"The Sisters" - Jacob Ezell

James Joyce is the author of the short story "The Sisters." This story, recounting in first person the experience of a young boy as he faces the death of his older friend, is presented in Joyce's collection of short stories, known as The Dubliners.  The story begins as the narrator or young boy is expecting the death of his older friend due to the old man's paralysis that arises from multiple strokes. The old man dies, and the boy is puzzled by the way that he and the world do not feel extreme sadness. The boy is also puzzled by the remarks of his aunt and uncle's family friend. The friend says that the old man, who was a priest, was not good company for the boy. Furthering this negative depiction of the priest, the sisters of the priest allude to mental illness of the old man when the boy and his aunt show their respect to the dead.

            From a biographical standpoint, "The Sisters" is a reflection of the author's views toward the Catholic Church and the clergy. The narrator has respect for the old priest. When an old family friend comes to tell of the death of Father Flynn, the boy's aunt and uncle are watching for a reaction from the boy. The boy is frustrated and angered by the statements of the family friend because the friend feels that the old priest was not good company for the boy. Joyce states, "I crammed my mouth with stirabout for fear I might give utterance to my anger" (2). This emotion from the boy shows that he enjoyed the old man's company. The boy respects the priest and wants to be around him regardless of the family friend saying to "let a young lad run about and play with young lads..."(Joyce 2). The boy, reflecting after the old man's death, says that the priest taught him "a great deal" (Joyce 3). The respect of the boy toward the priest shows that Joyce does not have a quarrel with priests themselves even though he finds religion to be stifling. The boy was nervous at first in befriending the priest. The way that the priest held his tongue and face made the boy "feel uneasy in the beginning of our acquaintance before I knew him well" (Joyce 4). However, after the boy learned to understand the priest, the possibility of them not being friends angered the boy. However, the admiration the boy held for the priest did not transfer to any respect for the church itself. The priest, who taught the boy how to "pronounce Latin properly" (Joyce 3) and to understand the meaning behind church rituals, was himself stifled by the church. Joyce states, "The duties of priesthood were too much for him" (6). The priest was hindered by his duties of the church. He taught the boy that even the smallest and simplest actions of a clergyman have great meaning and symbolism that cannot easily be explained. The pressure upon the priest, a pressure that made him a "disappointed man" (Joyce 6), shows that Joyce views the Church as a negative influence upon the priest. Joyce, seen through the perception of the boy, views the Church as part of the reason for the sad end the priest, a dear friend. The priest, a loved character of the boy, is crushed by the pressure of the Church. The priest's bad mental state, alluded to by the sisters at the end of the story, was brought about because of "the chalice he broke" (Joyce 7). This pressure of the Church leads the reader to see the Church as setting an impossible and unattainable standard. The priest character places a positive light on clergy by being a man whom is kind to children. 

            Through the perspective of the youth, the church can be seen as an overshadowing pressure on the liked priest.  However, beyond the comprehension of the child, the reader receives a perception of the church and the priest that forces him or her to consider the viewpoint of the author towards all of the Catholic religion. The boy has a dream in which the priest's face confesses some sin "in a murmuring voice" (Joyce 2). The boy also remembers "some land where the customs are strange" (Joyce 4) toward the end of his dream; this place perhaps being Persia. The boy does not reveal what the priest confessed and does not recall the meaning of the strange land at the end of the dream. This dream or hidden revelation leaves a tension in the mind of the reader. This tension is increases by the story that the sister tells at the end of “The Sisters.” The sister, Eliza, tells of how the priest was found in the confession box in the dark "wide-awake and laughing-like softly to himself" (Joyce 7) after the incident of the dropped chalice. The dream of the boy and the possibly unstable mental state of the priest reveals Joyce's deeper uncertainly with religion and religious figures in general despite the fact that the perspective of the child leads the reader to like the priest regardless of the mysteries of the church.

Joyce, James. "The Sister." The Dubliners. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1991. Print.

