Tuesday, April 8, 2014
The Importance of Being Earnest Blog Post
Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest includes a physical journey that creates the entire meaning of the work. The central meaning of the play is revolved around the irony of two friends, Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing, who claim their names are Ernest, yet in no way their characters represent being earnest. Algernon Moncrieff travels on a journey to Jack's estate as his curiosity grows about Cecily Cardew, whose guardian is Jack. After learning that Jack has made up a fake brother, Ernest, and that Cecily seems to be fond of him, Algy travels to Jack's estate to meet her as Ernest. Jack also pretends to be Ernest in front of his love, Gwendolen, who will not marry any man who has a name other than Ernest. To be earnest is to be serious, and both Algy and Jack do not take any situation with full seriousness. Both men have experience with telling stories of relatives, who are not real, to get themselves out of situations. This time, they are claiming the name of the person used as their excuse is their own name just to impress women. However, the two men fall short when Cecily and Gwendolen meet each other only to discover that both their men claim to be Ernest Worthing. Cecily and Gwendolen refuse to talk to Jack and Algy because of the confusion they have brought upon them. Later, after the truth gets out about Jack and Algy's real names, Jack discovers that his real name has actually always been Ernest. Jack then says that "all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth," which follows the central irony of him seeming like he is not telling the truth. The physical journey of going to Jack's estate and the four characters meeting with each other reveals the meaning of the work, which is to take every single situation with the utmost seriousness, or else the situation will cause confusion among others. Algy and Jack appear to be ridiculous characters who make their way through life by getting out of situations in a strategic way, but in the end they realize "the vital importance of being earnest."
Monday, January 20, 2014
Good Times analysis
209. Good Times (page 277)
Throughout the poem, the line "good times" is repeated to emphasize the good times the family is currently experiencing. The line implies that the family just came out of a bad period in their lives and are ready to move on. Another form of repetition is how the speaker talks of each of his family members and what they have to show for creating a better lifestyle. The first two stanzas have repetition in their beginning lines with, "My Daddy has paid the rent" and "My Mama has made bread." The speaker's father has gotten to the point of "good times" by paying off the rent and his mother has made bread as an act of celebration. The word "and" is also repeated at the beginning of multiple lines to represent the excitement of the speaker and his family. For example, the lines "and the insurance man is gone/and the lights is back on" contain that form of repetition that adds to the relieved feeling and overall tone of the poem.
The diction and repetition create the tone of the poem. Once again, in the lines "and the insurance man is gone/and the lights is back on," the words "gone" and "back on" display how the family is relieved and glad that they can move on from their past. Along with relief, there is also excitement in the poem as shown in the lines "and everybody is drunk/and dancing in the kitchen/and singing in the kitchen." "Drunk," "dancing," and "singing," contribute to the celebratory tone. As a result of the father paying off the rent and the lights coming back on, the family can now celebrate their path to a better future and finally relax for a while.
The message conveyed in the poem is to enjoy the good times as soon as they come and make them last. The family in the poem seems as though they have not had a good time in a long time. Right after their difficult period of time is over, they do not hesitate when it comes to celebrating their escape from that life. Everyone is happy and excited and can live in the moment with no worries. However, the last line of the poem, "oh children think about the good times," represents that good times do not always remain good. Everything changes and it is really easy to go from good to bad in a second. The last line is a reminder to focus on the good times even when going through more difficult times. If people only focus on the bad, then there will never be any hope for the good aspects of life. I believe that the poem suggests that when there comes an opportunity to celebrate good times, take it, and remember how good it feels so that when hard times hit again, there will only be determination to get back to those good times.
Throughout the poem, the line "good times" is repeated to emphasize the good times the family is currently experiencing. The line implies that the family just came out of a bad period in their lives and are ready to move on. Another form of repetition is how the speaker talks of each of his family members and what they have to show for creating a better lifestyle. The first two stanzas have repetition in their beginning lines with, "My Daddy has paid the rent" and "My Mama has made bread." The speaker's father has gotten to the point of "good times" by paying off the rent and his mother has made bread as an act of celebration. The word "and" is also repeated at the beginning of multiple lines to represent the excitement of the speaker and his family. For example, the lines "and the insurance man is gone/and the lights is back on" contain that form of repetition that adds to the relieved feeling and overall tone of the poem.
The diction and repetition create the tone of the poem. Once again, in the lines "and the insurance man is gone/and the lights is back on," the words "gone" and "back on" display how the family is relieved and glad that they can move on from their past. Along with relief, there is also excitement in the poem as shown in the lines "and everybody is drunk/and dancing in the kitchen/and singing in the kitchen." "Drunk," "dancing," and "singing," contribute to the celebratory tone. As a result of the father paying off the rent and the lights coming back on, the family can now celebrate their path to a better future and finally relax for a while.
