The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream DUE BY FRIDAY 10-25-12 @8:15 a.m.

[kda...@calvarydayschool.com]

Olive Senior, author of "The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream," is Jamaican. Jamaica is, of course, a former British colony.  So, the question I have for you is in two parts:

1. What postcolonial themes or issues do you see in this short story?  Refer to your notes, the presentation, and the postcolonial help document if you can't seem to think of any.

2. What themes from Oedipus do you see reflected in this story? Is this a retelling of the Oedipus conflict, which is loosely stated as desire thwarted by fate/consequence?

[ataylor]

Throughout “The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream” the little boy, Benjy, tries to get the one thing that he has dreamed about getting every year at the “Harvest Festival Sale.” That one thing is ice cream. Throughout the story Benjy’s father has a suspicion that his wife is seeing someone else. Though the story is seen through Benjy’s point of view most of the time and towards the end it is seen through his father’s, it shows that through Benjy’s conscious or point of view it is also showing his father’s conscious about this longtime suspicion. The story shows post colonialism through the way that everyone gathers at a specific time of the year. The people that gather are from all over; not just the town that Benjy and his family are from. This happening shows a theme of community. It also shows how even though all the people that came together at the “Harvest Festival Sale” are from different places and in some cases ethnicity that they were all the same for once on this day of the year. This story shows the underlying theme of consciousness. Throughout “The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream” Benjy desires to taste ice cream for the first time and while the story goes on it takes us through Benjy’s conscious. This relates to Oedipus through the way that is shows desire through the way of telling a story through the conscious of others in the story.

[areid]

The post-colonial themes in the story is the story vary from what kind of clothes the people wear to what religion they practice. You can see the way colonizers affected the way people dressed when the author writes that the "men were wearing suits" and the women were wearing "brightly colored dresses". Another example of post-colonialism is Benjy's desire for ice cream. The ice cream is a very very small way of showing post-colonialism, but it shows how something as small as ice cream can affect people of a different culture. Another theme is religion. The author talks about the different English church denominations which shows the conformity to a foreign religion. One theme from Oedipus that is present throughout the story is a struggle within oneself or with their conscience. Papa is struggling with what he should believe just like Oedipus struggled to believe the truth about his birth. In both instances the real truth is difficult to accept. Both Oedipus' and Papa's lives are taken over by the thought of the supposed truth being true. This story is definitely a retelling of Oedipus in a way. Both men learn the truth and cannot escape their own fate.

[phealy]

The postcolonial themes appear in the way of culture, dress, and religion. One line that stands out to me is, "He, meaning Papa, was firmly wedded to the soil. She, meaning Mama, was always for Progress." This shows the relationship of Mama being ready to adapt to the new changes, while Papa is still stuck in the past. Dress is another theme. It says in the story, "men in their dark suits and hats and the women, wearing their brightest dresses." Religion is another example. It says, "the most imposing buliding in the village were the school and the Anglican Church", "the Baptists and the Seventh Day Adventists on the other side of the street." This shows the breaking away of one religion into tolerance for others. Oedipus is shown through the actions of Papa. Papa is suspicious of what the real truth is, while Oedipus does not know the circumstances of his birth. In the end, both find out the real truth and have to accept it for what it is worth. I do think this is another way of retelling Oedipus; they both have to accept the truth and live with the fate/consequences that come with that.

 

[awardlaw]

There are many different themes in "The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream".  They range from the culture and peoples opinions, like the types of clothes the women wear and Benjy's obsession with the thought of ice cream.  Benjy's obsession is only a thought because he has never tasted ice cream before.  He looks forward to trying it every year at the festival.  When he finally gets to try it, he gets delayed by his father's wonder of his wife's lover.   The two obsessions collide when Benjy's father sees his wife talking to another man and Benjy drops his ice cream because his father wants him to come with him.  The story then ends in disappointment in both Benjy and his father.  The ice cream can be the symbol in post colonialism by representing desire for something or the pleasure gained from it.  A theme from Oedipus shown in this story is, Oedipus is struggling to find himself, who he is and where he came from.  Benjy's father is also struggling from the search of the lover that could wreck his family.  Yes, I do think this could be a retelling of the Oedipus conflict, by having to find out what is true and accepting this fate/consequence.

