Report on Essay

"A man adores his wife who is the mother of children, and she, in turn, loves another man. They are all spending an idle summer together, and when matters have come to such a crisis that the man who has won the love of his friend's wife, tells her of it, and then goes far awake, she, one morning, walks far out into the sea, and never returns alive. It would be difficult to say for what purpose such a book is written, or what inspiration there is to produce such tales of morbid life."
The St. Paul Globe Sunday, June 18, 1899

"The heroin Edna Pontellier is an impulsive, passionate, and somewhat self-centered Southern girl...the case, the agency of the 'awakening' is a man, Robert Le Brun, whom she suddenly discovers that she lives. He, on his part, recognizing the nature of the abruptly  leaves her and goes to Mexico...Whether the book was worth writing or not is a question which the public will settle. That it is well written is beyond doubt. It is the inner history of one of those women who, in modern days, figure in divorce suits; two centuries ago they would have figured in grim and horrible tragedies. It is a psychological dissection of such a woman's soul; and most people will not understand the woman herself. "
The Times, Washington, Sunday June 24, 1899

"Leonce Pontellier maries a beautiful Kentuckian and grows jealous of her for cause. She has married him to crush from her heart a fancied love of her girlhood, but she finds neither marriage nor motherhood cause enough in their holiness to keep her in the paths of virtue. The awakening is full of tragedy, for unrepentant, she finds oblivion in the waters f the gulf. The story is vulgar, but the style in which it is handled refined and graceful."
The San Francisco Call, Sunday July2, 1899

“that the author herself would probably like…to tear…to pieces by criticism if only some other person had written it” (139).
Peer- Review Journal “Gender and Literary Valorization: The Awakening of Canonical Novels” quotes The St. Louis Daily GlobeDemocrat in 1899

The Pair of Silk Stockings
Woman goes to town to bargain shop for her family but ends up buying things for herself.

Story of an Hour
Woman finds out her husband has died and is excited.

Parallel of Edna and Kate Chopin
Edna is how Kate Chopin wishes she could act.

Extra Blog Post

At the beginning of this blog I had two other partners...both dropped the class and I became a single partner. Although it was a bit tedious at the beginning, it turned out quite well. I enjoyed having the blog all to myself. I didn't have to rely on other partners to do the work. I was able to make the blog what I wanted.

This blog was extremely useful, I thought, with the class. It allowed me to think through concepts after the previous class. It allowed me to think through concepts I had thought when I was reading on my own. I’ve always been a believer that when you write something out, your ideas become clear. You start writing and all of these thoughts that you didn’t even know you had bottled up come rushing out. That is what this blog was for me. It allowed me to think of concepts in class, then go to the blog and figure out what I truly thought about a piece of text.

I did not end up following the blog manifesto at all. I planned to . . . but I found that I ended up wanting to write about the books we were reading. I didn’t want to write about the author’s subconscious like we had originally planned. I preferred writing whatever struck me that day. Whether it be about themes, characters, or the author, I found that just writing what came to mind helped me understand the concepts a lot more. I was able to form my own point of view on the class rather than trying to manipulate my blog to fit a specific criteria.

For me, what I most enjoyed about the blog was when I was writing the Sherlock Holmes post. I don’t think it made much sense, but for me I had just gone to the extra credit thing and felt like I needed to write what I thought. I was in awe from how similar but also unlike the movie and short story were. I had remembered watching the Sherlock episode on Netflix when it had come out, but on that day I saw it in a different view. It made me want to read the other books or short stories that went along with the Sherlock episodes on Netflix and do the same thing. I most likely will over Thanksgiving or Christmas break…let’s be honest.

Overall, I was happy to do the blog on my own and honestly preferred it. It gave me a place to think through the lessons and was a helpful tool with understanding the material for the rest of the class.

Blog 10 The Awakening

The Awakening is a book that I could see why the audience in that time would see it as shocking. Although now it wouldn’t be a huge surprise for a woman to not be much of a mother as well as someone that wants a divorce from her husband. But in those times that was not normal. Edna had been awakened by finding someone that she actually loved and had never felt that way before. She also friended Reisz who promoted her to be an independent woman and I think helped Edna to see that what she was doing (straying from the social norms of women) was what was best for her. While reading, one of the things I noticed was the symbol of color.

