21st Century Literature and Time

  Emma Straus   November 2022   21 st Century Lit and Time   A Beautiful Ghetto       The striking images of A Beautiful Ghetto are familiar to our political climate, but also set themselves apart from many of the images seen on the news or in the media . Many instances in media, when depicting the Black Lives Matter protests, they often portray a different side of the protests, whether as something to generate pity, or something completely backward. But in his photo-essay , Devin Allen captures so much more.   There is more than just pain and strife in Allen’s stunning photos. On the surface, the photos depict protests that erupted after Freddie Gray’s death. But, Allen crafts another narrative. Even from the title, Allen juxtaposes ‘beautiful’ with ‘ghetto’, a word society typically associates with poverty. The photos illustrate the powerful protests, but also a sense of community. The images contain depictions of black businesses, homes, ...

At first, when I first started reading  Hamilton , I wondered—how does  this  relate to time? But as I continued to read, it became so apparent how  full  of time the entire thing was. In reading the lyrics and listening to the music, time seems to be an inescapable theme—imbued not into the lyrics, Hamilton’s musings on his life, Burr’s philosophy, Washington’s legacy, but the literal timing and pacing of the words. The time itself for each song has an impact on the audience’s perception. Songs written in different time signatures evoke different feelings and reflections, such as a rap in 7/8 time creating a feeling of chaos.              There were several explorations of time in the show I found compelling, the first of which was the contrasting approaches to time between Burr and Hamilton. Hamilton writes “like he’s running out of time”, while Burr prefers to “wait for it”. Burr constantly lies...

     Hamilton's impact has created a ripple effect throughout theatre and pop culture. Lin Manuel-Miranda became an overnight sensation for his electric, fast-paced, and enchanting musical. Miranda is a confident and talented director who captured a spark of inspiration and changed theatre history as we know it.     Hamilton is unique in many ways. It is a musical about a founding father and the beginning of American history. Miranda captures a perspective and a time that has been forgotten by history. He is creating a new narrative, one that hasn't been seen before, and bringing it to the public and social eye. We talked about in class how new information recontextualizes our past and can change the history that we are familiar with. Hamilton does exactly that. The musical not only recontextualizes our understanding of Alexander Hamilton himself, but also of everyone who was affected by his life, and our early American history. Yes, there are inaccuracies and c...

  Will Pikus             Lin Manuel Miranda’s play “Hamilton” took Broadway by storm when it was released. Personally, I remember my parents looking into getting tickets for the show. We all realized it wasn’t worth it since tickets were over eight-hundred dollars per person. The play itself also struck me as kind of strange. I questioned why everyone was getting so excited over the ethnically swapped show. One character within the show was especially strange. King George is right where he was supposed to be the entire time. The tyrannical King is laughing maniacally after each of his songs about how “You’ll Be Back”. While this is likely an accurate depiction of King George, one big question comes to mind. Why is he still white?             As a student brought up last class, why was Hamilton’s story choses by Miranda? It’s one of the oldest whitest stories in th...

 

  Katie Roessel 21st Century Literature and Time 11/16/22 The story of “Hamilton” emphasizes the passage of time, asking the questions “Who lives, who dies, who will tell our story?” and “Have I done enough? Will they tell my story?”. During the historical period in which Hamilton took place, everyone involved in the founding of the nation, including Hamilton himself, were unsure of whether or not what they were doing would be fruitful. The British Empire was strong, and no one had successfully stood up to them before. However, they did everything they could, and they wanted the story of the underdog colonies to be remembered.  An interesting creative choice of this musical was telling the story of all white individuals and casting these characters with actors of color (except King George). This repeated mantra of “Will they tell our story?” takes on another layer of meaning. Although the story of the white people involved in the founding of America is often told, whether ...

