Young Goodman Brown Question 1

Young Goodman Brown represents humans and human nature. He is tempted to enter the forest, which symbolizes sin. He becomes more and more curious until he finally snaps and ascends further and further into the dark forest. The man who meets Young Goodman Brown in the forest is the devil and his staff a serpent. Goodman Brown becomes more and more curious about what is happening around the forest and decides to fall into the devils temptation. He has lost touch with his Faith and faith. But the devil draws nearer and nearer to Goodman Brown, now teasing his vision. Young Goodman Brown snaps out of it and begins to pray to the heavens when all of a sudden fire has broken out on the trees and a huge black cloud blocks the night sky. Goodman Brown has allowed himself to be engulfed by the evil. In the midst of everything he picks out the priest and other townspeople that he has met at the communion table rioting at the tavern.  Amongst all of the chaos Goodman Brown is drawn out of the hectic-ness and hears his dear Faith and her pink ribbon, but it is far too late to turn back to her. He has seen too much and done far enough. “Faith! Faith!” he yells, but it is too late to save himself.  Then Young Goodman Brown awakes from his terrible dream and is not so much a “Good-Man” anymore. He has been consumed by what he witnessed from his dream. He has realized that people are all tempted and that in someway or another each and every person falls into temptation in one way or another. The theme of the story is to hold on to your Faith and to not fall into the temptations the devil throws your way because there will definitely be bumps and troubles in your way through life.

Soldiers' Home

Krebs uses repetition to escape the family home, at least for a while. When asked about the war from his family he quickly avoids the question by either staying neutral while not answering or answering with a sarcastic answer such as “I’ll try and be a good boy for you”. He has a very difficult time being paired back into his childhood home after the war. Even the girls were different. Yes the girls especially. They “grew up”, something that Krebs never got to do on his own. Krebs was forced to grow up because of the war. Krebs wanted to look at the girls but nothing more. The thought of being social made Krebs very nervous and paranoid. He always thought that they would bring up the war, every single one of them. That’s what he thought anyway because of the patterns he noticed. They all had “hair cut short,” had “sweaters and shirt waists with round Dutch collars,” and had “silk stockings and flat shoes.” Yes, Krebs noticed these odd patterns. And he did not like them. He wanted the German girls back. Krebs was uncomfortable with speaking, thinking, and even looking at people- even his own mother. Krebs tended to lie to his mother to comfort her into thinking that he was alright after the war. She knew that something was off with him, but didn’t know the true reason. She once asked him if he loved her and he simply said no. Krebs was truthful with his no because he really doesn’t know how to love, and if he does he is too scared to attach to someone. His mother was obviously discouraged and sobbing. He then lied to her and told her he did. Lying was something that Krebs has taken a knack for. Krebs has come to realization that lying may be easier than dealing with the reality, the fact that he has been to war and seen things that are unimaginable.

Story of an Hour

The Story of an Hour is a short story written by Kate Chopin in 1894. Chopin was a literary genius when it came to embedding clues that foreshadow the ending. Chopin either states the clues directly or sneakily hides them within the text from her story.

The most apparent element of foreshadowing is the very first sentence. Yes, Mrs. Mallard had “heart trouble”. Of course it isn’t just a small tumor or anything like that. It is heart disease, heart disease that was caused by her husband.

The fifth paragraph is also filled with foreshadowing. With such intense details such as “new spring life”, “breath of rain”, and “countless sparrows”. Mrs. Mallard is noticing every detail of her surroundings. She is not struck with guilt or pain from her husband’s death, but rather the opposite. She is filling her life with happy thoughts. This tells us that Mrs. Mallard had a hard love life and that she never truly loved him.
“She knew that she would weep again,” and she was right. This single line out of the entire short story reveals to the readers that her remorse will return. By Mrs. Mallard telling us that she will “weep again” we can infer that Mr. Mallard will come back into her life.

From every foreshadowing clue throughout the story, before the reader gets to the ending, he or she should be able to predict that Mr. Mallard will step back into Mrs. Mallard’s life. As for the death of Mrs. Mallard, the heart disease got the best of her.

1984- Blog 4

Does Winston Love Julia?

In Winston’s own mind he truly does love Julia with all of his heart. The same goes with Julia- in her mind she loves Winston to no end. But it is obvious that each of them loves in a different way. Julia, for example, loves that Winston is there to break the rules by having sex and sneaking around, whereas Winston longs for Julia to want to find the brotherhood and rebel against Big Brother. Winston is not completely happy with the way Julia loves him. He says, “Don’t just rebel from the waist down!” From this he is saying that she should be rebelling in a different way than just having sex.

