NRJ#2

I think how Conrad portrays women in Heart of Darkness is intriguing. His opinions run the entire gamut. At one point the women are like the fates, sitting on a chair knitting the black wool of someones life. Then comes the secretary, whos stare sees into the truth of men, “same quick glance of unconcerned wisdom. She seemed to know all about them and about me, too. An eerie feeling came over me. She seemed uncanny and fateful.” And then of course comes Marlows Aunt, who through a friend of hers (another women who manipulates her husband) was able to get Marlow the job in the Congo. These women are powerful, effecting men and shaking Marlow to his core.

These images of truth and power are contrasted when his aunt says “ It's queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset. Some confounded fact we men have been living contentedly with
ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over.” This would be the classic 19th century view of women. How women are so out of touch with reality, they live in their own world that is so beautiful it could not stand up to harsh reality.

By contrasting these views of women, I think Conrad was trying to show how women often have great power to effect the lives of men.

NRJ #1

From the start of the novel I can see a clear motif of light and darkness. Various elements of the novel are often likened to being either light or dark, civilized or uncivilized. The civilized in the novel being those that work for The Company and the uncivilized being the savage natives. Maslow, at one point even refers to himself as “an emissary of light”, and even goes as far to say he is “something like a lower sort of apostle” (Conrad 10). The character description of light when referring to members of the Company is in contrast to how natives of the Congo are referred. Marlow routinely refers to the natives in a derogatory manner, calling them “savages”, “cannibals”, or other outdated terms. The term “savage” is often connected to the darkness and uncivilized nature of the continent itself. Conrad uses this theme to convey how the “civilized” are seeking to impose their will on the “uncivilized”. This is evident in a scene where one of the “savages” is escorting his shackled country-men. The man is described as “one of the reclaimed, the product of new forces at work, strolled despondently, carrying a rifle by its middle. He had a uniform jacket with one button off, and seeing a white man on the path, hoisted his weapon to his shoulder with alacrity” (Conrad 13). Since the man was referred to as being a “reclaimed one” we can come to the conclusion that civilization was able to bring this savage back to the light and use him to help in the enslavement of the other savages.

DRJ#4 Hamlet, Act 4

Act 4 to me feels sort of like the eye of the storm. Both the act before this and after it, are full of all these dramatic happenings. Act three has the play within a play and finishes with the murder of Polonius, and act 5 obviously ends with the murder of pretty much everyone in the play. To me this act focuses on the deception aspect of the play. You have all these characters engaging in acts of deceit. Hamlet deceives the king of England and has Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed in his place, Claudius and Laertes plot the murder of Hamlet.

My character analysis this week is Ophelia, I thought it would be appropriate being that this is the act where her madness takes over and she ends her life. I think her madness was a combination of a number of different factors. The first being the obvious one, that Hamlet and her at some point had somewhat of a relationship and now that he is acting mad it is pushing her over the edge. The second one being that her father was murder, by Hamlet. But I also think before her fathers demise, he played a big part in her madness. He used her to dig for information on Hamlet, which I think had a damaging effect on her.

The theme that I chose for this act is ambition. When I look at Hamlet finally committing to revenge and Claudius deciding that he and Laertes need to kill him, I look at these as very ambitious moves. Killing a king is a very ambitious task, a stupid one, but ambitious none the less because the likely hood is that your plan isn’t going to work out well for you in the end. The same goes for plotting the murder of your wifes son.

DRJ#3 Hamlet, Act 3

Of all the Acts, I think I like this one the most, there is just so many exciting things going on. By way using a play to depict the murder of king by his brother, Hamlet is finally able to get the proof he needs that Claudius did in fact murder the king. Hamlet also kills Polonius while he is ranting and raving it his mother, forgetting that the ghost told him to “leave her to heaven” (1609).

For my character analysis I decided to do Hamlet, he is the main protagonist of the story and the father of the murdered king. Hamlet is fiercely loyal to his father, so much so that throughout the play he obsesses over avenging his fathers death. It is his actions while trying attain revenge that eventually lead to his demise. So passionately does Hamlet want vengeance for his father that he even turns on his mother at one point, which prompts the return of the ghost of his father to remind Hamlet that her fate should be left to heaven.

My theme I chose was guilt. I chose this because it is the only time in the play that comes to mind where Claudius expresses some kind of guilt. Shortly after the play depicting the kings murder, when the king is alone he begins to talk about how his “offence is rank” and that it “smells to heaven”. Although it really was only a small portion of the act, I think it was important because it shows that Claudius is not a wholly vial monster incapable of all feeling.

DRJ#2 Hamlet, Act 2

I really like Act 2. It is this act that Hamlet puts his plan into motion and comes up with the idea for the play. In particular, I enjoy how crazy Hamlet acts around some of the other characters in the story, hes off his rocker. Its kind of hard to relate this act to real life, although when I was in Junior High we had a renaissance day and Hamlet was the play that we did. This part of the play stuck in my mind, for whatever reason I always remembered the scene where Hamlet is talking with the players about putting on the play.

