Chronic Logorrhea

Out of Sheer Curiosity...

2009-03-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

In One Hundred Years Of Solitude, the main family obviously shares the last name of Buendia. Does it seem to anyone else that the name could represent something? Buen in Spanish is a word meaning good, and dia is the word for day. To me it seems that with each passing generation the Buendias stray further from the "Golden Age" of the lawless utopia that Jose Arcadio Buendia had initially created. Jose Arcadio shames his family by marrying his adopted sister, Aureliano becomes tyrannical, Amaranta's callousness causes the death of Pietro Crespi, her sons ALL have children out of wedlock, and in the midst of it all the country is being terrorized by war. As the bloodline is carried on the novel strays further and further away from the "good days" in early Macondo. Thoughts? Comments?
-Murry-Uh

Filling Space

2009-02-22T09:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in an extremely long time, so I'll post my newly finished poem to make It look like I've been remotely productive in the past two months.

Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?

Let us go then, with reluctant haste,
When the morning is cinereal and chaste
Like a modest child clad in an ashen gown.
Let us go, through concourses that vilify
My war-paint banded eyes
That watch the girls in their boots of brown suede,
And the boys in masculine masquerade
Through the stark, white confines of cramped corridors,
Trampling the tile floors.
Their sounds reverberate and hang stagnantly.
Oh, do not ask, “ Why such angst?”
When I reject their social ranks

And they roll their eyes for I persist
To be the “unreasonable pessimist.”

The sympathetic adults will say
“There will be time, there will be time,
Everything will be fine, just fine
When you go to college, when you go away,
Foolish Maria, there will be time
To make friends in a four year institution
And you’ll be fine, you’ll be just fine”
But I need an immediate solution.
Time! Time! Yes, Time there will be!
The question is, “What will it solve?”
Will I heal? Flounder? Spiral? Devolve?
How uncertain my promised remedy!

And they roll their eyes for I persist
To be the “unreasonable pessimist.”

And indeed there will be time
To wonder , “Who cares?,” and “Who cares?”
As I sit in disrepair
Sobbing in a guidance chair
Indignantly pulling at my disheveled hair
(They will say “She’s clearly unstable”)
While eyeing me from across the table
As I flee to a makeshift Tower of Babel
(They will say “ Go without pills? She’s clearly unable!)
Do I dare
Disturb the universe
And take all of their
Preconceptions and throw them in reverse?

I’ve known it all too well, too well
I’ve known endless mornings, afternoons , and sunsets on hills
I have measured my life in milligrams and pills.
Psychiatrists said I too could excel
If I “Take one tablet by mouth every day”
But what do they know, anyway?

Shall I give in to their desires? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white jackets if I don’t heed what they preach!
But I’ve learned to dream while they screech

Because their solution is simply not for me.

With you, I see them from atop Salvador’s Elephants
With your chin on my shoulder, arms around my middle
Watching the model world from spindled legs brittle

Our digression doesn’t last,
for, when shaken, their silver trumpets call,
Spindled legs collapse, and we fall.

Murry-uh

my antonia

2009-01-08T14:31:00.001-08:00

Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed this book. Enough so that I found a quiet place to sit and read it during lunch. It has all the things I love in a story-- romance, nature, and scandal-- but I didn't feel bad about reading it, as I do with most books containing those things, because it was assigned in an AP class. The first introduction to the book, not the one written by Willa Cather, admits that there really isn't much of a plot to it. The small moments, like descriptions of nature, that would be normally overlooked in a story were mostly all there was to it, so they became more important. There were some tragedies, like Antonia's father's death, but there was little focus on the death itself, more the impact it had on the characters. My Antonia seemed to be more about the setting and the characters than events, making it a welcome change from the surreal, fast-paced plot of Crime and Punishment.
Little Red

Macaroni and plath part II

2008-12-18T16:56:00.000-08:00

So today was an amazing day because I realized that both Sylvia Plath and the school's macaroni aren't nearly as bad as they used to be, or as bad as I thought they were. Not only did the cafeteria serve up some macaroni today that did *not* stick in the bowl like glue when turned upside down, but we read a Plath poem in class that I loveloveloved. It was called "Mirror" and contained the line "I am silver and exact". One of my favorite bands *evar*, The Hush Sound, wrote a song called "You Are the Moon" that has the line, "I will bring a mirror, so silver, so exact". Maybe coincidence but I think more likely they're Plath fans. Fantastic stuff.
Little Red

Powerless and funeral blues

2008-12-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

Not that this has anything to do with literature exactly but the recent multi-day power outage really made me think about technology. Although it's brought people closer together mentally (I can talk to people like my brother who live hours away through the magical interwebs as quickly as if he were here), it's also made people extremely isolated physically-- since we know we can just email one another, it's easy to never actually get together in person. I believe it was Skeletor who once asserted that one day we'll all just stay in our houses for days on end because everything we need will be there (sorry if that wasn't you, Skeletor). Not saying technology is a bad thing, I do love it, but it was an interesting thought that we can be so connected and so alone at the same time.
Too tired to think of a smooth transition so I'll jump right in... "Funeral Blues" was one of the few poems we've read for the poetry projects that's spoken to me in a meaningful way. Poem Ruiner for once was instead the Poem Preserver today in telling us to ignore the fact that this poem is meant ironically, which I'm choosing to do. Death of the author and all that. Having lost several important people recently, it was comforting to know that someone not related to me in any way has had the same thoughts on loss. The first line, "Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone" I found to be a very accurate representation of how it feels to lose someone. Loss sometimes makes it feel like the clocks have stopped and everything in life aside from grief has been put on hold. Other times the thought of having to go about ordinary life, doing things such as talking to people, is unbearable. Losing someone whose influence was felt in many areas of ones life is devastating and "Funeral Blues" expresses this better than I ever could, so I'll stop trying and leave it to Auden.
--Little Red

Love is hard...and plasticy

2008-12-03T19:55:00.000-08:00

http://www.adbusters.org/abtv/guys_and_dolls.html

Some people can't find love. A company in California capitalized on this by making a series of custom made dolls for just those people-not surprising. What's interesting about this is documentary is that some of the men develop complex and non-sexual emotional attatchments . They take the time to name them-all the while fully realizing their partners are not alive. There is no possibility for interaction. There is no returning of affection. Their "relationships" are based on a profound fear of lonliness. These people desire personal contact imensely, but can't manage to handle the fact that human relationships are unpredictable. It's astounding that a natural human desire for companionship can be manifested so strongly in enamoration with an object that one knows is inanimate. The men even take the time to put oh their "partner's" make- up, dress them, and bathe them. It's tragic. The film and the people interviewed speak for themselves. It's about 46 minutes long, but you only really need to watch a few minutes to get the jist.
Be warned: Graphic language, plastic nudity, etc...

