Norwegian Jewel

Just got home last night from sailing on the Norwegian Jewel for 9 days. My parents and I flew to Miami on the 11th of December and stayed overnight at the Homewood Suites right by the airport. On the plane they showed the movie "Ghost Town" which was funny.





On the 12th of December, we embarked on the Norwegian Jewel. We stayed in cabin 5063. We ate lunch in the Tsar's Palace Dining Room, where I had a tropical fruit salad, wild mushroom and garlic risotto, and peach/blueberry cobbler, which were all good. The muster drill was nice because all we had to do was sit in a restaurant and not go stand outside on the deck like Carnival does theirs. After the muster drill, they had a sailing away party on deck 12, where my Mom tried to learn to do the Electric Slide. We ate dinner in the Azura Dining room, where I had chilled peach soup, jerk chicken, and vanilla souffle. We went to Karaoke in the Fyzz Lounge, but the same people kept singing over and over again, which was kinda annoying. The show for the night in the Stardust Theatre was comedy magician named Jean Pierre, who was hilarious and did some awesome tricks.



On the 13th of December, it was a day at sea, so we pretty much just looked through the shops, sat up on the Sun Deck, and went to the shopping talk. For dinner in Tsar's, I had a Caesar salad, Orzo pasta, and a fruit tart. The show for the night was the Jean Ann Ryan Company's production of "Band on the Run," music from the 1970's. After the show we went up to Spinnaker Lounge and watched the Newlywed Not So Newlywed Game hosted by the cruise director Rich.



On the 14th of December, was our first port day in Samana, Dominican Republic. Because most of the shore excursions were beach breaks, we decided just to walk into town and look through the flea market. It seemed like a very poor country. It was really sad seeing all the children trying to sell sea shells and shine people's shoes just to earn some money. On the boat's movie channel, they were showing "Fred Claus" which I thought was cute. For dinner in Tsar's, I had chilled melon soup, spaghetti carbonara, and banana split cheesecake. The show for the night was an improv show put on by the Second City comedy team on board the ship. It's the same Second City troop, that is based out of Chicago, and has many alumni who went on to star on SNL.

On the 15th of December, we were in Tortola, which is part of the British Virgin Islands. Our tour didn't begin until 1 pm, so we spent some time before our meeting time to shop at the strip mall next to the dock. We went on "Island Secrets" bus tour, which stopped at many hillsides and let us take pictures of the valleys and seascapes below. For dinner in Azura, I had prime rib and vanilla/caramel flan. The show for the night was comedian Joe Yannetty, who made up jokes as he asked people in the audience what they did and where the lived. There was one couple, who had houses both in Palm Springs and Chicago, and only lived together in one of them for two weeks out of the month. There was another couple who had been married for six months, and were already in preventive marriage counseling, which the comedian had a field day with. I watched "Mamma Mia" and "The Love Guru" on the cabin station, and I liked Mamma Mia, but thought the Love Guru was dumb.

On the 16th of December, we were in Antigua. We took the "Nelson's Dockyard and Island Drive" tour. We stopped at Shirley Heights, The Blockhouse, and then the Dockyard. Our tour guide was an American who had been living there since 1975. She was kinda annoying and made a huge fuss when her hand got hurt by the door, cause she wrapped her microphone around the door handle and the door was on automatic. She made the bus driver feel like he had murdered her firstborn. After the tour, we shopped at the stores next to the dock. For lunch in Tsar's, I had chilled Wild Berry soup, Baked Penne Pasta, and a fruit plate. When the boat sailed away, we sat in the deck chairs on deck 7 for a while. We also went and looked through the shops on board again. For dinner, we ate in the buffet called The Garden Cafe.

On the 17th of December, we were in Barbados, which we have been to before. We were going to visit a couple, who my dad is friends with, who are serving a mission there, but the wife had a heart attack the week before and had been sent back to the states. We booked the "Coast to Coast" tour, which visited St. John's Parrish, the Rocks at Bathsheba, and the Edgewater Inn. For dinner in Tsar's, I had an Island fruit plate, Tandoori Chicken, and Berry Panna Cotta. The Jean Ann Ryan Company did their second production on board called "Country Gold," where they performed songs by Garth Brooks, Gretchen Wilson, Clint Black, and Reba McIntyre. Then I went and participated in Evening Trivia.