Winston and Julia are in a committed and loving relationship now, but how did they get there? Winston was desperately searching for a person who shared his common interest- hatred for Big Brother. In the process he met Julia. At the time he met her he did not know whether she could be trusted or whether she should be killed. This shows how paranoid and cut off the Party made citizens. Neither Winston nor Julia had any emotions. When Julia confessed to Winston her true feelings, Winston wasn't sure she was real enough. He was still paranoid. Winston second guessed himself and became weary of the subject. He decided to go along with it anyway. By their third meeting they had sex. It was not just something they could do (pleasurably anyway). They actually had to work at it.

The relationship between Julia and Winston started out to be more work than actual dates. When the times came that they had dates it seemed as though they were so brainwashed and emotionally deprived that they didn't know what they were doing. By the time they actually had secured a “safe place” where they could meet they were bombarded with police and taken away. By condoning, having, and participating, in acts where they are together is reason enough to be killed and Winston and Julia were doing them anyway. This alone is enough to say that these two people care enough about each other to put their lives at risk.  Their relationship resembles a roller coaster more than it does a loving commitment, but in this case it looks to be more like love than anything else around.

1984 Blog 4

When the author begins to describe the meeting in the cafeteria he uses very short and concise sentences. This might be to simulate the nerve and stress levels between Julia and Winston. By creating a beat with the sentence structures and pauses in-between it keeps the reader reading and creates a heart-like thud. The author also uses very intense descriptive words. Using such descriptive words really allows for us as readers to fall into the text and bring it to life. It creates a suspenseful-ness in the cafeteria and slowly speeds up the pace of reading. The setting being a cafeteria is quite strange. How common is a cafeteria? It is the most obnoxious place to meet up with someone, but also the most ingenious because of how drowned out voices and words are. The simplicity of the cafeteria is such a breakthrough for Julia and Winston to think of, that they have already began to revolt against “Big Brother” even without realizing it. The reader is quickly hooked into the “meeting”.

When Winston actually makes it past the man who “fell” he is more nervous than ever before. We as readers are now a little more relaxed. At this point Winston is slowly unpacking his meal and going through a regular routine. By using an array of punctuation the author absolutely has the readers’ minds fixed. The reader’s mind can’t stray from the text. He or she must keep reading and stay just as nervous and fixated upon the cafeteria as the couple.

Not until Winston and Julia begin to talk does the reader begin to relax and realize that this should be no big deal. People talk. That is the reality. In 1984 it is exactly opposite. People don’t talk. This tends to be a very strange subject. The thought of not being able to speak, act, or do what we as humans want is absolutely unimaginable. The text between the two interlocutor’s conversation is very short and stagnant. Julia and Winston can’t let anyone know that they are speaking to one another. Even more important, they can’t let anyone on to their plan of meeting up with each other.

            Meeting in Victory Square tends to be quite ironic. The fact that the meeting destination is VICTORY square is in fact a victory. It isn’t often that two people can enjoy conversation or even meeting outside of the ordinary work spaces. Winston spots Julia and stands beside her. She says nothing until what seems to be a parade starts. This proves to be quite interesting. How does Julia know that this will happen? Is she a larger authority figure?

            During the conversation Julia, once again, gives Winston directions to a meeting place. It is obvious that they long to see one another because they go through so much work. At this point it becomes easy to trust Julia and accept her to be in a relationship with Winston. Not until afterward does Winston start questioning himself about the subject. Relationships. How does a person who has been programmed to shut out any emotional feelings actually feel something for another? What does Winston see in Julia? Considering that Winston can’t even remember what color Julia’s hair and eyes are, it seems that he has a liking for what Julia is thinking and/or what is going through her mind.

Blog 2- Antiques

The antique shop in this chapter has huge allegorical meaning behind it. For one, the entire meaning behind having an antique shop is bewildering. The thought of having a shop full of memories and items from the past is going 100% against Big Brother. Big Brother is trying to abolish everything that cannot be controlled. By having an antique means that you have something from the past, a world that doesn’t even exist according to Big Brother. When people purchase an item from the black market or from the store it shows that they would like to, in the utmost sense, rebel against big brother. Big Brother controls everything and by preserving something that the government says doesn’t exist is a serious matter. When Winston goes into the store he doesn’t know what he might buy. So after a while he decides to buy a paperweight. A PAPERWEIGHT. He paid more than enough for it as well. The paperweight, to Winston, means that he is trying to keep something from the past, the past that once existed. He is trying to recover his memories of it. Is he even going to use it as a paperweight? Probably not. He just wants it as a memory and as something that can keep him grounded to what society used to be. Another thing Winston sees in the room and has interest in would be a portrait of Saint Clement’s Church. Why is that such a noted deal? What will come from it? “The oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement's” is the poem that is affiliated with the portrait. Why? What is this foreshadowing? Morgan, my classmate, said something was behind it. A safe? Too obvious. I think it is a form of communication with Big Brother. Something is strange with that entire room upstairs. There has to be some sort of a watch from Big Brother. 

1984- Distopia