Just thought it's interesting for psychological reasons

Murry-uh

Point of view in Crime and Punishment

2008-11-26T07:29:00.000-08:00

The narrative in Crime and Punishment is third person. Despite not being told directly by Raskolnikov, the novel allows an intricate look into the inner workings of his tumultuous psyche. The narrator in the story seems to be all-knowing. He/she understands exactly what each of the characters are thinking at any given point, as opposed to being narrated by someone who was simply there and would have only been able to observe the events in question. The type of narration used in the novel allows for the reader to understand the inner workings of each character as an individual along with their reaction to Raskolnikov's illness. If the story was told in first person by Raskolnikov, the author would be unable to incorporate the internal dialogue of other characters, unless he gave Raskolnikov the power to read minds. This would be silly. (Raskolnikov would OBVIOUSLY be given laser vision, if he were to be given a super power) If the story were to be told by a witness, the narration would be unable to give the reader a greater understanding of the thoughts of the secondary characters, but would also be unable to provide insight into Raskolnikov’s descent into madness. The all-knowing third person narrative is the best selection for the story.

Raskolnikov's Motives

2008-11-24T09:41:00.000-08:00

In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov's motives for committing the crime may not be immediately obvious. Of course he is testing his theory of the types of people in the world and what that gives them the right to do, but being one of these extraordinary people, he already knows that he is one of them and that he has the right to do this and that he can probably get away with it. What, then, is the purpose of going through with it? It could be that he is so disgusted with himself for thinking about doing this, as he sometimes states, that he feels he has to go through with it just so he'll stop thinking about it all the time-- he wants to purge the thoughts from his head by complying with them. It also could be that he feels intensely guilty about thinking these things in the first place and realizes that people wouldn't believe he was a bad person if he tried to describe these feelings to them, so he feels he has to go through with the crime so that others will see he is a bad person and some of his guilt will be alleviated by having someone other than himself realize his true nature. Another possibility is that he feels driven by destiny to go through with it. His hearing the pawn-broker's sister talk about when the old woman will be alone, hearing the young man talk about why it could be reasonable to do away with the pawn-broker, and finding the ax all make Raskolnikov feel like he is being driven towards this event against his will. Feelings of destiny and guilt drive Raskolnikov to commit this crime.
Little Red

Daddy, Daddy

2008-11-23T20:34:00.000-08:00

Even after giving my presentation on Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy", something about the analysis I gave was bothering me. How could it possibly be that she could love and miss the man who "bit her pretty red heart in two"? After thinking about it off and on all weekend, I suddenly had a lightbulb moment. For Plath, losing her dad must have been like losing a boyfriend or girlfriend is for most people-- you miss the person for a while not because you miss them as a person necessarily, but because you miss them out of habit and of their being someone who held that significant place in your life. In other words, Plath missed a father, not necessarily that father (Electra complex aside). She loved him as a placeholder, someone who (arguably) filled role of the fatherly figure in her life, not as Otto Plath in particular. A small distinction, perhaps, but one that eases my confusion greatly. Hope this helps anyone else who didn't quite understand that aspect of the poem.
Little Red

it is japan's news newspaper report in 1 minute

2008-11-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

I know I should be blogging about crime and punishment but my mom just stumbled across this blog. After every post aboutjapanese news he adds a "postscript of edit" about his family. His use of the English language is so cute. Http://tatuo-shinpou.blogspot.com

AP lit crit failed its sympathy check

2008-11-22T20:25:00.000-08:00

A few years back I got into the habit of reading every night before I went to sleep. It seems to be the only thing that helps me unwind and stop worrying about stuff so I actually can sleep. After a long day of Shakespeare or Dostoyevsky or whatever, I enjoy nothing more than the book form of a chick flick. The characters must engaging and amusing and there has to be some sort of romantic plot. Yes, it is mindless tosh, but I read it because it's for a good cause. Anything heavier gets me thinking and then sleep doesn't happen. Lately I've been pretty much down to 2 authors who fit the requirements, mainly because I know the characters so I really enjoy reading about them. So I was incredibly disappointed last night when I purchased a brand new book by one of these two favored nighttime reading authors and within the first 3 pages I knew how it would end. The narrative seemed tiresome because it was all working toward something I could predict as soon as the book was cracked. The whole time I was just thinking, "Nice story, but her novels are formulaic, she needs to branch out some more." So thank you, AP Lit, for actually making me think about things like that. Now I only have one acceptable author to read at night.
Little Red

YES. YES. YES.

2008-11-19T16:46:00.000-08:00

"Svidrigailov murmered, as if to himself:'What is it that they usually say?' He looked away and bowed his head a little.' They say:' You're sick. So what you see is just delirium. Doesn't exist.' ...Ghosts appear only to the sick, I agree. But all that proves is that ghosts appear only to the sick. Not that they don't exist.

Raskolnikov irritably insisted : 'of course they don't!'

Looking at him hard, Svidrigailov went on: ' They don't? You think they don't? What if we look at it this way, though; You might say ghosts are the scraps and fragments of other worlds, their beginning. Of course, a healthy man has no way of seeing them, because a healthy man is above all an earthbound man; so for order and fullness he must live his life in the here and now exclusively. The moment he's sick, though, the moment the normal earthbound order of his organism is violated, the possibility of another world begins to make itself felt and the sicker he gets the closer in touch he is with the other world, so when a man dies completely he goes straight over to the other world..."