The Bourgeois Gentleman - Cynthia Villagrana

Molière does it again! This comedic play tells of Monsieur Jourdain, a middle-class man, a bourgeois if you will, who wants to be like the rich. Jourdain has hired all sorts of masters to teach him the ways of the fancy, such as dancing, fencing and music. Why does he spend so much money doing this? Why, to impress his love, the marquise Dorimène! After all, Jourdain's so-called friend, Dorante, has assured the bourgeois gentilhomme that he will woo the marquise with all this. Oh, and Jourdain would also do well to lend Dorante more money. (I wonder what Madame Jourdain and daughter Lucile will think of all this?) There is also the little inconvenience of Lucile being in love with Cléonte, a nobody, when her papa would do anything to have her marry rich. In the end, Jourdain's play for Dorimène reveals that Dorante had plans to get with her all along; Cléonte, disguised as an Turkish prince, is able to marry Lucile;  and Jourdain is duped again. Mix in the Jourdains' maid, Nicole, and Cléonte's valet, Covielle, and you have a great comedy only Jean-Baptiste Poquelin could write.

           The Bourgeois Gentleman was written to be a satire, as many of Molière's works are. This work is satirizing the nouveau-riche like Jourdain, and all the hilarious scenes of Jourdain learning to be "rich" back this up. My favorite was when the Master of Philosophy offers to enhance Jourdain's knowledge about his science, but Jourdain is not learned in the least bit. "Afterward, you will teach me the almanac so I will know when the moon will be out and when it won't,"  Jourdain instructs. The Master of Philosophy cannot do much for Jourdain except teach him how to pronounce his vowels! I guess Molière is hinting that the middle-class has no business with all the pompous acts of the rich. It makes sense, then, that Madame Jourdain and Nicole bash Jourdain's (gut-busting yet failed) attempts and try to make him see that he should be happy with his life the way it is.  

            Molière doesn't stop with the middle class; the rich get poked at as well in the figure of Dorante. For a nobleman, he asks Jourdain for a lot of money. "The total, 15,800 pounds," Jourdain says meekly after Dorante asks how much he owes. It helps little that he asks for more money to round everything out to 18,000 francs. Even worse, the franc was by then on its way to being obsolete. If this doesn't show Dorante, who I remind you is the symbol of the upper-class, to be a crook, then I don't know what will. This play was written for a gentilhomme audience who would identify with Dorante and Dorimène, who would see how ridiculous Jourdain's attemps to become one of them are, who would laugh at the middle-class man's being tricked by the rich. In fact, through Dorante, Molière is satirizing the pompous nobility who were actually losing their property to the newly emerging working class, the very audience The Bourgeois Gentleman was written to entertain.
           
          To recap, Molière's play of Jourdain's follies and Dorante's crooked ways serve as a satire of the bourgeois trying to be "rich" and the nobility's hypocrisy. It is an entertaining play that you would all enjoy, and if you've got the time, you should check it out!  

"The Sleepers" - Kalee Reeves

Walt Whitman’s poem “The Sleepers” is an account of the narrator’s ability to liberate himself from his earthly body and sleepwalk through the dreams of others. He sees the dreams of husbands and wives, children, and prisoners and wonders, “How do they sleep?” All of these people, though very different in appearances and actions, have one thing in common: they all sleep, and they all dream. Dreams evoke a certain sense of equality, as well as an escape from reality. In dreams we do not have to accept what we are, and we can choose what we wish to be without judgment.  Also, in dreams, nothing can be hidden. As seen by the narrator, a person’s deepest emotions, desires, and even fears come to light in their dreams. Dreams display what reality often does not.

