Comparison
In William Shakespeare's two histories, Henry V and Richard III; there is one great opposite through out the two plays. Henry V is a great hero and respected by all of his men meanwhile Richard is a lying, two faced man who slowly kills off all the people in his life. The differences come about in the speeches that Henry makes and the secrets that Richard keeps. King Henry wants to do the best he can for all his people but Richard just kills them all.
Henry V is considered to be a great hero who leads all his men to defeat France and be able to take his land and the throne. The way he does this is through his strong and powerful speeches to his men. Henry is a very positive person who has confidence and when he speaks to his men he raises their spirits. He is very open with the fact that he wants to take the thrown of France which through blood he rightfully should have. When he needs his troops the most and they are feeling out numbered and ready to fail he knows just the right things to say. He makes everyone feel like they are needed and more importantly that they are fighting for a very good cause. He shows them that they are all on the same level and he is a regular person just like them.
Richard does not have the same faith and compassion in people as Henry does. Henry speaks to everyone and tells them the way he is feeling but Richard does not let anyone know how he's really feeling. He is also considered to be two faced because of the way he acts in front of people but then turns around and says and does something else. Richard had the same plan of taking a throne but does it in a different way then Henry. His way of taking control is by killing people in the way of him becoming king. Richard did not deserve the crown and in the end after killing many people including his wife, he did not succeed.
In Shakespeare's two histories the speeches that Henry V gives and the secrets that Richard the III keeps are two drastic opposites. King Henry speaks with power and shows the strength he has when he talks to his people, Richard keeps everything a secret and when people are not looking he kills everyone who is in his way.
Commentary
The histories are a type of play that either come out with a hero or someone who tries to destroy everything and that is just what these two plays had, Richard being the "Bad guy" and Henry being the hero. In both of the plays there is someone that is striving to reach for something bigger and better then what they have. Without these two types of people there would be no plot line and there would be no reason for the plays. Both Henry and Richard were striving to take thrones and needed the help from others to help them succeed.
Both histories have two powerful men, one who gets what they wanted and one that loses his life in the end. One person is the perfect definition of a hero who leads his troops to victory and one is the opposite who tries to take matter into his own hands and dies in the end. Shakespeare uses his histories to show the two types of people there can be and the effect they have on others.
Personal Reflection
The two plays have two different people who I found very interesting. Richard the III was such a cruel man who only thought of himself and I was able to make so many connections to people in my life who think along the same lines. Richard was also very two faced like many people in the real world. Henry was clearly the complete opposite and a huge hero. The opposite main characters that Shakespeare has in his two plays makes it easy to see the different ways that the men went about trying to become king. Henry was brave and strong but Richard was nasty and hurt people to get what he wanted. It very similar to people in the real world. Some people strive hard to get what they want and through many challenges they will succeed, others try to take the easy way out and in the end they do not get what they want.
I was able to relate the two histories to real life and I think that Shakespeare made it very clear that he had two completely different people trying to reach the same goal but with only one succeeding.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Monday, December 15, 2008
The Comedies
Language Comparison:
William Shakespeare seems to use insults to add comedy through out his plays especially, The Taming of the Shrew, A Mid-Summer Nights Dream, and the Tempest. In all three there was harsh insults being thrown back and forth from one person to another. This not only adds something to laugh at but shows the stupidity in many people. Some of the things the characters were fighting about made no sense at all like when Petruchio and Kate were being nasty to each other. That was just one person trying to be crueler then the other person and prove their love. How could insults being said back and forth prove to Kate that Petruchio likes her? In a Mid- Summer Nights Dream when all the characters are in the woods and Bottom is making a fool out of himself, people are saying nasty things to him that he does not even realize. In one case Shakespeare uses insults to try and prove the love between two people and in another to show the stupidity and how naive people can be. In the Tempest when Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo are all fighting on the beach, there are some insults said there too. That is also another scene where the nasty exchanges between characters shows stupidity. They were fighting over ridiculous things and that is shown through insults.
Shakespeare is a very good writer and he knows how to make his plays funny by using simple things such as insults to hold peoples attention.
Commentary:
Through out the three plays: A Mid-Summer Nights Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Tempest; there are similar characters throughout. There are three blocking figures that do things to cause others to be unhappy such as Hermia not being able to marry Lysander and Ferdinand having to follow strict rules to marry Miranda. In the play A Mid-Summer Nights Dream, Egeus, is the blocking figure that will not allow his daughter Hermia to marry her love Lysander. He would much rather her marry Demetrius just because he is of a higher social status then Lysander. In the end of the play its clear that there was no reason for Egeus to keep Hermia from being with Lysander, he was just being difficult and adding conflict to the play.
