WA Vol 4 Iss 2 SP15 Compendium & Title & Contents

1 Wide Angle a journal of literature and film Volume 4, Issue 2 Spring 2015 Published by Department of English Samford University Wide Angle 2 Mission Statement Literature and film continually reimagine an ever-changing world, and through our research we discover our relationships to those art forms and the cultures they manifest. Publishing one issue each semester, Wide Angle serves as a conduit for the expression and critique of that imagination. A joint publication between English majors and faculty, the journal embodies the interdisciplinary nature of the Department of English at Samford University.

2 It provides a venue for undergraduate research, an opportunity for English majors to gain experience in the business of editing and publishing, and a forum for all students, faculty, and staff to publish their best work. As a wide-angle lens captures a broad field of vision, this journal expands its focus to include critical and creative works, namely academic essays, book and film reviews, and commentaries, as well as original poetry, short fiction and non-fiction, and screenplays. Editorial Staff 2014- 15 General Geoffrey A. Wright Managing Ward Literature Ann Prickett Film Burr Creative Writing Davis Copyright 2015 Wide Angle, Samford University.

3 All rights reserved. Wide Angle 3 Contents Literature Finding Meaning in a Meaningless World: Catch-22 s Role as an Absurdist Novel Brandon The Absurdist Nature of Language: Joseph Heller s Own Catch-22 in his Catch-22 Lauren Zeugma, Inversion, and Fragmentation in Virginia Woolf s Mrs. Dalloway Adam The Disaster of a Diseased Mind: Rational v. Irrational Thought in The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe and The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Rebekah BACHE Visiting Writers Series: The Haunting Questions of Brian Turner s War Poetry Lauren Film Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Oscar Baiting) Matthew I rritu s Birdman and the Impossibility of Continuity Dr.

4 Jennifer The Wonderfully Whimsical World of Wes Anderson: A Critical Review of The Grand Budapest Hotel Ben Occupation and Eau de Panache: Oscar-Winning Style in Wes Anderson s The Grand Budapest Hotel Katy The Lego Movie Snub Jud Damien Chazelle s Impressively Rhythmic Whiplash Never Loses Tempo Hudson Wide Angle 4 Review of The American Imperial Gothic, by Johan H glund Dr. Chris Review of Flickering Empire, by Michael Glover Smith and Adam Selzer Andrew B. Creative Writing Standard Operating Procedure Michael Coffee Laura In the Living Room Laura Collection: Library: Second Floor and Pre-Rush Franklin Sister Mary Franklin The Uniform Kiani Ghost Story Chelsea From the Editor s Desk On Poems and Polar Bears: Why I Want to Get a PhD Audrey Ward, Managing A Feminist s Brief Response to the Romance Genre Laura Ann Prickett, Literature Vlog Adaptations and Why You Should Be Watching Them Megan Burr, Film The Trial: Social Media Poetry Hayden Davis, Creative Writing Finding Meaning.

5 Wide Angle Lawson 5 Essay Brandon Lawson Finding Meaning in a Meaningless World: Catch-22 s Role as an Absurdist Novel he individual exists, and the world is an empty, meaningless, chaotic void. These are the only two assumptions under which Absurdism abides. Absurdism, in its simplest terms, is the idea that the world is meaningless, and that human life accordingly is without meaning. Because any true meaning exists outside of the realm of human knowledge, individuals attempting to find meaning can only act according to an invented meaning. But this is self-deception. Instead, according to Absurdism, the individual should seek out freedom from those meanings imposed on him or her by society, and embrace the lack of purpose in the world.

6 Joseph Heller s Catch-22 is an Absurdist novel because of its portrayal of a chaotic, absurd world devoid of meaning, in which Yossarian, the protagonist, is left to struggle with concepts such as hope, morality, and freedom. The Absurdist framework of the novel allows Heller to communicate the futility of conventions designed to give individuals meaning, specifically war. The first character defined by Camus as an absurd hero the category into which Yossarian falls is Sisyphus, the traditionally tragic Greek hero. Mythologically, Sisyphus returns to the world after death in order to get revenge on his wife for not saving him.

7 Once out of the Underworld, he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm stones and sea, he no longer wanted to go to back to the infernal darkness (Camus, Myth 407). So instead of going back to the Underworld, he ran from the gods. Upon his capture, they issued to him the punishment of having to continually push a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back T Finding Meaning .. Wide Angle Lawson 6 down the hill where his task would begin again. Sisyphus was to perpetuate his sentence for all of eternity. According to Camus, human existence, much like Sisyphus s task, is essentially meaningless and futile.

8 Thus, by examining Sisyphus, the individual better understands his or her own existence because of the inherent similarities. Sisyphus demonstrates characteristics idolized by Camus: His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted towards accomplishing nothing (Myth 407). Similarly, Sisyphus demonstrates the Absurdist value of life, which is to embrace the absurd and live in defiance of it. Camus states in The Myth of Sisyphus, I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end.

9 That hour like a breathing-space which returns as surely as his suffering, that is the hour of consciousness. At each of those moments when he leaves the heights and gradually sinks towards toward the lairs of the gods, he is superior to his fate. He is stronger than his rock. (407) Essentially, Sisyphus finds meaning by living to defy his ordained fate. Likewise, Camus argues in The Rebel that the ideal Absurdist lives a life in defiance of the imposition of meaning; he lives to rebel against those who enforce meaning upon the individual. Many parallels to the myth of Sisyphus can be found throughout Catch-22.

10 For instance, one recalls the character Wintergreen. He continually goes AWOL, gets caught, and as punishment has to dig holes, only to repeat the infraction as soon as his service is over (Heller 104). The holes are Wintergreen s boulder he lives a life in defiance of the consequences. Though he gets caught and reprimanded each time, he continues to defy the military, just as Sisyphus defies the gods. Thus, Wintergreen s sentence of digging holes is the same as Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the hill. More importantly, Yossarian also has his boulder; Yossarian s Finding Meaning.