            The ability of the narrator to connect with people through their dreams displays his own empathy. To truly connect with someone, you must feel what they feel. The narrator believes that he can connect so deeply with another person that he can not only feel what they feel, but he can dream what they dream. In connecting with “the sleepers” through their dreams, the narrator is ultimately connecting them to each other. This shows a deeper level of understanding between people of different socioeconomic classes, ethnic backgrounds, and ages. In dreams, everyone’s voice is heard and understood; however, this intimacy cannot be sustained, and reality prevails over dreams once again.
            The narrator’s urge to become a part of the night instead of waking up and turning towards the light shows that he truly believes dreams are better than reality. He purposely falls asleep and immerses himself in the night to explore his own desires and fears, which he couldn’t possibly do if he were awake. The night, though dark and unknown, gives rise to dreams, which give rise to freedom. The freedom of dreams breaks the restraints of time, space, and human limitations. Dreams display the ideal place and life but are only achieved at the ideal moment, during sleep. Sleep maintains the balance between the mundane real world, and the idyllic world that exists only in a dream. Sleep takes away the misunderstandings of everyday life and replaces them with hope. In the eyes of the narrator, dreams are the ultimate form of liberation.

“Love’s Philosophy” - Katelyn Jarrell

In this brief lyrical poem from the English Romantic era, Shelley personifies natural phenomena to exhibit the passion and inevitability of love.  First he points out that it is the law of nature that “nothing in the world is single,” and follows it by drawing amorous relationships between many aspects of nature to argue his point, including the sea, the flowers, the sun, and the moon to argue his point.  To end it all, the speaker asks, “What is all this sweet work worth if thou kiss not me?” 

        With that closing line, the work seems to be unveiled as a highly romantic look into the breath before a kiss, a sweet monologue to convince a lover of their purpose together.  The title, however, serves as a reminder that this poem is not a gentle plea with a lover, but rather a philosophy.  Shelley was a noted arguer of his time, well-known for his writings promoting atheism and other small societal rebellions; so it is no surprise that this poem gracefully sets up an argument to serve his cause: to convince a woman that it is right to be with him. He achieves this by intertwining this poem as not only the result of the speaker’s desire for his lover, but also as a deep thinker’s conclusion as to why love can and should occur between two people.  This dreamy argument exhibits unity with another person as a force of nature that a man cannot pretend to deny. It both tugs at the heart and draws out the deep question of whether man can help but fall in love as long as he’s following the course of nature: “All things by a law divine in one spirit meet and mingle.  Why not I with thine?” Shelley seems to say that if nature can completely commune as one, it would follow that two people, as a part of nature, will comply to that standard and become one with one another.  In that light, it only makes sense to fall in love. 
         On another level, while this poem asserts the inevitability of romantic love, it also serves as a prod in the right direction, as if conformity to this rule does not come so naturally to man, or at least to the lady the poem is directed toward.  He guides her to follow the example of the “waves,” which “clasp one another,” and the “moonbeams,” which “kiss the sea.”  By closing the poem with that question, “What is all this sweet work worth?” Shelley implies that the whole earth is setting the example, and if the lover resists her call, she has wasted nature’s purpose. 