In the play, The Taming of the Shrew, Baptista, is the blocking figure that does not want any man to marry his daughter Bianca until his other daughter Kate is married. Kate is a shrewd and terrible girl that scares everyone away with her harsh personality and Bianca is the sweet girl that everyone wants to be with. Once again there was no reason for Baptista to come up with this rule but he followed through with it. In the end of the play both daughters end up being married off, Bianca to Lucentio and Petruchio to Kate. There was no reason for Baptista to want his daughters married in this order but both girls found husbands and that's all that mattered in the end.
The Tempest is a play that has a very protective father over his daughter Miranda. Prospero acts as a blocking figure when Ferdinand comes into the picture; a man left shipwrecked on an island due to a great storm. Ferdinand is the first man that Miranda had ever set her eyes on other then her father and Prospero made sure that Ferdinand did all that he said in order to marry his daughter. After Prospero sets the guidelines for Ferdinand, they are completely followed and Ferdinand and Miranda get married. Once again there is a blocking figure in the play, Prospero, that adds some confrontation and obstacles for other characters. There is the same idea of the blocking figure throughout all three plays. These characters may only cause small problems but in the end there is usually happiness and the obstacles have been over come.
Personal Reflection:
William Shakespeare's comedies: A Mid-Summer Nights Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Tempest; are three plays that use fools and magic to make the play funny. Shakespeare used certain characters such as Bottom from the play A Mid-Summer Nights Dream to portray the naive people in this world. He was a character that tried to seem intelligent and believed he was the smartest man alive but really he made himself out to be an "ass". The play became so funny with Bottom because of his stupidity and Shakespeare does a good job at using this to entertain the audience. Shakespeare also used the characters Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo from The Tempest to show fools in society. They made the butler believe he was a powerful man with a servant when really he had no power over anybody. Caliban and Trinculo start to fight and then Ariel comes into the picture and pretends to talk for Trinculo. I really enjoyed how Shakespeare then uses magic to make Ariel invisible to cause the two fools to start fighting.
Magic was another thing I enjoyed in the plays. It made them different then other novels and stories when magical creatures come into the picture and start playing tricks on other people like Puck in a Mid-Summer and Ariel in The Tempest. William Shakespeare's plays uses fools and magic to make them different and some added comedy to please the audience.
William Shakespeare seems to use insults to add comedy through out his plays especially, The Taming of the Shrew, A Mid-Summer Nights Dream, and the Tempest. In all three there was harsh insults being thrown back and forth from one person to another. This not only adds something to laugh at but shows the stupidity in many people. Some of the things the characters were fighting about made no sense at all like when Petruchio and Kate were being nasty to each other. That was just one person trying to be crueler then the other person and prove their love. How could insults being said back and forth prove to Kate that Petruchio likes her? In a Mid- Summer Nights Dream when all the characters are in the woods and Bottom is making a fool out of himself, people are saying nasty things to him that he does not even realize. In one case Shakespeare uses insults to try and prove the love between two people and in another to show the stupidity and how naive people can be. In the Tempest when Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo are all fighting on the beach, there are some insults said there too. That is also another scene where the nasty exchanges between characters shows stupidity. They were fighting over ridiculous things and that is shown through insults.
Shakespeare is a very good writer and he knows how to make his plays funny by using simple things such as insults to hold peoples attention.
Commentary:
Through out the three plays: A Mid-Summer Nights Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Tempest; there are similar characters throughout. There are three blocking figures that do things to cause others to be unhappy such as Hermia not being able to marry Lysander and Ferdinand having to follow strict rules to marry Miranda. In the play A Mid-Summer Nights Dream, Egeus, is the blocking figure that will not allow his daughter Hermia to marry her love Lysander. He would much rather her marry Demetrius just because he is of a higher social status then Lysander. In the end of the play its clear that there was no reason for Egeus to keep Hermia from being with Lysander, he was just being difficult and adding conflict to the play.
In the play, The Taming of the Shrew, Baptista, is the blocking figure that does not want any man to marry his daughter Bianca until his other daughter Kate is married. Kate is a shrewd and terrible girl that scares everyone away with her harsh personality and Bianca is the sweet girl that everyone wants to be with. Once again there was no reason for Baptista to come up with this rule but he followed through with it. In the end of the play both daughters end up being married off, Bianca to Lucentio and Petruchio to Kate. There was no reason for Baptista to want his daughters married in this order but both girls found husbands and that's all that mattered in the end.
The Tempest is a play that has a very protective father over his daughter Miranda. Prospero acts as a blocking figure when Ferdinand comes into the picture; a man left shipwrecked on an island due to a great storm. Ferdinand is the first man that Miranda had ever set her eyes on other then her father and Prospero made sure that Ferdinand did all that he said in order to marry his daughter. After Prospero sets the guidelines for Ferdinand, they are completely followed and Ferdinand and Miranda get married. Once again there is a blocking figure in the play, Prospero, that adds some confrontation and obstacles for other characters. There is the same idea of the blocking figure throughout all three plays. These characters may only cause small problems but in the end there is usually happiness and the obstacles have been over come.
