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Melanie Reyes

Literary Analysis for Henry James - 1 views

Henry James is the author to a wide variety of short novels. He is more known for writing on his own views for European and Americans' society, culture, and class status (Liukkonen). But he spices...

started by Melanie Reyes on 22 Feb 11 no follow-up yet
Taylor Collins

Walkley on "Man and Superman" by Shaw - 0 views

go.galegroup.com.lib.chandleraz.gov/...retrieve.do

Shaw Man and Superman Shakespeare

shared by Taylor Collins on 20 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Walkley was an English drama critic for the London Star, the Speaker, and the Times from 1888 through 1902, and a major contributor to the Times Literary Supplement after it was founded in 1902. He has been noted for his disciplined, urbane literary tastes; in fact, his criticism is generally considered to have primarily a literary, and not a theatrical, basis. In the following excerpt from a review of Man and Superman—the play that Shaw dedicated to Walkley and claimed was inspired by his suggestion —Walkley regrets that while the play serves as an effective vehicle for “the Shavian philosophy and the Shavian talent,” it is imperfect as a theatrical work.
    • Taylor Collins
      Taylor Collins on 20 Jan 11
       
      Shaw wrote a letter to Walkley, describing his take on a suggestion Walkley made for Shaw to write a 'Don Juan'. Shaw ultimately flips the whole concept of a 'Cassinova' on its head with a modern, feminist twist, but still credits Walkley as providing him with the challenge. In the letter Shaw expresses his 'lukewarm admiration' of Shakespeare for the strength of his female characters in a maternalistic world. In this regard Shaw finds a fresh opinion of Shakespeare as a playwrite, and a connection to the women in his own plays. Though Shaw sees Shakespeare as having put his own 'tissue' around the plots and ideas of earlier, successful works (which, we can all admit, was true-) it seems that he could still have a respect for the unique and insightfulness played out in the roles of his female characters.
  • For Mr. Shaw and Shakespeare have at least one conspicuous bond of fraternal relationship; they both use the same stage technique.
  • liaison des scènes
    • Taylor Collins
      Taylor Collins on 21 Jan 11
       
      Roughly, the idea that the stage should never be empty during an act or a scene.
  • ...18 more annotations...
  • Thus for the sake of something which may be very fine, but certainly is not drama, both dramatists cheerfully let the quintessential drama go hang.
  • We want a play that shall be a vehicle for the Shavian philosophy and the Shavian talent and, at the same time, a perfect play. Shall we ever get it? Probably not, in this imperfect world. We certainly do not get it in Man and Superman.
  • he is perpetually energizing outside the bounds of drama,
    • Taylor Collins
      Taylor Collins on 21 Jan 11
       
      Since when does drama have bounds? Drama is not a formula, it is an art. Walkley says that there is a distinct form of art that he, and every other theater goer looks for in a play. Why, since Shaw's plays are entertaining, does it matter if this 'perfect' construction is not apparent? Is not a play perfect (as possible) if it is both entertaining and insightful? Literature is MEANT to convey ideas. No one creates works work taking note of unless he (or she) has something he (or she) wants to convey.
  • raison d'être
    • Taylor Collins
      Taylor Collins on 21 Jan 11
       
      'reason for existence'
  • nexus
    • Taylor Collins
      Taylor Collins on 21 Jan 11
       
      "1. a means of connection; tie; link. 2. a connected series or group. 3. the core or center, as of a matter or situation." -- Dictionary.com
  • the action-plot is well-nigh meaningless without the key of the idea-plot; that regarded as an independent entity it is often trivial and sometimes null; and that it is because of this parasitic nature of the action-plot, because of its weakness, its haphazardness, its unnaturalness, considered as a “thing in itself, ” that we find the play as a play unsatisfying.
  • We use the term action, of course, in its widest sense, so as to cover not merely the external incident but the psychologic and, more particularly, the emotional movement and “counterpoint” of the play.
  • The idea-plot we are not called upon to criticize. In the playhouse a dramatist's ideas are postulates not to be called in question. Theories of Schopenhauer about woman and the sex-instinct or of Nietzsche about a revised system of conduct are most assuredly open to discussion, but not by the dramatic critic. His business is, first and foremost, with the action-plot.
  • à propos de bottes
    • Taylor Collins
      Taylor Collins on 21 Jan 11
       
      'For no apparent reason'
  • dans cette galère
    • Taylor Collins
      Taylor Collins on 21 Jan 11
       
      'In this mess'
  • For Miss Ann is the new Don Juan, the huntress of men—no, of one man (that is to say, no Don Juan at all, but for the moment let that pass)
    • Taylor Collins
      Taylor Collins on 21 Jan 11
       
      In the previously mentioned letter from Shaw to Walkley, Shaw begins by telling him that he has taken up his challenge- to write a 'Don Juan story'. But, in Shaw's terms, the Don Juan is the one being pursued, rather than the pursuer. Walkley knows very well what Don Juan is doing 'in this mess'.
  • Tanner lectures poor mild milksopish Octavius about the devastating egoism of the “artist man”—how the “artist man” is (apparently) the masculine of the “mother woman,” how they are twin creators, she of children, he of mind, and how they live only for that act of creation, so that there is the devil to pay (examples from literary history) when they happen to become man and wife.
    • Taylor Collins
      Taylor Collins on 21 Jan 11
       
