Friday, May 23, 2008
On Being Short
I am 5’3, which is generally considered short. When lining up in order of height for school pictures, I am always at the back of the line or close to it. The majority of my classmates (and plenty of people younger than I) tower over me. I cannot touch the tops of doorframes and more often than not I cannot reach the top bookshelf. If I decided to play basketball I would be laughed at. I’ve experienced plenty of the cons of being short. Whenever I went to a restaurant with my family, I was asked by a well-meaning server “would you like a kids’ menu, sweetie?” until roughly the age of sixteen. I was once carded for a PG-13 rated movie in the middle of my junior year. I have endured the dissapointment and embarassment of not being able to ride the big rollercoaster because I was a few inches shy of the height limit. I have had to stand on my tiptoes to properly see over the customer service counter. I have had to wriggle to the front of crowds in order to see the parade, concert, fight, etc. On a few occasions I have finally found a pair of jeans that were the right length for a person of my size only to discover at the check-out counter that they were actually capris. Taller friends have held objects high above my head in order to amuse themselves with the spectacle of my trying to grab it. In fifth grade I had to switch to a bottom locker because I could not reach the combination lock on my much-more-desirable top locker. For years and years I cursed my height and desperately wished that I could be taller. I felt as though an extra few inches would magically make succesful, respected, more attractive, and more likely to be taken seriously. Somewhere down the road, I realized that this was all wrong. Shakira, who is pletnty attractive and very succesful is only 5’0. Tom Cruise is only 5’6 and yet he is a world famous, much-swooned-over actor. Furthermore, taller people have so many worries and that I, a near midget, will never need to concern myself with. I will never have to worry about walking into doorframes, hitting my head on ceilings, being too tall for a bed or couch, or feeling in need of more leg room on airplanes. I also discovered that potential dates do not enjoy the emasculating feeling of being shorter than their female counterpart. Therefore, as a short, heterosexual female, this will never be a problem for me. The manifesto of the “Flying Spaghetti Monster” religion (also known an “pastafarianism”) even suggests that shorter people have greater spiritual power because the “noodly apendages” of the almighty Flying Spaghetti Monster are exerting greater force upon them. Also, smaller people consume fewer resources such as oxygen, food, water, and fabric for clothing. We also create less waste by consuming less. Our diminutive stature gives us the ability to hide more effectively from potential predators and our more stable, lower center of gravity makes us better fighters. If we humans were nearer to the bottom of the food chain, natural selection would most certainly favor short people. So fellow shorties, embrace your height. We are the prime examples of how less truly is more. (559)
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Bibliography
"It Was All Yossarian's Fault - Power and Responsibility in Catch-22" - Stephen L. Sniderman
"You Must Remember This: Trauma and Memory in Catch-22 and Slaughter House 5" - Alberto Cacicedo
"The Night Journey in Catch-22" - Minna Dosokow
"You Must Remember This: Trauma and Memory in Catch-22 and Slaughter House 5" - Alberto Cacicedo
"The Night Journey in Catch-22" - Minna Dosokow
The Inferno
Minna Dosokow, an author of a particularly interesting article on Catch-22 that I found, compares the “night journey” through the streets of Rome that Yossarian embarks on in the later chapters as analogous to the journeys into the underworld that are characteristic of epic heroes (such as Aeneus and Dante). Being a Dante fiend, realizing that these chapters are fraught with references to The Commedia made me rather giddy. In this section, Yossarian wanders the streets of Rome in search of Nately’s whore after Milo has deserted him to buy smuggled tobacco products. Yossarian is confronted with an array of horrors that become more gruesome and helpless as his journey continues. Like Dante in Inferno, he is not being subjected to the terrors, yet he is not protected from that wrath they incur on his psyche. Dante at least had the comforting words of Virgil “only fear that which has the power to harm” to preserve his sanity throughout the journey. Yossarian is utterly alone and without any semblance of comfort. He is shown desperate poverty, injustice, and helplessness to horrifying degrees.
Yossarian is able to be in Rome because of his unrelenting refusal to fly more missions. At the time he leaves for Rome, his purpose is a selfish one. He wants to go home so that he can be out of harm’s way. However, by the end of the novel, Yossarian begins to chase a new loftier goal of ending the corruption and ethical perversion in the power infrastructure. Dante is shown Hell in order to regain the “straight way” that he lost in the dark forest of his exile and mid-life crises. The Hell that Yossarian sees is the full extent of the abuses of power that the authorities commit. Police beat an innocent man, and ambulance arrests and innocent man, dogs and children are beaten, and the M.P.’s come not for Aarfy who has raped and murdered the only innocent girl in the officers’ residence, but for Yossarian who is in Rome without leave papers. This is the turning point the novel where the authorities are portrayed and not only arbitrary and absurd, but also cruel and immoral. (744)
Yossarian is able to be in Rome because of his unrelenting refusal to fly more missions. At the time he leaves for Rome, his purpose is a selfish one. He wants to go home so that he can be out of harm’s way. However, by the end of the novel, Yossarian begins to chase a new loftier goal of ending the corruption and ethical perversion in the power infrastructure. Dante is shown Hell in order to regain the “straight way” that he lost in the dark forest of his exile and mid-life crises. The Hell that Yossarian sees is the full extent of the abuses of power that the authorities commit. Police beat an innocent man, and ambulance arrests and innocent man, dogs and children are beaten, and the M.P.’s come not for Aarfy who has raped and murdered the only innocent girl in the officers’ residence, but for Yossarian who is in Rome without leave papers. This is the turning point the novel where the authorities are portrayed and not only arbitrary and absurd, but also cruel and immoral. (744)
M&Ms
Catch-22 exposes the corruption and absurdity of the authority infrastructure in the military in an attempt to demonstrate the horrific futility or war. Milo Minderbinder represents the new ideologies that often arise from war-torn countries that lead to dangerously powerful authoritarian governments. When Germany was devastated from WWI, the power vacuum allowed Hitlet to come to power. Similarly, when Russia was frustrated with a self-serving monarchy, the Bolshevik revolution paved the way for the atrocities of Stalin. Milo Minderbinder starts out as a well-intentioned, low-ranking officer who merely wants to better the lives of his comrades by providing them with quality food. He starts a syndicate that “everyone has a share” in.
