|
|
|
|
"The choice to do evil is what makes us human."
|
|
| | 4 | 9/2/2010 6:43 PM | The Picture of Dorian Gray Now that I've finished the book, I realized that it is also relevant in today's time. It is kind of relatable because there is always a constant push from magazines, tv, and the internet to be young and either get or stay beautiful. Lord Henry is the media, a driving force in today's superficial world who negatively influences Dorian (the public) into believing his shallow ideals. | | | 1 | 8/24/2010 6:27 PM | The Picture of Dorian Gray Dorian's obsession with his portrait is too much and he is constantly thinking about it. He becomes encompassed in the idea of preserving his youth and his beauty, and is continually encouraged to do so by Lord Henry. I'm kind of surprised that Dorian is so influenced by Henry, when his theories are so incorrect and shallow. I guess he's just looking for a mentor or someone to look up to, but I would hope that he might look for someone who could lead him in the right direction. | | | 2 | 8/24/2010 6:22 PM | The Picture of Dorian Gray While reading, I noticed the constant use of the color white. As white usually stands for purity and innocence, it was no surprise that it was used in the beginning while Dorian was still and innocent person who had not yet been corrupted. However, when Dorian continues down his path of immorality, the use of the color white has more negative connotations. | | | 2 | 8/24/2010 6:19 PM | The Picture of Dorian Gray The society in which Dorian lives does not question him very often about why he never ages, and embraces him because of his innocence and handsomeness. The way that society embraces him reminds me of today's society, where beauty and youth are something to constantly strive for and if you do have those, you are more accepted and welcomed in society. | | | 1 | 8/23/2010 12:35 AM | picture of dorian gray Its funny that, near the end, Lord Henry continues to bring up thing about the soul. It seem that he himself has no soul and does not care for the soul of others. He is the one with all of the sinful theories and the one who made beauty, pleasure, youth, and sin a dominate part of Dorians life. He always has so much to say it it is nevergood. When Dorian is giving a very obvious hint that he "may" have murdered Basil, Lord Henry remarks that that kind of end would have been so romantic. He has no cares for Basil even though he acts as though he is his friend. | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 11:59 PM | A Clockwork Orange I guess when Alex is chosen for the experimentation, they figured that maybe this could change him and stop him from doing the same actions again. At this time, the reoccuring symbol of Jesus comes again. I would like to think that he still has that image in his head of not being criticized of who he wants to be and to have his sins wiped away. | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 11:58 PM | picture of dorian gray the more time that dorian spends with lord henry, the less that he cares about his image and soul and cares more about pleasures and objects. he goes from being an innocent to wanting to know everything that there is to know and then not even focusing on that one thing for very long. he only is interested in the things that please him and benifit him. he has no interest in the feelings of others. | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 11:51 PM | picture of dorian gray The thing that puzzles me the most is that Dorian always can tell that that things that Lord Henry tells him and others(Lord Henry's theories) are completely bad and wrong and yet he continues to listen to him and follow his influence. I don't understand how a person could continue to follow something that is wrong, especially when it hurts his life so badly. The sad part is that Dorian can see the damage that Lord Henry's words have done to his soul and the horrible scares that it has left behind and yet he continues to listen and enjoy seeing the damage that he and Lord Henry are inflicting on his soul. | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 11:43 PM | The awakening suicide? Leading up to Edna's return to Grand Isle is a depression that hits her like never before she's numb no feelings of belonging no feelings of attraction or no attraction that would stick, nothing to look forward to Robert's left her because although she was willing to live in a non-conformist fashion, Robert, as happy as he may be to have lured Edna in to the same emotional attraction as he has towards her, there is no way for the relationship to work out without hurting his reputation and he cares, no matter what he may say, about what society thinks of him what all the women and men on Grand Isle think of him and how his mother's business would differ if the love affair ever went public enough to turn everything into a tumultuous disaster. Edna's a married woman and as much as he may love her, it's only to a tee he cannot redirect his life to please her as well. Edna soon realizes Robert would never have satisfied her for any longer than she was pleased with the support and devotion her husband showered her with in the beginning of their romance, if no man, no child, no parent, no hobby like painting, and no friend could fill that void that yearned for a life of belonging Edna doesn't see the point in living. | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 11:17 PM | Awakening When Edna's father comes to visit I find it interesting that she would not let anyone else attend to his needs but herself. But then when it comes to her children or her husband, other people can take care of them because she doesn't feel the obligation. The only two explanations I can come up with for this are 1: her father is only around for a little while so he is new, fun, a break from the daily grind of life, and 2: he is her father and she feels as though it is her duty to take care of him and please him. But if so, why wouldn't she feel a duty to her husband and children? I think the main reason is just that he is a break from her daily routine and she enjoys pleasing him. Also i think that she really likes making sure he is happy because he sat as still as a statue for her painting session, and he actually took her seriously which is what her family does not do when it comes to her dreams as a painter. | | | 3 | 8/22/2010 10:50 PM | The Awakening: Edna Wakes Up--not In Chapter 13, Edna wonders "How long have I slept?" She is imagining her new found love with Robert, thinking that she is waking at last to freedom.
I wrote about this in response to some of Sarah's points, too, but here I can't help but worry that she has woken up to a dream. In other words, society is real and so are its problems/limitations/rules. She is married and has to "get real."
She keeps saying stuff like "A new race of beings has sprung up," and all I can think is, What--are you an idiot? What she's doing is cutting herself off from the world and living in her own little dreamland with her new boy toy.
I'm sure this isn't what Chopin was thinking when she wrote this, but I've seen it a hundred times even at ROHS, girls getting wrapped up in their little love-of-the-weeks, forgeting their friends and classes--and they just screw up.
Feminism can't be about "awakening" to an affair with Robert. It has to be something real, in the real world. And Edna isn't there, yet.
Sorry for the mini-rant.
| | | 0 | 8/22/2010 9:49 PM | A Clockwork Orange After alex is locked in the room with classical music and throws himself out the window, he doesnt die, but is in a coma, and the same man that he had watch as his wife was raped was in a political debate with the state about the experiment performed on Alex. as a result, the experiment was forced to be reversed, and he went back to his old ways. After meeting up with an old buddy Pete, he then sees how his life could be and then wishes that for himself. Alex's conscience has been inside him all along, and was just waiting for a reason for alex to finally listen. the violence rampages were over, and he began thinking about his future, a son perhaps. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 9:44 PM | Picture of Dorian Gray The majority of the characters in the novel can see that Lord Henry's theories of life among the other things that he says are wrong and yet Dorian continues to see them as correct. Many have pointed out to Dorian that Lord Henry's ideas are ludacris and yet he continues to thing the Lord Henry is always right. I thing that Dorian's innitial innocence has him thinking that this is the way that life is supposed to be. He is so facinated by anything that has beauty that he is willing to surrender who he is to follow it. But he is so devoted to following the things that are beautiful that he destroys them and doesn't even see his own fault in its destruction. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 9:41 PM | A Clockwork Orange After Alex is released from jail, he is harmless and defenseless, which causes Alex to get beaten up as revenge from many of the people he had hurt. This can be looked upon as a reconciliation period, as any kind of violence and classical music will make him sick to his stomach. Alex now knows what its like to be in the shoes of the other victims. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 9:35 PM | A Clockwork Orange While in prison, Alex's fascination with the Bible is maybe an underlying reason adding to why Jesus is mentioned so many times thoughout the book. He still wants the satisfaction of practicing what he believes, but doesnt want to have to change his lifestyle, which he knows is wrong, but chooses to have that playful, juvenille behavior. It could also be a sign of committment issues. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 9:27 PM | A Clockwork Orange Another thing I have noticed is that Alex and his friends always carried out his actions in the dark. I feel that he is self-concious about what he does and doesnt want to be seen. Which I feel is also associated with when Alex was watching the film of the men raping one women, which is when alex began to get sick, and associating that everytime with him getting nauseous he knew it was wrong, and he didnt stop and let his thoughts gather about how and why it was wrong. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 9:15 PM | Picture of Dorian Gray I finally see that Dorian is starting to see some remorse in the murder of innocent Basil. But even with the remorse that he does feel, Dorian is trying not to care and to forget. He ruined a woman's life and yet he is rude and harsh to her. He holds no remorse for what it is that he had done to her, and finds no fault in himself for the ruined life of his friend Adrian. When Sibyl Vane's brother finds Dorian and tries to kill him, he shows no shame for the loss of her life but only for the safety of his own. The corruption of his soul has caused him to no longer care for the lives of others. He uses his corrupted beauty and wealth to save his life and reputation while doing all kinds of wrong that are not even pinned against him because of his false innocence. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 9:12 PM | A Clockwork Orange I'm curious as to why Alex feels he has to go and rape women. He's used the same line about needing to use their phone to call the ambulance most likely because he typically thinks of women and naive and sympathetic. But the more as this happens, somone will call the police and he will get caught and sent to jail. which is what happens when he tries to be mischiveous again. He gets sentenced to 14 years in jail. Alex then gets a taste of his own medicine, as several prisoners try to rape him as he has to other women. Alex had to know that his ways would come to an end. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 9:00 PM | A Clockwork Orange One thing I have noticed thoughout the book was the mentioning of Christ. Christ represents the eraser of sins and shall forgive for any sins that have been performed. The fire on the cover could possibly represent the sin that Alex has done. Alex could be putting on an act to cover his true belief in christianity. Behaving in such a vilanious way makes him stand out and he isnt made fun of because of it. He earns his respect from his "friends" when he acts out like that. What do you think? | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 8:54 PM | A Clockwork Orange Before I started reading, I was really interested in wanting to know what the title "A Clockwork Orange" truly meant.