On the 18th of December, we were tendered into St. Lucia. We had to meet our tour in the Stardust Theatre and put on the same tender together. We booked the "Between the Pitons Catamaran Cruise," which lasted 5 hours. They served us a creole style lunch, while stopping at various fishing villages to let us take pictures. When they stopped the boat near the beach, some vendors came up to the boat on their surfboards, and tried to sell snorkel equipment and sea shells to us. For dinner in Azura, I had Florida Citrus, Roasted Turkey, and Strawberry Souffle. Before the main show, Second City did another Improv show. The main show a crew talent show with the cruise director's staff performing in Fountains, where they dress up in togas and spit water at each other, trying to portray famous water fountains. It was hilarious.

On the 19th of December, was another day at sea. We sat by the sapphire pool on the sundeck for a couple of hours. For lunch in Tsar's, I had fruit filled pineapple, fish and chips, and a cranberry apple crisp with cinammon ice cream. I watched the documentary "American Teen" in the cabin, and thought it seemed fake like The Hills or Laguna Beach. For dinner in Tsar's, I had the chilled strawbery soup, Surf and More Surf with Linguini, and a flourless molten Chocolate Cake. The show for the night was the Jean Ann Ryan's company performance of "Cirque Bijou," a Cirque Du Soleil show with contortionists, ballroom dancers, breakdancers, Celtic dance, and acrobats. This was the best show on board. After the show, they had all of the crew members come up on stage to say goodbye to us.


On the 20th of December, was our final day at sea. In the gift shop, they had their t-shirts on sale for 3 for $30 and most of their necklaces on sale for $10. For dinner at Tsar's, I had the chilled Black Cherry soup, Turkey Scaloppini, and a Raspberry Almond Torte. The farewell stage show, brought back Jean Pierre, Joe Yannetty, and Barry John for a final performance. It was pretty good.


On the 21st of December, we were back in Miami. We ate breakfast and then disembarked from the ship. Norwegian's disembarkation is much better than Carnival's, because it only took a half an hour. We took the Alamo shuttle bus t rent a car, and then drove up to Ft. Lauderdale to go to the Sawgrass Mills Mall, which has been a favorite of ours for the last few years. We stayed at the same Homewood Suites by the airport.

On the 22nd of December, we flew home with a layover in both Detroit and Minneapolis, which was a long day, and I was glad when it was over.


Overall, I still like Carnival the best. Their food is better and their rooms are 4 feet bigger, they have more activities during the daytime, and the crew seems nicer. I did like the fact that Norwegian sprays people's hands with hand sanitizer when they get off and on the ship, as well as entering the dining rooms and buffets.

Twilight

I went and saw Twilight this afternoon. I thought it was pretty great. I wasn't disappointed. I thought Kristen (Bella) and Robert (Edward) had a lot of chemistry on screen. I thought they stuck to the book storyline pretty well. I thought it was funny, scary, and romantic. I can't wait for the next one.

Dear Frankie

Last night I saw a movie called "Dear Frankie" starring Gerard Butler and liked it. It's about a mom who writes letters to her deaf son pretending to be his dad, because his real dad was abusive. Gerard Butler plays the stranger the mom hires to play the dad when the son wants to meet him. 

First Snowfall

On Sunday Morning, We woke up to snow in Syracuse. It had been snowing on Saturday, but not sticking. The newscast said we recieved 8 inches of snow. It's way too early for snow. It feels like December here.

San Diego

I just got home from California this afternoon. My parents and I spent the week in San Diego. My Dad had a tax seminar, so my Mom and I went shopping while he was in class. It was pretty nice because there were 4 malls within 15 minutes of our hotel. I especially enjoyed the Gaslamp Quarter, which is downtown and reminds me of San Francisco, with its rolling hills and blocks of shops and restaurants. At the Hard Rock Hotel, they have a frozen yogurt chain called Pinkberry. We got original with rasperries, strawberries and blueberries, which was really good.

