Networking Annotation #6: These lines remind me specifically of Life in the Iron Mills, Blood on the Forge, and Philip Levine's poetry. The common denominator is factory life. It’s regimented, monotonous and emotionally and physically taxing. There is a constant looping of reality (which also speaks to Severance); the monotony of doing something you have to do just to get by isn’t exciting or sexy. It seems pointless when you don’t have anything truly motivating and nourishing your spirit. Doing something day in and day out for someone you’ll probably never meet. The harsh reality of capitalism and work. Yet it gets done and is repeated over and over for the sake of work. Without it there really isn’t much to do. Monetarily and momentarily. What’s missing is a balance of the spiritual and the physical. There’s only the physical here. Nothing for the soul, because really the soul isn’t thought about or allowed in a place where the only thing to do is make a profit for somebody else. It’s very cutting.

Networking Annotation #5: This line speaks to a couple of texts we’ve read. The most immediate and literal connection is to Ling Ma’s Severance, the scenes in which Candace’s mother’s ghost comes to her in the captive night. Offering her advice on how to get out by confronting her with questions about herself. Offering her clues. I feel you can interpret that as the actual ghost of her mother, or her subconscious speaking to her in the form of her mother. Either way it speaks to the line. The second text is the poetry of Philip Levine. One of the poems talks of an elderly woman’s hand that reaches upon the protagonist’s clean white shirt, dirtying it. There’s something maternal about that interaction that I feel aligns with these words fairly well. The elderly woman dirtying the (supposed) man’s white shirt is reminding him of where he came from, who he came from I think one could argue, if you’d like to look at her being a maternal figure.

Networking Annotation #4: These lines remind me of the Moss brothers in Blood on the Forge. They are a band of brothers that are constantly looked through. From their birth they were enslaved and have not had the privilege of having the thought that being alive is not a sin. All they know is work, hard back breaking work amidst a morale that is nothing short of depraved and horrid. The men they’ve worked for don’t treat them as human beings. The work they do doesn’t justify their way of life. Makes me think opposed to the way in which Gilb and Levine view work. There isn’t a pridefulness inherent in the work the Moss brothers do because its slave work. I suppose the difference truly lies in race relations. The Moss brothers have an entirely different work experience than that of Gilb and Levine. It isn’t until Big Matt is appointed a deputy that he has some sense of pride for the work he does. But it is a false pride indeed. It gets him killed.

Networking Annotation #3: I connect this phrase to Ling Ma’s Severance. Candace’s status as an immigrant in America, raised by immigrant parents, has a huge impact on her overall sense of self in the U.S. Her parents had high expectations of her chasing the ideal of the American Dream. They didn’t think too hard about the struggles she herself would have to face. Candace at one point in the novel does say something close to this line in the song. She doesn’t want to live anymore, or she wishes she was never born in the first place, etc., which speaks to the loneliness and isolation in which she finds herself. She is the first of her family to be raised in America. She is isolated from her family as well as isolated from the culture she was raised in as a child and isolated from the culture around her. She is in a constant state of otherness and this line speaks directly to that otherness for me.

Networking Annotation #2: This quote speaks directly to Life In the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis. The characters of Hugh and Deb are both examples of this constant hunger. They are literally hungry all of the time due to their being extremely poor, and they are also hungry for a better life than what they already have. Deb doesn’t want to live in the slums anymore, and Hugh not only wants that, but also wants to be an artist. Their ambitions, their hunger, are clouded and trampled upon by their lower working class condition, and the inability for them to catch any kind of break. There really is so much more that they want and so much more that they deserve, but they don’t ever get it. Though Deb tries to take what she needs - the check - she and Hugh in effect get punished by Hugh taking the fall, getting throne into jail and subsequently committing suicide in jail. It's sad because of how real and raw it is.

Networking Annotation #1: Hands have been a prominent motif in all of our readings. Martin Eden and Gilb specifically come to mind. The use of one's hands. How they are used is what separates the classes. Springsteen gives us a clear working class narrative throughout this album. The constant struggle of cleaning one's hands is never ending for working class people. In the literal and practical sense, cleaning them in order to prepare for dinner, or touch a loved one, etc. Not all people have to deal with this aspect of life. Most people will never get their hands dirty, and will never have to worry about whether they are clean or not. It’s simple but it really does have a clear and meaningful impact on the distinction between certain types and classes of people. The use of one’s hands can bring about a certain pridefulness and responsibility that not everyone senses. This isn’t true for every one, but in the narratives we’ve read this semester it does seem to be the case. Hands are more representative than just a body part.

The act of physically driving, and chasing whatever it is that he's chasing. Also, sleeping and dreaming. Mirage's are illusions. He's chasing something not real. It's nice to have something that drives you but reality can be very cruel.

Reminds me of Martin going back into town after working at the laundry springs. Working himself to exhaustion only to further exhaust himself with drink. The only way to relax, but it comes at a cost literally and physically.

Wants to see what he's made of. I read this as wanting to go out and prove his masculinity? Get in a fight or a nice brawl? As if this is the only thing that can define and justify his working class existence.