                Colors are described constantly throughout the book. Blue, yellow, white, and black seemed to be the main colors that I noticed. I can’t explain if I noticed the colors because I was looking for them, or if it was during a significant time in the book. I thought it was interesting in class how a group brought up that Adele was white, Reisz was black, and Edna was in the middle. Usually, black means bad and white means good, but in this book that doesn’t seem to be in this case. Reisz is where Edna is striving to be and in a way I think the author may be saying that’s where woman should try to be. Kate Chopin though seemed like a woman that was like Adele. She loved her 6 children and had married Oscar. Does the use of colors show that from the outside, the white (Adele) seems like the right choice and the black (Reisz) seems like the wrong choice. But I also do not think she is trying to say that being the middle is good either—Edna ends up killing herself and is unhappy. I think this shows the difference between being independent and being dependent. Adele depends on her husband and her children while Reisz only has herself. But while Edna has her husband her children to depend on she starts to shift and wants to not be dependent on anyone. She wants to be her own person…but at the end I have noticed she doesn’t seem to want that either. She wants to be able to decide for herself, but she is used to having people and strives to keep that. She still feels as if she needs people. She goes and visits Reisz constantly because she needs that company. She wants Robert and only Robert, and when she knows she probably will never have him she kills herself. She goes to the water. She thought she didn’t need people but she really did.

In the book blue and white were seen as innocent and pure colors. It was interesting that these two colors were seen as pure colors as they are the colors I think of when I think of the ocean. The foam and bubbles are white while the water is seen as blue. The ocean was referenced a lot in this book. It was explained as this place that looks like it is never ending. The ocean is where Edna was awakened, but also closed the book where Edna kills herself. Edna saw the ocean as this never ending place and was so captivated by it. And the fact that she was both awakened by the ocean and ended her life there shows that the ocean does have never ending features. I don’t know what the colors symbolize by having the pure colors as the ocean, but I think it shows that it was where Edna was able to clean herself of the burden of being a wife and mother and be independent, and in the end clean herself of her troubles.

I’m excited to learn more about what the colors symbolized in the book in class tomorrow.

Sherlock Holmes

After watching "A Scandal in Belgravia", I had to write my post before my comparisons between the BBC version and the short story weren't as fresh. While watching the BBC version, I noticed how almost every aspect of the short story was used in the episode, just in a more modern way. Sherlock for instance had Watson punch him and pretended to be a priest to get into her house instead of using the fake paint and pretending to be dying. Having someone punch you so it looks like you got mugged is a more modern way of getting into situations as seen in many films and tv shows now a days. Another example was the picture. In the short story, Sherlock wanted a picture to remember "the woman" by, but in the BBC version, he wanted her phone. Instead of having a simple picture that could be damaged, in the BBC version of Sherlock he wanted the phone which is now how everyone has their pictures. Last (there were more examples these three I found the most interesting and paid the most attention to) is Sherlock being outwitted by a woman. In the short story it was the only thing that Sherlock cared about--he got outwitted. In the BBC version--contradictory to the conventions of Detective Fiction--there seemed to be a romantic interest between Sherlock and "The Woman". Was he interested in her? I think he was interested in her, although you can never tell with Sherlock, mainly because of how she outwitted him. She kept him on his toes and was difficult to figure out. The romantic-ish interest between Sherlock and "the woman" was also a more modern touch because modern films and TV shows seem to need a romantic interest to keep the watchers interested. I do not think it took away from the plot of the detective fiction, but it was interesting to have just learned that in detective fiction they don't have a romantic interest so to not distract from the main purpose of the story, but in today's detective shows they seem to need to have that.
Overall, I was very glad we had the extra credit opportunity to watch the BBC version of Sherlock after just reading the short story that parallels it. I have watched the BBC series before but I never would have read the short stories before watching it if it wasn't for this class. It makes me want to look into what short stories parallel the BBC shows so I can read them then rewatch the show.