At first I thought that maybe "Clockwork" stood for something thats always moving in a never-ending motion. Such as, a clock. Maybe even it refers to the progression of age, maturity and time.
"Orange" in my opinion could refer to young and ripe of age. Maybe the title is suggesting that the progression of time will affect the group of boys, or maybe not.
After debating, I did look it up and got a few different ideas and answers. The author himself said it was a metaphor of "...an organic entity, full of juice and sweetness and agreeable odour, being turned into an automaton." on the other hand, I got the simple answer of it just being an old London Cockney saying: 'He's as queer as a clockwork orange' | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 8:28 PM | A Clockwork Orange The cover of this book really stood out to me.
It made me want to really understand WHY the publishing company would want to use the imagery of a yelling man, and fire.
The yelling man's teeth are crooked and dirty looking, giving him almost a criminal and creepy look to him. The expression on his face is of obvious distaste, which I assumed he is yelling. The yelling in my opinion, represents the angst and rebellion that takes place in this book. It could also stand for freedom of speech, since Alex and his droogs tend to always talk down, as if superior. They're evil just as much crafty, putting on a facade if needed to elude authority.
The fire in the background adds to the image of rebellion and angst, but also destruction. The fire in my opinion, could also stand for sin, corruption, and for the awful crimes that they commit throughout the story. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 8:19 PM | A Clockwork Orange This book has really amazed me. Even though at first i had no idea what on earth was going on. As i read further read the book, it became much easier to read. Alex and his buddies created like a new language, what only they understood, which I thought was really creative, even though the use of the language was initially a negative way. But I feel that there was an underlying problem which was why Alex did such things. maybe he was hurt when he was a younger child. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 8:13 PM | Picture of Dorian Gray Dorian simply has no feelings at all about what he has done to Basil or anyone else. He calls an old friend, Alan, to come and take care of Basil's body. Dorian has obviously done something horrible to ruin his friendship with Alan and seems to have no remorse for what he had done. Alan has figured that it is all Lord Henry's influence that has turned Dorian into the horrible creature that he now is. And yet again, I see that Dorian holds no blame against Lord Henry but against Basil. When Alan refuses over and over again to do the work that Dorian has asked him to preform, Dorian resorts to blackmale to get what he needs done. He only cares to save his own reputation and has no feeling for what he has made others suffer. This makes me very curious to find out what it is that Dorian is doing and what it was that he did to alienate the people who were once his very close friends. | | | 10 | 8/22/2010 7:55 PM | A Clockwork Orange Starting this book I was beyond confused, as I was reading the first page I stopped and said to my mom "how am I supposed to read this?! It is not in English", after reading the line "we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what to do with the.evening", I became slightly intimidated.
I have currently read up to the fourth chapter, slightly less intimidated, equally confused but I think I am getting the gist of it. I found it interesting after all of the horrible actions the four "droogs" have taken part in; such as gang fights, robbery's, stealing cars, and breaking into houses, Alex (I believe that is the main characters name) called out his friend Dim for being vulgar. Of course this all happened because of a girl, but this may have been Burgess' first hint that Alex has somewhat of a conscience and that he has the ability to make decisions for the better.
Anyone else reading this and would like to agree or disagree? I'm trying not to become distracted by the vocabulary and see the big picture instead. | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 7:47 PM | A Clockwork Orange For Alex, I feel that lightness is a symbol for danger and darkness is a symbol for comfort. I images of darkness, night, and the moon are all used when describing Alex, and where he lives. The chaplain is actually wearing black when defending Alex from the State. Lightness is the opposite for Alex. The policemen patrol during the day, and the "harsh" lights in the police interrogation room when he was arrested and the bright white doctors coats all were bad news for Alex. | | | 6 | 8/22/2010 7:42 PM | A Clockwork Orange Alex loves two things, violence and music. I'm wondering what the connection between the two is, if there is one. Why does this teenage boy listen to Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart while visualizing brutal acts of violence? Are the two related in any way, or is it just coincidence that these two things are all he cares about?
During his time with Dr. Brodsky and Dr. Branom undergoing the experimental Ludovico's Technique, Alex is forced to watch movies displaying horrible, violent images. This normally wouldn't bother him, but the doctors give him a shot beforehand to make him feel sick. This causes Alex to involuntarily associate ultra-violence with pain and sickness, rendering him incapable of any kind of violence without suffering. Classical music accompanied all of the movies Alex was forced to watch, and when he re-joined society he couldn't listen to any classical music without feeling violently ill. Why did the doctors decide to have classical music go along with the acts of violence they showed Alex? Did they know that it was one of the only things he truly loved? And if they did, what would it accomplish to cause Alex more pain than was necessary to keep him from committing violence? | | | 10 | 8/22/2010 7:37 PM | A Clockwork Orange I don't usually read introductions when I begin reading a book. However after attempting to read the first chapter of A Clockwork Orange I decided it might be helpful.In the intro the author describes the title as a metaphor, an orange being an "organic entity, full of juice and sweetness and agreeable odour,being turned into an automaton."
We as humans have the freedom to choose. Our choices as well as Alex's can be for good or evil. Throughout the novel Alex makes violent, self serving, shortsighted decisions that often hurt others. He is eventually arrested and undergoes a treatment that essentially strips him of his ability to choose "wrong". He is released into society and is no longer a threat to others because of his inability to choose evil, a clockwork orange.
Is it better to be human and choose good or evil, or a clockwork orange and only have the option to choose good?
| | | 3 | 8/22/2010 7:30 PM | A Clockwork Orange While continuing to read, I am beginning to think that the Russian Origin of the slang used by the teenagers in the novel is some sort of symbol. I think i may have a link to Soviet Communism, just because of the repressive totalitarian government presented in the novel. Burgess may also be trying to say that (since this novel is supposed to take place in the future) that out current ways of government, or law enforcement are not sufficient, and that if we don't do something about it, our society will not necessarily turn into the one presented in the novel, but our society may turn to communistic ways. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 7:23 PM | picture of dorian gray In chapter 13 when Dorian finally sees Basil again, it does not end the way that we suspect. Basil comes to Droian to confront him about the horrible rumors that are buzzing around London because he does not believe that they are true. As Basil is telling Dorian of all these accusations, Dorian is blaming Basil for having become this way. He does not even begin to blame Lord Henry who is the real culprit behind Dorians corruption. He decides to show Basil the painting that is scared by Dorian's corruption and evil to show Basil what it is that he has done to Dorian's life. Then he decides that he hates Basil for having done this to him and kills him. After he kills him, he feels no regret for killing his one true friend who did nothing to chang or corrupt him as Lord Henry had done. He finds ways to cover up what he did and has no remorse. It's hard to see what Lord Henry has done to Dorian's life as an experiment to see what his influence could do to a person. If anything, Dorian should hate Lord Henry for having done this to his life, but Dorian has not yet seen the error of what Lord Henry has done to him. He still thinks that is better than what he was before. | | | 4 | 8/22/2010 7:23 PM | Clockwork Orange: The last chapter After finishing the novel, I couldn't help but notice the astonishing difference in theme of the last chapter versus the previous ones.
