Also, the Morlocks’ spider-like physical structure seems to indicate the fact that the working class is often forced to “juggle” many, many tasks at one time. The imagery of their having many arms is an adaptation (literally, in this context) of having to do so many things at once. Even today, we see this. Employers for blue-collar jobs often ask on their applications questions like the following: “How well can you handle doing many tasks at once?” and “How well do you work in a fast-paced environment where many things are happening at once?”. The working class has evolved in The Time Machine to have many hands as the result of countless years of demands such as we have today in our working-class establishments. Wells seems to have a lot of commentary on the lower-classes and their development under the oppressive upper-classes. He asks “[w]hat if in this interval [of 800,700 years] the race [lower-class descendants] had lost its manliness, and had developed into something inhuman, unsympathetic, and overwhelmingly powerful?” (19) This, I think, would be the outcome of the incessant labor of the lower-classes, unless technology takes over. The conflict and evil that will result from the essentially forced labor of the lower-classes may lead to “humanity on the wane” and “the sunset of mankind” (26). The upper-classes had developed into “a slow movement of degeneration, to a general dwindling in size, strength, and intelligence” (42). I see a lot of truth in this, even, or especially, today. Although I really don’t think I can see any literal value in the lower-classes becoming “subterranean” (40), I see the symbolism of it as something valuable. I do not see the adaptive value of the lower-classes descending below the earth and loathing any sort of light. I don’t know if Wells saw any literal value in this either. To me, it provides an excellent metaphor of the working-class conditions, but I can’t see it happening in reality. Overall, I think The Time Machine is rather terrifying. First of all, it just makes humanity look like a confused bunch of chaos, leading basically nowhere and for no purpose. It makes humanity looks as though it is just another species that has evolved on Earth, and like all other species, will pass away into non-existence. This, to me, belittles our importance as reasonable and rational creatures. It diminishes and depreciates humanity’s religious thinking and reasoning. That is, it appears nihilistic and even atheistic. The book suggests that there will not be a decisive end and/or renewal of the world and of mankind, as in many religious belief systems. It suggests instead that the earth will continue to revolve around the sun until it becomes an uninhabitable ball of rock like the other planets. This attaches no real significance to the human condition, then. Rather, it seems to suggest that humanity is insignificant, and that every aspiration, ultimately, is pointless. Of course, I know that what authors suggest in their work is oftentimes meant to put things in perspective so that readers will become more conscious of certain issues. I feel that this work, then, is within the genre of Theatre of the Absurd. It suggests that mankind’s ambitions are destroying itself. But this is only done in an effort to raise humanity’s current conscience. Perhaps, then, the future will not look so grim as Wells’ paints it out to be.
Work Cited Wells, H. G. The Time Machine. 1st. Mineola: Dover Pubns, 1995. Print
Piano meets electric guitar and a powerful female lead all dressed up in a blue toned gothic music video. It was 2003, I was a freshman in high school sitting in my ratty living room and “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence it was the best thing I had ever heard. There was something about the song that got my pulse pumping and honestly made me feel more alive or at least more awake. Returning to the same song after nearly a decade I knew it was still good but it didn’t have quite as powerful a connection. I believe it was because I moved further away from the intended audience and I didn’t need the song to ‘wake me up’ any more.
When only looking at the lyrics, cool tone images are brought to mind. (The cool palette is, in fact, used in the accompanying music video—along with generous use of wind machines.) The voice of the piece encourages this chilled and lonely feeling by the use of key words like “numb”, “frozen”, and “dark”. Already it seems that the intended audience should be one that is familiar with depression and the empty (often referred to as a cold or numb) sort of feeling it can bring. They have felt locked up to the point that they are just shells moving about, cut off from caring much about anything to the point that they don’t really feel anything anymore and it takes an outside source to really identify what they’ve lost. This is all but spelled out in the introduction lines: How can you see into my eyes like open doors? Leading you down into my core Where I’ve become so numb Without a soul My spirit’s sleeping somewhere cold Until you find it there and lead it back home (1-6).
Yet the song in its intended form enforces a lonely atmosphere even before the lyrics begin; staccato piano notes dropping like raindrops amidst a whistle of wind. The repeated use of a wind theme is a variation of the “cold” as well as intensifying the loneliness of the song; it is as if there is so little else in the world there is nothing to stop the movement of air. But it’s not long after the actual lyrics begin that the slow tempo of music is revved up and empowered with electric guitar, bass, and a drum beat. The voice has finally been “seen” and actually felt something beneath all these icy layers of loneliness and the tempo switch reflects a feverous desire to fight and hold onto this. The voice isn’t happy in this frozen state and a moment of feeling makes going back akin to death. The intended reader (such as my sophomore self) knows this, knows how falling back into the emotional void would be physically painful now that they have a glimpse of the other side. This is the very heart of the piece, begging to be saved from the cage they built around themselves. It all comes together in the climax of the song: All of this time I can't believe I couldn't see Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me I’ve been sleeping a thousand years it seems Got to open my eyes to everything Without thought, without a voice, without a soul Don't let me die here There must be something more Bring me to life
(Wake me up) Wake me up inside (I can’t wake up) Wake me up inside (Save me) Call my name and save me from the dark (Wake me up) Bid my blood to run (I can’t wake up) Before I come undone (Save me) Save me from the nothing I’ve become (36-56).
The song is a cry for help which is easy for the audience to identify with. The piece reflects the pain of being trapped in this bleak atmosphere and scrambling when there is a taste of hope offered. To me, it is an obviously effective representation of the audience’s state of being simply because now that I am no longer a part of the intended audience, I do not identify so strongly with the song.
[Author's Note: I.. don't really know that I really know what I'm doing. I feel like I'm not doing it 'right' and I felt the more insecure about this one so please be kind?]
For this assignment, I decided to deconstruct Eminem’s music video for his song “Stan” (short version) using Reader- Response Criticism. Using this method I was able to determine why the text seemed so frightening to viewers including myself. There are many frightening parts to this video but the opening scene of the video sets the tone for the main characters mental state, and it becomes clear this video will not have a happy ending. The weather at the beginning of the video is horrible, a thunderstorm to be exact. Meanwhile, the camera goes into the house and focuses on the main character in the bathroom pouring some liquid over his head. It is not clear what this liquid is at first, but then his hair turns blond and it is obvious that the liquid was bleach. Even in these first few seconds of the video, it apparent that there is something off about the main character Stan. From his sick smile, or maybe just the fact that he bleached his hair on the night of a thunderstorm, whatever it is, something is wrong. The viewer then meet Stan’s pregnant girlfriend who desperately needs to use the bathroom. Stan gets irritated quickly and throws open the door and screams at her. When she sees what he has done she asks him if he thinks he might be taking things too far. He ignores her question and instead grabs her and throws her to the toilet and walks out. It is plain to see that even Stan’s girlfriend knows that something is wrong. The viewer then is able to see how badly he is treating his pregnant girlfriend by screaming at her and pushing her around. The viewer does not know exactly what is going on yet, but an explanation feels close. The camera stays with the girlfriend in the bathroom as she looks horrifyingly at the sink where Stan had the bleach. It then switches to Eminem in his tour bus receiving a pile of mail. It seems like this is all happening at the same time because of the thunderstorm. The camera switches back to the girlfriend one more time before it follows Stan down into his basement where he has Eminem’s face pasted all over his walls, pictures of him hanging from the ceiling, and an underground rap battle playing on the T.V. He even has a manikin standing next to the stairs in clothes which seem to fit Eminem’s personal style. Stan also has prewritten envelopes to Eminem’s fan club on his desk. As he sits down to write another letter, it is clear that this man is obsessed. The viewer then is able to understand why Stan bleached his hair in the beginning, so he could look more like his idol. This scene is very frightening because as the camera goes around showing the viewer everything in the room, it is also thundering and the light in the room is flashing. As Stan sits down to write a letter to Eminem the first verse begins. Stan tells Eminem that he has written him previous letters and is wondering why he has not heard back from yet, meanwhile on the tour bus, Eminem seems to be reading his letter. As Stan tells Eminem about what is going on in his life the camera continues to focus on Stan writing and then back out to show the whole room. The camera also looks up from the paper so the viewer can see the multitude of pictures hanging from the ceiling. This adds a great effect because the viewer is able to add more contexts to Stan writing the letter. For example, if the video just showed Stan writing the letter then that would be simple, but it shows him writing it in a kind of shrine that he has created for Eminem and the viewer is able to see that Stan is obsessed. The camera also shows Stan standing in front of a mirror where the viewer does not see Stan looking at himself. Instead the reflection of the mirror is Eminem. Stan signs the letter with “You biggest fan” and from the angles that the camera took, and the reflection in the mirror it is clear that this last line is an understatement.
