Day 12 Blog
The Need for Human Connections to Sustain a Community
In Wharton’s, “Roman Fever”, we deal with two women, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade, who are on a trip to Rome with their daughters, Barbara and Jenna. The two older women have been “intimate since childhood.” The two grew up living across from each other on “East Seventy-third street.” Each woman is different. Mrs. Ansley was “exquisitely lovely…and far more beautiful than her daughter, Barbara.” Mrs. Slade was “awfully brilliant, but not as brilliant as she thinks…an extremely dashing girl.” The women were similar because “both ladies lost their husbands.” With her husband gone, Mrs. Slade “felt her unemployment more than poor Grace ever would.” The two sit in Rome outside discussing how times have changed between generations, “To our grandmothers, Roman fever; to our mothers, sentimental dangers…to our daughters, no more dangers.” Mrs. Slade had developed a jealousy towards Mrs. Ansley, and she tells her I “envy you.” Mrs. Slade then brings a topic up that has obviously been bugging her for a very long time. She asked Mrs. Ansley about her “Great-aunt Harriet” who sent her younger sister out at night for a flower because they loved the same man. The younger “sister caught the fever and died.” This leads Mrs. Slade into talking about “The colosseum” where “lovers met…who couldn’t meet elsewhere.” Confused, Mrs. Ansley tries to follow along with Mrs. Slade. Mrs. Slade brings up how Mrs. Ansley went to the colosseum “to meet the man I was engaged to-I can repeat every word of the letter that took you there.” Mrs. Ansley is very confused because she burned that letter almost immediately, but Mrs. Slade can repeat the letter because she was the one that wrote it. Both women know “it by heart.” Mrs. Slade is very angered by all of this, and that after so long her friend finally admits to it. She finds out that Mrs. Ansley responded to the letter and that Delphin actually had met her at the colosseum just as everything was arranged in the letter. Mrs. Slade is shocked that the two actually met, and she knows that Mrs. Ansley does not feel guilt by any of this but rather some sort of feelings. Mrs. Slade thought that Mrs. Ansley had no feelings because soon after the meeting between the two, Mrs. Ansley’s mother sent her off to be married. To try and show Mrs. Ansley up, Mrs. Slade says “After all, I had everything; I had him for twenty-five years. And you had nothing but that one letter that he didn’t write.” But, Mrs. Ansley responds saying, “I had Barbara” meaning that Mrs. Slade’s husband fathered Barbara that night the two met. I feel that Mrs. Slade brought this upon herself. She was the one that antagonized and wrote the letter. It all makes sense now why Mrs. Ansley was sent off so soon after the meeting with this man. She had become pregnant and her mother did not want her to be shunned because she was pregnant out of wedlock. I would classify the relationship between Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade as fake. It is filled with jealousy and envy and there is nothing truthful about it. A deep dark secret has been hidden for so long. Once this secret is exposed, I believe it is the end of their relationship. Even though the two continued a fake relationship built on lies for so long, I believe this is the end because this is too big of a secret revealed to simply ignore.
“Roman Fever” reminds me of the movie “Mean Girls.” In this movie, we deal with catty girls (possibly why Katie is spelled Cady in the movie-sounds similar to catty) who backstab and have secrets from each other just like in “Roman Fever.” Basically, this whole movie is about how girls can be mean and rude, and Mrs. Slade says in “Roman Fever”, “girls are ferocious.”
In Bishop’s, “One Art”, the poet speaks about losing things. These things that are lost start off as insignificant things but turn into objects that are much more important, such as “you”. The poet speaks of losing “door keys…places, and names…my mother’s watch…two cities…a continent…you.” It is evident that the progression of things lost holds much more significant value to the poet. The poet tries to write of losing things and make it seem as though she is not saddened by the loss. However, to me, I think that she is covering up her feelings. She is hurt about losing things especially this person, “you”, that meant a lot to her. In her poem she repeats the line “The art of losing isn’t hard to master.” I believe that she does this because she is trying to convince herself that everybody loses things, and they eventually get over it. She keeps saying this to help her get over her loss. It is evident that the poet is deeply hurt by this loss of “you” because in the final stanza she repeats her line “the art of losing’s not too hard to master”, but she adds on to this sentence with “though it may look like (write it!) like disaster.” This sentence painted the image in my mind that after she lost “you”, she was a complete mess, a disaster. This person held her together and obviously meant a lot to her. However, once this person was gone, she completely fell apart into a disaster.
In Frost’s, “Mending Wall”, we learn of two neighbors who are separated by a wall. Once a year, the two “meet to walk the line and see the wall between us once again.” It is the narrator who “let my neighbor know” of the time when the wall is supposed to be fixed. Over the course of the year “gaps” appear in the wall from weather and the “work of hunters.” In this “spring mending time”, the wall becomes fixed and the two men go about their business. The narrator does not understand why the neighbor wants a wall. He says, “He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across and eat the cones under his pines.” This means that the narrator thinks that there is no reason to have a wall between the two houses. His trees stay on his side, and my trees stay on mine. This confuses me though because it is the narrator that lets the neighbor know the day that both will mend the wall. Does anybody have any answers to why the narrator seems to contradict himself? I think it is because he knows that this wall is what keeps his relationship with his neighbor civil. In the rest of the poem, the narrator tries to convince the neighbor that no wall is needed, but he just responds by saying that “’good fences make good neighbors.’” This wall is symbolic. This wall is similar to how people build walls between themselves in relationship, only this is a physical wall. This physical wall is a way of keeping peace between the neighbors and dividing what is theirs. By keeping everything separate, the two neighbors do not have to fight about what is theirs and trying to keep their privacy. Rather the two can be in agreement that this wall divides them. With this division they can be friendly and compatible neighbors. In my opinion, God (represented through nature) does not love a wall. It is over the course of the year that nature destroys this wall. Little pieces fall and holes develop in this wall, and I believe that this is God’s way of sending a message to take down the wall. Walls are what hold us back from a true friendship. In “Mending Wall”, the wall keeps falling down because God does not want it there; however, this wall has worked for so long between these two neighbors that they keep repairing it. These neighbors believe that the wall is what keeps them friends, so in this poem, good fences make good neighbors.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Day 11 Blog
Day 11 Blog
The Need for Communities to Stand up for what is Right
In Winthrop’s, “A Model of Christian Charity”, Winthrop aims to inform people with his oration given on the way to the New World or people in the New World. He informs people of what it takes to make a good society. He wants this New World to be looked at and admired. He first starts by saying that there are different types of people in this world, “some must be rich, some must be poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity; others in submission.” He says that God created all of us with a plan. There are reasons that God wanted different types of people in this world. The first reason for diversity is because He is “delighted to show for the glory of his wisdom…and difference of the creatures, and the glory of His power in ordering all these differences.” The second reason is because there are more people to spread “the work of his Spirit.” The third reason, the reason that I think is the most important, is “every man might have need of others.” By creating people with differences, he hopes that all will be brought “together in the bonds of brotherly affection.” The message that Winthrop is trying to give these people is that in this New World, there will be different people. We must love and accept them, for we were all created in God’s image. Winthrop then goes on to ask questions, but he provides objections and numerous answers to each. Such questions that he asks are “What rule shall a man observe in giving in respect of the measure?...What rule must we observe in lending?...What rule must we observe in forgiving (a debt)?...What rule must we observe and walk by in cause of community of peril?” These questions inform his listeners that we must offer up what God has given us “for first he that give to the poor, lends to the Lord and He will repay him.” If a man does not repay his debt, “thou must forgive.” However, if there was some “surety or a lawful pledge” then one must pay the debt. Winthrop then gets into the topic of love. Love, to Winthrop, is the most important part of a community because “it is the fulfilling of the law.” He gives the definition that “Scripture gives us of love…: Love is the bond of perfection.” Love “is a bond or ligament…it makes the work perfect.” It also makes us “contiguous to others,” and we can “mutually participate with each other, both in strength, and infirmity, in pleasure and pain.” He sums love up by saying that “true Christians are of one body in Christ.” Since we are part of one body, we feel together. Also, “the ligaments of this body which kit together are love” and “nobody can be perfect.” We need to be sensitive and sympathetic towards each other because we are all one body. He then goes on to talk about how love comes about and how we exercise love. He says that “love cometh of God and every one that loveth is born of God, so that this love is the fruit of the new birth, and none can have it but the new creature.” Also, he says, “the exercise of this love, which is twofold, inward or outward.” He compares this to how “a mother loves her child.” To sum up again, he explains that “love among Christians is a real thing…and this love is absolutely necessary to the being of the body of Christ…this love is a divine spiritual nature.” He finishes his oration by telling people traveling to the New World that “He hath taken us to be His.” This gives the people hope and calms them knowing that God is with them in their decision. However, he warns them that if they become “corrupted”, and if their “hearts shall turn away…it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land.” Overall, Winthrop wanted to give this oration as a way to unify people in this New World. He wanted to make them aware of what it will take to be a successful community and that includes following God, accepting others’ differences, and loving.
In Thoreau’s, “Resistance to Civil Government”, Thoreau speaks to all Americans making them aware that our government is corrupt. He calls upon them to take action and to not be part of the majority. Do what your conscience believes, and do not let the majority make decisions for you. Take action to make a change for what you believe; voting is not the best way to do this. Our system is too flawed to get anything accomplished in our lifetime if we depend solely on a vote. Thoreau believes “that government is best which governs least” making it evident that he is not happy with the government. Thoreau is makes it clear that he will not support a government that goes against his conscience. He does not want no government, but rather “a better government.” He still calls himself “a citizen” and not a “no government men” meaning he still has some faith in his government, but he “cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave’s government also.” Thoreau is an abolitionist, and he is very opposed to slavery. He cannot see how “men serve” the government when the government only sees these men “as machines” that “have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs.” In this piece, Thoreau brings up “machines” several times. What does referencing machines mean to you? To me, referencing machines means that he is referring to Americans. We are all so programmed to do what the government tells us that we cannot think for ourselves or stand up to them. Thoreau is willing to go so far as to spend a night in jail for not paying his taxes. He refuses to pay a tax for his church and “all the societies which I never signed on to.” In jail, he was “as free as I was.” The government thought that they were doing him harm in jail, but rather, he had so much time to think and let his conscience be free. A day later, however, he was bailed out of jail by his aunt who paid his tax. This angered him because she just bowed down to the government. All-in-all, Thoreau wants us to take action, and he does not want us to be afraid and stand up for what our conscience believes.