First off, it gives a much more pleasant view of human nature. Instead of saying, "Everyone is evil inside and there is nothing you can do about it," the book turns to a much more cheerful and happy message of, "Teenagers are evil inside and there is nothing you can do about it."
My actual first thought when finishing the book was that Burgess must have had some very depressing teenage years to hate teenagers and youth that much.
Seriously though, I believe that the last chapter does show some alarmism on Burgess's part. 1962, when the novel was written and published was the beginning of the hippie movement. As a then 45 year old man, I believe that the behavior displayed by these hippies scared Burgess, resulting in his writing a book where the main character is a very evil teenager, who instantly becomes good upon reaching his adult years.
I am a teenager, I and cannot ever remember wanting to do any of the terrible things that Alex does, and I can't imagine that Burgess did either. For this reason, I believe his low view of teenagers came from another source, fear of the hippie movement.
| | | 4 | 8/22/2010 7:17 PM | A Clockwork Orange Before i read this book, I was prepared to be confused as hell, after being told the book is kind of in a different language. As I began the first chapter, stumbling upon words like 'malchicks,' 'gullivers,' and 'viddy,' I thought that this novel would be much more complex than any I've read before. Although it is complex, I seem to find myself learning the strange words...I'll probably have a new vocabulary by the end of this novel. I also am excited to figure out, what's the point of the 'new language'? I don't think it's meant to keep the reader confused the whole book, because I find it pretty easy to figure out a lot of the words just by looking at the context they are written in. For example, Burgess is referring to make-up and says "rainbows round the glazzies," and later says "his glazzies glazed," which led me to infer that 'glazzies' means 'eyes'. Also, i really enjoyed how instead of 'apologies' he says "I make no appy polly loggies to thee,"...I thought that was kind of funny but weird at the same time, why does he make some words so easy to translate, and others (such as viddy meaning to picture or imagine something, I think) are so much different than the actual word? | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 7:12 PM | A Clockwork Orange Also, at the end of the novel when Alex believes he has matured, I wonder why he still uses the teenage slang. Maybe it's because this is only the beginning of his transformation into maturation and he doesn't know any better yet. “More and more these days I had been just giving the orders and standing back to viddy them being carried out.” Alex notices that he is maturing and he is ld enough to understand the link between youth and violence. “And so it would itty on to like the end of the world, round and round and round, like some bolshy gigantic like chelloveck, like old Bog Himself (by courtesy of Korova Milkbar) turning and turning and turning a vonny grahzny orange in his gigantic rookers.” Alex's view of Christianity is somewhat bitter and cynical at the end. | | | 3 | 8/22/2010 7:07 PM | A Clockwork Orange When I started the book and finally started to decipher some of the slang, I began to realize how violent and disgusting much of it is. After Alex and his droogs beat up the writer at the house with the HOME sign and raped his wife, I was sure that Alex had to be in his mid-twenties at least. Then there started to be references to Alex and his droogs being teens. And then Alex said he still went to high school. Still, I thought he must have been at least 18. And at the end of part one, filled with scenes of Alex and his droogs beating up and raping helpless people for no apparent reason other than their own amusement, Alex says, "And me, only fifteen." A fifteen year old is either a freshman or a sophomore in high school. I was shocked to see that Alex was that young, because the crimes he had committed were not that of a fifteen year old. | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 6:44 PM | 1984 Okay, so I switched over to 1984 and I love it. Having a world run by Big Brother is so similar to the corporate run world we all live in today. Actually its the exact same thing. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 6:29 PM | Alias Grace “For the widely held view that women are weak-spined and jelly-like by nature, and would slump to the floor like melted cheese if not roped in, he has nothing but contempt. While a medical student, he dissected a good many women—from the laboring classes, naturally—and their spines and musculature were on the average no feebler than those of men. . ."
In accordance with the historical aspect of the story, women, during this time period, were regarded as helpless, weak, and persuadable creatures. Many female characters are depicted as incapable and vulnerable, all being in need of support from a male role. This idea of female weak-mindedness also is the defense that many use in regards to Grace's involvement with the murders. They claim that she was too shy and helpless to stop James McDermott from forcing her association with the murders. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 5:02 PM | SlaughterHouse Fiveeee I also find it pretty funny that the Serenity Prayer is also directed at Billy Pilgrim. People associate that prayer with so many things like recovering addicts and I hear it often at church, but kind of like my other comment where I don't understand why that applies to him. Cause maybe it really doesn't at all and I'm just missing that or maybe it has everything to do with Billy Pilgrim and I'm missing that also? | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 4:57 PM | Slaughter House Five, redo. I feel so incredibly sad for Billy Pilgrim. He has no drive, no initative, and he doesn't know what he wants. He settles for everything like his lame job, the wife he doesn't "mind", and doesn't even seem particarlly interested in his kids lives either. I wonder what makes the world of Tralfamidor so appealing to him. The basic principals don't really interest me personally like the ideas of "so it goes" but to him they really hit home. I'm just having a hard time understanding why Billy is so intrigued by this world and why he feels it can relate to him. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 4:47 PM | Slaughter House Five I actually have begun to read about 3 different books on this list, because I really dislike them all. But I started off with Slaughter House Five because I read it a long time ago and now I think I can understand it better. Turns out I also dislike it as much as I did then also. I don't like the repeatitive use of phrases like the "so it goes" even though I understand its use and purpose of being the way things go in his mind. And I almost feel guilty I dislike this book so much cause everyone else loves it! so, this comment is really more of a confession. | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 4:21 PM | A Clockwork Orange I think it's interesting how the novel changes in the end. Alex stops narrating and directly addresses the reader by answering the repeated question "What's it going to be then, eh?" by saying "That's what it's going to be then, brothers, as I come to the end of this tale" and he begins speaking in the present tense. Alex thinks he has grown up. "I am not young, not no longer, oh no. Alex like groweth up, oh yes." He thinks that all of his mischief and indiscretions are just a normal part of growing up. He also plans to begin the search for a mother for this son "...some devotchka or other who would be a mother to this son." He doesn't really seem emotionally attached to that statement, it was very mechanical saying "some devotchka" as if he meant any old woman instead of a wife of a mother and "this son" instead of "my son." | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 3:49 PM | Slaugterhouse-5 on page 86 the tralfamadorian talks about taking everything "moment by moment" billy asks if the tralfamadorian if he belives in free will.The tralfamadorian says that only the people on earth talk of free will. is vonnegut suggesting that free will is simply a grand illusion that we as a people tell ourselves we have such a thing to make us feel better? or is vonnegut suggesting we have free will because of having the ability to perform evil acts? | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 3:43 PM | A Clockwork Orange Frankly, the last chapter was a great disappointment to me. It changed the entire message of the book from a no-holds-barred criticism of humanity to just "well, kids will be kids". It's like Anthony Burgess was afraid of being too critical of people and tacked on a poorly thought out ending that redeems one of the most disgusting characters I have ever seen. | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 3:39 PM | A Clockwork Orange The reason Alex is finally caught and sent to jail is because his droogs betrayed him. The four of them go to an old lady's house to steal her possessions, but the old lady calls the police. Alex doesn't realize that she has called the police, so he climbs through a window and confronts the old lady. Alex knocks the old lady unconscious, and soon after hears the sirens. He runs out onto the porch where his droogs are waiting, and Dim hits Alex in the eyes with a chain, blinding him. This leaves Alex helpless when the cops show up, and the cops later inform him that the old lady had died.
