10/31/13

"True!  Nervous -- very, very nervous I had been and am!  But why will you say that I am mad?  The disease had sharpened my senses -- not destroyed them.

Above all was the sense of hearing.  I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth.  I heard many things in the underworld.  How, then, am I mad?  Observe how healthily -- how calmly I can tell you the whole story

If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise steps I took for hiding the body.  I worked quickly, but in silence.  First of all, I took apart the body.  I cut off the head and the arms and the legs." The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe

   In the spirit of Halloween, I decided to read The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe. (If you watch Criminal Minds and are in love with Matthew Gray Gubler like I am, then I suggest you google his reading of the poem/story. It's amazing!) Anyway, as I was reading the work, I decided to pick out the points that I found interesting. Interesting enough, the passages I found reminded me of chapter 7 in Grendel, the speaker is talking about how he is not mad. He brings up the question of if he is crazy or not. While Grendel, accuses himself of being crazy and points out that he is. The speaker of this work contrasts Grendel by pointing out that he is not crazy. Usually the word disease has a negative connotation. It leaves people weak and destroyed. But instead, the disease gifted him. The disease heightened his senses and made him a better man. It seems that the disease has given him a God like power. He is able to hear everything on Heaven and on Earth. He now has an omniscient presence.  This new power does not make him mad however. He is able to stay calm even though he can sense every little thing going on around him. Nothing phases him because he is now God.
   The second part of the work I selected was towards the end. He is still calming that he is not mad and that he is a rational human being. He is God and he can control the life and death of all people. He took specific steps to hide the body. It almost sounds as if he thinks himself as a genius because he hide the body so well. He worked "quickly but in silence." This ties back into the omniscient presence. God does not physically perform his deeds. He works silently like a ghost. The fact that he cuts up the old man's body reminds of fragmentation. He thinks he is organized and put together by taking the time to cut up the body. I think it is funny that he is trying to convince the reader that his mind is whole and not fragmented. In order to seem sane and whole, he cuts up the body which I think is a little ironic. He cuts off the head the arms and the legs. These parts are needed together to make the body seem whole. Without the limbs, the body is no longer pieced together how it is supposed to be naturally.  He is taking on the role of God and performing an unnatural act. He is taking control of a situation when is mind is spinning out of control. I think it is interesting that he is earnestly trying to convince the reader that he is not crazy. He's claiming that he is not crazy because he did a good job and murdering the man and hiding the body.  This is the logic of a mad man. A normal person would not be thinking of a murder as a natural and organized act. He could be trying to convince himself more than the reader that he is not crazy. He's trying to convince himself that what he did was a good thing. He is justifying the fact that he killed a man that never harmed him. The old man never harmed him, said a bad word about him, NOTHING. Yet he killed him. What a twisted work for a twisted Halloween. Happy Halloween everyone!