Exemption from flying as many missions as the other men gives Milo the opportunity to create a system of importing, exporting, buying, and selling that is too complex for its growth to be slowed. Furthermore, he does not have any other officers fully involved in his system. Since he is the only one who can understand his system, nobody can stop him. As the novel progresses, Milo becomes blinded by the power that he has. For the sake of making profits, he sells ammunition and military supplies to the Germans because “they are loyal customers too”. He even removes the morphine from the first aid kits that the pilots are supplied with. As a consequence, Snowden suffers a very painful death from a fatal wound.
When Yossarian, whom Milo trusts more than any other character in the novel, decides that he is going to find Nately’s whore’s kid sister, he enlists Milo’s help because of the power and influence that he has as a result of his syndicate. As soon as Milo realizes that he has an opportunity to make a profit off of smuggled tobacco products, he takes it instead of helping his loyal friend complete an honorable task. His decision shows the degradation of Milo’s moral fiber and the corruption of his values from absolute power. Yet, Milo covers his ethical perversion with the phrase “what’s good for M&M Industries is good for the country”. Such propaganda is similar to that of the Soviet regime that claimed to be working for the good of the people when in reality its only goal was to stay in power. (381)
Exemption from flying as many missions as the other men gives Milo the opportunity to create a system of importing, exporting, buying, and selling that is too complex for its growth to be slowed. Furthermore, he does not have any other officers fully involved in his system. Since he is the only one who can understand his system, nobody can stop him. As the novel progresses, Milo becomes blinded by the power that he has. For the sake of making profits, he sells ammunition and military supplies to the Germans because “they are loyal customers too”. He even removes the morphine from the first aid kits that the pilots are supplied with. As a consequence, Snowden suffers a very painful death from a fatal wound.
When Yossarian, whom Milo trusts more than any other character in the novel, decides that he is going to find Nately’s whore’s kid sister, he enlists Milo’s help because of the power and influence that he has as a result of his syndicate. As soon as Milo realizes that he has an opportunity to make a profit off of smuggled tobacco products, he takes it instead of helping his loyal friend complete an honorable task. His decision shows the degradation of Milo’s moral fiber and the corruption of his values from absolute power. Yet, Milo covers his ethical perversion with the phrase “what’s good for M&M Industries is good for the country”. Such propaganda is similar to that of the Soviet regime that claimed to be working for the good of the people when in reality its only goal was to stay in power. (381)
Monday, April 21, 2008
A Paradox! A Paradox!
In Catch-22, Joseph Heller conveys his anti-war beliefs by creating scenarios that are paradoxical and absurd. He demonstrates the insanity of those involved in war primarily through the character of Yossarian. The reader is first introduced to him when he is in the hospital (pretending to be ill in order to avoid flying more missions) and censoring letters written by soldiers. Since the number of missions he has to fly is increased every time he is close to completing a tour of duty, he begins to search for loopholes the in military system. In this search, he comes upon “catch-22” which states that a pilot can be grounded if he is insane. However, he has to ask to be grounded and asking to be grounded proves sanity because a desire to avoid harm demonstrates sound mental health.
In the novel, more highly ranked officials are portrayed as either particularly insane or particularly sadistic. Thus far, my personal favorite of these mad higher-ups is Major Major Major Major. This fellow is so cowardly that he cannot even handle being in the presence of any of his fellow soldiers. He instructs his assistant, Sergeant Towser, to only allow people to see him once he has fled the building (another “catch-22” per se). I believe that Heller is using these people and scenarios to demonstrate how the lives of thousands of young men should not be put into the hands of inefficient governments and corrupt, sadistic officials.
The variety of “catch-22”scenarios builds toward a general theme of war itself as a “catch-22”. In order to achieve peace, the opposing sides have to kill each other until they are weary from killing each other. Minor incidents of silliness such as signing false names on documents, en masse feigning diarrhea, absurd names, absurd practices, and tampering with intelligence reports all guide the reader to the realization that the entire war itself is a massive farce. (316)
In the novel, more highly ranked officials are portrayed as either particularly insane or particularly sadistic. Thus far, my personal favorite of these mad higher-ups is Major Major Major Major. This fellow is so cowardly that he cannot even handle being in the presence of any of his fellow soldiers. He instructs his assistant, Sergeant Towser, to only allow people to see him once he has fled the building (another “catch-22” per se). I believe that Heller is using these people and scenarios to demonstrate how the lives of thousands of young men should not be put into the hands of inefficient governments and corrupt, sadistic officials.
