Why does Holden find the trip to Ackley’s room heighten his sense of loneliness?
Before going to Ackley’s room, Holden had a verbal and physical fight with Stradlater in which Holden tried to kill him. Although Holden had tried to kill Stradlater by punching Stradlater’s toothbrush down his throat, Holden missed and the fight was over soon after Stradlater gained the upper hand with his strength. Stradlater, who was Holden’s roommate was, in all likelihood, one of the only people in which Holden was slightly friendly with. After the fight, however, Holden’s most viable option was to go to Ackley’s room. Holden, however, had many feelings towards Ackley; but enjoying his company was not one of them. Holden had described Ackley as a “peculiar guy” who “had a terrible personality” and “was also sort of a nasty guy” (page 19). Holden also added that Ackley had “lousy manners” (page 23) and said his room “always had a funny stink in it, because he was so crumby in his personal habits” (page 46). Holden’s description of Ackley were very demeaning towards Ackley and it would be implied that Holden would never really want to hang out that much with Ackley simply because he did not like Ackley as a person and that his personal hygiene was very repellent. However, after the fight with Stradlater, Holden did not have much of an option but to go to Ackley’s room for to be comforted by Ackley’s company; this, however, degraded Holden to Ackley’s ‘level.’ In addition to resorting to Ackley for comfort, Ackley himself did not want Holden’s company. While Holden wanted to communicate with Ackley, Ackley simply just wanted to sleep. A sign where Ackley wanted to get rid of Holden was when Holden wanted to sleep on Ackley’s roommate, Ely’s, bed, but Ackley pretended to have manners and said that couldn’t “just tell somebody they can sleep in his [Ely’s] goddamn bed if they want to” (page 47). Also, Ackley said directly to Holden that he could leave if he doesn’t like the room on page 48. “If you don’t like it, you know what you can do…” This shows that Ackley is implying that Holden should leave his room. Thus, because Ackley, a person who Holden believed was so inferior did not want to be with Holden, made Holden feel much worse than before. This was probably the time where Holden acknowledged his true sense of loneliness and how he had nobody in Pencey.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Comin Thro' the Rye
Comin Thro’ the Rye by Robert Burns is written in a Scottish ‘dialect’, thus making it difficult for the average English speaker to interpret. For instance, the vocabulary was very foreign. Words like ‘weet, draigl’t, gin, warld, ken’ would have been unheard of by the majority of English speakers. Even if the definitions of the strange words were explained, understanding the poem is still challenging. A factor to this is the repetitive use of imagery to symbolize certain objects. For instance, “O, Jenny’s a’ weet, poor body,” can mean many things. However, the line may most likely symbolize Jenny’s emotional puddle. In addition, the line “Jenny’s seldom dry” may mean how Jenny is seldom out of her emotional sadness. The root of her possible sadness maybe derived from the repeating lines, “Gin a body meet a body” and “Gin a body kiss a body.” This may show how Jenny may be sexually active and that she is being judged for that, thus causing her to be sad. Also, because the poem’s true meaning is like an enigma, it also makes the interpretation of the poem’s mood and tone tough. For instance, Burns uses words such as ‘drag, wet, poor, and cry’ showing that the poem may have a depressing town. However, Burns also uses exclamation marks that could either exaggerate the sadness of the poem, or the complete opposite. Robert Burns also uses rhyme and rhythm to hint the importance of certain words, despite the poem being hard to understand by most people. Some words he may be emphasizing are ‘rye/dry’ and ‘glen/ken’.
With the limited information I have, I believe the poem’s meaning is along the lines of Jenny encountering judgemental opinions about her being sexually active. However, I do not believe Robert Burns may be trying to prove. I believe Burns is stressing a more broader and less literal issue because the imaginary Jenny and her social problems are not significant. I presume Burns’ poem revolves around the issues of hardship, which somewhat is related to the title “Comin Thro’ the Rye.” The rye may represent hardship and struggles of a human being’s life.