When looking at both, Thoreau and Winthrop, I see more differences than similarities. Yes, both want to have a more perfect community and government, but both are very different. Thoreau seems to want equality between people, being an abolitionist, whereas, Winthrop says that there will be different types of people in the New World because this was God’s image. This gave me the feeling of inequality between people. Also, Thoreau talks of changing laws and taking action to do so, and Winthrop does not mention any laws at all. He talks of being a good person and neighbor. However, they are similar in regard to Winthrop is doing everything he can to create a good government in this New World, where Thoreau is condemning his government, but only to make the government a better system.
When looking at the similarities, Prof. Stansell said to look at how morality guides people’s actions. It is very clear in Winthrop’s oration that morality is what is going to drive this community to be admired and function successfully. However, when looking at Thoreau’s piece this theme was not clear to me. Can anyone explain how morality guides people’s action in “Resistance to Civil Government”? Is it present when Thoreau talks about how we must follow our conscience because we know what God would want? One similarity that I found was that this was presented to the same audience, people of the New World. I took both pieces as a way to unify the people and encourage them to do what is right. Both men agree upon making this New World the best that it can possibly be, and both men know that it takes actions of the citizens to be an uncorrupt society and be successful. We cannot rely solely on other people, but we must take action ourselves. Winthrop says that we must reach out to others in need for we are one body of Christ, and Thoreau says that we need to take action because a vote will only go so far.
The Need for Communities to Stand up for what is Right
In Winthrop’s, “A Model of Christian Charity”, Winthrop aims to inform people with his oration given on the way to the New World or people in the New World. He informs people of what it takes to make a good society. He wants this New World to be looked at and admired. He first starts by saying that there are different types of people in this world, “some must be rich, some must be poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity; others in submission.” He says that God created all of us with a plan. There are reasons that God wanted different types of people in this world. The first reason for diversity is because He is “delighted to show for the glory of his wisdom…and difference of the creatures, and the glory of His power in ordering all these differences.” The second reason is because there are more people to spread “the work of his Spirit.” The third reason, the reason that I think is the most important, is “every man might have need of others.” By creating people with differences, he hopes that all will be brought “together in the bonds of brotherly affection.” The message that Winthrop is trying to give these people is that in this New World, there will be different people. We must love and accept them, for we were all created in God’s image. Winthrop then goes on to ask questions, but he provides objections and numerous answers to each. Such questions that he asks are “What rule shall a man observe in giving in respect of the measure?...What rule must we observe in lending?...What rule must we observe in forgiving (a debt)?...What rule must we observe and walk by in cause of community of peril?” These questions inform his listeners that we must offer up what God has given us “for first he that give to the poor, lends to the Lord and He will repay him.” If a man does not repay his debt, “thou must forgive.” However, if there was some “surety or a lawful pledge” then one must pay the debt. Winthrop then gets into the topic of love. Love, to Winthrop, is the most important part of a community because “it is the fulfilling of the law.” He gives the definition that “Scripture gives us of love…: Love is the bond of perfection.” Love “is a bond or ligament…it makes the work perfect.” It also makes us “contiguous to others,” and we can “mutually participate with each other, both in strength, and infirmity, in pleasure and pain.” He sums love up by saying that “true Christians are of one body in Christ.” Since we are part of one body, we feel together. Also, “the ligaments of this body which kit together are love” and “nobody can be perfect.” We need to be sensitive and sympathetic towards each other because we are all one body. He then goes on to talk about how love comes about and how we exercise love. He says that “love cometh of God and every one that loveth is born of God, so that this love is the fruit of the new birth, and none can have it but the new creature.” Also, he says, “the exercise of this love, which is twofold, inward or outward.” He compares this to how “a mother loves her child.” To sum up again, he explains that “love among Christians is a real thing…and this love is absolutely necessary to the being of the body of Christ…this love is a divine spiritual nature.” He finishes his oration by telling people traveling to the New World that “He hath taken us to be His.” This gives the people hope and calms them knowing that God is with them in their decision. However, he warns them that if they become “corrupted”, and if their “hearts shall turn away…it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land.” Overall, Winthrop wanted to give this oration as a way to unify people in this New World. He wanted to make them aware of what it will take to be a successful community and that includes following God, accepting others’ differences, and loving.
In Thoreau’s, “Resistance to Civil Government”, Thoreau speaks to all Americans making them aware that our government is corrupt. He calls upon them to take action and to not be part of the majority. Do what your conscience believes, and do not let the majority make decisions for you. Take action to make a change for what you believe; voting is not the best way to do this. Our system is too flawed to get anything accomplished in our lifetime if we depend solely on a vote. Thoreau believes “that government is best which governs least” making it evident that he is not happy with the government. Thoreau is makes it clear that he will not support a government that goes against his conscience. He does not want no government, but rather “a better government.” He still calls himself “a citizen” and not a “no government men” meaning he still has some faith in his government, but he “cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave’s government also.” Thoreau is an abolitionist, and he is very opposed to slavery. He cannot see how “men serve” the government when the government only sees these men “as machines” that “have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs.” In this piece, Thoreau brings up “machines” several times. What does referencing machines mean to you? To me, referencing machines means that he is referring to Americans. We are all so programmed to do what the government tells us that we cannot think for ourselves or stand up to them. Thoreau is willing to go so far as to spend a night in jail for not paying his taxes. He refuses to pay a tax for his church and “all the societies which I never signed on to.” In jail, he was “as free as I was.” The government thought that they were doing him harm in jail, but rather, he had so much time to think and let his conscience be free. A day later, however, he was bailed out of jail by his aunt who paid his tax. This angered him because she just bowed down to the government. All-in-all, Thoreau wants us to take action, and he does not want us to be afraid and stand up for what our conscience believes.
When looking at both, Thoreau and Winthrop, I see more differences than similarities. Yes, both want to have a more perfect community and government, but both are very different. Thoreau seems to want equality between people, being an abolitionist, whereas, Winthrop says that there will be different types of people in the New World because this was God’s image. This gave me the feeling of inequality between people. Also, Thoreau talks of changing laws and taking action to do so, and Winthrop does not mention any laws at all. He talks of being a good person and neighbor. However, they are similar in regard to Winthrop is doing everything he can to create a good government in this New World, where Thoreau is condemning his government, but only to make the government a better system.
When looking at the similarities, Prof. Stansell said to look at how morality guides people’s actions. It is very clear in Winthrop’s oration that morality is what is going to drive this community to be admired and function successfully. However, when looking at Thoreau’s piece this theme was not clear to me. Can anyone explain how morality guides people’s action in “Resistance to Civil Government”? Is it present when Thoreau talks about how we must follow our conscience because we know what God would want? One similarity that I found was that this was presented to the same audience, people of the New World. I took both pieces as a way to unify the people and encourage them to do what is right. Both men agree upon making this New World the best that it can possibly be, and both men know that it takes actions of the citizens to be an uncorrupt society and be successful. We cannot rely solely on other people, but we must take action ourselves. Winthrop says that we must reach out to others in need for we are one body of Christ, and Thoreau says that we need to take action because a vote will only go so far.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Day 10 Blog
Day 10 Blog
The American Landscape
Nature is a very important shaping factor in our life today. It can bring pleasure and horror. For example, we can admire the beauty after a rainstorm bringing flowers, green, and rainbows, but we can also see the horror of nature evident in Joplin, Missouri. In the readings today, nature is present.
In Jewett’s, “A White Heron”, a young girl named Sylvia takes her cow Mistress Moolly out to the pasture every day. The cow took “pleasure to hide herself away among the huckleberry bushes, and…she had made the discovery that if one stood perfectly still it would not ring.” Sylvia loved this. It was as if the girl played hide and seek with the cow. This cow was her only friend because “the child had no playmates.” Once Sylvia would find Mistress Moolly, she would bring her home. On this particular day, “they were so late.” Sylvia’s grandmother, Mrs. Tilley, knew the “difficulty of making this errand a short one”; however, Sylvia wondered what her grandmother would say since she had been gone so long. Sylvia could tell that she “felt sleepy.” All of the sudden, “this little woods-girl is horror stricken to hear a clear whistle not very far away…a boy’s whistle, determined, and somewhat aggressive.” The girl was very scared. She tried to hide in the bushes and leave the cow, but it was too late. The “tall young man” saw her. The strange man told her “‘I have been hunting for some birds…and I have lost my way…you think I can spend the night at your house.’” Scared because the young man had a gun, Sylvia took the young man back to her house to meet her grandmother. Mrs. Tilley was surprisingly welcoming to the young man. She fed him a nice meal and gave him a comfy bed to sleep in. The next day Sylvia accompanied the young man on his search for two birds left to complete his collection of birds. He was in search of a white heron. The boy would kill this white heron and stuff it. Sylvia knew that she had saw this white heron before, but she would not tell the boy where. She had become more comfortable with this man, and she was not as afraid of him. Unsuccessful, the two returned home to Mrs. Tilley’s house. In the middle of the night, Sylvia left. She left to find a “huge tree asleep.” She was convinced that if she climbed this tree, she could see to the oceans and also to where the heron nest was. So she climbed careful, and it “was harder than she thought.” She endured many scrapes and clothing tears. Finally, she made it to the top. She could see “the sea with the dawning sun making a golden dazzle”, and “the birds sang louder and louder.” She looked in search of the heron, and she found “the heron has perched on a pine bough not far beyond yours, and cries back to his mate on the nest.” She had found the heron and the nest! Quickly and carefully, she climbed down. When she returned back to her house, she was a mess. She was questioned by her grandmother but would not talk. The boy knew that she had seen the heron. He asked her for help finding the bird he wanted most. However, she refused to help, and the boy left. By Sylvia refusing to help this young man find the heron, she showed her love for nature. She knew this boy would kill this beautiful creature just for his own satisfaction, and she wanted to protect it. She took pleasure in seeing this creature just live, and she did not want some stranger to take that from her. She obviously loved nature, and it was evident in the poem. She has respect and loyalty for nature. There were such vivid and positive images of nature. For example, she talks about “the bright sunset still glimmered faintly…sparrows and robins in the woods below were beginning to wake and twitter to the dawn.” I believe that nature plays so prominently in this work because the author is trying to portray to you how beautiful nature is, and how we must protect it. It can bring such satisfaction to some people. She just wanted us to open our eyes and see the beauty of it.