The variety of “catch-22”scenarios builds toward a general theme of war itself as a “catch-22”. In order to achieve peace, the opposing sides have to kill each other until they are weary from killing each other. Minor incidents of silliness such as signing false names on documents, en masse feigning diarrhea, absurd names, absurd practices, and tampering with intelligence reports all guide the reader to the realization that the entire war itself is a massive farce. (316)
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Unknown Citizen - W.H. Auden
He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a
saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in a hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his
generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their
education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a
saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in a hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his
generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their
education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.
Unknown Possibilities?
W.H. Auden’s poem The Unknown Citizen was written as an epitaph on the monument of a citizen who was identified as “JS/07 M 378”. The poem is satirically glorifying the “typical citizen” from the perspective of government organizations. Throughout his life, Auden held radically left political views. The Unknown Citizen is perhaps a reflection of his politics and beliefs that a government should do more to ensure the happiness and well being of its citizens instead of functioning as an impersonal, purely rational entity. The piece also alludes to possibilities about the true quality of life about the unknown citizen.
The poem states that there was no “official” complaint against this man. The word “official” implies that he was never arrested or in any sort of legal trouble. Auden purposely uses the word for those connotations to show that the government that is glorifying this man has no idea if his friends or family had any troubles with him or cares for him. In his work in the factory whereby he “satisfied” his employers, he was unexceptional and likely mediocre. He did nothing to distinguish himself because he did not kowtow to his employers (he was not a scab) and he was not excessively loyal to his union though he paid his dues (he was not odd in his views). The mention of his career shows a glorification of mediocrity. Since he is not unemployed or destitute, he is not using government services or any of the public coffers to make ends meet. His lower to middle class status also signifies that he did not have enough money or power to have any profound affect on the world around him. Therefore, his existence was “neutral”. He did not make the world any better or any worse.
His “popularity with his mates” really says very little about his social status. We do not know how many friends he had, if he had healthy, fulfilling relationships with them, or if they were morally reprehensible people. Since he liked to drink, he could have been an alcoholic drowning his sorrows in substance abuse. His buying a paper every day, having normal reactions to advertisements, and holding the proper political opinions shows that he was easily manipulated by the press (in this case, likely a tool of government) and did not form his own interpretations of the world around him in spite of being informed of current events. He was the perfect citizen of a powerful government because he did not try to resist the status quo in any way that we know of.
The final two lines sarcastically reveal how material possessions (“everything necessary to the modern man”) and being a good citizen do not ensure individual happiness. In terms of his freedom, it is unclear whether or not the unknown citizen is living a life that he chose for himself. We do not know if he had any desire to ascend beyond mediocrity and achieve greatness. Circumstances, poverty, or an oppressive government could have prevented him from living in a manner that he found most suitable.
The government that he was living under only wanted to ensure that he maintained a healthy degree of patriotism and did not cause any trouble. The unknown citizen never did anything to distinguish himself from the masses and the speaker of the poem implies that such behavior made him the ideal citizen. The speaker implies that the unknown citizen had no hopes and dreams beyond being an average member of the populace. If he had any other plans for his future, the poem implies that carrying them out would not have been possible because he was suffocatingly bound to the values of society. Had he been living in a society where discovering individual happiness was valued, he could have created a life for himself that would have been better than average. (645)
The poem states that there was no “official” complaint against this man. The word “official” implies that he was never arrested or in any sort of legal trouble. Auden purposely uses the word for those connotations to show that the government that is glorifying this man has no idea if his friends or family had any troubles with him or cares for him. In his work in the factory whereby he “satisfied” his employers, he was unexceptional and likely mediocre. He did nothing to distinguish himself because he did not kowtow to his employers (he was not a scab) and he was not excessively loyal to his union though he paid his dues (he was not odd in his views). The mention of his career shows a glorification of mediocrity. Since he is not unemployed or destitute, he is not using government services or any of the public coffers to make ends meet. His lower to middle class status also signifies that he did not have enough money or power to have any profound affect on the world around him. Therefore, his existence was “neutral”. He did not make the world any better or any worse.
His “popularity with his mates” really says very little about his social status. We do not know how many friends he had, if he had healthy, fulfilling relationships with them, or if they were morally reprehensible people. Since he liked to drink, he could have been an alcoholic drowning his sorrows in substance abuse. His buying a paper every day, having normal reactions to advertisements, and holding the proper political opinions shows that he was easily manipulated by the press (in this case, likely a tool of government) and did not form his own interpretations of the world around him in spite of being informed of current events. He was the perfect citizen of a powerful government because he did not try to resist the status quo in any way that we know of.
The final two lines sarcastically reveal how material possessions (“everything necessary to the modern man”) and being a good citizen do not ensure individual happiness. In terms of his freedom, it is unclear whether or not the unknown citizen is living a life that he chose for himself. We do not know if he had any desire to ascend beyond mediocrity and achieve greatness. Circumstances, poverty, or an oppressive government could have prevented him from living in a manner that he found most suitable.