We also went to the Seaport Village, which is like Ports of Call in L.A. with shops next to the water. The Kobey's Swap Meet was a little disappointing, because they didn't have any fresh fruit for sell on Friday. We also drove out to Coronado Island, where the Hotel Del Coronado is located. The Hotel is the inspiration for the Grand Floridian Hotel at Disneyworld in Florida. If you are ever in California, you must eat at El Torito, Pinkberry, Abbey's BBQ, and The Crab Cooker. They are our favorites there. I would also recommend the Banana Cream Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.

We spent the day driving around Newport Beach. We went to the O.C. swap meet and drove around Laguna as well.

Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard is one of the weirdest and interesting movies I have ever seen. Gloria Swanson is very creepy and yet fascinating in her role as Norma Desmond, the aging star and antagonist of the movie. I wasn't familiar with any of the actors before I watched this movie, except for William Holden who was good in "Sabrina."

Breaking Dawn

I started reading on Sunday night and finally finished it this morning. I thought it was a really good ending to a great series. I'm gonna miss the characters and their adventures. I'm looking forward to the movie coming out in December. I hope they don't ruin the books like they did with 'Blood and Chocolate.'

British Literature: Neoclassical/Romantic

Don Juan by Lord Byron
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
The Monk by Matthew Lewis
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

Where the Light Is

So last night I watched John Mayer's new concert dvd. I loved this dvd and he sang all my favorites from his last couple of albums. My favorite John Mayer song is a song off the Continuum album called "Belief." I just love the lyrics. It is so relevent to the war in Iraq and the battle between human beings, whether it be over religion or politics.

Belief

Is there anyone who
Ever remembers changing there mind from
The paint on a sign?
Is there anyone who really recalls
Ever breaking rank at all
For something someone yelled real loud one time

Everyone believes
In how they think it ought to be
Everyone believes
And they're not going easily

Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching under water
You never can hit who you're trying for

Some need the exhibition
And some have to know they tried
It's the chemical weapon
For the war that's raging on inside

Everyone believes
From emptiness to everything
Everyone believes
And no ones going quietly

We're never gonna win the world
We're never gonna stop the war
We're never gonna beat this
If belief is what we're fighting for

What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand
Belief can
Belief can
What puts the folded flag inside his mother's hand
Belief can
Belief can

Beyond the Sea

I watched Beyond the Sea last night for the second time. I love biopics and this one tells the story of Bobby Darin. It stars Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin and Kate Bosworth as Sandra Dee. Before I saw this movie, I wasn't familar with Bobby's story, just his songs like "Mack the Knife," "Splish Splash," "Beyond the Sea," and "Dream Lover." I was familiar with Sandra Dee from watching one of my favorite movies, Gidget. I even did a research paper and presentation on it for my Critical Approaches class this semester, comparing Dee's version to the book written by Frederick Kohner. After I saw this movie, I saw "That Funny Feeling" which Bobby and Sandra starred in together and the remake of "State Fair" that Bobby was in. Kate looks so much like Sandra, it's uncanny.

Gidget

Plot Summary

Gidget the Little Girl with Big Ideas by Frederick Kohner was published in 1957. The book is about a girl named Franzie aka “Gidget,” who is a smart, petite, 95 lb, 16 year old, living in Malibu. Gidget wants to be older and curvier like her friends, and is determined to prove she can surf just as well as the boys on Malibu Beach. The surfers nickname her “Gidget,” which is short for girl and midget. She falls for Jeff aka “Moondoggie,” a college student who prefers to surf and won’t give Gidget the time of day. “The Great Kahuna” is a surf bum who the other surfers look up to, and “he shows Gidget how to get up on her feet from her knees while on the board” (Stillman, “The Real Gidget”). Gidget uses Kahuna to make Moondoggie jealous. “At the end of this sweet summer’s tale, as Moondoggie confronts the Kahoona over what appears to be a scene of consummated passion, Gidget takes off on her board.” “The book concludes with Gidget riding a way by herself for the first time. ‘I was so jazzed up that I didn’t care whether I would break my neck or ever see Jeff again- or the great Kahuna. I stood, high like on a mountain peak, and dove down, but I stood it.” Unlike the movie ending where Gidget and Moondoggie declare their love for each other, “Book Gidget concludes that she was never in love with the Kahoona or Moondoggie — so much for boys and their predictable offerings. The objects of her affection, all along, were her surfboard and the sea” (Stillman, “The Real Gidget”).

