Dead Man parallels the journey of enlightenment present in Heart of Darkness. Blake and Marlow go on journeys of observation due to circumstance and incentive rather than personal choice. Blake goes to Machine town on account of a letter and runs from false accusations while Marlow joins the propaganda of Belgium imperialism. On the river, Marlow discovers a horror in life that he did not know in his cut off life in London. He did not suspect the brutality of imperialism before traveling on the Congo. Blake is naive when he travels to Machine town. He only says his parents... Continue reading

Morrison comments not only on racism but also on gender through Milkman's home life. Men run the Dead home as Macon and Milkman fight for dominance over the women like lions. Women rarely appear in the novel other than sidenotes. Hagar wants to kill Milkman. Lena and Corinthians rarely appear in the first part of the novel. The girls and Ruth only appear talking about men whether it be the doctor, Porter, or Milkman. The appearances of women in Milkman's life conveys a dependance on men to exist. And, as Lena says near the end of part I, the only... Continue reading

What do we do about it? Well, what do we do? Nothing. We do nothing to stop businesses taking advantage of people. Or at least I know I do not. We know that things are wrong, just like Marlow sailing down the Congo, and we do nothing. I am blogging right now on my MacBook. So why, why do we do nothing? It is just too much. In order to help we have to stop the companies. In order to stop the companies we have to put pressure on them. We have to boycott their products, rally against their practices,... Continue reading

"The men said 'My dere fellow,' and did nothing. Then- would you believe it?- I tried the women. I, Charlie Marlow, set the women to work- to get a job. Heavens!" (Conrad 11) "It's queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can be" (Conrad 17) Marlow mentions women a few times in his story about the "snake river". First women help him. His aunt has connections that bring Marlow to the attention of the right people who thence appoint Marlow... Continue reading

The story within the television show Once Upon A Time holds several characteristics of a tragedy. The Witch, widow of the king, despises Snow White as the cause of the her unhappiness. Overcome by hatred, the Witch kills her father in order to bring misfortune on Snow White. She believes that Snow White's suffering will make her happy but only suffers too. A spell takes away the Prince and Snow White's daughter in addition to trapping the story book characters in modern times. The Witch is mayor in the modern town but her accomplishment is pointless without her father. From... Continue reading

Does anyone think the Fool and Kent parallel one another? Both loyal men to the King tell him the truth regardless of rebuke. Kent serves after his exile in disguise and the Fool wears his "coxcomb" in costume. The King allows the Fool to speak and listens to Kent in disguise while Kent acts in the King's favor. Kent and the Fool are two characters that see the truth in the King's situation and stay by his side during his madness. The two confront the King with truth rather than lie to him to satisfy his ego. (\__/) ( ^.^)... Continue reading

This is a poem I wrote for the response to "To His Coy Mistress" by Marvell. The format is similar to a Shakespearean sonnet but without iambic pentameter and less romantic. If time were to go on forever thus, for day and night my body you do lust. Thine eyes, thy forehead, each breast you do woe, this only shows how much you need to grow. You form your words like statues, all with gilt. But only lust like vegetables do wilt. Like the empires forgotten in dust, you threat to discard my body when rust. The worms to take... Continue reading

"At a distance they could see the curious procession moving toward the wharf- the lovers, shoulder to shoulder, creeping; the lady in black, gaining steadily upon them; old Monsieur Farival, losing ground inch by inch, and a young barefooted Spanish girl, with a red kerchief on her head and a basket on her arm, bringing up the rear," (Chopin 33). What is happiness in The Awakening? Chopin inserts this peculiar scene when Edna and Robert go to the Cheniere. But why? The procession illuminates the levels of happiness in a person's life. The lovers are in love. They are blind... Continue reading

"Listen to me. He was here that night. He was with me the night of the murder. I swear to God --'" (Faulkner 464). Hightower cries out in Christmas's defence moments before Grimm slaughters Christmas. It is a surprising act, yet it is an expected act. The grandmother tells Christmas in the jail cell that Hightower will save him. She puts any hope she musters from the moment she hears about Christmas's survival to the moment she sees Christmas in the jail cell in Hightower. She has faith in Hightower as a minister. When Byron asks Hightower to vouch for... Continue reading

"To reduce domination to a simple relation of doer and done-to is to substitute moral outrage for analysis." (Benjamin 9, 10) The relationship between the doer and done-to seems like the relationship between Christmas and Burden. Christmas tries to do unto Burden when he walks into her home with the mission - or so it seems - to rape her. He wants to feel power over Burden, to objectify her. If Burden had tried to run when Christmas blew out the light in her room, or if she had tried to resist his assault, Christmas would have accomplished the objectification... Continue reading

Mrs. McEachern is a good woman, but not a kind woman. At the same time, she is a kind woman but not a good woman. "She had always tried to be kind to him, from that first December evening twelve years ago" (165 Faulkner). Tries is the most important word in the narrator's description of Mrs. McEachern. She tries to care for Christmas as her child. She tries to wash his feet; she tries to give him food after Mr. McEachern beats him. She tries to care for Christmas, but she never protects him from Mr. Eachern's violence. She watches... Continue reading

I do not remember the name of the main girl character in the movie The Truth, but doesn't she seem a little like Meursault? She responds to events fairly matter-of-fact. For example, when she tells her mother about the creepy man at the store, she does not sound affected by the event at all - despite the statement she admits of having been scared. She sounds like she is recounting a small quiz at school, or a walk to the store; nothing exciting. People also disdain her and Meursault for killing another human being. While Meursault shoots a man multiple... Continue reading

"Nevertheless I answered that I had pretty much lost the habit of analyzing myself and that it was hard for me to tell him what he wanted to know" (Camus 65). This is the response Meursault gives when his lawyer asks if Meursault felt any sadness the day ofmaman's funeral. The next thing the layer must be thinking is, "What kind of answer is that, and what is this guy thinking?" But can you imagine how freeing that mentality would be, losing the habit of analyzing yourself? You wouldn't have to worry about or regret the decisions you made. You... Continue reading

Social systems invade your life from the first time you cry to the last time you breathe, and the most over-killed system is love. I'm not talking about the family love, but the forever-after true love: the young love. You see the princess and the prince who live happily ever after and read about the lovers who disregard family feuds to be with one another. It's ironic. 99% of the time you don't meet a stranger in the forest and find out he is the prince you were destined to marry; it's more like you bump into someone in the... Continue reading