The message conveyed in the poem is to enjoy the good times as soon as they come and make them last. The family in the poem seems as though they have not had a good time in a long time. Right after their difficult period of time is over, they do not hesitate when it comes to celebrating their escape from that life. Everyone is happy and excited and can live in the moment with no worries. However, the last line of the poem, "oh children think about the good times," represents that good times do not always remain good. Everything changes and it is really easy to go from good to bad in a second. The last line is a reminder to focus on the good times even when going through more difficult times. If people only focus on the bad, then there will never be any hope for the good aspects of life. I believe that the poem suggests that when there comes an opportunity to celebrate good times, take it, and remember how good it feels so that when hard times hit again, there will only be determination to get back to those good times.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
On Reading Poems to a Senior Class at South High analysis
203. On Reading Poems to a Senior Class at South High (page 273)
The poem consists of a speaker reciting poetry to a high school class. Through numerous similes, the poet provides a better understanding of how the students view and connect to the speaker. Automatically, the speaker recognizes the class as "orderly as frozen fish in a package." Metaphorically, the class is dead and trapped in their own world. To them, the speaker is an intruder bringing in knowledge that they perceive as unfamiliar. The students show no interest in branching out into the world of poetry and meaning. However, as the speaker continues, he notices that the class has "opened up like gills,", or has come alive, and lets him in to teach and connect with them. The poet uses the simile, "Together we swam around the room like thirty tails whacking words," to further convey the sudden connection the students posses with the speaker. Until the class is over, both the speaker and students are now swimming in the same ocean of poetic meaning and knowledge. Once the bell rings, everyone "leaked out," and the tie everyone recently had with one another is now broken.
Imagery is also used throughout the poem and goes along with the similes of fish that represent the students. When the speaker first describes the class as a pack of fish, it is easy to visualize a classroom full of disinterested students sitting at their desks. It is also easy to see the speaker standing in the front of the room and looking somewhat disappointed in the class's reaction to his presence. Suddenly, as if "water began to fill the room," all the students seem to sit up in their seats and actually listen to the speaker. The students are now with him and participating in his lecture. When the class is over, everyone creates "a hole in the door," which shows the eagerness of the students to leave the room. The use of imagery in the poem displays the students and how they react to the speaker in the room.
I think that the poem is implying how easy the meaning of poetry can be forgotten. I associate the speaker as a poet visiting a high school class to teach them about poetry and its hidden meanings. Poetry is difficult to understand at first, which is why in the beginning the students have no interest in the poet and his lesson. However, as the poet continues to "drown them with his words," the students become intrigued because the poet is able to create a connection with them and invites them to all be lively "fish" in the same world together. The bell interrupts the lesson and the students and poet leave and move on into their separate worlds again like nothing ever happened. The poet goes home and claims that his cat "licked his fins till they were hands again," meaning that the connection he just had with an entire class of people is gone and their discussion will be forgotten. The poet brought the class into his world of poetry, but once they separated, the students chose to continue to ignore that world just as they did in the beginning.
The poem consists of a speaker reciting poetry to a high school class. Through numerous similes, the poet provides a better understanding of how the students view and connect to the speaker. Automatically, the speaker recognizes the class as "orderly as frozen fish in a package." Metaphorically, the class is dead and trapped in their own world. To them, the speaker is an intruder bringing in knowledge that they perceive as unfamiliar. The students show no interest in branching out into the world of poetry and meaning. However, as the speaker continues, he notices that the class has "opened up like gills,", or has come alive, and lets him in to teach and connect with them. The poet uses the simile, "Together we swam around the room like thirty tails whacking words," to further convey the sudden connection the students posses with the speaker. Until the class is over, both the speaker and students are now swimming in the same ocean of poetic meaning and knowledge. Once the bell rings, everyone "leaked out," and the tie everyone recently had with one another is now broken.
Imagery is also used throughout the poem and goes along with the similes of fish that represent the students. When the speaker first describes the class as a pack of fish, it is easy to visualize a classroom full of disinterested students sitting at their desks. It is also easy to see the speaker standing in the front of the room and looking somewhat disappointed in the class's reaction to his presence. Suddenly, as if "water began to fill the room," all the students seem to sit up in their seats and actually listen to the speaker. The students are now with him and participating in his lecture. When the class is over, everyone creates "a hole in the door," which shows the eagerness of the students to leave the room. The use of imagery in the poem displays the students and how they react to the speaker in the room.