Pudd'nhead Wilson

What I have noticed with Pudd'nhead Wilson was the contrast between nature versus nurture, but also the effect this had on black versus white. From our discussion in class today, I do believe that Mark Twain had these contrasts to show the hypocrisy in the power of whites over blacks.

When Tom and Chambers were babies, the only thing that made it so people could tell one was white and the other was black was what they were wearing. Then, when Roxy changes them they are raised by people that were either higher or lower than the other. No one could tell that the babies had been switched and they didn’t act any different. They were seen as the role that they were in. For me, this showed that nurture is superior to nature. Fake Tom was raised white and by his aunt and uncle who gave him everything he wanted and he turned out bad. But Fake Chambers was raised by Roxy and ended up fine (he wasn’t too big of a character though). The nurturing aspect of their lives took over. Fake Tom saw himself as superior and acted as such. He didn’t feel a moment of his “blackness”, until he was told he was 1/32 black. When Fake Tom found out, he somehow felt it in him all of a sudden—like it was a disease. This shows the theme identity. He all of a sudden felt like he lost his identity and was so confused about who he was that he could only identify as black because from the way the town has brought him up has made him see the one drop rule as crucial. Crucial to Roxy’s existence and now crucial to his. He lost his identity. Mark Twain, I believe, is showing how ridiculous it is that someone who is only a part black can all of a sudden see himself as so low when a second before he felt superior.

This hypocrisy with race and seeing themselves as above or below someone relates back to the dog joke. Pudd’nhead Wilson says that he wish he owned half the dog so he could kill it. We talked in class how this relates to the idea that we can’t have a nation that is split up between free and constrained and slaves and master. We can’t survive with a society that see’s some as below or someone as above…it doesn’t work. If Fake Tom hadn’t had that confusion with his identity or if he hadn’t cared about whether he was black or white or both than he wouldn’t have lost his form of self and started killing people. He was shot in one part of him and the rest died along with him.

Blog 7

After our lesson on Tuesday, I now understand why my brain was so scattered when I was drawing my vision of Kubla Khan. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was high on Opium when he wrote it. His poem wasn't something he was trying to explain, but something created by the figment of his imagination. When I was drawing my vision of what Coleridge was explaining, I kept getting caught up on where different things would be and if it made sense--because it constantly wasn't making sense. I'd start by drawing the trees, the garden, and the clouds...then realize that wasn't the main purpose of the piece. So I ended up starting over. But when I started over I found that I started working on the fountain and the dark rocks and the rest of my drawing wasn't going to make sense. I started focusing on the garden because I viewed it as Alice in Wonderland when she is in the garden at home thinking and reading. But then that section of the poem shifted so fast that I started looking for what else stood out because I realized that wasn't what Coleridge wanted us to focus on. That wasn't the mystical part of his poem. I ended up focusing on something that stood out to me--the ice. Every time I hear or read the poem, the line "A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!" (Coleridge, 36).  This part seemed the most beautiful and just picturing the place, that's where I wanted to visit. I wanted to visit  a cave made out of ice where I could see the sun beating down and have a fountain near by that I pictured as warm...even though we were surrounded by ice.
With Coleridge's poem I think because it was so creative and so fictitious, it allows its readers to go to a place they can only dream about and have always wanted to go. This was shown with all of us picking different poems to draw. Even in the small class, no ones drawings were the same. We all had a part of the poem stand out to us. I think it was probably the place we most want to visit and would be our place of escape. That is why the words stand out to us--its a place we've either been or where we want to go.

