Langston Huges

All of the poems that Langston Hughes wrote seems to be about dreams even the the titles for few of his poems includes the word “dreams”. Dream(s) represent something that people wishes or hope for so the mood of Langston Hughes poems are more positive. The poem that catches my attention is “Dream Variation” because it’s easier to visualize the cheerful mood of the narrator. In this poem, Langston Hughes uses a lot of visual words to help the audience visual the scenes. For example “To whirl and to dance, Till the white day is done.” Hughes could just tell the audience that the narrator dances until the day is over but instead Hughes uses the world “whirl” and “white” so the reader can picture the scene better.

Although this is a dream or a wish of the narrator, the narrator seems really obsessed with this. What the narrator dreams of happening in the future is repeated but with different words. The narrator hopes for a carefree life where he can dance during the day and rest at night. I believe Hughes wrote about this was because African Americans faced hardship at that time. Many African Americans work till day to night or others had hard time finding a job. Hughes represent the voice of many African American where many can only dream of a better life.

Jean Toomer : Harvest Song

My first impression of this poem is that it is a poem about slavery. The reaper, like slaves work on his field throughout the day. Slaves work on their owner’s plantation throughout the day. Most of the slaves are hungry and beaten. The reaper may not be beaten but he mentions that his throat is dry and he is hungry which reminds me the state slaves are in. “I crack a grain. It has no taste to it.” The reaper is hungry but when he actually taste the grain, he couldn’t taste anything due to his extreme hunger and tiredness. Just like the slaves, the reaper lack enjoyment in life and wastes his whole life on the fields. Another reason could be that I read the poem “Song of the Son” which is about slavery that is why the the “Harvest Song” reminds me of slavery.

I feel that reapers are lonely due to what the reaper mentions. The reaper couldn’t see or hear other reapers that are working on their own fields due to the dust. “I am a blind man who stares across the hills, seeking stack’d fields of other harvesters.” It seems like the reaper wishes for companion or at least feel that others exist around him. Since the reaper worked on his field all day long he probably feels lonely and since he couldn’t hear or see other people, it feels like he is the only one around. Although the reaper wishes for companions, he fears that other reapers may pity him and offer him their harvest so the reaper did not call out to others. I feel that other reapers may feel the same way so it isn’t due to the dust stuck in the reaper’s ear that prevents him from hearing other reapers. It may be that other reapers are keeping quiet just like this reaper due to the fear that others might pity them.

Things Fall Apart. Internal and External problems.

There are many problems in the book “Things Fall Apart” but while reading chapters 13 to 18 I see a connection between an external and internal problem Okonkwo is facing. One external problem that Okonkwo and the people of Mbanta face is the arrival of the missionaries. The missionaries changes the way these people feel about the Gods that they have had been worshiping. “He told them that they worshipped false gods, gods of wood and stone”(102). The missionaries want people to convert into Christians stating that Jesus Krist will not tell people to kill each other unlike the Gods the villagers worshipped. At first people laughed at the things the missionaries said but as time passed more and more people converts to Christianity. This is an external problem because it threatens the customs, beliefs and God that these people believed in in the past.

Due to the external problem, we begin to see Okonkwo’s internal problem. When Nwoye converts to Christianity Okonkwo have had a hard time accepting it. “None of them was a man of title. They were mostly the kind of people that were called efulefu, worthless, empty men.”(101). Okonkwo does not want to accept the fact that Nwoye is one of the converters because Okonkwo wants Nwoye to be like him, a man of title and respect. But, Okonkwo sees the resemblance between Nwoye and his late father, Unoka. Both of them are weak, cowardly and lazy, these are the traits that Okonkwo can not accept. He works hard at a young age to be the opposite of his father but his first son becomes what he fears. This seems to causes Okonkwo to break down because Okonkwo does not want to believe that he have a son like Nwoye. He feels ashamed of Nwoye for converting in Christianity and starts to believe that bad chi surrounds him. Since he was exile and then Nwoye converts to Christianity.

Diary of a Madman

The protagonist in Lu Xun’s Diary of a Madman and the protagonist, Poprishchin in Nikolia Gogol’s Diary of a Madman are not in their right minds. Although the two protagonists seems to be “sick” they are actually very different. In Lu Xun’s story, the Protagonist believes that people are cannibals. Unlike Lu Xun’s protagonist, Poprishchin’s thought seems to be very disorganized. One thought leads to a more unbelievable thought. At first he believes that dogs can talk and write then he believes that he is the King of Spain. Poprishchin is not satisfy with his life and position while the protagonist in Lu Xun’s story is not satisfy with the society.

