Open Prompt

1986. Some works of literature use the element of time in a distinct way. The chronological sequence of events may be altered, or time may be suspended or accelerated. Choose a novel, an epic, or a play of recognized literary merit and show how the author's manipulation of time contributes to the effectiveness of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.


       In Audrey Niffenegger's book, The Time Travelers Wife, the author uses time travel to enhance her story. The way she uses time is quite interesting actually, because she creates a character who has a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably.

       The love story between Henry, the time traveler, and his wife Clare is a sad but amazing one. Niffenegger uses the time travel to have their love grow over time because once they meet naturally; Henry then begins to time travel back to Clare's childhood. This means that Clare has known Henry her whole life and she has been falling in love with Henry since she was six years old.  This strong connection between the love Clare has for him as she grows up and he is there for her then, and how she loves him when they are older proves how important the time travel was to their relationship.

       Henry and Clare’s story complicates when they are unable to conceive children due to the genetic disorder that Henry is passing onto the child. This is obviously very sad for the both of them because they want children but Henry does not want Clare to go through that pain of having miscarriages anymore and gets a vasectomy. This would have worked if a version Henry who had not yet had a vasectomy had not traveled to visit Clare and had gotten her pregnant. Henry is upset at first, but when the child is born is ultimately happy for the occurrence.

       Henry then travels and meets his ten-year-old daughter before she is technically born; he learns from his future daughter that she is able to somewhat control where she travels in time. He also learns some sad news. His daughter, Aba, informs him that he died when she was five years old. This give Henry the knowledge of his untimely death at the age of 43 and means he only has five years left to live. The way the author uses time travel to predict Henry’s death and how he dies is very clever and allows for a lot of emotional reaction from the reader because he knows, and we know that he is going to die and that he has zero control over it.

       Niffenegger uses time effectively to show the connection and love between Henry and Clare. She also uses it to strengthen the story and the hardship of Henry’s disease, which contributes to the work as a whole. 

Death of A Salesman: Summary and Analysis

Author: The author of Death of a Salesman is the American playwright, Arthur Miller. He is most famous for this play and The Crucible.

Setting: The Setting of the play is mainly in the home of Willy and Linda Loman. The house seems to be falling apart throughout the whole play and Willy is always either fixing or having to pay for things to be fixed. During Willy's visions of the past, we see the house as it used to be, not surrounded by high rise apartments, even a few trees in the yard. It is sad to see the difference between past and present in these scenes.

Plot:

Act One: 

        The play begins with the sound of a flute, and Willy Loman coming home from a business trip. This is the first time we see Willy interact with his wife Linda. Their relationship seems normal until you see her reassuring him on things that can't possibly be true and treating him like a child. Linda complains that Willy travels too much and convinces him to ask his boss tomorrow if Wily can have a job in New York so he doesn't have to drive so much. He agrees and tells Linda to go up to bed. 

        Now is when the reader also sees Willy have one of his episodes. He begins talking to himself and goes in-between the past and the present. This is where we see Willy's version of what life was like when his sons, Biff and Happy, were younger. They idolized him. The first flashback is of the boys washing Willy's car and playing around and asking how his trip was. Then Bernard, a neighbor that is Biff's age, comes out of their house and tells Biff and Willy that Biff needs to study for math or he fail the class. This seems to be of no concern to any of the Lomans, they have this belief that everything will just work out without hard work. After this first episode, the present Happy comes downstairs to try and get his dad to stop talking to himself and come upstairs. This doesn't work as well as hoped. During this whole time with Willy talking to himself, Biff and Happy have been upstairs discussing old times and dreams for the future. This is the most we hear from Happy during the whole play, and it has the most substance in it. When Biff comes down to try and get Willy to stop yelling and ranting things that don't really make sense, we see the tension between Biff and Willy. Though we are not sure yet what it was that ruined their relationship, we know that there is absolute zero respect for Willy from Biff. This is a sad, broken, father-son relationship. Biff is clearly angry with Willy for something, and Willy is very disappointed that his boy never amounted to anything. 