The White Heron

I loved the story of A White Heron. At the beginning of the story I was worried what was going to happen to Sylvia because it seemed like they were setting her up to get raped by the stranger. She seemed scared of him and I was worried about her fate. The books progression showed this wasn't the case and was a cute story. For Sylvia she is used to living in the city, but since she has been at her Grandmas in the woods she feels at home and at peace. She has found where she belongs. Everyday is a new adventure for her and the more she's there the more with nature she becomes. This was shown when the stranger comes and is looking for the heron. Although Sylvia has seen the heron before she doesn't tell the stranger. Instead she goes out and looks for the heron; she goes to the tallest tree--a tree she has been admiring for a while--and decides to climb it. Because she had said how she has been admiring it for me showed that everything with nature she finds she is amazed by. She can find no wrong with nature, she can only find wrong with the people that want to control it (The stranger wanting to control and kill the heron). When Sylvia climbs the tree she is in awe by nature. She sees the sails from the ships out at sea, she sees the pink and purple of the far away sky, and she sees the white heron in it's nest. This part reminded me of the movie Pocahontas when Pocahontas sees the sails from the ships that arrived from England and she thought they were "strange clouds". Sylvia saw the world differently and she was loved it. This is similar to Pocahontas because she had never seen the world like that before, the sails and ships were something new for her and she was in awe. Sylvia's connection with nature and how she goes against her grandmother and the stranger to save the heron brings in that similarities the story has to a Fairy Tale. The way it reads is like a Fairy Tale and how the heroin goes against the "law" (grandmother) to save something for me reminds me of a Fairy Tale. That is probably why I loved the story so much... I'm a sucker for a good fairy tale. Especially one that reminds me of Pocahontas.

-Rachel Roloff

Blog 5

One of the things that stood out to me while reading Hard Times were the fairy tale analogy’s that were used to describe Coketown. Coketown was described as a “Fairy Palace” (79). Mrs. Sparsit also “considered herself, in some sort, The Bank Fairy. The townspeople who, in their passing and repassing, saw her there, regarded her as the Bank Dragon keeping watch over all the treasures of the mine” (107). It is interesting how Dickens described Coketown with analogies and imagery that is related to fairy tales because the town was based solely on facts. When Sissy talks about the stories she would read to her father Mr. Gradgrind is not pleased because they are fairy tales. Because he references fairy tales it is almost showing that what is seen, “Facts alone are wanted in life” (7). Shouldn’t be the only thing used. It definitely shows that contrast of facts versus imagination: but Dickens shows with his imagery that he believes that imagination outweighs facts.

Another thing I found interesting was the character James Harthouse. He is the one character that is both facts and imagination. He is the only character that bases his decisions on himself and what he wants, instead of facts or imagination—he is the character in the middle of all of it. He is also the character that I see as the most knowledgeable. When Harthouse first meets Bounderby, Lousia, and Tom he is not fooled by anyone. The entire time he seems to know Bounderby and Tom’s true character. Even though the reason he gets Louisa to turn on Tom for his money problem is not for Louisa’s benefit but for himself, he still sees that Tom is not a good person. Harthouse is the one character throughout the book that seems the most human: his actions follow his own personal benefit. He was also the character that first started calling Tom “the welp”. When Hathouse first meets Louisa and is introduced to her one of the first things he thinks is, “This vicious assumption of honesty in dishonesty—a vice so dangerous, so deadly, and so common—seemed, he observed, a little to impress her in his favour”” (123). When I read this quote, I saw it as saying that Louisa has people in her life that are both honest and dishonest: but neither has had an effect on her and she either doesn’t notice when they are, or she doesn’t care. Harthouse is the one character that sees everyone for who they truly are, when everyone else is in the dark. It’s interesting that of all the characters he is the one that is the one that sees everyone’s true character. I think it is because he is the only one from the outside of both Coketown and the circus: also because he has been known to flit from place to place and he has had more life experience than people who base everything only on facts and also people that base everything only on imagination. Harthouse’s character shows that you need both facts, imagination, and life experience to be successful and maybe the combination of facts and imagination lead to people wanting to find that life experience--like Harhouse.

My blog is a bit scatterbrained, but for the things I talked about, they are things I still struggle with completely grasping. I absolutely loved reading Hard Times. I haven’t read a Charles Dickens novel and it reminded of how much I love his style of writing. His use of repetition and parallel structure is a breath of fresh air.