The chorus shows Stan’s girlfriend asking him a question while he is watching T.V. and he flips out on her. The camera then switches to a Post Office where Stan’s letter to Eminem is dropped on the floor. Here the viewer can imply that Stan’s anger is rising because he thinks that Eminem is ignoring his letters. The camera switches back and Stan walks out of the room leaving his girlfriend looking confused. This part of the video was very frightening because of the way Stan was screaming at her. If the viewer looks closely, they can assume that she was asking him why there was not food because she had been looking in the refrigerator. For Stan to overreact and yell at his pregnant girlfriend because she was asking him why there was not any food is pretty sick. The next verse shows Stan back in the basement writing another letter to Eminem. This time the camera is at looking up from the paper so the viewer is able to see all of the pictures of Eminem hanging from the ceiling and again there is a thunderstorm. The viewer is also able to here the scribbling on the paper and this helps us assume that Stan is writing very hard. The expression on Stan’s face is very frightening and it is clear he is pouring all of his anger into the letter. The camera then switches to an Eminem concert that Stan and his little brother attended. Eminem looks at them and looks away quickly and it seems like he is ignoring them. The viewer is able to see that Stan’s little brother does not seem to enjoying himself at the concert and this may imply that Stan is trying to get his little brother to like Eminem as much as he does. Next the camera switches to outside of the concert where Stan is standing with no coat in the snow with his little brother waiting for Eminem. Eminem sees them and again seems to ignore them and is pulled away. The camera then switches back to the basement, still looking around the room so the viewer is able to see all of the pictures glued to the wall. The most frightening part of this verse is when Stan takes a picture of himself and his girlfriend, and a picture of Eminem and tapes it over his girlfriend. The viewer is now able to see, if it was not so clear before, that Stan is clinically obsessed with Eminem especially after what he did with the picture. The chorus shows the very unhappy couple sleeping when the girlfriend wakes up and sneaks downstairs. She goes into the basement and starts looking around and the viewer can assume that she is probably not allowed down there. She finds the picture of her and Stan with Eminem’s picture taped on top of her and the viewer can see disgust on her face. At this exact moment the viewer can see Stan standing behind her watching her. This is very frightening because any viewer would be able to tell from the anger in his letters to Eminem, and now his girlfriend is going through his stuff, that something horrible is about to happen.
Verse three shows Stan driving in a car in the thunderstorm screaming in a tape recorder to Eminem. As Stan is screaming in the tape recorder the viewer can see a picture of Eminem hanging by a string from the rear view mirror. This is usually where one keeps a picture of their loved ones or a car freshener, but instead it is another picture of Eminem. The camera then switches its view to the windshield and makes it clear that even though the windshield wipers are on, Stan cannot see anything while he is driving. The camera then switches its view back to the basement where the viewer is able to see Stan destroying his shrine to Eminem. The camera switches back to the car and it becomes clear that his girlfriend is not sitting beside him or behind him. The viewer only finds out where she is when Stan says that he tied her up and threw her in the trunk. Stan continues to scream at Eminem until he gets to the bridge and the camera slightly focuses on a sign that says the bridge is closed. Stan starts to swerve the car, not because of the sign, not because he is feeling remorseful about what he was about to do, but because he realized that he would not be able to send the tape to Eminem if he killed himself first. At the end of this verse the viewer sees the car fall off the bridge and into the lake below where it is engulfed in water. The final verse shows Eminem responding to all of Stan’s letters. The camera switches from Eminem to into the lake under the water where divers have jumped in and are trying to open the car door. It then switches back to Eminem asking about how Stan is doing and saying that he wrote an autograph for his little brother. When he says this the camera switches its view again, but his time to Stan’s little brother standing at his grave. The view switches again, this time to the scene outside of the concert where Stan was waiting for him. From this view the viewer can see that a girl tried to throw herself on Eminem which is why security pulled him away so quickly. The view of the video continues to reminisce on different parts of the video like where Stan is destroying his shrine, writing the second angry letter, and when he catches his girlfriend looking at the picture. As Eminem is telling Stan that he needs counseling and that he hopes his letter reaches him in time, meaning before he hurts anyone, the camera goes back to the crash site and the viewer can see the car being pulled out of the water. Once again at the grave, there is some woman talking to Stan’s little brother. He looks up at her and pulls back his hood and the viewer can see that he has also dyed his hair blond. As Eminem continues to write he talks about a newscast that he saw earlier that week and we are also able to see it. It was the news report about Stan and the car they found in the lake. As Eminem is speaking we are able to see the things happen in the news report. He says that they found a tape, and we see a man take the tape recorder and put it in an evidence bag. Eminem then continues to say that the news report did not say who the tape was to, and then Eminem realizes that it was Stan. When Eminem comes to this epiphany there is thunder and lightning which lights up the window next to Eminem and the viewer can see Stan looking in at Eminem. The video ends with Stan’s little brother standing at his grave. This video was simply a masterpiece. The viewer was able to see how Stan’s mind was slowly slipping differently from just reading the lyrics. We were also able to see Eminem’s reaction to the letters that Stan had been sending him all this time. This video conjured up many emotions which included disgust, disbelief and others. This video was mostly frightening, especially at the end when the ghost of Stan was watching Eminem. This was particularly scary because even in death he is still obsessed.
William Wordsworth’s poem “Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” is an important work of Romantic literature. In this poem, Wordsworth appeals to the emotions of the reader through nature. Through this appeal Wordsworth is able to convey the message of the Romantic poets; a rejection of modern living and the rationalization of the natural world. However, Wordsworth concerns himself primarily with the former, and throughout this piece he mentions the dreariness of town and city life, and how he often longs to be back amongst nature. The retrospective point of view is essential to one of the key points of the poem, this being that nature is eternal. The speaker in the poem returns to the banks of the river Wye after being absent for five years to find it much the same as it has always been, as evidenced by the following; “Once again do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs…” (4-5), “Once again I see these hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines of sportive wood run wild…” (15-17). Wordsworth is working with two themes in this poem which appeal to the reader. The first being that nature is eternal, granting the reader hope and joy in knowing that though the objects of the material world may come and go nature shall remain. The second is nostalgia: a complex emotion which to some may seem a mix of sadness that the past is gone, yet happiness in that it has happened. Through this, Wordsworth hopes to illicit a positive reaction from his readers, and hopefully foster an appreciation of nature. The tone of the piece is a peaceful, somber one, though the dominant tone could be considered one of reverence. The detail and eloquence with which the speaker describes the setting brings displays a reverence for the natural world that was typical of Romantic-era poetry, though it is important to highlight that the tone is reverent in a respectful way, not a fearful way. Wordsworth brings a sense of joy and happiness to his readers by positively describing the nature about him with the utmost enthusiasm. The speaker in the poem recalls all the times he felt sad or alone, and how by recalling the Wye he managed to cheer himself up, so to speak. This is an experience that readers can most likely relate to. It is not farfetched to think that most people have a specific memory that brings them great happiness and is something that they turn to when times are hard. It is in this way that Wordsworth manages to relate to his readers. In sum, Wordsworth uses retrospect and tone as two major strategies to illicit a positive response from his readers, one that encourages a reverence for nature and an overall sense of peace, tranquility, and joy.
