Pride and Prejudice

                Pride and Prejudice was written by Jane Austen. The setting of the novel is rural England, around the turn of the 19^th century.

Elizabeth-  The protagonist. The most quick witted and sensible of the Bennet daughters.

Fitzwilliam Darcy- Elizabeth’s eventual lover. Initially cast in a negative light, but his goodness shines through.

Jane- The oldest and prettiest daughter. Scoops up Bingley.

Charles Bingley- Owner of Netherfield and the hottest bachelor in town.

Mr. Bennet- The father of all the daughters. Smart.

Mrs. Bennet- The mother of the all the daughters. Stupid.

George Wickham- Bad guy who tries to get Elizabeth, fails miserably, runs off with Lydia

Lydia- The aforementioned daughter. Young and foolish.

                The novel is narrated in third person, with an omniscient narrator. The narrator uses a great deal of eloquent language, never delving into any type of slang, in order to convey, or possibly satirize the prim and proper English countryside lifestyle of the time. Imagery is used in the novel to describe the countryside. Pride and Prejudice is notably low on symbols, due to its reliance on dialogue.

                A new man moves into the neighborhood, and the girlies in town want to get with him, in the most proper English fashion that is. At the next social function the new man, Bingley, goes over splendidly. But his friend, Darcy, is deemed a jerk because he refuses to dance with Elizabeth. But as time passes and they see each other more frequently they become attracted to each other. Jane and Bingley start to hit it off as well. Jane gets ill and has to stay at Bingley’s house, and Elizabeth and darcy get the chance to flirt more. Then Mr. Collins, a man who stands to inherit the Bennet house, comes into the picture and proposes to Elizabeth. She denies. Shortly after she meets Wickham, who convinces her Darcy is a no good rotten bum. Then Bingley and Darcy leave and Mr. Collins marries Elizabeth’s best friend, which is a shocker.

                The next spring Darcy visits Charlotte in London is happened upon by Darcy, who swiftly proposes marriage. Elizabeth swiftly rejects him, telling him she doesn’t like him one bit. He writes a letter which outlines the real cause of Wickham’s contempt for him and Elizabeth realizes that he is a good guy after all. Wickham than elopes with Lydia. The family is fearful of the social backlash such scandalous action would cause, but they soon marry due to payments from none other than Mr. Darcy. Bingley proposes to Jane, Darcy to Elizabeth. Woohoo.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

This quote is used to describe Bingley. It is important because it helps establish the social climate of Rural London for the reader. It’s the backdrop for all the events in the play, and it sounds like something Mrs. Bennet would say.

“A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment.”

This quote also helps establish the norm, which Elizabeth deviates from. Without this as the standard template of a young woman of this era, Elizabeth cannot be fully appreciated. It describes Lydia perfectly though.

Theme: True love, or whatever you would like to call it, is built by a mutual respect, caring, and adoration as well as common interests, and often follows a very treacherous path..

Elizabeth and Darcy show the signs of a modern romance. They encounter all the stumbling blocks, in Elizabethan(right era?) form that those build love based off of mutual respect and adoration, among other things. The author confirms this by juxtaposing there romance to almost every other conceivable type, and allowing the reader to decide which one  they prefer, but the clear bias is in the way of Elizabeth’s. She is, after all, the author’s name sake. The tone of pomp and circumstance is used to contrast the courtship of Elizabeth and Darcy, to show that it truly is genuine.

Fifth Business

 Fifth Business is a novel by Robertson Davies. The setting changes throughout the novel, encompassing most of the globe. It takes place in the years shortly before and about fifty years after WWI.

Dunstan- The main character of the novel. Introverted. The novel takes the form of a letter written by him, to outline the exploits of his life, and proof that he mattered.

Percy Boyd Staunton “Boy”-  Ramsay’s foil. Extroverted. Kinky.

Mary Dempster- A woman Dunstan believes to be a fool saint.

Paul Dempster- Son of a saint. Christ figure. Evolves into Magnus Eisengrim.

Diana Marfleet- Nurse who cares for him after his injuries, falls in love with him.

Leola Cruishank- Woman Dunny falls in love with. She eventually chooses Boy, much to his chagrin.

Liesl- A (anti-)babe that teaches Dunstan who he really is.

                The point of view in the novel is unreliable first person. The unreliable first person is fitting because one of the major themes of the novel is the difference between myth, belief, faith, and spirituality. The questioning of Dunstan’s word makes us question what we really should believe, just like Dunny does this throughout the novel. The style of this book is characterized by a veneer of objectivity, with emotion, bias, and humanity hidden beneath the surface. Prominent symbols in this novel include the saints, the statue he sees before he gets hurt, and the rock that hits Mary Dempster. Dunstan unintentionally creates a pretentious, obnoxious tone through “his” prose style.