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012 9:58:09 PM UTC-4, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[cpetrea]

In the whole story the boy has dreamed about getting ice cream, becuase he wants it.  Also, the people gather from all over, not just from his area, which could symbolize colonists.  This is like oedipus becuase the men found out tthe truth.  They learned about themselves int the same way oedipus learned about himself, and it was told in the same point of view of oedipus.  another part was that it said papa was wedded to the ground.  This means he was old fashioned and unchangable, while his wife wanted change.  the sad part is, he dropped the ice cream.

[Kristi Duong]

     In "The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream"

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[Kristi Duong]

In "The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream" there were many aspects that showed that it was post colonial. The first thing that I noticed was that they had ice cream. When they got to the Harvest Festival Sale they saw people with fancy clothes, watches, and bracelets. Everything was obviously introduced by the British. When they got into the town it was described as having two story buildings with shops and bars. The Harvest Festival Sale was the day that everyone got together no matter what ethnicity you are. In this story Benjy has been dying to eat ice cream his whole life and his dad is trying to find the potential lover of his wife. These two end up conflicting at the end of the story and in the end they both lose what they want. Benjy loses his ice cream and the dad could potentially lose his wife. I think it could be a retelling of Oedipus in a different perspective because they are both tragedies. They are trying to find out the truth of what they most desire at that moment.

On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 6:58 PM, <kda...@calvarydayschool.com> wrote:

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[kgrant]

This story has many postcolonial themes. From the way they speak, the clothes they wear, and even the boy's desire for ice cream. Ice cream was something new and something he had never heard of before. He wanted to know more about it because it wasn't a common thing where he was from. It wasn't of his culture, it was from another. They even pointed out the way different kinds of people dressed for this exciting event. People from different places/cultures dressed differently. The story also mentioned the church. It named the different kinds of churches that participated in the festival. It even said that for this event, everyone put aside their differences and enjoyed the event. This story relates to Oedipus because both Papa and Oedipus are alike in their different situations. Both men had a desire to know the truth and both found out the brutal truth.

[mpaletta]

I believe this story showed us the big picture on how a society was changed through the seemingly insignificant story of a young boy. The Jamaican people have come to accept their colonization and have adapted the new culture to be their own. They practice European religions such as Anglican. They speak English, however they adapted English into their own kind of conversational language. They also seem to view themselves as less than their colonizers. I interpreted the townspeople as being the colonizer Europeans, and they life a much more affluent life than that of the native Jamaicans. I found it interested when in the story, the "zealots" of the village were mentioned. I could be overanalyzing, but could it be that these "zealots" are a handful of people who are still trying to preserve true Jamaican culture?Overall, I think this story shows how the Jamaican natives lived a poor life and were not even close to equal with their European colonizers. Their culture was replaced by European culture, and little of native Jamaican culture is left behind. As for how this relates to Oedipus, I cannot be sure. Honestly, I did not feel it was like Oedipus in any way, shape, or form. I am lost as to what happened in the end of the story. However, I do know that Oedipus became obsessed with the truth of his own birth and fate, just as Benjy is obsessed with getting some ice cream- a literal taste of the life he wishes he could have. When Oedipus finally gets what he wants, it does not solve all his problems. In fact, it makes him want to die. When Benjy gets his ice cream, his father realizes a problem that obviously must have been large, but I am not sure what it was. However, when both of them finally get what they have so long been seeking, whether it be the truth of one's birth or an ice cream cone, they end up much worse than where they started. Nobody can escape fate.

 

PS: This might make no sense. I don't really get this story but I tried to at least put down a theory.