In Frost’s poem, “After Apple Picking”, we learn of a man who is “done with apple-picking“ for the day. There is “a barrel that I didn’t fill” and “apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.” The man is becoming tired and says that he is “drowsing off.” As he is drowsing off, he dreams strange dreams. I wonder if he is about to die because in the poem it says, ”my long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree toward heaven still.” I think he is on his final days, and he is about to die because his ladder, that he used throughout his life to do his job of apple picking, is pointing towards heaven. He is looking back on life, and in his dreams he sees “magnified apples appear and disappear.” He is picking apples in his dream, standing on a ladder because “my instep arch not only keeps the ache, it keeps the pressure on the ladder round.” The man has had enough of picking apples; he is “overtired of the great harvest I myself desired.” I believe that this man is sick of picking apples. He has been doing it for so long that he has become tired. The poem’s closing lines are “long sleep, as I describe its coming on, or just some human sleep.” I interpret this, again, as the man is going to die. He will forever be in a deep sleep, at rest. To me, the man in this poem loved nature. It was something that he desired to do because he says, “’of the great harvest I myself desired.” He had picked apples all his life, and he was starting to become tired of it. I think that the nature in this poem is used in a symbolic manner to represent something in the Frost’s life. These apples to me seem symbolic. How do you think these apples are symbolic? I think these apples represent something in Frost’s life that he desired, possibly a dream or a goal; however, once he achieved it, he was no longer happy.
In the three poems by Emily Dickinson, nature is her driving force. She is someone who loves nature, and it motivates her. In her first poem “Some keep the Sabbath”, she talks about how some people go to church to listen to the sermon and hear the chorus, but she enjoys “staying at home.” At home, on the Sabbath, she has “a bobolink for a chorister…and an orchard for a dome.” This means that she sits under orchard trees listening to a bird sing. Instead of listening to the bells at church, she enjoys listening to the “little sexton sing.” She finishes the poem with “Instead of getting to heaven at last, I’m going all along” meaning that she never has to leave her backyard to be in heaven. She is at peace when she sits and listens to what is her church at home. The thing that I am confused about is when Dickinson says, “I just wear my wings.” What does she mean by this? In the second poem, I had some trouble finding the meaning. I know nature is involved. Dickinson starts off by talking about how she “taste a liquor never brewed.” I believe that this means that the poem is not about alcohol. There is no such alcohol brewed like this, so it cannot be alcohol. Instead, she must be tasting something else, and my guess is nature. She goes on to talk about how “inebriate of air am I” meaning that she is intoxicated on nature. There are several references to nature including “drunken bee…foxglove…butterflies renounce their drams.” When she speaks of these beautiful creatures, she says “I shall drink the more!” meaning that she has so much love for nature that once she sees it, she wants more and more. The final poem is about “light on a winter’s afternoon.” This special kind of light “oppresses.” In the rest of the poem, the poet talks about how this light oppresses. It oppresses “like the weight of cathedral tunes”, and “hurt it gives us; we can find no scar.” This means that there is no damage on the outside that we can physically see, but there is emotional hurt. The poet then talks about how nature notices this light when “the landscape listens, shadows hold their breath.” I do not understand the meaning of this poem at all. I think she is using nature her to describe a certain time in her life. Is she talking about an experience in her life that she thought would lead her to the right path (“light”), but instead only caused her more hurt?
Emily Dickinson loved nature. From her two poems, it is evident that she took pleasure from all the beautiful things around her. Nature plays such a prominent role in Dickinson’s life. From the poems, it is clear that nature puts Dickinson at peace. She talks about how she is in heaven in the first poem, and how she wants to get drunk off nature in the second poem. However, the third poem confused me. It almost seems like a negative poem about nature. But I do not see how someone who loved nature so much could write negatively about it. Am I correct? Dickinson reminds me of my grandpa. My grandpa loves nature just as much as Dickinson did. He will just sit outside and admire his beautiful surroundings. Also, he loves listening to the birds chirp in his backyard. The only difference between Dickinson and my grandpa is that my grandpa actually goes to church on Sundays, and he does not sit in his backyard and keep the Sabbath by “staying at home.”
The American Landscape
Nature is a very important shaping factor in our life today. It can bring pleasure and horror. For example, we can admire the beauty after a rainstorm bringing flowers, green, and rainbows, but we can also see the horror of nature evident in Joplin, Missouri. In the readings today, nature is present.
In Jewett’s, “A White Heron”, a young girl named Sylvia takes her cow Mistress Moolly out to the pasture every day. The cow took “pleasure to hide herself away among the huckleberry bushes, and…she had made the discovery that if one stood perfectly still it would not ring.” Sylvia loved this. It was as if the girl played hide and seek with the cow. This cow was her only friend because “the child had no playmates.” Once Sylvia would find Mistress Moolly, she would bring her home. On this particular day, “they were so late.” Sylvia’s grandmother, Mrs. Tilley, knew the “difficulty of making this errand a short one”; however, Sylvia wondered what her grandmother would say since she had been gone so long. Sylvia could tell that she “felt sleepy.” All of the sudden, “this little woods-girl is horror stricken to hear a clear whistle not very far away…a boy’s whistle, determined, and somewhat aggressive.” The girl was very scared. She tried to hide in the bushes and leave the cow, but it was too late. The “tall young man” saw her. The strange man told her “‘I have been hunting for some birds…and I have lost my way…you think I can spend the night at your house.’” Scared because the young man had a gun, Sylvia took the young man back to her house to meet her grandmother. Mrs. Tilley was surprisingly welcoming to the young man. She fed him a nice meal and gave him a comfy bed to sleep in. The next day Sylvia accompanied the young man on his search for two birds left to complete his collection of birds. He was in search of a white heron. The boy would kill this white heron and stuff it. Sylvia knew that she had saw this white heron before, but she would not tell the boy where. She had become more comfortable with this man, and she was not as afraid of him. Unsuccessful, the two returned home to Mrs. Tilley’s house. In the middle of the night, Sylvia left. She left to find a “huge tree asleep.” She was convinced that if she climbed this tree, she could see to the oceans and also to where the heron nest was. So she climbed careful, and it “was harder than she thought.” She endured many scrapes and clothing tears. Finally, she made it to the top. She could see “the sea with the dawning sun making a golden dazzle”, and “the birds sang louder and louder.” She looked in search of the heron, and she found “the heron has perched on a pine bough not far beyond yours, and cries back to his mate on the nest.” She had found the heron and the nest! Quickly and carefully, she climbed down. When she returned back to her house, she was a mess. She was questioned by her grandmother but would not talk. The boy knew that she had seen the heron. He asked her for help finding the bird he wanted most. However, she refused to help, and the boy left. By Sylvia refusing to help this young man find the heron, she showed her love for nature. She knew this boy would kill this beautiful creature just for his own satisfaction, and she wanted to protect it. She took pleasure in seeing this creature just live, and she did not want some stranger to take that from her. She obviously loved nature, and it was evident in the poem. She has respect and loyalty for nature. There were such vivid and positive images of nature. For example, she talks about “the bright sunset still glimmered faintly…sparrows and robins in the woods below were beginning to wake and twitter to the dawn.” I believe that nature plays so prominently in this work because the author is trying to portray to you how beautiful nature is, and how we must protect it. It can bring such satisfaction to some people. She just wanted us to open our eyes and see the beauty of it.
In Frost’s poem, “After Apple Picking”, we learn of a man who is “done with apple-picking“ for the day. There is “a barrel that I didn’t fill” and “apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.” The man is becoming tired and says that he is “drowsing off.” As he is drowsing off, he dreams strange dreams. I wonder if he is about to die because in the poem it says, ”my long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree toward heaven still.” I think he is on his final days, and he is about to die because his ladder, that he used throughout his life to do his job of apple picking, is pointing towards heaven. He is looking back on life, and in his dreams he sees “magnified apples appear and disappear.” He is picking apples in his dream, standing on a ladder because “my instep arch not only keeps the ache, it keeps the pressure on the ladder round.” The man has had enough of picking apples; he is “overtired of the great harvest I myself desired.” I believe that this man is sick of picking apples. He has been doing it for so long that he has become tired. The poem’s closing lines are “long sleep, as I describe its coming on, or just some human sleep.” I interpret this, again, as the man is going to die. He will forever be in a deep sleep, at rest. To me, the man in this poem loved nature. It was something that he desired to do because he says, “’of the great harvest I myself desired.” He had picked apples all his life, and he was starting to become tired of it. I think that the nature in this poem is used in a symbolic manner to represent something in the Frost’s life. These apples to me seem symbolic. How do you think these apples are symbolic? I think these apples represent something in Frost’s life that he desired, possibly a dream or a goal; however, once he achieved it, he was no longer happy.
In the three poems by Emily Dickinson, nature is her driving force. She is someone who loves nature, and it motivates her. In her first poem “Some keep the Sabbath”, she talks about how some people go to church to listen to the sermon and hear the chorus, but she enjoys “staying at home.” At home, on the Sabbath, she has “a bobolink for a chorister…and an orchard for a dome.” This means that she sits under orchard trees listening to a bird sing. Instead of listening to the bells at church, she enjoys listening to the “little sexton sing.” She finishes the poem with “Instead of getting to heaven at last, I’m going all along” meaning that she never has to leave her backyard to be in heaven. She is at peace when she sits and listens to what is her church at home. The thing that I am confused about is when Dickinson says, “I just wear my wings.” What does she mean by this? In the second poem, I had some trouble finding the meaning. I know nature is involved. Dickinson starts off by talking about how she “taste a liquor never brewed.” I believe that this means that the poem is not about alcohol. There is no such alcohol brewed like this, so it cannot be alcohol. Instead, she must be tasting something else, and my guess is nature. She goes on to talk about how “inebriate of air am I” meaning that she is intoxicated on nature. There are several references to nature including “drunken bee…foxglove…butterflies renounce their drams.” When she speaks of these beautiful creatures, she says “I shall drink the more!” meaning that she has so much love for nature that once she sees it, she wants more and more. The final poem is about “light on a winter’s afternoon.” This special kind of light “oppresses.” In the rest of the poem, the poet talks about how this light oppresses. It oppresses “like the weight of cathedral tunes”, and “hurt it gives us; we can find no scar.” This means that there is no damage on the outside that we can physically see, but there is emotional hurt. The poet then talks about how nature notices this light when “the landscape listens, shadows hold their breath.” I do not understand the meaning of this poem at all. I think she is using nature her to describe a certain time in her life. Is she talking about an experience in her life that she thought would lead her to the right path (“light”), but instead only caused her more hurt?
Emily Dickinson loved nature. From her two poems, it is evident that she took pleasure from all the beautiful things around her. Nature plays such a prominent role in Dickinson’s life. From the poems, it is clear that nature puts Dickinson at peace. She talks about how she is in heaven in the first poem, and how she wants to get drunk off nature in the second poem. However, the third poem confused me. It almost seems like a negative poem about nature. But I do not see how someone who loved nature so much could write negatively about it. Am I correct? Dickinson reminds me of my grandpa. My grandpa loves nature just as much as Dickinson did. He will just sit outside and admire his beautiful surroundings. Also, he loves listening to the birds chirp in his backyard. The only difference between Dickinson and my grandpa is that my grandpa actually goes to church on Sundays, and he does not sit in his backyard and keep the Sabbath by “staying at home.”