Initatial Thoughts on Hard Times

Thus far, what I have noticed most about the book Hard Times by Dickens are the themes he brings in right away. For me, I noticed most the themes of Education, Machine, and Imagination. So far the characters have been revolved around the idea of what education should be like. Thomas Gradgrind sees education as fact. He does not believe in any other way of education than fact. Everything Gradgrind explains is mathematical or scientific—to the point. He has no business with creativity or imagination. Even when it came to his family he says, “I have systematically devoted myself (as you know) to the education of the reason of my family.” (Dickens, 22). His parenting style and how he picked is wife is extremely factual. He did not base his wife on love or his feels… he based it off factual evidence and was scientific in how he chose a wife. The theme machine is also very prevelant. In a quote he says, “Indeed, Thomas did not look at him, but gave himself up to be taken like a machine” (Dickens, 17). I’m interested to see how this plays out in the rest of the book. Maybe, Gradgrind is the machine and he will get worn down? Or maybe he wants to see everything as a machine like he sees everything as fact. We shall see. With the theme Imagination I believe this will be a strong theme because of the lack of inspiration so far. Gradgrind tell his children that that sort of thinking is discouraged and he has trained his family to be anything but creative. I see Louisa, from her character so far, as getting out of that and people the member of the family to branch out of this shell. Although these are just my estimations for the book later on.

 The writing technique that Dickens has used so far is different than the way he presents his characters. Gradgrind is (as I have said previously) extremely factual, but the way Dickens writes is very creative. His punctuation and the freelance of his sentence structure is anything but factual. It reads easily and amplifies the characters in what they are saying. With the quote I had used previously, “I have systematically devoted myself (as you know) to the education of the reason of my family.” (Dickens, 22) Dickens used parenthesis to add a side comment to what Gradgrind was saying. By using the parenthesis instead of a dash or not having the side comment at all showed Gradgrind’s need for fact and professionalism because parenthesis show that. While the fact that Gradgrind was saying something with a side comment shows his arrogance and shows his characterization.

I have always loved reading Charles Dickens. My freshman year of High School we read A Tale of Two Cities and I was in awe. It may have been because I felt old because I was reading Charles Dickens or because I am a literature nerd and love imagery... either way I am excited to read another Charles Dickens book. I have also always loved A Christmas Carol. Dickens use of narrative and character development is astounding to me and I am excited to see what he does with Thomas Gradgrind and his character development.

Poe's Punctuation

Even though I have read Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, every time I read it I still have the same reaction. My tempo as I read changes. At the beginning I read at a normal pace because nothing has happened that is too suspicious. As the book progresses though I always seem to read a bit faster because the narrator decides to kill the old man. As a reader I am intrigued and want to know what happens next. When the narrator has killed the old man my reading starts to slow down because I see the climax as being over. The main action that the story has been leading up to has ended. But then my reading pace picks up again as the narrator goes crazy. I love how Poe’s writing can have such an effect on how I read his books. It’s completely different than if I read a love story or any other story because of his writing techniques.

After analyzing his writing I think it has to do with his punctuation marks. If you look at a page dashes are seen throughout. The dashes enunciate a point that a writer is trying to make and draws the reader’s eye to that point. A writer may use a dash frequently, but by frequently I mean once or twice within a paper. In comparison to Poe who is using the dash at least once a paragraph. “You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution—with what foresight—with what dissimulation I went to work!” (Poe 13). Reading this sentence fast is easy because with the dashes you add emphasis to each of this things he does well. For me when I read it I read it as a mad man would be saying the words, pausing after each point drawing you in and saying it louder and louder to make a point of how smart he is.

Exclamation points are another punctuation mark that is used more frequently than most writers. I know for myself I use exclamation points only when I am texting friends or sending out emails to family members. With the exclamation point I am using it to show excitement, but I make sure when I am texting and emailing with exclamation points that I don’t overdo it. I am never that excited about my topic. Poe on the other hand I believe is using his exclamation points to show the madness of the narrator. Especially by the end of the story the exclamations are in every sentence. “Oh God! what could I do? I foamed—I raved—I swore! I swung the chair …but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder—louder—louder!” (Poe 17). In these lines Poe is using both the dash as well as the exclamation points to show the progression of the narrator’s madness. Which overall speeds up the pace the readers read the story at because that is how the narrator is speaking the lines as well, he is saying each thing faster and faster, thus showing his madness.

