BLOG 5

Hamlet is in anguish over the demise of his father and the events subsequent to it. Hamlet’s angst over his father’s death is reflected in his new found revulsion for his incestuous mother, his interactions with the apparitions of his father, and his search for revenge from his uncle.

Hamlet’s relationship with his mother is deeply affected by his father’s death. He is most affected by his mother’s behavior. He detests the fact that she moved on so quickly from his father, viewing her as incestuous and weak, “Frailty, thy name is woman…a beast would have mourned longer!-married with my uncle, my father’s brother…O most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!”(1.2.146). His mother's actions make him doubt all people, as if everyone is innately bad:

      Use every man after his

      Desert, and who shall 'scape whipping? (2.2.506-507)

This shows that he is bitter and believes that if everyone got what they deserved, no one would be well off.

Though Hamlet’s interactions with the ghost of his father are significant, they do not fully induce him to kill the king. He is hesitant because he is a scholar, with reasoning skills. He is educated and appreciates those who are also educated, including his friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. There is a constant struggle between the side of him that is able to think logically and the side of him that is feeling a rush of emotions from everything that is going in his life. At first, he seems ready and willing to get revenge from his uncle:

      Haste me to know't, that I with wings as swift

      As mediation or the thoughts of love,

      May sweep to my revenge. (1.5.29-31)

Later, however, he is able to reason through it:

            The spirit that I have seen

            May be the devil, and the devil hath power

            T'assume a pleasing shape, yea, and perhaps

            Out of my weakness, and my melancholy,

            As he is very potent with such spirits,

            Abuses me to damn me; I'll have grounds

            More relative than this: the play's the thing

            Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.

This shows that he understands that he shouldn't let his emotions get the best of him and that he should wait and study the new king's facial expressions during the play the next day.

Hamlet’s sanity is challenged by his father’s death. This is notable in the internal conflicts he faces when contemplating the murder of his uncle. He is unable to murder him, and feels like he is a coward because of it:

      A damned defeat was made: am I a coward?

      Who calls me villain, breaks my pate across,

      Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face...

      I should take it; for it cannot be

      But I am pigeon-livered, and lack gall...(2.2.545-551)

These feelings affect his relationship with Ophelia, his mother, his friends, and with his duties at Prince. He will not tell anyone about the apparition, making Ophelia and his friends doubt his sanity. His distrust for people makes him question all of Denmark, calling it a, "prison." (2.2.241). Overall, Hamlet's mental state affects everything and everyone around him.

blog 4

option 1

            In their short stories, "The Chrysanthemums" and "Cathedral," Raymond Carver and John Steinbeck generate implications about human relationships and self awareness through their use of symbolism. Although Carver utilizes universal symbols (blindness) and Steinbeck's work wields meaning through contextual symbols (chrysanthemums & clothing), the implications that are made are similar: individual needs must be realized and met before one can have healthy relationships.

            In Carver's story, Elisa's gardening costume is used for more than protection from the elements. While in her costume, "Her figure was blocked and heavy" (416), suggesting that she was ambiguous, and had lost her femininity. A "Man's hat [was] pulled low down over her eyes" (416), implying that she was blinded by a patriarchal figure, most likely her husband, Henry. Also, "She wore black leather gloves to protect her hands while she worked" (416), which implicated that, although she loved tending to the flowers (as she similarly tended to her husband), there was a barrier between that which she loved and her gifted planting hands (which symbolizes her strengths and abilities). The barrier between Elise and her husband manifests itself through the use of the heavy gloves. Her marriage seemed cordial, but lacked passion. There is evidence in the story to support the fact that Henry is kind to her, even telling her she "had a gift with things" and inviting her out to a nice dinner to celebrate a promising business deal. However, they were not intimately involved in each others' affairs, Henry did not understand how Elisa's "planting hands" seemed to always do the job so knowledgeably, while Elisa did not take any part in the business deal that Henry was so excited to celebrate. This lack of involvement made them seem isolated from each other. Also, Elise was described as having "eyes were clear as water" (416), water, in this case, symbolizes sexuality (383) suggesting that she is a sexual being with sexual desires that were unmet. Her encounter with the traveling man exhibited sexual innuendoes, she "crouched low like a fawning dog," and her, "Breast swelled passionately" while talking about her gifted hands. This exemplifies the idea that her needs were unmet, and that she was forced her to at least attempt to release her frustrations with the traveling man.

