I thought the jokes in the sketches from Monty Python's Flying Circus in the book were silly, making me smile but not laugh. The characters were more funny than the jokes, because I'm familiar with John Cleese from his work outside of Monty Python. The characters all seemed like outrageous and unique beings. I saw the movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail about five years ago, I thought it was pretty funny. I hear people all the time quoting from the movie and sketches and I wondered why they think it is so hysterical. Maybe I'm just not getting that type of humor. It just seems silly to me.
I'm sure for the 1970's this type of dry humor was new and exciting. If I hadn't seen the same bits over and over on other shows like Madtv or Saturday Night Live, I might have found them funny and appreciated them more. I think there was a generational gap between me and the show, because the jokes seems to be dated and old to me.
My favorite sketch was "Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook," because I could relate to the Hungarian Man trying to learn English. I have traveled to Mexico and not knowing Spanish. In the past year, I took all my Spanish credits at Weber and had a difficult time learning the conjugations and phrases. I thought that sketch was most creative and clever because of the phrases they came up with for the confused Hungarian.
After I read all of the sketches, I watched them on YouTube. Reading the words on the page is nothing compared to seeing the actual sketch performed by the actors, in the manner they wanted. It is ten times better seeing how the actors deliver the jokes with their accents, body language, and facial expressions. The actors and the directors make the jokes seem more in depth and clever, rather than just flat on the page. I think these are the types of jokes that are meant to be see in three dimensions, using more sense than my eyes. I though the "Spam" sketch was more annoying with the song in the video than on the page.
There are several pokes at the country and culture of England. Some of the jabs I got and some of them I didn't. The most references were in the "Dead Parrot sketch." Praline says to the audience and the guy at the complaint department, "That's Inner-City Rail for you," and "If you want to get anything done in this country you've got to complain till you're blue in the mouth," which are relatable to American culture.
They poke fun at English language and its sayings in The Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook, which I think would be a difficult language to learn because of its formality and catch phrases. I wondered if Spam is a traditional dish in England, like it is in Hawaii. I also wonder what was with the references to the Vikings, if they are look down upon in England. I would think in order to get the references, I would have to know the history of Britain a bit more.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Why Do I Have to Pass Out the Candy?
All Hallow's evening, I'm stuck inside,
Trying to watch a scary movie.
My basket is full, my doorbell ringing.
Goodbye to my eight dollar candy.
When I was a kid, Halloween was exciting.
Dressing like witches, vampires, and robots.
Along with pumpkins, parades, and apple bobs,
Candy was deliciously free.
When did Halloween become boring?
Why am I the grown up here?
When did I become the homebody?
Why do I have to pass out the candy?
Turning off the lights, my pumpkin smashed.
It's the same year after year,
I feel I'm being treated to a trick.
I can't believe in the magic anymore.
Wish I could recapture my spark,
But my candle has no wick.
I tell the kids leaving my door,
Enjoy candy till you can't anymore.
*** Synopsis: A grown up wishes she was still a kid during Halloween.
Trying to watch a scary movie.
My basket is full, my doorbell ringing.
Goodbye to my eight dollar candy.
When I was a kid, Halloween was exciting.
Dressing like witches, vampires, and robots.
Along with pumpkins, parades, and apple bobs,
Candy was deliciously free.
When did Halloween become boring?
Why am I the grown up here?
When did I become the homebody?
Why do I have to pass out the candy?
Turning off the lights, my pumpkin smashed.
It's the same year after year,
I feel I'm being treated to a trick.
I can't believe in the magic anymore.
Wish I could recapture my spark,
But my candle has no wick.
I tell the kids leaving my door,
Enjoy candy till you can't anymore.
*** Synopsis: A grown up wishes she was still a kid during Halloween.
The Writings of Seamus Heaney
"Digging"
"Digging" by Seamus Heaney is a poem about writer who comes from a family of potato farmers and doesn't want to follow in his father or grandfather's footsteps. The title refers to the narrator trying to discover what he wants to do with writing, now he's realized he doesn't want to be a potato farmer like his family. This poem is an argument that writing is just as important as farming and takes a lot of work as well. The narrator tells us, "I've got no spade to follow men like them," and he wants to "dig" with his way into the world with his pen rather than a shovel to make a name for himself. He compares the planting of potatoes to his own writing process.
Heaney uses many alliterations such as, "spade sinks into gravelly ground" and "tall tops," "sloppily with paper," "buried the bright edge deep," and "down and down." He uses "nicking and slicing" as an assonance, describing what his family does to potatoes and what he does in his writing process. Some of the verses rhyme and some are free verse, possibly a nod to the formality of the farming he wants to break away from.
"Englands of the Mind"
In Seamus Heaney's essay, "Englands of the Mind," Heaney describes three steps writers such as Ted Hughes and Philip Larkin need to have in order to be successful writers in his mind. As writers, according to Heaney, must represent a true portrayal of their country, culture, and language of England.
As a setting for their writing, England is very important as a realistic foundation of the writer's own history and culture to describe through language. Heaney says they "treat England as a region- or rather treat their region as England in different and complementary ways." Hughes describes England as "a primeval landscape" and Larkin describes England as a reflection "from the period that his language is hived off." It seems like Hughes's England is more focused on the natural aspects of the country while Larkin is more realistic. They have a lot of previous generations of writers and poets to live up to.
Each writer is measured by the difficulty and creativeness of their language with their message getting through to their readers. Heaney argues that both Hughes and Larkin as writers have "the auditory imagination," using metaphors and figurative language to describe England and their individual images of nature and reality. Hughes is "the rightful heir to alliterative traditions," using figurative language for animals, nature, and Christian stories. Larkin's language has a "bright sense of words worn clean in literate conversation," but is considerably different from Hughes.
Hughes "attempts to make vocal the inner life, the simple being-thereness," trying to tap into the narrator's inner dialogue and natural surroundings in his poems. Larkin's narrations are about "a real man in a real place," making him a realist not trying to sugarcoat his messages to us. Larkin is blunt and uses profanity through out his writings, which is very different from Hughes, who hints at similar topics but through the art of storytelling. Heaney seems to believe each author's writings are greatly executed, no matter what their style and uses of language are, as well as giving an accurate description of England.
"Digging" by Seamus Heaney is a poem about writer who comes from a family of potato farmers and doesn't want to follow in his father or grandfather's footsteps. The title refers to the narrator trying to discover what he wants to do with writing, now he's realized he doesn't want to be a potato farmer like his family. This poem is an argument that writing is just as important as farming and takes a lot of work as well. The narrator tells us, "I've got no spade to follow men like them," and he wants to "dig" with his way into the world with his pen rather than a shovel to make a name for himself. He compares the planting of potatoes to his own writing process.
Heaney uses many alliterations such as, "spade sinks into gravelly ground" and "tall tops," "sloppily with paper," "buried the bright edge deep," and "down and down." He uses "nicking and slicing" as an assonance, describing what his family does to potatoes and what he does in his writing process. Some of the verses rhyme and some are free verse, possibly a nod to the formality of the farming he wants to break away from.
"Englands of the Mind"
In Seamus Heaney's essay, "Englands of the Mind," Heaney describes three steps writers such as Ted Hughes and Philip Larkin need to have in order to be successful writers in his mind. As writers, according to Heaney, must represent a true portrayal of their country, culture, and language of England.
As a setting for their writing, England is very important as a realistic foundation of the writer's own history and culture to describe through language. Heaney says they "treat England as a region- or rather treat their region as England in different and complementary ways." Hughes describes England as "a primeval landscape" and Larkin describes England as a reflection "from the period that his language is hived off." It seems like Hughes's England is more focused on the natural aspects of the country while Larkin is more realistic. They have a lot of previous generations of writers and poets to live up to.
Each writer is measured by the difficulty and creativeness of their language with their message getting through to their readers. Heaney argues that both Hughes and Larkin as writers have "the auditory imagination," using metaphors and figurative language to describe England and their individual images of nature and reality. Hughes is "the rightful heir to alliterative traditions," using figurative language for animals, nature, and Christian stories. Larkin's language has a "bright sense of words worn clean in literate conversation," but is considerably different from Hughes.
Hughes "attempts to make vocal the inner life, the simple being-thereness," trying to tap into the narrator's inner dialogue and natural surroundings in his poems. Larkin's narrations are about "a real man in a real place," making him a realist not trying to sugarcoat his messages to us. Larkin is blunt and uses profanity through out his writings, which is very different from Hughes, who hints at similar topics but through the art of storytelling. Heaney seems to believe each author's writings are greatly executed, no matter what their style and uses of language are, as well as giving an accurate description of England.
I Have No Voice in My Throat
My lips never sink ships.
My mouth is always shut.
Over my words, my tongue trips,
I have no confidence in my gut.
Maybe it's an anxiety crisis,
Causing my vocal chords to quiver.
My opinion is in pieces,
And I'm afraid I'll stutter.
If I spoke, would anyone listen?
If I spoke, would you even understand?
If I wrote my thoughts on paper,
Would anyone even read them?
Being a human in critical demand,
I have no voice in my throat.
Don't call on me in class,
If I don't raise my hand.
When I have something of value,
I'll speak, but only with a pen.
If I build up enough thoughts,
And I'm finally able to speak,
People start talking over me,
I wonder if I was too quiet.
Chorus
*** Synopsis: A song about a pet peeve for not being able to express my thoughts in my classes as well I'm able to write them down.
My mouth is always shut.
Over my words, my tongue trips,
I have no confidence in my gut.
Maybe it's an anxiety crisis,
Causing my vocal chords to quiver.
My opinion is in pieces,
And I'm afraid I'll stutter.
If I spoke, would anyone listen?
If I spoke, would you even understand?
If I wrote my thoughts on paper,
Would anyone even read them?
Being a human in critical demand,
I have no voice in my throat.
Don't call on me in class,
If I don't raise my hand.
When I have something of value,
I'll speak, but only with a pen.
If I build up enough thoughts,
And I'm finally able to speak,
People start talking over me,
I wonder if I was too quiet.
Chorus
*** Synopsis: A song about a pet peeve for not being able to express my thoughts in my classes as well I'm able to write them down.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The Poems of Ted Hughes
"The Thought-Fox"
"The Thought-Fox" by Ted Hughes is a poem about writer narrating his story of a fox searching for prey walking through the forest on a winter's night. While the fox tries quietly to sneak up on his prey, the prey and the writer being paranoid about what lurks on the path. The poem is twenty four lines and the rhyme pattern of the six stanzas switch from ABBA to AABB to ABAA, which makes us take a long walk through the forest with the characters and the writer as he writes the story. With his rhyme pattern switching, it makes it seem like the writer is trying to make up his mind where the fox should eventually go or even catch his prey.
There are no caesuras except for a "-" in the title, which I don't know if that counts as a caesura or not. Hughes uses assonances, such as, "more near" and "widening deepening," to describe the path's end which the writer is writing with his excitement. The poems has many naturalistic alliterations, including, "midnight moment's . . .," "deeper with darkness," "touches twig," "body that is bold," "starless still," "page is printed."
Hughes repeats the word "now" four times in lines eleven and twelve, to create intensity and to put emphasis that we are reading this story while he is writing it. These alliterations describe the time, atmosphere, and the mood of the setting and tells us the narrator is a writer. Hughes also mentions "clock," "snow," "dark," and "fox" twice throughout the poem, which are key players. Hughes includes an onomatopoeia, "clock ticks," in line twenty three, so we know time is running out for this night and the prey and we know his being outsmarted by the fox is inevitable.
"Theology"
"Theology" by Ted Hughes is a poem that defends the serpent's actions of tempting Eve to eat the apple in the garden of Eden and the title is perfect because the imagery of the word "theology" could mean we could interpreting the Bible story the right or the wrong way. It depends of the point of view. This poem is told from the serpent's perspective which makes him look the good guy.
The poem also makes references to Adam, Eve, and God, who are key characters in the original story. In this poem they seem like the villains who are trying to stop the serpent from doing his job. The poem is only twelve lines long and a simple poem, but has a lot of story and smooth beat packed into it. "Theology" is very rhythmical for a poem that has no set rhyme pattern, with only rhyming words in the second stanza. It reminds me of a children's nursery rhyme.
Hughes breaks off complete sentence into two lines using enjambment and there's an alliteration in line five, "Adam ate the apple," implying the importance of Adam's transgression as well as Eve's. Hughes uses an assonance with a repeated, "Eve ate Adam" and "The serpent ate Eve." The assonances emphasizes that Eve is both the martyr and the villain, like the serpent. There is a caesura in line ten and eleven, "Sleeps his meal off in Paradise- Smiling to hear God's querulous calling." These lines make it seem like the serpent is waiting for his reward or is happy he took down God's mortals by himself.
"The Thought-Fox" by Ted Hughes is a poem about writer narrating his story of a fox searching for prey walking through the forest on a winter's night. While the fox tries quietly to sneak up on his prey, the prey and the writer being paranoid about what lurks on the path. The poem is twenty four lines and the rhyme pattern of the six stanzas switch from ABBA to AABB to ABAA, which makes us take a long walk through the forest with the characters and the writer as he writes the story. With his rhyme pattern switching, it makes it seem like the writer is trying to make up his mind where the fox should eventually go or even catch his prey.
There are no caesuras except for a "-" in the title, which I don't know if that counts as a caesura or not. Hughes uses assonances, such as, "more near" and "widening deepening," to describe the path's end which the writer is writing with his excitement. The poems has many naturalistic alliterations, including, "midnight moment's . . .," "deeper with darkness," "touches twig," "body that is bold," "starless still," "page is printed."
Hughes repeats the word "now" four times in lines eleven and twelve, to create intensity and to put emphasis that we are reading this story while he is writing it. These alliterations describe the time, atmosphere, and the mood of the setting and tells us the narrator is a writer. Hughes also mentions "clock," "snow," "dark," and "fox" twice throughout the poem, which are key players. Hughes includes an onomatopoeia, "clock ticks," in line twenty three, so we know time is running out for this night and the prey and we know his being outsmarted by the fox is inevitable.
"Theology"
"Theology" by Ted Hughes is a poem that defends the serpent's actions of tempting Eve to eat the apple in the garden of Eden and the title is perfect because the imagery of the word "theology" could mean we could interpreting the Bible story the right or the wrong way. It depends of the point of view. This poem is told from the serpent's perspective which makes him look the good guy.
The poem also makes references to Adam, Eve, and God, who are key characters in the original story. In this poem they seem like the villains who are trying to stop the serpent from doing his job. The poem is only twelve lines long and a simple poem, but has a lot of story and smooth beat packed into it. "Theology" is very rhythmical for a poem that has no set rhyme pattern, with only rhyming words in the second stanza. It reminds me of a children's nursery rhyme.
Hughes breaks off complete sentence into two lines using enjambment and there's an alliteration in line five, "Adam ate the apple," implying the importance of Adam's transgression as well as Eve's. Hughes uses an assonance with a repeated, "Eve ate Adam" and "The serpent ate Eve." The assonances emphasizes that Eve is both the martyr and the villain, like the serpent. There is a caesura in line ten and eleven, "Sleeps his meal off in Paradise- Smiling to hear God's querulous calling." These lines make it seem like the serpent is waiting for his reward or is happy he took down God's mortals by himself.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Cat's Lullaby
Hush little Shadow, time to sleep.
You'll get to be a wildcat tomorrow.
My alarm is about to beep.
Lay down in your box of paper.
Put your head on my doll's pillow.
You can hold my arm or my stuffed bunny.
Cover your eyes if the moonlight glows,
With one of your paws, my little funny.
Feathers, hair elastics, and balls
Your toys will have to wait
Stay in my room, don't run in the halls
It's getting really late.
I know the night hours are long.
Don't meow, don't sigh.
I have written a soothing song.
This is my cat's lullaby.
*** Synopsis: This is a lullaby for a cat to quit being so wild and to go to sleep.
You'll get to be a wildcat tomorrow.
My alarm is about to beep.
Lay down in your box of paper.
Put your head on my doll's pillow.
You can hold my arm or my stuffed bunny.
Cover your eyes if the moonlight glows,
With one of your paws, my little funny.
Feathers, hair elastics, and balls
Your toys will have to wait
Stay in my room, don't run in the halls
It's getting really late.
I know the night hours are long.
Don't meow, don't sigh.
I have written a soothing song.
This is my cat's lullaby.
*** Synopsis: This is a lullaby for a cat to quit being so wild and to go to sleep.
Duck Pond
There's a duck pond in Ogden where birds eat.
