Frankenstein: deaths all around

If one were wanting the smallest morsel of a happy-ish ending, he would be far from satisfied with the ending of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  By the end of this novel, I didn't know who to feel more sorrow for between Victor and the creature.  Victor had literally lost every person he had ever loved, but the creature had never been given the opportunity to love.  Victor loathed the fact that he had brought the monster into existence, but the creature loathed every moment in which he existed.  In a way, they both commited suicide.  Whether he was aware or not, Victor began killing himself the moment he started creating the creature, and the creature vowed to burn himself alive to rid the world of his presence.  They both ended up being miserable wretches.  "How strange is that clinging love we have of life even in the excess of misery" (Shelley, 126).  I don't know how either of these characters managed to live as long as they did.  They absolutely hated their lives, and yet that just made them cling to it all the more.  Their enemy was their reason to keep living, and once one was dead, the other (creature) ceased to have any will to live.

Frankenstein: Victor's dilemma

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is making me have very mixed emotions about our Mr. Victor.  At this particular point in the novel, I wanted to both smack some sense into him, and grudgingly agree with him.  He was aware of the strength and wrath of the creature.  Why on earth would he be so stupid then?!  "I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise..and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged.  The wretch saw me destroy the creature...and with a howl of...revenge, withdrew" (Shelley, 121).  Can't see anything possibly going wrong with THAT series of events.  I understand that Victor is caught between two unknowns.  If he were to complete the female creature, there would be no telling what she would do.  He could very well unleash a heartless monster on all of humanity, or a peaceful mate for the male creature to hide with.  If he went back on his word, there was no telling what the creature would do.  Why wouldn't he take the chance of making another creature?  He had to have known by then that the creature's form of taking revenge on him was by killing one of Victor's loved ones.  How could Victor think that he or anyone he ever cared about could ever be safe again after enraging a very strong, very clever, and very dangerous monster such as the one he had created?

Frankenstein: destroyed tree

I definitely called a foreshadowing incident from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and was spot-on...no big deal.  After a violent storm in Victor's childhood, when the family went to look at a lightening-struck tree, he said that "it was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood.  I never beheld anything to utterly destroyed" (Shelley, 22).  On first reading this, I wondered if the tree were symbolic of how Victor would later turn out in the story; "utterly destroyed".  As it were, not only did Victor become reduced to a fraction of the man he had been, but he also made a reference once more to a lightening-struck tree.  "But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul..." (Shelley, 116).  Victor, like the tree from his childhood, has been destroyed.  There is no hope of him being returned to his former state.  His very core has been struck.  He seems to me to just be a walking corpse, with no zeal or desire left for life.  I think Victor is perfectly aware that he will never be the same, but, at this point, he must go through the motions of living in order to carry out his promise to the creature.

Frankenstein: religioug allusions

All throughout Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, religious allusions are made by the creature.  His comparison of himself to both Adam and Satan evoke much sympathy for him from the reader.  Like a newborn child, he did not CHOOSE to be brought into the world; it had been the choice of others.  He had been created, carefully and painstakingly.  I cannot imagine the depths of loneliness that the creature must have felt, nor the sense of abandonment.  He knew that he was utterly alone; there was no other like him and no other species could bear his presence.  I think the creature was deeply hurt that, while God made Adam to be happy and perfect, his creator had made him to be a hideous monster.  "Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition..." (Shelley, 92).  In the beginning stages of the creature's existence, he was more like Adam in character.  He was peaceful, lived a simple life, and didn't want to hurt anyone.  However, as the novel progresses, it becomes more and more evident that the creature's character and temperament morphs into that of Satan.  He becomes evil; hardened and hateful towards all that is good and innocent.  The more he loses hope in humanity, the more he seeks to destroy it.

Frankenstein: DeLacey

First off, I want to start this blog by commenting on the unbelievable use of description and imagery in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  "In the meanwhile also the black ground was covered with herbage, and the green banks interspersed with innumerable flowers, sweet to the scent and the eyes, stars of pale radiance among the moonlight woods..." (Shelley, 83).  Secondly, the role of the DeLacey family is critical in this novel.  The creature learns details about humanity that would have been impossible to comprehend had he not been observing this family.  I noticed that, at the beginning, the family's actions led him to love the human race and seek their acceptance and companionship.  They were his first real example of what love was.  He saw the way they took in sweet Saffie as though she were their own.  She was not a part of there family, she was an outsider, she was different.  In his mind, the creature was just the same; why wouldn't they accept and love him in the near future as well?  The family inadvertently taught the creature how to speak, how to communicate, lessons on the history of mankind, etc.  However, the DeLacey family also educated the creature on the evils of man.  I couldn't help but ache for and with the creature when, at long last, he had worked up the courage to make contact with the father, only to be attacked and rejected by the rest of the family.  The creature could have remained in peaceful, blissful ignorance of life's evils had it not been for the DeLacey family.

Frankenstein: Creature

Mary Shelley dedicates several of the first few chapters of Frankenstein to giving details about the creature.  I was surprised at the fact that, while only being two years old, the creature was unbelievably eloquent in the English language.  He has clearly learned a great deal in his first years of living, and he is learning how to read and sympathize with the emotions of humans by observing a family from a back shed.  The creature, based on his inner thoughts and actions, is not an evil, murderous being, but a gentle and caring one.  "I saw no cause for their unhappiness; but I was deeply affected by it" (Shelley, 77).  The creature, saddened by the sufferings he witnessed of this family, decided to help them as much as he could.  He doesn't want to be seen, however, for obvious reasons.  I am finding it harder and harder to believe that this creature was William's murderer.  He is not a cold-hearted monster.  He would have had no reason in killing the boy, and it would only have made him feel deep remorse and guilt for his actions.  A creature who goes out of his way to secretly support an impoverished family would not savagely strangle a child.  But, if the creature did not kill William, who did?

Frankenstein: death

Mary Shelley, even at the young age when she wrote this novel, shows a firm grasp in Frankenstein on the concept of death.  At the news of William's death, Henry tries to console Victor in saying, "He can no longer be a subject for pity; we must reserve that for his miserable survivors" (Shelley, 48).  This line struck me, because it is something that I have always thought.  Once someone had died, our worry or pity for them is useless.  If they have made it into heaven, they have nothing to worry about or any reason for us to pity them.  When we lose a loved one, we mourn not for them, but for ourselves.  We grieve because they have left us, because we must go on living without their presence.  Henry insists that Victor should not feel bad for William, but should focus his attentions on comforting the members of his family who were still living.  It seems to me that Shelley had strong faith and beliefs based on the last words of Justine.  She focused on the fact that God would carry her through her hardships, and that she would soon be reunited with William.  She often mentions prayers, guardian angels, and destiny as well, all religious references.

Frankenstein: foreshadow

Throughout all of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, she consistently uses foreshadowing as a literary tool.  She makes the reader want to press on in the story with the constant hints she gives of what is to come.  She has the characters make references, or look in retrospect, on an event which has not yet been discussed.  "I prophesied truly, and failed only in one single circumstance, that in all the misery I imagined...I did not conceive the hundredth part of the anguish I was destined to endure" (Shelley, 49).  Victor makes this remark after he was told of his brother's murder.  This excerpt from the story made me even more curious about what is going to happen.  Victor had just been told that his young brother had been killed.  He knew that his family was in mourning and was suffering greatly.  And yet, despite this, he says he had no idea at the time what pain and suffering was to come his way.  What more could he endure?  What, besides the murder of his sibling, could make him feel even more miserable?  He also says that William and Justine were "the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts" (Shelley, 60).  Who else will be killed by the end of this story?

Frankenstein: mother

Victor Frankenstein's mother, Caroline, plays a key role in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  Because one of my biggest goals in life is to be the best mother possible, I immediately grew attached to and admired Victor's mother.  So many characters throughout this first part of the story seem to be in complete awe of Caroline Frankenstein.  She was a mother to all, she took anyone in and loved them unconditionally.  She rescued Elizabeth from a poor family, Justine from an abusive mother, and loved her own children dearly.  She inspired admiration from everyone she took under her wing.  Elizabeth stated that Justine saw Caroline as "the model of all excellence and endeavored to imitate her phraseology and manners, so that even now she often reminds me of her" (Shelley, 41). 
The events of Caroline's life and death contributed to Victor's fate in regards to his creation.  He had been told how much his mother had suffered while taking care of her dying father til the day of his departure from this world.  He witnessed the anguish she had felt as she attended to Elizabeth while she was suffering from smallpox.  Victor was also deeply affected by the grief he and his family went through after the death of his mother.  I believe his obsession with giving life to a dead object originated from these events.  He never wanted himself or his loved ones to suffer from the loss of a loved one again, so he strove to develop a way to eliminate the possibility of death.

