A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Passage Analysis/Symbolism

“Eleven! Then he was late for that lecture too. What day of the week was it? He stopped at a newsagent’s to read the headline of a placard. Thursday. Ten to eleven, English; eleven to twelve, French; twelve to one, physics. He fancied himself the English lecture and felt, even at that distance, reckless and helpless. He saw the heads of his classmates meekly bent as they wrote in their notebooks the points they were bidden to note, nominal definitions, essential definitions and examples or dates of birth or death, chief works, a favourable and an unfavourable criticism side by side.”

            In this passage, Stephen is walking from his house after his father rudely yells, “Is your lazy bitch of a brother gone out yet?” Stephen leaves the house and contemplatively wanders around. As Stephen is thinking, he realizes that he has missed his English lecture and “is late for that lecture too,” in reference to the French lecture. This is significant because Stephen casually and nonchalantly understands that he neglected to attend his class. Not only this but he asks the question, “What day of the week was it?” Just in the last part of the novel, Stephen not only knew what day of the week it was (always), but he always knew what he would be doing on that day. His obsessive, anxious personality would never have allowed him to behave in this way. Stephen has grown to a calmer person, and isn’t upset that skipped his class, but rather goes on to say, “He saw the heads of his classmates meekly bent as they wrote in their notebooks the points they were bidden to note…” suggesting that these students are not happy and are not thinking for themselves. Joyce uses the word “meekly” to describe the college students that are actually in class taking notes suggesting that these students are not happy and are not thinking for themselves. Joyce uses the word “meekly” to describe the college students that are actually in class taking notes implying they are submissively and unhappily doing what they are told. He also says “the points they were bidden to note” hinting that the students are not thinking for themselves (completely the opposite of Stephen) and are simply regurgitating what the professor tells them. Stephen always thinks for himself. The inner workings of his mind are very artistic and unique, and cannot be confined like the college students he refers to.
          A symbol can also be found in this passage. The college students that mindlessly write down the information they are given without question symbolize the average human being. Stephen is a special, different person, and the students are not. They symbolize the product of people not pushing the limits, not questioning, not wondering why. This symbol of quiet acceptance of what is presented to them provides a great contradiction to Stephen’s personality, and highlights the positivity of his individuality. The robotic presentation of the students is not very appealing (with the use of "meekly"), and shines a delightful beam of light on Stephen's way of life.

Review

            I did not enjoy reading this novel in the slightest. The stream of consciousness style makes it a quite unpleasant read. I much prefer the structured plot line of a book; the opening, rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion. This is not to say I cannot appreciate a book that doesn’t follow this template exactly, but a book like “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” and “We” that rambles on in no obvious direction does not leave me anxious to read the next part. Everyone has his/her own individual mindless stream of consciousness in everyday life and we do not go about stating this out loud. There is a very good reason for that. These things are not interesting and do not need to be acknowledged or shared. Unfortunately, I gleaned no fulfillment from James Joyce’s novel, but I can recognize that the actual writing, the diction, though difficult to understand, was really eloquently put once I understood what he was trying to communicate.

"For a Lady I Know"

      "For a Lady I Know" (354) by Countee Cullen uses irony and allusion to reflect on the absurdity of rascism. The lady in the poem is not named, but stands as the "poster woman" for rascism and ignorance. The poem is very short but the silliness of what is said is enough to make a statement. The entirety of the poem is as follows, "She even thinks that up in heaven her class lies late and snores, while poor black cherubs rise at seven to do celestial chores." The first literary device used is allusion. The words, "heaven" and "cherubs" allude to the Bible. Heaven is said to be the holiest place possible, accessible to people of divinity, goodness, piety, faith, and other values. Cherubs are angels. The allusion is critical in understanding the irony. If the reader does not grasp the great significance of the meaning of cherubs and heaven, he/she will not understand the major irony displayed in this poem.
      The importance of heaven and the cherubs is that both are divine. The lady in "For a Lady I Know" honestly believes that not only are there classes in heaven, but there is separation of wealthy and poor. The insanity of this belief is topped only by the belief that there is superiority of the white race in heaven. The irony of a woman thinking she will be able to enter heaven because of her status and have African American slaves ("poor black cherubs") work for her doing "celestial chores" while she sleeps is overwhelming. Heaven is supposed to be a beautiful, perfect place, and this ignorant woman sees nothing wrong with rascism taking place there.
      I really like this poem by Countee Cullen because it is short and blunt. As soon as I read it, I understood exactly what the meaning was and appreciated the straightforward, sarcastic tone. I am amused by the Biblical way Cullen decided to portray the message, because it was very efficient and clever. I think this poem is the perfect example that poetry can be one line and can be genius.