They chase my torn bread crumbs trapping them with their mustard feet.
There's a duck pond in Ogden I visited yesterday.
With my little brother and my grandparents before they flew away.
I'm a grown up now in school and I stroll past the pond.
Trying to reminisce often.
I hope when the birds fly north again, they will bring my grandparents,
To laugh with me again.
There's a duck pond in Ogden where people pass the track
People pass near the duck pond but are in the back
How come we as living people never see the pond for the ducks?
***Synopsis: This song is about the duck pond at Weber, where I visited as a child, and now walk pass everyday I have school.
They chase my torn bread crumbs trapping them with their mustard feet.
There's a duck pond in Ogden I visited yesterday.
With my little brother and my grandparents before they flew away.
I'm a grown up now in school and I stroll past the pond.
Trying to reminisce often.
I hope when the birds fly north again, they will bring my grandparents,
To laugh with me again.
There's a duck pond in Ogden where people pass the track
People pass near the duck pond but are in the back
How come we as living people never see the pond for the ducks?
***Synopsis: This song is about the duck pond at Weber, where I visited as a child, and now walk pass everyday I have school.
Are You Being Served?
I thought the episode of Are You Being Served? that we watched was hilarious. I hadn't seen the show before and I liked it because of its setting and plot. I think the British accents added to the humor. The humor was dry, not slapstick. They made jokes about sexuality, class, and toilet humor. Each of the characters represented a different stereotype such as a dumb blonde, a gay guy, the wise cracking employees, and the elderly. The characters were funny through their personalities, trying to play on the stereotypes they represent. They also made fun of the queen, which I assume is a staple of British comedy. It had some risqué humor which was rare for the 1970's.
It was very relatable and current to today's society. It showed us realistically how it would be to work in a department store and trouble people have getting along with their boss and coworkers. While watching, I noticed themes of sexuality, stereotypes, class, and workplace behavior. If sitcoms should have happy endings, then this one ended perfectly with a song and a dance. I would probably watch another episode.
It was very relatable and current to today's society. It showed us realistically how it would be to work in a department store and trouble people have getting along with their boss and coworkers. While watching, I noticed themes of sexuality, stereotypes, class, and workplace behavior. If sitcoms should have happy endings, then this one ended perfectly with a song and a dance. I would probably watch another episode.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Clay Eggs and Class Videos
For Biological Anthropology, we watched a documentary on the Yanomamo tribe in Africa and we read about skin cancer and genes that might lead to homosexuality.
For British Lit: Contemporary, we read My Son the Fanatic by Kureishi and watched the British sitcom, Are You Being Served? in class. I thought it was funny.
For Design 3D, I made an egg out of clay. We watched Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision in class.
For song lyrics, I wrote a country song and had to come up with 15 original metaphors.
I read Anne of Avonlea on the bus.
For British Lit: Contemporary, we read My Son the Fanatic by Kureishi and watched the British sitcom, Are You Being Served? in class. I thought it was funny.
For Design 3D, I made an egg out of clay. We watched Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision in class.
For song lyrics, I wrote a country song and had to come up with 15 original metaphors.
I read Anne of Avonlea on the bus.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The Wind Spins Me
It's one in the morning and I am not even tired,
Staring at the ceiling with my eyes glued open.
Is the fan in my room nauseated,
When I make the petals spin in the wind?
The storm crunches on my door,
Offering tickets and lollipops,
Inviting me to a late night concert,
Of drumming pans and cooking pots.
As I drift back and forth with the rattle,
Twirling my arms like a carousel,
The wind spins me.
The wind spins me.
Why are my arms and legs restless?
My hair is being backwards braided.
Am I an insomnia or just anxious,
To be stuck inside this bed?
The wind crunches on my door,
Offering fountain treats and lollipops,
Beckoning me to a late night concert,
Of dancing pans and cooking pots.
As I drift back and forth with the sound
Twirling my arms, riding a carousel
The wind spins me
The wind harmonizes with the trees,
Until the sunshine's calmness breaks free.
The wind spins me.
The wind spins me
I'll write the lyrics while the wind provides the beat,
A song about how the wind spins me.
** Synopsis: This is a song about someone who is jamming to a wind storm.
Staring at the ceiling with my eyes glued open.
Is the fan in my room nauseated,
When I make the petals spin in the wind?
The storm crunches on my door,
Offering tickets and lollipops,
Inviting me to a late night concert,
Of drumming pans and cooking pots.
As I drift back and forth with the rattle,
Twirling my arms like a carousel,
The wind spins me.
The wind spins me.
Why are my arms and legs restless?
My hair is being backwards braided.
Am I an insomnia or just anxious,
To be stuck inside this bed?
The wind crunches on my door,
Offering fountain treats and lollipops,
Beckoning me to a late night concert,
Of dancing pans and cooking pots.
As I drift back and forth with the sound
Twirling my arms, riding a carousel
The wind spins me
The wind harmonizes with the trees,
Until the sunshine's calmness breaks free.
The wind spins me.
The wind spins me
I'll write the lyrics while the wind provides the beat,
A song about how the wind spins me.
** Synopsis: This is a song about someone who is jamming to a wind storm.
Sitcoms
A sitcom is a "comedy arising from a consistent situation," usually in half hour installments once a week. Sitcoms usually involve characters "stuck together in a situation from which they cannot escape, usually family or work," showing the highs and lows of both situations. We need time to "develop an understanding of its protagonists, place, and humor. . .," of a sitcom, so it's disappointing if a sitcom gets cancelled after only two or three episodes.
The purpose of a sitcom is to poke fun of families and workplaces, making fun of social norms by telling us "about the way we live" in a way that is over the top but makes us think about it more. It is also a "promise of laughter" to its audiences, if they tune in each week, through funny characters rather than outrageous plots or stale jokes. Each episode also needs a happy ending to give us hope in the world.
I love sitcoms. It is nice to get away from the drama in our lives and watch people being funny. I especially love the sitcoms, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, and Friends. It seems like for the last five years, sitcoms were going extinct, with only a couple on each network. It seems like networks prefer reality shows and drama, when sitcoms seem to be cheaper to make than hour long dramas. The ABC and CBS networks really has brought sitcoms back to TV in the past couple years, so hopefully that trend will last.
The purpose of a sitcom is to poke fun of families and workplaces, making fun of social norms by telling us "about the way we live" in a way that is over the top but makes us think about it more. It is also a "promise of laughter" to its audiences, if they tune in each week, through funny characters rather than outrageous plots or stale jokes. Each episode also needs a happy ending to give us hope in the world.
I love sitcoms. It is nice to get away from the drama in our lives and watch people being funny. I especially love the sitcoms, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, and Friends. It seems like for the last five years, sitcoms were going extinct, with only a couple on each network. It seems like networks prefer reality shows and drama, when sitcoms seem to be cheaper to make than hour long dramas. The ABC and CBS networks really has brought sitcoms back to TV in the past couple years, so hopefully that trend will last.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Belief by John Mayer
Belief by John Mayer is one of my favorite songs of past five years and my favorite song he has ever released. I became a fan of Mayer after he released his first single, No Such Thing, because I was impressed with his writing quality of metaphors, rhymes, and allusions to messages he puts in his songs which also have great hooks, guitar riffs, and beats. I think Belief is an important and contemporary song about our world and how we should live in it.
Belief is a song from Continuum, an album which includes songs dealing a lot with contemporary war times and getting older, such as the title track, Waiting on the World to Change, which also has a similar message to Belief. The song, Belief is about how beliefs can make us fight with each other, because no one's beliefs are more correct than others, and warns us of the dangers of believing certain things through life and death. The situations he describes throughout the song visually move us, because we have all seen protests, funerals, and other effects of war in our life times.
Belief is written with a third person voice and is in AABACA format. Mayer uses a couple of creative rhymes such as "sword" with "for" and "exhibition" with "weapon" that I wouldn't have thought of. The progression of the song is precise and flows smoothly, using each stanza to back up his overall message. The story and situations make us realize how our beliefs can help us get through toughness of life and create more dangers. Believing also can hurt us and others through their power, and the song makes us ask ourselves tough questions about how we should act according to our beliefs.
The title, Belief, is a great one-worded title with lots of meaning and a universally known concept which everyone in the world could relate to. Mayer emphasizes the title by putting in the song seven times in five of the stanzas, to clearly make its placement important. He also uses key words like "mind," "armor," "everything," "everyone," "think," and "war" to go along with title's meaning.
In the first stanza, Mayer uses the metaphors of "paint on a sign" to represent protesting and "breaking rank" as a term for soldiers. Protests and soldiers go hand in hand with war, indicating Mayer is talking about our current situation with being at war with Iraq and Afghanistan and is reminiscent of September 11th, which he shows in his lyrics. It is what is hidden in the lyrics that is the most important message about this song.
In the second stanza, which I believe is a bridge, Mayer simply states twice, "Everyone believes," meaning everyone has beliefs, whether they are morally and ethically right or simply wrong. "They're not going easily" is about how beliefs can't change deep down, are hard to get rid of, and we can't change other peoples as much as we would like to.
In the third stanza, he describes belief as "a beautiful armor but makes for the heaviest sword," meaning our disagreement in beliefs are what causes war in the first place. He makes mention to the innocent casualties of war, such as the children and bystanders caught in the crossfire, by writing, "Like punching under water, you never can hit who you're trying for."
Mayer writes, "Some need the exhibition/ And some have to know they tried, " meaning people need to fight for what they believe in and stand up for them instead of being quiet. Mayer writes of the personal struggle with our beliefs due to outside factors, describe it as, "It's the chemical weapon/ For the war that's raging on inside."
In the second bridge, he writes repeats "Everyone believes" from the first bridge, making its repetition more effective throughout the song. We can have beliefs "From emptiness to everything," meaning we can believe it what we want and no one can tell us what to believe in. "And no ones going quietly," further emphasizes the point of fighting for what we believe in.
The sixth is the most important because it is the summary for the entire song. He tells us "We're never gonna win the world," meaning we can't force our way of life onto others and people are always going to fighting against us or trying to destroy us. He follows this important line with "We're never gonna stop the war" and "We're never gonna beat this" as an agreement with the message of the title and the first line in this stanza.
In his last stanza he talks about death, the death of soldiers based on war and the fight for freedom. Mayer uses sentimental lines like, "What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand, belief can," making us wonder if the deaths of thousand of soldiers are worth the fight for freedom. He follows up by asking, "What puts the folded flag inside his mother's hand, belief can," which tugs at our heart strings, through the war images we have seen on news or experience personally. Mayer's message of the last stanza, which I think reflects the entire message as a whole, is that beliefs can do anything to anybody, whether there are good or bad consequences.
Belief is a song from Continuum, an album which includes songs dealing a lot with contemporary war times and getting older, such as the title track, Waiting on the World to Change, which also has a similar message to Belief. The song, Belief is about how beliefs can make us fight with each other, because no one's beliefs are more correct than others, and warns us of the dangers of believing certain things through life and death. The situations he describes throughout the song visually move us, because we have all seen protests, funerals, and other effects of war in our life times.
Belief is written with a third person voice and is in AABACA format. Mayer uses a couple of creative rhymes such as "sword" with "for" and "exhibition" with "weapon" that I wouldn't have thought of. The progression of the song is precise and flows smoothly, using each stanza to back up his overall message. The story and situations make us realize how our beliefs can help us get through toughness of life and create more dangers. Believing also can hurt us and others through their power, and the song makes us ask ourselves tough questions about how we should act according to our beliefs.
The title, Belief, is a great one-worded title with lots of meaning and a universally known concept which everyone in the world could relate to. Mayer emphasizes the title by putting in the song seven times in five of the stanzas, to clearly make its placement important. He also uses key words like "mind," "armor," "everything," "everyone," "think," and "war" to go along with title's meaning.
In the first stanza, Mayer uses the metaphors of "paint on a sign" to represent protesting and "breaking rank" as a term for soldiers. Protests and soldiers go hand in hand with war, indicating Mayer is talking about our current situation with being at war with Iraq and Afghanistan and is reminiscent of September 11th, which he shows in his lyrics. It is what is hidden in the lyrics that is the most important message about this song.
In the second stanza, which I believe is a bridge, Mayer simply states twice, "Everyone believes," meaning everyone has beliefs, whether they are morally and ethically right or simply wrong. "They're not going easily" is about how beliefs can't change deep down, are hard to get rid of, and we can't change other peoples as much as we would like to.
In the third stanza, he describes belief as "a beautiful armor but makes for the heaviest sword," meaning our disagreement in beliefs are what causes war in the first place. He makes mention to the innocent casualties of war, such as the children and bystanders caught in the crossfire, by writing, "Like punching under water, you never can hit who you're trying for."
Mayer writes, "Some need the exhibition/ And some have to know they tried, " meaning people need to fight for what they believe in and stand up for them instead of being quiet. Mayer writes of the personal struggle with our beliefs due to outside factors, describe it as, "It's the chemical weapon/ For the war that's raging on inside."
In the second bridge, he writes repeats "Everyone believes" from the first bridge, making its repetition more effective throughout the song. We can have beliefs "From emptiness to everything," meaning we can believe it what we want and no one can tell us what to believe in. "And no ones going quietly," further emphasizes the point of fighting for what we believe in.
The sixth is the most important because it is the summary for the entire song. He tells us "We're never gonna win the world," meaning we can't force our way of life onto others and people are always going to fighting against us or trying to destroy us. He follows this important line with "We're never gonna stop the war" and "We're never gonna beat this" as an agreement with the message of the title and the first line in this stanza.
In his last stanza he talks about death, the death of soldiers based on war and the fight for freedom. Mayer uses sentimental lines like, "What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand, belief can," making us wonder if the deaths of thousand of soldiers are worth the fight for freedom. He follows up by asking, "What puts the folded flag inside his mother's hand, belief can," which tugs at our heart strings, through the war images we have seen on news or experience personally. Mayer's message of the last stanza, which I think reflects the entire message as a whole, is that beliefs can do anything to anybody, whether there are good or bad consequences.
Friday, September 24, 2010
My Son The Fanatic
My Son The Fanatic by Hanif Kureishi is a story about a father and son who struggle with communication and cannot agree on religion or cultural issues. Parvel, the father, is a taxi driver and avid drinker and gambler. One of his best friends is a prostitute named Bettina. Parvel notices his son, Ali, is acting weird and starts believing the worst in his son, thinking he is doing drugs, going to kill himself, or kill other people until he hears his son praying.
Little does Parvel know, it seems worse now that Ali has found the religion Parvel has escaped from. Ali, the teenaged son, has become a minimalist by "throwing out his belongings," changing his entire life and attitude, and trying to live the Islamic way of life to the strictest enforcement. On the other hand, Parvel gave up this religion since his move to England because of the humiliation and harsh punishment he experienced as a child and has fully embraced the culture of England, enjoying the vices. The issues of religion and culture are the center of their disagreements.
All Parvel wants for his son is for him to "get a good job, marry the right girl, and start a family." He describes his relationship with his son before as "not father and son- we were brothers," making it seem like he wants to be friends with his son more than be his father. Instead of asking his son directly what is happening, he sneaks around, spying, and asks his friends, "Why is he torturing me?," taking it personally.
This story has unique views based on religion and the old country versus the western world, like the ones we have read before like Achebe and Thiong'o. Usually in the stories I have read, it is the parents who try to enforce their strict religious beliefs on the children. In this story, it is the son who has the strong religious faith and is trying to get his dad to believe in it too. It is also the son who fights against the culture of the western world instead of the parent, which is also an unusual perspective.
Ali clearly hates the culture of England, telling his father he is "too implicated in Western Civilization" and "Western education cultivates an anti-religious attitude." He also tells his father the problem with England is that it will "let you do almost anything. . ." Parvez clearly is upset by his son telling him he is "going to hell" and his response is to want to tell Ali "to pick up his prayer mat and get out" of his house.
I believe the father and son are both doing what they think is right in their hearts, based on their experiences with both cultures. I think the Parvez crosses the line when he beats Ali at the end for disrespects him. I also think Ali crosses the line when he is very judgmental of his father's actions as well as the hateful things he says to his father and Bettina, the prostitute. I sympathize with both the father and son at times. I feel bad for the dad trying to get his old son back and how he wants to reconnect with him, and the son won't compromise. I also feel bad for the son when his dad won't accept the new him, calling his son's new behavior an "injustice."