With the limited information I have, I believe the poem’s meaning is along the lines of Jenny encountering judgemental opinions about her being sexually active. However, I do not believe Robert Burns may be trying to prove. I believe Burns is stressing a more broader and less literal issue because the imaginary Jenny and her social problems are not significant. I presume Burns’ poem revolves around the issues of hardship, which somewhat is related to the title “Comin Thro’ the Rye.” The rye may represent hardship and struggles of a human being’s life.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Weblog 10
If this is a story about sacrifice, what does Jimmy sacrifice?
It is not until the end till we see Jimmy sacrificing something. Jimmy, throughout most of the story, seemed like a dreamy boy, obsessed with a girl far from him emotionally and physically. Jimmy was supposed to be a lieutenant, a leader, responsible for lives of a few men. However, it did not seem that way throughout the majority of the story. He would always daydream about doing things to Martha, his imaginary girlfriend. For instance, on page 373, “After five minutes, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross moved to the tunnel, leaned down, and examined that darkness. Trouble, he thought – a cave-in maybe. And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha.” This was one of the many examples where Jimmy would think about Martha while being in combat. His obsession and love led to guilt. This was only after one of his men, Ted Lavender, got shot in the head. Due to his obsession over Martha, he was unable to realize the importance of his duty as a leader and how his obsession was a distraction. It was only till Ted Lavender got shot, did Jimmy Cross come to this realization. From this realization, Jimmy sacrifices his love for Martha. With the sacrifice of Jimmy’s obsession for Martha, Jimmy traded it for concentration on the war and his men. Page 382 shows Jimmy’s sacrifice of Martha’s love. “First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two photographs… Lavender was dead. You couldn’t burn the blame.” This shows how Jimmy is trying to erase Martha from his mind so that he could concentrate on getting his men out of the war safely. ‘You couldn’t burn the blame’ shows how despite all the burning of objects related to Martha, the guilt would still be there to remind Jimmy Cross of his mistake. Proof of his sacrifice is shown on page 384, where he starts to concentrate only on the war. “He would accept the blame for what had happened to Ted Lavender. He would be a man about it. He would look them in the eyes, he would issue the new SOPs in a calm impersonal tone of voice, a lieutenant’s voice.” This quote shows how he would forget about the past and be a responsible lieutenant, sacrifice the carefree, loving, obsessive side of him. Turning into a strict lieutenant who would not tolerate mistakes.
It is not until the end till we see Jimmy sacrificing something. Jimmy, throughout most of the story, seemed like a dreamy boy, obsessed with a girl far from him emotionally and physically. Jimmy was supposed to be a lieutenant, a leader, responsible for lives of a few men. However, it did not seem that way throughout the majority of the story. He would always daydream about doing things to Martha, his imaginary girlfriend. For instance, on page 373, “After five minutes, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross moved to the tunnel, leaned down, and examined that darkness. Trouble, he thought – a cave-in maybe. And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha.” This was one of the many examples where Jimmy would think about Martha while being in combat. His obsession and love led to guilt. This was only after one of his men, Ted Lavender, got shot in the head. Due to his obsession over Martha, he was unable to realize the importance of his duty as a leader and how his obsession was a distraction. It was only till Ted Lavender got shot, did Jimmy Cross come to this realization. From this realization, Jimmy sacrifices his love for Martha. With the sacrifice of Jimmy’s obsession for Martha, Jimmy traded it for concentration on the war and his men. Page 382 shows Jimmy’s sacrifice of Martha’s love. “First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two photographs… Lavender was dead. You couldn’t burn the blame.” This shows how Jimmy is trying to erase Martha from his mind so that he could concentrate on getting his men out of the war safely. ‘You couldn’t burn the blame’ shows how despite all the burning of objects related to Martha, the guilt would still be there to remind Jimmy Cross of his mistake. Proof of his sacrifice is shown on page 384, where he starts to concentrate only on the war. “He would accept the blame for what had happened to Ted Lavender. He would be a man about it. He would look them in the eyes, he would issue the new SOPs in a calm impersonal tone of voice, a lieutenant’s voice.” This quote shows how he would forget about the past and be a responsible lieutenant, sacrifice the carefree, loving, obsessive side of him. Turning into a strict lieutenant who would not tolerate mistakes.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Weblog 9