Personal Reflection:
William Shakespeare's comedies: A Mid-Summer Nights Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Tempest; are three plays that use fools and magic to make the play funny. Shakespeare used certain characters such as Bottom from the play A Mid-Summer Nights Dream to portray the naive people in this world. He was a character that tried to seem intelligent and believed he was the smartest man alive but really he made himself out to be an "ass". The play became so funny with Bottom because of his stupidity and Shakespeare does a good job at using this to entertain the audience. Shakespeare also used the characters Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo from The Tempest to show fools in society. They made the butler believe he was a powerful man with a servant when really he had no power over anybody. Caliban and Trinculo start to fight and then Ariel comes into the picture and pretends to talk for Trinculo. I really enjoyed how Shakespeare then uses magic to make Ariel invisible to cause the two fools to start fighting.
Magic was another thing I enjoyed in the plays. It made them different then other novels and stories when magical creatures come into the picture and start playing tricks on other people like Puck in a Mid-Summer and Ariel in The Tempest. William Shakespeare's plays uses fools and magic to make them different and some added comedy to please the audience.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
A Tale of Two Cities
Analysis
Charles Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Cities, uses many symbols and literary devices to describe events that are taking place with great detail. One major literary device would be the foreshadowing with the spilled wine all over the streets. When the wine gets dumped all over the streets the peasants immediately start drinking the wine right off the ground. They do not care that it is dirty and now contaminated from the ground, their only concern is how hungry they are. The wine represents both hunger for food and hunger for political freedom. The time period is a time of starvation and struggle so the second the peasants spotted something to eat they frantically scooped it up. The way the peasants fell to the ground and quickly started to drink the wine foreshadows how a revolution and mob is going to occur. Since the wine was red it stained many of the hands, faces, and even bare feet of all the people and made them in a way look "blood thirsty". These people wanted both freedom and for the hunger to go away, and that is just what this scene portrayed, the desperation of the people.
There were also many other accounts of literary devices such as the repetition of the word hunger on page 22. The descriptions and repetition is used to show just how hungry the people were.
Quote:
"Pick up that, philosopher and vendor of wine," said the Marquis throwing him another gold coin, "and spend it as you will. The horses there; are they right" (85).
This quote shows just how much of a terrible person Marquis is. When he discovers that his carriage has ran over a young boy the only thing he takes the time to do it flip the boys father a gold coin. He dragged the young boy down the road and killed him but there was no remorse nor did he care the slightest bit. He wanted to pay off the father for killing his son and keep on his way and that is exactly what he did. He did not even have the courtesy to ask if the boy was alright but instead was concerned if his horses were okay. Marquis was even offended when the coin he through to the man was thrown back at him. He had just killed a young boy and yet he was offended when the father did not except his measly money. In the following pages it also describes everything concerning Marquis to stone which represents the cold heart the man has. This passage shows just how terrible Marquis really is.
Opinion
I thought A Tale of Two Cities was hard to get through due to all the heavy descriptions. Once I started to read into some of them it became clear how good of a writer Dickens really is, such as the beginning paragraph starting with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." I thought that passage was the best in the whole book and written very well.
The topic of the novel was very boring and I personally did not enjoy reading it but the end surprised me. When Carton dies instead of Darnay I was very surprised. I thought it was pretty brave of him and showed just how good of a person Carton was. He believed he was doing the proper thing by dying for Darnay. I did not enjoy this book but I believe that Dickens has a very unique writing style and uses a lot of detail.
Charles Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Cities, uses many symbols and literary devices to describe events that are taking place with great detail. One major literary device would be the foreshadowing with the spilled wine all over the streets. When the wine gets dumped all over the streets the peasants immediately start drinking the wine right off the ground. They do not care that it is dirty and now contaminated from the ground, their only concern is how hungry they are. The wine represents both hunger for food and hunger for political freedom. The time period is a time of starvation and struggle so the second the peasants spotted something to eat they frantically scooped it up. The way the peasants fell to the ground and quickly started to drink the wine foreshadows how a revolution and mob is going to occur. Since the wine was red it stained many of the hands, faces, and even bare feet of all the people and made them in a way look "blood thirsty". These people wanted both freedom and for the hunger to go away, and that is just what this scene portrayed, the desperation of the people.
There were also many other accounts of literary devices such as the repetition of the word hunger on page 22. The descriptions and repetition is used to show just how hungry the people were.
Quote:
"Pick up that, philosopher and vendor of wine," said the Marquis throwing him another gold coin, "and spend it as you will. The horses there; are they right" (85).