In Lu Xun’s story we know that the protagonist is “sick”, the brother tells his friend in the very beginning. The protagonist believes that people are cannibals. His thoughts are really distorted because not only does he believe that people in his society are cannibals he also refers to histories of how people eat another being. The protagonists describes a time when he looks through the history and finds Confucian’s principle but as he looks through the book again, he starts to believe that every line says “‘Eat People!'”(24). If this humans eat one another in the past then it will not stop now or at least to him, it is impossible for people to stop this routine. Due to his distorted thought he believe people will eat other. He may be the first target for his brother and Dr. Ho but he feels that later on they will be eaten as well.

In Gogol’s Diary of a Madman the protagonist, Poprishchin is also “sick” but this is not noticeable in the beginning. A few diaries later, Poprishchin believes that he hears Meggy talk to another dog. On top of that he also thinks that Meggy is able to write like a normal being. This is the point where I notice that Poprishchin is not in his right mind. But, Poprischin’s “sickness” is different from the protagonist’s in Lu Xun’s story. As the story progresses we see that Poprishchin believes that he is the missing King of Spain. “I do not understand how I could imagine, that I am a titular councillor.” Poprishchin seems to believe that his position as a councillor is to hide his true identity as a king. He does not seem to be satisfy with his current position leading him to imagine himself having a higher position.

A Doll House

The play, A Doll House was written in 1879. Women were not granted much right or freedom at that time. The character of Nora was a topical housewife because her main focus was her husband and her children. The issues that women had in this play were hard time finding a job since women were seen to be housewives, women lacked power since men were in charge and women lacked freedom.

An issue women had during 1879 was that they had a hard time finding jobs since they were expected to be housewives. Women were to stay home, do chorus and look after the children. In fact, it was rare for women to be in the workforce. In the play, Nora does not work because she was a topical wife that stayed home while the husband went off to work. Nora seemed to care more about her husband and three children more than she cared about herself. The play took place around Christmas and Nora bought a tree and presents for the family and maids but she didn’t get herself anything. Nora told her husband, Torvald Helmer, about the presents that she bought for the children and maids but when Helmer asked Nora what she bought for herself Nora replied “For myself? Oh, I don’t want anything at all-“(45). From this quote it showed that Nora’s family was important to her. She was like a normal woman who wanted everyone to be happy by pleasing them and she was happy as long as everyone else was happy.

The amount of power women had during the 1879 was another issue. Women do not have any power since men were expected to be in charge. When Nora wanted Helmer to take back his letter to Krogstad Helmer refused because he felt that if Nora influenced him to change his decision than he would lose his pride as a man. Helmer also felt that Nora shouldn’t worried about anything because it was his duty to take care of any issues. “Whatever comes, you’ll see: when it really counts, I have strength and courage enough as a man to take on the whole weight myself.”(79). Helmer felt that Nora should not step into his duties because he felt that he was in charge of the house. Helmer would not discuss anything with Nora because he felt that it was his responsibility to take up all the burden and was unnecessary to discussed any problems with Nora.

Not only do women lacked power, women also lacked freedom. Many women obeyed their husband because people felt that it was how women must act. In the play Nora explained to Helmer how she couldn’t expressed herself at home when she lived with her father. She had to hid her feelings and thoughts if they were opposite of her fathers. “When I lived at home with Papa, he told me all his opinions, so I had the sames ones too;or if they were different I hid them since he wouldn’t have cared for that.”(109). Nora could not express herself truthfully because her Papa wouldn’t had understand. In fact, Nora’s opinion would be useless since her Papa wouldn’t cared. It showed how women lacked freedom especially freedom of expression in their own homes. Men doesn’t seemed to care about women’s opinion at that time since men felt that women’s opinion were not helpful in anyway so they disregarded it.