 

 

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012 9:58:09 PM UTC-4, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[jchilders]

Almost everything in this story has post colonial themes. Even the little boy who just wanted ice cream is an example of a post colonial theme. Throughout the whole story, Benjy had this obsession with ice cream, because he's never had it before. It shows desire, and want. As soon as he is about to be able to try it, he is interrupted by his father's suspicions about his wife. In the end, everyone was disappointed. Benjy loses his ice cream and the father will probably lose his wife. Both of these stories kind of retell each other in a way. They're both sad and don't really have happy endings. 

[mstrickland]

This story is full of postcolonial themes and issues. Almost every aspect of life has been invaded by new  and foreign ideals. The people wear suits and bright dresses, and the boy in this story wants ice cream, a dessert that symbolizes the realities of colonized life. Religion is also an aspect of life that has been affected. The author references the Anglican church, which is a denomination of the English church. In Oedipus we see a theme of inner conflict and a serious questioning of one's beliefs. Papa is questioning whether he should seek conformity, like his wife, or stick to his traditions. He is questioning, like Oedipus, whether to believe the inevitable truth or not. I believe that this is a retelling of the conflict in Oedipus. Both men are faced with a hard truth that they have to come to terms with.  

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012 9:58:09 PM UTC-4, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[grogers]

The first thing that i saw in this story via the post-colonial lens is when Benji (awesome name) wiped is pants and "there was nobody behind him to see".  I think Senior Oliver (see what I did there?) is trying to say that there was no colonizers there to see or control the way he acted.  Ice cream seems to be something that he is striving VERY hard to get. It always is the case, that something gets in the way of him getting his darn ice cream. The colonizers just can’t let Benji( and i guess his culture?) have something as little as ice cream. For some odd reason my response is shorter than everyones even though this was 107 words without this sentence included. But, i wan to look smart (at first glance) so i have decide to continue to write a few lines more so that my response looks....smooth. A lot like ICE CREAM. Peace.

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012 9:58:09 PM UTC-4, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[gkreivyte]

"The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream" shows many different sides of postcolonialism themes. The story showed that the Jamaicans adapted to the British culture. They wear beautiful clothing and they follow the Anglican religion, which is the official religion of the English church. The boy Benjy has always dreamed about having ice cream, it shows that the boy is having a desire for something different, something that is not part of the everyday life. At the festival when he finally gets a chance of trying the ice cream, he ends up dropping it, because his father calls him. The father is also trying to find out if his wife has anyother lover behind his back. The father and Oedipus had only one thing in common and that was to find out the truth. Both of them wanted to find out the truth no matter what it would take. 

[bdavis]

Post colonial themes appear in culture, religion, and the ways a character dresses. Ice cream, in this story, could be viewed as desire and/or pleasure gained from it. The theme of truth is reflected in both "The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream" and "Oedipus". They both learn the truth about themselves. Both being tragedies, I believe "The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream" could be a loose retelling of "Oedipus". 

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012 9:58:09 PM UTC-4, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[msalter]

I think that the story was basically a big picture on wht the little boy thought about society. Benjy really has always wanted to get one thing for the harvest festival sale. That was icecream. During the story Benjys dad thinks his wife is cheating on him. Most of the story is about what Benjy thinks but at the end the point of view kind of switches to his dad and how his dad thought his wife had been cheating on him for a while. The postcolonia themes vary in the story. They are the clothes people wear, culture, and religion. It mainly shows themes at the harvest festival sale, i think. The story relates to Oedipus by the desires he wants through the whole book and how Benjy desired icecream.

[mtarsitano]

This little tale has a whole lot of postcolonial themes. One of the major things was the boy's want for ice cream. Ice cream was something that wasn't of his culture but it was very intriguing and something new, never known of before in his native land. Because of this want they pointed out how people dressed differently for such an event. People from different cultures dressed differently. The church is also mentioned in the story but not just the church, in fact they named a couple of churches for the participation of the festival. The story also mentions how everyone put aside their troubles and their differences to enjoy this occasion. The story is in relation to Oedipus, to me, because Papa and Oedipus are a like in the different situation. A major similarity is that both wanted to find out the truth and were given the awful and brutal truth.