This quote shows just how much of a terrible person Marquis is. When he discovers that his carriage has ran over a young boy the only thing he takes the time to do it flip the boys father a gold coin. He dragged the young boy down the road and killed him but there was no remorse nor did he care the slightest bit. He wanted to pay off the father for killing his son and keep on his way and that is exactly what he did. He did not even have the courtesy to ask if the boy was alright but instead was concerned if his horses were okay. Marquis was even offended when the coin he through to the man was thrown back at him. He had just killed a young boy and yet he was offended when the father did not except his measly money. In the following pages it also describes everything concerning Marquis to stone which represents the cold heart the man has. This passage shows just how terrible Marquis really is.
Opinion
I thought A Tale of Two Cities was hard to get through due to all the heavy descriptions. Once I started to read into some of them it became clear how good of a writer Dickens really is, such as the beginning paragraph starting with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." I thought that passage was the best in the whole book and written very well.
The topic of the novel was very boring and I personally did not enjoy reading it but the end surprised me. When Carton dies instead of Darnay I was very surprised. I thought it was pretty brave of him and showed just how good of a person Carton was. He believed he was doing the proper thing by dying for Darnay. I did not enjoy this book but I believe that Dickens has a very unique writing style and uses a lot of detail.
Monday, November 3, 2008
The Importance of Being Ernest
Analysis
Oscar Wilde's play, The Importance of Being Earnest, is a work that has many trivial ideas that out way the important ones. The author does a very good job at describing the way he views certain groups of society through his characters. One main character, Lady Bracknell, is the perfect description of people who believe they are the symbol of importance in society. She believes that everything she says is proper and everyone must listen to her. The main characters in this play all believe that they are perfect in every way when really they are far from it.
There are many accounts in the play where a situation occurs that should not be taken lightly and yet the characters just brush it off as if there is nothing wrong. When both Cecily and Gwendolen find out the men they are about to marry have been lying to them and have told them fake identities, they simply fight over dessert. How could you push aside something as severe as being lied to by your fiance and focus on being served cake instead of bread and butter. You would think that people who believe they are of such high standards and proper would take things more seriously and not so lightly. At another time in the play Jack and Algernon have a very long talk on the proper way to eat a muffin when in reality they should have been concerned with losing their fiances. Again a very large situation occurs and the characters focus on small trivial things that do nothing for the situation they are faced with.
Appearance can only take you so far in many if not all societies. These characters are of high status and believe to be following proper Victorian etiquette but really they are making fools out of themselves. Their ideas are complete nonsense and they focus on the small non important aspects of life. You would think that people of this type of society would have a large amount of intelligence, but that is only what appears on the outside. This play, The Importance of Being Earnest, is a perfect example of how looks do not mean everything and intelligence should not be classified by the society you live in.
Quote:
"To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness" (14).
I think this quote shows just how intelligent Lady Bracknell really is. How do you make a comment such as this and expected to be taken seriously? You can not control the death of a parent and should not be judged because of it. It is such non sense that Lady Bracknell would look down upon Jack because he has no parents. That just proved how Lady Bracknell is only concerned with the social status of someone and nothing else. This character is the main example of how people in some societies judge others for the wrong reasons, and are only concerned with what they see and know on the outside rather then the inside.
Opinion
Over all I thought this play taught such a good lesson. It does not matter where you are from and how much money you have, that does not make you the top notch perfect person in life. There are so many flaws in people that others overlook just because they live in a rich place or have the money to spend. This play showed just how not everyone is perfect. The characters that were involved with this play focused so much on the proper ways to live life that they barely cared about the things that really mattered. I found it amazing that when you find out your fiance has completely lied to you, you can focus on dessert and not the secrets you were just told. How is that the right thing you should be doing? This play points out so many things that happen everyday that people over look and focus on the unimportant things instead.
I really liked this book and thought it taught a wonderful lesson and in a very funny way. The author was able to poke fun at these people and make it seem funny, and at the same time send out a very important message.
Oscar Wilde's play, The Importance of Being Earnest, is a work that has many trivial ideas that out way the important ones. The author does a very good job at describing the way he views certain groups of society through his characters. One main character, Lady Bracknell, is the perfect description of people who believe they are the symbol of importance in society. She believes that everything she says is proper and everyone must listen to her. The main characters in this play all believe that they are perfect in every way when really they are far from it.
There are many accounts in the play where a situation occurs that should not be taken lightly and yet the characters just brush it off as if there is nothing wrong. When both Cecily and Gwendolen find out the men they are about to marry have been lying to them and have told them fake identities, they simply fight over dessert. How could you push aside something as severe as being lied to by your fiance and focus on being served cake instead of bread and butter. You would think that people who believe they are of such high standards and proper would take things more seriously and not so lightly. At another time in the play Jack and Algernon have a very long talk on the proper way to eat a muffin when in reality they should have been concerned with losing their fiances. Again a very large situation occurs and the characters focus on small trivial things that do nothing for the situation they are faced with.