            In Steinbeck's story, there is a similar dynamic in the relationship of the narrator and his wife, who remain nameless. By all indications, the narrator is a man who is direct, and passionless. For example, he does not think much of poetry, "Maybe I just don't understand poetry. I admit it's not the first thing I reach for when I pick up something to read" (175), a lack of appreciation for poetry can symbolize an absence of sentiment. Also an indicator of his insensitivity is the fact that that he views people who possess items with sentimental value as pitiable, "Robert was left with a small insurance policy and a half twenty-peso Mexican coin. The other half of the coin went into the box [coffin] with her. Pathetic" (176). The narrator does not have any friends and seems to annoy his wife, who finds comfort in her friend Robert because her needs aren't being met. The fact that Robert is blind but "sees" the narrator's wife more positively than her husband is ironic. By symbolically taking Robert's eyesight away, Carver tells us that there is more to life than what we see. When the narrator closes his eyes in the end of the story, it suggests that he has had an epiphany. He is finally able to close his eyes, and focus on his other senses, which he uses to describe a cathedral, which symbolizes faith, attraction and security, all of which are needed to have a fulfilling relationship.

            In effect, we are able to delve deeper into the characters in the stories by appreciating the symbols the authors used to describe them. Whether it is innate sexual desires, or ignorance to the beauty that surrounds us, everyone has inner struggles that can be represented through various symbols, as Carver and Steinbeck have shown.

Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral." Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 10th ed.          Edgar V. Roberts, Robert Zweig. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 174-83. Print.

Steinbeck, John. "Chrysanthemums." Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 10th       ed. Edgar V. Roberts, Robert Zweig. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 416-22. Print.

BLOG 3

Jacqueline Carlos

Option 3, Irony in "The Story of an Hour" and "The Cask of Amontillado"

            The use of irony is apparent in many great works, and is employed as an instrument through which tone is set in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" and Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour." Poe's continuous use of irony in his work establishes a sinister tone, while the irony in Chopin's work produces a feeling of despondency.

            There are several applications of verbal irony in Poe's story that contribute to the menacing mood depicted throughout the piece.  For example, the very name of the defeated antagonist in Poe's story is Fortunato, which suggests good fortune, but he nonetheless experiences a ghastly demise. Also, Fortunato is a wine connoisseur, and seems to be esteemed for his ability to give competent insight on all things wine related, "He prided himself on his being a connoisseurship in wine...In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack--but in the matter of old wines he was sincere" (525). However, it is his love for wine, and arrogance about his knowledge of wine that lead him stumbling into his crypt, inebriated. The sinister tone is also illustrated using irony in the story's setting. The story took place during a carnival, a time when people are likely to be celebratory and lively. Poe chooses instead to have a horrific murder take place in the midst of it all. Poe also employs double entendre verbal irony when his protagonist, Montresor, and the antagonist, Fortunato, engage in dialogue. Fortuato signals a secret code from an organization he belongs to referred to as "the masons" (527), of which Montresor does not understand, he nevertheless states that he is a mason. Although he is not a "mason" in the sense that Fortuato may have understood, we later realize that Montresor is a skilled masonry worker, and can erect a stone wall quite efficiently.           

            Likewise, Chopin achieved a feeling of despondency in her story through the use of irony. After she is told of her husband's death and the initial, "Storm of grief" (337) past, Josephine's senses became overwhelmed, "She could see in the open square before her house the tops of the trees that were all aquiver with new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air...The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves" (337-38). However, these descriptions are ironic because of the fact that her sister, Louise, and her husband's friend, Richards, assume that she is in her bedroom sulking, when in fact, she feels as though she has been set free and is just beginning to live. Also, her death at the end of the story, brought about by a supposed, "Joy that kills" (339) is ironic because we know that she died out of shock and sadness that her dreams would never be realized, which is why the overall tone of the story is of hopelessness. There was no way out of her male domineering relationship; much like it seems there is no way out of the patriarchal society we live in.

            In effect, the use of irony in these stories added to their tone and the overall feeling and message the authors wanted to convey to their audience. I believe that irony is not only effective in exemplifying their points about human relationships, but that it is entertaining and makes reading much more enjoyable.                                                                                                                                               

Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 10th    ed. Edgar V. Roberts, Robert Zweig. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 337-39. Print.

            Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Cask of Amontillado." Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 10th ed. Edgar V. Roberts, Robert Zweig. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 525-29.   Print.

Blog 2

Jacqueline Carlos
Option 2, "The Yellow Wallpaper:"

Charlotte Gilman skillfully employs a first person point of view in her short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper." The narrator (who is also the protagonist) luridly walks us through her visit to "A colonial mansion, a hereditary, estate" (565). Her undertakings during her three month visit to the colonial home are difficult to express, and could only be exemplified from a first person point of view. Through Gilman's use of first person point of view, we see the protagonist's truth in the rawest form possible-a personal journal that, in her words, provides, "A great relief to my mind"(565).  The narrator's circumstances, and the outcome of those circumstances, can neither be described accurately as entirely good or entirely bad. This is because, through her journal, the narrator portrays the events that occur in the home as somewhat of an epiphany, while also revealing her eccentricity, thus hinting at her unreliability as a narrator. Therefore, in the end, we as the reader are left to distinguish whether she is freed from her prison or whether domestic conformity is her downfall.

