Surf Culture in Kook
How would you characterize surfing culture, as expressed in Kook? What is unique about this culture? What do you have to know to be fully a part of this culture? (Vocabulary? Gear? Techniques? Implicit knowledge?)
Esch and Medea- Jenna
Throughout Salvage the Bones, Ward makes connections between Esch and Medea both implicitly and explicitly, seeing as Esch and Medea are very similar characters. Esch relates to the mythical woman and wishes to think of herself as a version of Medea. One point in the novel that I think perfectly encompasses this idea is a quote on page 38, "In Mythology , I am still reading about Medea and the quest for the Golden Fleece. Here is something that I recognize. When Medea falls in love with Jason, it grabs me by the throat. I can see her. Medea sneaks Jason things to help him: ointments to make him invisible, secrets in rocks. She has magic, could bend the natural to the unnatural. But even with all her power, Jason bends her like a young pine in a hard wind; he makes her double in two. I know her." When Esch speaks of Medea and Jason in this quote, she is referring to her love with Manny. Esch sees herself as a powerful girl, but when she's near Manny, she shrink...
I would characterize surfing culture (as expressed in Kook) as something that is SUPPOSED to be relaxing and calm, but instead is a competition to see who is better. The way that I thought of surfing before I began to read "Kook" was simply as something that people would do to have fun or as a hobby, but I never thought deeply about it until I noticed how the main character was so ambitious or restless to get the waves. "Next good wave is mine. You can catch waves all day long." (Heller 1.) In this scene, the protagonist is saying how he doesn't want a seal, let me repeat this, A SEAL... to get the waves before him... You could almost say that he was THIRSTY to get the waves.
ReplyDeleteI think that the thing that is unique about this culture is how you have to be very open-minded and honest with yourself. Surfing isn't something that can just be learned overnight (unless if you're EXTREMELY talented) and you need to understand that it isn't going to be easy. To fully be a part of this culture you need to not only understand different techniques, vocabulary that relates to those techniques, etc. but you need to understand that sometimes people are going to make fun of you for not getting it right away and sometimes it's going to be so difficult that you are going to want to stop.
Surf Culture seems to be very similar to many other sub-cultures, especially about being new to it. It is a lot easier to be a surfer than to become a surfer and those who are no longer a "Kook" look down at those who are "kooks" because they get in their way, hindering their experience. This is very hypocritical because surfers who have been surfing for a long time want surfing to stay around, yet they don't want any new people to start surfing ( crazy tattoo guy). This would cause surfing as a whole to decline and even die out. Then there is the group that wants to share surfing with as many people as possible, and are kind to the "Kooks" and teach them to surf, (M and M surf school). Overall the culture is similar between surfers, who know the lingo, and have much larger knowledge of surfing overall, etc. However the accessibility of surfing changes from person to person, and how those people treat it changes too.
ReplyDelete