Blog 5-Death, Be Not Proud

Death, Be Not Proud, by John Donne, seeks to have people reexamine death as not being so much a means of end but a beginning. Death should not be viewed as dreadful, but comparable to a pleasurable sleep with a new awakening to eternal life. "Death, be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so..from rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, much pleasure,"(Donne,971). Death is equated with rest and awakening once again to realize death itself is dead. To prove, "One short sleep passed, we wake eternally, and death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die,"(Donne,972). Additionally, Donne incorporates rhetorical question into the text. "Why swell'st thou then,"(Donne,972)? Throughout, Donne has much conviction that death is not to be feared and is asking why one should worry at all about death. Donne so confidently believes in eternal life and the absence of total death, that he is confused at any uncertainty of this being so.

Blog 4-Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

In the poem: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, by Dylan Thomas, stanzas are separated for the five different kinds of men in which the poem focuses on. With each of these men: wise men, good men, wild men, and grave men, the author hones in on their differing stances between life and death. The author does this while also attaching similes to these men's descriptions. "Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,"(Thomas,968)..show good men to do much goodwill and deeds to others, saddened that by death, they can no longer be of service to others. Another example: "Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight, blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,"(Thomas,968). Through simile, grave men are expressed as those who, fight for their life in all ways possible. The author overall encourages people to "rage" against death. This means people should not  worry and let the uncertainty of death overtake their thoughts and keep them from living in the now. Various types of men have different ways of living their life out, and thus, have different feelings towards death when it comes.

Blog 3- Crossing The Bar

In Crossing The Bar by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, I noticed symbolism in the speaker's approach of death. The line, "And may there be no moaning of the bar...And may there be no saddness of farewell,"(Alfred,886), express Alfred's plea for others to not mourn over his death. The bar which refers to a harbor's sandbar, suggest the speaker is comparing death to a journey of greater life and happiness. Thus, we should not grieve over his passing, but rejoice in knowing he is embarking, crossing the bar, and meeting his Pilot, (Alfred,886). I found the term: "Pilot" to symbolize God who is like a captain or pilot, navigating our way through life and to Him in the afterlife. Home is equated with death in the second stanza when the speaker says, "turns again home,"(Alfred,886). Home, the final destination at the end of the bar, is death of his body and eternal life of his soul. The speaker understands his journey may be treacherous: "The flood may bear me far,"(Alfred,886), but he keeps the hope of seeing his Creator and home close in mind.

Blog 2: A Rose For Emily

The sporadic revealing of events in non-chronological order in: A Rose For Emily, by William Faulkner, match the first person plural point of view of the story. The story, more or less a major compilation of gossip and bias of townsfolk and their ignorance of who Miss Emily really was, make some of the accounts up for question, considering the perhaps unreliability of the mysterious narrator. Nonetheless, Emily is portrayed as one who clings onto the few relationships she has ever had in her life: that with her father and with Homer Baron. I initially pitied her circumstance after her father's death, even though their relationship wasn't a strong one, her father was a significant figure in her life. "When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her,"(Faulkner,284). This just goes to show Emily's loneliness and lack of companionship. So, once meeting Homer and "driving in the yellow-wheeled buggy,"(Faulkner,285) with him, this seemed like a godsend for Emily: finally, someone she can love. Emily did just that: love Homer Baron, only he didn't seem to return the affection because of their true incompatibility. However, even though not explicitly stated, the conclusion of this story, ending with the discovery of an unidentifiable body, I believe to be Homer's. Perhaps, Emily did find a way to hold onto Homer Baron unlike her father whose body was taken away and buried. Emily was able to  have Homer Baron and love him, even if he didn't love her.

Blog 1: The Lottery

 The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, implores a barbaric ritual developed throughout time and still used in a more modern society. Upon early reading, the reference to the tradition as a lottery tricked me into believing that this would be an exciting game of luck, wealth, and good fortune. Quickly, this assumption was proved wrong. Quite the opposite, the ritual by the townspeople on June 27th has the folks excited, but not in a positive way, in fact, their anxiousness is out of hopefulness that their name won't be drawn for the lottery. The story makes it clear that the lottery brings death upon one if their name is pulled from the black, decaying box. So much irony at this point in the story has been revealed with the negative connotation of the term, "lottery," and ironic too, that once Tessie Hutchinson's name is selected, townspeople turn on her, who, just before, was seemingly in good nature with the other woman and people of the town. Upon Tessie's arrival to the lottery gathering late, "the people separated good-humoredly to let her through,"(Jackson,266).. Later, these people are stoning her without remorse or second thought. In this town, the lottery is accepted so much that, people are so steadfast to the tradition, that whoever's name is drawn, the killing of that person goes without rebuttal. After my completion of this story, all I can think is: How can no person stop this?

