1. Analysis of a passage
pg. 275 (bottom of page, 26 April)
This passage provides closure for the book in a sense that Stephen and his mother are accepting of eachother. She understands that he is going to go out and live his own life and she is okay with this. "She prays now, she says, that I may learn in my own life and away from home and friends and what the heart is and what it feels." She is no longer pressing her religious, often oppressing views on Stephen, she is tolerating the fact that he is a young man now and needs to be away from home. She hopes that he will know what the heart is and what it feels, which shows that she loves him very much and will love him no matter what. It also shows that she understands that he is going to learn things on his own and trusts that he will end up in the right direction and will learn what is truly right in life. This shows that there has been a great change in the relationship between Stephen and his mother which is very significant in the category of coming of age and growing up, maturity, and acceptance which are all dominating themes in the work. By Stephen saying "Welcome, O life!" it is as if he is living life for the first time and is no longer afraid of the afterlife or consequences shall he not follow a strictly relgious life. He is ready to embrace all that comes with being an induvidual expressing and living out life to the fullest. He is not going to cower away from life and all of its challenges, he is going to welcome them because he has grown so much and is a man now.
2. Analysis of a theme/symbol
A theme in this book that is very prevelant is the artist and what it means to be a true artist, along with what has to be reached in order to gain the status of being an artist. Stephen has always set himself apart from everyone both in his mind and physically by other people who set him apart. He knows from an early age that he is different. Portrait of the artist as a young man has the theme of the artist in the book a lot. Even in the beginning of the book he is wondering the strangest things that no other kid could possibly think of. Part 5 really brought in the component of the artist. By Stephen's journal entries, we see that he has finally taken on his own induvidual voice and is proclaiming it. He is not afraid to express his opinions. There is a definite distinction between Stephen and everyone else. Although it is not conceit, Stephen knows he's above a lot of people, even his professor whom he recognizes when he says something that is not entirely true. Even his classmates he is seeing that he is above them. An artist does not pride himself in being more advanced than others, he accepts it and quietly lives with the thought in his mind that he is different and clearly more intelligent than the mediocre general public.
3. Thoughts/opinions on the novel
This book was a little hard to understand but I think the more I read and attempted to understand what was going on, the more I got used to the style that was used and I felt almost connected with the writer. It wasn't my favorite book ever and I will probably never read it again, but it almost made me want to write a novel like this, and for this reason I found it strangely inspirational. I think its fascinating to think about how different humans are from one another and what distinguishes one stream of conciousness to another. Portrait illustrated it perfectly. It was life and thoughts and nothing was censored and I admired the book for that reason, because sometimes thoughts are so private and hard to interprete even our own. This is why I can see the value of this book because reading it made me realize how challenging it must me to capture a person in their entirety and pose the question of who is Stephen as a human being residing in Dublin, Ireland. Although not earth shaking and spell bounding, the stream of inner conciousness provides for a different look at mankind and what sets the artist apart as well as the development of a philisophical and critical mind.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
212. Money (pg 279)
This poem uses a lot of personification to describe the money. It makes the money seem almost like a pet. "It will nest in your pocket or curl up in a corner." Also, "It will delight your friends, shake hands with men like a dog and lick the legs of women." Dogs are deemed as man's best friend. Whether this is meant to be sarcastic or not, it shows that some people to regard money as their best friend, and possibly only friend. This personification leads to the thinking that perhaps money is the new best friend of man. It needs excersise, water and gives affection. The entire poem is based off of the comparison of money to dogs.
There was also a very important simile. "But like an amoeba it makes love in secret only to itself" This was a huge transition from the happy go lucky friendly dog-like figure that was discussed earlier. An amoeba is a brainless, non thinking organism that doesnt love. This shows the real side of money. That it may look like your best friend but it is really only looking out for itself and will do nothing for you if you try to love it. This connects to the end of the poem in which this amoeba bites your hand and poisons your heart.
The personification in this poem gave a mental picture of the money as an induvidual figure that will look friendly to you, but according to the simile it is only an amoeba with no love at all. These show a lot about money and how much people can get caught up in it.
This poem made me realize that some people are seduced by the friendliness of money but if you spend too much time focusing on it and taking care of it like its your pet, you're going to turn greedy and obsessed with money, or as the poem referred to it as--poisoned to the heart.
There was also a very important simile. "But like an amoeba it makes love in secret only to itself" This was a huge transition from the happy go lucky friendly dog-like figure that was discussed earlier. An amoeba is a brainless, non thinking organism that doesnt love. This shows the real side of money. That it may look like your best friend but it is really only looking out for itself and will do nothing for you if you try to love it. This connects to the end of the poem in which this amoeba bites your hand and poisons your heart.
The personification in this poem gave a mental picture of the money as an induvidual figure that will look friendly to you, but according to the simile it is only an amoeba with no love at all. These show a lot about money and how much people can get caught up in it.
This poem made me realize that some people are seduced by the friendliness of money but if you spend too much time focusing on it and taking care of it like its your pet, you're going to turn greedy and obsessed with money, or as the poem referred to it as--poisoned to the heart.
