Death

Elizabeth is a grotesque for a number of reasons, but mostly because of her failure of placing absolute faith in love. Throughout the book, Elizabeth is constantly searching for “true love,” which Dr. Reefy believes is wrong. He advises her by saying, “You must not try to make love definite. It is the divine accident of life. If you try to be definite and sure about it and to live beneath the trees, where soft night winds blow, the long hot day of disappointment comes swiftly and the gritty dust from passing wagons gathers upon lips in flamed and made tender by kisses.” However, through love Elizabeth is constantly looking for release, which is illustrated when Elizabeth nearly kills her horse as she, “wanted to run away from everything.” Thus, Elizabeth searches for love because she wants to find freedom through her lovers, Dr. Reefy and death. The eight hundred dollars is also symbolic of another aspect of grotesqueness. Although the father contends on his death bed, “even now I owe money to the bank,” he still manages to save eight hundred dollars for his daughter back in the early 1900s, which is a significant sum of money. Yet, Elizabeth’s father also sees right through the failure of Elizabeth’s marriage—“Don’t marry Tom Willard or anyone else here in Winesburg. There is eight hundred dollars in a tin box. Take it and go away.” Yet, Elizabeth does not follow her father’s commands, but does keep her promise to never tell Tom about the box. Still the box remains hidden following her death because Elizabeth was unable to reveal its hidden location to George. The box therefore symbolizes Elizabeth’s grotesque life on Earth. Even though her father suggests that the box could help her escape as an open door, it remains hidden and concealed, forgotten. Therefore, the door was never opened, the release never occurred until death itself happened which suggests that grotesqueness is something that can’t be escaped. The worn out steps also symbolize grotesqueness. At the beginning of “Death”, there is an ominous tone generated simply from the title that foreshadows there will be isolation and misery. The description of the environment, “Dr. Reefy’s office was but dimly lighted. At the head of the stairway hung a lamp with a dirty chimney that was fastened by a bracket to the wall. The lamp had a tin reflector, brown with rust and covered with dust,” emphasizes the isolation and emptiness because of the absence of any new furniture; everything is depicted as old and obsolete. Moreover, another significance of the beginning setting concerns the worn out steps. These steps are also symbolic of the lives of the grotesque, including those of Dr. Reefy’s and Elizabeth’s. The worn out steps represent Elizabeth’s erosion of her figure, “already the woman’s naturally tall figure had begun to droop and to drag itself listless about.” Moreover, the stairs also represent the restricted, narrow lives of both figures in addition to the routinized patterns they live their lives by.

Revisting Winesburg, Ohio: Tandy

Throughout “Tandy,” Anderson describes the young, small girl ambiguously by failing to describe certain characteristics that are crucial to her identity. The banal setting that her childhood takes place in, suggests that she like the “unpainted house on an unused road” which she grew up in is inconsequential. The fact that her father gives her no love and her mother is dead suggests that the little girl was not loved or developed. The absence of religion in her life, likewise, signifies how empty her fate is and worthless. Likewise, Anderson purposely keeps the little girl nameless because like her identification, her name is also insignificant. Without her name, the little girl represents the empty shell of humanity that comes at the loss of self. When the stranger comes into town, he serves an ironic role. Although he and Tom Hard both become friends due to the fact that they both are agnostics, the stranger comes to Winesburg for salvation. Like Tom Hard, himself, the stranger is also a drunkard. He hopes that by coming to Winesburg—essentially, taking a holy pilgrimage—to cleanse his sins of drinking, he might save himself. Yet he is unable to control his alcohol consumption and thus he becomes a tragic figure who is unsuccessful and ends up bingeing on even more alcohol than he had previously. Thus his thirst for liquor represents the failures that corrupt his person as he falls even deeper into an endless route of hopeless recovery. As the stranger realizes the futility of his objective, he turns to the Tandy and tells her that he “ran away to the country to be cured, but [he is] not cured,” therefore emphasizing the ineffectiveness of his purpose in coming to Winesburg. As he falls on his knees and raised the hands of the little girl to his drunken lips, he kisses them ecstatically. In her, he sees everything that he himself has lost, but above all the stranger sees potential in her. The little girl, although childishly innocent has already been exposed to several truths that could harm her, but her youth saves her. Similar to George in the book, the little, unidentified girl represents the safeguard of purity against the reality of adulthood, and although the little girl is unable to fully comprehend what the stranger speaks to her his influence deeply penetrated her as he cries to her, “Be Tandy, little one. Be brave enough to dare to be loved. Be something more than man or woman. Be Tandy.” The stranger, therefore, endorses in Tandy his hope and desire that she will become something greater so that she can be strong enough to face all the false hopes and truths that he has experienced. By kissing her hands, the stranger gives her not only a discreet indication of affection but also gives her a formal token of appreciation of trust in her. Tandy therefore represents not only love for the stranger, but someone who has promise. After the stranger, names her Tandy and leaves, she completely incorporates the name as part of who she is, symbolizing the unyielding position and total recognition of her role. She refuses to be called by anything else, therefore suggesting that she was branded by her name, unable to be misnamed or forgotten.