Monday, May 30, 2011
Day 9 Blog
Day 9 Blog
When Your Pursuit of Happiness Conflicts with Another’s
In Tennessee Williams’, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, we deal with a family broken up from different morals. We have two sisters, Blanche and Stella. Each come from a prominent family that owned an estate called Belle Reve. It becomes known that Belle Reve was lost by Blanche when she comes unexpectedly to visit Stella. Stella had left the estate years ago, and married a Polish man named Stanley. The two have a skewed relationship, but both are madly in love with each other. Stanley and Stella live in “a two-story corner building on a street in New Orleans which is named Elysian Fields.” “This building contains two flats”, and Stella and her husband live in one of them. One day, while Stanley and Stella were at the bowling alley, Blanche arrives. Eunice welcomes her and shows her into Stella’s apartment. Blanche, annoyed with Eunice’s helpfulness, tells Eunice rudely, “I’d like to be left alone.” Eunice goes to find Stella. Stella returns back to her flat to greet Blanche. The two catch up and Blanche is demeaning to Stella telling her “You’ve put on some weight, yes you’re just as plump as a little partridge!” Blanche is also racist when Stella tells her husband is Polish. She asks if he is a “Polack.” As the conversation carries on, Blanche continues to talk about herself and put down her sister telling her that she did not expect her to live in such a dump. Blanche tells Stella to ask her questions all about herself. She seems very conceited. Finally, Blanche tells her about Belle Reve and how she lost it. She is defensive when she talks about it saying, “You left! I stayed and struggled!...all the burden descended on my shoulders.” Upset by everything, Stella runs crying into the bathroom. In the meantime, Stanley returns home from Bowling and has his first encounter with Blanche. It is evident that the two are polar opposites. Blanche is flashy and wants lots of attention, and Stanley will not give it to her. Later on, the two sisters must leave the house because Stella wants “to keep Blanche out till the party breaks up because I don’t know how she would take it.” Stanley is having his guy friends over for a poker party. The girls are going out for the night. Before leaving, Blanche takes a nice long bath, and Stanley is obviously annoyed with her. Stella breaks the news to Stanley about Belle Reve. Stanley is infuriated because under “the Napoleonic code according to which what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband and vice versa.” Stanley goes through Blanche’s trunk and becomes convinced that Blanche sold the place and kept the money to herself. Blanche has very nice clothing with “feathers and furs” and lots of jewelry. The rif raf dies down, and the two women leave for the night. When the women return back at 2:30 in the morning, the men are still at the table playing poker with “whiskey bottles and glasses” still on the table. Mitch, one of Stanley’s friends, becomes attracted to Blanche. The two dance in the room to the radio. Angered and drunk, Stanley comes in and throws the radio out the window. Stella and Stanley also get into a fight, and Stanley beats Stella. Stella tells Stanley that, “’I want to go away, I want to go away!’” Both Stella and Blanche go stay at Eunice’s place. Stanley, realizing what he did, called Eunice; however she hung up on him. So Stanley goes to the street to call for Stella. Stella comes out and the two go back to their flat. The next day, Blanche asks Stella why she stays with a man that beats her. Stella reassures Blanche that “it wasn’t anything as serious as you seem to take it…It isn’t all right for anybody to make such a terrible row, but-people do sometimes.” Blanche does not understand the love that Stella has for Stanley, and she tells Stella that “you’re married to a madman!” Blanche admits to Stella that she has no money, and that she must write a letter to Shep Huntleigh. Blanche also becomes romantically involved with Mitch. The two plan to get married because they are both lonely and need each other. The play goes on and Stanley is convinced that he has the scoop on Blanche and why she left town. He heard that she was very well known at a hotel, Hotel Flamingo, where she is from near Belle Reve. She got asked to leave her teaching job because she had a fling with a 17 year old boy. He is convinced of this and has numerous sources. This was the night of Blanche’s birthday. Mitch was supposed to come over but does not because Stanley told Mitch of this news. A fight breaks out with everyone, and Stella ends up going into labor. Later on, Blanche and Stanley are home without Stella. Blanche is drunk, and Stanley has just returned home from the hospital. From what I make of it, Stanley raped Blanche. The play ends with Blanche going crazy. A doctor and a nurse come to pick her up and take her to a psychiatric hospital.
In my opinion, a lot of Blanche’s demise she brought upon herself. I believe with all characters, excluding Stanley, she deserved what she had coming for her. Stanley, however, was an instigator towards Blanche. With the other characters Blanche was conceited. She thought only about herself and her desires. It is evident in the first scene when Blanche first sees Stella. She tells Stella to ask her all these questions. She is so proud of everything about herself, and she just puts down Stella. Also, she makes up a person, Shep Huntleigh, with whom she wants to be with for money. She tells Stanley, in Scene 9, that he called, and they will go off together. With all the men she was with back at home and the seventeen year old boy, Blanche deserved to have a bad reputation and get kicked out of the town. She had desires just to be accepted and comforted. She could not control those desires, and it got her into trouble. There are some things though that I am uncertain of. I do not know how much of her demise she brought upon herself in regards to her first husband being a homosexual and losing Belle Reve. Blanche did not know when she married the man that she could not fulfill his desires. That must be very rough and could have attributed to her behavior following. Also, it was not Blanche’s fault that Belle Reve was lost.
I am ranking the characters, in terms of likeability, as Stella, Blanche, then Stanley (Stella being the most likeable and Stanley being the least likeable). I rank them like this because Stella was portrayed as vulnerable. She was a woman during this time period who really was under her husband’s rule. She was beaten by him on numerous occasions including after Poker night with the boys, even when she was pregnant. The fact that she was pregnant made her even more vulnerable. After being beaten by her husband, Blanche goes back to him with open arms when Stanley stands outside screaming her name. This just made me angry at her. I also feel sorry for Stella because in the beginning of the play (scene one), Blanche completely puts down Stella. She puts down her home, her image, and her husband. She tells her that she didn’t expect her to live in such a dump, and that she looks plump, and her man is “common.” I rank Blanche second because I feel sorry for her because of her past. She has been through so much with finding out that her husband was a homosexual and catching him in the act, and then later that night, she saw him kill himself. I also feel sorry for her because she was raped by her sister’s husband, Stanley. Rape is a horrific act, and nobody deserves to be put in that situation. The fact that her sister wouldn’t even believe her that it happened made me feel even more sorry for her. She is likeable to me though because she is not afraid to stand up to Stanley. In this time period, a woman was under the rule of her husband, as it was evident from her sister, Stella. Blanche was not afraid to tell Stanley like it is and challenge him. However, I didn’t like her because she drinks too much, lies about it, and hides the bottles (on numerous occasions). Also, she had a lapse in judgment after the death of her husband where she got around, especially with people under the age. This shows her stupidity and weakness. Stanley is the least likeable. I do not like this man. He is a man that drinks too much. He is also a wife beater and controlling. To me he seems bipolar. He beats his wife one minute, and then the next minute he wants her back in his arms. This is not respectable to me. He tried to get rid of Blanche and destroy her in every way possible, even though he knew that Blanche had now where to go. He told Stella and Mitch about her past on Blanche’s birthday. Mitch was all Blanche had at that time, and he took Mitch away from her. The event that made me hate Stanley was when he raped Blanche. This was inexcusable, and for the rest of the play I did not like him.
At the end of the play, I was upset. I was upset with how it ended. I felt like Blanche had turned into something that could have been avoided, and I blame Stanley. Stanley treated her pretty terribly, and brought a lot of anxiety on Blanche that was not needed. I do not feel like justice was served at the end of the play. Yes, they did get rid of Blanche, but look at what it did to poor Stella. She was completely torn apart by it. Now, Stella has all the images of Stanley being a “common man” in her head from Blanche when before their marriage was perfectly fine, and the two were madly in love. I believe that their marriage will never be the same.
Throughout the play, there is a “blue piano” playing. There is also the music of the tune playing the night when Blanche’s husband killed himself. I believe that music was symbolic during this play. It played at times when there was a lot of tension and a fight was going to break out. Do you have any thoughts on what this music symbolized?
When Your Pursuit of Happiness Conflicts with Another’s
In Tennessee Williams’, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, we deal with a family broken up from different morals. We have two sisters, Blanche and Stella. Each come from a prominent family that owned an estate called Belle Reve. It becomes known that Belle Reve was lost by Blanche when she comes unexpectedly to visit Stella. Stella had left the estate years ago, and married a Polish man named Stanley. The two have a skewed relationship, but both are madly in love with each other. Stanley and Stella live in “a two-story corner building on a street in New Orleans which is named Elysian Fields.” “This building contains two flats”, and Stella and her husband live in one of them. One day, while Stanley and Stella were at the bowling alley, Blanche arrives. Eunice welcomes her and shows her into Stella’s apartment. Blanche, annoyed with Eunice’s helpfulness, tells Eunice rudely, “I’d like to be left alone.” Eunice goes to find Stella. Stella returns back to her flat to greet Blanche. The two catch up and Blanche is demeaning to Stella telling her “You’ve put on some weight, yes you’re just as plump as a little partridge!” Blanche is also racist when Stella tells her husband is Polish. She asks if he is a “Polack.” As the conversation carries on, Blanche continues to talk about herself and put down her sister telling her that she did not expect her to live in such a dump. Blanche tells Stella to ask her questions all about herself. She seems very conceited. Finally, Blanche tells her about Belle Reve and how she lost it. She is defensive when she talks about it saying, “You left! I stayed and struggled!...all the burden descended on my shoulders.” Upset by everything, Stella runs crying into the bathroom. In the meantime, Stanley returns home from Bowling and has his first encounter with Blanche. It is evident that the two are polar opposites. Blanche is flashy and wants lots of attention, and Stanley will not give it to her. Later on, the two sisters must leave the house because Stella wants “to keep Blanche out till the party breaks up because I don’t know how she would take it.” Stanley is having his guy friends over for a poker party. The girls are going out for the night. Before leaving, Blanche takes a nice long bath, and Stanley is obviously annoyed with her. Stella breaks the news to Stanley about Belle Reve. Stanley is infuriated because under “the Napoleonic code according to which what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband and vice versa.” Stanley goes through Blanche’s trunk and becomes convinced that Blanche sold the place and kept the money to herself. Blanche has very nice clothing with “feathers and furs” and lots of jewelry. The rif raf dies down, and the two women leave for the night. When the women return back at 2:30 in the morning, the men are still at the table playing poker with “whiskey bottles and glasses” still on the table. Mitch, one of Stanley’s friends, becomes attracted to Blanche. The two dance in the room to the radio. Angered and drunk, Stanley comes in and throws the radio out the window. Stella and Stanley also get into a fight, and Stanley beats Stella. Stella tells Stanley that, “’I want to go away, I want to go away!’” Both Stella and Blanche go stay at Eunice’s place. Stanley, realizing what he did, called Eunice; however she hung up on him. So Stanley goes to the street to call for Stella. Stella comes out and the two go back to their flat. The next day, Blanche asks Stella why she stays with a man that beats her. Stella reassures Blanche that “it wasn’t anything as serious as you seem to take it…It isn’t all right for anybody to make such a terrible row, but-people do sometimes.” Blanche does not understand the love that Stella has for Stanley, and she tells Stella that “you’re married to a madman!” Blanche admits to Stella that she has no money, and that she must write a letter to Shep Huntleigh. Blanche also becomes romantically involved with Mitch. The two plan to get married because they are both lonely and need each other. The play goes on and Stanley is convinced that he has the scoop on Blanche and why she left town. He heard that she was very well known at a hotel, Hotel Flamingo, where she is from near Belle Reve. She got asked to leave her teaching job because she had a fling with a 17 year old boy. He is convinced of this and has numerous sources. This was the night of Blanche’s birthday. Mitch was supposed to come over but does not because Stanley told Mitch of this news. A fight breaks out with everyone, and Stella ends up going into labor. Later on, Blanche and Stanley are home without Stella. Blanche is drunk, and Stanley has just returned home from the hospital. From what I make of it, Stanley raped Blanche. The play ends with Blanche going crazy. A doctor and a nurse come to pick her up and take her to a psychiatric hospital.