201. The Siren Song (pg 271)
The Siren Song had several literary devices that enriched the reading of the poem. There is diction. Words such as "irresistable" to describe how hard it is to avoid being enchanted by the song. "Forces men overboard" as if they have no choice. "Unique" as used to trick the men into thinking that only they can help them. "Picturesque" to describe how flawless and beautiful that they are. "Every time" is used also which is used to show how foolproof and easy it was to lure the sailors to their deaths. These words bring together a picture of the sirens and what they do. It shows how they use their voices and their song to bring men to their death and yet they don't care, they just make it appear to be a cry for help so that the sailors die. The diction shows just how vunerable the men are and just how much of the power the sirens had over them.
The point of view was also important. In the beginning, the point of view appears to be indifferenct or from the third person but when it says "I don't enjoy squatting on this island looking picturesque and mythical" it is revealed that it is the actual siren talking. It brings a different dimension to the poem and almost makes it seem like the siren doesn't want to do what it does, but it does anyway. "I don't enjoy singing this trio, fatal and valuable." It knows what its doing and it follows through anyway. In the beginning of the poem only the sailors and their deaths were in the question, but now the siren is pulled into the mix and makes for an interesting and debateable poem.
When I was first reading the poem I had no idea what it was talking about but then I remembered from the recesses of my brain that the sirens were in mythology. Freshman year english we read The Odyssey and the sirens were in it. I think that the poem could not only be a nod Greek mythology and a twist on the sirens themselves but possibly relating to something in real life. The song of the sirens could be the lure of something bad that someone is drawn to which leads to their ultimate downfall. Even the simple things in life--the lure of the computer, TV and other distractions when you know you have a test the next day and because you are lured in, you end up doing poorly on the test or failing. Or even a man cheating on his wife with a woman he is being lured in by that in turn, ends his marriage and wrecks his relationship with his children. But I think that that theory could be comprimised because of the switch that the siren is telling the story of what they do. Possibly someone who knows that they are doing something that will potentially ruin them but does it anyway just because they know they can and they have all the power to do so. It makes you realize that what you have the potential to do might not always be the most moral thing to do. It could be looked at from both sides--the men, and the sirens.
The point of view was also important. In the beginning, the point of view appears to be indifferenct or from the third person but when it says "I don't enjoy squatting on this island looking picturesque and mythical" it is revealed that it is the actual siren talking. It brings a different dimension to the poem and almost makes it seem like the siren doesn't want to do what it does, but it does anyway. "I don't enjoy singing this trio, fatal and valuable." It knows what its doing and it follows through anyway. In the beginning of the poem only the sailors and their deaths were in the question, but now the siren is pulled into the mix and makes for an interesting and debateable poem.
When I was first reading the poem I had no idea what it was talking about but then I remembered from the recesses of my brain that the sirens were in mythology. Freshman year english we read The Odyssey and the sirens were in it. I think that the poem could not only be a nod Greek mythology and a twist on the sirens themselves but possibly relating to something in real life. The song of the sirens could be the lure of something bad that someone is drawn to which leads to their ultimate downfall. Even the simple things in life--the lure of the computer, TV and other distractions when you know you have a test the next day and because you are lured in, you end up doing poorly on the test or failing. Or even a man cheating on his wife with a woman he is being lured in by that in turn, ends his marriage and wrecks his relationship with his children. But I think that that theory could be comprimised because of the switch that the siren is telling the story of what they do. Possibly someone who knows that they are doing something that will potentially ruin them but does it anyway just because they know they can and they have all the power to do so. It makes you realize that what you have the potential to do might not always be the most moral thing to do. It could be looked at from both sides--the men, and the sirens.
Monday, November 1, 2010
The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid's Tale was a book that had so many contradictions that stood out to me. It tried to take away the feminity of women by dressing the in dresses that left them shapeless, in hats that covered their hair and their voices taken away and keeping them silent. But at the same time, it wanted the feminity at its rawest and purest having to do with fertility and conceiving. It was as if in one aspect they wanted them to be real women and in another they wanted to hide it from the world. The society was so confused with what they wanted women to be and how they put them out there was frustrating.
Something else that I noticed about The Handmaid's Tale was the title. I wondered why "Tale" was used and not "hardship" or "nightmare." Usually when I hear the word tale I think about princesses and a tale about princes and magical forests and unicorns and rainbows. Not Commanders who force poor women into conceiving babies and a society that uses the Bible and its control to scare everyone into doing what they want. I think that it was titled that way to show that from the outside, much like the title is meant to show how wonderful and succesful and beautiful that everything is, but in the inside, much like the pages, are filled with disturbing images of women being oppressed. Even when the Japanese tourists came, they couldn't even determine whether the women were actually happy, they needed to ask it.