      These ideas are also included in the letter, noted by Shaw as being his "character's, and for a time, also [his] own".
  • The properly dramatic development would have thrown all the onus upon Ann—we should have seen Ann energizing as the “mother woman,” and nothing else—and would have kept Tanner's mouth shut.
  • If Mr. Shaw's play were a real play we should have no need to explain the action-plot by laborious reference to the idea-plot. The one would be the natural garment of the other; or rather the one would be the flesh of which the other was the bones.
  • Ann would exhibit Mr. Shaw 's thesis “on her own,” instead of by the help of Mr. Jack Tanner's lecture wand and gift of the gab.
  • the action-plot, being as we have said a mere parasite of the other, is bound very rapidly to give out.
  • We must not forget two subordinate characters —Ann's mother, middle-aged, querulous, helpless in her daughter 's hands, and the cockney chauffeur, the fine fleur of Board school education, Henry Straker. These two small parts, from the point of view of genuine and fresh observation, are among the best things in the play. In them Mr. Shaw has been content to reproduce, instead of deducing.
  • Mr. Shaw, as we have tried to show, has conceived Ann not as a character, but as a pure idea, a walking theory;
  • Taylor Collins on 21 Jan 11
     
    I'm having some issues with the website, but I do have the analysis saved if you end up needing a hard copy :)
Ashley Cox

My Name Was Salmon, Like the Fish': Understanding Death, Grief, and Redemption in Alice... - 0 views

