always_succesful

1) c) Aside from the obvious winged connection, why is “Icarus” infested with bird imagery?

The poem “Icarus” is infested with bird imagery to represent both Daedalus and Icaruses bold personalities and to provide a symbolism of Daedalus life. Second, the bird imagery provides a good description of Daedaluses life. The bold personalities of Daedalus and Icarus representated by Daedalus for giving aid to the kings enemy and Icarus who flew to closely to the sun. There boldness can be easily related to that of a single bird flying thorugh an entire flock. We have all seen birds flying through the air at high speeds flying right by other birds with only a distance of a few centimetres between them. Eventually, the bird will collide with another bird or get attacked. Even though birds are well aware of what flying in flocks may inflict, their determination creates a boldness that propels them to take a risk. Daedaluses life resembles a bird by portraying the religious symbolism of a bird. In many cultures, a bird represents a free spirit and a bird that is unable to fly is considered to be a condemned soul. Daedalus can be thought as a bird with a broken wing. He was once free until able to soar and take on any challenge until he became too bold and took a risk that was detrimental to his life. In this case, giving a clew to Aridne, which angered the king into exiling him and his son to the Labyrinth.


2) Look up the term dystopia in Wikipedia. Please explain how you would define a dystopian work of literature. What might we learn from studying a dystopian novel? Have you seen any of the movies referred to in the article? Can you add any alternate suggestions of dystopian books or movies?

A dystopian work of literature would be defined as one that portrays a miserable human society that is caused by multiple circumstances such as disease, overcrowding and oppression. While studying a dystopian novel, one might learn a new outlook and appreciation for life, especially if one lives in our society. Studying dystopian novels have always given me a sense of thankfulness for the life that I have and share with others. I have not seen any of the movies referred to in the article. An example of a dystopian movie that I have seen is I Robot with Will Smith. Technology has become so far advanced that robots are enslaving mankind for their own “protection.” People are forced to follow all instructions by the artificial intelligence system V.I.C.K.Y., until Will Smith saves the day.

1) Write a strong TEA paragraph in which you summarize and compare how Crozier and Wilbur use an extended metaphor to write about life or growing up.

Wilbur and Crozier use extended metaphors to write about life’s journey. Wilbur in his poem “The writer” speaks about his teenage daughter in her early writing days: “Young as she is, the stuff of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy: I wish her a lucky passage.” He is describing his daughter’s dream and ambition of becoming a writer as a challenging path. The “great cargo” is most likely that of trials his daughter must face. He recognizes that his daughter is going to have to face challenges, many of which are “heavy” or demanding on ones soul to become a successful writer. The path of an author is one that is long and filled with many roadblocks. As Crozier says in her poem “Packing for the future: Intructions,” “There may be doors nailed shut. There may be painted windows. There may be signs that warn you to be gone. Take the dream you've been having since you were a child, the one with open fields and the wind sounding.” The “doors nailed shut,” “painted windows” and “signs that warn you to be gone” are most likely all representative of many roadblocks that appear in our lives, just as Wilbur’s daughter will face in her life. For example, when Wilbur’s daughter will try to publish her book there will be publishers who will not open their doors for a teenager, some who will not have an opened mind to a teenagers writings and others that will tell her that her writing is worthless and to give up. In these times, she must “Take the dream” that she’s had since she was “a child” and ignore everyone who tells her that she cannot be a writer. She must hold her dream dear to heart, have complete faith in herself and persist until she has achieved her goal. Which was exactly what Wilbur’s daughter did. She released her first book at a very young age. The lesson here is never to let life discourage one for achieving their dream, and to always keep faith and persist until their vision is achieved.


2) Find out something about Sylvia Plath's life and death. Identify areas where there is overlap with "Daddy." Are the details always accurate? Why would an author choose to write her life in this way? Jeanette Winterson wrote, "There is no autobiography; there is only art and lies." Do you think Plath would agree with her?

Sylvia Plath committed suicide at the age of thirty by placing her head inside her gas oven and turning it on dying from suffocation. Her suicide occurred shortly after the end of her miserable seven year marriage. Plath’s poem “Daddy” overlaps with her life a great deal by the description her empty relationship with her father, which her two orphaned children then experienced with their mother, and her earlier attempt to commit suicide. As for Jeanette Winterson comment, I’m inclined to believe that Sylvia Plath would have agreed with Jeanette Winterson. For Sylvia’s poems contained vague truths about her life and was filled with artistic falsehoods in order to bring depth to her poems.

1) Now that we're at almost the half-way point in the term, reflect a moment. What has been the most useful or interesting aspect of studying literature for you, so far? What do you still want to learn? Any concerns or fears?
The most interesting and useful aspects that I have found studying literature is the development of critical reading skills. Throughout this course, we are asked to read stories, make deductions about them and provide evidence to support our conclusions. What is very nice about this online course is that we are given the questions about our stories beforehand. This allows us impress the questions into our subconscious mind and direct our reticular activating system toward our goal. Then, when we read our assigned story. We immediately see the correlation between the question asked and the content in the story. I have found that this course has increased my ability analyze writting significantly.

