Could it be? Our last "Response to Course Material" post? I think that's the case, but if not this just got awkward. I'd like to say that I'll miss all of these blog posts, but I think that would be a little bit untrue.
Anyways, moving on! As we get closer and closer to the (dreaded) AP test, we've started doing more prep work -- multiple choice, open/closed prompts, all that jazz. I personally have found that really helpful! I'm seeing pretty steady improvements in my scores in all those areas, which is nice. We haven't gotten back our most recent open prompt, though, and I think that will be the true test. I'll be interested to see how Ms. Holmes thought I did!
Speaking of the test prep, I definitely think that the more recent tests seem much easier than some of the older ones. I don't think that's just me getting better at AP Lit, either. The multiple choice we took on Friday seemed much more easy to understand than anything we've done previously. With any luck, the test this year will have a similar level of difficulty. I'll keep my fingers crossed, I suppose.
Jumping back a little bit, we also finished Ceremony. I really, really liked this book. A lot. I wasn't totally sure what to expect, what with it being our first novel, but I ended up enjoying the reading and discussing quite a bit! I feel like we could have spent a lot more time on it (thinking back to how long we worked on Hamlet) but I'm pretty satisfied with the theme our class came up with. I'll admit I had some difficulties remembering some of the things from the pre-reading, but as we got farther into the book things made more sense even without remembering everything.
We spent the past week in the lab, working on a website project as a review for the test. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the whole assignment, honestly. I thought the topic my group chose (Ophelia's central role in Hamlet) was interesting, but I'm not really satisfied with the final product and I don't know how much it actually helped me study. For the most part I think it just stressed me out. I hope the project helped someone else, though! I've visited the website and it looks interesting, but I'm not sure that it will be a particularly helpful study tool for me. I guess we'll find out!
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Open Prompt Eight
2003. According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” Select a novel or play in which a tragic figure functions as an instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the eponymous character has a crisis of identity that leads to his own tragic downfall. However, in the process of fulfilling his own role as a tragic character he also drags down those around him. This leads to the suffering and deaths of many of the members of the court of Elsinore. Hamlet's lack of identity leads directly to the suffering of those around him, showing that not knowing your identity results in tragedy.
Throughout the play, Hamlet fails to be aware of who he is. He is caught between his own morals and the desires of his deceased father, who wants Hamlet to avenge his death. Hamlet's identity crisis leaves him indecisive and confused in situations where he needs to act. For example, instead of immediately acting and killing Claudius, he must wait until he knows the king is guilty -- and even once he knows that, Hamlet still waits for the "right" time to kill the king. While he is caught in his state of indecision, the situation around Hamlet continues to escalate and worsen until the majority of the court of Elsinore is dead.
Hamlet's indecision leads to the downfall of those around him. He acts as if he were mad in an effort to gain information about Claudius' guilt, but this apparent madness is a cause for concern for the rest of the court. As he attempts to determine Claudius' guilt, the rest of Elsinore is trying to figure out what's wrong with Hamlet. These attempts lead to the suffering for all involved. Polonius uses Ophelia to spy on Hamlet, which leads to the destruction of Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship. This hurts Hamlet, who was hoping to have an ally, but it also hurts Ophelia, who is confused and naturally upset by Hamlet's actions. Polonius also spies on Hamlet with Gertrude's help, which leads to his own death. His death, in turn, drives Ophelia mad, and she commits suicide. If Hamlet had acted immediately instead of pretending to be mad, no one would have tried to determine the cause of his madness and the deaths of Ophelia and Polonius could have been avoided.
The rest of the court is also affected by Hamlet's tragedy. While he is avoiding action, Laertes and Claudius come up with a scheme to kill him. However, things go terribly wrong with the plan and Gertrude is killed, something that none of the characters wanted to happen. Had Hamlet acted immediately instead of getting caught up in his identity crisis, his mother would not have died. After her death, Hamlet is finally able to take action -- he kills Laertes and Claudius in a matter of minutes, but it is too late. The tragedy of Gertrude's death has already occurred.