Age of Innocence Review!!!

Throughout the Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton masterfully uses irony as she sardonically chastised Old New York society by using subtle yet artful techniques. Such can be illustrated when Archer rides “his wife’s dark blue brougham (with the wedding varnish still on it) (183)” in order to retrieve Ellen at the train station when the night before he lies to May by saying that his business tip is postponed when May asks, “…how can you meet Ellen tomorrow, and bring her back to New York, when you’re going to Washington (182).” Yet unlike before, May catches Archer in the lie but doesn’t confront him about it, though it is obvious that she May knows due to the fact it is evident as Wharton describes her awareness in context, “Her voice was as clear as a bell and full of wifely solicitude (182).” However, Wharton’s technique is so strong that even through such a brief scene during Archer and May’s conversation one is able to feel the effects of an implicit argument and suspicion arising even when there is no raising of voices or violence. Instead, it is a very subtle, convoluted, and formal argument that though implicit in speech is obvious enough to make the reader conscious of the hidden intentions and guilty quivers the characters feel. For instance, Wharton makes it clear to the reader that Archer feels guilt-ridden when May knows of his intention to pick up Ellen during the phrases which say that “it did not hurt him half as much to tell May an untruth as to see her trying to pretend that she had not detected him (183).” Yet in the phrases beforehand, Wharton uses layers and layers of veiled suggestions to prod the reader towards confirming such a direct statement as when May suddenly questions Archer’s authority and truthfulness by saying, “Then it’s not postponed? (182)” Therefore suggesting a sense of disbelief or suspicion in what Archer has said. Moreover, after Archer gives away too many details there is a challenging tone that occurs when Archer “turned his eyes to hers in order to not appear to be avoiding them. Their glances met for a second, and perhaps let them into each other’s meanings more deeply than either cared to go (183).” Through this quote, the reader realizes that both characters are cognizant of the fact that Archer is lying through his teeth yet no one cares to confront the problem further illustrating the hinted but unspeakable components of what is considered ‘appropriate’ in society. Yet Wharton also illustrates in this short scene the unspoken conventional restrictions that are implied through Old New York’s social code. When May raises her voice and questions Archer’s authority she does so “with an insistence so unlike her that he felt the blood rising to his face, as if here blushing for her unwonted lapse from all the traditional delicacies (183).” This quote therefore suggests that Archer was very taken back, nearly baffled by May’s sudden confrontation against her prototypical role, and assuming a character quality that is very unlike her, resulting in an impressionable but fleeting moment of intolerance. Through this brief but very important moment one realizes that May has just barely crossed the line in defying a woman’s right to voice her thoughts and question a man’s judgment. Wharton, therefore, uses this instance to lightly make the reader aware of such restrictions that have been set upon her and how society, like Archer, is startled by such a burst of defilement against their strictly instilled social norms.