                The novel begins with Mary Dempster being hit by a snowball that was intended for Dunstan, which forces her to have her baby extremely premature. The Dempsters then become reliant on the help of Dunstan’s family. Dunstan teaches paul his first magic trick. Mary allows a homeless man to “copulate” with her, and her social standing is forever ruined. Mary Dempster brings Dunny’s brother back to life. Dunny’s mom starts driving him crazy so he runs off to join the army. Does valiant things at the battle of Passcheandale( no idea how to spell that) and is awarded the Victoria’s Cross. He sees a statue of the Virgin and Child before he blacks out on the battlefield. Dunny is then nursed back to health by Diana Marfleet, who falls in love with him. She teaches him how to love physically but never falls for her. Gives him the name of Dunny. Returns to his hometown of Deptford to find Boy and the first girl he loved engaged.takes it will. Leaves Deptford.

                Studies at the University of Toronto. Boy blossoms into an incredible man, still finds time to take care of Dunny financially. Dunstan morphs into an eccentric teacher interesting in hagiology.  Finds the whereabouts of Mary dempster and determines she is a fool saint. Travels to Europe and happens upon paul, their first reunion. Paul steals his wallet. Boy gets ever richer, this time from his company doing well during the depression. Starts taking care of Mary Dempster again. Writes some books having to do with saints. The Staunton household collapses and Leola professes her love for Dunny, then attempts suicide. Dunny has the awkward job of patching things up. Gets appointed Headmaster, then forced to step down, with the caveat that he gets to take a sabbatical. Goes to Mexico city, meets paul for the second time, only under the name Magnus eisengrim. Leisl makes love to Dunstan and shows him who he truly is, Fifth Business. Mary Dempster dies. Boy remarries, tries to get into politics. Boy dies in a car crash, and Dunstan suffers a heart attack. Thus prompting his retirement and the letter.

“I had been sledding with my  lifelong friend and enemy, Percy Boyd Staunton.”

This quote is important because it establishes the two characters as foils and sets the stage for a life time of contrast. They have considerable similarities, but Boy is the classic extrovert with Dunny being the classic introvert.

“And that Headmaster, is all I have to tell you”

This quote was funny because it commented on the arrogance of Dunny. How could you possibly end a letter like that, when the letter ran more than 250 pages? It is the final reaffirmation that Dunstan is a seriously unreliable narrator, and his motives need to be examined when reading his account of his life.

Theme: Myth and the truth are inevitably intertwined.

Dunstan explores this through analyzing the saintly occurrences in his life to great detail. Davies explores this through the use of Dunny as an unreliable narrator, the reader needs to constantly try to derive the truth from the myths and truths presented by Dunny.

                

Ceremony

The author of Ceremony is Leslie Marmon Silko. She is a Native American of Laguna Pueblo ancestry. The majority of this novel takes place in the Laguna reservation in the Southwestern United States, right after the Second World War.

Tayo- Half Laguna Half white main character. Undergoes a series of ceremonies to rid himself of sickness.

Betonie- The medicine man who shows Tayo how to do the ceremonies.

Auntie- Tayo’s aunt. Never lets him forget about his mother. She is fervently Christian.

Josiah-  Tayo’s uncle. His role model. Dies while Tayo is in the Philippines.

Rocky- Tayo’s cousin. Dies in WWII. He was supposed to be perfect.

                Tayo returns from the war with an incredible mental and physical sickness. It was sparked by his insistence that he saw his uncle’s face among dead Japanese soldiers. It turns out that his uncle is dead. He believes a prayer to end the rain in the Philippines caused a drought on his reservation. He turns to drinking, with all of his childhood friends who were also at war. They reminisce about how good they had it with the white culture during the war.

                Josiah buys some Mexican cattle, at the urging of the Night swan, A babe that later seduces Tayo too. After that Tayo first meets Betonie, after a recommendation from another medicine man. Betonie tells tayo that whites are the result of Native American witchery, and they are causing the destruction that Tayo is witnessing. Tayo then begans the journey to find Josiah’s cattle, in the process finds Ts’eh, who becomes his lady friend nommsayyin. He finds out the cattle are in a white man’s fences and is almost caught trying to free them, but a mountain lion appears and distracts his would be captors. He then honors the kitty. Returning the cattle home made him feel better, but not healed. After spending lots of time with Ts’eh he finds out one of his old friends, Emo, has been spreading rumors about him and the white police are after him. He gets pursued by his old friends, who try to draw him out by torturing his best friend at the time, but he doesn’t leave the safety of his hiding spot because he knows that will only continue the cycle of witchery in his life, thus the ceremony is complete.

