Synthesis IV

       Process of writing a prompt:

1. Analyze the prompt: look for goals, techniques, effects, and meanings; make sure your thesis answers the prompt.
2. Analyze the excerpt: identify meaning, themes, details, techniques.
3. Formulate thesis: should be able to act as topic sentences if the rest of your paper was suddenly "sucked out of existence" (-Holmes); answers the prompt.
4. Write! plain style: concise, direct sentences, not many adjectives/adverbs.

     

Wuthering Heights v. Thrushcross Grange, II

1991. Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.

(This version has taken into account the peer comments)

       Authors often emphasize differences in ideas throughout a novel by physically separating the two contrasting groups. In Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are the settings of two very different series of events that contribute to the range of emotions associated with each place. These emotions, in turn, effect future events that take place at these same houses and reflect the influence of emotions on the course of a person's life.

       Thrushcross Grange is the more benevolent of the two houses. Here, Catherine is transformed into a young lady after gallivanting through the night with Heathcliff. This change shows the more sophisticated nature of Thrushcross Grange and the people inhabiting it, where Wuthering Heights is in a continual state of wild discontent. Later in the novel, Thrushcross Grange is the place where Catherine and Heathcliff carry out their secret love affair, even as Catherine is dying. This setting is where Heathcliff displays his more gentle and sane side, further contributing to the more agreeable nature of Thrushcross Grange.

       Wuthering Heights, on the other hand, is a setting full of drunken rage. All three of the dominating male figures at Wuthering Heights, Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley, and Heathcliff, give in to the lures of gambling and alcohol, leading to unthinkable violence and insanity. Wuthering Heights also plays the role of a prison for various characters; Isabella succeeds in fleeing after 'falling in love' with Heathcliff, and Cathy is able to leave only after being forced to marry Linton per Heathcliff's demand. In general, the emotions of many characters in this novel proceeds in a downward spiral when they spend any great length of time at Wuthering Heights. The imagery used with Wuthering Heights also tends to associate the house with dark weather or colors, furthering its impact on the reader.

       The intense, yet secret, love that Heathcliff displays towards Catherine at Thrushcross Grange explodes in insanity at Wuthering Heights upon her death. This love is a central fixture in Heathcliff's life, and its absence leads to his demise, however slow and violent it may be. The forced love between Cathy and Linton for the sake of Heathcliff's possession of Thrushcross Grange leads to an acceleration of Linton's illness and, later, his death. Note Heathcliff's motive for forcing the marriage: to regain the property where Catherine lived and died. His insanity leads to his extreme actions, all stemming from his acute love for Catherine. As a result of her forced marriage and the death of her father, Cathy retreats into herself, becoming very closed off to the outside world. However, towards the end of the novel, Cathy and Hareton plan to marry on New Year's Day, signifying a new love and new chapter in her life. These tumultuous events would not have occurred without the influence of Heathcliff's extreme emotions created by the two houses and the people who inhabited them.

Synthesis III

       We have spent a lot of time this year with literary terms. Here's some of the tricky ones with examples from Hamlet:

1. paraprosdokian: unexpected ending of a phrase
• "But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son-" (I,ii,64)
2. paronomasia: use of similar sounding words, often etymological wordplay
• "That we find the cause of this effect,/ Or rather say, the cause of this defect,/ For this effect defective comes by cause" (II,ii,101-103)
3. anadiplosis: repetition of a word or phrase that ends one clause, at the beginning of the next
• "That he is mad, 'tis true: 'tis ture 'tis pity;/ and pity 'tis 'tis true" (II,ii,97-98)
4. chiasmus: crossing parallelism
•  "Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern./ Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz" (II,ii,33-34)
5. synecdoche: the use of a part to represent the whole
• "Let not the royal bed of Denmark be/ a couch form luxury and damned incest" (I,v,82-83)
6. epizeuxis: repition of words in immediate succession, for vehemence or emphasis
• "Words, words, words." (II,ii,189)
7. litotes: form of understatement in which the thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite
8. non-sequitur: inference that does not follow from the premise

The Conch Shell, II

1970 Also. Choose a work of recognized literary merit in which a specific inanimate object (e.g., a seashell, a handkerchief, a painting) is important, and write an essay in which you show how two or three of the purposes the object serves are related to one another.

(This version has taken into account the peer comments)

       Inamimate objects, such as a flag, can serve a variety of purposes: they can bring people together or represent specific values. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the conch shell is an important object discovered upon arrival on the island. The conch shell serves as a signal to bring the group of boys together, an object of power and control, and finally a symbol of order on the island. In this microcosm of society, the conch shell is analogous to money; the source of power in the real world.

