1943

1943

They toughened us for war. In the high-school auditorium
Ed Monahan knocked out Dominick Esposito in the first round

of the heavyweight finals, and ten months later Dom died
in the third wave at Tarawa. Every morning of the war

our Brock-Hall Dairy delivered milk from horse-drawn wagons
to wooden back porches in southern Connecticut. In winter,

frozen cream lifted the cardboard lids of glass bottles,
Grade A or Grade B, while marines bled to death in the surf,

or the right engine faltered into Channel silt, or troops marched
—what could we do?—with frostbitten feet as white as milk.

—Donald Hall

This is a poem about WWII. It is saying that the people prepared for going to war, and died, and for the people back in America, life went on as normal while people died, and they couldn't do anything back home to help stop people dying. This is sort of like today's war, where nobody in America can do much to support the troops besides just saying we support them. In WWII, people collected scrap metal and made clothing and grew vegetables and things for the people fighting. Today, we do not. Also, life continues as normal for us, too, even more than the war in which the poem is about (no rationing or anything). I think it is like this for most wars fought away from the mother country, because the citizens themselves are not in danger. When a war is fought within or very near the borders of the mother country, though, people are more concerned and do more and their lives change.

Heart of Darkness (Last one)

Basically, Kurtz dies, Marlow goes a little nuts and then talks to the Intended. Kurtz's last words were 'the horror, the horror'. Whatever he actually meant by those words is very unclear. It could be Kurtz's realization of the horror and existence of the darkness and what it has made him do. I don't think he is remorseful or feels guilty at the end. He simply understands what he has done and is maybe afraid of it and what might happen to him now, but I think if given the choice, he would do it again. Marlow is really affected by Kurtz's words and death. He doesn't feel like he fits with normal civilization again because he feels that all the people don't understand the moral danger they are in and don't know, care and understand about the darkness. When Marlow talks to the Intended, this feeling gets worse because the Intended really has absolutely no conception of what the darkness is or means. She thinks she knows Kurtz better than anyone, yet she doesn't know about what he did in the jungle and she probably wouldn't believe it if Marlow told her. That's partly why Marlow lies at the end: he doesn't want to explain what Kurtz became because she wouldn't understand. He also lies because he feels awkward and telling Kurtz's grieving fiancée that he said 'the horror, the horror' about his experiences in the jungle would require explanation and Marlow just wants to leave by that point. In the end of the book, the sailor crew does not care or understand about Marlow's story either, but the darkness is shown to be there and ready to affect them even though they don't know it.

Heart of Darkness (4?)

Marlow talks to the Russian about Mr. Kurtz. Kurtz appears to be a person who has the ability to dominate people with the force of his personality. When Marlow sees Kurtz, he (Kurtz) is dying and frail, but his voice is still powerful. The Russian is surprised that Marlow has not become a worshipper of Kurtz. Marlow does defend Kurtz from the Manager, who says Kurtz (and thus Marlow) is unsound. Kurtz apparently ordered the attack on the boat. He is portrayed as having been consumed with the darkness of the land. The themes of sickness and physical decomposition are shown. The Russian leaves and makes Marlow promise to look after Kurtz.

Heart of Darkness pgs 42-54

This part continued Marlow's journey in the steamboat down the river. A bunch of natives attacks and some people get killed. They arrive and the harlequin greets them. He's Russian and ran away from home to be on a ship, like Conrad did. Marlow breaks narrative for a bit to say that none of the sailors now can understand the darkness and what he went through because their lives are too regulated and 'civilized'. Kurtz is mentioned a lot. He is portrayed as a 'voice' that speaks and to which others only listen. He is also mentioned as having gotten loads and loads of ivory (fairly and by finding what the native people bury). Despite the fact (or maybe because of) that Marlow knows the rumours of how Kurtz might have done 'unspeakable rituals', Marlow is still interested in meeting Kurtz. The darkness in people and in the land is mentioned a lot. There is a lot of imagery connected to all of this: violent death, isolation, madness. Especially because of the battle scene.

Heart of Darkness 30-41

(I'm not entirely sure what exactly these blogs are supposed to be about, but I tried.)

This section begins with Marlow overhearing the Manager (I think this is who it is) talking with his uncle about Mr. Kurtz (and possibly Marlow as well?). Then Marlow begins his journey in the steamboat down the river and has difficulty because in parts the river is too shallow and the African people who go with them are forced to eat rotten hippo meat until the pilgrims throw the meat away and then they starve. Marlow is really really curious about meeting Mr. Kurtz. I think the Manager goes with them.

There is a lot of the imagery listed in point 7: sickness (the people dying of starvation), gloom and brightness (these two when describing the forest they're sailing through), physical decomposition (the hippo meat). Also, there are a lot of the references to work and labor.

Lilacs in September

Lilacs in September

Shocked to the root
like the lilac bush
in the vacant lot
by the hurricane—

whose black branch split
by wind or rain
has broken out unseasonably

into these scant ash-
colored blossoms
lifted high as if to say

to passersby
What will unleash
itself in you
when your storm comes?