go.galegroup.com.lib.chandleraz.gov/...retrieve.do

Alice Sebold lovely bones Kenneth Womack

shared by Ashley Cox on 28 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • As with so many other works of contemporary fiction and film, Alice Sebold's bestselling novel The Lovely Bones (2002) fulfills our fundamental and indelibly human desires for establishing vital interconnections with the lost friends and loved ones who adorn our personal pasts.
  • Time and time again, the most cherished works of our literary and popular culture reflect this abiding need to seek out our lost siblings, parents, and grandparents.
  • we long for the opportunity to wade back into the recesses of time in order to enjoy impossible reunions with the people who left their imprints upon our very souls
  • ...29 more annotations...
  • By narrating the events surrounding the Salmon family's tragic dislocation and heart-wrenching reunion, The Lovely Bones deftly taps into our yearnings to eclipse the laws of space and time. Even more powerfully, the novel depicts the many ways in which interpersonal tragedy possesses the capacity for tearing survivors' lives apart at the very moment in which they need familial companionship the most. The parlance of family systems therapy--with its accent upon the interpersonal dynamics that shape literary works as well as our own senses of self--provides us with a useful lens for understanding the Salmon family's trials and tribulations in The Lovely Bones.
  • as an inherently open system, the family must at once provide support for its individual members' integration into a solid family unit, as well as their differentiation, or emotional and psychological separation, into relatively autonomous selves. This mutual developmental process possesses the capacity for producing functional and dysfunctional families. In functional families, individual members evolve into fully realized selves that allow them to act, think, and feel for themselves. In dysfunctional families, however, family members develop pseudo-selves--often fostered by fear and anxiety within the system--and thus, such individuals frequently remain unable to maintain any real equilibrium between their inner feelings and their outward behavior
  • In the novel, Susie can only watch in horror as her family devolves from a functional system into a dysfunctional shadow of its former self. Family therapists describe the fashion in which the Salmons maintain their systemic dysfunctionality as a psychological state of homeostasis, which Barnard and Corrales define as a family's tendency
  • "In order to perceive change in one's life--to experience one's life as progressing--and in order to perceive oneself changing one's life, a person requires mechanisms that assist her to plot the events of her life within the context of coherent sequences across time--through the past, present, and future" (35). These mechanisms--works of narrative therapy--offer cogent methodologies that assist clients (or readers) in simultaneously identifying with and separating from the dilemmas that plague their lived experiences.
  • At the beginning of the novel, the Salmons' interpersonal relationship exists as a functional family system. Jack and Abigail Salmon enjoy a busy, albeit satisfying family life in eastern Pennsylvania, where they raise their three children--fourteen-year-old Susie, her younger sister Lindsey, and their four-year-old brother Buckley. After Susie's rape, murder, and dismemberment in December 1973, the family lapses into a dysfunctional spiral as they attempt to cope with a stultifying sense of grief. The effect of Susie's untimely death is rendered even more painful by the disappearance of her body save for a stray elbow, as well as by Jack's suspicions that a reclusive neighbor, George Harvey, is responsible for her demise.
  • "The reflective awareness of one's personal narrative provides the realization that past events are not meaningful in themselves but are given significance by the configuration of one's narrative," Polkinghorne observes. "This realization can release people from the control of past interpretations they have attached to events and open up the possibility of renewal and freedom for change" (182-83).
  • Told entirely from Susie's perspective, the novel details the post-traumatic experiences of her family as they attempt to make their various ways among the living. Existing in a form of atemporal limbo that she describes as a kind of heaven, Susie observes her family and friends as they try to understand her loss in terms of their own survivorship. In addition to her significant role as witness, Susie must also contend with her own anxieties about her untimely separation from her family unit, as well as her severance from the young life that she was only just beginning to comprehend.
  • "There is no question," they write, "that families devote considerable energy to maintain a certain amount of order and stability. Security," they add, "seems to be tied with a certain amount of stability and predictability"
  • In The Lovely Bones, Susie composes her narrative in an explicit attempt to make sense of her family's dysfunctionality and to explode the homeostasis of her former family system, thus allowing them to effect their own "new levels of functioning." Although feelings of morphogenesis for Susie will always be tempered by the finality of her death, she intuitively realizes that the sublimation of her family's homeostasis will allow both herself and her family to continue their progress toward selfhood--although obviously in decidedly different locales and through highly disparate states of being.
  • The particular manner in which Susie sorts through the tragic events of her family's post-traumatic experiences can be usefully understood by interpreting her act of narrative therapy in terms of the five "attitudes" toward death that Kübler-Ross postulates in On Death and Dying. These attitudes--which themselves mirror the five stages of dying that terminally ill patients undergo--include denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. "The one thing that usually persists through all these stages is hope," Kübler-Ross writes. "It is the feeling that all this must have some meaning, will pay off eventually if they can only endure it for a little while longer" (139).
  • Abigail isolates herself by delving into the workaday world of the suburban housewife. Her obsession with the preparation of the family's meals and her daily chores allows the time to pass more quickly, thus limiting her ability to reflect upon her daughter's ordeal.
  • In The Lovely Bones, the first portion of Susie's narrative highlights the narrator and her family's struggle with denial and isolation as they simultaneously come to grips with and attempt to disavow the unsettling reality of her murder.4 Their feelings of denial and isolation function as "coping mechanisms," according to Kübler-Ross, as well as the result of the "inability of [clients] to look at their situations realistically" (37, 41). Unable to make sense of Susie's sudden disappearance from their lives, the Salmons initially cleave to each other, hoping against hope that somehow she will return to their midst. After the police report to the family that Susie must be dead, given that so much blood had been found at the scene of the crime, they begin the difficult work of having to confront her fate, as well as their own. Like her family, Susie finds herself unable to accept her passing: "I hadn't yet let myself miss my mother and father, my sister and brother," she reports. "That way of missing would mean that I had accepted that I would never be with them again; it might sound silly but I didn't believe it, would not believe it" (27).
  • While her father purposefully refuses to allow himself to cry for her loss--to do so, he reasons, would make Susie's death seem all the more real--Jack copes by attempting to establish normalcy in the Salmon household within only a few scant days of her disappearance.
  • Meanwhile, Lindsey and Buckley act as their father's accomplices in his efforts to trap Susie's killer. In one particularly harrowing instance, Lindsey slips into Mr. Harvey's house in order to search for evidence. She narrowly escapes from his clutches, ultimately becoming the object of Mr. Harvey's sociopathic fantasies herself. In each instance, the family members' behaviors serve to exacerbate their ability to come to terms with their grief, rather than to sate their enduring despair.
  • In this fashion, Jack, Abigail, and Lindsey each develop pseudo-selves in order to quell their devastating senses of anxiety and pain. As the youngest member of the family, little Buckley can hardly begin to comprehend his sister's fate. He only begins to understand the extent of her absence from his life during a game of Monopoly, when he realizes that there is no one to play with the shoe, Susie's favorite game piece. Unable to cope with the significance of the moment, Buckley hides the shoe in his bedroom. As with the rest of his family, Buckley can only consider the depth of her absence in isolation from the rest of the unit. To do anymore, it seems, would force them to contend with the awful reality of a world in which Susie simply no longer exists.
  • In the second stage of their confrontation with Susie's death and the slow, almost imperceptible collapse of their family system, the Salmons experience the anger about which Kübler-Ross remarks in On Death and Dying. "When the first stage of denial cannot be maintained any longer," she writes, "it is replaced by feelings of anger, rage, envy, and resentment." According to Kübler-Ross, people in such situations often find it difficult to control their anger or to differentiate logically between the various objects of their animus. "The reason for this," Kübler-Ross observes, "is the fact that this anger is displaced in all directions and projected onto the environment at times almost random" (50).5 In The Lovely Bones, the family's anger takes many
  • forms. Susie's own anger reaches a fever-pitch when she learns the maddening extent of her killer's depravity. As she recognizes that her own death was just the latest in a series of unsolved homicides, Susie seethes as she realizes that Mr. Harvey's house exists as a "town of floating graves, cold and whipped by the wind, where the victims of murder went in the minds of the living. I could see his other victims as they occupied his house--those trace memories left behind before they fled this Earth" (182).
  • While Susie's anger rages in heaven, her father's inability to come to terms with her death pushes the Salmon household to the brink of psychological disaster. His suspicions about his daughter's killer begin to emerge after he visits Mr. Harvey's home and assists his reclusive neighbor in the construction of a backyard bridal tent. Mr. Harvey's bizarre behavior--including his odd remark that "the neighbors saw us. We're friends now"--culminates in Jack's nearly round-the-clock surveillance of the murderer's behavior. Egged on by another neighbor's advice that he should find a covert way of avenging his daughter's homicide, Jack begins casing the cornfield where his daughter died. After he mistakenly accosts a young couple in the field, an altercation ensues that nearly results in Jack's own death. "
  • I wanted my father's vigil," Susie reports, "but also I wanted him to go away and leave me be" (140).
  • Having sublimated her grief for so long and with her husband's increasingly risky behavior testing the boundaries of her patience, Abigail indulges in an extramarital affair--with the local homicide detective, no less--in order to stave off her guarded emotions.
  • Lindsey and Buckley respond to their mother's departure by rallying around their father, whose physical deterioration in the wake of his daughter's murder has rendered him into a shadow of his former, pre-trauma self. Yet by opting to become their father's protector and ally, Lindsey and Buckley also succeed in erecting complicated emotional walls between themselves and their estranged mother.
  • In the third stage of their post-traumatic experiences, the Salmons engage in the act of "bargaining," the grieving phenomenon that Kübler-Ross describes as the product of a given client's irrational fears about the future and his or her "attempt to postpone," if only temporarily, the inevitable processes of life and death
  • In the Salmons' case, the third stage involves very explicit efforts to delay their acceptance of the finality of Susie's death. In so doing, they postpone their capacity for achieving morphogenesis and become typecast in their familial roles.6 Such self-imposed constraints inevitably lead to identity diffusion.
  • Abigail, the overwhelming anxiety over her daughter's loss and the psychological disintegration of her surviving family prompt her to seek refuge by fleeing the Salmon household. When the first anniversary of Susie's death arrives, Abigail can simply no longer fathom the mind-numbing flow of the grieving process:
  • After spending the winter in her late father's cabin in New Hampshire, Abigail drives across the country to California, where she finds a job as a day laborer in a winery. As Denis Jonnes notes,
  • Abigail seeks to empower--or, perhaps more accurately, re-empower--herself by effecting her escape from the larger Salmon family system.7 Yet mere distance can hardly provide her with the emotional sustenance that she so desperately desires:
  • Lindsey attempts to lose herself in the business of living. Opting to go to school the first Monday after Susie's death, Lindsey begins steeling herself against the world. In class, Susie observes, "my sister did not look at Mrs. Dewitt when she speaking. She was perfecting the art of talking to someone while looking through them. That was my first clue that something would have to give" (30).
  • Buckley's youth is understandably complexified by his psychological over-identification with his father, and their intensely close relationship results in Abigail's triangulation after her return from the west coast.
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  • Ashley Cox on 28 Jan 11
     
