NRJ #1: Exploration

One o f the themes that stood out to me in Heart of Darkness was exploration. I believe that the author is trying to say that exploration has many meanings and levels. Marlow for example is characterized by exploration because of his curiosity for Africa and good versus evil (pertaining to the human psyche). This theme has two different avenues for exploration, but they are both classified under exploration. Marlow’s passion for exploration is realized when the author uses imagery and Marlow states, “Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma. There it is before you-smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering ‘come and find out.’” (1.13) The author also uses imagery when making a point about good versus evil. “But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.” (1.5) The author is trying to say that metaphorically, we would not recognize light (goodness) without darkness (evil). Clearly there are different meanings of exploration. One can explore land and seas like Marlow did or one can explore the nature of good and evil. Weather one is exploring the good or bad parts of a country/civilization or the good and evil natures of mankind, we could not tell the difference unless we had both.

DRJ #4: Hamlet, Act 4

One particular scene that stood out to me in this act is the way that Gertrude informs Laertes of Ophelia's death. Although she drowned tragically (accident or suicide, I'm not sure), Gertrude describes her death in an unusually beautiful way. I have never heard of someone describing someones death the way she did. Very weird! Gertrude said, "There is a willow grows aslant a brook, That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream; There with fantastic garlands did she come of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples that liberal shepherds give a grosser name, but our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them: There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke; when down her weedy trophies and herself fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide; and, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up: which time she chanted snatches of old tunes; as one incapable of her own distress, or like a creature native and indued unto that element: but long it could not be till that her garments, heavy with their drink, pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death.” (4.7.164-180)
Laertes is the son of Polonius and the brother of Ophelia. Although he is a foil to Hamlet, he is a lot like Hamlet in that his father was also murdered but he handles himself in a different way. He has the mentality of taking action first and to ask questions later, which is the polar opposite of Hamlet. Hamlet mulls over what to do about avenging his father’s death and over analyzes everything.
One of the themes in this act is death. Ophelia dies while Claudius and Laertes devise a plan to kill Hamlet. Laertes states, “I will do't! And for that purpose I'll anoint my sword. I bought an unction of a mountebank, so mortal that but dip a knife in it, where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare, collected from all simples that have virtue under the moon, can save the thing from death this is but scratch'd withal. I'll touch my point with this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly, it may be death.” (4.7.152-161)

DRJ #3: Hamlet, Act III

Boy there is a lot of fireworks in this act. Hamlet plans exactly how he wants the play to be presented in order to prove that Cladius is guilty of accusing his father and succeeds. This remings me of a co-worker I used to work with that was obsessed with trying to get another co-worker fired by trying to prove that she was stealing from the company. She was crazy and frankly had no life.
Gertrude is Hamlet's mother and the wife of King Cladius. In a way she is a antagonist because she causes the main character conflict, but as his mother I don't think she intends to hurt her son. I think she has made some irrational decisions, like marrying her deceased husbands brother, and she seems to be pretty selfish.
One of the themes in Act three is madness. Gertrude expresses madness when she says, "Alas, how is't with you, that you do bend your eye on vacancy and with the incorporal air do hold discourse? Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;and, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm, your bedded hair, like life in excrements, starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son, upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?" (Act III, Scene IV)

DRJ #2: Hamlet, Act 2

Hamlet appears to be sick and mentally unstable because of his love for Ophelia. This reminds of me of a friend that I used to know that broke up with her boyfriend and he acted very similar to this. He couldn’t function, was very depressed and felt very lost and empty without her.
Claudius is the antagonist in this story and in a way I think that he causes the conflict intentionally. Claudius is very determined to keep his authority and I believe that even though he may have strong feelings for Gertrude, she was an easy way to get to the throne. How convenient. He definitely looks out for himself and disregards the feelings of others. His attitude and actions bring out Hamlets desire for revenge and shows us the “evil” side of him.
One of the themes in act two is lies and deception. When Polonius tells his servants to spread rumors about his son Laertes he says, “Marry, sir, here's my drift; And I believe, it is a fetch of wit. You laying these slight sullies on my son, as 'twere a thing a little soil'd i' the working, mark you,your party in converse, him you would sound,having ever seen in the prenominate crimes the youth you breathe of guilty, be assured he closes with you in this consequence; ‘Good sir,’ or so, or ‘friend,’ or ‘gentleman,’ according to the phrase or the addition Of man and country.” (Act 2, Scene 1, Lines

DRJ #1: Hamlet, Act I

During the first act Hamlet experiences uneasy feelings when his mother moves on very quickly after her husband’s death and dates Hamlet’s uncle. This situation reminded me of my grandpa when my grandma passed away. They got married when they were 18 and then a few years ago she passed away from Luekemia. Shortly after her death, her sister started to hang around my grandpa a lot and it seemed that whenever I saw my grandpa, I saw her. I knew she had romantic feelings for him, but in my opinion it was too soon and inappropriate. I understand Hamlet’s feelings in that regard and I caught myself judging the entire situation with my own family. Finally, I decided to look past it and to only want what would make my grandpa happy. It will be interesting to see how Hamlet deals with the situation.