What do I still want to learn? I would like to learn to become more decisive of my opinions. Every time I read a story, I always find myself with multiple opinions, some which contradict each other. This can make it difficult to write a paper or a blog.

Concerns? Yes, my major concern is the in class final essay. I never write well in limited time period. I find I must read a story three times before I have a clear understanding in my mind of what I want to write about. On top of that, I need time for editing. I usually edit my writing a least fives times before submitting it. Time management for this in class essay is my main concern.

2)Define the following terms:
1. Hamartia 2. Hubris 3. Catharsis 4. Peripeteia 5. Anagnorisis
Then determine whether they are in the play, Antigone, and where or how they occur.

1. Hamartia
Definition: A fatal flaw.
Happened when: Antigone going to bury her brother directly after her uncle Creon decreed that he would put anyone who attempted to do so to death.
2. Hubris
Definition: Excessive pride or self-confidence.
Happened when: The king showed excessive pride in himself and his rule from the very beginning of his appearance in the play. He speaks of upholding the laws of the state yet he speaks more about his own opinions for how the country and its laws should be run. His hubris is portrayed strongly when he ignores all advice from his nobles his son.
3. Catharsis
Definition: The process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.
Happened when: Ismene admits to being apart of her brother’s burial. Her guilt of refusing her brother the right to pass into the underworld caused her so much grief that, even though she had no part in the actual burying, she readily admitted to it.
4. Peripeteia
Definition: A sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances.

Happened when: Tiresias comes into the play and warns Creon about what is to come of him in the future. Immediately when Tiresias mentions what is to become of his loved ones, Creon regrets everything he has done and takes immediate action to rectify his mistakes.
5. Anagnorisis
Definition: Is a moment in a play when a character makes a critical discovery.
Happened after: Creon made a small a series of discoveries. First, Creon discovered that he was too late to bury his nephew’s body properly. Second, when Creon realises that it was his actions that caused his son to commit suicide in front of him. And lastly, when Creon discovered his wife dead by her own hands because of his stubbornness. Only then, he realises that his only true happiness in life came from his family. That’s when Anagnorisis occurred

1)Part 1, Reflection: Read the course notes page on the T.E.A. paragraph and listen to Debbie Gascoyne's mini lecture on intertextuality, then write a T.E.A. paragraph on "The Boat." Consider your answers to last week's blog question on intertextuality, and suggest a) what they have in common and b) why the NARRATOR (not just the author) of the story might include these references in his reflections on the events leading up to his father's death.

In reference to last weeks blog question on intextuality, “The Boat” utilized intertextuality to increase the understanding of the characters, situations and to deepen the meaning story. Firstly we have the women, Eustace Vye and the narrator’s mother. Eustace Vye had a strong resemblance to the mother of the narrator. Both women were described as beautiful, energetic women. These women, who both had ideals view of what they wanted their family and husbands to be like, drove the people those who which they loved or once loved away. Eustace Vye wanted an exiting, adventurous husband while the mother of the narrator wanted a tidy, organised and more productive husband. These women went into their marriages with hopes of a happy marriage and a good life, but in the end, both were let down and experienced failure in their marriages. Secondly, we have Ham Peggotty and the narrators father. Both men were unable to receive the education they so dearly wanted and as a result ended up working in the boating industry working. Neither of these men were suited for the jobs they had. Both men strongly desired a better life for themselves and their families. The only thing that kept them going was their shared passion for the ocean. Sadly though, both men drowned at sea, one by accident and the other for a noble cause. Lastly, the use of intertextuality of Dylan Thomas’s poem “Fern Hill” and Shakespeare’s “Tempest” added the greatest amount of depth to the story. The poem “Fern Hill” and the story “Tempest” both gave a strong impression of foreshadowing about the death of the narrators father. The father drowning and his body lost to a vast body of water. Only to be battered, torn apart and returned.

2)What is the significance of the binary “constancy/change”?

The significance of the binary “constancy/change” in the story “The Boat” provides a strong message that change is required for life to flourish and prosper. The binary is very well by the sister’s and uncle of the narrator as well as the narrator himself. Firstly, the sisters of the narrator, in order to leave the drudgery of the seafood restaurant, married to financially stable men and moved to the larger cities around the country. There, they discovered a well balanced life for themselves as well as better opportunities for their children. Secondly, the uncle, who worked along side the narrator and his father, invested into a fishing vessel of his own. In doing so, he became captain of his own vessel. No longer has to work as a deck hand and now earns enough income to support his ever growing family. Lastly, the narrator followed his father’s advice and dream to return to high school and continue on to university. So that he may provide himself with a life with consistency and less hardships. The mother of the narrator, on the other hand, represented the “constancy” of the binary. Her ignorance and stubbornness against changing and learning eventually drove all of her children away. She then spent the rest of her life alone and miserable overlooking the ocean. The idea of change was the founding reason for a better life for all the children and the uncle. For if they had not dreamt of a better life, had decided to take action, they would have spent the rest of their lives just as the narrators parents. Thankfully, for the benefit of the children, the desire of change fuelled women and the narrator to dream of a more fulfilling life. They all found better lives for themselves outside the small town from whence they came and now have an abundance of opportunity in all aspects of their lives.