“Birds of Paradise” “Birds of Paradise,” a song by the alternative rock group Your Vegas, is an upbeat and emotional song about two friends going through the trails of life. More specifically, the narrator of the song seems to be reassuring his friend, who is experiencing a mental condition, like paranoia or anxiety. The language of the text suggests the singer is telling his friend to be patient and not let go, even when things become difficult and unbearable. In the simplest of terms, this text is one friend’s plea to another: to keep the mental plague at bay and keep the good memories within reach. The first verse begins with the narrator, telling his friend to keep the fear and hatred from his mind. The relationship of the narrator and his friend is later exposed when he calls him “buddy” in the second verse (ln.21). These terms could apply to anything, but the next few lines, “And the fever, like a spider, walk your skin/ Can you still hear him? Still screaming science at the screen/ while the doctors try and cover the sin” (ln.3-6), seem to imply a type of madness. The more basic emotions are now being enhanced by something more sinister. It is in fact a “fever” of the mind and the image of spiders crawling on his friend’s skin that arouses the first notion of paranoia. The doctors that are mentioned could be trying to diagnose or treat the friend, but rather than saying anything about a cure, the doctors are trying to “cover the sin.” The doctors are psychiatrists and the sin they are attempting to cover could be something that the friend did in the past that he cannot bear to remember. In the end of the verse, the narrator once again reminds his friend to keep the fear at bay and to not keep his vulnerable, or “naked,” heart in a cage (ln.10). The chorus claims that the two friends are “just two cats sitting on a hot tin roof,” which could be reference to the Tennessee Williams’s play or a way of putting the two in a context of being “two peas in a pod”(ln.11). Regardless, the word “two” implies the closeness of the friends, and perhaps in a context similar to that of the play, which revolves around issues like death and falsehood. The next line brings the two friends together again, except that this time they are “young hearts” and “running down the backstreets like [they] never went to school”(ln.12). This shows that they are perhaps rebellious and have been together since childhood. The narrator says that he and his friend are “just soldiers fighting in a war against [their] own advice,” meaning that they are fighting an internal war (ln.13). The next line is where the title of the song, “Birds of Paradise,” first emerges (ln.14). The second verse talks of death and the friend’s doubts about whether heaven is just an idea in his mind or even if the devil is just mischief, rather than a threatening figure (ln.15-17). The narrator tells his friend that his life has been short, and tells him to “remember long nights buddy? When we were kids and love was ours to find”(ln.21-22). The lines just prior to this imply that his buddy’s life was “short from the moment [he] was born to the moment that the sun filled the sky”(ln.18-21) The reason these lines are presented in reverse chronological order is to clarify the narrator’s association between life and nighttime. The “moment that the sun filled the sky” is dawn, but the way that the narrator talks about it implies that it is the end of his friend’s life (ln.20). The reference to Valium (a drug taken to reduce anxiety) only supports the assertion that the friend is suffering from mental instability (ln.24).
The next portion of the text tells the friend to “hold on” despite everything that’s going on (ln.29-30)). The next line reinforces the reader’s belief in a mental condition by saying, “and when sometimes you’re not yourself be glad at least you’re someone” (ln.32). Oftentimes when someone has a psychological condition, he is referred to as not being “himself.” This is a rather optimistic take on mental instability, but being “someone” is probably better to the friend than being “no one.” The constant references to fear, anxiety and psychosis allow the narrator to explain what his friend is going through. However, the constant support and reassurance offered by the narrator seems to be conveying to the reader that there is a strong friendship between the two. He talks about being together growing up and being conflicted throughout life, but in essence, they are “just birds of paradise.” This statement seems ironic, considering the emotional hell that the friend is going through, but this could be the narrator’s assurance, that his friend is a beautiful creature in a beautiful place.
Your Vegas. "Birds of Paradise." Rec. 29 Apr. 2008. A Town and Two Cities. Universal, 2008. Lyrics Mode. MTV Networks. Web. 20 Jan. 2012.
Reader-Response Critical Analysis: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by T. S. Eliot, is a poem that stands out if for nothing more than its sheer complexity. A first-time reader of this poem has a hard time following each line and stanza; the length of the poem poses a further challenge when one is trying desperately to unravel its meaning. I will attempt to think through this work using a critical method known as reader-response criticism, and I will think interactively with the work rather than subjectively or receptively. This type of criticism focuses on the reader and his or her interpretation of a work rather than the author or the work itself. My assessment of “Prufrock” is that it is about a man’s fear of moving time and death, and the questions and uncertainty he has are passed on to the reader. To begin, there are many words and literary devices throughout the poem that create images of time and death. The first stanza right away contains words like “evening”—the time of day where the light is fading into night, which could be a reference to a dying man—and “a patient etherized upon a table” (Eliot 3). The “patient” is the evening mentioned above, suggesting the speaker is about to perform surgery on this “patient,” or, in other words, delve deep into the meaning of the evening. The “overwhelming question” later in the stanza is the first mention of man’s existential curiosity (10). The second stanza is completely a reference to time; the women are coming and going, possibly over years and years, speaking of Michelangelo, a great painter whose work has transcended time. These lines made me feel small and brief, like I was a mere ant who would quickly be forgotten after my death The third stanza is all about day turning to night. The “yellow fog” that is the main character of this verse is sunlight, rubbing on window-panes, still making itself known as the evening grows darker (Eliot 15). However, it does have to “[fall] asleep,” since it cannot coexist with the night (22). The words fog and smoke, along with the suggestion that the light is touching stagnant water in drains, invokes a feeling of suffocation or trepidation in the reader. Stanza four contains eight instances of the word “time.” It illustrates the idea that there is so much time packed into a few hours—“Before the taking of toast and tea” there is time for indecisions, questions, birth and death, and the speaker and his addressee (Eliot 34). Later, in stanza six, the speaker talks of turning back and “[descending] the stair” (39). This means he has already climbed this set of stairs, suggesting he is reaching the peak of his life and must soon turn back to descend into old age. The repeated question “Do I dare?” in this stanza is most likely a reference to Hamlet’s similar inquiry “To be or not to be?” Hamlet is also referenced in line 111 (38). At this point, the sheer magnitude of time was forced on me as I thought of how many people are born and die in the span of an hour, and how many thoughts one can think in a second. Lines 55-61 indicate the speaker is now in a hospital. He has “known the eyes…that fix you in a formulated phrase” (Eliot). These are the doctors making diagnoses and pinning him to a wall. He feels he must recount his whole life and the way he spent it, perhaps so the doctors can make a clearer assessment. The next stanza, lines 62-69, also suggest either hospitalization or a morgue. Arms are “braceleted and white and bare;” the bracelet is either a hospital armlet or some kind of numbering tag, while the arm is either sickly white or dead (63). “Arms that lie along a table” could refer to an operating or autopsy table (67). This line reminded me of CSI, where bodies are laid out on metal tables to be analyzed, as I am now analyzing this poem. Am I turning this poem into a “formulated phrase” and pinning it to a wall?
Lines 81-86 show the speaker’s first flickers of doubt about his ending. He has imagined his death, saw the Footman, or Grim Reaper, laugh at him and he became afraid. He now wonders if he should be more lighthearted about his doom, instead trying to analyze the universe or crack jokes. Again, the speaker recounts the passage of time with images from his past: sunsets, dooryards, sprinkled streets, etc. as he wonders if all of it was worth it for a misunderstanding in the end. The repetition of the phrase “That is not what I meant at all” was the most confusing part for me (Eliot 97). The person who says this could be a lover, a doctor, or some heavenly being; I have found no evidence to support one over the other. Lines 111-119 show the speaker reaffirming his place as a minor character rather than Prince Hamlet. This could represent the time in a person’s life when he or she finally realizes the world does not revolve around him or her, and one accepts one’s place in the universe. The line “Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?” shows the speaker considering covering up his old age (Eliot 122). He wants to cover his bald spot and, if he has dentures, maybe not eat a peach in case they come out. Since I am a teenager with an entire life ahead of me, it feels as though I am the center of the world sometimes. However, is it my place to be the attendant lord or the prince’s advisor rather than the prince? In the final lines of the poem, the speaker mentions mermaids and the sea. Mermaids are known for singing to sailors to enthrall them and drag them underwater. In this case, the mermaids might just be women calling to each other, riding the waves, ignoring the old man walking across the beach. In the last stanza, the sea could be a symbol of death; the ocean is still, silent, and dark in its chambers. There is no air underwater, and so one does not breathe. The sea-girls with red and brown hair are a pleasure for this man, but when humans try to wake him from this place, he drowns in his ocean of death. The use of the word “drown” in the last line is interesting, since humans are dragging the speaker from the ocean and “we” drown on land. The multitude of images of the ocean is another reason why the poem is about time and death; the sea is a timeless entity that will outlive the human race. The sea is a scary place that can so easily take the lives of those who dare to swim in it. The speaker mentions that he would be better off as a crab that isn’t afraid of the water, but rather lives on the bottom and knows the ocean’s secrets. Since water is such a huge fear among humans, the use of oceanic imagery is appropriate. Through interactive reader-response criticism, it becomes obvious that “Prufrock” is about a man’s thoughts and reactions to time and his looming death. All the references the speaker makes to the sea, the passing of time, and various notions of death reaffirm this idea. The speaker is on a journey of self-realization in his life; this poem is the eulogy that he is sharing with the world. My own interpretation of the words and phrases led me to this conclusion, though someone else could come up with an entirely different idea, as the definition of reader-response criticism states.