Biographical Criticism

The real Gidget is the author, Fredrick Kohner’s daughter, named Kathy Kohner-Zuckerman, who in 1956, learned to surf and was nicknamed “Gidget.” “Unlike the beach bunnies who were already hopping along the shore, Kathy decided she wanted to join the men in the water and brought sandwiches with her to trade for time on their boards. She bought her own board for $30 and taught herself to surf” (Lunefeld).

“It was as the point that Kathy decided to commit her experiences to paper that things became more complicated. She was planning to write a book about that summer, but her father convinced her that he should write it, because he was already a professional screenwriter. “Frederick began to listen in on his daughter’s phone calls, with Kathy’s permission, but not her friends, in order to get the language right” (Lunefeld).

“Frederick Kohner wrote the book Gidget in six weeks. It was his first novel” (Zuckerman). “Frederick went to William Morris, a publishing deal was instantly hatched, and the movie rights went to Columbia for $50,000. Frederick gave Gidget five percent (an act that would be described nowadays as “buying the rights” to a subject’s story)” (Stillman, “The Real Gidget").

While Kathy and the fictional book character of Gidget are Jewish, “the cinematic and televised Gidgets came from bland American families and generic, WASP moms and dads. Also erased was Gidget’s status as a feminist heroine. By the time the novel was adapted for films and television, seeing ‘Jeff again’ regained it supremacy and Gidget the inspiration became Gidget as played by a succession of Hollywood actresses, using Malibu as a backdrop for the Hollywood dyad of girl meeting boy” (Lunefield). “Gidget is the obvious inspiration for Malibu Barbie” (Lunenfeld).

“Kohner-Zuckerman spent four summers surfing in Malibu before leaving for college in Oregon. After graduating, she signed up for the Peace Corps but was summarily kicked out because, well, she was a bit boy-crazy. She returned to Los Angeles to teach high school and middle school” (Sachs). “In 1964 she married Marvin Zuckerman, a man 10 years her senior. When they met, Zuckerman had not heard of Gidget, and knew nothing of beach life. He never learned to surf, but Gidget taught him to ski. They had two sons together and she is now a grandmother.” (Stillman, “The Real Gidget”).

“While in college, Zuckerman remembers seeing ‘Gidget’ the movie, and thought, ‘This is ridiculous. They made a movie of my life. I saw the movie 52 times. I loved it, and I still love it.’ She thought [Sandra] Dee played her fairly well, but was less pleased with Sally Field’s performance as Gidget in the television series that aired in 1965. Field was too main-stream to portray a counter-culture girl, and the show didn’t have enough surfing, Zuckerman said” (Albright).

“Two-time Emmy-winning television segment producer Brian Gillogly filmed a documentary about her life, ‘Gidget: An Accidental Icon.’ The hour-long movie debuted at the Malibu Celebration of Film festival in October. Gillogly hopes to start showing it at theaters and on television. He met Zuckerman in 1980, while doing an article for Surfer Magazine, and was interested in her life’s journey. ‘It’s an interesting story. It’s about Hollywood, it’s about surfing. It’s an interesting look at California culture and history,’ he said. For the film, Gillogly interviewed surfing, film and television veterans, as well as young girls inspired by Zuckerman.

‘To a great degree, it’s a woman’s story, rising above adversity. She wasn’t afraid to break into a man’s world. It’s an inspiring story,’ he said” (Albright).