Ras

The character Ras has always stood out to me from the rest of the characters in the novel due to the fact that he is very independent, bold, and not easily pressured into conforming towards the group standard.Yet I also find it very sad when we hit the scene between Ras and Clifton fighting. Ironically, this is due to the fact that Ras is unable to kill Clifton and actually spares his life because he is unable to kill someone with the same ethnicity as himself. He makes it quite clear by saying "I ought to kill you. Godahm, I ought to kill you, and the world be better off. But you black mann. Why you be black, mann? i swear i ought to kill you." This illustrated the division between Ras and the narrator as well as Clifton. It's depressing how Ras says that he wouldn't kill Clifton or the narrator because of their blood ties, and even reminds both men to think back to their roots as we he says "We sons of Mama Africa, you done forgot? You black, BLACK! You--Godahm, mann!...You got bahd hair! You got thick lips. They say you stink. They hate you, mann. You African. AFRICAN! Why you with them. Leave that shit, mann. They sell you out. That shit is old-fashioned. They enslave us--you fogey that? How can they mean a black mann any good? How they going to be your brother?" Yet despite Ras's attempt, he is unable to convince either Clifton or the narrator to join his sides. Instead, the narrator "had reached him now and brought the pipe down hard, seeing the knife fly and I raised the pipe again, suddenly hot with fear and hate." This selection reminds me when the narrator fights with Lucius Brockway in order and ends up knocking his teeth out. Both these accounts are equally significant, however, due to the fact that when juxtaposed to the narrator and the Brotherhood, Bledsoe or Norton. He would never hit any of these men or feel such burning hate as he does with Ras because they are white men. Ras then goes on to remind the narrator where his allegiance actually ought to lie as he says "where you think you from, going with the white folks? i know, godahm; don't i know it! You from down South! You from Trinidad! You from Barbados! Jamaica, South Africa,and the white man's food in your ass all the way down to the hip. What you trying to deny by betraying the black people? Why you fight against us? Why you go over to the enslaver? What kind of education is that? What kind of black mann is that who betray his own mama?" I also enjoy the connotation of the word "mama" and the numerous allusions that it could be significant for such as mama as in Mary from the Bible, or Mary, who the narrator abandoned and lied to in Invisible Man. "Mama" could also be referencing "Mother Africa" mentioned earlier but it also be meant simply as mother itself.

Invisible Man Connections

I found it extremely interesting how the speaker is constantly forced into conformity as can be illustrated by the numerous times that he is forced to become "submissive" under several authority figures. For instance, many times the narrator folds under not only his grandfather's constant request that visit him through numerous subliminal messages such as dreams, flashbacks, illusions, and even freudian slips but also the demands that are pressured upon him by nearly everyone that the narrator encounters whether it be Bledsoe, Mr. Norton or the Brotherhood itself. Such can be illustrated by the fact that Brother Jack tells the narrator "This is your new identity" (309), commanding him to erase his name, and therefore, his past by deleting the most central means of identification. Furthermore, more instructional and didactic tones are used against the narrator once he finished giving his speech in front of the crowd, such can be illustrated by the reprimand, "it was the antithesis of the scientific approach. Ours is a reasonable point of view. We are champions of a scientific approach to society, and such a speech as we've identified ourselves with tonight destroys everything that has been said before" (350). This condemnation of the narrator's sentimental speech techniques is juxtaposed against the scientific and reasoning structure that the Brotherhood advocates, therefore further accentuating the fact that the narrator is not only forced to mask his identity by sacrificing his name but also must forsake his own characteristic mannerisms and behavior in order to gain acknowledgment by the brotherhood. Such can be illustrated by the fact that the brother hood then suggests that the narrator "must be trained...there's hope that our wild but effective speaker may be tamed" (351). In fact, the narrator is forced to "stay completely out of Harlem" (351) until he is to "be guilty of no further unscientific speeches to upset our brothers' scientific tranquillity" (351). Hence such depicts the fact that the narrator is forced to not reveal himself until he is able to fall into the "communistic" behavior that has been prescribed by the Brotherhood; any actions that are unwelcoming will result in exile or permanent disregard. However, despite the fact that the narrator realizes that he "was someone new," it is ironic how he reverts back to the mannerisms that he describes "spoken in a very old-fashioned way," while simultaneously believing he had been transformed. He goes on to extrapolate, saying how "even his technique had been different; no one who had known me at college would have recognized the speech." Yet, he also begins to say that he would "not only represent my own group but one that was much larger." There are layers upon layers of ironic commentary in this section. Although the narrator had just emerged "reborn" from the paint explosion from Liberty Paints he still believes that he has become a completely changed man just because of his new name but is still ambivalent about where his change comes from. He believes that internally he has changed to become a different person, but couldn't he simply be returning to his roots? When the narrator says "spoken in a very old-fashioned" way couldn't he simply be speaking of his grandfather and his black heritage. How can the narrator claim that he is completely reborn when he is unable to have his own identity, but is instead manufactured one by being given a "mechanical" birth, a predestined 'destiny', and handed down a name as well as job that he has no control over. even the narrator seems to grapple with this question as he "sat there in the dark" thinking "of the speech" as "already it seemed the expression of someone else...yet i knew that it was mine and mine alone."