                Leslie Marmon Silko utilizes her native American ancestry.  She weaves the stories of her people into her narrative, making use of her knowledge of the American southwest. The images in her books are thought provoking, and she is particularly fond of using color for everything. Every color in the novel has a meaning and she is consistent with it. She uses the whole Native American subset of images and symbols, so in order to fully understand her novels you need to understand those. She also adds variance to the work by frequently including poems that add meaning to the work through traditional stories.

“White smoke had no consciousness of itself”- Narrator

When Tayo was at the height of his sickness Silko described him as white smoke. This was commentary on the clash of culture going on in his head. He would soon discover that he didn’t get the same treatment from whites that he got during the war, and it was incredibly frustrating for him. This quote establishes that the ceremony is necessary for Tayo to gain “consciousness” of himself.

“It seems like I already heard these stories before, only thing is the names sound different.”- Grandma

This quote comments on how change is never really change, that things cycle, and all the things Tayo has experienced, and the Native people have experienced, will be experienced again by another generation.

Theme: The most important thing in life is tradition.

This is fairly straightforward. Tayo, and the Native American people, are sick when they don’t understand the traditions of their ancestors. The stories told throughout the the novel are not just stories, they offer all Native americans a guide for making it through adversity. They teach younger generations how to interact with the world, even if it means integrating parts of other cultures. They highlight what is important.

Hamlet

Hamlet (pronounced “Hammlayyyyy”) was written by William Shakespeare. You may have heard of him. The setting is the castle of Elsinore, in Denmark.

Hamlet: The main character. He spends the play agonizing over whether he should kill his uncle for killing his father.

Claudius: Hamlet’s uncle. He killed Hamlet’s father.

Gertrude: Hamlet’s mom. She loves Hamlet(maybe a little too much), but doesn’t understand the situation she is in.

Polonius- He is a pompous douche. Also the father of Ophelia and Horatio.

Ophelia- Hamlet loves her. She is obedient to her family.

Laertes- The brother of Ophelia. He is a foil to Hamlet.

Hamlet(Dead version)- Hamlet’s dead father. Killed by Claudius.

                Shakespeare’s writing style is legendary. He is well known for his use of Soliloquy. His “To be or not to be” soliloquy is one of the most well-known passages in English literature. He makes use of extended metaphors and he is known for his double entendres, bawdy humor being a favorite of his. The tone of Hamlet is exceptionally dark, but that comes with the territory, especially when incest is a motif. The ghost in the novel is a symbol of death, and how no man can escape it, even the greatest of kings.  The most notable image in the novel is in the beginning when the image of Elsinore as a dark, foreboding place is etched in the readers mind, foreshadowing the rest of the novel.

The play begins with two watchmen witnessing the dead king of Denmark floating around. They quickly summon Hamlet and he speaks to his apparition. The apparition tells him that Claudius killed his father. Its then that Hamlet begins his struggle over whether or not to kill Claudius, although he swears to do it, the thought of it sends him to the brink of madness. The new king and old queen notice and recruit some of his old friends to intervene (they are dead). Ophelia agrees to let Polonius to spy on her conversation with the humble prince. Hamlet goes ham on her.

                Sometime after a troupe of actors plays a scene very similar to Claudius’ killing of the old king. When Claudius reacts vehemently to it, it proves his guilt in Hamlet’s mind. Hamlet rushes to talk to his ma, and hears a noise behind ye old tapestry. AH! RAT! *STAB* *POKE* *GASP* dead polonius. Hamlets friends plot to kill him in England, on the king’s orders. Ophelia goes crazy and drowns herself. Laertes is pissed. Claudius sees his chance and sets up a duel. He poisons Laertes blade and a goblet. He has them fight, and hamlet hits first but denies a drink from the goblet. Then the queen drinks from it and dies. Laertes wounds Hamlet, then gets hit by his own blade, and on his death bed professes the plan to Hamlet. Hamlet proceeds to kill Claudius and dies himself. Fortinbras comes and buries Hamlet a hero.

“To be or not to be, That is the question”

Classic quote. He is discussing whether or not to kill himself. It, and the rest of the soliloquy debate the morality of the whole issue. Explores the complexity of human emotion, particularly the dark side of the range, which much of the rest of the play does as well.

“’tis an unweeded garden, that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely.”

This is a commentary on the Royal house of Denmark. The incest had made it rotten. However, it wasn’t merely a warning for Royal Houses or against just incest. It was a warning that any excess, sin, or the like does not go unpunished, and Denmark was going through hard times because of poor choices made.