Frankenstein: friendships

It becomes clear early on that relationships, both with friends and with family, is an important aspect in the lives of the characters in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  Both Walton and Victor desire a close friendship.  In Walton's letters to his sister, he mentions how lonely he felt aboard his ship.  "I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate in my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavor to sustain me in dejection: (Shelley, 4).  Because of this loneliness, it seems natural that Walton became so quickly attached to Victor when they rescued him from the ice.  After further reading, though, I found that the two men were similar in so many ways; they share numerous characteristics. 
Both men are unbelievably ambitious.  They, at one point in their lives, desired to do something seemingly impossible, something that had never been done before.  Walton was trying to reach the icy north pole for the first time to discover the workings of magnets and compasses.  Victor had had a dream to put life into an inanimate or dead object.  Both men are very close familial ties.  However, for both men, the more/longer they pursued their goal, the more they lost connection with their families.  The fact that the two men were so similar gave Victor the reassurance to confide his story in Walton, so that we may learn the story as well.

Bartleby the Scrivener

I can honestly say that I have no idea what the point was of Herman Melville's short story Bartleby the Scrivener.  It could have been told in one sentence: "There once was an annoyingly stubborn and useless employee, and then he died." 
I will take the opportunity to discuss my favorite character. The Lawyer, also the narrator, seems to be a decent old man.  His little nicknames for all of his employees show how much notice he takes of each of them.  He took care to get to know each of his employees.  He knew their temperaments, their habits, their personalities, etc.  He seemed to want a pleasant relationship/rapport with the workers of his firm.  He is very observant, mild-mannered gentleman.  However, I think one of his flaws was the fact that he always assumed/expected that people would abide by his orders without question.  Bartleby startled him so much because he (the Lawyer) has a "natural expectancy of instant compliance" (Melville, 649).  Maybe the theme of this story is that, every once in a while, life is going to throw an odd-ball of a person at us just to see how we handle him.

Miss Brill

Katherine Mansfield's short story Miss Brill literally made my heart hurt with its ending.  For one perfect Sunday afternoon, sweet old Miss Brill felt important, excited, happy to be alive.  "No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn't been there; she was part of the performance after all" (Mansfield, 185).  She felt needed, as though she were a part of something.  I was disgusted with the young couple who came up next to her.  They spoke of her as though she were a mangy animal; they never bothered to consider that she might be able to hear them.  After being lifted by Miss Brill's previously buoyant spirits, I felt just as crushed as she was when she realized what people really thought when they saw her.  She was an annoyance, a burden, a "stupid old thing".  She was absolutely devastated.  I found it cruelly ironic that, while she took the time and care to observe others and try to learn their stories so she could sympathize with them, the young couple who made the degrading comments had never spoken to her in their lives.  They did not know how dearly she loved her furs, how proud of them she was, how much she adored everyone she saw.  They superficially judged her, bringing an old woman to tears.

Much Madness is divinest Sense

I love Emily Dickenson's poem Much Madness is divinest Sense.  She stuffs so much underlying meaning and messages into just eight short lines.  The whole poem is one big paradox.  One would expect madness to be frowned upon, but Dickenson states that it is "divinest sense...to a discerning eye" (Dickenson, 830).  In her opinion, "madness" is not equivalent to being psychotic or crazy.  "Madness", as portrayed in this poem, is merely having a sense of individualism, and the ability to question the norm and authority.  Emily looks down upon sanity in this poem.  Sanity is what the majority of human kind possess; it does not inspire individualism, but conformity.  Emily urges people to be rebellious, to embrace themselves as they are, and not what society wants them to be.  Those who have much sense are "handled with a chain" (Dickenson, 830).  They have no freedom because they allow others to set their limitations.

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

One of the things I noticed in Emily Dickenson's I felt a Funeral, in my Brain was that she used each quatrain to represent a different aspect of a funeral.  The first stanza, with its "Mourners to and fro kept treading" (Dickenson, 776), is clearly about the showing of a funeral.  The following section talks about the actual funeral service, as though in a church.  The casket is being moved in the third quatrain.  Church bells are heard at the casket's departure in the forth, and it is lowered into the ground in the last.  It was clear, however, that this poem was not about a literal funeral.  Dickenson uses only auditory imagery in this poem, with not a single reference to sight.  If this person, who is clearly in the casket, can hear, interpret, and understand everything that is occurring on the outside, then he surely can not be dead!  It seems to me that something traumatic has happened to the narrator of this poem.  She speaks of the funeral being IN her brain.  Perhaps she lost a piece of her innocence, or is deeply disturbed by a newly discovered truth?  It could also be that the speaker may have come to terms with the fact that she is mad and can no longer control her brain.

APO 96225

After reading Larry Rottmann's poem, APO 96225, I immediately thought of the phrase "be careful what you wish for".  The soldier's mother begged and begged for him to tell her what exactly war was like for him.  However, when he finally did respond with "Today I killed a man.  Yesterday, I helped drop a napalm on women and children" (Rottmann, 846), his father was disgusted with him and his mother couldn't stand to write back to him.  Maybe his parents felt obligated to ask him to confide in them, even while they were nervously hoping he wouldn't.  I noticed a lot of situational irony in this poem.  One would assume that, when a son is off at war, the PARENTS would be the ones trying to find the silver lining and protect HIS feelings.  That is not the case in APO 96225.  It is the son, who is undoubtedly already going through physically and emotionally traumatic situations, who is comforting his parents, and trying to be positive.  He was trying to shield his parents from the cruel world of war in which he was engulfed.  I think the poem represents the fact that war cannot be put into words.  The things a soldier goes through everyday can not be accurately described to others.  The son understated his situation to try and keep his family from worrying about him, and then got scolded for opening up a little bit about his life at war.

Death, be not proud

I found that religious implications were very prevalent in John Donne's Death, be not proud.  This was by far my favorite poem from this unit.  I loved how it was so condescending towards death, almost belittling it.  The speaker makes death seem like a pompous fool, not something worth fearing.  He insists that death is a cheater, not a victor.
"One short sleep passed, we wake eternally, and death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die" (Donne, 972).  Death thinks it has won because it steals our earthly life.  But it is just the opposite.  Death allows us to live forever, because of Christ's sacrifice.  Our Savior has already beaten death; the battle is already won.  Death has no reason to be "proud" of itself.  Death can not take our lives, because death unwillingly allows us to have eternal life.

A Rose for Emily

I thought that the personification of the house in William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily described Emily herself as well.  The house was described as being the "only...house left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps -- an eyesore among eyesores" (Faulkner, 281).  Miss Emily was the epitome of stubbornness...and denial...and insanity.  She refused to accept or believe in any change throughout the entirety of the short story.  After her father died, she denied for days that he had, indeed, passed away.  Even when she admitted to his death, she refused to allow his body to be removed from the house.  Emily was in denial that anything could change.  She knowingly insisted that she did NOT need to pay her taxes, because the man in charge of the town (who had been dead for years) informed her that she was exempt from paying them.  Emily refused even the simplest of things, such as accepting a mailbox, allowing numbers to be put onto her house, or receiving any address at all!  The fact that she held onto Homer's body for forty-plus years shows how unreceptive she was of any change whatsoever.

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

I always like rhyming poems better than pros, so I can appreciate the rhyming scheme of Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.  The entire poem, is dripping with desperation.  It quickly becomes clear that the speaker is begging a loved one NOT to die, to fight and resist death.  "Rage, rage against the dying of the light...Do not go gentle into that good night" (Thomas, 968).  The "dying of the light" is a metaphor for the ending of a life.  That "good night" stands for death itself.

It is later revealed that the poem, is being said by a child to his dying father.  The speaker admits that he knows death is the best thing for his father.  However, he can not bear to let him go.  The speaker's relationship with his father must have been unbelievably strong.  The pain of the son can be felt through the words of this poem.

Crossing the Bar

Alfred, Lord Tennyson uses related symbols throughout his entire poem Crossing the Bar.  He compares everything to aspects of the ocean or sailing, and exhibits a beautiful, poetic viewpoint of death.  He compares going out to sea to dying.  The speaker implores his loved ones not to grieve for him after his passing.  The tone of the poem is very peaceful; insisting that the speaker would be merely going home at last.
I think the "bar" is just the division between either life and death, or death and entering heaven.  Is the "bar" purgatory?  Tennyson uses a pilot to symbolize God.  "I hope to see my Pilot face to face..." (Tennyson, 886).  The fact that he capitalized "Pilot" in that line is an indication that he is indeed speaking of a higher power.  The speaker is hopeful that he will meet his maker after his inevitable death.

