Unpacking the Question

1) Compare uses and/or abuses of power as a theme in novels or short stories you have read. Say what this theme and its presentation contribute to each work you discuss.
-Find themes about power in the books, and talk about its presentation and whether it was good or bad.
-Theme of power
-Darkness at noon, Bluest Eye
2) Say what the titles of some individual works you have studied indicated to you at the outset. In what ways were your first impressions reinforced or altered as you read and explored each work?
-Identify first impression of book from title. Say how that idea changed or was reinforced throughout the book.
-Theme (ideas about book), mood, motif (depends on book/title)
-Darkness at Noon and Bluest Eye

The War in Eastern Europe Commentary

Passage W Outline
I. Introduction
Thesis: In the passage from The War in Eastern Europe, John Reed creates an exciting mood that contradicts the actual dismal circumstances in order to promote the universal theme that war often causes soldiers to lose their emotional health.
II. Body
a. Exciting mood
i. Fast paced
1. “We were off!”
2. Constantly in new places: Novo Sielitza, Romania, Bucovina
3. Even the slow horse ride, waiting for Ivan happens fast for the reader
ii. Adrenaline
1. Lots of descriptions
2. Flowing sentences, ideas shifting constantly
3. Even riding to war, these men are happy- joking about Ivan
4. Feel powerful- compare self to “Zeus”
b. Mood contradictory to events
i. Descriptions don’t make sense
1. Cannon is “leisurely”
2. Soldiers are dying, being shot at, described as “minute figures running about”
3. “Puffs of smoke unfolding” instead of homes being destroyed
4. No emotional attachment or realization about horrors of war
ii. Descriptions lack emotion
1. Wounded come in “steady stream”
a. Natural, positive connotations
b. Plentiful, positive connotations
2. Go through village of “great brown soldiers,” implies less than human, not seen as individuals
c. Theme- loss of emotional health
i. Soldiers often return from war with PTSD, can’t live with transition from pressures of war
ii. Living surrounded by death and destruction is hard
iii. Soldiers compensate by not allowing themselves to really feel the effect of their experiences
1. Notice towers “dazzling in the sun”
2. Don’t really describe the wounded or dead as individuals, just something in the background to notice, not care about
iv. Mood exciting because soldiers filled with adrenaline, focused on action, ignoring feelings- cause destruction to emotional health
III. Conclusion

Character Analysis "Dewey Dell"

Dewey Dell, like most of the Bundren children, is only slightly educated. Instead of describing her thoughts and feelings in detail, Dewey Dell is better at recounting experiences that instill those senses in the reader. For example, when she talks about Lafe, her lover, she is caught between feeling manipulated and captivated, so instead of describing his effect on her in detail, she simply remembers him picking cotton into her bag so they could be together. Dewey Dell is also very consistent and almost obsessive. For example, when Doctor Peabody comes to look at Addie, Dewey Dell, for almost a whole chapter, only thinks “he could do so much for me” (58).
From other characters, we learn that Dewey Dell is indeed obsessive and intense. Cora comments on how she is constantly fanning her dying mother, trying to keep her to herself (25). As the family begins their journey to bury Addie, many of the neighbors along the way notice Dewey Dell’s intensity; Samson says, “If her eyes had a been pistols, I wouldn’t be talking now” (115). They realize that she follows others or holds onto ideas without question, and she is also creepily quiet.
In this story, Dewey Dell faces many internal conflicts. Her intensity hints at her respect for the rules (and God?), but her pregnancy, and implied pre-marital sex, don’t conform to her otherwise innocent lifestyle. As a daughter in the Bundren family, she has to deal with grief for her mother, which she demonstrates by fighting more than anyone else for her dying wish: to be buried in Jefferson. She often remains on the side lines while the boys do the action. Dewey Dell is a quiet but complex character that works hard to undo what she feels she has done wrong.
Dewey Dell can best be described as intense, pregnant, and confused. A baby could definitely symbolize her life because she is young and innocent, yet somehow gets into trouble. She seems to do things without really thinking them through and that gets her into a moral dilemma, which is a very immature and childlike tendency. Dewey Dell is dependent on others; she lets men control her life (maybe society makes her) and she follows her dead mother’s demands without once questioning them. She is stubborn and trusting at the same time, just like a baby. Of course, she is also pregnant, which is another reason why the symbol works for Dewey Dell.