Appearance can only take you so far in many if not all societies. These characters are of high status and believe to be following proper Victorian etiquette but really they are making fools out of themselves. Their ideas are complete nonsense and they focus on the small non important aspects of life. You would think that people of this type of society would have a large amount of intelligence, but that is only what appears on the outside. This play, The Importance of Being Earnest, is a perfect example of how looks do not mean everything and intelligence should not be classified by the society you live in.
Quote:
"To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness" (14).
I think this quote shows just how intelligent Lady Bracknell really is. How do you make a comment such as this and expected to be taken seriously? You can not control the death of a parent and should not be judged because of it. It is such non sense that Lady Bracknell would look down upon Jack because he has no parents. That just proved how Lady Bracknell is only concerned with the social status of someone and nothing else. This character is the main example of how people in some societies judge others for the wrong reasons, and are only concerned with what they see and know on the outside rather then the inside.
Opinion
Over all I thought this play taught such a good lesson. It does not matter where you are from and how much money you have, that does not make you the top notch perfect person in life. There are so many flaws in people that others overlook just because they live in a rich place or have the money to spend. This play showed just how not everyone is perfect. The characters that were involved with this play focused so much on the proper ways to live life that they barely cared about the things that really mattered. I found it amazing that when you find out your fiance has completely lied to you, you can focus on dessert and not the secrets you were just told. How is that the right thing you should be doing? This play points out so many things that happen everyday that people over look and focus on the unimportant things instead.
I really liked this book and thought it taught a wonderful lesson and in a very funny way. The author was able to poke fun at these people and make it seem funny, and at the same time send out a very important message.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Cat's Cradle
Analysis
The Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut is a novel that contains many conflicting ideas that are important to the lives of people. Certain scientific advancements can either help the public or harm them such as the creation of the atom bomb. Science can provide a wide variety of things ranging from medicine to inventions such as the cell phone.
In the novel there are two inventions that can both help and harm the society, but harm more then help. Science allows for the invention of the atom bomb, something that can take the lives of many people in one single second. It could be good for the destruction of an area in a split second but other then that there is nothing else that could benefit from something so strong and powerful. The creation of ice nine by Dr. Hoenikker was something that could end the world if it was handled the wrong way. The second ice nice hits a drop of water it freezes it in an instant. The only benefit from this invention would be to freeze over mud for troops to walk over and not spend the time getting stuck in it. Once again an invention intended for good turns out bad. In the novel ice nine is the cause for the end of the world and the end of human life. These are two examples of how science can produce good things but at the same time an equal amount of bad.
Dr. Hoenikker was a well known scientist who was the creator of the atom bomb. The question arises whether or not Felix was a good person. Could the creator of something so dangerous as ice nine be a normal, innocent person? Hoenikker did not want the fame and fortune for his inventions, he just did what he enjoyed and thought was right. He was not the type to hang out and interact with his family or anyone else. He cared more about science then he ever would about his family. This causes him to sound like a terrible person but would such an evil person enjoy studying turtles and have toys in his laboratory? Its hard to say whether or not Felix should be known as evil or innocent; his inventions were life threatening to the public, but he was a quiet man who enjoyed keeping to himself. Innocent or evil? Dr. Hoenikker was a mysterious man who created something that ended the world.
Quote:
"After the thing went off, after it was a sure thing that America could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to father and said, 'Science has now known sin.' And do you know what father said? He said, 'What is sin?'" (21).
I think it is very ironic that the one who just created the biggest sin known to man, has to ask what sin is. Taking the lives of people in one split second is considered to be the worst thing a person could do and yet Hoenikker has not the slightest idea. This novel is filled with many accounts of irony but this is one of the biggest ones that stuck out. The father of the atom bomb has to ask what exactly sin is even though he just created the biggest one possible. For such a brilliant scientist how could such a question be asked?
Opinion
I was not sure what to think when I first started reading this book. Was Dr. Felix Hoenikker a terrible man who could not be bothered to spend time with his children or did he have a reason to neglect them constantly? When I learned of ice-nine I went back to believing Hoenikker was a great scientist who did great things for the world. It seemed like such a great invention that could greatly lower the burden when obstacles are put in front of you like a large body of water you must cross. By the end of the book my opinion completely changed about ice-nine. It may have been a good thought but once it was created it was so incredibly dangerous. It lead to the destruction of human life and the end of the world. Something that is so powerful should not be in the hands of humans or even created. Dr. Hoenikker may have thought he was doing wonderful things but when you look back on his major inventions they only caused great problems, such as the atom bomb and ice-nine.
