Lit Analysis #3

The Color Purple

1. The novel begins with clear statements on Celie’s abusive home situation. We see how she is physically and mentally vulnerable to her situations. Her pa repeatedly rapes her, to the point of getting her pregnant twice, while her ma is on the verge of dying. Mr. __ is also foreshadowed to later on be abusive to Celie as he talks about wanting to marry Nettie, but is unable to because Pa finds her to young, and thus marries the ugly Celie off to Mr. __ instead. There’s a clear mental struggle on whether Celie should stay at an abusive household with a pa that constantly rapes her or to be married off to Mr. __ at a young age to take care of him and his children. A plan formulating in her head, Celie goes to marry Mr. __ while Nettie runaway to them to get her away from their Pa. We see that even though Celie struggled with the mental and physical altercations within their household, she still wants to protect Nettie from that thus opting her to think about the possibilities that would’ve occurred if Nettie didn’t run away. Celie’s struggle increases when the only person she has ever loved, her younger sister, gets kicked out of Mr. __’s house because she rejects his proposal for sex. That was when reality stomped on Celie’s only salvation for love, she is (after the events) totally alone without a love from anyone. Things slowly start to change for Celie when Shug, Mr. __’s lover, is introduced in the play. Promiscuous, Shug is open to any love, even going as far as having more than a couple lovers at the same time (cue Mr. __ and her husband). Shug’s “no  BS” attitude, specially her strong will and sense of independence, makes her a strong ally to Celie thus strengthening their relationship. With Shug into play, Mr. __ stops forcing himself to Celie and even reduces the physical abuse. It starts to bubble in and tip over when both Shug and Celie find out that Mr. __ has been keeping Nettie’s letters from Celie which is why Celie hasn’t heard back from Nettie at all. The betrayal leads to Celie’s breaking point thus giving her the power and anger to essentially think for herself and stand up to Mr. __. Celie finds out that Nettie is on a mission in Africa and has learned that Pa didn’t murder her two kids, but were adopted by the same people that took Nettie in. Her will and mental strength increases even more when she finds that Pa isn’t actually her (and Nettie’s) father, but a step-father that only married their mother in order to receive the land and property. The knowledge she learns coupled in with the betrayal from Mr. __ results in both Shug and her to move to Tennessee, leaving Mr. __ behind. Celie finds herself back home which results in several things happening. In the end, Mr. __ realizes how much anger and sexual belittlement he has pointed out to women has made him out to be this bag guy. He becomes self-aware; understanding his wrond doings, Mr. __ becomes more gentle, to the point of even doing “feminine” tasks (and enjoying them), something that would have abhorred him. Celie also ends up becoming the sole owner of the land her Pa owned before he died and becomes reunited with Nettie.               

One purpose of the novel is shift in gender role, female empowerment. Through the odyssey the characters faced around the traditional sense of gender role in society and patriarchy, the novel’s purpose is explained thoroughly through the usage of diary entries made by two of the main female characters within the novel. The way Walker described the events that were unfolding (diary entries and vivid imagery) allows the readers to see clearly the way society plays a huge part in reiterating gender roles.  (1st person, Diary Entries)     

2. “You better not never tell nobody but God. I’d kill your mammy.” page 1

A theme of the novel is female empowerment, the separation of gender roles. The novel starts by belittling the female sex, reducing them to nothing but sex objects. Walker explicitly describes that of a rape, Celie getting raped by her pa. Naive and still a child, Celie’s description of her defilement strikes even more so with the diction, the illiterate writing speaks with more sympathy. We see the separation occur, the way Celie grows from being a meek child to a woman that stands up to herself. Celie isn’t just the only example of female empowerment. We have Shug who defies everything about the traditional woman role. She actively stands up to herself, dresses and acts promiscuous, and even goes beyond by having multiple lovers. She is the very first character that is shown to be actively defying traditional gender roles within the novel.

