Themes from "A Doll's House"

     Many familiar themes sporadically came to my mind when reading Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House." Indeed, much like in the short stories we read earlier this Summer session, including: "Chrysanthemums," "A Rose for Emily," and a "Yellow Wallpaper", a woman is portrayed stuck in a societal rubric that is very patriarchal.  Nora is in a very controlling relationship with her husband Helmer. While he is very loving, not abusive, supports her financially, and shelters her, he is controlling as a father would act to a young daughter. He treats her as she is a child and eventually this culminates into events that end with Nora leaving her controlling husband at the story's end. I would compare Ibsen's "A Doll's House" mostly to "A Yellow Wallpaper" because while the husband is controlling, he is doing it for a number of mildly intentioned reasons. Firstly, in both stories, the husbands wish to help their wives; indeed, both husbands are 'controlling' because this is how they show their love to their wives. The second aspect one should consider is the societal morals that were in play in the cultures that inspired both stories. Woman were very subservient and had a much smaller voice in the household (as well as society) in comparison to today.

Oedipus: A Tragic Figure

     Oedipus is truly a character defined by tragedy. In Sophocles' story, Oedipus is cursed at birth. Jocasta, his mother, reveals that a prophesy was foretold at his birth indicating that Oedipus would murder his own father, Lauis. Oedipus as a King was very stubborn when it came to these prophesies and would simply not believe that he was the reason for the ills that plagued Thebes. Oedipus' stubborn nature was what Aristotle would call Oedipus' tragic flaw. Indeed, Aristotle believed that tragic figures had these flaws that helped define them. Oedipus was so stubborn that he would blame his own brother-in-law for some of the wretched prophesies that were made concerning Oedipus. He would also refrain from believing them until they began to reveal themselves as truth. Oedipus was a tragic figure not only because of his revealed cursed prophesy at birth but also because of his incestial marriage with his own mother. This action was terribly tragic for Oedipus and highlights just how disturbing and perhaps cursed Oedipus had been. Oedipus also soon found out that he was lied to his entire life and that his true father was indeed Laius, a man who he killed just as the initial prophesy unraveled. Oedipus was a tragic figure from the beginning and had a tragic flaw of stubbornness. I suppose one moral that may be taken from such a story may be that human beings should not deal with the supernatural like these characters did through oracles whom were supposedly channeling Gods.

Moral Issue into a Drama

   One problem that I noticed with translating a moral issue into a drama in class was that not everyone in my group seemed to understand the instructions. Iit appeared my group members did not understand what a drama was; indeed, while lectures can become repetitive, students need to do their homework prior to entering the classroom. For example, not everyone understood that each member of the group was to have their own character in the drama. Although we created a story together about Mr. GoodStudent and the distractions that stopped him from studying, not everyone in our group had a part. Thinking about my experience,  there must have been some miscommunication involved. However I did feel that this exercise was a good model to learn different aspects of dram because instead of just a lecture on the material, the students are actually involved in the material that is being  learned. It worked as a drama even though our attempt on borderline amateurish; indeed, all in all our classroom dramas were great ways for us to truly experience what is known as a drama.

"Annabel Lee" by Edger Allan Poe: My Change in Opinion

     Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee" was a terrific poem that is truly defined by Poe's eccentricity and ideas as a composer. One major understanding one must realize when reading "Annabel Lee" is that the poem was largely influenced by ideals from the Romanticist Era. When I first read the poem, a poem that was recommended to me by my girlfriend, I thought it must be a very interesting poem. Possible symbolism and metaphors stood out to me; however, the most triumphant characteristic to win over my attention was the influence from the Romanticist era. Before reading the poem, I had no pre-cognitive idea of what this poem was truly about and what the specific ideas signified. After understanding Poe's background, understanding the Romanticist Era (Late 18th century to early 19th century), and realizing the connection between the two, I was able to not only type a gratifying essay, but also gain a greater understanding of "Annabel Lee."

William Shakespere - Let me not to the Marriage of True Minds

 

       I found Shakespeare's Let me not to the Marriage of True Minds perhaps the most difficult to truly understand at first glance. Indeed the poem was very metaphorical in its essence and he uses many obscure descriptions to talk about his interpretation of love. After understanding the sonnet, I was able to truly appreciate his work, its message, and indeed agree with his interpretation. He ends the poem by with a heroic couplet that says, "If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved." I completely sympathize with what he is saying here. I believe he is saying that if he is proven wrong in his interpretation of love, then love must have never existed in the first place. This shows how passionate Shakespeare was about love. The only questions that arose while reading this poem involved his symbolism such as when he mentions a sickles compass. This was later revealed in class, that the sickle is symbolic of people such as the grim reaper, or more intentionally time; however, the sonnet is still open for interpretation.

Learning Through the Process of drafting Essay One

Reading Ivan Ilych! (haha).

     During the drafting process of my first essay of this summer English course, I was able to gather my thoughts thoroughly by reading my writing out loud just to make certain that it was sensible and was concise. The revising process began once I had my essay read in class during the peer review, I received some constructive criticism from one student who really had an impact. He told me that I had plenty of great ideas and a point of view that deserved to be read; however, he felt I was not being decisive enough with what I believed. He told me that if I really believed the light inside of the Clean Well-Lighted Place represented God and the coffee shop represented Heaven then I should be more decisive about it instead of indicating the possibility that my opinion was wrong. I believed that it was, after all, only my opinion, but it the peer exchange in class allowed me to have an epiphany of sorts. I know understand that whether or not I am absolutely 'right' is irrelevant; indeed, the important part is that I do have my own opinion on what is read and that I should tell the readers what I think. I also continued my revising process by visiting a tutor at the TLC (Tutor, Learning Center) having another student who is, most likely, studying to get an English degree. The tutor there gave me plenty of suggestions that I was able to utilize and create an overall good paper for my first essay of English 102.

Ivan Ilych: A Simply, ordinary life is terrible?

     I believe that the quote from the beginning of Chapter Two of The Death of Ivan Ilych, "Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible" (Tolstoy) is Tolstoy trying to foreshadow Ivan Ilych's perspective on life later on in the novel. During the last few chapters, we see Ivan Ilych completely question weather he had lived his life the right way. It is not to say that Ivan Ilych had indeed lived a terrible life; however, it does specify probably one of the biggest questions from the story. Did Ivan Ilych live his life correctly, and was it so terrible? Ivan truly suffers with this idea that he had not lived his life the correct way or that his life would be meaningless.

Another way of perceiving the beginning of Chapter 2 could be to take the quotation as a summary of Chapter 1. In Chapter 1, the readers see that nobody truly cared about Ivan Ilych at his funeral and that therefore perhaps his life was simply and ordinary and therefore most terrible.

The Yellow Wallpaper: A First Person Narrative

     The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses first person narration to allow readers to go into the woman's head and understand what she is perceiving more clearly. Although the main character is not very coherent and is crazy, the first person narration does indeed make it clearer to understand the character because the reader can therefore realize just how crazy she is sounding. The first person narration also makes is much easier for readers to sympathize and conceive an emotional link with the main character. 

     Perhaps the only downside to the first person narration here is that the views of John and other characters are biased to the woman's perception. We, the reader, are depending on this crazy's woman's point of view when she is obviously insane. However, because she is crazy and we are inside of her head, so to speak, it makes the story all the more interesting and definitely makes this story stand out.