Sonnet Analysis

With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies! How silently, and with how wan a face! What, may it be that even in heavenly place That busy archer his sharp arrows tries? Sure, if that long-with-love-acquainted eyes Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case. I read it in thy looks; thy languished grace, To me, that feel the like, thy state descries. Then, even of fellowship, O Moon, tell me, Is constant love deemed there but want of wit? Are beauties there as proud as here they be? Do they above love to be loved, and yet Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess? Do they call virtue there ungratefulness? ----------------------------------------------- The speaker reflects his somber mood onto the moon by questioning the earthly and heavenly integrities of a fickle woman’s love. This can be illustrated by the tone shift of the sonnet as well as numerous characteristics which contribute to its melancholy tenor. Throughout the sonnet, the moon is personified to have several human characteristics as the speaker not only gives the moon physical features but also human emotions as the speaker carefully observes when he describes, “how wan a face!” The speaker further personifies the moon by illustrating that it is able of physical exertions such as “sad steps,” and “climb’st the skies.” He even metaphorically describes the moon as a “busy archer,” in order to allude towards a cupid figure for the speaker says the moon “Can judge of love.” However, it is obvious that the speaker is simply projecting his own emotions onto the moon itself, for he seems to be looking towards the moon for answers as illustrated by the fact that he seeks confidence and answers from the moon as illustrated by the rhetorical question, “What, may it be that even in heavenly place/ That busy archer his sharp arrow tries?” Hence, the speaker is confiding in the moon by asking a question to an inanimate being about the pangs of “a lover’s case,” for it seems that he is describing his lover as he describes in great detail the “languished grace” which his lover expresses. Yet it also seems that the speaker is in turmoil, for he say that though his lover “feel the like” as her “state descries” he is still unable to have her as illustrated by the significant tone shift that occurs by the marked direction as the speaker trails off, beginning with “Then…” as the poet switches from the quatrain to the sestet. Throughout the sestet, the speaker poses several rhetorical questions, all singled towards the topic of non-reciprocal love, and the many qualities that seem to prevent his lover from accepting his affection as illustrated by the questioning that “Are beauties there as proud as here they be?”

Invisible Man

After reading through Invisible Man I couldn't help but wonder at the number of allusions, historical, religious, and literary which Ralph Ellison drew upon. I found it extremely interesting how the narrator considers himself to be invisible due to the fact that he is "black" illustrating the significance that black culture played upon the author through the essence of his grandfather, Booker T. Washington, and other men like Marcus Garvey and Fredrick Douglass simply to name a few. This was even evident throughout all of the symbolic color imagery that was demonstrated throughout the novel. Gold is a reoccurring color scheme that is constantly referred to throughout the bulk of the novel. Moreover, other colors such as red was also incredibly significant in that not only did it represent the frustration, anger or anxiety that the narrator was feeling but it also served as a warning signal to the narrator several times. The colors of black and white were commonly referred to, but black was given a negative connotation whereas white was given a positive connotation in order to illustrate that the narrator was constantly trying to become white and escape his black skin. Yet the color black wasn't negatively used to describe simply the narrator but it always described something negative such as when the narrator observed that Brockway gave him "a long, black stare." Furthermore the positivity of the color white can be even more illustrated by the slogan that Brockway devises, "If it's Optic White, It's the Right White." There are also many musical motifs throughout the novel, including the very famous Beethoven's Fifth which the narrator hears after the optic white paint explosion. Beethoven's Fifth serves as a foreboding element that foreshadows the state of the author as illustrated by the narrator's response, "i kept hearing the opening motif of Beethoven's Fifth, three short and one long buzz, repeated again and again in varying volume, and I was trudging and breaking through, rising up, to find myself lying on my back with two pink-faced men laughing down." Beethoven's Fifth is again referred to when the narrator says, "I wanted to call him, but the Fifth Symphony rhythm racked me, and he seemed too serene and too far away." Hence, this music which alludes to doom and terror illustrates the frantic and also, depressed manner that the narrator is experiencing, since he is unaware of where he is or what to do after becoming caged inside 'a kind of glass and nickel box, the lid of which was propped open." When I read this scene my first reaction was that the narrator had been reborn again: he had fallen from ruins and was starting anew. I also thought that this description of the narrator awaking from the glass casket like he was Snow White, herself. Yet, I then saw another parallel that this instance could be referring to a religious allusion, something along the lines of Jesus rising again and hence, the narrator was becoming resurrected and his sins cleansed because the white paint had exploded, but also poured over him again, hence wiping the crimson stain of sin with the purity of a lamb's flesh.