In my opinion, a lot of Blanche’s demise she brought upon herself. I believe with all characters, excluding Stanley, she deserved what she had coming for her. Stanley, however, was an instigator towards Blanche. With the other characters Blanche was conceited. She thought only about herself and her desires. It is evident in the first scene when Blanche first sees Stella. She tells Stella to ask her all these questions. She is so proud of everything about herself, and she just puts down Stella. Also, she makes up a person, Shep Huntleigh, with whom she wants to be with for money. She tells Stanley, in Scene 9, that he called, and they will go off together. With all the men she was with back at home and the seventeen year old boy, Blanche deserved to have a bad reputation and get kicked out of the town. She had desires just to be accepted and comforted. She could not control those desires, and it got her into trouble. There are some things though that I am uncertain of. I do not know how much of her demise she brought upon herself in regards to her first husband being a homosexual and losing Belle Reve. Blanche did not know when she married the man that she could not fulfill his desires. That must be very rough and could have attributed to her behavior following. Also, it was not Blanche’s fault that Belle Reve was lost.
I am ranking the characters, in terms of likeability, as Stella, Blanche, then Stanley (Stella being the most likeable and Stanley being the least likeable). I rank them like this because Stella was portrayed as vulnerable. She was a woman during this time period who really was under her husband’s rule. She was beaten by him on numerous occasions including after Poker night with the boys, even when she was pregnant. The fact that she was pregnant made her even more vulnerable. After being beaten by her husband, Blanche goes back to him with open arms when Stanley stands outside screaming her name. This just made me angry at her. I also feel sorry for Stella because in the beginning of the play (scene one), Blanche completely puts down Stella. She puts down her home, her image, and her husband. She tells her that she didn’t expect her to live in such a dump, and that she looks plump, and her man is “common.” I rank Blanche second because I feel sorry for her because of her past. She has been through so much with finding out that her husband was a homosexual and catching him in the act, and then later that night, she saw him kill himself. I also feel sorry for her because she was raped by her sister’s husband, Stanley. Rape is a horrific act, and nobody deserves to be put in that situation. The fact that her sister wouldn’t even believe her that it happened made me feel even more sorry for her. She is likeable to me though because she is not afraid to stand up to Stanley. In this time period, a woman was under the rule of her husband, as it was evident from her sister, Stella. Blanche was not afraid to tell Stanley like it is and challenge him. However, I didn’t like her because she drinks too much, lies about it, and hides the bottles (on numerous occasions). Also, she had a lapse in judgment after the death of her husband where she got around, especially with people under the age. This shows her stupidity and weakness. Stanley is the least likeable. I do not like this man. He is a man that drinks too much. He is also a wife beater and controlling. To me he seems bipolar. He beats his wife one minute, and then the next minute he wants her back in his arms. This is not respectable to me. He tried to get rid of Blanche and destroy her in every way possible, even though he knew that Blanche had now where to go. He told Stella and Mitch about her past on Blanche’s birthday. Mitch was all Blanche had at that time, and he took Mitch away from her. The event that made me hate Stanley was when he raped Blanche. This was inexcusable, and for the rest of the play I did not like him.
At the end of the play, I was upset. I was upset with how it ended. I felt like Blanche had turned into something that could have been avoided, and I blame Stanley. Stanley treated her pretty terribly, and brought a lot of anxiety on Blanche that was not needed. I do not feel like justice was served at the end of the play. Yes, they did get rid of Blanche, but look at what it did to poor Stella. She was completely torn apart by it. Now, Stella has all the images of Stanley being a “common man” in her head from Blanche when before their marriage was perfectly fine, and the two were madly in love. I believe that their marriage will never be the same.
Throughout the play, there is a “blue piano” playing. There is also the music of the tune playing the night when Blanche’s husband killed himself. I believe that music was symbolic during this play. It played at times when there was a lot of tension and a fight was going to break out. Do you have any thoughts on what this music symbolized?
Friday, May 27, 2011
Day 8 Blog
Day 8 Blog
The Struggle to Lead an Authentic Life
It is everybody’s dream to live an authentic life. An authentic life is a life where you can do what you want and be who you are. Living an authentic life is not an easy thing to do as it is demonstrated in today’s readings. The characters in each reading today struggle with their innermost self, each knowing who they want to be, however, struggling to get there.
In Eliot’s, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, a man, Prufrock, struggles to be his true self. The poem starts of talking about the city that Prufrock lives in. He describes it as “half-deserted streets...restless nights in one-night cheap hotels…and sawdust restaurants.” The way he describes the city is as though his surroundings are lonely and dull. He talks of nothing glamorous, and there is nothing around that appeal to his desires. He mentions how “in the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo.” Michelangelo is this powerful statue that is beautiful and confident. He is completely naked showing that he is proud of what he has to offer. This phrase is a recurring phrase in the poem which shows it has some effect on Prufrock. The effect that it has is evident in the next stanza of the poem when Prufrock talks of a house with “yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes.” In this house there is a gathering of women. He desires to enter but fights himself in wanting to. He reasons that “there will be time, there will be time” meaning that one day he will get the courage to go and talk to these women. However, when that time comes he asks himself, “’Do I dare?’” His self-consciousness becomes evident when he talks about “a bald spot in the middle of my hair.” He worries that the women will talk about him and say “’How his hair is growing thin!’” This man has a lot of stress and worry in his life. The man goes on to say how he is afraid of being inspected under the “sprawling on a pin.” Prufrock then says, “’I should have been a pair of ragged claws.’” I think that this possibly means that he wishes he had more strength. It is almost harmful to himself to think this. By saying this, he is admitting he is a weak person and wishing for more strength. The rest of the poem, Prufrock goes on in nervousness talking about all his desires with a woman, but he questions every single one of them. For example, he says, “Would it have been worth it, after all after the cups of marmalade, the tea, among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me.” When and if he does get a date with a lady, he must enjoy himself, and he must not destroy the date with his petty worries. Near the end, he talks of Prince Hamlet? Why does he say “No! I am not Prince Hamlet.”? Is Prince Hamlet someone he wishes he could be because Hamlet is good with the ladies? I never read “Hamlet”, so I do not know. The poem ends with Prufrock saying, “I grow old…I grow old.” This makes it seem that Prufrock is getting older, and he still has not changed. He still worries of his appearance, and he says “Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers.” This is a depressing poem of a man so self-conscious of everything about himself. He lets his anxiety and low self-esteem get in the way of living his authentic life. He worries too much about what people think of himself. He needs to have confidence in who he is, and others will then have confidence in him. All Prufrock desires is to be loved. He wants a woman that will love him that way that he would love her; however, he worries too much about his appearance and time. Time is not on his side. He is getting older and losing more hair. Prufrock just needs to take a risk. Talk to a woman. Let her get to know you and like you for who you are.
After listening to Ginsberg’s, “Howl”, I was deeply disturbed. First off, the images that he describes are disgusting, and the way he spoke on the youtube video was creepy beyond belief. When I think of the word “howl”, I think of animals howling to the sky. This poem reminds me of animals. The things that the people did in this poem is absolutely animal like and disgusting. These images did not sit well with me. The most bizarre image to me was when he described people “who threw potato salad at CCNY lecturers on Dadaism.” This is so immature and disrespectful. Also, another thing I noticed that there is no sentence form to this poem whatsoever. So many lines begin with “who” and these lines contain sentences, or thoughts rather, that run together. For example, “who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually happened and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown soup alleyways & firetrucks, not even one free beer.” There are so many thoughts going on in this stanza. In this poem, Ginsberg speaks of women, sex, drugs, and alcohol. He says ,”with dreams, with drugs, with waking nightmares, alcohol” talking about all the things taken to lead up to crazy events in these addicts lives. What I got from the poem is that conformity, not being your authentic self, and politics are driving the “best minds of [his] generation” mad--“starving, hysterical, naked.” There are just some people who do not want to conform to society, and they will do some pretty crazy things to let people know that. When these people deviate from the norms of society, they become even more obscure, they get involved in even more drugs, alcohol, and sex. I believe that after these people deviate from society, they are not only hurting themselves, but they are hurting others. All these drugs are not good for them, but most importantly, the way they act has repercussions. Others have to go in and take care of the mess they have made such as “vomiting…stolen night-cars… potato salad.” These are just a few examples of the mess they made.
After reading the two poems for today, I believe that there is hope for those talked about in “Howl” to live an authentic life, but I do not believe that there is hope for Prufrock to live an authentic life. I believe that those in “Howl” will live an authentic life because they are doing what they want to do. By engaging in drugs, they are free. These individuals are not conforming to society; they are being who their true self is. I do not agree with the way they are doing it and rebelling. It seems to me a little extreme. However, whatever keeps them going. I believe that there is no hope for Prufrock because simply the man has too much anxiety and no self-confidence. It is evident from the poem that some time has taken place throughout the poem, and the man has not changed one bit. If he does not change during the course of the poem, he most likely won’t change after.