Alex and five others are crammed into a jail cell that's intended for three people. When another prisoner is put in the same cell, tensions erupt, and the new guy gets beat up. All six of the prisoners were hitting the new guy, but Alex dealt the last blow that left him unconscious. The next morning they realized that the new guy was dead, and they all immediately blame Alex. Alex connects this to the time when his droogs turned him over to the cops and thinks, "There was no trust anywhere in the world."
Why is Alex constantly abandoned? Is it Burgess trying to show that violence breeds distrust? Is he trying to say that if you make bad choices you'll end up alone? | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 3:16 PM | A Clockwork Orange I remember reading in a previous post (although i can't find it now) that Burgess used the slang so that when the book was read by different generations, the slang was so bizarre and unheard of that it wasn't out of style (that's not really what the person said, i think it was Zak, but kind of like that). I really understand what Burgess is trying to do with that, it makes me think, if i read a book with slang like "what's happenin'?" or "can ya dig it?" I'd be turned off, weirded out that they were growing up when my parents were (even though I know the book didn't just take place in the 70's, this is simply to make a point). By using new slang, the words will never be considered uncool or out of style, and many future generations will be able to read this book without thinking that the slang is lame or ancient. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 3:10 PM | Slaughterhouse Five. I find it really redundant that Vonnegut uses the child/children's crusade, and innocence themes practically every 10 pages, from the war using Weary as one of his subjects, to him driving his daughter and her friend (pg 12), to O'hare's wife complaining about war book Vonnegut(?) was writing that promoted war, a war fought by "babies", and the people of Dresden during the bombings.
The repetitive nature of this theme is properly used in promoting the theme, but it's just too much, and is distracting from the rest of the story.
Aside from the theme, I loved how Vonnegut added a few details from Sodom and Gomorrah, comparing the Dresden bombings to something biblical. It was biblical. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 2:41 PM | Alias Grace Grace seems to be existing in two separate worlds. She spends a great deal of time paying attention to the physical details of her surroundings. She recalls step by step and instance by instance how things play out, and logically explains conversations and dialogue that occur over time. But in contrast to her concrete and detailed reality, she includes her dreamlike and abstract thoughts as a supplement to her reality. The contrast of these two versions of recollection occurring simultaneously parallels with Grace's contrasting states of mind: the reality of the murder and the little understood abstract block that keeps her from remembering it. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 1:06 PM | 1984 I just finished 1984 and it ended up being a pretty sad ending. I thought that the worst possible ending would be Winston being killed for his thoughtcrime, or the best possible ending would be Winston and the Brotherhood leading a revolt with the Proles against the party. Instead Winston is subjected to brutal physical and psychological torture under which he cracks and becomes one of the mindless drones that he despised in the beginning of the book. Winston finally breaks when he is faced with the idea of physical pain in the form of flesh eating rats rather than any actual pain. | | | 3 | 8/22/2010 12:53 PM | Awakening: Edna and her children There have been many instances in the book where Edna has shown no interest in her children. At the beginning of chapter 3, Raoul has a fever according to Mr. Pontellier, but Edna assures him he is fine. She does not want to have to be bothered with a sick child. Mr. Pontellier calls to her attention that she is the mother and should be the one to care for her children. Edna then gets out of bed to care for Raoul. During this situation I kept thinking, what is wrong with her? Why doesn't she just get up and see if he is alright? Then I thought that these children are not what she wanted. I think that she likes to have them around, but does not want to care for them, which connects to her "awakening" and push for a more independent life. Edna is not a "mother-woman" has stated in chapter 4. The children have learned not to hang on her for attention but to rather go to the quadroon nurse. Having a "nanny" for the children is a nature of the times seeing as how the Pontelliers are a wealthy family, but the nurse is also causing Edna to have a reason to stray from her children. Edna has no reason to care for them because that is the nurse's job. There are many other instances with Edna's lack of parenting for her boys such as when she sends them away when Leonce is out of town. They all seem to trace back to her desire for an independent and care free life. | | | 7 | 8/22/2010 12:48 PM | Slaughterhouse-Five If anyone else is reading slaughterhouse, let me know because I have a few questions. On page 117 there's a picture of a tombstone with the words "everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt" written across it. I've been trying to decipher this message and can't seem to come up with any plausible theories. I think I've finally picked up on the theme of the book, but I'm having trouble with the whole concept of Billys time travel. I understand that Vonnegut is using it as a tool to make the description of war a little simpler, but I can't tell if his "so it goes" attitude reflects on war or life in general. | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 12:39 PM | Alias Grace As I've said, Sir, Mary was an out spoken young woman, and did not mince words; and she had very democratic ideas, which it took me some getting used to." pg. 159
I find it very intresting, since this book takes place so long ago, when they mention women with democratic ideas it sparks such a controversy. I understand that women speaking out their ideas was a new found concept, but it just intrests me how very vulgar it is interpertated since its out of place at the time. Ladies did not speak such things and when they did, it was very offensive to hear. Its just a commonly thought idea to reflect on, yet very intriguing. | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 12:27 PM | Alias Grace Grace is a very tightly wound woman. From confinement in the Penitentiary that has taken away any social skills once had, to her wanting to keep something she still has intimate, speaking whats on her mind or in her heart has become burndensome.
"He said it wasn't what he wanted me to say, but what I wanted to say myself, that was of intrest to him."
Poor Grace, being probed and anaylzed, I understand that its supposed to be benificial to Grace as well as to science, but it seems so sad. Her character so full of life yet kicked down again and again by death. I wonder if she will actually open up to Jorden and be let go.
| | | 1 | 8/22/2010 12:27 PM | Slaughterhouse-5 "and we have imaginedthat it was being fought by aging men like ourselves. We had forgotten that wars were fought by babies."
The elders of a nation declare war on another country and decide wether or not a country that goes to war, but they never fight the war the youth and innocence of a nation fight the war and pays for the mistakes of the elders. | | | 5 | 8/22/2010 12:08 PM | A Clockwork Orange I think it's odd that Alex and his gang hang out at the Korova Milkbar; a place where they drink milk laced with drugs. It seems like some sort of paradox that they drink milk-which is quite childish, and then it is laced with drugs, which makes it more adult. It's also quite paradoxical that Alex so strongly associates classical music with violence. Usually people associate classical music with calmness or relaxation, Alex even commits a violent act towards Dim (one of his gang mates) in defense of his favorite Opera (which Dim was making fun of) Again, usually classical music calms people down, but it gets Alex all riled up. After Alex is in prison, he gets Lodovico's Technique and it forces him to associate violent acts, with nausea and headaches. A coincidental side effect to this treatment is that since he associated classical music with violence, he now associates classical music with nausea and headaches as well (the doctors not knowing this beforehand) | | | 4 | 8/22/2010 12:04 PM | Chronicle of a Death Foretold The format that the narrator uses in this book is very interesting; they are a citizen of the small town and knew Santiago personally, so some hints of emotion are shown, but for the most part, it sounds like and unbiased investigation into the death of Santiago. No detail is left out. He goes into great depth about the wedding, the celebration that carried on through the night, the preparations made for the bishop, the weather, the reactions of the people around him. Despite all of the information he has, it is evident that it took a very long time to extract the details he knows considering he references his wedding which occured fourteen years later. It makes me wonder what became of Santiago after he died. If people were willing to wait so long to reveal the truth, did anyone even really care, except the narrator, what happened to him? | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 12:00 PM | Slaughetrhouse-5 Its interesting that vonnegut does not clasiffy anyone as good or bad he realizes that who is good and who is bad is all perception. It simply depends on what you belive not who ir actually right or wrong. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:59 AM | A Clockwork Orange Alex's moral transformation takes place in the last chapter of the novel; Part three, chapter seven. I own the edition of the novel that includes this chapter; I think all American additions include this chapter, but apparently some copies don't. It says that it includes the "controversial last chapter" but I think that this chapter is absolutely necessary in all versions. This is where Alex's moral transformation takes place which is crucial
to the story. Also, something I found out, is that in the original copies of a Clockwork Orange, the chapters are numbered increasingly, and the numbers do not start over in each part. This leaves 21 chapters in the book- a symbol for the age of 21, the year when someone attains maturity in a legal sense. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:59 AM | Slaughterhouse - Billys symbolism the use of Billy's life span as the plot is a very interesting method to describe the horrors and pains of dresden. he took a character that was not in anyway a fighter, and someone who was also not very emotional that was a member of the army. was billy supposed to be in a sense the face of the army according to vonnegut? or just to all the opposing armies that faced americans. I'm a bit unclear on that, but i liked how vonnegut also described other parts of Billy's life and like katherine said, how the war has effected his outlook.
| | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:58 AM | Slaughterhouse 5 i find that Vonnegut wasn't bias when
he wrote this book. he didn't glorify any race and even portrayed the
soldiers from the american army as lowlifes that were lucky to live on
to dresden, and seemingly a reflection on the rest of america. he wrote
the story in a way that he was a onlooker that watched over rather than
a fighter along the way (minus the small parts where he mentions he was
"shitting his brains out" and so on) but partially, he was also
disregarding the american ''stereotype'' where everyone was wealthy
free and strong - he used Billy's 'experiences' changing time periods
as a perspective of home-life and war-life and if they were similar
actions on the americans side.. which they were. i don't think this
novel was a spit in the face towards the american culture.. it just
pointed out the flaws of the arrogance and false reputation | | | 6 | 8/22/2010 11:57 AM | Slaughter House I knew Vonnegut was a humanist, but until reading this book i had no clue he was such a cynic. Not only does he mock society as a whole, "so it goes," but his criticisms seem to localize around the United States. I don't actually have the book near me right now, but in several different sections, like in the description of the p.o.w. camp, American's are portrayed as dirty and helpless people. I'm not offended by these generalizations by any means, but simply curious as to why Vonnegut felt this way. | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 11:57 AM | The Awakening At first this book didn't really seem to be about anything, but then I came across this quote and it opened up a whole new world of questions. "She would, through habit, have yielded to his desire; not with any sense of submission or obedience to his compelling wishes, but unthinkingly, as we walk, move, sit, stand, go through the daily treadmill of the life in which has been portioned out to us." This quote is from the part where Mrs. Ponteillier decides to go against her husbands wishes for the first time she remembers, or simply for the first time. Mrs. Pontellier's life is compared to a treadmill given to her by others to walk, a life that other people demand her to have and go through. This reminded me of oxen attatched by a yoke pulling other peoples stuff, other peoples burdens, all day long with no choice in the matter. I don't think we as people should be like oxen, pulling other peoples burdens. Mr. Pontellier puts Mrs. Pontellier on the treadmill he wishes for her, and makes her have a certain life, which isn't fair, not just because they are married. It isn't fair to have anyone else carry your burdens for you. | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 11:57 AM | A Clockwork Orange “We all went smecking into the room with a light on, and there was this devotchka sort of cowering, a young pretty bit of sharp with real horrorshow groodies on her, and with her was this chelloveck who was her moodge, youngish too with horn-rimmed otchkies on him..” (Page 24)
This novel immediately caught my attention because of the foreign vocabulary. At first, I thought these were words that I actually didn't know. But as I kept reading, I started to get a hunch that they were Russian in origin. Words like "chelloveck, devotchka and ptitsa" all sound Russian to me. Words like these confused me in the beginning because they were used so often, but after seeing them so many times, I began to figure them out through context. A few people recommended that I look at translator lists they have online to ensure a smoother read, but I decided I would figure out the words for myself, and it worked out pretty well. The more I read, the more the foreign words became less of a distraction. It was almost like being immersed in another language. | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 11:54 AM | Slaughterhouse-5 I found a passage on pg 96 that really stood out to me. It talks about how the German soilders unknowingly burned candles made from the "enemies of the state." To me that meant that the Germans were reburning/re-torturing their enemies. That in turn seemed to go along with the recurring theme that everything is repeated; war is repeated and death happens and as Vonnegut says, "so it goes." | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:53 AM | 1984 In this book, the government can take a person out of existence by killing them, and then convincing everyone they knew that they never existed. They become an "unperson." This is similar to how in WWII, Nazis took people to concentration camps and erased their identity while killing them. Orwell was influenced by these events, and, as an intellectual man, incorporated them into his novel. It makes me think about the phrase, "Victors write history." It's true that the people who win wars write history, but does that make it any less correct? Of course, in 1984, the government actually manipulates the people's minds and convinces them that events of huge proportion did not occur. Today's governments wouldn't even attempt such a thing, but Nazis manipulated the people's minds to convince them that Jews, Gypsies, and other minority groups were in the wrong. They "changed" history, just like the government in 1984, and doubtless the fear of this happening to his country influenced Orwell to put it into a world of his own creation. It showed people what would happen if such a totalitarian government actually came to be and stayed in power. | | | 5 | 8/22/2010 11:49 AM | Slaughterhouses and Free Will I remember one of the Trafalmadorians (I can never spell this the same way twice) saying that Earth is the only place in the universe where people talk about free will.
If life is an endless series of destructive and violent tendencies recycled over and over, then what is the point of free will? It sounds like an illusion, something we tell ourselves to make us feel like we're better than animals and machines and Fox News.
Billy never seems to have any choices in the novel at all. He can't drown himself, he can't stay out of the army, and he can't die when he puts himself in harm's way. He can't even live in a straight story when teh aliens kidnap him. The narrator-Vonnegut even pokes around in his life and comments.
It's like I was writing on anothe post about Marquez. We don't know what fate will deal us, and we certainly have no control over it. But I can't accept Vonnegut's answer of "so it goes." Being trapped sucks, so I have to think I have a choice to escape somewhere.
Sure, Billy Pilgrim is a puppet/novel character, so he can't have choices. But I can. And if I were Billy, I'd leave Vonnegut's book! (I actually kinda like that idea...) | | | 3 | 8/22/2010 11:48 AM | Slaughterhouse Five. There are no villains or good do-ers in this book. There apparently hasn't been any apparent spectrum of good or evil in any of Kurt Vonnegut's book quoted from his father, "You know-you never wrote a story with a villain in it." Thats because, Vonnegut's philosophy is based on perspective, not on good or bad. He realizes this knowledge in combat, against people his own age, and from accidents such as his encounter with Muller. In essence, arguments, wars, fights, etc. are started because countries/people stand up for what they believe is right for their prosperity, and their posterity.
Those who suffer, are unfortunately the innocent "children" who are drafted to fight.
By the way, is billy a fictional character based off of a real person, or is he just fictional? | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:48 AM | Slaughterhouse-5 "They didn't think it had anything to do with the war. They were sure billy was going to piecesbecause his father had thrown him into the deep end of the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool when he was a little boy, and had then taken him to the rim of the grand canyon."