Hamlet is the main character and seems to be the type of person that is well respected, caring (although puts his feelings first) and curious. His fatal flaw would be his passive-aggressive attitudes towards his mother and uncle. He obeys them and acts cooperatively and respectable in front of them, but in reality he has bitter feelings about his mother moving on so quickly after his father’s death. This anger and resentment usually builds up to the point where someone acts out irrationally or does something that they regret. So far from what I have read in Act I, Hamlet does fit Aristotle’s concept of a classical tragic hero because I could see how his attitude could lead to his own downfall. The fact that he is not honest and truthful with his parents is a good indication that the events to come may be less than ideal.

One of the theme’s that stood out to me in Act I is Hamlet’s view of a woman’s love and loyalty. In Act I Hamlet states, “Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables,” which suggests that he questions the authenticity of a woman’s love. I believe that he struggles with this issue because his mother married his uncle soon after her husband’s sudden death.

Chopin support for thesis

Thesis #2: By contrasting images of life with those of death throughout “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin highlights the struggle of a person imprisoned by societal pressures and thereby kept from fully being alive.

In the thirteenth paragraph the narrator shows the reader how Mrs. Mallard briefly struggles with the reality of her husband’s death and how his death has freed her from imprisonment. “She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked saved with love upon here, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and speared her arms out to them in welcome.” Another statement the narrator makes about Mrs. Mallard’s freedom and how her own will was controlled when her husband was alive is in paragraph fourteen. “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years, she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illuminations.”



Thesis #3: Through the use of structure in her intentionally short story “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin ingeniously exposes the larger and more complex problem of oppression that can still be felt in our society today.

It is evident that even in today’s modern society, the complex issues of oppression still remains. Oppression is more commonly known today as abuse. This is such a major issue that there are organizations like W.E.A.V.E that help women escape from such situations and there are new cases reported everyday of domestic violence. This shows that issues like this between couples has not changed since Mrs. Mallard’s time, but may have gotten worse. The narrator portrays Mrs. Mallard’s oppression and her freedom from it in paragraph nineteen. “Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that her life might be long.”

Comments--Your support for Thesis #2 is pretty solid, but be sure you link the examples more directly to the purpose noted in the thesis. Your support for Thesis #3 does not relate to the literary element of structure. Also, to tie it in to issues in modern times, you would need to focus on what in the text resonates with today's issues and not the other way around. Otherwise, nice job culling the text for evidence--just be very certain to maintain a focus on the elements you mention in your thesis and more directly link your evidence to the meaning you interpret and state in the thesis.

SSRJ #4:Minot

The story Lust, by Susan Minot, made me feel a little put off and bored at first. I felt put off because of the narrator’s promiscuous lifestyle and her lack of self respect. I was also bored of the story because I simply wasn’t interested in her “love” life, or lack thereof. I didn’t really care to know who she had been with, what they did together or what they looked like. Then towards the end when the narrator discusses how the experiences make her feel, I felt relieved. Relieved to know that she can be honest with herself and hopefully make better decisions in the future.
The only element that stood out particularly interesting to me was when the narrator finally comes to grips with the reality and consequences of sleeping around before she is married. “After sex, you curl up like a shrimp, something deep inside you ruined, slammed in a place that sickens at slamming, and slowly you fill up with an overwhelming sadness, an elusive gaping worry. You don’t try to explain it, filled with the knowledge that it’s nothing after all, everything filling up finally and absolutely with death. After the briskness of loving, loving stops. And you roll over with death stretched out alongside you like a feather boa, or a snake, light as air, and you…you don’t even ask for anything or try to say something to him because it’s obviously your own damn fault. You haven’t been able to-to what? To open your heart. You open your legs but can’t or don’t dare anymore, to open your heart.” This paragraph makes the point that teenage “love” is simply lust. There is no lasting love or a future together.
The situation in my life that this story made me think of is when I was in high school. A few of the classmates I knew very well always slept with their boyfriends and then they would eventually break up. Of course they were heartbroken and regretted what they did. A lot of them were hurt and thought that they would be together forever. I tried my best to listen and empathize.
The literary element that I chose and was used by the author to support and build meaning to their work is tone. Reading the first few paragraphs I clearly noticed that the tone of the story was few monotonous. The way the narrator describes each “lover,” one right after other, shows that the narrator is less enthused. “Roger was fast. In his illegal car, we drove to the reservoir, the radio blaring, talking fast, fast, fast. He was always going for my zipper. He got kicked out sophomore year. By the time the band got around to playing ‘Wild Horses,’ I had tasted Bruce’s tongue. We were clicking in the shadows on the other side of the amplifier, out of Mrs. Donovan’s line of vision. It tasted like salt, with my neck bent back, because we had been dancing so hard before.” The tone is also set at the end when the narrator discusses how she is lured into these “relationships,” which sets the tone of helplessness. “You stare into their eyes. They flash like all the stars are out. They look at you seriously, their eyes at a low burn and their hands no matter what starting off shy and with such a gentle touch that the only thing you can do is take that tenderness and let yourself be swept away. When, with one attentive finger they tuck the hair behind your ear, you-You do everything they want.”
Should the reader feel sympathy for the narrator? Do you think the theme of the story would appeal to most readers?