This course emphasizes the need to recall previously-read texts during analysis of another. One should (must, really) learn to be prepared to recognize allusions, parallels, similarities, and points of contrast (whether intended or not) between works, regardless of how long it's been since the other texts were read/reviewed.
The more of other texts one is able to recognize in another helps him/her identify new, more in-depth meanings and may change the perspective from which those past texts are seen.
It is also essential to maintain this sort-of mental anthology to understand different eras/schools/genres of literature and how they come to be/operate.
Part IV: Writing–The Structure, Style, and Content of an Analytical Essay
The writing aspect of the class requires us to mush all of the other aspects of the class together while communicating clearly and concisely. We learn to communicate in plain style in an essay structure that allows for the logical flow of ideas, ideas that are supported by textual evidence to which we can physically point, into a thesis.
Introductions should introduce a topic, connect the topic to the work discussed, and present the thesis. Topic sentences of each body paragraph should work together with the thesis, outside of the entire essay.
Introductions should introduce a topic, connect the topic to the work discussed, and present the thesis. Topic sentences of each body paragraph should work together with the thesis, outside of the entire essay.
Part III: Meaning
Meaning is the reason for which all of this is a "thing." It's all about the greater message the author/the text is sending and how we derive that message from the words on the page.
The declaration/explanation of meaning must be supported by textual evidence and effects.
The declaration/explanation of meaning must be supported by textual evidence and effects.
Part II: Techniques & Their Effects–Identification
DIDLS in addition to extensive lists of drama, poetry, and comedy vocabulary have proved that every thing a writer puts on a page affects the reader. Whether the writer has a specific intention or not, his or her words and the structure with which they are combined will cause something in the reader different than if the words or their structure were different.
This course requires that we understand this connection, but first that we can recognize both the unconscious and conscious decisions of an author as well as the feeling and interpretation of the text shaped by those decisions. Furthermore, we must identify how the feeling/interpretation would be altered if those decisions were different.
This course requires that we understand this connection, but first that we can recognize both the unconscious and conscious decisions of an author as well as the feeling and interpretation of the text shaped by those decisions. Furthermore, we must identify how the feeling/interpretation would be altered if those decisions were different.
From 30 Oct.
1986. Some works of literature use the element of time in a distinct way. The chronological sequence of events may be altered, or time may be suspended or accelerated. Choose a novel, an epic, or a play of recognized literary merit and show how the author's manipulation of time contributes to the effectiveness of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.
Senility often accompanies old age, and memories and the present are either lost or muddled together. In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, the main character, 60 year-old Willy Loman, slips in and out of the present along with the events of the drama itself. Miller's manipulation of time better communicates Willy's mental situation to the audience and reveals important plot information while perpetuating his emphasis on abandonment.
The events of the play as the audience sees them follow Willy's relapses into his past. Without this, the audience would only hear and view Willy's words and actions in the past as he walks around in the present. Taking the trip with Willy allows viewers to feel empathy, to experience the same level of disorientation as Willy experiences. Willy's confusion and misunderstanding become the audience's confusion and misunderstanding. Willy is transformed from a nettlesome old man to a sympathetic old-timer abandoned by his lucidity of mind.
Though the audience is with Willy as he mentally travels through time, from Willy's stand point, he is alone; the other characters in the play's present setting do not follow him into his memories. When Willy and the audience are away in his mind, the present Biff, Happy, and Linda see a man talking to himself. This is another instance of Willy having been abandoned, left alone to face possible senility because he cannot explain or show his situation to his family, or even understand it himself.
Miller chooses to show supposedly "happy" times from Willy's past, back when his son Biff was the high school football star and he felt "well liked" by his clientele, but those times were, in reality, dismal. Money troubles were, and continue to be, a constant plague in the Loman's household, Willy had an affair while away for work, Biff's football success clouded his academics, and Willy was eventually forgotten by his clients. The dichotomy of these memories show the audience how Willy's perception of his own life was manipulated by his own self in an effort to think of his life as once having been successful and content. But he is losing that grasp on the pseudo memories, and their truth starts leaking out. Everything Willy understood his life to have been, whether he understood it correctly or not, is taken away from him, and he is again alone.