Red Fox Plog #4

“Red Fox” Commentary

In the poem “Red Fox,” Margaret Atwood creates a conceit comparing a fox to impoverished women to promote the theme that society unjustly works to oppress women and the poor. The fox represents poor women, and the speaker continually demonstrates anger at society’s view of poverty. This poem promotes sympathy and aid for impoverished women by condemning society’s opinion of them.
The fox in this poem is starving; it is “lean” and desperate, and there are “slim pickings.” This is a widespread problem, and the rich, powerful members of society first try to deny the problem that poverty causes by promoting the idea that those who are starving become morally rich. Atwood rhetorically asks, “Why encourage the notion of virtuous poverty?” to question society’s perception of the poor as honorable. She condemns this idea by stating, “It’s only an excuse for zero charity,” which points out the selfishness of the rich.
Atwood contrasts this idea of poverty with the reality of desperation. “Absolute hunger corrupts absolutely”; hunger will cause humans to stray from their normal behavior. People actually become more selfish when faced with death, as Atwood’s allusion to the story “Hansel and Gretel” harshly points out. The speaker then comments that it is understandable to turn to crime to survive because “we’d all” do the same thing. However, right after that Atwood ironically says, “or so says the fox,” which negates the sympathy just displayed towards the poor. This explains once again society’s idea that the poor are actually deceptive and disgusting, but the problem should be ignored.
Atwood primarily uses sarcastically negative and condescending diction to portray society’s view of the fox, or poor women. Words and phrases such as “sly,” “trickster’s eyes,” “adept at lies,” and “thief and rascal” describe the destructive tendencies of women. These impoverished women can’t be trusted; a woman will use her “white knife of a smile” to act kind and trustworthy only to use that trust against the innocent. Atwood’s tone during these descriptions is bitter. The poem ends stating that these poor women don’t deserve “one more chance, or other life,” which the speaker, originally admiring and sympathetic of the fox, clearly does not actually believe.
Atwood uses the metaphor that describes starving women as a “lean vixen” to trigger sympathy and understanding for their situation. At the same time, she condemns the treatment of these poor people by society. These women need help because they are losing their humanity simply trying to survive.

"The Frontier of Writing" Plog #4

From The Frontier Of Writing
Seamus Heaney
The tightness and the nilness round that space
when the car stops in the road, the troops inspect
its make and number and, as one bends his face

towards your window, you catch sight of more
on a hill beyond, eyeing with intent
down cradled guns that hold you under cover

and everything is pure interrogation
until a rifle motions and you move
with guarded unconcerned acceleration—

a little emptier, a little spent
as always by that quiver in the self,
subjugated, yes, and obedient.

So you drive on to the frontier of writing
where it happens again. The guns on tripods;
the sergeant with his on-off mike repeating

data about you, waiting for the squawk
of clearance; the marksman training down
out of the sun upon you like a hawk.

And suddenly you're through, arraigned yet freed,
as if you'd passed from behind a waterfall
on the black current of a tarmac road

past armor-plated vehicles, out between
the posted soldiers flowing and receding
like tree shadows into the polished windscreen.


Commentary:
In "The Frontier of Writing," Seamus Heaney uses a conceit comparing editing to a border checkpoint to emphasize the freedom writing offers and the satisfaction of being accepted. Heaney explains the tensions associated with writing publicly, but the same metaphor that describes the extreme scrutiny of critics also reveals the ultimate appeal of writing.

The extended metaphor in this poem compares publishing, the final step of writing, to a border checkpoint. In both the literal and symbolic sense, this puts the person being inspected at the mercy of a ruthless system. The original tone within this conceit is nervous. Diction such as "tightness", "inspect", "interrogation", "guarded", and "emptier" help to create this tone. Heaney uses this nervous tone to express a serious dislike for the troops, which symbolize editors. He shows the soldiers as less than human; Heaney says "a rifle motions," and he uses rifle instead of soldier to point out that the soldier's only power is in his gun. He mentions the "guns on tripods," and compares the snipers to hawks, which once again states the troop's lack of humanity, but it also shows that the editors are ready to shoot, and they assume they will have to. He sees critics, publishers, and editors as evil, emotionless killing machines, determined to block writers from their honest, innocent work.

Heaney then shifts to a tone contrasting to the tension felt early in the poem. When he says, "suddenly you're through," the tension lifts instantly, and the freedom and opportunity that writing provides is expressed. He calls the road after the block the "frontier of writing," which implies that writing can be limitless and full of opportunities. Heaney describes the freedom that being allowed through the block or finally accepted by publishers cause; it's "as if you'd passed from behind a waterfall on the black current of a tarmac road," which explains the lack of blocks on a writer when he (or she) receives a clean slate. When something gets published, and you simply start over again from scratch, and that experience is cleansing but difficult, like passing under a waterfall.

This poem demonstrates the appeal of writing. Heaney says, "where it happens again." The speaker is willing goes through the hell of intense scrutiny and humiliation to feel the freedom when he comes out the other end. While in the moment, the troops are terrifying, but as you pass they become harmless memories. The freedom of the "frontier of writing" pulls people back in; they will put up with all sorts of danger and tension to experience that extreme freedom.

"Mid-Term Break" Plog #3

Mid-term Break

I sat all morning in the college sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close,
At two o'clock our neighbors drove me home.

In the porch I met my father crying--
He had always taken funerals in his stride--
And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.

The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram
When I came in, and I was embarrassed
By old men standing up to shake my hand

And tell me they were "sorry for my trouble,"
Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,
Away at school, as my mother held my hand

In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.
At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived
With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.

Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,

Wearing a poppy bruise on the left temple,
He lay in the four foot box as in a cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

A four foot box, a foot for every year.