Kureishi's writings connects with Achebe and Thiong'o, because they all deal with peoples' cultures being changed by the western world. They all deal with people who have grew up one way and have either moved to another country or had change in their own country. It is the next step because it is very reminiscent of what we have dealt with in the past nine years after September 11th. In our current world, we have terrorists and religious fanatics who believe in destroying us and the other believers of the religion who aren't such fanatics, trying to clear their bad reputations.
Little does Parvel know, it seems worse now that Ali has found the religion Parvel has escaped from. Ali, the teenaged son, has become a minimalist by "throwing out his belongings," changing his entire life and attitude, and trying to live the Islamic way of life to the strictest enforcement. On the other hand, Parvel gave up this religion since his move to England because of the humiliation and harsh punishment he experienced as a child and has fully embraced the culture of England, enjoying the vices. The issues of religion and culture are the center of their disagreements.
All Parvel wants for his son is for him to "get a good job, marry the right girl, and start a family." He describes his relationship with his son before as "not father and son- we were brothers," making it seem like he wants to be friends with his son more than be his father. Instead of asking his son directly what is happening, he sneaks around, spying, and asks his friends, "Why is he torturing me?," taking it personally.
This story has unique views based on religion and the old country versus the western world, like the ones we have read before like Achebe and Thiong'o. Usually in the stories I have read, it is the parents who try to enforce their strict religious beliefs on the children. In this story, it is the son who has the strong religious faith and is trying to get his dad to believe in it too. It is also the son who fights against the culture of the western world instead of the parent, which is also an unusual perspective.
Ali clearly hates the culture of England, telling his father he is "too implicated in Western Civilization" and "Western education cultivates an anti-religious attitude." He also tells his father the problem with England is that it will "let you do almost anything. . ." Parvez clearly is upset by his son telling him he is "going to hell" and his response is to want to tell Ali "to pick up his prayer mat and get out" of his house.
I believe the father and son are both doing what they think is right in their hearts, based on their experiences with both cultures. I think the Parvez crosses the line when he beats Ali at the end for disrespects him. I also think Ali crosses the line when he is very judgmental of his father's actions as well as the hateful things he says to his father and Bettina, the prostitute. I sympathize with both the father and son at times. I feel bad for the dad trying to get his old son back and how he wants to reconnect with him, and the son won't compromise. I also feel bad for the son when his dad won't accept the new him, calling his son's new behavior an "injustice."
Kureishi's writings connects with Achebe and Thiong'o, because they all deal with peoples' cultures being changed by the western world. They all deal with people who have grew up one way and have either moved to another country or had change in their own country. It is the next step because it is very reminiscent of what we have dealt with in the past nine years after September 11th. In our current world, we have terrorists and religious fanatics who believe in destroying us and the other believers of the religion who aren't such fanatics, trying to clear their bad reputations.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Headphones
Rhythm's got a crush on you.
My rhythm's won't let you ever go low.
If you can't play me, you're in danger.
Why won't my beat let you say no?
Yeah...Keep my volume going strong.
Yeah...Loving music isn't wrong.
Yeah... Keep your headphones out of sight.
Try to resist me with all your might.
Go ahead, listen with all your lust,
And who really cares if you want to sing on the bus?
Bridge
Feel the pumping through your ear lobes.
Rhythm's eager to dance.
My lyrics are itching to be scratched,
And can you ever hold the silence?
Bridge
(Try to resist me with all your might)
Go ahead, listen with all your lust,
And who really cares if you want to sing on the bus?
(Sing on the bus)
Don't use your headphones.
Don't use your headphones.
Don't use your headphones.
Don't use your headphones on me.
Bridge
Chorus
*** Synopsis: This song is about music tempting someone to play it loud and not use their headphones, from the music's perspective.
Monograph
I made several changes based on the two critiques I received, which were very helpful. I like receiving advice in order to make my lyrics stronger and more understandable. To my song, Headphones, I added proper punctuation, corrected the spelling errors, and tried to make my lines more understandable and more to the point I was trying to get across. I tried to make the song more from the music's perspective by adding me and my to some of the lines, so it would have a clear message about the headphones.
I added "low" to "Rhythm's won't let you ever go," to make a rhyme in a sentence. I added the line, "Try to resist me with all your might" to the bridge, to rhyme with "out of sight," as a way of adding more perspective from the music. I changed "sing on the side" and "want to sing on the side" to "sing on the bus," because I hear a lot of people singing on the bus along with their iPods or laptops, which was my inspiration for this song.
I changed "your might" to "lust" to rhyme with "bus," further emphasizing my point. I changed "You feel the pumping through your ear lobes" to "Feel the pumping through your ear lobes," based on your suggestion. I changed "got you grasping breaths" to "eager to dance" to rhyme with "silence." I changed the last line in the chorus from " Don't use your headphones" to "Don't use your headphones on me," to add more emphasis.
My rhythm's won't let you ever go low.
If you can't play me, you're in danger.
Why won't my beat let you say no?
Yeah...Keep my volume going strong.
Yeah...Loving music isn't wrong.
Yeah... Keep your headphones out of sight.
Try to resist me with all your might.
Go ahead, listen with all your lust,
And who really cares if you want to sing on the bus?
Bridge
Feel the pumping through your ear lobes.
Rhythm's eager to dance.
My lyrics are itching to be scratched,
And can you ever hold the silence?
Bridge
(Try to resist me with all your might)
Go ahead, listen with all your lust,
And who really cares if you want to sing on the bus?
(Sing on the bus)
Don't use your headphones.
Don't use your headphones.
Don't use your headphones.
Don't use your headphones on me.
Bridge
Chorus
*** Synopsis: This song is about music tempting someone to play it loud and not use their headphones, from the music's perspective.
Monograph
I made several changes based on the two critiques I received, which were very helpful. I like receiving advice in order to make my lyrics stronger and more understandable. To my song, Headphones, I added proper punctuation, corrected the spelling errors, and tried to make my lines more understandable and more to the point I was trying to get across. I tried to make the song more from the music's perspective by adding me and my to some of the lines, so it would have a clear message about the headphones.
I added "low" to "Rhythm's won't let you ever go," to make a rhyme in a sentence. I added the line, "Try to resist me with all your might" to the bridge, to rhyme with "out of sight," as a way of adding more perspective from the music. I changed "sing on the side" and "want to sing on the side" to "sing on the bus," because I hear a lot of people singing on the bus along with their iPods or laptops, which was my inspiration for this song.
I changed "your might" to "lust" to rhyme with "bus," further emphasizing my point. I changed "You feel the pumping through your ear lobes" to "Feel the pumping through your ear lobes," based on your suggestion. I changed "got you grasping breaths" to "eager to dance" to rhyme with "silence." I changed the last line in the chorus from " Don't use your headphones" to "Don't use your headphones on me," to add more emphasis.
Decolonising the Mind by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
Decolonising the Mind by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o is brutally honest example of how colonization is both good and bad for both sides of the issues of culture and language. Thiong'o describes his history of growing up in Kenya, during the time it was colonized, and how he was forced to learn English and abandon certain aspects of his culture, which is very sad. The violence he experienced inside and outside school for not speaking English and wanting to speak in his original language Ginknyu is horrible to read. He should have been able to embrace his ancestry and the new studies of English.
Thiong'o believes in order to communicate with the societies outside of our own, we have to have "co-operation" from the locals in order to make great achievements. He believes the locals, the people, literature, and language of Kenya were "suppressed" by the "colonial system," through his experiences and I don't blame him. What the visitors did in order to make him like them was inhumane and unethical. It reminds me of when I hear people in this country getting mad they have to press one on their phones to listen to English, when there is no official language of this country. Instead we should be learning Spanish and trying to communicate with immigrants to become a more peaceful society. Without communication, ignorance is not going to solve anything. Thiong'o believes without cooperation from the natives or the outsiders, the visitors will face serious consequences and we as invaders shouldn't force our way of life onto the locals.
Language is one of the most important factors of life because it provides us with a way to communicate with others and is a "carrier of culture." We use language by using "language of real life," "speech," and "written signs," to communicate visually and orally, and define ourselves as human beings. Thiong'o believes the studying of English literature and language as a child took him and "further and further from" his own culture and his identity. He also believes that language carries our own values of what we know and what we believe.
Thiong'o defines cultural language as a "collective memory bank of people's experiences in history" and "an image forming agent in the mind of a child." I believe this is true, because we are taught at a young age to speak and to read in order to learn the survival skills for school and the rest of our lives. If we didn't have some sort of sense of culture and language, we would have no identity of our own and would be lost in this hectic world. Our language and how we use it to keep our traditions alive is very important. While there is room in our brains to learn more languages, it is hard to learn because we are so used to one way of doing things and it doesn't belong in our paradigm. I have taken all four of my required Spanish credits and if I had to speak it frequently instead of English, I wouldn't succeed because it is extremely difficult to think in another language.
Thiong'o believes one the purposes of colonizing is to "control the people's wealth," which I think he means the Western world wants to take other countries' natural resources and land to make a profit. He also believe colonizing is to "control a people's culture," to make everyone in the world follow the civilized society's ways of living, rules, and customs. Thiong'o warns us, "to control a people's culture is to control their tools of self-definition in relationship to others." I believe we colonize by dividing land, controlling the people, and enforcing our standards on the locals. The ways we colonize are harsh, even if we do it for good reasons and resources.
Thiong'o believes in order to communicate with the societies outside of our own, we have to have "co-operation" from the locals in order to make great achievements. He believes the locals, the people, literature, and language of Kenya were "suppressed" by the "colonial system," through his experiences and I don't blame him. What the visitors did in order to make him like them was inhumane and unethical. It reminds me of when I hear people in this country getting mad they have to press one on their phones to listen to English, when there is no official language of this country. Instead we should be learning Spanish and trying to communicate with immigrants to become a more peaceful society. Without communication, ignorance is not going to solve anything. Thiong'o believes without cooperation from the natives or the outsiders, the visitors will face serious consequences and we as invaders shouldn't force our way of life onto the locals.
Language is one of the most important factors of life because it provides us with a way to communicate with others and is a "carrier of culture." We use language by using "language of real life," "speech," and "written signs," to communicate visually and orally, and define ourselves as human beings. Thiong'o believes the studying of English literature and language as a child took him and "further and further from" his own culture and his identity. He also believes that language carries our own values of what we know and what we believe.
Thiong'o defines cultural language as a "collective memory bank of people's experiences in history" and "an image forming agent in the mind of a child." I believe this is true, because we are taught at a young age to speak and to read in order to learn the survival skills for school and the rest of our lives. If we didn't have some sort of sense of culture and language, we would have no identity of our own and would be lost in this hectic world. Our language and how we use it to keep our traditions alive is very important. While there is room in our brains to learn more languages, it is hard to learn because we are so used to one way of doing things and it doesn't belong in our paradigm. I have taken all four of my required Spanish credits and if I had to speak it frequently instead of English, I wouldn't succeed because it is extremely difficult to think in another language.
Thiong'o believes one the purposes of colonizing is to "control the people's wealth," which I think he means the Western world wants to take other countries' natural resources and land to make a profit. He also believe colonizing is to "control a people's culture," to make everyone in the world follow the civilized society's ways of living, rules, and customs. Thiong'o warns us, "to control a people's culture is to control their tools of self-definition in relationship to others." I believe we colonize by dividing land, controlling the people, and enforcing our standards on the locals. The ways we colonize are harsh, even if we do it for good reasons and resources.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Writings of Chinua Achebe
The Sacrificial Egg by Chinua Achebe is a story about fear of change. The natives are afraid of what the western world is going to do to Umuru by moving in and taking over their territory. The narrator tells us, "There is good growth and there is bad growth," meaning the village has uninvited visitors who outnumber them and they are not happy about it. Will it help them to get new resources or will it hurt the resources they already have? Did the newcomers come for "trade and money," or did they come to pillage and cause genocide?
The way the story is told, it seems like there is a virus called Kitikpa sweeping the towns and there is no escape, which a good metaphor for big chains forcing the mom and pop stores to close. Julius Obi steps on an egg of "someone oppressed by misfortune," which is a metaphor for the western world stepping on the way of life the locals have been living and are used to doing business. Julius seems to worry about the youth who "had never yet experienced the power of Kitikpa themselves," wondering if the young generation will grow up never knowing the dangers of the western world and will feel it is perfectly normal to outsiders taking over their land.
In Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Achebe states that he believes Conrad is a "thoroughgoing racist" based on the themes and his description of the African people in his novel Heart of Darkness. It is Achebe's opinion is that Heart of Darkness "cannot" be called "a great work of art." I read Heart of Darkness for my Critical Approaches class and thought it was a great novel. At the time I believed the novel was very psychological draining, which worked well for it, and the title referred to the area of grey people have in bad surroundings.
Achebe believes Conrad, like Western psychology, views "Africa as a foil to Europe" and Africa is "the other world, the antithesis of Europe and therefore, of civilization." I think people believe Africa is has people who act like savages and are uncivilized based on reading books like Heart of Darkness and the films that are based on stereotypes. The same civilization theory could be said for how the Europeans viewed America right before they came over to "tame" it. It makes it seem like Europeans believe they are more civilized and more educated than any other continent. I think Achebe's argument is to say they are people everywhere who are good and bad and it doesn't matter what continent they are in.
Achebe also notes the dialogue of the characters when they speak during the story as being uneducated and inferior, which he believes in Conrad's "best assault" on Africa. Couldn't the same be said for other novels like Huckleberry Finn which uses a similar style of dialogue for slaves? Is Achebe trying to point out that we should not read books which have hints of racism? I think we should be able to decide for ourselves, if we can view them critically.
Achebe points outs that it could be "contended, of course, that the attitude to the African in Heart of Darkness is not Conrad's but that of his fictional narrator, Marlow and that far from endorsing it Conrad might indeed by holding it up to irony and criticism." Since Achebe didn't include an interview with Conrad saying he believed Africans were uncivilized and uneducated, I have to give him the benefit of doubt, storytelling wise.
I agree with Achebe when he says Africa plays a bigger part in the story than the destruction of the mind of Krutz and the adventures of Marlow. I think if this story was set in some other place, like a deserted island, it wouldn't have had the same controversial effect on the readers.
The way the story is told, it seems like there is a virus called Kitikpa sweeping the towns and there is no escape, which a good metaphor for big chains forcing the mom and pop stores to close. Julius Obi steps on an egg of "someone oppressed by misfortune," which is a metaphor for the western world stepping on the way of life the locals have been living and are used to doing business. Julius seems to worry about the youth who "had never yet experienced the power of Kitikpa themselves," wondering if the young generation will grow up never knowing the dangers of the western world and will feel it is perfectly normal to outsiders taking over their land.
In Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Achebe states that he believes Conrad is a "thoroughgoing racist" based on the themes and his description of the African people in his novel Heart of Darkness. It is Achebe's opinion is that Heart of Darkness "cannot" be called "a great work of art." I read Heart of Darkness for my Critical Approaches class and thought it was a great novel. At the time I believed the novel was very psychological draining, which worked well for it, and the title referred to the area of grey people have in bad surroundings.
Achebe believes Conrad, like Western psychology, views "Africa as a foil to Europe" and Africa is "the other world, the antithesis of Europe and therefore, of civilization." I think people believe Africa is has people who act like savages and are uncivilized based on reading books like Heart of Darkness and the films that are based on stereotypes. The same civilization theory could be said for how the Europeans viewed America right before they came over to "tame" it. It makes it seem like Europeans believe they are more civilized and more educated than any other continent. I think Achebe's argument is to say they are people everywhere who are good and bad and it doesn't matter what continent they are in.
Achebe also notes the dialogue of the characters when they speak during the story as being uneducated and inferior, which he believes in Conrad's "best assault" on Africa. Couldn't the same be said for other novels like Huckleberry Finn which uses a similar style of dialogue for slaves? Is Achebe trying to point out that we should not read books which have hints of racism? I think we should be able to decide for ourselves, if we can view them critically.
Achebe points outs that it could be "contended, of course, that the attitude to the African in Heart of Darkness is not Conrad's but that of his fictional narrator, Marlow and that far from endorsing it Conrad might indeed by holding it up to irony and criticism." Since Achebe didn't include an interview with Conrad saying he believed Africans were uncivilized and uneducated, I have to give him the benefit of doubt, storytelling wise.
I agree with Achebe when he says Africa plays a bigger part in the story than the destruction of the mind of Krutz and the adventures of Marlow. I think if this story was set in some other place, like a deserted island, it wouldn't have had the same controversial effect on the readers.
Balcony at Sea
Balcony- little bit of heaven.