The Lottery

I was fairly disturbed after reading Shirley Jackson's The Lottery.  When I initially saw the title, I assumed it would be in relation to money.  I made a prediction early on that, due to the small size and possible poverty of the village, that whoever won the lottery would be killed for the money.  It didn't take long for me to realize that this was not a normal lottery for prize money.  "They grinned at one another humorlessly and nervously" (Jackson, 267).  Why would everyone be so nervous if the only thing they had to lose was not winning the cash?
I was so disgusted when I discovered what the lottery really was about.  Not only was it a wide-spread tradition to stone an individual to death, but members of the story's village were harshly criticizing surrounding towns for giving up on the tradition.  How can such a barbaric event be a tradition for so many years?  Everyone in the village was numb to what was taking place!  Young boys were collecting smooth rocks for the stoning as though it were a game or competition.  Neighbor murdered neighbor; everyone just wanted the process to be over with as soon as possible so regular daily life could be continued.  It reminded me so much of the Hunger Games!  It was as though once the victim was selected, he or she lost her human dignity; everyone saw him or her as an object that needed to be disposed of.

characterization

Tennessee Williams does an thorough job of characterizing everyone in The Glass Menagerie.  Each description of a character is dripping with information about his or her personality.  I felt that Amanda's character was the most thoroughly characterized throughout the play.
Amanda is portrayed as a rather over-bearing old mother.  Williams constantly shows how, due to her nagging, Amanda is almost always at odds with her son.  It is made obvious to the reader that Amanda is nostalgic and very proud of her past; she was popular, beautiful, and had dozens of young men rallying for her attention.  The abandonment of her husband surely left her with many insecurities, so Amanda makes up for that by boasting of her past to make her feel important again.  Williams shows a softer, more genuine side to Amanda as well.  Once one overlooks her apparent superficiality, it becomes clear that she loves her children with all her heart.  "I wished for...success and happiness for my precious children" (Williams, 1256).  In reality, all of Amanda's nagging, fuss, and worry, are out of love for her children.  She wants them to reach their full potentials, and to just be happy.  That's all any mother can ask for her children.

glass symbolism

In The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams makes the symbolism between Laura and her glass very clear from the very beginning.  "She is like a piece of her own glass collection, too exquisitely fragile to move from the shelf" (Williams, 1234).  For me, the glass figurines symbolized three things: limits, fragility, and breaking out of one's shell.
In the time of this play, women had two options if they were to survive: get married, or get a job.  A woman could not usually travel and escape her life like Tom wants to.  I think the glass figurines represent, in a way, Laura's limits as a female of that time.  I noticed that whenever it was suggested that Laura either go back to school, get a job, find a husband, etc, she would consider the prospect initially, but then turn to her glass.  It was as if the glass reminded her, WARNED her, that she shouldn't get her hopes up too high.  They urged her to stay where she was, not to try and push the limits on what an acceptable woman could do.
Clearly the glass collection is symbolic of how fragile Laura is, both physically and psychologically.  She shattered inside just as much as her ornaments did when Tom accidentally broke some!  However, I think they also stood for breaking out of one's shell.  When the horn of the unicorn broke off when Laura and Jim were dancing, she was not upset, but instead said it was a good thing.  She stated that, now, that figurine felt no different from the other horses of her collection.  Jim made Laura feel so comfortable, and so confident in herself for the first time, that, for a moment, she felt no different from anyone else.

impact of father

While the father was never present in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, he affects nearly everyone in the play.  In this blog, I will focus on his affect on Amanda and Tom.
Amanda is clearly terrified that Tom will end up like his father.  The fact that Tom so desperately wants to travel scares her, because her husband was also "in love with" long distances.  She not only fears that Tom will grow to emulate his father, but also that Laura will marry someone like him.  The fact that their father had been a drinker clearly made Amanda paranoid about alcohol.  "The last thing I want for my daughter's a boy who drinks" (Williams, 1258)!  Because of her husband's abandonment, Amanda is slightly self-conscious as well.  I think she is always boasting about her past popularity with men to try and reassure herself that her husband hadn't left because of something SHE lacked.
Tom seemed to have mixed feelings about his father.  Bitterness is obviously one of them.  His dad had not only abandoned his family, but also left Tom to have sole responsibility for providing for the family financially.  Tom in also envious of his father, because he had so easily been able to escape the life that Tom was now stuck in.

external conflicts

Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie contains just as many external conflicts as it does internal ones.  Most of the external conflicts occurred between two characters.

~ Amanda and Tom:  These two ALWAYS seem to be arguing about something!  Amanda thinks Tom is a selfish young man with misguided ambitions.  Tom insists that his mother is a nagging, overbearing old woman with whom he will never see eye to eye.  It seemed they were either not speaking, or screaming at each other.

~Amanda and Laura:  Their relationship reached its peak of conflict when Amanda discovered that Laura had dropped out of school.  She then comes to the conclusion that their only chance for survival would be for Laura to find a husband, because "girls that aren't cut out for business careers usually wind up married to some nice man" (Williams, 1244).  Laura was under intense pressure, not only from herself and her own insecurities, but from her mother's expectations as well.

~Laura and Tom:  The only noticeable external conflict between Laura and Tom was when Tom, in a fit of rage, broke several of Laura's precious glass figurines.  She was devastated, and it was obvious that Tom felt great remorse for his part in the accident.

internal conflicts

Each of Tennessee Williams' characters in his play, The Glass Menagerie, are heavily burdened with internal conflicts. 
Amanda is incurably stuck in the past.  "One Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain -- your mother received -- seventeen -- gentlemen callers" (Williams, 1238)!  Throughout the entire play, Amanda references her southern past.  I think she is bitter/insulted by the fact that, while every man in Blue Mountain desired her affection, the man she chose to give it to ended up abandoning her.  She is eaten up from the inside out that her husband so easily threw her love and their children back in her face, not wanting any of it.
Tom reminded me of Walter Younger from A Raisin in the Sun.  He loathed everything about his life.  He feels as though no one understands him, especially his mother.  According to Tom, he'd "rather somebody picked up a crowbar and beat out [his] brains" (Williams, 1247) than continue working in the warehouse.  He feels trapped between wanting to flee his current captivity, and knowing he must stay and support his mother and sister.
Laura, for me, was the most frustrating character to get to know throughout the play.  She is unbelievably self-conscious.  She feels inferior to every other person, and seems scared to hope that someone might someday want to be with her.  She seems to have no motivation to get married or get an education/job.

The Joy of Cooking

When I got done reading Elaine Magarrell's poem The Joy of Cooking, I wasn't really sure what had just happened.  What a gory image!  I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the speaker of this poem isn't very fond of her siblings.  However, as grotesque as the culinary plotting of family organs was, I feel like the particular body parts the speaker chose were symbolic.  The tongue was used to characterize her sister.  The fact that she chose the tongue of all body parts leads me to believe that her sister had a smart mouth, or just often said things the narrator didn't want to hear.  But when she says "it will probably grow back" (Magarrell, handout), it makes it seem as though her sister's tongue can only be subdued for a short period of time before she continues her apparently unpleasant banter.  She says that her brother's heart needs lots of frilly trimmings to "make it interesting at all" (Magarrell, handout).  Is her brother so heartless that he might as well not have a heart at all?  Perhaps, in order to 'eat' his heart, it would need all of those extra seasonings because he has no love of anything in his life.  The narrator seems very bitter towards both of her siblings.  Perhaps she wants one to STOP talking and one to START feeling something within him.

Edward

Edward is a poem that I don't really care for.  I think the author used the repetition of the phrases "Edward, Edward" and "Mother, Mother" to show the apparent intimacy and intensity of the mother-son relationship within the poem.  Edward tried to lie first that he had "killed [his] hawk" (anonymous, 977) and his horse, and that his mother soon called his bluff.  I don't understand why he had killed his father?  I feel like this Edward cares little for anyone but himself.  The biggest indicator of this is the fact that he apparently slaughtered his father at knife-point.  He can't have done it for the riches.  From the rest of the poem, it sounds like he had towers and halls and wealth at his fingertips.  But he wasn't going to stay to take care of these things and take responsibility for his actions.  He was planning on being a coward and sailing away across the sea.  How could he be so callous about his wife and children??  He went so far as to suggest that the world was large enough for them to just beg on the streets and survive.  He was so willing to abandon all that he should have been living to protect.