"The Hollow Men" - Hailey Boeck

“The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot is a poem about spiritual fragmentation making the speaker of the poem “hollow.”  The poem begins with a quote taken from Heart of Darkness, the story of which takes place in a barren part of Africa and explores the inherent darkness in all humans.  Making this allusion in the very first line of the poem leads the reader to a depressing atmosphere right away.  The subject begins with Hollow Men leaning together like scarecrows. They are described as dry, and anything they do is meaningless.  They are in purgatory between life and death, existing in a state like hell, but have not committed any crimes worthy of hell.  They also never speak of Heaven by name, but a hollow man expresses that he can not look and is even afraid to look at anyone in “death’s dream kingdom;” it is too distant from him.  The setting is described as dry and dead with only cacti and stones. All of these descriptions lead the reader to connect this setting to one of which is in Dante’s Inferno.  The imagery of the “tumid river” may relate to the River Styx and the barren and broken land relate to the first circle of Dante’s Hell.  The hollow man continues to express his fear to look at people or to be looked at.  A "shadow" has paralyzed the Hollow Men’s activities; they cannot act, create, feel, or even exist.  
               This poem is written in free verse, as there is no regular meter or rhyme scheme. It consists of five sections of varying lengths and the lines are short and feel incomplete.  All of the broken pieces (“broken stone,” “broken column,” “broken jaw”) refer to the fragments and incompleteness of the hollow men.  This theme of fragments is further expressed at the end of the poem when Eliot starts quoting expressions: "Life is very long" and "For Thine is the Kingdom," but these quotes are left incomplete. The fragmentation and brokenness that Eliot uses is here to express the hollow men’s poor, broken spiritual condition.  The Hollow Men also say "death's dream kingdom" instead of “Heaven” and they fear the "eyes" of heavenly souls and the final judgmental that God will deliver.  These examples further express the hollow men’s poor spiritual condition.  The “fading, dying stars” symbolize the narrowing chance of hope and salvation from Heaven for the hollow men.  To further express this idea, the hollow men cannot even finish a simple prayer.  They have no hope for their future or plans for their life.  They blame the “Shadow” for this nostalgia.  This “Shadow” discussed in the last section refers to temptation or the Devil, who is the source of their hollowness. 
            The mulberry bush nursery rhyme is also included in this poem, but has been rewritten as the people are circling a “prickly pear cactus.”  The last stanza ends with the continuation of this nursery rhyme.  This nursery rhyme is now saying that the world will “end with a whimper.”  This same section of the poem uses repetition, almost allowing the reader hear the quiet whimper fading away.  This end to the poem is eerie and not what a reader would expect.  The end of the world is expected to be a huge catastrophe or massive explosion, but this poem explains it more as a fading idea.  It suggests to the reader the emptiness, dissatisfaction, and passivity of the hollow men. 

 

 

"The Paradise of Children" - Samuel Thigpen

Nathaniel Hawthorne was known for writing short stories, and this short story comes from the collection called A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys. The story starts out in Tanglewood where it has just become winter, and there is a huge snow storm that all the children are excited about. Eustace, the story teller, is not too pleased with the huge snow storm and is asked by a naughty girl named Primrose to tell a story. Eustace decides to tell a variation of the Greek myth, Pandora’s Box, except they are all children involved.  

       First, let’s start with the introduction and ending of the short story. There isn’t really much going on. The main purpose is to set up a setting and a few of the characters. Hawthorne does a really good job using personification to describe how heavy it was snowing. The example he uses is, “It seemed as if the hills were giants, and were flinging monstrous handfuls of snow at one another, in their enormous sport.” At the end, I really enjoy the part where Primose is talking about how one of her classmates not knowing what some troubles were despite more than likely being the same age. This is probably Nathaniel Hawthorne uses that part to either make fun of people who think they have had it more rough than him, or he used it to show that he has went through a lot more than people think he has. I feel like it is him making fun of people because he uses the child as the communicator, and children are known for their humor and joking manner.
      Second, there is the story that Eustace tells the children. The main points that need to be pointed out about the middle section is the use of foreshadowing and the use of themes. The foreshadowing occurs not too long after Pandora sees the box. Hawthorne shows that the beginning of “Trouble” started with Pandora’s curiosity of what was in the box. “This was at first only the faint shadow of a Trouble; but, every day, it grew more and more substantial, until, before a great while, the cottage of Epimetheus and Pandora was less sunshiny than those of the other children.” This shows foreshadowing by saying that “Trouble” grew more and more each day. The main theme of this short story is sin. Sin is one of Hawthorne’s most overused themes. We can determine this based off all the number of times that “Trouble” is mentioned after Pandora opens the box. It is just another word for sin.
      Last, there is definitely a reference to other works of literature or myths in this short story, and that is the reference to the Greek’s myth about Pandora’s Box. In the Greek myth, Pandora is the first human woman and is the punishment for the world due to Prometheus’ stealing of the secret fire. She opens a box that lets all of the “Troubles”. It is exactly like the short story, and there is another creature in there that resembles Hope. Obviously, “The Paradise of Children” resembles the Greek’s myth identically, but is there a possibility of there being another reference in this story? I believe the answer is yes. This short story also refers to Adam and Eve of the Bible. Pandora is given to Epimetheus because he does not have a “playfellow” and he needs somebody. God created Eve because he felt that Adam was lonely. In the story, there is a mysterious box compared to the forbidden apple in the Bible, but it was still mysterious because we did not know what the apple could do. Pandora becomes curious and opens the box while Eve became curious as well. The guy in both situations could have stopped the female, but both of them were curious as well. Both of these situations also released either “Trouble” or sins into the world for the first time.