    This article takes the coping mechanisms in the lovely bones and is connecting it to real life and gives more insight to why the acted the way they did and also how their different ways of coping lead to a divided family. 
cody villanueva

Lit Analysis #2 - 0 views

www.mostlyfiction.com/...martel.htm

shared by cody villanueva on 25 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • cody villanueva on 25 Jan 11
     
    Cody Villanueva Jensen AP LIT 20 January 2011 Literary Analysis #2 The novel not only portrays a sense of classic literature, but for Bill Robinson Life of Pi is presumably an award winner. Based on what Robinson says is "straightforward and innocent in a way that is entertaining and highly engaging," he praises this novel for its mere simplicity and uniqueness that not only is carried through Martel's text but his overall idea and organization of the novel. As perceived to be a novel of such grace and simplicity, it seems as if Robinson connects more intimately to this novel due to the fact of its heavy affiliation with religion. Within his review not only does he state Martel's thoughts , in this case being "This is a novel of such rare and wondrous storytelling that it may, as one character claims, make you believe in God." but praises it by saying "Could a reader ask for anything more?" Due to Robinson's religious arousal this is a possible bias toward readers of religious ambiguity or unaffiliated preference. Even though Robinson's praise Martel for such a genius novel, he rarely comments on any of the downsides the novel contains. It takes him to the end where he finally comments on a small portion of the novels ending and how it "drags a bit at the end," but is simply reinstating what other reviews may say. The author in conclusion contains an overall affectionate appeal to this novel with rare and minimal critiques, possibly due to a assumed bias. Robinson not only praise's this novel in words but it seems as he pushes this novels to review for an accredited award based on his overall high ratings for the novel.
Dacia Di Gerolamo

AP Literature Analysis 2 - 0 views

shaw.thefreelibrary.com

shared by Dacia Di Gerolamo on 20 Jan 11 - Cached
  • Dacia Di Gerolamo on 20 Jan 11
     
    George Bernard Shaw was not like other writers of his time. He chose to go against the norm and push to expose immoral behaviors. In his work he attends to individual responsibility and for people to go against the conformist of society. He wanted his readers to break away from what was expected of them and find themselves in the process. The author's purpose in writing this was to recognize Shaw. Not only for the things he did but the way he did them. The author wanted to show how Bernard used his writing to connect with his audience in ways that were not typically seen. The article was much focused; it expressed the main points efficiently and organized so the reader knew what to look for and to see the main ideas. In order for this author to emphasize his points he adds quotes said by Shaw. This helps with the effectiveness of the piece as a whole. The reader is able to see the first hand evidence to back up the authors views. The author comes to the conclusion that Shaw was able to do things others could not. He points out the contemporary moral problems Shaw chose to address along with his use of ironic tone and paradoxes. The author may be in fact a huge fan of Shaw, making his criticism bias. He states all of Shaw's accomplishments throughout the piece along with all of his life work. He does not in fact state his admiration for Shaw, but it can be inferred by the elevated complimentary diction
Gisela Ortiz

Critique on the Representation of Each Individual Character in The Heart is a Lonely Hu... - 0 views

www.helium.com/...lonely-hunter-carson-mccullers

Representation Characters The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

shared by Gisela Ortiz on 28 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Segregation, isolation and inclusion are not conditions of the past alone, they are in our present and they will be in our future.
    • Gisela Ortiz
      Gisela Ortiz on 28 Jan 11
       
      Themes found in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, being left alone, etc.
  • McCullers explores the idea that all people feel a need to create some sort of guiding principle or god.
    • Gisela Ortiz
      Gisela Ortiz on 28 Jan 11
       
      Singer is this "guiding principle god" that everybody needs in their life. Everyone needs somebody to hear their problems, even though they won't be able to talk back (Singer's case) they just need someone to confide in and talk to.
  • they believe he has endless wisdom about many things and they turn to him in times of turmoil, always asking him to help them accomplish their goals and comfort them during times of doubt.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • They each create a different idol in Singer. For Mick, he is a man who feels similarly about music as she does. For Doctor Copeland, he is the only white man who understands his passion to achieve justice for black people. Blout finds that Singer is just as deeply concerned about socialism as he is and for Biff, he represents all that Biff sees in himself; a quiet, shrewd spectator of the human state.
    • Gisela Ortiz
      Gisela Ortiz on 28 Jan 11
       
      What each character represents in this novel. What importance and relation they have to Singer.
  • Each character is longing for something. Each character is to some extent, suffering with delusion. Each character is isolated. Yet all of them are so similar, similar in their suffering, yet still so entirely different.
    • Gisela Ortiz
      Gisela Ortiz on 28 Jan 11
       
      "John Singer cannot communicate with people because he cannot speak. Mick Kelly cannot communicate with anyone because her family do not share her ambition. Biff Brannon is left alone when his wife dies and Dr Copeland is isolated from his family and other black people in the community because of his intelligence and opinionated viewpoints. Similarly, Jake Blout is alone in his radical social notions and this only detaches him further."
  • Gisela Ortiz on 28 Jan 11
     
