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.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
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?
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?
Friday, February 5, 2010
SSRJ #3: Walker
“I am the grass,” by Daly Walker, caused me to have mixed feelings as I read through the story. In the beginning I felt disturbed by the acts that the main character committed, but also felt sorry that he was harboring so much pain and shame. As the story progressed, I felt that it was nice that he was trying to do something in return for the people of Vietnam (where he had done the unspeakable things) by performing surgery on children with cleft palates. At the end, I wished the operation would have worked for Dinh. He seemed like a man that had good intentions and could have done more things if he had a usable thumb.
The element that stood out as particularly interesting to me was the main character’s ability to hide the events that had happened during the war. Although I see both sides of why he would or would not tell his family, the fact of the matter is that if those experiences affect his everyday civilian life, he needs to talk to someone. His family should be the first people that should not judge or reject him. It is interesting to read that he feels that if he tells them, they would no longer see him as a good man. “Because I love my wife and daughter, and because I want them to believe I am a good man, I have never talked to them about my year as a grunt with the 25th infantry in Vietnam.”
The situation in my life that this story made me think about is when my dad would only give me little details about his experiences in Vietnam. I know that he wasn’t on the front lines, but still to this day, I don’t know much about what he did or what he experienced. I can imagine that it would be a traumatic experience, especially because he was so young and didn’t have a good childhood to begin with. I made me wonder if a lot of veterans harbor a lot of shame or do not tell of certain events that took place on enemy soil.
The literary element that I chose and was used by the author to support and build meaning to their work is theme. I believe that the author used theme in order to convey that the meaning of the story is that life is what you make of it. If you have a positive outlook, you don’t let the bumps in the road make you stumble and if things don’t go according to plan then there will be another opportunity waiting. However, you decide to have a negative outlook, you will allow mistakes to never be forgiven (in fact, they will define who you are for the rest of your life) and there are no second chances. The narrator sums it best by saying, “Dinh believes that our lives move in circles, repeating themselves endlessly like the four seasons, like the cycle of his country’s rice crop. Planting. Weeding and waiting. Harvesting. Fallowness. Planting again. I things don’t work out, so what? Another chance will come around, the way winter always gives in to spring. But I believe that my life is somehow outside these circles, that I am on a straight march toward something final, and on that journey to the end of existence, the journey itself is all there is. When I fail along the way, when something I need eludes me because of a mistake I have made, the mistake itself becomes a defeat, and I am left with only loss, with emptiness, uncertainty, and regret.” The narrator also demonstrates how unfortunate events would define someone for the rest of their life by saying, “All these things fester in me like the tiny fragment of shrapnel embedded in my skull, haunt me like the corpse of the slim dark man I killed. I cannot talk about these things that I wish I could forget but know that I never will.”
Do you feel that the main character is doing cleft palate surgeries in Vietnam because he feels guilty? In doing the surgeries, does this make his wrongs, right? Does it make him a better man?
The element that stood out as particularly interesting to me was the main character’s ability to hide the events that had happened during the war. Although I see both sides of why he would or would not tell his family, the fact of the matter is that if those experiences affect his everyday civilian life, he needs to talk to someone. His family should be the first people that should not judge or reject him. It is interesting to read that he feels that if he tells them, they would no longer see him as a good man. “Because I love my wife and daughter, and because I want them to believe I am a good man, I have never talked to them about my year as a grunt with the 25th infantry in Vietnam.”
The situation in my life that this story made me think about is when my dad would only give me little details about his experiences in Vietnam. I know that he wasn’t on the front lines, but still to this day, I don’t know much about what he did or what he experienced. I can imagine that it would be a traumatic experience, especially because he was so young and didn’t have a good childhood to begin with. I made me wonder if a lot of veterans harbor a lot of shame or do not tell of certain events that took place on enemy soil.
The literary element that I chose and was used by the author to support and build meaning to their work is theme. I believe that the author used theme in order to convey that the meaning of the story is that life is what you make of it. If you have a positive outlook, you don’t let the bumps in the road make you stumble and if things don’t go according to plan then there will be another opportunity waiting. However, you decide to have a negative outlook, you will allow mistakes to never be forgiven (in fact, they will define who you are for the rest of your life) and there are no second chances. The narrator sums it best by saying, “Dinh believes that our lives move in circles, repeating themselves endlessly like the four seasons, like the cycle of his country’s rice crop. Planting. Weeding and waiting. Harvesting. Fallowness. Planting again. I things don’t work out, so what? Another chance will come around, the way winter always gives in to spring. But I believe that my life is somehow outside these circles, that I am on a straight march toward something final, and on that journey to the end of existence, the journey itself is all there is. When I fail along the way, when something I need eludes me because of a mistake I have made, the mistake itself becomes a defeat, and I am left with only loss, with emptiness, uncertainty, and regret.” The narrator also demonstrates how unfortunate events would define someone for the rest of their life by saying, “All these things fester in me like the tiny fragment of shrapnel embedded in my skull, haunt me like the corpse of the slim dark man I killed. I cannot talk about these things that I wish I could forget but know that I never will.”
Do you feel that the main character is doing cleft palate surgeries in Vietnam because he feels guilty? In doing the surgeries, does this make his wrongs, right? Does it make him a better man?
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