Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came is a poem by Robert Browning -- it also happens to have been inspired by a Shakespeare play and has inspired Stephen King's popular The Dark Tower book series. Delving into this rabbit hole of allusions and references to a concept with so many interpretations and additions built upon it, one can understand the extent to which literature can be reshaped, reformed, and reimagined. To take a concept, a simple phrase, a shapeless idea and transform it is one of the wonders of literature I find beautiful.
The Lord of the Flies is an Ugly Reminder
We need Jack Merridew because he is a necessary slap to the face, which is what he serves to Ralph. He is representative of what even the most “sane and civilized” can become when stripped of the construct of a society. He is breathing proof that the urge to hide behind a painted mask of savagery lies within the fibers of every human being. Perhaps Jack fell to his temptations faster than most; nonetheless, can we point the finger at Jack in outcry of his behavior as inhuman, as un-Christian, as savage? Is savagery to remove the humanity from a human, or is savagery what it means to be man? Is the ability to see the distinction between morality and immorality what makes us human, or is it the capability to slip past our awareness of the darkness within and descend into a state of anarchy and destruction, to succumb to the heartbeat of the Lord of Flies, knocking at our door day by day?
Believing in the Better Story
What does Pi Patel mean when he says he believes in “the better story?” The phrase itself sounds like something that might come from the mouth of a dangerously deluded optimist, living to the tune of the same motto as “ignorance is bliss.”For Pi, we find he’s greatly influenced by two of these “better stories;” one involving the idea of a higher-being -- aka, religion, and the other being the story we know as the meat of the novel itself. There’s an important connection between these stories as the character Francis Adirubasamy tells us: "I have a story that will make you believe in God." The fictional author is captivated -- and at this point, so are we. What does this random stranger have to say that will make us “believe in God?” How has he come about this story in the first place? And, when we reach the end of the story, will his words ring true?
She’s Always a Woman
Dr. Reeder is a retired psychiatrist — a career that carried an entirely different connotation within the Victorian era than today, as psychiatry was a mask for the immoral and vile treatment of the female defectors of rigid societal expectation. Following the end of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House, Nora Helmer was recommended to him for his studies, as her actions had been deemed “madness” and the fact that a woman would leave her comfortable life in exchange for one of work was a paradox that puzzled all. In his failed deliverance to bring her to her past self, however, the prestigious man of science found a revelation in her ideas. In observing her progression over the four months that this spans from A Doll’s House, the doctor changed his mind about all the things he thought he once knew. With this letter to the judge of Nora’s court hearing, he hopes to accomplish the same.
(psych) That’s Satire
If you’ve been following mentions of some of my favorite novels throughout these blogs, you’ll know I totally dig the satire scene. But...tf is satire? And why did it come about? Why is it still here? Since I have given up on life, this is a short blogpost that pretty much regurgitates everything we have already talked about in class.
Applying Psychoanalytic Theory to Macbeth
With Shakespeare’s interpretation of human ambition, we see in the dynamic character that is Macbeth all parts of Freud’s psyche surface while choice characters such as Lady Macbeth and King Duncan largely represent one psyche personality. That is, they are the contrasting counterparts Id and Superego, while Macbeth, whose Ego struggles between the two voices of Lady M. and Duncan, moves to encompass each of these three counterparts at separate times in the play. It is his transition from one element of the psyche to the next that demonstrates his dynamics as a character and establishes him as the tragic anti-hero we all know and love(d).
Halfway
The themes Dickens is heavy on perhaps the most, at least in this half? Life, revival, regaining identity, that phrase “recalled to life,” being “buried” and “unburied” alive...these are all elements that have to do with the matter of external and internal resurrection. And then there’s the other side of this book, the other “city” where a revolution is stirring, as we readers listen in on the heavy footsteps edging closer and closer, Madame Defarge’s endless knitting (always knitting), the wine to be spilled upon the cobblestone streets of Saint Antoine...while the Manettes’ storyline revolves around life and love, there’s a much darker storm brewing, one that calls for violence and blood and hate and death. It is very much the best of times -- but it is very much going to be the worst of times.
The Appreciation and Acknowledgement of Drama
I’m not too well-versed in Broadway productions, as sitting through a musical for me is not exactly the worst thing in the world, yet I certainly don’t share the same enthusiasm as “theater kids” when it comes down to belting out “Defying Gravity” every two seconds. I can't, however, deny drama's upmost importance to the literary world, as I happen to be a fan of popular playwright Arthur Miller. So in this blogpost, I explore comedy and tragedy in the drama world, debate the social issues that surround the growing prestige of Broadway, and review Miller's Death of a Salesman on and off the page.
Sonnets, Shakespeare, and GOD-AWFUL Humans
I’m going to dive into the more overarching historical context that deals with Shakespeare and his role in the English Renaissance focused on that transition between rationale based on logic and reason to a philosophy that deals with feeling, human nature, and the innate morale that’s embedded within us at birth. Will we ever truly understand love, hate, death, morality? Or can we only snapshot these humanistic qualities in mere writings and stories, in paintings and sculptures and scientific ponderings?
Obsession Versus Love
Though Wuthering Heights is known for its romance, the very relationship that it focuses on is one that is anything but romantic -- it’s actually pretty toxic, whereas the downplayed relationship at the end of the novel is the romance I expected to find in the first place. That, and this relationship is added as an afterthought, structured at the end in the nature of an epilogue. But there’s a reason why this final statement is so last minute...it’s a reassurance, an example, and a foil contrary to the “love” Catherine and Heathcliff were supposed to have. And because Bronte did include this final chapter, there’s an important lesson to be learned about the differences between romanticized “obsession” and actual love. So while some people may have a different connotation of what Wuthering Heights may actually be about, I’m here to set the record straight. This is a story about what love can become. It’s a story where love turns dark. It’s a story where love exists as a measure of acceptance. It’s a story about the choices we make. And it’s within this story that Bronte declares love is the greatest choice to be made. What defines and separates the choices that are obsession and love? And where do these ideas of love, obsession, and choice come from in Wuthering Heights?
the hourglass 