       When Ralph and Piggy first arrive on the island, they know that some of the boys from the plane crash must also be on the same island with them. The conch shell serves as a auditory signal to bring the boys together. By blowing the conch, Piggy establishes a common meeting point for the group, which in turn creates a sense of community and identity among the boys. The boys begin to exhibit social tendencies found within the adult world, such as the need for a leader and the resulting tensions from the search for power.

       Piggy remains in possession of the conch because, as a stout boy with health issues, he realizes that his only source of power in that primal microcosm of adult society is the conch. The conch, which brought the boys together, continues to be an object of control. By establishing the precedent of the power of speech in anyone who holds the conch, Piggy hopes to create power for himself in a democratic way as the boys begin the deliberations to find a leader. This can be related to the situation within the adult world, where often the ones with most money and power are heard the most.

       The situation on the island remains relatively organized and orderly as the conch shell remains present. The group of boys go about choosing a leader, allotting specific tasks, and carrying out those tasks without any major problems. The conch, however, loses its vibrancy and power as tensions between groups on the island erupt. With the death of the conch's constant guardian, Piggy, the conch is also shattered and pure animal violence breaks out among the boys. The chaos that ensues is a testament to the conch's role as a symbol of order. We can see this circumstance in modern soceity when money is not of object, in third world countries, for example, and poverty and disease are seen. While money can be a source of corruption, it is also a source of order and growth.

       The conch begins the novel as a signal to bring the boys together through its ability to produce sound. It becomes a object of power, specifically for Piggy, and then is revealed as a symbol of order that, when destroyed, releases a wave of barbarity crashing down on the boys. Overall, the power the conch possesses manifests itself in different forms that create various reactions from the boys throughout the novel. This is unique ability is reflected by the role money plays in adult society.

Synthesis II

       Lectures (outline taken from Holmes's lecture summaries):

1. Archetypal and Mythological Criticism
• archetype (element of fiction that we see repeated with its core meaning unchanged) v. myth (complete story, culturally foundational story)
• archetypes are widely shared experiences that show up in literature (reflect patterns of the human mind?)
• Fazer: noticed that myths from different cultures shared certain similarities; tend to be experiences that effect all human beings (death-rebirth)
• Jung: archetypes were representations of the collective unconscious (repository of emotions, ideas, memories) shared by all humans
• Campbell: monomyth; "hero's quest"
• Frye: used archetypes for literary criticism rather than social speculation; Archetypal Criticism
• mythoi:
• romance: circles at top
• tragedy: begins at top, ends at bottom
• irony: circles at bottom
• comedy: begins at bottom, ends at top
2. Tragedy and the Common Man
• tragedies used to apply only to the royal groups, but because modern psychiarty bases analysis upon these groups (Oedipus complex), and these apply to the now common man, tragedy has evolved to be suitable to contain common man characters
• tragic feeling evoked when we see someone who needs to retain their sense of dignity; tragedy also results from the indignant
• fatal flaw: unwillingness to remain passive when dignity is challenged
• author must be able to question absolutely everything
• tragedy should not be associated purely with pessimism; should reinforce audience's "brightest opinion of the human animal."
3. Theories of Humor/Comedy
• six elements required (apparently the failure on even one of these points will lead to the failure of the attempt at comedy all together) :
• appeal to the intellect
• mechanical
• remind the audience of humanity
• situation must be inconsistent with sorroundings
• percieved as painless

Moral and Ethical Implications in A Clockwork Orange, II

(This version has taken into account the peer comments)

       History has been a constant struggle between the government and the people; when either gets too strong, the other uprises or cracks down. Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange is an example of an uprising people, but also a strict government. The extreme behavior of both the government and the citizens in this novel lead to extreme moral and ethical complications for both groups, including overt obstruction of justice as well as overt obstruction of privacy.
     A Clockwork Orange is set in a distopian society. Alex and his cronies run rampant throughout the streets at night, raping, murdering, and stealing. During the day, Alex skips school and lies in a heroin-induced state on his bed, listening to classical music. The boys are able to cause such damage because the police force, while feared, is scarce. Where the  government is not present physically, neither is the law it enforces. This allows these rebellious teens to create a dangerous environment for almost everyone sorrounding them. However, the language used by Burgess, nadsat, distances the reader from the violence, creating an interesting dichotomy between the reader's perception and the terrible acts taking place.   
     The opposite actions from the government appear when Alex is arrested after being betrayed by his friends while committing a crime. He is given a choice: stay in prison, or become part of a revolutionary new experiement. He chooses the experiment, and goes through a process in which the government reprograms his mind to become sick at the thought of things that formerly brought him pleasure, including women, drugs, and violence. This drastic invasion of personal space demonstrated by the government is a direct departure from the previous situation, where only the physical presence of governmental authority would guarantee safety. The result of Alex's altered mind is the constant presence of authority, but now it is mental, not physical. While this does have a positive effect for the greater good, major questions are raised as far as the morality of the government's actions.
     The horrifying acts committed by both Alex and the government are both agreeably corrupt. However, just because both parties did horrible things, doesn't mean those things are cancelled out. The moral and ethical complications of Alex's actions are more overt. One can look his actions and say, "What he is doing is bad." It makes the reader want the police to show up and drag him away to jail, because in our society, we know that relatively fair justice would be served. However, the audience discovers that fair justice doesn't necessarily exist in Alex's world. This leads to the more covert complications of the government's actions. One questions the morality of the government's actions: they seem bad, but, the greater good is benefitting from them. This questioning that results is not a conformation of morality, but a conformation immorality. Just because the ethical complications that result from the government's actions are less concrete than the ones that result from Alex's  actions does not make either series of acts more or less moral.