  

3. Walker uses a reflective and honest tone. A lot of the things in the novel is conveyed in a very honest tone like “my mama dead // she die screaming and cussing // she scream at me // she cuss at me // I’m big” (page 2) to pretty much “I keep hoping he fine somebody to marry // I see him looking at my little sister // she scared // But I say I’ll take care of you // With God help” (page 3). Walker pretty much wrote in an honest tone to convey sympathy and the innocence lost within a child
4.  

• Imagery in order to help visualize the things being described
• “First he put his thing up against my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold....” (page 1)
• Imagery was used to describe Celie getting raped by her pa; she describes herself as some sort of sex object, nothing more, nothing less.
• Personification:
• “For six months the heavens and the winds abused the people of Olinka. Rain came down in spears, stabbing away the mud of their walls” (page 153)
• Walker used personification to describe the extreme weather in Olinka as opposed to the weather Cellie was used to seeing back home.
• Hyperbole:
• My face hot enough to melt itself” (page 77)

• Diction:
• Celie’s writing starts off as very illiterate; she was an uneducated, female, African American so diction (at the beginning) was very rough and, at times, hard to interpret
• “I ain’t going to work. And he don’t.” (page 33)
• “But now Sofia coming, he always busy. He chop, he hammer, he ploy. He sing and whistle.” (page 34)
• However, overtime Celie’s writing improves. She becomes literate and educated;  and when asked to change her diction, she replies by saying:
• “...only a fool would want you to talk in a way that feel peculiar to your mind”
• Tone:
• The tone changes from that of innocence and survival to that of strength and knowledge
• “I keep hoping he fine somebody to marry. I see him looking at my little sister. She scared. But I say I’ll take care of you. With God help.” (page 8)
• “Now. Is this life or not? I be so calm. If she come, I be happy. Is she don’t, I be content. And then I figure this the lesson I was suppose to learn.” (page 283)
• Oxymoron:
• “Little fat queen of England stamps on it…”  (page 119)
• Simile:
• “Sometime I look down the path from our house and it look like a swarm of lightening bugs all in and through Sofia house” (page 74)
• Foil:
• Celie - innocence and survival instincts, one love  
• Shug - loud and boisterous, promiscuous, many lovers (often similar times)

Characterization:

1. Walker uses more of a direct characterization due to the structure of the novel (diary entries); she vividly describes the characters physical and inner qualities using the voice of both Celie and Nettie. Walker uses direct characterization quite often when talking about the physical appearances of each character. She had to write it like that because it is to the point, a diary, and uses the voice of the main protagonists as the voice of knowledge.

2. The diction changes every time the narration changes from one sister to another. When reading the diary entry of Celie, the diction is essentially set up and written like that of an uneducated, African American female. However, a more educated character, Nettie’s diction is legible and easier to understand. Going on the mission and being taught education with the family that she was “adopted” to as a friend allowed her to gain experiences and learn more educationally more than Celie ever did.
3. Celie is a round character, developing as the story progressed. We first encounter Celie in the beginning of the novel, innocence and vulnerability ridden. Only a young female, she was vulnerable to the physical, mental, and sexual abuse from her pa (and later on Mr. __). However, the loss of contact with her sister and the appearance of Shug ideally helps her grow into a woman that starts to stand for herself. She begins to feel more sexually relaxed and physically stronger. She becomes more like Shug, not promiscuous, but with a hardened exterior to help fend off the physical and mental abused she received.  
4. I did come out feeling like I’ve met a character and pretty much felt like I’ve lived another life.       

Prufrock Seminar

Mood: depressing, solemn 

• time running out 
• similar to school, it takes away from time that would have been used for something you like
• "time slips us by"
• title is ironic - a dreary 'love song'
• feeding love with misery 
• wallow in self-pity by contemplating about everything in life 

Out Beyond Ideas || Summons

Nearly always rhythmical with typical stanzas and lines, poems are there to convey raw emotion. Sometimes so raw in conveyance that even the poet that wrote it is at a loss for words when asked to comment on the meaning of the literary beauty. Poems are a force of nature, a gust of wind that can take breaths away or can choke an audience through usage of a single word. Therefore it is that very characteristic that, to me, creates poetry. Undeniably raw emotion coupled with a poem’s unique infrastructure results in a “snowflake-esque” event, each and every one poem differ in character, but all output great emotion and purpose. Summons by Robert Francis and Out Beyond Ideas by Mewlana Rumi both go beyond the literal, conveying a message behind a well constructed structure.