Miller chose to have the audience accompany his main character on a memory roller coaster. Through this, the audience can better understand Willy as well as the past events that are revisited and shown. Because jumping through memories is something that can only be done in the mind, Willy is left to face it alone, without his family, another sad illustration of the abandonment of the salesman.
Senility often accompanies old age, and memories and the present are either lost or muddled together. In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, the main character, 60 year-old Willy Loman, slips in and out of the present along with the events of the drama itself. Miller's manipulation of time better communicates Willy's mental situation to the audience and reveals important plot information while perpetuating his emphasis on abandonment.
The events of the play as the audience sees them follow Willy's relapses into his past. Without this, the audience would only hear and view Willy's words and actions in the past as he walks around in the present. Taking the trip with Willy allows viewers to feel empathy, to experience the same level of disorientation as Willy experiences. Willy's confusion and misunderstanding become the audience's confusion and misunderstanding. Willy is transformed from a nettlesome old man to a sympathetic old-timer abandoned by his lucidity of mind.
Though the audience is with Willy as he mentally travels through time, from Willy's stand point, he is alone; the other characters in the play's present setting do not follow him into his memories. When Willy and the audience are away in his mind, the present Biff, Happy, and Linda see a man talking to himself. This is another instance of Willy having been abandoned, left alone to face possible senility because he cannot explain or show his situation to his family, or even understand it himself.
Miller chooses to show supposedly "happy" times from Willy's past, back when his son Biff was the high school football star and he felt "well liked" by his clientele, but those times were, in reality, dismal. Money troubles were, and continue to be, a constant plague in the Loman's household, Willy had an affair while away for work, Biff's football success clouded his academics, and Willy was eventually forgotten by his clients. The dichotomy of these memories show the audience how Willy's perception of his own life was manipulated by his own self in an effort to think of his life as once having been successful and content. But he is losing that grasp on the pseudo memories, and their truth starts leaking out. Everything Willy understood his life to have been, whether he understood it correctly or not, is taken away from him, and he is again alone.
Miller chose to have the audience accompany his main character on a memory roller coaster. Through this, the audience can better understand Willy as well as the past events that are revisited and shown. Because jumping through memories is something that can only be done in the mind, Willy is left to face it alone, without his family, another sad illustration of the abandonment of the salesman.
4 Dec.
During the Cold War era, fear of communist and totalitarian government was widespread in western democracies. George Orwell's novel 1984 is an illustration of what those government systems could one day mean. The novel's protagonist, Winston Smith, follows the codes and conventions expected of him by Big Brother, his world's totalitarian regime, while his consciousness starts to rebel. Winston's inward rebellion escalates to outward rebellion until he ultimately succumbs to the power of Big Brother. Through this, Orwell warns of the danger of absolute tyranny against humanity's free will.
1984's Big Brother had control over its subjects' minds and bodies alike. Winston, for the most part, had no choice between conformity and rebellion. The government controlled everything from the past to fitness regimens and the thoughtpolice were always on guard for thoughtcrime. Winston takes part in the mandatory "Two Minutes Hate" daily and performs his fact-changing job at the ironically named Ministry of Truth. He even recognizes that "thoughtcrime is death." The nearly complete lack of choice for Winston and every citizen in both their actions and thoughts is just where Orwell begins in showing how detrimental a totalitarian regime could become.
Winston's outward conformity progressively deteriorates as his inward rebellion grows more prominent. It starts with a diary. In that diary, when Winston thinks Big Brother cannot see him, he remembers the loathsome Two Minutes Hate and unknowingly writes "down with Big Brother" repeatedly. His inward rebellion has now leaked onto a piece of paper. From then on, Winston's thoughts and actions together become more disobedient, eventually leading him to seek formal participation in the rebellion against Big Brother. Winston is captured; his exercising of free will and rebellion were futile.
Big Brother reconditions Winston both physically and mentally. At the novel's end, Winston "love[s] Big Brother" truly and completely. There is no longer a struggle between outward and inward conformity; the outside force of tyranny won. Winston thought he had the ability to conform in his actions and keep his thoughts as safe as possible, but in Orwell's world, Big Brother would have caught him and brainwashed him anyway. With this, Orwell went beyond the grasp of the real world to warn of a future in which the thoughts and actions of individuals are completely meaningless.