Overall I thought this book had some interesting ideas mainly being ice-nine. The question of Dr. Hoenikker being good or evil kept me wondering through the entire book and by the end I concluded that he was a good man at heart but when creating his inventions the evil came out.
The Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut is a novel that contains many conflicting ideas that are important to the lives of people. Certain scientific advancements can either help the public or harm them such as the creation of the atom bomb. Science can provide a wide variety of things ranging from medicine to inventions such as the cell phone.
In the novel there are two inventions that can both help and harm the society, but harm more then help. Science allows for the invention of the atom bomb, something that can take the lives of many people in one single second. It could be good for the destruction of an area in a split second but other then that there is nothing else that could benefit from something so strong and powerful. The creation of ice nine by Dr. Hoenikker was something that could end the world if it was handled the wrong way. The second ice nice hits a drop of water it freezes it in an instant. The only benefit from this invention would be to freeze over mud for troops to walk over and not spend the time getting stuck in it. Once again an invention intended for good turns out bad. In the novel ice nine is the cause for the end of the world and the end of human life. These are two examples of how science can produce good things but at the same time an equal amount of bad.
Dr. Hoenikker was a well known scientist who was the creator of the atom bomb. The question arises whether or not Felix was a good person. Could the creator of something so dangerous as ice nine be a normal, innocent person? Hoenikker did not want the fame and fortune for his inventions, he just did what he enjoyed and thought was right. He was not the type to hang out and interact with his family or anyone else. He cared more about science then he ever would about his family. This causes him to sound like a terrible person but would such an evil person enjoy studying turtles and have toys in his laboratory? Its hard to say whether or not Felix should be known as evil or innocent; his inventions were life threatening to the public, but he was a quiet man who enjoyed keeping to himself. Innocent or evil? Dr. Hoenikker was a mysterious man who created something that ended the world.
Quote:
"After the thing went off, after it was a sure thing that America could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to father and said, 'Science has now known sin.' And do you know what father said? He said, 'What is sin?'" (21).
I think it is very ironic that the one who just created the biggest sin known to man, has to ask what sin is. Taking the lives of people in one split second is considered to be the worst thing a person could do and yet Hoenikker has not the slightest idea. This novel is filled with many accounts of irony but this is one of the biggest ones that stuck out. The father of the atom bomb has to ask what exactly sin is even though he just created the biggest one possible. For such a brilliant scientist how could such a question be asked?
Opinion
I was not sure what to think when I first started reading this book. Was Dr. Felix Hoenikker a terrible man who could not be bothered to spend time with his children or did he have a reason to neglect them constantly? When I learned of ice-nine I went back to believing Hoenikker was a great scientist who did great things for the world. It seemed like such a great invention that could greatly lower the burden when obstacles are put in front of you like a large body of water you must cross. By the end of the book my opinion completely changed about ice-nine. It may have been a good thought but once it was created it was so incredibly dangerous. It lead to the destruction of human life and the end of the world. Something that is so powerful should not be in the hands of humans or even created. Dr. Hoenikker may have thought he was doing wonderful things but when you look back on his major inventions they only caused great problems, such as the atom bomb and ice-nine.
Overall I thought this book had some interesting ideas mainly being ice-nine. The question of Dr. Hoenikker being good or evil kept me wondering through the entire book and by the end I concluded that he was a good man at heart but when creating his inventions the evil came out.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The Handmaid's Tale
Analysis
Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid's Tale, is a novel that focuses on the control of women and men in the Republic of Gilead. In this society neither the men or the women seem to be enjoying the life they are forced to live. For the women, their rights are taken from them at the start of this new life in Gilead and never returned. They are to live the proper way according to the rules of their Aunts and the jobs they must fulfill such as being a Handmaid to a Commander.
The Handmaid's Tale contains many literary devices, a very important one being irony. Through out the novel it is stressed from the Aunts that the lives women have in Gilead are very good compared to their old ones. The Aunts explain that before the women began to enter this wonderful society they were completely mistreated by men. When Offred was younger she used to witness and take part in the burning of porn magazines with her mother. The magazines were said to be degrading to women and caused men to view them solely as items and not human beings. These magazines were to please the men and it upset many women. The Aunts also mentioned how in the old world terrible things happened to women such as rape. The men took advantage of them and sometimes hurt or killed them. In Gilead women were taught that these things did not occur and women were treated as well as possible.
