blog 9 option 1

First off, I have found that I have a hard time with analyzing pretty much any piece of literature. It just isn’t my cup of tea; I find it difficult so bear with me. Also sorry for the late post, half the outlets in my house went out last night and they shut off my router so I had no Internet until this morning.

Anyways, I did enjoy the two poems by William Blake, “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” both question the creator, but in different yet similar ways. In one it is happy and bright, the other poem seems aggressive and more dark and heavy.

In “The Lamb” it seems more happy and bright, the author uses happier sounding words to describe the creation of the lamb. “Gave thee clothing of delight/Softest clothing wooly bright”(“The Lamb” 5-6). The lamb is soft and wooly, and it isn’t to be feared. The creator creates this kind, mellow creature because it has the power to do so. The author shows that the creator does have a good amount of power being able to do this, “Gave thee life”(“The Lamb” 3). The creator gave the life to the lamb, so the create has an immense amount of power. The lamb can also be seen as weak though, but as we see in “The Tyger” the tiger is powerful and feared.

In “The Tyger” Blake also shows the same power from the creator. “What immortal hand or eye/Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”(“The Tyger” 3-4). The creator has to be powerful to be able to create this powerful, feared and respected beast the tiger is. The poem seems a bit heavier with the use of words like “fearful” and also “burning bright” as apposed to the soft words used in “The Lamb.”

What I noticed is even though they are both written by William Blake, it also seems the narrator of the poems might be the same person; In “The Tyger” it makes a referral to the lamb, “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”(“The Tyger” 20). There are also similar ways the author uses the word thee; he uses if often in both poems, so maybe it is because it is supposed to be the same person talking. 

Blog 8

I found myself draw to the poem “Here a Pretty Baby Lies.” I think I found this poem interesting because these four simple lines have a lot of meaning. The fact the writer can go from making you think of a sleeping baby, to realizing the baby is actually dead. He changes your whole perspective on this poem with the last line of the poem, “Th’easy earth that covers her” (Herrick). This line shows the baby is in fact dead and not asleep in a crib, the writer just chooses these lines perfectly. I didn’t, however, care too much for Randall Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”. I am not sure why, I just couldn’t find myself to grab a hold of it, and I had a hard time understanding it fully. It just didn’t catch my attention, the wording or maybe the subject of it. I just couldn’t find myself too interested in it. Both these poems have no rhyme scheme, with when I always thought of poetry I thought it was a must to have rhyming lines, but both poets do not use one. They just write deep poems and put themselves into their work. 

Fences Option 3

In August Wilson’s Fences, we are introduced to a low class Negro family in the 1950s. The story shows the relationships between Troy and his sons Cory and Lyons, also about Troy’s relationship with his own father. I feel Bono’s story just kind of sets Troy off to talk about his father, which it seems he doesn’t like doing at all. It is almost as if he has built a wall to block those memories.

 Troy tells the story about his father, he mentions that his father stayed with them to raise him instead of running off, but even though he stayed to support them he wasn’t very nice. “He stayed right there with his family. But he was just as evil as he could be” (1.4.109).  He remembers his dad beating him with leather straps and that’s when he made the decision the fight back, “I picked up the same reins that he used on me. I picked up them reins and commenced to whupping on him” (1.4.109). This made Troy the hard man he is in the play. At 14 years of age he was on his own, to fend for himself causing him to grow up quickly and cold.

He has different attitudes to his two sons. Lyons get better attitude from him. Even though Troy knows Lyons only comes to borrow money he treats him a little better than Cory. “I’ll be damned! I’ll die and go to hell and play blackjack with the devil before I give you ten dollars” (1.1.113). This is Troy’s response to Lyons’ request for ten dollars, even though Troy says this he eventually lets Lyons the take the money. They have more easygoing conversations throughout the play.

Now with Cory it seems like Troy is always criticizing or bossing him around. Telling him to do this or do that instead of being a father figure to him. Even though it seems like Troy just want Cory to be different from how he turned out he is actually holding him back, making Cory more like himself.