Historical Criticism

“An 18-year-old surfer girl with the sun-bleached hair is breathing heavily and turning bright red as she approaches her idol, a diminutive grandmother who is signing books after a lecture on surfing history at UC San Diego. Tears well up in the girl’s eyes when she comes face to face with Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, the plucky surfing icon known to the world as ‘Gidget.’ ‘You are my hero,’ the girl stammers, but Zuckerman is dumbfounded. 'Gidget a hero?'” (Martin).

Historically, Gidget is looked at as a hero to some and a villain to others. “To the surfing world, she was the novice wave rider who exposed surfing’s subculture to America’s mainstream. And to a handful of purists, she was the reason California’s best surfing spots have been overrun by pushy kooks and annoying wannabes” (Martin).

Gidget changed the world for surfers for good, especially for women. “The publication of Gidget in 1957 did not just introduce us to the barely fictionalized account of a girl’s summer in Malibu; it started a chain reaction that introduced surfing to the rest of the country and spread it to the world at large” (Lunefeld). Suddenly, everybody wants a part of the fun-filled beach life depicted in the “Gidget” movies, the subsequent “Beach Blanket” spinoffs and the sentimental Beach Boys tunes. Back at Malibu, hordes of surfers pack themselves shoulder-to-shoulder on the breaking wave, evidence that Gidgetmania has changed surfing forever. Moondoggie and the rest of the gang are uprooted when lifeguards demolish the palm-frond shack. Even Gidget is turned off to surfing when she returns from college to find Malibu overrun with newcomers. ‘There were too many boards,’ she says, remembering the scene. ‘Too many surfers.’”(Martin).

On the other side, “this often-told event has lured countless wanderers to the shores of Southern California, even as it continues to anger surfers who blame Gidget for telling the world about what they once regarded as a private wave” (Stillman, “The Real Gidget.”).

“So when places like Surfrider Beach, San Onofre and County Line became overrun by throngs of surf crashers, some surfers blamed Gidget. She was an easy target. Some ‘Gidget haters’ didn’t know or care that Gidget was a real person. Fred Reiss, a 51-year-old surfer from Santa Cruz, wrote a novel in 1995 about a surfer who returns to Malibu 30 years later to kill everyone involved in the ‘Gidget’ movie for ruining his surf spot. The book, ‘Gidget Must Die,’ was a cheap shot but Reiss says the story was rooted in the real-life resentment many surfers felt toward Gidget. ‘I worked at a Santa Cruz surf shop for seven years, and I met most of the legends, as well as tons of guys from the ’60s period, and nearly all of them said, ‘Gidget ruined surfing,’ ‘ he says” (Martin).

“But Gidget has legions of fans who insist she has been unfairly blamed for a surfing craze that was ready to explode anyway because of advances in surfboard technology and a counterculture movement that reshaped the country in the late 1960s and early ’70s. Dick Metz, a lifelong surfer and founder of the Surfing Heritage Foundation in San Clemente, says those who blame Gidget don’t know their surfing history. At the time of the ‘Gidget’ movies, he says, the popular balsa-wood long boards were being replaced by shorter, lighter polyurethane foam short boards. The new, easily maneuverable boards, he says, were a big reason surfing caught fire in the 1960s. ‘The change of materials was going to change the sport,’ he says, ‘I don’t care if there was a book or a movie.’ Zuckerman’s father, Frederick Kohner, wasn’t the only one to profit from Gidgetmania. Locals like Miki “Da Cat” Dora, Johnny Fain and Mickey Munoz got paid to perform the surfing stunts for the ‘Gidget’ movie.” (Martin).

Works Cited

Albright, Mary Ann. “Real-life Gidget recalls life at OSU.” Gazette Times.

Lunefield, Peter. “Gidget on the Couch.” Believer Magazine

Martin, Hugo. “Surfer girl, Forever.” 2006.

Sachs, Andrea. “In Malibu, Gidget's Up.” Washington Post. 2005. Page P01

Stillman, Deanne. “Introduction.” Gidget the Girl with Big Ideas. Berkeley: 1957.

