Tristan Bryan

Due to our week 11 activities, I have gained a new respect for poets and their abilities to portray many emotions in a few number of words. This allows the reader of said poem to feel the individual emotions of the author. I first recognized this in Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth  Barrett Browning. Specifically in the line, “I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use” (Browning). This line shows the speaker’s infinite love for their significant other and the various was they can describe their love. Another line this is relevant in is, “Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death” (Browning). This line further goes into how the speaker’s love extends even to the end of their natural lives and into the mystery of death.

One of the key similarities between these two works is how each woman views marriage as a sort of trap. In “The Story of an Hour” we can see that the wife is overjoyed by the news her husband passed as seen in the line, “She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!”. This explicitly shows how the Mrs. Mallard felt ensnared by her marriage, to the point where her husband dying was the best option for her. This is also seen in the astonishment she shows when her husband shows up alive as seen in, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease — of the joy that kills”. This shows how her sudden shift in mood was so severe that she ended up passing away.  The poem shares the same views as seen in the line, “It lay unmentioned, as the sea Develops pearl and weed ,But only to himself is known The fathoms they abide”. These lines show how the wife felt like her life was wasting away being a stay home wife.

`Internally this story is about one’s morality and how it changes based on various internal and external factors. This can mainly be seen in the grandmother as a character. While she is not a literal evil person, she carried some evil beliefs which caused her to be seen as a bad person. It is plausible to say she internally feels this as she dresses above her class to seem more eloquent. This also plays into the fact that one’s morality is not governed by looks. This is prominently seen with the grandmother’s encounter with the Misfit. She incorrectly assumes he is a good person based on his looks even though he was already known as a vicious killer. One aspect about morality is that one’s ideals can change how they personally view themselves. This is seen in the Misfit did not see himself as culpable for his own actions. These characters are polar opposites of each other.

A timeless event that can be seen in Oedipus is one’s pride leading them to their downfall. This can be seen in many leaders in the history of the world. One such leader was Napoleon. His own pride within the French army caused him to thin out his forces leading to his defeat. Another ruler this can be seen in is Hitler and his attempted invasion of Russia. He believed in himself so much that he did not take into account the different terrain and climate of said country. This led to the eventual break down of the German army and his eventual retreat out of Russia. Another event often seen is rulers trying to protect their own power. The best example of this is during campaign time when politicians slander each other in order to look more appealing to voters. They let go of their morals in order to stay in charge.  

In line 319 the chorus says, “Yet if he has a share of fear at all, his courage will not stand firm, hearing your curse”. I think this line means that if Oedipus is not completely sound of mind, he will fail in his endeavors. Word like these would have probably led to him having growing doubts about his own character. It also recognizes fear as a defining force in his life, with the trauma coming from the problems with his father. Usually in stories about Greek mythology, one’s own fear leads them down the path that faith has decided. One example of this was when Kronos ate his children because he foresaw them ruling over him. His actions fully lead to the gods rebelling against him and killing all the titans. One with courage within themselves and their family would be able to change fate and lead their own lives.

“Araby” by James Joyce is a story that details how obsession can warp one’s view of reality and mindset as a whole. We can first see an example of the narrator’s obsession in the line, “Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door” (Joyce 1). This explains how the narrator even watches over her while she cannot notice him. Due to this occurring on a daily basis, it can be assumed that the narrator has some sort of feeling for his friend’s sister. This leads him to try and buy her something from the bazaar in order to gain her favor. His mind takes her infatuation with the bazaar and manipulates it in order to help him fixate on that one specific goal. In the end, he is disappointed when he realizes the bazaar does not meet his expectations, which allows him to come to an understanding that he wasted his own time.

In, “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, Sylvia and Sugar have two very opposite reactions to the toy store.  Sugar comes to a very astute realization about the inequalities of democracy. This can first be seen in her line, “Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it” (Bambara 6). In this line Sugar begins to understand the reality of the difference between the rich and the poor. She also shows an openness to learning that her peers do not have. Sylvia learned in a more emotional way which is seen right before they entered the shop. She begins to have a deep-seated feeling of shame and disgust while in the shop. This feeling allows her to understand the line between her and the kids who can actually shop at the store. Her inferiority also comes out as she starts to take out her feelings on her friends.

“Salvation” by Langston Hughes shows how the way religion is introduced can be negative or even volatile to children. While religion itself might not be harmful however, how it is introduced can define a child’s view on said religion. The way his aunt continuously reinforced how Jesus would change his life, it gave him a hope that he would actually be able to meet him instead of having faith. This causes Hughes to believe himself to be a liar and permanently gave him a negative attitude towards said religion. He was also forced to act as if he saw Jesus due to him not wanting to keep the people waiting. It also acted as a sort of coming-of-age ceremony for him as it allowed him to truthfully express his feelings. Overall, that experience allowed him to be able to be more honest with himself and also allowed him to gain his own ideas about religion.

“The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” was a great first story as introduces the idea that one singular object can change the entirety of a group of people. It also was somewhat more direct with its themes and ideas of the story, so it was easier to understand as a whole. The descriptive writing of the author really allows the reader tom take in the scenery of the village. However, the description of the body itself is in a whole league of its own. The author took his time with each individual line describing the man as to draw in the reader and actually help them visualize what the man could have looked like. I think this was chosen as a first story in order to help us as a class get a better feel for really focusing on the individual details of our work while not straying too far from the overall theme.