’t see it as a physical appearance; like a language barrier; inability to communicate
  • E: trying to make it fit disability studies; didn’t start until William died and the Creation’s perspective began that it started to fall into place (the ideas of this being a disability text)
  • K: uncomfortable with the idea of it; feels like an intense stereotype of disabled people but i understand it can be a commentary; kinda saddening to see the comparison of disabled people to the creation
  • L, B, E: connection to Sound of the Fury; novel read in Literary Methods class; included character “Benji” (severely autistic), nonverbal; people treated him as an object, not as a person 
    • E:Disabled people were treated (historically) similar in both texts
    • B: Creation and Benji are both like adult children; not parental figures; appear innocent to them but outwardly appears wrong
    • E: viewing both thru disability lens is helpful; POV from Benji and the Creation; understand that their actions were not malicious, that the deviation from physical norm makes people perceive all of their actions as unsettling; can’t blame Benji for how he acts
    • L: nonlinear perspectives; changes how the reader interprets the characters
    • E: Sound of the Fury, starts from Benji’s perspective and that can be disorientating because neurotypicals could not follow; following thought process of L’s “nonlinear” comment
    • Foss: not physical disability given to him in the text, more mental; but there are examples of descriptive language focused on his physical mobility/movement. We see the sensitivity of the Creation through his POV in the text
  • K: using satire as a form of commentary: wary about it, especially from coming outside of the community, will be perceived as reinforcement of stereotypes
  • E: agreement
  • L: “he’s not human, so is it dehumanizing to compare the Creation to disabled people?”
    • E: literally, yes
  • E: Cottage scene: the Creation could have been accepted if the villagers had perceived him differently; because of their stereotypes against the Creation’s physical deformations, they attacked violently and angrily 
    • E: if disabled people are treated like they are disabled, they will fit those stereotypes because other people are telling them what they are 
  • B: (read text multiple times), didn’t think that mental illness or any of that was hugely effective because he is a scientific creation 
    • B: slow beginning; had to go into without preconceived notions 
  • E: didn’t realize the Creation’s wife was a part of the story; made them made that Victor did not want to finish the wife
  • L: would have been interesting to see
  • K: Completion of the Creation’s wife would have been outside of the gender characters within the novel because all of the women characters play limited roles (emotional); would have been interesting to see the emotional capabilities of the Creation, but we will never know
  • B: discussion of Mary Shelley and Shelley’s family
  • E: wouldn’t know how it compares to other pieces of the same era; Elizabeth has her own emotions/wants/personality
    • Could have been pretty progressive to include these characteristics in the book, maybe not
  • K: I think that during this period was the reformation of writing and women writers where they began to write commentary on women in marriages and the societal expectations of women

Victor

• K: “related” to Victor on how he falls ill when confronted/anxious/in trouble
• E: not really a good guy or bad guy; everyone has some good aspects and some problematic aspects; related to Victor in the fact that he is human and has these reflexes in facing grief (book began with mother dying)
• L: how he deals with William 
• E: think about how Shelley is dealing with grief, had a lot of death in her personal life; ardent need for revenge is like a cautionary tale 
• B: Shelley’s father died when she was young; had 6 children but only one lived until adult; husband died as well; Creation and Victor had a father son relationship that maybe Shelley could relate to; the anger of someone dying 
• K: didn’t know about the personal deaths in Shelley’s life; fantasy of creating life through bringing people back to life; as an outlet of her grief
• E: fantasy of creating life outside of pregnancy; creating a superhuman and the horrors that occur 
  • E: wouldn’t have to go thru the perils of childbirth and the potential death of a newborn/child; fantasy of not having the Creation die
• L: Austen class; about the romance period; chances of living to 40 was incredibly low 
• B: Victor represents education through formal practices while the Creation represents learning through experience; informality 
• E: the Creation is almost a projection of Victor; relates to Harry Potter and how “abnormalities” are dealt with; mutual revenge makes sense as the Creation being a continuation of Victor’s struggles; adversary effects of science  
• K: educational pathways (discussed by B) correlate to real life experiences of disabled people; the Creation learning through overhearing; lurking in the shadows whereas Victor learns through official passages 
• L: Negatives of science; education that was just for women where it was focused on social etiquette