April 2011
1 post
Warriors
John Tooke
American Fiction
Blog 4
There is a small dive bar fairly close to my house where, from time to time, I’ll meet a few friends for a drink. The owner is an older man with thin gray hair and glasses. He is very talkative and funny, especially after a couple pitchers. When he is not at the bar, he keeps himself busy by managing two other bars and cruising around with his motorcycle...
March 2011
1 post
Bitter Fruit
John Tooke
American Fiction
Blog 3
“So he entered his heritage. He ate its bitter fruit…” (110). This is a line from William Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses. Roth, ashamed of the history behind him, has no other choice than to dine at the table and sleep in the bed of his brothers. This shame is not his own, but he is forced to deal with it. It is his race. It is the “bitter...
February 2011
1 post
Home Grown
John Tooke
American Fiction
Blog 2
In Crèvecoeur’s Letters from American Farmer, the author describes America as if it were a utopia, comparing it to the wasteland of England. Land, opportunity, health, and the freedom that this brings is very much outlined in the letters. There was a certain satisfaction for the farmers at the time in cultivating the land, growing and raising their own food,...
January 2011
1 post
The Draw to the Shore
John Tooke
American Fiction
Blog 1
It is about midday, and I am poised on a cement ledge that separates Riverside from the St. John’s River. I come to this particular spot often to relax on sunny days; losing myself in the soft rhythm of small, tea-colored waves. In the distance, the geometry of downtown is a distorted reflection in the dark mass and the high sun scatters across the...