Talking about increasing one's awareness beyond the comfort zone, Robert Francis heavily mentions sleep within the play to symbolize one’s unwillingness to be self aware. Summons stresses the need for enlightenment and therefore, awareness to the world around. The narrator is asking for knowledge, he “doesn’t want to go to sleep,” but rather wants someone to “stomp on the floor” and to “bang on the door.” Without being aware, without the actions taken, people will go to sleep never noticing the beauty of the world, the power of knowledge, or the chaos that embodies the world. It is essential, as the poem stresses, to keep those unaware to BE aware. It does only take a single match to start a wildfire.

Out Beyond Ideas by Mewlana Rumi signifies a place, figuratively or literally, where the wrong doings and right doings aren’t placed within two ends of a line, but rather a grayscale of different tones. Unlike the elevated tone of Summons by Francis, Out Beyond Ideas has a tone that is both reflective and contemplative. The author is essentially thinking of an issue that places the audience unto a place that places them at the sidelines, thus differing from the approach implied in Francis’s Summons. Instead of “banging on the door,” rushing head first, to keep aware, Rumi’s approach is to put yourself on the sidelines. Pause, breathe deeply, and reflect on your life as the chaos rumbles on.

Both poems construct the same message of self-evaluation, but do so in different approaches. It is the “snowflake-esque” event, two different roads converging unto the same path.    

poetry in music

"Passionflower" by Jon Gomm

there is poetry in music, 

close your eyes and listen in,

the treble of the strings,

glorious sounds of lows and highs

and a rumble,

so out of rhythm,

quick in succession     

oh how glorious the sound is,

melodies melding into the dew

    

The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

1. What is the role of Time in this poem?
1. That there is limited time, a scarce resource that everyone desires, but can’t extend. The tone is solemn; the author tries to reiterate that there IS time, that there’s time for “the yellow smoke that slides along the street.” But the repetition of the phrase “there is time,” that is used to assure the narrator, only seems to sound trivial. It’s a phrase to assure yourself of the thing that will never occur, a sliver of false hope. In the end, the narrator, contemplating the issue of time, never actually acts upon it, never uses  his limited time to do something.     

1. What is the significance of Eliot's allusions to Hamlet and the "eternal Footman"?
1. Eliot alludes to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet by comparing himself to the Prince. He compares himself to Hamlet, stating that “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be.” It is significant because both the narrator from the poem and Hamlet from the play struggle with time, and the usage of that time to act cordially. However, he states clearly that he isn’t comparable to the Prince. Why not? I mean, if both struggled about the same concept of time and action, why does he mention how incomparable they are? Well, the major difference between the two is that although both struggled with time and action, Hamlet (in the end) actually does something with his time. Although struggled with his actions, in the end, he still did something with it. The narrator, on the other hand, only contemplates what actions he’s able to do with time. He never truly uses that limited time to act, but only uses to makes excuses. His thoughts swayed towards that idea that that there is time, action doesn’t have to occur now. As a result, nothing is accomplished.     

1. Choose a moment in which Eliot uses figurative language and: interpret the image (explain how the image and its meaning contribute to your understanding of the theme of the poem)

“I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves

Combing the white hair of the waves blown back

When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea

By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown

Till human voices wake us, and we drown.”