         During this first night, we also learn about Willy's brother Ben, who went to Africa/Alaska and struck gold and became very rich. We see that Willy regrets not going with his brother.  After Willy finally calms down from his fight with Biff, he goes upstairs while Linda scolds Happy and Biff about being so rude to their father. She explains what struggles he has been going through and how she suspects he is trying to kill himself and how Biff has to save him. Biff finally makes Willy happy by agreeing to go meet with Bill Oliver the next day about a business proposition. 

Act Two:

         Act two begins with Willy and Linda having breakfast, Linda tells Willy how excited the boys were when they left the house this morning and how they are going to treat Willy to dinner that night after the meeting. Willy then proceeds to go and meet with his boss about getting a job in New York. This is a very sad scene because his boss denies him a job and Willy loses it. He breaks down and yells and acts childish. After he gets fired he goes to Charley's where he runs into his son, Bernard, who has become a very successful lawyer. This depresses Willy because Bernard became a success and Biff did not, even though Biff was well-liked. Bernard asks him what happened in Boston when Biff visited Willy all those years ago, and Willy shuts down. He doesn't want to take the blame for Biff's failures. Charley gives Willy the money he needs, offers him a job which Willy denies because he is too proud, but takes the money anyways. He goes to meet his boys for dinner, which goes horridly. Biff tries to explain how awful the meeting with Bill Oliver went and how he stole his fountain pen but he can't do it. When he finally does, Willy gets crazy upset and goes into the bathroom where he is met with more memories of the past. We finally discover what ruined the relationship of Biff and Willy. It happened when Biff visited Willy in Boston and discovered Willy was cheating on Linda with another woman. The boys meet up with two girls and leave the restaurant with Willy in the bathroom. When they get home Linda is very upset. She cannot believe that they left their father at the restaurant and yells at them relentlessly. Willy is outside, having one of his episodes trying to plant seeds into the dirt. Willy and Biff fight some more once they come into the house and Biff breaks down and says he is going to leave but tells Willy he loves him. Willy stays downstairs while everyone else goes up stairs and begins to talk to Ben again and about insurance money and commits suicide in his car.

Requiem:

This little piece at the end is just Willy's funeral. We see that his family, Charley and Bernard come. Linda cannot cry and it is all in all depressing. Biff, though sad, says how his dad's dream was wrong and he was always chasing the wrong things, at the same time Happy is defending Willy. This is when we finally see how Happy is very similar to Willy and how they will probably end up with the same fate.

Significant Characters:

Willy Loman: Main character of the play, the salesman. He is very depressed when we meet him and has spent his whole life under the false idea that the key to success was being well-liked. This does not serve Willy well because not only is he not well-liked and a liar, he is not a very good salesman.

Linda Loman: Wife to Willy, just trying to make him happy even if it means going along with his lies and stories. She is not only his wife but also acts as his mother figure in the book. She seems to care more for Willy then her two sons combined and blames them a lot for what is happening to Willy. She expects them to save him because she can't.

Biff Loman: Willy's eldest son, was doomed to failure after discovering Willy was having an affair and cheating on his mother. He is the opposite of Willy, he goes West in search of the old American dream but is sent back home to try and save his father.

Happy Loman: Does not really have a personality---Exactly like Willy. A businessman. He is very disrespectful towards women and is constantly begging for attention from his mother and father who have always been more worried about Biff.

Charley: The opposite of Willy, Charley is his neighbor who has been a very successful businessman and has a very successful son.

Bernard: Also neighbor of the Lomans, he is Charley's son. He has been very successful in all things he has done.

Important Quotations: 

1) "And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. ’Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?" -Willy Loman

-This quote shows how desperate Willy is to be liked, which is why he does everything in his life. He wants to be loved and remembered and a successful salesman. It's sad he never becomes one.

2) "He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong." -Biff (pg 11)

-This quote shows that Biff understands the differences between the American dreams, Happy and Willy's dream compared to Biff's dream. It helps bring the book full circle because we now understand Willy more now that he has passed.