The Struggle to Lead an Authentic Life
It is everybody’s dream to live an authentic life. An authentic life is a life where you can do what you want and be who you are. Living an authentic life is not an easy thing to do as it is demonstrated in today’s readings. The characters in each reading today struggle with their innermost self, each knowing who they want to be, however, struggling to get there.
In Eliot’s, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, a man, Prufrock, struggles to be his true self. The poem starts of talking about the city that Prufrock lives in. He describes it as “half-deserted streets...restless nights in one-night cheap hotels…and sawdust restaurants.” The way he describes the city is as though his surroundings are lonely and dull. He talks of nothing glamorous, and there is nothing around that appeal to his desires. He mentions how “in the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo.” Michelangelo is this powerful statue that is beautiful and confident. He is completely naked showing that he is proud of what he has to offer. This phrase is a recurring phrase in the poem which shows it has some effect on Prufrock. The effect that it has is evident in the next stanza of the poem when Prufrock talks of a house with “yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes.” In this house there is a gathering of women. He desires to enter but fights himself in wanting to. He reasons that “there will be time, there will be time” meaning that one day he will get the courage to go and talk to these women. However, when that time comes he asks himself, “’Do I dare?’” His self-consciousness becomes evident when he talks about “a bald spot in the middle of my hair.” He worries that the women will talk about him and say “’How his hair is growing thin!’” This man has a lot of stress and worry in his life. The man goes on to say how he is afraid of being inspected under the “sprawling on a pin.” Prufrock then says, “’I should have been a pair of ragged claws.’” I think that this possibly means that he wishes he had more strength. It is almost harmful to himself to think this. By saying this, he is admitting he is a weak person and wishing for more strength. The rest of the poem, Prufrock goes on in nervousness talking about all his desires with a woman, but he questions every single one of them. For example, he says, “Would it have been worth it, after all after the cups of marmalade, the tea, among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me.” When and if he does get a date with a lady, he must enjoy himself, and he must not destroy the date with his petty worries. Near the end, he talks of Prince Hamlet? Why does he say “No! I am not Prince Hamlet.”? Is Prince Hamlet someone he wishes he could be because Hamlet is good with the ladies? I never read “Hamlet”, so I do not know. The poem ends with Prufrock saying, “I grow old…I grow old.” This makes it seem that Prufrock is getting older, and he still has not changed. He still worries of his appearance, and he says “Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers.” This is a depressing poem of a man so self-conscious of everything about himself. He lets his anxiety and low self-esteem get in the way of living his authentic life. He worries too much about what people think of himself. He needs to have confidence in who he is, and others will then have confidence in him. All Prufrock desires is to be loved. He wants a woman that will love him that way that he would love her; however, he worries too much about his appearance and time. Time is not on his side. He is getting older and losing more hair. Prufrock just needs to take a risk. Talk to a woman. Let her get to know you and like you for who you are.
After listening to Ginsberg’s, “Howl”, I was deeply disturbed. First off, the images that he describes are disgusting, and the way he spoke on the youtube video was creepy beyond belief. When I think of the word “howl”, I think of animals howling to the sky. This poem reminds me of animals. The things that the people did in this poem is absolutely animal like and disgusting. These images did not sit well with me. The most bizarre image to me was when he described people “who threw potato salad at CCNY lecturers on Dadaism.” This is so immature and disrespectful. Also, another thing I noticed that there is no sentence form to this poem whatsoever. So many lines begin with “who” and these lines contain sentences, or thoughts rather, that run together. For example, “who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually happened and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown soup alleyways & firetrucks, not even one free beer.” There are so many thoughts going on in this stanza. In this poem, Ginsberg speaks of women, sex, drugs, and alcohol. He says ,”with dreams, with drugs, with waking nightmares, alcohol” talking about all the things taken to lead up to crazy events in these addicts lives. What I got from the poem is that conformity, not being your authentic self, and politics are driving the “best minds of [his] generation” mad--“starving, hysterical, naked.” There are just some people who do not want to conform to society, and they will do some pretty crazy things to let people know that. When these people deviate from the norms of society, they become even more obscure, they get involved in even more drugs, alcohol, and sex. I believe that after these people deviate from society, they are not only hurting themselves, but they are hurting others. All these drugs are not good for them, but most importantly, the way they act has repercussions. Others have to go in and take care of the mess they have made such as “vomiting…stolen night-cars… potato salad.” These are just a few examples of the mess they made.
After reading the two poems for today, I believe that there is hope for those talked about in “Howl” to live an authentic life, but I do not believe that there is hope for Prufrock to live an authentic life. I believe that those in “Howl” will live an authentic life because they are doing what they want to do. By engaging in drugs, they are free. These individuals are not conforming to society; they are being who their true self is. I do not agree with the way they are doing it and rebelling. It seems to me a little extreme. However, whatever keeps them going. I believe that there is no hope for Prufrock because simply the man has too much anxiety and no self-confidence. It is evident from the poem that some time has taken place throughout the poem, and the man has not changed one bit. If he does not change during the course of the poem, he most likely won’t change after.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Day 7 Blog
Day 7 Blog
The Celebration of Individuality
In Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard is “afflicted with a heart trouble.” Her sister, Josephine, and a friend, Richards, are there to tell Mrs. Mallard some terrible news about her husband, Brent Mallard. Richards was “in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received.” Mrs. Mallard’s husband’s was on the list of men killed in this tragic event. Both individuals, Josephine and Richards, are trying to calmly explain to Mrs. Mallard about her husband’s death. They cannot upset her because of her heart condition. At the news of her husband’s death, “she wept at once” and “went away to her room alone.” Mrs. Mallard “stood, facing the open window.” She notices outside all of the beautiful things that are living. She sit in the chair “quite motionless”, when she saw something in the distance. “She was waiting for it” because she knew something was coming. Soon, “she was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her. It was freedom to live her life. ” Then she started shouting “’free, free, free!’” She begins to see that how in the future she will live a long life, a long life that she will be free and no longer tied down by her husband. Her sister comes and knocks on her door, and the two go downstairs. Unexpectedly the front door opens, and “it was Brently Mallard who entered.” He was not killed in the accident. Suddenly, Mrs. Mallard died of a heart attack. The doctors said that “she had died of heart disease—of the joy that kills.” Basically, the doctors said that Mrs. Mallard died because she was filled with a happy feeling. Was she happy that her husband was actually alive, or was she still overcome by the happiness that she experienced knowing that she was finally free? I personally think that she is not happy that her husband is alive because just previously she said “she loved him—sometimes. Often she had not.” She died in the end because she can no longer live under her husband’s ways. She wants to be an individual, and she wants to do the things that she wants to do. In marriage, often you are bound to someone. You make decisions together, you live together, and so on. For once in her life since she first was married, she felt her independence. Once her husband returned, she felt like her independence had been taken away from her. She could no longer live a life of being “tied down.”
I noticed two symbolic things in this story. The first is when Mrs. Mallard went to the open window. This window is symbolic because it is open. It represents her independence now that her husband is dead. She can live the life that she wanted to live. She will no longer be tied down by her husband and her marriage. She can be free. The second symbolic thing in this story are the things that are living in the fifth paragraph (“rain…peddler…one was singing…countless sparrows”). All of these things represent the living and the free to Mrs. Mallard. These things are observed through an open window which means that they are within reach for Mrs. Mallard, however, she still cannot reach them. To be quite honest, I do not really know if Chopin’s story affirms or rejects the notion of individuality that Emerson and Whitman put forth because I had a lot of trouble understanding the last two pieces. Could anybody direct me in the right direction, please?
“The Story of an Hour” reminds me of the movie “Black Swan.” It reminds me of this movie because the main character, Natalie Portman, thinks that she killed her rival, the girl from California (Nina). However, a little later in the movie, Nina knocks on the door and comes in, just like Mr. Mallard, and comes in alive. Natalie Portman was very surprised of this just like Mrs. Mallard was surprised to see her husband alive.
Before I begin with “Self Reliance” and “Song of Myself”, I just wanted to give a fair warning that I struggled a lot with these two pieces.
It is evident from Emerson’s, “Self-Reliance,” that he supports non-conformity and individuality. In “Self-Reliance,” Emerson tells us how we must make our own decisions and use our own brain and “learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within.” We must act independently, and “trust thyself.” Others will be put into our lives to doubt us and what we say, but we must have the will power to stand by our thoughts and say what we are thinking. Emerson also talks about youth, and how “youth has no force.” The youth’s “voice is sufficiently clear and emphatic.” What I think Emerson is saying when he mentions youth is how youth say what they want. They do not care about other people’s opinions; Emerson says, “a boy is…independent, irresponsible.” He then talks about how Emerson himself is a nonconformist. He does not donate to the poor like everyone else because “Are they my poor?” He thinks that people perform all these “good actions as some piece of courage or charity”, and he believes that this is not right. These virtues that they perform “are penances” and people perform them only because that is what is expected of society. Emerson thinks why not be your own person and make your own decisions. He then goes on to talk about consistency. He says that “the other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word.” We often worry too much about what others think of us and what we have done in the past. He advises us to “Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again” meaning say what you feel. The ultimate judge at the end of the day is oneself; Do not conform to others. At this point in Emerson’s piece, I started to get lost, but I will to my best to explain my interpretation. Emerson talks about how we read a “costly book” or notice the “statue” in society around us, and we feel lesser from these accomplishments of others. We must not feel lesser than these material objects because we are worth so much more. He then talks about how “our reading is mendicant and sycophantic.” We read of all these successful made up men and compare ourselves to them. This only hurts our self worth. In the end, Emerson talks about four things: religion, self-culture and travelling, “intellectual action”, and society. He speaks of religion and prayer. He says that “Prayer that craves a particular commodity-anything less than all good-is vicious…and…prayer as a means to effect a private end Is meanness and theft.” In the second topic, self-culture, he talks about travelling. Most Americans travel because it “retains its fascination for all educated Americans.” However, travelling can be bad because some people may travel “with the hope of finding somewhat greater than he knows.” In the third topic, “intellectual action”, he speaks of how “our houses are built with foreign taste; our shelves are garnished with foreign ornaments.” I do not really understand what he is saying here, but possibly could he mean if we decorated our independence like we decorated our houses, we would all be independent and different. The fourth topic was society. Emerson says that” all men plume themselves on the improvement of society, and no man improves…Society never advances.”