The irony comes in when the ceremony is introduced between the Handmaid and the Commander. In this society the ceremony is a task between the men and the certain women that is performed to try and reproduce. There is no interaction between the two aloud and no emotion must be shown. It proves to be ironic when the women do not enjoy the ceremony and they are forced to do it such as when a woman is raped. Irony also takes place with the club Jezebels. It is a hidden place where all the commanders go to be in the company of women. They secretly interact with the women while they wear very reveling clothing. The only reason the men sneak out to these places at night is so they can enjoy being with a woman while she is throwing herself at them wearing little to no clothing. Even though the Aunts said this society was free from the harmful ways of men, Jezebels shows that men are still using woman just for pleasure. Irony is a big literary device in The Handmaid's Tale and shows how Gilead is in fact not the perfect place for a woman to live.
Quote:
"I would like to believe this is a story I'm telling. I need to believe it. Those who believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it's a story I'm telling, then I have control over the ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off" (39).
I think this is a very powerful quote because by Offred believing she is telling a story it gives her hope that she has control over the ending. In Gilead, a place where she has no freedom or rights, telling a story could be her way to rebel from the society. She is not aloud to talk or interact with anyone else so by creating this story in her head it is an escape for her. She also hopes that if she was telling the story and she had control over the plot eventually her life would go back to the way it was, before Gilead. This quote proves that Offred is really upset in her society but has no one to reach out to. She would do anything to go back to her old life with her husband and young daughter.
Opinion
When I first started reading this book I was not sure what to think of it. I thought it was terrible how the women were treated and did not understand why someone would want to write a novel like this one, but I also thought it was very well written. Offred's life was very boring and there was not that much action that took place but the author did a very good job at describing the events that happened.
The one thing that really shocked me in The Handmaid's Tale was the ceremony. I thought it was terrible how they took something that should be so special and filled with love and turned it into something where no emotion is shown. I also did not like how the women had no say in what was going on during the ceremony or at anytime for that matter. There were so many lies to the women just to make this perfect society and no one was even happy. I thought over all the events that took place in this book were terrible toward women but in a way it was interesting to hear Offred's side of the story and the pain she went through.
Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid's Tale, is a novel that focuses on the control of women and men in the Republic of Gilead. In this society neither the men or the women seem to be enjoying the life they are forced to live. For the women, their rights are taken from them at the start of this new life in Gilead and never returned. They are to live the proper way according to the rules of their Aunts and the jobs they must fulfill such as being a Handmaid to a Commander.
The Handmaid's Tale contains many literary devices, a very important one being irony. Through out the novel it is stressed from the Aunts that the lives women have in Gilead are very good compared to their old ones. The Aunts explain that before the women began to enter this wonderful society they were completely mistreated by men. When Offred was younger she used to witness and take part in the burning of porn magazines with her mother. The magazines were said to be degrading to women and caused men to view them solely as items and not human beings. These magazines were to please the men and it upset many women. The Aunts also mentioned how in the old world terrible things happened to women such as rape. The men took advantage of them and sometimes hurt or killed them. In Gilead women were taught that these things did not occur and women were treated as well as possible.
The irony comes in when the ceremony is introduced between the Handmaid and the Commander. In this society the ceremony is a task between the men and the certain women that is performed to try and reproduce. There is no interaction between the two aloud and no emotion must be shown. It proves to be ironic when the women do not enjoy the ceremony and they are forced to do it such as when a woman is raped. Irony also takes place with the club Jezebels. It is a hidden place where all the commanders go to be in the company of women. They secretly interact with the women while they wear very reveling clothing. The only reason the men sneak out to these places at night is so they can enjoy being with a woman while she is throwing herself at them wearing little to no clothing. Even though the Aunts said this society was free from the harmful ways of men, Jezebels shows that men are still using woman just for pleasure. Irony is a big literary device in The Handmaid's Tale and shows how Gilead is in fact not the perfect place for a woman to live.
Quote:
"I would like to believe this is a story I'm telling. I need to believe it. Those who believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it's a story I'm telling, then I have control over the ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off" (39).
I think this is a very powerful quote because by Offred believing she is telling a story it gives her hope that she has control over the ending. In Gilead, a place where she has no freedom or rights, telling a story could be her way to rebel from the society. She is not aloud to talk or interact with anyone else so by creating this story in her head it is an escape for her. She also hopes that if she was telling the story and she had control over the plot eventually her life would go back to the way it was, before Gilead. This quote proves that Offred is really upset in her society but has no one to reach out to. She would do anything to go back to her old life with her husband and young daughter.
Opinion
When I first started reading this book I was not sure what to think of it. I thought it was terrible how the women were treated and did not understand why someone would want to write a novel like this one, but I also thought it was very well written. Offred's life was very boring and there was not that much action that took place but the author did a very good job at describing the events that happened.