Theme:

     The theme of Death of a Salesman, is the American Dream of consumerism. Of being well-liked, attractive and having material objects that are supposed to provide happiness when they really cannot. This is shown in the text because of Willy's desire to become a great salesman, be well-liked and have lots of money. He made the mistake of telling his kids that this was how the real-world works. This theme is shown constantly throughout the play.

Response to Course Material #4

     We have done quite a bit in class since my last post. We finished annotating, re-watching, and discussing Death of a Salesman. While I understand that this is a very important play and we have learned a lot during this unit, I have to be honest and say I am glad we are done with it, well besides the summary and analysis I have yet to finish. I feel like my class especially felt very differently about the book and could never really agree on much in the class, some people hated Willy, others loved him. I found the way Happy was portrayed to be hilarious while others hated him for his disregard for anyone else. I understand that point of view, but I feel like with such a depressing play, one must take advantage of the comedy in Happy's comments. I learned a great deal about plot and how complicated it is through this play, for which I am grateful.
     We have started Hamlet since my last post! Though I am still working on reading my part allowed without getting tripped up by Shakespeare style of writing, I find myself enjoying it as well. It is more work, but I am glad I get to read a part in this play, I feel like it will help me get connected to the play and my character more, which is good.  I remember now how much I hated Shakespeare before this, realizing now that I don't absolutely despise his writing is a breath of fresh air. I'm not very good at always understanding what he means though, which I want to work on because I feel like that would make analyzing the play so much easier. I'm really excited to keep reading this play because of how often it is used in modern plots. I feel like once I finally read the original story of Hamlet I will realize what a huge deal it really is. Very excited to keep reading it!

Close Reading; "Juvenile Injustice"

The New York Times: "Juveniles Injustice"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/opinion/sunday/juvenile-injustice-and-the-states.html?ref=editorials&_r=0

       The New York Times editorial "Juvenile Injustice"  discusses the criminal justice system when it comes to juvenile delinquents.  The voice of the article strongly suggests it is against how juveniles are being treated unjustly, as shown in the title.
       The discussion of the supreme court's ruling that Miller vs. Alabama was "cruel and unusual punishment", sways the audiences opinion in a very strong way. This detail is a crucial aspect for the evidence pertaining to the authors argument that juveniles are being treated unfairly. The author uses this piece of information so that the reader is automatically drawn to the author's viewpoint. The author uses diction when saying things like "mandatory life sentence", the reader is drawn in and shocked. Such harsh things are interesting to the reader, drawing them in. The imagery used in this article is depressing. It gives the idea of someone fifteen years old, who may have come from a harsh background and made a mistake, sentenced to a life in prison. No second chances. This is a disturbing thought to me as it is to other readers I am sure. These techniques are used in such a way that the reader is curious about other rulings on juveniles and what the courts and the states are doing about the injustices.
     The author's voice is strong in this piece, showing their passion for the topic of juvenile injustice through examples of cruel state legislature that are in effect around America. These states and courts are not giving the juveniles a chance to "rehabilitate" as said in the article. These examples provide the reader with the reasoning they need to be on the authors side of the subject.

Open Prompt

2006, Form B. In many works of literature, a physical journey - the literal movement from one place to another - plays a central role. Choose a novel, play, or epic poem in which a physical journey is an important element and discuss how the journey adds to the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

       The Odyssey is one of the most famous stories of a physical journey in literary history. It contains action, love, villains and a hero. The reader follows Odysseus's physical journey while experiencing his emotional one while he learns lessons and defeats his moral battles. 

          Odysseus's journey is the entire reason for the work as a whole, it is the entire story, and what everything revolves around. The story begins with Odysseus trapped on an island being held by Calypso, then he is allowed to build a boat and move on to his next destination, then his next and his next. He is constantly battling to get home allows the reader to not only read but experience how he changes and fights as a his character grows. Without the journey there would be no story, therefore is a key part in the work as a whole. 