In Gryphon, Charles Baxter intertwines the conventional and unconventional primarily through the odd substitute teacher, Miss Ferenczi. When she first introduced herself, Miss Ferenczi did not follow the daily routine of pledging allegiance, which was the first example of unconventional intertwining with the conventional children who follow schedules. Another way Baxter intertwines the conventional and unconventional is through Miss Ferenczi’s story telling. Miss Ferenczi would constantly give the kids a fact, but would also tell a completely unrealistic story just to make the children interested in what she is saying. One of the many examples of this is when Miss Ferenczi told the children about diamonds, on page 50. Miss Ferenczi started off talking about jewels and diamonds and explained that they were magical and the biggest diamond killed anybody who owned it. She then went on to say women wear diamonds as a sign of the magic of womanhood, which so far, everything she said is fictional. She then says the magic in diamonds are reasons why men fall in love with women but women do not actually fall in love with men, instead they love being loved. From there, Miss Farenczi leads on to say that George Washington had died due to a mistake he made about a diamond, and that Washington was not the first true president. She goes on and talks about other completely fictional things but adds a touch of reality to make the story believable for the children. Charles Baxter does this to make Miss Ferenczi seem like a very peculiar character who cannot be trusted. Also, another way Baxter intertwines the conventional and unconventional is when the class was doing math. Miss Ferenczi asked what six times eleven was and a student answered with sixty-eight, which was wrong. Soon after, another student points out her mistake, which leads to a speech where Miss Ferenzci said that since she is a substitute teacher, she can provide a substitute answer which the children can use only when she is there. By this, Baxter wants to show that people should think outside the box and be creative, instead of being dull and narrow-minded.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Weblog 8
How does Jhumpa Lahiri use the minor action and subtle details to express the unmet needs of the characters?
Jhumpa Lahiri uses little bits of the story to express the unmet needs of the characters a lot in her story, Interpreter of Maladies. One of the many examples is how Tina is treated and how Tina treats her doll. Tina, a girl who constantly seeks her mother’s approval, is constantly met with disappointment. Her mother, Mrs. Das, does not treat Tina like a daughter, instead, according to hints given by Jhumpa Lahiri, Mrs. Das treats her daughter as if she is a nuisance thus neglects her. An example is shown on page 62, “…pulled out a bottle of nail polish, which she proceeded to stroke… ‘Mommy, do mine too.’ ‘Leave me alone,’ Mrs. Das said, blowing on her nail and turning her body slightly.” This neglectful attitude impacts Tina heavily. It leads to Tina, treating her doll the way she feels like how she is being treated by her mother. This need of love from her mother is unmet, thus the minor action of treating the doll poorly occurs. Another example of a minor action or detail that display unmet needs of characters is when Mr. and Mrs. Das have the minor fights during the tour. An example of one of these fights is when the two bicker about the car, which had no air conditioning. Mrs. Das complained to her husband about how the car is hot because it lacked air conditioning, yet Mr. Das said it wasn’t that bad, while he himself put his own window down. This shows Mr. Das’s hypocrisy and his neglectful attitude towards his wife, which may express his unmet need of having a caring wife. On Mrs. Das’s side, the quarrels between her and her husband express her need for a proper caring husband, which she also wants to care about. It represents the failed marriage, which was premature, considering they ‘were in high school when he proposed.’ (Lahiri, 75) This desire of a good or better spouse may have lead to her leading Mr. Kapasi on. In many occasions, she gave hints, which showed that she was interested in Mr. Kapasi. Some examples would be the use of the word ‘romantic’ on page 64, the sharing of food such as gum on page 64. This may have been an effect of Mrs. Das’s unmet needs of a happy relationship.