"Guns"

     "Guns" (360-361) by W.D. Erhart is a powerful poem that uses rhetorical questions and vivid imagery to make a point that war is cruel and (according to the poet) wrong. In the poem, a young girl is asking her father questions about his experience in war. The father answers her question with an appropriate response, but this initial question spurs a plethora of rhetorical questions posed to the reader under the guise of the father's thoughts. The first question is, "How do you tell a four-year-old what steel can do to flesh?" This question spurs unpleasant reflection of the incredibly harsh reality of what steel actually can do to a person. Common knowledge is that steel can injure. Steel can maim. Steel can kill. Being forced to contemplate the question of how one could possibly disclose this awful truth to an innocent child highlights the horror of the weaponry and, more importantly, brutality of war. The contrast between the innocent little girl's pure mind and the hardened former soldier's burdened one further emphasizes Erhart's overall reflection of the atrocity of war. 
      The next rhetorical question asked proves that Erhart is against war reading, "How do you explain a world where men kill other men and call it love of country?" Even more specifically the choice of word, "call" is significant, making diction another beneficial literary device used in the poem. "Call" implies that men use "love of country" as an excuse to make their killings acceptable; that the killings are really murders as opposed to the acts of heroes.
      Imagery is portrayed through the following, "He spins across the marketplace all shattered chest, all eyes and arms." The harsh scene of a ten-year-old boy flying, bloody and broken, across a marketplace is moving. Again, Erhart confronts the reader with the severe, distressing aspects of combat in the attempt to accentuate the negativities of war. This boy acts as a symbol of war and brutality especially in the line, "The boy spins across the years till he lands in a heap in another war in another place where yet another generation is rudely about to discover what their fathers never told them." This is commenting on the repetition of war and how even though the horrific nature of war is well-known, war continues to occur again and again and again.
      My personal reflection of this poem is that it is very well-written and makes an excellent point. The poem forced me to consider my personal opinion. I found it really made me think about war and left me a little torn. Obviously, it is very upsetting that war has happened so many times and will probably continue to take place in the future. I understand this is a despairing reality, but I also have immense respect and appreciation for the soldiers brave enough to fight for the safety and security of our country. I lean more towards the side of it's a necessary evil. I wish it could be avoided, but that it not always possible.

We

Analysis

The most intriguing part of We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is the relationship between D-503 and I-330. This relationship is a struggle through the whole book, but it is perfectly described by the following excerpt from the novel:

I said ‘darling’ very softly. And for some reason this made me think of a thing that happened this morning at the hangar: For a joke somebody had put a watch under a hundred-ton sledge. They’d swung the sledge with all their might, it made a wind in your face, and then stopped, a hundred tons of gentleness, just short of the little watch (133)

This is stated as D-503 waits for I-330’s response to the suggestion of she spending time with him the following day. The passage relates to the immediate issue of the anticipation of the answer, but it also applies to their relationship as a whole. The “hundred-ton sledge” is symbolic of I-330, because she has so much control over D-503 that she can manipulate him to do whatever she likes. Therefore the massive power in the sledge represents the amount of power I-330 has over the men she deals with, in particular, over D-503. The “little watch” is symbolic of D-503’s heart. I-330 continuously plays with D-503’s emotions and his heart to the point where she almost breaks it. She thinks nothing of this abuse of power, but rather is quite pleased with her ability to boss him around, which is shown through the phrase “for a joke” in the passage. Logic reasons that wielding a hundred-ton sledge is no joke, just as toying with one’s emotions is no joke, but I-330 finds it absolutely acceptable to do just that. Also, the words “made a wind in your face,” point to a couple different things. It indicates the influence I-330 had on D-503, wind being the force to sway someone, and it suggests the twisted nature of their relationship. Wind on one’s face can be either bothersome or comforting and refreshing. This relates to the interaction between D-503 and I-330. D-503 is annoyed by her behavior at one moment and yearns for it the next. She is the sledge almost breaking his watch and she is the wind striking, then caressing his face.

Favorite

            “I could already see the three of us—the three of us, her, me, and I-330—going down the corridors, taking her to where the flowers and grass and leaves…But she took a step back away from me and the horns of her pink crescent were trembling and turning downward.

            ‘You’re talking about…her,’ she said.

            ‘About?…’ I was embarrassed, for some reason. ‘Of course, I’m talking about her’” (165).     

            I like this passage because of D-503’s humanness. He doesn’t understand a lot of his emotions during his journey to the truth, and he doesn’t understand why he feels embarrassed, as displayed with, “I was embarrassed, for some reason.” I like this because he is at least feeling bad about the way he is treating O. He may not comprehend why he is (rightly) feeling this way, but the fact that deep inside he realizes that it is wrong to hurt her give me a small sense of satisfaction.