In act 2.4 Cory and Troy had been not Seeing Eye to eye ever since Troy messed up Cory’s chance at being recruited by a College. The altercation starts with Cory trying to pass over Troy. They finally start yelling at each other. “I ain’t got to say excuse me to you. You don’t count around here no more” (2.4.66). This makes Troy furious and he goes off on Cory. Cory just tells Troy he is nothing more than an old man, meaning that he didn’t do anything in life; he is just like any old man in the world. This leads to an exchange of more words and eventually the two of them getting into a physical altercation, and Cory leaving the house for good. Even though they do not get along, Troy never beats on Cory like his father did to him. Even when he had the chance and reason like right after the physical fight when he wins control of the bat. “Troy ultimately is the stronger and takes the bat from Cory and stands over him ready to swing. He stops himself” (2.4.95-96). Troy’s father would have beaten him but Troy doesn’t want to be his father and for that he is somewhat superior.

The play ends at the gathering for Troy’s funeral; Cory has joined the Marine Corps and hadn’t talked to Troy since the Incident. They never resolved they’re problems and Cory feels he needs to get away from the shadow of his father. Rose, Troy’s wife, tells Cory that Troy only wanted what was best for him, and didn’t want Cory to turn out like himself. “Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn’t…. and at the same time he tried to make you into everything he was” (2.5.78). She talks about that he meant to do good and help but was a hardened guy, he caused harm without meaning to. “Sometimes when he touched he bruised” (2.5.78). Even though he just wanted to touch them, or help them he was rough and blunt with them which came off as him being a prick .  

Blog 6 Option 1

In Hamlet it is made out that Claudius is an evil person, inside and out. I honestly feel he is not completely evil. He did murder his brother, which shows he had an evil moment but he does feel bad about it. "My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent"(3.3.41). Claudius is saying how he feels guilty that he killed King Hamlet, however he still is taking in the goods of his actions. He believes no matter how sorry he is and how often he asks for forgiveness he cannot be forgiven since he is still king and married to the queen. "But oh, what form of prayer can serve my turn, 'Forgive me my foul murder'? That cannot be, since I am still possessed of those effects for which I did the murder: my crown, mine own ambition, and my queen"(3.3.53-6).

There is also proof that Claudius is not completely evil. There are times when it seems like Claudius is trying to look out for Hamlet. "He shall with speed to England for the demand of our neglected tribute. Haply the seas and countries different with variable objects shall expel this something-settled matter in his heart"(3.1.169-73). He is planning to send Hamlet away to collect money that is owed to them, hoping that the trip will relieve him of whatever it is that is causing him grief, and to go insane.  Claudius does try to come up with way to get Hamlet to reveal what is bother him but to no avail. So i guess Claudius can be seen as a flawed individual, he has problems and thats what led to the murder of his brother. Because of this one action however, it leads to all the other crazy events that happen in the play.

I think the title "The tragedy of Claudius, King of Denmark" would not work too well for the play. It puts too much emphasis on Claudius. He is not the main character of the play, and the play focuses more on the events and how they affect Hamlet. If the play was re-written properly, it could be based around Claudius and the title could possibly fit.

Hamlet Blog 5.

Hamlet has to deal with many things when he returns to Denmark. First off the death of his father. Everyone has pretty much same reaction to this, they are sad and upset. To also come back to find that his uncle has taken the throne as king of Denmark, which was supposed to be Hamlets position. He did not like the fact that his uncle was now the king and his new step father. "A little more than kin, and less than kind"(1.2.65).

 Hamlet also does not like the way his mother behaves after his father's death. He is upset that she spent no time mourning the death of her husband, instead went straight into marrying his brother. Yet even though he is so mad about this he chooses not to bring it up, "It is not, nor it cannot come to good, But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue"(1.2.58-9).

