Book Portfolio Qtr 3

The Art of the Lathe by B.H Fairchild is a book of poems talking of the portrayal of Americans. The theme in this book is what does it take for "regular" people to accept who we are in the face of an American Ideal. The theme in history is shown how we've developed a work ethic, family values and freedom. There is a personal role of perspective in this book. Fairchild expresses his feelings about how everyone is wrong in what they see in the ideal American and why they're wrong.

The theme in the book The Art of the Lathe is, how can people accept and live as the "typical" American. Different people have different ways of accepting and feeling like they're apart of something bigger some people sing. When your singing in a choir and all of your voices are blending and your moving to the beat of the music, for those minutes how ever long, its not just you alone in the world your anonymous and you get this rush. For others it may be playing a sport, becoming the best you can be working with your teammates to defeat other at and show what your good at. This theme is important because it shows how people then and now accept who they are and live their lives.

When the British left England to get away from the king and become free this is important because from there we developed as what we know in America as family values, work ethic and education. When the British came to Massachusetts they had to build their colonies from the ground up and this took dedication and work. The only people "living" in America at the time were Native Americans and as a Native American you work as a tribe to survive. The education piece comes from the British and their reasons for teaching was learning to read so you could read the bible and have a strong foundation and faith in Jesus Christ. Later on we see whites not teaching their slaves any education so they could control them, but the slaves wanted that freedom and didn't take no for an answer. All of this is important because America is known for education, freedom, family and their work ethic and with out those people and events we wouldn't have what we have today.

Role of perspective relates to the theme because Fairchild was one of those "regular" peoples. This is shown during the poem Hoppers painting. Hopper painted regular people doing regular things for example a sewing at the sewing machine. The light he adds is warming and makes the job seem delightful, when in actuality Fairchild is saying no that's not not true I was there and that's not how it is. The same kind of thing is shown during the invisible man where as a little boys they're watching a movie and imaging life. As the man grows older he imagines what it would be like to be rich and have all the luxuries. You can associate this when you come out of the theater, your eyes are fuzzy from the change of light and you stretch America is in that movie theater waiting and when the next big thing happens that we're "suppose" to follow we act like we're coming out from the movies. This perspective is important because you only have this perspective if you've been there and Fairchild has.

The theme once again for this book is how do people accept who they are and continue to live life. All of the events that took place in America starting with the British, is important because it gave us a name that we continue to live up to every day. The role of perspective is personal and it's so strong because you can only relate to something if you've gone through it and in this instance Fairchild did and could make a connection. This is important because it can help Americans now shape us into who we are and who we're going to become.