Eliot, Thomas Stearns. "1. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Prufrock and Other Observations. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1920. Bartleby.com. 2011. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. .
Critique: Reader Response – “The Tell-Tale Heart” “Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!—No, no! They heard!—They suspected!—They knew!—They were making a mockery of my horror!” (Poe 125). In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main protagonist confesses his guiltiness of murder in a long monologue given to an unidentified audience. Through the unique tone, use of language, and implementation of symbolism, this piece presents an attention-catching tale to its readers and is an essential piece of literature because of the valuable story it creates. The main character, who is assumed to be a man but has no pronouns or details to prove it and could therefore be a woman, tells that although—for purposes of simplicity we will refer to the main character as a man—he has committed murder on the old man who housed him, he claims that he is not crazy. “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded” (Poe 119). Though the readers can see that the main character is in fact crazy, readers can find sympathy with the main character and can even be charmed by his story. Throughout the piece there is repetition. The main character and speaker of the story often repeats what he says, which shows the readers that this man is in fact as insane as they don’t want to believe he is. There is also the use of double words, such as “cautiously—oh, so cautiously—cautiously”, and “slowly—very, very slowly” (Poe 119). After he describes the full detail of the murder, the narrator’s oration relaxes and the repetition of single words becomes few and far between until he starts to describe the scene with the policemen, and then his nervousness increases with the repetitions. “It grew louder—louder!... No, no!... This I thought, and this I think…louder! Louder! Louder! Louder!... Here, here!—it is the beating of his hideous heart!” (Poe 126). The quick and short repetitions at the climax help the readers to understand the narrator’s nervousness and adds suspense. It also reinforces the idea of obsession from the main character. There is also a lot of great symbolism throughout the story. The main character describes how he watched the older man with the vulture eye sleep for seven nights, and then on the eighth night, the old man is awakened and lies in his bed, afraid that someone is coming for him. The symbolism is that death in fact is the presence he feels that is coming for him. The old man’s murderer symbolizes the idea of death coming to claim his life. A better example of symbolism is the description of the beating heart the main character supposedly hears from the floor boards in which the old man’s body is hidden. The murderer described it: “…the sound increased—and what could I do? It was a dull, quick sound—much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton” (Poe 122). The narrator hears the beating heart to show that the fear inside of him is still active, that he murdered the old man in attempt to kill part of himself, the part which was disgusted with the eye.
In the story, the man is obsessed with timekeeping. He also gives detailed descriptions of the times he secretly watched the man sleep. It can be concluded from the reoccurring ideas of time and watching are symbolic of the man’s fear of death. The man describes his older housemate—their relationship unidentified—“listening; just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall” (Poe 122). The “death-watch” is a bug that beats its head against wood of which it attaches itself. It is connected to the connotation of the point at which time ends, for each person this being death. The murderer repeatedly brings up the idea of watching the old man because he fears death. This particular story is very unique, with its dark images and surprising themes. The tone, linguistic revelations, and symbolism throughout the piece captivates the readers’ attention, keeping them in suspense throughout the entire story from the admittance of the crime to its climactic ending of which there had been no foreshadowing. “The Tell-Tale Heart” possesses all of the qualities that make it an essential read and valuable piece of literature.
Failure happens once someone gives up trying to reach their goals. Too often, people view slight malfunctions as complete failure of a dream. However, without any small setbacks, learning the lessons of life would not be a possible feat. One must struggle to reach their aspirations in order to appreciate where they have gotten and how far they have come. In “As I grew older,” Langston Hughes describes a struggle that must be fought against in order to succeed. Langston himself fought through the struggles of becoming a successful poet during a time where racism was prominent. In analyzing this poem, one can see that there is no satisfaction in a success if it takes no hard work to achieve it. In the opening stanza, Langston Hughes describes the dream that is present. In lines 5-6, Hughes writes, “Bright like a sun- My dream.” These lines are prominent to me as a reader because the sun is a symbol of happiness and optimism in my own mind. With my strong belief in goal-setting and the idea that perseverance leads to achievement, I instantly found a connection with this poem from just the first few lines. I was raised to understand that if goals are not set, success will not be attained. The brightness of these opening lines are like the beginning years of life; filled with promise, open to all ideas, and waiting on the possessor to assume responsibility. The second stanza erases all feelings of optimism and cheerfulness. In my reading experience, I have found that walls typically represent obstacles, such as the walls a person puts up when they are guarding their emotions. “Between me and my dream, rose until it touched the sky-the wall,” (Hughes, 10-12). By implying that the wall has risen to the highest possible point, Hughes is indicating that the obstacles are at their peak. There always seems to be a point where a person realizes that the struggles can get no greater; meaning, in essence, that nothing can go worse than it already is going. When striving to complete my goals, the obstacles reached a point where the goals seemed no longer attainable. At this point, one must determine whether to continue pursuing the goal or whether one should give up. “I lie down in the shadow. No longer the light of my dream before me, Above me,” (Hughes, 15-17). The lines give a feeling of impending doom. Reading “I lie down in the shadow” gives a sense of hopelessness, as if the subject is surrendering to whatever obstacles are in the way. At this point in the poem, it seems as though giving up is the only choice, because there is no point in fighting when there is such a colossal obstacle to overcome. In the following lines, “Only the thick wall. Only the shadow,” (Hughes, 18-19) it is apparent that the subject is only aware of the obstacle, and can no longer see the initial goal. The wall is hindering the view, causing a total sense of pessimism. In the lines that follow this stanza, “Shadow. I am Black,” (Hughes, 13-14) there is a strong feeling of angst and anguish. Out of familiarity, the color black tends to represent a void, or an emptiness, which seems to trounce over any good that may be present.
The final stanza of this poem breaks out in an excited tone, assumed by the author’s use of exclamation points, which implies that the subject has not chosen to give up all hope. Shifting back to a sense of optimism and hope, the subject proclaims, My hands! My dark hands! Break through the wall! Find my dream! (Hughes, 20-23) The void that was once there, the darkness that was refuting the path toward a goal, is now leading toward the dream. Learning to overcome a struggle leads to new course of opportunity, as strength is built up and hopes return. A feeling of hope, the hope that was once lost, is restored and there is a newfound optimism within the subject. In the last four lines of this poem, which read, To break this shadow Into a thousand lights of sun Into a thousand whirling dreams, Of sun! (Hughes, 26-29) the author chooses to end the poem with the optimism that initiated the poem. The sun brings back the sense of success concerning the goal, while choosing a large number, such as “thousand,” gives a sense of shattering the wall and overcoming the obstacle with great strength and pride. Now that the large obstacle has been conquered, one can feel a grand sense of achievement. As a reader, it is possible to put yourself into a text and understand the text in a personal way. Experience has helped shape observations, and experiences are unique to everyone. Goals must be set in order for one to undergo a sense of accomplishment. When goals are set, there will always be obstacles, hindrances, or maybe even a wall or two that may interfere with achievement. When all goes dark, one must make important decisions regarding their goal and their obstacles. When one decides to burst through any barrier in order to reach what they desire, the goal will reappear in their path until they have finally reached success.