War is percived as this glorious thing by society, but its not it torments the young people sent into the middle of war. The doctors refuse to belive that billys breakdown is from the war its from other issues in his life. well being thrown into the deep end of the pool was tramatic for billy nothing compared to the horrors he saw in war. | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 11:47 AM | Slaughterhouse Five Vonnegut writes the way he speaks. Very casually, repeating words and phrases numerous times in a single sentence. He begins many of his sentences with "and" also continuing extra long sentences with four or five "ands." It seems that quite a few of his sentences are run-on, which really bothers me. He uses many illusions to places, people, books etc. Some like "Mutt and Jeff" which I still haven't looked up. He repeats his little catchphrase "So it goes" many times and he also repeats a limerick. ("My name is Yon Yonson, I work in Wisconsin, I work in a lumber-mill there...") | | | 3 | 8/22/2010 11:45 AM | Slaughterhouse-Five I've tried to read Kurt Vonnegut before and though I had heard great things, I could not fully tune in to his writing. On my first attempt I found myself halfway through a book that I knew absolutely nothing about, so when i saw Slaughterhouse on the summer reading list I was a little skeptical. My dad had been trying to get me to read the book for the past three months and with a little prodding from him and with the knowledge of Vonneguts use of aliens I figured I'd give him a second shot. As I started to read I realized that the use of time travel, aliens and Billy Pilgrim reinforced the idea that war and unnecessary death and violence are terrible things. As I make my way through chapter 4 I am starting to think that Billys ability to travel in time stems from the horrible things he witnessed during the war. He begins to view life in the same way that his friends from Tralfamadore do, like a "stretch of the Rocky Mountains." | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 11:43 AM | slaughterhouse-5 The repetition of the phrase "so it goes"seems to be mentioned every time death is spoken of it is very interesting. i cant completly figure out the meaning but it seems to have something to do with uncertainy of all the aspects of death. | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 11:42 AM | Slaughterhouse-5 Billy being one of the weakest in his company surviving the war is vonnegut making a statement. Billy maybe shouldnt of survived the war there are other much stronger and better soldiers with greater ability than billy. It shows that war is sensless it doesnt choose its victims based on there physical ability or if there a good soldier. war chooses at random its just ironic that someone so weak like billy would survive the war. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:33 AM | 1984 The fact that the government can take and change the language impedes the ability of the people to think, which is their goal. I think this is also a sort of social commentary by Orwell. Three hundred years ago, language was much more elegant, flowering, and tactful, and many of us have difficulty reading literature from so long ago because our brains have trouble holding on to the earlier part of the sentence while comprehending the latter part of it. Nowadays, language is much more blunt, to the point, and certainly the sentences are much shorter. In fact, our English teachers point out that run-on sentences are grammatically incorrect; most sentences written so long ago would have red marks all over them if written today. Orwell is saying that our literary abilities are not today what they were yesterday. He is saying that the government controls what we think (which, of course, is incorrect), and thus blocking our ability to think for ourselves. Words are the very founding stones of ideas; without them, we are powerless to change. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:31 AM | The Chosen
In the final chapter of The Chosen, Reuven expects to be forced into revealing to Reb Saunders a lot about his son which he previously did not know, particularly his aspiration for the future. However, Reuven probably ends up learning more about Reb Saunders than Reb Saunders learns about Danny in this chapter. Here, the full complexity of Reb Sanunder's character is made apparent to Reuven and readers of the novel.
Surprisingly, Reb Saunders knew from an early age that Danny was likely not going to inherit his position as tzaddik because, while he was a great genius, he lacked a sense of compassion. Reb Saunders raised Danny in silence so that he would be forced to experience pain and empathize with others, which would hopefully prevent him from abandoning Judaism. He later asks for Danny's forgiveness the way in which he raised him. When he did this, I was not sure if it meant that Reb Saunders was conceding that his method of parenting was wrong and cruel; dismayed by the fact that it did not cause his son to choose to become a tzaddik; or if he thought that his method of parenting was the right decision, but ultimately felt guilty for causing Danny so much pain. The last of these three possibilities seems the most probable explanation for Reb Saunders's apology to me. | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 11:20 AM | Alias Grace pg 180. "I kept asking where Grace had gone. And when they told me that I myself was Grace, I would not believe them, but cried, and tried to run out of the house, because I said that Grace was lost.."
Something about this part is unsettling to me. The hysteria that allows Grace to believe that she is not herself but she has to find where Grace has gone is un-nerving. My interpertation of this is that all the trials and struggles that Grace has endured over the years have taken such a strain on her that her mental stability has cracked, and the part of her that is a young woman is lost. She could only handle so much before it was too much, and I believe that Grace, the Grace that she should of been as a young woman is lost because of all the hardships shes faced. With all struggles you can lose someting, strength, love, but here she has just lost too much, so much that she cant even function at this point as herself due to she is so full of grief.
any other interpertations? | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:19 AM | Wuthering Heights Love is one of the main, foremost themes in Wuthering Heights. The Catherines in the novel experience it in interesting ways. The senior Catherine is in love with Heathcliff, but also in love with the idea of bettering herself by marriage with a true gentleman. These two loves fight each other the whole time until her death. She marries Edgar out of desire for social betterment, but when Heathcliff returns from a three-year disappearance, her feelings and affections have not changed, and she invites him into her home like one of her own class. Edgar has big issues with this, and tells her; and so she struggles openly with the idea of social superiority and her true love. The younger Catherine has the same type of difficulty; when she first meets Hareton, she inspires hatred in him because she referred to him as a servant and was appalled upon learning that he was her cousin. She's very excited to meet Linton, whom she considers "her real cousin" because of his good birth. However, she is disappointed at the sickly boy, and Hareton's dark good looks steal her heart after a while. In this way, I can see that the elder Catherine is living through her daughter in having her choose her true love over class differences. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:18 AM | 1984 Manipulating the population into believing everything that the Party says is true involves a mixture of fear, devotion, and confusion. The party is relatively new but the Party would have one believe it has been around longer then it actually has. Some adults, like Winston, still have free thoughts but are too terrified of being erased or tortured that they never voice their opinion. Most others have been scared into a mindless devotion to Big Brother especially the youth, Winston states that children are a bigger threat than the Thought Police. Confusion also plays its part. Called doublethink in the book, telling the human mind something contradictory to what is engrained allows the Party to change history. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:10 AM | Wuthering Heights As all novels do, Wuthering Heights has some comic relief in the form of Joseph, the manservant. His undignified accent forces the reader to culturalize themselves with recognition of different dialects of language, and throughout the novel we become sort of "fluent" in Joseph's phonetic words, seeing and recognizing words we first had trouble with in the beginning of the novel. "Aw'd rayther he'd goan hisseln fur t' doctor! Aw sud uh taen tent uh t' maister better nur him-un he warn't deead when Aw left, nowt uh t'soart!" The rambling inflections made me laugh out loud when I first came upon them, because they're just so ridiculous. But now, I can see that they serve the purpose of relieving the reader from the agony that Heathcliff afflicts on all those he touches. Even though Joseph's character itself is sometimes disliked, his accent provides a sort of light in the novel; an unimportant but enjoyable aspect of English living that here, in America, we cannot imagine very well. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:06 AM | Alias Grace At the beginning of the book, it is said that Mr. Kinnear and Nancy were found dead in the celler of the house, but on page 212 is the first time Grace discusses the cellar with Dr. Jordan. "The trapdoor to the cellar was in this hall, and you had to lift up a corner of the carpet to get to it." Grace thought it was a "odd place" for a cellar, and the kitchen would make more sense. At the end of the paragraph, she clearly says, "We did not go down into the cellar at that time." It is interesting that when Grace is describing the house, she notes how it is logical to have the two kitchens, for winter and summer, and the cellar is the out of place thing in the house, with what happens there later. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:03 AM | 1984 The new language created by the Party, dubbed Newspeak, would have been a tough idea to write in detail about. Orwell masterfully creates a new language which is perfectly suited for controlling the masses. Language stands for everything the party opposes, language allows people to express themselves and to inspire and create a plethora of emotion. By replacing words like awesome with doublegood or quack with duckspeak, Orwell has effectively taken the expression out of language. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:02 AM | Slaughterhouse-5 Billy is flying thru time with no control of what time period he stops in during his life time, the events occuring in no specific chronological order. The author describing it as being "unstuck in time" but at the same time the tralfamadorian says that we are all just bugs in amber which creates an image of being stuck in time a strange parallel. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 11:02 AM | Wuthering Heights Wuthering Heights is full of social commentary, like most books written during the era. The English economy was really bad when she wrote it, and many people feared a revolt by the upper classes. Catherine Earnshaw is very socially ambitious, as we can see with her marriage to Edgar Linton after spending so much time at Thrushcross Grange and seeing how they live their life so differently from that of her home life at Wuthering Heights. Many people during that time frame aspired to ascend the social ladder, and Catherine is representative of those masses. She goes through a "superior" period, where she does things like slap Nelly, her nurse from birth, across the face to show her social superiority. Later on, she regrets her actions and gets her head out of the clouds, as most people do when they commit an act they wish they never had done. However, Catherine's yearning to be one of the gentry never leaves her throughout the course of the entire novel, and it is reminiscent in her daughter when she visits the Heights and wishes to sit "in a parlour". | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 11:01 AM | A Clockwork Orange "What's it going to be then, eh?"
