Final Project

Here is the link to the facebook I have created I'm not sure if you'll have to friend me to view it all (I've never quite figured out the privacy settings on this thing so I will check regularly for the next few days for your friend request.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001084060036&ref=profile#!/profile.php?id=100001084060036&v=info&ref=profile

And here is my final essay:
Ann Kannel
English 263
Final Project


Patrick “Pussy” Braden Revisited


My primary objective with creating Patrick’s Facebook page was to bring a character we’ve all read about to life. There were many wonderful characters we encountered this semester, but for me, Pussy Braden was the most charismatic, the most endearing, the most engrossing; she was the most alive. Bringing her to life through a Facebook page seemed a logical next step. She had so many interesting ideas, opinions, relationships, and experiences … I knew that if Pussy were on Facebook she would have a lot to say, and a pretty impressive life of friends who would want to listen!
Our discussions this semester definitely influenced the way I wanted Pussy to portray herself on Facebook. Obviously much of our dialogue over the semester was focused on Ireland and how her ongoing political turmoil influenced her citizens and, conversely, their literature. Pussy certainly was influenced by Ireland’s tumultuous political climate. Her reception as a woman, her relationships with those involved with socio-political violence; while Pussy herself lives a life of fanciful dreams of romance, it is an inescapable part of her reality. She doesn’t seem to have much interest in the strife she’s surrounded by, but it makes itself known regardless; it claims her friend Laurence’s life in a tragic case of collateral damage. Pussy’s anger over this loss remained; it seemed to be she felt everyone was just acting unreasonably. I had her include a piece on war on her Facebook page because this is a topic she has real feelings for, and living in Western society today inherently embroils her in the current conflict between Fundamentalist Islam and the West.
I think my favorite part of this project was the actual process of creating Pussy’s Facebook page. Once I had completed the research phase of the project, I had established the persona Pussy would present to the world. She was a hopeless romantic, and a wandering dreamer. Her focus in life was her relationships, romance, lust, love. This is the stuff Facebook is all about! Reviewing Breakfast on Pluto definitely put Pussy’s persona in perspective; she truly was a woman defined by her relationships. The people in her life were what mattered most, by far. She would have loved Facebook; gossiping about her newest romances, making friends laugh out loud with her wildly imaginative ramblings. I feel as if her piece on war is my favorite part of the project. Her character comes through clearly; she dismisses the violent acts perpetrated by those around her, while meaningfully lamenting the loss of someone so close to her.
The only concern I had during the process of creating Pussy’s Facebook page was that the set-up parameters provided by the website had changed since I had established my own profile. I had looked forward to actually including more information than was provided for: interests, music, books, etc. This was a mild snag in an otherwise pleasant and meaningful experience. I also was concerned with how I was going to be able to put across my interpretations through Pussy’s narrative. During this semester, there was an obvious and understandable focus on the way the setting, the political climate, etc. impacted the characters and the nature of the literature itself. Pussy was such a rich, memorable, and (I think) endearing character, it was great experience bringing her even more vividly to life through Facebook, in light of her life in 1970s Ireland.
This assignment was a labor of love. Patrick “Pussy” Braden was one of the most memorable literary characters I’ve encountered in some time, and getting to create a Facebook page for him was an entirely natural and rewarding process. I almost felt like I became Pussy for a time; the biographical narrative nearly wrote itself. In preparing for the project, I did some research on Ireland in the 1970s, as well as reviewing the text itself for all of Pussy’s many relationships, as well as favorite musicians, quotes, etc. Once the research and preparation was complete, the process of actually putting together Pussy’s page was relatively quick and painless. All in all, I spent about four days researching, and two days actively creating. I was very satisfied with the results, which as I said almost expressed themselves once the writing began. Even after reviewing Pussy’s final webpage, I found little need for revisions. This was a meaningful assignment, and a satisfying way to end the semester.
All in all, I will remember and appreciate this class for having taught me more about the process by which a novel can be read, enjoyed, and learned from. I also have come to appreciate the idea of an online class in which the students can teach one another as much as a professor could in a conventional English class. While the critical essays examining our class’ texts were more than a bit challenging to decipher at times, the process of considering the original texts in light of new and different insights was a positive and productive one. This was especially so because, for most of the books we read, I had little inclination as to the depth of the political commentary embedded within the stories themselves. For instance, the subtext in Carmilla was not obvious to me at all; however, the commentary provided afterwards enlightened me greatly. I feel as if this is a skill I will be able to use in enjoying further novels; certainly learning the author’s story and circumstances can do much to establish context to their work.