1. Eliot describes the Sirens, mythological creatures that lure sea captains, by singing to them, unto their deaths. The narrator explains how he has seen them, but isn’t expecting them to sing to him. He sounds wistful, lost in despair and confusion, he’s expecting the Sirens to sing to him, to lure him in. Without a path in front of him and losing time by the seconds, the narrator is desperate for the Sirens to help pave the way, to give him a path to cross, even if it leads to his demise. Because in reality he has nothing, no path and no idea, simply lost in his struggle to grab on to time, and having the Sirens pave him a road would mean giving him something other than time to hold on to.    

Computer Trick & Tips #1 (Windows 7/8)

Really easy tips and tricks that everyone should know about if they have windows.

• "PSR" (Steps Recorder) - a hidden steps recorder software that allows you to record what you do on your screen; every click on your mouse will record and constitute as a "step," turning what you do in an instructional step-by-step screen capture 

• This is great for people that essentially need to teach others how something works due to the easy interface (you just point and click and it will record the clicks as screen captures with an instruction page)

•   Snipping Tool - screen capture; allows you to take screenshots

• Once you've clicked on the program you'll need to click on the "New" button
• Clicking the "new button" means that you can now click and drag on a portion on the screen that you want to capture, then release  

•  You can launch taskbar programs by pressing Win + (numerical # they're assigned)

(hp - would be assigned #1, file folder - would be assigned #2, and chrome - assigned #3, and so forth)

So, instead of clicking on the program, you'll be able to launch them by just a few keyboard clicks thus allowing you to work flawlessly without interruption 

Introduction To Poetry

“Out Beyond Ideas”

1. The title “Out Beyond Ideas” signifies the place beyond anything that contains right or wrong. There is a place outside that of the black and white, a grayscale that places one into a serene and boundless location.
2. The tone is both reflective and contemplative. The author seems to be thinking about an issue that places an audience unto a place that holds neither just “wrongdoing nor rightdoing.” At the same time, the poem seems reflective. It’s not just a literal poem where a literal place that stands alone from the chaos of wrongdoing and rightdoing, but illustrates what seems to be enlightening. Whether there be wrong and right, you will someday be put in a place that allows you to just breathe in deeply. Forget the chaos of the world, pause and reflect, and “when the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.”
3. It feels me with a sense of hope while also making me think and reflect on my life. The idea that, “when the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about,” there is a place in life to just lie down and not think about just the right and wrong in the world fills me with hope to keep going. At the same time, it makes me feel down and has made me reflect on my life because I am continuously worrying about the right and the wrong, never to pause and breathe.
4. The theme is to pause and think, to reflect on your life, because even though the world is full of right and wrong (overwhelming you), it’s okay to stop and to breathe in and out.          

Poetry Remix

"Out Beyond Ideas"

collaborated with:

Marcel Dube, Jayce Alegre, Danielle Cadena 

Hamlet Essay

Hamlet by William Shakespeare dances around the idea of words turning into physical actions.   It is that emotional distress pursued orally through the first portion of the play that undeniably skewes the push and pull struggle emitted throughout. The struggle Hamlet faces in transitioning from merely understanding his duty to the physical acts he pursues in order to achieve that duty establishes the idea of duty over self. Shakespeare revitalizes Hamlet’s struggle, the push and pull, with the “to be: or not to be” soliloquy. A vital part of the play, “To be: or not to be” is a defining moment in Hamlet’s transition and even more so in assisting the tone to flow evenly throughout the play.

The audience sees how much the events truly take a toll on Hamlet. In his soliloquy, Hamlet contemplates being truthful to who he is, to his duty. Is he better off acting and fulfilling his duty as a prince or remaining the compliant prince with a thorn stuck in his side? The push and pull that the audience are faced with throughout the play is reminiscent of the theme, be truthful to your duty or remain compliant.   

(Unfinished)

College Applications

I gave myself a pat on the back after the CSU/UC application mess because I've finally done it. I was a high school senior that lost sight of the future, simply going through the motions that have been ingrained in my head. Submitting those applications just made me everything so tangible. So kudos to everyone for making it this far.   

 Financial aid applications and the Common App got us all going like that girl on that gif above.