Stillman, Deanne. “The Real Gidget.” Surf Culture: The Art History of Surfing. California Authors.

Zuckerman, Kathy Kohner. “Foreword.” Gidget the Girl with Big Ideas. Berkeley: 1957.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

             Percy Bysshe Shelley was a radical with a conservative background.  He was against injustice and oppression, especially in schools.  He was expelled from Oxford, for writing a pamphlet called “The Necessity of Atheism” with Thomas Jefferson Hogg.    He married Harriet Westbrook even though he was against the institution of marriage.  He left his wife and felt to France with Mary Wollestonecraft Godwin and invited Harriet to come live with them as a sister.  Harriet drowned herself while she was pregnant by an unknown lover and Percy Shelley lost custody of his two children.  He wrote best when he was in great despair.    He was a radical literary hero. 

Bliss

Katherine Mansfield’s Bliss was written in 1918. The story is about a woman named Bertha who pretends to have the perfect life with her family and wealth, but she is really miserable. “Almost everything Mansfield wrote was autobiographical in some way. A reader should know about Mansfield's life because often she does not make clear where her stories are set” (Seoule). Mansfield wrote some aspects of her own life in her fictional characters like Bertha in “Bliss,” including her love life, marriage, sexuality, personality, and her love for nature.

It has been said about Mansfield that her “creative years were burdened with loneliness, illness, jealousy, alienation - all this reflected in her work with the bitter depiction of marital and family relationships of her middle-class characters” (Books and Writers). That is true, especially in her story “Bliss.” Bertha is a middle class character, who feels lonely being around tons of people at a dinner party and has a troubled marriage.

“Mansfield once described in a letter two of the things that make her write. One is ‘joy.’ She said she feels joy when in ‘some perfectly blissful way’ she is ‘at peace.’ At that time, ‘something delicate and lovely seems to open before my eyes, like a flower without thought of a frost.’ Her second motive is almost the opposite: ‘not hate or destruction . . . but an extremely deep sense of hopelessness, of everything doomed to disaster, almost willfully, stupidly.’ She summed up her second motive as ‘a cry against corruption. . . . in the widest sense of the word’" (Seoule). These were Mansfield’s reasons fro writing her “Bliss” story and how much in detail she describes the house and the pear tree in her writing, while her main character, Bertha’s life is falling apart before her very eyes.

“Although Mansfield's observations are sharp, and although she is relentless in her parodies of the modern, artistic people who populate the world of the Youngs, she seems to have more compassion for Bertha than for many of her women characters” (Tea Reads). It’s because she had a lot in common with Bertha and Bertha is a reflection of the author herself.

Like Bertha, the main character in “Bliss,” Katherine had a rocky love life. Katherine “met, married and left her first husband, George Bowden, all within just three weeks” (The British Empire). Like Bertha, she felt neglected by her second husband John Middleton Murray and she had an unfaithful husband. “When Murray had an affair with the Princess Bibesco (née Asquith), Mansfield objected not to the affair but to her letters to Murray: ‘I am afraid you must stop writing these love letters to my husband while he and I live together. It is one of the things which are not done in our world’" (Books and Writers).

“Katherine Mansfield was bisexual” (The British Empire) and there is some hints in “Bliss,” that Bertha Young might be as well. “Bertha touches Miss Fulton's arm and feels a ‘fire of bliss’; a look passes between them. Through the inane dinner conversation, Bertha blissfully wonders at her experience and waits for ‘a sign’ from Miss Fulton with little idea of what such a sign would mean. It becomes clearer to Bertha in a moment. Miss Fulton seems to give a sign, and they go to the garden and gaze at the pear tree, that had seemed to Bertha to be a symbol of her openness and vulnerability. What exactly does it suggest now? No matter what, to Bertha, the women achieve a perfect, wordless understanding. But Mansfield is ambiguous. What have they understood? Something feminine? Something about desire? Has Miss Fulton really participated in this experience, or is Bertha imagining their epiphany? Mansfield has more surprises. As the guests prepare to leave, Bertha takes a new course: ‘For the first time in her life Bertha Young desired her husband!’ Not many writers could suggest how a young woman's homoerotic feelings could so quickly shift to heterosexual ones,” (Seoule).

