Contemporary Poetry

I chose "Coloring" by Ronald Koertge because I thought the juxtaposition within the poem was a very different technique. In this poem, Koertge contrasts the childish art of coloring with all of these terrible things like gangrene, sores, nausea, and the Ku Klux Klan. Each color is made to represent a different one of these terrible things. In doing this Koertge employs color imagery so that the diseases and groups he talks about fit the colors; sores are red, the Klan's outfits are white. The use of this juxtaposition bridges two stages of life. As one grows older, the colors one puts on the paper begin to mean more than just random choices. This is why in the third stanza, Koertge stresses that no one has ever majored in coloring in college or won any prizes as an adult. These sort of phrases are hyperbolic in the sense that they take this childish activity to a highly adult level. At the end of the third stanza, the phrase can't see you now is repeated three times in order to stress the point that this idea is so ridiculous of regressing to childish behavior and we would never hear these sort of excuses. In the fourth stanza, he then goes on to explain the cause of this loss of innocence. He blames the whole thing on puberty. He says that this stage in life opens up our view of the world for what it truly is.

The second poem I chose was "Forgotten Planet" by Doug Dorph. In this poem, flashback, hyperbole, simile, and repetition are used to explore a child's imagination. The first stanza, starts in the present and then flashes back to her own childhood. There are many enjambed lines here which give the poem a narrative feel. He is telling us the story of his childhood. There is then a simile; comparing her father's bulk to that of gravity. The last line of stanza two is a hyperbole saying that she can reach out and poke the sky with her finger it seems so close. He then goes onto say that he has lost this imagination as he has aged and enjoys seeing it through his daughter. His daughter reminds him of this imagination which is why he uses the simile at the end of stanza three that says he spies like a voyeur through his daughter's eyes. In stanza four, he repeats the phrase "On Plunis" making Plunis the place of his imagination. He can go there to be happy and to escape the stresses of his real life. On Plunis, he can be a child again and everything can be ok.

Crime and Punishment - Final Day

I agree with #4. I believe Crime and Punishment is not merely a look into a specific historical period, a certain type of society, or a study of a distinct character; rather, this novel embraces a variety of theories that carry universal regard. One of the "conflict of ideas" that appear in the book is nihilism versus Christianity/altruism. Although these ideas can be interpreted differently within the novel, the overall conclusion I absorbed was that nihilism, or to believe in nothing and share no loyalties, makes life seemingly futile: "And if in eight years he would be thirty-two and could still begin a new life, what difference did it make? What did he have to live for? What could he look forward to? What was he after?" (515). Living an existence of purpose, humility, and love makes those in the novel who embody these qualities more creditable, such as Marmeladov, Razu, and Sonia. At the end, it at least seems that Rasky's revelation (upon kissing Sonia's feet) has drawn him to the same conclusion: "Love resurrected them; the heart of one contained infinite sources of life for the heart of the other" (521). The overarching theory of existentialism, or the existential crisis, is a key factor in the book, and Dostoyevsky shows how it impacts men in all times and places. Each character has a different perspective on what is the point of life, and this idea is intensely questioned in the landscape of a crime and its repercussions. To Rasky, there is little point in a life unless you are helping the greater good; he compares this idea to other time periods by comparing his crime to the heroic actions of Napoleon (although citing that Nap succeeded while he failed). To Sonia, life is only as full as the amount of faith and love you bring to it, which is evident in her response to Rasky: "What would I be without God?" The characters and plot of the novel are simply vehicles (or symbols) in which to analyze the universal ideas of morality, repentance, existence, etc., rather than just convey their effect on a certain historical period or a specific individual.

Words for Crime and Punishment

I chose Nihilism because I had never heard of the word before. Nihilism is a philosophical term that is related to extreme pessimism. These people are extremely impulsive and have no loyalties to people. They just look to destroy. So clearly this is a very negative philosophy and it will be interesting to see how it ties into the book. From what I know about the author and the book so far, Dostoyevsky was a pretty negative guy who really couldn't do much right so that could be part of the reason that he writes about such a terrible philosophy. He was really depressed all of the time because he had no money. Also, I think this sort of impulsive view on the world is probably conveyed through the main character Rodya because we know that he tries to kill the woman who lends him money. Overall, it will be interesting to see where all of this goes maybe it will make more sense once I read and once other people post about the other words.

