"The whole human story is contained in every day of every life more or less the
way the blueprint for an entire organism is present in every strand of its DNA." This quote by Michael Cunningham from the article "Homage, Sexual Identity, and the
Single-Day Novel by Cunningham, Lippincott, and Lanchester" by James Schiff speaks to me. It wasn't until the 1950's that DNA was discovered and it revolutionized the way people handled scientific advancements or criminal investigations. The idea is that DNA is present in every cell that comes from our bodies. Now the fact that one person can be represented by a single small DNA sample is relevant to the book in that it is a one day novel. Meaning that one single day of an entire person's life can represent or discover everything about them. The quote speaks to me because it is such a true statement. There will always be a day in your life where you could look back on it and tell so much about yourself, and not just one day, it can apply to any day. Like the time you sat at home all day because you had nothing to do besides eat ice cream and watch re-runs of Friends. The combination of your life and how you react to scenes or even what your thinking of in that time gives so many clues to your very soul and much more. The same is for other people, if they could examine a day in someones life, they would see so much about the person in general. Especially with this novel it gives insight into the persons thoughts and how much they think about their mistakes, life, and future. Each thought breaks down to a simpler idea of their fears, values, and hopes. It all can be traced back to how you were treated as a child, how you were raised, and how your experiences through life shaped you into who you are at the present moment. All of these are critical pieces of information to find out the true character of a person. Throughout the reading of The Hours it was easy to distinguish the important aspects that influenced the characters lives. Each one being no more influential than the next, it shows that you can include such a large amount of information about a person in a book that only covers one day of their life. Some of the information that can only otherwise be visible through a lifespan novel. It is a much more concise way of explaining their values and culture by incorporating it into the story. An author can clearly put out this type of writing style and make a novel take place in a single day and still communicate to the readers many aspects of a characters life and values. We can take everyday situations and take a look at them at every angle including the perspective of the own character. Most insight is developed through many perspectives not just any one perspective and it can surely play out well in a single day novel.
I love how you started your blog with a quote, and I agree that a person’s life could be told within a day. And, as you said, it can be any day of that person’s life and still tell you a lot about the person. Its always reminded me of the quote ‘Walk a day in my shoes.’ We can’t really understand who a person is unless we see what they do daily, how they react to situations, what they really think etc. And a good way to show that is through a book following normal, everyday activities. These everyday activities show little challenges that, based on what that person does, can explain a lot about them. If they have a day off, do they go out with friends or stay home? Do they eat healthy or junk food etc.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a lot of good points in your blog about how everyday life situations reveal the truth about a person. I also liked how you brought the Hours into your discussion, and talked about how the book explained details about a character that we could have only got through daily events. The Hours is such a perfect example of a day in the life of book.
I believe this blog was very well organized, as well as having very intellectual ideas and facts. I found it interesting when you said, “Now the fact that one person can be represented by a single small DNA sample is relevant to the book in that it is a one day novel.” I believe that a person’s day can be equally interpreted to a single small DNA sample. For example, the one day of a person’s life you are going to examine, can be viewed as a DNA sample. You ask yourself “What is this DNA sample composed of and what does it have in it?” Just as you can ask yourself “What is this person’s day composed of and what happens in it?” If one were to document every single hour of a day, and give accurate details about visionary and dialogue, one can already learn a lot. For starters they can see the type of lifestyle the person has, and what their inner thoughts say. Not only can one take the detail, thoughts, and dialogues literally, but take it to another level where one can explore why everything happened. One can ask question on why the person thinks the way they do, why they pay attention to certain detail, and why they say what they had to say. We can often assume what has happened in their life before that day, to have a better understanding on why they did what they did. The idea of comparing it to DNA is just brilliant, because we are all composed of DNA, and it determines who we are. The same goes for our lives, we are the days that we lived, and that is what makes us who we are.
ReplyDelete"'The whole human story is contained in every day of every life more or less the
ReplyDeleteway the blueprint for an entire organism is present in every strand of its DNA."...Now the fact that one person can be represented by a single small DNA sample is relevant to the book in that it is a one day novel. Meaning that one single day of an entire person's life can represent or discover everything about them."
I really like what you did with the quote here. Cunningham first reminds us that our bodies are compact was boundless information and then you hit that ball home.
It’s so profound because of the metaphoric implications. Just as you can understand the physical aspects of a human being by a single strand of DNA, you can see how deeply complex a life is in a single day of living. Even if things are only implied, speculated, or assumed because of memory, it’s still visible, still insightful. Even if we cannot see every single day, we see who the person is because of every other day, and they live that day as themselves, regardless of how dull, exciting, full or empty a day is. It’s implying that we live every day as if we lived it our whole lives because, in a way, we have.
Literature In Motion
ReplyDelete“The Single Day Novel A Black Hole”
Your work on this was fascinating as to the way DNA was introduced and compared to single day novels, “One person is represented by a single small DNA is relevant to the book….”
I thought it was interesting the discussion on how one’s life can be condensed and in that is the “blueprint” for a single day novel. Being able to view every day situations and look at all the angles and from those angles come up with a rich character whose perspective is an addition is brilliant.
I agree that a combination of life, actions/reaction, memories and thoughts can inform ones psyche leaving clues to one’s soul which can help to break down defense mechanisms such as fear and anger and turn the tide to more loving emotions, hence the freedom all three women found in the end. I know that Virginia committed suicide, but she too found freedom in that and new life. Seed is always dead when planted just as Virginia died, she planted new seed in Mrs. Brown in giving her the courage to be who she needed to be. One day can sure get busy!