A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allen Poe

A Dream Within A Dream Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow- You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream. I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep- while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream? Edgar Allan Poe "A Dream Within A Dream" is a Gothic poem as is characterized by its extremely emotional, inherently sublime, and disturbing atmosphere. Those characterizations are presented in two lines: "O God! Can I not save (21) / 'One' from the pitiless waves?" (22) Extreme emotion, frustration, despair and fear of death, is present when the author cries, "O God!" (21). Awe inherent in the sublime is present when the author realizes he cannot "save (21) / 'One'" (22). The atmosphere is disturbing when the author refers to the waves as "pitiless" (22). The author identifies his psychological anxiety when he says the memories cannot be saved not even "One" (22). Mystery and darkness appears when the author cries, "O God!" (21) Madness and death is present when the author realizes he cannot save even one reality, but time will take it away like the "pitiless wave" (22). The author cries to a supernatural being is desperate with psychological anxiety, for he cannot save one memory, the waves take on personification for being pitiless: they are without regard for his desires. Like the grains of golden sand life and life's golden memories slip through his fingers with the passage of time, much like waves eroding the sand on a beach. Lines ten and eleven, and twenty-three and twenty are couplets. They consist of two lines that rhyme with "seem" and "dream," but they do not have the same feet or meter. This couplet is an epigram: it is brief, clever, and memorable. For example, "'All' that we see or seem (10) / Is but a dream within a dream" (11), and the next: "Is 'all' that we see or seem (23) / But a dream within a dream?"(24) are memorable lines that rhyme with alliteration and assonance. Alliteration is with the "s" sound in the words "see" and "seem"(10) and (23), and "d" sound in the words "dream" and "dream" (11) and (24). Assonance is presented with the "ee" sound in "see," "seems," "dream," and "dream" (10), (11), (23), and (24). In the first stanza, Poe gave a more formal farewell goodbye to his wife. “Take this kiss … parting from you know,” these two lines express Poe’s affection and sadness as he loses his lover, his beloved wife. It is apparent how she claimed life is only a dream, now that Poe acknowledges that fact as she’s already gone. The lines, “Yet if hope has gone away… the less gone?” put across Poe’s hopelessness when it comes to hope. He also repeated the word “in” to emphasize how fragile and sudden hope can disappear. By the end of the first stanza, Poe concludes, “All that we see or seem … a dream within a dream”. He used the alliteration of the terms “see” and “seem” to depict the fact that nothing we see or feel is any more real than a dream. As the second stanza begins, we are introduced to a powerful image, the “surf-tormented shore”. Poe describes himself standing among the anguish roars of waves. This is a metaphor used to express Poe’s torments from the loss of his wife, how he couldn’t cope with the pain, how the waves and roars are over powering him, how he’s drowning in his own misery. The poem progresses with the poet’s struggles of letting go. Poe depicts his impotence through the imagery of his grasping grains of sand. Poe underwent great sufferings as he fails to hold on to the “golden sand”, a metaphor for his dear yearnings. The “golden sand” then falls to “the deep”, to that abstract space where he couldn’t reach. “While I weep– while I weep!” The poet states how he weep as his misery overwhelmed his defenses, as he breaks down. As the pain takes his breath away, Poe entreats to God for savior. Even so, he still beats himself up from the fact that he couldn’t hold on any longer. His pain accentuates as Poe states how he wants to save his loved one from dying, from the metaphor of “ saving one from the pitiless wave”. Here Poe used the repetition of the phrase “O God!” to express his burning desire and aching towards the loss of his wife. Then, to conclude, Poe repeated the two lines, “Is it all we see… a dream within a dream”, to highlight once again the idea that everything is just a dream.

