Monday, November 26, 2007

Song Lyrics Post

Did you expect it all to stop at the wave of your hand? Like the sun's just going to drop if it's night you demand. Well, in the dark we're just air so the house might dissolve. But once we are gone, who's gonna care if we were ever here at all? Well, summer's going to come, it's gonna cloud our eyes again. No need to focus when there's nothing that's worth seeing. So we trade liquor for blood in an attempt to tip the scales. I think you lost what you loved in that mess of details. They seemed so important at the timebut now you can't even recall any of the names, faces, or lines. It's more the feeling of it all. Well, winter is going to end, I'm going to clean these veins again. So close to dying that I finally can start living.

Essay Question # 3

In George Orwell's novel 1984, the protagonist Winston has thoughts about his past that haunt him and affect the way he lives gravely. Works of literature use past events that positively or negatively affect parts of the character. In 1984, Orwell uses past thoughts of Winston’s mother to highlight the affect she had on him.

Winston has flashbacks about not only his mother, but his wife. These thoughts seemed to haunt him through his daily life. His personal feelings about his mother make him go through life wishing that he was nicer to her. When he has the dream about being a little child and throwing temper tantrums about not having enough food for himself to eat, afterwards he would go through his day wondering where she was. The thoughts of Winston’s mother made him think about things like if she were still alive and if she was not than it would be his fault because he left her to starve. Also memories about his life would affect the way his was with Julia. The memories would be almost harmful to their relationship in that he would worry about how things would end up with her and how he liked to compare how much better Julia is than her.

Orwell uses these events to affect his characters for numerous reasons. The memories help to make the setting in 1984. Also the character’s memories help create the rebellion that Winston wanted against the government. Winston’s memories of his mother make him want to rebel so that maybe the way of life could be bettered.

Winston Smith’s haunting memories help to create his thoughts of rebelling against Big Brother. These past events with his mother negatively affect Winston to try and rebel. Authors use events like this in literature to produce actions or feelings in a character.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Album Response

i do not like the words to the third song. however i think that without the words it would not be good either. i think that words are needed for it just different words. the whole impossible germany unlikely japan thing is dumb but i also thing that it symbolizes something more important to the writer. overall i liked the message of the album. the way that most of the other words were put together really made you think and challenged the listener. one of my favorite songs was the forth one because of the way that the music and the writing flowed together. the way that poetry works with music is such an art form. the more creative that you get with it the better everything will flow together and sound better to the listener. even all the songs on this album seemed to flow with each other. for example on some cds one song will have nothing to do with another song even though the artist would say that they do. the transitions from one song to the next worked well. i do like songs that have a depressing sound to them. it think that when an artist writes out of depression that the work can be composed extremely well. however that doesnt mean that im saying to go off and get depressed or anything. there are many artists out there like kurt cobain, pete doherty, or blue october's justin furstenfeld who were depressed and into drugs that were trying to find themselves through all this stuff and they can be considered some of the most talented artists out there. tragedy seems to produce some of the most brilliant minds.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Metamorphosis Essay #2

Franz Kafka's novel The Metamorphosis uses many symbols to illuminate the role. Symbols hold a vast importance throughout the entire novel, bringing forth the special ideas that Franz Kafka wants to share with the world.
Kafka writes most of his stories as allegories. The Metamorphosis is one of his most famous novels where even the smallest, insignificant thing represents something. Many of the furniture and things that make up Gregor's bedroom are symbols for something else. For instance the window that Gregor sits and looks out of represents the outside world and Gregor's freedom. The furniture as a whole represents the past and how Gregor will never be able tot go back to the way his life was. The door is also a main symbol in this novel. The door represents freedom like the window, however the way that the family leaves it open for Gregor to watch them out of represents more than just freedom. Looking at this, makes the door possibly represents the deeper part of Gregor's feelings along the lines of how he really, deep down, resented his family. Because of them he had to work for this company that he did not like and he was not able to go off and have a life of his own because he was the only one around to take care of his family. The standing open door with him watching the family represents how although Gregor resented being with them he actually does now.
These symbols may not only stand for other things in the book. They can stand for things that were going on in a country around the world. When Gregor's family decides to let him go, get rid of him, and stop taking care of him acts like a form of betrayal. This betrayal symbolizes a much greater betrayal going on in the world. Kafka tries to use his novels to show impurities in life. The Metamorphosis was written to do something just like that; to possibly show how corrupt our families and lives can be and also show how a family may not have faith in a person once they go through a profound change.
The Metamorphosis holds strong literary merit as an allegory. The symbols that Kafka uses helps to show the reader specific ideas he has about the world and society.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