I find it interesting that this quote appears in the beginning of each part of the novel, and it seems to have a different meaning in each part. I'm not sure if it ever really get's answered. I think in each part it gets answered differently.
In part one, Alex is free to make his own choices, and he chooses to be bad. He chooses to roam the streets with his droogs and rape, rob, and beat whomever he pleases. In part one, Ale has the ability to answer this question.
In part two, after Alex has endured the Ludovico's Technique, he can no longer make bad choices. So, I guess in part two, Ale no longer has the ability to answer that question. Only the State has the ability to choose for Alex.
In part three, the questions really loses it's meaning because Alex has lost the power of self determination and loses his identity as a human being. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 10:59 AM | Alias Grace When Grace talks about her job working for Mr. Kinnear, she discovers the interesting relationship between Mr. Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy. When they went to church, Grace notes how she and Nancy were avoided and others were whispering around them. She also noticed that Nancy became very lonely when Mr. Kinnear was away and wanted companionship from Grace, but she did not put these things together until McDermott told her. A situation like this today would not be approved by some people, but would not be such a scandal. However, in the time period the story takes place in it was very wrong. This situation made McDermott upset with his employers, and also made Grace loose all her respect for Nancy. | | | 3 | 8/22/2010 10:51 AM | The Chosen P.7 I am admitting that I am a nerd and did research on the whole chapter devoted to the Hasidic History. Potok was right on about almost everything. The setting was correct and reasons for the spur of the new denomination of Judaism. The man who started it was Israel in the book but is also known Baal Shem Tov, who toyed around in the mystic part of Judaism. The singing, dancing, and vivacious prayer is also what makes it very unique. It is similar to Baptist in its practices and Catholic in its systems. It was originally against the already presiding establishments and Jewish cultures. I was really interested in what has been occurring after the Holocaust, where many were obviously killed. Many migrated to New York, Canada, Britain, and Belgium. There are many different articles on them because there is only about half a million in the world. Also because of their unique dress, close communities, and larger families. Potok did his research very well. | | | 3 | 8/22/2010 10:47 AM | Slaughterhouse-5 The imagery on page 75 is really vivid. "His blue and ivory feet, crushing the wet salad of the lawn" is so clear in my head. His feet blue from the cold and as hard as ivory smash the lawn. I found it interesting that Vonnegut compared the grass to a salad. The more i thought about it, the more sense it made; in a way a lawn in a salad because the grass is like the lettuce and any weeds or other plants are like croutons or other toppings and the morning dew is like a dressing. It is a very unusual metaphor. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 10:46 AM | 1984 Nearly finished with 1984. I can tell that I am going to have an easier than normal paper because of Orwells immersive detail. Writing the book from Wintons point of view gives the reader a sense of the totalitarian horror that Winston is living with. The deep fear Winston has of being caught is shared with the reader as the slightest show of emotion on Winstons part could have him wisked away by the Thought police and erased from history. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 10:45 AM | 1984 When matching the themes of the novel with the times that it was written in, we can come to the conclusion that the WWII era strongly affected Orwell's writing, particularly in the case of 1984. The totalitarian-esque government in the novel, with the propaganda slogans of "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU", strongly resemble the Nazi propaganda that was used to turn the citizens against their Jewish, Gypsy, and otherwise "faulting" fellows. The massive German empire took over almost all of Europe, and even in America, Japanese-Americans were rounded up and put into our own version of "concentration camps". This, from the most liberalized country in the world. Doubtless, this type of governing made its way into Orwell's mind when he wrote of people telling on their neighbors, children telling on their parents for incriminating behavior. The same type of thing happened in Germany when neighbors and even families would turn on each other to protect themselves. The WWII era strongly affected Orwell's writing. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 10:31 AM | 1984 One of the themes in this novel is the powerlessness (?) of the governed. However, Orwell describes a scene where a lower-class woman is hanging up her laundry, whistling and happy, while he, a middle class man, is governed so tightly that even his thoughts could become incriminating. Now we have to think about what Orwell is saying on this topic - do the lower classes have all the real power in the world? Are the middle and upper classes just government drones, devoid of originality and living in fear of becoming outcasts? This is the type of social commentary that abounds in this novel. Examined on a smaller level, we can see that, certainly - the impoverished in third world countries don't have to worry about taxes, grades, traffic violations, mortgages, and third-quarter earnings. Everyone in developed countries have those issues on their shoulders. But is being free of financial-or legal-based issues worth the agony of wondering where your next meal is coming from? Maybe Orwell thought the lower classes held all the power back when he wrote this book in the forties, during the WWII era, but times have changed, as will happen after the joyless ending of 1984. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 10:28 AM | Alias Grace- the first meeting
When Dr. Jordan first meets Grace his tendency to have a preconceived notion of how a perspective patient should appear interfered with his ability to see Grace for who she really is. He recalls her at first “having feet that were surly bare,” with a “hunch of the shoulders,” her arms hugging her, protecting her, while her hair flew out in every direction and her eyes are wide with fear. In his opinion, “all was as it should be.” The image painted by Jordan insists that he perceives a proven insane inmate to be so broken and lost in their own head that they are innocent and harmless, like a princess waiting in a dragon guarded castle for her shining armored prince. In fact, though Jordan “does not know much about flowers,” he recalls thinking that he sees white flowers in her hair. Based on additional research but also common sense I found out that white flowers are a symbol of innocence and purity. It seems only fitting that Jordan would see those in her hair if he believes her to be so insane that she believes she’s innocent of her crimes. The question is, does he probe her with questions to prove that she is infact innocent, or to break her belief that she has done nothing? | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 10:27 AM | Alias Grace
Here’s what I’ve gathered of Simon Jordan so far. He was obviously raised in lush comfort. His thoughts regarding his surroundings and the people he encounters center around his disapproval of how such people chose to take care of themselves, or how his current surroundings fail to meet his standards of taste.
At the same time he is also a very tunnel-vision thinker when addressing his work and dream of one day starting his own asylum. Everyone he meets he views as a future patient, which may contribute to his inability to converse easily with people who are not admitted, such as the woman who brings his breakfast every morning or the two daughters of the governor, who he chooses to ignore. Because of this he possesses a preconceived notion that all patients must appear the same way. For example his first meeting with Grace, but that’s for another post. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 10:21 AM | Alias Grace
I’ve been doing some research on the meaning of red peonies. According to the sources I tracked down the peonies is a flower you present to represent riches and honor. It can also mean romance and good fortune.
A red flower is a symbol of desire, strength and passionate love. Perhaps because Grace sees these flowers frequently they are a symbol the parts of her personality she is unable to stifle so they are manifesting in her active imagination.
Because the flowers are red peonies and say, white roses, perhaps they represent Grace’s desire to be a fine lady with fine things, such as white gloves. As the peonies grow through the cracks of the ground and the prison walls perhaps they are a symbol of these desires that Grace cannot seem to forget, or that her mind won’t allow her to forget.
| | | 5 | 8/22/2010 10:19 AM | Alias Grace Reading through Alias Grace, I've noticed a lot of themes about the balance of nature and society, religious and political views and various other topics. I've also found that Atwood seems to have placed meaning behind certain colors such as red/crimson/pink, purple/maroon, blue, and white and I was wondering if anyone else had noticed that and what their thoughts on it are. | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 9:30 AM | Alias Grace As reading farther along in the book I came to the part of her telling her childhood to Dr. Jordan. After reading through it and throughly discusted with Grace's father I began to think why she doesn't seem to trust people. Could it be because she is in prison or could it be the fact that someone that she was supposed to trust and look up to beat her mother whenever he was in a drunken rage?