The Drunkard

In this entry I would like to discuss the differences between the father's reaction and the mother's reaction to their son being drunk.  I was disgusted by the father's behavior throughout the entire short story.  When his son, his very young son, was bent over puking, he barely attempted to comfort him.  He was more worried about getting his fancy funeral suit dirty than the fact that his son was clearly in agony.  He viewed his son and their walk home together as an embarrassment.  I don't think he ever stopped to realize that what he was seeing was a mirror image of himself when HE was intoxicated.  All he could think about was getting his swooning son home before the whole street could get the idea that he was a bad father.  And even in the end, he was only bitter about the fact that Larry had taken all of his beer.
Larry's mother was furious with the father at the fact that he had allowed their boy to become drunk.  However, in the privacy of being alone with Larry, it became obvious that she couldn't have been more grateful that he had done so.  "You brave little man...you were his guardian angel" (O'Connor, 351).  She realized that it was because of her innocent son that her alcoholic husband hadn't come home dangerously intoxicated.

A Worn Path

In Eudora Welty's A Worn Path, she uses a great amount of characterization to give us a clear image of Phoenix.  She mentions right off the bat that the old woman has a difficult time moving, as well as seeing.  Welty litters the short story with implications that Phoenix isn't completely sane in her old age.  She talks to inanimate objects more than she does humans; she argues, agrees, and converses with everything she sees.  While this is a little endearing, it also goes to show the reader that, if not slightly crazy, Phoenix is at the very least a rather lonely woman.  At one point, she thought she saw a little boy handing her cake, "but when she went to take it there was just her own hand in the air" (Welty, 224).  Welty wants us as the readers to fully understand that Phoenix is a little crazy.  However, this characterization of an old, hallucinating, forgetful woman, just contributes all the more to the theme of the story. 
Whether her grandson is dead or alive, it is obvious that Phoenix has unconditional love for him.  She couldn't remember why she was going to town, she couldn't see where she was going, but none of that mattered.  It was instinct: she HAD to get the medicine.  She HAD to take care of her grand baby, even if that meant taking day-long, dangerous journeys in order to get it.

Once Upon a Nightmare

From beginning to end, I was slightly disturbed by Nadine Gordimer's short story Once Upon a Time.  To me, the entire story was constantly dripping with paranoia.  Every action of the parents of the story was to try and protect themselves and their son from dangerous criminals.  "There were many burglaries in the suburb" (Gordimer, 233), and this made everyone uneasy.  It was ironic that, the more preventive measures the families in the area took, the more the crime rate went up.  All of their obnoxious and useless alarms just made enough noise to cover up the sounds of one's house being robbed!
The more Gordimer repeated the phrase that the family was living "happily ever after", the more they clearly were NOT!  They just kept building up more and more walls and security systems around them, until they eventually became prisoners of their own home!  They had taken all the precautions, such as signs, fences, and walls, to warn those on the outside not to harm them.  They never did, however, warn their SON about everything their yard possessed.  They didn't want to ruin his precious fairytale by advising caution about the deadly coils along their fence.  He had never been warned, as the rest of the world had.  He was the one thing the parents had been trying to protect, and he was the one thing that ultimately ended up being taken away from them.

dried up grape: 5

Mama was at odds with her children so often throughout Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun because of the generation gap between them.  Mama just could not wrap her head around Walter and Beneatha's reasonings for the things they did.  She had lived in a simpler time, where families were hard-working and God-fearing.  I could feel how much it broke her heart throughout the play as she realized more and more how far her children had strayed from what they had been taught.  The respect difference of the gap shows when Mama is  passionately arguing with Beneatha about how she speaks of God.  "It don't sound nice for a young girl to say things like that..." (Hansberry, 457).  Mama is constantly arguing with Walter about their financial situation and how one should view and value money.  It really hits Mama how different her world is from her children when Walter makes the claim that money is life.  "Once upon a time freedom used to be life--now it's money.  I gues the world really do change..." (Hansberry, 475).  What I thought was strange though, was that there was an even larger gap in age between Mama and Travis, yet those two got along better than anyone else in the play!  They both had simpler, more innocent minds.

dried up grape: 4

I didn't really care for either of Mama's children.  I found Walter to be condescending and delusional, and Beneatha to be inconsiderate and self-absorbed. 
Walter was a man consumed by his own bitterness and dashed dreams.  I felt like I was reading about a crazy person when Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun described the scene of Walter actually believing for a while that he was a tribal leader in an African jungle.  Only once or twice did he mention the actual death of his father.  All he could think about was how to convince Mama to let him take it all to fulfill HIS dreams.  "Here I am a giant--surrounded by ants!  Ants who can't even understand what it is the giant is talking about" (Hansberry, 484).  He thinks that no one understands him, when he hasn't tried to understand anyone else's ideas as to what to do with the money.  I was disgusted when he betrayed Mama and used all of the money for his failure of an investment, instead of using a portion of it to help pay for his sister's education.
Beneatha is just as crazy in her own way.  She never seemed to be satisfied, always lecturing someone about the way he or she was choosing to live.  She had wasted much needed money on frivalous items such as guitar lessons, horseback riding, etc.  Beneatha overall just made every situation and conversation more dramatic than it needed to be.

dried up grape: 3

I felt that, in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Ruth is the biggest round character.  At the beginning of the play, she is irritable, grumpy, difficult, and overall just unpleasant.  When her husband "reaches for her" on the first morning of the play, "she crosses away" (Hansberry, 438).  She did not give her husband the time of day, and wasn't always very nice to Travis and Beneatha.  When Ruth first discovered that she was pregnant, she is absolutely devastated and "collapses into a fit of heavy sobbing" (Hansberry, 464).  I felt sick to my stomach when it was revealed that she had already made a downpayment to abort her unborn child.  She went through such a transformation though!  Where the prospect of abortion was out of desparation, the promising future with more money and a new home changed Ruth.  She was HAPPY for once.  She started mending her relationship with Walter, and never mentioned anything else about killing her baby.  Ruth went from being willing to murder her child, to having a new, positive and hopeful outlook on life.

dried up grape: 2

My absolute favorite character throughout all of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun was Mama.  She never once lost her temper, even though she had every reason to.  If I'd have lived in that cramped apartment with a delusional son, a self-absorbed daughter, a grumpy pregnant daughter-in-law, and a rowdy grandson, I would surely go crazy.  She was so strong in her faith.  Nothing that her family did or said to her ever made her waiver in her faith, just made her cling to God all the more.  Hansburry uses direct characterization for Mama from the very start.  In the first description of Mama, she mentioned that Mama's "bearing is perhaps most like the noble bearing of the women of the Hereros of Southwest Africa..." (Hansburry, 448).  She shows right away that Mama is a proud, strong woman.  Mama was really the only character who consistently showed love and affection for Travis.  Ruth, Walter, and Beneatha were always teasing him, yelling at him, or telling him to go away so that the adults could talk.  Mama adored her grandson, and made sure he knew it.

dried up grape: 1

The setting in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun greatly impacts the characters and the overall story line of the play.  For Walter Young, he was constantly surrounded by shame.  Everywhere he looked in their apartment, whether it be at the shabby walls, the trails of cockroaches, or his son's temporary bed on the couch, he only saw his failures.  In his mind, he felt he had failed to provide a decent life for his family.  Even the little objects of the house, such as food, would set Walter into a rage.  "DAMN MY EGGS -- DAMN ALL THE EGGS THAT EVER WAS" (Hansberry, 443)!  I think the eggs were symbolic to Walter.  The measly food symbolized, in Walter's mind, all of his failures.  He fantasized about living in a mansion with servants and extravagant food for every meal.  But, when his wife served him eggs in their dump of a dwelling, he exploded in frustration.
To Mama, the house represented all that she and her husband had worked for.  She was so attached to the apartment that she didn't even seem to ever be bothered by how run-down it was.

Interpreter of Maladies

I think Mr. Kapasi was just was taken aback as I was at the lack of familial ties within the Das family.  He made the perfect comparison in say that "Mr. and Mrs. Das behaved like an older brother and sister, not parents" (Lahiri).  Jhumpa Lahiri's short story Interpreter of Maladies is a family conversion condensed into nine pages.  I was more surprised at Mrs. Das' disconnection with the children than her husband's.  Mothers almost always have an unexplainable tie with their offspring, but she acted like it was too much to ask to act like she loved her or even just to take her daughter to the bathroom!  Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das are both in a loveless marriage and crave attention of which they are deprived by their spouse.  That's why they cling so quickly to each other.  He likes that she's interested in him, and she is enchanted at the notion that he might be able to help rid her of the burden of the knowledge of her past.  Mrs. Das made a mistake though; she forgot that, in both physical and spiritual healing, the method of remedy is not always easy or painless.  She expected Kapasi to give her a quick-fix answer or advice as to what she should do regarding her past affair.  I found it very symbolic that his number blew out of Mrs. Das' purse when she reached in for a brush for her son.  In that moment, she no longer had any reason for contacting him on their return home.  He had already helped to heal her.  In the moment that she showed genuine love and nurture to her children, she didn't have any use for his interpreting skills anymore.