I think that the poem is implying how easy the meaning of poetry can be forgotten. I associate the speaker as a poet visiting a high school class to teach them about poetry and its hidden meanings. Poetry is difficult to understand at first, which is why in the beginning the students have no interest in the poet and his lesson. However, as the poet continues to "drown them with his words," the students become intrigued because the poet is able to create a connection with them and invites them to all be lively "fish" in the same world together. The bell interrupts the lesson and the students and poet leave and move on into their separate worlds again like nothing ever happened. The poet goes home and claims that his cat "licked his fins till they were hands again," meaning that the connection he just had with an entire class of people is gone and their discussion will be forgotten. The poet brought the class into his world of poetry, but once they separated, the students chose to continue to ignore that world just as they did in the beginning.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Response One: The Handmaid's Tale
In Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale, women are deprived from their normal lives and are forced to live in a society where they are looked down upon and are only living for the purpose of reproducing. It is only what is on the inside that matters, so handmaids, like Offred, have no need to look attractive in any way. Offred often expresses the want for hand or face lotion, which she cannot have since she is a handmaid. She solves her problem by replacing it with butter and using it as a replacement for lotion. Butter not only symbolizes the extent women will go to to feel like a woman again, but it also represents a sense of hope for them. Offred puts it as, "As long as we do this, butter our skin to keep it soft, we can believe that we will some day get out, that we will be touched again, in love or desire" (Atwood 97). The sense she gets from putting butter on her skin makes her feel like a woman again and makes her feel like part of her freedom has been restored. If she keeps doing so, Offred believes the society will eventually come crashing down because the society will no longer have control over her or over any other woman.
My favorite passage in the novel is the one where Offred explains Moira's story of how she escaped the Red Center. The passages gives a better insight of Moira's personality and how she reacts to the change in the society. At the Red Center, Moira is able to trick Aunt Elizabeth into thinking a toilet has overflowed and once the aunt had her back turned, Moira took over and basically held her hostage. Once Moira locked up Aunt Elizabeth and stole her clothes, she "stood up straight and looked firmly ahead. She drew her shoulders back, pulled up her spine, and compressed her lips" (Atwood 132). Moira feels like she has all the power now; like she has total control of her fate in the society. Along with highlighting Moira's escape from the Red Center, this passage also represents the true power a woman can hold over another. Moira was not going to let the aunts tell her how to live and act, so she had to find a way to overpower them herself. Moira's character displays what a woman is capable of doing when she is deprived from her freedom. She is not afraid of the society and she will not let it take control over her and her life.
The Handmaid's Tale is a very intriguing work because of the way Atwood represents her main character's experience in the modified society. Offred is going through an experience that many women in this lifetime will never experience, so with the story being told from her point of view, we are able to live Offred's life and understand the complications of life in an alternate society. This story, like many others, acts as an escape into a parallel universe where we can view life in a new and different way. The roles of some people in the society, like Offred's, are not morally right, but I like how we can interpret those roles, compare them to those in our own society, and conclude that our lives will never be as complicated as the fictional life of Offred. Novels usually display a character who possesses an ideal life that we desire, so I like how Atwood writes her novel the exact opposite and makes us feel like our lives are ideal.
My favorite passage in the novel is the one where Offred explains Moira's story of how she escaped the Red Center. The passages gives a better insight of Moira's personality and how she reacts to the change in the society. At the Red Center, Moira is able to trick Aunt Elizabeth into thinking a toilet has overflowed and once the aunt had her back turned, Moira took over and basically held her hostage. Once Moira locked up Aunt Elizabeth and stole her clothes, she "stood up straight and looked firmly ahead. She drew her shoulders back, pulled up her spine, and compressed her lips" (Atwood 132). Moira feels like she has all the power now; like she has total control of her fate in the society. Along with highlighting Moira's escape from the Red Center, this passage also represents the true power a woman can hold over another. Moira was not going to let the aunts tell her how to live and act, so she had to find a way to overpower them herself. Moira's character displays what a woman is capable of doing when she is deprived from her freedom. She is not afraid of the society and she will not let it take control over her and her life.
The Handmaid's Tale is a very intriguing work because of the way Atwood represents her main character's experience in the modified society. Offred is going through an experience that many women in this lifetime will never experience, so with the story being told from her point of view, we are able to live Offred's life and understand the complications of life in an alternate society. This story, like many others, acts as an escape into a parallel universe where we can view life in a new and different way. The roles of some people in the society, like Offred's, are not morally right, but I like how we can interpret those roles, compare them to those in our own society, and conclude that our lives will never be as complicated as the fictional life of Offred. Novels usually display a character who possesses an ideal life that we desire, so I like how Atwood writes her novel the exact opposite and makes us feel like our lives are ideal.
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