All in all, I think that Emerson’s message here is to be your own person; do not fear to be different. Do not conform to society. A passage where I saw optimism towards celebrating the individual self was when Emerson talks about children. He says “A boy is…independent, irresponsible.” I believe that Emerson’s message here is that children are free, and I believe this. Children will do what they want and say what they want. They are too young to care what anybody thinks of them, and they will be unique. Another passage where I saw optimism towards celebrating the individual self was when Emerson says “envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide.” Basically, I believe that Emerson is trying to show people how we don’t want to be like everyone. It is like killing your own inner self to be like someone you are not.
In Walt Whitman’s, “Song of Myself,” Walt talks of himself and how he “loaf and invite my soul.” He then goes on to talk about how “houses and rooms are full of perfume.” Every individual has their own specific scent. He is explaining here how each person is unique with their smell which is an example of optimism towards celebrating the individual self because he “breaths the fragrance himself, and know it, and like it.” In the second stanza he talks of his own self and how he is alive. He says, “My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through my lungs;” He feels so alive because he can see, hear, touch, and feel all the beauty around him. In the sixth stanza, a child asks Whitman, “What is the grass?” Whitman is unsure of how to respond because he himself does “not know what it is.” To answer the child though, he comes up with a variety of different answers such as the grass is “a flag of my disposition…the handkerchief of the Lord…the grass itself is a child.” With all these answers that he gives the child, he thinks to himself what the grass is. The grass here is symbolic, but I do not know how or what it stands for. In stanzas fifteen thru seventeen, Whitman talks about all different types of people that he sees including “the bride” who “unrumples her white dress.” This list touches on many different types of people, and I believe this shows the individuality of many different people. Stanza fifteen, the stanza that lists of all different types of people that Whitman sees, is another example of optimism towards celebrating the individual self. Each person is different, and each person will take different steps through life. It is up to them as an individual to decide what path they will take. Hopefully, they will follow their heart and do what they want to do and not conform to society. In Stanza 24, Whitman talks about himself. He uses the word “kosmo” to describe himself. What does this word mean? Does it represent anything? He is “of might Manhattan”, and he is “Turbulent, fleshy and sensual, eating, drinking and breeding;” He has heard many “long dumb voices, voice of…slaves…persons…thieves and dwarfs.” What does he mean by this? Is this part of his past or family history? In Stanza 48, Whitman mentions “that the soul is not more than the body” meaning our body is something very unique. We must respect it and value it. He then talks about God. He mentions that “not God, is greater than one’s self is.” He is not trying to deny God of his powers; he still respects him. He knows that he will “hear and behold God in every object.” He also tells his readers to “be not curious about God.” The last sections almost seem as though he is contradicting what he said, like he does not believe it. He is also bidding farewell by saying, “I stop somewhere, waiting for you.” I notice that in the last section he says, “If you want me again, look for me under your boot-soles.” Is this related to the grass in stanza six? How does this tie together?
The Celebration of Individuality
In Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard is “afflicted with a heart trouble.” Her sister, Josephine, and a friend, Richards, are there to tell Mrs. Mallard some terrible news about her husband, Brent Mallard. Richards was “in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received.” Mrs. Mallard’s husband’s was on the list of men killed in this tragic event. Both individuals, Josephine and Richards, are trying to calmly explain to Mrs. Mallard about her husband’s death. They cannot upset her because of her heart condition. At the news of her husband’s death, “she wept at once” and “went away to her room alone.” Mrs. Mallard “stood, facing the open window.” She notices outside all of the beautiful things that are living. She sit in the chair “quite motionless”, when she saw something in the distance. “She was waiting for it” because she knew something was coming. Soon, “she was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her. It was freedom to live her life. ” Then she started shouting “’free, free, free!’” She begins to see that how in the future she will live a long life, a long life that she will be free and no longer tied down by her husband. Her sister comes and knocks on her door, and the two go downstairs. Unexpectedly the front door opens, and “it was Brently Mallard who entered.” He was not killed in the accident. Suddenly, Mrs. Mallard died of a heart attack. The doctors said that “she had died of heart disease—of the joy that kills.” Basically, the doctors said that Mrs. Mallard died because she was filled with a happy feeling. Was she happy that her husband was actually alive, or was she still overcome by the happiness that she experienced knowing that she was finally free? I personally think that she is not happy that her husband is alive because just previously she said “she loved him—sometimes. Often she had not.” She died in the end because she can no longer live under her husband’s ways. She wants to be an individual, and she wants to do the things that she wants to do. In marriage, often you are bound to someone. You make decisions together, you live together, and so on. For once in her life since she first was married, she felt her independence. Once her husband returned, she felt like her independence had been taken away from her. She could no longer live a life of being “tied down.”
I noticed two symbolic things in this story. The first is when Mrs. Mallard went to the open window. This window is symbolic because it is open. It represents her independence now that her husband is dead. She can live the life that she wanted to live. She will no longer be tied down by her husband and her marriage. She can be free. The second symbolic thing in this story are the things that are living in the fifth paragraph (“rain…peddler…one was singing…countless sparrows”). All of these things represent the living and the free to Mrs. Mallard. These things are observed through an open window which means that they are within reach for Mrs. Mallard, however, she still cannot reach them. To be quite honest, I do not really know if Chopin’s story affirms or rejects the notion of individuality that Emerson and Whitman put forth because I had a lot of trouble understanding the last two pieces. Could anybody direct me in the right direction, please?
“The Story of an Hour” reminds me of the movie “Black Swan.” It reminds me of this movie because the main character, Natalie Portman, thinks that she killed her rival, the girl from California (Nina). However, a little later in the movie, Nina knocks on the door and comes in, just like Mr. Mallard, and comes in alive. Natalie Portman was very surprised of this just like Mrs. Mallard was surprised to see her husband alive.
Before I begin with “Self Reliance” and “Song of Myself”, I just wanted to give a fair warning that I struggled a lot with these two pieces.
It is evident from Emerson’s, “Self-Reliance,” that he supports non-conformity and individuality. In “Self-Reliance,” Emerson tells us how we must make our own decisions and use our own brain and “learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within.” We must act independently, and “trust thyself.” Others will be put into our lives to doubt us and what we say, but we must have the will power to stand by our thoughts and say what we are thinking. Emerson also talks about youth, and how “youth has no force.” The youth’s “voice is sufficiently clear and emphatic.” What I think Emerson is saying when he mentions youth is how youth say what they want. They do not care about other people’s opinions; Emerson says, “a boy is…independent, irresponsible.” He then talks about how Emerson himself is a nonconformist. He does not donate to the poor like everyone else because “Are they my poor?” He thinks that people perform all these “good actions as some piece of courage or charity”, and he believes that this is not right. These virtues that they perform “are penances” and people perform them only because that is what is expected of society. Emerson thinks why not be your own person and make your own decisions. He then goes on to talk about consistency. He says that “the other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word.” We often worry too much about what others think of us and what we have done in the past. He advises us to “Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again” meaning say what you feel. The ultimate judge at the end of the day is oneself; Do not conform to others. At this point in Emerson’s piece, I started to get lost, but I will to my best to explain my interpretation. Emerson talks about how we read a “costly book” or notice the “statue” in society around us, and we feel lesser from these accomplishments of others. We must not feel lesser than these material objects because we are worth so much more. He then talks about how “our reading is mendicant and sycophantic.” We read of all these successful made up men and compare ourselves to them. This only hurts our self worth. In the end, Emerson talks about four things: religion, self-culture and travelling, “intellectual action”, and society. He speaks of religion and prayer. He says that “Prayer that craves a particular commodity-anything less than all good-is vicious…and…prayer as a means to effect a private end Is meanness and theft.” In the second topic, self-culture, he talks about travelling. Most Americans travel because it “retains its fascination for all educated Americans.” However, travelling can be bad because some people may travel “with the hope of finding somewhat greater than he knows.” In the third topic, “intellectual action”, he speaks of how “our houses are built with foreign taste; our shelves are garnished with foreign ornaments.” I do not really understand what he is saying here, but possibly could he mean if we decorated our independence like we decorated our houses, we would all be independent and different. The fourth topic was society. Emerson says that” all men plume themselves on the improvement of society, and no man improves…Society never advances.”
All in all, I think that Emerson’s message here is to be your own person; do not fear to be different. Do not conform to society. A passage where I saw optimism towards celebrating the individual self was when Emerson talks about children. He says “A boy is…independent, irresponsible.” I believe that Emerson’s message here is that children are free, and I believe this. Children will do what they want and say what they want. They are too young to care what anybody thinks of them, and they will be unique. Another passage where I saw optimism towards celebrating the individual self was when Emerson says “envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide.” Basically, I believe that Emerson is trying to show people how we don’t want to be like everyone. It is like killing your own inner self to be like someone you are not.
In Walt Whitman’s, “Song of Myself,” Walt talks of himself and how he “loaf and invite my soul.” He then goes on to talk about how “houses and rooms are full of perfume.” Every individual has their own specific scent. He is explaining here how each person is unique with their smell which is an example of optimism towards celebrating the individual self because he “breaths the fragrance himself, and know it, and like it.” In the second stanza he talks of his own self and how he is alive. He says, “My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through my lungs;” He feels so alive because he can see, hear, touch, and feel all the beauty around him. In the sixth stanza, a child asks Whitman, “What is the grass?” Whitman is unsure of how to respond because he himself does “not know what it is.” To answer the child though, he comes up with a variety of different answers such as the grass is “a flag of my disposition…the handkerchief of the Lord…the grass itself is a child.” With all these answers that he gives the child, he thinks to himself what the grass is. The grass here is symbolic, but I do not know how or what it stands for. In stanzas fifteen thru seventeen, Whitman talks about all different types of people that he sees including “the bride” who “unrumples her white dress.” This list touches on many different types of people, and I believe this shows the individuality of many different people. Stanza fifteen, the stanza that lists of all different types of people that Whitman sees, is another example of optimism towards celebrating the individual self. Each person is different, and each person will take different steps through life. It is up to them as an individual to decide what path they will take. Hopefully, they will follow their heart and do what they want to do and not conform to society. In Stanza 24, Whitman talks about himself. He uses the word “kosmo” to describe himself. What does this word mean? Does it represent anything? He is “of might Manhattan”, and he is “Turbulent, fleshy and sensual, eating, drinking and breeding;” He has heard many “long dumb voices, voice of…slaves…persons…thieves and dwarfs.” What does he mean by this? Is this part of his past or family history? In Stanza 48, Whitman mentions “that the soul is not more than the body” meaning our body is something very unique. We must respect it and value it. He then talks about God. He mentions that “not God, is greater than one’s self is.” He is not trying to deny God of his powers; he still respects him. He knows that he will “hear and behold God in every object.” He also tells his readers to “be not curious about God.” The last sections almost seem as though he is contradicting what he said, like he does not believe it. He is also bidding farewell by saying, “I stop somewhere, waiting for you.” I notice that in the last section he says, “If you want me again, look for me under your boot-soles.” Is this related to the grass in stanza six? How does this tie together?