    Argument: Nancy Boland, as well as I do, believes that each character, in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, represent something different towards the main character, Singer. She also states that each character suffers something different and they suffer delusion, but each character is different from one another. Nancy also argues, "Segregation, isolation and inclusion are not conditions of the past alone, they are in our present and they will be in our future." Evidence: "They each create a different idol in Singer. For Mick, he is a man who feels similarly about music as she does. For Doctor Copeland, he is the only white man who understands his passion to achieve justice for black people. Blout finds that Singer is just as deeply concerned about socialism as he is and for Biff, he represents all that Biff sees in himself; a quiet, shrewd spectator of the human state." "There is hope. The character of John Singer also reminds us that there are kind, generous people out there, lending an ear to fellow human beings when they are most afraid of going unheard." Thoughts: Before reading this review, I planned on finding out what each character meant in the book and I was having a hard time figuring that out on my own; but after reading this, each character's explanation made more sense, when comparing them to Singer. Boland believes that every person needs to be heard in this world and that everybody should have that one person that they confide in with everything. I think that this statement is both true, and false. I believe that it is true because, for example, I confide in my best friend with all of my secrets and whenever I have a problem, I know that she will always be there when I need her; but then again, I don't tell her every single detail in my life just so I can keep something's to myself. Also, some people aren't that open to others and they don't have somebody that they confide in so they keep everything bottled up. Some people just have different ways of "
Derek G

Article Analysis #3 - 0 views

www.associatedcontent.com/..._joseph_conrads_heart_pg2.html

shared by Derek G on 25 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Derek G on 25 Jan 11
     
    Argument: Canadenis' argument is that Marlow goes through a metamorphosis by focusing his mind on Kurtz and carelessly allowing himself to enter into the state of "darkness." Evidence: 1. When the manager first mentions Kurtz to him, Marlow seems unequivocally grateful for the new distraction, immediately fixating his attention on the trader and inquiring about him endlessly. 2. Kurtz is like Marlow's doppelganger, his corrupted "other self"-which explains why Marlow experiences such revulsion upon learning of Kurtz's unforgivable transgressions in the name of profit. Marlow sees too much of himself in Kurtz already-and he doesn't like what he sees. 3. The "effect" that Kurtz has on Marlow varies throughout the journey, from self-illumination to one of absolute horror and disgust. Kurtz's gruesome story reveals to Marlow that each person simultaneously possesses the capacity for both great good and for unadulterated evil-and his ultimate decay serves as firsthand evidence of the consequences of embracing one's dark side and forsaking morality. Quotes: "Marlow begins his quest into the "heart of darkness" with nothing but noble intentions and a genuine thirst for adventure." "Consequently, he greets the images of agonizing chain-gangs, malnourished "unhappy savages," the gory murder of his helmsman by javelin, the echoing cries of "infinite desolation,..." Own Thoughts: 1.Canadenis gives a more understanding insight/explanation on how Kurtz is Marlow's "double" just like how Leggatt is the narrator's "double" in The Secret Sharer. 2. This source also has a good way of explaining how Marlow does not necessarily mature, he just allows something/someone to take control of him.
Aubrey Arrowood

Henrik Ibsen Literary Analysis - 3 views

Aubrey Arrowood Mrs. Sejkora AP Literature-0 20 February 2011 Henrik Ibsen Views on Societal Issues throughout His Plays The Norwegian play writer, Henrik Ibsen, illustrated societal flaws as the ...

started by Aubrey Arrowood on 23 Feb 11 no follow-up yet
shaun shipman

Literary Criticism #2 - 3 views

Research Area How Will Reading Ender's Game Benefit Today's Teenager? Submitted by NCTE My worries about the damage it does a book to be required reading have long since been dispelled. Unlike Sca...

literary criticism

started by shaun shipman on 20 Jan 11 1 follow-up, last by shaun shipman on 20 Jan 11
Kaitlyn Sandifer

Unaccustomed Earth - 2 views

web.ebscohost.com.lib.chandleraz.gov/...detail

immigration Jhumpa Lahiri Indian critique

shared by Kaitlyn Sandifer on 20 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Kaitlyn Sandifer on 20 Jan 11
     
    Literary Analysis #2 Argument: In his work analysis, Kellman argues about the difficulties that Indian/East Indian immigrants face in the course of their American lives. Most of the characters in Lahiri's novel were either born in the United States or immigrated at a young age. Kellman argues that through the transition, these characters have lost their Bengali roots. Kellman critiques the thoughts and actions between the main characters and their familes who have retained a strong hold on their Bengali roots and ideals. He depicts the clash of cultures and how Lahiri's charcters struggle to thrive in "Unaccustomed Earth." Evidence: "If her Indians are everywhere, they are at home nowhere"(Kellman). "Lahiri's characters strike their roots in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington State, corners of the earth unaccustomed to Bengalis. However, the transplantation does not produce the vigor Hawthorne expects in relocated tubers. Most of the characters in these pensive stories are transplants who never find a soil in which to thrive" (Kellman). "Her characters belong to generation 1.5; children of immigrants, they were either born in the United States or arrived too young to have formed an Indian identity" (Kellman). "Though dragged along on family visits to Calcutta, they lack an appetite for Indian foods, languages, and spouses" (Kellman). "For Lahiri's characters, the tension between Old World and New World identities is often embodied in the generation gap between parents who look back to India for models of behavior and of thought and of children who strive, however futilely, to pass for unhyphenated Americans" (Kellman). "Nevertheless, even those children who manage to attain worldly success are haunted by a sense of loss"(Kellman). "However, the problem for Lahiri's characters is only in part an unbridgeable chasm between cultures. She depicts a world in which to be human is to fail" (Kellman). Thoughts: Kellman present
cody villanueva

Literary Analysis #2 - Yann Martel "Life of Pi" - 3 views

Cody Villanueva Jensen AP LIT 20 January 2011 Literary Analysis #2 The novel not only portrays a sense of classic literature, but for Bill Robinson Life of Pi is presumably an award winner. Based ...