Synthesis I

        DIDLS has acted as the backbone of our approach to analyzing literature this year. Here is a breakdown of the parts:

1. diction: single words
• colloquial (ordinary language) v. elevated: shows level of education/sophistocation
• connotation (meanings that culture brings to the word) v. denotation (dictionary meaning)
• pejorative (negative) v. honorific (positive)
• vagueness: favorite with unreliable narrators
2. imagery: language that appeals vividly to the senses
• sight, touch, taste, smell, sound
• 'gut'/visceral senses
3. details: taken from text to support arguments
4. language
• metaphor v. simile
• personification: object/animal given human characteristics
• analogy: explains something by comparing it to something simple
• hyperbole v. understatement
• paradox: statement that seems contradictory but reveals the truth
• verbal irony: speaker says something but means something else, noticeable incongruity
5. syntax: sentence length/construction
• impacts pace, tone, emphasis
• dependent clause: depends on something else for meaning (requires subordinating conjunction)
• independent clause: can stand by itself (performs marriage between equal ideas)
• SVC (subject,verb,compliment) v. SVO (subject,verb,object)
• punctuation SPEAKS!

The Death of The Savage, II

(This version has taken into account the peer comments)

       Many outlandish events can take place without people really grasping the reality of the situation, but when a death results from those events, people start to pay attention. In Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World, John Savage's life was turned upside-down when Bernard brough him to the World State in London from his  Native American reservation. The people he met and things he experienced, along with his struggle with sin in a sin-filled world, led to his eventual suicide. His death illuminated the need for restraint and social control in a society where those things are clearly abused.
    The World State was the genious creation of Huxley and showed what happens when a government goes  to extreme lenghts make its citizens content. At an early age, humans are produced without parents and conditioned through repetition not to do anything moderately out of the ordinary.  As someone coming from the 'outside' world, John represents something out of the ordinary. Immediately red flags pop up in the reader's mind; in a society so rigidly controlled, something so wild and untamed cannot mean anything good. Because John is so unique, he becomes an instant sensation and is put through nightly parties and events. Bernard also enjoys a share of this popularity. This fixation with and manipulation of John reflects the situation the Native American's found themselves in during the 19th century. The parallels between earlier events and the amount of change taking place within the World State combine to produce a foreboding mood throughout the novel.
    The dynamic between John and Bernard changes when Bernard's love interest, Lenina, begins showing interest in John.  John, as a devotely religious young man, resists whatever advances Lenina makes on him. The artificiality of the World State society has little effect on John. He continues to hang on to his memories of real feelings that he experienced on the reservation, whether they were bad or good. His emotions come to a peak when he is called to the death bed of his mother. His actions after his mother's death culminate in an uprising he sparks by interfering with several workers' daily rations of soma. John decides he can no longer be part of such a confining society, so he goes to the middle of the forest and lives by himself in a tower, living off the natural land and reverting back to what his life was like on the reservation. However, certain antics he creates, like whipping himself as a part of an Indian tradition he was previously denied, draws the attention of the media and public. The pervasiveness of the World State society finally engulfs John, and he gives into a soma induced orgy when a host of people discover his tower. His guilt is overwhelming the next day, as he realizes what took place the night before. Knowing there is no way he can live with his guilt, John hangs himself.
    When the media arrives the next day to observe more happenings, they find John's body swaying in the wind. The author describes his feet as if they were the needle on a compass, rotating "north, north-east, east...". This symbolizes the moral compass that the World State society is missing. All of their innovations: the conditioning, helicopters, soma, are for naught if no one cares about the possible effects of their culture. Huxley may be continuing to draw the parallels between the World State and 19th century America, and also commenting on the culture of America during the 20th century. He is warning against the appearance of control where there is, in fact, the loss of it. The eerie parallels lead the reader to realize that the death of the savage illuminates the need for a moral standard in a society that has none.