  In the final song of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, titled “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?,” Eliza wonders who creates a legacy and the importance of talking about the deceased long after they are gone. This final scene/song explores time as a measured and limited quantity that we can so quickly run out of, so we must use it to the best of our abilities. Once we run out of it, it is gone for us. Others can use their own precious time to us live out our legacies, but we don’t have any of our own time to use anymore. Eliza wonders what Hamilton himself, and consequently those around him, “would you do if you had more––time?” (281). With this, we are reminded that our actions, hopes, and dreams are usually left unfinished. We must do our best to act in the moment so we can help and serve those around us. This gets into the idea of regrets. She clearly has regrets and sadness for what Hamilton didn’t get to do, as she goes on to say: “You could have done so much more ...

          As someone who had never seen or listened to the musical Hamilton prior to this class, I found it extremely interesting. One aspect that stood out to me in the second Act of the musical was the closing song, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.” I believe that this song touches on the idea of time in an extremely powerful way. In this song, Eliza reflects on the events that have occurred after the death of Hamilton. She lists thing such as funding the Washington Monument, fighting for the abolition of slavery, and establishing the first private orphanage in New York City. However, each of these actions circles back to the idea that, in doing these things, she is continuing Hamilton’s story. In doing this, Eliza hopes that the people she impacts will continue to tell Hamilton’s story even after she is no longer there to tell it. While not included in the song, watching the musical, one can see the character of Eliza gasp as she faces the au...

  Emma Straus   Blog Post   21 st Century Literature and Time   November 2022       The musical, Hamilton , is exceptionally interesting to discuss and dissect in our own present-day political climate. The musical revolves around founding father, Alexander Hamilton, someone who was alive in the 1700s. Yet, here we are, a college literature class in 2022, discussing the musical in relation to time.   Keeping to the theme of time, it is interesting how stories from the past still intersect with our present. But it is also important to point out the theme of history repeating itself. Of course , Hamilton touches on themes relating to human rights, racism, sexism, and also focuses on a period of huge societal change. Many of the lines in Hamilton speak to many of the repeated themes we have seen in our own lives and political climate. Focusing on the lines “ ... immigrants, we get the job done...” and “...we’ll never be free until we end slave...

       "Wait For It" has always been my favorite song from Hamilton. Partly because of Leslie Odom Jr., but  mostly because it is so applicable to life outside of the musical. It is one song that you do not necessarily  need to know the context of the show in order to understand the message. Burr's character is very  methodical and conscientious, but he overthinks to a fault, leading him to be inactive in his personal life  and in politics.  In the song, he says of Theodosia "And if there's a reason I'm by her side when so many  have tried, then I'm willing to wait for it. I'm willing to wait for it". Despite having very strong feelings  for this woman, he refuses to make any moves that will stir the pot. In the previous song, Alexander asks  Burr, "If you love this woman, go get her. What are you waiting for?" and Burr evades answering.      Burr does not make any politically decisive actions, either. He switche...

                Bechdel places a lot of emphasis on location in her memoir when talking about her father. Multiple  times, she shows a map that marks the small distances between where Bruce was born, where he lived,  where he died, and where he was buried. All of these occurred within a limited range. She finds that when  her father was in different places like New York City on weekend getaways, or in Europe during his  military service, he was inherently different. When talking about his time overseas, she uses panels that  show the passionate love letters he wrote to her mother. In NYC, she describes him as much freer and not  as tightly wound. Despite these different places he spent a bit of time and likely discovered things about  himself, Bechdel still keeps his life's map contained to Beech Creek. She writes, "Although the  anonymity of a city might have saved my father's life, I can't really imag...

 Will Pikus The graphic novel  Fun Home  has many interesting themes. The ideas of gender identity, sexual orientation, and even death all swirl together to create a fantastic story. Much of the story focuses on the author’s relationship with her father. This is where the theme of homosexuality comes in. Unbeknownst to her, her father Bruce is and always has been a closeted gay man. He had a homosexual relationship in the military, and he’s also had relationships with some of his students. Many of those students were family friends and babysitters for the family.  Possibly one of the most daunting parts of the book is where Bechdel writes that there was a time where he father’s secret was almost revealed. This is followed by pictures of a notebook that show Bruce will be going to a psychiatrist. Bechdel notes that her father was in a jacket and tie. This was nothing like his usual attire. Bechdel notes he would usually be wearing cut-off jeans. A shattering moment su...