Everyday Use

Throughout the entirety of Alice Walker's short story Everyday Use, I was further and further disgusted by Dee.  Walker starts off the bat implying that Dee is a spoiled, selfish girl in saying that "'no' is a word the world never learned to say to her" (Walker).  Dee is a self-centered young woman, with no respect for her mother and what she's done for her children.  I was so confused by Dee's actions when she returned to visit her mother and sister.  She was suddenly so interested in her old house's humble, homemade things from which she had so eagerly run away.  All she can think about is herself, and the moment SHE deems something worthy of her desire, it belongs to her.  I found it annoying that she wanted take back with her things such as the churn and the dasher.  These were items that her mother and sister NEEDED and USED.  She knew this, yet still openly stated that she merely wanted them for her own decor.  I thought the whole short story ended in irony.  Dee, who all her life had gotten whatever she desired, but never wanted what she had, was denied the meticulously made quilts she had once scorned.  On the opposite end, Maggie, who had accepted the role of living in her sister's shadow and having nothing "reserved for her", was given the precious family quilts for her own.  

Dream Deferred

Langston Hughes poem Dream Deferred makes use of several literary techniques and strategies.  The poem is settled around the question of "what happens to a dream deferred?" (Hughes).  I noticed that, not only is the majority of the poem composed of similes, but that most of them refer to foods.  It is one of the few poems in this group of literary works which actually has a rhyming scheme, which, in my opinion, makes for a smoother and more flowing read. 
He also uses punctuation to further connect with his audience.  Only one of the seven phrases of the work is a statement; the rest are questions.  I think Hughes uses the many questions to involve the reader, to make us think, and to form our own opinions of what becomes of deferred dreams.  His statement of "Maybe it just sags like a heavy load" (Hughes) seems to be HIS thoughts on the matter.  He doesn't put it as a question like the rest of the poem; he states it as though it is a fact he believes in.  Hughes gives some similes suggesting that a deferred dream is not necessarily a bad thing.  However, I feel that the overall tone of the poem is that a dream lost lays a heavy burden on the heart.

Hazel Tells LaVerne

Machan's diction is extremely informal in her poem Hazel Tells LaVerne.  Her vernacular appears to be African American.  She uses words such as "musta", tryin ta", and improper English like "well i screams".  I noticed that there is no punctuation or capitalization in this poem.  This, combined with the lax usage of diction, makes this poem seem very personal, as though a friend were sitting across from me telling me the story herself.  The poem was kind of a sick twist on the old legend of The Princess and the Frog.  It was the practical version; no woman in her right mind would put her lips to a frog's skin without hesitation.  To me, the poem reminds me of growing up.  When we're young and naive, we believe (or at least WANT to believe) in fairy tales of princes and princesses, magic and mystery.  As we grow older and more mature, though, as Hazel apparently has, we are thrust into the real world.  And the real world has no room for fairy tales.  The poem might also be about how we can sometimes throw away amazing opportunities which present themselves to us, merely because they seem too far-fetched or too good to be true.

Mr. Z

Mr. Z is a poem of a man who was a man ashamed of his background.  From the context of this poem, and the fact that he was "taught early that his mother's skin was the sign of error" (Holman), Mr. Z must have been at least partially African American.  Who raised him to believe that who he was was an 'error'?  He lived an exhausting life trying to disprove every stereotype that might connect him to his true race, and the author gives numerous examples of this.  I love how Holman used the analogy of a plant when he said Mr. Z was "flourishing without roots."  Mr. Z had no base, no foundation or pride in his up-bringing.  Mr. Z might represent any man or woman who is ashamed by the color of his or her skin.  He can't have died as a "distinguished member of his race" (Holman), because he had never embraced his race to begin with. The author almost seems embarrassed or offended by Mr. Z's denouncement of his ethnic background!  He spoke in matter-of-fact stanzas, giving pure facts about Mr. Z's life.  He hid his disgust of Mr. Z's actions as much as Mr. Z had tried to hide any evidence of his race.

Perrine Poetry

This reading brought up thoughts about poetry that have never crossed my mind.  I noticed that, like our class, few people had the same interpretation of Emily Dickinson's poem.  He gives very convincing evidence supporting the fact that it is truly written about a sunset.  He looks so much deeper into each individual word of a poem or work then I ever have.  I noticed that under the title of this piece, Perrine says "To what extent can teachers demand 'correct' interpretations of poetry?  Are there no incorrect answers?"  This gave me the impression that he would be supporting the fact that different words can mean something separate to any one individual.  However, his elaboration contradicts what I first thought.  I believe he goes on to state that differing interpretations are acceptable, so long as they can be applied and associated with almost every detail of the poem.

I never would have guessed that Melville's poem was about stars and not a marching army!  But, after reading the rest of Perrine's explanation, it all becomes clear.  It's a little unsettling.  It makes me wonder how many other poems and works I've missed the meaning of.  But isn't poetry SUPPOSED to be interpreted differently so that each person can find a way to connect to it?  In reading this and suddenly agreeing with every explanation of Perrine, am I forfeiting my personal opinion and interpretation because someone made me feel like I was wrong?  The overall message I took from this reading is that each word, no matter the kind, has so much power.  Each word has the power to change what the reader thinks the poem is about.  It's shown me that I need to be much more careful and picky in the words and adjectives that I choose if I want to get my point across.

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 170-180

I can't believe no one came to his funeral.  The second he stopped spoiling selfish strangers with parties and fun, no one had any use for him.  Fitzgerald reveals at this point in The Great Gatsby that it had been Tom who'd betrayed Gatsby.  Gatsby was murdered because Tom was too much of a coward to admit the truth to Myrtle's husband.  How can Carraway not be bothered by the fact that Daisy didn't bother to make contact with him at all about Gatsby's death?!  She had loved him, or so she claimed.  I think Carraway sums up Daisy and Tom perfectly at the end of this novel.  "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy---they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made" (Fitzgerald, 179). 

I think Fitzgerald wanted us to get a couple messages out of his novel, and I found a quote for each.

theme 1: "Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead" (Fitzgerald, 172).  We need to show the people we care about how much they mean to us before it is too late.

theme 2: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" (Fitzgerald, 180).  We never move on from our past.  Not completely anyway.  We are forever wanting to either change the past or resurrect it. 

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 157-169

I was struck by the symbolism in this passage of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.  Gatsby was a man of great wealth, but that meant nothing to him because he was so emotionally impoverished.  He had told Carraway earlier that he had never swam in his pool to enjoy it for himself.  How ironic that he was doing just that when Mr. Wilson murdered him and committed suicide himself.  It showed that Gatsby's life was ended at the exact moment that he'd first started to try to make the most of it and make himself happy with what he had. 

His fantasy of a life with Daisy had kept him from living up until moments before he died.  He had "paid a high price for living too long with a single dream" (Fitzgerald, 161).  Where are Daisy and Tom?  They just packed up and left, and Daisy was too selfish and uncaring to telephone Gatsby or send him any message.  When he died, he probably had the smallest bit of hope left that she would come to him.  She just couldn't cut him loose.  And now it's too late and she's not even there for him.  She wasn't there for him in life though, so why would she be there for him in death? 

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 147-156

Relationships are starting to unravel.  Carraway no longer as any interest in Jordan Baker.  I think he finally realizes that she's not really worth his time.  She is a self-absorbed young woman, and he no longer wants to waste his time with her anymore.  Similarly, Carraway truly believes that Gatsby can do and DESERVES better than Daisy.  It's pointless to try to convince him of this though.  Gatsby has blocked off reality to hold on a little bit longer to his five year-long fairy tale in which he and Daisy run away together at last.  "He couldn't possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do.  He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn't bear to shake him free" (Fitzgerald, 148).  Fitzgerald reveals at this point in The Great Gatsby how mentally unstable Gatsby now is.  He has imagined this fantasy ending to his and Daisy's story for so long, he refuses to believe that it's never going to happen.  Shame on Daisy for not putting him out of his misery! 

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 133-145

Gatsby is too noble for his own good.  This passage of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is the most shocking so far.  I can't believe Daisy killed Myrtle!  Gatsby is going to be blamed for it; his decision to take the blame of the manslaughter will come back to haunt him, I guarantee it.  Why wouldn't they have stopped?  It feels like all the characters are going crazy.  Gatsby knows that he hasn't always had ALL of Daisy's love, Tom knows Daisy wants to leave him, and Daisy is faced with the most difficult situation of her life!  At the end of this chapter, Carraway realizes something Gatsby will never grasp: Daisy is never going to leave Tom for him.  He left Gatsby "standing there in the moonlight---watching over nothing" (Fitzgerald, 145).  Daisy isn't going to fight for Gatsby like he has continuously fought for her.  He is delusional and she is selfish.

Random thought, but Daisy and Tom don't seem to be much good of parents.  Their daughter is mentioned maybe twice, and they are never home with her!