Review

            I have to say I cannot stand this book. I hated it and my feelings have lessened very slightly. I do not enjoy the stream of consciousness writing style used by Yevgeny Zamyatin. It seems more disorganized than any sort of literary genius. I find We very strange, and not in a good way that makes the reader reflect on life, but in a way that totally discredits the book for me; an example being the hairy people outside the Green Wall. That was completely ridiculous. I did not enjoy We in the slightest.

The Handmaid's Tale

Analysis

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale drags the reader through hell with Offred and then doesn’t even have the decency to tell us the ending? That may be the reaction of some people, but the ending is clear. Throughout the whole book, a common theme is death being the only way out for these women, which makes the fact that suicide is so diligently prevented all the more dramatic. If suicide is the only escape and they can’t even do that, then they are literally prisoners of the society.

From the very beginning, it is made clear that killing oneself is not easy to do in Gilead. “They’ve removed anything you could tie a rope to” (Atwood 7). People are so unhappy and desperate in the society that the desire to commit suicide is prevalent. The struggle to discover a possible way to kill oneself makes the success of this feat a triumph for the handmaids. The other women see the death as liberation, and most of them are envious of the woman. Death is seen as a positive accomplishment for a lucky handmaid. This point is extremely emphasized in the book. The last sentence of The Handmaid’s Tale reveals what happens to Offred. “And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light” (295). Death is often symbolized by and associated with a bright light. It is evident that Offred steps into the literal darkness of the van, and is brought to her death, which is shown through the diction in the sentence. She is finally going to be free and will finally be happy.

Favorites

“But this is wrong, nobody dies from lack of sex. It’s lack of love we die from. There’s nobody here I can love, all the people I could love are dead or elsewhere. Who knows where they are or what their names are now? They might as well be nowhere, as I am for them. I too am a missing person.

From time to time I can see their faces, against the dark, flickering like the images of saints, in old foreign cathedrals, in the light of the drafty candles you would light to pray by, kneeling your forehead against the wooden railing, hoping for an answer. I can conjure them but they are mirages only, they don’t last. Can I be blamed for wanting a real body, to put my arms around?” (103-104)

This except is one of my favorites out of novel. When I started reading The Handmaid’s Tale, I really wasn’t a fan. Once I read the most graphic scene in the book, the ceremony scene of course, I was disgusted and really didn’t want to read on. I strongly disliked the crudeness and raunchy way sex was discussed; for example the “f” word being used to describe what was happening in the scene. I hate whenever anyone uses that word to describe something sexual, because it immediately takes something that can be a beautiful, intimate experience and portrays a vulgar, dirty act, which I now understand is exactly why Margaret Atwood uses the word. In The Handmaid’s Tale, that is exactly what occurring; there certainly is no love or intimacy between Offred and the Commander.

The passage I pulled out is the polar opposite of the ceremony scene, and more accurately explains sex as I feel it should be seen. Here, sex is described as an expression of love between two people. Offred flat out states, “nobody dies from lack of sex.” It is not shallow sex that Offred misses, but the passionate and magnificent love that is present when people have sex for the right reasons. I find this excerpt very refreshing, because it stands as an emotional, pure perception of sex among warped, empty portrayals throughout the book.

            The second paragraph of this passage discusses religion, another theme in The Handmaid’s Tale. Atwood compares Offred’s long lost loved ones to the images of saints flickering in the darkness of an old cathedral. The underlying meaning of this is Offred’s struggle (again) with faith. The mirages that she can conjure, but that never stay are symbolic of her unanswered prayers. She feels alone and yearns for the mirages to stay with her. This yearning is not only for her actual loved ones, but also for the feeling of faith she once knew.

            The last line of the passage, “Can I be blamed for wanting a real body, to put my arms around?” particularly struck me because, firstly, it is so incredibly sad, and second, so true to all people. The rhetorical question could swiftly be answered with a yes, because everyone can understand the desire to be with another person. Offred solemnly proposes this sweet question because she does not have anyone and doesn’t understand why the society cannot seem to understand the craving to deeply connect with a loved one.

“A man is just a woman’s strategy for making other women” (121).

I marked this quote while reading the book. I still laugh to myself when I read it. It’s so clever. No offense boys, but this is just incredibly amusing.

Review

I have gotten over the graphic nature of what we are reading and I actually like the book as a whole. It kept me interested and makes a powerful point through the extremist society. I really enjoyed the way the ending was done, because I preferred that to Atwood simply stating, “Offred died.” The irony of Offred cheating with Luke while he was married before she is forced to be the “other woman” with the Commander is a nice touch to the book. The Handmaid’s Tale is overall an unforgettable book because of the unique content, and an enjoyable book because it is thought provoking.