3) Here is another T.E.A. paragraph I originally wrote for question number two but then realized I didn't answer any of the questions. Enjoy!

The opening paragraph of the story “The Boat” had a very strong connections to the underlying meaning of the poem “This Be the Verse” by Philip Larkin. The story opens up with “There are times even now, when I awake at four o'clock in the morning with the terrible fear that I have overslept; when I imagine that my father is waiting for me in the room below the darkened stairs or that the shorebound men are tossing pebbles against my window while blowing their hands and stomping their feet impatiently on the frozen steadfast earth. There are times when I am half out of bed and fumbling for socks and mumbling for words before I realize that I am foolishly alone, that no one waits at the base of the stairs and no boat rides restlessly in the waters by the pier.” We know, after analyzing the poem “This Be the Verse” that one of the main messages of the poem is that our parents influences has the potential to remain in our subconscious for our entire lives. We can see that the narrator from “The Boat” has been so strongly influenced by his father and his habits that now, when he is living alone in his apartment, as a teacher of Midwestern university, that he still has the habits and routines that were passed down to him by his father. The memories of his father sitting in his chair are so well engrained within his mind, that he still wakes up at four in the morning, fumbles to get dressed quickly, just to find out that there is nobody waiting for him. This point is so powerful when one considers the ending of the story “The Boat.” When the narrator pulls his fathers shoulders apart when he tries to move his wedged, battered corpse from in between two rocks. One would believe that narrators image of his father’s corpse, wedged in between two rocks with a face purple, bloated and without eyes. Extremities shredded like ribbons and testicles missing from the body, would embed itself into the narrators mind. Yet still, the narrator retains the habit of getting up at four in the morning stumbling to get dressed so he may go to work with his father. This is an excellent example of how parents can “Fuck you up.”

The story “Evaline” deepens and complicates the theme of Larkin’s poem by showing the effect of what a parents ideals, morals and duties has on a child. Even as the children become adults. This short story perfectly sums up the line “Man hands on misery to man,” in Larkin’s poem. Evaline, a woman from a small town, shows how parental influence can sometimes dictate the lives of children. When Evaline was still young, she witnessed her mother becoming gravely ill. When the time came for her mother to pass on, Evaline promised to her that she would keep the home together as long as she could. As time passed she realized how horribly unhappy she was due to her father now threatening with physical violence, the responsibility of taking care of the foster children and working at the business. Once she broke out of her rut and began to take action to create a new life, she still had thoughts and strong feelings for her home and father. These thoughts manifested into a physical reality when she ran off the boat and left her lover Frank without as much as glimpse of love or recognition. Evaline, her soul, her being, wanted to leave the small town and create a new and fulfilling life so badly and yet, something stopped her. Evaline and her subconscious mind, with her vast stores of memories of her mother and what she had promised to her stopped her. This one simple event between her and her mother caused her to throw away her lover, self respect and confidence. As Larkin expresses it “They fuck you up, your mum and dad.” For if it were not due to her mother and her father opinions and views, Evaline may have had a rich and fulfilling life.

The poem "This Be the Verse," does not fit the criteria for “great literature” because it does increase the awareness of the reader and nor does it cause them to reflect upon their lives. Philip Larkin is writing about a universal theme that we are all familiar with, children and their relationship with their parents. We can all relate to this because we are all children and most of us are or either will be parents. We all know from our childhood experiences that the traits of our parents, both good and bad, were passed down to us consciously and subconsciously. This is apparent if one has ever compared themselves to their parents. This leads to the point said in the third verse of the poem, “Man hands one misery to man.” If one was to move past the literal meaning of this line, one would see that Philip is referring to the dysfunctionality of the common household family. Depressed, frustrated and angry parents hand down their ignorant and biased views down to their children which, in turn, creates a similar attitude in them. This can also go the other way. As for children with poor attitudes and control issues create a poor and stressful atmosphere in the family household that can cause the parents to become miserable i.e. “Man hands one misery to man.” Philip ends the poem with “And don’t have any kids yourself.” All of the points of he mentions in this poem are about the cause and effect of the relationships of children and their parents, which is obvious to anyone who has observed his or her own family or that of anothers. We all know that if we take an action, it will have consequences. It is for this reason that this poem does not constitute as “great literature.” For this poem goes about stating the obvious about the laws of cause and effect.