At first glance, the poem seems to begin by discussing the severity of Hurricane Katrina as “weather is nothing until it reaches skin,” from the point of view of an individual and the effects of the horrible storm on that individual. However, after deep reading, as the author implies, this “rudderless woman” is Hurricane Katrina. Katrina begins by defining weather and its severity. “Weather is nothing until it reaches skin, freezes dust, spits its little swords. Kept to oceans, feeding only on salted water. However, this storm was anything but spitting “little swords,” or “Kept to oceans, feeding only on salted water.” Its impact was anything but small, and tragically fed on people and their homes. Then, this severe hurricane is personified as a human being. Hurricane Katrina is described as a “rudderless woman in full tantrum.” Like a child, this hurricane lacked a clear sense of its aims, and had a tantrum, throwing its “body against worlds…” Katrina continues by claiming that it “never saw harm in lending that ache.” This paradox represents the naivety of Katrina’s “tantrum,” as an ache can be harmful. In addition, “lending” represents giving over something temporarily. Unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina’s impacts on people and societies it hit is not temporary. Ending this poem, Katrina describes her unintentional harm, stating how all she “ever wanted to be was a wet, gorgeous mistake, a reason to crave shelter.” Rather than just being a “wet, gorgeous mistake,” Katrina brought chaos and destruction in people’s lives. It really was “a reason to crave shelter,” as many lost the luxury of shelter, or rather, the necessity. This poem seems to give a voice to Hurricane Katrina, by claiming that the level of severity was unintentional. Just like Katrina was personified as an individual, each individual impacted by this horrific storm has to be recognized, rather than merely being one of many who suffered.

1. At first glance, who did you think the point of view was? An individual, or Hurricane Katrina?
2. What is the purpose of the personification?      

We often use sarcasm or lies to cover how we truly feel because we find that it’s easier to lie and hide ourselves, than to speak truthfully about hard topics such as abandonment, mental illness, or family issues. For some people it creates a better reality to live in because if they believe in the lies, they won’t have to acknowledge the truth. Which is shown in the poem “The Dawn of Luther B’s Best Day” as it reveals Luther B’s perspective on being left behind and tied to his owner’s tree as hurricane Katrina approaches. The author covers Luther B’s situation with lighthearted words of “Best Day” and “Dawn” as if to hide the fact that Luther B is in danger and was abandoned by his owner. Dawn is a symbol of new beginnings, hope, rebirth, etc. The title presents a false sense of what is happening to Luther B because to the reader they may infer that Luther B is celebrating something happy. Even though his situation described in the poem is sad and ironic in comparison to the bright and positive title. The author had a purpose in naming the poem ironically to catch the reader’s attention and make us reflect on why such an event would be Luther B’s best day. One can infer that the author used such irony as a way to mask the situation of Luther B being abandoned and left to fend for himself and instead see it in a more positive way.

Discussion Questions: How does positive thinking end up becoming an excuse for people to normalize other people’s problems? Does an individual’s intent affect the reason to lie to protect yourself and the people around you from your own turmoil?

This is the course site for English 130. Please stay tuned while I fill it out with course readings, discussion questions, and posts! Post here when it is your turn to be a discussion leader.

There isn’t much to see here yet, but there will be a discussion question posted after class on Thursday, January 30, and the readings for the next class are posted in the resources page. There has been a change to the scheduled readings and the text for class due Tuesday, February 4th is a selection from Regarding Animals. It’s longer than the other readings that week, also posted on the resources page.

On Tuesday, we will delve into the course theme, posthumanism. In order to make sense of what is called posthumanism it is important to get a sense of some assumptions about language–more specifically, discourse, that have had a foothold in the humanities since roughly the second half of the twentieth century. Many of the texts whose authors ushered in those assumptions are incredibly challenging for college undergrads in their first two years to read. Instead of assigning those, I have found a much more approachable, accessible text outlining one of those main assumptions: that many of the truths that make up the backdrop of our lives are constructs, things whose definitions and boundaries are constructed through the ways in which people see them, talk about them, and behave with them.

Question: The authors describe a few constructs. What are they? Can you think of something in your life that they do not name but might also call a construct?