Hamlet comes to here about the ghost that is going around, the ghost that is said to resemble his father. Hamlet is reluctant to believe this until the ghost appears to and tells him itself that he is his father's spirit, "I am thy father's spirit"(1.5.10). The ghost tells hamlet that not only did he die but was murdered by Hamlet's uncle, "The serpent that did sting thy father's life Now wears his crown"(1.5.38-9). His father's spirit now wants hamlet to murder his uncle as revenge. Hamlet thinks about this because he knows that Murder is a sin against god.

All of these events takes Hamlet's mental stability and pushes it over the edge, it begins to eat away at him. He feels like there is nothing left in the world for him, he thinks about suicide but this is also a sin. The one thing he does see as something to live for is to take revenge on his uncle and avenge his father's death

Blog 4: Love

Love is a confusing thing, in the real world and in the fictitious minds of most writers. What is love? many people perceive it differently, some do not even believe it truly exists. Anton Chekhov and D. H. Lawrence both depict love in their own ways in these two stories.

In "The Lady With the Dog," Dmitri Gurov is a older man is in Yalta where he spots this younger woman walking along the sea-front. So he decides to make her acquaintance, he ends up sitting next to her in the public gardens for dinner. He goes over to pet her dog, maybe as a way to strike up a conversation. He finds himself somewhat smitten with her though, even though he thinks of himself as above women and always has, ".. when they were talked about in his presence, used to call them 'the lower race'"(Chekhov). He is also married, but we learn that he is unhappy with this relationship, by how it is reveal he has had affairs. "He had begun being unfaithful to her long ago- had been unfaithful to her often.."(Chekhov). They begin to spend time together he learns that she too is married, but is also unhappy in her relationship.  "My husband may be a good, honest man man, but he is a flunkey!.... I was twenty when i married him. I have been tormented by curiosity; I wanted something better"(Chekhov).  You can tell as the story goes and they both begin to fall for one another, yet they question how the other thinks of them. Gunrov feels that she only likes him for someone he is not, and she feels he despises her for sleeping with him.  They went thee separate ways at one point but he came back for her. He confessed his love for her, she came to see him in Moscow and even though they have a guilty conscious and feel bad, they know in their hearts if they can get past the feeling an amazing life awaits them both.  I feel this shows that true love has no age limit, or restrictions, when you love someone deeply you will want only them. Gurov is just under forty with three kids but still chooses to leave them and his wife to pursue the one he loves, just as Anna left her husband because she knew she loved Dmitri.

In Lawrence's story "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," Mabel is a young women who is barely able to get by, especially since the death of her mother. Even though she does have siblings she feels disconnected from them. It seems like they control her more than anything else, they do not talk to her they talk at her.

"Does she ask you to go and stop there?' persisted Fred Henry.

"She says I can if I like."

"Well, then, you'd better. Tell her you'll come on Monday." (Lawrence)

The way they speak to her makes it seem like they see her as less than them. Mabel later goes to visit her mother's grave site, she cleans up the site. She got satisfaction from this, "It gave her sincere satisfaction to do this. She felt immediately with the world of her mother"(Lawrence). 

Mabel decides to try to commit suicide by drowning herself in the pond, but is saved by one of her brothers friends, Dr. Fergusson.  He jumps in and pulls her out, and is able to revive her, he takes her to the house and removes the wet clothes and wraps her in a blanket. She finally comes to to find him there, she questions him about what happened, why he saved her and if he was the one who undressed her.  She asks him if he loves her, then hugs his knees and kisses them. "You love me. I know you love me, I know"(Lawrence).  He was confused because he never saw her in that sense, she was his friends sister, he never really looked twice at her. She ask again, and he finally said yes. "The word cost him a painful effort. Not because it wasn't true. But because it was too newly true, the saying seemed to tear open again his newly-torn heart. And he hardly wanted it to be true even now"(Lawrence).  Even though it seems like he doesn't want to love her he feel almost obligated to it seems, like he gives in to the feeling. In the end she says "I feel awful. I feel awful. I feel I'm horrible to you"(Lawrence). To which he replies, "'No, I want you, I want you,' was all he answered blindly, with that terrible intonation which frightened her almost more than her horror lest he should not want her"(Lawrence).