10/27/13

So Grendel is a lot more complicated, twisted, and weird than I expected it to be. Like hello I did not know about how Grendel violated the woman in chapter seven. Way too much imagery there! However, I was interested in connecting the Zodiac signs to chapters and figuring out why each chapter was a certain zodiac sign was picked for a chapter over another. My group and I are discussing chapter seven for the lesson project. The zodiac sign for chapter seven is the Libra. I researched certain the characteristics of the Libra. Some of the positive words for a libra are diplomatic, graceful, peaceful, idealistic, and hospitable. Now these words do not sound like they relate to any of the characters in Grendel so far. Grendel is a monster who can never seem to make up his mind on who to trust. The men seem to do whatever they want whenever they want. So who shows the positive qualities of a Libra? Well, a woman is introduced in this chapter. She sacrifices herself for her people. She tries to help all of the men and tries to be the peacekeeper between them. She is the only one who is portrayed as graceful and peaceful in the novel so far. Unlike the positive words associated with a Libra, the negative words seem to connect to chapter seven. Negative words associated with a Libra include superficial, vain, indecisive, and unreliable. Now these words connect with this chapter perfectly! All of the characters, except for possibly the woman, are superficial and vain. They look out for themselves and strive for power. They want gold and woman and power. They have their brotherhood, but their ultimate goal is to lookout for themselves. The thanes want to protect the king, and they do so because of the brotherhood, but they also want to move up in their society. They want to be the best thane they can be in order to gain treasures and rewards from the king. I was so excited when I learned that indecisive was a word that connects to a Libra. Grendel is the most indecisive character in the novel. Hello! Just make a decision and be done with it! Words cannot describe how frustrated I get with him because he cannot make up his mind and is easily influenced. Does he agree with the dragon? Does he agree with the men and the shaper? Should he kill the men? Should he try and be at peace with the men? WHO KNOWS? He sure does not know. He cannot figure out what is going on in his mind. Not only is he at war with the men, but he is also at war with himself. Grendel is not just indecisive, he is also unreliable. Since he is so indecisive, can we trust him as a narrator? Can we trust his opinions on the men or on the dragon? Once again, WHO KNOWS? These are a few of the questions I have been asking myself since the beginning of the novel, and so far, I have not found the answers.  I will continue to keep these questions in mind.  I also think it is a good idea to look up the zodiac sign of a certain chapter after you read it because it helps you understand how the characteristics of the zodiac sign connect to the chapter.  

Website used for zodiac sign info: http://zodiac-signs-astrology.com/zodiac-signs/libra.htm

10/6/13

   "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Elliot is quite an interesting poem.  I would like to start off by addressing the name of the speaker. J. Alfred Prufrock is such an interesting name for the name of a man who has his own love song.  When I picture J. Alfred Prufrock, I see an older man who is quiet and unattractive.  It is an odd name for a poem supposedly about a love song.
   The poem itself took a different turn than what I was expecting when I read the title.  The poem deals with society's pressure on the individual, inner conflict, sleep and dreams, fragmentation, etc.  I thought the poem would be about a man falling in love.  The poem was not only different than I expected, but a few aspects present in the poem are also present in the novel Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.  The element of fragmentation is present in both works.  The different stanzas of the poem seem to have a different image. The first stanza sets an image of the streets and life at night.  The last stanza sets an image of drowning and dying.  Then there are the stanzas in between, that talk about mermaids, and windows, and crying, and eyes.  SO MUCH IMAGERY.  While the poem is fragmented with imagery, Winesburg, Ohio is fragmented with different stories.  That is one of the reasons why critics argue over whether the novel is a collection of short stories or one novel.  Each chapter discusses a different story concerning a different grotesque.  The story "Hands" discusses the life of Wing Biddlebaum and the truth that brought him into Winesburg.  The story "Respectability" discusses the story of Wash Williams and his truth.  The only element of the novel that connects the stories is the character George Willard.  Similar to George, Prufrock is the only element of the poem that connects all of the imagery and fragmentation.  All of the images describe what he is feeling, and what he is thinking about in regards to his life and the decisions he made.
    Fragmentation is not the only connection between the novel and the poem.  Dismemberment plays a significant role in both works.  Certain parts of the body are focused on in both works.  The body is not looked at as a whole.  Prufrock states, "To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet; There will be time to murder and create, And time for all the works and days of hands," (Elliot 27-29).  Faces and hands are parts of a whole.  Elliot uses synecdoches often in the poem.  Prufrock seems to look at people in parts.  He does not look at people as a whole.  These parts are what define people.  Similar to Wing Biddlebaum in Winesburg.  Wing's hands are what cause him to become a grotesque.  His hands are the part of him that he is defined by.  He is constantly trying to hide his hands from getting too excited and emoting any feelings he has.  People in the town know him for his hands, not him as a whole. 
   Fragmentation and dismemberment are not the only connections between"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and Winesburg, Ohio.  I could go on for days talking about all of the themes that we discussed about in class.  Fragmentation and dismemberment were the two elements that I found to be interesting.  I enjoyed reading both the poem and the novel.  Analyzing the poem with the novel in mind helped me find deeper meaning in the poem.  It really is possible to find connections between any two pieces of literature!