Blog 5-The Glass Menagerie

In the final scene of The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, Laura blows out candles to close out the play. This occurs after Tom walks through cities on his journey away from home. I feel that his motives for leaving become useless, and that his running away from his family catches up to him. Tom pays the price for believing that just by walking out the door, he could forget and rid his every thought of his family. Tom's sister, Laura, still haunts him, "Oh, Laura,Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be,"(Williams,1289)! Tom didn't expect to have any connection whatsoever with his sister after his departure, but now she seems to follow him everywhere he goes. Maybe Tom's guilt is the cause of his anxious thoughts, but I believe that there will always be some reminder of Laura and Amanda or some piece of home that lies within him. However, I believe the candles symbolize a closing out on Laura's concern over her brother. She blows them out, which shows she is done and ready to move on in her life, past her brother's leaving. I was thinking, maybe the father who left the family too is still plagued by memories and thoughts of his children and wife he left behind, just as Tom.

Blog3-The Glass Menagerie

In The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, Tom's situation is contradicting and ironic. In scene six, Tom talks to Jim about leaving his mother, Amanda, and moving away. "I am about to move...I'm like my father. The bastard son of a bastard! See how he grins? And he's been absent going on sixteen years,"(Williams,1269)! Tom relates himself to his father which is ironic considering his earlier complaints of having to work to support his family, all because he is the man of the household now after being abandoned by his father. For example, Tom shows his anger by saying, "For sixty-five dollars a month I give up all that I dream of doing and being ever,"(Williams,1247). Tom, frustrated by his commitment to his family, is no longer willing to commit any longer and wants to get away from his mother and sister.Tom believes that the only way out of dealing with his family is to move away from them, and finds this achievable because his father was able to. I don't blame Tom for wanting to get away from an irritating family, but I also somewhat disagree with his decision out of sympathy for how his mother and sister will get along without him. Overall, I guess it can be said: like father, like son.

Blog 2- The Glass Menagerie

One of the most prominent symbols used in The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams is Laura being like the glass which she takes interest and fascination in. The glass collection, which spark the book's title, are a representation of Laura, which are presented in ways that correlate with Laura's characteristic qualities. I first noticed this when Laura, cries out when Tom shatters her menagerie at the end of scene 3. "It strikes against the shelf of Laura's glass collection, there is a tinkle of shattering glass. Laura cries out as if wounded,"(Williams,1248). Laura shows emotional attachment to her collection and feels herself affected when harm comes in the glass' way. Just like the statement in the opening of the play, "she is like a piece of her own glass collection, too exquisitely fragile to move from the shelf,"(Williams,1234). Laura feels shattered, just as her glass is, and is too socially anxious and reserved to ever move away from the "shelf," in this case her comfortable surroundings and comfort zone. Therefore, unfortunately, Laura may never branch out and leave her shell and become more solid and withstandable. I feel that as the play continues, glass will be further associated with Laura, her uniqueness, and her fragility.

Blog 1-The Glass Menagerie

In scene two of The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, Amanda, in a heated conversation with her daughter, Laura, over her absence from school, yields Amanda's own inner conflict. Amanda faces her husband's abandonment and sees his leaving as a sign that she should have married one of her other many suitors. When Amanda hears of unmarried women and where they end up, as "..spinsters living upon the grudging patronage of sister's husband or brother's wife,"(Williams,1243) she laughs at them. As a single parent, Amanda scorns those women, who too are unmarried, but live in complete dependency of others. Even too, in her tirade, Amanda uses a metaphor to describe the basis of these womens' lives. She says,"little birdlike women without any nest-eating the crust of humility all their life,"(Williams,1243). Amanda believes these women are helpless in the fact that they have any husband and must rely on the charity of others, thus, feeling sorry for themselves. I don't believe Amanda should separate herself from these women in the sense that she shares the same circumstance of being without a husband as they do. She too feels inferior and prideful over them because she can hold position and make a more independent life for herself. Amanda's scorn for these women is much like her constant nagging towards Tom and Laura.