Post #8

Leonard Peltier’s Prison Writings has hit me head-on and opened my eyes in a lot of ways. This post will in no way deal with whether or not he’s guilty-- as he says in his book, that particular subject has been dissected far too many times-- but rather the honesty and clarity of his writing. This book offers such a candid look at his emotions and feelings that I could even sense what mood he was in when writing a particular chapter or section. Sometimes within paragraphs I would start to notice a change in the mood, and then he would catch himself and apologize. The very insanity that he described as affecting his fellow prisoners would ebb its way into his own writing from time to time, almost as though he couldn’t control it. He is a prisoner inside and out, and it’s obvious in his writing. It was like literally reading someone’s thoughts.

Still, for being in jail as long as he has, he seems remarkably sound. His writing is focused and clear, with only a few tangents for which he always apologizes. It’s like he can see what is happening to him but just can’t help it. The part at the beginning where he lists the things that he misses (“I miss gardening. I miss children’s laughter. I miss dogs barking. I miss the feel of rain on my face. I miss babies. I miss the sound of birds singing and of women laughing.” Etc. pg 29) really stuck with me. Those are things that most of us take for granted everyday. I can honestly say that if I were in jail for two decades without being exposed to those things, I would probably lose my mind. His power to invoke the Sun Dance has served him well, and has apparently given him enough strength to stay centered in reality, even while being so far removed from it.

Post #7

As dense as Almanac is, there are some concrete details that I'm starting to hold on to. Mostly, there is the strong symbolism surrounding snakes and snake skins. It seems to be a prevalent theme throughout the book, and it all started with Sterling and the giant stone snake. Going along with the mystical nature of this novel, I began to view the snake as a bad omen, seeing as it caused a large amount of misfortune for Sterling. My ideas were bolstered when we read that Lecha can communicate with snakes, and that it doesn't always lead to good things. Still, I didn't feel completely sure of myself until we read about Mernardo. The connection between Alegria's snake skin shoes and purse and Mernardo's frequent dreams about snake skins gave me the feeling that something bad was about to happen. Sure enough, when they went dancing that one fateful night, it was the snake skin figures in his vest that lead to his ultimate demise.

Now, it could be argued that snakes are a form of power in this novel, because of their apparent control over the fate of the characters, but I still disagree. I have to go back to my intuition on this one; as soon as we read about the stone snake (near the beginning of the book), I was convinced that snakes were symbols of bad things to come. It's like getting that gut feeling that you can't explain, but that you trust anyway. Maybe it was supposed to be obvious that snakes were bad omens, or maybe they aren't supposed to be at all. Or maybe this book is just getting to me and I have no idea what I'm talking about. Still, I feel that this is one of the few things that I've been able to understand in Almanac, so I'm sticking to my theories.

Post #6

Almanac continues to amaze me. I’ve stuck up for this book from the beginning, but now I’m starting to lose faith. Not that Silko is a bad author, she’s an amazing story-teller, it’s just becoming harder and harder to keep up with what she’s doing in this novel. At the beginning, the story was primarily about Seese and Sterling, and occasionally the twins. I was just getting into the whole clairvoyance/mystery aspect of the book when it suddenly switched. Now, the book focuses primarily on Max and Leah and their awkward relationship. What about Seese and Sterling? I wasn’t done hearing about them yet! Are we ever going to tie up the loose ends here?

Leah and Max are a whole different story altogether. Are they in love, or not? Despite Max’s unorthodox profession (ie. killing people!!!), I can’t figure out why they don’t love each other. And if they aren’t in love, then why are they still together? I don’t understand their relationship at all. More frustrating is the fact that I don’t understand how it is relevant to the main storyline, which I thought revolved around Sterling. I know that they all must somehow be connected in the end, but I wish that the story would stop jumping around so much. We’re given just enough time to become invested in the characters, and then they disappear from the plotline completely! Who knows? Maybe Silko will bring it all around, but in the meantime I remain completely perplexed. I want to have faith in this story, but the more I read the more it loses me.
Come on Silko, make me a believer.