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ReplyDeleteAlso, the Morlocks’ spider-like physical structure seems to indicate the fact that the working class is often forced to “juggle” many, many tasks at one time. The imagery of their having many arms is an adaptation (literally, in this context) of having to do so many things at once. Even today, we see this. Employers for blue-collar jobs often ask on their applications questions like the following: “How well can you handle doing many tasks at once?” and “How well do you work in a fast-paced environment where many things are happening at once?”. The working class has evolved in The Time Machine to have many hands as the result of countless years of demands such as we have today in our working-class establishments.
ReplyDeleteWells seems to have a lot of commentary on the lower-classes and their development under the oppressive upper-classes. He asks “[w]hat if in this interval [of 800,700 years] the race [lower-class descendants] had lost its manliness, and had developed into something inhuman, unsympathetic, and overwhelmingly powerful?” (19) This, I think, would be the outcome of the incessant labor of the lower-classes, unless technology takes over. The conflict and evil that will result from the essentially forced labor of the lower-classes may lead to “humanity on the wane” and “the sunset of mankind” (26). The upper-classes had developed into “a slow movement of degeneration, to a general dwindling in size, strength, and intelligence” (42). I see a lot of truth in this, even, or especially, today.
Although I really don’t think I can see any literal value in the lower-classes becoming “subterranean” (40), I see the symbolism of it as something valuable. I do not see the adaptive value of the lower-classes descending below the earth and loathing any sort of light. I don’t know if Wells saw any literal value in this either. To me, it provides an excellent metaphor of the working-class conditions, but I can’t see it happening in reality.
Overall, I think The Time Machine is rather terrifying. First of all, it just makes humanity look like a confused bunch of chaos, leading basically nowhere and for no purpose. It makes humanity looks as though it is just another species that has evolved on Earth, and like all other species, will pass away into non-existence. This, to me, belittles our importance as reasonable and rational creatures. It diminishes and depreciates humanity’s religious thinking and reasoning. That is, it appears nihilistic and even atheistic. The book suggests that there will not be a decisive end and/or renewal of the world and of mankind, as in many religious belief systems. It suggests instead that the earth will continue to revolve around the sun until it becomes an uninhabitable ball of rock like the other planets. This attaches no real significance to the human condition, then. Rather, it seems to suggest that humanity is insignificant, and that every aspiration, ultimately, is pointless. Of course, I know that what authors suggest in their work is oftentimes meant to put things in perspective so that readers will become more conscious of certain issues. I feel that this work, then, is within the genre of Theatre of the Absurd. It suggests that mankind’s ambitions are destroying itself. But this is only done in an effort to raise humanity’s current conscience. Perhaps, then, the future will not look so grim as Wells’ paints it out to be.
Work Cited
Wells, H. G. The Time Machine. 1st. Mineola: Dover Pubns, 1995. Print
Piano meets electric guitar and a powerful female lead all dressed up in a blue toned gothic music video. It was 2003, I was a freshman in high school sitting in my ratty living room and “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence it was the best thing I had ever heard. There was something about the song that got my pulse pumping and honestly made me feel more alive or at least more awake. Returning to the same song after nearly a decade I knew it was still good but it didn’t have quite as powerful a connection. I believe it was because I moved further away from the intended audience and I didn’t need the song to ‘wake me up’ any more.
ReplyDeleteWhen only looking at the lyrics, cool tone images are brought to mind. (The cool palette is, in fact, used in the accompanying music video—along with generous use of wind machines.) The voice of the piece encourages this chilled and lonely feeling by the use of key words like “numb”, “frozen”, and “dark”.
Already it seems that the intended audience should be one that is familiar with depression and the empty (often referred to as a cold or numb) sort of feeling it can bring. They have felt locked up to the point that they are just shells moving about, cut off from caring much about anything to the point that they don’t really feel anything anymore and it takes an outside source to really identify what they’ve lost. This is all but spelled out in the introduction lines:
How can you see into my eyes like open doors?
Leading you down into my core
Where I’ve become so numb
Without a soul
My spirit’s sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find it there and lead it back home (1-6).
Yet the song in its intended form enforces a lonely atmosphere even before the lyrics begin; staccato piano notes dropping like raindrops amidst a whistle of wind. The repeated use of a wind theme is a variation of the “cold” as well as intensifying the loneliness of the song; it is as if there is so little else in the world there is nothing to stop the movement of air.
But it’s not long after the actual lyrics begin that the slow tempo of music is revved up and empowered with electric guitar, bass, and a drum beat. The voice has finally been “seen” and actually felt something beneath all these icy layers of loneliness and the tempo switch reflects a feverous desire to fight and hold onto this. The voice isn’t happy in this frozen state and a moment of feeling makes going back akin to death. The intended reader (such as my sophomore self) knows this, knows how falling back into the emotional void would be physically painful now that they have a glimpse of the other side. This is the very heart of the piece, begging to be saved from the cage they built around themselves. It all comes together in the climax of the song:
All of this time I can't believe I couldn't see
Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me
I’ve been sleeping a thousand years it seems
Got to open my eyes to everything
Without thought, without a voice, without a soul
Don't let me die here
There must be something more
Bring me to life
(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside
(I can’t wake up)
Wake me up inside
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run
(I can’t wake up)
Before I come undone
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I’ve become (36-56).
The song is a cry for help which is easy for the audience to identify with. The piece reflects the pain of being trapped in this bleak atmosphere and scrambling when there is a taste of hope offered. To me, it is an obviously effective representation of the audience’s state of being simply because now that I am no longer a part of the intended audience, I do not identify so strongly with the song.
[Author's Note: I.. don't really know that I really know what I'm doing. I feel like I'm not doing it 'right' and I felt the more insecure about this one so please be kind?]
For this assignment, I decided to deconstruct Eminem’s music video for his song “Stan” (short version) using Reader- Response Criticism. Using this method I was able to determine why the text seemed so frightening to viewers including myself. There are many frightening parts to this video but the opening scene of the video sets the tone for the main characters mental state, and it becomes clear this video will not have a happy ending.
ReplyDeleteThe weather at the beginning of the video is horrible, a thunderstorm to be exact. Meanwhile, the camera goes into the house and focuses on the main character in the bathroom pouring some liquid over his head. It is not clear what this liquid is at first, but then his hair turns blond and it is obvious that the liquid was bleach. Even in these first few seconds of the video, it apparent that there is something off about the main character Stan. From his sick smile, or maybe just the fact that he bleached his hair on the night of a thunderstorm, whatever it is, something is wrong.
The viewer then meet Stan’s pregnant girlfriend who desperately needs to use the bathroom. Stan gets irritated quickly and throws open the door and screams at her. When she sees what he has done she asks him if he thinks he might be taking things too far. He ignores her question and instead grabs her and throws her to the toilet and walks out. It is plain to see that even Stan’s girlfriend knows that something is wrong. The viewer then is able to see how badly he is treating his pregnant girlfriend by screaming at her and pushing her around. The viewer does not know exactly what is going on yet, but an explanation feels close.
The camera stays with the girlfriend in the bathroom as she looks horrifyingly at the sink where Stan had the bleach. It then switches to Eminem in his tour bus receiving a pile of mail. It seems like this is all happening at the same time because of the thunderstorm. The camera switches back to the girlfriend one more time before it follows Stan down into his basement where he has Eminem’s face pasted all over his walls, pictures of him hanging from the ceiling, and an underground rap battle playing on the T.V. He even has a manikin standing next to the stairs in clothes which seem to fit Eminem’s personal style. Stan also has prewritten envelopes to Eminem’s fan club on his desk. As he sits down to write another letter, it is clear that this man is obsessed. The viewer then is able to understand why Stan bleached his hair in the beginning, so he could look more like his idol. This scene is very frightening because as the camera goes around showing the viewer everything in the room, it is also thundering and the light in the room is flashing.