            There is evidence in the text that suggests that the narrator is unreliable. Ironically, the narrator attempts to establish herself as sane and reliable in the opening paragraph, "It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John myself secure ancestral halls for the summer" (565). She purposely called herself "ordinary" in an attempt to sway our judgment. She goes on to say that she is superstitious, and imaginative, while her husband, John, is, "Practical in the extreme" (565). She also informs us that she is ill, and takes medication. John, a physician, calls what she suffers from, "Temporary nervous depression--a slight hysterical tendency" (565).  Also, the narrator makes several statements in which it sounds as though she is attempting to convince herself that John is right in his diagnosis and treatment plan. It is evident that she is attempting to convince herself due to the contradicting statements about the treatment plan, the room John chose to stay in in the house, and his refusal to let her have visitors that are, "stimulating" (567).  She feels as though she has to convince herself because she knows that John is practical, and convincing herself that he is correct would mean that she is practical as well, and not the loon that people make her out to be. This seems to be the narrator's hidden agenda.

            The reliability of the narrator fluctuates during the course of the story. As I stated, early in the story, her endeavor was to attest to her sanity, but later, she has a revelation in which she realizes that she is the woman that she was incessantly studying, and that she is oppressed by her husband and the stereotypical female role that she is forced to play out. However, this insight is short lived; as she soon ties herself up with a rope, so as to not "creep" (573) out of the window. She tells herself that she is safer behind the wallpaper, and becomes complacent, although at the price of insanity.

            In the end, I feel as though Gilman's protagonist was conveyed as a seemingly intellectual individual ensnared by society's oppressive nature toward women. This insight could only be given by the woman herself, by utilizing a first person narrative, as Gilman so expertly did.

Gilman, Charlotte. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing.    10th ed. Edgar V. Roberts, Robert Zweig. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 564-74. Print.

BLOG 1

Jacqueline Carlos
Option 1, "A Rose for Emily"   

            On the surface, William Faulkner’s, “A Rose for Emily,” seems dark and bizarre; the story of a recluse who had an odd obsession with death, however, a closer look at the story's characters reveals a deeper meaning behind his work. Emily Grierson, the protagonist is established as an important testament to the town's tradition early on in the story, despite the fact that she is already dead. The disharmony between traditional values and acceptance of change proves to be a recurring theme throughout the story, and Emily's actions, words, and overall appearance are expertly used to exemplify this point. In fact, in the first paragraph, the narrator expressed that the men at her funeral were there, "Through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument" (91). But what did Emily do throughout her life to be considered monumental? Faulkner interrupts the chronology of the story, going back and forth through time, exposing her insanity and resistance to change bit by bit.

            Emily's actions reveal that she is resistant to change.  For example, Emily was part of the old aristocracy, and was not expected to pay her taxes until, "The next generation, with its more modern ideas, became mayors and alderman" (91), and went to her home to collect them. When the city officials attempted to collect her debt, she turned them away, and did not have to pay. Tradition won. Later, her debt was to society, and it was not measured in dollars, nor was it ever paid. The major representation of Emily's stagnancy was when she murdered her fiancé, Homer Barron, and kept his body in an upstairs bedroom, where she would presumably sleep with him every night. The room in which she kept his corpse was also unchanged, from the day she murdered Homer, “This room decked and furnished as for a bridal; upon the valance curtains of faded rose color, upon the rose shaded lights, upon the dressing table, upon the delicate array of crystal and the man’s toilet things backed with tarnished silver….lay a collar and tie as though they had just been removed” (96). Although this was the most disturbing illustration of Faulkner's theme, Emily was in a similar situation before this incident, she kept her father's corpse in her home for three days before burying him. Her refusal to let go of her father’s decaying body, or to admit that he had even passed away, foreshadowed the strange relationship she would have with the man she found to fill the void her father left behind, which is when she met Homer Barron.

            Faulkner's physical description of Emily also harmonizes with his theme. She is described similarly to her home, and her home is depicted as the only home in the neighborhood that was traditional, although radical changes were occurring all around it in the Southern town of Jefferson in the 1930's where the story takes place. Faulkner establishes the relationship between the town and the house, "It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white...Set on what had been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps..." (91). Next, the relationship between Emily and the home is established as Faulkner describes Emily as unchanging and unpleasant as her home, "Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town" (91). "She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue" (92). This, together with the portrayal of Miss Emily as a hermit, illustrate that Miss Emily and her home were one entity - the dying tradition of the old South - while the town symbolizes the South subsequent to the Civil War.  

            Overall, Falkner expressed his theme though Emily in the way that she looked, acted, and spoke. She kept to herself, unless she was disputing with someone about not wanting to change something. In the end, the narrator realized to what extent she went to stay true to her traditions, and the consequences that the inability to adapt to change can be. For Emily, there were no exterior consequences, such as jail time, but instead, the consequence was internal. She lived a sad, desolate, and still life, where things were unchanging and lacked color, movement, variation, or growth.

            Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 10th   ed. Edgar V. Roberts, Robert Zweig. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 91-96. Print.