http:__www.mostlyfiction.com_contemp_martel.htm

started by cody villanueva on 20 Jan 11 no follow-up yet
Amber Henry

No sympathy for Miss Wyoming characters - 0 views

www.thebookbag.co.uk/...index.php

shared by Amber Henry on 19 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Amber Henry on 19 Jan 11
     
    The author's purpose for writing an analysis which discussed the solitude related states that the characters undergo throughout Miss Wyoming, was mainly to emphasize the personalities of the characters within this novel as well as portray certain aspects in life that Douglas Coupland symbolizes. The structure in which the argument is presented is effectively organized because the first few paragraphs summarize the significant scenes in the text as well as the importance of the individuals and their roles. The author writes background information in order to refer back to it once the author makes a valid point. In other words, the author utilizes the summary of the novel as proof toward the opinions the author addresses as the analysis continues. After the summary of the novel, the author organizes his ideas by stating one opinion of the text itself and sticking to that one topic throughout; therefore, the reader does not become confused. The author uses clear and simple organization skills in order to bring forth the argument and the organization forces the argument to become convincing. Although, the argument presented forces the reader to make assumptions of the opinions one may hold toward the meaning of the novel. The argument that the author defends pertains to the meaning of the novel and tries to depict what Douglas Coupland is attempting to voice about the society as a whole. Therefore, the author uses his opinions for others to make their own opinion of the society and Coupland's ideas. The author could have provided evidence from the text in order to support his claims. Exact quotes from Miss Wyoming would have made the author's opinions more believable and the reader would have had more proof and reasoning. But the author of the analysis states that, "I don't have much sympathy with the feeling of "tiredness of being me." In other words, the author believes that there is no reason as to why someone feels sorry for individuals who
Kimberly Farley

Literary Reference Center - powered by EBSCOhost: BARBARA KORTE ON NARRATIVE PERSPECTIV... - 0 views

web.ebscohost.com.lib.chandleraz.gov/...detail

Salinger ebscohost catcher criticism

shared by Kimberly Farley on 12 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • Kimberly Farley on 12 Dec 10
     
    Argument: Salinger's switches between "internal/ external focalization" as a tool to limit the reader from delving into the fictional world of the character.
    Claim: The writing creates a sense of urgency for the reader for internal focalization and the opposite for external.

    Evidence: "... The Catcher in the Rye: there the use of "internal focalization" puts the reader into Holden Caulfield's mind, creating the impression of a subjective or a "figural" perspective."
Matthew Pepper

Of Mice and Men - 0 views

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the american dream

shared by Matthew Pepper on 16 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Matthew Pepper on 16 Jan 11
     
    Argument: John Steinbeck shows not just the Great Depression in his stories but he tells about depression. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck explains his characters as depressed and lonely; even though they have each other they show signs of loneliness. In the book Lennie and George, just like everyone in American wants to achieve the American Dream. "…the gulf between the gritty struggle for survival and the ideal dream life can never be bridged, except in death." (Reith). I agree with the author that Steinbeck illustrates that the American Dream is hard to achieve without any happiness. Evidence: "The magnitude of this failure is recorded by the extent to which Lennie, a cipher for America, is denied life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." (Reith). "But for Steinbeck the American Dream of self-sufficiency and living off the fat of the land, premised as it is on a gun culture which involves brutality and the exploitation of the weak, is doomed to failure." (Reith). "While Steinbeck exposes the inequalities in society and encourages the reader to sympathies with the plight of poor migrant workers, his depiction of the inherent will to power in human nature shows us that attempts to change the social system will be futile." (Reith). Thoughts: Based on the article Steinbeck is described of having a gloomy story but having a great way of showing the life of people living in the Great Depression. It was hard enough for a man to live in this time let alone a men trying to proved for his family. Steinbeck described the friendship of two men who realized it's better to stick together then to separate in a time like this. With Lennies strength and George's smarts it seems so cliché but a well rounded story. The article provides the insight on the story and the opinions on Steinbeck's thoughts that the American Dream is almost impossible to achieve. I believe that if you live up to your standard then that's all the dreams you
VIctoria Fernandez

Unsettling accounts in The House of the Seven Gables - 0 views

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House of Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne Puritianism Salem Witch trials guilt

shared by VIctoria Fernandez on 26 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • VIctoria Fernandez on 26 Jan 11
     
    In her criticism Johnson argues that Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the House of Seven Gables because of his own ancestry and guilt he felt for his ancestor's involvement in the Salem Witch Trials. She claims the book is Hawthorne's personal form of vengeance against his ancestor and his actions. The author's organization is clear and focused and very effective. In order to support her perspective, Johnson provides quotes from the text and facts about Nathaniel Hawthorne's background and beliefs. Her argument is strong and makes a great case. She concludes that although Hawthorne claims "vengeance against Salem is the farthest thing from his mind," this is in fact the case and romantic language is used to distract the reader from this truth. She uses his hate for his ancestor, evident by his legal name change to break the association, the similarities between his judge ancestor and a character in his novel and his detest for Salem in other works to prove evidence. She also concludes that there are parallels between Hawthorne's House of Seven Gables and his own family guilt.
Tara Toliver

Article Analysis #1 - 0 views

www.enotes.com/...dominance-submission-rebellion

shared by Tara Toliver on 25 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Tara Toliver on 25 Jan 11
     
