Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas is a poem where the speaker informs the reader to not go into death without a fight. Question one about this poem asks what is the meaning of the phrase "good night." This phrases is mostly repeated when the speaker says, "Do not go gentle into that good night" (Thomas, 6). The phrase "good night" simply stands for death. This line is where I belive that Thomas is demanding the audience to not die without a fight. The speaker is attempting to tell the reader that they should not have any regrets when it comes to their time of death. Thomas is also saying that once death arrives to someone, it should not come as a blind shock. He is saying prepare and be ready for death. He acknowledges death to be a positive event, but says that it is only positive when one has completed their dreams. Only when someone has accomplished their purpose in life can they finally be content and accept death.

That time of year by William Shakespeare

That time of year by William Shakespeare is a poem that starts out by discussing the season of fall and the death and decay of fall. Then Shakespeare continues the poem by exlaining how death consumes like a fire. By using juxtoposition, Shakespeare is able to both compare and contrast fall and death. When speaking of fall, he states, "Which by and by black night doth take away," and later speaks of death, "That seals up all in rest" (Shakespeare, 6-7). Shakespeare juxtaposes these two themes by showing how both almost take the life out of everything, causing rest. Where I am confused is after juxtaposing them as similar, he brings love into the death stanza, causing death to be almost positive. I think he is trying to state that the event of death helps him call to mind pleasent thoughts such as his loved one. This poem was easy to understand at first but loses me after talking about the glowing fire. This is yet another poem that I feel as though has no point to it. Shakespeare should have cut the poem off after line seven. It would be nice if someone could offer some advice on what this poem is talking about because past possible juxtopositon, I see no other depth to this poem.

Crossing the Bar by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Crossing the Bar by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is a poem that discusses a man who is given a calling from objects in the sky. The speaker then reaches a period of darkness and sadness. I believe this poem is packed full of symbolism. After discussing a tide and heading for home, the speaker states, "And may there be no sadness of farewell When I embark;... I hope to see my Pilot's face to face When I have crossed the bar" (Tennyson, 11-16). This poem symbolises a man reaching his time of death, and he does not want his friends and family to feel sadness for him. Then when he says he has "crossed the bar" he is saying that he has finally passed away. The "Pilot" represents the speaker finally meeting God in heaven. The speaker is acknowledging that he has reached his demise, so he looks forward to the positive outcome of the event. The speaker has accepted his death and sees it as a time to rejoice and be happy because he has finally reached the end of his journey that he embarked on. Tennyson is able to use this symbolism to show death in a new light, that of the begining of a new adventure.

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is, like The Lottery, also another twisted story with an even more sickening ending. The main character of this story is about a woman named Emily, and yet it is taken from an interesting point of few. The reader views this story from the first person point of view, but not from Emily's point of view or any of her close companions that she spends most of her time with. The people in Emily's town observe, "When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl..." (Faulkner, 285). By the use of "we" and the speaker saying that they had seen her for the first time in a while, the reader can conclude that the towns people are observing her. The story is also jumbled in a non chronological order, leading to believe different individuals are sharing their story. Being written in the first person point of view, Faulkner is able to create a sense of mystery and questioning about Emily. The towns people telling the story are unsure of the true answers behind Emily so the reader must piece puzzles of the story to make their own conclusions. By having the towns people at the end explain the details of the room with the corpse, the reader is able to realise how sick and twisted Emily acts. The first person point of view helps to establish how distant Emily was from reality, and how her distance was perceived by normal people.

The Lottery by Shirly Jackson

The Lottery by Shirly Jackson is a short story that is very deceitful and has a sick twist at the end of the story. There are many points though out the play where Jackson uses foreshadowing to imply that the "lottery" taking place is not what it appears to be on the surface. The setting shows that it is a lovely summer day, but the peculiar children are, "Selecting the smoothest and roundest stones" (Jackson, 264). These actions immediately begin to raise questions and cause the reader to think twice about what is actually going on. Jackson is able to confuse the reader by creating such a peaceful image of the day in order to embed hints to what is truly going to happen at the end of the story. By using foreshadowing as a literary technique, Jackson challenges the reader to focus on details in order to gain a better understanding of the traditions this village participates in. Mr. Adams later states, "'That over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery" (Jackson, 268). Mr. Adams, through the use of foreshadowing, helps the reader to see that something more is going on than a normal lottery. These small details that Jackson uses help the reader to see that the lottery is going to have a negative ending. Most good lotteries do not involve gathering stones and discussing how other villages are not continuing this tradition.