The one thing that really shocked me in The Handmaid's Tale was the ceremony. I thought it was terrible how they took something that should be so special and filled with love and turned it into something where no emotion is shown. I also did not like how the women had no say in what was going on during the ceremony or at anytime for that matter. There were so many lies to the women just to make this perfect society and no one was even happy. I thought over all the events that took place in this book were terrible toward women but in a way it was interesting to hear Offred's side of the story and the pain she went through.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Anthem
Analyze
Anthem takes place in a futuristic world but in reality they have really gone backwards in time. The characters have lost their real identity and have become nothing more but a number. Such things as love, friendship, electricity, and even true happiness was taken from this community of people and yet no body knows how to break free. The men and woman in this world do not even know something as simple as the word I. A one letter word that means so much has been taken from these people and replaced with We. Emotions are not to be shown amongst two people nor are they aloud to have any type of physical contact especailly between a man and woman. How is it possible that such a large community was completely reformed and changed by a small group of people? Where did the idea of taking people's identity away come from? And even the word I? The master minds of this community wanted to form a type of Utopia where everyone is the same and happy and life is good but that was not the case for all. Atleast there was one person in this community that knew how to get away. When the word "I" was introduced to him for the first time it was a great new expirience and he could finally express a true emotion to the woman he loved. A society without the word "I" seems impossible but in the book Anthem it was very much possible.
Passage
"We stood still; for the first time did we know fear, and then pain. And we stood still that we might not spill this pain more precious then pleasure" (39). To feel emotion is such a wonderful thing in someones life and for Equality this was his first expirience in feeling love and an attraction toward a woman, Liberty. Even though he did not know specifically what he was feeling he knew there was something there and seeing that girl made him feel good inside. Something that he had never felt before and he wanted to hold on to it for as long as possible. When he says it was "more precious then pleasure" he is feeling probably the largest amount of good emotion hes ever felt. I really liked this passage because its a big turning point for Equality. From that moment forward he realized there was something wrong with the life he was living. There is something missing in his life and even though he did not know the word for it or how to say it, it was still there and he couldn't ignore it.
Opinion
Anthem was a wonderful book that took you trough the life of a man who had many new expiriences and eventually found love. It grabbed me right from the beginning when I had to figure out why the man was always refering to himself as "We" insead of me or I. I was very interested on how a community could be turned around and brought backwards in time while at the same time going forward. They lived with no electricity and acted like they had no idea what it was when it was discovered again for the first time. People were refered to by numbers instead of names and there was no personal freedom. Living without the word "I" seems like such a unique idea and it kept me reading and very interested. The ending of the book was very good as well. It described a life that was basically starting over and giving two people hope for a better world. Anthem was one of my favorite books and had such a unique concept.
Anthem takes place in a futuristic world but in reality they have really gone backwards in time. The characters have lost their real identity and have become nothing more but a number. Such things as love, friendship, electricity, and even true happiness was taken from this community of people and yet no body knows how to break free. The men and woman in this world do not even know something as simple as the word I. A one letter word that means so much has been taken from these people and replaced with We. Emotions are not to be shown amongst two people nor are they aloud to have any type of physical contact especailly between a man and woman. How is it possible that such a large community was completely reformed and changed by a small group of people? Where did the idea of taking people's identity away come from? And even the word I? The master minds of this community wanted to form a type of Utopia where everyone is the same and happy and life is good but that was not the case for all. Atleast there was one person in this community that knew how to get away. When the word "I" was introduced to him for the first time it was a great new expirience and he could finally express a true emotion to the woman he loved. A society without the word "I" seems impossible but in the book Anthem it was very much possible.
Passage
"We stood still; for the first time did we know fear, and then pain. And we stood still that we might not spill this pain more precious then pleasure" (39). To feel emotion is such a wonderful thing in someones life and for Equality this was his first expirience in feeling love and an attraction toward a woman, Liberty. Even though he did not know specifically what he was feeling he knew there was something there and seeing that girl made him feel good inside. Something that he had never felt before and he wanted to hold on to it for as long as possible. When he says it was "more precious then pleasure" he is feeling probably the largest amount of good emotion hes ever felt. I really liked this passage because its a big turning point for Equality. From that moment forward he realized there was something wrong with the life he was living. There is something missing in his life and even though he did not know the word for it or how to say it, it was still there and he couldn't ignore it.
Opinion
Anthem was a wonderful book that took you trough the life of a man who had many new expiriences and eventually found love. It grabbed me right from the beginning when I had to figure out why the man was always refering to himself as "We" insead of me or I. I was very interested on how a community could be turned around and brought backwards in time while at the same time going forward. They lived with no electricity and acted like they had no idea what it was when it was discovered again for the first time. People were refered to by numbers instead of names and there was no personal freedom. Living without the word "I" seems like such a unique idea and it kept me reading and very interested. The ending of the book was very good as well. It described a life that was basically starting over and giving two people hope for a better world. Anthem was one of my favorite books and had such a unique concept.
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