The government that he was living under only wanted to ensure that he maintained a healthy degree of patriotism and did not cause any trouble. The unknown citizen never did anything to distinguish himself from the masses and the speaker of the poem implies that such behavior made him the ideal citizen. The speaker implies that the unknown citizen had no hopes and dreams beyond being an average member of the populace. If he had any other plans for his future, the poem implies that carrying them out would not have been possible because he was suffocatingly bound to the values of society. Had he been living in a society where discovering individual happiness was valued, he could have created a life for himself that would have been better than average. (645)
Sunday, March 9, 2008
I like my own little world. . . they know me there
Upon finishing August Wilson’s Fences I saw it primarily as a play about a very selfish man thwarting the dreams and desires of those around him. However, most of Troy’s actions are motivated by his own illusions that manifest themselves as selfishness. His dramatic tale that he feels exemplifies his life is his story of wrestling with death and the devil when in reality he had survived a severe episode of pneumonia. His interpretations of death and the devil are both obstacles to his achieving his own dreams. He says that his abusive father was “the devil himself”. Since he had to migrate north and live on the streets, his father was largely responsible for crushing his dreams. Troy’s description of the devil as a figure with a sickle in a white, hooded robe is similar to a KKK member in full regalia. The grip reaper-esq character he describes personifies racist discrimination, which is a force that he sees as ever-present and unconquerable, much like death itself.
Troy seems extremely hypocritical when he does not allow his son Cory to play football because he does not want him to suffer from discrimination while trying to become the first African-American garbage truck driver himself. Troy sees this behavior as fighting that hooded figure of death and discrimination. He becomes a garbage truck driver to fend it off while keeping Cory out of football to protect him from it. In the end, however, he crushes Cory’s dreams of becoming a professional athlete much like his own father (the devil) did. His death is also symbolic of his fight with the devil because he has a sudden cardiac arrest while holding a baseball bat in preparation to swing, as though he were challenging death.
Troy’s brother, Gabriel, acts as a foil to Troy’s illusions of death and the devil. Though Gabriel does not have all of his mental faculties intact, he is loving and forgiving in spite of the way he is treated and perceived. At the end when Gabriel attempts to blow his trumpet to open the gates of Heaven, he is trying to give Troy ultimate forgiveness as though to show that he has not succumbed to the devil. Through the cryptic dance and ambiguous ending, I think August Wilson wanted the reader to decide whether or not Troy overcame his illusions by making it into Heaven of if he surrendered to them. (402)
Troy seems extremely hypocritical when he does not allow his son Cory to play football because he does not want him to suffer from discrimination while trying to become the first African-American garbage truck driver himself. Troy sees this behavior as fighting that hooded figure of death and discrimination. He becomes a garbage truck driver to fend it off while keeping Cory out of football to protect him from it. In the end, however, he crushes Cory’s dreams of becoming a professional athlete much like his own father (the devil) did. His death is also symbolic of his fight with the devil because he has a sudden cardiac arrest while holding a baseball bat in preparation to swing, as though he were challenging death.
Troy’s brother, Gabriel, acts as a foil to Troy’s illusions of death and the devil. Though Gabriel does not have all of his mental faculties intact, he is loving and forgiving in spite of the way he is treated and perceived. At the end when Gabriel attempts to blow his trumpet to open the gates of Heaven, he is trying to give Troy ultimate forgiveness as though to show that he has not succumbed to the devil. Through the cryptic dance and ambiguous ending, I think August Wilson wanted the reader to decide whether or not Troy overcame his illusions by making it into Heaven of if he surrendered to them. (402)
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Some fine poetry of the musical sort
"Title of the Song" - Da Vinci's Notebook
Declaration of my feelings for you
Elaboration on those feelings
Description of how long these feelings have existed
Belief that no one else could feel the same as I
Reminiscence of the pleasant times we shared
And our relationship's perfection
Recounting of the steps that led to our love's dissolution
Mostly involving my unfaithfulness and lies
Penitent admission of wrongdoing
Discovery of the depth of my affection
Regret over the lateness of my epiphany
(Chorus)
Title of the song
Naïve expression of love
Reluctance to accept that you are gone
Request to turn back time
And rectify my wrongs
Repetition of the title of the song
Enumeration of my various transgressive actions
Of insufficient motivation
Realization that these actions led to your departure
And my resultant lack of sleep and appetite
Renunciation of my past insensitive behavior
Promise of my reformation
Reassurance that you still are foremost in my thoughts now
Need for instructions how to gain your trust again
Request for reconciliation
Listing of the numerous tasks that I'd perform
Of physical and emotional compensation
CHORUS
Acknowledgment that I acted foolishly
Increasingly desperate pleas for your return
Sorrow for my infidelity
Vain hope that my sins are forgivable
Appeal for one more opportunity
Drop to my knees to elicit crowd response
Prayers to my chosen deity
Modulation and I hold a high note...
