Reflections on the course

There are many things I could say about this course. In the end though, it boils down to the fact I highly enjoyed this course. My abilities to analyze poetry have increased thanks to this course. I felt I was very prepared, thanks to Mrs. DeRose Smith. I had the pleasure of having her for three out of the four years in my high school career. Many of the short stories and plays read in this course I had read before in her classes, and I was able to analyze these pieces at a much deeper level. I would also like to thank Dr. Reed. It was a pleasure having him as a professor. His humor and commentary always kept me interested in what was being discussed. This course assured me that I have gone down the correct path by choosing to minor in creative writing. Though I am a science major and absolutely love science, English is a subject I hold dear to my heart. Taking Intro to English Majors and Minors has been a great experience for me personally and on an educational level. Overall it has been a pleasure, and lastly, as the long winded Polonius says in Shakespeare's Hamlet, "this above all, to thine own self be true" (I.3 line 78).

Work Cited

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. Portable                           11th ed. New York: Norton, 2014. 1081-1190. Print.

Mad or Not Mad, That is the Question

Many believe Shakespeare's Hamlet to be about the madness of the main character, Hamlet. However, some speculate that Hamlet is not truly mad. Rather, he is pretending to be mad. I agree with this strongly for a few reasons. First of all, Hamlet is nowhere near as deranged as Ophelia is, after the death of Polonius. I believe Ophelia's madness is true, and that highlights Hamlet's madness as an act. Second of all, Hamlet seems like a teenager to me, and as a teenager he simply has many different emotions on many different things. I also believe Hamlet is faking madness in order to cast suspicion off of himself before the play. That way King Claudius is not aware of Hamlet's discussion with the ghost, and so Claudius will want nothing much to do with Hamlet, thus adding an extra layer of protection. Hamlet uses madness to protect himself against his "sea of troubles" until he is sure that Claudius is the murderer, and while he works himself up to seek his father's revenge.

John is to blame

In "The Yellow Wallpaper" a woman seems either be insane already or is losing her sanity rapidly. The woman goes to a house on vacation to rest and relax in order to get well, and she goes with her husband, John. The existence of John is questionable because we do not know whether the woman is already insane or not, but in either case I believe John is the cause of her insanity or the cause of worsening her insanity. In the case of her not being insane already, I believe John is to blame because he does not see the signs that his wife is not getting better, and he keeps her in the room with the yellow wallpaper. He is a physician, and he is also said to be a very practical man. I believe he should have realized his wife was getting worse, not better, and he should have removed her from the house at once. In the case of John not existing, I believe he is still at fault because he is a delusion of her madness. Even though he is a delusion he is making it worse, so one can not place blame completely on John in this case seeing how he is created by the woman. His creation however, does not aid in her recovery, so in this way he is causing her to get worse.

Birds of a feather

As I brought up previously in class, in Trifles the bird seems to represent Mrs. Wright. During the women's chat it was brought up that Mrs. Wright loved to sing, but her husband killed that. This makes the reader believe that Mrs. Wright was in an abusive relationship, and that she was trapped much like the bird had been in its cage. When the bird died it was set free from captivity, and with the death of her husband Mrs. Wright was set free as well. There are many parallels to be drawn between the bird and Mrs. Wright. I also believe that the cage being broken at the hinges is representative of Mrs. Wright's "final straw" with her husband breaking. Mr. Wright set the bird free by killing it, and he set Mrs. Wright free by struggling against the knot around his neck causing himself death. I believe it is he who caused his own death because I feel like the knot tied around his neck was designed to tighten as he struggled. Mrs. Wright and the bird in many way are birds of a feather.

Which boy is Willy's "minnie me"?

             In Death of a Salesman Willy seems to prize Biff as being his carbon copy. To the reader it may seem that way at first too. However, I believe it is Happy who acts more like Willy. Happy seems to be living in a lie like Willy does. Neither of them like to admit that they have been lying to themselves all this time, and the both like to talk themselves up. In many ways I believe Happy is doing this because he never received the attention from his father that he craved. In the flashbacks, Willy focus on Biff quite a bit, and Happy attempts to get his father's attention by saying "I'm losing weight dad". Then in the future he attempts to get recognition from his father by saying "I'm getting married". Both of these attempts fail. As the reader, I feel as if Happy being like his father is a subconscious attempt at Willy's approval as well.

Personal Responsibility of the Narrator

In Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" the narrator hires a man named Bartleby to work as a scrivener. The narrator observes that Bartleby is always the first at the office and the last to leave. After a while the narrator discovers that Bartleby has been living in his work station. When Bartleby refuses to work the narrator asks him to leave, and when Bartleby does not leave the narrator finds a new place to work. Even after he is gone though the narrator still remains curious of Bartleby and remains in touch with him after he has been taken to prison. I believe it is because the narrator feels some kind of personal responsibility for Bartleby since he knows of Bartleby's poverty. This personal responsibility kept the narrator from calling the police on Bartleby, and kept the narrator in touch with Bartleby. Ultimately it keeps Bartleby from fading from his memory after Bartleby has died.

Reader Motivation

Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" is a very bleak and dry short story. Even though it is a short story it seems very long and time consuming. What keeps the reader reading though? That is despite the fact it was assigned for homework or something of that nature. The reader continues because of uncertainty. The narrator seems to have such disdain for a man he has never met that the reader is uncertain what will happen. In fact we are left uncertain what will happen to the very end. We wonder if the narrator will cast the blind man out or if he will learn to accept the blind man. The story may be very hard to get through, but the reader ultimately holds on to rid themselves of the uncertainty created by the narrator.

The Simple Things

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", by William Wordsworth, is a very light poem that appears to bring joy to many. There are many theories on why this poem is well renowned, but personally I think it is the simple message that it leaves us that makes it so appealing. It is a poem about finding happiness in nature, but I see it as a poem about finding happiness in the simple things in life. Nature is one of the simple things that many take for granted, but when truly observed it has a great potential to lift our moods. Whether nature is the simple thing in our lives that we need to observe or there is something else, this poem reminds the reader that it is these simple things that have the potential to bring us great joy.

The Use of Cortez

In "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer", by John Keats, Cortez is credited with the discovery of the Pacific Ocean when it was truthfully Balboa. There are many theories as to why Keats did this. I believe he knew exactly what he was doing. Throughout the poem Keats begins to make a sublime realization about Homer's epics through Chapman's translation. The poem begins by referencing "realms of gold". I believe Keats makes later mention of Cortez so the reader can make the connection of Cortez and the earlier reference to gold. This causes the reader to look back at the beginning of the poem where Keats believes to have a well advanced knowledge of literature, and allows the reader to understand the sublimity of Chapman's Homer to Keats.

Death as a Person

While reading "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson, it was apparent to me that she had taken the idea of death and personified it. Yes, humans have personified death before, but more as a grim reaper than anything. Rather that death being the reaper that we never hope to see, Dickinson made him seem like the neighbor that would watch over pets and water plants while you were on vacation. In fact, she even uses the term "civility" to describe him. This is a unique idea that isn't often seen. Actually, I've only seen the personification of death in this nature in the book The Book Thief. Personally, I find it a very compelling way to look at something that everyone will have to deal with at one time or another. It raises the question of whether we will not be ready when it is our time or if we too will take a peaceful carriage ride with death when he comes.