This. is.cooler. than. misplaced. punctuation.

-Murry-Uh

Macaroni and plath

2008-11-09T15:52:00.000-08:00

After reading "Daddy", I've come to an important conclusion: Slyvia Plath's poetry is like the school's macaroni. Every time I see either of these, it looks good so I try it. Then I can't stand it and vow never to deal with it again. But next time it comes around, I try it, because I'm convinced that this time, I'll like it. But oddly enough that time never comes.
Little Red

Nothing to do with literature

2008-11-09T14:11:00.000-08:00

http://godhatesshrimp.com/

This brightened my day. It's a spoof on the Westboro Baptist Churches "God Hates Fags" campaign. The Westboro Baptist Church consists mainly of one large family intent on proving that gay people cause every single problem in the world and things like Hurricane Katrina were caused by an angry god smiting a country which is too "culturally accepting" of homosexual people. They are a heavily reactionary group and outwardly state the belief that Obama is the anti-christ. As if Barack Obama is actually WORSE than their perception of a hateful, omnipresent diety that would PROMOTE picketing at the funerals of fallen soliders who've served in Iraq, believing that they doom themselves by fighting a war to protect a country that allows homosexual people to exist.

Anyone who knows me at all knows that they stand for absolutely everything I stand against. This is why I LOVE godhatesshrimp.com. It's a satirical jab at all of the ridiculous "evidence" that is presented by the Westboro Baptist Church. It's almost as ridiculous as the God Hates Fags site itself.

I get it...

2008-11-09T06:13:00.000-08:00

So after many, many hours spent convinced that this essay was impossible and cursing Skeletor and his impossible assignments, I all of a sudden understood what we're supposed to be getting at. If you have a detailed analysis of one play, taking only things common themes such as filial infidelity can aid understanding of both plays because they have a lot of similar themes. I realize that everyone else probably got this long before I did, but recently I had a lightbulb moment and I wanted to share it. I've noticed a theme in the assignments we get in that I spend a lot of time thinking they're stupid and impossible, and then all of a sudden I get it and I'm glad we've been forced to do it. I guess we'll just all have to bear with me while I complain about it for a few days.
Little Red

AAAAAAAARRGGGGG

2008-11-04T15:39:00.001-08:00

This is truly impossible. I've been searching ALL DAY on Marvel and Infotrac and Google and I cannot find any two articles that deal with similar enough themes in Lear and The Rivals. It is now 6.30pm and I have not started this paper because I can't find an academic to "lean on" for 5 pages. I'm half tempted to write a paper using entirely my ideas and make up a source. Skeletor, you will never know how difficult you make my life. Really.
Little Red

Line Spacing?

2008-11-04T07:36:00.000-08:00

Anyone know if he means 5 pages double spaced or single spaced?
Also is anyone else getting really distracted from this paper by election coverage?

Egg Nog

2008-11-03T19:27:00.000-08:00

It's quite mysterious. Recently, while at work, I was checking expiration dates on products when I stumbled upon egg nog. I became curious as to what it was. I understand that there are eggs in it, but what is "nog". I read the ingredients and tried to find out, but there was no listed ingredients. They're apparently pretty secretive when it comes to nog. I came home and Wikipedia'd it to find that it was made with nutmeg, butter, cream, and milk. Those must be the components of nog. This aroused the question "Are there any other types of nog?" I launched an extensive Google search and came up with an acronym for Northern Oil & Gas and an alien from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". Neither seemed particularly comparable or tasty. If this is the case and there's only one known kind of nog, why is there need to specify which type of nog it is? It seems misleading. Specification like that should only come if there are other options. If there was, let's say, liver nog, A person may need to specify their nog preference. As far as I know, no such nog exists, and because of this I declare that it should be simply refered to as "nog". That is all.

Murry-UH

Crime and Punishment made me cry

2008-11-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

So finals were yesterday for the activity that takes up all of my free time, I won't name it for the sake of anonimity but I'm sure you all know what it is. Anyways, we got a silver rather than bronze medal for the first time in 7 years for our school, so we were all excited and I cried, and then I realized that I would never share the field with these people again and they're like family to me, so I cried all the way off the field and to the bus, and the entire ride home. There was seriously about a 5 minute interval on the hour plus way home that I was not crying. I even made THREE BOYS cry because I was crying so much. So after this crazy emotional night, I woke up this morning and tried to read Crime and Punishment. And that's when I read about this dream where a poor innocent horse is being whipped and has to try to drag a ton of fat people around on a cart and when she can't, her owner starts bludgeoning her with a crowbar. So that made me cry all over again. I hate this book.
Little Red

Invalid Invalids

2008-11-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

So this morning I overhead my mother scolding my younger sister about not wearing her seatbelt. She was saying something along the lines of " I don't really feel like caring for an invalid for the rest of my life. If you get in an accident, that's what'll happen." because of this, I've been chewing on the word "invalid" (pronounced In-vuh-lid as opposed to in-vAl-id) all day. Such an odd word. With a simple change of syllable emphasis it changes from a word that connotates insufficience to describing one who is unable to perform some sort of bodily function or is bedridden. I can see the connection, but I don't understand why people would even bother pronouncing it differently. A simple change in pronunciation doesn't mask the fact that it's a term that defines a human being as less than valid. It doesn't particularly offend me, but who do they think they're fooling? If you're really concerned about not offending people, use a word that isn't homonymous with invalid(In-vAl-id).

Letter of Rec

2008-10-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

Murry-Uh was a fantastic person to use for this assignment. I don't think I did a great job and it's only a little over a page but it was a lot of fun to do. Some of it probably could have been worded a little better but it's 10PM so I probably won't redo it. Can't wait to hear everyone else's tomorrow.
Little Red

Blogtastic!

2008-10-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

I feel obliged to post, being that I've neglected to do so for quite some time. I have been doing some work on essays and what-not. It's eaten up alot of my time but I've stil managed to get through some Crime and Punishment (My computer is not liking the Italics, sorry.) I have to say, I actually enjoy it as of now. I'm not very far into it, but there's something intriguingly dreary about it. I'll read some more and post again on if my opinion has changed.