The Glass Menagerie (Blog 5)

I actually enjoyed The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. I am starting to like reading plays a little more than novels and stories because they are all based around dialogue rather than extraneous details. Williams did a great job at characterizing each person in the play, which helped to create a unique image of each character. I also liked how Williams made it very obvious what the symbols of the play were when he made comments like, "'But since I have a poet's weakness for symbols, I am using this character also as a symbol; he is the long delayed but always expected something that we live for'" (Williams, 1237). This helped me better understand the play and not get hung up and frustrated with the little details. Overall I enjoyed the play, but there is one area where I was displeased with the play. I felt as though there was almost no point to the play. Nothing really happened. The gentlemen caller showed up, and right when there was hope, he just left for his fiance. Plus the ending was just sort of weird how the play ended. Aside from that, the characters were unique, the sadness was minimal, and the play was an easy read.

The Glass Menagerie (Blog 4)

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is composed of a large amount of characterization about each character in the play. Every character is explained in great detail in order for the reader to gain a complete understanding of the type of person a character is and their personality. Laura has a few epithets that help characterize her such as, "Home girl... dependent... failure... frightened... sick" (Williams, 1253-54). Although these are not all the adjectives that describe Laura, a trend may be very obviously observed. Laura is characterized as the shy, reserved, and unsocial type of person. Every time Laura is talked about between Tom and Amanda, many of these epithets are used to show how hopeless Laura lives. These descriptions of Laura help to evoke sympathy for Laura and her "crippled" appearance. Laura is also characterized as an unhappy person with a low self esteem. She lets her negative views of her own appearance cloud her ability to function as a normal person around other people. Williams does a great job of helping the reader visualize what kind of person Laura is by explaining the reasons she is so closed to society.

The Glass Menagerie (Blog 3)

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams has a character who never appears in the play, Tom and Laura's father. Their father is used as a big symbol in the story to help influence the way the characters act. When Amanda and Tom are having a conversation after Tom apologizes, Amanda claims, "I -- loved your father... and you -- when I see you taking after his ways!" (Williams, 1252). This is one of many instances in the play were Tom is compared to his father. Amanda seems to always be worried that Tom is going to end up leaving the family just as their father did years ago. Tom is controlled and persuaded to do as Amanda wants because Amanda manipulates the father's past mistakes. It seems as though the guilt trips Amanda plays on Tom is almost having a reverse effect which causes him to act more like his father. Tom views his father as a symbol of hope and the opportunity to follow his dreams of going on an adventure. Amanda views the symbol of the father as a way to control her children and almost draw pity upon herself. In the end, Tom ends up following in his father's foot steps by leaving to make a new life somewhere else.

The Glass Menagerie (Blog 2)

Laura in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams struggles with living a shy and reserved lifestyle due to a low self esteem. After Laura's conversation with Jim, the reader learns that Laura was always so self conscious because, "[She] had that brace on [her] leg -- it clumped so loud!" (Williams, 1276). Jim responds by informing Laura, "In all respects -- believe me! Your eyes -- your hair -- are pretty!" (Williams, 1283). This conversation between Laura and Jim contains a great deal of irony. Laura has spent her whole life worrying what others thought of her and keeping to her self. She has been so focused on thinking everyone notices her disability that she completely shuts out all positive aspects of life. Now Laura is realising that she actually is attractive, and possibly could have had a chance with Jim if he was not engaged to another woman. She never thought any guy would like her because she has a slightly crippled leg, but on the contrary, Jim did not even notice her leg brace. I see is scene to be very ironic because Laura refuses to put her self in social situations, which causes her to lack social skills, when she is viewed by most people as an average girl. Laura has missed a lot of opportunities to express herself and pursue her dreams, even to the point were she is dependent on her family members,  all because she gets so nervous when she is in public.

The Glass Menagerie (Blog 1)

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a non realistic play about a family whose father left them at a very early stage. Many times throughout this play, the main character Tom poses as a narrator by making small soliloquies at the beginning of scenes. Ate the beginning of Scene 6 Tom makes a small speech stating, "I knew that Jim and Laura had known each other at Soldan, and I heard Laura speak admiringly of his voice" (Williams, 1262). These small soliloquies have a major roll by informing the audience about background information and other unknown facts about the characters. This soliloquy on page 1262 happens to have importance because it tells the audience a little about Jim and how he would make a perfect gentlemen caller. Tom is able to create an image of Jim being athletic and intelligent, which is very opposite of Laura's character. Now that the reader knows that Jim and Laura have some chemistry, this is able to raise some interest in wondering if Jim will be the "one" for Laura. Along with informing the audience about Jim's relationship with Laura, Tom is also able to inform the audience of his own relationship with Jim. At the end of the soliloquy we learn that Jim and Tom are not as close of friends as Amanda thought. Both of these two pieces of background information help to set the stage for the scene of having dinner with the gentlemen caller.