Hamlet Act III

I think there are several very interesting parts to the exchange between Hamlet and Ophelia during Act 3. For starters, I thought it was weird how Ophelia said, “My lord, I have remembrances of yours/ That I have longed long to redeliver.” This is due to the fact that soon after Hamlet tells her that he never gave Ophelia anything, yet she insists that he did in rich detail—“words of so sweet breath/ composed/ As made the things more rich. Their perfume/ lost.” In these few lines alone, Ophelia is expressing how she believes that Hamlet indeed is the writer of those letters. Moreover, Shakespeare even shares a monetary thematic message when he uses words like “rich” and “lost” again tying back to the significant message of financial burden in order to illustrate relationships and social components throughout Hamlet. Additionally Shakespeare also reintroduces the “whore” motif and “perception” versus “reality” or “seeming” versus “is-ing” when Hamlet retorts to Ophelia “That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty.” In essence, Hamlet is accusing Ophelia quite cleverly remarking how her beauty has nothing to do with the level of her moral justice and quite frankly, (for Hamlet), he states it as if Ophelia’s beauty and her morals are inversely related. Hamlet then elaborates further by saying “the power of beauty will sooner transform honestly from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness,” therefore basically calling Ophelia out that it’s easier for her to become a whore than to change her roots and become a pious woman, thus resulting in him suggesting that Ophelia later take herself to a nunnery and shun herself from society. Hamlet therefore is proposing that surface beauty, aka “seeming” on the exterior for a human being is very influential, but wrongly, since inner beauty through the worth of morality should be more impactful. Yet Hamlet seems very harsh in his words as he rebukes Ophelia, “If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy dowry. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go. Farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go, and quickly too. Farewell.” This statement, however, seems quite contradictory to me due to the reason that Hamlet is giving Ophelia the opposite advice that her father has given Ophelia. Hence, if I were in Ophelia’s position I would be very confused on two conditions: first, my father has told me that I shouldn’t give my love to Hamlet or else I would give birth to a fool and second, Hamlet, however, has just told me that I should marry a fool. Likewise, I would also be quite annoyed by what I would have done to deserve all this verbal abuse from both my boyfriend and father.

Hamlet Act 3: Thoughts & Analysis

It is ironic how everyone in the beginning of the play views Hamlet as mad since this can be illustrated by how Rosencrantz says “He does confess he feels himself distracted. But from what cause he will by no means speak” (3.1.5-6). Then Hamlet casually strolls in contemplating death while Claudius and Polonius hide to spy on him. Hamlet is a genius in that his words reflect what is on his mind yet his secret onlookers are unable to understand the reason behind what he is saying. Claudius and Polonius believe that he is suffering the heartache that has resulted from his love for Ophelia when in essence, Hamlet is pensively thinking about a matter concerning Claudius. This can be illustrated when Hamlet later tells Ophelia, “Those that are married, all but one, shall live” (3.1.60-61). Yet during Hamlet’s soliloquy Hamlet is again torn between “seeming” versus “is-ing.” He wants to know “whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune./ Or to take arms against a sea of troubles./ And, by opposing, end them”(3.1.58-61)? In other words, Hamlet means whether or not it would be the better route to simply put up with all the pain that the world has thrown at him by silently keeping it to himself or by fighting through physical force. Yet Hamlet soon contemplates a new question: whether or not living is even worthwhile. This can be illustrated in that Hamlet views dying with comfort: “To die, to sleep--/No more—and by a sleep to say we end/ The heartache and the thousand natural shocks/ That flesh is heir to—‘tis a consummation/ Devoutly to be wished! To die, to sleep./ To sleep perchance to dream—ay, there’s the/ rub” (3.1.61-67). In translation, Hamlet simply says that dying and sleeping seem to be basically the same thing, in that death is simply a sleep that never wakes, but allows us to end all the trouble and pain that life on Earth forces upon us, so shouldn’t we wish to die? Yet, Hamlet then muses even further because he considers how in death we also dream. And when we die, no one can determine what kind of dream we may have whether it be pleasant or stretches our sufferings eternally. By this point, I’d like to imagine the look on Claudius’s face (if he is, as predicted, responsible for murdering Hamlet’s father). Obviously, when Hamlet is speaking he’s not contemplating his own death, but his father’s. And the only person in the room, besides Hamlet who could possibly know of such a deed would be Claudius himself. Claudius is probably pondering at this time what King Hamlet must be feeling once he is dead and feeling rather guilty about his deed, yet still he does not catch on to the fact that Hamlet knows that Claudius is responsible for his father’s murder. Claudius will simply believe that Hamlet is still grieving. On the other hand, Polonius may think that this episode completely justifies his belief that Hamlet is mad because his contemplation seems as if Hamlet was talking about suicide. Hence, I love how Hamlet is able to voice out all his thoughts, yet none of the characters are able to understand the true meaning behind those words.