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Day 6 Blog
Day 6 Blog
The American Dream
Today’s assigned reading was the play “A Raisin in the Sun.” “A Raisin in the Sun” is a classic play from the 1950’s dealing with the American dream. In this play we deal with an African American family from the southside of Chicago living in poverty. The family, including Mama, Bennie, Ruth, Travis, and Walter, live in an apartment with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom shared by a number of other tenants. The living room contains “weariness,” and contains “couch covers which have themselves finally come to be more important than the upholstery.” This family is struggling, and it is evident because the tension in the house is very high. Walter and his wife Ruth argue often about how she “ain’t got no fifty cents”, money, and how their son sleeps on the couch. Each member of the family excitedly waits for an insurance check that comes that Saturday, even the youngest, Travis who asks him mother, Ruth, “Check coming tomorrow, huh?” Everyone explains to each other what they will do with the $10,000, even though it belongs to Mama. Mama wants a new house; Walter wants to open a liquor store, and Bennie wants to go to medical school. The only reason that the family is getting the check is because their father passed away.
That Saturday, the check comes. Everyone is ecstatic. Mama disappears for a while and returns with news. Mama, well, “she went out and she bought you a house.” She bought a house in the white neighborhood of Clybourne Park. She used only some of the $10,000, and she gave the rest to Walter to split between his sister and him so that they can fulfill their dreams with the money. We find out later on that Walter went and made a bad investment with the money and lost it all. However, in the meantime, everyone is so happy to hear that they will be moving out of the house where they have to clean for roaches all the time, and they all will have much more room. Moving day eventually comes, and a man by the name of Mr. Lindner shows up. He is from their new neighborhood, and he want to advise the Youngers not to move to that neighborhood because they are not welcome (but he says this in a civil manner). He offers them more than they paid for it to move out of the house, but proudly Walter denies this. Right after that, Bobo, one of Walter’s investment partners shows up and says that the other man that they invested with stole their money. Walter is very upset by this because he lost all his money. He goes away for a while, and returns later to tell his family that he asked Mr. Lindner to come back so they can make the deal with him and get money. His family is so mad about this. He has lost his pride. When Mr. Lindner returns, he pulls out the paper, but Walter steps up and says that “Well…we come from people who had a lot of pride... we are very proud people…we have decided to move into our house because my father-my father-he earned it for us brick by brick.” The play ends with the family walking out of their old life and into their new life in their new home.
My interpretation of the end of the play was that even though the family might not have the ideal American dream, they have their American dream. They have each other, and they have the love necessary to help them get through everything. They leave that apartment not knowing what the future holds, but they do know one thing. No matter what happens, they still have their pride. By standing up to Mr. Lindner, it said a lot. It shows how powerful this family really is. They move into this new house with hope. Hope for a better future. If I were to see a sequel to this play, I think that being in their time period in their new house, that it would be a very rough first few years. I believe this because of all the inequality between the races at the time this play was written. Eventually, with time though, I think that the Younger’s situation will get better. In the first years, they would be discriminated against in their house, and their house might even be vandalized. It will be hard for them to find work in the area they live in, so they might have to travel quite a distance in order to work. However, I see all of them having to work in order to keep up the house, even little Travis. How do you think the Younger’s life will be in the next couple of years? Do you think Bennie will go to medical school or go to Africa? Do you think that living in this neighborhood will affect them emotionally?
This play represents the American dream. My definition of the American dream and society’s definition of the American dream are both very different. Society’s American dream is living in a nice house, having lots of money, being well educated, driving nice cars, having the perfect family, going on nice vacations, and so on. All these things have one thing in common. MONEY! Money is ever so present in the American dream. Sure, it would be nice to have a lot of money, but it is not necessary in order to be happy in life. For example, the picture included in the homework assignment of Britney Spears wearing a t-shirt that says, “I am the American dream” sums up what I just said perfectly. She was famous, rich, and everyone loved her. She eventually brought on her own downfall probably due to money. Money can be a powerful thing, but it can also be so harmful. I define the American dream as living a healthy life, being well educated, having a loving family, and being supportive to yourself and others.
After watching the YouTube clip from “The Pursuit of Happyness,” the line “You want something. Go get it. Period,” is not really applicable to the Youngers. Will Smith and the Youngers are both living in two different time periods. Fortunately for Will, it is a lot easier to do things today without getting discriminated. The Youngers had to worry about being discriminated against, as it was evident when they wanted to move into the white neighborhood.” There are many things holding the Youngers back besides their race. They are very poor, and they do not have the money to do all the things that people living the American dream can do. Also, because they are poor, they might not have been able to afford college, which also limits them with job opportunities.
Today, with the economy the way it is now, it puts a lot of people in the Younger’s situation. Money is really tight for some families, and people are limited in many ways. This economy has been a drag and put a lot of people in a slump physically and mentally. They no longer have the will power to be active and take a part to change their future. They too believe that the American dream is far from reach.
Some say that optimism and determination are all that is needed to achieve the American dream, and I say that this is completely false. Sure, this is beneficial to have, but in order to be successful in life, you can’t just sit around wishing for something to happen. You have to be active and do something to make a change. You are in charge of your own destiny.
The American Dream
Today’s assigned reading was the play “A Raisin in the Sun.” “A Raisin in the Sun” is a classic play from the 1950’s dealing with the American dream. In this play we deal with an African American family from the southside of Chicago living in poverty. The family, including Mama, Bennie, Ruth, Travis, and Walter, live in an apartment with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom shared by a number of other tenants. The living room contains “weariness,” and contains “couch covers which have themselves finally come to be more important than the upholstery.” This family is struggling, and it is evident because the tension in the house is very high. Walter and his wife Ruth argue often about how she “ain’t got no fifty cents”, money, and how their son sleeps on the couch. Each member of the family excitedly waits for an insurance check that comes that Saturday, even the youngest, Travis who asks him mother, Ruth, “Check coming tomorrow, huh?” Everyone explains to each other what they will do with the $10,000, even though it belongs to Mama. Mama wants a new house; Walter wants to open a liquor store, and Bennie wants to go to medical school. The only reason that the family is getting the check is because their father passed away.
That Saturday, the check comes. Everyone is ecstatic. Mama disappears for a while and returns with news. Mama, well, “she went out and she bought you a house.” She bought a house in the white neighborhood of Clybourne Park. She used only some of the $10,000, and she gave the rest to Walter to split between his sister and him so that they can fulfill their dreams with the money. We find out later on that Walter went and made a bad investment with the money and lost it all. However, in the meantime, everyone is so happy to hear that they will be moving out of the house where they have to clean for roaches all the time, and they all will have much more room. Moving day eventually comes, and a man by the name of Mr. Lindner shows up. He is from their new neighborhood, and he want to advise the Youngers not to move to that neighborhood because they are not welcome (but he says this in a civil manner). He offers them more than they paid for it to move out of the house, but proudly Walter denies this. Right after that, Bobo, one of Walter’s investment partners shows up and says that the other man that they invested with stole their money. Walter is very upset by this because he lost all his money. He goes away for a while, and returns later to tell his family that he asked Mr. Lindner to come back so they can make the deal with him and get money. His family is so mad about this. He has lost his pride. When Mr. Lindner returns, he pulls out the paper, but Walter steps up and says that “Well…we come from people who had a lot of pride... we are very proud people…we have decided to move into our house because my father-my father-he earned it for us brick by brick.” The play ends with the family walking out of their old life and into their new life in their new home.
My interpretation of the end of the play was that even though the family might not have the ideal American dream, they have their American dream. They have each other, and they have the love necessary to help them get through everything. They leave that apartment not knowing what the future holds, but they do know one thing. No matter what happens, they still have their pride. By standing up to Mr. Lindner, it said a lot. It shows how powerful this family really is. They move into this new house with hope. Hope for a better future. If I were to see a sequel to this play, I think that being in their time period in their new house, that it would be a very rough first few years. I believe this because of all the inequality between the races at the time this play was written. Eventually, with time though, I think that the Younger’s situation will get better. In the first years, they would be discriminated against in their house, and their house might even be vandalized. It will be hard for them to find work in the area they live in, so they might have to travel quite a distance in order to work. However, I see all of them having to work in order to keep up the house, even little Travis. How do you think the Younger’s life will be in the next couple of years? Do you think Bennie will go to medical school or go to Africa? Do you think that living in this neighborhood will affect them emotionally?
This play represents the American dream. My definition of the American dream and society’s definition of the American dream are both very different. Society’s American dream is living in a nice house, having lots of money, being well educated, driving nice cars, having the perfect family, going on nice vacations, and so on. All these things have one thing in common. MONEY! Money is ever so present in the American dream. Sure, it would be nice to have a lot of money, but it is not necessary in order to be happy in life. For example, the picture included in the homework assignment of Britney Spears wearing a t-shirt that says, “I am the American dream” sums up what I just said perfectly. She was famous, rich, and everyone loved her. She eventually brought on her own downfall probably due to money. Money can be a powerful thing, but it can also be so harmful. I define the American dream as living a healthy life, being well educated, having a loving family, and being supportive to yourself and others.
After watching the YouTube clip from “The Pursuit of Happyness,” the line “You want something. Go get it. Period,” is not really applicable to the Youngers. Will Smith and the Youngers are both living in two different time periods. Fortunately for Will, it is a lot easier to do things today without getting discriminated. The Youngers had to worry about being discriminated against, as it was evident when they wanted to move into the white neighborhood.” There are many things holding the Youngers back besides their race. They are very poor, and they do not have the money to do all the things that people living the American dream can do. Also, because they are poor, they might not have been able to afford college, which also limits them with job opportunities.
Today, with the economy the way it is now, it puts a lot of people in the Younger’s situation. Money is really tight for some families, and people are limited in many ways. This economy has been a drag and put a lot of people in a slump physically and mentally. They no longer have the will power to be active and take a part to change their future. They too believe that the American dream is far from reach.
Some say that optimism and determination are all that is needed to achieve the American dream, and I say that this is completely false. Sure, this is beneficial to have, but in order to be successful in life, you can’t just sit around wishing for something to happen. You have to be active and do something to make a change. You are in charge of your own destiny.
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