CHORUS
"The Scientist" - Coldplay
Come up to meet ya, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you, tell you I need ya
And tell you I set you apart
Tell me your secrets, and nurse me your questions
Oh lets go back to the start
Running in circles, coming in tails
Heads on a science apart
Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start
I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart
And tell me you love me, come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles, chasing tails
Coming back as we are
Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm going back to the start
Declaration of my feelings for you
Elaboration on those feelings
Description of how long these feelings have existed
Belief that no one else could feel the same as I
Reminiscence of the pleasant times we shared
And our relationship's perfection
Recounting of the steps that led to our love's dissolution
Mostly involving my unfaithfulness and lies
Penitent admission of wrongdoing
Discovery of the depth of my affection
Regret over the lateness of my epiphany
(Chorus)
Title of the song
Naïve expression of love
Reluctance to accept that you are gone
Request to turn back time
And rectify my wrongs
Repetition of the title of the song
Enumeration of my various transgressive actions
Of insufficient motivation
Realization that these actions led to your departure
And my resultant lack of sleep and appetite
Renunciation of my past insensitive behavior
Promise of my reformation
Reassurance that you still are foremost in my thoughts now
Need for instructions how to gain your trust again
Request for reconciliation
Listing of the numerous tasks that I'd perform
Of physical and emotional compensation
CHORUS
Acknowledgment that I acted foolishly
Increasingly desperate pleas for your return
Sorrow for my infidelity
Vain hope that my sins are forgivable
Appeal for one more opportunity
Drop to my knees to elicit crowd response
Prayers to my chosen deity
Modulation and I hold a high note...
CHORUS
"The Scientist" - Coldplay
Come up to meet ya, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you, tell you I need ya
And tell you I set you apart
Tell me your secrets, and nurse me your questions
Oh lets go back to the start
Running in circles, coming in tails
Heads on a science apart
Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start
I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart
And tell me you love me, come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles, chasing tails
Coming back as we are
Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm going back to the start
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Joy of Subtext!
(my additions are in bold)
SCENE IV. The Queen's closet.
Enter QUEEN GERTRUDE and POLONIUS
LORD POLONIUS
He will come straight. Look you lay home to him:
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between
Much heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.
Pray you, be round with him.
(Find out why Hamlet is behaving so strangely)
HAMLET
[Within] Mother, mother, mother!
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,
Fear me not (said to Hamlet): withdraw, I hear him coming (said to Polonius).
POLONIUS hides behind the arras
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Now, mother, what's the matter?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
(Referring to Claudius)
HAMLET
Mother, you have my father much offended.
(Referring to his actual father)
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Why, how now, Hamlet!
HAMLET
What's the matter now?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Have you forgot me?
Don’t you care about me?
HAMLET
No, by the rood, not so:
You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And--would it were not so!--you are my mother.
Your actions have been so horrible that it would be impossible for me to forget about you.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
HAMLET
Come, come, and sit you down (directing her to a chair); you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
I’m going to show you the error of your ways.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!
HAMLET
[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead! (thinks he has heard Claudius approaching, draws his sword)
Makes a pass through the arras
(stabs Polonius thinking it is Claudius)
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] O, I am slain!
Falls and dies
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O me, what hast thou done?
HAMLET
Nay, I know not:
Is it the king?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
HAMLET
A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
I admit that was morally deplorable, but who are you to talk?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
As kill a king!
HAMLET
Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
(wants to make sure “the king” is dead)
Lifts up the array and discovers POLONIUS
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;
Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.
Had you minded your own business you may still be alive.
(To Gertrude)Leave wringing of your hands: peace! sit you down,
And let me wring your heart; for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damned custom have not brass'd it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
HAMLET
Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:
Yea, this solidity and compound mass,
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
What you have done invalidates your virtue.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
I know what you’re talking about, but I don’t want to discuss it.
HAMLET
Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow;
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man:
This was your husband. How dare you do such a thing to my father. Look you now, what follows:
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
How can you not see how wrong this is?
You cannot call it love; for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment: and what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,
Else could you not have motion; but sure, that sense
Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd
But it reserved some quantity of choice,
To serve in such a difference. Love was clearly not the motive so you therefore must completely lack any semblance of a moral compass. What devil was't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope.
O shame! where is thy blush? You must have been possessed. Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn
And reason panders will.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.
I know this is bad and I don’t want to discuss it.
HAMLET
Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty,--
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
HAMLET
A murderer and a villain;
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord; a vice of kings;
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No more!
HAMLET
A king of shreds and patches,--
Enter Ghost
(sees and adresses the ghost)
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, he's mad!
He’s talking to himself.
HAMLET
Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command? Have you come to mock me because I lost the nerve to do as you commanded? O, say!
Ghost
Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
I’m here to encourage you.
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works:
Speak to her, Hamlet.
She knows the error of her ways.
HAMLET
How is it with you, lady?
Seriously, what is your deal?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, how is't with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
Why are you talking to yourself? What are you looking at?
HAMLET
On him, on him! (points to the ghost) Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable. (said to Gertrude)Do not look upon me; (said to the ghost)
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects: then what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
To whom do you speak this?
HAMLET
Do you see nothing there?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.
HAMLET
Nor did you nothing hear?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No, nothing but ourselves.
HAMLET
Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!
My father, in his habit as he lived!