Billy might be interesting after all

2008-10-20T14:09:00.001-07:00

I guess there's actually a story behind the sonnets. A good one, too-- Shakespeare's in love with a young man, called the Fair Youth, and an older woman called the Dark Lady. He also wrote one very awkward sonnet about physical attraction (sonnet 151- it's worth looking up, believe me). For an overview on this go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_sonnets.
--Little Red

Sonnets

2008-10-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

Just weighing in on this sonnet assignment... Personally I am not a fan of writing them. Mine's now done and I will say that when you finally find the one way of saying something that fits all the requirements (10 syllables, right number of stressed and unstressed syllables and they're in the right places and it works with the rhyme scheme), it's incredibly satisfying. I would say that the frustration and time that goes into finding that one way is probably not worth it, considering it ends up being not really what I meant to say. It is kind of cool, now that it's done, that I managed to write anything aside from gibberish nonsense with all these restrictions and I'm rather proud of myself, but it comes across to me as being a really watered-down version of what I intended to convey. Besides which, I'm pretty sure I didn't write about the correct thing. I think they can be about death and love and memory and such, and mine's kind of about the memory of the death of love. Oh well, I hope it goes over ok, because I'd really rather not write another one.
--Little Red

More than a little bit lame

2008-10-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

I can't tell which syllables are stressed and which are just going along for the ride. It's moderately infuriating. Iambic pentameter is going to be the death of me. Every time I think of a nice line, it isn't in the right format. Bob Saget, you're a poem nazi. I mean it. I can't wait untill we're free from the Shakespearean tarpit our class seems to be trapped in. It'll make my life sooooooooo much better. I learned to like Lear a bit. I can appreciate reading and discussing sonnets. Writing them is just frivolous and frustrating. ARG.
-Murry-uh

Vulnerability because of vanity

2008-10-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

The predisposition of characters to believe things played a huge part in King Lear. Had Lear recognized the true nature of his daughters and Gloucester the nature of his sons, none of the other events in the play would have occurred.
First, King Lear in his growing senility wanted to believe that all of his daughters loved him more than anything else. His predisposition to believing this, along with his vanity, led him to take Goneril's and Regan's praise as absolutely true, and Cordelia's truthfulness and sincerity as a lack of affection. Because he already thought that they loved him so much, he was more prone to believing Goneril and Regan were speaking truthfully. Thus began Lear's downfall as he handed over his entire kingdom to the two of them, believing that they would care for him-- another assumption that he convinced himself was true through their saccharine professions of love for him.
Gloucester, having heard from Kent so recently how wonderful a boy Edmund was, was especially vulnerable to the lies Edmund told him. He said that Edgar was trying to kill Gloucester to take his wealth, and Gloucester, wanting to believe that his bastard son was a good person despite being a bastard, believed him. Instead of saying something along the lines of "You're an evil person, my son would never do such a thing," he took Edmund's word on the matter. This ultimately led to his blindness as he put his trust in the wrong son and let Edmund do as he pleased while he was focused on Edgar's supposed treachery.
This goes along with Edgar's willingness to believe that his brother is telling the truth and that his father is angry with him. It could be said that Edgar is just a complete idiot who doesn't understand what's going on and blindly does what he's told to, but his assumption of the Poor Tom character implies that he sort of knows what's happening and that he really did trust his brother.
This brings up an interesting question-- why is it that everyone in the play, except for Cordelia, seems to trust the 3 main evil characters? People in general out of vanity seem predisposed to believe positive things that someone says to them, and negative things that someone says someone else said about them. The beginning of this play is riddled with this theme, as Lear, Cordelia, Gloucester, and Edgar are all betrayed by smooth-talking but insincere family members.
--Little Red

Predisposition in Lear

2008-10-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

Predetermined psychological set plays an immense role in governing the behavior of characters, which plays an instrumental role in the development of characters and the play itself. many of the larger characters such as Cordelia, Edgar, Edmund, Goneril and Regan, and Lear himself.

Cordelia is predisposition to be honest, righteous, and forgiving. In Act 1, Scene one Cordelia refuses to flatter her father, as her sisters have done in order to gain dominion over certain fractions of the Kingdom. Despite the fact that she truly is the one who loves her father the most, she states: Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave/my heart into my mouth. I love your majesty/ According to my bond, no more nor less.” (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 93-95) She will not imitate Goneril and Regan’s affectations for personal gain. Her father, King Lear, mistakes this for ingratitude and she is banished. She harbors no ill will toward her father even at this point. Toward the end of the play, she learns of Lear’s failing sanity and poor treatment and takes it upon herself to find the King. She sends out one hundred men to search for her senile father out of genuine concern. This is evident in the following passage: “O you kind gods!/ Cure this great breach in his abused nature./Th’ untuned and jarring senses, O wind up/Of this child-changed father.”(Act 4, Scene 7, lines 15-18)

Edgar is also righteous and forgiving, though gullible enough to be tricked by his brother, Edmund. Edgar is wrongfully blamed for attempting to incite Edmund to aid him in the murder of their father, the Earl of Gloucester. Edmund wrote this letter to get Edgar out of his way to further his plot to take over his father’s territory. Because of this, Edgar was banished. He lived his life disguised as a wretched beggar. He, like Cordelia, held no hostility toward his father. In Act 4, Scene 1, Edgar sees his blinded father for the first time, lead by a poor, old man. Edgar is immediately effected by this. He exclaims: “But who comes here?/My father poorly lead? World, world O world!/But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,/ Life would not yield to age.” Edgar then agrees to lead his father,who still knows not Edgar’s true identity, to Dover. He eventually kills Edmund in order to avenge his father and himself.