Throughout Hamlet, the prince of Denmark struggles to deal with an identity crisis. As he attempts to choose a path, he becomes unable to make decisions. This lack of decision-making ability leads to the suffering and deaths of Polonius, Ophelia, Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet himself. Had Hamlet been able to act decisively, he would not have allowed the situation in Elsinore to escalate so quickly. Hamlet's lack of identity and subsequent inability to make decisions results in the suffering of many people and shows that a lack of identity will lead to a tragic outcome.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Ceremony
Author
Leslie Marmon Silko. Grew up in the Laguna Pueblo Reservation. Laguna Pueblo, Mexican, and white ancestry. Was subject to some backlash from the Laguna Pueblo people after Ceremony came out because people felt it had revealed too much about their culture.
Characters
Tayo: Central character. His mother was Laguna Pueblo, but his father was white. WWII veteran who fought in Japan with his cousin. Haunted by the deaths of his cousin and his uncle. Attempting to complete the ceremony to help his community adapt. Must resist the evil stories and fight witchery. Represents the Sun Father.
Auntie: Raised Tayo when his mother couldn't, but only for the sympathy. Determined to assimilate into white culture. Does not understand or approve of Tayo's worldview after the war. Makes it clear that he is not wanted.
Josiah: Tayo's uncle (Auntie's brother). Father figure to Tayo. Has a relationship with Night Swan, which Auntie disapproves of. Buys the spotted cattle. Dies while Tayo is at war.
Rocky: Tayo's cousin, although Tayo considers him more of a brother. Convinces Tayo to enlist. Auntie's clear favorite of the two boys. Wants to leave the reservation and be a football player. Dies in Japan in WWII.
Grandmother: Mother of Auntie, Josiah, and Tayo's mother. Old age has left her mostly blind. She is a firm believer in Laguna Pueblo traditions. Could represent Thought Woman.
Betonie: A medicine man. Not trusted by traditionalists because of his blending of old and new cultures and treatments. He performs the ceremony that cures Tayo of his "ghost disease." Also helps Tayo complete his own ceremony. A good example of how hybridity works when executed well.
Emo: A WWII vet who is friends with the same group of people as Tayo. Drinks a lot. Tayo hates him. Brags about the terrible things he did during the war. Tayo stabs him in the stomach with a broken beer bottle. Leader of the witches. Trying to complete a different ceremony opposite Tayo's.
Harley: One of Tayo's friends. Also a WWII vet. Constantly drinking with the other vets. Works wit Emo, but in the end is on Tayo's side and is killed for it.
Night Swan: The woman Josiah has an affair with, much to Auntie's displeasure. She also convinces him to buy the spotted cattle. She is a yellow woman.
Ts'eh: A woman Tayo meets while searching for the spotted cattle. She helps him complete the ceremony. A mysterious character. She could represent the land or Corn Woman (or almost anything actually).
Old Ku'oosh: A traditional medicine man who tries and fails to heal Tayo. His recommendation leads to Tayo meeting Betonie.
Setting
The Laguna Pueblo Reservation in New Mexico, in the time following WWII.
Plot
Tayo has recently returned from fighting in Japan in WWII. While he was there, his cousin, whom he loved like a brother, was killed. His uncle also died during this time. Caught in the rainforest, Tayo attempted to pray the rain away. This does not impact him until he returns to the Laguna Pueblo reservation, where there is a drought that he blames himself for.
Having been injured while a POW, Tayo is sent to a military hospital in LA. He cannot cope with the grief caused by Rocky and Josiah's deaths, and is afflicted with "ghost sickness." The people on the reservation do not realize this, attempting to use a ceremony meant for warriors to heal him instead. Since Tayo never killed anyone while at war, the ceremony does not work.
Other veterans on the reservation self-medicate with alcohol, and they try to get Tayo to join in as well. However, Tayo is not comfortable being around many of his old friends, particularly Emo, who he stabs in the stomach after hearing too many stories of terrible deeds.
Tayo is sent to Betonie, who uses a ceremony that is a blend of old and new to help cure Tayo of his ghost sickness. While Tayo initially does not trust Betonie, by the end of their time together he is ready to go complete his own ceremony.