As I was reading, I sometimes compared the storyline to a chess game. The women were the pawns, unimportant until they were truely needed and often sacrificed. They could have also been the King, targeted, trapped and unable to move anywhere without consequence. They couldn't escape the society. I thought of the commander as the Queen. Able to do pretty much whatever it wants, and often overpowering especially to the pawns and other pieces. Without the Queen in a chess game there isn't much of a game. Same with the society. Without the Commanders who would impregnated the women and continue the society? I thought of the other younger men of the society as the rooks. They have freedom but the can only move backwards, fowards and sideways, not diagonal, and not quite as much power as the Queen. I thought of the game itself as the society, as if they had set everything up as a cruel game to see what would happen and so they could control things their own way, much like the pieces are controlled by the player.
Something else that I noticed about The Handmaid's Tale was the title. I wondered why "Tale" was used and not "hardship" or "nightmare." Usually when I hear the word tale I think about princesses and a tale about princes and magical forests and unicorns and rainbows. Not Commanders who force poor women into conceiving babies and a society that uses the Bible and its control to scare everyone into doing what they want. I think that it was titled that way to show that from the outside, much like the title is meant to show how wonderful and succesful and beautiful that everything is, but in the inside, much like the pages, are filled with disturbing images of women being oppressed. Even when the Japanese tourists came, they couldn't even determine whether the women were actually happy, they needed to ask it.
As I was reading, I sometimes compared the storyline to a chess game. The women were the pawns, unimportant until they were truely needed and often sacrificed. They could have also been the King, targeted, trapped and unable to move anywhere without consequence. They couldn't escape the society. I thought of the commander as the Queen. Able to do pretty much whatever it wants, and often overpowering especially to the pawns and other pieces. Without the Queen in a chess game there isn't much of a game. Same with the society. Without the Commanders who would impregnated the women and continue the society? I thought of the other younger men of the society as the rooks. They have freedom but the can only move backwards, fowards and sideways, not diagonal, and not quite as much power as the Queen. I thought of the game itself as the society, as if they had set everything up as a cruel game to see what would happen and so they could control things their own way, much like the pieces are controlled by the player.
We
Reading We was a very eye opening experiance for me. I had never really read anything like it. The broken thoughts and the emotion it contained made it good. Here's what I got out of it:
As I read it, I took extreme notice of how D-503 was in the beginning. He was the obediant machiene making mathematician. Doing everything that society told him, he was the perfect example to everyone. His transition to the rebellious and thoughtful person made me think. It showed that no matter how much a society tries to limit, and crush and tear away the soul and emotion out of someone, it is almost impossible to chain them back and keep them from feeling anything. Once the feeling and the emotion comes into play, there is almost no stopping the person from living...really living.
To me, the pink slips represented the evils of the society. If someone came up to me in the street and asked me to define We with two words, I would say pink slip. It takes every belief that we have of two people being together and twists it into an emotionless, instant gradification filled nightmare. It is a miny version of the society. It takes all things that are real and deep and manipulates them to the maximum and uses it for its own benefits, in this case, to make the people think that they have some control in choosing a partner when they actually have no control over everything. Yet everyone in the society thinks that they are living a perfectly normal life. Because everyone knows that glass walls and dull colors and assigned friends and an all powerful machiene that governs the place is normal. NOT.
On to I-330. I never thought of her and D-503 as a romance. I always thought of her as his driving force to change. As evidenced from her romances with other men, she not only wanted a revolution but had a huge ego which needed to be satisfied by playing with men's hearts. I thought that I-330 and D-503 were almost mirrored souls the entire book. When they were together everything had a spark and I think that they both had the mental capacity to get what they wanted and to think what they wanted and I think that is why D-503 fell so hard for her--because in some remote corner of his brain, he saw himself in her.
As I read it, I took extreme notice of how D-503 was in the beginning. He was the obediant machiene making mathematician. Doing everything that society told him, he was the perfect example to everyone. His transition to the rebellious and thoughtful person made me think. It showed that no matter how much a society tries to limit, and crush and tear away the soul and emotion out of someone, it is almost impossible to chain them back and keep them from feeling anything. Once the feeling and the emotion comes into play, there is almost no stopping the person from living...really living.
To me, the pink slips represented the evils of the society. If someone came up to me in the street and asked me to define We with two words, I would say pink slip. It takes every belief that we have of two people being together and twists it into an emotionless, instant gradification filled nightmare. It is a miny version of the society. It takes all things that are real and deep and manipulates them to the maximum and uses it for its own benefits, in this case, to make the people think that they have some control in choosing a partner when they actually have no control over everything. Yet everyone in the society thinks that they are living a perfectly normal life. Because everyone knows that glass walls and dull colors and assigned friends and an all powerful machiene that governs the place is normal. NOT.
On to I-330. I never thought of her and D-503 as a romance. I always thought of her as his driving force to change. As evidenced from her romances with other men, she not only wanted a revolution but had a huge ego which needed to be satisfied by playing with men's hearts. I thought that I-330 and D-503 were almost mirrored souls the entire book. When they were together everything had a spark and I think that they both had the mental capacity to get what they wanted and to think what they wanted and I think that is why D-503 fell so hard for her--because in some remote corner of his brain, he saw himself in her.
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