David Fernandez
English 102
Polish
November, 3, 2017
There are certain events in life that cause us to have emotions that we don’t like to experience. These events could happen to us or someone we know but if it’s something we view as negative then we definitely don’t want us or our loved ones go through it. Since some things happen unexpectedly it can benefit us learn how to control our actions when we are experiencing these unpleasurable feelings. This can come from leaving your homeland and coming to a different environment, Coping with the loss of someone close to you , or just dealing with the stress of your life. All of this is mentioned in the play “Anon(ymous)” by Naomi Iizuka. We can see that some of the characters in this play have some issues that they have to deal with.
Throughout the play Nemasani was trying to cope with her lost son by making shroud because she thought he was dead. Even though Anon ended up being alive he was still nowhere to be found and she had no idea what could have happened to him. So part of her still wanted to hold on to the fact that he was still alive because there was still no proof of his death. “The mourning and burial ceremonies can help people accept reality in a short period and return to order” (chen). There was no body found yet so there could not have been a burial ceremony. This burial ceremony could have helped Nemasani realize that her Anon was did but since there was no ceremony she did not entirely give up on him still being alive.
Having to adapt into a new culture is something that Anon had to deal with at times in this play. Right from the start of the play it is clear that Anon does not see the United States as his home and wishes to go back to his.
David,
This is the beginning of what is sure to be a super insightful piece! I love that you’re calling attention to the shroud — It would be great if you can contextualize the article by Chen a little bit more. What was the author of the paper studying? Why is it relevant to your paper/to Nemasani’s situation? It also would be great for you to expand on why Nemasani doesn’t complete the shroud (the context of sexual coercion/Mr. Mackus trying to force her to marry him, but also, as you’re suggesting, a refusal to accept his death). How is this refusal strengthened by Mr. Mackus’s insistence on coercing her to marry him? What impact does that have on her experiences of negativity/trauma in the play?
We’ll go through more in class tomorrow about how to flesh all this out, but this is an absolutely fabulous start! I’m excited to see where you take it!
JP