Jhumpa Lahiri uses little bits of the story to express the unmet needs of the characters a lot in her story, Interpreter of Maladies. One of the many examples is how Tina is treated and how Tina treats her doll. Tina, a girl who constantly seeks her mother’s approval, is constantly met with disappointment. Her mother, Mrs. Das, does not treat Tina like a daughter, instead, according to hints given by Jhumpa Lahiri, Mrs. Das treats her daughter as if she is a nuisance thus neglects her. An example is shown on page 62, “…pulled out a bottle of nail polish, which she proceeded to stroke… ‘Mommy, do mine too.’ ‘Leave me alone,’ Mrs. Das said, blowing on her nail and turning her body slightly.” This neglectful attitude impacts Tina heavily. It leads to Tina, treating her doll the way she feels like how she is being treated by her mother. This need of love from her mother is unmet, thus the minor action of treating the doll poorly occurs. Another example of a minor action or detail that display unmet needs of characters is when Mr. and Mrs. Das have the minor fights during the tour. An example of one of these fights is when the two bicker about the car, which had no air conditioning. Mrs. Das complained to her husband about how the car is hot because it lacked air conditioning, yet Mr. Das said it wasn’t that bad, while he himself put his own window down. This shows Mr. Das’s hypocrisy and his neglectful attitude towards his wife, which may express his unmet need of having a caring wife. On Mrs. Das’s side, the quarrels between her and her husband express her need for a proper caring husband, which she also wants to care about. It represents the failed marriage, which was premature, considering they ‘were in high school when he proposed.’ (Lahiri, 75) This desire of a good or better spouse may have lead to her leading Mr. Kapasi on. In many occasions, she gave hints, which showed that she was interested in Mr. Kapasi. Some examples would be the use of the word ‘romantic’ on page 64, the sharing of food such as gum on page 64. This may have been an effect of Mrs. Das’s unmet needs of a happy relationship.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Weblog 7
Why are writers driven to write, according to Tobias Wolff? Also, what does Wolff say should be our motivation in reading short stories?
On page seven, Tobias Wolff says, “Writers can never be sure, in the act of writing, if anyone will pay that price for the company of their words. We proceed on faith but in doubt, dreaming uncertainly of readers who will justify this lonely work by passion equal to our own.” This says that when writers write, they do not know if anybody will be isolated to read their (the writers’) words. It then says that they, the writers, continue to write in doubt, only hoping readers will admire the writing as much as the writers themselves. This is an explanation for the motivation for writers to write, so that they can receive the satisfaction of satisfying the readers. Also, writers write because they want to share certain experiences they encountered in their life, hoping to find a commonality between the readers and themselves.
This search for a sense of commonality between the writer and the reader thus leads to our motivation in reading short stories. On page 8, Wolff says, “… so convincing in their portrayal that the reader had to acknowledge kinship. That sense of kinship is what makes stories important to us.” Here, Tobias Wolff states that the sense of kinship or commonality makes us read more, because we care about it and we know what the writer is feeling. He also says, “ Those are the stories that endure in our memories…” By this, Wolff meant that the sense of kinship causes readers to remember the stories because the both writer and reader share something. In addition to this, Wolff goes on and says, “But when we read we are alert and undefended, and liable to be struck hard.” This sentence states that when reading, we, the readers, are able to be struck hard and be excited, which motivates us to read.
On page seven, Tobias Wolff says, “Writers can never be sure, in the act of writing, if anyone will pay that price for the company of their words. We proceed on faith but in doubt, dreaming uncertainly of readers who will justify this lonely work by passion equal to our own.” This says that when writers write, they do not know if anybody will be isolated to read their (the writers’) words. It then says that they, the writers, continue to write in doubt, only hoping readers will admire the writing as much as the writers themselves. This is an explanation for the motivation for writers to write, so that they can receive the satisfaction of satisfying the readers. Also, writers write because they want to share certain experiences they encountered in their life, hoping to find a commonality between the readers and themselves.