After leaving Betonie, Tayo goes in search of the spotted cattle Josiah bought before his death. He meets Ts'eh, who seems to point him in the right direction. He trespasses on the land of the white man who captured his cattle in order to release them. Three fence guards discover him, but they are distracted by a mountain lion and Tayo escapes with the cattle.
Robert tells Tayo that the people of Laguna are beginning to side with Emo over him, and are searching for him so that he can be taken back to the hospital in LA. Tayo hides in the mountains until he sees Harley and Leroy. He realizes that they are on Emo's side as well, so he escapes and hides at the emergence place.
Emo makes an appearance, along with Leroy, Pinkie and Harley. Emo kills Harley, knowing that Tayo can see him doing so. Tayo does nothing, not wanting to risk furthering the witches' ceremony. By doing so, he completes his own ceremony.
Narrative Voice
The book is narrated primarily in the third person, following Tayo's actions and thoughts. There are also poems telling Laguna stories included throughout the story.
Motifs
Balance: Hybridity, ceremony, medicine, tradition/change, real vs. artificial, witchery, dependence, sickness.
Nature: Wind, weather, animals, eyes, ground, rain/water, clouds, real vs. artificial, direction, stars, bones, fertility.
Stories/Culture: Tradition/change, bellies/stories, vomiting, sex, fertility, cyclicality, numbers, stereotypes, decorations/awards, matriarchy, hybridity, language, color, religion, witchery.
Symbolism
Spotted Cattle: The cattle serve as a symbol of the way things must adapt in nature in order to survive, illustrating the hybridity that is central to the theme. Also symbolize the clouds that the Gambler steals.
Bellies/Sickness: The belly is the place that stories are kept, so each time Tayo throws up he is getting rid of the bad stories he's heard or witnessed.
Imagery
Silko places a heavy emphasis on nature imagery throughout the book, illustrating the presence of nature in every aspect of Tayo's life and its important role. She also uses colors as a way of associating characters with their storied counterparts. For example, Betonie's grandmother is a Yellow Woman figure, and the color blue is associated with that character. Her possessing a blue shawl hints at her other role.
Tone
Silko's tone is one of observation -- she does not want to make too much of a commentary on the cultures she is writing about. However, the observations she makes through the text are not necessarily neutral, as the situation is one that she seems to disapprove of. She seems to want to show readers a better way to do things.
Quotes
Emo played with the teeth; he pretended to put them in his mouth at funny angles. (62)
One of the major clues about Emo's status as head witch. Like the witches in the old story, he plays with dead things that should be left alone. Later in this scene, Tayo tries to stab the bad stories out of Emo's belly.
"At one time, the ceremonies as they had been performed were enough for the way the world was then. But after the white people came, elements in this world began to shift; and it became necessary to create new ceremonies. I have made changes in the rituals. The people mistrust this greatly, but only this growth keeps the ceremonies strong." (126)
Betonie fully understands the need for hybridity, which is why his ceremony is so effective for Tayo, who is sick as a result of a world the traditional medicine men don't understand. He illustrates the way that adaptability and hybridity between cultures is a good thing that benefits everyone in the end.
Theme
Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony shows that personal and natural balance can only be achieved by adapting and balancing your own culture and traditions with new ideas.
Throughout Ceremony, Silko places emphasis on the importance of hybridity. Everything that works in the book is the result of hybridity in some way, whether it is the spotted cattle created by mixing two breeds or the ceremonies Betonie creates by mixing together different cultures. However, some elements of the book are examples of hybridity gone wrong: instead of blending the two cultures, Auntie and Rocky attempt to completely abandon their heritage in favor of becoming a part of white culture. The witches take the bad things from white culture, such as drinking and gambling, and make it an essential part of their own. On the other end, Old Ku'oosh is unwilling to take into consideration the changing times and as a result is unable to perform effective ceremonies. The balance is somewhere in the middle, as Tayo realizes while completing his own ceremony.
Leslie Marmon Silko. Grew up in the Laguna Pueblo Reservation. Laguna Pueblo, Mexican, and white ancestry. Was subject to some backlash from the Laguna Pueblo people after Ceremony came out because people felt it had revealed too much about their culture.