Edmund, In contrast, is predispositioned to be evil. He was born outside of wedlock and was therefore considered “base” or “lowlife. ” Along with this, Edmund was born under poor star alignment. “My father compounded with my mother/ under Ursa Major so that it follows I am rough and lecherous.” ( Act 1, Scene 2, Line 139-142) This is an accurate prediction based on his actions. Edmund tricks his father into banishing his brother, has affairs with two different women, allows his father to have his eyes manually gouged out by Cornwall, and orders Cordelia and Lear to be captured and killed. However, when Edmund is nearing death, he rebels against his predetermined nature. After hearing Edgar’s tales of his father’s misery, Edmund states “ This speech of yours hath moved me,/ And shall perchance do good...” (Act 5, Scene 3, Lines 201-203) After this, he tells Albany and Edgar of his plans to kill Cordelia in hopes that she can be saved in time.

Goneril and Regan are naturally power-hungry, competitive, heartless greedwhores. They flatter their father to gain territory, Regan following Goneril’s example of spewing rich lies. After they have milked their father of his kingdom, they begin to treat him poorly. Goneril attempts to rid Lear of his Knights, which deeply upsets Lear, as is notable in the following passage :”I'll tell thee.(to GONERIL) Life and death! I am ashamed/That thou hast power to shake my manhood thus,/That these hot tears which break from me/ perforce/Should make thee worth them. Blasts and fogs /upon thee!/Th' untented woundings of a father's curse/Pierce every sense about thee! Old fond eyes,/Beweep this cause again, I'll pluck ye out/And cast you, with the waters that you loose,/To temper clay. Yea, is 't come to this?/Ha? Let it be so. I have another daughter,/Who I am sure is kind and comfortable./ When she shall hear this of thee, with her nails/She'll flay thy wolvish visage. Thou shalt find/That I'll resume the shape which thou dost think/ I have cast off for ever.”(Act 1, Scene 4, lines 301-318) Lear then goes to find Regan, who demands that Lear apologize to Goneril. lear becomes furious and storms out of the castle into a fierce storm. The sisters are completely indifferent to the fact that their father was in danger. They not only wrong their father. Goneril has an extramarital affair with Edmund, planning to kill her husband so that they can be together. Regan also has an affair with Edmund. Eventually, Goneril even kills her own sister.

Lear is intrinsically stubborn and hotheaded. After Cordelia refuses to exxagerate the love she holds for him Lear says this: “Let it be so. Thy truth then be thy dower./For by the sacred radiance of the sun,/The mysteries of Hecate and the night,/By all the operation of the orbs/From whom we do exist and cease to be—/Here I disclaim all my paternal care,/Propinquity, and property of blood,/And as a stranger to my heart and me/Hold thee from this for ever. The barbarous Scythian,/Or he that makes his generation messes/To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom/Be as well neighbored, pitied, and relieved/As thou my sometime daughter.” ( Act 1, Scene 1, line 110-122) In this except, Lear angrily banishes Cordelia, whom he formerly loved the most out of all of his daughters, leaving the two lying sisters in full control of his Kingdom. Lear also displays his stubborn nature by refusing to ask Goneril or Regan for shelter after he storms(no pun intended) out of the castle into the tempest. Even when he goes mad with senility he still maintains his stubborn nature by escaping from Cordelia’s men .

Murry-Uh

Another Giggle-worthy Shakespearean comic

2008-10-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

2008-10-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure If this is appropriate for class, but I think it ties in well with sonnet 18. The sonnet consists of Shakespeare proclaiming that even the beauty of a Summer's day is flawed in comparison to the beauty of this particular person. I have an inkling that it's a woman. Don't quote me on that, though. I don't really see it as a love poem, I see it more as Shakespeare whining about all of the problems with a seemingly perfect day for about ten of fourteen lines. As one who shamelessly excels in the art of complaint, I hardly have the grounds to call Billy out on being whiny. However, I think that maybe he might need to rethink his view on summer days. They are one of the few things I DON'T have a problem with. "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May" is more of an occurence, not a flaw. Rough wind can make a summer day even more beautiful. It breaks the natural stasis of trees and grass.
-Murry-uh

the gap between me and my pillow (is too big)

2008-10-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

Having just spent countless hours on this Hannah Arendt thing, I'm exhausted. I had no idea literature could be so draining. I've finished the essay, which is why I'm posting instead of working on the essay, typing like a spastic squirrel like I have been for several hours now. To be honest, the fact that I was able to find any meaning in the preface to "Between Past and Future", even if it's wrong meaning, makes me fear for my sanity. Plus it's given me a massive headache. So basically aside from reading it in class tomorrow I'm done with it forever, and I'm excited. The fact that it made some sort of sense is something that I'm really ready to forget as quickly as possible.
--Little Red

the gap between hannah arendt and me

2008-10-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

I'd just like to say that I was soooooooooo excited when I saw what Hannah Arendt's "The Gap Between Past and Future" was about. I think about time and space and location and all that stuff a lot. So far, no success understanding it. So I was really psyched that this brilliant woman was thinking about the same stuff I was and that I could read it and maybe it would help me out. Yeah. Not so much. She's talking more about events and how they affect people than time and space as physical things. Which really disappoints me. Besides which, her preface and all the different topics contained in it make some sense in relation to each other, but only if you have a lot of background on all of it and spend several hours thinking about it and talk to anyone and everyone nearby about what you think it means and what they think it means. And it's like when you understand something but barely, so if you don't concentrate hard enough you forget what it means, and if you think too hard you also forget what it means. Hannah Arendt is within my grasp, but barely. I'll persevere, if for no other reason than I have an essay due on this tomorrow, but serially. I'm one of the best people I know of for abstract thought and theory, not trying to be all self-absorbed and full of myself or whatever, but it's true. And this has taken many many hours out of my day to just see how French Resistance, Nazi Germany, Kafka's parables, political and metaphysical theory and PHYSICS all fit together. And now I have to DRAW MY OWN CONCLUSIONS?? and write a COMPREHENSIBLE ESSAY?? Poem Ruiner, you're killing me.
--Little Red

Finally

2008-10-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

What a relief to have a break from chore-reading. I've already expressed my views on Shakespeare, so I won't say much. Shakespeare was extremely difficult for me, and the unit left me feeling pretty defeated. No new knowledge there. I knew beforehand that the play would be a difficult read and I expected the worst. Admittedly, it wasn't entirely fruitless and I did end up liking some of Lear's monologues. To me, Elizabethan English is beautiful in the same way a song sung in a foreign language is beautiful. I may be completely incomprehensible to me, but it sounds nice. Maybe that's not the most intelligent outlook, but I'm not the most intelligent person.
I was, however, disappointed in the James Kavanagh essay. Initially I was excited to read it. Skeletor, you had me at "marxism". I was thrilled to see it in the Assignment sheet. Once I got to reading it I found it extremely difficult to follow. The fact that I took vigorous notes didn't seem to help with the wordiness, sentence structure, or the process of weeding through the essay in search of Kavanagh's point. Because of this, I feel my essay is quite the failure. Perhaps this wouldn't have ended so poorly If I hadn't felt so comatose latey.