It seems to me almost that Dr. Fergusson isn't one who loves, like the feeling is a whole new experience to him, because it seems like he does love her but regrets the feeling coming about. Also with Mabel being very independent the fact that he saved her almost immediately ignites the response that she loves him, and he loves her. It seems like Lawrence is showing that sometimes you do not know the way you feel about someone until something, or some event brings these feelings out of you.

Blog 3, Irony.

It Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," you can immediately tell that its not going to end well. From the get go you learn Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition, and her husband has just died, at least so we think. Throughout the story it is her grieving over the death of him. they tell her that she needs to come out of the room "-you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the door"(p. 338). however through all this grieving, in the end the irony comes out. she must have been imagining that her husband had died. "Someone was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered…"(p. 338). In the end her  husband is fine the was the one who inevitably passed away from her heart disease, although it almost seems like the shock alone from seeing her "dead" husband might have had a part in her dying. Another ironic thing about her death is that even though the author describes her as young, she still dies. The irony of her husband being alive kind of throws a twist in at the end of the story.

In "The Cask of Amontillado" Edgar Allan Poe uses irony a little bit. It seemed more difficult to follow than that of Chopin's story. But it seems the narrator is friends with Fortunato. The narrator talks of turning back because he is worried about the health of Fortunato, "we will go back; your health is precious,"(p. 526). This is showing almost that the narrator has compassion. But in the end he leaves Fortunato in the tomb to die. The narrator states "In pace requiescat!" (p. 529), this means may he rest in peace. So the irony is that even though it seems the narrator cares for fortunato,  he leaves him for dead. The last bit of irony Poe throws into the story is that Fortunato actually means "fortunate or lucky." 

Blog 2

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

In this story the author uses third person point of few, the dramatic or objective point of few to be more specific. She uses this point of view very well to bring mystery and make the reader ask a lot of questions. The story starts in a small village, all the citizens of that village are gathering at “the square.” In the first few paragraphs the author states some things that already bring up some questions, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example”(p. 140). It makes you wonder what is going on at this gathering that all the little boys gather up stones, or maybe they are just collecting them as little children sometimes do. As the story continues you begin to wonder what the lottery is about. The author tries to deter you and make you think it is a positive thing by the characters talking bad about other villages for stopping the lottery. In reply to one of the other villages giving up the lottery Old man Warner said,

Pack of crazy fools… Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work anymore, live that way for a while…. There’s always been a lottery (p.143).

This kind of makes it difficult for the reader to decide if the lottery is a good thing or not.  At the end of the story it is revealed that the winner of the lottery is to be stoned. Stoned by family, friends, children, elders, everyone that is present at the lottery can take part. A huge twist and the end of this story shows how using a certain point of view and easily mislead a reader. Since using the objective point of view it causes more tension, and easier to mislead because the narrator only knows what is said and what happens, nothing more. As opposed to the omniscient point of view, in which the narrator knows EVERYTHING about EVERYONE, thus the narrator would know what the lottery is making the tension less, and making the twist and the end less dramatic. 

Miss Phoenix Jackson(blog 1 Edited name on 8/28)

In Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" the main and pretty much only character in the story is Phoenix Jackson. Phoenix is described by Welty as "very old and small and she walked slowly in the dark pine shadows, moving a little from side to side in her step, with the balanced heaviness and lightness of a pendulum in a grandfather clock" (p. 314). This shows that Phoenix is an elderly woman, by describing how she walks slowly, with a little rock side to side shows that she can possibly walk with a cane. Welty also describes the cane, "She carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella, and with this kept tapping the frozen earth in front of her" (p. 314). Since her cane is made from an umbrella, it shows she is poor, she has no money for a real cane so she uses what is at her disposal. The last thing Welty does to help give some background on Phoenix is she uses the way Phoenix talks to give insight. "'Ghost,' she said sharply, 'who be you the ghost of? For i have heard of nary death close by'" (p. 315). Her dialect shows that Phoenix probably is not very educated, and has very basic vocabulary. Welty uses these different techniques to help the reader learn about the Phoenix Jackson.