Journal 15

Journal 15 – William Dean Howell’s “Editha”

1.  Write a sentence that summarizes the story’s overall message, and provide  three direct quotes from the story that best illustrate this message.

The message of the story is that listening to others and compromising your beliefs can lead to bad things.

“It isn’t this war alone; though this seems peculiarly wanton and needless; but it’s every war –so stupid; it makes me sick. Why shouldn’t this thing have been settled reasonably?”

“He told me he had asked you to come if he got killed. You didn’t expect that, I suppose, when you sent him.”

2.  What tactics does Editha use to make George believe as she does about the war?

She tries to tell him that he has to join the war because most of the other men do it. She thinks thatfighting and winning is what life is about and makes you successful. She said that if he didn’t go to the war, she woud no longer marry him.

3.   Is there ever a time in which Editha truly understands what she has done?  Does she ever experience an epiphany?

There is a time where she understands what she has done when she gets the word that George died. She is sad because of his loss and visits his mom. She gets yelled at by his mother and is blamed for his death. She doesn’t fully understand that it was her fault, but at least she gets a slight understanding of what she did. She has an epiphany when the women who was listening to her story took her side.

Journal 16

Journal 16 – Crane’s “The Blue Hotel” and London’s “To Build A Fire” 

Read the following quote and discuss how it applies to the main characters in both stories.  In the course of this discussion, address how each of the characters is both similar and different:

“Determinisim governs everything … The writer must study the inherited traits of individual character and the social condition of the time.  Together, these elements determine the course of any action, the outcome of any life.  Free will or self-determination is mostly an illusion, although chance is granteed a role in human affairs.  Still, even the effects of chance are obliterated in the inevitable course determined by the interaction of inherited character traits and the social environment.“  

            The quote above applies to the main character in “The Blue Hotel” who is the Swede. The swede had a feeling that he was going to be killed, and over the course of time that is what happened. It was determined from the start that he was not safe, and although he was not killed by who he thought he would be, but he was still killed. The social environment around him was that he did not fit in. His traits were thought of as weird, and he was paranoid when sober, and aggressive when drunk. He was placed in the position of the hotel for a reason, it was not free will that put him there.

Journal 18

Journal 18 -“In Another Country”

1. What is the significance of the story’s title?  

It is significant because the story takes place in another country, Italy.

2. Which character do you think best represents the “Hemingway hero”? Why?

I think that Signore Maggiore represents the “Hemingway hero” the best. Even when he suffers, he does it with dignity and grace. He lost his spouse, and still does his best to not let it get him down. He cannot fence because of his hand, which is what he was great at. He still fights through daily life to keep a positive attitude and try and help others.

3. What can you infer about the photographs the doctor hangs up?  What is the significance of the major’s reaction? 

I think that the photos that he puts up are to keep the patients thinking positively that they can be healed. While some of the photos may not be real results of therapy, the doctor wants the patients to think that they will be okay and not get depressed. 

Journal 17

Journal 17 - “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” – T.S. Eliot (p.775)

1. What is the significance of the poem’s epigraph?  How does it relate to Prufrock?

The epigraph is about a person who is self conscious when it comes to talking about himself. He talks about himself only because he thinks that nobody will read or hear what he is saying.

2. Make a list of questions that Prufrock asks.  Do you see a pattern/theme to these questions or are they random?  

Shall I?

Do I dare?

How should I begin?

How should I presume?

All of his questions have to do with decisions he should make in his life. He is not sure which things are good for him to do and which are bad. He waffles back and forth and is never set on making one choice, he has to debate all of the options.

3. What do you think is Prufrock’s main flaw/problem?

He main flaw or problem is that he has anxiety and cannot make up his mind. He needs to have more confidence in his actions and choices.

4. Why do you think this is called a love song?  In what way is it a love song? .

It is called a love song because it is ironic. It is not actually a love song, it s more about pity for not having love. It is ironic because he is alone. He has nobody to love. It is about living a loveless life, not a love song full of happy feelings.

Journal 14

Journal #14 - E. A. Robinson Poems 

Realism – The theory or practice in art and literature of fidelity to nature or to real life and to accurate representation without idealization of the most typical views, details, and surroundings of the subject.

Read the following poems and write a detailed description for each of the title characters and explain how each is an example of the “real” instead of the “ideal.”  

“Richard Cory“ (497)

This poem is about a man who everyone looks at and thinks he has it all. Everyone saw him as a example of someone who has a perfect life. He ironically was not happy with himself, as everyone thought he would be. He ends up killing himself, which is why the poem is real not ideal. This poem shows that whats on the outside may not be what it seems.

“Miniver Cheevy” (497)

This person in this poem wishes that he lived in a different time period. He wanted to be born in medieval times. He likes the idea of chivalry, knights, and the Medici clan. He only drank and dreamed about being in that time period, and did not make anything of himself. His name sounds like minimal achiever, which is what he is. His life is real not ideal because some people are just not happy with their lives.

         

“Mr. Flood’s Party” (498)

Mr. Flood is an alcoholic who is by himself in the poem. He is old and he has no friends anymore from them either dying or leaving his life. He talks to himself in the poem when he drinks, and is having a party by himself. He is flooding himself with alcohol. His life is real not ideal because there are a lot of people who try to drink away their problems.

Journal 13

Journal #13 – Edgar Lee Masters Epitaphs (p. 502) 

Read “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” and answer the following questions.  

1. What object symbolizes George Gray’s life?  How is this object representative of him?

          A boat is the object that symbolizes his life. It is relative to him because the boat is just at rest in a harbor. He regrets his life because he feels like he has not gone anywhere in his life. It is not his destination it was his life prior to dying. The sail is furled so it looks like it can not even sail or leave where it is.

2. How was Lucinda Matlock’s life different than George Gray’s?  How do you interepret the last line of the poem?     

          Her life is different because she went out and did things while Gray did not. He was full of regret while she enjoyed her life. The last line of the poem to me means that if you are alive you should love life. It takes like to love life, so therefore if that is all it takes, then people should do their best to enjoy life to the fullest while they have to opportunity.

         

3. How are “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” examples of realism? 

          They are examples of realism because they live the lives of ordinary people. Some people look back on their life with regret, others are happy with the way it worked out. Neither of the two people have anything different about them than a normal person would. They live realistic life styles and think realistic thoughts.