Anyway, I actually intended for this blog to be about all of the books I've left rotting on my shelf that I might actually have the time to read. Beside me there Is a stack of five of my top choices. I'm debating between Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States", and Emma Goldman's "Anarchism and Other Essays". It's the first time I've been excited about reading since "Then We Came to the End."

-Murry-uh

On James Kavanagh

2008-09-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that he seems like the kind of guy who air-quotes?(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_quotes) We all know "that guy/girl" who feels the need to physically display his/her blatant sarcasm, despite the fact that his/her underlying satirical undertone is hardly obscured. Conversational air-quoting is a desperate cry for validation. It is as if one is screaming, "PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE MY SELF-PROCLAIMED WITTY PUN/EUPHEMISM/MISCELLANEOUS SARCASTIC VERBAL MORSEL. I DESPERATELY NEED TO DRAW ATTENTION TO MY PREDICTABLE, WITLESS HUMOR BY USING WORM-LIKE FINGER GESTURES AS A LURE TO MENTALLY CAPTURE LISTENERS WHO CAN POTENTIALLY RECOGNIZE HOW FUNNY I THINK I AM."

In spite of my strong feelings toward the air-quote, I feel that Kavanagh's sarcasm is justified. It is not an attempt to be humorous, it's just mighty tricky to project sarcasm into one's writings. It simply reminded me of how much I hate air-quotes, which got my panties bunched enough for me to make a post concerning the topic.

For those of you who haven't read the essay, this is what i’m yammering about:

"In this sense, Ideology is a distinctly pejorative term, usually identifying someone who wishes to impose an abstract, extremist, intellectual-political obsession on a "moderate" mainstream political system. Thus, there are a few people on the right and left( like Robert Bork or Fidel Castro) who "have" an ideology, and who are *therefore*(asterisks=I have no idea how to italicize) likely to mess things up,and there are the great majority of sensible people(and politicians) who get along quite well because they do not "have" one. "Ideology", in this language , works as the opposite of "pragmatism", "common sense", or even of "reality."

Murry-UH

Lear quotes and themes

2008-09-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

Human Decomposition:

Thou changèd and self-covered thing, for shame!
Bemonster not thy feature. Were 't my fitness
To let these hands obey my blood,
They are apt enough to dislocate and tear
Thy flesh and bones. Howe'er thou art a fiend,
A woman's shape doth shield thee.
(Act 4, Scene II, Page 102)

This quote is taken from Albany, who is appalled by Goneril’s treatment of her aging father. He recognizes that her facial features are developing into a physical manifestation of her personality. Her decomposition is corporeal as well as moral, for as she continues to do terrible deeds, her morals decay and so does her aesthetic.

Alack, I have no eyes.
Is wretchedness deprived that benefit,
To end itself by death? 'Twas yet some comfort
When misery could beguile the tyrant's rage
And frustrate his proud will.
(Act 4, Scene 6, Page 112)

At this point, Gloucester believes he as fallen from what he presumes to be a large cliff. Though Edgar, disguised as a common man, expressed his “astonishment” at the fall Gloucester had taken and had attempted to convince Gloucester that his miraculous survival was fated Gloucester still longs for death. This marks Gloucester’s emotional decomposition. Gloucester, having been recently blinded and having gained the information that he has penalized his only loyal son, is in emotional turmoil. This is a radical character change from the bold and self-assured man in Act 3 Scene III, who stated that “We must incline to the king. I will look him and privily relieve/him. Go you and maintain talk with the duke, that my/charity be not of him perceived. If he ask for me, I am ill and/gone to bed. Though I die for it—as no less is threatened/me—the king my old master must be relieved.” Gloucester is willing to boldly risk his life in this scene, but after his blinding he wishes to flee from life in cowardice.

Nature's above art in that respect. There's your press-
money. That fellow handles his bow like a crowkeeper.
Draw me a clothier's yard. Look, look, a mouse! Peace,
peace, this piece of toasted cheese will do 't. There's my
gauntlet. I'll prove it on a giant. Bring up the brown bills.
O, well flown, bird. I' th' clout, i' th' clout. Hewgh! Give
the word.
(Act 4, Scene VI, Page 113)

It is in this scene where Gloucester and Edgar come across a maddened Lear. Lear is still moderately sentient. The first line in his speech is a direct response to A comment muttered under Edgar’s breath, “O thou side-piercing sight!”. Which essentially translates to an exclamation of “How heartbreaking to see such a thing!” Act 4, Scene VI is a reflection of he mental decomposition, as Lear is unable to string together a comprehensible, relevant statement. This breakdown is , of course, a byproduct of the emotional trauma of being neglected by his daughters.

Heartbreak:

But who comes here?
My father, poorly led? World, world, O world!
But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,
Life would not yield to age.
(Act 4, Scene I, Page 95)

Here Edgar sees his blinded father for the first time since he was banished. When he exclaims “ World, world, O world!” Edgar is lamenting the cruel fate the world has placed upon his father. He feels that if the world and it’s tragedies corrodes man, breaking his heart and aging him to his death.