The Article

The article that Raskolnikov wrote six month ago supported his action of killing Alena Ivanovna. Raskolnikov’s article “Concerning Crime” supported his action because in the article Raskolnikov divided people into two categories. One category was the “ordinary people”, these were people that obeyed and followed the law. The second group was the “extraordinary people”. Raskolnikov considered these people to be smarter but lawbreakers. The “extraordinary people” was willing to kill to make the society a better place. During his conversation with Porfiry Petrovich, Raskolnikov explained his idea,”But if it is necessary for one of them, for the fulfilment of his ideas, to march over corpses, or wade through blood, then in my opinion he may in all conscience authorize himself to wade through blood…” (p. 250). From this quote Raskolnikov believed that if one must kill to fulfill an idea then it would be okay to kill. This related to why Raskolnikov killed Alena because Raskolnikov believed that killing Alena would make the society a better place. Alena Ivanovna made her step-sister, Lizaveta, work day and night but Lizaveta was given nothing in return. Alena Ivanovna took Lizaveta’s money for grant. Many people disliked Alena Ivanovna due to her bad attitude and her bad treatment towards Lizaveta which made Raskolnikov felt that killing Alena Ivanovna would benefit the society. Raskolnikov seemed to place himself in the “extraordinary” category therefore he felt that he was granted a “right” to kill Alena Ivanovna.

Billy Budd: Good versus Evil.

Billy Budd represented innocence because he trust people without question and missed their true intentions. For example, ‘”Jummy Legs!” ejaculated Billy, his welkin eyes expanding; “what for? Why he calls me the sweet and pleasant fellow, they tell me.”‘ Dansker, the old retired sailor warned Billy Budd about Cleggart but Billy Budd explained to Dansker that Cleggar treated Billy Budd pleasantly. Even when Captain Vere wanted to see Budd, Budd looked on the bright side. “Yes, the Captain, I have always thought, looks kindly upon me. Wonder if he’s going to make me his coxswain. I should like that. And maybe now he is going to ask the Master-at-arms about me.” Budd doesn’t look on the negative side, he believed everyone was friendly and good things always happened. It showed how innocent Budd was because most people would think negative thoughts, they would wondered if they made a mistake or if they got in troubled.

Another reason why Billy Budd represented innocence was due to the fact that Budd wouldn’t reject people. “Now Billy like sundry other essentially good-natured ones had some of the weaknesses inseparable from essential good-nature; and among these was a reluctance, almost an incapacity of plumply saying no to an abrupt proposition not obviously absurd,…” When one of the sailor informed Budd that there was something outside and told Budd to meet him there. Budd could have had easily rejected that request but instead he went and met up with the other sailor. This showed that Budd had a kind-heart that wanted to be kind to everyone.

Cleggart, on the other hand was a man who envied Budd and tried to get Budd in trouble. During the incident where Budd spilled the soup, Cleggart acted differently once he saw that Budd was the one that spilled it. “Cleggart, the Master-at-arms, official rattan in hand, happened to be passing along the battery in a bay of which the mess was lodged…he was proceeding on his way without comment,…when he happened to observe who it was that had done the spilling. His countenance changed.” This showed that Cleggart’s attitude towards Budd was different. If it was another sailor that spilled the soup, Cleggart would have had left without making fun of the sailor but because it was Budd, Cleggart made a nasty joke about it. Cleggart told Captain Vere that there was a spy on the boat and when Vere asked who that person was, Cleggart said it was Budd. When Vere refused to believe that Budd was such a person, Cleggart continued to make up stories. “Did Lieutenant Ratcliff happen to tell Your Honor of that adroit fling of Budd’s, jumping up in the cutter’s bow under the merchantman’s stern when he was being taken off?” Cleggart falsely accused Budd of crimes he never committed which showed evilness. Instead of telling the truth, Cleggart made up stories so Vere would believe that Budd was the spy. A person with good-nature wouldn’t have had accused others of things that they’ve never done due to envy or dislike.

The connection between “Billy Bud” and “The Birthmark”

When I read “Billy Bud” it was easier to connect to Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” than “The Rime of The Ancient Mariner”. The connection between the two stories was that that was an imperfection behind what seemed almost perfect. In “Billy Bud” Billy Bud was a handsome man who seemed to be a descendent of the royal family. Even though he had a perfect appearance that people would envy, he had flaws. Billy Bud was illiterate and often stutter when he talked. In the “The Birthmark” Georgiana, the wife of the scientist was a beautiful woman but she was born with a birthmark on her left cheek.