Characters
Tayo: Central character. His mother was Laguna Pueblo, but his father was white. WWII veteran who fought in Japan with his cousin. Haunted by the deaths of his cousin and his uncle. Attempting to complete the ceremony to help his community adapt. Must resist the evil stories and fight witchery. Represents the Sun Father.
Auntie: Raised Tayo when his mother couldn't, but only for the sympathy. Determined to assimilate into white culture. Does not understand or approve of Tayo's worldview after the war. Makes it clear that he is not wanted.
Josiah: Tayo's uncle (Auntie's brother). Father figure to Tayo. Has a relationship with Night Swan, which Auntie disapproves of. Buys the spotted cattle. Dies while Tayo is at war.
Rocky: Tayo's cousin, although Tayo considers him more of a brother. Convinces Tayo to enlist. Auntie's clear favorite of the two boys. Wants to leave the reservation and be a football player. Dies in Japan in WWII.
Grandmother: Mother of Auntie, Josiah, and Tayo's mother. Old age has left her mostly blind. She is a firm believer in Laguna Pueblo traditions. Could represent Thought Woman.
Betonie: A medicine man. Not trusted by traditionalists because of his blending of old and new cultures and treatments. He performs the ceremony that cures Tayo of his "ghost disease." Also helps Tayo complete his own ceremony. A good example of how hybridity works when executed well.
Emo: A WWII vet who is friends with the same group of people as Tayo. Drinks a lot. Tayo hates him. Brags about the terrible things he did during the war. Tayo stabs him in the stomach with a broken beer bottle. Leader of the witches. Trying to complete a different ceremony opposite Tayo's.
Harley: One of Tayo's friends. Also a WWII vet. Constantly drinking with the other vets. Works wit Emo, but in the end is on Tayo's side and is killed for it.
Night Swan: The woman Josiah has an affair with, much to Auntie's displeasure. She also convinces him to buy the spotted cattle. She is a yellow woman.
Ts'eh: A woman Tayo meets while searching for the spotted cattle. She helps him complete the ceremony. A mysterious character. She could represent the land or Corn Woman (or almost anything actually).
Old Ku'oosh: A traditional medicine man who tries and fails to heal Tayo. His recommendation leads to Tayo meeting Betonie.
Setting
The Laguna Pueblo Reservation in New Mexico, in the time following WWII.
Plot
Tayo has recently returned from fighting in Japan in WWII. While he was there, his cousin, whom he loved like a brother, was killed. His uncle also died during this time. Caught in the rainforest, Tayo attempted to pray the rain away. This does not impact him until he returns to the Laguna Pueblo reservation, where there is a drought that he blames himself for.
Having been injured while a POW, Tayo is sent to a military hospital in LA. He cannot cope with the grief caused by Rocky and Josiah's deaths, and is afflicted with "ghost sickness." The people on the reservation do not realize this, attempting to use a ceremony meant for warriors to heal him instead. Since Tayo never killed anyone while at war, the ceremony does not work.
Other veterans on the reservation self-medicate with alcohol, and they try to get Tayo to join in as well. However, Tayo is not comfortable being around many of his old friends, particularly Emo, who he stabs in the stomach after hearing too many stories of terrible deeds.
Tayo is sent to Betonie, who uses a ceremony that is a blend of old and new to help cure Tayo of his ghost sickness. While Tayo initially does not trust Betonie, by the end of their time together he is ready to go complete his own ceremony.
After leaving Betonie, Tayo goes in search of the spotted cattle Josiah bought before his death. He meets Ts'eh, who seems to point him in the right direction. He trespasses on the land of the white man who captured his cattle in order to release them. Three fence guards discover him, but they are distracted by a mountain lion and Tayo escapes with the cattle.
Robert tells Tayo that the people of Laguna are beginning to side with Emo over him, and are searching for him so that he can be taken back to the hospital in LA. Tayo hides in the mountains until he sees Harley and Leroy. He realizes that they are on Emo's side as well, so he escapes and hides at the emergence place.
Emo makes an appearance, along with Leroy, Pinkie and Harley. Emo kills Harley, knowing that Tayo can see him doing so. Tayo does nothing, not wanting to risk furthering the witches' ceremony. By doing so, he completes his own ceremony.