Faith, once or twice she heaved the name of “father”
Pantingly forth as if it pressed her heart,
Cried, “Sisters, sisters! Shame of ladies, sisters!
Kent, father, sisters! What, i' th' storm, i' th' night?
Let pity not be believed.” There she shook
The holy water from her heavenly eyes,
And clamor moistened. Then away she started
To deal with grief alone.
(Act 4, Scene III, Page 105)

This is an except from Act 4, Scene III in which A gentleman who delivered letters to Cordelia pertaining to her father’s condition, is describing her reaction to Kent. Cordelia is shocked at the vile treatment of her father, whom she still loves despite being shunned by him. She cried as she read the letter and eventually left to grieve alone, utterly distraught.

And my poor fool is hanged.—No, no, no life?
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life,
And thou no breath at all? Oh, thou'lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never.—
Pray you, undo this button. Thank you, sir.
Do you see this? Look on her. Look, her lips.
Look there, look there. O, O, O, O.
(Act 5, Scene III, Page 145)

This is perhaps the most obvious example of heartbreak in “King Lear”. Lear and Cordelia have finally been reunited and have reconciled. Unfortunately, Edmund had ordered Cordelia killed. Lear managed, even in his old age, to kill the man hanging her, but could not save Cordelia. The reader is left with the tragic image of an old, senile man mourning over the body of his daughter, thinking that perhaps she still breathes, then dying of shock.

Grief Without Relief

  O you mighty gods, (kneels)
This world I do renounce, and in your sights
Shake patiently my great affliction off.
If I could bear it longer and not fall
To quarrel with your great opposeless wills,
My snuff and loathèd part of nature should
Burn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless him!—
Now, fellow, fare thee well.
(Act 4, Scene VI, Page 111)

In this scene, Gloucester grieves for himself. He is about to attempt his own suicide and his reason for doing so is the fact that he has recently been blinded. Gloucester grieves for his vision. He knows that there is no cure for his blindness, therefore if he chooses to live, he will face much adversity.

EDGAR

                        This would have seemed a period
To such as love not sorrow, but another
To amplify too much would make much more
And top extremity.
Whilst I was big in clamor came there in a man
Who, having seen me in my worst estate,
Shunned my abhorred society, but then, finding
Who 'twas that so endured, with his strong arms
He fastened on my neck, and bellowed out
As he'd burst heaven, threw him on my father,
Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him
That ever ear received—which in recounting
His grief grew puissant and the strings of life
Began to crack. Twice then the trumpets sounded,
And there I left him tranced

ALBANY

                                        But who was this?

EDGAR

Kent, sir, the banished Kent, who in disguise
Followed his enemy king and did him service
Improper for a slave.
(Act 5, Scene III,Page 140)

In this exchange, Gloucester’s death is revealed. Edgar tells Albany of Kent’s reaction to the grievous circumstances. Kent had apparently seen Edgar sobbing, realized that the man he’d thought was a beggar was actually Edgar, and thrown himself on Gloucester in grief. Kent’s character throughout the play has been a tragic one. He was a former Noble, banished by Lear. Kent was still loyal after his banishment and disguised himself as a servant, doing him “service improper for a slave” in order to keep in Lear’s company. He is driven to near madness by his grief, even grabbing Edgar’s throat.

Howl, howl, howl, howl! Oh, you are men of stones.
Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so
That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone forever.
(Act 5, Scene III, Page 142)

Cordelia has recently been killed and Lear is mourning her loss. He had only been reunited with her for a short while. He spoke of how they would live happily together, but his chimerical dream has been shattered by her death. He has been shunned and neglected by his two oldest daughters and has grieved over his unjust treatment for most of the play. Now that he’s realized that it was only Cordelia’s love that was true, she has been lost as well.

-Murry-uh

Who thought writing about yourself could be so difficult?

2008-09-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

After all, there's nothing a person knows more about than him- or herself, right? I'm writing an essay about myself, my interests and so on for an organization that I will not name, and I'm having trouble coming up with things to say. This is the most frustrating case of writer's block EVAR, because this should be so easy. When I do find things to say they're all boring and cliche and don't flow well. Perhaps I should bring in what I have of this paper to The Poem Ruiner tomorrow, I'm sure he won't have any problems with pointing out everything I could do better. Hate to say it, but I'd rather be reading Shakespearean sonnets than doing this.
--Little Red

Sparknotes

2008-09-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

I really love Sparknotes. Having finished "King Lear", I realized that I didn't know who most of the characters were or where they came from, or how they ended up where they did. I seemed to be having exactly the reverse of the problem that most people have with Shakespeare: I could understand his language, but not the actual plot. Sparknotes completely fixed that. Obviously I don't think it's acceptable to read Sparknotes in place of the play, but it is a hugely helpful resource to use after. http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/lear
--Little Red

And Another Thing...

2008-09-18T18:44:00.001-07:00

Does anyone know how to indent? This blasted contraption won't seem to let me.

A mind lost and a mind changed

2008-09-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

“What is madness but nobility of soul . At odds with Circumstance?”
-Theodore Roethke.

Theodore Roethke, being that he is The Messiah, has inadvertently seized the central message of Act 4, Scene VI. It is at this point where Lear has supposedly lost his senile mind, mumbling things that are completely irrelevant to the situation. Yet, I found myself enthralled in every word he said. His words were entirely comprehensible,(in that I was able to understand them due to the language, and able to understand the points he was making and the reasons behind those points) reasonable. They were simply misplaced. It was not the content of his mind that was askew, it was simply not in accord with the circumstances.
This act changed my mind about “King Lear”. In previous posts, I expressed a mild distaste for his diction and declared myself detached from the plot line because of it. (I give myself 25 alliteration points.)I am still ambivalent to the play itself, but I enjoyed this segment so much that it made the entire play worthwhile.
A few of my favorite lines:

* What was thy cause?

Adultery? Thou shalt not die. Die for adultery? No. The

wren goes to 't, and the small gilded fly does lecher in my

sight. Let copulation thrive...

That one is brilliant for the last line, which essentially means “Long live sex!” He feels that it should be embraced, and people should look to nature to see that their own conceptions of sex are artificial. In nature, there is no shame around instinct. I see a critique of the societal assumption that an intrinsic human behavior is disgusting or ignominious.

*Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand.

Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back.

Thou hotly lust'st to use her in that kind

For which thou whipp'st her. The usurer hangs the cozener.