This search for a sense of commonality between the writer and the reader thus leads to our motivation in reading short stories. On page 8, Wolff says, “… so convincing in their portrayal that the reader had to acknowledge kinship. That sense of kinship is what makes stories important to us.” Here, Tobias Wolff states that the sense of kinship or commonality makes us read more, because we care about it and we know what the writer is feeling. He also says, “ Those are the stories that endure in our memories…” By this, Wolff meant that the sense of kinship causes readers to remember the stories because the both writer and reader share something. In addition to this, Wolff goes on and says, “But when we read we are alert and undefended, and liable to be struck hard.” This sentence states that when reading, we, the readers, are able to be struck hard and be excited, which motivates us to read.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Weblog 6
Describe a time you had divided interests. How did one interest win out over the other(s)? What factors came into play?
There were many where I had divided interests. For instance, I had to choose between sports, computers, and community service. I was really devoted to playing soccer and baseball, yet I loved to play around with computer software and hardware. I also loved helping the poor in my community. So I signed up for all three, computer science, sports, and community service. Yet I could only pick one, which was a real dilemma for me. In the end, I chose sports because of a few important reasons. At first, I eliminated computer science because I thought it wasn’t as important as sports and community service. Both sports and community had benefits, yet I chose sports for reasons, which seem selfish. Although community service had good benefits, such as helping the community and helping my self esteem. It got into my head that health and extra curricular activities for college were even more important. I believe that I thought the well-being of myself was the reason why I ruled out all the other factors for the other activities.
Also, how does the author foreshadow that the protagonist will be unsuccessful at wooing Sheila Mant?
Wetherell shows many indications that the protagonist will not be successful in wooing Sheila Mant. One primary indication is that she constantly does not seem to care much about the protagonist. When he is with her, she simply ignores him or answers his questions without much passion. For instance, when the protagonist would swim to and from the Vermont shore, Sheila Mant did not seem to care about his efforts. Also, Wetherall shows the difference in interest between the protagonist and Sheila Mant. An example would be when they were on the protagonist’s canoe to the fair, Sheila Mant would be talking about topics that the protagonist did not know about or seemed to care about. Sheila Mant called fishing, the protagonist’s favorite hobby, dumb. This difference in interest was a clear indication that the two did not match or cooperate; despite how much the protagonist admired Sheila Mant.
There were many where I had divided interests. For instance, I had to choose between sports, computers, and community service. I was really devoted to playing soccer and baseball, yet I loved to play around with computer software and hardware. I also loved helping the poor in my community. So I signed up for all three, computer science, sports, and community service. Yet I could only pick one, which was a real dilemma for me. In the end, I chose sports because of a few important reasons. At first, I eliminated computer science because I thought it wasn’t as important as sports and community service. Both sports and community had benefits, yet I chose sports for reasons, which seem selfish. Although community service had good benefits, such as helping the community and helping my self esteem. It got into my head that health and extra curricular activities for college were even more important. I believe that I thought the well-being of myself was the reason why I ruled out all the other factors for the other activities.
Also, how does the author foreshadow that the protagonist will be unsuccessful at wooing Sheila Mant?
Wetherell shows many indications that the protagonist will not be successful in wooing Sheila Mant. One primary indication is that she constantly does not seem to care much about the protagonist. When he is with her, she simply ignores him or answers his questions without much passion. For instance, when the protagonist would swim to and from the Vermont shore, Sheila Mant did not seem to care about his efforts. Also, Wetherall shows the difference in interest between the protagonist and Sheila Mant. An example would be when they were on the protagonist’s canoe to the fair, Sheila Mant would be talking about topics that the protagonist did not know about or seemed to care about. Sheila Mant called fishing, the protagonist’s favorite hobby, dumb. This difference in interest was a clear indication that the two did not match or cooperate; despite how much the protagonist admired Sheila Mant.
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