[eknoche]

There are several postcolonial themes in this story. Mostly these themes are the everyday things. Examples of this are the clothes that people wear, the religion that they follow, the language they speak. This story  although it does not seem like it is similar to the story of Oedipus. One thing that I noticed was similar was the desire for something in hopes to improve their lives or make things better. Oedipus wanted to know who killed laius and he wanted to discover more about his past and when he finally discovered it, he was disappointed and probably would have been better of not knowing. In the boy who loved ice cream  Benny wanted to find ice cream and finally taste it. However once he got it, it was taken away from him and he was dissapointed. They are also both tragedies, because losing your ice cream is perhaps one of the most tragic things that can possibly happen. 

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012 9:58:09 PM UTC-4, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[rellenwood]

Postcolonialism themes were showed in mainly these people's culture and religion. It is amazing how this story shows the effects of colonization just through a little boy wanting ice cream. The townspeople adopted Anglican, Baptists, and Seventh-Day Advents' churches. This showed not only the splitting of religion, but the toleration of it. They adopted European culture, which, according to the Europeans, seemed better than their own. Also, seemingly insignificant ice cream showed how colonization affected cultures. The little boy was so mystified by it, he could not control his senses and wants for it. He wanted to experience it. That small example can be a way of foreshadowing larger ones, such, as said before, religion. Also, colonization was breaking families apart. Papa "was firmly wedded to the soil", while Mama " was always for progress", AKA, papa didnt want progress while mama did. Honestly, this part of the story can relate to Oedipus. Oedipus did not want change whatsoever. Another theory is that as Benjy wanted ice cream so badly, Oedipus wanted to know his fate so badly. But, when found out, was not as great as it had seemed. This can give a true example of the characteristics of colonialism. 

[amartinez]

The postcolonial themes I find in this story is during the Harvet Festival how it first started as a very formal event but then it tranformed into a less formal event and it was a place they sold goods. The church frowned at it but then they gave up and joined along with it. Even a store owner who would buy things from the market and then sell at it in her store for twice the price. The themes I see is desire and knowledge. The desire for Icecream and the knowledge to know what it takes like. The knowledge is also the lack of knowledge on Papa's part of thinking that everyone else in the town knows something he doesn't and the thirst to know it. His pride seems to also get in the way of actually really thinking as well as his temper. In the end fate and consequences also play a part in this story as well as Oedipus. The consequence of Pap's anger leads to him hurting his children's feelings, Benjy loosing his icecream, and as well ruining the joyness for Benjy as he tries t please his father constantly and can't seem to enjoy anything.

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012 9:58:09 PM UTC-4, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[emaier]

In Olive Senior’s short story, “The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream,” I noticed several postcolonial themes and issues. Throughout the story, Benjy desperately wanted to have ice cream more than anything else in the world. He was so close to actually being able to try it but before he knew it, he was taken away from his one true desire. While reading this story in a postcolonial state of mind, I realized that Benjy was deprived of his one desire of ice cream by threshold guardians (“colonizers”) who were holding him back from his happiness. Like Oedipus, “The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream” holds the theme of finding happiness in one’s self and the discovery of the truth. Benjy’s dad is doubting wether or not his wife is cheating on him and when he sees her talking to some other guy, she realizes that he has been lied to all this time. Oedipus is much like that because he was hidden from the fact that his lover, Jocasta, was also his mother. Although there might be similar themes incorporated into both of these stories, I do not see any signs that “The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream” is a retelling of Oedipus.