Commentary:

In the poem “Mid-term Break,” Seamus Heaney creates a blank tone to promote the theme that sudden loss causes shock and makes people act differently. The speaker, a college student, returns home for a break to attend the funeral of his 4 year old brother. He experiences the ultimate, untimely loss of a family member, and his observation of the many emotional responses to that loss emphasizes the strange reality of a world that doesn’t contain a loved one.
The speaker notices the emotions of others, but he seems to simply observe, because he lacks the typical emotions caused by the loss of a family member. The title of the poem, and the first stanza, imply that the “break” is a vacation. Usually students are very impatient when they are about to leave school for home, and the speaker exhibits this behavior as he waits “all morning” to be picked up, “counting bells” and keeping close track of the time. Heaney then surprises us with the fact that the speaker actually has a “break” to attend a funeral. The young man sees his father cry uncharacteristically, but he shows no sign of the same level of sadness. He feels embarrassed instead, as old men offer their condolences. Instead of feeling the sadness and depression normally caused by death, he registers the reactions of others; I picture him staring blankly ahead. He barely does any action; his mother “held my hand in hers,” because the boy is too shocked to reach out. Both parents already experience grief, but the son merely observes them. The father cries and the mother “coughed out angry tearless sighs.”
The speaker’s analysis of his brother’s body shows distance and more observation, which continues to contribute to the blank tone. The young man once again notices details such as the time when the ambulance with his brother’s body arrives. He calls the body a “corpse” which demonstrates an emotional detachment from the body. The mood changes as the speaker walks into the calm, “soothing” room; the brother starts to feel the overwhelming sadness, but he continues to study the corpse. He observes that the little boy is “paler now,” and the “now” shows the sudden realization that the boy is dead, that now is different from the boy he saw six weeks ago. He sees the little boy in his coffin, but remembers the boy laying sleeping in the same room very recently. He studies the body, noticing the “poppy bruise” and lack of “gaudy scars.” Until the speaker walks into the room, he doesn’t feel the full extent of the loss of his brother. He walks around blankly, in shock, until the realization that his 4 year old brother will never again to run around in the street, full of liveliness.
The speaker’s blank tone and calm observance of his brother’s funeral represents the effect of sudden loss on people. He remains in shock until the last line, “A four-foot box, a foot for every year.” This is the precise moment when the speaker realizes that this little boy is never coming back.

The Sun Rising Plog #2

The Sun Rising
by John Donne

BUSY old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us ?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run ?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school-boys and sour prentices,
Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride,
Call country ants to harvest offices ;
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

Thy beams so reverend, and strong
Why shouldst thou think ?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long.
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and to-morrow late tell me,
Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou left'st them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, "All here in one bed lay."

She's all states, and all princes I ;
Nothing else is ;
Princes do but play us ; compared to this,
All honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
Thou, Sun, art half as happy as we,
In that the world's contracted thus ;
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere ;
This bed thy center is, these walls thy sphere.

Commentary:
In "The Sun Rising", John Donne creates an annoyed and angry tone that shifts to accepting to promote the theme that love is more important than anything else in the world. The speaker, speaking to the sun through apostrophe, first feels that the sun is imposing on his life, but then he welcomes the warmth and power of the sun as a way to help his love prosper. This poem is utterly romantic, though Donne still manages to show his condescending and angry side.
In the very beginning of the poem, Donne uses apostrophe, addressing the sun as though it is barging in on his blissful, quiet moments with his lover. Donne ironically begins a very poetic and romantically titled poem basically yelling at nature; the sun forces people to work, to get out of bed, etc. Diction such as "old fool," "unruly," and "wretch" creates the impression that the speaker is angry. In this stanza, the speaker just wants the sun to go away.
In the second stanza, the speaker acknowledges that he can't ignore the sun. He considers his love to be more important than his dislike of the sun. Throughout the stanza, Donne uses language related to the bedroom, such as "lie here with me" and "all here in one bed lay." Donne puts up with the sun because he would rather have his lover. He says, "But that I would not lose her sight for so long," which exaggerates his need for his lover. He can't stop looking at her for the length of a wink. Overall, Donne still promotes an annoyed tone, but it is more balanced by his love, which clearly is very important to him.
In the last stanza, Donne's tone changes to accepting. He welcomes the sun, saying "shine here to us." Instead of butting in, the sun now accentuates their love. Donne realizes that it's the sun's job to "warm the world," and so by warming their hearts through love, the sun is actually slave to their love. This stanza is much more positive, but Donne still retains a condescending tone as he tells the sun that it revolves around his bedroom in the last line. Obviously Donne values love, but he actually goes as far as saying it is the most important thing in the universe. He can ignore the sun and all other obligations that come with morning because the simple pleasure of being with his love is of utmost importance.
Donne gets angry at the sun and at nature, but this poem shows his thought process. He develops his anger into an understanding of what he values in the world. If we can all pinpoint the one thing in this world that we value most and go after it, devoting everything to that one thing, I'm sure we would all be much happier.