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 121-132

This section is Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is just awkward from beginning to end!  It starts out with the men trying to be civil with each other, but it escalates to a heated argument at a surprising speed!  The escalation was initiated by Tom when he spat at Gatsby, "'What kind of row are you trying to cause in my house anyhow?'" (Fitzgerald, 129).  From that point on, Daisy is caught in the middle of two slightly delusional men.  Gatsby believes she is just as devoted to him as he is to her, and Tom arrogantly insists that Daisy's heart is all his.  "'Your wife doesn't love you...She's never loved you.  She loves me'" (Fitzgerald, 130).  It seems like Gatsby is trying just as hard to convince Daisy of her undying love for him as he is Tom!  Daisy is barely able to say that she never loved her husband, and I think that terrified Gatsby.  For the first time in five years, he is doubting her feelings for him.  This is leading up to the climax of the novel.  Daisy can't go back on what has happened: she has confessed her love for Gatsby, but is reluctant to leave her husband.  She is the one who will have to make the ultimate choice.  I want her to go to Gatsby, but Daisy doesn't seem like much of a risk taker, and staying with Tom wouldn't be that much of a risk.

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 113-120

At this point in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is of no use to his numerous guests.  After the night that Daisy had come, he had stopped the charade.  "So the whole caravansary had fallen line a card house at the disapproval in her eyes" (Fitzgerald, 114).  It's like he's gone into a state of depression, like the fact that she hadn't enjoyed herself had completely deflated him. 

I couldn't believe how much Daisy and Gatsby abandoned all attempts at propriety when they were at the Buchanan house.  Right in front of Miss Baker and Carraway, Daisy confessed her love to Gatsby, and kissed him on the lips.  This was all fine and sweet, until we're told that Tom witnessed the whole thing!  "She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw.  He was astounded" (Fitzgerald, 119).  That has to be so awkward!  Tom has no right to be angry with Daisy, considering the fact that he's been openly cheating on her for months!  It's even more awkward when, as the manners of the time went, everyone in the house tried to keep acting like nothing had happened.  Will Tom hurt Gatsby for kissing Daisy?

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 97-111

Gatsby is confiding so much in Carraway...he must be the first friend he's had/trusted in years!  In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Gatsby revealed his utter poverty before he happened across his fortune from an old friend. 

Gatsby is literally obsessed with Daisy.  I can't decide if it's creepy or romantic.  He was devastated when she didn't have a good time at one of his lavish parties.  He is living in the past, and is convinced that he can resurrect the relationship he and Daisy once shared.  Half crazy with desperation, he says to Carraway, "'I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before...she'll see'" (Fitzgerald, 110).  I'm starting to think that Gatsby is somewhat delusional.  Does he really think he can erase five years of change and win her back?  What is he going to do next?

I'm so distracted by Gatsby and Daisy that I didn't really care that Carraway and Miss Baker kissed!  I don't see that relationship going very far; she is too shallow.

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 85-96

This passage of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is almost painful to read!  Gatsby and Daisy reunite at last after more than five years apart.  They're closer than they have been in years, and yet they've never had MORE separating them from each other!  It's clear how much Gatsby adores Daisy; she seems to have the power to enchant even her cousin!  Throughout the tour of Gatsby's house, "He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes" (Fitzgerald, 91).  All he wanted was to please her.  He couldn't care less what the dozens of people at his parties thought of him or his home, but Daisy's opinion clearly means everything to him.  That's so different from Tom, who won't even acknowledge the fact that Daisy has original thoughts of her own! 

Daisy breaks into sobs at the sight of Gatsby's beautiful assortment of shirts, but that's not the reason for her sorrow.  I think it hit her all at once how much she had missed out on.  She was in the presence of a man who adored her and loved her more than life, while she would go home to a man who barely tolerated her and who was unfaithful.  Both Gatsby and Daisy must feel a sense of helplessness right now. 

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 73-84

Jordan Baker tells us the history of Daisy and Jay Gatsby in this section of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.  Daisy sounds like she found her way around pretty easily when it came to male suitors.  While Gatsby was just one among many, I think he's the one who has affected and stuck with her the most!  You can't forget your first love...it's impossible, and I think Jay Gatsby was Daisy's first love.  But then the war took him away from her.  His letter to her almost made her not marry Tom!  I feel like Daisy went down the road of convenience rather than love when she went through with the wedding. 

I fear for Gatsby.  He "'bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay'" (Fitzgerald, 78).  He is clearly still madly in love with Daisy even after five years apart, but that could just set him up for disappointment.  He hasn't given up hope, and hope can be a dangerous thing when it comes to lost love.  Gatsby is desperate to the point where he's begging Carraway to have Daisy over to his house so that Gatsby can just "happen" to drop by.  How does he expect her to react five years, a marriage and a baby later??

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 61-72

Carraway spends some quality time with Gatsby in this section of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.  I think Gatsby is getting so nervous as they keep driving because he knows he's getting closer to Daisy.  Gatsby seems like such a helpless romantic.  If anything, he is just plain helpless!  For a man of such power and wealth, he seems really miserable with his life.  When telling Carraway of his personal experience in the war, he said "'It was a great relief, and I tried very hard to die, but I seemed to bear an enchanted life'" (Fitzgerald, 66).  At this point in the book, Gatsby reminds me of Noah in The Notebook.  They both went off to war partially to forget about or distract themselves from the painful thoughts of the woman they love back home.  How can you TRY to die in a world war and FAIL? 

I don't understand why everyone seems to automatically doubt everything about Gatsby.  Everything people know of his past, they question: his role in the army, his education, how he came upon his wealth.  Although if I came across someone so guarded as Gatsby, I might question him too.  What favor does he want of Carraway, and why can't he talk to him about it himself?  Does it have to do with Daisy?

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 49-59

This section of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby mainly focuses on our narrator, Nick Carraway.  We learn of his inner feelings.  He seems like he lives such a lonely life, but the presence of Miss Jordan Baker seems to intrigue him.  I think it's more infatuation than affection that draws him to her though.  He even says "I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity" (Fitzgerald, 57).  I'm confused though at Carraway's statement that Baker is "incurably dishonest" (Fitzgerald, 58).  Does he mean that she is dishonest to herself and with her emotions?  She does seem to be the master of disguise when it comes to her true feelings; she is always putting on a haughty, careless face to mask what she is really thinking.  Or does Carraway mean that she is dishonest in the way she gossips about others?  He barely even knows this woman, how can he claim to have thought to be in love with her?! 

Fitzgerald supplies us with a seemingly pure and honest narrator.  This could be so that we will trust his statements and opinions throughout the novel, but it also serves to show how untrustworthy everyone else around Carraway seems to be.  Carraway even says that "I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known" (Fitzgerald, 59).  I think Fitzgerald is using an honest narrator to make us suspicious and cautious of every other character in the novel. 

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 39-48

Finally!  In this section of the book, we actually MEET Gatsby.  Gatsby's parties sound a lot like those of today!  Carraway states "I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited" (Fitzgerald, 41).  This reminds me of high school parties today, because once word gets out that so&so is going to have a party, anyone who hears of it just shows up.  Whether they were invited or not is irrelevant.  Gatsby himself reminds me of Edmund Dantes in the movie The Count of Monte Cristo.  They are both mysteriously wealthy, well-known by name, and yet no one seems to know anything about them!  They both also throw extravagant parties for people they don't know, and they don't even seem to enjoy the companionship or attention of the activities!  I feel like Gatsby is just lonely in that big mansion so he feels like he needs to fill it with party guests on a regular basis. 

I'm reading all these rumors about Mr. Gatsby.  Did he do something illegal?  Could he really have killed a man?  Carraway's description of Gatsby is much more endearing than that of Tom.  I think Fitzgerald wants us, as the readers, to like Gatsby while simultaneously knowing almost nothing about him!

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 23-38

Tom Buchanan in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby truly has no shame.  Carraway is his wife's relative, and he still wants to show off his mistress to him.  I am just as disgusted with Myrtle; she is married too!  The only difference is that, unlike Daisy, her spouse is totally oblivious to the affair.  As Tom so callously puts it, "'Wilson?  He thinks she goes to see her sister in New York.  He's so dumb he doesn't know he's alive'" (Fitzgerald, 26).  But for as much as Tom bashes Daisy and Mr. Wilson, it seems like he either truly loves her, or is too territorial to let her go.  I say this because Myrtle's sister Catherine confides to Carraway that "'Neither of them [Tom and Myrtle] can stand the person they're married to'" (Fitzgerald, 33), and yet Tom lies about Daisy's religion.  He says the reason he can't be with Myrtle is because Daisy is Catholic and they don't condone divorces, when in fact she is NOT Catholic.  I think Tom just wants an excuse to stay with his wife but still run around with Myrtle. 