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
Exit Ghost
QUEEN GERTRUDE
This the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
You’re trying to make me feel guilty by making things up.
HAMLET
Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that mattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;
And do not spread the compost on the weeds,
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.
Confess and end this sinful behavior because I know that you’re better than this.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
You’re breaking my heart.
HAMLET
O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either [ ] the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night:
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,
Pointing to POLONIUS
I do repent I’ll confess to killing him if you stop sleeping with my sleazy uncle: but heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What shall I do?
HAMLET
Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;
Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;
For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? Tell him that I’m crafty and not crazy because he’ll listen to you who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house's top.
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.
I have nothing to say to that.
SCENE IV. The Queen's closet.
Enter QUEEN GERTRUDE and POLONIUS
LORD POLONIUS
He will come straight. Look you lay home to him:
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between
Much heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.
Pray you, be round with him.
(Find out why Hamlet is behaving so strangely)
HAMLET
[Within] Mother, mother, mother!
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,
Fear me not (said to Hamlet): withdraw, I hear him coming (said to Polonius).
POLONIUS hides behind the arras
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Now, mother, what's the matter?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
(Referring to Claudius)
HAMLET
Mother, you have my father much offended.
(Referring to his actual father)
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Why, how now, Hamlet!
HAMLET
What's the matter now?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Have you forgot me?
Don’t you care about me?
HAMLET
No, by the rood, not so:
You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And--would it were not so!--you are my mother.
Your actions have been so horrible that it would be impossible for me to forget about you.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
HAMLET
Come, come, and sit you down (directing her to a chair); you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
I’m going to show you the error of your ways.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!
HAMLET
[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead! (thinks he has heard Claudius approaching, draws his sword)
Makes a pass through the arras
(stabs Polonius thinking it is Claudius)
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] O, I am slain!
Falls and dies
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O me, what hast thou done?
HAMLET
Nay, I know not:
Is it the king?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
HAMLET
A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
I admit that was morally deplorable, but who are you to talk?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
As kill a king!
HAMLET
Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
(wants to make sure “the king” is dead)
Lifts up the array and discovers POLONIUS
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;
Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.
Had you minded your own business you may still be alive.
(To Gertrude)Leave wringing of your hands: peace! sit you down,
And let me wring your heart; for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damned custom have not brass'd it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
HAMLET
Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:
Yea, this solidity and compound mass,
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
What you have done invalidates your virtue.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
I know what you’re talking about, but I don’t want to discuss it.
HAMLET
Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow;
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man:
This was your husband. How dare you do such a thing to my father. Look you now, what follows:
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
How can you not see how wrong this is?
You cannot call it love; for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment: and what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,
Else could you not have motion; but sure, that sense
Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd
But it reserved some quantity of choice,
To serve in such a difference. Love was clearly not the motive so you therefore must completely lack any semblance of a moral compass. What devil was't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope.
O shame! where is thy blush? You must have been possessed. Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn
And reason panders will.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.
I know this is bad and I don’t want to discuss it.
HAMLET
Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty,--
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
HAMLET
A murderer and a villain;
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord; a vice of kings;
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No more!
HAMLET
A king of shreds and patches,--
Enter Ghost
(sees and adresses the ghost)
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, he's mad!
He’s talking to himself.
HAMLET
Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command? Have you come to mock me because I lost the nerve to do as you commanded? O, say!
Ghost
Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
I’m here to encourage you.
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works:
Speak to her, Hamlet.
She knows the error of her ways.
HAMLET
How is it with you, lady?
Seriously, what is your deal?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, how is't with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
Why are you talking to yourself? What are you looking at?
HAMLET
On him, on him! (points to the ghost) Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable. (said to Gertrude)Do not look upon me; (said to the ghost)
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects: then what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
To whom do you speak this?
HAMLET
Do you see nothing there?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.
HAMLET
Nor did you nothing hear?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No, nothing but ourselves.
HAMLET
Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!
My father, in his habit as he lived!
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
Exit Ghost
QUEEN GERTRUDE
This the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
You’re trying to make me feel guilty by making things up.
HAMLET
Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that mattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;
And do not spread the compost on the weeds,
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.
Confess and end this sinful behavior because I know that you’re better than this.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
You’re breaking my heart.
HAMLET
O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either [ ] the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night:
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,
Pointing to POLONIUS
I do repent I’ll confess to killing him if you stop sleeping with my sleazy uncle: but heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What shall I do?
HAMLET
Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;
Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;
For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? Tell him that I’m crafty and not crazy because he’ll listen to you who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house's top.
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.
I have nothing to say to that.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
A Family Affair
Upon finishing “Antigone”, I realized that Sophocles had masterfully created a tragic ending for both of the central characters. Whether the reader takes the side of Antigone or Creon, the ending will be depressing either way. Ironically, the ending could also be seen as somewhat comedic for the same reason since the “villain” (depending on who the reader sides with) also meets an unfortunate end. Just as Creon realized the error of his ways, he finds Antigone already dead and soon loses his son and wife. Sophocles provides a throughout examination of civic duty versus duty to one’s family because both Creon and Antigone are conflicted.