Invisible Man

I spend a majority of my time during the “Snow Apocalypse” reading Invisible Man, but only read a lousy additional chapter when I was aiming for much more, but slowly I’ve come to realize that Invisible Man is filled with subtle, implicit meaning and I’ve been busy discovering, unearthing all those small details that are hidden within each page. I’ve begun to wonder many things about Invisible Man such as why Mr. Norton has such an important role in the novel. Moreover, why is the narrator so concerned about Mr. Norton giving him a bad report? Why is he so afraid of becoming humiliated? Why is he constantly worried about a white man’s opinion? What is the narrator so afraid of? Consequences? Becoming reprimanded? Overall, this book has had my thoughts spiraling—I can comprehend what’s going on, but I don’t understand why the author has chosen to use such events or why he even decides to incorporate several characters. In short, I don’t know what the main idea or point the author is trying to reach. When I’m reading, my mind is constantly thinking, Am I missing something that I should be getting? There has to be more than just this. However, I have noticed some powerful color imagery such as the color gold, which seems to be everywhere as a motif for power and falsified wealth. For example, the “Golden” Day is ironic in that it involves veterans who look forward to their “golden” years during retirement but are only out once a week from a mental ward. Moreover, I don’t understand the purpose of the phrase “the grass is green,” although it has me thinking whether or not it’s color imagery for something “fresh”, such as the girl’s relationship with her boyfriend (I believe, the narrator, comments on how she will eventually become pregnant), but still I don’t understand why such detail is important to the overall purpose and main idea of the book. Moreover, I find it paradoxical due to the fact that when we meet Trueblood, there’s also talk about women becoming pregnant, hence I do see that there is a reoccurring theme but I can’t understand what it’s supposed to represent. Fertility? Submissiveness? Danger? Blindness? Hence, I’ve constantly been arriving full circle: when I think I’ve finally figured out the purpose for the author to incorporate one detail, another one arrives. However, I have noted how much irony is common throughout the entire novel, such as the fact that Trueblood’s name implies purity when he could potentially be labeled for molestation and rape. Finally, I also find it stunning that there is so much contrast in white and black, literally and figuratively. Historically, there is so much relevant information that is alluded through such as southern sharecroppers and slave quarters. Moreover, I also thought it interesting how Ellison metaphorically illustrates Mr. Norton as an animal due to his “animal-like teeth” and the women who watch over him relate his organs to animal organs. Hence, again I am realizing the analysis, but what is the purpose behind it all?

Hamlet

During class, I’ve found myself liking Hamlet more and more as the play has progressed. In the beginning, I was eerily spooked by the role of the ghost, the “incestuous acts” between Hamlet’s uncle and his mother, as well as the mask of “seeming” that many of the characters shield themselves by. I love how everything on the surface is artificial, how Hamlet’s words always seem to have at least two or more connotations behind it. I’ve currently been obsessing over the famous line in Hamlet’s aside when he speaks “Frailty—thy name is woman.” This line speaks to me in several different tongues. For one, also the most obvious, Hamlet is saying that his mother is weak, which he compounds by saying that “Ay madam, it is indeed common.” The word common further emphasizes the downsizing view of his towards his mother in that he’s calling her a slut, perhaps so far even a prostitute when he says “Why, she (would) hang on him/ As if increase of appetite had grown/ By what it fed on.” This line therefore implicates Gertrude in that Hamlet is essentially saying that she is satisfying her craving for sex. By using terms that are associated with food such as a sudden increase of appetite, implies a greater desire that had not been present prior to the death of Hamlet’s father. Moreover, by saying that Gertrude “would hang on him” further sends a connotation of being desperate. Is Gertrude worried that if she doesn’t marry Claudius that she’ll lose her authority as queen? Yet, marrying into the blood line goes against all societal obligations. Hamlet goes on even further to criticize his mother when he alludes to several mythological persons including Niobe and the satyr. First off though Hamlet praises his father by alluding to both Hercules and the Hyperion, both of which are powerful beings in Greek mythology yet Hamlet symbolically portrays his uncle as a satyr—a lustful animal that is half-human, half-beast, while chastising his mother in nearly the same tone, calling her “a beast that wants discourse of reason” which is referring to Niobe, “would have mourned longer!” at the passing of the king. Ironically, Hamlet is calling both characters—his uncle and mother—beasts by seemingly alluding to them through mythological associations. Hamlet further condemns his mother as he speaks that “Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears/ Had left the flushing in her galled eyes. “ Biblically speaking, Hamlet is alluding to the symbolism of salt as “truth” in Christianity. Hence, salt is essentially a metaphor for truth, the light, and the alike. Hence Hamlet is saying that all truthfulness and all purity has now been purged from his mother because they have been flushed from her eyes. Likewise the connotation of the word “gall” is negative with a definition that is to make someone feel annoyed, hence suggesting that Hamlet is feeling infuriated by the actions of his mother’s acts, by marrying so quickly, moving so quickly to such “incestuous sheets.”