        Physical journeys were a huge theme years ago in writing and still are today, the story of Odysseus and his journey to get back home has been retold and reused countless times in modern literature. This proves the importance of the physical journey and the role it plays in the story of the Odyssey alone.

Response to Course Material

To be honest, I don't know how throughly I can answer this prompt because of all the school I missed but I will try.  Watching Death of a Salesman was quite an experience. I have not watched a play/movie that was so confusing but so fun to watch at the same time. The movie made no sense to me until we discussed it later on which was when I caught on to all the deeper meanings in the movie that I did not catch while watching. I had to finish the movie on my own and obviously found the ending sad but inevitable. I'm glad we watched the movie before reading the book, I feel like it will help when I do the close reading.

Unfortunately, I do not know what we did in class this entire week so don't have much else to say. But I can say that I feel like I have learned a lot so far in this class. I love in the morning when we do those poem analysis things, and we have to write our own as a class. It keeps everyone involved and although I know it has educational value, I especially like how in my class especially it seems to unite us which I love in an English class because it is so much easier to discuss when you feel comfortable with your class. 

Summary and Analysis of The American Dream

 Author:
         Edward Albee is most well known for being an author of the theatre of the absurd. He was born in Virginia and soon adopted and moved to New York where he grew up in Westchester County. He was expelled and dismissed from many schools growing up and finally left his adoptive family home, saying he never felt comfortable there. Albee's plays started to be published in 1958 in post-war America. In The American Dream, Albee uses an interesting style that makes the characters in his book seem normal but not quite right. There is always something missing behind the character's words.

Setting:

Though the play does not say what time in American history, we know that play takes place in an apartment building, mainly in Mommy and Daddy's apartment.

Significant Characters:

Mommy: Mommy is definitely the most commanding character in the play. Everything she says is an order or something to degrade another character in the play. Everything she says to Grandma or Daddy is usually negative. She is the most assertive in the play, showing that she wears the pants in the relationship by emasculating Daddy with every chance she gets and manipulating him with sex.

Daddy: Daddy is a pushover. He lets every character walk all over him in the book, especially Mommy. He allows her to emasculate him. He shows how society conforms to a certain group of peoples' ideas and doesn't really have a true identity of his own.

Mrs. Barker: Mrs. Barker is a strange character because she seems to be a powerful woman, always clashing with Mommy but she is not very bright. She does not know why she is at Mommy and Daddy's apartment, but neither do they. She could represent corporations in society being always referred to as "us" or another plural.

Grandma: Grandma is the most relatable character in the play. She is who most people who read it find easy to like and the only character that seems to have a real personality. She is not really understood by any of the characters in the play, but the reader can understand her. She represents the old American dream.

Young Man: Only a part of the story at the very end of the play but a key aspect of it. He is believed to be the twin brother of the baby Mommy and Daddy had adopted, mutilated, and killed, and he represents the new american dream in a consumerism society.

Plot:

       The play begins with Mommy and Daddy in he living room discussing how Mommy bought a beige hat yesterday that turned out to be wheat. Mommy tells him how Mrs. Barker called it a wheat hat, so Mommy had to go back and demand a beige colored hat. She says she knew that they just gave her the same hat again but doesn't do anything about it. Daddy and Mommy say you can satisfaction anymore anywhere. Then they discuss how they need to get the bathroom fixed and how "they" are very late and we expect that a plumber or apartment attendant is coming but they never do.
       Then Grandma enters the story and is carrying many boxes, that are so nicely wrapped that Mommy and Daddy find it necessary to comment on this for a long time. The doorbell rings and we thing that the person or people they were waiting for has come to fix the toilet. Daddy won't open the door because he is too scared for some reason. Mommy uses her manipulative ways to convince how manly it would be if he just opened the door. He finally does and in walks Mrs. Barker.
       Mommy seems to pretend like she and Mrs. Barker have never met even though later on we figure out they've known each other for a while. Mommy tells Mrs. Barker to make herself comfortable and to take off her dress and various other comments, when Mrs. Barker does take her dress off Daddy gets very excited and acts like a giddy child.  Later, while Daddy and Mommy are off looking for water and Grandma's room in the apartment, Grandma tells the story of the child Mommy and Daddy adopted that Mommy wasn't satisfied with. Since Mommy did not like the child, they cut off all of its limbs and body parts until the child finally died.
       During the play, Mommy, Daddy and Grandma keep saying how a nursing home man is going to come and take Grandma away. This seems plausible because of the boxes Grandma has wrapped filled with all of her belongings, but when the doorbell rings and Grandma answers it, it is the Young Man. We learn they he is from the west and come to find work. Grandma and all of the characters find him very attractive. Grandma realizes that he is the American Dream and begins to call him that. She knows that he has to take her place. Grandma plans with Mrs. Barker and the Young Man that she is going to leave and then she does. Mommy is upset at first at the absence of Grandma and we see Grandma watching the scene unfold. Mommy gets over it quickly when she realizes she gained the very attractive Young Man. The audience, the Young Man, and Mrs. Barker can all see Grandma after she has left the play but Mommy and Daddy can't. Mommy is finally satisfied with her replacement bumble the Young Man and the play ends while everyone is somewhat happy.