"The Hollow Men" - Audrey McGee

The poem starts off with “We are the hollow men/We are the stuffed men.” These men that T.S. Eliot speaks of are fake and in Eliot’s words “stuffed” as a scarecrow. They do not have any brains nor do they have any voices. Those who have died will remember them as these people not those who are bad people but those who do not think for themselves. Eliot uses many nature analogies in the first stanza such as wind, grass and rats but does not make the words pleasant. They are combined with dry, meaningless and broken glass. Eliot uses these words to describe the men as meaningless.

            In the second stanza, one of the men in particular is avoiding people. He wears “deliberate disguises” and not meeting anyone’s eye. This man is nowhere near to “death’s dream kingdom” which could be Heaven. He is nowhere near judgment day and is not ready for it. He has not lived his life as someone ready to go to Heaven.
            In the third stanza, a “dead land” and a “cactus land” is described. The narrator mentions if “death’s other kingdom” which could be Hell if “death’s dream kingdom is Heaven. He wonders if Hell is as lonely as the desert. The fourth stanza describes what seems to be judgment day. The men gather together by the river, not speaking and waiting on “death’s twilight kingdom.” If death’s other is Hell and death’s dream is Heaven then death’s twilight is the in between state which Eliot says is “the hope only of empty.” This in between state or Purgatory is the only place for men such as these men to go.
            The final stanza starts off with a nursery rhyme. The rest of the stanza is the comparison of two things in mankind’s lives and the lines “Falls the Shadow/For Thine is the Kingdom” are repeated. The shadow could be the shadow of the mankind and all the things that has happened. The end of the stanza is another nursery rhyme and that the world does not end “with a bang but a whimper.” Mankind will be looking and focusing on their lives. They will be worrying about their lives when judgment day comes.
            The poem reflects humans’ lives and how they look back on their life. Eliot words this poem to say all of humans are what he calls “hollow men.” We just go about our daily lives not really living and when the end comes, we are not prepared.

The Scarlet Letter - Thomas Rhodes

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, there are numerous times where symbolism is used.  The use of symbolism throughout The Scarlet Letter allows Hawthorne to make inanimate objects and people represent more than just one’s physical self.  Three uses of symbolism that stand out in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter include the scarlet letter “A”, the dark, and Pearl.

The scarlet letter “A” is used to symbolize many different things throughout the course of The Scarlet Letter.  In the beginning of the novel, Hester is punished to a life of wearing the “A” on her bosom.  At this point in the novel, the “A” symbolizes the adultery Hester has committed with Dimmesdale.  Later on, the “A” becomes less associated with the word “adulterer” and more with the word “Able.” The townspeople say that Hester’s “A” symbolizes “Able” because she is “so strong…with a woman’s strength.” Farther on in the story, the “A” becomes associated with Dimmesdale and the “A” upon his chest.  Many different interpretations are given to explain the origin and symbolism of the “A.” Some believed that the “A” upon Dimmesdale’s chest was a “hideous torture” that he inflicted on himself to symbolize his adultery.   Others, however, believed that the “A” symbolized “the effect of the ever-active tooth of remorse, gnawing from the innermost heart outwardly.”

Hawthorne also uses the dark as a symbol throughout the development of The Scarlet Letter.  The dark is first mentioned when describing Boston.  For example, the people of Boston are symbolized as being dark by their “somber and grave” attitudes.   The dark is also used to symbolize the character Chillingworth.  Many times Chillingworth is referenced as being “the black man” and as having “dark complexion.”  Both of these descriptions symbolize Chillingworth’s evil and deceptive spirit.  In addition, the dark is used to symbolize Hester’s adultery.  While in the forest, Pearl says that “the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. . . . . It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!”  Hester is veiled in darkness symbolizing her adultery with Dimmesdale and her inability to obtain happiness.