If by Rudyard Kipling

If by Rudyard Kipling If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! “If” by Rudard Kipling is a poem that mainly lists advice passed down from a father to his son in order to teach the child how to face life which is full of challenges, fortune, but also horrors. This can be modeled by the first stanza in which the speaker advises his son to be brave enough and have confidence in himself and listen to others' criticism even if it is untrue. He advises him to follow a loving, moderate way of life. During the second stanza, the speaker goes onwards in saying that life imposes different circumstances of success and failure which contradicts one's demands and hopes. His advice is always to try again. By the third stanza, the poet tells his son that if he fails to reach his goal and loses everything he has given his life to, to start over and be brave enough and summon up courage by his strong will and determination. Then during the fourth stanza, the speaker advises his son to be equally modest with common people as well as with people of rank. He also tells him to forgive his enemies before his friends and yet not to get too involved with them. He tells him to compensate every minute of hard feelings towards his enemies. He tells him that if he follows his advice, he will be a man of good morals and qualities and strength of character he will also own the whole Earth. I personally felt that this poem had a tone of impaction and was extremely relevant as a high school senior who now spends a lot more time with her family, knowing that it is the last year she’ll be living at home with her parents and seeing her friends in Georgia. This poem really got me to reflect on my mom’s advice and where I would be without her. Moreover, this poem also reminded me of all the times that my mom and I stroll on the Green Way together, a long walking trail that is surrounded by trees and small creeks. We walk there often, usually a couple weekends over the year, but it’s funny how although every time we continuously use the same path our conversations always shift, so many times when we walk my mom gives me advice, and there’s just the perfect touch of calmness and serenity that surrounds you. This poem therefore caused me to weigh the value of my parent’s words more and to be more sensitive to their teachings.

Invisible Man Prologue-Ch. 3

My first thought in class when I heard that we would be reading Invisible Man was something along the lines of, “How cool is that? We get to read about someone who can’t be seen. I wonder if he can get away with stealing all the time.” Soon, however, I discovered that my presumptions were completely wrong as I began to read the Prologue. The entire time while I was reading I had the predisposed expectation that the main character was completely lifeless…something akin to Harry Potter with his invisibility cloak on, except this protagonist wouldn’t need exactly clothes but was merely born or somehow biologically became inaccessible to the eyes of others. The thought never crossed my mind, however, that this book would be shrouded with historical allusions that depict the main character’s struggle as a black man. This invisible man wasn’t invisible by choice instead he was invisible by nature, specifically because of the color of his skin that damned him like a prison sentence, eternal invisibility caused by blackness, shackles that would always press into his skin so that eventually and quite literally they’d be unmovable. Reading forward, I was shocked by the unexpectedness of the setting, the characters chosen. Everything that I had predicted about the novel from the title was completely obstructed. The plot line was also filled with twist and turns that led me into unexpected bends and grey areas. I was also extremely shocked by Ellison’s choice of characters, the meeting of a black sharecropper who gave birth to a woman and a young girl disturbed me, but also I didn’t understand why he was there and what was his essential purpose. Even more so, I was confused by the reason he was given a hundred dollars. What was the motivation behind giving this moron, who had raped a girl, a hundred dollars? I didn’t understand Ellison’s point, nor did I understand any of the logic that was carrying the story on. To me, I didn’t understand why this jerk was getting rewarded for committing a crime. Even more so, I didn’t understand the purpose behind the boxing match or the copper coins that conducted electricity, but if there’s one thing that I think I can make sense of it’s the purpose behind his grandfather’s speech. Hopefully, this time my prediction will be spot-on (unlike other times). Ellison uses the grandfather’s last words in order to foreshadow how later on the son realizes his invisibility by even suggesting that the son is similar in temperament to his grandfather. Although both men are described as “mild’ in terms of personality, the grandfather when on his deathbed ultimately seems very bold and outspoken. During the beginning chapters of the novel, therefore, one realizes that the son, always very soft-spoken and courteous to white folk, who never challenges there opinion of him, and takes back the word “equality” after the white men at the bar yell at him, seems to be the very epitome of even-temperedness, always reluctant to challenge there authority. However, I believe that in the very end one of two things will happen 1) He becomes so mild that he fades into his state of invisibility or 2) he becomes brash like his Grandfather. We’ll see.