    The Survival of the Fittest Throughout The Handmaid's Tale, a major ideal is a strong feminist stance. The author is trying to convince other critics that Offred, a character in the novel, portrays a strong woman fighting for survival against politics. While others believe that Offred is "no hero," "a wimp," this author is convinced that she continuously "proves her consistent efforts not only to survive, but also to maintain her individuality." With the evidence the author has given to support his ideas about this ideal to survive, the evidence he provides proves to be logical. When the author states, "an examination of her more subtle rebellion against the oppressive totalitarian regime," he is persuasively showing that Offred portrays the strong nature of the human spirit. The focus the author commits on the argument is obvious. The author repeatedly compares Offred to other strong characters in other Margaret Atwood novels and in The Handmaid's Tale itself. This proves the author's consistency with the evidence he provides to prove his purpose. These also help show the pros of his persuasive side of the argument about how strong a feminine hero can be through human spirit. The evidence this author provides significantly supports his perspective. He starts out by attacking other arguments that have been stated, using it as a tactic to show that his perspective is more "correct." There is plenty of evidence provided in this article to help support his argument. With statements like "the Republic of Gilead is a typical totalitarian society in that it promotes terror tactics while enforcing its rigid dogmas," the author is setting up for his next piece of evidence. He uses the typical case where he sets you up for the next argument, uses evidence from text, and then attacks the opposite side of the argument, but all with a twist. Most authors would have used quotes from the novel itself or a source to attack the opposite s
Lorynn Cancio

Wealth Breeds Alcoholism - 0 views

www.everythingaddiction.com/...-substance-abuse-and-addiction

wealth; alcoholism; addiction; Fitzgerald

shared by Lorynn Cancio on 23 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Lorynn Cancio on 23 Jan 11
     
    Argument: Wealth is dangerous to society because it leads to moral deterioration in the form of drugs and alcohol. Claims:-Wealth skews personal identity leading to feelings of superiority and entitlement -Wealth provokes an unattainable desire for happiness through the forms of luxury and indulgence Evidence: -"Alcohol or drugs are used to escape the pain brought on by a warped perspective, and the rich have no trouble getting more, whenever desired." -"For example, in cases of inheritance, where wealthy individuals didn't really earn their money at all, there are high rates of abuse and addiction." -"However, happiness soon becomes an unattainable ideal when it gets tied up with an insatiable desire for personal possessions and luxurious living. When you always want more, you're never satisfied, and the dissatisfied are more likely to turn to drugs or alcohol."
Alan Adjei

Literature Resource Center - Document - 0 views

go.galegroup.com.lib.chandleraz.gov/...retrieve.do

shared by Alan Adjei on 20 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Tracing the repetition "weight" in The Crucible reveals how the word supports one of the play's crucial themes: how an individual's struggle for truth often conflicts with society.
    • Alan Adjei
      Alan Adjei on 20 Jan 11
       
      The thesis of the essay to connect the word "weight: to the theme of the book.
  • Marino highlights the importance of Miller's use of the word "weight" at crucial moments of The Crucible, claiming that "the word supports one of the play's crucial themes: how an individual's struggle for truth often conflicts with society."]
    • Alan Adjei
      Alan Adjei on 20 Jan 11
       
      The purpose of Marino writing this essay was to highlight how the use of the word weight in the crucible highlights the individuals struggle for truth and the conflict with society
  • the play is based on the clashes of truth between those characters who profess to speak it, those who profess it, those who live it and those who die for it.
    • Alan Adjei
      Alan Adjei on 20 Jan 11
       
      The play is about who speaks the truth and who does not
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Similarly, Miller's thematic use of weight is intimately connected to the conflicts that occur when an individual's struggle to know truth opposes society's understanding of it
    • Alan Adjei
      Alan Adjei on 20 Jan 11
       
      Society's understanding of the truth is different than that of the individual.
  • Selz argues that truth is at odds with the very people, the judges and ministers, who are supposed to discern it.
    • Alan Adjei
      Alan Adjei on 20 Jan 11
       
      It is hard to recognize the truth.
  • Murray examines how in The Crucible Miller "in a very subtle manner, uses key words to knit together the texture of action and theme." He notes, for example, the recurrent use of the word "soft" in the text.6
    • Alan Adjei
      Alan Adjei on 20 Jan 11
       
      Another Author notices Millers repetition of words and the connection to the theme in this case "soft" is the word
  • On one level, Parris's use of weight as "importance" or "seriousness" appeals to Abigail on a personal level, since her uncle's ministry and her cousin's life are at stake.
    • Alan Adjei
      Alan Adjei on 20 Jan 11
       
      The word is used to manipulate the truth out.
  • Parris invokes his ministry in connection with the "weight of truth," the religious connotation is clear.
  • If Abigail felt the weight of religious truth, she would confess to Parris about the abominations performed in the forest, thereby releasing her from the heaviness of falsehood, sin, guilt, and the power of Satan.
  • his mission is equally connected to the same religious "weight of truth"
    • Alan Adjei
      Alan Adjei on 20 Jan 11
       
      Hales mission is to take the "weighted books" and find out the "weight of truth" of witchcraft.
  • In this line, "weighty" possesses all of the figurative connotations of both law and religion. Clearly, the exposure of witches to the community is the work of God and religion, but it is equally the work of the community in its legal entity to dispose of such witchcraft. Thus, the "weight of truth" that Parris uses in all its ramifications and the "weight of authority" that Hale so reverences are both dispensed by the weight of the law.
Kyle Myers

Literary Analysis #2 - 0 views

www.srichinmoycentre.org/...9

criticism

shared by Kyle Myers on 20 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Kyle Myers on 20 Jan 11
     