Another way Hawthorne uses symbolism in The Scarlet Letter is through the character Pearl.  Pearl is first described as “being of great price—purchased with all she had,—her mother’s only treasure!”  From this excerpt, Pearl is symbolized as a precious person who cost Hester much suffering and pain to get.  Pearl, herself, symbolizes Hester and Dimmesdale’s adultery.  She is the physical result of sexual sin and a living symbol of the scarlet letter “A” upon Hester’s bosom.  Not only is Pearl a symbol of adultery, but she is also a symbol of beauty and hope.  Pearl is symbolized as being plucked from a “wild rosebush.” She is also symbolized by her red, elegant attire and passionate attitude.

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses symbolism numerous times.  By using symbolism, Hawthorne is able to add depth and non-explicitly stated information to the storyline.  Hawthorne’s intelligent use of symbolism through the scarlet letter “A”, the dark, and Pearl, allows The Scarlet Letter to make a lasting impression in the reader.  Personally, I believe The Scarlet Letter is a very good book.  If one has not read The Scarlet Letter before, now is a great time to pick up a copy and try to find some of the instances where symbolism is used.  One cannot go wrong with this great read!

Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment - Jessica Hept

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” Dr. Heidegger is a doctor is in his study along with four other people, with whom he is acquainted. All of the characters are elderly and the four subjects have all suffer some misfortune as a result of their own faults. Dr. Heidegger tells them about his experiment, which is to give them an elixir that he claims is liquid of the Fountain of Youth. They all accept the offered drink and enjoy its effects which eventually dissipate as Dr. Heidegger observes their reactions and interactions. This short story consists of many contrasts, the purpose of which portrays the capriciousness of human nature. This fickle nature is portrayed through characters of the story.

            The development of the events that take place in Dr. Heidegger’s study offers many contrasts that evoke suspicion in the mind of the reader in order to depict the fickle nature of mankind. The first indication of inconsistency is the fact that Dr. Heidegger’s four friends that he invited “to meet him in his study” are dead. This information immediately calls in to question the sanity of Dr. Heidegger, which undermines whatever resolution or contribution he gives to the story; the questionable mental state Dr. Heidegger is further sullied with the mention that the bust that he consults speaks to him. The story is centered around Dr. Heidegger and the fact that his mentality is called into question brings about the questionability of the entire sequence of events. The narrator states that Dr. Heidegger consults the bust of Hippocrates, which he “was accustomed to hold consultations in all difficult cases of his practice.” The Hippocratic Oath is the pledge taken by healthcare professionals in which they swear to practice medicine ethically; some may consider experiments with cadavers or human specimens to be unethical and this also proffers discrepancy in that he consults the bust in difficult cases which are possibly difficult in a moral sense. At the end of the experiment, he assumes the moral high ground with his statement “if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe my lips in it… Such is the lesson ye have taught me!” Even this “lesson” is put into question simply because it is Dr. Heidegger that spoke it.

            This contrast is also portrayed through the four friends. There are first described as “melancholy old creatures, who had been unfortunate in life,” producing a sympathetic response from the reader; however, the explanation for their melancholy is immediately provided in that each account shows that their melancholy is result of their own actions and they are then labeled as “foul guests.” This inconsistency in the portrayal of the characters conveys that though a person may seem to be victim to Fate, one’s own dealings are what controls the outcome of a situation and that it is a conscious choice. When Dr. Heidegger warns them to learn from their mistakes, they laugh, “knowing how closely repentance treads behind the steps of error,” when in fact they do make the same mistake which it to take youth for granted, flaunting it and giving in easily to the pleasures of youth with no regard of the effects their carelessness may have. The fact that they resolved forthwith to make a pilgrimage to Florida, and quaff at morning, noon, and night, from the Fountain of Youth” supports that they continue to seek temporary pleasures. The four friends claim to apply caution when they receive the chance to relive their youths, yet their opportunity for redemption only feeds their lustful tastes.

            The characters of Hawthorne’s “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” depict the theme of the 

whimsical nature of Man because of their interactions with one another and through the actions and decisions.