The other connection I found between the two stories were the willingness to sacrifice. In “The Birthmark” Georgiana was willing to remove the birthmark to satisfy her husband even if it’ll cost her life. ‘”Danger? There is but one danger–that this horrible stigma shall be left upon my cheek!” cried Georgiana. “Remove it, whatever be the cost, or we shall both go mad!”‘(1031). Georgiana knew there was a risk in removing the birthmark but her husband wished for it to be removed. Georgiana had no choice but to risk her life for the satisfaction of her husband. On the other hand, Nelson, who was a soldier in the story “Billy Bud” was willing to sacrifice himself to save his crew members. “At Trafalgar, Nelson, on the brink of opening the fight, sat down and wrote his last brief will and testament. If under the presentiment of the most magnificent of all victorious to be crowned by his own glorious death,…if thus to have adorned himself for the altar and the sacrifice were indeed vainglory, then affectation and fustian is each more heroic line in the great epics…”. Nelson felt that his life would be worth the sacrifice if it could save the ship and his crew members. He felt that it was a heroic thing to do.

Even though the two stories were written by two different authors they had same messages. One of it was, no one is perfect, mother nature created everyone to be equal, there are imperfection behind what seemed to be perfect. The other message was, people should not be selfish, people should help other even if it meant to sacrifice oneself.

Hawthorne. Young Goodman Brown

Goodman Brown is a religious guy who wants to believe that people are good and innocent but at the same time he doubts himself. At the beginning of the story Goodman Brown says good-bye to his wife, Faith to go on a journey. His companion is a man who seems older than Goodman Brown. The journey represents his search for identity and Faith represents the good and innocence while the old man represents evil. ‘”Amen!” cried Goodman Brown. “Say they prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee.”‘(1034). From this quote it seems that Goodman Brown believes that nothing will happen to people if they say the prayer and his wife is also someone who is religious so she must be a good person. During the journey the old man is a turning point where Goodman Brown starts to doubt whether all men are innocent. “I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem; and it was I that brought your father a pitch pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian Village in King Philip’s war.”(1035). The old man breaks Goodman Brown’s image of his father and grandfather by saying that they’ve committed a sin in the past.

Goodman Brown changed his view of people when he was in the woods. He saw Faith, who joined the townspeople and Goody Cloyse, who was a witch. Witches also represented evil therefore Faith joined evil side and this was when Goodman Brown lost faith that people were innocent. ‘”My Faith is gone!” cried he, after one stupefied moment. “There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given.”‘(1039). Goodman Brown’s Faith was gone and the townspeople joined the witch, Goodman Brown started to think that all men are evil.

The message this story is trying to tell us is that people are not perfect and you can’t expect everyone to be sinless. There’s bound to be a time when someone does something wrong, it’s just how people are and whether or not you could accept it. Goodman Brown obviously doesn’t accept this and lived a gloomy life with doubts about the people around him.

-Serenity-

Romantic Poets

William Wordsworth is a man who loves nature. One example of Wordsworth’s love for nature is in Wordsworth’s poem Lines Written in Early Spring, “The birds around me hopped and played,…It seemed a thrill of pleasure.” (p. 108). Birds are part of nature and from the quote, Wordsworth seems to enjoy the company of the birds therefore leading me to believe that he is a nature loving person. On top this, Wordsworth includes descriptions of nature in his other poems and in the three themes: time,memory, and place.

Time plays a main role in Wordsworth life because over the course of his writing, Wordsworth seems to become more mature. “Though changed,. no doubt, from what I was when first I came…( The coarser pleasures of my boyish days And their glad animal movements all gone by)”. It seems Wordsworth begins to hide the playful side of him and the mature side of him starts to bloom. Instead of just seeing the bright side of life, Wordsworth begin to acknowledge social issues around him.

The place, which I assume to be nature is a way for Wordsworth to release stress and pain. Wordsworth seems to find comfort in nature. Wordsworth often includes stream, flowers, butterflies and tree in his poems. The poem Ode on pages 133 and 134 left a strong impression because Wordsworth included a lot of descriptions of nature such as echoing on the mountain, singing of the bird, sunshine and starry nights. All of the descriptions were positive and calming because sunshine bring warmth to people while birds singing is a peaceful sight.

Wordsworth’s poems seem to reflect on his past as well as the present. Memory plays a big role because it made Wordsworth more religious and have a stronger bond with God. “Th’ other that was a God, yea many Gods, Had voices more than all the winds, and was A joy, a consolation, and a hope.”(p. 117). Wordsworth didn’t question his friend about the dream and the two books that God gave him. This lead to the conclusion that Wordsworth believe in connecting with God and probably hope that he’ll be able to communicate with God like the way his friend did.