While the more I thought the more I started to believe it was a mixture of events in her life that lead her to be...i guess one way to say it is on her gaurd around people. I'm pretty sure everyone knows that prison (even now in time) changes the people that are in there. Makes them into less trusting people and I guess kind of make the harder to an extent. They realize that it is in there best to realy only on there selves. So from her long years in a prison that had a corrupt way of doing things most deffiently instilled this in her mind.
While growing up with a broken family, too many childern and not enough food, and a useless drunk for a father she sees all the things that he has done to this family. While in Ireland he starts miss work because of all the drinking he has done the night before. Once he has done that enough people dont want to hire him because he seems flakey. When given a new start and living with Mrs. Burt he exploits her own grivences from losing a spouse to kind of coushen the fact that he is not looking for work and is using the small amount of money that they had from rent to go to the bars.
So because of both of these significant events in her life I personally believe that Grace is wary on trusting people because of what happened in her life. Because of the rough events that have taught her lessons, wether the lessons be right or wrong. | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 8:59 AM | Alias Grace On page 78 Dr. Jordan and Reverend Verringer are discussing Grace Marks. From what I gathered Verringer hired Jordan to look into the mental health of Grace and into her case file as well. (If I am not right about this please correct me) According to the conversation Grace had changed her story several times, I think 3, through out the whole court process. However she has claimed she never touched the vitcim, Nacy Montgomery.
The Reverend said something that caught my eye "She denies the memory of it". Whether or not Grace had anything to do with the murder of Nacy Montgomery I believe that she might have an idea of what happened that night. Sometimes in a tragic event a person's mind represses the tragedy. Sometimes the person might get flashes, just tidbits of what happened. Some too brief to put them together unless really focusing hard on trying to remember the flashes and the event. However most people would probably not force themselves to remember because the event was so horrible. So that is what I believe that Grace is doing. If for a fact that she had been a part of that night (killing Nacy Montgomery or just a bystander that got caught up in the mess) I believe that the event was just too much for her mind to where it repressed it completely. Which would explain why she had changed her story throughout the court process because she is probably thinking who would believe her and believe the fact that she cant remember what happened. I think by the Reverend saying that, both he and Dr. Jordan are thinking that Grace's mind is repressing the event is a likely situation. | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 8:48 AM | Alias Grace Why is it that Grace is able to work in the Governer's house? After all she was convicted of murder. Yes, earlier in the book the Governer's wife says that Grace Marks is a model prisoner and does not give any trouble. However I would have thought after the fit she had while there was a doctor in the room that was going to examine or measure her head. (Around or just before chapter 4) I would have thought that the Governer's wife wouldn't want her in the house for atleast a little amount of time thinking that Grace was unstable. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 8:43 AM | Alias Grace While reading Alias Grace, I have noticed that Margaret Atwood has a very unique style of writing. She does not use quotation marks to indicate other character's words, but just puts them in the sentence, which can be a little confusing at times. She also has many long sentences, connecting the multiple parts with "and". Some seem to be run-on sentences, but are full of detail and give insite into Grace's feelings toward what she is describing. | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 8:39 AM | Alias Grace The part where Mary and Grace throw apple peels over their shoulders and Grace's spells a J- I wonder if the J is for Jorden and Dr. Simon and Grace will end up together?? Just a thought. | | | 1 | 8/22/2010 8:37 AM | A Clockwork Orange While I still believe that the nadsat slang has a link to Soviet Communism, I also believe that Burgess was doing something else with the slang. I remember when I first began reading and raking through all of the foreign words, just how alienated I felt. It was a whole new world and language that I was not used to; I felt like it was a dream, and I was on the outside of it looking in. In order to understand Alex's character, Burgess makes you get on his level. You have to speak his language before you can fully understand him.
I also kind of think that nadsat helps give the reader a sense of the repressive totalitarian government presented in the novel. I kind of feel like I was brainwashed into learning that language. It was very subtle and sneaky, and that is the way the State worked in the novel. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 2:53 AM | A Clockwork Orange Alex's love for classical music can be seen in his diction. I feel that Alex speaks musically a lot of the time. His repeated words and phrases like "ha ha ha" and "clack clack clacky clack clackity clack clack" and "wisssssshhhhhhh" seem musical because he speaks and describes things with sounds.
Also about Alex's passion for Classical Music, I found this: (I did not come up with this myself)
"Classical music enters A Clockwork Orange on a number of levels. On the formal level, the structure of the novel is patterned after musical forms. The novel, which is divided into three parts of seven chapters each, assumes an ABA form, analogous to an operatic aria. Accordingly, Parts 1 and 3 are mirror images of each other, while Part Two is substantially different. The A sections both take place on the streets near Alex’s home and in a country cottage, while the B section takes place in a jail. The A sections begin with Alex asking himself “What’s it going to be then, eh?” The B section begins with the same question, but this time, the prison chaplain asks the question to Alex. The A sections identify Alex by name, while the B section identifies him by number. Additionally, the A sections, as mirror images of each other, feature inversions of the same plot. Whereas, in Part One, Alex preys on unwitting and unwilling victims, in Part Three those same victims wittingly and willingly prey on him. These formal symmetries help us to make comparisons as the thematic material develops over the course of the novel."
I thought that was very interesting; I would have never thought of that! I never would have noticed those patterns, but now I can see how they are related to music. I can't believe Burgess went that far to do that, but it's very cool. | | | 0 | 8/22/2010 2:32 AM | A Clockwork Orange A theme touched upon in this novel, is the ability to choose your actions. Good behavior doesn't count for anything unless the good behavior was chosen. In the novel, Burgess argues that although Alex chose to be evil, at least he had the choice to do so. After the Ludovico's Technique, Alex loses the ability to make his own moral choices because the technique (associative learning) causes him to become nauseated just at the thought of any violent act. Therefore, he doesn't really have a choice of whether to be good or bad, so he's not actually a good person. But what's a real human being if they can't make their own moral choices? That was the problem; Alex became less of a human being and more of a "robot" or an object in a way because his ability to make moral decisions was taken away from him. This is why although it would let Alex make his own choices again (for which he would choose to be bad) he needed the "Reclamation Treatment." The chaplain tells Alex that "goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man." | | | 3 | 8/22/2010 1:16 AM | The Awakening: The ending At the end, Chopin returns to the scene at the beach and Edna swimming. When Edna swam for the first time by herself, she felt fear but above that she felt free. By returning to that same scene, a year later, it is easy to see what Edna has accomplished as an individual. She is no longer restrained by Leonce, Robert, her children, or anyone else around her. As she swims in the ocean, she can swim on forever or at any moment turn back towards the shore. In her own life, she can continue to be an awakened individual and have no limitations, or she can return to the life of caring for her family and living a social standard. It's up to her. | | | 2 | 8/22/2010 1:07 AM | The Awakening: Dr. Mandelet In chapter 22, Mr. Pontellier visits with Dr. Mandelet. This visit somewhat surprised me because although Leonce has sensed something wrong with Edna he has never really done anything about it up until now. When talking with the doctor he said something that grabbed my attention: "She's making it devilishly uncomfortable for me... She's got some sort of notion in her head concerning the eternal rights of women" (pg. 88). When Leonce said this he made it seem as if it was something bad for women to be involved in and in a way it may have been. During this time period women were still considered the care-givers for the children and the housewives to maintain the household, but Edna is the opposite. She is starting to feel awakened and sensing that she as her own rights as a woman. I think the meeting with the doctor is the turning point for Leonce. He seemed hesitant to speak of such feminist acts, but once he did, I think he realized his wife is involved, and there's nothing he can do to stop her. After the meeting with the doctor Leonce somewhat understands what Edna is going through and leaves her alone. |
|
|
|
|
|
|