Because everyone feels a little lost in life sometimes

Why Lupe Pliego Deserves more than 10 points

Hearing about the new "game" platform that Jayce and Omar (kudos to you guys) created for our course, I just had to go check it out to see who was in the lead. You know what they say, "curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back." So I checked it over and was immensely gratified at the amount of work they put in it.

My competitive drive led me on a pursuit of looking up the scores and was immensely dissatisfied with one score in particular. Mine. Totally kidding, my score was satisfying enough more me. What struck me as odd wasn't my score, but of someone else in particular. When I saw Lupe's meager 10 points (weak) I almost choked on the piece of heavenly garlic bread I was munching on. WHAT THE MOTHER BOARD?? 10 points??? My eyes widened in disbelief. So, I'm here to make it right.

  
First of all, her blog is not only aesthetically pleasing to the eyes (work that font), but is legible and coordinated in a way that allows the reader to easily access certain topics (via usage of tabs). Also, brownie points for the awesome quotes on her blog.

Secondly, she has done all of the required work plus more. She has made her blog her own, has owned up to it, putting herself beyond most of the students.

Her work proves to be of utmost care and attentiveness. She has a keen eye of analyzing and annotating texts.


Thirdly, she is a great resource for everyone. Open and friendly, she'll gladly help you understand the work if needed. She's an open-ended book, available to everyone and amazingly attentive.

Hamlet (The Madman?)

Hamlet by William Shakespeare has been critically assessed and analyzed further than most, if not all, his work. The interest derives from the protagonist, prince Hamlet of Denmark, who has been thought of as an indecisive character believed to be “mad.” Critics had deemed him a dog, “all bark and no bite.” In reality, Hamlet is heedful and alert, knowing full well when to change masks, from a diplomatic prince to a private investigator. Throughout the first III Acts, Hamlet has been precise in action and diction, using his ability of acting to manipulate those around him like puppets. Hamlet was never deranged to the point of madness, but rather had been in control of the whole situation, allowing him to knead the dough the way it pleased him.

It is appropriate to say that “though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” In content, Polonius has been deceived by Hamlet (similar to how everyone got caught in his act). He believes that Hamlet has fallen into madness as a result of his love for Ophelia. However, the actual context of the play allows the audience to understand the motive. Hamlet’s willingness to playact like a madman is a tactical ploy in his part. So really, Hamlet isn’t the emotionally unstable and distraught man critics use as an illustration of him. From the moment Hamlet first speaks to the Ghost and realize his hunches were correct, Hamlet swears on making right what was wrong in Denmark. By doing so, Hamlet has used his intellect to assure a full-proof plan: act mad, thus assuring King Claudius that he is of no threat to him. He acts rationally and carefully plans his next move, something a truly mad man wouldn't be able to do.

Hamlet: Act III, Scene III

• Claudius: “I like him not, nor stands it safe with us to let his madness range”
• Claudius doesn’t like Hamlet → more importantly, doesn’t like how the events are unfolding before his very eyes
• he tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that it is their duty to take Hamlet to England because Hamlet is getting out of hand (and is becoming more dangerous)
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern agree that the King (and his people) must be protected from Hamlet’s madness
• Polonius tells Claudius that he’s going to go hide behind the curtains in order to spy on Hamlet’s and Gertrude’s conversation
• [Claudius Soliloquy]  Claudius tells of his brothers murder
• his conscience pangs with guilt, which confuses him
• "And, like a man to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin"
• he prays for forgiveness which he feels is no use after a while
• "That cannot be; since I am still possess'd"
• Hamlet overhears Claudius's prayer; believing it to be the right moment, he takes out his sword BUT actually doesn't go with it
• Plans on doing the deed when "he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed"