Important Quotations:

"Yup. Boy, you know what you are, don't you? You're the American Dream, that's what you are. All those other people, they don't know what they're talking about. You..you are the American Dream." -Grandma  (Albee 108)
     Grandma says this to the Young Man after they discuss how beautiful he is and how he is from the west and all of these characteristics he has that make him the American Dream. This quote is important because we finally see what Grandma and Albee think the new American Dream is and how if Grandma can recognize it as important than it must be. Albee uses Grandma to make a point about how the play is about the American Dream.
"Oh, we're still here. My, what an unattractive apartment you have!" -Mrs. Barker (Albee 77)
      This quote shows how Mrs. Barker and everyone in the play refers to her as plural, as "us", "we", or "they". It shows how Mrs. Barker represents corporations or the government and how they are always present in peoples lives. When she says that their apartment is unattractive it shows how rude and judgmental society is.


Theme:

The major theme in the play is the controversial topic of the true American Dream. Albee uses the characters and topics in the play to make fun of society and their values. He uses the Young Man and Grandma to show the differences between the old and new American Dreams. When the Young Man says that he came from the West it is assumed that Grandma is from the east, showing that the two different American Dreams formed not only in two different generations but different geographies as well.   Albee uses his detached tone and symbolism to make the reader understand his views on society. When he talks about Mommy and Daddy and how they killed the baby, we get the image in our head of the act. It is sickening and he uses the imagery to get us to dislike Mommy and Daddy. The plays title, "The American Dream", is obviously used because that is what is being discussed and analyzed through the story the entire time. He uses it as a title to remind the reader or audience to relate things in the play back to the title to relate the two.

Open Prompt

2009. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

The Great Gatsby is a great example for a novel that has objects that have deep symbols attached to them. One of many symbols in this novel is the very famous green light. This green light, which is located at the end of Daisy's dock across the bay. This bay separates East Egg from West Egg, which is a symbol all on its own.

The green light can mean many things. For example, in the beginning of the book, we see Gatsby reaching out toward the green light across the water. In this specific scenario the green light could be representing Daisy. Him reaching out for the green light shows his desire for her. The green light could also represent his goal to be with her, we know that Gatsby wants to be with Daisy but seeing Gatsby always looking over to the green light shows that he will never forget about her. The reader knows that Gatsby's end goal is to be with Daisy and win her away from Tom, and the green light is there to remind us of that.  Gatsby and his green light are also often referred to as the American Dream. The American Dream of being with the perfect woman and having the perfect life, therefore the green light is sometimes generalized as the American Dream and Gatsby's quest for it. Throughout the whole book Gatsby is on his mission to get Daisy with the green light always in the background, so that no matter what is going on in the book the reader does not forget Gatsby's main purpose. 

The green light is a symbol that can be easily related to by the reader. Something that you keep wanting and reaching for but can never obtain. Something that you know you can never truly have. The green light connects all of the pieces in The Great Gatsby together.