Friday, March 25, 2016
DISCUSSION N. 10 Due March 30
COMMENT: Christ in Concrete
Select a BRIEF quote from the book and copy it word by word.
Choose something that, in a few words, summarizes ONE of the larger themes of the book.
Explain the reason of your choice.
REPLY
When you find in the comments something YOU wish you had found first, tell the author. Maybe you would have given it a different interpretation. Explain the how and why of your reply.
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"Sister, how I have betrayed you... the stone has fixed my legs, and now i shall be your stone- sister mine."
ReplyDeleteI believe this quote does summarize one of the larger themes in the book. A large portion of the last chapter was about how they are figuring out how to put food on the table for the 8 children, and also for Annunziata and Luigi. He said in this quote that he has betrayed his sister by getting hurt, because now he is unable to work and unable to make money to provide them with what they need to live. This is the second man in her life that has now been unable to provide them with what they need to survive, because of death or an injury. I believe a large theme of this book is going to be how she manages to get through these struggles and be able to provide for herself and her family, and this is shown through both Geremio's death and Luigi's injury.
l believe that quote is so important. Betrayal is such a prevalent theme in the book and this quote summarizes the importance of it. di Donato obviously feels that to be a dominant feeling in the italian american community that is worth mentioning.
Delete"The men had heard, and those who hadn't knew instinctively."
ReplyDeleteThe theme that this quote hits on, at least in my mind, is the idea of group mind. l think this passage hits on the unspoken bond between ltalian lmmigrants in New York City. The level of instinct that the men possessed very much speaks for the culture that the ltalian American immigrants experienced in that time period.
I remember feeling the weight of this quote as well. I think everyone has experienced this in real life and can actually feel the words and visualize the men's expressions. I think it goes along with the theme of common and known struggle. They "knew instinctively" because they had all experienced it before and already knew bad news was coming. I find that very powerful.
DeleteI felt as if it was less about the American Italian bond but more on the experiences that occurred over and over.
DeleteThe quote that stood out to me the most takes place on page 52 when Paul enters a store in search of food for his family and begs the owner to let him work in exchange for food. The owner knew his late father and had sold food to the family for years. Paul begs the store owner to help his situation, and promises he will pray for the store owner. The store owner insists that he cannot help and tells Paul to go to the church because Father John is more suitable to help in this situation. The quote that affected me most was when the store owner said "Do that. Tell I suggested. - I make donations..."
ReplyDeleteI was very taken aback by this. Knowing the situation and the time period in which this takes place, it is understandable that the store owner could not have easily afforded feeding 9 people (10 if Louigi is included). But this store owner says that he makes donations to the church, which on one hand may be obligatory in the Italian culture and the Catholic faith, but to me felt like adding salt to a wound. Giving money to the church, and telling Paul to tell Father John that the store owner sent him felt like his purpose in doing these actions was to appease the church. By giving donations and having his name be mentioned to the priest, felt like he was doing so in order to be blessed by the church. But when faced with the situation of helping Paul and his starving family, ironically he was not a good Christian.
The theme that this quote reflects is the religious aspect that the book seeks to portray. The people are extremely God-fearing, and pray to saints and Jesus, and in the store owners case - donate money. But there seems to be a separation of morals and money, because money is so hard to come by. I think this represents the book very well because Paul and Geremio, and all the working men, have sold their lives to earn money from Job. As a result, some get hurt, some lose their lives, and some lose their morals.
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ReplyDelete"Geremio. The mont you have been on this job, you have not spoken a word about the work... And I have felt that I am walking into a dream. Is the work dangerous?'
ReplyDeleteI chose this quote because at the begging while reading this part I did not pay attention to Annunziata's words a lot and her feeling toward his work. But when the floor broke apart and the building fell of I remmembered the importance of her questioning Geremio about his job. I felt that Annunziata have an intuition of something that made her question him. Even at last moments of Geremio he was thinking about his responsibilities and thought about his family. I think this is the biggest event which have happend in the book and which changes a lot of things in his family.
I noticed this too! It seemed that she had a premonition of the later events that lead to Geremio's death. I feel like Annunziata feels a little responsible too. I think she feels that maybe if she inquired more about the safety of his job that maybe Geremio would've taken more caution? Just something that crossed my mind.
Delete“the floor vomited upward. Geremio clutched at the air and shrieked agonizingly” (13)
ReplyDeleteI found this quote to stand out for me and basically sum up the theme of the book. The author writes about Geremio's death rather poetically, and it gives the sense that death is a normal thing in the books current setting.
"The language of worn oppression and the despair of realizing that his life had been left on the brick piles. And always, there had been hunger and her bastard, the fear of hunger." -Page 8
ReplyDeleteThis quote perfectly summarizes the life of a worker. The first line beautifully states that an entire life can be wasted doing nothing but work, to the point where nothing is worth the toil but yet its all they have. They're stuck in the endless cycle of labor and poverty, no longer living but surviving. I feel like this is not only a theme for the book, but a major similarity between most immigrants during this time period. Its as if the workers' souls are broken by the weight of the bricks they lay, as if the jobs, low wages and poor living conditions are literally sucking out their very souls.
The quote I chose from Christ in Concrete is the following: "The poor alone had visited the poor".
ReplyDeleteBefore even seeing that choosing a quote was part of the assignment, I had taken note of this quote. It stood out to me because it is being discussed how two women, Olsen and Donovan came to visit Annunziata. They came and all Annunziata heard was bits and pieces of their sympathies and thoughts on her situation, and the child she had just had Geremino. The appearance of the two woman were discussed- how they were in cheap clothes, greasy bodies, and ungraceful. At the end of this paragraph it says this quote. It also includes the description of a dark bedroom, dark tenement, dark close street and a dark world. Everything right now is currently dark for Annunziata- she lost her soulmate, her husband, the father of her 8 children... And this is why she is now poor. The author did not mean that she had no money, although this has been discovered when Luigi mentions to her that the money saved for the house barely covers Geremios burial and tombstone. I don't know if I would say that this represents a theme in the story, but the quote definitely stood out to me. The possible theme it could represent is how you don't need to have a material loss to be poor.
"Show yourself now, Jesu! Now is the time! Save me! Why don't you come! Are you there!"(pg 16). Throughout Christ in Concrete, the characters always look to their God for everything. If something good happens to them, they feel blessed by the lord. If something bad happens, the lord is questioned and no where to be found. This quote was from when Geremio was stuck in the concrete begging for help.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree with you because everytime all the characters turn to their God and ask from his name as well beg him.
Delete"To rebel is to lose all of the very little. To be obedient is to choke." Isn't it always the case? That when we want to stand up for what we want, we risk losing what we already have? And even though it is a little that I have, it is all that I have and that is scary. I have been in situations where I completely hated that job or situations at the job and I stuck through it. It was at a point where it was not moving my life forward, and as uncomfortable and torturous as that was, to thought of rebelling and rolling backwards would seem hopeless. This line spoke directly and clearly to me.
ReplyDelete"Geremio. The mont you have been on this job, you have not spoken a word about the work... And I have felt that I am walking into a dream. Is the work dangerous?'
ReplyDeleteI chose this quote because as i was reading the ery begining of the book, i never thought that Geremino was going to die, i honestly thought he was going to make it and as i kept reading until the quote i then realized that the book might be alot of misfortunes that happen to the family. For example, the death of Geremino and then the fact that the brother was the only hope left but he hurt his legs.