If you are absent for the discussion on Thomas Mann's "The Infant Prodigy" or were not able to comment during the live classroom discussion, you should leave a comment here that addresses the following two questions:
- How would you describe Mann's style? You may wish to comment on how Mann portrays his attitude, how the details affect the story, and on the ending. You may also wish to discuss how Mann's style is illustrative of the Modern Age (around WWI and WWII).
- What themes is Mann developing about the artist and society?
Everyone needs to write a journal entry of at least one notebook page on one of the following prompts:
- How does music impact our humanity?
- What are the connections between music and literature?
- Do you agree or disagree with James McBride that we are living on a Hip Hop planet.
- What evidence do you see that the appreciation of The Arts is eroding in today's society?
4 comments:
I liked how Mann set up what was going on as if we were actually there. Most authors just say what people are thinking or saying. But it got confusing with all the jumping around from Bibi's thoughts to the different audience members. Mann portrayed Bibi as an amazing musician and that everyone was so amazed by him. I don't think Bibi was actually a great musician. A lot of the people that went were there cause they felt like they had to. They wanted the publicity. They probably didn't know much about music. Also, they probably thought he was good cause he was so young. Also, I didn't like the ending. It just stopped. It should have ended with Bibi talking or his thoughts.
Brittany
I think the theme in the story by Mann was about satisfaction. He says that Bibi got a really good feeling for himself when he played. At the same time he is playing for an audience who enjoys his music. However I'm unsure if Bibi is satisfied with playing for others and not himself. If this is true I think that Mann is trying to show that people aren't always satisfied with their own work even if it pleases others.
I really like the way Mass writes. He makes the reader feel as though you are in the story, as though you are actually experiencing the concert yourself. It was cool how he connected everyone. You got to hear what the audiance was thinking and what Bibi himself was thinking also. I don't know if i necessarily liked how it ended. I feel like you never fully understood if Bibi was satisfied with his performance and if the audiance was satisfied also. I think the audiance didn't necessarily care as much about the talent of the concert, they cared about the social aspect.
I also enjoyed the way Mass writes, although at times it was confusing. I liked the omnicient perspective, it allowed the reader to experience the concert as if they were there. I also liked that you could not only hear Bibi's thoughts but also the audiences. It was sometimes confusing to figure out who's thoughts were who's ... I found it most interesting listening to Bibi's thoughts because he was extremely confident in himself (which is not unlikely with musicians).
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