—Katha Pollitt

The interesting part of this poem is the lest three lines. Often, when tragedy strikes or a crisis happens, unexpected parts of people’s characters are seen. Sometimes unnatural heroism or courage manifests itself, like when some people have an adrenaline rush and feel strong enough to save someone from drowning, or snatch them out from under a bus or a car. In that way, those people are like the lilac bush; good parts of them come out when faced with terrible things. Other people, however, don’t react well under pressure. The worst parts of their nature may come out. They may lose their tempers or lie or simply be too scared to deal with anything. The last lines read like some sort of warning: what do you think you’ll do if faced with a horrible situation?

Eveline

This story is about a girl who wants to escape from her horrible life and find happiness elsewhere but can't make the decision to go.

1) What's the girl's name?
2) Why didn't she go with Frank?
3) If you were in that situation, what would you do?

The theme of this story is about fear of change. (Yes, I looked that up in the notes :) ) But really, it is. Eveline is afraid of changing her life, even though it's for the better. She's afraid of leaving what's familiar, even though it's not good for her. People generally don't like the unknown and so prefer even a bad thing that they recognize to a possibly good thing that they're not sure will work out and will take them away from what they know.

I thought the reference to the priest was interesting. We learned in class that every Joyce story (in Dubliners at least) has a reference to a dead/gone priest. I think it would be amazing if we went through the book and found all the priest references. Anyway, I suppose it's more symbolism about how the Catholic church was once good and stable but now (by that I mean James Joyce's now) it caused (in Joyce's opinion) social paralysis and is no longer there for the people, but is just a fond memory.

Araby

This is a story about a boy who is infatuated with his neighbor and goes to a bazaar to buy something for her and doesn't.

1) What is the name of the bazaar?
2) Why does the boy feel 'anguish and anger' at the end?
3) The description of the section of the book that this story was taken from says that it focuses on the confusion of leaving childhood behind. Does it really show that confusion as it is?

I really have no idea what the theme of this story is.

I didn't think the story was very interesting. It made sense and the characterization and writing and everything was good, but the piece itself didn't seem interesting. A lot of it was description, which has always bored me.

Anyway, the story's ending would have meant something else to me if I hadn't read the descriptions which said that this story had to do with the confusion of leaving childhood or something. I'm not sure exactly what I would have thought it meant, except that the story really didn't seem to have much to do with childhood, except the narrator was obviously young. In the end, his feelings of anger and anguish were what I felt was interesting about the story, since they connected with his failure to find anything for the girl and the obstacles he faces in getting to the bazaar. He feels as if the end isn't worth the effort and so feels that way.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

A Good Man is Hard to Find is a story about a family who takes a trip, meets an escaped murderer and dies.

1) Where was the family's destination?
2) Why did the Misfit shoot the grandmother?
3) Are good men hard to find?

I really don't know what to make of this story. I thought all the characters were written well and the story was interesting to read, yet it didn't seem to have a point or a theme or a reason for why it was written the way it was. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, except for the fact that we have to write about such things for this class.

One point about the story that I thought was done particularly well was the part about the shirt. (Bailey wears this yellow shirt with blue parrots, then after he was taken into the woods, the shirt of his that the Misfit puts on is that shirt.) The grandmother's line of how she doesn't remember what the shirt reminds her of shows very clearly the distressed and confused state her mind is in. It adds to the weird quality of the piece.

Oh yeah, and all the religious stuff confused me. I have no idea what exact deeper meaning the author was trying to convey, especially with all the references to Jesus. I mean, I got the obvious- that the Misfit takes pleasure in killing because he thinks the world is messed up and the grandmother thinks he should be saved, etc., but I think I'm missing something important because religion in general confuses me.

The Rocking Horse Winner

The Rocking Horse Winner is a story about a boy who wants to make money on racehorses and then dies.

1) What is the boy's name?
2) Why does he want money?
3) Is the story right? Can money not replace happiness?

This story's theme was that money cannot bring happiness and that luck doesn't concern itself only with bringing money.

This story was good because it (like the one we read in class the other day) utilized the element of suspense very well. In addition, it made the characters slightly disturbing, which added to the sense of intrigue. The added supernatural-ish parts (the way he got his answers from the rocking horse, the whispering house) added to the interest of the story and made it much more fascinating to read than if the author had simply let the point of his story be known through the description of a boy who tried to make money because his family was in debt through their own desire for money. The story goes deeper than that, the characterization is much more interesting and the point is not painfully obvious. The parts about the house whispering were particularly interesting because they added the atmosphere of suspense and the sense of something unusual happening. I got the impression somehow that the boy, Paul, did not actually try to win money to please his mother, though he didn't mind doing so. That was a minor motivation. I felt that he was actually taking his child's idea of 'luck solves everything' to the extreme because of the house- he felt its message and tried to get money because of that. He had luck of both kinds: good and bad, although maybe they're the same thing. What he thought was good luck brought bad things more than good, after all.

I'm not sure what exactly to say about the actual theme and idea of the story. The mechanics were all great and I enjoyed reading the piece. However, the idea of 'money does not bring happiness' is so cliché and well-worn that I seriously cannot find anything new and original to say about it.