Lear is speaking of sinners punishing sinners. He notes that policemen may whip whores, but it does not redeem them for the fact that they use them to satisfy their own lust. Going along with sin and retribution, another of my favorite quotes from the same monologue:

*Through tattered clothes great vices do appear;

Robes and furred gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,

And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks.

This statement struck me in particular because it is so true. Lear is stating,( from what I can interpret, contemptuously) that money can buy one out of guilt. The poor are punished more severely for their sins, because they are powerless. Money drives everything, and if one has enough of it he/she can bribe people into silence.

Methinks I like Shakespeare more now.

Suck it up

2008-09-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

After hearing many of my classmates whining about Shakespeare's... interesting use of the English language today, I have something to say to all these complaints : SUCK IT UP. Yes, maybe it makes your brain hurt in a horrible way, but after a little while it starts to make some sense and you can sort of figure out what he means before you look to the bottom of the page to see what in the world he's talking about. In a way it's really amazing, the way he uses language. He sees connections between words that a lot of other people never would. It's bending the rules of English as we know it, using words in a way that they were probably never meant to be used but somehow it works, and it's a humbling experience to read something this prodigy of English came up with. Yes, as Murry_Uh said, many people will never see beyond the novelty of the words to the meaning of the story. But if you can try to understand what he's saying and what he means, and soak up as much of his odd diction as possible, you'll be a much better writer for it. This is like math: it gives you a pounding headache and you hate it and it makes you cry when you don't get it, but when it finally clicks, it's astounding how good it feels to understand it. So try to make the most of this, paying attention to his word choice can be amusing; constantly griping about can't. C'mon, guys, this is FUN.
--Little Red

In response

2008-09-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

I do agree with Little Red in that obsolete Elizabethan jargon can be quite giggle-worthy, but in-between such occurrences it’s simply difficult to follow. I’m not trying to depreciate Billy’s work, but am saying that Shakespearean lingo is virtually extinct. Present society has forsaken formality and 16th century English is now foreign. (10 alliteration points for that sentence) The themes present in King Lear , such as family love and betrayal, are essentially immortal, which isone of the reasons why the play has survived so many years.
Unfortunately, the way the play is written makes it irrelevant to me. My main issue is that the ornate, ostentatious language obscures the core meaning of the piece.(10 more alliteration point s) I can appreciate an amusing archaic phrase as much as, if not more than, anyone else.(Except for Red, she’s loving this) However, it’s different when it seems silly when the writer is intending to be gravely serious. The change s made to the English language over time have gradually debased the piece until it is nothing more to people than a conglomeration of phrases that are amusing for the sheer novelty. Personally, I’m indifferent to this process. I feel that as society changes, what is relevant to them changes as well. People certainly have to be motivated to read Shakespeare. The question does arise, would his name still be as known if his works hadn’t been required by school curriculums for countless years?

-Murry-Uh?

Thoughts on Shakespeare

2008-09-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

This is probably the only time I will ever say this, but I love him. A lot. Reading King Lear makes me think that there wouldn't be any fun words in the English language if not for Shakespeare. For example: "An admirable evasion of the whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition on the charge of a star. My father compounded with my mother under the Dragon's Tail, and my nativity was under Ursa Major, so that it follows I am rough and lecherous. Fut! I should have been that I am, the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing..." Not only is this guy blaming his creepiness on the positions of stars at the time he was conceived, he's using words like "maidenliest" and "the whoremaster man" while he's at it. Genuis, Shakespeare; I applaud you. "Fut" all the people that think that your greatest claim to fame was poncing around in a codpiece while writing incomprehensible drivel.
Little Red

A Scientific Approach to Poetry

2008-09-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

I've always had trouble finding meaning in literature because it seems so abstract to me. I understand what the words themselves mean but I can't draw conclusions and connections from what's given to me. Yesterday, while reading Adam Zagajewski's "Try to Praise the Mutilated World", I discovered that some poetry can be dissected (or "disentangled" as our Yoda of literature likes to say) in a scientific manner and analyzed that way very effectively to find possibly an even deeper meaning than just puzzling out what metaphors are embedded in the work. For example, "Try to Praise the Mutilated World" has four sections that start with these words: "Try to praise the mutilated world", "You must praise the mutilated world", "You should praise the mutilated world", and "Praise the mutilated world". This poem consists of good and bad memories, such as "Remember June's long days,/and wild strawberries, drops of wine, the dew" and "You've seen the refugees heading nowhere,/you've heard the executioners sing joyfully". Each section has a different number of lines containing good memories and bad. I think the word choice preceding "mutilated world" corresponds to the number of good and bad things mentioned in the poem-- the section that says "You must praise the mutilated world" contains 2 good lines and 3 bad lines, meaning that when more things go wrong than right, to stay sane you must remember what's good. I was excited for having stumbled upon this new method. I think a numerical, scientific-type analysis will help me understand literature a lot better than I have in the past. I'm looking forward to applying this throughout the year if I can.
--Little Red

Poetry in (slow) motion

2008-09-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

Poetry escapes me. It seems as if as soon as words form verses and stanzas I lose the ability to fully comprehend them. I absorb myself so fully in the imagery and what it means to me that it seems to become concrete , so opaque that I can’t see through it to find the greater meaning in the poem. My lack of ability to find depth is infuriating . I continue to repetitively speak out in class during our lovely sessions of poetic vivisection, hoping for some sort of validation. Each time i do, however, I find I’m not quite correct. I’d imagine it’s the same sensation a fly gets as it iteratively flies into a window, hoping to get outside but every time feeling the anticlimactic impact of exoskeleton on glass.
However, this is not to say that I don’t enjoy reading it, I simply don’t like the inability to conjure enough understanding to make a decent statement. In fact, I was rather fond of Percy Shelley’s Ozymandias . The relic of an ancient King, with “a wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command” is a luridly beautiful image. It seems to say that although he was powerful and arrogant while he ruled his kingdom, in his death he is ruler of nothing, just a rock in a vast expanse of desert. All in all, I just hope to be able to grasp poetic concept so I can further enojy poetry.

_Murry-Uh