As Stan sits down to write a letter to Eminem the first verse begins. Stan tells Eminem that he has written him previous letters and is wondering why he has not heard back from yet, meanwhile on the tour bus, Eminem seems to be reading his letter. As Stan tells Eminem about what is going on in his life the camera continues to focus on Stan writing and then back out to show the whole room. The camera also looks up from the paper so the viewer can see the multitude of pictures hanging from the ceiling. This adds a great effect because the viewer is able to add more contexts to Stan writing the letter. For example, if the video just showed Stan writing the letter then that would be simple, but it shows him writing it in a kind of shrine that he has created for Eminem and the viewer is able to see that Stan is obsessed. The camera also shows Stan standing in front of a mirror where the viewer does not see Stan looking at himself. Instead the reflection of the mirror is Eminem. Stan signs the letter with “You biggest fan” and from the angles that the camera took, and the reflection in the mirror it is clear that this last line is an understatement.
The chorus shows Stan’s girlfriend asking him a question while he is watching T.V. and he flips out on her. The camera then switches to a Post Office where Stan’s letter to Eminem is dropped on the floor. Here the viewer can imply that Stan’s anger is rising because he thinks that Eminem is ignoring his letters. The camera switches back and Stan walks out of the room leaving his girlfriend looking confused. This part of the video was very frightening because of the way Stan was screaming at her. If the viewer looks closely, they can assume that she was asking him why there was not food because she had been looking in the refrigerator. For Stan to overreact and yell at his pregnant girlfriend because she was asking him why there was not any food is pretty sick.
ReplyDeleteThe next verse shows Stan back in the basement writing another letter to Eminem. This time the camera is at looking up from the paper so the viewer is able to see all of the pictures of Eminem hanging from the ceiling and again there is a thunderstorm. The viewer is also able to here the scribbling on the paper and this helps us assume that Stan is writing very hard. The expression on Stan’s face is very frightening and it is clear he is pouring all of his anger into the letter. The camera then switches to an Eminem concert that Stan and his little brother attended. Eminem looks at them and looks away quickly and it seems like he is ignoring them. The viewer is able to see that Stan’s little brother does not seem to enjoying himself at the concert and this may imply that Stan is trying to get his little brother to like Eminem as much as he does. Next the camera switches to outside of the concert where Stan is standing with no coat in the snow with his little brother waiting for Eminem. Eminem sees them and again seems to ignore them and is pulled away.
The camera then switches back to the basement, still looking around the room so the viewer is able to see all of the pictures glued to the wall. The most frightening part of this verse is when Stan takes a picture of himself and his girlfriend, and a picture of Eminem and tapes it over his girlfriend. The viewer is now able to see, if it was not so clear before, that Stan is clinically obsessed with Eminem especially after what he did with the picture.
The chorus shows the very unhappy couple sleeping when the girlfriend wakes up and sneaks downstairs. She goes into the basement and starts looking around and the viewer can assume that she is probably not allowed down there. She finds the picture of her and Stan with Eminem’s picture taped on top of her and the viewer can see disgust on her face. At this exact moment the viewer can see Stan standing behind her watching her. This is very frightening because any viewer would be able to tell from the anger in his letters to Eminem, and now his girlfriend is going through his stuff, that something horrible is about to happen.
Verse three shows Stan driving in a car in the thunderstorm screaming in a tape recorder to Eminem. As Stan is screaming in the tape recorder the viewer can see a picture of Eminem hanging by a string from the rear view mirror. This is usually where one keeps a picture of their loved ones or a car freshener, but instead it is another picture of Eminem. The camera then switches its view to the windshield and makes it clear that even though the windshield wipers are on, Stan cannot see anything while he is driving. The camera then switches its view back to the basement where the viewer is able to see Stan destroying his shrine to Eminem. The camera switches back to the car and it becomes clear that his girlfriend is not sitting beside him or behind him. The viewer only finds out where she is when Stan says that he tied her up and threw her in the trunk. Stan continues to scream at Eminem until he gets to the bridge and the camera slightly focuses on a sign that says the bridge is closed. Stan starts to swerve the car, not because of the sign, not because he is feeling remorseful about what he was about to do, but because he realized that he would not be able to send the tape to Eminem if he killed himself first. At the end of this verse the viewer sees the car fall off the bridge and into the lake below where it is engulfed in water.
ReplyDeleteThe final verse shows Eminem responding to all of Stan’s letters. The camera switches from Eminem to into the lake under the water where divers have jumped in and are trying to open the car door. It then switches back to Eminem asking about how Stan is doing and saying that he wrote an autograph for his little brother. When he says this the camera switches its view again, but his time to Stan’s little brother standing at his grave. The view switches again, this time to the scene outside of the concert where Stan was waiting for him. From this view the viewer can see that a girl tried to throw herself on Eminem which is why security pulled him away so quickly. The view of the video continues to reminisce on different parts of the video like where Stan is destroying his shrine, writing the second angry letter, and when he catches his girlfriend looking at the picture.
As Eminem is telling Stan that he needs counseling and that he hopes his letter reaches him in time, meaning before he hurts anyone, the camera goes back to the crash site and the viewer can see the car being pulled out of the water. Once again at the grave, there is some woman talking to Stan’s little brother. He looks up at her and pulls back his hood and the viewer can see that he has also dyed his hair blond. As Eminem continues to write he talks about a newscast that he saw earlier that week and we are also able to see it. It was the news report about Stan and the car they found in the lake. As Eminem is speaking we are able to see the things happen in the news report. He says that they found a tape, and we see a man take the tape recorder and put it in an evidence bag. Eminem then continues to say that the news report did not say who the tape was to, and then Eminem realizes that it was Stan. When Eminem comes to this epiphany there is thunder and lightning which lights up the window next to Eminem and the viewer can see Stan looking in at Eminem. The video ends with Stan’s little brother standing at his grave.
This video was simply a masterpiece. The viewer was able to see how Stan’s mind was slowly slipping differently from just reading the lyrics. We were also able to see Eminem’s reaction to the letters that Stan had been sending him all this time. This video conjured up many emotions which included disgust, disbelief and others. This video was mostly frightening, especially at the end when the ghost of Stan was watching Eminem. This was particularly scary because even in death he is still obsessed.
William Wordsworth’s poem “Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” is an important work of Romantic literature. In this poem, Wordsworth appeals to the emotions of the reader through nature. Through this appeal Wordsworth is able to convey the message of the Romantic poets; a rejection of modern living and the rationalization of the natural world. However, Wordsworth concerns himself primarily with the former, and throughout this piece he mentions the dreariness of town and city life, and how he often longs to be back amongst nature.
ReplyDeleteThe retrospective point of view is essential to one of the key points of the poem, this being that nature is eternal. The speaker in the poem returns to the banks of the river Wye after being absent for five years to find it much the same as it has always been, as evidenced by the following; “Once again do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs…” (4-5), “Once again I see these hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines of sportive wood run wild…” (15-17). Wordsworth is working with two themes in this poem which appeal to the reader. The first being that nature is eternal, granting the reader hope and joy in knowing that though the objects of the material world may come and go nature shall remain. The second is nostalgia: a complex emotion which to some may seem a mix of sadness that the past is gone, yet happiness in that it has happened. Through this, Wordsworth hopes to illicit a positive reaction from his readers, and hopefully foster an appreciation of nature.
The tone of the piece is a peaceful, somber one, though the dominant tone could be considered one of reverence. The detail and eloquence with which the speaker describes the setting brings displays a reverence for the natural world that was typical of Romantic-era poetry, though it is important to highlight that the tone is reverent in a respectful way, not a fearful way. Wordsworth brings a sense of joy and happiness to his readers by positively describing the nature about him with the utmost enthusiasm. The speaker in the poem recalls all the times he felt sad or alone, and how by recalling the Wye he managed to cheer himself up, so to speak. This is an experience that readers can most likely relate to. It is not farfetched to think that most people have a specific memory that brings them great happiness and is something that they turn to when times are hard. It is in this way that Wordsworth manages to relate to his readers.
In sum, Wordsworth uses retrospect and tone as two major strategies to illicit a positive response from his readers, one that encourages a reverence for nature and an overall sense of peace, tranquility, and joy.
“Birds of Paradise”
ReplyDelete“Birds of Paradise,” a song by the alternative rock group Your Vegas, is an upbeat and emotional song about two friends going through the trails of life. More specifically, the narrator of the song seems to be reassuring his friend, who is experiencing a mental condition, like paranoia or anxiety. The language of the text suggests the singer is telling his friend to be patient and not let go, even when things become difficult and unbearable. In the simplest of terms, this text is one friend’s plea to another: to keep the mental plague at bay and keep the good memories within reach.