Hamlet: Act III, Scene II

• Hamlet gives advice to the players → presumably to make the play seem more realistic; he tells them to act naturally, but not-overbearingly so as to create a natural flow, show realism
• “...let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action;”
• don’t over exaggerate your words and your hand-gestures
• Hamlet tells Polonius to get the actors ready as the King and Queen settle unto their positions → tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to help Polonius on getting the actors ready
• he tells Horatio that he is a man that he trusts wholeheartedly, calls him a good man → Hamlet is proclaiming his friendship and trust to Horatio (sees Horatio as the only person that hasn’t required/needed something out of Hamlet)
• “Observe my uncle”  → Hamlet asks Horatio to watch Claudius closely
• Claudius asks Hamlet how he is doing which earns him a nonsensical reply (Hamlet is reaffirming his status to Claudius as that of a man who has grieved to the point of madness)
• Hamlet makes witty comments, particularly sexual remarks to Ophelia; he also remarks on his father’s death → primarily on how fast his mother has moved on
• Players enter in order to enact the plays
• they reenact the death of the old King as a different story (dumb show)
• the actual play is of the King and Queen → King tells the Queen of his nearing death and tells her to marry someone else
• Hamlet becomes impatient when Lucianus (apparent nephew to the King in the play) takes too long on coming to the actual point → tells everyone the plot (Lucianus pours poison on the Kings ear, thus killing him)
• Claudius is seen with guilt; tells them to stop the play
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell Hamlet that Claudius is upset (and angry) and tell him that his mother wants to talk to him → Hamlet misinterprets it and gets angry at the two

“Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be play'd on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.”  

- Hamlet

Hamlet: Act III, Scene I

• King Claudius sees Hamlet as a threat
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern call his madness forth
• crafty; Hamlet hasn’t given any information away apart from the idea that he is a little off
• King Claudius → confesses to murdering King Hamlet
• Hamlet to Ophelia:
• It’s easier to bend beauty than honesty
• don’t have my kids because I am a sinner
• you’ll never have kids because that’s your best bet at innocence
• you literally paint yourself with makeup that make yourself look like someone else
• different identity
• foreshadow: someone’s going to die
• Ophelia tells Claudius and Polonius that Hamlet’s gone mad
• Claudius opposes, says Hamlet’s not crazy (only that there’s something bothering him) → he’s up to something, a threat to my throne and should therefore be imprisoned  

The Performative Utterance in Hamlet Notes

• Not a play about a man who couldn’t make up his mind, but rather about a man that couldn’t find the things in his mind to be real
• mental/emotional distress is turned into a tangible, physical act
• Hamlet is trapped from the transition of understanding his duty to the actual use of that understanding as a form of action
• Hamlet throughout the play is described as “all bark with no bite” → as he is seen throughout the play as able, but unwilling
• A division between what is done and what is said → certain languages don’t just describe action, but also acts that are being spoken
• performative action → acts that enable change in the world
• locutionary force: ability of language to deliver a message (mutual intelligibility)
• illocutionary force: what’s done in being said
• perlocutionary force: what is being achieved by being changed
• Bloom asserts that through self-overhearing, characters achieve self-reliance
• act of self-revelation or self-creation?
• a man that doesn’t realize the power of his agency, but is capable of using the spoken word could learn that his speech has actual powers to cause change in the world
• language both describes and does
• Performative utterances in Hamlet:
• meeting between Hamlet and ghost of his father → two oaths contained through Hamlet, and then Horatio & Marcellus
• there’s a problem in that Hamlet doesn’t take oath to actually take revenge, but only takes oath to remember the ghost → cognitive act that warrants no outside verification
• Consistent motifs: drama and playacting
• dramatic motif → presents opportunities of false performatives (to pretend to do)
• playacting motif → contains that of locutionary force, intelligibility of utterance
• Emotional reality a valid step when considering utterances such as “I mourn”
• establishes connection between use of language and one’s emotional well being
• Misrepresented intentions through act of mimesis
• subtle playacting that demands attention
• Hamlet’s ploy in acting “mad” in order to hide his attempts of revenge
• cover his investigation and clear him of his sins
• Pretending = not actually doing that thing you’re trying to pretend to do
• BUT in a performative utterance: in play-acting, one must distinguish pretend-saying and actual-saying → they’re identical