When we're sailing off, everybody's waving,
Leisurely floating out of Miami.
Today- we sail away.
Balcony- a place for napping.
Don't have to worry about unpacking.
Just relax and dream your cares away.
Today- a sea day.
Balcony- better than our cabin.
We can sit, eager for a amusing
The room bill is sure worth paying
Good money for an upgrade.
Balcony- in the zephyr, sailing.
Salt mixed with lots of ease, smelling.
Watching the dolphins as they pass us by.
Today- a play day.
Balcony- the sunset is upon us.
The clouds are beginning to rust.
The ocean still looks vast,
worth seeing in the deep darkness.
Balcony- its getting too dark now.
Turning on the light so we can see out.
The waves are becoming lazy.
Today was a good day.
Just relax and dream your cares away
*** Synopsis: Song about sitting on a balcony of a cruise ship throughout a day.
When we're sailing off, everybody's waving,
Leisurely floating out of Miami.
Today- we sail away.
Balcony- a place for napping.
Don't have to worry about unpacking.
Just relax and dream your cares away.
Today- a sea day.
Balcony- better than our cabin.
We can sit, eager for a amusing
The room bill is sure worth paying
Good money for an upgrade.
Balcony- in the zephyr, sailing.
Salt mixed with lots of ease, smelling.
Watching the dolphins as they pass us by.
Today- a play day.
Balcony- the sunset is upon us.
The clouds are beginning to rust.
The ocean still looks vast,
worth seeing in the deep darkness.
Balcony- its getting too dark now.
Turning on the light so we can see out.
The waves are becoming lazy.
Today was a good day.
Just relax and dream your cares away
*** Synopsis: Song about sitting on a balcony of a cruise ship throughout a day.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Tom Stoppard's Professional Foul
Professional Foul by Tom Stoppard is a play about a group of professors from Oxford fly to Czechoslovakia to give speeches and come across catastrophe theory, police corruption, ethic boundaries, and the oppression of human rights. The title, Professional Foul, comes from a football term, which Anderson mentions while watching a football game. It was the least shocking play I've read for this class so far, but it was a very deep read with relatable issues. I liked how each of the professors represented one of the issues by their field.
Anderson is a language professor and he deals with most issues in the play, as he is the main character. He struggles with the local government, foreign languages and policies, and good and bad ethics. He faces moral dilemmas of helping his former student or following the laws and regulations of the foreign country. After he goes through all of his struggles while in Czechoslovakia, he gives a speech about "the conflict between the rights of individuals and the rights of the community," and to prove his point, the chairman of the convention stops his speech with fake fire drill.
Pavel Hollar is Anderson's old student at Oxford, who is back in his own country workings as a "cleaner at the bus station." He should be able to get a better job, but can't, since he "walked across a minefield" to an enemy state, Britain. Hollar's thesis is "about correct behavior," which Anderson says is "rather slanderous from the state's point of view." After Hollar gives his thesis, Anderson says "I hope you're not getting me into trouble." Little does Anderson know it is the just the start. We know the police are corrupt since they plant American dollars in his apartment and go through his belongings, especially his books, for twenty hours. The searchers reminded me of Nazis and the firemen from the book, Fahrenheit 451.
Chetwyn is an ethics professor. We don't know whether he believes in what he teaches, because he is caught at the airport trying to return to Britain with a bunch of suspicious letters to other countries. Anderson brushes Chetwyn's arrest and detainment off, saying, "they couldn't treat Chetwyn as though he were a Czech national anyway," which is good for Chetwyn, based on the treatment of Hollar and his family throughout the play.
McKendrick is a politics professor and is a Marxist, with no apologies for what the Marxists have done in the past. He tells us his teaching and research field is the "philosophical assumptions of social science" and he also makes it know he hates football which gets him into trouble with the others. He seems paranoid about everything during his visit and says when they arrive at the hotel, "Do you think the rooms are bugged?"
We are introduced to catastrophe theory by McKendrick during his speech, which suggests morality and immorality "are two lines on the same plane," which makes a lot of sense since there is a grey matter with every dark and light in every decision. After Anderson plants Hollar's thesis in McKendrick's suitcase and McKendrick seems angry by this, calling him an "Utter Bastard" Why does he seem so surprised?
Anderson's theory on ethics is "The difficulty arises when one asks oneself how the individual ethic can have meaning by itself." He tells the cops who are searching Hollar's place, "I assume it is not illegal" if he brings Hollar's papers to read, showing he has a twisted sense of humor. The author, Tom Stoppard makes the play go full circle by starting and ending their journey on the plane, with the characters arriving with hope and leaving with shock. Anderson has the last line of the play, saying, "Ethics is a very complicated business." Indeed it is.
Anderson is a language professor and he deals with most issues in the play, as he is the main character. He struggles with the local government, foreign languages and policies, and good and bad ethics. He faces moral dilemmas of helping his former student or following the laws and regulations of the foreign country. After he goes through all of his struggles while in Czechoslovakia, he gives a speech about "the conflict between the rights of individuals and the rights of the community," and to prove his point, the chairman of the convention stops his speech with fake fire drill.
Pavel Hollar is Anderson's old student at Oxford, who is back in his own country workings as a "cleaner at the bus station." He should be able to get a better job, but can't, since he "walked across a minefield" to an enemy state, Britain. Hollar's thesis is "about correct behavior," which Anderson says is "rather slanderous from the state's point of view." After Hollar gives his thesis, Anderson says "I hope you're not getting me into trouble." Little does Anderson know it is the just the start. We know the police are corrupt since they plant American dollars in his apartment and go through his belongings, especially his books, for twenty hours. The searchers reminded me of Nazis and the firemen from the book, Fahrenheit 451.
Chetwyn is an ethics professor. We don't know whether he believes in what he teaches, because he is caught at the airport trying to return to Britain with a bunch of suspicious letters to other countries. Anderson brushes Chetwyn's arrest and detainment off, saying, "they couldn't treat Chetwyn as though he were a Czech national anyway," which is good for Chetwyn, based on the treatment of Hollar and his family throughout the play.
McKendrick is a politics professor and is a Marxist, with no apologies for what the Marxists have done in the past. He tells us his teaching and research field is the "philosophical assumptions of social science" and he also makes it know he hates football which gets him into trouble with the others. He seems paranoid about everything during his visit and says when they arrive at the hotel, "Do you think the rooms are bugged?"
We are introduced to catastrophe theory by McKendrick during his speech, which suggests morality and immorality "are two lines on the same plane," which makes a lot of sense since there is a grey matter with every dark and light in every decision. After Anderson plants Hollar's thesis in McKendrick's suitcase and McKendrick seems angry by this, calling him an "Utter Bastard" Why does he seem so surprised?
Anderson's theory on ethics is "The difficulty arises when one asks oneself how the individual ethic can have meaning by itself." He tells the cops who are searching Hollar's place, "I assume it is not illegal" if he brings Hollar's papers to read, showing he has a twisted sense of humor. The author, Tom Stoppard makes the play go full circle by starting and ending their journey on the plane, with the characters arriving with hope and leaving with shock. Anderson has the last line of the play, saying, "Ethics is a very complicated business." Indeed it is.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Elevator
Elevator
A place to leave fliers
Decorating your sides with gum
You are messy, elevator
Elevator
Metal cage of black wire
Less space than I desire
You cramp my air, elevator
Full of gravity, space, and rhyme
Keeps me inside, up, and down
Doesn't let me lose much time
Never lets me go around
Ignores the thirteenth floor
A proper people keeper
Treated like a whore
Sorry I used you, elevator
A place to leave fliers
Decorating your sides with gum
You are messy, elevator
Elevator
Metal cage of black wire
Less space than I desire
You cramp my air, elevator
Full of gravity, space, and rhyme
Keeps me inside, up, and down
Doesn't let me lose much time
Never lets me go around
Ignores the thirteenth floor
A proper people keeper
Treated like a whore
Sorry I used you, elevator
Top Girls by Caryl Churchill
At first I didn't know what to make of this play, Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, and was disturbed by the scene between Kit and Angie. I had to read it a couple of times to grasp the concepts. I believe Top Girls is a play about the roles of women in society and the workplace, using a career orientated women compared to the typical homemaker type of women to show how far a woman's place in society can and will come.
I think the intent of the author was to say that the women who want to succeed in the business world must think like a man and not give up their careers to just be a housewife. It is very reminiscent of the times and shows how much women have to struggle for independence and the right to work.
I think Marlene talks to Isabella, Nijo, Griselda, and Joan the Pope, because they are her examples of the past of women have been and what they have become, and she needs to believe that she can continue their legacy and rise above society's pressures on women. I think Churchill adds this opening to remind us why Marlene has to fight and how far women have come.
Compared to the women Marlene works with, we can tell her ambitions are higher than her co-workers. There is Win, who seems content with "living" with her boyfriend while his wife is away and there's Jeanine, a clear opposite who only wants a job to save money "to get married" and have kids Marlene asks Jeanine, "Does that mean you don't want a long term job?," and offers that she sells lampshades, because it probably boggles her mind to think of someone not wanting to be independent. The one co-worker exception is Louise, who seems similar to Marlene and has "seen young men who I trained go on" and feels like "Nobody notices" her.
When Marlene gets the promotion over Howard, we can tell that this a controversial decision for the time period. Even the man's abused wife even comes in to tell Marlene to let him have the job since, "What's it going to do to him working for a woman? . . He's got a family to support. He's got three children. It's only fair." It is not fair for him to have the job just because he is a family man and Marlene is a single woman. Her co-worker Nell even says, "Our Marlene's got far more balls than Howard and that's that."
In comparison, her sister Joyce is a divorced single mother, trying to make it on her own with "four different cleaning jobs." Joyce doesn't seem interested in men anymore and says, "Mind you, the minute you're on your own, you'd be amazes how your friends' husbands drop by. I'd sooner do without." Little is said about Marlene and her social life outside of work. She only says the men are "waiting for me to turn into the little woman" and admits "she does need them, but I need adventures more." In the first act, Isabella says to Marlene, "When I was forty, I thought my life was over," referring to a time when women of this age were considered washed up and old maids if they weren't married. Nowadays, women like Isabella and Marlene get married after forty and have babies after they have settled into their careers. While Marlene lives to work and to be successful, Joyce works to live because she has to take care of Angie.
We later learn that Marlene gave her infant daughter to her sister Joyce, so she could work and not have to raise her. Angie is very unhappy and hates Joyce, wants to be "American," wanting to work and to get away from the "working class" like Marlene. I don't know if Angie would have been happier being raised by her real mother, but I'm sure Marlene would have been more miserable.
I think the intent of the author was to say that the women who want to succeed in the business world must think like a man and not give up their careers to just be a housewife. It is very reminiscent of the times and shows how much women have to struggle for independence and the right to work.
I think Marlene talks to Isabella, Nijo, Griselda, and Joan the Pope, because they are her examples of the past of women have been and what they have become, and she needs to believe that she can continue their legacy and rise above society's pressures on women. I think Churchill adds this opening to remind us why Marlene has to fight and how far women have come.
Compared to the women Marlene works with, we can tell her ambitions are higher than her co-workers. There is Win, who seems content with "living" with her boyfriend while his wife is away and there's Jeanine, a clear opposite who only wants a job to save money "to get married" and have kids Marlene asks Jeanine, "Does that mean you don't want a long term job?," and offers that she sells lampshades, because it probably boggles her mind to think of someone not wanting to be independent. The one co-worker exception is Louise, who seems similar to Marlene and has "seen young men who I trained go on" and feels like "Nobody notices" her.
When Marlene gets the promotion over Howard, we can tell that this a controversial decision for the time period. Even the man's abused wife even comes in to tell Marlene to let him have the job since, "What's it going to do to him working for a woman? . . He's got a family to support. He's got three children. It's only fair." It is not fair for him to have the job just because he is a family man and Marlene is a single woman. Her co-worker Nell even says, "Our Marlene's got far more balls than Howard and that's that."
In comparison, her sister Joyce is a divorced single mother, trying to make it on her own with "four different cleaning jobs." Joyce doesn't seem interested in men anymore and says, "Mind you, the minute you're on your own, you'd be amazes how your friends' husbands drop by. I'd sooner do without." Little is said about Marlene and her social life outside of work. She only says the men are "waiting for me to turn into the little woman" and admits "she does need them, but I need adventures more." In the first act, Isabella says to Marlene, "When I was forty, I thought my life was over," referring to a time when women of this age were considered washed up and old maids if they weren't married. Nowadays, women like Isabella and Marlene get married after forty and have babies after they have settled into their careers. While Marlene lives to work and to be successful, Joyce works to live because she has to take care of Angie.
We later learn that Marlene gave her infant daughter to her sister Joyce, so she could work and not have to raise her. Angie is very unhappy and hates Joyce, wants to be "American," wanting to work and to get away from the "working class" like Marlene. I don't know if Angie would have been happier being raised by her real mother, but I'm sure Marlene would have been more miserable.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Painting Wood, Petula Clark, and the Blues
For British Lit, I did a presentation on Petula Clark and showed a youtube video of her singing "Downtown." I also read "The Homecoming" by Harold Pinter. That is such a weird and shocking play about pimps and prostitutes.
For Design 3D, I finished painting and sanding my three pieces of wood, assembled it, and turned it in on Thursday. I painted them purple with a shade of blue.
For Song Lyrics, I had to write a blues songs and an "AAA" format song.
For Biological Anthropology, I read Imitators That Hide in Plain Sight and Stay Alive by Sean B. Carroll and wrote a paper on it. We also watched "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" in class on Tuesday.
I also read The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and A Greater Love by Rachel Ann Nunes on the bus.
Wood Project, Part 1
I cut the wood into three pieces using a radio arm saw. Then I sanded the pieces and painted them with liquid purple watercolor with shades of blue.
Camouflaged Animals
Carroll, Sean B. "Imitators That Hide in Plain Sight, and Stay Alive ". The New York Times February 15 2010
In this article, Sean B. Carroll describes the theories of Henry Walter Bates based on the 14,000 species he study in the Amazon jungle. Bates traveled to South America with Alfred Russell Wallace, but the two didn't see eye to eye, so he ventured off on his own. Practically giving up on his research because of money issues, Bates got yellow fever the week he was supposed to leave Brazil, received a new grant, and spent another eight years there. His research studied "the close resemblance of some animals to living or inanimate objects" and concluded that "defenseless mimics gained an advantage by resembling well-defended species." He tried to find out if it was through evolution that this occurred. Charles Darwin was "excited" that Bates' findings supported his own theories of artificial and natural selection.
It is incredible to see how scientists like Bates, Darwin, and Wallace researched and how similar their work is, supporting the evolution theories of the other scientists within years of each other. Which is interesting that Bates worked with Wallace and Darwin, because Wallace and Darwin both came out with papers at the same time. I think the combination of working with both of them gave him more ideas of how to research and do experiments. If Bates hadn't gotten yellow fever, would he have discovered what he did or would someone else discover it later? I think his theory about the animals makes a lot of sense, because we as animals have to adapt to our surroundings if we want to survive. Even humans use camouflage when they are hunting and trying not to be seen by their prey, so it would make sense for animals to try and hid from their attackers.
In this article, Sean B. Carroll describes the theories of Henry Walter Bates based on the 14,000 species he study in the Amazon jungle. Bates traveled to South America with Alfred Russell Wallace, but the two didn't see eye to eye, so he ventured off on his own. Practically giving up on his research because of money issues, Bates got yellow fever the week he was supposed to leave Brazil, received a new grant, and spent another eight years there. His research studied "the close resemblance of some animals to living or inanimate objects" and concluded that "defenseless mimics gained an advantage by resembling well-defended species." He tried to find out if it was through evolution that this occurred. Charles Darwin was "excited" that Bates' findings supported his own theories of artificial and natural selection.
It is incredible to see how scientists like Bates, Darwin, and Wallace researched and how similar their work is, supporting the evolution theories of the other scientists within years of each other. Which is interesting that Bates worked with Wallace and Darwin, because Wallace and Darwin both came out with papers at the same time. I think the combination of working with both of them gave him more ideas of how to research and do experiments. If Bates hadn't gotten yellow fever, would he have discovered what he did or would someone else discover it later? I think his theory about the animals makes a lot of sense, because we as animals have to adapt to our surroundings if we want to survive. Even humans use camouflage when they are hunting and trying not to be seen by their prey, so it would make sense for animals to try and hid from their attackers.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
How Could I Forget?