Fitzgerald uses more foreshadowing in this chapter of the novel.  We get another nugget of information on Gatsby; he might be a man worthy of fear!  Catherine herself admits to Carraway that she is "'scared of him.  [She'd] hate to have him get anything on [her]'" (Fitzgerald, 32).  Does Gatsby blackmail people from whom he wants something?  Why is so little known of him?

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 13-21

Tom seems to be your classic, overbearing husband.  He has no regards or respect for the thoughts and opinions of others.  He seems to be constantly interupting people as though what they have to say doesn't matter.  He treats Daisy like a child that he has to somehow tolerate.  In this section of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby though, we are bombarded with more information on the other characters.

"Don't talk.  I want to hear what happens" (Fitzgerald, 14).  Miss Baker reminds me of my mom; she too tends to shamelessly eavesdrop and somehow obtain knowledge of other people's lives.  I think Miss Baker will be the reader's source to information, for she seems to have it all.  I was further disgusted with Tom when she revealed to Carraway that "Tom's got some woman in New York" (Fitzgerald, 15).  How could he so shamelessly be cheating on his wife?  Daisy always seems to be chirping away happily, but there has to be some kind of darkness within her; she must feel trapped. 

On a side note, what was Gatsby creepin' on from the other side of the waters at the end of this chapter?  What does he want?

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 1-12

At the beginning of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, I was so confused as to who the narrator was.  I had always just assumed that Gatsby himself would be telling the story.  But after finishing this first section of the book, I think I understand why Fitzgerald used Nick Carraway.  He provides a fresh, unbiased perspective to everything.  Fitzgerald separated him from the life of his relative Daisy so that, when reunited at the beginning of the novel, Carraway would be as oblivious as the reader to the happenings and history of all the other characters.  This allows us to connect with Carraway, because we only know what he knows, and we are confused when he is confused.  For instance, we are given the little information of the fabulously wealthy Mr. Gatsby, so he is just as much a mystery to us as he is to Carraway.

There seems to be some foreshadowing in this section of the book in regards to Tom, Daisy's husband.  When Carraway describes his intimidating demeanor, he states that "it was a body capable of enormous leverage --- a cruel body" (Fitzgerald, 7).  I don't think Fitzgerald wants us as the reader to particularly like Tom Buchanan.  He has Carraway describe him using words such as "arrogant", "dominant", "aggressive", and "gruff".  Based on this first impression of Tom, I don't think I'm going to grow to like him very much throughout the novel.

pictuuuuure(:

soaking up some sunset.

Chapters 13-14 Book II

If there's one thing I hate (which there are many I guess) it's when books or movies do NOT have happy endings...or even bearable endings!  Wharton's The House of Mirth had one of the most bitter-sweet endings ever.  I still can't believe Lily died.  Had I known this a couple chapters ago, I would have readily testified that she had purposefully taken too much chloral in order to forever escape her miseries.  But it seems now that it must have been a tragic but honest mistake.  I feel like Lily had found a new sense of hope in her future after witnessing how Nettie Struther and her family had survived despite unfavorable odds.  Lily had hope.  She had courage.  She was to see her love the next day.  I believe Selden is comforted by two things at the end of this novel.  One: I think he felt that Lily had been more at peace with herself than ever before before she died.  He also took comfort in the fact that "at least he had loved her -- had been willing to stake his future on his faith in her" (Wharton, 267-268).  I don't know how Selden will go on living, knowing that the only thing that really stood between himself and his love, Lily, was fear.  

Chapters 11-12 Book II

I could barely keep up with the ups and downs of these two chapters of Wharton's The House of Mirth.  After Lily got fired from her job as a secretary, I realized something.  Lily's parents, mostly her mother, had kind of set Lily up for failure later on in life.  Her mother instilled in Lily the unwavering confidence that her beauty alone would be her salvation.  All her life, Lily had been told to smile and please others, and she became accustomed to, from these actions, acquiring whatever she desired.  Her mother had never taught her that she needed to work for things she desired, if need be.  Lily "had been fashioned to adorn and delight" (Wharton, 245).  She knew how to be pretty.  She knew what to say and how to conduct herself in order to please others.  I think she has finally realized that, with her difficult circumstances, it might take MORE than a pretty smile to keep her afloat.  It broke my heart when Lily cried at Shelden's advice.  I wish so much that they could just trust their love and get married already.  But, seeing as I'm nearly to the end of the book, I don't see this story wrapping up with a happy ending.

Chapters 9-10 Book II

I feel like it's Lily's own fault that she's so miserable all the time.  If she just prioritized better...I don't care how she was raised or what she was taught to care about.  At some point you'd think she would realize that she just might have to change her thoughts on life!  She wants money, nice things, a fancy house, no responsibilities, and a rich husband.  She's actually starting to work as a secretary to get some money for herself.  Lily is still frustrating me so much though.  If only she could swallow her own pride.  She is in love with a man (Selden), but will not consent to marrying him purely due to the fact that he is not well-off financially.  Her own pettiness overshadows every other good quality about her.  Although it says in Wharton's The House of Mirth that "She was very near hating him now..." (Wharton, 225), it is so clear that she is still, and probably always will be, in love with Lawrence Selden.

Chapters 7-8 Book II

How can you marry someone you know you will never love, just for financial security and as revenge to an enemy.  It seems that in the time of Wharton's The House of Mirth nearly all marriages were strictly business and strategic.  It reminds me so much of two of my favorite movies, Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.  The young women in both of these worried a great deal about marrying into money; how else were they to survive?  But, being the helpless romantic that she is, Miss Jane Austin ended up providing both groups of sisters with husbands they truly loved and cared about.  I have a strong feeling that won't be the case for Lily.  "As the wife of Rosedale -- the Rosedale she felt it in her power to create -- she would at least present an invulnerable front to her enemy" (Wharton, 205).  That doesn't sound like a passionate and promising start of a possible engagement.

How can Rosedale, after pretty much threatening Lily the entire book, just insult her by saying that marrying her would ruin everything he'd ever worked for?  And how is Lily supposed to use the letters against Bertha?  Her husband has already been shown that she in an unfaithful flirt.

Chapters 5-6 Book II

These couple chapters of Wharton's The House of Mirth were, in a way, Lily's saving grace.  A new set of minor characters in the form of Mattie Gormer and her party were introduced.  Lily desperately needed to be around a new group.  She needed a clean slate; to be around people who knew nothing of her past, just her present, pleasant self.  Lily was in her prime once more in these chapters.  The new party she was with allowed her to go back to her old ways of confidence and the art of pleasing all around her.  I personally liked the women of this group much better than Lily's last choice of "friends".  They seemed less shallow and judgemental, and accepted Lily into their group without question; it was an act of acceptance which Lily desperately needed. 

But, as always, money and marriage are Lily's main problems, and she cannot easily escape them.  "'Beat about the question as she would, she knew the outcome of it was that she must try to marry Rosedale'" (Wharton, 200).  For Lily, marrying Rosedale would end her worries about everything...but will she really be able to bring herself to it? 

Chapters 3-4 Book II

As the book goes on, I find myself being able to relate more and more to different aspects of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth.  When Gerty asks Lily at one point how she could possibly be laughing about such a dreadful situation, Lily responds, "'So as not to weep, perhaps'" (Wharton, 182).  It reminded me of some lyrics to the Bare Naked Ladies song that says, "I'm the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral."  So often I find myself in the exact place of Lily.  It's usually in devastating situations that, if I don't laugh like a lunatic about it, I will fall apart in tears and emotions. 

I was disgusted with Bertha when she publicly humiliated Lily by kicking her off her and her husband's yacht.  All Lily had ever tried to do was to please Mr. Dorset and his unfaithful wife.  Lily was now a social outcast who was sent home.  To add insult to injury, Lily's aunt (who had suddenly perished) changed her will at the last moment.  She left nearly all of her possessions and riches to her true favorite relative, Grace.  Now no one wants anything to do with Lily.  She is completely alone except for Gerty.

Chapters 1-2 Book II

"What the deuce am I running away from?" (Wharton, 153).  I actually laughed out loud when I read Selden's response to his actions when he was informed of Lily's presence in his area of Europe.  And honestly, that's saying something, considering this novel isn't exactly a comedy. 

I thought it was interesting how differently Lily's change of personality was perceived between Mrs. Fisher and Selden.  At seeing Lily for the first time in nearly three months, Mrs. Fisher thought she looked more gorgeous than ever, and completely recovered from any stress that had plagued her in America.  Selden, however, who always seems to see Lily for who and what she really is, sees her quite differently than Mrs. Fisher.  He felt that the only thing that had changed about his Lily was that she had hardened herself to the world.  She had put on a face and act of complete perfection and poise in order to protect and preserve herself.  Selden did not see that as an improvement.