As king, Creon has the duty to act in the best interests of his people. By issuing the edict, he hopes to deter his subjects from instigating civil war in the future because it is so destructive to the community. Although, Polyneices is his nephew and Antigone is both his neice and future daughter-in-law. In order to do what he thinks is best for his subjects, he pushes the boundaries of human authority. As Tereisias says, Creon’s crime is putting one who belongs with the dead among the living and one who belongs with the living among the dead. He leaves Polyneices to rot in the elements and seals Antigone in a tomb.
Antigone is in a particularly precarious position because she has both civic and familial allegiance to Creon. He is her uncle, future father-in-law, and her king. Rightly so, she realizes that her duty to her immediate family (Polyneices) and her duty to the gods supercedes civic responsibilities. Antigone does not merely ignore Creon’s edict, she breaks it with resolute intention. She carries out an act of civil disobedience by breaking the law and fully accepting the punishment in order to show Creon that he is overstepping his authority as king.
A central theme of “Antigone” is well-illustrated in the episode of South Park where Stan Marsh discovers that his father is a member of the “The Hare Club for Men”, a secret society that protects the bloodline of Saint Peter who was actually a rabbit. They claim that Jesus put a rabbit in charge of the church because no human can speak for god or all of his subjects. Creon defies the will of both the gods and his people by making the edict. Therefore, if Creon were a rabbit, perhaps Thebes would not be such a tragic place. (408)
As king, Creon has the duty to act in the best interests of his people. By issuing the edict, he hopes to deter his subjects from instigating civil war in the future because it is so destructive to the community. Although, Polyneices is his nephew and Antigone is both his neice and future daughter-in-law. In order to do what he thinks is best for his subjects, he pushes the boundaries of human authority. As Tereisias says, Creon’s crime is putting one who belongs with the dead among the living and one who belongs with the living among the dead. He leaves Polyneices to rot in the elements and seals Antigone in a tomb.
Antigone is in a particularly precarious position because she has both civic and familial allegiance to Creon. He is her uncle, future father-in-law, and her king. Rightly so, she realizes that her duty to her immediate family (Polyneices) and her duty to the gods supercedes civic responsibilities. Antigone does not merely ignore Creon’s edict, she breaks it with resolute intention. She carries out an act of civil disobedience by breaking the law and fully accepting the punishment in order to show Creon that he is overstepping his authority as king.
A central theme of “Antigone” is well-illustrated in the episode of South Park where Stan Marsh discovers that his father is a member of the “The Hare Club for Men”, a secret society that protects the bloodline of Saint Peter who was actually a rabbit. They claim that Jesus put a rabbit in charge of the church because no human can speak for god or all of his subjects. Creon defies the will of both the gods and his people by making the edict. Therefore, if Creon were a rabbit, perhaps Thebes would not be such a tragic place. (408)
Poem!
To Pray - Terri Phillips
I hold my hands
so tightly together
they begin to sweat.
The skin cracks and peels
from the center of my palms.
Two tiny baby chickens
crawl out from the opening
and stand, still wet,
in my hands.
One is true love
and the other
is a big fancy car.
Amen
I hold my hands
so tightly together
they begin to sweat.
The skin cracks and peels
from the center of my palms.
Two tiny baby chickens
crawl out from the opening
and stand, still wet,
in my hands.
One is true love
and the other
is a big fancy car.
Amen
Monday, January 21, 2008
Servility versus Humanity
"Metamorphosis" traces the physical, emotional, and intellectual dehumanization of Gregor Samsa. I therefore most agree with the illustrious Expert #3. Though this lauded expert expresses that Gregor’s dehumanization is foreshadowing of dehumanizing events in the twentieth century such as the Holocaust and the two World Wars, I think that Gregor’s transformation from a human to an insect is particularly symbolic. Kafka is demonstrating the loss of humanity through servility and blind submission to authority and circumstances.
Before he is an insect, Gregor behaves in a very insect-like manner toward both this employer and his family. He allows his employer to treat him appallingly and does little to defend himself when he is accused of embezzlement for merely being late for work. His family lives off of his salary like parasites and though Gregor may or may not recognize it, he willingly allows it to occur for fear of losing their approval. Since his family shows no apparent emotional connection to him, he appears more insect-like and thus less human to the reader. By behaving in such a cowardly and docile manner, he loses his humanity both literally and figuratively. Since he does not question the authority figures in his midst and robotically obeys every order he is given, he willingly begins to surrender his soul. When he is literally no longer human, he does nothing to attempt to correct the situation and does not question why such a thing has happened to him.
When he is alienated from his essential humanity (in the wise words of the glorious Expert #3) he is able to see the emptiness of his former ambition and how little he meant to his family. His humanity slips away almost entirely when he loses the ability to feel any joy and sinks into the symptoms of depression. Before his transformation he had no will to live his life as his own and for himself. Thought he eventually loses his will to live entirely, he did not have much of a life to give up anyway. In this way, Kafka is using "Metamorphosis" as a cautionary tale against living one’s life in order to avoid the wrath of authority figures. Doing so removes the meaning from life and can even literally destroy one’s humanity. (377)
Before he is an insect, Gregor behaves in a very insect-like manner toward both this employer and his family. He allows his employer to treat him appallingly and does little to defend himself when he is accused of embezzlement for merely being late for work. His family lives off of his salary like parasites and though Gregor may or may not recognize it, he willingly allows it to occur for fear of losing their approval. Since his family shows no apparent emotional connection to him, he appears more insect-like and thus less human to the reader. By behaving in such a cowardly and docile manner, he loses his humanity both literally and figuratively. Since he does not question the authority figures in his midst and robotically obeys every order he is given, he willingly begins to surrender his soul. When he is literally no longer human, he does nothing to attempt to correct the situation and does not question why such a thing has happened to him.