The first verse begins with the narrator, telling his friend to keep the fear and hatred from his mind. The relationship of the narrator and his friend is later exposed when he calls him “buddy” in the second verse (ln.21). These terms could apply to anything, but the next few lines, “And the fever, like a spider, walk your skin/ Can you still hear him? Still screaming science at the screen/ while the doctors try and cover the sin” (ln.3-6), seem to imply a type of madness. The more basic emotions are now being enhanced by something more sinister. It is in fact a “fever” of the mind and the image of spiders crawling on his friend’s skin that arouses the first notion of paranoia. The doctors that are mentioned could be trying to diagnose or treat the friend, but rather than saying anything about a cure, the doctors are trying to “cover the sin.” The doctors are psychiatrists and the sin they are attempting to cover could be something that the friend did in the past that he cannot bear to remember. In the end of the verse, the narrator once again reminds his friend to keep the fear at bay and to not keep his vulnerable, or “naked,” heart in a cage (ln.10).
The chorus claims that the two friends are “just two cats sitting on a hot tin roof,” which could be reference to the Tennessee Williams’s play or a way of putting the two in a context of being “two peas in a pod”(ln.11). Regardless, the word “two” implies the closeness of the friends, and perhaps in a context similar to that of the play, which revolves around issues like death and falsehood. The next line brings the two friends together again, except that this time they are “young hearts” and “running down the backstreets like [they] never went to school”(ln.12). This shows that they are perhaps rebellious and have been together since childhood. The narrator says that he and his friend are “just soldiers fighting in a war against [their] own advice,” meaning that they are fighting an internal war (ln.13). The next line is where the title of the song, “Birds of Paradise,” first emerges (ln.14).
The second verse talks of death and the friend’s doubts about whether heaven is just an idea in his mind or even if the devil is just mischief, rather than a threatening figure (ln.15-17). The narrator tells his friend that his life has been short, and tells him to “remember long nights buddy? When we were kids and love was ours to find”(ln.21-22). The lines just prior to this imply that his buddy’s life was “short from the moment [he] was born to the moment that the sun filled the sky”(ln.18-21) The reason these lines are presented in reverse chronological order is to clarify the narrator’s association between life and nighttime. The “moment that the sun filled the sky” is dawn, but the way that the narrator talks about it implies that it is the end of his friend’s life (ln.20). The reference to Valium (a drug taken to reduce anxiety) only supports the assertion that the friend is suffering from mental instability (ln.24).
The next portion of the text tells the friend to “hold on” despite everything that’s going on (ln.29-30)). The next line reinforces the reader’s belief in a mental condition by saying, “and when sometimes you’re not yourself be glad at least you’re someone” (ln.32). Oftentimes when someone has a psychological condition, he is referred to as not being “himself.” This is a rather optimistic take on mental instability, but being “someone” is probably better to the friend than being “no one.”
ReplyDeleteThe constant references to fear, anxiety and psychosis allow the narrator to explain what his friend is going through. However, the constant support and reassurance offered by the narrator seems to be conveying to the reader that there is a strong friendship between the two. He talks about being together growing up and being conflicted throughout life, but in essence, they are “just birds of paradise.” This statement seems ironic, considering the emotional hell that the friend is going through, but this could be the narrator’s assurance, that his friend is a beautiful creature in a beautiful place.
Your Vegas. "Birds of Paradise." Rec. 29 Apr. 2008. A Town and Two Cities. Universal, 2008. Lyrics Mode. MTV Networks. Web. 20 Jan. 2012.
Reader-Response Critical Analysis: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
ReplyDelete“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by T. S. Eliot, is a poem that stands out if for nothing more than its sheer complexity. A first-time reader of this poem has a hard time following each line and stanza; the length of the poem poses a further challenge when one is trying desperately to unravel its meaning. I will attempt to think through this work using a critical method known as reader-response criticism, and I will think interactively with the work rather than subjectively or receptively. This type of criticism focuses on the reader and his or her interpretation of a work rather than the author or the work itself. My assessment of “Prufrock” is that it is about a man’s fear of moving time and death, and the questions and uncertainty he has are passed on to the reader.
To begin, there are many words and literary devices throughout the poem that create images of time and death. The first stanza right away contains words like “evening”—the time of day where the light is fading into night, which could be a reference to a dying man—and “a patient etherized upon a table” (Eliot 3). The “patient” is the evening mentioned above, suggesting the speaker is about to perform surgery on this “patient,” or, in other words, delve deep into the meaning of the evening. The “overwhelming question” later in the stanza is the first mention of man’s existential curiosity (10). The second stanza is completely a reference to time; the women are coming and going, possibly over years and years, speaking of Michelangelo, a great painter whose work has transcended time. These lines made me feel small and brief, like I was a mere ant who would quickly be forgotten after my death
The third stanza is all about day turning to night. The “yellow fog” that is the main character of this verse is sunlight, rubbing on window-panes, still making itself known as the evening grows darker (Eliot 15). However, it does have to “[fall] asleep,” since it cannot coexist with the night (22). The words fog and smoke, along with the suggestion that the light is touching stagnant water in drains, invokes a feeling of suffocation or trepidation in the reader.
Stanza four contains eight instances of the word “time.” It illustrates the idea that there is so much time packed into a few hours—“Before the taking of toast and tea” there is time for indecisions, questions, birth and death, and the speaker and his addressee (Eliot 34). Later, in stanza six, the speaker talks of turning back and “[descending] the stair” (39). This means he has already climbed this set of stairs, suggesting he is reaching the peak of his life and must soon turn back to descend into old age. The repeated question “Do I dare?” in this stanza is most likely a reference to Hamlet’s similar inquiry “To be or not to be?” Hamlet is also referenced in line 111 (38). At this point, the sheer magnitude of time was forced on me as I thought of how many people are born and die in the span of an hour, and how many thoughts one can think in a second.
Lines 55-61 indicate the speaker is now in a hospital. He has “known the eyes…that fix you in a formulated phrase” (Eliot). These are the doctors making diagnoses and pinning him to a wall. He feels he must recount his whole life and the way he spent it, perhaps so the doctors can make a clearer assessment. The next stanza, lines 62-69, also suggest either hospitalization or a morgue. Arms are “braceleted and white and bare;” the bracelet is either a hospital armlet or some kind of numbering tag, while the arm is either sickly white or dead (63). “Arms that lie along a table” could refer to an operating or autopsy table (67). This line reminded me of CSI, where bodies are laid out on metal tables to be analyzed, as I am now analyzing this poem. Am I turning this poem into a “formulated phrase” and pinning it to a wall?
Lines 81-86 show the speaker’s first flickers of doubt about his ending. He has imagined his death, saw the Footman, or Grim Reaper, laugh at him and he became afraid. He now wonders if he should be more lighthearted about his doom, instead trying to analyze the universe or crack jokes. Again, the speaker recounts the passage of time with images from his past: sunsets, dooryards, sprinkled streets, etc. as he wonders if all of it was worth it for a misunderstanding in the end. The repetition of the phrase “That is not what I meant at all” was the most confusing part for me (Eliot 97). The person who says this could be a lover, a doctor, or some heavenly being; I have found no evidence to support one over the other.
ReplyDeleteLines 111-119 show the speaker reaffirming his place as a minor character rather than Prince Hamlet. This could represent the time in a person’s life when he or she finally realizes the world does not revolve around him or her, and one accepts one’s place in the universe. The line “Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?” shows the speaker considering covering up his old age (Eliot 122). He wants to cover his bald spot and, if he has dentures, maybe not eat a peach in case they come out. Since I am a teenager with an entire life ahead of me, it feels as though I am the center of the world sometimes. However, is it my place to be the attendant lord or the prince’s advisor rather than the prince?
In the final lines of the poem, the speaker mentions mermaids and the sea. Mermaids are known for singing to sailors to enthrall them and drag them underwater. In this case, the mermaids might just be women calling to each other, riding the waves, ignoring the old man walking across the beach. In the last stanza, the sea could be a symbol of death; the ocean is still, silent, and dark in its chambers. There is no air underwater, and so one does not breathe. The sea-girls with red and brown hair are a pleasure for this man, but when humans try to wake him from this place, he drowns in his ocean of death. The use of the word “drown” in the last line is interesting, since humans are dragging the speaker from the ocean and “we” drown on land.