A Hunger Artist

1. Why would starving himself possibly make him happy?

2. How does the part where he talks about starving himself for 40 days relate to the bible?

3. Why in the world would could he be "fanatically devoted to fasting"?

4. Could this short story be trying to say something about how animal like society is if the hunger artist were to represent society?

5. What changes did u make about what you thought the symbols were once the hunger artist said his very last line?

6. What do the butchers represent?





The hunger artist used to be a very important part of society once. However now-a-days his popularity has started to decline. The hunger artist used to be able to sit around in his cage with tons of people gwaking at him. All sorts of people would come to watch the hunger artist; children, adults, even butchers would come to make sure that during the wee hours of the night the hunger artist did not eat. Even though the hunger artist would be obviously fasting people would still have their suspisions. The hunger artist foudn it the easiest thign in the world to fast. It was easy for him because he knew how to make it easy.



the Impresario sets the maximum amount of days to 40, he would never let the hunger artist go past that. Even after 40 days the people would probably start to loose interst in the hunger artist anyways, although different towns could be spoken for. On that fortieth day the cage door would be opened and the hunger artist would be removed by two young women. Outside the cage woudl be thousands of people; Usually a band and a couple doctors were the most specific. The women would take him to a table set with a hospital meal but when he would finally get to the table he would not feel liek actually eating.

After the many years that the hunger artist had done this it had grown old with the public forcing him to find another job. The hunger artist did not want another job however so he joined the circus where he would sit outside by the animals where people would walk by and maybe just glance at him. Every now and then a family would stop and teh father woould explain teh purpose of the hunger artsist to teh children however teh children still did not understand.

So many days had passed and the hunger artist had become unnoticed by all. Until one day the manager of teh circus saw teh cage and had to take it away teh hunger artist explained to him that he owuld ahve eaten if there just had been a food that he had liked. Making this his final words, the circusreplaced him by a rambucious panther.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Metamorphosis Essay 1

In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World John the savage torments himself with thoughts about his two worlds. As the thoughts fight in his mind and his actions help him discover which way to go he helps the reader to understand why utopic societies hurt the individual.

John the savage troubles himself with two main forces that pull him in different directions. The first force deals with the society that he grew up in. That society, the savage reservation, is what is natural to him, it is what he understands. John feels driven towards this society because it is his comfort zone even though as a child he was given mostly heartache. The other force compelling John is haunting new world.With his love for Lenina, he gravely attempts to fit in, however with the way in which both societies tug at him, he falls into confusion and despair.

Brave New World shows the inner part of John's mind. As the story unfolds and John comes to realize that this utopic society has it's flaws and could really never work. This society brings john down and destroyes him. Because of his troubles John decides to end his life, in relation to today's society this shows that if someone is brought into a new lifestyle through a sudden unpredictable change then serious pain could be brought upon that person. Brave New World is like a hint to the world about what could happen when society puts too much pressure on a person, showing how they could overwhelm themselves in the end taking their lives.

John the savage's mind is compelled by two different societies. With one being utopic and the other being "savage" he finds himself unable to understand the methods of why people do what they do. Also he cannot find a way to overcome his problems without suicide.