Theme: It is impossible to be entirely certain of anyone one action.

                The uncertainty of action and decisions is the overarching theme in Hamlet. Hamlet’s directive, to kill his Uncle, is clear. Yet throughout the play he struggles with that concept. He debates his own morality, and his possible madness, seeking the right course of action. He sees in himself a lot of his uncle, the man he seeks to murder. He ponders whether it is a power grab or a just action that will serve the people of Denmark well.

Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman is a play by Arthur Miller. He began his career as a playwright at the University of Michigan. DoS is considered one of the first true American tragedies. The setting of the play is Brooklyn, New York.

Willy Loman: The Patriarch of the Loman family. Being crushed by his expectations.

Linda Loman: Wife of Willy. Loves him, but doesn’t help him.

Biff Loman: Son. Carries a lot of Willy’s expectations on his shoulders.

Happy Loman: Son. Mostly overlooked by his parents.

Ben Loman: His brother. Got rich in Alaska. Dead now.

Willy returns home from a grueling work excursion, and begins to talk about his disappointment in Biff for not making anything of himself yet. Later Willy falls into a daydream, envisioning Biff’s football days and remembering his promise to own his own business one day. It is also revealed that they aren’t doing that well financially. Willy begins to struggle with thoughts of his mistress, and her pesky stockings.

Biff and Happy then discuss their father with Willy. Biff tells his mother than that Willy is a fake, but doesn’t elaborate, and gets scolded.  Willy then unsuccessfully attempts to have his job relocated, and his failure is extremely frustrating. Willy then analyzes why Biff was such a “failure”. Biff and Willy leave their father at a restaurant to chase loose women.  In a flashback, Biff discovers Willy’s infidelity.

Willy then has a conversation with Ben, stating Biff will do well with that 20,000 in insurance money. Willy then commits vehicular suicide.  At the funeral, Linda says “ We’re free…”.

Arthur Miller’s style is very honest. Nothing is masked from the reader, which is beneficial when a book has social aims. The tone of the book overall is a very depressing one. Most people can identify with the unending pressure that is eroding Willy. My favorite symbol in the book is the stockings. The stockings represent the shame Willy deals with due to his sexual tryst with his mistress and its effects on Biff.

Quotes:

“We’re free”- Linda Loman

Linda’s quote at the end of the novel is Miller’s way of pointing out that the cycle is continuing. Her life was ruined by the pressure of the American dream, but she refuses to recognize it. This combined with Happy deciding to continue in his father’s footsteps demonstrates that the events of DoS are likely to repeat.

“He’s liked, but not very well liked”- Willy Loman

Whenever Willy says that it reaffirms one of Willy’s fundamental beliefs about the American dream, that also happen to be false. Willy values personal charisma over hard work, and that leads to all the failure to meet expectations.

Theme:

The materialistic, shallow version of the American dream is responsible for degrading society.

Miller repeatedly establishes that Willy’s ideals are skewed. Willy places far too much emphasis on charisma, and not nearly enough on work ethic. This is pointed about in the book by Miller when Bernard becomes very successful. Its reinforced by the fact that Biff skated through school and is now struggling. Willy’s cheating also points to a flaw in his character, he can never really claim to love his children if he is caught by his eldest son in the act and makes the son carry that burden, rather than just telling the truth to his wife. The use of seeds as a symbol also reinforces the theme. Willy languishes at the fact that he can’t make them grow, he can’t put food on the table through hardwork.

The American Dream

The American Dream is a play written by Edward Albee. It is satirical, targeting the current American condition and highlighting the “substitution of artificial values for real values in our society”.

 There is no specific setting, but it can be reasonably inferred that the play takes place in New York, or some other large city.

Mommy: The dominant force in the play. She undermines both Daddy and Grandma, and is pleased to welcome Young Man into her life.

Daddy: The subservient husband. He lacks the ability to satisfy Mommy, but has the cash flow to keep her around.

Mrs Barker: A woman very similar to Mommy. She informs the family of the circumstances involving their adopted kid. Flirts with daddy.

Grandma: Omniscient. Critical of Mommy, Daddy, and Young Man. Understands the damaging effects of the value system present in the play.

Young Man: The twin of the baby Daddy and Mommy adopted. A hollow shell of a man.