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012 9:58:09 PM UTC-4, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[cdraucker]

In "The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream" the themes of dress and culture appear quite frequently throughout the story.  The colonizers are affecting the culture and people they come in contact with.  Benjy no doubt has an infatuating love for ice cream, but his destiny to receive it at the harvest is thwarted every year.  This is a little post-colonial theme in itself.  One binary between Oedipus and this story is that both Oedipus and Papa struggle with knowing what is the truth.  They inevitably discover what is the truth but then struggle to escape fate.  This story is definitely a re-telling of Oedipus.

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012 9:58:09 PM UTC-4, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[amayes]

In "The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream" the themes range from the way people dress to their opinions. The people that gather from all over represent the colonists. There are also two main obsessions in the book. The first is Benjy's desire to taste ice cream. He only loves it because he has never had it. The second obsession is by Benjy's father. He wants to know who his wife's lover is. The two obsessions collide when Benjy gets the ice cream and his father sees his wife talking to another man. Pappa makes Benjy go with him and this causes Benjy to drop his ice cream. This story is like Oedipus because Just like Oedipus, Pappa figures out the truth. He was blind before but now he can see what is right in front of him.

[alambeth]

The story is full of postcolonial themes. the story and the way the characters acted show that ice cream is new. he sister has had it two years before and that is the first time the boy seems to hear about it. Ice cream is new and fascinating to the boy. something from a different culture has a propound effect on the people of this area, the crowd that the boy describes seems to be huge. Oedipus and this story show a want something (Lauis killer, ice cream) but both characters are unable to attain what the want and just as they think they have it WAM it is stolen from them.

[dmagwood]

In "the Boy Who Loved Ice Cream" many themes of post colonialism were present. One theme of post colonialism that is present is religion. The colonizers came and brought they're traditions of the English church over, which they weren't use to. Another theme displayed  throughout the short story was the way they dressed.. The men were wearing suits and the ladies wore brightly colored dresses. Throughout The Boy Who Loved Ice cream were common themes such as truth and self fulfillment were also shown. In Oedipus, he struggled with the truth about his birth. In The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream, Papa also finds it hard to except the truth .

[bseckinger]

This story shows post colonialism  through the way every one gathers at a specific time of the year. The people who gather come from everywhere, not just Benjy's town. The gathering shows a community of foreign people coming together as one. Another post colonial theme I see is the ice cream itself. Ice cream is new and foreign to this culture. Benjy's only goal is to obtain it. This seems like a retelling of Oedipus in a way. It shows how they both try to obtain what they want most, by they then loose it at the end.

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012 9:58:09 PM UTC-4, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[mwatford]

Some of the postcolonial themes are the dress, and religion. The dress in that "men were wearing suits" and the women wore "brightly colored dresses". The coloization brought in new clothes, and other stuff such as electricity and plumbing in the city. In religion the townspeople adopted Anglican, Baptists, and Seventh-Day Advents' churches. Here they also had the toleration of it. They also adopted European culture, which, according to the Europeans, was better than their own. Also another theme was the splitting of those with progress and those who didn't want progress.   Papa "was firmly wedded to the soil", while Mama " was always for progress", this showed us what was effecting this one family. Also Benjy wanting the ice cream represented how the natives might want something new but weren't able to get it. I don't think this story is a retelling of Oedipus, but i think there were many similarites, like how both Benjy and Oedipus were thwarted by fate in getting/finding out what they wanted. Also they both focused soley on what they wanted.

[dsharpe]

In "The boy who loves ice cream" the themes of post colonialism are the ice cream symbolizes their rights, the people coming from far away to get the ice cream symbolizes the colonizers. The themes from Oedipus are how they both only payed attention to what they wanted and fate decided to take away what they wanted from both stories.

[bstokes]

This story has a lot in common with Oedipus in the way the children are controlled by the parents and cannot make their own decisions. Also in the way Benji's dad is hateful towards him for no reason. I see post colonial themes in their clothes and their religion. the men all wear suits. And in the deep desire Benji has to try ice-cream. He has never had ice-cream and it shows how something new can effect a culture, in the way that everyone in the town gathers to try it.