Narrative Voice
The book is narrated primarily in the third person, following Tayo's actions and thoughts. There are also poems telling Laguna stories included throughout the story.
Motifs
Balance: Hybridity, ceremony, medicine, tradition/change, real vs. artificial, witchery, dependence, sickness.
Nature: Wind, weather, animals, eyes, ground, rain/water, clouds, real vs. artificial, direction, stars, bones, fertility.
Stories/Culture: Tradition/change, bellies/stories, vomiting, sex, fertility, cyclicality, numbers, stereotypes, decorations/awards, matriarchy, hybridity, language, color, religion, witchery.
Symbolism
Spotted Cattle: The cattle serve as a symbol of the way things must adapt in nature in order to survive, illustrating the hybridity that is central to the theme. Also symbolize the clouds that the Gambler steals.
Bellies/Sickness: The belly is the place that stories are kept, so each time Tayo throws up he is getting rid of the bad stories he's heard or witnessed.
Imagery
Silko places a heavy emphasis on nature imagery throughout the book, illustrating the presence of nature in every aspect of Tayo's life and its important role. She also uses colors as a way of associating characters with their storied counterparts. For example, Betonie's grandmother is a Yellow Woman figure, and the color blue is associated with that character. Her possessing a blue shawl hints at her other role.
Tone
Silko's tone is one of observation -- she does not want to make too much of a commentary on the cultures she is writing about. However, the observations she makes through the text are not necessarily neutral, as the situation is one that she seems to disapprove of. She seems to want to show readers a better way to do things.
Quotes
Emo played with the teeth; he pretended to put them in his mouth at funny angles. (62)
One of the major clues about Emo's status as head witch. Like the witches in the old story, he plays with dead things that should be left alone. Later in this scene, Tayo tries to stab the bad stories out of Emo's belly.
"At one time, the ceremonies as they had been performed were enough for the way the world was then. But after the white people came, elements in this world began to shift; and it became necessary to create new ceremonies. I have made changes in the rituals. The people mistrust this greatly, but only this growth keeps the ceremonies strong." (126)
Betonie fully understands the need for hybridity, which is why his ceremony is so effective for Tayo, who is sick as a result of a world the traditional medicine men don't understand. He illustrates the way that adaptability and hybridity between cultures is a good thing that benefits everyone in the end.
Theme
Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony shows that personal and natural balance can only be achieved by adapting and balancing your own culture and traditions with new ideas.
Throughout Ceremony, Silko places emphasis on the importance of hybridity. Everything that works in the book is the result of hybridity in some way, whether it is the spotted cattle created by mixing two breeds or the ceremonies Betonie creates by mixing together different cultures. However, some elements of the book are examples of hybridity gone wrong: instead of blending the two cultures, Auntie and Rocky attempt to completely abandon their heritage in favor of becoming a part of white culture. The witches take the bad things from white culture, such as drinking and gambling, and make it an essential part of their own. On the other end, Old Ku'oosh is unwilling to take into consideration the changing times and as a result is unable to perform effective ceremonies. The balance is somewhere in the middle, as Tayo realizes while completing his own ceremony.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Response to Course Material Seven
Another blog post cycle has passed, so it's time for another response to course material! As usual, there's a lot to go over and I'm not sure I remember everything, but I'll give it a shot. It's a good thing Ms. Holmes keeps track of what we do on her boot, otherwise these posts would be a lot shorter.
We finished annotating Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which I definitely enjoyed a lot! I'm pretty sure that it's my favorite play of the year, although I've enjoyed all of them. I think my annotations suffered a little bit this time around, though. I have a difficult time picking out rhetoric when I'm reading a book, especially with some of the things that were (apparently) in R and G. I say apparently because I totally missed them but I'm sure they were in there. If someone tells me that a book uses synecdoche a lot and I should keep an eye out for it (this happened with Hamlet) I'll usually be able to find it no problem. But I don't just pick up on things like epizeuxis and anadiplosis if I'm reading through a book. I guess it doesn't occur to me to look for them. I definitely need to work on that!
