It was an interesting experience reading Faulkners Tthe Unvanquished”. The writing was difficult to read in places but was very dense. From the beginning of the novel the positioning of the characters were intriguing. The effects of the war seem to displace and disrupt common rules of society and add degrees of complexity to the already confusing, complex and highly racialized society of the south. Here, I will focus on Ringo.
With the start of the story we are immediately introduced to Ringo and Bayard. Although Ringo is the heir to the plantation and Ringo is his enslaved companion, they seem to interact as equals and as if Ringos color does not mark him as different. In a moment of tension after Loosh introduces the idea of the confederate losing while the boys fight over which general to pretend to be the text states:
“But now it was that urgent even though Ringo was a nigger too, because Ringo and I had been born in the same month and had both fed at the same breath and had slept together and eaten together for so long that Ringo called Granny Granny Just Like I did, Until maybe he wasn’t a nigger anymore and maybe I wasn’t a white Boy anymore”( Faulkner)
This is a very charged moment where the boys are confronted with the complex issues of race, difference and enslavement and rather than think or deal with this, decides to let Ringo be the general because it is that urgent. He prefers the simpler narrative where the boys are colorless and they are simply playing make believe and playing rather than reenacting a very racially charged battle. Although Ringo does momentarily stop he continues to play and is happy to play as the confederate general, an interesting choice considering Ringo’s position as enslaved. Throughout the novel Ringo does not stray from his loyalty to the family and the confederate south despite its, demolition seeming to be his freedom. Part of this may be due to his socialization and acceptance of the system around him that influences him to side against his own freedom. Ringos peculiar placement in the family where he joins Grannys scam and is a young gang banger outside the norms of color and age expectations adds complexity and made me think more about the way loyalties and systems can project on ideas of the self for black subjects.

Faulkner’s use of long sentences throughout his text made it very confusing for me to understand. I found myself often having to re-read the same sentence because I kept getting lost in all the language. Each sentence was packed with a lot of information that seemed lengthy. I noticed this even more during the last section of the book, “An Odor of Verbena”, when he describes Bayard’s kiss with Drusilla.  

Drusilla’s character seemed to change a lot in this section as well. I originally saw her as a female figure who was undoing the typical gender norms. This made sense since I noticed several characters were going against their norms. For instance, Ringo and Granny were in power and writing when it came to their mule business. In addition, Ringo was described as smarter than Bayard even though he was the slave. Faulkner switches the roles often in the text which is why I was expecting Drusilla’s character to remain that way as well. She had “masculine” qualities since she had short hair and was interested in killing soldiers. Yet, in this section, she is portrayed extremely feminine. Starting with the kiss scene, Faulkner depicts her as submissive and sensual. For instance, Bayard states ““Kiss me, Bayard.” So I leaned my face down to her. But she didn’t move, standing so, bent lightly back from me from the waist, looking at me; now it was she who said, “No.” So I put my arms around her. Then she came to me, melted as women will and can.” The phrase “melted as women will and can” is important because it not only assumes that women are capable of acting submissive, but that Bayard thinks they can be controlled to act this way as well. However, towards the end, while Bayard does describe her as wearing a yellow dress, he also views her handing him his guns to avenge his father’s death. This part reminded me of Drusilla’s character from the previous sections because she was interested in revenge and killing soldiers again.  

I also found it surprising that Bayard did not avenge his father’s death at first. But, I understand now that Redmond did not have a choice and that Bayard appeared more courageous for going into his office unarmed.  The most confusing moment for me in that scene was when Faulkner wrote “I still watched that foreshortened slant of barrel which I knew was not aimed at me and saw the second orange flash and smoke and heard no bullet that time either. Then I stopped; it was done then. I watched the pistol descend to the desk in short jerks; I saw him release it and sit back, both hands on the desk, I looked at his face and I knew too what it was to want air when there was nothing in the circumambience for the lungs.” I could not understand the interaction and I wonder if Faulkner purposely made this part confusing.  

Eric Nieves

Professor Allred

ENG

27, March 2019

While playing the game for the first time I was a little skeptical. I didn’t exactly know what it was we were doing, and at times it got a little confusing. To top it all off I was to play who some may argue the most complex character of the narrative, Uncle Julius. What makes Julius so complex is not only his character, but even the way he speaks. Julius talks very differently then the other characters from the story, so many times when writing him it got a bit difficult. I found myself using some of the texting slang in order to write for him. One example of this is the word cause, instead I would use cuz. However, one idea that was brought up in class was how maybe in Julius’ head he speaks in a way that is easier to understand. Me and the other Julius’ played with this idea, and used it in many parts of our blogs. This is another reason why Julius is so hard to play, unlike the other characters in the story which I found to be very one dimensional, Julius was not. So complex I had to delve deeper into who he really was, one way I did this was by seeing what other scholars thought of Julius.