The play starts with Mommy and Daddy arguing about how they struggle to get satisfaction. Mommy recounts her trip to the store earlier in the day. She bought a hat, but after a run in with the local Women’s club chairwoman, decided it was unsatisfactory, and returned to hassle everyone until she got the hat she wanted, and thus satisfaction. A strange story about lunches is told, than Grandma establishes that Mommy is a gold digger. Mrs. Barker arrives, with the purpose of the visit unclear. Then Grandma explains that Mommy and Daddy adopted a child from her twenty years prior and proceeded to mutilate it, because they never got the satisfaction they sought from it. Shortly after Young Man shows up at the door. He explains to Grandma that he lost both of his parents and all emotion. Grandma believes him a suitable solution to Daddy and Mommy’s problems and introduces them. Mommy agrees and there is much rejoicing, yet during the festivities Grandma disappears.  She reappear, this time communicating directly with the audience.  She wishes them a good night.

The author creates a feeling of uneasiness with the muted emotion his characters express, with an eerily robotic tone. They lament about their problems, yet they express no real emotion in doing so. It almost seems as if they want to struggle with the same things everyone else does, but can’t find any real emotion to do it right. The Hat in the story is a symbol for consumerism, she buys it because Mrs. Barker says she should have that one, although really it was no different than the one she had initially picked out. The detailed language describing the mutilation of the baby is the closest Albee got to symbolism, he doesn’t use it much. He did it to stress the harmful effects societies current values have.

“What a masculine Daddy! Isn’t he a masculine Daddy?”

This quote helps outline the dynamic between Mommy and Daddy. It puts Daddy in a more childlike role, Mommy certainly wears the pants in the relationship. She also is very condescending to Daddy, something that would have been wholly unacceptable during that time period. This was meant to appall readers and was Albee’s way to draw attention to the evils he saw in women who were materialistically motivated and possibly the whole feminist movement.

“When you get old, you can’t talk because people snap at you.”

This is Grandma bemoaning the fact that her values are being ignored. What she stands for is what Albee advocates for the American Dream. He sees these real values being rejected in favor of hipper, shallower replacements. Mommy certainly snaps at Grandma plenty.

Theme: The values created by a materialistic society are replacing real ones and causing great harm to the “American Dream”.

                The hardest concrete evidence I have to support my theme statement is when Grandma, who understands the situation and is a proponent of older values, presents the Young Man as the American Dream. This is condemning the current state of things because he is a man who lacks emotion of any sort and is willing to do anything for money.  The use of Grandma at the end to wish everyone goodnight, a technique called breaking the fourth wall used by the author, reinforces this plays role as a cautionary tale.

Blog Revision

1973. An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

      The end of a literary work is often the most critical component of the piece, where the author attempts to leave their mark and crystallize their ideas in the mind of the reader. Its hard to imagine Romeo and Juliet without the fate of the star crossed lovers being realized or Harry Potter with a Voldemort still living. In the American Dream the author, Edward Albee, uses the ending to further the readers understanding of his message: the replacement of the old American Dream with a less substantive, more glamorous, new one. 

     Albee's play uses few characters, each representing very broad things. Grandma, the physically unappealing elder that she is, represents traditional american values and is said to be of "pioneer stock." She is constantly at odds with Mommy, who represents the new breed of Americans who value aesthetics over function. Grandma is the oldest and wisest character in the novel, turns out to be somewhat omniscient. This is confirmed in the last lines of the play, in which she directly addresses the audience to inform them that the play was indeed "a comedy", and they shouldn't go any further because the characters had clearly reached satisfaction. However, its clear that Grandma knows they haven't and she was making quite a strong point. Albee's use of this ending  makes Grandma's true function clear, Albee's puppet master. She alone shares the authors viewpoint and is by far the wittiest character. She is constantly manipulating the other characters, guiding to them to their places and making their shortcomings obvious. In the beginning of the novel Grandma is someone to be pitied, but at the end she reveals some shred of dignity, something the other characters lack. Albee made this all apparent with his ending.

      Albee's purpose for this piece was to make the public aware of what he saw as a shift from traditional values to newer ones that devalued genuine emotion and emphasized material wealth. He shows us the build up to the arrival of Young Man, the character who represents the new American Dream, and the immediate sense of "satisfaction" achieved by Mommy and Daddy, but fails to show us the aftermath. This was intentional, he leaves the audience to ponder the ramifications of a superficial society. This is appropriate for the play, which is very absurd, because nothing is clear in the play until all the loose ends are tied in the conclusion. Albee makes the point that hindsight is twenty twenty, and if the fate of his messed up family is to be avoided, the Grandmas of the world need to recognize the problem before they are disregarded. 

     The ending to The American Dream by Edward Albee was highly appropriate because it shed new light on the mechanisms of the play and implores the audience to imagine the consequences of the abandonment of traditional values and challenges them to do something about it.