The multitude of images of the ocean is another reason why the poem is about time and death; the sea is a timeless entity that will outlive the human race. The sea is a scary place that can so easily take the lives of those who dare to swim in it. The speaker mentions that he would be better off as a crab that isn’t afraid of the water, but rather lives on the bottom and knows the ocean’s secrets. Since water is such a huge fear among humans, the use of oceanic imagery is appropriate.
Through interactive reader-response criticism, it becomes obvious that “Prufrock” is about a man’s thoughts and reactions to time and his looming death. All the references the speaker makes to the sea, the passing of time, and various notions of death reaffirm this idea. The speaker is on a journey of self-realization in his life; this poem is the eulogy that he is sharing with the world. My own interpretation of the words and phrases led me to this conclusion, though someone else could come up with an entirely different idea, as the definition of reader-response criticism states.
Eliot, Thomas Stearns. "1. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Prufrock and Other Observations. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1920. Bartleby.com. 2011. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. .
Critique: Reader Response – “The Tell-Tale Heart”
ReplyDelete“Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!—No, no! They heard!—They suspected!—They knew!—They were making a mockery of my horror!” (Poe 125). In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main protagonist confesses his guiltiness of murder in a long monologue given to an unidentified audience. Through the unique tone, use of language, and implementation of symbolism, this piece presents an attention-catching tale to its readers and is an essential piece of literature because of the valuable story it creates.
The main character, who is assumed to be a man but has no pronouns or details to prove it and could therefore be a woman, tells that although—for purposes of simplicity we will refer to the main character as a man—he has committed murder on the old man who housed him, he claims that he is not crazy. “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded” (Poe 119). Though the readers can see that the main character is in fact crazy, readers can find sympathy with the main character and can even be charmed by his story.
Throughout the piece there is repetition. The main character and speaker of the story often repeats what he says, which shows the readers that this man is in fact as insane as they don’t want to believe he is. There is also the use of double words, such as “cautiously—oh, so cautiously—cautiously”, and “slowly—very, very slowly” (Poe 119). After he describes the full detail of the murder, the narrator’s oration relaxes and the repetition of single words becomes few and far between until he starts to describe the scene with the policemen, and then his nervousness increases with the repetitions. “It grew louder—louder!... No, no!... This I thought, and this I think…louder! Louder! Louder! Louder!... Here, here!—it is the beating of his hideous heart!” (Poe 126). The quick and short repetitions at the climax help the readers to understand the narrator’s nervousness and adds suspense. It also reinforces the idea of obsession from the main character.
There is also a lot of great symbolism throughout the story. The main character describes how he watched the older man with the vulture eye sleep for seven nights, and then on the eighth night, the old man is awakened and lies in his bed, afraid that someone is coming for him. The symbolism is that death in fact is the presence he feels that is coming for him. The old man’s murderer symbolizes the idea of death coming to claim his life.
A better example of symbolism is the description of the beating heart the main character supposedly hears from the floor boards in which the old man’s body is hidden. The murderer described it: “…the sound increased—and what could I do? It was a dull, quick sound—much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton” (Poe 122). The narrator hears the beating heart to show that the fear inside of him is still active, that he murdered the old man in attempt to kill part of himself, the part which was disgusted with the eye.
In the story, the man is obsessed with timekeeping. He also gives detailed descriptions of the times he secretly watched the man sleep. It can be concluded from the reoccurring ideas of time and watching are symbolic of the man’s fear of death. The man describes his older housemate—their relationship unidentified—“listening; just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall” (Poe 122). The “death-watch” is a bug that beats its head against wood of which it attaches itself. It is connected to the connotation of the point at which time ends, for each person this being death. The murderer repeatedly brings up the idea of watching the old man because he fears death.
ReplyDeleteThis particular story is very unique, with its dark images and surprising themes. The tone, linguistic revelations, and symbolism throughout the piece captivates the readers’ attention, keeping them in suspense throughout the entire story from the admittance of the crime to its climactic ending of which there had been no foreshadowing. “The Tell-Tale Heart” possesses all of the qualities that make it an essential read and valuable piece of literature.
Failure happens once someone gives up trying to reach their goals. Too often, people view slight malfunctions as complete failure of a dream. However, without any small setbacks, learning the lessons of life would not be a possible feat. One must struggle to reach their aspirations in order to appreciate where they have gotten and how far they have come. In “As I grew older,” Langston Hughes describes a struggle that must be fought against in order to succeed. Langston himself fought through the struggles of becoming a successful poet during a time where racism was prominent. In analyzing this poem, one can see that there is no satisfaction in a success if it takes no hard work to achieve it.
ReplyDeleteIn the opening stanza, Langston Hughes describes the dream that is present. In lines 5-6, Hughes writes, “Bright like a sun- My dream.” These lines are prominent to me as a reader because the sun is a symbol of happiness and optimism in my own mind. With my strong belief in goal-setting and the idea that perseverance leads to achievement, I instantly found a connection with this poem from just the first few lines. I was raised to understand that if goals are not set, success will not be attained. The brightness of these opening lines are like the beginning years of life; filled with promise, open to all ideas, and waiting on the possessor to assume responsibility.
The second stanza erases all feelings of optimism and cheerfulness. In my reading experience, I have found that walls typically represent obstacles, such as the walls a person puts up when they are guarding their emotions. “Between me and my dream, rose until it touched the sky-the wall,” (Hughes, 10-12). By implying that the wall has risen to the highest possible point, Hughes is indicating that the obstacles are at their peak. There always seems to be a point where a person realizes that the struggles can get no greater; meaning, in essence, that nothing can go worse than it already is going. When striving to complete my goals, the obstacles reached a point where the goals seemed no longer attainable. At this point, one must determine whether to continue pursuing the goal or whether one should give up.
“I lie down in the shadow. No longer the light of my dream before me, Above me,” (Hughes, 15-17). The lines give a feeling of impending doom. Reading “I lie down in the shadow” gives a sense of hopelessness, as if the subject is surrendering to whatever obstacles are in the way. At this point in the poem, it seems as though giving up is the only choice, because there is no point in fighting when there is such a colossal obstacle to overcome. In the following lines, “Only the thick wall. Only the shadow,” (Hughes, 18-19) it is apparent that the subject is only aware of the obstacle, and can no longer see the initial goal. The wall is hindering the view, causing a total sense of pessimism. In the lines that follow this stanza, “Shadow. I am Black,” (Hughes, 13-14) there is a strong feeling of angst and anguish. Out of familiarity, the color black tends to represent a void, or an emptiness, which seems to trounce over any good that may be present.
The final stanza of this poem breaks out in an excited tone, assumed by the author’s use of exclamation points, which implies that the subject has not chosen to give up all hope. Shifting back to a sense of optimism and hope, the subject proclaims,
ReplyDeleteMy hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream! (Hughes, 20-23)
The void that was once there, the darkness that was refuting the path toward a goal, is now leading toward the dream. Learning to overcome a struggle leads to new course of opportunity, as strength is built up and hopes return. A feeling of hope, the hope that was once lost, is restored and there is a newfound optimism within the subject. In the last four lines of this poem, which read,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun
Into a thousand whirling dreams,
Of sun! (Hughes, 26-29)
the author chooses to end the poem with the optimism that initiated the poem. The sun brings back the sense of success concerning the goal, while choosing a large number, such as “thousand,” gives a sense of shattering the wall and overcoming the obstacle with great strength and pride. Now that the large obstacle has been conquered, one can feel a grand sense of achievement.
As a reader, it is possible to put yourself into a text and understand the text in a personal way. Experience has helped shape observations, and experiences are unique to everyone. Goals must be set in order for one to undergo a sense of accomplishment. When goals are set, there will always be obstacles, hindrances, or maybe even a wall or two that may interfere with achievement. When all goes dark, one must make important decisions regarding their goal and their obstacles. When one decides to burst through any barrier in order to reach what they desire, the goal will reappear in their path until they have finally reached success.