I knew that Bertha Dorset had always been a flirt and not very interested in her husband, but I still couldn't believe it when it was implied that she was cheating on her spouse!  It seems that, even in those seemingly blissful times, marriages were just as likely to, and capable of, falling apart.  Bertha is clearly dangerous, and for some reason she has it out for Lily, who she pretty much made go on the trip with them anyway!  Mrs. Dorset seems to blame Lily for the way things have turned out with her marriage, and I feel like she will find a way to ruin Lily once and for all.

Chapter 15

While I suspected Lily's aunt would not be pleased with the actions of Lily which placed her in such debt to begin with, I didn't expect her to refuse to help her niece.  She just abandoned her own flesh and blood in a bit of despair and debtors.

I felt almost as sickened as Lily when, instead of Selden coming to visit as he had promised, Rosedale came sauntering into her aunt's house to speak with Lily.  He is so cocky, and sure of himself; he has no doubt that Lily could never refuse the offer he was about to propose.  But then again, I suppose being filthy rich gives one a boost of self-confidence.  "'I've got the money...and what I want is the woman -- and I mean to have her too" (Wharton, 143).  His blunt proposal was all business.  He knows Lily does not love him, and most likely never will.  But she would be a trophy wife for him to show off, and he would be her financial salvation for life.  Surely there's no way she will accept!  However, Wharton's The House of Mirth already states on the back cover that it's a "tragic love story" of "failed love", so I probably shouldn't get my romantic hopes too high...

Why did Selden leave so suddenly?  Will he come back?  Will Lily see him again?

Chapters 13-14

Possibly one of the most frustrating things in life is to have your peers thinking badly of you for something you didn't know, and not being able to do anything about it.  In Wharton's The House of Mirth, when Mr. Trenor tricks Lily into joining him and his drunken self at his house, he makes if clear to Lily that the men of their community did not think highly of her at all.  He also felt like he was missing out on some supposed special treatment Lily put to use to pay back her other male debtors.  This assumption, too, was a slap in the face to Lily.  I was disgusted at the way he wouldn't let her leave, how he trapped her in the room in hopes of satisfying his own greed.  "'...you know I'm mad about you...'" (Wharton, 119).  These words were probably the most horrifying thing Lily had ever heard.  After all, she was talking to a married man whom she was in debt to!  I'm sure that, in no time, word will get out that Lily Bart was socializing with Mr. Trenor at a late hour and when his wife was not present.

I was also shocked at Gerty's infatuation with her cousin, Lawrence Selden.  She was so jealous of and bitter about Selden's feelings for Lily, for he clearly is in love with her, that she was tempted not to help Lily when she came trembling to her door!  While Lily is realizing what her peers think of her, Selden is discovering what appears to be a relationship between Miss Bart and Mr. Trenor, and he feels cheated.

Chapters 11-12

I'm starting to have more pity for Lily as time goes on and people keep getting false ideas about her and her actions.  I can also relate, in a way, to her relationship (or lack there of) wish her aunt.  There are several members of my extended family that, were it not for the similar blood running through our veins, I would have absolutely no attatchment to or relationship with them.  I know how Lily feels to have more of an awkward acquaintance than a loving aunt.

Up until this point in the book, Lily had boasted about her ability to control people with her confidence in her ways.  That's why I was shocked when I came across the bit of Wharton's The House of Mirth when it is admitted that Lily "had grown more sensitive to criticism and less confident in her power of disarming it" (Wharton, 106).  Lily is a fragile and vulnerable young woman as it is.  She can't afford to loose her sense of confidence, that will surely only set her up for failure in the future.

I can only imagine Lily's frustration at the rumors being spread.  It's being said that immoral and dishonest actions are transpiring between herself and Mr. Trenor, and this news is quickly and quietly making its way throughout her group of acquaintances.  I'm sure this will lead to more troubles for her.

Chapters 9-10

The despair that Lily feels during the most part of these chapters of Wharton's The House of Mirth is almost tangible...it was a pretty depressing section to read!  She clearly feels as though her life is going no where, and her aunt's dwelling seems to her more of a tomb than a home. 

I didn't really understand the letter ordeal that Mrs. Haffen had used to blackmail Lily in a way.  Even keeping in mind that she thought the letters were between Selden and Lily, what did she think the big scandal was of one single woman writing letters to another single man?  However, on another note, they turned out to be numerous letters from a married woman to a single man.  It begs the question: why was Bertha Dorset writing so many letters to Selden?  What were they concerning?  Is she being unfaithful?

Rosedale is thrust into a slightly clearer light in these chapters, and he seems to be a sneaky, oily snake.  At one point he said to Miss Bart, in regards to Mr. Trenor, that he "'wasn't thinking of Mrs. Trenor-- they say Gus doesn't always, you know'" (Wharton, 92).  His meeting with Lily only made her more insecure about her ties with the Trenor family.  What could he gain by making her feel threatened by him and his knowledge?  I think he knows, as I too suspect, that Mr. Trenor would very much like to have Lily to himself.

Chapters 7-8

Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth shows all the strategic inner-workings of the manipulative and scheming women of the time.  Lily and the women she's surrounded by in these particular chapters remind me of older, better-dressed, and slightly more well-mannered versions of high school girls today.  All they do is gossip and plot how to elevate their social status; it'd be exhausting to constantly obsess over such petty concepts. 

I can somewhat relate to Lily when it comes to always having to be conscious of what one says, who is listening when she says it, and who could possibly take offense to it.  One sentence used by Mrs. Trenor to describe the women of their party holds true to young women of today.  She accurately states that "they hold their tongues...and you think you're safe, but when their opportunity comes they remember everything" (Wharton, 61).  There are few things more dangerous than an angry and capable woman who has been wronged by one of her peers.  Maybe it was Bertha's bad-mouthing of Lily that ultimately drove Percy Gryce to get engaged to another? 

I also predict that Lily's choice to trust her money to Mr. Trenor will come back to haunt her with possibly more debt in the near future.  I don't know much about Mr. Rosedale, but he seems like he could be just as dangerous as a begrudged woman.

Chapters 5-6

These two chapters of Wharton's The House of Mirth scream the difference between Lily Bart's relationship with Selden and her relationship with Gryce.  She is so clearly torn between the man she wants, and the money she needs. 

Lily's relationship with Gryce is based upon lies and facades.  From the moment Lily decided to use her skills to snag Gryce as a husband, she fed him lies about herself and her life.  He believes she never smokes, he is under the impression that she despises gambling, and he is falsely impressed by Lily's supposed devotion to attending Sunday services.  Lily cannot be her true self around him because of the web of lies she's spun in order to entice him.  How can one hope for a happy marriage or life with someone that's based upon lies?  But, as I'm coming to realize more and more, marriage at this time was usually strictly strategic; a game of survival and security rather than passion and love.

Everything is different with Selden.  Lily is able to speak with him about worries and thoughts of which she can confide in no one else.  Their conversations are always playful, but they can easily discuss serious matters as well.  They are both enchanted by the other, Selden by Lily's beauty, and Lily by "Selden's distinction that he had never forgotten the way out" (Wharton, 43) of the materialistic trap everyone else had been eternally claimed by.  If Selden were wealthy, Lily would waste no time in marrying him, as they both are clearly interested in doing so.

Will Lily choose money and comfort, or love and happiness?

Chapters 3-4

The more I read of Wharton's The House of Mirth, the more I'm shocked by what a shallow society Miss Lily Bart lives in.  The value of a man or woman is not based on their character or morals, but on how wealthy of a lifestyle they are able to live.  They're all actors, constantly trying to prove to the world they have the means to live a life of perfection and luxury.

Underneath Miss Bart's problem-free facade, however, she reveals within these two chapters that she feels more like her servant girl than a prominent woman of society.  After she realizes how much money she foolishly lost in gambling, she comes to the aggravating realization that "she and her maid were in the same position, except that the latter received her wages more regularly" (Wharton, 21).  She feels trapped in life, with no where to go but marriage, and nothing to rely on to get there except for her beauty.  That's why she's so flustered when she discovers the lines on her face late at night; her own pettiness and that of those surrounding Lily don't look kindly on flaws and, as an unmarried woman, Lily can not afford to have such flaws.  

It's hard for me to feel sorry for Lily and her circumstances when I read about how shallow and judgemental she is.  She thinks herself superior to all because of her good looks, she envies a woman who can afford to treat men as disposable toys, and she is accustomed to, in the end, getting whatever she desires.  In fact, it seems that Lily is so sure of herself and her abilities to read men, that she is now confident she could marry Percy Gryce at any time of her choosing.