After much discussion, we finally settled on a theme for R and G. I am pretty satisfied with what we came up with -- while it's definitely not the absolute meaning of the text, it covers a lot of what I thought it needed to. It also seems pretty practical, and definitely very useable when it's time to take the test. Before we came up with a theme, we did some reading of other people's thoughts on the play, and I think I am not alone when I say that I was not particularly fond of them. While the Postmodernist Reading certainly made some useful points, I completely disagreed with the "final verdict" it presented, which was that the play had no meaning. I also didn't really like the way the information was presented, but I think that might just be me being picky.
In preparing to read our next work, Ceremony, we read a selection of essays by the author, Leslie Marmon Silko. I thought these essays were really interesting, and I definitely enjoyed reading them. The creation story she shared particularly caught my attention. I had only ever heard the creation story of the Ojibwe, which makes sense because they are one of the major tribes in Michigan. In their story, the world is flooded after the people become violent and start fighting with one another. After the flood, the few survivors need land, so a muskrat dives to the bottom of the water and brings mud to spread on a turtle's back. From that mud, an island is formed and the world grows from there. I've always been interested in the various stories of how the world began, so I really enjoyed reading the Laguna's take on it.
The book itself is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I can't stop reading it! Having read ahead makes discussion a little challenging, but it's totally worth it. I love the way Silko weaves together the various timelines, and the story itself is also quite beautiful. I'm glad we're reading it in AP Lit, because I don't think I would have discovered it on my own. I can't wait to discuss the whole thing with the rest of the class! I hope they're enjoying it as much as I am.
After discussing the first third of Ceremony, we talked about critical lenses and applied them to some of the works we've read in class. I thought this was really helpful, because I have a hard time with them sometimes -- usually the only one I can ever find evidence for is (surprise, surprise) the feminist lens. I really liked the discussion we had after applying a psychoanalytic lens to The American Dream. I think that definitely shed some new light on a work that I hadn't really thought about in a while. I'll be interested to see where discussions of the various criticisms lead us in the future!
We finished annotating Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which I definitely enjoyed a lot! I'm pretty sure that it's my favorite play of the year, although I've enjoyed all of them. I think my annotations suffered a little bit this time around, though. I have a difficult time picking out rhetoric when I'm reading a book, especially with some of the things that were (apparently) in R and G. I say apparently because I totally missed them but I'm sure they were in there. If someone tells me that a book uses synecdoche a lot and I should keep an eye out for it (this happened with Hamlet) I'll usually be able to find it no problem. But I don't just pick up on things like epizeuxis and anadiplosis if I'm reading through a book. I guess it doesn't occur to me to look for them. I definitely need to work on that!
After much discussion, we finally settled on a theme for R and G. I am pretty satisfied with what we came up with -- while it's definitely not the absolute meaning of the text, it covers a lot of what I thought it needed to. It also seems pretty practical, and definitely very useable when it's time to take the test. Before we came up with a theme, we did some reading of other people's thoughts on the play, and I think I am not alone when I say that I was not particularly fond of them. While the Postmodernist Reading certainly made some useful points, I completely disagreed with the "final verdict" it presented, which was that the play had no meaning. I also didn't really like the way the information was presented, but I think that might just be me being picky.
In preparing to read our next work, Ceremony, we read a selection of essays by the author, Leslie Marmon Silko. I thought these essays were really interesting, and I definitely enjoyed reading them. The creation story she shared particularly caught my attention. I had only ever heard the creation story of the Ojibwe, which makes sense because they are one of the major tribes in Michigan. In their story, the world is flooded after the people become violent and start fighting with one another. After the flood, the few survivors need land, so a muskrat dives to the bottom of the water and brings mud to spread on a turtle's back. From that mud, an island is formed and the world grows from there. I've always been interested in the various stories of how the world began, so I really enjoyed reading the Laguna's take on it.
The book itself is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I can't stop reading it! Having read ahead makes discussion a little challenging, but it's totally worth it. I love the way Silko weaves together the various timelines, and the story itself is also quite beautiful. I'm glad we're reading it in AP Lit, because I don't think I would have discovered it on my own. I can't wait to discuss the whole thing with the rest of the class! I hope they're enjoying it as much as I am.