“The last lines of this story are also immensely important as well, Pearl's line ‘your lovely Pear tree’ echoes in the reader’s mind, whether she is referring to Harry and the affair she had with him, or Bertha and flirtation between them, or perhaps Mansfield herself is bisexual and referring to them both,” (“Bliss”). In conclusion, Mansfield wrote some aspects of her own life in her fictional characters and has many similarities to Bertha, the woman in “Bliss,” including her love life, marriage, sexuality, personality, and her love for nature.

Heart of Darkness

The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is about a riverboat captain named Charlie Marlow who sails through the Congo in Africa. Along his journey, he witness brutal acts to the people of Congo, such as genocide, cannibalism, and brutality from the white men. The people he encounters keep referring to an Englishman named Mr. Kurtz, who Marlow is supposed to go meet. Marlow is intrigued about this man, because of the wonderful things he has heard, and wonders if he is an idealistic man like him. There’s mystery when he overhears people secretly talking badly about stuff and mention Mr. Kurtz’s name.

When Marlow and his boat arrive, there’s been a massacre at the camp and Kurtz is dying. While Kurtz is on his death bed, Marlow realizes through talking to him, that Kurtz has gone crazy due to his environment and surroundings. Marlow also realizes that Kurtz has been romantically involved with one of the African women. Marlow is in the mess hall, when he hears news of Kurtz’s death. After Kurtz dies, Marlow receives Kurtz letters, in which one mentions Marlow’s forthcoming arrival. Marlow finds Kurtz’s fiancé back home, and tells her Kurtz’s last word was him saying her name, when really it was, “the horror, the horror.” He doesn’t want to tell her the truth, and add more pain to the grief she is feeling. The heart of darkness means to me, that good people have a gray area, if they are around bad surroundings. The theme of this story is ignorance is bliss.

Wordsworth and Scott

     William Wordsworth was a traveling French tutor.  He was supporter of the French Revolution and was encouraged by William Taylor to write his poetry.  He was left a friend’s inheritance with enabled his writing life.  His sister Dorothy was his inspiration and confidante.  He collaborated with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and were believed to be “political plotters.”  He was poet Laureate of Great Britain in 1943.  Executors of his estate published more of his works after his death.  Samuel Taylor Coleridge said Wordsworth was “the best poet of the age.”  He wrote about nature and memories of youth.

            Sir Walter Scott was an avid romance reader.  He was a poet and translator of German ballads.  He gave up poetry for prose fiction.  He inserted poems into his novels.  He published all of his novel anonymously.  He was “in debt when he died due to a failure of a publishing firm.”  Scott sold 30,000 copies of one of his novels in 1830.  He was internationally famous.  He wrote about Scotland, medieval times, and romance.      

Burns and Wollstonecraft

 Robert Burns was “a democrat and religious radical.”  He was a careful craftsman and debater.  He wrote works of satire, epistles, and mock-heroic very far from Alexander Pope’s.  He was described as a “songwriter for all English-speaking people.” 

            Mary Wollstonecraft had a rough childhood, where her father was an abusive drunk. Her friend died, and her school failed.  These events haunted her life. She “rallied her energies to write her first book.”  She was suicidal when she was convinced her lover was going to leave her and died giving birth to her daughter, Mary Shelley who was the author of Frankenstein.  After her death, her husband published a memoir revealing her past and published the letters she wrote.  She connected to women and people with similar backgrounds. 

William Blake

 William Blake was great believer in the lessons of the Bible and believed that it was a “great code of art.”  He believed songs are “two contrary states of the human soul.”  He was an engraver who drew the monuments of the London Church.   He taught his wife, Catherine to read and to help him work.  His pictures to go with his writings were “something important.”  His greatest love was his pictures.  He was more successful in death than he was in life.  He connects to artists, who were also writers.  He wrote about turmoil home life and his spiritual life.  His works were full of irony that mystified his liberal friends and he took a defiant pleasure in shocking readers by being deliberately outrageous.