Throughout the story Julius tells many stories, and sometimes its because something occurs in the story and it reminds him of a tale. However, other times it is for his own personal gain. I played with this idea a lot, for in my take on Julius he had a much darker and more sinister tone, maybe even more so then the book led on. In my turns I delve a little deeper to the darker side of Julius, for starters I found that many scholars found Julius to despise poor white people. I played with this idea and made a move where Julius was thinking to himself, ranting on how easy the “white man” has it and how they shouldn’t be poor or asking for food. Finally, I played on Julius’ strengths with my final move being a tale of my own. I wanted it to have a more sinister tone to it where he talks about a slave who earns the trust of his masters, and kills them when they return from their vacation. They’re are some things I wish I could have done however, like spending more time on my moves. I feel I had some interesting ideas, but didn’t put enough time in them to be great. I hope for future players of Julius, that they really give in to his nickname, the trickster.

William Faulkner’s “The Unvanquished” was initially difficult for me to read but following discussions in class I am starting to see things a little more clearly and learning how to interpret the text in better ways.  For example, while I chose not to be a part of the “Freedom” group when it came to specific questions that would shape the discussion of the class, I took a lot from what was brought up during said discussion and related it to my specific discussion question regarding remapping of social structures in the novel and the redistribution of power.  Characters such as Granny, Drusilla and Ringo break down barriers when it comes to social “norms” of people of their kind during the time in which the novel takes place.  Granny is sort of the boss lady throughout the story as she is the mastermind behind the grand scheme that takes place.  The Civil War is not a place or time in which one would assume that a woman, and an elderly woman at that, could obtain so much power over peoples actions and thoughts and obtain the ability to manipulate said actions and thoughts to her advantage.  The same goes for Drusilla, who assumes less power and more so assumes masculine traits and abilities such as a rough looking short hair cut and the talent of being the best horseback rider around. However, the fact that they are not African American slaves gives them the agency to assume these roles if that is what they desire to do and overpowers the fact that they are women and this is simply not relatively normal behavior for women.  Ringo within the text is a slave however he obtains relationships with Granny and Bayard which are certainly irregular in regards to relationships between slaves and those who are not enslaved.  My first recognition of this came when I read that Ringo refers to Granny as Granny just as those closest to her also do.  Later in the text we see that Ringo becomes one of Granny’s most trusted advocates within her plot, which puts him in a position of power that he would not have been able to obtain otherwise.  This gives Ringo freedom from his status as a slave and the opportunity to be a part of something so much bigger than himself in the eyes of the United States during the Civil War.  It is important to realize the ways the characters of this novel go above what is expected of them.

There is definitely a deeper insight into the novel that comes with becoming the characters as opposed to simply reading their narratives and interpreting them.  While my reading and understanding of my character, Annie, only changed slightly after playing her, I enjoyed reading others posts and experiencing the story through their “window” in ways that I did not originally see reading the text as an outside observer.  I feel as though I learned more about the mindsets of other characters and how they viewed situations encountered and the people they encountered them with.  It was very pleasurable to establish story lines and relationships not developed in the original writing.  Having read the text already made it easy to establish my characters voice and make moves based on my characters personality as established by Chestnutt.  However this also doubled as a frustration and almost as an obstacle to overcome while playing the game.  I found it fairly difficult to decide on where to start and whether or not I wanted to start a situation all on my own or respond to another players move.  In the end, I ended up having most of my moves being responses rather than making initial moves.  This at times left me slightly disappointed in my creativity but once I really got into the response I enjoyed speaking through Annie’s voice because I felt that I captured her voice in a great way that made her seem naive as well as wise in ways that her husband John was not.

If I were to play the game again I would definitely like to begin with some sort of prompt or outline to more so guide the direction of the roles being played.  Maybe have the characters in a specific setting, whether place or time, or even a simple quote from the story that would more actively boost the players into character, myself included.  If I were to play the game again I think that I would choose to play an outside observer or some sort rather than an actual character from the text; for, I feel as though these players had a lot more wiggle room and free reign to take their moves in any direction they desired.  For example, one of the final moves in my game was made by “Thomas Anderson” projecting the idea of a hypothetical audio book regarding the views of Annie and John .  I feel as though in another game this could have been a prompt at the very beginning launching a serious of interviews and narratives from the characters perspectives on different topics that could have been used to create something along the lines of a news segment or talk show almost.  This would have narrowed down the very wide options of directions the game could have went in; which I understand was meant to allow the most creativity but instead kind of held me back in many instances.  Overall this is game allowed me to approach the literature being discussed in a way I have never really experienced in any other class and I did enjoy it.