    Literary analyst Sumangali Morhall argues that author Eiji Yoshikawa humanizes the man Miyamoto Musashi rather than the ledgend, Musashi. In her analysis, she states, "This is ostensibly a book of swordsmanship, and includes its share of martial combat, but that element is neither gratuitous nor glamourised - it serves to support rather than blemish the story's purpose" (Morhall). Overall, Morhall delivers her argument in a descriptive manner, elaborating on the logos of the novel along with her personal opinion and perception of the novel. Her evidence is fluid and does not contradict itself whatsoever. Morhall originally states that Yoshikawa turns the legend of Musashi into the man, Musashi, and continues to support her statement while describing the accomplishments of Yoshikawa, both poetically and historically. The information provided is nothing out of the ordinary from what the majority of critical analysts agree over Yoshikawa's writings. Yoshikawa is praised for his historical accuracy on martial arts and culture included in Musashi. Morhall concludes her article praising Yoshikawa, but also explaining that the reader will get more "gracefulness" than "grisly." This statement would be hard to argue with seeing that Yoshikawa does somewhat glamorize the life of a swordsman, not necessarily in unrealistic terms, but in how Yoshikawa chooses to craft his syntax in his story as seen in this passage from the chapter entitled Art of War: "While he felt pity for this obstinate tenacity characteristic of orphans, he was aware of a void deep within their stubborn hearts. They seemed to him doomed to yearn desperately for that which they could not have, for the parental love with which they were never blessed" (Yoshikawa, 63). The only implicit bias that may be discovered within this analysis would be that Morhall does not indicate any faults present within Yoshikawa's Musashi. Morhall even goes as far to say that Yoshikawa is a "master," whi
stephiesal853

Literary Crticism # 4 (Continued) - 2 views

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Hemingway A Farewell to Arms Nagel

shared by stephiesal853 on 20 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • stephiesal853 on 20 Jan 11
     
    Argument: A biography on Hemingway and critical essay stating that Ernest Hemingway's works and novels portray information almost identical to his real life. Explains how both The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms are both books in which Hemingway's personal life has become involved. Argues that the events that happen in his books correspond with Hemingway's private life. Evidence: "The Sun Also Rises, a novel based on his years in Paris and Spain after the war…" (Nagel). "He became confused, suspicious, and aggressively suicidal; he agonized that he could not write….and committed suicide" (Nagel). "In each single paragraph Hemingway presented the details and events that communicated what it was like to be part of a civilian retreat in war, to shoot German soldiers coming over a wall, or to observe the execution of political prisoners by a firing squad" (Nagel). "The novel is narrated…by Jake Barnes, an American correspondent in Paris who was severely wounded in the war and has been left impotent" (Nagel). "The serious underside of this life is revealed largely through Jake's psychological turmoil, a vestige of the trauma of the war, that at times nearly incapacitates him….he is emotionally unstable…(Nagel). "…touching on all the serious themes:…expatriation…,love, and the aftermath of the war"(Nagel). "for nearly all of Jake's friends in Paris are seeking desperately for some unattainable happiness or fulfillment" (Nagel). "The novel ends where it began….none of the major problems have been resolved, none of the characters have achieved any sort of lasting fulfillment" (Nagel). Thoughts: James Nagel provides the reader with a biography and background information on Ernest Hemingway, including a summary and analysis on Hemingway's novels so that the reader can understand the correlation between Hemingway and his books. I believe that Nagel gives ample information on Hemingway so that the reader can make the
  • stephiesal853 on 23 Jan 11
     
    Literary Critique # 4 Answer these questions, or simplify: 1. What is the argument? 2. What is the evidence? 3. What are your thoughts on this? 4. What are some quotes you would want to use as support or to argue against in your paper? 1.This is a source written by James Nagel provides a biography of Ernest Hemingway and a critical essay of many of his novels including A Farewell to Arms. Nagel offers background information on Hemingway and later talks about A Farewell to Arms to make connections between Hemingway's life and the novel. The essay implies that Hemingway portrays much of his life through the protagonists in his novel. 2.-"Pauline Hemingway, small of stature, gave birth to a son, Patrick, by a traumatic cesarean section" (Nagel 4). -The incident of Patrick's birth Hemingway recreated, with a tragic conclusion, in A Farewell to Arms" (Nagel 4). -"[A Farewell to Arms] treated the experiences of Frederic Henry on the Italian front in the First World War and his eventual desertion to Switzerland with Catherine Barkley, only to have Catherine die in childbirth" (Nagel 4). -"A lifetime of dangerous physical adventure had taken its toll in numerous injuries…" (Nagel 4). -"He became confused, suspicious, and aggressively suicidal…" (Nagel 4). -"In each single paragraph Hemingway presented the details and events that communicated what it was like to be part of a civilian retreat in war, to shoot German soldiers coming over a wall, or to observe the execution of political prisoners by a firing squad" (Nagel 4). 3.This article verifies that Hemingway composed many novels based off his real life experiences. When he writes about the war, getting wounded, falling in love with a nurse, and experiencing a traumatic ending with his loved one in A Farewell to Arms, he is practically retelling his story with different characters. He makes few minor detail switches and main story doesn't change. The reader has th
  • stephiesal853 on 23 Jan 11
     
    3...opportunity to hear Ernest Hemingway's deep feelings and true thoughts coming through in his A Farwell to Arms. Hemingway unmistakably portrays himself in the novel as the protagonist, Frederic Henry, and depicts his loved one as Catherine Barkley. In real life, his loved one was Pauline Pffeifer-Hemingway. It is apparent that Pauline portrays Catherine Barkley, as both the real person and fictional character experienced similar, if not same events such as the Cesarean section that both went through in childbirth. 4.-"My legs in the dirty bandages, stuck straight out in the bed. I was careful not to move them. I was thirsty and I reached for the bell and pushed the button. I heard the door open and looked and it was a nurse. She looked young and pretty" (Hemingway, "A Farewell to Arms" 84). -"Yes, even in the ambulance business….ambulance drivers were killed sometimes" (Hemingway, "A Farewell to Arms" 37). -"I went out the door and suddenly I felt lonely and empty. I had treated seeing Catherine very lightly, I had gotten somewhat drunk and had nearly forgotten to come but when I could not see her there I was feeling lonely and hollow" (Hemingway, "A Farewell to Arms" 41). Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print. Nagel, James. "Ernest Hemingway." American Novelists, 1910-1945. Ed. James J. Martine. Detroit: Gale Research, 1981. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 9. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Jan. 2011. .
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