1984's Big Brother had control over its subjects' minds and bodies alike. Winston, for the most part, had no choice between conformity and rebellion. The government controlled everything from the past to fitness regimens and the thoughtpolice were always on guard for thoughtcrime. Winston takes part in the mandatory "Two Minutes Hate" daily and performs his fact-changing job at the ironically named Ministry of Truth. He even recognizes that "thoughtcrime is death." The nearly complete lack of choice for Winston and every citizen in both their actions and thoughts is just where Orwell begins in showing how detrimental a totalitarian regime could become.
Winston's outward conformity progressively deteriorates as his inward rebellion grows more prominent. It starts with a diary. In that diary, when Winston thinks Big Brother cannot see him, he remembers the loathsome Two Minutes Hate and unknowingly writes "down with Big Brother" repeatedly. His inward rebellion has now leaked onto a piece of paper. From then on, Winston's thoughts and actions together become more disobedient, eventually leading him to seek formal participation in the rebellion against Big Brother. Winston is captured; his exercising of free will and rebellion were futile.
Big Brother reconditions Winston both physically and mentally. At the novel's end, Winston "love[s] Big Brother" truly and completely. There is no longer a struggle between outward and inward conformity; the outside force of tyranny won. Winston thought he had the ability to conform in his actions and keep his thoughts as safe as possible, but in Orwell's world, Big Brother would have caught him and brainwashed him anyway. With this, Orwell went beyond the grasp of the real world to warn of a future in which the thoughts and actions of individuals are completely meaningless.
From 2 Oct.
1995. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions or moral values.
The expression "actions have consequences" is said and heard often, but rarely with the adjective "escalating" between "have" and "consequences." However, the fact that actions have intensifying, prolonged consequences is the message J.B. Priestly relays in his drama An Inspector Calls. Set in 1912, the drama follows a night of revelations for the middle-class Birling family as an Inspector questions its members about the suicide of a young, working-class woman. This woman is never seen by the audience, but her dismal life and death are revealed to be caused by the increasingly superficial actions of the Birling family, demonstrating and warning against the cold, impersonal, and status-hungry society of early twentieth century England.
Each of the four members of the Birling family had some destructive stake in this young woman's, Eva Smith's, life. Arthur Birling, a hopeful, round business man with his eye on status, fired Eva from her job at one of his mills. Throughout the play, he insists on his lack of responsibility whatsoever with Eva's demise, justifying her termination with needs to keep operating costs low. Here, Priestly means for Birling to represent unsympathetic, every-man-for-himself capitalism. Arthur's wife, Sybil, is of the same stock. She too denies having anything do with Eva's death, yet it was she who, as a member of a charity, refused to help an unmarried, pregnant Eva on her last legs. Sybil's uncharitable actions demonstrate the superficiality of that society. Positions in even well-meaning organizations are held for social status.
Mr. and Mrs. Birling's two grown children, though having inflicted Eva's life as well, provide contrast to their parents in that they feel guilt; they show evidence of having changed over the course of the night. The strongest of these two characters is Sheila. Sheila Birling had Eva fired from her job as a shopgirl out of impulsive jealousy of a pretty working-class girl. Unlike her parents, Sheila remorsefully accepts her responsibility. Moreover, as the night drags on, she encourages and fights with her unabiding parents to do the same. Perhaps with Sheila, Priestly means to show that society can change, that the provided-for classes can achieve sympathy and empathy if they only recognize the extending hand of their actions to the lower classes.
Though none of the Birlings directly wounded poor Eva, their ill-considered actions all played a part in her suicide. Through Eva and the Birlings, Priestly reveals the frigidity with which the upper classes can address those "beneath," the artificial sentiment society can have, as well as how tragic the consequences of unnoticed actions can be.
The expression "actions have consequences" is said and heard often, but rarely with the adjective "escalating" between "have" and "consequences." However, the fact that actions have intensifying, prolonged consequences is the message J.B. Priestly relays in his drama An Inspector Calls. Set in 1912, the drama follows a night of revelations for the middle-class Birling family as an Inspector questions its members about the suicide of a young, working-class woman. This woman is never seen by the audience, but her dismal life and death are revealed to be caused by the increasingly superficial actions of the Birling family, demonstrating and warning against the cold, impersonal, and status-hungry society of early twentieth century England.