Satire

 Satire is “attacking someone in speech/ writing by making them seem ridiculous and/or a humorously piece of writing.”  Satire’s three types are Horatian, Juvenile, and Menippean.  Horatian satire is gentle and sympathetic, which the subject is mildly made fun of with engaging wit.  The subject is not directly attacked.  This form of satire tends to ask the audience to laugh at themselves as much as the players.  Juvenalian satire is harsh and bitter.  They condemn and hold the subject in contempt.  It is more judgmental and asks the audience to respond with indignation.  Menippean satires the structure of the world as well as its subject matter.  It tends to mix genres, collapse categories, and intentionally ridicule everything. 

Goldsmith and Crabbe

             Oliver Goldsmith grew up homely and idle and he studied medicine.  He was successful and in the intimate society of Samuel Johnson.  His audiences were probably educated people in his circle and people in poverty. 

            George Crabbe was studying to be a surgeon and was a minister in the Anglican church.  He answered the claims in Oliver Goldsmith’s idealization of villagers.  Crabbe had the admiration of William Wordsworth, Sir Walter Scott, and Lord Byron.  His audiences were people of poverty.  He grew up poor and wrote about poverty. 

The Burlington Northern, Southbound

In “The Burlington Northern, Southbound” by Bruce Holland Rogers, the narrator writes a poem to the object of his affection, a girl named Christine, comparing her to the train. He assumes that Christine rejected him, because she never told him how she felt about it. So if she had liked it, wouldn’t she have said something? He kicks himself, saying, “What woman wants to hear she is like the Burlington Northern southbound?"

The narrator seems like a stalker, because he knows stuff without asking her herself. He knows “her name was Christine,” so he obviously took the time to get to know stuff about her, even if he couldn’t ask her himself. It shows how much interest he has in her, which Christine could have taken as a good or bad sign.

When the narrator tells Christine in his poem, “about the way he used to stand in the dazzle of the headlight,” he obviously likes her looks and thinks Christine’s beauty blows him away and he wonders how someone like her was invented. His poem to her could be all about her physical appearance and how much he wants to have sex with her, with lines like, “I want to ride you home Christine and beyond,” but it was his intention to tell her how the train excites him as a rider, and she excited him as a woman.

When the narrator writes “I want to ride you into mornings sharp and cold and blue and never run the same track twice,” it indicates how he saw her as a new adventure and how much he is inspired to take risks into getting to know her. He is wondering what’s under the hood of the train, when he compares her to the engine: “Between the quaking of the cinders, and his jog, the engine would almost bring him to his knees.” Even though he has seen her beauty on the outside, he is wondering if her personality is also wonderful.

“When he could stop at last he’d hear the blood rushing in his ears for a long time while he felt the train rush on recede, and he’d watch the stars wheel awhile and when he walked home there’d be a ringing in his ears but gently”: the narrator promises she makes him happy every time he sees her and misses her until the next time he sees her.

When the narrator admits he “liked to step aside and stand on the edge to feel the thunder in his bones,” and “he’d feel the night air in his hair,” he wishes he could let go of his inhibitions, and let Christine’s spirit take control of him. He is a shy person, because he would rather write her letter than actually talk to her. It would have been better for him to actually talk to her, getting to know her for herself and not just be in love of the idea of her.

The narrator finds the idea of being with Christine exciting, when he writes, “the diesel throb in his gut would ebb until it was only sound, and then cars- some shrieking on their spring- would clataclat clatalat on by.” When the narrator writes, “He would dream for a moment of hanging on, of riding the coupling platform through the night,” Christine could have taken that as he wants to hold her in his arms and not let her go.

The theme of this story is to take risks, even thought it doesn’t always pay off the way people want it to. Was writing a poem comparing her to a train stupid or brave thing for him to do, even though he didn’t get the outcome he wanted? Out of some of the narrator’s thoughts he shared in the story, it seems like Christine would be able to see it as actually a good thing, if she can get past the dirty ones.