When he is alienated from his essential humanity (in the wise words of the glorious Expert #3) he is able to see the emptiness of his former ambition and how little he meant to his family. His humanity slips away almost entirely when he loses the ability to feel any joy and sinks into the symptoms of depression. Before his transformation he had no will to live his life as his own and for himself. Thought he eventually loses his will to live entirely, he did not have much of a life to give up anyway. In this way, Kafka is using "Metamorphosis" as a cautionary tale against living one’s life in order to avoid the wrath of authority figures. Doing so removes the meaning from life and can even literally destroy one’s humanity. (377)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
The Light At The End of The Tunnel
Ivan Ilych’s illness and eventual slow, painful death begins when he falls while hanging draperies in his new house. He behaves very ostentatiously when relating the incident to his family by saying that such a fall would have killed an average man but he survived because he is “a bit of an athlete”. The narrator describes the grandeur of Ivan Ilyich’s home in great detail and then concludes that the house had “all the things people of a certain class have in order to resemble people of that class.” In all of Ivan Ilyich’s endeavors throughout his life until his final months, he tries only to do what society requires of him and advance his social position. It is quite ironic that the source of his eventual death results from his most visibly grandiose attempt at living in a manner that he thinks best suits him.
His illness intensifies his life so that the things that had once been symbols of his success become overbearing burdens. The already quarrelsome relationship he had with his wife became more poisonous as his illness progressed. Before he became ill, attempting to minimize his time with her was sufficient for retaining his sanity. Once pain in his side and bizarre tastes in his mouth began to plague him, his muffled dislike for her progressed into unabated hatred. He initially found his work invigorating and exciting because of the sense of dignity and authority that it brought him. However, long sessions in court soon became tiring and embarrassing when his thoughts became clouded and his exacting judgment dulled by agony.
His physical pain draws attention to itself because Ivan Ilyich realizes that it is meaningless and prevents him from resuming his normal thought patterns. In an effort to comfort himself and relieve potential brooding on his physical suffering, he thinks about his childhood. Nostalgia forces him to retrace the steps of his life and leads him to ponder the meaning of his existence. He is perplexed at how his life began so simply and pleasantly and is about to end in anguished suffering. When others around him such as his wife and the doctor inquire about his health, he becomes aggravated with them because he feels that they do not understand what he is enduring. He longs for someone to understand him so that he can be pitied. He begins to find the pity he is seeking in his servant, Gerasim, because he does not begrudge doing the most unpleasant tasks to keep him comfortable.
Gerasim realizes that Ivan Ilyich is dying and is trying to make the end of his life more tolerable. Since he has no selfish motives in helping him, Ivan Ilyich plunges into deeper anguish at the realization of his own selfishness. Relief comes to him at the moment of his death because he realizes that those around him do not need to understand the mental gymnastics of the end of his life or the extent of his physical suffering because “He whose understanding mattered would understand”. His realization that approval and understanding from others is ultimately meaningless allows him to accept his mortality and thus end his suffering.
His illness intensifies his life so that the things that had once been symbols of his success become overbearing burdens. The already quarrelsome relationship he had with his wife became more poisonous as his illness progressed. Before he became ill, attempting to minimize his time with her was sufficient for retaining his sanity. Once pain in his side and bizarre tastes in his mouth began to plague him, his muffled dislike for her progressed into unabated hatred. He initially found his work invigorating and exciting because of the sense of dignity and authority that it brought him. However, long sessions in court soon became tiring and embarrassing when his thoughts became clouded and his exacting judgment dulled by agony.
His physical pain draws attention to itself because Ivan Ilyich realizes that it is meaningless and prevents him from resuming his normal thought patterns. In an effort to comfort himself and relieve potential brooding on his physical suffering, he thinks about his childhood. Nostalgia forces him to retrace the steps of his life and leads him to ponder the meaning of his existence. He is perplexed at how his life began so simply and pleasantly and is about to end in anguished suffering. When others around him such as his wife and the doctor inquire about his health, he becomes aggravated with them because he feels that they do not understand what he is enduring. He longs for someone to understand him so that he can be pitied. He begins to find the pity he is seeking in his servant, Gerasim, because he does not begrudge doing the most unpleasant tasks to keep him comfortable.
Gerasim realizes that Ivan Ilyich is dying and is trying to make the end of his life more tolerable. Since he has no selfish motives in helping him, Ivan Ilyich plunges into deeper anguish at the realization of his own selfishness. Relief comes to him at the moment of his death because he realizes that those around him do not need to understand the mental gymnastics of the end of his life or the extent of his physical suffering because “He whose understanding mattered would understand”. His realization that approval and understanding from others is ultimately meaningless allows him to accept his mortality and thus end his suffering.
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