On a non stop flight to Honolulu from Phoenix
Sitting on the runaway because of mechanics
The plane had no power, no air running
We used the barf bags for fanning
Flew us to Los Angeles, an hour wait there
A flight to remember
How Could I Forget?
On a bus to Cancun from Playa Del Carmen
Riding along with our tour guide Len
Down the coast of the golden serpent
The driver tried parking on the cement
The sidewalk tree branch barking
Going through the windshield, cracking
A great hole in need of repair
A bus ride to remember
How Could I Forget?
On a trip to Orlando to visit Disney World
During hurricane season, clouds swirled
We thought we would be okay
We argued with the sky
The rain was bucketing
The thin crowds were departing
Buying yellow ponchos in a storm
Continuing until we left there
A visit to remember
How Could I Forget?
Sitting on the runaway because of mechanics
The plane had no power, no air running
We used the barf bags for fanning
Flew us to Los Angeles, an hour wait there
A flight to remember
How Could I Forget?
On a bus to Cancun from Playa Del Carmen
Riding along with our tour guide Len
Down the coast of the golden serpent
The driver tried parking on the cement
The sidewalk tree branch barking
Going through the windshield, cracking
A great hole in need of repair
A bus ride to remember
How Could I Forget?
On a trip to Orlando to visit Disney World
During hurricane season, clouds swirled
We thought we would be okay
We argued with the sky
The rain was bucketing
The thin crowds were departing
Buying yellow ponchos in a storm
Continuing until we left there
A visit to remember
How Could I Forget?
My British Musical Influences
While I was growing up, my parents listened to The Beatles, Herman's Hermits, The Animals, The Troggs, The Hollies, and The Moody Blues. My parents owned all of the records and most of the CDs. Their favorites were the Beatles and the Moody Blues. They would play their albums in the car over and over while we were on road trips to California or going camping in the mountains, so this was my first exposure to these bands. I thought they were okay, but had my own favorites.
I really didn't become a fan of The Beatles until I saw a couple of television biopics on them when I was in junior high. They became my favorite band from the British Invasion at the time. I watched most of their films such as A Hard Day's Night and Help!, which were my two favorites. I read Blackbird: The Life and Times of Paul McCartney by Geoffrey Giuliano, Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation by Philip Norman, and Dark Horse: The Life and Art of George Harrison by Geoffrey Giuliano. I also read a book on their songwriting, but can't remember what the name of it was.
After I became a fan, my parents took me to see and listen to Beatles cover bands such as Imagine when they performed one summer regularly at Lagoon Amusement Park and The Fab Five perform during a Spring Break at Disneyland a couple of years ago. The first Beatles album I bought for myself was Revolver, after I saw and really enjoyed the movie Across the Universe, and couldn't buy the songs on Itunes. I've also been on a couple of Carnival cruises where they have had shows dedicated to the Beatles in the main lounge. Over the summer, I watched a couple of Paul McCartney's concerts on TV, because he is my favorite Beatle.
I didn't really start listening to The Rolling Stones until I saw the reality competition show Rock Star, where the contestants sang several of their songs and I bought them on Itunes. Before that, I was only familiar with their song, "Satisfaction," because of Britney Spears cover version that came out when I was in high school. I recently watched Gimme Shelter and the Shine a Light documentary by Martin Scorsese on TV and the documentaries made me appreciate the band more. Usually if I learn how they came to be and what methods they use to write their songs, I become a super fan. It's really fun to discover bands like The Rolling Stones, by random situations. My musical tastes go through phases, I guess.
I really didn't become a fan of The Beatles until I saw a couple of television biopics on them when I was in junior high. They became my favorite band from the British Invasion at the time. I watched most of their films such as A Hard Day's Night and Help!, which were my two favorites. I read Blackbird: The Life and Times of Paul McCartney by Geoffrey Giuliano, Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation by Philip Norman, and Dark Horse: The Life and Art of George Harrison by Geoffrey Giuliano. I also read a book on their songwriting, but can't remember what the name of it was.
After I became a fan, my parents took me to see and listen to Beatles cover bands such as Imagine when they performed one summer regularly at Lagoon Amusement Park and The Fab Five perform during a Spring Break at Disneyland a couple of years ago. The first Beatles album I bought for myself was Revolver, after I saw and really enjoyed the movie Across the Universe, and couldn't buy the songs on Itunes. I've also been on a couple of Carnival cruises where they have had shows dedicated to the Beatles in the main lounge. Over the summer, I watched a couple of Paul McCartney's concerts on TV, because he is my favorite Beatle.
I didn't really start listening to The Rolling Stones until I saw the reality competition show Rock Star, where the contestants sang several of their songs and I bought them on Itunes. Before that, I was only familiar with their song, "Satisfaction," because of Britney Spears cover version that came out when I was in high school. I recently watched Gimme Shelter and the Shine a Light documentary by Martin Scorsese on TV and the documentaries made me appreciate the band more. Usually if I learn how they came to be and what methods they use to write their songs, I become a super fan. It's really fun to discover bands like The Rolling Stones, by random situations. My musical tastes go through phases, I guess.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
The Poetry of Philip Larkin
Church Going by Philip Larkin is about a man who has lost his faith in the world and looking to find God, but feels God isn't on the same wavelength as those who run the churches. He only goes inside a church if "there's nothing go on," feeling like the patrons aren't doing the work of God outside of Sunday service and wonders if God is really inside the church on the other days when no one cares. When he goes inside, he notes the church feels empty and the flowers are "brown," as if the patrons of the church don't care about it enough to take care of them or to throw them away. He wonders if the church really "cleaned or restored" people by baptizing them, through the power of God or their efforts are a lost cause.
He tells us, "the place was not worth stopping for," but then tells us, he "often does stop there," leaving us to wonder if he is going from church to church. Does he expect something to happen or is looking for something to feel that he hasn't found? He admits he feels a "loss" of spirituality, feeling empty.
I noticed how he says, "When churches fall completely out of us. . ." and not "if." Does he believe churches are doomed for extinction? I think he believes people will no longer need churches because of their lost faith or wickedness and churches will no longer have a reason to exist. He thinks we will turn churches into barns, shelters, or ghost towns when no longer using them for religious purposes such as "marriage, birth, and death," and the future generations will not even know what they are.
He wonders if the future generations will even recognize the churches as anything else but a old burial ground, that "so many dead lie around." He wonders if the future generations didn't know what a church was for, would they will "seek" God on their own or do churches and God have to go hand in hand.
He says, "Our superstition, like belief must die and what remains when disbelief has gone?," wondering if one day people will think of God as a nice story, but nothing else. I believe he is losing hope in his quest and expects others will feel the same. He says, "It please me to stand in silence here," as he likes trying to talk to God without other things, such as man, getting in his way.
Talking in Bed by Philip Larkin is an ironic title about a couple who are having a hard time communicating with each other. They are only talking in their own minds and are separated from each other by darkness and silence. I noticed how all the stanzas are three lines, instead of two. I believe the lines were purposely set up that way as a metaphor for the distance, lack of communication between the couple, or them needing therapist as a third party to help them. They both find it "difficult to find words" to bring them closer together and to recapture what they once had, but neither one tries or knows how to resolve their loneliness.
A bed is considered one of the most intimate places a couple shares, yet this couple feels estranged while lying next to each other. It is a place where you give yourself completely to someone else, yet you can be close but far away from each other, mentally. This couple feels "isolation" They feel the "wind's incomplete unrest" even though they are inside. Even the weather echoes their estranged and unhappy situation.
He tells us, "the place was not worth stopping for," but then tells us, he "often does stop there," leaving us to wonder if he is going from church to church. Does he expect something to happen or is looking for something to feel that he hasn't found? He admits he feels a "loss" of spirituality, feeling empty.
I noticed how he says, "When churches fall completely out of us. . ." and not "if." Does he believe churches are doomed for extinction? I think he believes people will no longer need churches because of their lost faith or wickedness and churches will no longer have a reason to exist. He thinks we will turn churches into barns, shelters, or ghost towns when no longer using them for religious purposes such as "marriage, birth, and death," and the future generations will not even know what they are.
He wonders if the future generations will even recognize the churches as anything else but a old burial ground, that "so many dead lie around." He wonders if the future generations didn't know what a church was for, would they will "seek" God on their own or do churches and God have to go hand in hand.
He says, "Our superstition, like belief must die and what remains when disbelief has gone?," wondering if one day people will think of God as a nice story, but nothing else. I believe he is losing hope in his quest and expects others will feel the same. He says, "It please me to stand in silence here," as he likes trying to talk to God without other things, such as man, getting in his way.
Talking in Bed by Philip Larkin is an ironic title about a couple who are having a hard time communicating with each other. They are only talking in their own minds and are separated from each other by darkness and silence. I noticed how all the stanzas are three lines, instead of two. I believe the lines were purposely set up that way as a metaphor for the distance, lack of communication between the couple, or them needing therapist as a third party to help them. They both find it "difficult to find words" to bring them closer together and to recapture what they once had, but neither one tries or knows how to resolve their loneliness.
A bed is considered one of the most intimate places a couple shares, yet this couple feels estranged while lying next to each other. It is a place where you give yourself completely to someone else, yet you can be close but far away from each other, mentally. This couple feels "isolation" They feel the "wind's incomplete unrest" even though they are inside. Even the weather echoes their estranged and unhappy situation.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Clamoring for Silence
She was sitting in the lobby of the building
Underneath the stairs in a metal chair
And the boomerang tables were creaking
She was reading and ingesting apple cider
Despite the elevator chiming
This was one of her favorite places
Until a group with a bicycle became grating
She recognizes one of the faces
One of the patrons from the earsplitting pack
Was doing a celebrity impersonation
She recognized him and glared at his back
He was full of refined estimation
He was in her class a semester ago
He had a theory about every film and joke
Always heaving his judgment and ego
Her eyes rotating every time he spoke
She put her paperback down
As his voice was sidetracking her pages
She lets her calmness drown
Inside the stinging rages
Resting her hand on her left cheek to pout
Gazing out the massive glass entrance
Wishing she could break out
Knowing she was stuck in this disturbance
She saw people walking across the road cracks
In the fence of trees in composed motion
She wondered if they are coming to relax
Or to cause more precipitation
Underneath the stairs in a metal chair
And the boomerang tables were creaking
She was reading and ingesting apple cider
Despite the elevator chiming
This was one of her favorite places
Until a group with a bicycle became grating
She recognizes one of the faces
One of the patrons from the earsplitting pack
Was doing a celebrity impersonation
She recognized him and glared at his back
He was full of refined estimation
He was in her class a semester ago
He had a theory about every film and joke
Always heaving his judgment and ego
Her eyes rotating every time he spoke
She put her paperback down
As his voice was sidetracking her pages
She lets her calmness drown
Inside the stinging rages
Resting her hand on her left cheek to pout
Gazing out the massive glass entrance
Wishing she could break out
Knowing she was stuck in this disturbance
She saw people walking across the road cracks
In the fence of trees in composed motion
She wondered if they are coming to relax
Or to cause more precipitation
Monday, August 30, 2010
Clamoring for Silence
She was sitting in the lobby of the building
Underneath the stairs in a metal chair
And the boomerang tables were creaking
She was reading and ingesting apple cider
Despite the elevator chiming
This was one of her favorite places
Until a group with a bicycle became grating
She recognizes one of the faces
One of the patrons from the earsplitting pack
Was doing a celebrity impersonation
She recognized him and glared at his back
He was full of refined estimation
He was in her class a semester ago
He had a theory about every film and joke
Always heaving his judgment and ego
Her eyes rotating every time he spoke
She put her paperback down
As his voice was sidetracking her pages
She lets her calmness drown
Inside the stinging rages
Resting her hand on her left cheek to pout
Gazing out the massive glass entrance
Wishing she could break out
Knowing she was stuck in this disturbance
She saw people walking across the road cracks
In the fence of trees in composed motion
She wondered if they are coming to relax
Or to cause more precipitation
Underneath the stairs in a metal chair
And the boomerang tables were creaking
She was reading and ingesting apple cider
Despite the elevator chiming
This was one of her favorite places
Until a group with a bicycle became grating
She recognizes one of the faces
One of the patrons from the earsplitting pack
Was doing a celebrity impersonation
She recognized him and glared at his back
He was full of refined estimation
He was in her class a semester ago
He had a theory about every film and joke
Always heaving his judgment and ego
Her eyes rotating every time he spoke
She put her paperback down
As his voice was sidetracking her pages
She lets her calmness drown
Inside the stinging rages
Resting her hand on her left cheek to pout
Gazing out the massive glass entrance
Wishing she could break out
Knowing she was stuck in this disturbance
She saw people walking across the road cracks
In the fence of trees in composed motion
She wondered if they are coming to relax
Or to cause more precipitation
Friday, August 27, 2010
Samuel Beckett's "Krapp's Last Tape"
Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett is about a man named Krapp who mysteriously eats three bananas before recording a final tape about his life. Through the tapes, we receive blurry clues and memories as to why he is recording them and what causes him to want to give up eating bananas.
I believed the bananas were a prop gag, while he "slips, nearly falls" over the peel like he knocks the tape boxes off the table as he gets "comfortable," so we could see the clumsiness and humor of his character. As I read further, I believe the bananas were Krapp's vice and ultimate downfall. He describes the bananas as a "fatal thing for a man with my condition." I could see what his thought process was by how he approaches the bananas. He is on the edge of a crossroads, mentally debating whether or not he should eat them and how many he should eat. After he eats them, I believe he burns the peels in the fire place, to get rid of the evidence.
I think the unfinished stories are Krapp's distant memories and are about his past loves, his diagnosis, and things he is trying to remember about his life before he dies. I believe his memories go in and out on the tapes because he remembers something else or is distracted. He is recording them to keep his life important after he is gone. Krapp recollects his time in the hospital receiving news that there is "slight improvement in [his] bowel condition" while looking through the boxes of tapes.
As he records himself on the tape, he describes his current situation and He says, "Good to be back in my den, in my old rags," leaving me to wonder if he had been in the hospital wearing a hospital gown for quite some time and he has come home to die. He confesses that he ate three bananas, yelling at himself, and declaring that he needs to "Cut 'em out!" He says, "With all this darkness round me I feel less alone," making me think he feels the hospital was too bright, full of emptiness, and not a comfortable place for him to live. When he is alone at home, he is surrounded by his memories and thoughts. After he records his current state, he starts to fall deeper into the past, with his memories of growing up, falling in love, his friends, and what brought him to the place he is currently in.
Questions
1. Who is he leaving the tapes for? Does he have children who are grown and/or grandchildren? Is the woman he loves still alive or is he a widower? Are they strictly for his own purpose?
2. Why does he feel the need to record these particular stories? Are they the most important or the most memorable?
3. Why does he keep throwing away tapes and putting on another? Is he trying to absorb them in his mind and leave no remnants? Is this the way he moves past unpleasant experiences or bad memories?
4. Why does he say he doesn't want "his chance of happiness" back when he ends the tape? Is he filling fulfilled in the life he has led and has no regrets?
I believed the bananas were a prop gag, while he "slips, nearly falls" over the peel like he knocks the tape boxes off the table as he gets "comfortable," so we could see the clumsiness and humor of his character. As I read further, I believe the bananas were Krapp's vice and ultimate downfall. He describes the bananas as a "fatal thing for a man with my condition." I could see what his thought process was by how he approaches the bananas. He is on the edge of a crossroads, mentally debating whether or not he should eat them and how many he should eat. After he eats them, I believe he burns the peels in the fire place, to get rid of the evidence.
I think the unfinished stories are Krapp's distant memories and are about his past loves, his diagnosis, and things he is trying to remember about his life before he dies. I believe his memories go in and out on the tapes because he remembers something else or is distracted. He is recording them to keep his life important after he is gone. Krapp recollects his time in the hospital receiving news that there is "slight improvement in [his] bowel condition" while looking through the boxes of tapes.
As he records himself on the tape, he describes his current situation and He says, "Good to be back in my den, in my old rags," leaving me to wonder if he had been in the hospital wearing a hospital gown for quite some time and he has come home to die. He confesses that he ate three bananas, yelling at himself, and declaring that he needs to "Cut 'em out!" He says, "With all this darkness round me I feel less alone," making me think he feels the hospital was too bright, full of emptiness, and not a comfortable place for him to live. When he is alone at home, he is surrounded by his memories and thoughts. After he records his current state, he starts to fall deeper into the past, with his memories of growing up, falling in love, his friends, and what brought him to the place he is currently in.
