The Autobiography of Red

This was an interesting read. I did not care for the very beginning that started with paragraphs labeled in numerical order because I thought this was confusing and I had a difficult time trying to determine what exactly was going on. Also, the lack of punctuation made it a little more difficult, but added to the overall ambiguity of the story. I felt that appendix C was full of ambiguity and contradictions, but perhaps this was Anne Carson's goal since the story ends open ended and full of ambiguity. Obviously, this is a story of fantasy and mythology. I liked how Carson included the mythology. The chapter titled "Hades" is a perfect example of the mythology role within the story line. Because Hades was known as God of the underworld, it was very clear that Carson incorporated some realness of the mythology perspective by having words like "hell, volcano, fire, and flames" present in this chapter. I felt this was a sort of foreshadowing used to describe the hell in Geryon's life ( the abusive brother, the twisted love). Perhaps the color red was also a symbol. Red not only symbolizes love, but it could be a symbol of passion and lust. The valcano which has lava that errupts and fire that is burning inside is also red not only in colore (fire), but with the heat element. If you think of a stove burner on high and getting hot, the color is red. Red could also be a symbol for danger or evil lurking, and all of the listed possibilites play some role in this work. Carson uses a lot of symbolism in this work. In the first chapter, geryon is shown how Geryon's brother thinks that he is stupid, and due to this, Geryon is somewhat lonely and perhaps considers himself somewhat of a burden. In chapter Geryon is cutting paper to glue on top of a tomato ( a red vegetable) for hair. However, one could view the tomato as a symbol for a vegetable, but perhaps for meaning a mental capacity. Once again there is a lot of ambiguity present throughout the story. Carson also uses otamatpia (?) in chapter two and I felt this element added even more to the story. I also like how Carson incorporated the photo aspect because one might see one thing in a photo where another person will see entirely something else, and this adds to the ambiguity. Overall, I enjoyed this work.