After discussing the first third of Ceremony, we talked about critical lenses and applied them to some of the works we've read in class. I thought this was really helpful, because I have a hard time with them sometimes -- usually the only one I can ever find evidence for is (surprise, surprise) the feminist lens. I really liked the discussion we had after applying a psychoanalytic lens to The American Dream. I think that definitely shed some new light on a work that I hadn't really thought about in a while. I'll be interested to see where discussions of the various criticisms lead us in the future!
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Open Prompt Seven
2004. Critic Roland Barthes has said, “Literature is the question minus the answer.” Choose a novel, or play, and, considering Barthes’ observation, write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers answers. Explain how the author’s treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.
Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead follows two minor characters from Hamlet, hypothesizing about what happens when the two are not on stage. Throughout the play, the question of whether or not people have control over their own lives is explored. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are shown to have very little control over their fates, but it is also made clear that they are nothing more than characters in a work of literature. In contrast, the audience is made up of real people, all of whom have control over their own lives.
The central question of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is whether people control their own lives or are controlled by their fates. The titular characters are clear examples of the latter -- they have very little free will and are confined almost entirely to the roles they are destined to play. Even the title itself is evidence of this, as by the end of the play the two are indeed sent off to die. They spend most of the play utterly confused by their situation. The only times they know exactly what to say are when they have their lines from Hamlet, which they recite without thinking upon being drawn into a scene. The two are unable to escape their destinies; on one occasion, Rosencrantz considers fleeing by jumping off the side of the boat in which they are trapped but immediately talks himself out of it. When they ask the Player who makes decisions, he tells them that there are no decisions, as "it is written." Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are clear evidence of the idea that people's lives are controlled by a predestined fate.
However, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not real people, they are characters in a play. For them, everything is written. Each piece of dialogue has been decided on for them, so the two have no control over their fates. Stoppard makes it clear that the characters are not real people throughout the play by hinting at the fact that they may be aware of their status. For example, Guildenstern has a tendency to complain about the lack of action in the play as if he were a theater critic. Other characters directly acknowledge the presence of an audience, as Hamlet does when he spits off the stage. Events such as these make it clear to the audience that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not real people.
Since Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not real people, the events of the play are the opposite of what happens in real life. By showing that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are nothing more than characters, Stoppard creates a clear contrast with the audience. Everyone in the audience is a real live humanbeing rather than a name on a page, and as such each person is free to make their own decisions and control their life.
Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead follows two minor characters from Hamlet, hypothesizing about what happens when the two are not on stage. Throughout the play, the question of whether or not people have control over their own lives is explored. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are shown to have very little control over their fates, but it is also made clear that they are nothing more than characters in a work of literature. In contrast, the audience is made up of real people, all of whom have control over their own lives.
The central question of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is whether people control their own lives or are controlled by their fates. The titular characters are clear examples of the latter -- they have very little free will and are confined almost entirely to the roles they are destined to play. Even the title itself is evidence of this, as by the end of the play the two are indeed sent off to die. They spend most of the play utterly confused by their situation. The only times they know exactly what to say are when they have their lines from Hamlet, which they recite without thinking upon being drawn into a scene. The two are unable to escape their destinies; on one occasion, Rosencrantz considers fleeing by jumping off the side of the boat in which they are trapped but immediately talks himself out of it. When they ask the Player who makes decisions, he tells them that there are no decisions, as "it is written." Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are clear evidence of the idea that people's lives are controlled by a predestined fate.
However, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not real people, they are characters in a play. For them, everything is written. Each piece of dialogue has been decided on for them, so the two have no control over their fates. Stoppard makes it clear that the characters are not real people throughout the play by hinting at the fact that they may be aware of their status. For example, Guildenstern has a tendency to complain about the lack of action in the play as if he were a theater critic. Other characters directly acknowledge the presence of an audience, as Hamlet does when he spits off the stage. Events such as these make it clear to the audience that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not real people.
Since Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not real people, the events of the play are the opposite of what happens in real life. By showing that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are nothing more than characters, Stoppard creates a clear contrast with the audience. Everyone in the audience is a real live humanbeing rather than a name on a page, and as such each person is free to make their own decisions and control their life.
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