- Rachel

An Unreliable Narrator

Before reading Frankenstein, I had my own idea of what I thought it would be. I was used to the movie version that I had only seen once when I was a kid. I thought it would be short and more comedic—there would Frankenstein’s sidekick Igor and at one point he would yell the line “It’s alive!” Thankfully what I expected was incorrect. Instead, I found Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to be a dark mystery that I kept wanting to read. I wanted to see what would happen next.

When reading Frankenstein, I found the character of Victor Frankenstein to be an unreliable narrator. Although at first he seems to be reliable in that he was raised in a well-to-do family, he was smart, going into college and would soon be well-educated. This idea of him being sane though soon seemed to drift when he goes to school. He starts to work with dead bodies and he explains his learning of death. He says, “I must also observe the natural decay and corruption of the human bod…Darkness has no effect upon my fancy; and a church-yard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life…” (33-34.) His study starts this fascination with death and by being surrounded by dead bodies and his new revelation on creating life from dead bodies he seems to start going crazy. He becomes an unreliable narrator. He even says at one point, “Remember, I am not recording the vision of a madman” (34.) His explaining to the audience that he is not a madman for me made me question his sanity. When Frankenstein’s brother died and he believed without a doubt that it was his monster, I questioned him. I believed him to be an unreliable narrator. He was tired all the time, he was always down working. His friend comes and visits him and is worried about his health. So when Frankenstein believed that his brother was murdered by the monster—I didn’t believe it. I didn’t believe it because I saw him as an unreliable narrator.

For me, Frankenstein reminded me of the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, in where the characters are in an insane asylum. They are not reliable narrators, but some of the things they are saying make sense and you can see their point of view on situations…but at the same time you have to remind yourself that they are mentally insane. It’s a constant battle with trying to decide whether or not you believe the situations that are going on, you take it very lightly. That is how I felt about Frankenstein’s point of view during the story. I never knew for sure whether or not something was completely true or not.

After talking in class the other day, the theme of education stood out to me. Education was a huge aspect of the book—I believe it also was the turning point in Frankenstein and his sanity. This adds irony to the plot of the book because where Frankenstein goes insane…is when he starts his education. Normally you would think education brings someone to their senses and makes them smarter…this is not the case for Frankenstein. I’m excited to hear more about Frankenstein in class today.

-Rachel

Blog Manifesto

Hi all!
It's Rachel, Savannah, and Dany!
For our blog we plan on digging deeper into the theme of double identity. We have seen in poems thus far that when we read a poem, what we read isn't necessarily all there is. There are motifs, symbols, allusions, and other literary elements that can be seen in text only when observed more thoroughly. We want this blog to be a general blog, but we also want to tie in topics from the 19th-century British and American Anglophone literature. From previous classes and works of literature that we read, we have found that because hidden identities within the texts from the 19th Century era are still prevalent and relate to us today as well.
At the end of the semester, we hope that we learn more about the themes of race, social justice, ecology, and gender, which are explained, but we want to focus most on hidden identity. For our blog we hope to focus on hidden identity and how this can go along with other themes and how they may go together. We don't have a distinct audience that we are hoping to reach out to, but instead have it for people that enjoy literature and diving into books and what they have to share--instead of just the surface of the text. We want to reach out to an audience that wants to learn about themes and other peoples views on literature. Specifically the theme of hidden identity because we believe it is seen in many pieces of literature.
In Shakespeare hidden identity was a major theme in a good portion of his plays--Macbeth.  Macbeth at the beginning of the play learns from witches that he will soon become King. This idea of becoming messes with his head and he decides that he must kill the king. When he is explaining how he is going to kill the king though he is speaking in present tense as if he had already killed the king. He soon starts to lose his identity, his sense of self, and time. Hidden identity wasn't the only theme in Macbeth, the theme of time was also prevalent. With our blog, we want to explore hidden identity as well as see what other themes go along with hidden identity.
Each week, we plan on working as a group to complete the posts. We want to have all of our ideas be cohesive. Instead of having only one persons point of view on a topic, we want this blog to be about the groups collaboration and the diverse views each of us have.