Questions
1. Who is he leaving the tapes for? Does he have children who are grown and/or grandchildren? Is the woman he loves still alive or is he a widower? Are they strictly for his own purpose?
2. Why does he feel the need to record these particular stories? Are they the most important or the most memorable?
3. Why does he keep throwing away tapes and putting on another? Is he trying to absorb them in his mind and leave no remnants? Is this the way he moves past unpleasant experiences or bad memories?
4. Why does he say he doesn't want "his chance of happiness" back when he ends the tape? Is he filling fulfilled in the life he has led and has no regrets?
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Art Class
Saw an Installations exhibit in Park City
Snapshots covered the basement walls
The girl spelling 'I’m Not Crazy,'
In magnetic poetry on her face.
And the bloody hands displaying
'You are the victims of the rules you live by.'
Saw a German film in Ogden
called 'Lulu and Jimi'
It was cheesy, weird, funny, and disturbing.
Full of teenage love
With subplots of mind control
And electric shock therapy.
I made a glass mosaic
Squares of a lavender elephant,
An Indigo butterfly,
And a sea green shovel
Surrounded by orange triangles
Remnants of my childhood
Twenty hours of my adulthood
Hacking the glass and my fingers
With adhesive stained gloves
Pouring the grout,
Polishing the grout off the glass,
And painting the rims dark.
My professor wore scarlet dresses
Lime stockings with ruby slippers
As she took us on a art tour of Salt Lake
Through churches, galleries, and libraries
I took pictures of daffodils on the roof
I made a magazine patchwork on poster board
Creek Street in Ketchikan, Alaska
Peaceful buildings on the waterfront
Too bad my professor took my collage
And never returned it
It's probably in a landfill somewhere
Snapshots covered the basement walls
The girl spelling 'I’m Not Crazy,'
In magnetic poetry on her face.
And the bloody hands displaying
'You are the victims of the rules you live by.'
Saw a German film in Ogden
called 'Lulu and Jimi'
It was cheesy, weird, funny, and disturbing.
Full of teenage love
With subplots of mind control
And electric shock therapy.
I made a glass mosaic
Squares of a lavender elephant,
An Indigo butterfly,
And a sea green shovel
Surrounded by orange triangles
Remnants of my childhood
Twenty hours of my adulthood
Hacking the glass and my fingers
With adhesive stained gloves
Pouring the grout,
Polishing the grout off the glass,
And painting the rims dark.
My professor wore scarlet dresses
Lime stockings with ruby slippers
As she took us on a art tour of Salt Lake
Through churches, galleries, and libraries
I took pictures of daffodils on the roof
I made a magazine patchwork on poster board
Creek Street in Ketchikan, Alaska
Peaceful buildings on the waterfront
Too bad my professor took my collage
And never returned it
It's probably in a landfill somewhere
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Spanish Tribute
With my spanish requirements finally over, I decided to make a list of all the sayings, proverbs, questions, and phrases I have learned over the summer:
El que madruga, dios lo ayuda.
El que va a bailar, pierde su lugar.
Quien tiene arte va a toda parte.
Quien rÃe primero, rÃe dos veces.
Donde fuego hubo, cenizas quedan.
Al amor, como a una cerámica, cuando se rompe, aunque se reconstruya, se le conocen las cicatrices.
"La vida es como una leyenda: no importa que sea larga, sino que esté bien narrada"- Seneca
Del dicho al hecho hay gran trecho.
"Si deseas ser amado, ama"- Seneca.
"Un mundo nace cuando do se besan"- Octavio Paz
Amor y dolar son del mismo color.
¿Cuánta agua ha caÃdo?
Antes de que te cases, mira lo que haces.
¿Por que tenemos que hacer tanto trabajo?
"Poderoso caballero es don Dinero."
"El que nunca ha tenido y llega a tener, loco se puede volver."
¡No Hay derecho!
De dinero ye calidád, quita siempra la mitad.
Cada quien con lo suyo.
¡Cuánto quisiera ser como él o como ella!
¡Ay, no! ¡Casi ya no hay tiempo!
Quien te cuenta las faltas de otro. Las tuyas las tiene a ojo.
"La esclavitud más denigrante es la de ser esclavo de uno mismo"- Seneca
Muchos tenÃan miedo de que esta clase no terminara nunca.
Si con el pensamiento se caminara, ¿Cuántas horas contigo estarÃa?
Hubiera vivido
Hemos llegado al final de nuesto viaje.
El que madruga, dios lo ayuda.
El que va a bailar, pierde su lugar.
Quien tiene arte va a toda parte.
Quien rÃe primero, rÃe dos veces.
Donde fuego hubo, cenizas quedan.
Al amor, como a una cerámica, cuando se rompe, aunque se reconstruya, se le conocen las cicatrices.
"La vida es como una leyenda: no importa que sea larga, sino que esté bien narrada"- Seneca
Del dicho al hecho hay gran trecho.
"Si deseas ser amado, ama"- Seneca.
"Un mundo nace cuando do se besan"- Octavio Paz
Amor y dolar son del mismo color.
¿Cuánta agua ha caÃdo?
Antes de que te cases, mira lo que haces.
¿Por que tenemos que hacer tanto trabajo?
"Poderoso caballero es don Dinero."
"El que nunca ha tenido y llega a tener, loco se puede volver."
¡No Hay derecho!
De dinero ye calidád, quita siempra la mitad.
Cada quien con lo suyo.
¡Cuánto quisiera ser como él o como ella!
¡Ay, no! ¡Casi ya no hay tiempo!
Quien te cuenta las faltas de otro. Las tuyas las tiene a ojo.
"La esclavitud más denigrante es la de ser esclavo de uno mismo"- Seneca
Muchos tenÃan miedo de que esta clase no terminara nunca.
Si con el pensamiento se caminara, ¿Cuántas horas contigo estarÃa?
Hubiera vivido
Hemos llegado al final de nuesto viaje.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Branwell Bronte
Biography
Patrick Branwell Bronte was born June 26, 1817, the fourth child and only son of Reverend Patrick Bronte and Maria Branwell. By the time Branwell was eight years old, he had lost his mother Maria, lost his sisters Maria and Elizabeth, and he had been kicked out of Grammar school for bad behavior, because he would not listen to "reason." His active imagination had a "dangerous hold" on him. He had a lust for life and his "excitement, hilarity, and extravagance knew no bounds, he would see everything and try everything," which may have been his downfall (Gerin 22).
As a child, he learned Latin, how to write with both hands, and tried to become a "replica" of his father. Branwell was closest to his sisters Maria and Charlotte. Their aunt Elizabeth Branwell and Reverend Bronte sent Charlotte back to boarding school, so that Charlotte and Bronte would stop being silly in their friendship and writings, and grow up. Branwell idolized the writings of Lord Byron and his own father who taught him with military and heroic examples.
By the time he was fifteen, he had started three magazines, including Blackwood's (his "Mecca"), which he would write stories and poem for as well as edit. He was troubled by Calvinism and was always trying to change his predestined fate, including teaching Sunday School with having no patience. After his Aunt Elizabeth Branwell died when he was twenty five, he wouldn't step foot inside the church until they had his funeral there six years later. Aunt Elizabeth left all her money to the sisters, having confidence in Branwell to provide for himself.
In his twenties, he became addicted to alcohol, opium, and gambling which caused him to be in severe debt to his friend John Brown. He had a phobia of being alone and ending up alone. He hated criticism "of any sort" of his writings and couldn't handle them (Gerin 130). When his writings was received poorly by critics, he would turn his attention to painting watercolors and portraits of his friends and people he admired.
Branwell's heart would eventually belong to Lydia Robinson. Branwell fell in love with Mrs. Lydia Robinson, while working as a tutor for her son Edmund for three years. Lydia's children threatened "to tell Papa" about Branwell, while Mr. Robinson was suffering from dyspepsia and phthisis. Branwell hoped to marry Lydia after her husband died. When Mr. Robinson found out about the affair, he wrote a letter to Branwell terminating his employment and "threatening to shoot" him if he ever returned to Thorp Green (Gerin 242).
During his separation from Lydia, Branwell became suicidal due to "grief and opium," not being able to live without her. Charlotte wrote to her friend Ellen, saying, "Branwell offers no prospect of hope - he professes to be to ill to think of seeking for employment - he makes comfort scant at home." When Mr. Robinson died in 1846 at age 46, Branwell hoped his death would reunite him with Lydia. Lydia eventually rejected Branwell, claiming devotion to her "angel" of a dead husband (Du Maurier 245). After this rejection, Branwell "gave up all talk of writing and publishing forever" outside of Blackwood's and described his time spent with Lydia as an "utter wreck" (Du Maurier 264).
Branwell died at age 31 of "Chronic Bronchitis and Marasmus." His last words to his friend John Brown were "Oh, John, I'm dying." Charlotte, Emily, and Anne "blamed the eventual failure of his life on the over-indulgent up bringing and the mistaken confidence placed in his moral judgment by his doting elders" (Gerin 24). Six weeks after Branwell's death, Lydia Robinson married Sir Edward Scott (Gerin 288). Branwell was considered "the only Bronte to die of love" (Gerin 301).
Writing Theory
Branwell Bronte grew up surrounded by writers, which influenced him to write poetry and long epic tales. Though he only lived a short time, he managed to express himself through art and writing with every ounce of his being, about many things. Branwell wrote about many things including his own experiences, death, life, love, depression, his surroundings, and historical figures.
Branwell Bronte wrote "Caroline" (1838), which is included in a series of poems about the stages of death of his eldest sister Maria, this one being about the funeral. He also wrote poems called "Misery I & II" and "Harriet" about Maria as well, with Maria on her death bed and after the funeral. He writes in "Misery II," about how "there was a light, but it is gone" and "Where, Maria, where art thou?" He never go over her death. By repressing Maria's death at a young age, it caused him to be mentally ill, because Maria took care of Branwell after their mother died and was the only mother he vaguely remembered. Her death was clearly a traumatic experience much more than the death of his mother or other sister Elizabeth.
In "Caroline," he feels death "for ever hid/ My sister's face from mine!," knowing death is his enemy who took his sister away and who only brings him pain. Winifred Gerin believes Branwell "repressed" the deaths of his mother, Maria, and Elizabeth, and that is why he writes about it frequently so many years after the fact (27). For someone so young to have seen so many death really messed him up emotionally and was a trigger for his recklessness and depression.
Branwell wrote "Sir Henry Tunstall" about his fascination for adventure and history. Like "Sir Henry Tunstall," several of his poems are inspired by his childhood heroes and the military examples his father taught him. As for actual figures this poem could be based on, there is a John Henry Tunstall, but there is no evidence of a possible connection beside the name, except for the fact Tunstall did live around the same time as Branwell. Branwell had a love of reading, studying, and writing about historical events. His father also brought him a box of 12 soldiers, when he was young and he and his sister Charlotte would make up exciting stories about the soldiers living in Angria. I think Branwell was very adventurous imagining himself on daring missions, but not able to transform that energy into something other than wrecking himself.
Bronte wrote "Thorp Green" (1843) about The Robinson's house, while being employed there and being infatuated with Lydia Robinson, the matriarch of the boy he tutored. He wrote, "I SIT, this evening, far away,/ From all I used to know," while he was on break from his employment and was wishing he could return to the only thing that felt right in his entire life. "I seek for suns of former years/ But clouds o'ercast my skies" is a reference to his ongoing battle with depression, wanting to get to his carefree life and childhood before he found sorrow and being tormented with the struggle of loving Lydia. He feels the need to hear her say "remember" to keep himself from breaking down completely and to remember the hold she has on him.
Bronte also wrote "Penmaenmawr" (1845) about his breakup with Lydia Robinson. He calls Lydia "A flower on which my mind would wish to shine" who now brings him "grief," clearly still in love with her, expressing the pain he feels being without her, and his crushed dreams about them getting married after her husband dies. He describes Lydia as a "never blooming and yet living leaf," making it seem like she won't ever live life to the fullest because she is trapped in her marriage out of duty and doesn't want to tarnish her dead husband's memory.
He refers to Lydia as an "Angel" like Lydia described her husband after his death, when she is more like an evil creature for leading Branwell on, manipulating until the very end. I don't think Lydia ever meant to leave her husband and I think Branwell didn't realize that until she rejected him after Mr. Robinson's death. Branwell makes references to "Ouse" and "Menai," which are bridges in the United Kingdom, leading me to believe they are two other things separating them.
"Peaceful Death and Painful Life" was one of Branwell's last poems before his death. When he is writing, "Why dost thou sorrow for the happy dead?/ For if their life be lost, their toils are o'er," it sounds like he is asking himself why he let death interfere so much in his attitude and wonders if his suffering will be done. Knowing that he had strong resentments and fears of Calvinism, I wonder if he finally accepted that he had no control over his fate and finally just let go when he was wasting away.
He refers to the dead as "So sound as now they sleep while, dreamless, laid," envying his mother and sisters for the peace they have had for the last 25 years and how they are lucky not to feel anything as horrible as he does. He imagines the afterlife as "Where Night and Silence seal each guarded door," wondering if when he dies, he will finally have peace and quiet to rest his obsessive mind or he is afraid that he will be all alone and confined.
While looking for Branwell's poems in books and on the internet, there were very few of the poems referenced or displayed in full text, so I had to base my critique on some of the excerpts. It is frustrating and sad to read about the life of an author who struggled with so much effort to put his feelings into his work and then not to be able to find his poems in entirety. Based on the poems I did find, I think Branwell Bronte was a very imaginative and expressive author.
Annotated Bibliography
Collins, Robert G. "Introduction." The Hand of the Arch-Sinner: Two Angrian Chronicles of Branwell Brontë. Ed. Robert G. Collins. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. ix-xliii. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Edna Hedblad and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 July 2010. Collins describes Charlotte as writing tales and novels, while Branwell as writing histories and "brutal" fictional chronicles. He believes Branwell's writings lack "traditional structure" with "no resolution, only a succession of encounters," and were full of pirates like Byron and heroes like "Lucifer" with nowhere to go." Collins reveals that while Charlotte and Bronte were creating their fictional world of Angria, Emily and Anne were creating the world of Gondal.
Collins, Robert G. "The Fourth Brontë: Branwell as Poet." Victorian Poetry 23.2 (Summer 1985): 202-219. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Edna Hedblad and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 July 2010. Collins reveals Branwell was the "first Bronte other than his father to appear in print." Collins believes Branwell's philosophy in life was "Evil, be thou my good" and wonders how Branwell feels about struggling for thirty years for his devotion to writing, when he remains "utterly unread."
Drinkwater, John. "Patrick Branwell Brontë and His 'Horace'." A Book for Bookmen: Being Edited Manuscripts and Marginalia with Essays on Several Occasions. London: Dulau & Company, Ltd., 1926. 43-59. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Edna Hedblad and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 July 2010. Drinkwater provides a short biography and dissects two of Branwell's poems in two separate parts. He believes Branwell's life was a "failure of character" and "he a cause of great suffering" to his sisters. Drinkwater also believes Horace's Odes was "his finest accomplishment."
Du Maurier, Daphne. The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte. New York: Doubleday & Company,1961. Du Maurier describes his work environment outside of writing in much more detail than the others. She also believes Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and Agnes Grey wouldn't "have come into being had not their creators lived, during childhood, in this fantasy world, which was largely inspired and directed by their only brother." Du Maurier also includes quotes from Branwell's friend, Grundy who said, "Patrick Bronte declared to me and what his sister bore out of the assertion, that he wrote a great portion of Wuthering Heights himself" in 1879.
Gerin, Winifred. Branwell Bronte. London: Thomas Nelsons and Sons LTD., 1961. Gerin describes Branwell's childhood, his relationship with his sister, and his ongoing depression and addictions which he transformed in works of art and writings. She also discloses her research about the true authorship of Wuthering Heights and the mystery about whether it was Emily or Branwell who truly wrote the novel. In her book she includes pictures of houses Branwell lived at, where he played, and some of his watercolors and painted portraits.
Hopkins, Annette B. The Father of the Brontes. Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 1958. Hopkins describes Branwell's and Charlotte's relationship with their father. She quotes Charlotte writing to her friend Ellen about Branwell's death, "My poor father naturally thought more of his only son than of his daughters, and much and long as he had suffered on his account, he cried out for his loss like David for that of Absalom- 'My son! My son!' and refused to be comforted."
