Playing

Reading and engaging with the text through one point of view made the experience of reading more immersive. Rather than looking at the society surrounding this text as a past to be analyzed, I was forced to understand what existing in this sort of Structure would be like. In this way the exercise was more engaging than traditional forms of text engagement in that I constantly had to think over my character, her relation to the other characters and how to authentically present her point of view. I was forced to examine the other conjure figures and learned more about the role of a conjurer and their unique placement in society where this figure explores a unique kind of agency through the spiritual and mystical. Through inhabiting the conjure woman I was forced to contend with the way the conjure woman and her goopher are both centered through the stories title and by being given the power to move forth the plot by Julius, while also serving as a character within a story that is treated as unreal and as a tool for Julius’s use. In this way dealing with the figure of the conjure woman was a very labyrinth like and meta experience and in taking the role I had to try to understand the significance and connection through the stories
In playing the novel it was pleasurable to have a creative way to engage with the text and connect deeper with the characters. It made me question more topics such as voice which was also a frustration in that I had trouble deciding how to convey the voice of the conjure woman. In the end I decided to do a sort of mixture and was still conflicted about voice. The conjure woman’s status in the society and authentic voice constantly left me conflicted. It was also frustrating trying to find a direction to write in or respond to. Especially as a paratextual character I felt unsure of how much I could move the narrative forward. It was also pleasurable to read what the other members of the game were doing with their characters and allowed me to gain context through the research of my classmates in a more engaging way. However, it was frustrating being tied to my point of view and not being able to respond to certain aspects of their moves because of the limitations of having to speak through characters voice.
If I were to play again, I would have more engagement with the textual characters. While I played my role as a sort of para para textual character, it made it more difficult to engage. I might decide to become an aunt peggy or other conjure woman that Julius talks about specifically rather than another conjure figure and engage with his chis character as the storyteller to look for more meaning. I also might have started more original conversation threads rather than respond for every move.
I think having more of a framing device would make the game run smoother and allow our responses and characters to blend better together. I felt as if my character was not part of the central conversation and had trouble looking at ways to relate my character to what was happening.

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