By engaging with the text as a paratextual character, I was able to think about the novel through different perspectives. Not only was creating a fictional character interesting and rewarding after my research, but it allowed me to create a persona that could engage with the texts in a way I couldn’t. I was able to think more about Chesnutt’s identity as a white passing African American man and his relation to the text in a more direct and responsive way because of my character. The fact that I could make my character sound and think anything meant that I could explore and highlight aspects of the text and author that I wouldn’t normally be able to do as a student. By being able to interact with a fictional Chesnutt and John as well as W.E.B Du Bois, I was able to imagine the potential discourse surrounding Chesnutt’s work and how black scholars would have perceived the text.

One of the most enjoyable things involving “playing” a novel instead of just reading it was responding to other people’s moves, and seeing my team’s moves in general. By responding to moves, I was able to see my teammate’s different characters and the personas they created, which helped me view the text in different ways. For example, by creating a discourse between my character, Du Bois, and John, I was able to express one interpretation of John and engage with my teammate’s as well. One of the obstacles was creating a voice for my character, and trying to keep his opinions consistent and believable. I wanted to make someone who was an intellectual, so there was difficulty in choosing what phrases and words to use that would also match the time period. I dealt with the difficulty by choosing a simple and direct voice so that my character could easily articulate the opinions I wanted him to have. Another difficulty was beginning my opening move, but seeing my teammate’s moves always helped me think of an idea for a move.

If I were to play again, I’d choose a character directly in the story like Julius. I would want to tackle the challenge of creating a version of Julius’ dialect that would sound close to his but also original. Playing Julius would give me a chance to examine his character more, and it’d be interesting to try to create a tale that Julius could tell John and Annie. I would want to respond to other people’s moves more, especially John and Annie, and potentially characters not in the story. The fact that Julius only interacts with John and Annie in the story would make me want to have him engage in conversation with other figures, like Du Bois or Howells.

One change I would make to the interface would be to allow different ways of viewing the moves altogether. For example, It would be interesting to view the threads of all moves and their responses, as it would make it easier to see the entire conversation and the direction of the narrative. I would also make it possible to view a move and its rationale on the same page. Another interesting change would be the ability to comment on moves, which would allow someone to respond to a move even if they don’t want to make an entire move. Having multiple different people making small comments on moves would allow everyone to share their ideas, no matter how small or quickly conceived.

Looking at the text though John’s point of view made me pay much more attention to small things that I may not have noticed otherwise. Specifically, while reading the stories I kept in mind what each passage said about John’s character. This was different from my readings of the first stories, in which I was thinking of Chesnutt’s commentary on race and writing in terms of the events that happened in the stories. I especially paid attention to John’s word choices and their implications about his views, and tried to recreate them in my moves. Reading the text in this way made me think of how Chesnutt created John’s character to support his bigger themes. Playing John made me realize that while he does play opposite Uncle Julius, he is not as simple as the exact antithesis to Uncle Julius. I think that Chesnutt created the figure of Mars Jeems as well as John to show the ways in which even liberal northerners after emancipation still perpetuate racism and racial inequality.

Playing the novel rather than reading it made it much more open-ended, in the sense that the plotline depended on the moves that each character made. Taking responsibility for the progression of the story in this way was at times daunting but also allowed for more creativity and freedom. The part that I enjoyed most about playing John was writing his total misunderstanding of the black characters in my game. I also enjoyed editing the moves, and seeing how even slight changes in the wording could change the character I was writing. The hard part for me was creating events in the game, rather than just repeating Chesnutt’s stories or reacting to another character’s post. It was also a little awkward in the beginning, because it was so open ended and I didn’t know what to do.

I think that it is hard to develop a character and relationships to other characters in just three moves, but I think for the class it was a good amount of time to spend on the game. If I were to play another time, I would maybe like to make more moves or have more characters in my game. Also while I enjoyed playing John, I think if I were to play again I would like to play a paratextual character. Playing John involved a lot of close reading of the text and creative writing, whereas I think that playing a paratextual character would more directly engage outside research in much broader topics.

I agree with my classmate who said in class that the game might be more fun if one player could play more than one rule. There were many times when I was reading my classmate’s posts, and thinking that it would be funny if I could respond as a character other than John. I also think that this may allow for plotlines to progress more quickly, because all players could make moves in response to things that they found interesting. I think that in the class, discussion about the game would be interesting, for example how writing a character relates to blackness and inscription, or the dialectic in the way that characters are created through the moves.