Knapp, Bettina L. "Patrick Branwell Brontë: Eternal Adolescent." The Brontës: Branwell, Anne, Emily, Charlotte. New York: Continuum Publishing Company, 1991. 57-72. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Edna Hedblad and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 July 2010. Knapp describes Branwell as "hypersensitive, physically small, and emotionally frail." She believes Branwell blamed "Jesus" for his family's suffering and deaths. Knapp criticizes Branwell's writing because he killed off his heroes "instead of expending the energy necessary to think of ways of extracting them from their dilemma."
Law, Alice. "Wuthering Heights--by Branwell?" Patrick Branwell Brontë. London: A. M. Philpot, Ltd., 1923. 141-184. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Edna Hedblad and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 July 2010. Law goes through her evidences for believing Branwell was the true author of Wuthering Heights. She claims quotes from letters from Branwell where he describes a great novel he was writing before his death, his own personal experiences, Thorp Green (where Branwell worked) is similar in description to Thrush Cross Grange in the novel, and the use of Latin words (which Emily did not know) in the story are proof that Branwell wrote it. However, Law also indicates Charlotte Bronte wrote a forward to Emily's 1850 edition, claiming it was Emily who wrote it.
Leyland, Francis A. "Branwell's Character." The Brontë Family, with Special Reference to Patrick Branwell Brontë. Vol. 2. New York: Haskell House Publishers Ltd., 1971. 287-302. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Edna Hedblad and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 July 2010. Leyland dissects the themes and symbols of several of Branwell poems in order to understand Branwell's message he wanted to convey to the world. He believes Branwell "wrote in the true artistic spirit of having something to say" instead of just writing about his life and experiences.
Winnifrith, Tom. The Brontes. New York: Macmillan, 1977. Winnifrith focuses more on the Bronte sisters instead of Branwell in this biography. He claims Branwell's romance with Lydia Robinson was the basis for the novel Agnes Grey, though Branwell was still alive when it was published and the characters and Branwell have different outcomes to their stories.
Patrick Branwell Bronte was born June 26, 1817, the fourth child and only son of Reverend Patrick Bronte and Maria Branwell. By the time Branwell was eight years old, he had lost his mother Maria, lost his sisters Maria and Elizabeth, and he had been kicked out of Grammar school for bad behavior, because he would not listen to "reason." His active imagination had a "dangerous hold" on him. He had a lust for life and his "excitement, hilarity, and extravagance knew no bounds, he would see everything and try everything," which may have been his downfall (Gerin 22).
As a child, he learned Latin, how to write with both hands, and tried to become a "replica" of his father. Branwell was closest to his sisters Maria and Charlotte. Their aunt Elizabeth Branwell and Reverend Bronte sent Charlotte back to boarding school, so that Charlotte and Bronte would stop being silly in their friendship and writings, and grow up. Branwell idolized the writings of Lord Byron and his own father who taught him with military and heroic examples.
By the time he was fifteen, he had started three magazines, including Blackwood's (his "Mecca"), which he would write stories and poem for as well as edit. He was troubled by Calvinism and was always trying to change his predestined fate, including teaching Sunday School with having no patience. After his Aunt Elizabeth Branwell died when he was twenty five, he wouldn't step foot inside the church until they had his funeral there six years later. Aunt Elizabeth left all her money to the sisters, having confidence in Branwell to provide for himself.
In his twenties, he became addicted to alcohol, opium, and gambling which caused him to be in severe debt to his friend John Brown. He had a phobia of being alone and ending up alone. He hated criticism "of any sort" of his writings and couldn't handle them (Gerin 130). When his writings was received poorly by critics, he would turn his attention to painting watercolors and portraits of his friends and people he admired.
Branwell's heart would eventually belong to Lydia Robinson. Branwell fell in love with Mrs. Lydia Robinson, while working as a tutor for her son Edmund for three years. Lydia's children threatened "to tell Papa" about Branwell, while Mr. Robinson was suffering from dyspepsia and phthisis. Branwell hoped to marry Lydia after her husband died. When Mr. Robinson found out about the affair, he wrote a letter to Branwell terminating his employment and "threatening to shoot" him if he ever returned to Thorp Green (Gerin 242).
During his separation from Lydia, Branwell became suicidal due to "grief and opium," not being able to live without her. Charlotte wrote to her friend Ellen, saying, "Branwell offers no prospect of hope - he professes to be to ill to think of seeking for employment - he makes comfort scant at home." When Mr. Robinson died in 1846 at age 46, Branwell hoped his death would reunite him with Lydia. Lydia eventually rejected Branwell, claiming devotion to her "angel" of a dead husband (Du Maurier 245). After this rejection, Branwell "gave up all talk of writing and publishing forever" outside of Blackwood's and described his time spent with Lydia as an "utter wreck" (Du Maurier 264).
Branwell died at age 31 of "Chronic Bronchitis and Marasmus." His last words to his friend John Brown were "Oh, John, I'm dying." Charlotte, Emily, and Anne "blamed the eventual failure of his life on the over-indulgent up bringing and the mistaken confidence placed in his moral judgment by his doting elders" (Gerin 24). Six weeks after Branwell's death, Lydia Robinson married Sir Edward Scott (Gerin 288). Branwell was considered "the only Bronte to die of love" (Gerin 301).
Writing Theory
Branwell Bronte grew up surrounded by writers, which influenced him to write poetry and long epic tales. Though he only lived a short time, he managed to express himself through art and writing with every ounce of his being, about many things. Branwell wrote about many things including his own experiences, death, life, love, depression, his surroundings, and historical figures.
Branwell Bronte wrote "Caroline" (1838), which is included in a series of poems about the stages of death of his eldest sister Maria, this one being about the funeral. He also wrote poems called "Misery I & II" and "Harriet" about Maria as well, with Maria on her death bed and after the funeral. He writes in "Misery II," about how "there was a light, but it is gone" and "Where, Maria, where art thou?" He never go over her death. By repressing Maria's death at a young age, it caused him to be mentally ill, because Maria took care of Branwell after their mother died and was the only mother he vaguely remembered. Her death was clearly a traumatic experience much more than the death of his mother or other sister Elizabeth.
In "Caroline," he feels death "for ever hid/ My sister's face from mine!," knowing death is his enemy who took his sister away and who only brings him pain. Winifred Gerin believes Branwell "repressed" the deaths of his mother, Maria, and Elizabeth, and that is why he writes about it frequently so many years after the fact (27). For someone so young to have seen so many death really messed him up emotionally and was a trigger for his recklessness and depression.
Branwell wrote "Sir Henry Tunstall" about his fascination for adventure and history. Like "Sir Henry Tunstall," several of his poems are inspired by his childhood heroes and the military examples his father taught him. As for actual figures this poem could be based on, there is a John Henry Tunstall, but there is no evidence of a possible connection beside the name, except for the fact Tunstall did live around the same time as Branwell. Branwell had a love of reading, studying, and writing about historical events. His father also brought him a box of 12 soldiers, when he was young and he and his sister Charlotte would make up exciting stories about the soldiers living in Angria. I think Branwell was very adventurous imagining himself on daring missions, but not able to transform that energy into something other than wrecking himself.
Bronte wrote "Thorp Green" (1843) about The Robinson's house, while being employed there and being infatuated with Lydia Robinson, the matriarch of the boy he tutored. He wrote, "I SIT, this evening, far away,/ From all I used to know," while he was on break from his employment and was wishing he could return to the only thing that felt right in his entire life. "I seek for suns of former years/ But clouds o'ercast my skies" is a reference to his ongoing battle with depression, wanting to get to his carefree life and childhood before he found sorrow and being tormented with the struggle of loving Lydia. He feels the need to hear her say "remember" to keep himself from breaking down completely and to remember the hold she has on him.
Bronte also wrote "Penmaenmawr" (1845) about his breakup with Lydia Robinson. He calls Lydia "A flower on which my mind would wish to shine" who now brings him "grief," clearly still in love with her, expressing the pain he feels being without her, and his crushed dreams about them getting married after her husband dies. He describes Lydia as a "never blooming and yet living leaf," making it seem like she won't ever live life to the fullest because she is trapped in her marriage out of duty and doesn't want to tarnish her dead husband's memory.
He refers to Lydia as an "Angel" like Lydia described her husband after his death, when she is more like an evil creature for leading Branwell on, manipulating until the very end. I don't think Lydia ever meant to leave her husband and I think Branwell didn't realize that until she rejected him after Mr. Robinson's death. Branwell makes references to "Ouse" and "Menai," which are bridges in the United Kingdom, leading me to believe they are two other things separating them.
"Peaceful Death and Painful Life" was one of Branwell's last poems before his death. When he is writing, "Why dost thou sorrow for the happy dead?/ For if their life be lost, their toils are o'er," it sounds like he is asking himself why he let death interfere so much in his attitude and wonders if his suffering will be done. Knowing that he had strong resentments and fears of Calvinism, I wonder if he finally accepted that he had no control over his fate and finally just let go when he was wasting away.
He refers to the dead as "So sound as now they sleep while, dreamless, laid," envying his mother and sisters for the peace they have had for the last 25 years and how they are lucky not to feel anything as horrible as he does. He imagines the afterlife as "Where Night and Silence seal each guarded door," wondering if when he dies, he will finally have peace and quiet to rest his obsessive mind or he is afraid that he will be all alone and confined.
While looking for Branwell's poems in books and on the internet, there were very few of the poems referenced or displayed in full text, so I had to base my critique on some of the excerpts. It is frustrating and sad to read about the life of an author who struggled with so much effort to put his feelings into his work and then not to be able to find his poems in entirety. Based on the poems I did find, I think Branwell Bronte was a very imaginative and expressive author.
Annotated Bibliography
Collins, Robert G. "Introduction." The Hand of the Arch-Sinner: Two Angrian Chronicles of Branwell Brontë. Ed. Robert G. Collins. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. ix-xliii. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Edna Hedblad and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 July 2010. Collins describes Charlotte as writing tales and novels, while Branwell as writing histories and "brutal" fictional chronicles. He believes Branwell's writings lack "traditional structure" with "no resolution, only a succession of encounters," and were full of pirates like Byron and heroes like "Lucifer" with nowhere to go." Collins reveals that while Charlotte and Bronte were creating their fictional world of Angria, Emily and Anne were creating the world of Gondal.
Collins, Robert G. "The Fourth Brontë: Branwell as Poet." Victorian Poetry 23.2 (Summer 1985): 202-219. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Edna Hedblad and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 July 2010. Collins reveals Branwell was the "first Bronte other than his father to appear in print." Collins believes Branwell's philosophy in life was "Evil, be thou my good" and wonders how Branwell feels about struggling for thirty years for his devotion to writing, when he remains "utterly unread."
Drinkwater, John. "Patrick Branwell Brontë and His 'Horace'." A Book for Bookmen: Being Edited Manuscripts and Marginalia with Essays on Several Occasions. London: Dulau & Company, Ltd., 1926. 43-59. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Edna Hedblad and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 July 2010. Drinkwater provides a short biography and dissects two of Branwell's poems in two separate parts. He believes Branwell's life was a "failure of character" and "he a cause of great suffering" to his sisters. Drinkwater also believes Horace's Odes was "his finest accomplishment."
Du Maurier, Daphne. The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte. New York: Doubleday & Company,1961. Du Maurier describes his work environment outside of writing in much more detail than the others. She also believes Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and Agnes Grey wouldn't "have come into being had not their creators lived, during childhood, in this fantasy world, which was largely inspired and directed by their only brother." Du Maurier also includes quotes from Branwell's friend, Grundy who said, "Patrick Bronte declared to me and what his sister bore out of the assertion, that he wrote a great portion of Wuthering Heights himself" in 1879.
Gerin, Winifred. Branwell Bronte. London: Thomas Nelsons and Sons LTD., 1961. Gerin describes Branwell's childhood, his relationship with his sister, and his ongoing depression and addictions which he transformed in works of art and writings. She also discloses her research about the true authorship of Wuthering Heights and the mystery about whether it was Emily or Branwell who truly wrote the novel. In her book she includes pictures of houses Branwell lived at, where he played, and some of his watercolors and painted portraits.
Hopkins, Annette B. The Father of the Brontes. Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 1958. Hopkins describes Branwell's and Charlotte's relationship with their father. She quotes Charlotte writing to her friend Ellen about Branwell's death, "My poor father naturally thought more of his only son than of his daughters, and much and long as he had suffered on his account, he cried out for his loss like David for that of Absalom- 'My son! My son!' and refused to be comforted."
Knapp, Bettina L. "Patrick Branwell Brontë: Eternal Adolescent." The Brontës: Branwell, Anne, Emily, Charlotte. New York: Continuum Publishing Company, 1991. 57-72. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Edna Hedblad and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 July 2010. Knapp describes Branwell as "hypersensitive, physically small, and emotionally frail." She believes Branwell blamed "Jesus" for his family's suffering and deaths. Knapp criticizes Branwell's writing because he killed off his heroes "instead of expending the energy necessary to think of ways of extracting them from their dilemma."
Law, Alice. "Wuthering Heights--by Branwell?" Patrick Branwell Brontë. London: A. M. Philpot, Ltd., 1923. 141-184. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Edna Hedblad and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 July 2010. Law goes through her evidences for believing Branwell was the true author of Wuthering Heights. She claims quotes from letters from Branwell where he describes a great novel he was writing before his death, his own personal experiences, Thorp Green (where Branwell worked) is similar in description to Thrush Cross Grange in the novel, and the use of Latin words (which Emily did not know) in the story are proof that Branwell wrote it. However, Law also indicates Charlotte Bronte wrote a forward to Emily's 1850 edition, claiming it was Emily who wrote it.
Leyland, Francis A. "Branwell's Character." The Brontë Family, with Special Reference to Patrick Branwell Brontë. Vol. 2. New York: Haskell House Publishers Ltd., 1971. 287-302. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Edna Hedblad and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 July 2010. Leyland dissects the themes and symbols of several of Branwell poems in order to understand Branwell's message he wanted to convey to the world. He believes Branwell "wrote in the true artistic spirit of having something to say" instead of just writing about his life and experiences.
Winnifrith, Tom. The Brontes. New York: Macmillan, 1977. Winnifrith focuses more on the Bronte sisters instead of Branwell in this biography. He claims Branwell's romance with Lydia Robinson was the basis for the novel Agnes Grey, though Branwell was still alive when it was published and the characters and Branwell have different outcomes to their stories.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Sherlock Holmes Documentary
We watched a Christopher Frayling Documentary on The Hound of the Baskervilles in class today. I thought it was fascinating that Doyle based his Hounds novel on several legends and even a story in Strand's Magazine. I liked hearing about all the families like the Baskervilles with their speared hound and the Vaughans with their boarhounds, and their different yet similar legends. I especially liked hearing about Richard Cabell, the supposed vampire/ giant creature and the legend of his tomb.
While I like the essence of a giant hound in the story, a giant snake, like the one in Harry Potter, would have been equally terrifying. They could have had the snake's eyes glowing in the fog and the characters could have heard hissing noises coming from the moors.
Doyle has a pretty interesting back story as an author. Frayling describes Doyle as a doctor who became a writer and was fascinated with the spirit world, and like Holmes, was romantic yet rational. I also was intrigued in learning Doyle didn't love writing stories about Holmes, his most famous and popular character. I wonder if it is because Holmes reminds him on himself too much and Doyle wanted to live through other people.
While I like the essence of a giant hound in the story, a giant snake, like the one in Harry Potter, would have been equally terrifying. They could have had the snake's eyes glowing in the fog and the characters could have heard hissing noises coming from the moors.
Doyle has a pretty interesting back story as an author. Frayling describes Doyle as a doctor who became a writer and was fascinated with the spirit world, and like Holmes, was romantic yet rational. I also was intrigued in learning Doyle didn't love writing stories about Holmes, his most famous and popular character. I wonder if it is because Holmes reminds him on himself too much and Doyle wanted to live through other people.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Response to Review of The Mayor of Casterbridge
Alden, H. M. "Review of 'The Mayor of Casterbridge." Harper's New Monthly Magazine 73.438 (Nov. 1886): 961-962.
H.M. Alden, wrote a glowing review of The Mayor of Casterbridge in the Harper's New Monthly Magazine in the November issue of 1886. I agree with his review on most aspects, especially what he writes about the characters of Henchard and Lucetta.
Alden says of Henchard, "The wrong he has done cannot be repaired, because it cannot, to his mistaken thinking, be owned; and in the tragedy of its expiation your pity is more for him than for all the others." I agree that I pity Henchard, but I also realize he is the only one who caused himself the misery he goes through. If he didn't sell his wife and daughter, was revengeful and deceiving, and pushed away everyone he cared about, maybe he wouldn't have died alone.