Each of the four members of the Birling family had some destructive stake in this young woman's, Eva Smith's, life. Arthur Birling, a hopeful, round business man with his eye on status, fired Eva from her job at one of his mills. Throughout the play, he insists on his lack of responsibility whatsoever with Eva's demise, justifying her termination with needs to keep operating costs low. Here, Priestly means for Birling to represent unsympathetic, every-man-for-himself capitalism. Arthur's wife, Sybil, is of the same stock. She too denies having anything do with Eva's death, yet it was she who, as a member of a charity, refused to help an unmarried, pregnant Eva on her last legs. Sybil's uncharitable actions demonstrate the superficiality of that society. Positions in even well-meaning organizations are held for social status.
Mr. and Mrs. Birling's two grown children, though having inflicted Eva's life as well, provide contrast to their parents in that they feel guilt; they show evidence of having changed over the course of the night. The strongest of these two characters is Sheila. Sheila Birling had Eva fired from her job as a shopgirl out of impulsive jealousy of a pretty working-class girl. Unlike her parents, Sheila remorsefully accepts her responsibility. Moreover, as the night drags on, she encourages and fights with her unabiding parents to do the same. Perhaps with Sheila, Priestly means to show that society can change, that the provided-for classes can achieve sympathy and empathy if they only recognize the extending hand of their actions to the lower classes.
Though none of the Birlings directly wounded poor Eva, their ill-considered actions all played a part in her suicide. Through Eva and the Birlings, Priestly reveals the frigidity with which the upper classes can address those "beneath," the artificial sentiment society can have, as well as how tragic the consequences of unnoticed actions can be.
18 Sept.
The adage "be careful what you wish for" does not often go unheard of by the everyday man, yet its wisdom is profound. Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray revolves around a wish made by the titular character to never age. Instead, for every action he takes, for every immoral decision he makes, the physical repercussions are absorbed by a painting, his portrait. Dorian's life of vanity and indulgence, however, lead to violent deaths, including his own. Through Dorian's death Wilde explores the futile consequences of a wholly humanist life.
Dorian's death is a kind of pseudo-suicide in that as he stabs his own portrait, under the supernatural circumstances of the narrative, he also effectively stabs himself. The painting was a constant reminder, staring Dorian in the face, of all the horribleness he was, of all the horrible things he did. But Dorian being stabbed when the painting was stabbed proved that Dorian could not run from all that he had been or all that he had done. Dorian would never escape his flagrant life just because he didn't want to or because the painting consumed the physical ramifications.
As Dorian dies, his previously unchanged, unblemished appearance absorbs the wretchedness of the painting. This occurrence supports the assertion that Dorian cannot avoid what he has done while, together with the fact that he stabbed his own portrait, giving Wilde's final argument: an unchecked, superficial life leads to maddening self-loathing. By the time of Dorian's death, the portrait had become a grotesque, tangible illustration of all of Dorian's immorality. Dorian wanted to destroy all that the painting was, and the painting was a portrait of his true self.
So, Dorian got what he wished for, but could not run from his carefree life nor from himself and his self-loathing. His suicide and absorption of the despicable image of his portrait at his suicide prove that living without consequences cannot truly happen. One's own eyes will always be there to stare them straight in the face.
Dorian's death is a kind of pseudo-suicide in that as he stabs his own portrait, under the supernatural circumstances of the narrative, he also effectively stabs himself. The painting was a constant reminder, staring Dorian in the face, of all the horribleness he was, of all the horrible things he did. But Dorian being stabbed when the painting was stabbed proved that Dorian could not run from all that he had been or all that he had done. Dorian would never escape his flagrant life just because he didn't want to or because the painting consumed the physical ramifications.
As Dorian dies, his previously unchanged, unblemished appearance absorbs the wretchedness of the painting. This occurrence supports the assertion that Dorian cannot avoid what he has done while, together with the fact that he stabbed his own portrait, giving Wilde's final argument: an unchecked, superficial life leads to maddening self-loathing. By the time of Dorian's death, the portrait had become a grotesque, tangible illustration of all of Dorian's immorality. Dorian wanted to destroy all that the painting was, and the painting was a portrait of his true self.
So, Dorian got what he wished for, but could not run from his carefree life nor from himself and his self-loathing. His suicide and absorption of the despicable image of his portrait at his suicide prove that living without consequences cannot truly happen. One's own eyes will always be there to stare them straight in the face.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)