For my character analysis I decided to do Polonius, the father of Laertes and Ophelia. I would describe Polonius as an instigator. Shortly after Laertes leaves for France, Polonius warns Ophelia that she should stay away from Hamlet, which she does. Polonius thinks that Ophelias rejection is the reason for Hamlets madness, even though Hamlet is just acting. It is also Polonius that conspires with the king to use Ophelia to spy on Hamlet.

For the theme of Act 2 I chose madness. I think the act that because Hamlet acts so mad, it adds a really intriguing part of the play. He could have just as easily gone through with the play anyway, but by acting insane he keeps his mother, step-father, and Polonius guessing as to what is going on.

DRJ#1 Hamlet, Act I

Reaction: I think that the idea of someone close to us entering a relationship too soon is a common thing. I can think of a few times in my life where I had friends who were dating and one of them began dating a new person after a short amount of time. Although you are not involved in the relationship you still feel as though they are some how betraying your friend by dating someone else too soon.

Character: Horatio is a friend of Hamlet and is fiercely loyal. I think Horatio’s character is an example of the loyalty that Hamlet has towards his family. In the first Act, when Hamlet first encounters the ghost, it is Horatio that tells Hamlet that the ghost might temp him “toward the flood” or that it might “assume some other horrible form, which might deprive your sovereignty of reason.”

Theme: I believe the theme for the first act is deception. It is the deception of Hamlets uncle that sets his plan for revenge. A few of the scenes also center on the deception created by Claudius. The first scene being when Claudius is speaking to the crowed, the second when the ghost of the king makes the deception known the Hamlet and sets in motion his plans for revenge.

Chopin Activity with comments

In the intro to the story, Mrs. Mallard is painted as a fragile and weak person. Mrs. Mallard is so weak her sister had to use “great care…to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death”, because of Mrs. Mallards heart trouble. The portrait of a fragile woman is in line with the typical view of women during that era who are depen dent on men and marriage. It is only after the death of her husband, something that is out of her control, that Mrs. Mallard is able to obtain equality and live a life where she is “body and soul free!” Kate Chopin’s construction of character in “The Story of an Hour” reinforces the author’s ideas about women’s struggle for equality during the early 1900s as well as today.


After Mrs. Mallard is notified of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard slowly becomes aware of what her new freedom means. Standing in front of her bedroom window, Mrs. Mallard observes trees “all aquiver with the new spring life.” Much in the same way the trees are reacting to the new spring, Mrs. Mallard’s “pulse beat fast” at the idea of a life where “no powerful will” will be forced upon her. The death of Mr. Mallard was in contrast to Mrs. Mallard’s excitement at a life of her own. By contrasting images of life with those of death throughout “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin highlights the struggle of a person imprisoned by societal pressures and thereby kept from fully being alive.

Your first attempt here does not actually connect to oppression in the character but moreso to the physical attributes of the character--not all women who were opressed suffered from heart conditions or were weak--that's not exactly the point. But, in your second attempt, your evidence is definitely of constrasting images of life and death However, you need to more directly explain how the author used this imagery to signify oppression (i.e.: by alternating these images, Chopin has created a confusing amalgamation of freedom and imprisonment, reflecting the character's conflicted inner state and giving the reader a glimpse into the limited choices of those who do not entirely possess their own free will.) Always explain the evidence you propose in your papers so that the reader clearly understands your point.

Hemmingway Ex. Credit

11) Time and distance can cause families to drift apart, especially in the early 1900’s when communication was much more difficult. Also, the type of experience can also be a factor in why someone would feel alienated. With things like war, it is difficult for those who have experienced to connect with those who haven’t. That alone can lead to a feeling of isolation and being helpless.

Walker Ex. Credit

To join this man and this woman
Yes. Join. Join forever. Bound not in love, but in necessity. To marry such a woman, woman, that is a stretch. An irresponsible child, capable only of falling victim to lust and giving birth as a result. It is that same lust that I am here today. The necessity for someone young, pretty, good to look at, to hang on my arm. She will make a good wife, she will tend to the kids, clean the house, and do what is needed of her. Just as I will work, do what is needed, to provide.

SSRJ#4 - Carver

This piece was great, well not great as far as the context by great as far as how the writer wrote it. While I was reading it I had pictures of king Solomon in my head wanting to saw the baby in half. Although, the difference being that in the tale of king Solomon, the true mother of the child did want to harm her child. In Popular Mechanics, both parents were so concerned over who was to blame or who was right, they didn’t care about the welfare of the child. The parents were so heated that they got into what was basically a tug-o-war with the child in the middle, completely oblivious to the fact that the child was in pain.
To me the writer used theme and setting to convey his message. The use of setting, to me was apparent in the first paragraph when the author describes how “cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark. But it was getting dark on the inside too.” The use of symbolism was also apparent in the first paragraph. The sentence “the snow was melting into dirty water” is symbolic of something pure, like the snow, transforming into something dirty. The snow melting into dirty water is similar to how the harmonious family structure inside the house is also breaking down into something dirty.