Alden describes Lucetta as "only too captivating in that combination of shrewdness and blind imprudence, of fickleness and tender-heartedness, of fascinating grace and helplessness." I also really enjoyed the character of Lucetta because she seemed like the most interesting character beside Henchard with a unique personality. She could be kind or mean whenever she wanted. He also says "Nothing is better in the book than Lucetta's dropping Henchard, and her conquest of the young Scotchman, whom she wins away from Henchard's putative daughter, Elizabeth Jane. . ." She got exactly what she wanted, because she fought for it. Love is highest on her priorities before revenge, which is opposite of Henchard's.
H.M. Alden, wrote a glowing review of The Mayor of Casterbridge in the Harper's New Monthly Magazine in the November issue of 1886. I agree with his review on most aspects, especially what he writes about the characters of Henchard and Lucetta.
Alden says of Henchard, "The wrong he has done cannot be repaired, because it cannot, to his mistaken thinking, be owned; and in the tragedy of its expiation your pity is more for him than for all the others." I agree that I pity Henchard, but I also realize he is the only one who caused himself the misery he goes through. If he didn't sell his wife and daughter, was revengeful and deceiving, and pushed away everyone he cared about, maybe he wouldn't have died alone.
Alden describes Lucetta as "only too captivating in that combination of shrewdness and blind imprudence, of fickleness and tender-heartedness, of fascinating grace and helplessness." I also really enjoyed the character of Lucetta because she seemed like the most interesting character beside Henchard with a unique personality. She could be kind or mean whenever she wanted. He also says "Nothing is better in the book than Lucetta's dropping Henchard, and her conquest of the young Scotchman, whom she wins away from Henchard's putative daughter, Elizabeth Jane. . ." She got exactly what she wanted, because she fought for it. Love is highest on her priorities before revenge, which is opposite of Henchard's.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Sherlock Holmes is one of the few fictional characters so internationally famous that even before readers encounter the Holmes stories, they are already familiar with the great detective. Now that you have read The Hound of the Baskervilles, how would you answer the question, "Who is Holmes?" What scenes or details in Hound do you think illustrate his character especially well? To what extent do you think the character described in the story lives up to his myth?
Sherlock Holmes is one of my favorite literary characters because he is not a typical detective. He is arrogant and humorous. We also know he is a cocaine addict which makes his thought process even more eccentric as Watson describes him as having "the power of detaching his mind at will." Watson first describes him as usually "very late in the mornings save upon those not infrequent occasions when he [is] up all night," showing us he is usually hard at work or hardly working. He asks interesting and sometimes aloof questions and says, "The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes." He describes his investigation methods as, "The past and the present are within the field of my inquiry, but what a man may do in the future is a hard question to answer." While he is investigating the murder, he says, "I tell you, Watson, this time we have got a foeman who is worthy of our steel," obviously knowing the immense talents he has to offer in his work. He seems like he makes his investigation perfect in silence without worrying about the proper details and swoops in at the last minute with it all figured out in his head. He also seems excited by the work, saying, "There is nothing more stimulating than a case where everything goes against you."
The Hound of the Baskervilles is marked by the constant juxtaposition of the rational and scientific with the irrational and supernatural. How can you see this tension in the novel? Which of the two forces -- science or the supernatural -- triumphs at the end? How is this made clear? Why might this tension have been especially riveting for a Victorian audience?
Doyle starts out telling us about Sir Charles Baskerville, who "never returned" from his walk and that he died from "cardiac exhaustion," leading us to wonder if it was his body or something else that did him in. The evidence of footprints and health issues are countered by rumors of a haunting, the ghostly cries of the Hound, The Baskerville legend about the "evil" moors, and the freakish size of the hound. Dr Mortimer lead us to believe things more by saying, "Since the tragedy, Mr. Holmes, there have come to my ears several incidents which are hard to reconcile with the settled order of Nature. . . I find that before the terrible event occurred several people had seen a creature upon the moor which corresponds with this Baskerville demon, and which could not possibly be any animal known to science." We are left to wonder if it was something supernatural or scientific that caused Baskerville to die. I think the supernatural and the science build up equal tension throughout the story. Holmes say about their mysterious clues on the supernatural end to Watson, “The devil’s agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not?” Holmes and Watson figure out what really happen and make rational reasoning as answers for his death as opposed to supernatural. Holmes seems also intrigued by this supernatural mystery saying, "The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes."
The moors in The Hound of the Baskervilles are so central to the plot that they almost act as an extra character. If you were to describe them the way you would describe a human character, what would you say about them? Which person in the story do they most resemble? How?
The moor is a creepy foggy setting for this mysterious town, which is an element of what every great mystery needs. To some of the residents, it is the access of evil. It doesn't help the residents to change their opinion when they hear the ghostly cries of the hound coming from the moor. Dr. Mortimer believes Sir Charles Baskerville was afraid of the moors, saying "I think it unlikely that he waited at the moor-gate every evening. On the contrary, the evidence is that he avoided the moor." Hugo Baskerville created the legend with the warning, "To that Providence, my sons, I hereby commend you, and I counsel you by way of caution to forbear from crossing the moor in those dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted." It must have been from this warning, Sir Charles gets his fear. They even find a note written for Sir Charles saying, "'As you value your life or your reason keep away from the moor.' The word "moor" only was printed in ink" which leads them to wonder who wrote it and why the moor is so disturbing. On the other hand Stapleton describes the moor as "a wonderful place. You never tire of the moor. You cannot think the wonderful secrets which it contains. It is so vast, and so barren, and so mysterious." As readers we find Stapleton is also "mysterious" and full of "secrets," since he is the murderer.
Historians of the detective novel recognize the pairing of the brilliant Holmes with a very ordinary partner -- Watson -- as one of the Arthur Conan Doyle's key contributions to the genre. Why do you think their pairing works so well? How would Hound be different if Watson were taken out of the tale? Holmes remarks in another novel that Watson "sees but does not observe." How does that make him a useful narrator for a detective story?
Holmes and Watson are a good literary pairing because they seem like total opposites. Watson is straight-laced as opposed to Holmes, which makes him a great counterpart. I think it is because they don't get along and constantly debate about their work, that makes their partnership so great. I don't think Holmes would have a great confidant he could also argue with and would go even more insane if Watson was taken out of the tale. Holmes and Watson approach their cases differently. It is obvious Holmes thinks highly of Watson's help in their cases, saying, "Really, Watson, you excel yourself. I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt." Watson looks at the facts and what he can physically see, while Holmes looks at the coincidences and the feelings and the hidden clues of the cases, which Watson doesn't see. If Holmes was the narrator, there wouldn't be as good as conclusion, because we would already know what Holmes is thinking. Watson finds out the solutions the same time as we do, which makes it thrilling.
In a well-crafted detective story, nothing is wasted; each scene adds suspense and clues to the hunt for "whodunnit." How tightly written is Hound in this sense? What particular clues, details, descriptions or lines of dialogue do you think worked particularly well to build suspense? Which do you consider the climactic scene? Why?
Doyle gives us a taste of the mystery in each chapter, leaving us to want more. I believe Doyle has Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Watson ask important questions to the people and doctors who are their leads and suspects, because they are questions we would want to know the answer to if we were in the story. We also experience the climatic settings of the murder in a first hand way like Holmes and Watson, with them describing and finding every suspicious trail, hearing every cry, spotting the cracks in Stapleton's story, and seeing the moor and the giant hound for what they actually are, as the murder victims saw them. The clues through inner and outer dialogue make us enfold them in our minds while reading them. We also get to see Holmes and Watson break the clues down and debate as to what is actually going on, like we would do if we were investigating the murder. It is also important that Watson writes letters to Holmes why he was away, going deeper into the mystery and the lives of the people who were involved in Baskerville's life. Through the letters, we learn what Watson finds important about the case, searching on his own, and not relying on Holmes to solve the mystery for him.
Sherlock Holmes is one of my favorite literary characters because he is not a typical detective. He is arrogant and humorous. We also know he is a cocaine addict which makes his thought process even more eccentric as Watson describes him as having "the power of detaching his mind at will." Watson first describes him as usually "very late in the mornings save upon those not infrequent occasions when he [is] up all night," showing us he is usually hard at work or hardly working. He asks interesting and sometimes aloof questions and says, "The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes." He describes his investigation methods as, "The past and the present are within the field of my inquiry, but what a man may do in the future is a hard question to answer." While he is investigating the murder, he says, "I tell you, Watson, this time we have got a foeman who is worthy of our steel," obviously knowing the immense talents he has to offer in his work. He seems like he makes his investigation perfect in silence without worrying about the proper details and swoops in at the last minute with it all figured out in his head. He also seems excited by the work, saying, "There is nothing more stimulating than a case where everything goes against you."
The Hound of the Baskervilles is marked by the constant juxtaposition of the rational and scientific with the irrational and supernatural. How can you see this tension in the novel? Which of the two forces -- science or the supernatural -- triumphs at the end? How is this made clear? Why might this tension have been especially riveting for a Victorian audience?
Doyle starts out telling us about Sir Charles Baskerville, who "never returned" from his walk and that he died from "cardiac exhaustion," leading us to wonder if it was his body or something else that did him in. The evidence of footprints and health issues are countered by rumors of a haunting, the ghostly cries of the Hound, The Baskerville legend about the "evil" moors, and the freakish size of the hound. Dr Mortimer lead us to believe things more by saying, "Since the tragedy, Mr. Holmes, there have come to my ears several incidents which are hard to reconcile with the settled order of Nature. . . I find that before the terrible event occurred several people had seen a creature upon the moor which corresponds with this Baskerville demon, and which could not possibly be any animal known to science." We are left to wonder if it was something supernatural or scientific that caused Baskerville to die. I think the supernatural and the science build up equal tension throughout the story. Holmes say about their mysterious clues on the supernatural end to Watson, “The devil’s agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not?” Holmes and Watson figure out what really happen and make rational reasoning as answers for his death as opposed to supernatural. Holmes seems also intrigued by this supernatural mystery saying, "The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes."
The moors in The Hound of the Baskervilles are so central to the plot that they almost act as an extra character. If you were to describe them the way you would describe a human character, what would you say about them? Which person in the story do they most resemble? How?
The moor is a creepy foggy setting for this mysterious town, which is an element of what every great mystery needs. To some of the residents, it is the access of evil. It doesn't help the residents to change their opinion when they hear the ghostly cries of the hound coming from the moor. Dr. Mortimer believes Sir Charles Baskerville was afraid of the moors, saying "I think it unlikely that he waited at the moor-gate every evening. On the contrary, the evidence is that he avoided the moor." Hugo Baskerville created the legend with the warning, "To that Providence, my sons, I hereby commend you, and I counsel you by way of caution to forbear from crossing the moor in those dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted." It must have been from this warning, Sir Charles gets his fear. They even find a note written for Sir Charles saying, "'As you value your life or your reason keep away from the moor.' The word "moor" only was printed in ink" which leads them to wonder who wrote it and why the moor is so disturbing. On the other hand Stapleton describes the moor as "a wonderful place. You never tire of the moor. You cannot think the wonderful secrets which it contains. It is so vast, and so barren, and so mysterious." As readers we find Stapleton is also "mysterious" and full of "secrets," since he is the murderer.
Historians of the detective novel recognize the pairing of the brilliant Holmes with a very ordinary partner -- Watson -- as one of the Arthur Conan Doyle's key contributions to the genre. Why do you think their pairing works so well? How would Hound be different if Watson were taken out of the tale? Holmes remarks in another novel that Watson "sees but does not observe." How does that make him a useful narrator for a detective story?
Holmes and Watson are a good literary pairing because they seem like total opposites. Watson is straight-laced as opposed to Holmes, which makes him a great counterpart. I think it is because they don't get along and constantly debate about their work, that makes their partnership so great. I don't think Holmes would have a great confidant he could also argue with and would go even more insane if Watson was taken out of the tale. Holmes and Watson approach their cases differently. It is obvious Holmes thinks highly of Watson's help in their cases, saying, "Really, Watson, you excel yourself. I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt." Watson looks at the facts and what he can physically see, while Holmes looks at the coincidences and the feelings and the hidden clues of the cases, which Watson doesn't see. If Holmes was the narrator, there wouldn't be as good as conclusion, because we would already know what Holmes is thinking. Watson finds out the solutions the same time as we do, which makes it thrilling.
In a well-crafted detective story, nothing is wasted; each scene adds suspense and clues to the hunt for "whodunnit." How tightly written is Hound in this sense? What particular clues, details, descriptions or lines of dialogue do you think worked particularly well to build suspense? Which do you consider the climactic scene? Why?
Doyle gives us a taste of the mystery in each chapter, leaving us to want more. I believe Doyle has Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Watson ask important questions to the people and doctors who are their leads and suspects, because they are questions we would want to know the answer to if we were in the story. We also experience the climatic settings of the murder in a first hand way like Holmes and Watson, with them describing and finding every suspicious trail, hearing every cry, spotting the cracks in Stapleton's story, and seeing the moor and the giant hound for what they actually are, as the murder victims saw them. The clues through inner and outer dialogue make us enfold them in our minds while reading them. We also get to see Holmes and Watson break the clues down and debate as to what is actually going on, like we would do if we were investigating the murder. It is also important that Watson writes letters to Holmes why he was away, going deeper into the mystery and the lives of the people who were involved in Baskerville's life. Through the letters, we learn what Watson finds important about the case, searching on his own, and not relying on Holmes to solve the mystery for him.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Composición sobre Mi Familia
Mis padres y yo tenemos el pelo castaño y somos altos. Somos religiosos, caritativos y reservados. Nos gusta ver pelÃculas, salir por comer y viajar en cruceros al Carib. Hemos vivido en Utah nuestras vidas enteras y nos gustan gatos más que perros. Tengo más en común con mi mamá que con mi papá. Yo paseo más tiempo con mi mamá que mi papá. Mi padre siempre trabaja fuera en el jardÃn o en su oficina de casa cuando él está en casa.
A mi mamá y a mà nos gusta ir de compras y pintar las artes, mientras a mi papá y a mà nos gusta tomar fotos, hacer el camping y escuchar la música de John Mayer. Cuando estoy en casa, me gusta leer, estudiar o mirar pelÃculas. Cuando ellos están en casa, les gusta mirar la televisión o sentarse fuera en sus tumbonas en el patio. Mis padres discuten mucho y esto me vuelve loco.
Yo era una niña buena con unas excepciones. Ellos me castigaban si yo las contestaba, si yo me rebelaba o conseguÃa una nota mala en la escuela. Ellos llaman a mi hermano "El Querido" y ellos me llaman "La Olvidada." No soy su niña favorita aunque ellos jugaron más travesuras en mi hermano que a mÃ.
Pienso que los tiempos más difÃciles han sido cuando ellos intentan a interferir en mi vida. Ellos trataban de decirme que hacer sin dejarme hacerlo sola. Si alguien me hace una pregunta, ellos interrumpirÃan y tratarÃan de responder por mÃ. Cuando cocino algo para la comida o limpio algo, ellos siempre tratan de hacerme hacerlo sus caminos. Me hago frustrada cuando ellos se quejan de ello.
A mi mamá y a mà nos gusta ir de compras y pintar las artes, mientras a mi papá y a mà nos gusta tomar fotos, hacer el camping y escuchar la música de John Mayer. Cuando estoy en casa, me gusta leer, estudiar o mirar pelÃculas. Cuando ellos están en casa, les gusta mirar la televisión o sentarse fuera en sus tumbonas en el patio. Mis padres discuten mucho y esto me vuelve loco.
Yo era una niña buena con unas excepciones. Ellos me castigaban si yo las contestaba, si yo me rebelaba o conseguÃa una nota mala en la escuela. Ellos llaman a mi hermano "El Querido" y ellos me llaman "La Olvidada." No soy su niña favorita aunque ellos jugaron más travesuras en mi hermano que a mÃ.
Pienso que los tiempos más difÃciles han sido cuando ellos intentan a interferir en mi vida. Ellos trataban de decirme que hacer sin dejarme hacerlo sola. Si alguien me hace una pregunta, ellos interrumpirÃan y tratarÃan de responder por mÃ. Cuando cocino algo para la comida o limpio algo, ellos siempre tratan de hacerme hacerlo sus caminos. Me hago frustrada cuando ellos se quejan de ello.
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