The End of the Dead

The Ending of the Dead:

It feels, perhaps, like we have been talking about this forever-, which is at once frustrating and fascinating. A large part of Joyce’s beauty, true beauty is in the universality of that message and in the way in which he renders it. It is so universal, say, that at alternate times in ones’ life, the language, the ending, the story, holds a different meaning. A choose your own adventure for the heavy-duty literary types, or as Foucault said, "Headed toward death, language turns back upon itself; it encounters something like a mirror; and to stop this death which would stop it, it possesses but a single power: that of giving birth to its own image in a play of mirrors that has no limits, "Language to Infinity But as we Millburnites are a group wholly uncomfortable with ambiguity and lack of control, I can only offer these two interpretations as in reference to the commonly asked What does it mean?
It could stand as a negative reading- meaning that in this moment of self-actualization, Gabriel chooses to sacrifice his sense of self- to be more like Michael Furey, leading to his ultimate paralysis. Some readers are skeptical of the sincerity of the moment, wondering exactly how “generous” his tears actually are, critiquing his bitterness at Gretta’s appearance. They further this reading by stating that “swoon” here relates to the unconsciousness of death, and mark the ending as depressing.
But then there are readers like me, who read The Dead and get tears in their eyes, who staunchly defend the final paragraphs as some of the most beautiful in all of literature, who feel the ending with every last fiber of their beings. Because, to us, the end of The Dead is transcendent. Because in that moment of realization and self-actualization, of heightened awareness and simply being, Gabriel puts the world into perfectly placed perspective. We are all part of this human condition. We will all experience love and loss and failure. We will all know disappointment and joy. We will all be uncertain and sometimes frightened, or even plainly scared. And in knowing this, in channeling this feeling of connection, there is, even in the bleakest of hours, hope.
And hope inspires. It inspires actions and ideas, gestures and feelings. Life is a remarkable reckless wonder. And that’s enough to make this reader swoon.

So let’s say goodbye to James Joyce and hello to Holiday break. I’ll miss you but I hope you each have a wonderful time! Relax and enjoy!
And get excited for axe murderers and Siberian prisons, prostitutes with hearts of gold and gritty hot St. Petersburg! Crime and Punishment is next!

Role of Gender Examined in Dubliners

The excerpts we have read in Dubliners thus far have provided ample evidence to the importance of gender in Joyce's work. The juxtaposition of Eveline and Araby provide insight into the different worlds of women and men at this time. The male narrator in Araby is desperate to escape his confinements and oppression by adults to go to Araby and buy a gift for his love. Conversely, in Eveline, the female character is attempting to run away with the soldier she loves but is being confined to her world by her abusive father. Both passages are similar in the sense that they represent oppression and limitation of youth in the name of love. However, they are different in that the male narrator goes to all lengths to achieve his goal while the female, when given the opportunity to follow her love, backs out.

- Olivia Greenberg, Rebecca Finkel, & Haley Fitzpatrick

I agree with Judy that I think that the boy's perspective is intended to signify the childhood aspect of this anecdote, but I still do not understand the purpose of beginning with a death scene. I was contemplating the possibility of new beginning and growth afterwards. Like the boy being able to mature on his own and this loss being part of his maturation process. But it still seems like Joyce could of had another intention with this.

To the question posed in class of why this story was called "The Sisters" I feel their role is more than just talking throughout this story. Although the focus was not on them, they served as the main active characters and spoke the most. Perhaps they did not approve of the relationship between the boy and Father Flynn and Joyce hinted in some underlying way that they sped his death along.

Questions/Reactions to "The Sisters"

We can extrapolate that the perspective of the young boy is used to construct the "childhood" stage of Dubliners, following Joyce's theme of progression from childhood to maturity. The narrator is evidently young because he talks about how the priest taught him Catechism, Latin, and history, and Old Cotter tries to tell the boy's mother that the "young lad" should play with children his own age rather than always spending time with the priest. I think Joyce creates a funeral within the childhood section of the novel to show the young narrator's first experience with loss. Also, death is a hard concept to understand and accept, and the narrator's response to the death of a close friend shows his youthful curiosity. For example, the boy is not sure if he wants to see Father Flynn's body, he sees the priest's face in his dreams, and he seems intrigued by the adult conversations of the priest's "beautiful corpse." The boy does not feel intense remorse for the loss of his friend, showing his youthfulness at trying to grasp the concept of death.

To the question presented in class, "What's wrong with Father Flynn?," I think that there was more to his death than the stroke. The sisters say that Flynn started going mad when he broke the religious chalice, and he was seen by others laughing at the confessional (thus showing his decline in mental stability). The boy's mother also questions if Father Flynn received Extreme Unction, and the boy's dream depicts Flynn moving his lips as if confessing. All of these indicators make it sound like the priest must have committed some sort of sin that perhaps further led him to death. However, because we discussed that there was no sort-of closeted transgression between the boy and the priest, I'm not exactly sure what type of sin led to his demise.

In terms of the title, "The Sisters," the two sisters of Father Flynn merely try to take care of the priest before his death. They seem like good-hearted woman when they talk to the boy's mother, and describe that Flynn passed away peacefully and looked beautiful in his death. I think the title may be related to the sisters because of the overarching themes of religion and its correlation to the state of Ireland. The sisters care for the priest (who probably sinned himself - showing the decline of Christianity/Ireland) but are unable to heal him, possibly showing that the state of Ireland or the institutions in Ireland are in disrepair.